Baoding, known as the Army Garrison Headquarters.

The commander in charge of commanding the army in the Baoding area was Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe, and inside the headquarters, Naosaburo Okabe was circling around the big map, thinking about how to defeat the Fourth Infantry Division of the 42nd Group Army, which had been entrenched outside the city for half a month.

Originally, a week ago, Okabe Naosaburo planned a surprise battle plan, intending to defeat the [***] Fourth Division outside the city in one fell swoop, but due to the addition of two more regiments of cavalry by [***], Okabe Naosaburo's plan was directly stranded.

At this moment, a staff officer of the army strode in, and suddenly retracted his feet and said, "General! General Okamura sent an urgent telegram from Beiping! ”

"Huh?" Okabe Naosaburo was surprised: "Didn't Okamura-kun go to the front line in Cangzhou to command the troops to fight a decisive battle with the Shina Army?" How could a message be sent from Beiping? You're not mistaken, right? ”

"Hay!" The staff officer bowed his head abruptly and said: "General, there is no mistake in the humble position, General Okamura is indeed a telegram sent from Beiping, and General Okamura said in the telegram that Cangzhou has been lost, and the troops on the Cangzhou front have withdrawn to Beiping one after another. ”

"What? Cangzhou lost? Okabe Naosaburo suddenly got up and said in shock.

"Hay! Cangzhou was not captured by the Shina people, but directly abandoned by General Okamura. Then the staff officer bowed his head suddenly.

"What? Take the initiative to give up, is Okamura-kun crazy? Okabe Naosaburo said with an incredulous expression: "Then what did Okamura-kun say in the telegram?" ”

"General Okamura said, let you wait for the opportunity to act, if it is unfavorable to hold on, you can consider giving up Baoding and withdrawing to Beiping!" The staff officer bowed his head again.

"Nope! As an emperor, how can you retreat without a fight and easily give up such an important town as Baoding! If Baoding is lost, then Pingjin will have no danger to defend, is Okamura-kun crazy? If Beiping and Tianjin are also lost, then what will be the face of the empire? What is the honor of the Imperial Army? Okabe Naosaburo shook his head again and again and roared.

"But! General, Okamura-kun strictly ordered in the message that you must obey his orders! The staff officer of the army suddenly bowed his head and persuaded.

"Nope! I want to report what Okamura-kun has done to the base camp, and if Okamura-kun is allowed to command like this, all the territories occupied by the empire in China will be completely buried, and once the whole of North China is lost, the consequences will be unimaginable! Okabe Naosaburo said with a firm expression.

"What about Okamura-kun's order?"

"Ignore it, order all wings to defend the city with all their might!" Naosaburo Okabe waved his hand.

"Yes!" The devil staff officer bowed his head sharply, and then quickly turned around and left.

……………… Beiping, Cuimingzhuang.

Tanabe Moritake strode into Okamura Ninji's office, and suddenly retracted his feet and said, "General! The telegram sent to Baoding, Okabe-kun did not call back! ”

"Oh?" Okamura Ningji said awe-inspiringly: "Okabe Naosaburo must be unwilling to give up Baoding easily, so he didn't call us back!" ”

"General! So what to do? Tanabe Moritake couldn't help but say a little anxiously: "Once Okabe-kun is unwilling to retreat and leads his troops to defend to the death, under the attack of the absolute superior forces of the Chinese army, the 20,000 imperial warriors stationed in Baoding are likely to be broken together with Baoding City!" Such a blow to the Imperial Army is huge! ”

"I'm afraid I can't do anything about this, Okabe-kun may have reported my decision to the base camp! I'm sure the base camp will send someone to inspect the situation soon! Okamura Ninji said indifferently.

"General, you can report your ideas to the base camp and His Majesty the Emperor, and I believe that His Majesty the Emperor will believe you! You are doing exactly the right thing for the comeback of the Empire, and this is the only way out for the Imperial Army at the moment! "In the past few days, Moritake Tanabe has completely figured it out, and he feels more and more that Okamura Ningji's policy of taoguang and obscurity is the best choice!

"Hmmm! I can only try my best, and it is best to hope that I can avoid a strategic decisive battle between the Emperor [***] team and the Chinese army in Beiping! Because at this time, both the morale and combat effectiveness of the Chinese army have reached a commanding height. Okamura nodded and said.

"General, I think that if the 20,000 imperial warriors in Baoding can be withdrawn, even if the 42nd Group Army of the Zhina Army attacks Beiping, he alone will not be able to defeat our Beiping defenders." Moribuchi Tanabe.

"Tanabe-kun, you are wrong, if Baoding is lost, at that time, there will be more than one 42nd Group Army that can attack Beiping, at that time, Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army, [***] led by the Eighth Route Army will take the opportunity to move, you must know that the gains and losses of Beiping have extraordinary significance for the people of China! Once the 42nd Group Army waives the banner of attacking Beiping, I am afraid that all Chinese armed forces in North China will swarm up. Moreover, among them there is also the 42nd Group Army of the Central Army, which has extremely strong combat effectiveness. ”

"Er..."Tanabe Moritake gasped and said, "What the general said is extremely true, it seems that the empire must give up Pingjin!" ”

"Hmmm! Tanabe-kun, you should start preparing immediately, first withdraw all the Chinese expatriates and businessmen in Beiping and Tianjin, and take away all that you can take away. Okamura nodded.

"Hay!" Tanabe Moritake suddenly bowed his head and said, "But, general, where to evacuate these expatriates?" ”

"Manchuria!" Okamura Ninji said indifferently.

"Hay! Humble duty understood. Tanabe Moritake bowed his head again suddenly, and quickly turned to leave.

……… Tokyo, Cabinet Headquarters.

The new Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, a military general who was nicknamed a senior soldier by Ishihara Wanji, was sitting in his office approving documents, and at this time Hideki Tojo was not only the prime minister of the cabinet, but also concurrently served as the minister of land, culture, sports, commerce and industry, and quartermaster.

I have to admit that Senior Private Tojo is definitely the most indescribable person in the previous Prime Minister's Cabinet, this person's ability to command the war is just like the late stage of World War II, Ishihara Guaner once said to him You don't have the ability to command this war from the beginning, so it's better to resign quickly!

However, at present, the throne of the Prime Minister of the Senior Cabinet of Senior Soldier Tojo is about to ambitiously complete the common prosperity of Greater East Asia and completely solve the China Incident, and he is still actively preparing a battle plan for "going south."

Hideki Tojo believes that although the relationship between the United States and Britain is unclear, there should not be the kind of father-son relationship with France and the Netherlands, and there is also a relatively dirty behind-the-scenes relationship with the United States.

Therefore, if the Chinese army takes the opportunity to invade and occupy the French and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, Britain and the United States should go to war with the British themselves, after all, the British themselves are tired of facing the strong enemy of Germany and Germany, and their expeditionary forces in East Asia are not enough to protect themselves, let alone act as saviors to save France and the Netherlands, which have already perished.

In Tojo's view, only by thoroughly occupying the countries of Southeast Asia can we obtain the abundant strategic resources such as oil and rubber, so that we can inject fresh blood into the war machine that the empire is already running. So that it goes farther and flies higher!

Moreover, the occupation of Southeast Asian countries has another purpose, that is, to completely cut off the Yunnan-Burma Highway, the lifeline of China's national political axe to the outside world.

Moreover, the powerful navy of the Great Empire is not a vegetarian, and if the United States really dares to go to war, then he will also order the powerful Imperial Navy to have a decisive battle at sea with the United States at all costs!

Just as Hideki Tojo was immersed in the blueprint of his great vision, suddenly there was the sound of hurried footsteps outside the door.

Because of the arrival of Zhang Mingyu, Ishihara Wan'er was not dismissed from his post and transferred to the reserve by Tojo's senior soldier, but stayed in the staff headquarters to help him jointly develop the common prosperity of Greater East Asia that he envisioned.

Ishihara Waner also gladly accepted Tojo Hideki's invitation and did his job dutifully, only to see Ishihara Waner suddenly retract his feet and stand upright: "Tojo-kun!" Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe, Chief of Staff of the Northern Group of the Shina Dispatch Army, sent an urgent message! ”

"Oh?" Hideki Tojo was a little stunned and said, "Ishihara-kun, what's going on?" ”

"That's right, Okabe-kun reported in the telegram that the 42nd Group Army of the China Army under the leadership of Zhang Mingyu launched an attack on our defenders in North China, and Okamura-kun commanded improperly, and now he has lost Cangzhou and other areas, and is now leading the imperial army back to Beiping." Ishihara replied indifferently.

"What? Okamura-kun failed? Hideki Tojo said in surprise.

"Tojo-kun, I think Okamura-kun is not a failure, it should be Cangzhou who took the initiative to give up!"

"Why did he take the initiative to give up Cangzhou? In this way, I said, where is the prestige of this imperial army? ”

"Prime Minister Tojo! I have a sentence that I don't know if you want to hear! Ishihara said firmly.

"Ishihara-kun, please speak!" Hideki Tojo said with a sukte manner.

"At present, because of the rise of the 42nd Group Army of the Chinese Army, the situation in North China has undergone earth-shaking changes, first Shanxi was lost, and then Shimen, an important town in Hebei, was lost.

At present, the public security situation in North China is extremely poor, and the people of China have a strong sense of resistance, from the central army to the local army, down to the ordinary people, all of them have taken advantage of the situation to resist the imperial army, resulting in the imperial army being outnumbered on all sides.

Some cities are often lost in this way, ants can gnaw elephants to death, not to mention that there are 100 million Chinese in North China? Ishihara said this.

Hideki Tojo was listening attentively, and when he saw that Ishihara suddenly stopped talking, he immediately said, "Ishihara-kun, please continue." ”

Ishihara paused and said: "At present, North China can not become the rear of the empire's stability, providing various strategic materials to support the empire's holy war, but also containing a large number of troops and materials of the empire.

Tojo-kun, you know, the people of China are vast, and they have enough strategic depth to maneuver with the imperial army to carry out a protracted confrontation with the empire, but this kind of long-term protracted war is greatly disadvantageous to the empire.

The empire is a narrow empire, and it should choose a quick victory rather than a protracted war. If North China cannot become the stable rear of the empire, it is better to give up directly, consolidate Manchuria, and after achieving the strategic victory of "going south", carry out a north-south advance against China, and then China's political axe will inevitably be unable to parry.

As long as the Imperial Corps of the Empire can cut off China's mainland lifeline, then China's political axe will not be able to obtain foreign aid. Therefore, the Empire's north-south strategy was bound to achieve ultimate victory. Completely annihilated China and ruled the whole of China. ”

I have to admit Ishihara's strategic vision and mind, in the later stage of World War II, when the army lost in the Pacific theater, Ishihara said to the emperor's secret envoy, Prince Takamatsunomiya Nobuhito: "In modern warfare, it is impossible to obtain sea supremacy in places where there is no air supremacy, and since air supremacy has fallen into the hands of the other side, our army should immediately give up the Solomon Islands, the Bismarck Islands, and New Guinea." In this way, our army can secure supply lines, starting from the Burmese border in the west, abandoning the Philippines in the center, strengthening the resource zone centered on Singapore and Sumatra, and building the islands of Saipan, Tenian and Guam around the mainland into impregnable fortresses."

However, Emperor Komoto did not make up his mind to do so, and in the end, the army collapsed in the Pacific theater and almost lost his country.

Sure enough, as soon as Hideki Tojo heard that he was going to take the initiative to give up the whole of North China, he immediately jumped up in shock: "What? Give up the whole of North China?

Ishihara-kun, I heard you right, right? You know that abandoning North China is tantamount to the empire announcing to the whole world that it has lost the Chinese army and is willing to retreat to Manchuria. In this way, the position of the empire in the international community will also plummet! ”

"Tojo-kun, if you don't give up North China, then you must increase troops to North China, it is obviously impossible to draw troops from the Kwantung Army, only to draw troops from the Southbound Corps, but in your original plan, at least half of the troops of the Southbound Army will be held by the North China Imperial Army, but at present, the strength of the Imperial Army in North China has only more than 100,000 troops after a few bloody battles with the Chinese Army, and self-protection is still insufficient, where are the troops still transferred to carry out the southward strategy?" Ishihara asked rhetorically.

"This...."Hideki Tojo fell into deep thought.

Seeing that Tojo Hideki was silent, Ishihara continued: "Tojo-kun, if you don't give up North China, the plan to go south may be stranded, and it is also possible to bury the 100,000 imperial troops in North China, so the gains outweigh the losses. On the other hand, if North China is abandoned, it will not only give the imperial army a chance to breathe, but also at least half of the 100,000 imperial troops in North China can be transferred south and incorporated into the southward legion to sweep through the entire Southeast Asia. Except, of course, for the British colonies. ”

"I must ask His Majesty the Emperor for advice on this matter!" Hideki Tojo said with some hesitation.

"Tojo-kun! For the sake of the future of the Empire, and for the sake of being able to realize the common prosperity of Greater East Asia, this must be done at this time, and you can give the order now, and I am willing to meet His Majesty the Emperor with you! Ishihara lost no time in saying.

At this moment, another officer of the General Staff Department of the Chinese Army strode in, stood up and saluted the two: "Prime Minister, Deputy Minister, General Okamura Ninji, Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Group Army of the China Dispatch Army, has sent an urgent telegram!" ”

Hideki Tojo glanced at Ishihara, took the telegram, and after reading it in a hurry, he sighed and said, "Ishihara-kun, come with me to meet His Majesty the Emperor!" ”

(To be continued)