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Chapter 1385 is a dilemma

Tokyo, Prime Minister's Official Residence. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Fumima Konoe is watching his wives and concubines arrange flowers in the backyard. Ikebana is a kind of noble art, and the nobles who are bored and raised for nothing are always obsessed with flower arrangement, tea ceremony, and cumbersome kimonos and meals, as a way to express their obedience to the cage-style family life and respect for their husbands.

A guard officer quietly walked into the backyard door and respectfully reported: "Your Excellency, the military department has made an urgent call, and there was another serious incident in Shanghai last night. ”

"Serious incidents? Since the July incident in North China, what time has there been a serious incident? Now the family is about to be tossed away by the losers of the army! ”

Konoe Fumima waved his hand impatiently: "Okay, I see, tell them that my mood is rare now, and tell them not to disturb me." ”

The attendant bowed and retreated, and Konoe Funma continued to have fun with his woman, but the bad news that might come from Shanghai was like a dark cloud that covered the sunshine in Konoe Fumima's heart, and he soon became in a bad mood and had no interest. So, with a gloomy face, Konoe Fumima left the official residence and went to the palace to convene a cabinet meeting.

The Royal Palace, the East Imperial Garden.

Emperor Hirohito was breathing fresh air in the woods, and Empress Ryoko was wearing a cumbersome *** kimono and heavy makeup following closely behind. In the morning, the ground was covered with dew, and the cobblestone road was slippery to step on, and Hirohito fell on his back, and his deep myopic glasses fell into the grass, and the expression on his face was both angry and embarrassed.

A court attendant hurriedly helped Hirohito up, and carefully bowed down to ask for instructions: "Your Majesty, the ministers are waiting for the Holy Driver in the Privy Council Chamber, please ask Your Majesty when to see you?" ”

Hirohito was very unhappy and furrowed his brows: "Why go to the council chamber?" Recently, I have been hearing bad news, a person named An Yi has always brought trouble to the empire...... Let them in, and here I will meet them. ”

The attendants looked at each other, it was not in line with the etiquette of the court to receive the minister in the woods, not to mention that Hirohito still had a lot of dirt on his face at the moment.

"Baga! Are you deaf? Hirohito's pair of goldfish eyes seemed to bulge out of his sockets, and he said angrily: "Obey!" ”

"Hey!"

As the attendants went to inform the minister, the empress and the ladies bent down and retreated, the sun umbrellas were spread out in the woods, felt was spread on the ground, and Hirohito sat on the chair to receive his confidant courtiers.

Soon, the five ministers of the cabinet, the chief of staff, the chief of staff, Miyajihito, and the minister of military orders, Fushimi Miyahiro Gong, came to the woods, and they were given peace after being scared of prostration.

Hirohito's goldfish eyes glanced over the faces of his confidants, and finally fell on the faces of War Minister Sugiyama Moto, who came from a poor samurai family.

"Sugiyama Aiqing, let's talk about it, what's the bad news?"

Hirohito said as he pinched the crane sound. Relatively speaking, Hirohito likes more soldiers, likes their loyalty, might, and bravery, and prefers the grateful and sincere eyes of generals from the grassroots. Because all the status, ranks, privileges, loftiness, and glory and wealth that grassroots generals possess that are different from their humble origins are all derived from their own gifts, and their worship of imperial power is far greater than that of the wealthy nobles.

"Your Majesty, yesterday the Emperor's *** Army Division suffered another shameful defeat in North China, Sugiyama is ashamed of his trust in His Majesty, and he is hereby to ask for guilt!" Sugiyama Moto's body is once again subdued.

"I already know this!"

Hirohito waved his hand: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, Sugiyama Aiqing doesn't have to be like this, let's be even!" ”

Sugiyama Moto's grateful gaze made Hirohito enjoy the happiness of being high again, and his eyes fell on Mitsumasa Mitsuma, a sea minister from a poor family:

"Mineiqing, what bad news did you bring again?"

Mitsumasa Yonechi looked embarrassed, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, last night the Third Fleet suffered a bizarre ship theft incident, and the cruisers 'Natori' and 'Yura' and the destroyers 'Murayu', 'Yutachi', 'Spring Rain', and 'May Rain' were held hostage by the Shina Navy and fled to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

"In a fit of rage, Admiral Hasei sent his battleships in pursuit, but was ambushed by the Shina Navy, and the cruiser Kitakami and the destroyers Aoi and Hagi were sunk. In addition, the gunboat Inogi had an accident and continued to shell the British and French concessions, and in order to relieve the pressure on the imperial diplomacy, General Hase ordered the crew to abandon the ship and sink it. Now that the Third Fleet of the Imperial Navy has suffered heavy losses, and only eighteen of the fleet's twenty-eight warships remain, Admiral Hase's plea to His Majesty the Emperor. ”

Hirohito's face changed, he stood up angrily, and roared loudly: "Why is there such a serious mistake? Hasegawa Kiyoshi lived up to my expectations, hateful and annoying, and instructed ......"

"Ahem—"

Fushimi Miyahiro Gong Wang Military Commander coughed slightly, Hirohito immediately came to his senses, knowing that at this time, the Third Fleet was trapped in the Huangpu River, and had to rely on Hasegawa Kiyoshi to support the situation, so he changed his words: "Let General Hasei treat the crime and make meritorious contributions, if you are negligent again, I will punish you severely!" ”

Mitsumasa Minai prostrated on the ground and pleaded guilty: "Minei has failed to live up to His Majesty's expectations, please punish Your Majesty!" ”

Hirohito saw the contemptuous gaze on Prime Minister Konoe Fumima's face, his heart moved, he sat back in the chair and stretched out his right hand, and said softly and comfortingly: "The Minuchi family is dedicated to the country, what is the crime?" Flatten! ”

Mitsumasa Yonechi sat up straight with tears in his eyes.

Seeing that Hirohito was slow to call himself, Konoe Fumima finally couldn't help it: "Your Majesty, the fact is that as General Ishihara Waner said, it was a huge mistake to attack Shina in the south. Now that the army and navy have suffered frequent defeats, and the country's human, financial, and material resources have been seriously depleted, it is time for us to end the war and correct our mistakes.

"If we throw out an olive branch of peace at this time, I believe that the government of China will be overjoyed, and it will be able to maintain the rights and interests of the empire before the China incident. The empire will make great efforts to conquer the Far East of Soviet Russia and Siberia, truly turn the *** sea into the inland sea of the empire, and then go south after it has a deep war potential, and it will definitely get twice the result with half the effort. ”

Hirohito's heart was tired for a while, isn't this a disguised admission of defeat? Since the Meiji Restoration, when has there ever been an emperor who sought peace with the outside world?

"Needless to say, the Konoe family has made up their minds. Didn't the War Department and the Admiralty jointly develop a plan for operations in South China? Now it's time to implement! Hirohito said firmly.

Konoe Funma is not afraid of Hirohito's anger, and the commoners are naturally afraid of the emperor, but from an aristocratic background, he watched Hirohito grow up with his own eyes, and Konoe Fumima, who has always regarded Hirohito as his younger brother, is not comparable to ordinary people? He still insisted:

"Your Majesty, according to reliable intelligence, Soviet Russia is colluding with Germany and Italy behind its back, trying to take action against the Czech Republic, Poland and other countries in Eastern Europe. After discussion, the cabinet believed that a war in Europe was inevitable, and at that time, if Germany and Italy turned against Soviet Russia, we could take advantage of the situation to attack Germany and Italy from east to west and take the Far East and Siberia of Soviet Russia; If Germany and Italy work with Britain and France together with Soviet Russia, then we can also attack Southeast Asia and other countries and obtain Britain's huge colonies in Asia. This is the chance for the rise of the Empire, so don't make a mistake! ”

Hirohito completely ignored Konoe Fumima's pleading, and asked directly to Chief of Staff of the Imperial Palace:

"Now that the empire's biggest opponent, the Anjia Army, has all gathered in the area south of the Yangtze River in China, can the plan of the General Staff to conquer China be implemented?"

The Chief of Staff of Xianyuan Palace Zairen bowed and saluted: "Yes, Your Majesty, the plan is perfect. However, at present, Manchuria is full of red disasters, and if it is not eradicated as soon as possible, it may threaten the food and energy supply of the empire. Therefore, the opinion of the General Staff was to put down the Manchurian rebellion first, and then implement the South China battle plan. ”

Hirohito nodded, and looked at the Minister of Military Orders, King Fushimi Miyahiro Gong: "The affairs of the navy must be grasped quickly, and we must continue to exert pressure on the Chinese army, and now that the Yangtze River channel is blocked, why not try to launch a fierce attack on the Chinese army from the first line of Hangzhou Bay?" The empire has received a large amount of aid from Britain and the United States, and the shipyards are starting at full speed, and the attrition of the imperial navy in the past few months will soon be replenished. Ladies and gentlemen, the strategy is a national policy related to the survival of the empire, please treat it solemnly! ”

"Hey!"

All respectfully agreed.

Seeing that Hirohito had made up his mind, even if he had a different opinion in his heart, Konoe Fumima had to give up his point of view and once again continue to raise funds and resources around the war in China to fill the bottomless pit of the military.

......

Artillery roared and gunsmoke erupted.

Taking advantage of the brief confusion that occurred last night when the special brigade of the Anjia Army attacked in all directions to the Japanese command system and the transfer of troops, the Ninth Army launched a fierce attack on the Japanese concession at 8 o'clock in the morning.

At the beginning, the battle was extremely smooth, and Sun Yuanliang's 88th Division West Route Army took the North Sichuan Road in one go, and engaged in a fierce street battle with the Japanese army on Wusong Road; The 88th Division of the North Route Army broke through the first line of the tomb and the Bazi Bridge, and attacked the Tiantongan Railway Station controlled by the Japanese army.

The location of the Tiantongan railway station is extremely important, and once the 88th Division takes it, it will face the headquarters building of the Japanese Marine Corps. The Japanese army set up heavy defenses at the Tiantongan railway station, and the battle was fierce from the beginning.

Song Xilian's 36th Division was responsible for attacking the front line of Lingzhi University and Patriotic Girls' School. Due to the frequent attacks of the Japanese army by the special brigade of the Anjia Army last night, the defensive forces stationed in this place were greatly weakened, and the 36th Division captured and took the place in one go and attacked Hongkou Park.

Hongkou Park is also an important barrier to the headquarters of the Japanese Marine Corps headquarters, and once it is lost, the consequences are unimaginable, and the commander of the Japanese Special Marine Corps, Major General Okawa Uchidenqi, has to send his reserves again to support the crumbling defense line.

Since then, Hongzhen and Yinxianggang Town have been broken by the 98th Division and the 87th Division of the Squadron, and Hujiang University, which has high hopes for the 7th National Command Group, has also been completely wiped out by the Special Operations Brigade of the Anjia Army due to its command system, and the Japanese troops stationed in the place have lost their ground, and the defense line was quickly taken by the 87th Division, and the front of the troops pointed directly at the Gongda Yarn Factory where the Japanese army was heavily stationed.

Seeing the rapid deterioration of the situation, Major General Okawa Neichuan 7 quickly appealed to the 22nd Brigade for help.

Major General Yoshikatsu Kuroiwa, commander of the 22nd Brigade of the 11th Division of the Army, did not dare to slack off, and immediately sent an additional wing of troops on the eastern and western fronts, and at the same time sent out all the combat convoys and mortar units in his hands to strengthen the defensive firepower.

Due to the addition of the new force of the Japanese army, the offensive of the various units of the Ninth Army was seriously curbed, and the battle situation once again turned into a dull state of tug-of-war.

Coming out of Nanxiang Temple, An Yi looked at his watch, it was almost noon, and he simply decided not to go back to Guyi Garden for a meeting, and went to the front line to see the specific battle situation.

In order to hide people's eyes, An Yi took off his general's uniform, changed into an ordinary gray cloth military uniform, drove into Zhabei Huajie, and came to the downtown area of Shanghai, which was filled with gunpowder. In order to avoid becoming a live target for the Japanese naval guns, the convoy stopped at the field hospital of the 88th Division in Zhabei, and then the group followed behind the attacking troops to observe the entire battlefield from a distance.

Shen Fengdao and Lin Yaodong didn't dare to slack off, and followed An Yi's side closely, and more than a dozen guards watched and listened in all directions, guarding cautiously.

After crossing the railway, the sound of gunfire in front of him became more and more harsh, An Yi looked around, led people into a charred black building, and came to a hole in the corridor on the fourth floor that was blown open more than one meter wide.

Shen Fengdao and Lin Yaodong, one left and one right, also took out binoculars and watched the situation of the battlefield from a distance. The guards are scattered around, controlling all directions and preventing emergencies.

In the telescope, about a thousand meters ahead, about a company of soldiers was bent over their waists, along the shops on both sides of the street, jumping, prostrating, or stealthily breaking through.

Despite the loss of more than a dozen warships last night, the morale of the Navy was not greatly affected and it was still sparing no effort to support the front line. As if they were holding their breath to come out, the Japanese warships poured thousands of shells into Zhabei in one go, and many residential houses and street houses were on fire, and thick smoke billowed out of the sky, covering the sky and the sun, and the citizens who had not been evacuated under the persuasion of the Chinese officers and soldiers were killed and wounded.

Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire, and An Yi saw through the binoculars that at least one squad of Chinese soldiers had been knocked down by enemy bullets from a two-story building across the road, and the rest of the officers and soldiers fired at each other, losing the lives of more than a dozen brothers, and had to retreat to the building they had occupied earlier, and engaged in fierce fire with the Japanese army.

An Yi shook his head painfully, the officers and men of the 88th Division were too difficult to deal with this kind of street fighting, if they were replaced by An Jiajun, it would be absolutely impossible to suffer such a secret loss.

From the binoculars, An Yi clearly saw the spasmodic expression of fear and pain on the face of a soldier in a gray military uniform when he was hit by a bullet and desperately struggling to fall. But it was only a momentary impression in my mind, a row of more intense screaming machine-gun bullets, like a monstrous hand of death, knocking the soldier's young face and once-vigorous flesh off the ground, and the flesh flew until it was torn to shreds.

An Yi turned his head and asked Shen Feng on the side: "Old Shen, guess how many devils are in that building?" ”

"Look at the firepower configuration, it should be a squad!"

Shen Fengdao put down the binoculars and said: "From the analysis of fire intensity, there should only be one light machine gun in that building, and the rest are Type 38 rifles, but because the other party's soldiers are very accurate in marksmanship, it causes an extremely powerful visual error in firepower!" ”

An Yi nodded, "I don't know how the grassroots commander of the 88th Division, who commanded the attack in front, fought this battle?" Hopefully, he can give a not bad answer. With that, continue to take a closer look with the binoculars.

I saw that under the cover of several light and heavy machine guns, the squadron crawled along the walls on both sides of the street, but the Japanese army's marksmanship was accurate, the bullets seemed to have all eyes, and the guns fell down, and the squadron had to drop more than a dozen corpses and retreat.

An Yi sighed: "The quality of the Japanese army is still far stronger than our Central Army...... The gun is very accurate, the hard attack is definitely not good, you have to find a way, in this case, if the marksmanship is not good, it is best to use the battle defense gun to shoot directly, of course, if there is our bazooka it is easier! If it really doesn't work, just blow it up with a cannon! ”

Shen Fengdao's face was painful: "Commander, I estimate that this order is difficult to give, there are still many residents in this building where the devil is located, just now I saw a little girl looking out through the window on the second floor......"

An Yi was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly raised the binoculars, only to see that in a window on the second floor of the building that was damaged by gunshots, he saw a faint head shaking, and among them was a little girl with pigtails.

An Yi was silent for a moment.

This is a thorny question, although the war has been burning for a few days, but there are always some people who are reluctant to leave their homeland, thinking that the war will pass. Fighting in a densely populated city like Shanghai is a common people!

However, An Yi observed the situation, if he did not decisively knock out the Japanese firepower point in that building, not only would the attack be blocked, casualties would increase, but it was also possible to be outflanked by the enemy's counterattack.

To fight or not to fight is a dilemma!