Otani looked at Kyoto as it was getting closer, and like most of the top officials, Otani arrived at Vladivostok with the goal of annexing the Russian Far East.

The right generation of the previous dynasties, but those who open up the territory and expand the territory, not only can be famous for the ages, but also can bring great benefits to the expansion of family power, more than ten permanent divisions of the Japanese army, after all, the ability to go north is limited, Otani Shouo also suppressed a few competitors to get the opportunity, but he didn't expect to make a turn in the north, and he was recalled to the country in the name of defeat.

Judging from the facts, the battle outside Boli City, no one would have done better than Otani Toshio, who first suffered under the superior artillery fire of the Northeast Army in the case of logistical supply difficulties, and then sent a roundabout force to attack the logistics of the Northeast Army and succeeded in one blow. If it weren't for the unexpected appearance of the air force at this time, even those advanced infantry weapons, even if they brought some casualties to the Japanese army, they would not have been able to turn the tide of the entire battle.

Even if the general is changed, under the bombing of the Northeast fighters, it will be equally helpless, and the artillery, which is the pillar of the battlefield, will also be destroyed. Otani thought in his heart, but these are no longer important, the important thing is that this defeat needs a person to bear the consequences, Yamashita Yuai, Hamamian and two brigade commanders are dead, do you expect a captain to bear the responsibility for some defeats?

The ship landed in the harbor, and the imaginary victorious procession that greeted it had become an illusion, and there was only one person standing on the pier.

"I originally thought that I would have to go to the staff headquarters alone, but I didn't expect the staff headquarters to send a person of great weight over." Otani Shouo couldn't help but sneer, even if he realized that he was going to be the bearer of responsibility for this defeat, Otani Shouo didn't have any resentment in his heart, and this defeat was not a crime of war.

"Lord Otani. The tide of the sea rises and falls, and today the sword is hidden in the sheath, and he has never tasted the time when the edge comes out again. The Chief of Staff has already prepared sake to wash the dust for His Excellency Otani. Yoshiichi Tanaka smiled slightly, not in the slightest disdain for Toshio Ohtani who had returned from defeat.

Seeing Yoshiichi Tanaka's courtesy, the expression on Toshio Ohtani's face looked a little better. Nodding his head, he followed Tanaka Yoshiichi into a black car, closed his eyes and recuperated until he reached the Japanese army staff headquarters.

"Your Excellency, Commander!" Toshio Otani politely bowed to Yusaku Uehara.

"Sit down." Yusaku Uehara, dressed in a black kimono and wearing white socks, sat on a tatami mat and gestured like an ordinary old man.

"I wonder why Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief summoned me here?" Toshio Otani sat down unceremoniously and asked, he was very surprised to receive an invitation from Yusaku Uehara just after returning home.

"I want to talk to you about the problem of the Northeast of China, I think, we all underestimate the power of the Northeast of China. It is a pity that there are not many people who can recognize the threat of the northeast of China now. Blindly afraid of the pressure of the British and American powers, he refused to go all out to restrict the development of northeastern China. Yusaku Uehara sighed and said, "It is often after receiving a profound lesson that some people can wake up, but now they have missed the best time to exterminate the Northeast of China, and you are the first commander to fight against the Northeast Army of China, so in this matter." You have the most right to speak, and I would like to hear your views on the northeastern part of China. ”

"Northeast China?" remembered the overwhelming offensive of the Northeast Army when it was defeated. There was a hint of confusion in Otani's eyes, and after a long time, he said, "In the future, the strategy of the empire to dominate East Asia, Northeast China will definitely be the biggest stumbling block. ”

"The Northeast Army of China is completely different from the traditional China Army, and it is not that I am making excuses for my defeat. The Northeast Army of China was equipped with a large number of equipment that even the imperial army did not have, German-style grenades, bullet bursts, and super-fast submachine guns, which were also original German goods. The number of artillery equipped with the first-level units of the branch division of the China Army is higher than that of the imperial division, and there are also several 105MM howitzers, if it were not for the fact that the foundation of the Northeast Army of China is too thin and the speed of expansion is too fast, so that the individual soldiers of the Northeast Army of China are a head lower than the imperial soldiers as a whole, maybe I don't have to wait for their aviation to appear on the battlefield of Boli, I have already been defeated. ”

"However, even if the empire has the advantage of individual soldiers, the Northeast Army will make up for it with the advantage in weapons, and the morale of the Northeast Army is high, and the resilience is extremely strong, and it is not an army that will collapse in the future if it is frustrated. On a position outside the city of Boli, he repeatedly fought with the empire five or six times and never gave up. ”

"So the current combat strength of the Northeast Army, in addition to its own morale, is mostly based on German-style equipment?" Yusaku Uehara said with a sigh of relief.

"Your Excellency, according to the information of the Special High Section, the Northeast of China has purchased a large number of ordnance from Germany this time, and it has not been transported for a month at the Yingkou Wharf, this batch of ordnance is enough to meet its current Northeast Army all equipped, and the ruler of the Northeast can unify the three eastern provinces in just a few years, and at the same time complete the expansion of the army, the economy will be managed in an orderly manner, I have been to the Northeast several times, and its economy is not an exaggeration to describe it with the word take-off. After obtaining the Middle East Road, coupled with the railways and a large number of highways that the Northeast has vigorously built in recent years, in fact, the influence of the empire in controlling the South Manchurian Road and controlling the transportation lifeline of Northeast China has been diluted a lot. ”

The momentum of the rapid development of the Northeast was seen by Tanaka Yoshiichi himself, and even if Yusaku Uehara now attaches great importance to the problems of the Northeast, it was only realized after the defeat of Boli in the First World War, but Tanaka Yoshiichi believes that Uehara Yusaku's understanding of the threat to the Northeast is far from enough.

"Since Qin Yu attaches so much importance to construction, who can guarantee that he has no plans to build a large arsenal, even if it is the central side of China, the Gongxian Arsenal has also started to build a small half, which can already gradually produce all kinds of ordnance, with Qin Yu's foresight, I conclude that he must have already started to create an arsenal, but the time is not certain, otherwise hundreds of thousands of Northeast Army, the consumption of ammunition alone is an astronomical amount, does he only rely on foreign procurement to support the training of the army, as well as the Middle East Road. Such a big battle in Boli? ”

"What Tanaka-kun said is reasonable, but even if the Northeast establishes an arsenal, the scale should be very limited, and through the information collected by the Guò Empire in Western Europe, the Northeast has purchased hundreds of thousands of guns and thousands of artillery pieces in Germany this time. There are all kinds of ordnance, and if the Northeast can produce its own ordnance, where can it be used for such large-scale purchases, this does not make sense logically. ”

Yusaku Uehara shook his head and said, as the chief of the General Staff Headquarters, he naturally knows more information than others, even if the arms in Western Europe are cheaper, Japan will not be too tempted, and the previous purchases are only to buy back samples for study. Because Japan's military industrial enterprises have become self-contained, there is no need to pick and choose foreigners. Of course, Yusaku Uehara thinks that the military industry in the Northeast is not yet a good climate, and even if he buys more weapons and does not have his own military industry, it will be a flash in the pan, and national defense will always be controlled by others.

Yusaku Uehara really guessed right at this point, and the scale of the arsenal in the Northeast is indeed not large. In recent years, there has been a large-scale expansion of the army, except for bullets and shells. And some artillery has been able to base itself on self-construction, and a large number of ordnance comes from procurement. In the past two years, the army has been expanded the most, and it is unrealistic to raise the scale of the arsenal to the ideal height all at once, and the chaotic situation will not give Qin Yu too much time. With the help of the economic take-off of World War I, the Northeast has accumulated a lot of wealth, and Qin Yu also needs a certain strength to deter unscrupulous forces.

"No matter what. The Empire's plans in the Russian Far East have been frustrated, and if the threat from the Northeast in Burri cannot be completely resolved, or if relations with the Northeast are not repaired, the Empire will not be able to move an inch in the Russian Far East, and at best it will be confined to a corner east of Boli. Toshio Ohtani brought the conversation back to the Russian Far East.

"You can rest assured of that. The Northeast has already sent people over, saying that this war in Boli was a complete accident, and that the Northeast Army still wants to occupy Boli, but will not interfere at all with other actions of the Imperial Army in Russia, and will still provide the help promised before. Yusaku Uehara waved his hand and said, "If it weren't for the encouragement of those low-level officers below who are hot-headed, this war and losses would have been completely avoided." You should know how much supplies and precious troops were consumed in this war. ”

Otani Toshio was silent, of course he knew how many troops had been consumed, and the Japanese troops who had been withdrawn from the front line were still nearly 6,000, but some of the materials that were hastily withdrawn were all lost on the front line, and it was already difficult to supply in the rear, where to remobilize so many materials for a while, except for non-combat attrition such as starvation and freezing death, from nearly 15,000 people at the outbreak of the war to withdrawing, there were only more than 4,300 people. It can be said that this war has exhausted a division, and a large number of supplies transported by the Japanese army to Vladivostok have been consumed.

With this batch of supplies, it was enough to fight a dozen large and medium-sized wars in the Russian Far East against the low-equipped Red Russian partisans. Although the Japanese top brass and the Northeast side adopted an attitude of blocking news for this war to avoid further escalation, all the top leaders, including him, understood that the Boli War was the first crushing defeat of the empire since the Meiji Restoration.

"The Northeast Army won the battle at Boli, and it stands to reason that it can easily gain more territory in the Russian Far East, why did the shrewd Qin Yu take the initiative to give up? And to take pains to push the empire to attack the Russian Far East in a big way? Otani asked with some puzzlement, "In that case, why does Qin Yu have to occupy Boli and not hesitate to go to war with the Empire?" ”

"On this point, let's let Tanaka-kun explain, Tanaka Group is known as a China expert, and he must have a unique opinion." As a rising star in the army in recent years, as well as the back of Yoshiichi Tanaka, Yusaku Uehara, as the chief of the General Staff Headquarters, cannot be underestimated, Yoshiichi Tanaka is indeed outstanding.

"On this point, I have discussed many times with Kanaya Fan San and others, Qin Yu tried his best to promote the empire's march to the Russian Far East, the biggest purpose is to use the Russian Far East to contain the power of the empire, to achieve his goal of going south to Guannai, unifying the Republic of China, and then integrating the power of the Republic of China, and then competing with the empire, Qin Yu will never be willing to live under the empire for a long time." Tanaka Yoshiichi said in a deep voice, "For the empire, the Russian Far East may be a huge cake, although it is rich in resources, but after all, it is vast and sparsely populated, and to get this vast land, it is not only necessary to spend a large number of troops to occupy it, but also to spend a greater price to govern this uninhabited place, and before the hidden dangers of the Russian Far East are completely quelled, the empire has no spare strength to go south." ”

"In this way, isn't the Russian Far East a trap for Qin Yu to lure the empire into falling for it?" Toshio Otani frowned, "This is the strategy agreed upon by the base camp. ”

"It's not a big circle, in the words of the Zhina people, this is a yang scheme. At present, the Western powers are increasingly jealous of the empire, especially on the issue of China, the great powers have a tough attitude, and the empire has no chance to send troops to occupy or even expand the territory at all. If you want to expand your territory, the only breakthrough now is the Russian Far East, and the empire and the northeast of China can be regarded as taking what they need. Yusaku Uehara waved his hand, of course, the high-level Japanese side is not as grassy as the hot-blooded officers and soldiers below think, but they are in a different position, and they naturally look at the problem differently.

Otani Toshio also thought about this question, it was a dilemma at all, he wanted to retreat for a while anyway, as for whether to recover, it still depends on the opportunity, so he no longer used his brains, but asked directly, "In this case, if the empire really attacked the Russian Far East on a large scale, mobilized a large number of troops, and lacked the strength to deter the northeast, wouldn't the northeast army be uncontrollable?" ”

"It cannot be completely said that no matter how many troops the empire has now, under the constraints of the Western powers, it will not be able to directly attack China. After gaining a foothold in the Russian Far East, accumulating troops in the Far East, closer to the northeast, Qin Yu had to place a large number of troops in the northeast and Heilongjiang to guard against the imperial army. In addition, Lushun, Dalian, and the border between Mukden and Korea also had to accumulate heavy troops, and the troops that Qin Yuneng sent to Guannai could only be a small part of the Northeast Army under the constraints of the empire. ”

Tanaka shook his head and said, "A chaotic country of China is the most beneficial to the empire, and no one can unify the Republic of China. This is especially true of the Northeast, which was the heart of the empire. The empire must support a strong enough opponent for the Northeast, Duan Qirui is one of them, from now on, Duan Qirui's strength is not strong enough compared to the Northeast, and the support must be increased. ”

After speaking, Tanaka Yoshisaku looked at Yusaku Uehara, and at this point, Yusaku Uehara had more say.

"The empire has provided a lot of support to Duan Qirui, helping him to form a large army, all of which are equipped with Japanese equipment, and then will increase support for him according to the situation, and it is not so easy for the northeast of China to enter the customs." Uehara smiled bravely, the participating army has been established, and the future Gongxian Arsenal can also provide sufficient arms supply for the participating army, which should be able to withstand the Northeast Army for a few years, and a few years is enough for Japan to occupy the Russian Far East. (To be continued......)