The attendant brought by Sugi Motojin into the palace was not the deputy chief of staff, nor the chief of operations or the director of intelligence, but the staff officer of the Operations Section of the War Department, Ryuzo Sejima.

This Seshima Ryuzo graduated from the Army University in 1938 as a chief graduate, so he received the Army's highest honor of "Imperial Lecture", that is, to give a speech in front of the emperor. Unfortunately, the emperor himself did not come that day, and was "listened to" by the chief military attaché. That's it, Ryuzo Sejima is proud enough.

According to the practice of the Japanese army, after graduating from Lu University, he had to go to the grassroots level to train for one year. Ryuzo Sejima went to the Fourth Division in Jiamusi at the time, and later went to the Fifth Army for an internship, and a year later he was transferred back to the Operations Section of the First Department (Operations Department) of the General Staff Headquarters, and has stayed until now.

The reason why Sejima Ryuzo was able to enter the combat department was because his graduation thesis and imperial lecture were in line with the taste of the Japanese military command.

The title of Seshima's graduation thesis was "On the Commanders of Japanese Military Commanders," and his imperial lecture was the abstract of this thesis. In his speech, this guy cited the examples of five Japanese generals, including Masanari Kusunoki, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Kawakami Soroku, and Oyama Yan, and came to the conclusion that "the commander in chief is fundamentally determined to implement it quickly in the army and capture the warplane." In the end, the epilogue is better to say, what is "believing in the holy decree, and moving forward on the path of the commander of the imperial army with body and mind as one." ”

This conclusion and conclusion are in line with the guiding ideology of the Japanese High Command of "stabilizing the army" and "unifying the commander-in-chief." Therefore, the chief graduate of Lu University, who had not formulated a single battle plan, gave orders in a grand manner at the staff headquarters.

There is another reason why Sugi Sugimoto likes to take Sejima Ryuzo to "play", that is, this guy is very good at figuring out people's minds, and can guess what the emperor cares about, what questions he will ask, and how he should answer so that he is not a "bully" and can fool around. This is the legacy that Prince Zaihito of the Idle Palace deliberately left to Sugi Motoshu when he was dismissed as chief of staff.

Emperor Hirohito at this time may be the happiest time of his life.

Think about it, the Japanese army is now advancing in a triumphant manner, and after the victory in the Japanese-Soviet war, it is now winning in Southeast Asia. The prosperity of the soldiers is simply invincible! Emperor Hirohito can be said to have fulfilled the dream of successive emperors since the founding of Japan.

Emperor Hirohito, who was in a happy mood, had a faint smile on his face that couldn't be concealed when he saw Sugimoto.

Shanshan Yuan had a sudden break in his heart, and at this time he reported to His Majesty the Emperor that Liu Yimin's troops had attacked and occupied Jinzhou, Dalian, and Lushun Railway Station. Isn't it a bit of a disappointment?

Sugi Motomo really wanted to hide it and not report it, but he didn't dare, because Umezu Mijiro asked to transfer back the 1st, 7th, and 9th divisions from Shandong and the 4th and 5th flight groups from the Southern Army.

As a result, when Sugimoto took the lead and handed over Umezu Mijiro's telegram, the smile on Emperor Hirohito's face disappeared. His face suddenly turned pale and pale, and he was as gloomy as a ghost.

After reading the telegram, Emperor Hirohito said for a long time: "Let His Excellency the Prime Minister come with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of the Navy, and the Minister of Military Command!" ”

The Konoe cabinet collapsed because it did not dare to make a final statement on the launch of the Pacific War, and after Hideki Tojo came to power to form a cabinet, there was a major change in cabinet members. Needless to say, the land minister was replaced by Tojo Hideki himself, the sea minister was replaced by Kazukawa Koshiro to Shigetaro Shimada, and the foreign minister was changed from Sadajiro Toyoda to Togo Shigetoku. Chief of Staff Sugi Sugimoto and Military Command Minister Nagano Shusei were not removed because they were not members of the cabinet and were directly under the emperor.

His Majesty the Emperor urgently summoned him, and Hideki Tojo and the others naturally had to arrive as soon as possible. Wait until the Pine Pavilion. Seeing Emperor Hirohito's unkind face on the throne from a distance, and then seeing the sweat on Sugi Sugimoto's forehead, Tojo Hideki knew that something must be in serious trouble.

Emperor Hirohito threw Umezu Mijiro's telegram in front of Hideki Tojo.

After Hideki Tojo saw it, Shigetoku Togo, Shitaro Shimada, and Shusei Nagano were also circulated.

Emperor Hirohito said coldly: "The Northern Branch Front Army is encircling and suppressing Liu Yimin's department, why did the Kwantung Army report that Liu Yimin's department had arrived in Kwantung Prefecture?" Your Excellency Prime Minister, how do you explain this? ”

Ishihara gave Hideki Tojo the nickname "Private Tojo", and said that Hideki Tojo's talent could only command eight machine guns, and he couldn't command more than one.

Ishihara's words are extreme, Tojo Hideki can't only be a first-class soldier and command eight machine guns, he is powerful! Konoe Bunma is so good. They didn't dare to take the responsibility of starting the Pacific War, and if they didn't do it, Hideki Tojo dared to do it, and dared to fight the Yankees and the British. Preparing to record the emperor's will, Emperor Hirohito's question caught Hideki Tojo a little off guard.

After being stunned for a while, Hideki Tojo played: "Your Majesty, the Kanto Prefecture cannot be lost, and the Liu Yimin Department that rushed into the Kanto Prefecture must be eliminated." ”

This is just nonsense, that Kanto Prefecture was snatched by the Japanese army through the Russo-Japanese War and many soldiers died, no need to say Tojo Hideki, which of the few people sitting here does not know that Kanto Prefecture cannot be lost?

Speaking of which, Hideki Tojo is known as the three ** fascist demons side by side with Hitler and Mussolini, but in fact, he does not have the authority of Hitler and Mussolini at all, but is just a dog raised by Emperor Hirohito. The fascist leader who can really be compared to Hitler and Mussolini is Emperor Hirohito! Don't talk about Hideki Tojo, including several Japanese prime ministers after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, including Konoe Fumima, are all puppets! In front of the Emperor, they are just a pack of vicious dogs! Emperor Hirohito wanted them to be prime ministers, so they could be. Emperor Hirohito didn't want them to be in charge, they had to announce the resignation of the cabinet immediately, roll up and leave!

Emperor Hirohito was a little surprised, and he didn't expect Hideki Tojo to answer like this. You must know that this is a major decision-making military matter, where is the need to talk such nonsense!

Emperor Hirohito turned to Nagano to ask him to share his views.

Nagano Shusei was a Japanese admiral and is now the chief of military orders in charge of the specific command of naval operations, equivalent to the chief of staff of the army.

Nagano Xiu's report was very simple, that is, it was necessary to send the fleet back to the Port of Arthur to blockade the coasts of Shandong and the Jiaodong Peninsula, cut off the passage for Liu Yimin's troops to return to Shandong, and support the Kwantung Army in the operation. However, the main force of the combined fleet of the Navy is now in the Pacific theater, and it is difficult to return to Port Arthur quickly, I am afraid it will be too late. Because Liu Yimin's attack on and occupation of Shanghai was to fight quickly and withdraw quickly, and when the reinforcements arrived, Liu Yimin's troops would disappear without a trace. From this point of view, it was also necessary for the Kwantung Army to mobilize troops to eliminate Liu Yimin's troops on the Liaodong Peninsula. At most, the Navy can draw a formation of one aircraft carrier battle group to Lushun.

Emperor Hirohito's tone was still cold: "Admiral Nagano, if there is an aircraft carrier battle group, will there be another tragedy of the aircraft carrier formation of the Ryuchi!" ”

Nagano couldn't sit still, and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, saying that the navy could only draw this amount of strength for the time being, and it would take time for the combined fleet to rush to Lushun, and it would take more than ten days to catch up.

Emperor Hirohito snorted coldly, ignored Nagano Cultivation, and asked Sugi Sugimoto to talk about his opinion.

Shanshanyuan received the report at the earliest, and at this time he was already confident, so he played: "Your Majesty, the minister has ordered the North China Front Army to send the Third Flying Group to send as many planes as possible to the Liaodong Peninsula to investigate, and it is necessary to find out the accurate movements of Liu Yimin's troops on the Liaodong Peninsula, so as to make it easier to determine Liu Yimin's true intentions. The minister believed that four measures should be taken now: 1. Urgently mobilize in Kwantung Prefecture, arm the soldiers and school students in the township, put them under the command of the garrison, strengthen the garrison, and resolutely resist the attack of Liu Yimin's troops; 2. The armies of the Kwantung Army were urgently mobilized to deal with a more dangerous situation that might occur. Chen was worried that Liu Yimin's ambition would swell this time and seize the opportunity of the dispersion of the Kwantung Army's forces to stir up trouble in the hinterland of Manchuria. If this is the case, Liu Yimin's main force will attack the north in a big way, just so that the Kwantung Army can annihilate it in one fell swoop. 3. Strengthen the strength of the Kwantung Army Air Group, immediately transfer the Fifth Flying Group to the emergency reconstruction, and at the same time order the Kwantung Army Air Group to quickly replenish the Second Flying Group. Fourth, the Navy's Fifth Fleet, which was attached to the Kwantung Army, was immediately transferred to Port Arthur to intercept Liu Yimin's troop convoy and blockade the coast of the Liaodong Peninsula. As for whether the 1st, 7th, and 9th Divisions of the Kwantung Army to support the Shandong Battlefield were to be reorganized, the minister thought that he would order them to immediately stop their combat missions in Shandong and concentrate urgently, and ordered the commander of the North China Dispatch Army, General Okamura Ninji, to transfer three to four divisions and regiments to prepare for reinforcement of the Kwantung Army. If the intelligence proves that Liu Yimin's troops who rushed into Kwantung Prefecture are only a small part of his troops, and the purpose is to mobilize and reinforce the three elite divisions of the Kwantung Army in Shandong to come back, or to plunder the assets of Dalian, the three divisions in Shandong do not need to return to Manchuria, and the North China Dispatch Army does not need to reinforce the Kwantung Army, and the Kwantung Army alone can eliminate Liu Yimin's troops. If Liu Yimin's forces left the northeast of Shandong and attempted to seize the hinterland of Manchuria by taking advantage of the situation, the above arrangements would be carried out. ”

What Sugi Sugi said was basically in line with Umezu Mijiro's request, but he was a little more cunning and fully prepared.

When Emperor Hirohito heard this, what Sugi Sugimoto said was still decent, so he nodded.

Several people thought that someone was about to make an order, but Emperor Hirohito changed his words and said to Hideki Tojo: "Prime Minister, I am worried that the Americans and Chiang Kai-shek's army will use Tibet to attack the Japanese Army units in Burma, so should we speed up the progress of the work in Tibet?" ”

Hideki Tojo was stunned again, discussing the war in Kwantung Prefecture, how did His Majesty the Emperor transfer to work in Tibet? Isn't this the most powerful twist and turn of the Chinese people's scheming?