What the? Okamura Ningji exclaimed a little out of shape, and then realized that he was out of shape, and Okamura Ningji hurriedly covered up: "The commander of the Nanjing garrison of the China Army turned out to be Zhang Xuewu?" Why is such important intelligence overlooked? So why didn't our army get any relevant news before? ”

Terauchi Shouichi shook his head helplessly and said: "Zhang Xuewu may have used a two-seater fighter jet to secretly go to Nanjing, this time the Nanjing political axe side of the Zhina strictly blocked all the news, and our spy personnel placed in the Executive Yuan failed to obtain this important information, and the branch also released false news that the commander of the Nanjing garrison was Tang Shengzhi, but our spy personnel found out that Tang Shengzhi was actually recuperating in Wuhan, and only after understanding did he learn that the commander of the Nanjing garrison turned out to be Zhang Xuewu, The work of the intelligence agencies of the Rehe Empire was very difficult to carry out. ”

Kenji Tohihara on the side also seemed to be deeply touched and said: "Indeed, as His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief said, Zhang Xuewu's household registration system and whistleblower reward system in Rehe, Chahar, and Suiyuan are combined with public security patrols, the hierarchical registration system in safe areas, and the registration and screening system for foreign population, making it difficult for our army's spy personnel to carry out their work, and the search of the duplicate functions of its Commerce Bureau, the Transportation Bureau, the Security Bureau, the Garrison Headquarters, the Police Department, the garrison and other multiple agencies makes it difficult for even Manchukuo agents disguised as businessmen to infiltrate. As soon as the agent I released entered the territory of Rehe, it was like throwing a stone into a lake, and there was nothing left after the slight land. ”

Terauchi Shou nodded and said: "So whether it is Matsui Ishine or Hatohiko Asakanomiya, I am afraid that the two of them will not be able to capture Nanjing under the command of Zhang Xuewu in a short period of time, although it is only a temporary expedient measure to analyze the Chinese people to hold on to Nanjing from a strategic and tactical point of view, but now there is one more Zhang Xuewu, which is equivalent to a lot of changes in it." ”

Okamura Ningji took a deep breath, obviously the fiasco of Chengde left a deep impression on him, Zhang Xuewu with a division of troops stuck to the small city of Chengde, in the face of the Imperial Army's 200,000 troops stubbornly defended for many days, and finally attacked the Chaoyang logistics supply base and the airport in the western suburbs of Jinzhou, forcing the empire to retreat in embarrassment under the premise of losing troops, which not only disgraced the Kwantung Army, but also caused the Imperial Army to suffer great humiliation.

Now Zhang Xuewu has appeared in Nanjing again? Okamura Ningji is very eager to fight Zhang Xuewu head-on, but he is a little afraid of Zhang Xuewu, a demon who seems to be able to predict the prophet, in the battle of Chengde, Zhang Xuewu is almost everywhere pre-arranged, aimed at countering the military deployment of the Imperial Kwantung Army, so that Okamura Ningji almost thought that there were Chinese spies at the top of the Kwantung Army? So much so that in the year after the war, the participating units of the Kwantung Army Headquarters were investigated all the way to the level of wing commander, but they did not gain anything.

Now that Zhang Xuewu has secretly gone to Nanjing, I am afraid that the 11th Brigade of the Infantry of the Sixth Division is his masterpiece, and Okamura Ningji seems to be a little confused? Why did Zhang Xuewu always chase after the Sixth Division and the Sixteenth Division? It seems that these two divisions received the most [***] shells in the battle of Chengde!

Gu Shoufu, a fool, didn't learn a lesson at all, and rushed forward lightly, since he knew that Nanjing was the capital of China, how could he carelessly underestimate the enemy? However, if the Central Branch, which has 240,000 troops and strengthened air power, chariots and heavy artillery units, cannot conquer Nanjing alone! After all, Matsui Ishine was sick and left the command position during the war, and since he was out of the commander's position, it would be even more difficult to come back, and Hatohiko Asakanomiya was going to return to the base camp.

Okamura Ninji glanced at the sunset that had begun to fall and sighed with some emotion, an ancient city had become a ruined dead place full of corpses, and a section of wood still smoking on the side had small flames from time to time, could this war really be resolved as quickly as the base camp and the staff headquarters expected? After conquering Nanjing, will the political axe really surrender and compromise? And if one day the empire is defeated? Will today's scene be played out on the land of Ben?

Thinking of this, Okamura Ninji couldn't help but fight a cold war, the empire has a huge combined fleet that is the most powerful in the world, and there is an imperial army that is invincible in Asia, how can the Great Empire fail? For a while, Okamura Ninji began to become confident again.

At the same time, on May 20, 1937, under the city of Nanjing, the 3rd, 9th, 11th, 16th, 18th, and 114th Divisions of the Chinese Dispatch Army under the command of Hatohiko Asakamiya marched towards Nanjing in unison, and the 6th, 13th, and 101st Divisions of the Army. The three divisions were reorganized in Zhenjiang as strategic reserves.

The long-awaited supplies for the army were also transported from Songhu by the Chinese fleet sent by the Chinese navy, and some of them were sent up the river by the destroyer fleet to Zhenjiang, and a large number of reinforcements also landed at Jinshanwei in Hangzhou.

And along with the supply came the newly formed 11th Heavy Artillery Brigade in the homeland, the heavy artillery brigade is naturally important to the lack of materials and all rely on plunder and imports, especially the 11th Heavy Artillery Brigade headed by Major General Koizumi Wenren, Koizumi Wenren, a senior instructor of the artillery school of the Great Empire, has added countless confidence to Hatohiko Asakamiya, Because the 11th Heavy Artillery Brigade brought six Taisho 4-year 240-mm heavy guns and six 38-type 150-mm cannons.

However, the main force of the 11th Heavy Artillery Brigade is 32 Type 38 150mm field howitzers, which are produced by the Osaka Arsenal in 1905 and authorized by the German Kluber Factory, the overall length of the gun is 1,800 centimeters, the towing is more than 760 kilograms, the effective firing range is less than 6,000 meters, and it needs to be towed by six horses.

During the 1920 Zhiwan War, Zhang Zuolin once captured the first battalion of the Northwest Army 38-type 75-millimeter field artillery and the first battalion of the 38-type 150-millimeter heavy howitzer, so as to establish the first regiment and the second regiment of the artillery unit of the Northeast Army, and then the Shenyang Arsenal in 1926 and 1930 respectively according to the 38-type and the four-year model improved according to the 38-type imitation of the 14-year model of the Liao Zaomin, the 19-year style of the Liao Zaomin 15-centimeter heavy howitzer, compared with the heavy artillery made by the book, the surname can be the same.

It can be said that the 38-type heavy artillery and the old guy who belongs to the grandfather's generation, but the retired heavy artillery that he now has in stock has also been re-opened and equipped with a new unit, with the attitude that there is better than nothing, Hatohiko Asakanomiya personally greeted Koizumi Wenren, a famous artillery tactical theorist.

Koizumi Wenren took his 11th Heavy Artillery Brigade Headquarters and Staff Operations Room to Nanjing City first, and his troops needed at least a week to arrive, Asakanomiya Hatohiko first briefed Koizumi Wenren on the situation in Nanjing, saying that the various units of the army had begun to form an encirclement from the southeast, south, and west, and that Hatohiko was ready to choose the main direction of attack on the Purple Mountain line in the east and the Niushou Mountain line in the west.

Hatohiko Asakanomiya planned to deploy the 5th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade Imahito Kango on the Eastern Front, the 7th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade Kuraki Ichiro on the Southern Front, and Koizumi Fumihito's 11th Heavy Artillery Brigade on the Western Front.

The 3rd Division Fujita Shinsho and the 9th Division Yoshira Ryo attacked the eastern line of Zijin Mountain in the east of the city, the 11th Division Yamamuro Somu Division and the 16th Division Nakajima Imasa Wu Division attacked the line of Niushoushan and Jiangjun Mountain in the west of the city, and the 18th Division Nakajima Sadao Division and the 114th Division Sue Matsu Shigeru attacked the Chinese defenders' positions along the Qinhuai River in the south of the city, and the corresponding three field heavy artillery brigades and chariot wings were also assigned to the three attack sides. The detachment of the Taiwan Shigeto Detachment and the 13th Division were awarded the Zhou Libu Headquarters to attack the Qixia Mountain Fortress.

The so-called arrangement of Hatohiko Asakanomiya actually divided the six divisions into three sides to besiege Nanjing, and the field heavy artillery brigade and tank wing were all divided into three parts, and in addition, the troops of one division and one detachment were used to attack the fortress of Qixia Mountain. But how can this be as effective as concentrating artillery fire and combat vehicles and forces to carry out continuous assaults?

Koizumi Wenren is a classmate of Hatohiko of Asaka Palace, and the two were friends who talked about everything when they were Lu Shi, and Koizumi Wenren did not say anything in the face of Hatohiko of Asakamiya's strategic deployment, because the fall of Nanjing to the military headquarters and the General Staff Headquarters seemed to be inevitable, so since there was no major problem in terms of strategy, how could some small problems in tactics be regarded as problems?

And Prince Hatohiko of Asaka Palace is a very conceited guy, and he does not allow others to easily point out the problems he exposes, and he is known for his stubbornness in Lu Shi and Lu University, because of his very special identity, so even if this Prince Hatohiko of Asaka Palace has no strategic vision and tactical literacy, it does not prevent him from graduating from Lu University with honors, and it is also to maintain the dignity and honor of the royal family.

Seeing that the division commanders and chiefs of staff below had no opinions, Hatohiko waved his hand happily and said, "Please all of you to attack Nanjing!" Let the banner of the empire fly high above the capital of China, and for the troops who are the first to break through the city, I will suggest to His Majesty the Emperor that he be awarded the Great Rank of Chrysanthemum Medal, and the rich city of Nanjing will be placed in front of you, and the city of Nanjing will be breached within a week, and the military discipline will be lifted as a reward for all the generals. ”

(To be continued)