After Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace, Lu Xiangsugi Sugimoto, and the commander of the North China Front Army, Terauchi Shouichi, left the palace and went directly to the General Staff Headquarters.

After arriving at the General Staff Headquarters, Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace ordered his subordinates to inform Tani Toshio to immediately enter the palace to meet His Majesty the Emperor, and then report to the General Staff Headquarters.

Then, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace urgently summoned Deputy Chief of Staff Tada Jun and Vice-Minister of the Army Hideki Tojo to discuss the situation in Shandong.

Hideki Tojo was born in Iwate Prefecture on December 30, 1884, grew up in Tokyo, and was the son of Lieutenant General Hidekyo Tojo, the first chief graduate of the Army University, and graduated from the 27th class of the University in 1915 at the age of 31.

After graduating from Lu University, Hideki Tojo served as an instructor at Lu University, a staff officer of the General Staff Headquarters, a wing commander, a section chief of the War Department, and the head of the Military Investigation Department. It was not until September 1935, when he was almost 51 years old, that he was strongly recommended by his classmate from the Army Infant School and the director of the Personnel Bureau of the Ministry of the Army, Harem Jun, to become the commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army. At this time, the war maniac Hideki Tojo finally found a place to use, and he vowed to let the emperor know that there was another doer named Hideki Tojo in the army.

During his tenure as commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army, Hideki Tojo made a drastic move, first expanding the military police of the Kwantung Army from only 200 to 1,000 people, and then integrating the three police systems of the puppet Manchurian Ministry of Civil Affairs, the police of the Imperial Headquarters, and the police of the Kwantung Agency, and unified them under the command of his military police headquarters, establishing a complete police system called the puppet police system in the northeast, and winning the title of Razor General.

At this time, the Imperial Highway Officers within the Imperial Army launched the "226" coup d'état, and Tojo Hideki, who was a member of the control faction, immediately sent a telegram to the Emperor and the Military Department, declaring that the Kwantung Army opposed the military advice and supported the Emperor, and used his position as the commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army to hunt down and kill all the Imperial Highway officers in the Kwantung Army, thus winning the trust and favor of the Military Department of the Japanese Army and smoothly promoting him to lieutenant general.

Then, Tojo Hideki seized the opportunity of the Yue army to suppress the Northeast Resistance Forces, and planned with Sasaki Kaiichi, who was the top adviser of the puppet Manchukuo at the time, mobilized 25,000 people from 11 brigades of the puppet Manchukuo, and launched the Eastern Side Province Reading Power Crusade, which became famous in the first battle.

By this time, Hideki Tojo had already become a celebrity in the army, and in March 1937, he successfully served as the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. In May of this year, he replaced Umezu Mijiro as vice minister of the War Department.

After Hideki Tojo and Tada Jun came to Prince Zaihito's office in the Kanin Palace, Tada Jun was fine, and after saluting, he greeted several people very affectionately. After Tojo Hideki saluted, he sat down in his seat with a serious face, took out his notebook from his purse, unscrewed the fountain pen, and wrote the year and month on the notebook in a dignified manner, and wrote the names and positions of the participants, and then raised his head and waited for the instructions of the chief and Lord Lu Xiang.

Shouichi Terauchi is in a very bad mood now, he has just quarreled with Prime Minister Konoe in front of the emperor, and he is worried that Prime Minister Konoe will take the opportunity to rectify him when he meets the emperor alone.

Prince Zaihito of Xianyuan Palace is an old man, and he has seen through the thoughts of Shouichi in the temple, and comforted: "Your Excellency, you don't have to cry and mourn, the prime minister and we have the same opinion, he is just worried about the war situation and is in a bad mood, don't worry, he will firmly support the North China Front to fight." ”

Shouichi Terauchi smiled bitterly: "Your Royal Highness, the war situation in North China is so erosive, and the front army does have an unshirkable responsibility. However, the Prime Minister should understand that war is a two-sided affair and not just us. That Liu Yimin was extremely cunning and ferocious, often planning and acting, and hitting the most critical and weak place of the imperial army, which was unguardable. What I regret most now is that at that time, the heavy army group encircled and suppressed Shandong, and the net was not big enough, and the speed of action was not fast enough, so he escaped by luck. ”

Since Tada Jun went to North China and cooperated with Terauchi Shouichi for a period of time, the two of them have a similar smell, and their relationship has become extremely iron. He is also extremely smart, and from the conversation between Prince Zaihito of the Idle Courtyard and Terauchi Shouichi, he has already guessed that there must have been an unpleasant situation between Terauchi Shouichi and Konoe Bunma. Needless to say, it was because of the fact that Otaka Kamizo was caught.

Tada Jun had the heart to help Terauchi Shou speak, and when he opened his mouth, he said: "The earl of Terauchi has worked hard in North China and has worked hard. Last time, the heavy army group swept Shandong, not to mention anything else, just strengthening the public security in central and southern Hebei was equivalent to ending the job bowl of Shanxi Tuba Road. During this period, the main reason why the Tubalu offensive in the Shanxi battlefield was weak was that there was a problem with their logistics supply. It is said that this empire should commend meritorious ministers, how can you pick a bone in the egg? Besides, the general of the temple was ordered to go to Europe, and he has not yet returned to North China. What does what happened there have to do with him? ”

Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace, Sugi Sugimoto, and Terauchi Shouichi were essentially wearing a pair of pants, and they almost attacked Prime Minister Konoe in a group just now, and when they saw that Tada Jun, who had resolutely advocated not expanding the invasion, really stood on his side and spoke, several people felt more comfortable.

Prince Zaihito of the Idle Yuan Palace glanced at Tada Jun with approving, and then asked Terauchi Shouchi to briefly introduce the battle situation in Shandong, and also introduced his disposal plan, and then led a few people to look at the map of Shandong and carefully consider it.

Tojo Hideki himself said that he was a doer, and this was not wrong, he was indeed politically short-sighted, ambitious, and bold guy, after listening to Terauchi Shouichi's battle plan, he was very dissatisfied, thinking that Terauchi Shouichi's plan was too conservative, and how could the army be frightened by the small Eighth Route Army Liu Yimin, and watch the 33rd Division be annihilated?

After reading the map, Hideki Tojo put forward his own idea, that is, since Liu Yimin wants to fight hard, the army must accompany him to the end, even if the order is to exhaust the national and military strength, but also to level the Eighth Route Army in Shandong in a war.

Listening to what Hideki Tojo said, he asked him: "Tojo-kun, do you have any strange plans?" ”

Hideki Tojo was waiting for this sentence, and immediately replied: "Lord Lu Xiang, it is said that this empire must be prepared to start a war with China, the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and France at the same time, no matter how powerful Liu Yimin is, can he be more powerful than so many countries?" My plan is: 1. Immediately order the front-line troops in Xuzhou and Yanzhou to quickly attack northward. Since Liu Yimin was originally hidden in southeast Lu, then his nest must be there, and our army attacking southeast Lu will inevitably force Liu Yimin to come to the rescue, which is the strategy of the people of China to encircle Wei and save Zhao. In order to strengthen the ability to continue the attack on the southeast of Shandong, the offensive operations on the Zhengzhou front line were suspended, and the 14th Division was immediately transferred back to Xuzhou to join the second echelon attack. Second, the defense line of Jinpu Road cannot be shaken, the 35th Division stationed in Tai'an cannot reinforce Jinan, and the 13th Brigade of Reading Li Mixed in Dongping can return to defend Tai'an. He could go north with the 35th Division to reinforce Jinan at any time. Immediately carry out an emergency contraction in Luxi, southern Hebei, and central Hebei, these areas are all plains, and our army can reoccupy them at any time, so it does not matter if they are temporarily abandoned. The North China Public Security Army, commanded by the three garrison divisions in the above three regions, rushed to the aid of Jinan, formed a heavy army group around Jinan, and marched east at any time to fight a decisive battle with Liu Yimin. Considering the limited combat effectiveness of the garrison division, the Kwantung Army was ordered to urgently mobilize, secretly transfer the first and second divisions into the pass, and move south along the Jinpu Road to serve as the main force in the attack on Shandong. 3. Order the 33rd Division to immediately assemble in Laizhou Bay, establish a strong position, resolutely block the attack of the Eighth Route Army, and prepare to receive the landing of the rushing reinforcements. 4. Order all fighters and ships at the Sasebo base to set off to support the 33rd Division. All fighters of the Kwantung Army were transferred to the airports of Beiping, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, and Baoding, and all the fighters of the above-mentioned airports were transferred to the airports of Jinan, Qingdao, Dawenkou, and Xuzhou. All the reconnaissance planes took off immediately, and it was necessary to find out the location of the airfield of the Eighth Route Army Air Brigade and destroy it in one fell swoop. 5. Once Wuhan was captured, the 6th, 3rd, and 9th Divisions quickly moved north, replenished in Xuzhou, and joined the Shandong war. After capturing Guangzhou, the 5th Division quickly moved north to Qingdao, held Qingdao and attacked westward. This time, we must purge the Eighth Route Army in Shandong and completely eradicate future troubles. ”

Tada Jun couldn't help but interrupt him when he saw that Tojo Hideki was foaming at the mouth, and couldn't help but interrupt him: "Tojo-kun, the troops of the first and second divisions are scattered and stationed, and when they gather and rush to Jinan, the corpses of the soldiers of the 33rd Division may have been eaten by wild dogs." If the Fifth Division wants to return to Qingdao, it will take at least half a month, and after the Sixth, Third, and Ninth Divisions occupy Wuhan, they will probably have to replenish their soldiers, weapons and ammunition before they can be deployed. You haven't fought against Liu Yimin's troops, and you don't know how ferocious his tactics are. If the estimate is good, it will be difficult for the 33rd Division to survive tonight. Have you forgotten what happened to the Chahar Dispatch Corps that you personally formed? Have you forgotten the fate of the mighty 8th Division? Have you forgotten what happened to Lieutenant General Sasaki? I see that the only thing you said is that the one that mobilizes fighters to reinforce Shandong works. Everything else is on paper. ”

Terauchi Shouichi had a better attitude, and patted Tojo Hideki on the shoulder: "Tojo-kun, if it is really as you imagined, the 33rd Division can wait for reinforcements to arrive, then Liu Yimin will not do it at this time." Besides, the troops on the Wuhan front could not move at all, and Chiang Kai-shek's troops must have suffered heavy losses in the Wuhan operation, but they replenished quickly and would soon return to the pre-war level. If these main divisions are withdrawn now, the results of the Wuhan Raid will be in vain. ”

When Tojo Hideki heard the words of these two people, he shuddered in his heart, yes, Sasaki is not a weak hand, and the Chahar Corps is also from the Kwantung Army, and after they were shattered, the first and second divisions were urgently replenished to ensure their combat effectiveness. The past does not forget the teacher of the future, maybe what these two people said is really reasonable! However, Hideki Tojo is a natural tough, he has been the king of fighting in the army school since he was a child, and his will is very tenacious, and he will not turn back if he doesn't hit the south wall. He understands that now he has no room for much talk in front of these people, not to mention that his suggestions are not perfect in a hurry, even if they are very complete and practical, they will not listen. That's fine, when he is in charge and can take charge of the entire army, he will meet that Liu Yimin again to see if he is really three heads and six arms!

In the end, several old devils formed a consensus, one is to strengthen the defense of Jinan according to the deployment of Shouichi in the temple. However, the operational arrangements of the 33rd Division were revised, and it was decided to transfer additional fighters from the Kwantung Army and the Sasebo base to fight in Shandong, and it was necessary to blow up a bloody road to cover the 33rd Division's breakthrough to Qingdao. Second, he immediately ordered the 114th Division stationed in Xuzhou and the puppet Manchurian Defense Army to launch an offensive in southeastern Shandong to contain the offensive of Liu Yimin's troops in central Shandong. The troops stationed in Yanzhou served as a flank attacker. Third, it is necessary to find and destroy the Eighth Route Army Air Force to prevent this air force from taking another risk and sneaking up on the fleet and airfields. Fourth, the First and Second Divisions of the Kwantung Army were ordered to immediately mobilize, assemble troops, and be ready to enter the customs at any time for operation.

After the plan was decided, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace said to Terauchi Shouichi: "General Terauchi, we must concentrate our aviation forces to cover the 33rd Division's operations, and if necessary, we can order the division to disperse and break through. Luzhong is so big, there are always gaps to drill. In any case, the division commander, Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro, and the military flag must not fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army. ”

Why didn't Shouichi Terauchi want to withdraw the 33rd Division to Qingdao in its entirety? It's just that I'm afraid I can't do it. Now that we have a strong aviation force as the backing, let's try it and see if Liu Yimin's offensive is fast, or the fighters of the imperial army are fast.

By the time Tani Toshio had rushed to the General Staff Headquarters after meeting Emperor Hirohito, orders from the base camp had already been transmitted to the Kwantung Army, the Sasebo Army and Naval Base, and the North China Front, and the tanks of the Japanese army began to start again.

There was a small mistake in the middle, and it was a joke. It turned out that it was the 34th Division that was stationed in Tai'an, and it was the 35th Division that was stationed in Yanzhou. Terauchi Shouichi ordered the 35th Division to leave a brigade to guard Tai'an, and waited for the 13th Brigade to arrive at Tai'an to receive a visit. The commander of the 35th Division, Maeda Osamu called to ask for instructions, and his words were very respectful: "Your Excellency Commander's orders will be obeyed and carried out, but the 35th Division is stationed in Yanzhou and undertakes the task of blockading Lunan, and Your Excellency the Commander wants the 35th Division to send a brigade to garrison Tai'an, which may be difficult to complete, and it will embarrass the 34th Division stationed in Tai'an." "It made Terauchi Shouichi scold himself for being old and useless, and he couldn't even figure out the defense area of the troops, so he hurriedly called back and ordered the 34th Division to reinforce Jinan.

The war was urgent, and Terauchi Shouichi and Gu Shoufu didn't have time to dwell on it anymore, so they rushed directly to Qingdao by plane, and from there flew to Jinan. In order to ensure their safety and to strengthen the strength of the Shandong Air Force, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace of the Idle Yuan and Sugi Shan Moto, after discussing with him, transferred a fighter wing from the First Flying Group that remained in the homeland to escort Terauchi Shouichi and Tani Shouo to North China.

Of course, Shouichi Terauchi did not forget his beloved Miss Masako and called the guards to pick her up in a car to meet her at the airport.

Pingdu to Weicheng is more than 80 kilometers, under normal circumstances, the cavalry takes nearly five hours, the car takes nearly three hours, and the infantry is much slower, even if you don't eat, drink or rest, you have to walk for more than ten hours!

During the bloody battle of Zhoucun, Chen Dayong commanded the main force of the Seventh Brigade to attack the 33rd Division at night, beating these little devils who had just arrived in China for a short time and were routed on all fronts. If it weren't for the presence of the 14th Division, it is likely that Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro would have been a prisoner of the Eighth Route Army.

With the lessons of this fiasco, in the following days, Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro devoted all his attention to the training of the troops. Not to mention, after the whole training and the Jiaodong sweeping operation, the combat effectiveness of the 33rd Division has been greatly improved. Lieutenant General Shigetaro sometimes thinks that if the Tsuchibachi Road is now coming to fight the 33rd Division's idea, keep it and let them run into a bloody mess.

Originally, the task of the 33rd Division was to garrison Jiaodong and encircle and suppress the guerrilla troops of the Eighth Route Army in Jiaodong. However, Otaka Guizang made a plan for the Jiaoji Road sweeping operation, asking the 33rd Division to hand over the defense of Jiaodong to the Qingdao garrison, advance west to Pingdu and Changyi, and assist the 10th Eighth Division in sweeping the Qinghe area and the Changwei area of the Eighth Route Army.

Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro did not have the worry that the commander of the 1st 08th Division, Xia Yuan Xiongmi, might be transferred to the reserve, and he looked at the problem more objectively, and after receiving the order, he scoffed, and secretly scolded in his heart that Tail Gao Kamizo was reckless, and in such a big place as Jiaodong, a 33rd Division thought that the troops were too weak, so he was better and let Jiaodong be handed over to the Qingdao garrison for defense. This guy regards the Qingdao garrison as the second, fifth, and sixth divisions, and China as North Korea!

Although he didn't want to, he still had to carry out Otaka Kamizo's order, because he didn't want to be the chicken that Otaka Kamizo killed to show the monkey!

Ganji Jutaro had objections in his heart, and when he carried out the order of Ozaka Kamezo, it seemed that he was not so proactive. As a result, when he arrived at the front line of Pingdu and Changyi, he received a new order, asking him to lead the 33rd Division to move closer to the 108th Division and form a heavy army group to avoid being broken by the Eighth Route Army.

At this time, the situation of the 33rd Division was as follows: the 33rd Wing of the Divisional Search Wing cooperated with the 213th Infantry Wing to occupy Changyi, taking over the defense of the 10th and 8th Divisions to supplement the first brigade. The 214th Infantry Wing, together with the chariot squadron, rushed to the area of Mingcun and Bawangbu, fifty miles east of Pingdu. Ganji Shigetaro led the division headquarters, the 33rd Infantry Regiment Headquarters, the armored vehicle squadron directly under the division, the 33rd Mountain Artillery Wing, the Engineer Wing, and the Baggage Wing to be stationed in Pingdu County.

Gansu Shigetaro couldn't understand why the Eighth Route Army had been chased and beaten by the imperial army in the past few months, so why did it suddenly start to attack? It wasn't until the 12th Army sent a notice that it was judged that the main force of Instructor Liu Yimin had returned to Shandong, and that the combat targets should be the 108th Division and the 33rd Division, that Gansu Shigetaro became vigilant, thinking that his 33rd Division was only 12,800 people, not to mention that it was not as good as a permanent division, and even a special division like the 108th Division. If it was really Liu Yimin's Eighth Route Army instructor who came, I am afraid that they would first aim their attack arrows at themselves.

Thinking about this, Gansu Shigetaro no longer considered how strong his 33rd Division's combat effectiveness was, nor did he dare to let the Tuba Road meet and bleed, so he hurriedly ordered to gather the troops, collect mules, horses, carts and bicycles, and prepare to advance to Weicheng after dawn to join the 108th Division.

Gansu Shigetaro was still cautious, he kept in mind the instructions of the commander of the North China Front, Terauchi Shouichi, and did not march at night, so he could only camp in the village to prevent sneak attacks.

At this time, the economy of the province was still good, and the equipment of the troops could still be guaranteed. Like a permanent division, its baggage wing generally has three brigades, each with 50 vehicles, as well as rubber [***] vehicles. Although the 33rd Division is a three-unit garrison division, it also has a squadron of combat vehicles, a squadron of armored vehicles, and 50 vehicles. Later, after the army further adjusted its establishment and expanded its troops, it would be difficult for a garrison division like the 33rd Division to have automobiles.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, it felt that the day was almost clear, and Gansu Shigetaro couldn't wait any longer, so he ordered the troops to set off, with armored vehicles taking the lead, automobiles, rubber carts and collected mule and horse carts pulling the infantry and baggage, and the infantry without vehicles and horses followed behind, and advanced quickly towards Weicheng.

After the departure of the troops, Tataro received telegrams from the 12th Army and the 108th Division, asking about the progress. Later, there was a report that Commander Odaka Kamezo had fallen into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, and Kobayashi Asaburo, chief of staff of the 12th Army, was already a little angry in the telegram, and strictly ordered the 33rd Division to speed up its action, join up with the 10th and 8th Division as soon as possible, and be sure to rescue Commander Otaka Kamezo. Immediately afterwards, a telegram from the commander of the 1st 08th Division, Kuami Shimoto, also arrived, saying that he and the chief of staff were both injured in a traffic accident, and implored Gansu Shigetaro to speed up and rush to Weicheng to command the two divisions to fight.

At this time, Gansu Shigetaro was in a hurry, and while ordering the 213th Wing in Changyi and the 214th Wing near Myeongchon to speed up the march, he ordered his direct troops to continue to collect mules, horses, carts, and bicycles along the way to transport troops and speed up the march. And ordered the car team to transport the infantry back and forth, increase the speed of the march, and save the physical strength of the soldiers.

Shigetaro could have formed a formation of motorcycles, automobiles, and armored vehicles, and led a brigade to Weicheng first, in which case, he could arrive in three hours at most. However, this guy was scared, and he was unwilling to leave the unit to advance, not to mention, and wanted the armored car squadron to stay behind to escort the troops directly under him. In this way, we had to burn more gasoline and let the car fleet, the rubber [***] car, and the mule and horse carts pick up and drop off the infantry section by section like ants moving.

Fortunately, the road was safe, and the marching speed was still very fast. By ten o'clock in the morning, the 213th Wing reported that it had arrived in Kaiyuan Town, less than fifteen miles from Weicheng, and asked for instructions. The 214th Wing also reported that troops had arrived at the front line of Cheongchi and asked how to proceed.

At this time, Gansu Jutaro hurried and hurried and had just crossed the Jiaolai River. Therefore, he ordered the 213th Wing to rush to Weicheng immediately and prepare to take over Weicheng. The 214th Wing was ordered to go directly to Fangzi to contact the troops of the 108th Division and assist in the operation.

As soon as he gave the order, he received a telegram from Shouichi Terauchi and translated by him.

(To be continued)