Itagaki Okito Hihara nodded appreciatively, and then said to Shigeru Honjo and Miyake Mitsuji, who were shocked: "Your Excellency the commander and chief of staff. ”

"I mean to say that this mass bank robbery was by no means committed by our Japanese soldiers, but by the Shina people, and they were premeditated."

"Premeditated? What evidence do you have? ”

Miyake Mitsuji didn't believe in Itagaki's slightly arbitrary judgment. At least the robbery of the Japanese Zhengjin Bank will not necessarily be committed by the Shina people, otherwise they can also disguise themselves as Japanese ronins to commit crimes, and they will not be stupid enough to rob the bank in the costume of the Shina police. Also, if the "Japanese army" robbed in Zhang Xueliang's marshal mansion was also dressed up by the Zhi Na people, where did the Zhi Na people find nearly 100 complete sets of Japanese military clothing and equipment at one time?

Itagaki said unhurriedly, "The reason why I judge this way is that there is evidence..." ”

"First, all the perpetrators of the robbery of the Bank of Shina are the so-called ronin, and the robbery of our Japan Zhengjin Bank happens to be the Shina police."

"What kind of suspicion is this, the people of China robbed the Bank of Japan, and the Japanese people robbed the Bank of Japan, this kind of thing sounds normal." Miyake Mitsuji scoffed at Itagaki's words.

Itagaki shook his head disapprenantly and said, "The crux of the matter is that our people did not act independently of the army as an organization. Because last night we noticed that there might be an abnormality in the people of China, in order to protect the overseas Chinese, Hanaya-kun has ordered all the Japanese nationals, including the soldiers in the township, to gather in the Manchurian Protectorate, and in order to facilitate management, they are even managed according to the military establishment. It is impossible for any of them to leave alone, let alone hundreds of them together without being noticed. That is, those who robbed the bank were not our people, but the people of China in the guise of them. If it's the Ronin's doing, then they can pretend to be Shina policemen. ”

"Since it was done by the Shina people, it is very strange that they could have dressed up as ronin, including the robbery of the Zhengjin Bank, and they just didn't do that. The perpetrators don't want to have clues gathered on themselves, and they all want to lead the suspicion to others, that is to say, the person who robbed is neither a ronin nor a policeman, which should be done by the Northeast Army. ”

Itagaki turned and swept his gaze over the staff officers who were listening intently, continuing his analysis as if he were making a speech.

"Second, according to the general psychology of committing crimes, in such a big case, the perpetrators are unwilling and will not leave a living mouth. However, only a few of the people in the Bank of China who were robbed were injured, and the abnormal behavior of not dying can only show one problem, that is, the perpetrators are the people of China, and they cannot bear to kill their compatriots. ”

"Third, the Shina policemen who robbed the Zhengjin Bank were ruthless and killed Zhengjin Bank without mercy, which also proves that these people are the Shina people who are very hostile to our Japanese Empire."

After listening to Itagaki's analysis, Miyake Koji basically agreed with Itagaki for the first two judgments, but Miyake Koji was a little dissatisfied with Itagaki's third inference.

If it was done by the ronin, it was normal for them to dress up as Shina policemen, and it was normal for them to kill people in order not to reveal the perpetrators. Miyake Mitsuji knows the nature of these ronin, and for the sake of profit, killing his own compatriots is not something they can't do.

Regarding Miyake Mitsuji's question, Itagaki explained: "The robbery of the Shojin Bank, on the surface, seems that they don't want to leave a living mouth, but they just left a witness, although they did it very skillfully, but this is another big suspicion. In other words, the robber wanted us to know that it was a person wearing a police uniform in Shina who robbed the Jeongjin Bank, and made us think that this robbery was normal and that it was an act of revenge out of hatred for our great Japanese empire. ”…,

Mitsuji Miyake asked suspiciously, "But if we make public the robbery of our Grand Nippon Bank by the Shina police, what good will it do to the Shina people?" ”

Tu Feiyuan shook his head and said, "No one will believe our words now." ”

Everyone understands the meaning of Tohi's original words, that is, "no one will believe the words of the invaders".

Tu Feiyuan continued: "The people who were robbed of the bank will flee back to Guannai, and they will all say that it is the ronin who robbed their bank, and it is precisely our Zhengjin Bank that was robbed by the police of China, and the people of China will think that this is what we want to cover up, and they will be more convinced that the bank of the people of China was robbed by us." ”

Itagaki nodded appreciatively and continued: "Also, the time of the robbery is also very good, the time of the bank robbery is basically when our Kwantung Army enters the city to fight the Shina police, and the time of the robbery of the Shuaifu is when we have just defeated the Shuaifu guards. If it weren't for the thorough preparation of the Shina people in advance, they would not have grasped this opportunity so accurately. Also, if it wasn't for the thorough preparation in advance, where would the Shina people go to find hundreds of people who are proficient in Japanese to commit crimes? If you hadn't prepared in advance, how could you have arranged it so well......? ”

The more Itagaki analyzed, the more terrible he felt in his heart, and he had even convinced himself that this incident had long known that they were taking advantage of the situation. Could it be that the people of China are really prepared? Was the Shina really premeditated?

If that were the case, it would be terrible

However, there is another problem, which Itagaki can't figure out.

If the people of China really knew about their plot to launch the incident a long time ago, then why didn't the 7th Brigade of the Beida Battalion take the initiative to cooperate with the action? Why didn't the Northeast Army make pre-war preparations? And why didn't the units of the Northeast Army assemble in Shenyang? Why didn't Zhang Xueliang go out of the customs?

Could this really be a conspiracy to set an even more insidious trap?

"How much do these banks lose?"

Miyake Mitsuji's words interrupted Itagaki's thoughts. Itagaki settled down and decided not to think about it anymore, even if the people of China had a conspiracy, he would jump without hesitation, and if the Kwantung Army suffered heavy losses, it would be just right to force the cabinet to make a decision on a full-scale invasion of Manchuria, and it would also create a strong enough excuse for solving the Manchurian and Mongolian problems in one fell swoop.

Hanaya Masashi saw that Itagaki suddenly felt a little distracted for some reason, so he had to step forward and answer: "Report to Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, because all banks keep valuables on behalf of customers, and there are many antique calligraphy and paintings and a lot of jewelry, and their value cannot be accurately estimated, so the losses of each bank cannot be fully calculated for a while. At present, just counting the cash losses of the banks in China, there are more than 800 million ......"

Hanaya Masa's words made Honjo Shigeru, Miyake Mitsuji, Tsuchihara, and the nearby Kwantung Army staff officers all gasp, Manchuria is rich, and they all know this. In Manchuria, it is known that there are sticks and roe deer scooping fish, it is possible to lie on wild ginseng if you find a place to sleep in the wild, and it is possible to be choked by the golden sands when you drink saliva in the inconspicuous stream in the mountains

Hanaya continued: "Because the hateful Shina people killed almost all the Japanese in the Zhengjin Bank, the loss of the Zhengjin Bank cannot be known for the time being. However, Zhengjin Bank is the deposit and exchange bank of our Japanese-funded enterprises in Manchuria, and the amount of cash in the bank will not be small, and it is estimated that it will be at least tens of millions. ”

"Yaga" Miyake Mitsuji was so angry that he cursed loudly.

Tu Feiyuan took a deep breath and said: "The funds in the Shuai Mansion will not be less, most of the money collected by Zhang Zuolin in the past 20 years is stored in the Shuai Mansion, this time Zhang Xueliang did not suffer a loss, not only took away the gold and silver of the Shuai Mansion, but also took away the public and private funds in the small half of the Northeast. If he wants to build another arsenal, I'm afraid it will be several times larger than the bombed Northeast Arsenal. ”…,

Honjo Shigeru, who had not spoken, glanced at Mitsuji Miyake and said: "Miyake-kun, the people of Shina are insidious and cunning, they not only dare to challenge the interests of our Great Japanese Empire, but also blame our Kwantung Army and put the responsibility for taking the initiative to provoke the incident on our Kwantung Army, this evidence is conclusive and cannot be denied. ”

In fact, there is no need for Honjo Shigeru to speak, Miyake Mitsuji has been basically persuaded by Itagaki, and he now believes that even if this incident is provoked by Itagaki and others, I am afraid that the Northeast Army will not be able to get rid of it, and they are all responsible.

Honjo Shigeru said to everyone: "The purpose of the Shina people is probably to attract international attention through this, and then to achieve the goal of forcing our Japanese Empire to withdraw from Manchuria. Ladies and gentlemen, Manchuria is not only the lifeblood of our Great Japanese Empire, it is also the samurai of our Great Japanese Empire who took it from the Russians with their blood and lives, and no one has the right to drive us away. Since Zhang Xueliang dared to challenge the dignity of our Great Japanese Empire, then the samurai of our Empire would make them pay a heavy price. ”

"Itagaki-kun, you are the head of the operations section of our Kwantung Army, tell me about your next step."

Honjo's words undoubtedly proved that he agreed or was at least inclined to expand the scale of the war, which made Itagaki and Ishihara, Hanaya Masa, Dohihara, and the other staff officers very excited

Only Miyake Koji frowned, he believed that even if the Northeast Army took the initiative to provoke, it should be stopped in moderation now, and further actions must be approved by the military department and the cabinet, otherwise it would be unauthorized to start a war and bear the responsibility of disobedience.

"Your Excellency, Commander."

With Honjo's permission, Itagaki immediately began to explain to Honjo Shigeru his battle plan with the goal of occupying the entire Tohoku .......