―― Kwantung Army Command

The commander of the Kwantung Army at this time was Kenkichi Ueda, he was different from other generals, he was the only Osaka man among the Japanese generals at this time, and like other Osaka people, his goal at the beginning was not to be a soldier, but to be a businessman, he even studied at the Tokyo Higher School of Commerce, and later changed his career to the non-commissioned officer school. He has a famous deed is that in the 128 Incident as the commander of the division and the 19th Route Army, the result was that the captain of the company was killed, after the war at the Zhujie meeting, he was sent by Wang Yaqiao Yin Fengji to throw a bomb to blow up the sole of his left foot on the spot, and his left calf was sent to the hospital and was forced to be amputated due to serious injuries. Became a lame general.

But he was also promoted because of a blessing in disguise, not only that, but also because of the shrewdness of the businessman, he no longer sided with the Taoist and unification factions, so he was selected as the commander of the vital Kwantung Army, and he was second only to Rikushoji Uchizuchi and the director of education Nishiichi in the ranking, and was known as one of the three peaks of the army.

At this time, in the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, dozens of generals gathered together, and among them was Ishihara Waner, today is the day when Ishihara Waner came to Manchuria to inspect, and Ishihara Waner's official position at this time has been promoted to the deputy head of the Japanese Army Staff Headquarters, second only to Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Family. He came to Manchuria to understand the situation in Manchuria and to unify the ideas of the Kwantung Army.

"Ishihara-kun, how many years have it been, you are finally back again, time is so fast, General Honjo has gone home to enjoy Qingfu, and we are still staying up here." A general said with a smile that the Honjo Shigeru he was talking about was the commander of the Kwantung Army during the 918 period.

Ishihara said with a smile, "The Kwantung Army is the most elite unit of our imperial army, how can it be that the sword has been covered with dust, sooner or later it will be unsheathed." Not only the Kwantung Army, but also the Korean Army and the Mongolian Army will have a chance. ”

At this time, Ueda Kenkichi brought a general and a young man over and said, "Ishihara-kun, I know that you are coming, so I will let your good disciple come too, these few months." He is already a little famous in our Kwantung Army. ”

Ishihara looked at it, but the two were Tada Jun and Takeda Takeo.

"Sir, you're all right." Takeda Yixiong said with an excited look on his face and bowed to Ishihara Waner.

Ishihara patted Takeda Yixiong's shoulder with a sigh and said, "I've heard about your affairs, I can't blame you all, what you have done has exceeded my imagination, bear with it a little longer, sooner or later, we will make the Red Party pay." ”

Saying that, Ishihara shook hands with Tada Jun and said, "Tada-kun, thank you for taking care of this stupid apprentice of mine like this." ”

Tada Jun waved his hand and smiled, "It's not a care, if it weren't for this good apprentice of yours." I may not be able to stand in front of you alive. ”

Ishihara looked at Takeda Yio, who was shyly touching his head on the side, and nodded with satisfaction.

Kenkichi Ueda waved his hand and said, "Okay, we're about the same time, let's go in and have a meeting together." ”

Everyone sat down, Ishihara Waner sat in the middle as the base camp personnel, and Ueda Kenkichi sat on the other side and said, "Everyone, you must have heard some rumors recently, and in the past month, Tokyo has been sending troops to Manchuria. What exactly Tokyo's strategic thinking is, now Ishihara-kun, who everyone is familiar with, will talk about it. ”

Ishihara stood up and nodded to everyone and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the war in China has entered a period of stability after the Battle of Shanxi and the Battle of Wuhan, and it has also entered a period of three-legged success. That is, the three governments of Chongqing, Yan'an, and Nanjing check and balance each other, and these three regimes are like Wei Shu and Wu during the Three Kingdoms period. Chongqing will attack Yan'an, and Nanjing will follow to attack Shanxi. Yan'an did not dare and would not take the initiative to attack Chongqing because of the nominal problem, but Chongqing would not let him expand his territory in the name of resisting Japan with peace of mind. So it can be said. Our goal of breaking down China has been achieved, and now we have to look further ahead."

Ishihara explained the entire strategic intention of Tokyo's decision to stand still and wait for the German attack to attack, and all the Kwantung Army generals nodded silently, after all, this was indeed the safest and most reliable approach.

Ishihara asked, "If you have anything you want to ask, just ask." ”

Tada Jun probably had been thinking about the Battle of Shanxi in his heart, and he stood up and asked, "Isn't it possible that we will no longer attack and increase our troops in Zhina?" ”

Ishihara shook his head and said, "The offensive is to attack, but it is only to end the offensive of the Shina War, that is, to talk about the offense, not to destroy the offensive of Shina, so our next offensive will have more political goals, and the military department will continue to discuss this aspect, please rest assured." ”

Komatsubara, the commander of the 23rd Division, stood up and said, "The Soviet Union's troops are not strong in combat effectiveness, although they are superior to us in terms of technical weapons, but they are extremely poor in terms of efficiency, which can be seen in the last friction, and now that Poland and Britain and France are close in the world, it is very likely that Germany will attack Britain and France instead of attacking the Soviet Union. ”

Ishihara nodded and said, "That's right, if the German government really finally defeats Britain and France and makes peace with the Soviet Union, then we will attack Southeast Asia in order to get colonies in Asia from Britain and France." ”

"How can this work? Although Southeast Asia is rich in resources and richer than the Far East, there is nothing there that can threaten the power of the empire, the real threat is in the north, and what if we put the main forces in the south and the USSR attacks the north? Will the empire that lost Manchuria still have the ability to continue to be a player on the international playing field? Manchuria is a hundred times more important than Southeast Asia. Chief of Staff Otozaburo Yano shook his head and said.

"That's right, no matter what happens, you have to go north, and you can go south at any time, but there are very few opportunities to go north, and once you miss it, you don't know when you want to have it." The commander of the army stationed in Mongolia, Naosaburo Okabe, also said.

Ishihara Waner looked at the Kwantung Army at the meeting hall and knew very well that it was necessary to go north, but in fact, the key was to go north to get the Kwantung Army to fight, so that these generals of the Kwantung Army would have military exploits and opportunities, if they went south, in order to guard against the Soviet Union, these Kwantung Army would probably have to hold Manchuria for decades, and watching the navy and other troops go to make meritorious contributions and win land, which is unacceptable in their eyes.

Ishihara sighed in his heart, feeling that it was difficult to do. "Ladies and gentlemen, I know everyone's determination and mood to serve the Empire, but we also need to know that the Soviet Union is a stronger country than the Empire, and without the cooperation of Germany, can we really defeat the Soviet Union?" This defeat was not the defeat of a war, but the defeat of the Soviet Union until it could not turn over, and it was necessary to take down their capital and make their government a local government, just like the war in China. Do you think it's okay? ”

"Why not, back then, we only relied on more than 10,000 troops to defeat this huge Manchuria, the Northeast Army at that time had 200,000 people, we won this battle of fifteen, can't we win this battle of one to two?" One of the generals shook his head in displeasure.

Ishihara shouted: "Do you think that the Soviet Red Army's will to fight will be the same as that of the Northeast Army at that time? Stalin was called steel, he was an extremely tough man, he would definitely fight resolutely, and it would be irresponsible for the empire to go to war without a chance of victory, besides. Even if we go south, then our Kwantung Army will be the main force. So you don't have to worry so much. Looking at these arrogant soldiers, Ishihara's heart was full of worry, are these people really ready for a hard battle?

I heard that the Kwantung Army should also be sent as the main force in the south. The generals of the Kwantung Army were silent.

Ishihara Wan'er saw that no one spoke, and shook his head, who is the main force is what he said alone, and he can only stabilize these people first. He turned to ask: "I wonder if Manchuria can do a good job in the rear if there is a war with the Soviet Union?" How is Pu Yi now? There is also the Anti-Union in the Northeast. ”

Ueda Kenkichi said with a smile, "The current Anti-Japanese Federation is already in the old forest, if it weren't for the high mountains and dense forests. It has long been annihilated, and he hasn't come out much in more than half a year, maybe he has starved to death, you can rest assured, as for the emperor, the only people he can see now except us are a few eunuchs, so don't worry.

Moreover, our steel output in Manchuria last year was 620,000 tons, and North Korea's was 100,000 tons, if it were not for the fact that we had to support the country and send a large amount of ore to the country, the steel output would have been even higher. So don't worry. ”

Ishihara nodded again and again, "This is also the main reason why I had to take Manchuria back then, okay, since if, I will go back to Tokyo to report, and there will be about 10 to 15 divisions stationed in our Manchuria, North Korea and Mongolia and other places, when the time comes, we will have more than 20 divisions in Manchuria and other places, plus the Manchurian **** and the Korean army, the strength will exceed one million, I hope everyone is physically and mentally prepared, especially the war readiness, must stock up on enough food, Cotton clothes and ammunition, after all, the Far East is not ordinary cold. ”

Ueda Kenkichi limped over and shook hands with Ishihara Wan'er and said, "Please rest assured, we will definitely do our part for the empire's strategy." ”

Everyone watched Ishihara's plane leave, and most of them left the station with a smile, and Tada Jun looked at Takeda Takeo next to him with a gloomy face and asked, "What's wrong?" Are you reluctant to see the teacher leave so soon? ”

Takeda Takeo hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, I'm thinking about what the teacher said just now, Commander, do you think Germany will really attack the Soviet Union?" ”

Tada Jun nodded and said, "Germany and the Soviet Union are incompatible, I think even if Germany really goes to war with Britain and France, it will eventually fight with the Soviet Union, we must prepare well, and we must not fail again." ”

Takeda Yixiong nodded yes, but his heart was like turning over the river and the sea, once the Soviet Union was really caught between Japan and Germany, would there be any hope of victory?

――

"Hmph, this Ishihara Waner, I think his courage is getting smaller and smaller, and he has to wait for Germany to make the first move, before he dares to do it, in case Hitler doesn't fight, but settles it through negotiations like Munich? Do we just sit like this all the time? "It was Komatsubara, who was on his way back to Mongolia.

One of the people next to him was Tanaka Shinichi, the chief of staff of the Mongolian army, who had always opposed Ishihara Waner, and at the time of the 77 Incident, it was he and Muto Akira who made Ishihara Waner's order not to expand invalid.

Tanaka Shinichi smiled and said, "Isn't it, I see, Ishihara Wan'er is now just talking about it, and he doesn't dare to fight at all, isn't it clear about the last battle of Zhanggufeng?" The Soviet Union is just a paper tiger, it looks scary, and when it really fights, it is not at all an opponent of our imperial army. ”

The commander of the army stationed in Mongolia, Okabe Naosaburo, also nodded and said, "I don't think we can sit idly by, we must let those people in Tokyo know the gap between us and the Soviet Union, and let them rest assured that they will attack boldly, otherwise this twisting and pinching is the same as playing cotton, when will we be able to achieve the hegemony of the imperial map?" ”

The three of them had the same thoughts, and they were speculative in their words, so naturally the more they talked, the happier they became, and they soon decided to start friction and test the Soviet Union's combat strength at this time.

-- Germany

After transporting the mechanical materials for half a month, Jiang Cheng immediately traveled back to Germany, looking at the German newspapers full of hatred and angry words, Jiang Cheng shook his head and said, "Are these Poles so anxious to find death?" It's just a highway to build, is it necessary to oppose it so fiercely, do they really know how to negotiate? Isn't this forcing the Germans to do it? ”

Chen Nan said with a smile: "Isn't this because of historical reasons, Poland has been divided by Germany, Austria and Russia three times, and it has been lost for more than 100 years, and it is not easy to restore the country, so naturally it is unbearable to this kind of violation of sovereignty." ”

Jiang Cheng threw the newspaper away and said, "Then you must also see your own strength clearly, at this time, you should continue to fight with Germany, or you should develop your own industry and military, where is it like this, fantasizing about relying on foreign countries to protect yourself, ridiculous!" Saying that, Jiang Cheng thought for a while and said, "We must not let the German chariots move quickly, arrange it, I will go to see Schacht, and see where Goering is, at this time he can come in handy." ”

When Jiang Cheng saw Shacht, he found that Shacht also had a sad face, and Jiang Cheng asked with concern, "My friend, what's wrong with you?" ”

Schacht sighed and said, "It's not because of Poland, we just swallowed Czechoslovakia, Poland is now allied with Britain and France, and the Führer is angry to go to war, but now the Czechoslovak region has not completely stabilized, and it is really not a good time to go to war." When the time comes, I'm worried we'll have a backyard fire. ”

Jiang Cheng said approvingly, "I think so too, I think it's best to persuade Yuan to settle it through negotiation first, it really can't negotiate to start a war, and it has to move the time to next year, the empire's preparations are not enough." ”

Schacht shook his head and said, "I have persuaded you, but the Führer is really angry at Poland's treachery to the extreme. ”

Jiang Cheng thought for a while and said, "If the Führer knew that Britain and France were negotiating with the Soviet Union, would the Führer still be in a hurry to go to war?" ”

Shacht was stunned for a moment, and said in disbelief, "Impossible! When pigs fly! How could the USSR and Britain and France, these two blocs that are incompatible, stand together? ”

Jiang Cheng shrugged his shoulders and said, "Isn't it okay to have an empire?" As long as the empire investigates in this direction, it will definitely find out something. ”

Schacht anxiously turned in a circle: "No, absolutely not, once they form an alliance and we attack Poland, the Soviet Union and Britain and France will jointly attack us, and we will be surrounded, this is a trap!" There must be no war!! Let's go, we'll go to the Führer now. ”

(To be continued.) )