The beautiful and vast land of Kanto, the sunny, fertile black soil, is full of large paddies that are about to ripen, as well as endless sorghum swaying in the wind, with heavy fiery red ears, and corn with large, full-grained ears of corn. The mountain valleys are covered with lush forests, as if the whole world is concentrated in the greenery of the world.

The mountain breeze blows, and the branches and leaves of the trees and crops make a splash, making you feel as if you are in a sea of green.

The towns and villages that occasionally appear in the middle of the soft forest sea and the fields are like islands of different sizes scattered in this green sea. The roads and country lanes, which glow gray in the sun, are like a magnificent bridge with countless branches of different widths and narrows, connecting all the "islands".

The beautiful and rich black land, which has not yet been fully developed, was as peaceful and tranquil on September 17, 1931, as many ordinary days in its long and rich history.

On the highway from Liaoyang to Shenyang, a convoy of eight black cars was driving majestically from south to north, and the convoy was rolling up a high level of dust everywhere it passed.

The convoy of smoke and dust was like a fierce god rushing towards it, with an invisible and terrifying coercion, and everywhere it passed, all the peace and tranquility were broken in an instant, causing pedestrians to rush to dodge.

In front of these cars, there are flags with red hearts on a white background that are constantly fluttering in the wind, and the dazzling blood red makes ordinary people afraid when they see it.

The owner of this train fleet is none other than the new commander of the Kwantung Army, Shigeru Honjo.

On August 1, 1931, Shigeru Honjo was appointed as the 9th Commander of the Kwantung Army by Emperor Momoto, succeeding Takashi Hishigari, the former commander of the Kwantung Army.

After receiving the appointment, Shigeru Honjo did not rush to handle the handover with Takashi Hishigari, but met extensively with Namijiro Rikusho, Kishigero Bihara, Prince Zaihito Miyajihito, director of the Military Affairs Bureau, Kuniaki Koiso, chief of the Military Affairs Division, Tetsuyama Nagata, chief of the Operations Division, Hideki Tojo, chief of the General Staff Headquarters, and the chief of staff of the General Staff Headquarters, Bunzo Kanaya, deputy chief of staff, and ministers of various departments, the Minister and Vice Minister of the Navy of the Ministry of the Navy, the director and vice minister of the Military Command Department, and relevant experts on the China issue.

After ascertaining the attitudes of people from all sides towards Manchuria, Honjo Shigeru handed over to the former Kwantung Army commander Takashi Ryokari in Tokyo on August 15 before going to the Kwantung Army Headquarters in Lushun.

After arriving in the northeast, Honzhuang Fan did not go to Shenyang first, but first inspected and inspected military affairs in various parts of South Manchuria, and then inspected Changchun, Tieling, Benxi Lake, and other areas one by one, and did not rush to Liaoyang until yesterday.

After meeting with the headquarters of the 2nd Liaoyang Division, division commander Jiro Tamon, commander of the garrison, Morita, and a group of officers, today they will go to Shenyang to meet with Consul General Hayashi Kujiro of Motosumi Mukden, and then immediately return to the headquarters of the Kwantung Army in Lushun.

In the fourth sedan in the convoy, sitting in the driver's seat was a young man who was driving.

Shao Zuo drove the car himself, which was extremely rare in the highly hierarchical army, because the status of the samurai was noble, so the officers with status in the army would never drive by themselves.

With Shaosa as a driver, in the Kwantung Army, probably only Commander Honjo Shigeru has this qualification.

However, at this moment, it was not the commander of the Kwantung Army, Shigeru Honjo, or even the commander of the Second Division, Jiro Tamon, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat, but also only two junior officers in the back row, one Nakasa and one Osa.

Although there was no Kwantung Army commander Honjo Shigeru in this car, but there were no four people, including the top commander of the Kwantung Army, they were discussing a shocking conspiracy that even the Cabinet and the Kwantung Army Commander Honjo Shigeru did not know, or were not completely clear.

Although the four people in the car were neither the most powerful commander of the Kwantung Army, Honjo Shigeru, nor the chief of staff Miyake Koji, nor the Jiro Tamen and Morita. However, these four people were well-known and active figures in the Kwantung Army, and even in the Army.

The young man who drove the car was the assistant officer of the Kwantung Army's secret service agency in Mukden, Hanaya Masa. Sitting in the co-pilot's seat, Osa is short but with a big head and a cold demeanor, who is a senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army and is known as the broadsword of the Eastern Army because of his bravery.

In December 1903, Seishiro Itagaki entered the Army Non-commissioned Officer School and became the 16th cadet of the school. After graduation, he was successfully admitted to the Army University and graduated from the Army University in 1916. Among the students of the non-commissioned officer school, there have been many "famous" figures, such as Kenji Dohihara and Ninji Okamura. The 16th phase of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School was later called the "16th Glorious Phase" in the military circles.

Because Seishiro Itagaki learned Chinese under the guidance of his maternal grandfather at the age of four, was well versed in Chinese folk customs and customs, and could speak Chinese fluently, he was sent to Yunnan, China as a researcher by the General Staff Headquarters of the Chinese Army in the second year after graduation. In 1919, he was transferred to the staff of the Hankou Dispatch Team, and it was at this time that Ishihara became his subordinate, and the two formed a lifelong friendship from then on.

During those years, Seishiro Itagaki traveled to Kunming, Hankou and other places, and has been engaged in espionage work. It was not until 26 that he was transferred back to Tokyo for merit and promoted to the head of the Chinese squad of the General Staff Headquarters, and in 28 he was reappointed as a senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army and came to the Northeast.

Dasa, who has a very bad face and is slightly obese in the back row, is Kenji Dohihara, who was only appointed as the head of the Kwantung Army's Mukden secret service on August 16.

Kenji Tohihara received a new appointment when he returned to China from his post as head of the Tianjin secret service to report on his work, and he rushed to Lushun from China, but he did not find Honjo Shigeru, who had just met Honjo Shigeru in Liaoyang, and he had come to report to Honjo Shigeru.

In 1904 and 1912, Kenji Tohihara graduated from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School and the Army University respectively. In 1913, he came to Yanjing as a member of the General Staff Headquarters and a captain of the army, and worked as an assistant to the Banxi military attache in the "Banxi Mansion", and began his spy career in China for more than 30 years.

When it comes to this Ishihara Waner, who can be called an alternative in the army, I have to say a few more words.

In 1907, Ishihara entered the Army Non-commissioned Officer School. In 1905, he graduated 6th in the 21st Infantry Section. And in 18 years, he graduated second in the 30th class of the Army University. He served as an instructor at the Army University and is currently the chief operational staff officer of the Kwantung Army.

For some reason, no matter where Ishihara was, he had a very bad relationship with his superiors, with the only exception being that he got along very well with Seishiro Itagaki.

For example, during his studies at the Army Non-commissioned Officer School, although his graduation score was 6th in the 21st Infantry Section on the surface, this was not the case in reality.

Because as long as the top five graduates can get a silver pocket watch from the emperor, it is a very honorable thing among young officers. And Ishihara Wan'er just happened to be a one, but he didn't get the emperor's silver pocket watch, which cannot but be said to be a very regrettable thing.

However, he later learned that he was actually the third because of his bad relationship with the teacher, and the teacher deducted a few more points from his character, and his ranking changed from third to sixth all of a sudden. The purpose of the teachers was clear, they just didn't want him to get the emperor's pocket watch.

One thing that needs to be mentioned is that Ishihara's technical skills, that is, his grades in sports and military skills are very average, and his ability to achieve such good results is entirely due to his extremely excellent results in military theory, which are far superior to others.

After graduating from Lushi, Ishihara came to the 32nd Wing, but he also had a bad relationship with the captain of the Wing, so he was kicked to the 63rd Wing without hesitation by his Wing Captain when the 63rd Wing was established.

In 1915, Ishihara was admitted to the Army University, and when he graduated in 1918, he was not wise enough to eat, and once again ate the teachers' plots.

Although he graduated from the 30th class of Lu University with the second grade, he was actually the first place, and because of his poor relationship with the teacher, he was deliberately pushed back one place and was rated second. From this time on, he Ishihara was also called "No. 7", which means mentally ill.

After graduating from Lu University, Ishihara was assigned to the powerful training director department. But he still has a "bad habit" and has a bad relationship with his immediate boss again.

Training director Managi Keishinobu said that the people gathered around Ishihara were like gangsters, and it was impossible for a slightly more normal person to get along with him. In this way, after less than a year in the training director department, Ishihara was kicked out again.

Also, the reason why Ishihara and his boss have a bad relationship is that it happened after the 918 incident, so let's talk about it in advance.

When Hideki Tojo became the deputy chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Ishihara Waner, as the head of the operations section, not only ridiculed Hideki Tojo for taking the test three times, but also called Hideki Tojo a first-class soldier, whose talent could only command ten machine guns at most, which made Hideki Tojo extremely angry.

It can also be seen that Ishihara is proud of his talents, and his surname of "arrogant and" is very distinct.

Later, when Hideki Tojo was the deputy officer of the General Staff Headquarters, he naturally had to calculate Ishihara. The post of deputy chief of staff of the Kwantung Army was only deputized by Ishihara Waner for half a month, and was taken over by the commander of the 10th Division, Ryosuke Isotani, who had a close personal relationship with Hideki Tojo......

(To be continued)