Gu Shoufu, commander of the 12th Army of the Chinese Army, gave orders in Jinan, and Shouichi Terauchi, commander of the North China Front, was not idle in Beiping.

As soon as Toshiichi Terauchi got off the plane, he returned directly to the headquarters with Naosaburo Gangbe, chief of staff of the North China Front, Seiichi Kita, chief of the secret service, and Kinoshita Toshita, commander of the aviation group.

Okabe Naosaburo received a telegram from Shouichi Terauchi to return to Beiping, and he felt a little regretful in his heart. This carefree Emperor Taishang is coming to an end, and the real North China Emperor is coming back, and he has to return to power. Fortunately, Naosaburo Gangbu has a self-aware name, and he was quickly relieved. His prestige, qualifications, and knowledge can't reach the point of controlling the situation in North China, and when he encounters a guy like Liu Yimin who doesn't play cards according to common sense, he is at a loss, and he has to come back to the temple.

Naosaburo Okabe, who figured it out, was overwhelmed by one bad news after another, but he still asked the guards to clean the office and living room of His Excellency the commander spotlessly. Including the furniture in Miss Masako's apartment, Naosaburo Okabe sent someone to wipe it clean, and also purchased new women's clothes with new styles, waiting for His Excellency the Commander to return to the headquarters to work.

After returning to the headquarters, Shouichi Terauchi washed up briefly, let Naosaburo Okabe, Seiichi Kita, and Toshitoshi Kinoshita accompany him, and after a simple meal, he came to the war room of the headquarters.

After reading the situation map of North China marked on the map, Naosaburo Terauchi Oka gave a brief report on the progress of the war in North China.

Gangbu Naosaburo was already ready, and when he heard this, he briefly reported the battle situation in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Suiyuan, Chahar and other places, and then began to report on the battle situation in Shandong.

According to the situation grasped by Naosaburo Gangbu, in the previous stage, the Eighth Route Army in Shandong was mainly engaged in small-scale ambush warfare and raid warfare, and battles took place every day. The small units of the imperial army attacked without exception with heavy casualties, and it was difficult to find traces of the Tuba Road when the large troops attacked. In particular, in Luxi and Jilubian, tunnels were dug on the Eighth Road and minefields were set up to fight against the imperial army, and many villages and towns became fortresses that could not be attacked. In addition, in order to support the front-line operations in Zhengzhou, the garrison divisions and regiments of Luxi, southern Hebei, central Hebei, and Hebei and Lubian all transferred units of the size of a wing to the south to participate in the battle, and their troops were relatively weak, and they lost the ability to attack and fight, and could only stick to key points and communication lines, thus creating a situation in which they were passively beaten everywhere. The reason why Odaka Kamizo wanted to organize and launch the Jiaoji Road sweeping operation was to reverse the passive situation. As a result, before the Jiaoji Road sweeping operation was launched, it was attacked by Liu Yimin's division of the Eighth Route Army, causing the tragedy of the 108th Division and the 33rd Division.

Gangbe Naosaburo was about to say more, but Shouichi Terauchi interrupted him and asked when the 14th Division would return to Xuzhou? When will the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Kwantung Army complete their assembly?

Naosaburo Okabe reported that he had received a report from the 14th Division, and that after receiving the order, the unit was handing over the defense and planned to return to the east tomorrow. The Kwantung Army did not seem to be very active in sending the 1st and 2nd Divisions into the pass, and called back that it would take two days for the two divisions to complete the assembly. However, the Second Flying Regiment from which they were dispatched had already been transferred to the customs and was put on combat duty in the afternoon.

Terauchi Shouichi knew that the commander of the Kwantung Army was afraid that the 1st Division and the 2nd Division would suffer heavy losses in the battle, after all, there was a tragedy of the 8th Division ahead, and it was normal for Ueda Kenkichi to be a little worried. However, now that the war situation in Shandong is erosive, and there is an urgent need for backbone divisions and regiments to stabilize the war situation, if the first and second divisions do not enter the customs to support, in case Liu Yimin's troops really attack Jinan, with the current third-rate and fourth-rate troops of the North China Front, no matter how they cannot stop the arrogant instructors of the Eighth Route Army.

Terauchi Shou must have calmed down, and said to Gangbu Naosaburo: "Gangbe-kun, order the 14th Division to return east tonight." Tell them not to worry, Chiang Kai-shek's troops did not have the courage to pursue them, the main forces of the Eighth Route Army were north of Longhai Road, they were safe, they could drive their heads and advance eastward quickly. Send a telegram to Senior General Kenkichi Ueda, telling him that I have returned to Peiping, and that under the strict orders of His Majesty the Emperor, the 1st and 2nd Divisions will complete their mobilization and assembly by tonight at the latest, and that they must go south to enter the battle early tomorrow morning. Otherwise, in case of erosion in the war situation in North China, he will be responsible to the base camp. ”

As soon as Naosaburo Okabe heard Terauchi Shou's tone of giving orders, he knew in his heart that the commander of the general was the commander of the general, and he was not comparable to himself, the lieutenant general and chief of staff. If His Excellency the Commander had been there, General Shun Hata would not have been able to bully the North China Front Army like that, and he would not have spared even the three mixed brigades with strong combat effectiveness, and all of them were transferred to Jiangsu, resulting in all the troops remaining in Shandong becoming special divisions and garrison divisions with low combat effectiveness, allowing Liu Yimin to seize the opportunity to exploit the loophole.

Okabe Naosaburo immediately said "Hai" and walked quickly to send a report.

Toshitoshi Kinoshita has been uneasy since he saw Shouichi Terauchi, for fear that Shouichi Terauchi will hold him accountable for his defeat in battle. Therefore, on the way back from the airport, he rarely spoke, and seemed very responsible and docile.

Shouichi Terauchi still didn't let him go: "Kinoshita-kun, can you tell me if your aviation group is all pigs?" Even the pigs are stronger than you, and they will not lose so badly as you. ”

Kinoshita snorted and distinguished: "Your Excellency, Commander, it's not that we are not even as good as pigs, it's that this Eighth Route Army is too cunning, too vicious, and a bit of an evil sect that is cunning and vicious. They can touch and explain the heavily guarded airport, which is considered the elite of their troops, and they have exploited the loopholes of the imperial army. But I don't understand, how could they think of using flocks of birds, kites, balloons, smoke against the flock of imperial troops? I can't figure it out! ”

Terauchi Shouichi heard it one by one, and his brain was shocked, so he asked Kinoshita to report in detail.

Kinoshita Toshimi first reported on the tragic situation after the loss of Xuzhou's Matoushan Airport and Luotuoshan Airport, which were inspected by the 114th Division, and recounted the tragic situation after the loss of the Xuzhou Airport, and insisted that it was the 114th Division and the Xuzhou Garrison that failed to guard the two airports that led to the sneak attack on the airport, so that the precious fighters fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, and the excellent pilots were shattered.

Seeing that Terauchi Shouichi listened very seriously, and did not mean to continue the reprimand, Kinoshita Toshiki reported that the two teams of Jinan Airport and Qingdao Airport went to Twenty Lipu Airport to investigate and search for the sneak attack of birds and balloons. He had two pieces of information that could prove that the Eighth Route Army used flocks of birds and balloons to deal with the imperial fighters, one was that Jinan Airport and Qingdao Airport received the last call from the pilots, and the other was the report of the 1st 04th Brigade when it arrived at Twenty Lipu Airport.

As for the situation of the first flight regiment's group of jade, there was a report from Major General Nakamoto Moritaka, the commander of the first flight regiment who escaped by luck, and Kinoshita Toshi carried a paper report with him, which was presented directly to Terauchi Shouichi.

Terauchi Shouichi listened to Kinoshita's report, and then read the report written by Nakamoto Shengxiao, and felt that the tactics of the Eighth Route Army were getting more and more weird, and the smoke was good to say, it was used to block the pilot's line of sight to cover ground targets, and it was normal for Liu Yimin to think of this. Strangely, how could he have thought of using flocks of birds, kites, and balloons against the Imperial Warplanes?

Shouichi Terauchi asked Kinoshita Toshitoshi if this kind of tactic was taught in the aviation school tutorial?

Kinoshita replied in the affirmative that no.

Terauchi Shouichi again asked if there had been any similar cases of war when Central China sent military aviation to engage Chiang Kai-shek's troops.

Kinoshita replied that not only did the military aviation units dispatched from Central China have no such combat examples, but also that there were no such combat examples in the whole world.

Terauchi Shouichi originally wanted to ask if there was such a case in the Shanxi battlefield, but when he heard Kinoshita Toshi say that there was no such case in the world, he didn't ask anymore, and just muttered to himself: "It seems that Liu Yimin's troops have very clever air combat talents!" ”

When Kinoshita Toshita heard this, he knew that His Excellency the Commander had accepted his point of view, that is, the fundamental reason why the aviation suffered so much was that the Eighth Route Army was too cunning. That's fine, no longer have to worry about Your Excellency the Commander holding yourself accountable.

Shouichi Terauchi didn't look carefully at Kinoshita's expression, and he couldn't imagine that this guy would be complacent about not being held accountable. After pondering for a while, Terauchi Shouichi told Kinoshita Toshitoshi that the fighter flight regiment escorting him back was temporarily under the command of the North China Front Air Group, and the Second Flight Regiment transferred from the Kwantung Army was also under the command of the North China Front Air Group. The top priority at the moment is to draw up a perfect battle plan, based on two points, one is to find the hidden nest of the Eighth Route Army Air Force and destroy it in one fell swoop. The other is the idea of setting a trap to lure the Eighth Route Army Air Force into bombing airfields or bombing ground troops to annihilate them in an air battle.

Kinoshita Min dreamed of destroying the Eighth Route Army Air Force, because the Eighth Route Army Air Force brought him too much shame, and it made him have a headache when he mentioned the words of the Eighth Route Army Air Force. Fortunately, his endurance was good enough and his skin was thick enough, if he had been a younger lower-ranking officer who dreamed of filling the ravines and the sea with corpses, he would have been seppuku a long time ago.

Listening to what Terauchi Shouichi said about setting a trap to lure and annihilate the Eighth Route Army Air Force, Kinoshita Min seemed to have some thoughts in his mind, but it was very vague, and he stood there stupidly in a daze, unable to speak for a long time.

Terauchi Shouichi didn't cut Kinoshita Toshita, who was in a daze, turned to Kita Seiichi and asked him if he had any important information.

Seiichi Kita reported that the work in the previous paragraph had yielded some results. found a female Eighth Route who lived in Tianjin, this female Eighth Route turned out to be a student in Tianjin, the Eighth Route Army that Liu Yimin's troops participated in when they occupied Tianjin, and their family was engaged in small business. It is already known that this female Balu is a local staff member in the Jilu border area, and a cadre of a considerable level is pursuing her. It's a pity that this [***] high-ranking official who pursues him is a local cadre, and he can't grasp the accurate dynamics of the eight roads on the Jilu border. However, it has been figured out that the Eighth Route Army on the Jilu border is part of the Sixth Brigade taught by Liu Yimin, and there are three regiments of the main force, and the supreme commander is called Fu Zhuting.

Without waiting for Kita Cheng to say it again, Terauchi Shouichi interrupted him: "Kita-kun, your intelligence work has been fruitful, immediately send the most capable agents to the Jilu border, yes, it is better to go to a few more, there are men and women, find this female Eighth Route Army, and the idea is to break into the Eighth Route Army and grasp the accurate dynamics of the Eighth Route Army on the Jilu border." We need a win so badly! ”

Kita Cheng said as soon as he spoke, and then said: "Your Excellency, there is another piece of information, that is, the Jinan secret service Ohashi Xiongxiong Zhongzuo has achieved results in the rebellion of the remnants of the Kuomintang armed forces, and one of their agents has successfully infiltrated the Li Wenli troops in the Eighth Prefecture, and has now done the work of a regiment commander of the Li Wenli Department. ”

Terauchi Shouichi raised his eyebrows: "Li Wenli? ”

Kita Seiichi guessed that Shouichi Terauchi must not know who Li Wenli was, so he immediately walked to the map, found the location of the southwest mountainous area of Anqiu, pointed to the map and briefly introduced the origin of Li Wenli and his militia forces, and then said that the reason why the 12th Army was able to judge the loss of Anqiu County on the night of November 7 was because this agent obtained the information that the Eighth Route Army had completely annihilated the Kondo Brigade.

At this time, Naosaburo Okabe had already returned to Terauchi Shouichi's office after sending a telegram, and Terauchi Shouichi immediately instructed Naosaburo Okabe to approve a special fund for the special service organs of the front army to meet the needs of intelligence work.

This is true for everything from a small family to a large regime, and a strong core of power is needed. During Terauchi's absence, the North China Front was basically scattered and fighting its own battles, and the orders of the front headquarters were often not resolutely implemented. When Shouichi Terauchi came back, the situation was different. Old devils like Seiichi Kita seem to have a backbone all of a sudden, and even the voice of shouting Hai is full of trembling.

After Terauchi Shouichi explained that Naosaburo of the post department had allocated funds to Kita Chengyi, he instructed Kita Chengichi that the focus of the work of the Li Wenli Department should be on persuading Li Wenli to surrender and to provoke the relationship between the Li Wenli Department and the Eighth Route Army, and to think of instigating the local Kuomintang armed forces remaining in Shandong to fight with the Eighth Route Army, to add fuel to the fire, and to provoke the entire Chiang Kai-shek regime to fight with [***] infighting, so that the Chinese can fight the Chinese and the imperial army will benefit from it. In the future, the work of the special service organs of the front army should be carried out around this point, and for example, the Yan Xishan Department in Shanxi should intensify its efforts to counter the army, and at the very least, let them fight less against the imperial army and more with them for territory. It is necessary to make Yan Xishan understand that opposition, containment, and elimination are fundamental, and that conflicts between China and China are secondary and can be resolved through negotiations. As long as Yan Xishan [***], the army can provide him with military support and economic support to help him restore his rule over Shanxi.

After a little muttering, Terauchi Shouichi told Kita Seiichi that if Yan Xishan could cooperate with the Daishomoto Empire, he could consider forming a new central power.

Terauchi Shouichi's words were simple, but in fact they were a harbinger of a change in the army's strategy, and you must know that at this time, Konoe Funma had not yet issued a statement on the inducement of the national political axe, and the policy of the political axe was still not to use Chiang Kai-shek's national political axe as a negotiating opponent, and the whole army was still shouting and shouting, advocating the destruction of China by force.

Terauchi Shouichi was one of the formulators of the policy of invading China, and he was a general in commanding the army, so he could think about it like this, but he was also beaten too hard by the Eighth Route Army, and his mind turned around. In North China, this kind of policy change can only be said by Terauchi Shouichi, and the likes of Naosaburo Xianggangbe are not qualified to say it, and they dare not say it nonsense.

When Kita Makoto heard this, his heart turned over the pot and knew that his spring was coming. Fighting a war is a matter for combat troops, and this is the specialty of his secret service. It's time for him to show off his skills!

Probably considering that the North China Front Air Group's reconnaissance methods for the Eighth Route Army Air Force were too simple, Terauchi Shouichi asked Kita Seiichi to take the lead and Kinoshita Toshitoshi to cooperate, and through the study of the reconnaissance and combat plan for the Eighth Route Army Air Force, it was necessary to find this ghostly air force and completely destroy it.

In view of the fact that Jinan was likely to face a fierce battle and the consequences of the battle were unpredictable, the Eighth Route Army paid special attention to eliminating the intelligence organs of the Yue Army, and the role of the intelligence organs of the large-scale campaign was limited, Terauchi Toshiichi instructed Kita Seiichi to immediately send a report to the head of Jinan's secret service, Ohashi Xiongxiong, to quickly and secretly evacuate Jinan to conceal and secretly collect information on the instructors of the Eighth Route Army.

Tears of emotion flowed from Kita Seiichi's eyes, and he couldn't wait to hug Terauchi Shouichi's thigh and kiss him twice, repeatedly promising that he would do his duty and never disappoint the trust of His Excellency the Commander.

Terauchi Shouichi turned to Kinoshita again and ordered him to make a battle plan around the defense of Jinan and Qingdao, and he was going to take it out tonight, and he said that he would see it early in the morning. The focus is on two, one is to bomb the various units of Liu Yimin's department to cover the ground troops' operations, and the air cover must not be interrupted for a moment. Another is to send more reconnaissance planes to conduct uninterrupted reconnaissance in the mountainous areas of southern Lunan, southeastern Shandong, and Yimeng, and search for the traces of the Eighth Route Army Air Force. At the very least, the Eighth Route Army Air Force should be so frightened that it will not dare to come out of its nest to ensure the combat safety of all units.

After Kita Seiichi and Kinoshita Toshichi left, Terauchi Shouichi ordered the First Army, the Twelfth Army, and all divisions in North China to immediately report to him the situation of the troops and the battle plan for his decision-making reference.

After Tanichi's telegram arrived, Terauchi Shou was full of admiration when he saw it, and praised Gu Shoufu for being worthy of being the commander of the Sixth Division, and the whole plan was bold and novel. The fly in the ointment is that Lunan's 35th Division and 114th Division are not the 2nd Division, 5th Division, and 6th Division, otherwise, according to Gu Shoufu's plan, Liu Yimin's nest can be eliminated in one fell swoop, and Liu Yiming's cooking strength can also be annihilated under the city of Jinan.

After thinking about it, Terauchi Shouichi felt that it was better to be cautious in fighting with Liu Yimin, and it was good for the 35th Division to advance north to raid and besiege the Eighth Route Army mixed with the 13th Brigade of Reading Force, but it was not possible to be greedy for merit and rash to avoid being discovered by Liu Yimin and lead the main force to pursue. The 35th Division is not the opponent of Liu Yimin's instructor, and it must not steal chickens without losing a handful of rice. Therefore, Shouyi in the temple called Gu Shoufu back, and it was necessary to strengthen the city defense of Jinan and strictly prevent Liu Yimin from taking the risk of attacking Jinan. After the 35th Division received the 13th Brigade and Regiment of Reading Force, it should immediately rely on Tai'an to deploy defenses, strictly guard it, and strictly prohibit lone troops from standing out.

After dealing with the urgent military affairs, Terauchi Shouichi remembered that Miss Masako's white and clean was waiting for him, and after telling the post department Naosaburo to arrange the headquarters on duty and report the situation immediately, Terauchi Shouichi moved his two short legs and walked towards the bedroom.

(To be continued)