While Liu Yimin was pondering how to keep the 16th Division in the area north of Linyi, the base camp of the Yue Army was also planning how to eliminate the main force of the Chinese [***] team and speed up the process of the war of aggression against China.

On this night, Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace entertained Lu Xiang Sugimoto, the new deputy chief of staff Tada Jun, the head of the Military Division of the Ministry of the Army, Shinichi Tanaka, and the head of the Base Camp Operations Division, Masasumi Inada, at his home. The five of them were drinking sake and enjoying singing and dancing in the living room of Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Prince Zaihito of the Idle Palace waved his hand for Kabuki to stand back, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I was summoned by His Majesty the Emperor today to ask about the war in China, and His Majesty was uncertain and worried, and blamed us for not being gracious. After I returned, I thought about it repeatedly, and I guessed that His Majesty's intention was to destroy the main force of the Chinese Army as soon as possible and force Chiang Kai-shek to surrender. His Majesty's greatest concern is probably that the main force of the imperial army will be caught in the war in China, which will affect the overall strategic situation of the world pattern in the future. What do you think? ”

Shanshan Yuan is still in that quiet posture, he knows that he doesn't need to say it first, the three guys Tada Jun, Tanaka Shinichi, and Inada Masamune will be the first to speak. Sure enough, Masamune Inada, who attended such a high-level gathering for the first time, couldn't wait to speak.

Inada Masamune Nakasa is a person who is very good at speculative drilling, and the reason why he can mix well in the army is mainly because he found a good wife. He was born in Kurosaka Village, Tsuno-gun, Tottori Prefecture, and his father was only a second-class military doctor. But this guy had a good fate, and he came down all the way from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School to the Army University, and married the daughter of General Nobuyuki Abe, and his identity suddenly became precious. With this relationship, Inada Masamun became a fanatical war maniac in the army, and together with Tanaka Shinichi, he was a representative figure of the military department's expansion of aggression against China.

After Prince Zaihito of the Xianyuan Palace finished speaking, Inada Masamun Nakasa did not look at the faces of others, and said: "Your Royal Highness, I think that Your Majesty's holy will is the guiding ideology of our war against China. The top priority at the moment is to find an opportunity to annihilate the main force of the political axe army in China. As long as the main force of the political axe army of China is eliminated, the other resistance forces are all ringworms and are not worth mentioning. ”

These people are all members of the expanded faction of the military department, and they are all raccoon dogs with a good heart. However, the new deputy chief of staff, Lieutenant General Tada, was slightly different from the other four, and he was one of the representatives of the non-expansion faction of the army base camp, and advocated negotiations to force Chiang Kai-shek's political axe to yield. In the eyes of the non-enlarged faction, the Yue army has already occupied Manchuria, North China, and the Yangtze River Delta, and the best parts of China are in the hands of the Yue army, so long as the time comes, China's political situation will inevitably change, and whether Chiang Kai-shek can continue to control power is a question, and he will inevitably settle the matter through peace talks at that time. Besides, expanding the scale of the war will trap the entire military strength of the Chinese army in the quagmire of war against China and affect the army's participation in the war for world hegemony. Of course, Tada Jun and several of them are the same in their bones, they are also an invading maniac, and their hands are also stained with the blood of the Chinese people, but they advocate a slight difference in the way of aggression.

As soon as Inada finished speaking, Tanaka Shinichi said: "What Inada-kun said is reasonable, I think that we should occupy Wuhan, the temporary capital of the Chinese political axe, as soon as possible and completely destroy Chiang Kai-shek's main force. Without the troops, Chiang Kai-shek would have surrendered to us crying and shouting. ”

Seeing that these two guys were in a hurry to eat hot tofu, Tada Jun smiled slightly, and said in a manly voice: "The war against China is not as simple as you say, none of us know what the road ahead is like, and none of us really understand the Han nation. Before the attack on Xuzhou, I thought that the gains outweighed the losses, that the cost of railway transportation was higher than that of sea transportation, and that the empire had a strong maritime advantage, and that we could communicate with North China and Central China through sea transportation. Now that the attack on Xuzhou has begun, I thought that this would be the end of the attack after taking Xuzhou. Otherwise, the mere defense of the railway line would take up a lot of troops, which would affect the overall strategy of the imperial army. ”

As soon as Tada Jun finished speaking, Inada Masamune pushed his seat up, pointed at Tada Jun's nose and roared: "Your Excellency the Vice Minister's strategy is not understood, it is purely a whimsical dream, if you don't destroy the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's political axe army, how can Chiang Kai-shek sit down and talk with us?" ”

Without waiting for Tada Jun to refute, Tanaka Shinichi also stood up and accused Tada Jun of being blind and insulting the teaching level of the Army University.

Shanshan Yuan saw that the two young Zhuang faction officers humiliated Tada Jun, who was a lieutenant general and deputy chief of staff, and felt that he still had to maintain the dignity of the senior general of the Imperial Army, so he coughed and was about to speak, and at the corner of his eye, he saw that Prince Zaihito's eyes had become as sharp as a knife, and the words turned to his mouth: "Tada-kun, you have to consider your attitude!" ”

Tada Jun was so angry that he wanted to leave, but after thinking about it, his fate was still in the hands of this old immortal Prince Zairen of the Idle Yuan Palace, and reason told him that he couldn't make a mistake, unless he didn't want to mix in the army.

Glancing at Prince Zaihito of the Idle Palace, who was a little unkind-eyed, Tada Jun knew that for himself, it was now a matter of life and death, and if he persisted in not expanding the invasion, it was very likely that he would receive an order to dismiss his deputy chief of staff tomorrow. This is still good, but if it is not solved by those young and strong officers who are eager to establish military merits, it will be completely miserable. Forget it, expansion and non-expansion are essentially the same, both of them are to turn China's land into the land of the capital, and it is just a fast and slow method.

However, even if I don't mention not expanding the invasion myself, I'm afraid that what I said just now has left the impression that Prince Zaihito of the Idle Palace is not his own person, and he must think of ways to change the situation.

Tada Jun pondered for a moment and said, "What I just said just now is just to remind you not to despise the Chinese army, but to fight steadily. If His Majesty the Emperor had made up his mind to destroy the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's political axe army as soon as possible, it would not have been impossible. At the moment, there is a great opportunity to eliminate the main force of the Chinese army, and if it is used well, Wuhan will become an empty city. ”

Saying this, several people's ears were all furled, and the half-closed and half-closed eyes of Prince Zairen of the Xianyuan Palace suddenly opened, and a trace of fine light shot towards Tada Jun: "Let's listen to it." ”

Tada Jun was encouraged and began to show off: "The battle between the North China Front and the Central China Front in the southern section of the Jinpu Road is a perfect opportunity. Our original operational goal was to capture Xuzhou, open up the connection between the two front armies, and then capture Wuhan. Now, the resistance of the 10th Division around Xuzhou shows that our series of operations in February to consolidate law and order in the occupied areas have confused Chiang Kai-shek, making him think that our army has suffered heavy casualties and insufficient attack power after being severely damaged by the Zhina Liu Yimin Division, and then gathered forces in Xuzhou to secure Xuzhou. Your Royal Highness, I think this is an opportunity. ”

Shanshan Yuan didn't expect Tada Jun to have such a level, so he glanced at Tada Jun with a little jealousy, and said, "Yes, this is indeed an opportunity." The terrain around Xuzhou is conducive to the mobility of our army, as long as the idea is to induce Chiang Kai-shek to concentrate the main force in Xuzhou, and our army is advancing to the north and south, like a pair of pincers, Chiang Kai-shek's 300,000 troops in Xuzhou will be solved in one fell swoop, so that Chiang Kai-shek will be dealt a fatal blow and will never recover. ”

Since Tada Jun no longer insisted on the idea of non-expansion, he was bent on plotting for the expansion of aggression. After listening to Shanshan Yuan's words, Tada Jun said: "Lord Lu Xiang's plan is very appropriate, I want to add that it is not the main force of the Zhina Army that is now in Xuzhou, most of them are miscellaneous troops." What I mean is to use Xuzhou to fish, let Chiang Kai-shek transfer more of his elite troops to Xuzhou, we must finish their work in one battle, and the battle will be decided. ”

Prince Zaihito of Xianyuan Palace saw that these people were smart, and they understood it at a glance, especially Tada Jun, who was still an acquaintance, turned out to be a talented general, so he touched his beard happily and smiled. After laughing, he asked a question, if the main force of the imperial army concentrated on encircling and annihilating the main force of the political axe army in China, it would inevitably cause an emptiness in Manchuria, and what if the Soviet Union took the opportunity to attack Manchuria?

As soon as this question was raised, several people wilted as if they had been poured a basin of cold water on their heads.

Yes, what if the Soviet army took the opportunity to attack Manchuria? It is a fundamental place, and the new and old hatreds between Russia are simply not counted, if there is a chance, who can guarantee that the Soviet army will not take advantage of the fire to rob?

Seeing that several people did not speak, Inada Masamune Nakasa was anxious, for fear that his idea of expanding aggression against China would be given a cold shoulder because of the Soviet Union. But after thinking about it, there was no good way, so he tentatively said: "Should we send a force to conduct a fire reconnaissance of the Soviet army, and test whether the Soviet army has the determination to attack the imperial army and attack Manchuria." ”

"Fire reconnaissance?"

Several people thought it was incredible, this rice field was really burned into a pulp by the rush to expand the invasion, and he even joked about such a major matter, proposing a "fire reconnaissance", the son of the second-class military doctor is the son of the second-class military doctor, and the ideas are all with a bad taste.

However, if you think about it again, it is really like that, how can you know the true strategic intentions of the Soviet army without a fire reconnaissance of the Soviet army? If you can't figure out the true strategic intentions of the Soviet army, how will you fight this next battle?

Prince Zairen of the Xianyuan Palace took the lead in saying yes. As soon as this Yo Xi came out, Sugi Sugimoto, Tada Jun, and Tanaka Shinichi all shouted Yo Xi one after another, that is, fire reconnaissance, and use fire reconnaissance to bring out the strategic intentions of the Soviet army.

Inada Masamune secretly wiped his sweat, took a sip of sake, and then quietly glanced at Prince Zaihito of the Idle Courtyard Palace, and saw that the old prince looked appreciative, Inada Masamune thought about asking his wife to prepare some gifts that he could handle.

Things have reached this point, which means that the tone of this big event has been set. After drinking, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace of Xianyuan took a glass of sake with a smile and clinked glasses with several people one by one, and after drinking, he instructed Tada Jun, Tanaka Shinichi, and Inada Masamune to immediately organize forces to study how to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Chinese political axe army in Xuzhou and to investigate the firepower of the Soviet army, and then study how to occupy Wuhan.

Tada Jun, Tanaka Shinichi, and Inada Masamune agreed with a bang. When the old man of Prince Zairen of the Xianyuan Palace saw that the big event was decided, he was ecstatic, and he couldn't help clapping his hands with his hands, and called out the geisha and started the light song and dance again.

General Terauchi Shouichi, who did not know that the base camp was brewing a new and larger battle plan, spent the afternoon pondering the question of what kind of troops had attacked Dawenkou.

In the evening, General Terauchi Shouichi summoned the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe, and asked if the rails and sleepers needed for the Second Army to repair the rails and sleepers for the railway had been shipped.

Lieutenant General Naosaburo Gangbe reported that there were no rails and sleepers left in Beiping and Tianjin, and that they could only be transported from Manchuria. According to the report of the railway troops of the Kwantung Army, the trains were loaded one after another in the afternoon and set off in the evening.

Terauchi Shouichi was a little gloomy in his heart, if he continued to fight like this, he would build here and there, and he would ask for more aviation and fighter planes in the country to keep sneaking up on the airport, or it wouldn't be long before the economy of the empire would be dragged down, and at least the North China Front would become poor. Fortunately, Manchuria is still quite wealthy, and the antiques, calligraphy and paintings, gold bars, and beauties that were given to the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Ueda Kenkichi, last time also played a role, and they could also get a certain amount of replenishment from Manchuria at a critical time, otherwise, I really don't know if the North China Front can continue this battle.

Lieutenant General Naosaburo Terauchi ordered the flight group to resume air support for the front-line troops in Taierzhuang, and then called Seiichi Kita and said to the two people: "I have repeatedly studied the Dawenkou incident, and I feel that there are major doubts in this matter. 1. In the two Dawenkou incidents before and after, the garrison troops had no power to fight back at all, and all of them were shattered. Think about it, under what circumstances can this happen? 2. In the second Dawenkou incident, all 28 warplanes in Dawenkou disappeared, where did they go? What troops were used to stealing Imperial Army fighters? 3. Recently, southern Hebei, central Hebei, and Luxi have all been very calm, and there have basically been no squadron-level battles, and some have only been harassed by small units of Tubalu. What did Liu Yimin's powerful troops do? Will he be so obedient and obediently stay in southern Hebei and not find trouble with the imperial army? Fourth, the names used by the sneak attackers in the first Dawenkou incident were the Chinese military police and the 20th Army Corps. There is indeed such a mysterious unit as the Chinese gendarmerie, but it is Chiang Kai-shek's guard, and it will not normally go to war. Although the 20th Army Corps has now joined the Lunan battlefield, it is still uncertain whether it really cooperated with the Chinese military police to create the first Dawenkou Incident. The second Dawenkou incident used the names of the National Revolutionary Army's Einsatzgruppen Corps and the Third Group Army, and we don't know what kind of contingent this Einsatzgruppen Corps is, but we know that the Third Army is Han Fuqu's troops. Although the equipment is good and the training is good, its combat effectiveness is not strong enough to quietly take Dawenkou. In the previous stage, they had attacked Jining and Wenshang, all of which were division-sized and were repulsed by our defenders. I dare to guarantee that if a division of the Third Army were to attack Dawenkou, a brigade of the defenders would be able to defeat them in a dangerous way, and not a collective jade shatter. ”

When General Terauchi Shouichi said this, he didn't say any more, and Naosaburo Okabe and Seiichi Kita opened their mouths in horror almost at the same time and said, "Your Excellency the Commander means that Liu Yimin's troops did it?" ”

Terauchi Shouichi was also a little confused, saying that Liu Yimin's troops did it, but the troops guarding the railway did not report any information about the large-scale crossing of troops. Let's say no, I really can't think of any other army in China with such strong combat effectiveness. Wait, could it be that the first Dawenkou incident was created by Liu Yiming to cross Jinpu Road?

If you think about it again, it is impossible, although I have imagined the situation in case Liu Yimin travels to Shandong, but that is only an assumption. Judging from Liu Yimin's combat habit of occupying cities and capturing large quantities, it is impossible for him to abandon the Great Plains and run to the mountainous areas of central and southern Lu to suffer poverty. Besides, the situation in China is very complicated, Shandong and central and southern Hebei do not belong to the same theater of operations, and Chiang Kai-shek probably will not let Liu Yimin, the number one general, go to Shandong to develop.

General Shouichi Terauchi, who was puzzled, put his thoughts and plates out, and asked Naosaburo Okabe and Seiichi Kita to help with details. As a result, the two also believed that in terms of tactics, it should indeed be done by Liu Yimin's troops. However, Liu Yimin's troops were obviously in southern Hebei and western Luxi, and it was impossible for them to cross the Yellow River and Jinpu Road to the mountainous areas of central and southern Shandong. If Liu Yimin's troops arrived near Tai'an, with Liu Yimin's combat surname, I am afraid that Tai'an would be occupied at that time. Perhaps he will also go south to capture Yanzhou or north to capture Jinan. Besides, the Lunan Imperial Army was fighting fiercely with Chiang Kai-shek's troops, Liu Yimin was a Red Army general, and there were probably many [***] who died under him, and there was no reason for him to go to Luzhongnan to help Chiang Kai-shek.

In the end, General Terauchi Shouichi decided to ask Kita Seiichi to start from two sides to investigate the truth of the Dawenkou incident. On the one hand, it is to reconnoiter Luxi, southern Hebei, and central Hebei to see if Liu Yiming's cooking power is still there, and if necessary, the troops can sweep it up, and it will be clear in one fight. On the other hand, it is to investigate whether the Chinese military police appeared on the battlefield during the Battle of Songhu. At the same time, investigate the current movements of the 20th Army and the Third Army. Try to capture their prisoners and interrogate them if they have attacked Dawenkou.

As soon as Kita Makoto felt that there was still a possibility of completing such a task, he happily accepted the task and hurriedly went to do the deployment.

On the morning of the 26th, Furong Zhenpei Dazuo, who arrived at the front line of Taierzhuang, made a close observation of the positions of the defenders of Taierzhuang, and after returning to the headquarters, he had a conversation with Major General Seya Kai, and after learning that the air force could resume air support for Taierzhuang today, Furong Zhenpei Dazuo gathered the captains of his three infantry brigades and the commanders of the cavalry, artillery, engineers, armored vehicles, and chariot units under his command to make combat arrangements.

After completing the battle deployment, Furong Zhenping was full of spirits, pointed at Taierzhuang with a horsewhip and said: "Cross this town, and there is Xuzhou in front." By taking Xuzhou, we will be able to establish an immortal feat of joining forces with the Central China Front Army and eliminating the main force of the Chinese political axe army. Ladies and gentlemen, His Majesty's medal is waiting for us to receive it! I decided that the troops who would attack Taierzhuang first, and that the soldiers would all have a day off. ”

At this point, the officers laughed, and they all thought about fighting for the holiday and enjoying themselves in the town and the surrounding villages.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, 16 planes of the Chinese army flew to Taierzhuang. The offensive and defensive battle of Taierzhuang officially began.

(To be continued)