Tokyo, Japan.

"Mr. Yamada, as a member of the Diet, it is inappropriate for you to say this." The new Lu Xiangban * Seishiro Aki said in a deep voice.

Seishiro Itagaki had just been appointed Minister of War yesterday, but he had not finished drinking his wine, and on his second day in office, he met a member of the Diet who had come to the Ministry of War to kick the embassy, and Yamada Tani Bei angrily opposed the continued expansion of the war in China.

"Your Excellency, this war has come to an end, before the war, I had two sons, but one of them died in Shanghai and the other in Mingguang, do you want more sons to die in China?" Yamada spoke of his two sons with tears in his eyes.

"Mr. Councillor, I offer my condolences to your two sons, but national affairs are not decided by feelings." Considering that there was a congressman opposite, Itagaki did not dare to slack off at all, and his every word was considered before he said it.

"Really? Didn't you decide on major national events with a snap of the brain? Before the incident, you had a good talk with China, you were going to send troops to "show the majesty of the empire", and in the event of a big war, you said that you would "punish the violence of China", isn't this the result of impulse, what is the meaning of doing this! The battles in Shanxi, Shanghai, Nanjing and Xuzhou will be fought one after another, when will they be fought! Do you soldiers just start a war and not end it! "Yamada is not a person who can be fooled casually, he knows the origin of the war between China and Japan very clearly, and now he shook it all out.

Hideki Tojo, the deputy chief who was sitting like a stake next to him, slapped the table, and his notebook was shaken to the ground, "Mr. Yamada, these words are very irresponsible, when the emperor ** people are fighting bloodily in front, you are dragging your feet, is this what a congressman should say!" ”

"Your Excellency, do you want me to shut up? Or cut off my head with a saber. "Yamada Tani Bei is for tat.

Not long ago, when responding to a question from a congressman in the Diet, Nagatsu, a member of the Japanese Ministry of the Army, said "shut up," which caused an uproar, and the press in Tokyo commented that "there is such a rude phenomenon in such a sacred place as the Diet." Combined with Hamada's "caesarean Q&A", which led to the collapse of the cabinet, Itagaki Seishiro did not dare to be too tough, and said:

"We have been working hard to completely resolve the incident in China, Mr. Senator, what we need now is the support of your parliamentarians."

"It's not that we don't support you, when the North China Incident happened, you said that you wanted 100 million, and the Congress passed it in half an hour; You said that you would add 400 million, but it took a day for the Congress to pass it, and then you said that it was not enough, and you would add another 400 million! Then the Shanghai incident had to add another 1.5 billion, and now it has to add more than 3 billion yuan for the Wuhan battle, and the treasury has been completely empty. Whether we don't support it, or you don't have the ability to solve the problem! ”

Yamada is out of the way today, he thought it was normal for his first son to die in battle, but the death of another son greatly touched him, and he even learned through his relationship that his second son did not die in a normal battle, but was injured and abandoned on the battlefield and committed suicide. He didn't come to the Army Department today to plead, he came to madness!

These words were too heavy, and Hideki Tojo, who was already in a bad temper, roared: "This is the grand plan and hegemony that the empire has hoped for for four hundred years, and the Battle of Wuhan can be decided in one battle!" Every citizen should support us unconditionally, and even if we eat pickled plums and chazuke, we will win this war! ”

Yamada sneered, "Your Excellency's words are really prescient!" I ask when this battle will be fought! How long will the people endure hardships? ”

"Capture Wuhan and bring the people of China to their knees!" Itagaki Seishiro stood up and said coldly.

"What if the people of China are not convinced!"

"Then beat them until they serve!" Itagaki Seishiro also roared.

The Yamada incident caused a great political impact, Yamada Tani was stripped of his title of parliamentarian, and the Japanese government and the opposition became more and more suspicious of the war, and the Japanese Ministry of War had to hold several propaganda meetings to calm down the turmoil.

In Tokyo, Japan, Miyake Saka, where the headquarters of the General Staff is located, the new commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Ninji, came to meet with the Chief of Staff, Kanin Miyazahito, and the Deputy Commander Tada, to receive the dispatch order and the battle sequence of the 11th Army.

Okamura Ninji was really lucky as the commander of the army, he was not the first choice at that time, he was the commander of the 2nd Division of the Kwantung * Army at that time, and his qualifications were obviously not enough to convince the public. Prince Zaihito Miyaji, chief of staff, recommended Shimomura, commander of Tokyo Bay, and Vice Minister Tada Jun recommended Tsukada Tsukada, president of the Army University.

Okamura Ninji had a very good relationship in the General Staff Headquarters, and he worked in the Foreign War History Division of the General Staff Headquarters from 1914, and went through several cycles between China and the General Staff Headquarters, and even went to Europe in the middle. At the General Staff Headquarters, the section chiefs and department members he met were all familiar with him, and everyone greeted him with a smile when they saw him.

The chief of staff, Prince Zaihito Miyaji, is an old guy who is over 70 years old, some people think that he is an ornament, and he doesn't care about things, and the specific affairs are handed over to the deputy minister to deal with, but Okamura Ninji knows with his keen observation that this prince has shown a strong ability and desire for power since the period of the Russo-Japanese War, and his care is just an illusion, that is because everything is under his control, except for the 226 incident and was scolded by the emperor for not controlling the situation, he quietly dealt with the opposition one by one at other times.

The deputy chief Tada Jun is a puffed bag, Ishihara Waner ran away, Kawabe Torushiro slipped away, Shibayama Kaneshiro left, and Tada Jun was left alone if he did not expand the faction, and now the section chiefs of the main battle faction are not talking about him, and there is news that he is also leaving the staff headquarters.

The two of them first asked about Northeast China, not of course Okamura Ninji, but to listen to him explain "the possibility of a Soviet attack in Manchukuo." Once the Wuhan Battle breaks out on an unprecedented scale, there must be no chaos there.

"Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, Your Excellency the Deputy Minister, the Soviet Union will never enter the war from the summer to the end of this year, the Soviet Union is in the midst of a great purge, and the whole people are in a state of panic. Moreover, the relations between the Soviet Union and the Nationalist Government of China were not good, and for the Soviet Union, a major war between China and Japan was exactly what they wanted. "As early as a month ago, Okamura Ninji submitted a report that the Soviet Union would not enter the war to the General Staff Headquarters and the War Ministry, and this report is not groundless speculation and unfounded imagination, but a conclusion reached by the entire Japanese Kwantung Army after synthesizing various intelligence and analysis.

"Then we must take advantage of this rare opportunity to capture Wuhan and completely end the China Incident!" Xianyuan Palace directly expressed expectations.

"Gangcun will live up to His Highness's trust and overcome all difficulties to relieve the worries of His Majesty and His Highness."

Tada Jun didn't say anything else, his mind was not here, he was going to be the commander of the Third Army soon, and he didn't support launching the Battle of Wuhan on such a scale, he only said: "Gangmura-kun, tomorrow I will meet His Majesty the Emperor, please prepare a lot." ”

Okamura Ninji was taken aback, and his words seemed to have a deep meaning.

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for the reminder." Gangmura Ninji bowed to express his gratitude.

Entrance to the Imperial Palace in Nijubashi, Tokyo, Japan.

"General Gangmura, please." The chamberlain who was leading in front bent over and carefully guided Okamura Ninji forward.

When Okamura first met Hirohito, Hirohito was still the crown prince, and today is his third time in the palace, and he has been summoned frequently, showing his weight in the emperor's heart.

The tedious ceremonies and etiquette are followed by routine questions and answers.

"Aiqing, it's been hard from afar." The emperor's "jade sound" appears ethereal and obscure.

"His Majesty Lao is worried, and he is terrified." Okamura Ninji lowered his head, did not dare to look directly, and replied carefully.

According to the normal recital, the emperor should have said a bunch of clichés encouraging the expedition and then ended this formal visit, but Emperor Hirohito clearly had his own ideas.

"Aiqing, whether the Hankou attack can be completed on time, the troops have not been rested after the battle of Xuzhou, I heard that the vicinity of Hankou in China is very hot in summer." The Emperor's scathing voice sounded again.

Okamura Ninji was shocked in his heart, this is not what he should say on this occasion, this is not only an ostensible concern for the battle of Wuhan, but also reveals his dissatisfaction with the army's delay in resolving the Shina incident.

"Your Majesty, the unanimous opinion of the provinces and ministries is that as long as Hankow and Canton are captured, China will be subjugated." Gangcun cautiously threw out his opinion.

The Emperor was silent, and Okamura Ninji only said that this was the opinion of the Ministry of War and the General Staff Headquarters, and it was obvious that he himself did not agree with this view, and if the occupation of Hankow and Canton could not solve the Shina incident, the war would fall into the most undesirable and painful protracted war for Japan.

Seeing that the ceremonial procedures were about to get out of control, Minister of the Interior Yuasa hurriedly gave Gangcun a look.

Gangcun understood, and said slowly but firmly in powerful words: "The Wuhan Battle Empire will definitely be victorious, Your Majesty must not worry, after this battle, even if China does not give in, it will reduce the other party to the local power." ”

After the emperor's audience ceremony, the next ceremony of paying homage to the queen and worshipping the imperial wine Okamura Ninji was uneasy, the resignation of the former Minister of War Sugi Sugimoto was the emperor's punishment for his honesty, at the beginning, Sugi Sugimoto in order to let the emperor support the military action, said that the Shina incident could be resolved in 3 months, and now no one is saying this, but the emperor still remembers! If the battle of Wuhan is not satisfactory, a large number of high-ranking officials who have played the package ticket this time will inevitably be as unlucky as Shanshanyuan.

The Battle of Wuhan surpassed Japan's national strength, and when he met with his friend Tsukada yesterday, Tsukada told him that now the weapons used by the instructors of the Army University are all recycled and sent to the front line, and the military expenses for the Battle of Wuhan cannot be taken out, and the money is obtained through national donations, and the gold reserves have also been used up, 280 tons of 288 tons have been used, and the remaining 8 tons are reserved for the imperial family to receive foreign guests and domestic guests...

The audience was soon over, and Okamura walked through the Imperial Corridor of Miyagi, out of the stone-paved palace road and moat, and couldn't help but look back, the whole palace was like a pool of clear water above the green island, or a green island in the clear water, with yellow and green eaves buildings, white and gray walls and lookouts, and shadows hidden in all kinds of trees and flowers all over the palace.

The Imperial Palace is beautiful, mysterious and noble, it has not experienced war here for hundreds of years, which is the luck of the Imperial Palace, and the luck of the whole of Tokyo, and in the country of the rivals, the capital used to be just as beautiful, but now everything does not exist, and even the most beautiful things cannot withstand the attack of planes, artillery and machine guns.

And he, Okamura Ninji, wanted to personally organize and create these scenes of destruction again, Okamura Ninji walked through the hard gravel road, and pressed the last trace of pity in his heart: "That's the beauty of the Shina people, let them go and feel distressed!" ”