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Chapter 1840 Admiral's Decision

Tokyo. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In a luxurious and elegant Japanese-style villa in the western suburbs of the city, Ishihara and his wife Arashiko sleep on a comfortable tatami mat. Although Ishihara was uninhibited, hooked up with countless lovers, and even openly opened an annex outside to house concubines, he still had to go home to reunite with his family every holiday.

Ishihara was having a strange dream, one moment it was thousands of miles of gunpowder smoke and ironclad rushing on the Australian wilderness, one moment it was a battleship on the sea with ten thousand cannons, sending out bursts of flashes, and the sky was densely covered with warplanes, and the bombs rained down, blowing up countless stumps and broken arms, and one moment he saw that he was bleeding from all his orifices and was silently complaining in front of the mirror, and the next time the city of Tokyo was burned to the ground, and a group of armed American soldiers rushed over and smashed him to the ground with the butts of their guns......

A hurried bell suddenly rang in my ears, echoing for a long time.

Ishihara was sweating profusely, sat up suddenly, and suddenly heard a gentle voice: "Another nightmare?" ”

Arashi is only twenty-seven years old this year, after the 918 incident, Ishihara Waner became the hero of ***, when giving a speech at various universities in Tokyo, he was madly in love with the nineteen-year-old Tokyo Women's College school flower Lanzi, the two got married in three or three years, and it has now reached the seventh year.

Ishihara, who was almost deprived of all his identity and status for preventing the outbreak of the full-scale war of aggression against China in three or seven years, became ill with anxiety for a period of time, suffered from mild mental illness, often had nightmares, and occasionally had amnesia, and needed to recuperate and rest before gradually recovering.

Therefore, when Ishihara Waner ascended to a high position and made a wanton voice, although Arashi felt uncomfortable, she thought of Ishihara Wan'er's illness and knew that indulgence was an effective way to relieve psychological pressure, so she had to let it be. Fortunately, Ishihara Waner also takes care of Lanzi's feelings, no matter how busy he is, he will return home on holidays, although Lanzi feels that Ishihara Waner's personality has changed a lot, but he doesn't think about it much, and always does his duty as a virtuous wife.

"yes!"

Ishihara Wan'er turned his head to meet Arashiko's gentle gaze, smiled and nodded: "Thanks to you by my side, otherwise I really don't know how to expel these nightmares......"

"Jingle bell—"

The phone rang rapidly, and Ishihara, naked, stood up and walked to the antique shelf, grabbed the phone from the phone table, and said, "I'm Ishihara, is there anything wrong?" ”

"Your Excellency, something big has happened in Malaya and Burma! An urgent telegram from the Malay Army and the Burmese Indian Army Headquarters has arrived, please come to the base camp as soon as possible! A hurried voice came from the phone.

Ishihara was excited, and the person suddenly sobered up.

After pondering for a while, Ishihara returned to the tatami mat and apologized apologetically to Arashiko, telling her that she couldn't accompany her for the "Kurina Moon" festival (another name for the *** Mid-Autumn Festival), and that something big was happening on the front line, and then under Arashiko's worried gaze, he dressed up and walked out of the room.

When Ishihara came to the courtyard, the attendant and the chauffeur were already waiting.

The car sped down the quiet streets of Tokyo, and Ishihara's brain was churning. He single-handedly transferred this war monster from the Chinese battlefield to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia, and then listed Hawaii, New Guinea, and now Australia as targets for conquest, and the consequence of this was that the battle line was stretched too long, resulting in the defense of Malaya, Burma, and the East Indies.

Ishihara actually knew very well in his heart that it was inevitable for the An Jia Army to open up the mainland lines of communication and improve its strategic posture, and it was inevitable to attack the East Indies and Burma, and Malaya, as a bordering land that had a direct threat to South China, would definitely be the focus of the attack, but for some reason, he had to do so, after all, the Japanese army's militarist ideology had been rampant, and he had to direct this torrent in one direction, and Australia, which is rich in resources and developed industry, is naturally the best excuse at present.

The car bumps slightly on the concrete pavement, climbs the gentle slope of the valley highlands, and the green grass and azaleas on the side of the road bloom in the morning light, looking vibrant.

After walking the slope, the car turned around a "Y" shaped fork, bypassed a rockery piled up with strange rocks and a cold beauty, and stopped in front of a sturdy building with a "quack". This is where the Japanese military headquarters and staff headquarters are located, and its predecessor is the site of the old army non-commissioned officer school.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the senior generals of the Japanese army base camp gathered at the general staff headquarters and hurriedly convened an emergency meeting.

At the head of the large table, Ishihara was sitting on his lap, and a huge sun flag hung above the wall behind his head, setting off the solemn atmosphere of the venue. On the left and right, maps of the Far East, Malaya, Burma, the East Indies, Madagascar, Hawaii and Australia are hung.

On the right hand side of Ishihara Wanji sat the landing phase of Senior General Seishiro Itagaki, Lieutenant General Kenji Dohihara, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Major General Shintaro Imada of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters, Major General Toroshiro Kabe, Director of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff Headquarters, Lieutenant General Kyoji Tominaga, Vice Minister of the Army, Major General Akira Muto, Chief of the Military Affairs Section of the Ministry of the Army, Major General Kanshiro Shibayama, and opposite him was Senior General Nagano Shusei, the Minister of Military Orders, and on the left hand were the first cadres of the Navy, such as Admiral Kaisami and Shiro Kawako, Vice General Sadaji Toyoda, Deputy Chief of Military Orders, Rear Admiral Ugaki, Chief of Naval Operations, Rear Admiral Minoru Maeda, Director of Intelligence of the Military Command Department, and Rear Admiral Keijun Oka, Director of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Navy Ministry, among others.

On the seats behind the two sides of the conference table were Army Education Director Hideki Tojo, Chief Military Attache Hasunuma, Cabinet Chief Tomita Kenji, Minister of State Hiranuma Kiichiro, and Planning Institute President Suzuki Sadachichi.

Before the meeting, only a few people such as Ishihara Waner, Itagaki Seishiro, Kenji Dohihara, Nagano Shusei, Kawakoshiro, and Tojo Hideki were specially notified, and many more people did not know what was going on. The army won great victories over the British and American armies in the southwest Pacific and the southwest Indian Ocean one after another, and the joy of victory was full of the country, and most of the participants thought that there was some good news coming.

General Nagano Shufu, the Minister of Military Orders, glanced at Ishihara Waner, and when he saw Ishihara nodding, he turned to General Seishiro Itagaki, the Minister of the Army, who convened the meeting: "Itagaki-kun, please start!" ”

Seishiro Itagaki read out the telegram he had received, and then instructed the Minister of Intelligence, Major General Toroshiro Kawabe, to give an explanation of the situation.

Toroshiro Kawabe was the younger brother of Shozo Kawabe, the commander of the Burmese-Indian Front, and like his elder brother, he belonged to neither the Ishihara camp nor the Tojo camp, but was directly loyal to the Japanese Emperor. He stood up and said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the offensive launched by the An Jiajun was premeditated, and since 4 o'clock in the morning, it has launched a large-scale artillery bombardment on the side of our border. Although our radar gave early warning of invading enemy planes in advance, due to the short time and the fact that the number of enemy planes was several times that of our side, in a very short period of time, our army and navy aviation were all devastated!

"At present, the enemy's *** army has crossed the border line and launched an all-out offensive against our Malaya, Burma and East Indies. By half past seven in the morning, most of the sections had been broken through by the enemy, and the battle was moving towards our rear. The commander of the Malay Front, Lieutenant General Ando Toshikichi, and the commander of the Burmese-Indian Front, General Kabebe, reported to the base camp at the same time! ”

After saying that, Towashiro sat down, and everyone looked stunned.

There was silence in the venue, and many people were secretly thinking about what attitude they should take.

Seeing that no one spoke, Hideki Tojo glanced at Kyoji Tominaga, the vice commander of the army. Kyoji Tominaga's promotion is thanks to the support of Hideki Tojo and the supporting forces behind him, and Hideki Tojo is known as "Tojo's trouser belt" everywhere. Seeing that the boss had a request, Kyoji Tominaga, an urgent pioneer, stood up and publicly challenged:

"Your Excellency Ishihara, don't you think you are fully responsible for this incident? If we unswervingly implement the mainland policy, conquer the first government, cut off the foundation for the development of the Anjia army, and then capture Annam, Siam, and India one after another, and eliminate all potential security risks, why would we have lost today? ”

Ishihara smiled and didn't answer, and the head of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters, Shintaro Imada, immediately retorted: "Tominaga-kun, I don't know who lost his troops in front of the An Jia army and buried the lives of countless elite imperial soldiers?" If *** is really so easy to conquer, what is the matter with the defeat in North China? What happened to the failure of the Battle of Songhu and Jiangsu-Zhejiang? And the Battle of Shanxi led by His Excellency Tojo, how could it end in disgrace?

"In the battle of Siberia, our army was exhausted, but what was the result? Facts have proved that if it were not for Chief of Staff Ishihara's assessment of the situation, avoiding the invincible forces, and finding another way, the glory of today's empire in the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions would have been achieved! If we follow the principle of 'mainland first', I am afraid that now all the troops are trapped in ***, unable to move, and the huge military expenditure has already dragged down our economy! ”

"You-"

Kyoji Tominaga couldn't refute for a while, and glared angrily at Shintaro Imada. Shintaro Imada was a staunch supporter of Ishihara, and with his head held up in disdain, Shi Shiran sat down.

After beating the younger brother, the old nature was about to come out, and Tojo Hideki just wanted to stand up, but he saw Kenji Dohihara, the deputy chief of staff in charge of the army's ideological and intelligence work, standing up:

"Gentlemen, let's not be fooled by the current situation of war, but we should see the tremendous progress that the empire has made in recent years. I have a detailed statistic here......"

Speaking of this, Kenji Dohihara ordered the staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters to send each of the participants a document prepared in advance, and after the document was distributed, he continued:

"By the end of August this year, through the annexation of Lanyin, the Far East, Malaya, Burma, the East Indies, Hawaii and the western part of Australia, the empire had obtained a large amount of resources and machinery and equipment, plus before launching an attack on the British colonies, Chief of Staff Ishihara suggested that the United States purchase scrap steel, machine tools and production lines in a deliberate and vicious overdraft, the empire's comprehensive national strength has increased by 200%, coal, steel, shipbuilding, petroleum and other industries have increased by more than three times, and the annual production of tanks has now increased to 3,000 units. The production of artillery, including mortars and grenadiers, is 12,000 units, 10,000 aircraft, and the total annual shipbuilding tonnage is up to two million tons.

"Due to the brilliant victories of the Imperial Army in the Pacific Theater and the Indian Ocean Theater, which greatly coordinated the military operations of the Germans in the Soviet Union, Hitler's Führer has become increasingly alienated from South China in attitude, and at the same time tends to approach and unite the Reich infinitely, successively providing the Reich with the concept of coal-fired oil, electric torpedoes, tanks, engine turbines, submarine manufacturing technology and jet engines, and the Reich also reciprocated by providing Germany with the most advanced oxygen torpedoes, biological and chemical weapons, and shipborne radars captured from Pearl Harbor. Sonar and other technologies are all happy.

"At present, the Imperial Navy Aviation is heavily equipped with Zero carrier-based fighters, and the Army is equipped with Fayabusa fighters. At the same time, the Army's new-generation Feiyan fighter and the Navy's Gale carrier-based fighter have entered the final development with the cooperation of German aviation experts, among which the Feiyan fighter has come up with a prototype and is currently equipped with some flight teams to collect actual combat data, while the Gale carrier-based fighter is due to the fact that the power of the Imperial air-cooled engine is too small, and the base camp has instructed the relevant research institutions to combine the engine turbine technology provided by Germany to develop a more powerful engine.

"If none of this is evidence of the great achievements of the Empire, the changes in the Navy are most noticeable. Before and after the 77 Incident, the total tonnage of the empire's transport ships was only more than 6.7 million tons, and Ishihara's chief of staff creatively proposed a plan to occupy Lanyin in advance, so that the empire not only obtained the Dutch warships, but also a large number of transport ships.

"At the same time, with the joint efforts of Chief of Staff Ishihara and the cabinet, the empire developed the Lanyin Islands with the principle of 'open door and fair competition', defrauded a large number of American investments, and also used American loans to acquire a large number of transport ships in Europe and the United States, plus the transport ships seized from the Far Eastern Republic, only more than a year after the July 7 Incident, before the empire cooperated with Germany to launch a colonial war against Britain in Asia, the tonnage of the empire's transport ships was as high as 10 million tons.

"Subsequently, the Imperial Navy and Army marched together, occupying LinkedIn Mamalaya, Borneo and Burma, and finally marching into the East Indies, again seizing a large number of transport ships, and greatly improving the Empire's resource situation by feeding the war with war. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Empire acquired a large number of additional ships by detaining Allied ships stranded in ports across Southeast Asia and navigating the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

"So far, with the Empire's self-built ships in the past two years, the total tonnage of our transport ships has reached 14 million tons, and it is precisely because of so many transport ships that the vast ocean has become our vertical and horizontal stage, and we have sufficient capacity to support the war in Hawaii, Guinea, Australia and other places!

"The above is only for the improvement of the conditions of the Empire's maritime transportation, and I will talk about the growth of the Imperial Navy. The number of warships of the Imperial Navy, after capturing the ships of the Dutch Ran-India fleet and the Dutch expeditionary fleet, and salvaging the ships of the Far Eastern Republic that sank in Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk, had already made up for the losses in the Chinese theater and quickly narrowed the gap with the British and American fleets.

After the outbreak of the war against the British colonies, the Imperial Navy won a complete victory over the British fleet in the Battle of Malacca, the Battle of the Maldives and the First Battle of the Seychelles, surpassing the British and approaching the U.S. Navy in one fell swoop, becoming the second largest naval power. After the Pearl Harbor incident, the Pacific Fleet of the U.S. Navy was almost completely wiped out, and the subsequent Battle of Western Australia and the Second Battle of the Seychelles were victorious, and the Empire won successive strategic decisive battles at sea, not only by destroying the opponent to gain a leading advantage, but also by capturing the opponent's ships and salvaging and repairing the sunken ships, etc., once again strengthened our strength!

"Today, the Imperial Navy has become the most powerful navy in the world, and has the initial strength to win two naval battles in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Due to the loss of a large number of ships and countless skilled sailors, the British and American navies were unable to compete with the empire for sea supremacy in a short period of time, so from this point of view, the strategy of Chief of Staff Ishihara and Chief of Military Command Nagano was completely successful!

"Historically, it has been difficult for sea powers to maintain absolute control over the land, such as the famous Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other sea powers in history, the army is not its strength, and today's 'sun never sets' empire Britain, its army has also suffered a crushing defeat in Europe, Southeast Asia, the subcontinent, North Africa and the Middle East! However, we must see that as long as there is a strong fleet, as long as we can firmly control the seas, the empire can be invincible. From this point of view, even the loss of Malaya, Burma and the East Indies is acceptable! ”

After speaking, Kenji Tsuchihara bowed to the generals in the banquet, and then sat down.

"Ridiculous!"

Muto Akira, who has been suppressed by Ishihara Waner, still holds the position of director of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of the Army, and due to the lack of actual experience in leading troops, he is far from the position of his dream, so he is more united around Hideki Tojo. Hearing Kenji Dohimoto's answer, he stood up impatiently and said-for-tat:

"If Malaya, Burma and the East Indies can be abandoned, then can the North, Manchuria, and the Far East be lost? Can North Korea be lost? These places are all places bordering the An Jia Army, and who dares to guarantee that after satisfying the appetite of the other side, the lifeline on which we rely for survival will not continue to suffer?

"Moreover, the loss of the industrial base of the East Indies, the oil fields of Burma and the rubber of Malaya will seriously weaken the war power of the Empire, especially the loss of Sin Chau, which will cause the Empire to lose the precious Malacca Sea Route, and at the same time, the Empire's oil field facilities on the island of Sumatra will be seriously threatened! Therefore, it is impossible to let Malaya, Burma and the East Indies go unpunished, and we must go all out to the rescue! ”

Senior Admiral Nagano Shusei, the Minister of Military Orders, smiled slightly: "Our Navy supports all the strategies formulated by Chief of Staff Ishihara!" I would like to point out here that the Imperial Navy has fought several large-scale naval battles in succession, and in the next six months, the fleet and the aircraft carrier task force will return to their home ports for rest, and most of the ships will be upgraded, and radar and fire control systems will be installed.

"In addition, we also need to analyze the technology contained in the captured British and American warships as soon as possible, and modify the weapon system to transform it into naval combat power in time! Therefore, for a period of time in the future, the Navy can carry out air defense, anti-submarine and other escort missions for the transport fleet, but it is not enough to cover land operations, after all, the threat of fighters to warships is obvious to all, and I don't want to risk the precious warships of the Empire! ”

Muto Akira's face turned red, but at present, the navy has won one victory after another, and the prestige of Nagano Shusei and Yamamoto Fifty-six is high, but it is not something he can offend, so he can only sit down stupidly.

Although the navy is not monolithic, the current war situation is indeed conducive to expanding the strength of the navy, so the navy can temporarily abandon all differences and unite with the outside world.

Rear Admiral Minoru Maeda, Director of Intelligence of the Naval Command Department, stood up and said: "According to the analysis made by our intelligence department in light of the current reality, as long as the empire has Australia, even if it loses the East Indies, Burma and Malaya, the empire's national strength will not only not be weakened, but will be further improved!"

"It is well known that the search for oil in the Middle East failed Frank. During the economic crisis, Holmes went to Australia to explore mineral deposits, and made many amazing discoveries, such as the oil production area of Barrow Island, the iron ore area of Yampisand, the bauxite area of Arnhem Land, the open-pit gold mining area of Kalgoorlie and Northman, and the coal mining area of Kohley, etc., which attracted a large number of European and American consortiums to invest.

"The Chinese consortium in the United States, during the economic crisis, also discovered a large number of iron ore and coal mines near Mount Newman, Rob River, and Fortis Hill River near the northwest corner of Australia, and purchased all this area to build mines, and established many thermal power plants and metal smelters. In the eyes of most people, Australia is a kingdom on the back of a sheep, but in the past ten years, Australia has rapidly grown into an industrial country!

"After the Battle of Songhu, those European and American foreign companies in Shanghai turned their huge assets to invest in Australia, which once again improved Australia's industrial system. To date, Australia has a well-developed industrial system that includes steel, machinery, radio, military, shipbuilding, automobile, tank and aircraft manufacturing. As of June this year, Australia has surpassed divided India and a remote France to become the world's sixth largest industrial nation!

"It needs to be emphasized that Australia is different from India's industry, which contains many ingredients such as textiles, food, plantations, etc., and the resources that can be converted into war are really limited, while Australia is different, the entire military industrial system is very complete, especially with rich coal and iron resources, which can be produced locally, and the potential for production capacity explosion is unlimited! Therefore, our Navy has reason to believe that even the abandonment of Malaya, Burma and the East Indies is acceptable in order to ensure the Australian strategy! ”

Rear Admiral Ugaki, Chief of Naval Operations, went on to speak:

"Gentlemen, don't look at the unprecedented victory of the Imperial Navy now, we must see that the United States has a huge war potential. According to information obtained by the intelligence department, this year's US goal is to produce 60,000 artillery pieces, 40,000 aircraft, 20,000 tanks, and 8 million tons of shipbuilding. Therefore, if you are obsessed with the gains and losses in certain areas, and invest the precious resources of the empire in wars in local areas where victory is impossible, it will not be worth the losses!

"To ensure the final victory of the Empire in the war, Australia must be taken as soon as possible and built into an unsinkable sea fortress for the Empire! The land force, which is far away from the mainland and has the advantage of the Anjia army, cannot threaten us at all, and its air force has lost the support of the airfield, and it is just a tree without roots and water without a source, so there is nothing to be afraid of! Of course, in order to ensure the development of the imperial strategy, it is necessary to resist with all its might, and it is best to send the local natives as cannon fodder to eliminate as much as possible the demographic advantage that the An Jia army has after obtaining the above areas! ”

At this point, Hideki Tojo already understood in his heart that with the full support of the navy, it was impossible to impeach Ishihara Waner for the sudden attack launched by the An Jiajun today, so he simply did not say a word.

Ishihara was very satisfied with the arrangement he had made before the meeting, and only then did he stand up as a victor and humbly say:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the achievements of the Imperial Army and Navy are not the work of Ishihara alone, but the result of the unity of all the officers and men of the Army and Navy! Don't be too burdened by the loss of the East Indies, Burma and Malaya, where human resources are running out of human resources thanks to our efforts!

"Malaya, we organized 30 indigenous divisions, 20 of which were transferred to Australia, 25 divisions of the Burmese army, of which 15 were transferred to Australia, and the East Indies were the most exaggerated, building 70 indigenous divisions, respectively to Madagascar to transfer 11 divisions, Hawaii to transfer 5 divisions, New Guinea and the Australian theater of operations to transfer 26 divisions, so that the young and middle-aged people with better physical conditions were almost exhausted!

"In the next war, we will organize ships to send other natives in the prime of life to the nearby Landin, the Philippines, New Guinea and Australia to open up the land for us, and the rest will be organized by the army to form death squads to launch a counter-assault on the attacking Anjia army, and we will make Malaya, Burma and the East Indies bleed.

"Finally, we will dismantle the machinery and production lines of the more important factories and enterprises in a centralized manner, and then use the night to relocate, so that even if the Anjia army can occupy the above areas by chance, they will not expect to get any benefits, but will slow down the pace of their development because of the construction of these areas, and win precious time for the victory of the imperial strategy!"

Ishihara's words swept away the frustration, worry, and fear that had filled the conference room, and everyone else couldn't help but applaud except for the noncommittal people from Tojo's Hideki faction.

The meeting was quickly agreed, and the telegram was sent to the front in time to relieve the doubts of the high-ranking generals of the Malayan and Burmese and Indian fronts, and then at two o'clock in the afternoon, an emergency meeting of the *** cabinet was held at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo.

Prime Minister Konoe expressed his support for the strategic concept put forward by Ishihara Wanji, but repeatedly stressed that it was necessary to ensure the absolute security of the Manchurian lifeline, and if Manchu was not guaranteed, the cabinet would inevitably fall, and Ishihara's position as chief of staff would also be lost.

With Konoe's statement, and the full support of the land and sea ministers, the rest of the cabinet members naturally had no problem, so the strategy of abandoning Malaya, Burma, and the East Indies to secure Australia was established.

That night, Fumihiro Konoe took Ishihara Wanji to the Imperial Garden to meet Emperor Hirohito.

Prior to today, Hirohito was intoxicated by the great victories of the Army and Navy during this time. At present, the territory of the empire almost encompasses the entire Pacific region, plus the navy has become the world's largest navy, and the dream of many years has been realized, and he feels that his martial arts have surpassed the ancestor Meiji, so Hirohito sings and dances day and night, and celebrates with the queen and a group of female officials carefully selected from the people.

However, what happened in the early hours of this morning was like a slap in the face to Hirohito.

Previously, Hirohito had already received the situation of the base camp meeting from the chief military attache of the chamberlain, at first he was angry and ready to punish the relevant responsible persons, but after listening to Ishihara's strategy to ensure Australia at the meeting, he pondered for a long time, and finally agreed with the judgment of Ishihara, who is currently known as the "god of war" in China, and after an afternoon, his mentality has completely calmed down.

With a smile on his face, Emperor Hirohito earnestly encouraged Ishihara to let go of his burdens and think hard about the future of the empire. Ishihara knelt down in front of Hirohito, wept bitterly, and said that he would be loyal to the emperor and the empire, so that he could achieve hegemony through the ages.

This meeting between the hypocritical monarch and the minister did not end until an hour later, and on the way back, Ishihara Wan'er had a faint sneer on his face, and then fell into deep thought.

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