In the north of the country, because the impact of the Zhang Gufeng incident gradually dissipated, the Japanese army came to the conclusion that the Soviet Union would not send troops to "Manchukuo" based on the results of negotiations with the Soviet Union and intelligence analysis, and a large number of troops prepared to guard against the Soviet Union were liberated and used in the Battle of Wuhan.

September 15, Hefei.

The 2nd Army and the 11th Army under the North China Front of the Central China Dispatch Army, as well as relevant personnel of the General Staff Headquarters, held a joint operations meeting here to discuss the attack on Wuhan on all fronts.

Suzuki Zhuoer Shaozo of the 7th Lesson of the China Branch gave a briefing on the economic, political, people's livelihood, and military personnel in various parts of China, and of course, the judgment of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters was quite optimistic.

"There is a big crisis in the economy of China, there is a shortage of materials, inflation, and it is difficult for not only ordinary citizens in the rear, but also soldiers at the front to have enough rations ... South China, Sichuan, and other countries have already seen a trend of attacking Chiang's central power, and the anti-Chiang and anti-central atmosphere is extremely high among unemployed military politicians who have died because of centralization... Chiang Kai-shek's painstakingly managed sixty or seventy divisions, which accounted for the majority of the Central Army, were dealt a complete blow in Central China, most of them lost their combat capability, the newly formed units were understaffed, and there was no opportunity for artillery and infantry heavy weapons... It is said that Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Ziwen Kong Xiangxi and others often had disputes over the economy and finances, and most of the chaebol personnel opposed Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Japanese policy, and there were rumors that Chiang Kai-shek's own health was also in crisis. ”

Suzuki Shaoza's eyebrows fluttered, as if all this was true, the enemy is rotting day by day, and we are getting better day by day.

Yan Junroku saw Suzuki talking about Chiang Kai-shek's health condition, and whispered to the chief of staff, Kawabe Shozo, "It is said! There are rumors! According to legend! These non-existent things can also be brought to this level of meeting, and can also be used as the basis for war guidance! ”

Kawabe Shozo said: "I'm afraid that these staff officers were said and rumored in Miyakesaka's house. ”

Okamura Ninji also heard it next to him, and laughed quietly: "Maybe it's from "The King"." "King Weekly is the largest entertainment weekly in Japan, and it records absurd stories and legends, similar to the Storytelling Society in later generations of China.

Finally, after Suzuki Zhuoer finished blowing the cowhide, Toshio Nishimura Nakasa, who was in the combat squad of the second section of the General Staff Headquarters, finally said something reliable, and he explained the latest troop deployment around Wuhan, China, which focused on the situation in Jiujiang.

“… Xu Ming, the general of China, was building fortifications near Jiujiang, and the 26th Army was the most elite army in China. De'an and Mahuiling directions..."

After Nishimura finished speaking, Yan Junliu stood up and asked, "Does the base camp now have any requirements for an attack in the direction of Nanchang?" ”

The General Staff Headquarters has always been optimistic about the war in China, and the Battle of Wuhan proposed to attack Wuhan at the same time, with a section to go south to Nanchang, cut off the Guangdong-Han line, and outflank Wuhan from the flank, according to the plan of this plan, the Japanese army will annihilate the main force of the Wuhan squadron.

Nishimura replied, "The opinion of the General Staff Headquarters is that it is recommended to carry it out. ”

Yan Junliu didn't sit down, and said, "Then please increase the strength of another 5-7 field divisions, and double the number of aircraft, and in terms of shipping, please add another 500,000 tons." ”

A few people from the staff headquarters did not speak, 5-7 field divisions? Now there is only 1 Guards Division in Japan itself.

In 1936, Hashimoto Group was still the head of the Military Division of the Ministry of War, and submitted the Showa 12 (1937) battle plan for China was to use 8 divisions to solve China, and now 8 divisions can only fight a medium campaign, he felt a little powerless, and decided to skip this topic, saying, "Now the focus of all operations is Wuhan, whether the 2nd Army can launch an attack on the northern foot of Dabie Mountain in late September." ”

The commander of the Second Army, Minoru Higashiku, replied: "Only a partial force can be used, the troops have just been assembled from the north, because the Yellow River has burst its banks and the Huai River has overflowed, and the transportation originally used in the direction of North China has to be transferred to the Yangtze River by sea, and then through Anqing, and the transportation effect is very poor." ”

"Can't you increase transportation?" Hashimoto continued to ask

"Then please call ships from within the country." The answer was Major General Watanabe Ufumi, who was in charge of transportation.

"What about the ships that were levied in China?"

"All of them have been put into use, but I remind Rear Admiral Hashimoto that now the guerrillas in China near the Yangtze River are very arrogant, day and night they are constantly dropping mines, and many ships have sunk by mines, and the China Air Force is now targeting ships sailing on the Yangtze River, and by the end of August, 150,000 tons of ships have been lost.

When Vice Admiral Watanabe said this, Hashimoto was silent, and the ships plundered from all over China were all small-tonnage civilian ships, which could not withstand the attacks of planes and mines at all, and the shipwrights also fled in large numbers, causing great passivity to the logistics and transportation of the Japanese army.

When it came to the problem of logistical supply, the Central China Front Army was deeply touched, and Yan Junliu took over the words, "The series of setbacks suffered by the Central China Dispatch Army in Anqing and Jiujiang were not so much the command mistakes of the Imperial Army, but the inability to concentrate troops, and the pressure of logistics greatly weakened the advantages of the Imperial Army. ”

Seeing that the North China Front of the Central China Dispatch Army and the transportation squad of Watanabe Ubun Base Camp had raised logistical problems, Hashimoto felt a lot of pressure and asked, "Can you understand it this way, if the logistics cannot be resolved, the Battle of Wuhan may not be carried out as scheduled." ”

Shouichi Terauchi replied: "The North China Front is unable to maintain traffic and transportation in the flooded areas of the Yellow River. ”

"After the 10th Division and the 16th Division captured Lu'an and Gushi, their military station line was Luzhou-Lu'an-Yejiaji-Gwangju, a distance of about 300 kilometers, and the road conditions were extremely bad, and the logistics could not guarantee that more troops would be put into the attack. “

Okamura Ninji also replied: "Since June, the 11th Army has been put into operation, and in the past three months, the troops have suffered serious casualties, the main reason for which is that the weather and disease are caused, the 2nd Division and the 106th Division on the south bank of the Yangtze River feel the lack of supplies, and the troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River do not have enough ships to transport food.

The generals complained one after another, and Hashimoto said helplessly: "Ladies and gentlemen, it is inappropriate to blindly emphasize difficulties, I think Your Majesty and the people do not want to see the Imperial Army with high hopes like this." If Wuhan is not captured, China cannot surrender. There was no time for the incident to be resolved, millions of troops were pinned down here, Manchuria and domestic construction were greatly affected, and war readiness against the Soviet Union could not be strengthened. ”

Yan Junliu snorted, "I will never forget the expectations of His Majesty and the expectations of the people, but the difficulties cannot be ignored, some of the soldiers on the front line rely on bayonets to attack the strong positions in China, whose responsibility is this?" With all due respect, the preparations for the Battle of Wuhan were too hasty, the Battle of Xuzhou had not yet ended, that is, the attack on Wuhan began, and the troops of the North China Front Army were still afraid of the Russian attack and could not be put into the battle, and the current Wuhan Battle was carried out on one leg and one hand, and the Central China Dispatch Army had already paid a heavy price for it. ”

Hashimoto felt very ironic, he himself was a "non-expansion faction", when the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, he advocated acting cautiously, but he was sent to China to supervise and coordinate various forces to expand the war against China; Yan Junliu was also a "non-expansion faction", but he became the commander-in-chief of the largest battle in Japan's history, the Battle of Wuhan. As for the "expansion faction", the generals of the North China Front, the Battle of Wuhan lasted for three months, and only a few days ago they launched several small-scale offensives intermittently.

The "expansion faction" is resting in ****, and the "non-expansion faction" is carrying out operations against China, and Hashimoto Group feels like a joke when he thinks of this.

No one spoke in the conference room for a while, and Shouichi Terauchi, who had been actively advocating a tough stance on China, stopped talking, and at the beginning of the year he boasted that a wing could run rampant in China. If you want to sing a high profile, you might as well do it for others.

After all, the Hashimoto group represented the base camp, so he couldn't help but speak, and said, "I will report to Tokyo and propose to recruit domestic ships and increase supplies along the Yangtze River." But General Yan, can you tell me that the capture of Jiujiang will be completed in October, this is a reply to Your Majesty. ”

Okamura Ninji stood up, "The 11th Army is stepping up its preparations, planning to invest the main force of 5 divisions and regiments to launch a powerful attack and destroy the Xu Ming Corps entrenched in Jiujiang in one fell swoop!" ”

"Are you sure? The line of defense boasted by the people of China was claimed to be able to hold out for 3 months. Hashimoto asked, wide-eyed.

"I'm in control!" Okamura Ninjiyoshi replied without hesitation