The Kanto Governor's Mansion was built on the site of a luxury hotel in Russia, covering an area of more than five acres. It is subordinate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on the face of it is an administrative agency under the supervision of a political axe, rather than a military body. He also declared that this was the end of the military and political period and the beginning of the civil affairs period. In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is nothing more than a trick. It is said that the official system of the Kanto Prefecture promulgated by Emperor Moto. As a matter of fact, in addition to exercising the administrative power of the leased land and the Manchurian Railway, the Governor also enjoyed military command, and the Governor combined the power of the army and the civil affairs to implement the so-called system of integration of military and government. Not only that, but as time went on, the governor's power swelled. In 1911, the Minister of War instructed the Governor of Kwantung to "use military force when the Chinese nationals of South Manchuria need to be protected, or when the rights and interests of our country are divided and must be protected." ”

At this time, the power of the governor of Kwantung is even greater, almost the emperor of the soil!

It seems that the power of the Kanto Governor is incomparably great, and he can interfere in anything in the entire South Manchurian region, but in fact he cannot control the division commander of the Hiroshima Division, Lieutenant General Otani Kikuzo. In the military law, the appointment and dismissal of division commanders must be personally decreed by the emperor, and even the military department has no right to move them. What is even more paradoxical is that the commander of the Hiroshima Fifth Division, Kitashi Otani, was also helpless against his staff officers. In the conference room of the Kanto Hall, the two of them stared at each other.

Otani Kihisa was born in the Chinese ethnic group, and was a staff officer of the base camp during the Qing War, and became the chief of staff of the Korean Zhutun Army during the Russian War, and then transferred to Manchuria as the division commander of the Fifth Division. Among the senior officers of the book, there are really not many division commanders like him who have not directly led troops to participate in major battles. When he was the brigade commander of the 12th Brigade, the Russo-Russian War was over.

The Mukden Incident happened last night, on the 25th of October, and according to the Chinese lunar calendar, it is the 18th day of the ninth month, and the Governor of Kwantung only found out about it the next morning. When he called Otani Kikuzo in a fit of rage, the division commander of the Fifth Division was still sleeping with his head covered, and when he heard the news of the Mukden incident, he got out of bed in surprise. He didn't have time to put on his uniform, so he ran outside, and when he ran to the division commander's office, he actually found that an hour earlier, the troops had already boarded the train and set off. Otani Kikuzo jumped like thunder, and several officers who stayed behind were at a loss, saying that the South Manchurian Railway in Mukden was attacked by the [***] team last night, and everyone was ordered by him, the commander of the division and the Kwantung Prefecture, to go to Mukden.

Otani Kikuzo didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly ran to the Governor's Mansion, and the two confronted each other face to face, and immediately dumbfounded, someone must have given an order in their name. According to the military law, it is a crime to kill the head to start a war without authorization, and the commander of the unit and the highest local commander are also severely punished. Even if the two of them shot the staff officers and adjutant who had passed on the false orders, the matter would not be over. But there was no turning back from the bow, and at this time it was too late to order the Kwantung Army to return to its original garrison. These young officers and staff officers dared to go to war in their name, and they did not take their authority into account at all, so that the soldiers who had already killed the red eyes would not listen to them.

According to the latest battle report, last night, part of the 1st Railway Garrison Brigade and a squadron of the 5th Division had taken Mukden, and a brigade of the 5th Division, which had been transferred in the middle of the night, was attacking Jinzhou and Huludao.

The provincial capital of Fengtian Province was captured, and it is said that Zhao Erxun, the governor of Fengtian appointed by the Provisional Political Axe of Yanjing, was killed by the Yue army??? The battle has started, and the highest military and political governor of China in Manchuria has been killed, can this matter be over? Even if the Chinese are good at bullying and not gnawing, can the Western powers allow them to do so?

Besides, in recent years, the Chinese have not been easy to bully, and that fool dares to order warships and the combined fleet to confront Dongsha Island and force the Yue himself on the island to demolish the building and compensate China for its losses. China and the United States, after a long time in recent years, and with the support of the Americans, even the Qing court, which has never stood up its backbone, dared to confront Yuben. The warships of the Qing Dynasty also dared to aim their cannons at Mexico City, and launched a tough gunboat diplomacy against Mexico, Cuba and other American countries.

Sure enough, after a short while, the military headquarters and the prime minister sent a telegram severely reprimanding the reckless behavior of the Kwantung Army, and the prime minister of Xiyuan Temple even called the army that captured Mukden a rebel. The frightened Governor of Kanto and Otani Kihisa hid their hands and feet, but they also saw a little way out of the telegram from the military headquarters, which did not call them rebels, but told them to pay close attention to the development of the situation and not let it develop into an uncontrollable situation.

That is to say, although the military department seems to be dissatisfied with this operation, it also acquiesces in this result.

After a while, they actually received a telegram from the Duke of Youpeng in Shanxian County, in which he praised the army's efforts to expand its territory.

Otani Kikuzo suddenly came to his senses, who didn't know that after the death of Ito Hirobumi, the political and military circles of this book will have to look at the face of Yamaguchi Youpeng. Among the factions in the prefecture are Katsura Taro, Terauchi Masatake, and Tanaka Yoshiichi of the army; In the political circles, there are a large number of followers of Gao Juexian, such as Hara Keichi, Shirane Shirane, Hirata Tosuke, Oura Kantake, Kiyoura Keigo, and Tian Kenjiro, among which Katsura Taro has served as prime minister three times, but he does not even dare to fart in front of Yama Prefecture Youtomo.

Among the political bigwigs in the whole book, there are only two people, Inu Yangyi and Toushan Man, who have never visited Youpeng in Shanxian County, and everyone else is his follower. Needless to say, even Emperor Taisho was afraid of him.

Since the big guy of Yama County Youpeng, the powerful faction of the powerful faction, has spoken, then the tone of this capture of Mukden has also been set, although Prime Minister Xiyuan Temple Gongwang is also a veteran of the Meiji Restoration, but it is definitely not of the same order of magnitude as Yama County Aritomo. Otani Kikuzo is gearing up and preparing to do a big job, maybe this time he will be promoted to lieutenant general.

The governor of Kanto has been hesitant, after all, there are friends in Yama County who have been at home for several years, and it is unknown whether they can still cover it as before. Moreover, Toyama Mitsuru once sent someone to greet him, asking him to maintain the status quo in Nanman, and not to disrupt the established policy of Ito Hirobumi, Okuma Shigenobu and others at will.

Is Toushan full of easy to mess with? His Heavenly Blessing Man and the Black Dragon Society were ruthless, and when he and Okuma Shigenobu didn't deal with each other, a bomb made the former prime minister lame.

"Report, emergency!" An adjutant hurried in.

The governor of the Kwantung region pretended to be calm and said: "Otani-kun, you should handle the military affairs, I have been in poor health recently, and I am going to the hospital." ”

Otani is both disdainful and joyful, despising his cowardice and fear, and happy that if he succeeds, no one will compete with him.

He took the telegram and was immediately stunned, the telegram was sent by Kawamoto Daisa, he was attacked by the squadron [***], and asked for rescue from the Hiroshima Division.

The commander of the Otani Division gasped, although the 2nd Railway Garrison Brigade was only a local force, but with their training level, it should not be a problem to defeat the enemy five times their own squadron head-on. And now the telegram said that the middle [***] team was only twice as large as him, but Kawamoto couldn't stand it anymore.

Otani knew Kawamoto's surname too well, and he wouldn't ask for help until the mountains and rivers were exhausted. This kind of guy from Lu Da's "saber group" is more arrogant than the other, and he never puts anyone else in his eyes except the emperor, including their top boss. They are not on the verge of collapse, they will not call for help.

"Get the map!" Ohtani yelled.

The military map was spread out on the large round table in the conference room, and Otani and a few staff officers looked at it carefully. Ohtani suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Now the army that has entered Mukden is less than a thousand people, and the equipment is not as good as the Kawamoto brigade. Once the enemy in front of him has been eliminated or defeated, Kawamoto will quickly enter Mukden Castle. That's when the trouble was great. With their combat effectiveness, they should be able to quickly wipe out the Japanese army in Toyota Castle. The hundreds of soldiers in Fengtian were not from each other, and it was difficult for them to work together to resist the enemy.

Otani is not a fool, and there is no fool who can be the commander of the division, especially the Hiroshima division, which is the essence of the imperial army. He knew very well that if he won this time, nothing would be done, and the winner would not be held accountable. But if he is defeated, or if Fengtian can't attack it for a long time, it is possible to wait until he is at least stripped of his military position and goes home to retire, or even kills his head.

Now there are only two choices in front of him, the first is to admit his incompetence, his subordinates act on their own, throw out those wanton and reckless guys, and then order the Kwantung Army to withdraw to Lushun. The end must be that he was scolded by the military department and the political axe and went back to Yueben to retire, but these young and middle-aged officers have strong public support behind them, and it is unknown whether the angry people will let themselves see the cherry blossoms bloom next year. The second is to fight to the end, quickly occupy Mukden, and defeat this squadron that dares to resist. There are two kinds of results, the first is that he won a huge victory and became a national hero and was admired by thousands of people, and the second is that he could not defeat them, and he bore the responsibility for starting a war without authorization, and was used by the military department and the political axe to open the knife.

Ohtani pondered for a moment, and suddenly laughed dumbly, if he couldn't defeat the Chinese army, would it still be the Kwantung Army? Is it still the prestigious Hiroshima 5th Division?

Being able to defeat Kawamoto's 2nd Railway Garrison Brigade does not mean that it is capable of fighting against the elite divisions of the Empire??? What's more, he has a huge advantage in military strength.

The Fifth Division itself had 27,000 men, plus six railway garrison brigades along the South Manchurian Railway, and it had a full 34,000 troops under its control.

With so many imperial elites, even if you hit Yanjing City, it's enough!

Otani Kihisazo made up his mind to use the corpse of a Chinese to build his steps to the throne of the admiral. The [***] team that can defeat the elite division of the empire has not yet been born??? Perhaps, in a hundred years there will not be!

(To be continued)