After Okamura Ninji finished the deployment, Chief of Staff Mamoru Iizawa said with a solemn face: "Your Excellency, there are two things that must be reported to you, after these few air raids, our army's land-based aviation has lost more than one-third of its pilots and fighters, nearly half.

If this continues, it will not be long before we lose air superiority. Moreover, the consuls of the Western concessions in Tianjin have repeatedly protested to us, asking us not to bring the battlefield to the city of Tianjin, because that would threaten the security and stability of their concessions.

They also threatened that if we did not consider their demands, they would put pressure on our Imperial Japanese Empire through their own diplomatic pressure. ”

Okamura Ninji said angrily after hearing this: "Bastard, these shameless countries of the Western powers, when they see that we are in danger, take the opportunity to put pressure on us, it is simply shameless, sooner or later, the imperial army will teach them a hard lesson and make them pay the price for today's fall." ”

However, Okamura Ninji said this, both he and Mamoru Iizawa understood that the situation in the Chinese theater was so unoptimistic now, no matter how arrogant the Japanese Empire was, it could not provoke other Western powers at this time, and it would be very bad if it got into trouble.

At least until the main resistance army on the Chinese battlefield is eliminated, Japan's national power and military strength are greatly increased, and the traditional Western powers such as Britain, the United States, France, and Germany cannot be provoked.

Iizawa Mamoru understood this, so he said tentatively: "Your Excellency General, our follow-up reinforcements will arrive one after another in a day or two." However, according to the information we have, it seems that the Eighth Route of China is also massively increasing its troops on the battlefield of Pingjin, with the obvious intention of supporting the Dragon's Tooth Column that is fighting us.

However, this news has not yet been confirmed definitively, and the special high school is making every effort to confirm it. ”

"Why hasn't the news been confirmed yet?" Okamura listened with some impatience.

"General, you also know that now the entire north of North China, except for the Shandong Peninsula and other coastal areas, is still under the control of the imperial army, and the entire north of the Yellow River, Shanxi, Suiyuan, Chahar, Rehe, Hebei, and Inner Mongolia are no longer owned by the imperial army, and are either occupied by the local army and the central army of the national government of China, or controlled by the Tubalu.

Our intelligence networks in the above-mentioned areas have also been greatly damaged and attacked, and we have suffered heavy losses, so the confirmation of intelligence is not as easy as it used to be. Mamoru Iizawa bowed his head and said.

Okamura Ninji snorted coldly and asked, "By the way, when will the reinforcements of the hundred new fighters promised by the base camp be in place?" ”

Iizawa said: "No, because we have to go all out to produce weapons and ammunition to arm the newly formed 150,000 army, the share of strategic materials that the Ministry of War has managed to snatch from the navy has been exhausted, and there is no surplus steel and other materials to produce 100 combat aircraft used by land-based aviation." ”

"Isn't it possible that a huge empire can't even produce a hundred new fighters?" Okamura Ninji said a little unwillingly.

"It's not that they can't be produced, but that most of the strategic materials are allocated to the navy, and they don't want to give us more, and now the weapons and equipment needed by the army are very tight, how can there be excess strategic materials to produce fighters, this is a hundred fighters, all of them are produced, and a large batch of materials is needed." Mamoru Iizawa sighed and said, "

Moreover, the base camp is now organizing manpower, material resources, and financial resources to innovate all kinds of weapons and equipment of the entire imperial army, and now it really can't take care of us too much.

Only by developing more advanced weapons and equipment can the imperial army truly improve its combat effectiveness and compete with the increasingly powerful dragon tooth column. ”

"Hey, we don't have enough fighters, and we can't defeat the Dragon's Tooth Column with ground forces alone." Okamura Ninji sighed.

"This point is also deeply agreed, but as imperial soldiers, even if there is no fighter support, we should do our best to hold Tianjin, if even Tianjin is lost, then our army will be even more powerless to compete with the navy for the allocation of strategic resources in front of the base camp and the emperor.

That would be a great nightmare for all of our Army. ”

"What is the base camp going to do with the matter of the 1st and 3rd fleets leaving Tianjin without authorization?" Okamura Ninji Road.

Iizawa Mamoru said: "Alas, only the deputy commander of the 3rd Fleet of the Navy has been recalled to the mainland and reappointed, which can be said to be a no-brainer. After all, we have an unshirkable responsibility for the attack on the Tianjin Military Port, and the War Department has also been criticized by senior naval officials for this, so we cannot hold the naval fleet too responsible. ”

Okamura Ninji is a little down, the Shina people are getting stronger and stronger, but the Imperial Army and Navy are still intriguing with each other, tearing each other down, competing for fame and profit, and if this continues, sooner or later they will repeat the mistakes of the Manchu Empire.

In the past, China had been weak for a long time, its weapons and equipment were backward, and its national strength was weak, while the Japanese army was well-trained, well-equipped, and strong in national strength.

However, now with the strong rise of the Dragon's Tooth Column, this is a powerful army that has been tested by war for a long time, with excellent weapons and equipment, and rich combat experience.

If the Japanese Empire did not concentrate all the forces of the land and sea factions, then the Imperial Army would no longer have a foothold on the Chinese battlefield.

Thinking of this, Okamura Ninji was lonely, but also very worried and distressed, only hating that his power was not high enough to influence the decisions of the top management of the base camp and His Majesty the Emperor, otherwise, he would definitely try his best to integrate the imperial army and navy and win the war with the strength of the whole country.

…………

Although the short-term ceasefire gave the devils a little respite, it was not a precious opportunity to rest and recuperate for the officers and men of the Longya Column who had been fighting continuously for a long time.

All of them were exhausted, and they continued to fight completely with strong will and patriotic enthusiasm.

In order to reward the officers and men of the three armies who fought hard, Qiao Youhua instructed Guo Meng to prepare a rich lunch for all troops on the front line, so that the soldiers could have a full meal and a good rest, so that they could have enough energy to deal with the next decisive battle.

Thanks to the full support and support of hundreds of thousands of people in the base areas, the logistics office of the Dragon's Tooth Column slaughtered pigs and sheep, and provided enough hot and fragrant meat meals for all units on the front line.

In addition, reinforcements also arrived in a steady stream and marched to the front line, and for a time, the morale of more than 100,000 troops was restored, and the officers and soldiers of all departments issued a sonorous oath that they would not return to Tianjin and not return to the division for the next attack!