"What's going on?"

Ma Liang, who heard the rumbling cannon, sat up from the bed suddenly, and before he could understand what was happening, another loud bang came, and a Russian noblewoman lying next to him couldn't help but scream in horror.

Maleonn jumped out of bed barefoot, took his clothes and draped them over his body, and as he scrambled to find his pistol, an adjutant stumbled in.

"Who the fuck is there to shoot guns?" Ma Liang looked at the panicked adjutant and asked angrily.

"I said I ...... Checkmate! It's me! I said I called! The adjutant lifted his hat to the side and replied breathlessly.

"Myself? Wasn't it the soldiers killed by Qu Tongfeng's men of the 23rd Division? Lao Tzu didn't provoke them, why did they hit Lao Tzu on the head? Listening to the adjutant's words, Ma Liang's bull's eyes couldn't help but stare at the boss.

"I don't know! I heard that even the Russian batteries I occupied have all been opened fire, and they are attacking our navy! The adjutant said helplessly, "I'm quite unreasonable now, what can we do!" ”

"Grandma's! How can there be a reason to slap and not fight back! Pass my orders and give me a hard beating! Ma Liang remembered what he had seen on the "Glorious" battlecruiser a few days ago, and at this moment, those huge gun barrels actually gave him a lot of courage, he hesitated, grabbed the pistol and pinned it to his waist, and gave the battle order loudly.

"What do I want to do?"

On the bridge of the cruiser USS Brooklyn of the US Navy, in the rising sun, Vice Admiral Glennon almost burst his eyes as he watched back and forth in the Golden Horn to dodge the Allied ships shooting from the shore.

"I said that I was shelling the Chinese fleet, but their gunners were so bad that they regarded our ship as a Chinese [***] ship." Major Jason, the captain of the USS Brooklyn, held a telescope and watched the battle intently.

At this time, under the heavy shelling of the Chinese battle cruiser, the Russian coastal batteries occupied by the army were all shrouded in thick smoke.

"The Chinese's artillery is so accurate!" Seeing that the artillery fire of the Japanese army was gradually weakening, Major Jason sighed.

"This shows that the Chinese are not completely unprepared for the coming of this conflict." Lieutenant General Glennon said.

As the sun gradually rose, the sky soon brightened, but at this time, not only the forts of the harbor, but also the distant city were rising high columns of smoke.

Suddenly there was a loud roar in the sky from the propellers churning the air, and Vice Admiral Glennon and the US Navy officers on the bridge all looked at the sky, and soon saw the figures of biplanes chasing and shooting at each other in the sky.

"Even the planes are joining the fray." A beautiful [***] official said in surprise, "It's incredible. ”

"It's kind of incredible." Lieutenant General Glennon noticed that the movements of the Chinese and Chinese armies were so fast, it was like a tacit performance, and he had a faint uneasy premonition in his heart.

Akaben, Tokyo, Army General Staff Headquarters.

At this time, the Army Ministry and the General Staff Headquarters were holding a joint meeting to discuss the national defense policy.

"The Imperial Army should crush the forces of the Far Eastern China Army in one fell swoop before the strength of the Chinese army is fully strengthened, so as to consolidate the security of the northern part of the Empire!"

"At present, the relationship with China is extremely bad, and it is not appropriate to make enemies on both sides, and from the point of view of military mobilization, if we cannot obtain the resources of China, it is impossible to support a long-term war against Soviet Russia. Therefore, the best way is to expand the gains in Manchuria on the one hand, and on the other hand, to use the strategy of coercion against China to bring it to its knees, so that the national strength can be strengthened, and then deal with Soviet Russia. ”

"The real threat to this is not China, but Soviet Russia! Today, the Empire's pioneering actions against Soviet Russia as a country have already felt very difficult, and it is no longer appropriate to make China an enemy! In the event of a full-scale war with China, it is difficult to hope that it will end in the short term, and it will be a great drain on national strength, so we should try not to use our strength but seek a way to peace. If there is a full-scale war between Ben and China now, there will be a danger that the whole world will be hostile! ”

"The concrete embodiment of the policy of the branch should be to realize the cooperation and mutual assistance of the support under the guidance of the empire, to control the economy of Manchuria and to regulate the economy with the country, to take a stern attitude towards the political axe of the country, to force it to abandon the anti-policy policy, to eradicate the anti-Japanese movement, and to thoroughly urge it to settle all specific cases in accordance with the policy of our country.

The officers were arguing with red faces.

The focus of the controversy between the two sides was mainly on the China policy and attitude toward Soviet Russia.

The argument ended in the end, and after the meeting ended, War Minister Ugaki Kazunari looked at a bespectacled officer sitting there without saying a word, as if to ask for his opinion. But the man fell into a meditative state as if he were asleep.

This person is Nagata Tetsuyama, a member of the Education Director of the Army General Staff Headquarters.

The fact that the Minister of War insisted on listening to the opinions of a small class member was an incredible thing in the eyes of many people, but Ugaki Kazunari didn't seem to feel anything wrong.

Nagata Tetsuyama was born in Nagano Prefecture. He graduated from the Army University. In 1913, he went to Germany to study military affairs and returned to China the following year. In 1916, he was appointed military attaché to the legations in Denmark and Sweden. In 1918, he was appointed military attaché to the Swiss legation. After returning to China in 1920, he joined the General Staff Headquarters and served as a member of the Education Directorate Department.

After graduating from Lu University, Nagata Tetsuyama was assigned to the Department of Education Director, and soon came to prominence, presiding over and formulating the "Military Education Order". Lieutenant General Botaro Hongo, then director of the Education Department (with the same status as the army vice minister and deputy chief of staff), was amazed to see that Nagata Tetsuyama, a fledgling with the rank of captain, was able to take on such an epoch-making plan covering the education of the whole army.

Nagata Tetsuyama was an extremely intelligent and intellectually curious man, because he had been stationed in Europe three times, just in time for the most intense period of World War I, Nagata Tetsuyama paid close attention to the war situation, and at the same time had a relatively in-depth study of the strategic resources, industrial standards, and human, financial, and material resources invested in the general mobilization system of the warring countries to play a general war function. After returning to China, he could not wait to submit a rich "Opinion on National Mobilization" to the army authorities, which was seen by Senior General Ugaki Kazunari, who was appointed Minister of the Army, and Ugaki Kazunari was greatly impressed by his talent, praising his proposal as "more brilliant than the 'general war theory' of General Ludendorff of Germany." ”

In the "Opinion Paper on National General Mobilization," Nagata Tetsuyama put forward the following proposals: First, establish a general mobilization system, which is embodied in the fact that the Ministry of the Army has set up a "maintenance bureau" with jurisdiction over the two sections of "mobilization" and "control." In the cabinet, a new "committee for the preparation of organs for the establishment of national general mobilization" will be established, with the director of the Legislative Affairs Bureau of the Cabinet concurrently serving as the chairman, one member and one officer nominated by each locality, and the officers appointed by the army and provincial governments actually presiding over the work of the committee and leading the planning of the general mobilization system. With regard to the establishment of a general mobilization system, Nagata Tetsuyama not only demanded the reorganization of armaments, but also demanded that political, educational, economic, and social affairs be brought within the scope of the general war, and that a system of general mobilization of the state be established. Second, it is a general mobilization of the national spirit. Nagata Tetsuyama suggested that from now on, young and outstanding retired officers should be placed in various schools as instructors to carry out military training for students; For young people, a "youth training center" will be set up; At the same time, in line with the strengthening of the activities of the "Township Military Union", the idea of "loyalty to the monarch and patriotism" and the consciousness of "imperial road" and "divine right" have been instilled in all social strata and corners, so as to unite the national spirit and unify the national action. That is, "in peacetime and wartime, the army of 70 million compatriots, under the supreme control, gallops to their fate, only I generally touch more than 200,000 active-duty soldiers, more than 3 million soldiers in the township, 560,000 middle and upper class students, and more than 1,000,000 young people, which is enough to deserve it." "The third is the modernization of weapons and equipment. During World War I, Nagata Tetsuyama, who went to Europe to observe the war, was shocked by the tremendous role played by the new weapons such as airplanes, submarines, tanks, giant artillery, and light machine guns that appeared on the battlefields of Europe, and was especially impressed by the large-scale use of poison gas by the warring parties in the later stages of the war. Nagata Tetsuyama profoundly felt that the guns and artillery of the Russo-Japanese War era that the army was equipped with had become a complete waste, and that if the army could not carry out the "weapons revolution" in a timely manner, it would not be able to survive in the world. Nagata Tetsuyama made a serious summary of the reasons for the failure of the 1915 invasion of China, and he believed that the failure of this war was due not only to the mistakes in decision-making and the improper command of the generals, but also to the lack of advanced weapons and equipment. Adhering to the instructions of War Minister Kazunari Ugaki, he planned to reduce the standing strength of the four divisions and regiments, and use the saved personnel costs to develop new weapons such as aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery. At the same time, Nagata also advocated the protection of the country's automobile industry and vigorously promoted the development of heavy industry in order to support research in science and technology for national defense. Fourth, to ensure the need for strategic resources: in World War I, the German army fired a total of about 20 million shells in the Battle of Verdun, and the French Army fired 34 million rounds of artillery shells in the Battle of the Somme; The U.S. and Chinese armies dispatched thousands of tanks and fired 50 million rounds of artillery shells at a time during the Battle of Amiens. These circumstances made Nagata Tetsuyama realize that in the future war, it was necessary to ensure the supply of large quantities of coal, iron, and other strategic resources. Otherwise, not to mention the struggle for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, even the survival of the country cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, Nagata Tetsuyama suggested that the Ministry of War set up a "Combat Materials Preparation Council" and set up a "Resources Bureau" and a "Resources Council" in the Cabinet to investigate, conserve, and control the use of war resources. Because it is said that it is an island country with poor resources, and it is said that many kinds of strategic resources needed in the country must be sought from abroad, so Yongtian Tieshan, who is bent on promoting the general mobilization of the country, actively advocates "establishing a Manchurian economic group and self-sufficiency", and in order to achieve this goal, "it is necessary to solve the Manchurian and Mongolian problems by force"!

"Nagata-kun, do you have any ideas for me?" Seeing that Nagata Tetsuyama didn't seem to have come back to his senses, Ugaki Kazunari couldn't help but ask.

"Oh." Nagata Tetsuyama came back to his senses and smiled apologetically at the Minister of War, "I'm thinking about how to quickly solve the Manchurian and Mongolian problems." ”

"You mean, now is a good time to go to war against China?" Kazunari Ugaki asked.

"That's right," Nagata Tetsuyama nodded, "War against Shina is inevitable now. ”

"But now China's military strength has become very strong, far exceeding Yuan Shikai's era, and behind China, there is the support of the United States, I think it is not very appropriate for us to start a war with China at this time." Kazunari Ugaki bluntly spoke his opinion and waited for Nagata Tetsuyama's next words.

"Now we are fighting with China because we can't wait any longer." Nagata Tetsuyama explained, "Today's Shina Navy is no longer the ant that can be strangled by just moving a finger, and the battle cruisers deployed by the Shina Navy in the area of Tianjin and Qingdao have been able to directly bombard Korea and the homeland. The fleet deployed by the China Navy in the vicinity of Guangzhou is also capable of attacking Taiwan at any time. The strength of the China Army is also very strong. Politically, the political situation in China has stabilized, and militarily, although the various warlords in China have gone through several melees, the Yanjing political axe has now controlled the situation, and a unified and powerful China is forming, if we want to prevent the baby from growing into a giant, we must strangle it in the cradle now. ”

Listening to Nagata Tetsuyama's words, Ugaki Kazunari couldn't help but nod his head again and again.

"The enemy of Ben, in addition to China, there is also Soviet Russia." Nagata Tetsuyama continued, "Soviet Russia is now fledgling, if this multinational intervention cannot be successful, he said that the first victim, except for China, is the Ben, and it is said that Ben and the Soviet Russia should have a war." Therefore, it was necessary to include Manchuria, with the intention of keeping the enemy out of the country when fighting against Soviet Russia, and to preemptively destroy the Soviet Russian military power in the Far East in one fell swoop; In addition, and more importantly, the capital lacked strategic resources and had to be taken from Manchuria. If Manchuria can be truly controlled, on the one hand, it can stop the southward movement of Soviet Russia, and on the other hand, it can increase the pressure on China. Therefore, it is necessary to take the solution of the Manchurian and Mongolian problems as the central national policy. ”

"The only way to solve the Manchurian and Mongolian problems is to resort to force." Ugaki Kazunari said to himself.

"Manchurian Mongolia should become an economic unit with the capital, which is the minimum condition for survival. The issue of relations with China is a major issue of the survival of the people and the life or death of the people. The Empire's stance on China is divided into all-round and special, and the special one is Manchurian and Mongolian; The basic points of Manchurian and Mongolian countermeasures should be: 1. Inclusion in the territory of the empire. Second, make it a protectorate or a free nation. "If our empire does not have access to the resources and markets of the Taka family name from overseas, it will not be able to guarantee the survival of the country." The imperial policy is to seize every opportunity to acquire overseas territories or expand spheres of influence. By all accounts, the most suitable places for this goal were Manchuria and Mongolia, which bordered the empire, and even Siberia. The urgent task at present is to unify the army's determination, establish its convictions, and guide and spur on the political axe and the people. ”

Hearing the latter sentence said by Nagata Tetsuyama, Ugaki Issei's face couldn't help but be a little gloomy.

Because of the excessive military expenditure and the hardships of the lower strata of the people, the political parties in the country have repeatedly called for disarmament, and the dispatch of troops to the Far East has exacerbated this situation. But if there is a war with China, disarmament will certainly not be possible.

"Another advantage of waging war against China is that it can cultivate the people's spirit of looking overseas and forging ahead (to put it bluntly, it is to use war to divert the attention of the people at home)." Nagata Tieshan seemed to understand what the Minister of War was worried about, and then said, "The land of Manmeng is several times larger than that of the capital, and the products are abundant, if it can be owned by the capital, it is enough to make the people's livelihood rich, and as long as the war against the branch is victorious, all problems can be easily solved." ”

Listening to Nagata Tetsuyama's words, Ugaki Kazunari's face became soothed.

"This time the war against the branch can be compared to the Meiji 278 campaign against the Qing Dynasty, when the political axe decided to start a war against the Qing, and the domestic voice of worry and doubt was endless, but the later result was the beginning of the foundation of the world." Nagata Tetsuyama said. "The difference between today's China and the Qing State at that time is that the Qing State was rich but weak at that time, and the current China is poor and strong. If China is at war with our country, Britain and the United States may not be willing to support it as before, and without enough money, the war of the Chinese army will not be able to continue. This is also a favorable condition for us to go to war now. ”

"I see!" At this time, Ugaki Kazunari had completely convinced Nagata Tetsuyama, "What we lack now is a reason to convince the people to go to war against China." ”

"There will be no shortage of reasons." Nagata Tetsuyama remembered the plan he had made with his colleagues in the "Futabakai", and his eyes flashed with indescribable excitement.

"What do you mean?" Ugaki Kazunari noticed the strange look on Nagata Tetsuyama's expression and couldn't help but ask.

"With the stupidity of the Ishina, they would have easily given us such a reason." Of course, Nagata Tetsuyama would not tell the Minister of War who appreciated him and his colleagues in the "Futabakai", "I can definitely be sure of this. ”

(To be continued)