On the first day of the first month of the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943), when the whole of Myanmar was still immersed in the joy of the Chun Festival, Nanyang Daily suddenly put a shocking news on the front page, according to the latest research results of Professor Zhu Kezhen, Dean of the School of Meteorology of Nanyang United University, in the next six months, the southwestern provinces of China will suffer from a once-in-a-century drought!

As soon as the news was revealed, the more than 7 million indigenous people in Myanmar and the more than 8 million refugees from the "China" countries who had emigrated to Myanmar did not react, but the businessmen of various countries in Myanmar sniffed out the business opportunities from it.

Soon, merchants from all over the country in Myanmar began to buy grain everywhere, preparing to make a fortune.

However, the grain in Burma has already been bought out, and businessmen from various countries quickly thought of the expeditionary force, thinking that this must be Professor Zhu who gave the news to the expeditionary force in advance, and then the expeditionary force secretly bought out the surplus grain in Burma.

The panic buying soon led to a skyrocketing rise in food prices.

In just a few days, a large number of transoceanic telegrams were sent from Burma to India, Australia and even the Americas, and even the Japanese merchants entrenched in the Indochina Peninsula were alarmed.

Yangon, Expeditionary Force Headquarters.

Deng Gong and Yue Weihan had just finished discussing the candidates for the political commissars of the various group armies and field divisions, Mr. Rong Desheng and Mr. Chen Jiageng suddenly came together, and when Deng Chengcheng was about to get up and say goodbye, he was stopped by Yue Weihan, Yue Weihan knew that Deng Gong admired the market economy under the intervention of the government, and Deng Gong was also the political commissar of the expeditionary force, and he also had the right to know.

Seeing that Yue Weihan left Deng Gong behind, "Mr. Rong and Mr. Chen knew his intentions.

At that moment, Mr. Rong took out a document from the briefcase he was carrying and put it on Yue Weihan's desk, and immediately said excitedly: "General Yue's preliminary preparations have basically been completed, and after more than a month of secret purchases, we have hoarded nearly 2 billion catties of grain.

"2 billion catties?" Yue Weihan frowned, and said, "What about the price?" ”

2 billion catties of grain seems to be a lot, and the piles are about to become a xiaoshan, but once it is distributed to 200 million compatriots, it will only be ten catties per person, and even seven days' rations are not enough, what can it do?

Mr. Rong said: "The price of food in Myanmar has also risen nearly tenfold! ”

Mr. Chen also said: "The plates in Myanmar are too xiao, and there is not much surplus grain" Those grain merchants are very clear, and we only made a slight move, and the price went up. ”

"Prices have risen almost tenfold?" Yue Weihan said abruptly, "It doesn't have an impact on the compatriots who have immigrated over, right?" ”

"Not really." Mr. Chen shook his head and said, "Because most of the compatriots who have emigrated from the country have been incorporated into the production and construction corps, in the corps, all living materials are rationed" and the corps is now basically self-sufficient, but the impact on the indigenous people of Myanmar, especially urban residents, is relatively large.

Urban residents are no better than rural residents, and it would be good to have a month's surplus grain at home" In normal times, this is nothing, and when the grain is eaten up, it is enough to go to the grain store to buy it, but once the price of grain soars, the problem will be serious.

It is foreseeable that Myanmar's indigenous people are about to suffer a man-made "famine".

"Alas, our expeditionary force is also in difficulty now, and the difficulties of the Burmese people can only be overcome by themselves." Yue Weihan's face was full of regret when he said this, but Deng Gong next to him clearly heard it, "Yue Weihan's implication is to leave the life and death of the indigenous people of Myanmar alone.

According to conservative estimates, at least more than 500 grain merchants have sent telegrams back to China, "they are trying to urgently transport grain from India, Siam, Indochina, Australia and other places, if nothing else," the first batch of grain will be imported from Siam into Myanmar in half a month! ”

Yue Weihan pondered for a moment and asked, "How much grain will be imported from Siam in half a month?" ”

Mr. Rong said: "The population of Siam is almost three times that of Myanmar", so there is more surplus grain, "but considering the limitation of transportation capacity, the first batch of imported grain will not exceed 1 billion catties!" However, the amount of grain imported by Indo-Chinese Japanese merchants will definitely soar to tens of billions of catties, because Japanese merchants can rent large transport ships from the Japanese military. ”

Mr. Chen also said: "Next, there will be American and British businessmen" The grain transferred from India and Australia will not be less than 10 billion catties. "Tens of billions of catties of grain sounds like a lot" but in fact, it is only 5 million tons" and is distributed to more than 500 grain merchants, and each person has a share of about 10,000 tons, and a 10,000-ton freighter is hired to send it over.

Yue Weihan thought for a while, "Asked Mr. Rong: "Old Rong:"Do you think you can put grain now?" ”

Mr. Rong said: "The first batch of grain from Siam will take at least half a month to import, enough time, the old man thinks that he can continue to raise the price of grain" and then start to release grain from the high price of 20 times, at this time, in order to keep the price of grain high, grain merchants from all countries will definitely spare no effort to eat the grain we released, and we will be able to return the funds! ”

"Good!" Yue Weihan said happily, "Just do what Elder Rong said, continue to eat grain now, fry the price of grain, and then start putting grain at a high price of twenty times!" ”

Saigon, the headquarters of the Southern Army.

Lieutenant General An Da, Chief of Staff of the Southern Army, walked into Terauchi Shouichi's office excitedly, and immediately retracted his feet and said uprightly: "Your Excellency, the news has been verified, Professor Zhu Kezhen of the Nanyang United University is indeed a person, and he has a good reputation in the international meteorological community, and the news of the imminent drought in the southwest of China is indeed his research result II"

"Oh?" Terauchi Shouichi frowned and said, "No wonder the demand for food in Myanmar will suddenly increase dramatically, it turns out that Yue Weihan is planning for this year's famine." ”

Anda Twenty-three said: "Your Excellency, grain merchants from various countries are urgently transporting grain from India, Australia and Africa to Burma, and it is unrealistic to prevent the [Chinese] expeditionary force from buying grain wantonly, but we can completely get a piece of the pie to alleviate our economic difficulties." ”

At this time, the national economy had become seriously deformed due to the long years of war, and due to the limitation of the industrial scale, the government had reduced the production of daily necessities to a minimum in order to produce as many warships, airplanes, artillery, and firearms as possible, which led to the unfavorable situation of soaring domestic prices.

At the same time, the Western countries had closed their trade with Japan, and the supplies of the Axis allies such as Germany and Italy could not be transported across the ocean.

However, "the living materials of the Allied army need to be settled in US dollars, and the dollar reserves of the Japanese capital have long been depleted, so the Anda 23rd will have this statement, if the Southern Army can get a piece of the food storm and exchange cheap Indochinese grain for a large amount of US dollars", it can exchange a large amount of urgently needed materials from the hands of the Allied merchants.

Therefore, without waiting for Anda Twenty-three to finish speaking, Terauchi Shouichi nodded happily and said: "Yo Xi" This matter is fully responsible for Anda-kun, and strive to collect all the surplus grain in Indochina within three days, and then arrange for merchants to urgently transport it to Burma, in order not to arouse the suspicion of the allies, it is best to act through Siamese merchants. ”

"Hello." Anda Twenty-Three suddenly bowed his head, and immediately took the order.

Nanjing, the headquarters of the Central China Front Army.

Lieutenant General Hiroshi Nemoto, the new chief of staff of the Central China Front, strode into Okamura Ningji's office, and immediately retracted his feet and said uprightly: "Your Excellency, the news has been verified, and the news of the imminent drought in the southwest of China is true." This is indeed the latest research result of Mr. Zhu Kezhen, a meteorology expert of the Nanyang United University. "Yo Si. Okamura nodded happily and said, "The opportunity for the Imperial Army has finally come!" ”

"Your Excellency the Commander means," Nemoto said awe-inspiringly, "to take the initiative to attack? At present, the Japanese army is already on the defensive in the three battlefields of the Far East, North China, and Southeast Asia, and "although the Central China Battlefield is still in an offensive posture for the time being," compared with the Nationalist Army and the New Fourth Army in the occupied areas, the advantage of the Japanese puppet army is no longer very obvious.

Okamura Ninji smiled and said, "Gengen-kun, don't you think this is a good time to capture the southwest of the [China] country and force Chongqing to surrender?" ”

"But the strength of the Central China Front is only 500,000." , Genbo frowned, and said, "There are at least more than 2 million troops stationed in the southwest, not to mention that there are more than 500,000 New Fourth Army entrenched in the occupied area, in this case, it seems a little inappropriate to rashly gather the main force to take the initiative to attack, once lost, the consequences will be unimaginable. ”

Among the five strategic armies of the Japanese army, "Okamura Ninji's Central China Front is the weakest in strength.

"I'm too worried." Okamura Ninji waved his hand and said indifferently, "That's right, the national army stationed in the southwest still has nearly two million troops, but what kind of army is this?" With neither food rations nor a source of impeachment, how could such an army be an opponent of the Great Japanese Imperial Army? Speaking of this, Okamura Ningji said confidently: "What's more, the drought in the first half of this year will exacerbate the grain shortage in the southwest, and it is still unknown whether the regular army of the national government can still maintain the scale of 2 million, and then the imperial army will take advantage of the situation to attack, and it will definitely be able to win a big victory!" ”

I have to say that Okamura Ningji's strategic vision is still very poisonous.

This old devil can see at a glance that the current national government is just an empty shelf, and the two million national army of Commander Chiang seems to be huge, but the soldiers have not been paid for several months, and they have not eaten for many months, and the ammunition reserves are even more pitiful.

What is the use of an army that is short of ammunition and food, no matter how many people there are? And how much combat power can it have?

The most important thing is that the expeditionary force of the "China" country in Nanyang and the Eighth Route Army north of the Yangtze River are fledgling at the moment, and it is impossible to transfer troops to reinforce the southwest battlefield before the Southern Army and the North China Front Army are leveled.

At present, the "Japan" is in urgent need of decent achievements to boost morale and people's morale.

Once the Central China Front occupies the southwest, even if the national government moves to the northwest, it can at least lead to the demise of the legal principles of the "central" national government, which is undoubtedly a great encouragement to the demoralized Japanese soldiers and tired Japanese people, and at the same time, in the eyes of the Axis allies such as Germany and Italy, the international status of the "Japan" will also be greatly improved.

Conversely, the demise of the jurisprudence of the Nationalist Politics could greatly suppress the arrogance of the Expeditionary Force and the Eighth Route Army.

As long as the Japanese army can survive this most difficult period, and when Manchuria and Central China are completely integrated into the "Japan", the "Japan" will once again have a large number of reserve troops, coupled with the large number of Soviet-style ordnance produced by the industrial base in the Far East, and the adjustment of the focus of military construction by the "Japan" government, it will not be difficult to defeat the expeditionary force and the Eighth Route Army.

After a moment, Gen Bo Shen Yin said: "Your Excellency Commander Xi, I'm afraid the base camp will not agree. ”

"Base camp?" Okamura Ninji pursed his lips, his face was disdainful, from the beginning, "He was not prepared to ask for the consent of the base camp, and at that moment Okamura Ninji patted Nemoto Hiroshi on the shoulder and said, "Nemoto-kun, the ammunition reserves of the Central China Front are enough for the Southwest Battle, and this battle does not need the support of the base camp, we are enough to do it ourselves!" ”

"Hello." Finally convinced, Genbo immediately bowed his head and said, "Your Excellency, commander, I will go back to the general staff and immediately convene the operational staff to formulate a detailed battle plan." "Yo Si. Okamura nodded happily and said, "Nemoto-kun, you will soon become an imperial hero.

Nemoto quickly got into the groove, bowed to Okamura Ninji again, and then turned around and walked away.

In this battle, the Central China Front Army will mobilize all the old field divisions and regiments, plus an independent mixed brigade and an independent mixed brigade and an imperial assistant division, to attack the southwest in two ways, with the left route under the command of Okabe Naosaburo attacking Guizhou and Yunnan from Hunan, and the right route under the personal command of the old devil Okamura Ningji attacking Sichuan and Shaanxi from Hubei.