Senior General Muto Nobuyoshi, commander of the Kwantung Army, enjoyed high prestige in the Army, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War, served as commander of the Tokyo garrison, deputy chief of staff headquarters, director of army education, and other key positions in the army; after 918, he served as commander of the Kwantung Army, ambassador to Manchukuo, and director of the Kwantung Agency.

After the news of the defeat of Hachidaolouzi reached the Kwantung Army headquarters in Shenyang, Muto Nobuyoshi severely reprimanded Nishiyi for failing to seize the fighter plane in time to completely crush the resistance of the [***] team. In the face of the stubborn defense of the Central Army on the front line of Nantianmen, Chief of Staff Koiso Kuniaki suggested adjusting tactics, strengthening the offensive on the cold side, and breaking through the Great Wall defense line from the flank.

"Nope! In addition to occupying the passes of the Great Wall and ensuring the security of Manchukuo, the purpose of the Great Wall operation was to weaken the army of Chiang Kai-shek's descendants in the south, to thoroughly deal a blow to the spirit of resistance of the young Zhuang faction in the Central Army, and to strike a blow at the anti-Japanese sentiment of the people in China! Declare the mighty military might of the Imperial Army! Despite being sixty-five years old, Muto Nobuyoshi was still in good spirits, and he roared at Koiso Kuniaki, who was respectful and did not dare to be dissatisfied in the slightest.

The success of the Battle of Rehe made Muto Nobuyoshi's prestige in the Kwantung Army unprecedentedly high, and the young officers at the headquarters worshipped him like a god. It is no wonder that these young people touted that before the Battle of Rehe, the military department and the political axe both demanded that the current defensive position be taken on Rehe, and the main forces should be used to consolidate Manchukuo, but Muto Nobuyoshi believed that to consolidate Manchukuo, it was first necessary to suppress the resistance of the Chinese, and after a year of fighting, a large force of volunteers had been defeated, but they were not eliminated, but retreated into Rehe, trying to use Rehe as a base to continue to harass Manchukuo, so consolidating Manchukuo first had to occupy Rehe and ensure the security of Manchukuo's western border.

The military department agreed with Muto Nobuyoshi's judgment, but the military department believed that the terrain of Rehe was complicated, and the anti-Japanese sentiment in China was high after 918, so attacking Rehe might lead to the resistance of the Chinese central government, and if the war formed a stalemate, it would cause the security of Manchuria, which had just improved, to change to an unfavorable aspect, and at the same time create opportunities for Europe and the United States and other countries, resulting in diplomatic passivity, which was not conducive to promoting the recognition of Manchukuo by the League of Nations.

But Muto Nobuyoshi believes that China is fragmented, the combat strength of the Chinese [***] team is not strong, and the imperial army will sweep the cave like thunder as soon as it enters Rehe; As for the League of Nations, he didn't have to worry about it, when His Majesty the Emperor's samurai stood on the ancient Great Wall of China, the world would understand that on the question of Manchukuo, it would never give in!

Although neither the military nor the government agreed to launch an attack on Rehe, Muto Nobuyoshi relied on his own strength to persuade the military headquarters to agree to his actions. Things turned out as he expected, the imperial army only took more than ten days to occupy the entire territory of Rehe, which went surprisingly smoothly, but then fell into a stalemate in the attack on the Great Wall, and the defeat of Xifengkou made the Kwantung Army sober up from the frenzy, after which Muto Nobuyoshi transferred back the troops scattered in the pursuit of the [***] team scattered throughout Rehe, and transferred troops from the 14th and 7th divisions in Manchuria into Rehe to support. I thought that the reinforced troops would be able to defeat the [***] team smoothly, but I didn't expect that it was only a few days ago, and the news that the attack was frustrated came from Nishiyiichi, who was in charge of attacking Nantianmen, which made Muto Nobuyoshi a little difficult to accept.

Okamura Ninji, the deputy chief of staff next to Koiso Kuniaki, did not change his opinion as easily as Koiso Kuniaki, and when he saw that his direct boss was about to retreat, he couldn't help but stand up, but he did not directly oppose Muto Nobuyoshi, but said euphemistically: "Yes, Your Excellency, according to the information we have obtained, the 87th Division of the Chinese Army, known as the Imperial Forest Army, has been driven to the front line of Nantianmen, this force is well-equipped, and the commander is Lieutenant General Song Xilian, an intermediate figure of the Nanjing Shaozhuang Department, with the potential to cause a large number of casualties among the Imperial samurai,..."

Before Okamura Ninji's words were finished, Muto Nobuyoshi interrupted him: "Major General Okamura is scared? Emperor [***] people are not afraid of sacrifice! The Emperor [***] people have always been glorious in the battle of the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood! ”

Muto Nobuyoshi's gray beard stood up, and a slight chill appeared on the top of his almost bald head, Okamura Ningji couldn't help but shiver, but Muto Nobuyoshi didn't continue to play after mocking him twice, but changed the tone of explanation: "Okamura-kun, if we retreat from the Huangpu Army in China, then it will undoubtedly boost their fighting spirit, even if we break through the local army in the cold mouth, this victory is not enough to offset the defeat of Nantianmen, do you understand this reason?" ”

"Hello! The commander's foresight is admirable! Okamura replied loudly, he had to make a pleasing and convinced appearance, but his heart was far from what he showed, he thought that he should resolutely break through from the direction of Lengkou or the Luanhe River, and then rush directly to Pingjin, attract the defenders of Nantianmen to return to defense, and fight a decisive battle with the Central Army of China in the northern Hebei Plain, so as to make better use of the firepower advantage of our army. But he can't say it, the current Muto Nobuyoshi is too strong, and Muto Nobuyoshi is very satisfied with Okamura's submission, this Okamura is known as one of the three heroes of the Yomoto Army, and is one of the initiators and leaders of the Ichimoto Meeting, which gathered many outstanding young generals in the current Yoshimoto Army, such as Daisaku Kawamoto, Ryosuke Isotani, Seishiro Itagaki, Kenji Dohihara, Hideki Tojo, Yamashita Fengfumi, and Ishihara Waner, and it was these people who launched the 918 Incident and contributed to the empire's occupation of the Northeast, Let the stupid man of Honjo Fan pick a big bargain, not only was he promoted to the knighthood, but he also won the Great Medal of Xu, known as the first person of Nogi Nozomi, and what about himself? News from Tokyo that those bastards are actually planning to retire themselves and become an idle official in the Privy Council, which is unacceptable, I have fought all my life for the empire, and in the end it is not as prosperous as Honjo!

A young young man came in from outside the door, he quietly walked to Okamura Ninji's side, handed him the telegram in his hand, and Okamura Ninji frowned after reading it.

"Okamura-kun, what's wrong? Nishiyichi's attack failed again? Muto Nobuyoshi soon noticed that his demeanor was abnormal, and he thought that there was some bad news coming from the front line.

"Itagaki-kun's intelligence," said Okamura, the deputy chief of staff, whose main responsibility was to gather information related to the battlefield at any time and keep in touch with Seishiro Itagaki in Tianjin. The telegram in Okamura Yangyang's hand said: "Itagaki Jun said that the work in North China was not going well, after Duan Qirui went south, Wu Peifu refused to cooperate with the imperial army, although Sun Chuanfang did not explicitly refuse but closed the door, only Zhang Jingyao agreed to cooperate with us, but he judged that Zhang Jingyao's ability was limited, and his appeal in the Chinese army was relatively small. ”

"Hmph," Muto Nobuyoshi let out a scornful voice in his nostrils, "Okamura-kun, these people are all grass on the wall that sees the wind and rudder, and only if the Imperial Army achieves a complete victory will they cooperate with us." ”

"Yes, Your Excellency, Itagaki-kun's intelligence also mentions that the [***] squadron intends to counterattack in Chadong." This is what really makes Okamura Ningji frown, he is very clear about the layout of the Rehe army, and Chadong is a weakness.

"Oh, does Itagaki have any more specific information?" Muto Nobuyoshi paid attention to it now, although he looked down on the [***] team, but Xifengkou and Nantianmen reminded him that the [***] team might not be as weak as he imagined, and if it really came in from Chadong, the flank of the Eighth Division would be greatly threatened.

"Itagaki Jun said in the telegram that Chiang Kai-shek had sent his student, Major General Zhuang Jihua, to Zhangjiakou to collect the Rehe Volunteers and the Northeast Volunteers, who had retreated there, and that he estimated that these troops numbered about 100,000 men, and that he was also investigating whether Fu Zuoyi and Li Fuying, who belonged to the Yan Xishan system in Shanxi, were participating." Okamura Ningji felt that the name was a little familiar, as if he had heard it there, and remembered that he heard it when he was Sun Chuanfang's adviser, and the commander of the five provinces gritted his teeth and scolded this name countless times.

"Hah! Ha! Ha! Muto Nobuyoshi and Koiso Kuniaki laughed almost at the same time, and Koiso Kuniaki preemptively said without waiting for Muto Nobuyoshi to speak: "Okamura-kun, it seems that there is no one in the [***] team, and this kind of rabble is also used to fill the number." ”

"Yo Xi, then come on, add a glory to our Emperor [***] people!" Muto Nobuyoshi laughed and waved his hand, as if tens of thousands of volunteers had disappeared in his hand. He turned his head to the young man and said, "Hey, what do you say?" ”

"Yes," replied the intelligence officer who sent the telegram, with his head held high and his eyes in front of him, "the commander is right, these rabble are only worthy of being a foil to the great exploits of the imperial army!" ”

Once upon a time, Manchuria was full of such bandits, numbering hundreds of thousands, but the Kwantung region only called one division, and most of them were wiped out in less than a year, and all those who survived were drilled into the deep mountains and old forests. The fact that the political axe of China actually wants to use such troops to counterattack is the funniest thing in the world.

Muto Nobuyoshi nodded majestically, maybe he was too excited just now, he suddenly let out a violent cough, his chest rose and fell sharply, and the guard who had been standing next to him immediately stepped forward, Muto Nobuyoshi stretched out his hand irritably to stop him, and after a while he slowly calmed down.

"Commander, do you want to take a break?" Koiso Kuniaki said with concern.

"Wow, I'm not old yet!" Muto Nobuyoshi roared, he looked at Okamura Ningji and said, "Go on, Major General Okamura, you are a China expert, what kind of person is that Zhuang Jihua?" How could such a move be made? ”

Okamura Ningji secretly admired in his heart, he really responded to the old Chinese saying, Jiang is still old and spicy, and he grasped the core of the problem at once, he thought about it carefully and said: "Zhuang Jihua is a graduate of Whampoa, once served as a division commander in Chiang Kai-shek's army, and fought the Niuhang War during the Northern Expedition, but then there was no news, and there was no news of him in the previous wars in China after the Northern Expedition, until last year.... ”

As he spoke, he gestured to Ligao, who immediately turned to leave, and behind him came Okamura Ninji's calm voice, but he couldn't listen to these voices, because a lazy voice filled his ears: "You're not on the list, aren't you?" ”

(To be continued)