In a small gray-and-white two-story western-style building not far from the headquarters of the Kwantung Army in Lushun, Northeast China, Seishiro Itagaki, Ishihara Wan'er, Hanayamasa, and others dressed in heavy yellow-colored tweed military uniforms were sitting in the room with serious expressions, and in the stuffy room, they cautiously conducted a deduced process about the process of launching the Wicker Lake Incident on 28 September.

However, the results of the deduction were not optimistic, because the military strength at the disposal of the Kwantung Army could not give the 7th Infantry Brigade of the Northeast Army Frontier Army, which was stationed in Mukden, a blow of annihilation, and it was even difficult to defeat it.

Seishiro Itagaki in a straight military uniform looked around with his eyes like torches, and the gaze emitted by a pair of eagle-like eyes made people feel tingling and uncomfortable, in other words, Seishiro Itagaki is not a good person to get along with, unless Seishiro Itagaki is willing to get along with you, that's another matter.

Itagaki Seishiro slowly sat down on the table and took a deep breath, obviously the result of the military deduction made everyone present a little worried, and the wait-and-see atmosphere of the acting head of the Mukden secret service agency, Hanaya Masasa and others, became even stronger.

Itagaki Seishiro and Ishihara were like gamblers, pinning all their hopes on the compromise of the Chinese side and the rapid response support of the Central Military Department, which was obviously a serious violation of the essence of the duties of the staff officers, and such a risk was groundless.

Ishihara Wan'er, who had an inch head and a German-style guard beard, and looked very tired, suddenly said softly: "Gentlemen! We regard Manchuria as an important and irreplaceable lifeline of the empire, only by occupying Manchuria and making full use of Manchuria's resources, can the empire completely get rid of the coercion of Britain, France, the United States and other countries economically, politically, and the rise of the empire will be just around the corner, and when will such a feat be waited? This can be called a battle of national fortunes. ”

For this plan of Itagaki Seishiro and Ishihara Waner, Hanaya Masashi thinks that this is a huge adventure, if it fails, himself, Itagaki Seishiro, Ishihara Wanji and others will face the danger of dismissal and military trial, but in the face of the rich harvest of success, this sacrifice is completely insignificant.

Ishihara Wan'er saw that everyone was hesitating, so he slapped the table and said indignantly: "As an emperor [***] person, you must have the consciousness of being responsible, everyone! The more adventurous you are, the more you can achieve the impossible! ”

Ishihara then learned from Hanaya that the two 24-mm fortress cannons had been installed, and after the soldiers trained hard, Ishihara Waner immediately said that the two cannons would play a decisive role! As far as he knew, the accuracy of the two 24-kilometer fortress guns made by Taisho in the tenth year and long beyond the service life was really embarrassing.

After a cup of fragrant tea, Ishihara had a difference of opinion with the Mukden secret service on the handling of the aftermath after the occupation of the Tohoku, and Ishihara knew very well that the opinion of the Mukden secret service was actually the opinion of Kenji Dohihara, the head of the Mukden secret service who was in Tokyo at the moment.

However, Itagaki Seishiro thought that the most ideal was Zhang Xueliang, assuming that Zhang Xueliang would join the empire in order to restore his strength, recognize and fulfill the 21 articles and cooperate with the empire, and implement the Zhongyu doctrine, otherwise he would have to find a suitable candidate for a powerful faction in the northeast, and finally take over Xuantong from Tianjin, and organize a pro-Yue regime that was directly controlled by the Kwantung Army and obeyed the empire.

Acting Governor Hanaya Masashi expressed his support for the last option, Ishihara Kanji believed that restoration was a step backwards and would easily lead the empire into passivity internationally, while Itagaki Seishiro believed that it was too early to say that it would be more appropriate to adjust the established policy according to the actual situation after the occupation of Manchuria.

After a heated debate, it became clear that no one could convince the other side, and in the end only a temporary balance was reached.

After everyone dispersed, Ishihara walked mysteriously to Seishiro Itagaki and asked, "Itagaki-kun, what is the attitude of His Excellency Commander Honjo today?" ”

Seishiro Itagaki said while putting on his shoes: "I really don't know what those guys in the military department think, obviously they have already issued the outline of the Manchurian guidelines, but they just sent this old fox, Your Excellency Commander Honjo Shigeru is very slippery!" Six. During the 15th event, all the participants were transferred to the reserves, but he was the only one who was not punished, and he was promoted to Dazuo, which is not simple! ”

Ishihara Wan'er shook his head slightly and said: "He is a branch of China, and he has many years of experience as a consultant in China and Manchuria, and he can be regarded as the best candidate for the General Staff Headquarters." ”

Itagaki Seishiro was slightly stunned, stomped his foot, as if his boots didn't fit, and frowned: "Your Excellency Honjo said that he will decide how to give us support in a timely manner depending on the development of the incident, and the implication is that at the beginning of the incident, we can only rely on the Mantetsu Reading Force Garrison and the 29th Infantry Wing." ”

Ishihara Wan'er sneered and said: "Lieutenant General Moriren of the Yoriku garrison has promised us full cooperation, and we will launch a full-scale attack according to the original plan to open up the scene, and even if Your Excellency Honjo does not want to fully support at that time, I am afraid that he will take the initiative to ask for reinforcements from the Korean army at that time." ”

Seishiro Itagaki rubbed his hands together and said: "You and I have a heavy responsibility, and we must be worthy of the sacred staff officers on our shoulders, and the Imperial Army will depend on the decision of our staff officers, so it can be said that the fate of the empire is also in our hands." ”

Encourage you with you! Seishiro Itagaki and Ishihara's hands were tightly clasped together.

Zhang Xuewu, who returned to the Beida camp, closed his eyes in the car, while Xu Guohui, who was in the back seat, chattered endlessly about the Kwantung Army, Wang Chuang suddenly interjected: "The composition of my command and decision-making is very strange, and their major generals and lieutenant generals do not even have the right to organize and make strategic arrangements for the campaign. ”

Zhang Xuewu smiled slightly: "I'm afraid this is what you don't know about the composition of the command structure of the army, once the empire enters the general mobilization of the state of war, first of all, the army minister and the staff headquarters personnel form a base camp, unified command of the army and navy arms to coordinate operations, because there is no air force, only army aviation and navy naval aviation, although in a certain sense this model is more flexible and mobile at the tactical level, but at the overall strategic level, it restricts the development, updating and replacement of aircraft, and it is definitely more than worth the loss." ”

Zhang Xuewu paused and continued: "The staff system of the Yue army originated after the Meiji Restoration, and the core command idea is to use the staff headquarters to control and command the combat troops to achieve the purpose of the operation. Although these staff officers subordinate to the General Staff Headquarters are not of high rank, in fact they hold the tactical command power at the brigade and division level, and in the formulation and implementation of the strategy, a division commander does not have the power of a staff officer at the middle and regimental level, for example, in the troops at the division and regiment level, when the division commander is not there, the staff officer of the division and regiment headquarters directly directs the subordinate wings to fight, and this is very normal in the army, and the army is also divided into the imperial faction and the ruling faction, and the two factions compete with each other for power and profit to a certain extent. The young Zhuang faction in the army also particularly likes to show off their ability and determination in the way of subordination, and this is where the shortcomings of the command system of the army lie. ”

Zhang Xuewu's words suddenly amazed Li Xinkai, Wang Chuang, Zhao Xinyu, Xu Guohui, and Zhang Tianpeng! What Zhang Xuewu said today opened their eyes and made them insightful.

The car bumped all the way back to the Beida camp, looking at the funny and embarrassed expressions of the two vigilant soldiers who used sticks as machine guns in the fortifications at the gate, Zhang Xuewu really couldn't laugh!