Wuhan, the official residence of President Moshan.

At 2 a.m. on October 17, it was the darkest time of the day, but the conference room in the presidential palace was brightly lit. Beginning at 11 o'clock the night before, President Luo Yiqun, who rarely worked overtime, convened an emergency meeting of a group of senior government officials, including Vice President Sun Ke, Executive Premier Wang Jingwei, Chief of General Staff Luo Yaoguo, Defense Minister He Yingqin, and Ministry of Armaments Lu Ming. Strong tea and coffee were brought into the conference room by the service staff of the presidential palace one by one, and everyone in the room looked serious, and from time to time there were people arguing loudly. At this time, Luo Yaoguo sat on his chair and drank coffee without saying a word, as if tonight's meeting had nothing to do with him.

There were only two things that happened that night, and on the surface it wasn't very complicated, but the meeting didn't end. The first major event was the simultaneous declaration of war by the German Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Persia, and six countries, Romania and Hungary, against the United States! The second half of the Second World War has finally begun! This matter has long been expected by a vote of government officials, and there is nothing to make a fuss about. If there is anything unexpected, it is probably that the female fox of the Russian Empress Anastasia will actually follow Hitler in declaring war on the United States...... Of course, Luo Yaoguo already knew about this and knew the reason.

However, another news from Tehran made Luo Yaoguo a little confused. Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka put forward a peace proposal for "China and Japan to jointly administer Eastern Australia and cede the island of Java" during negotiations this afternoon (Tehran time). "Sino-Japanese co-management" is not the previous "shelving disputes", the so-called condominium, naturally means co-management, and it sounds as if East Australia is co-owned by China and Japan. But now China is 10 times more powerful than Japan, and its population is almost eight to nine times that of Japan! If both sides colonize Eastern Australia at the same time...... The number of colonies in China will presumably be several times that of Japan! In a few years, East Australia will mostly be the world of the Chinese. When the Japanese put forward such peace conditions, it was almost a "decent surrender".

And the politicians of the Republic of China in this conference room, except for Luo Yaoguo himself, are actually relatively weak in character (in fact, Luo Yaoguo is not very tough), and they are deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and they have no great bad feelings towards Japan. Therefore, when Japan "surrendered without a fight", they were almost unanimously in favor of letting Japan go.

However, this real power figure of the Republic of China has always refused to take a stand. Therefore, although these politicians are in favor of accepting Japan's "honorable surrender" in words, none of them have proposed a vote or asked the president to make a decision. Everyone turned their attention to Generalissimo Luo, why did he refuse to nod? Did he have to kill all the Japanese? Is there that much hatred?

In fact, Luo Yaoguo is also hesitating about this matter, not because he is ready to spare Japan when he sees it, but for the ...... of these government officials in front of him Pro-Japanese attitude and worried. Although his prestige in the Chinese defense forces is now in full swing, it is inappropriate to use his military power to coerce the government. Besides, the opinions of these "pro-Japanese factions" are not unreasonable, and if they really want to push Japan to a dead end, these little devils will inevitably do some things like dogs jumping over the wall in a hurry!

In addition, German Ambassador Todmann is now in the meeting room of the presidential palace. Accompanied by Japanese Ambassador Shigemitsu Aoi, he drank coffee cup by cup and waited for the final reply of the Chinese government. He had just sent President Luo Yiqun a message from Hitler, and the German Führer hoped that China would seriously consider Japan's peace proposal. Although, there were serious differences between China and Germany on the issue of the war against the United States. However, at present, the United States is not facing the crisis of extinction after all, and there is no need to tear up with Germany immediately. Perhaps Hitler's war against the United States will end in a situation of great defeat and loss, and then it will be a situation of uniting Germany to resist the United States.

However, it is not appropriate to accept Japan's request for peace, after all, China has already received so many benefits from the United States...... It is not the work of a major country to turn around and refuse to admit its account, and Sino-US relations should also be encouraged. In addition, Luo Yaoguo has another layer of worry. Japan's compromise is most likely a delaying tactic! Once the United States really can't bear it on the Atlantic theater. Perhaps these little devils will use the support of Germany to provoke a dispute again.

After thinking about it for a while, Luo Yaoguo was finally willing to put down the fragrant and delicious coffee in his hand, he nodded slightly at his uncle, and said with a smile: "President, the views of the Ministry of Posts on the conditions for peace talks proposed by the Japanese side should still be carefully considered, don't give the Japanese a final answer for the time being, and wait and see the outcome of the Caribbean Sea War between the United States and Germany." News has already come from the German side. The main force of their high seas fleet had already left the port of Kiel for Gibraltar, and the main force of the Italian Navy had formed an expeditionary fleet. Tomorrow we will depart from Taranto for Gibraltar. In addition, the main ships of the Navy, which had been handed over by France to Germany to settle the reparations, had been concentrated in Gibraltar at the end of September. Estimate...... The American-German Caribbean War will break out in early November. If there is a tie between the United States and Germany, Japan may consider agreeing to Japan's terms of peace, and at the same time intervene to mediate the war between the United States and Germany to maintain the balance of power in the world. If Germany wins, we should still go to war against Japan, and in any case we must eliminate this hidden danger. ”

The method of procrastination was adopted for issues that were difficult to decide for a while, and Luo Yaoguo had been crawling in the officialdom for many years, but he was also contaminated with some bureaucratic style. As soon as his words came out, the party-state bigwigs in the conference room also nodded in agreement. Only Sun Yat-sen's eldest son, the current Vice President Sun, muttered: "Brother Fuwen, if the United States wins the Caribbean War, what should we do?" ”

"The United States can't win!" Navy Minister Long Tenghui took over the topic, he shook his head with a smile: "I know the strength of the German Navy very well, and the United States, which has been greatly injured, is by no means an opponent!" Most of the battles in the Caribbean will be lost, it's just a matter of how much. ”

"Speaking of which, won't we end up going to war against Japan?" Wang Jingwei asked with a frown.

Luo Yaoguo smiled: "The things of the war are not clear, especially the naval battle, the element of luck is seventy or eighty percent, and if the Americans are particularly lucky, they may also make Hitler's Grand Fleet suffer a loss." ”

"What about the Japanese?" Wang Jingwei gently turned the coffee in his hand. After considering the wording, he asked, "If the Japanese are particularly lucky, will their navy defeat us?" ”

Luo Yaoguo was stunned when he heard this, and looked up at Zhang Yiming, chief of naval operations who was present at the meeting, who is also currently the chief of staff of the Philippine Joint Operational Command, and who had just returned to Wuhan by plane from Zhanjiang this afternoon. Seeing Luo Yaoguo's inquiring eyes, he stood up and bowed slightly to the government officials in the conference room, and said with a stern face: "President, princess." Please let the humble post answer Dean Wang's question. Humble thought that the Japanese Navy could defeat us! He paused for a moment, and then explained: "The navy will always be an offensive force, especially after the aircraft dominates the naval battle, the use of aircraft to launch a sudden attack has become the main form of naval warfare, and it is very difficult to defend this form of attack, so the current naval war is easy to attack and difficult to defend."

As far as our Chinese navy is concerned, although it is much stronger than Japan in terms of strength, due to the geographical location, it is difficult for us to guard against a surprise attack by the Japanese navy. The two main bases of our navy are Zhanjiang Military Port in Guangdong and Zhangyi Military Port in Singapore. one close to the Japanese-controlled Philippine island of Luzon; One near the Japanese-controlled island of Java, Indonesia. Both bases are all within the combat radius of Japanese shore-based suicide aircraft! If you're not careful, you could end up in a defeat like Pearl Harbor!

Therefore, it is still recommended to refuse Japan's request and continue to carry out the Philippine battle plan. In any case, it is necessary to inflict heavy damage on the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy, seize the Philippines and Java, and obtain a reliable base for our navy. ”

Luo Yaoguo and Long Tenghui glanced at each other, and a hesitant expression appeared on their faces. The Chinese Navy's Philippine operation is actually ready to fly! The joint military exercises of the South and Western fleets held in the South China Sea in the past few days are actually preparations for the operation of the Philippines, and the military exercises are just a pretext, and the real purpose is to deploy the fleet to the South China Sea. Just wait for President Luo Yiqun to officially give the order to start a war, and he will launch an attack!

"Minister Long. How many days are left until the Philippine campaign is launched? At this moment, Luo Yiqun, who had not spoken, suddenly asked.

"Back to the president, there are five days left." Navy Minister Long Tenghui hurriedly stood up and replied respectfully: "Now that the aircraft carrier force has been assembled and the air force is all in place, only the fleet carrying the first batch of landing troops and the battleship fleet responsible for the artillery bombardment have set off from Zhanjiang Military Port. ”

Luo Yiqun nodded, and asked Luo Yaoguo's opinion again, "Fuwen." What do you think? If you want to stop the Philippine battle plan immediately, or wait and see......"

Luo Yaoguo frowned. I just wanted to play bureaucratic style and put this issue on for a few more days. The door of the conference room was suddenly knocked on, and then Luo Shun, chief of the presidential palace guard, and Wu Ziliang, director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, hurriedly walked in in the surprise of everyone, Wu Ziliang panted and said loudly: "President, I just got the news that a large number of Japanese armored troops have appeared in northern Korea!" ”

"What!" Luo Yaoguo and He Yingqin's faces changed greatly at the same time and shouted. Luo Yaoguo said: "Is the news reliable? Is there a more specific situation? ”

"The news came from our intelligence network in North Korea, and our intelligence officers saw with their own eyes a large number of Japanese assault guns and tanks were moving along the road to the border area, and a staggering number of artillery and infantry were also moving north!"

"It turns out that the Japanese are also going to raid us!" Luo Yaoguo smiled coldly and spit out these words. A large number of tanks, infantry, and artillery suddenly moved towards the border area, and it could only be a war! It cannot be used for defense, if it is to be defended, the Japanese army will definitely adopt a large depth arrangement, use the mountains of North Korea and elite infantry divisions to delay the attack of the squadron, and then use armored forces to counterattack.

Luo Yiqun felt the seriousness of the problem from his nephew's expression, and hurriedly asked, "Fuwen, which unit is stationed on the Sino-Japanese (Korean) border now?" ”

"It is Sun Yuanliang's Fifth Army and Song Xilian's Sixth Army, with a total of four infantry corps, twelve infantry divisions and four armored grenadier divisions, as well as four independent heavy artillery clusters, with a total strength of less than 300,000 people, nearly 800 tanks, assault artillery, and 3,000 cannons." Luo Yaoguo replied without hesitation:

Among them, the Fifth Army is mainly responsible for the western section of the Sino-Korean border, and the Sixth Army is responsible for the eastern section. In addition, Lin Yurong's Seventh Army, Guan Linzheng's Eighth Army, and Chen Mingren's Ninth Army are also being mobilized to the Sino-Japanese (Korean) border; Xu Yunlong's Second Panzer Army had also been drawn from Manchuria. It will arrive in Shenyang in five days. ”

Speaking of this, the corners of his mouth hooked, revealing a hint of mockery: "I really didn't expect that the Japanese were actually fighting the doctrine of the last fight!" Then it seems that the aircraft carriers of their combined fleet are also coming to the Philippines, perhaps already in place. That's fine, so we don't have to go all over the world to find it! ”

"What should we do?" Luo Yiqun asked, "Do you want to order all the remaining fleets in Zhanjiang Military Port to leave?" ”

"Not necessarily." Luo Yaoguo smiled coldly: "President, not only should we not move the fleet in Zhanjiang Military Port, but we should also immediately accept the conditions for peace talks proposed by the Japanese." ”

"Good way, that's it!" Luo Yiqun slapped the table. immediately approved Luo Yaoguo's proposal, although he didn't know the true intentions of his nephew for a while......

……

"Your Excellency! We have succeeded, the Chinese have agreed to our terms of peace, they are completely paralyzed by us! ”

As soon as Ishihara walked into the office of the chief of staff in the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, he shouted at Okamura Ninji.

Okamura's face was very calm, and he didn't see any joy or anger, but he nodded slightly, and raised his hand to signal Ishihara to sit down. Okamura, as chief of staff, naturally knew about China's acceptance of Japan's peace conditions. However, he is far less optimistic than Ishihara, and the Chinese will certainly be paralyzed by the great progress made in the Sino-Japanese peace talks. However, this cannot make up for the huge power gap between China and Japan. In an existential battle like China and Japan, the real contest is national strength! Intrigue can only serve a temporary purpose. The impact on the final battle is not very large.

Moreover, this time, Japan relied on diplomatic deception to attack China, but at the same time, it also closed the door to Sino-Japanese peace talks in the future. In the unlikely event that the war situation is unfavorable in the future, Japan wants to give in. China's pro-war faction can also refuse to negotiate on the grounds of Japan's breach of trust this time......

"How's the Kwantung Army preparing? Is there any certainty of victory in the first phase of the operation? Okamura Ninji asked lightly. Ishihara had just returned to Tokyo from Pyongyang today, and before he had yet reported to Okamura about the situation of the Kwantung Army, he received news from the staff officer of the First Department of the General Staff Headquarters that a preliminary agreement had been reached on the Sino-Japanese peace talks.

"The Kwantung Army is ready, and there is a 100% certainty that it can win the first battle!" Ishihara took out a map of Northeast China from his briefcase and spread it out in front of Okamura, who found that it was densely marked with symbols and unit numbers representing the Chinese and Japanese armies. "It has been ascertained that the squadron has a total of 10 infantry corps of 5 group armies. The numbers of the infantry divisions were not fully ascertained. However, the total number should be 30, with a total strength of about 500,000, of which two group armies of about 200,000 are deployed on the Sino-Japanese border.

In the western section of the Sino-Japanese border, which our army is mainly attacking, the Chinese and Japanese defenders have only one group army of about 100,000 people. And our army has gathered almost 500,000 troops! There are also all four tank divisions with more than 2,500 cannons...... Both the forces and firepower have an absolute advantage. Count Terauchi believes that it is entirely possible for the Kwantung Army to annihilate one of the squadron in the first 5 days of the war! ”

"Are you really sure?" Okamura questioned. The annihilation of a Chinese army is no joke, the current Chinese defense forces have fought wars against the Soviet Union and fought campaigns in Western Europe. I have repeatedly fought with those European army powers, not to mention a group army. It's a regiment, and not a battalion has been completely annihilated!

"Theoretically, it's entirely possible." Ishihara hesitated. I also changed my words. In fact, he didn't believe that the Kwantung Army had this kind of combat effectiveness, but at the moment the defeatist atmosphere in the Japanese Army was really a bit strong, so he had to say more words to boost morale.

"Xia Guan has studied the anti-Soviet war, the annihilation of large corps in the Western European campaign. It was found that in these cases, it was the armored forces that really played a decisive role. Once the armored forces had made a breakthrough, disrupted the rear assembly area of the infantry, cut off their supply lines, wiped out their artillery, and seized their baggage, the infantry holding their positions would have to sit idly by. Ishihara said: "Now on the Sino-Japanese border, our armored forces have absolute superiority, and we will certainly be able to replicate the victory of the Germans in European operations, so it is entirely possible to annihilate one infantry army at a time." ”

"Okay, in that case, I'll be relieved." Okamura was of course very worried, but with the big war imminent, he couldn't say anything discouraged, so he could only smile reluctantly, and then picked up a file bag on his desk and handed it to Ishihara. "Ishihara-kun, this is the final order to the Kwantung Army, you are the first minister in charge of operations, so it's up to you to issue it, and the attack time is 5:30 p.m. today...... In order to cooperate with the actions of the Navy, this time period can only be chosen. Saying that, he stood up and bowed slightly at Ishihara: "This is a battle for the survival of the Japanese Empire, Ishihara-kun, you must win, please!" (To be continued)