Peiping. Cuimingzhuang.

While the Japanese Imperial Palace was discussing the question of whether to start a war with the United States and Britain and other countries, the new commander of the North China Front, General Okamura Ninji, also convened his subordinates for the first meeting after taking office at Cuimingzhuang on the outskirts of Beiping.

Cuimingzhuang is a high-end guest house built in the eastern suburbs of Beiping after the Japanese army captured Beiping, whether it is the external structure and materials, or the interior decoration is luxurious, mainly used by the Japanese army to entertain senior officers and important guests of the front army, but now it has been turned into a temporary conference room by Okamura Ningji.

Cuimingzhuang is a three-storey combination of Chinese and Western green glazed tile roofed buildings, sitting west and facing east. The middle of the main building is three floors, and the two sides are two stories high, and now the large conference room on the second floor of the main building will be star-studded, and all the senior officers of the North China Front at and above the division level have been summoned here.

The reason why Okamura Ninji gathered all the high-ranking officers together was that in addition to meeting with all the high-ranking officers of the North China Front, it was more important to have a good talk with these generals and officials, and to talk about why the strategic group of the Japanese Empire, which was second only to the Kwantung Army, had been defeated in many battles, not to mention the loss of troops, and the loss of cities and land, which had simply become a shame for the Imperial Army.

The atmosphere in the conference room was very warm, and all the senior officers present knew the name of General Okamura, even those who had never seen it had heard of it, as the most famous senior military officer in Japan, Okamura Ninji was indeed not in vain, so many people were very much looking forward to Okamura Ninji's arrival.

Seeing that the people were almost here, Okamura Ninji knocked lightly on the conference table, and then said, "Since all the gentlemen have arrived." So let's start the meeting now, let me introduce myself first, Okamura Ninji, General of the Imperial Japanese Army, was appointed commander of the North China Front in January 16, Showa 16, and was fully responsible for the war on the North China side, so please take care of it! ”

"Hay!" Everyone said in unison.

Okamura Ninji nodded with satisfaction and continued: "This time I gathered all the monarchs together, in addition to meeting with the monarchs to get to know each other, it is more important to analyze with the monarchs why the Northern China Front Army has been repeatedly defeated by the Chinese army, and even now it has lost about half of the occupied area. Now let's talk about it. ”

"Iijima-kun. You've been in North China for several years, what do you think? Okamura Ninji nam.

The commander of the Twelfth Army, Iijima Sadagu, did not dare to slack off, and immediately got up and replied: "Your Excellency, Commander, I humbly believe that there are internal and external reasons for the repeated defeat of the Imperial Japanese Army by the Chinese people. The internal cause is that the imperial army is expanding too quickly. Therefore, the quality of soldiers has declined rapidly. I think that when the Chuchina Incident began, the troops sent by the empire to fight in China were not elite in a hundred battles, and any soldier was a veteran who had served for many years. Non-commissioned officers also accounted for a large proportion, so that the imperial army was able to win many victories in the battles against the Chinese people. ”

"But now, due to the attrition of the war, a large number of veterans have died in battle, and because of the need to expand the army, the veterans of most units have been continuously withdrawn, and the new recruits are some untrained recruits. Recruits may become veterans after one battle, but in fact many recruits simply can't survive the next war. Of course, the situation is the same for grassroots officers, a large number of experienced grassroots officers died in battle, which is also the reason for the decline in the combat effectiveness of the imperial army! ”

Seeing that Iijima Sadagu stopped, Okamura Ninji asked with interest, "What is the external cause that Iijima-kun is talking about?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, I will talk about it later. In addition to the decline in the quality of soldiers, there is also a shortage of weapons and equipment and other combat materials. Due to the empire's successive wars, the domestic economy has deteriorated, and the most direct manifestation is the reduction of the establishment of the imperial army in the country and the reduction of technical and technical arms. Looking at the present, let's take the imperial army in the North China region as an example, the four-unit division is basically gone, and the rest are three-unit C-class divisions. ”

Speaking of this, Iijima Sadagu suddenly got up, came to the window of the conference room, pointed to the guards patrolling outside, and said: "Speaking of weapons and equipment, the main forces of the empire are still using Meiji Type 38 rifles and Taisho 11 style (crooked handle) machine guns, needless to say, Type 38 rifles, although the design accuracy is good, but because the caliber is too small, the lethality is very limited." ”

"In addition, the survivability and adaptability of the Taisho 11-year-style light machine gun battlefield are extremely poor, if it was barely used in the army three years ago, but now the weapons and equipment of the various units in China are developing rapidly, especially the eighth theater of operations in China, the main enemy of our North China Front, their soldiers are now equipped with a light machine gun with extremely strong firepower in addition to the Mauser K98 rifle, and some units have even reached one person, and the imperial army has changed from an advantage to a disadvantage in terms of weapons and equipment!"

Then Iijima Sadagu said: "The important external reason why the imperial army in North China has been repeatedly hit is that the enemy is too strong, and the main enemy of the North China Front has four parts, the first part is the eighth war zone of China, the second part is the second war zone of China, the third part is the first war zone of China, and the last part is the eighth war zone of China. Among these four parts of the enemy, the Eighth Theater of China was the strongest, and the Eighth Route of China was the most difficult, and although Yan Xishan's Second Theater and Wei Lihuang's First Theater also had a lot of troops, they posed the least threat to the Imperial Japanese Army. ”

"According to the information obtained by the intelligence department of the Imperial Army, the development of the Eighth Theater of Operations in China in recent years has far exceeded our imagination, and it is conservatively estimated that the strength of this army has reached at least 1 million, including 900,000 in the army, 50,000 in the air force and 50,000 in the navy. More troops are on the one hand, and more importantly, this Chinese army is not only fully equipped with land, navy and air force, but also has almost all the arms of the major countries in the world, and the weapons and equipment are also very advanced. ”

"In addition, the eight roads of China are also very difficult, although their combat effectiveness is not very strong, but they are like maggots attached to the bones, and the strength of the medicine grows rapidly as soon as it passes, although the imperial army has encircled and suppressed it many times, but the effect is very limited. So far, Tubalu has controlled a large part of the security area of the imperial army, like a sharp knife inserted into the heart of the imperial army, which is very dangerous. ”

"It can be seen from this how powerful the enemy is facing the front, and although the lowly is very reluctant to admit it, there are some things that are facts, and even if we are no longer willing to admit them, they still exist objectively. Under this situation, the strength of the Chinese people in the North China region has surpassed that of the imperial army, that is to say, the imperial army was not defeated because of improper command, but because of the gap in the actual combat effectiveness of the two sides. ”

Okamura Ninji asked with a smile: "In Iijima-kun's meaning, the defeat was not the fault of the imperial army, nor was it caused by the commander's command error, but because the Shina people were too strong?" ”

"Your Excellency, there are mistakes in command, but they are not the main reason for the failure. Perhaps the Imperial Army was indeed a little careless at first, but with so many troops being wiped out as a formation and so many generals being captured and killed, in the process of fighting against the Chinese army, especially in the face of the troops of the Eighth Theater of Operations in China, the Imperial Army dared to slack off, and they were all going all out, but the absolute gap still made the counterattack of the Great Japanese Imperial Army a futile struggle! Iijima Sadagu said loudly.

Okamura Ninji smiled and said, "I have here an analysis of His Excellency Naosaburo Gangbe, the former chief of staff of the Front Army, which was specially left to me, the newly appointed commander of the North China Front. Gangbe-kun believes that the reason why the Imperial Army has repeatedly defeated the North China Army in addition to what Iijima-kun just said, there are the following reasons, the first is that there is a problem with the deployment of troops in the North China Front, mainly because the battle line is too long and the strength is very limited. ”

According to Gangbe-kun's calculations, before the 15th year of Showa, the North China Front had an average of only 2 people per 3 square kilometers. In the absence of a precise and regular corrective objective, it often becomes a static defense. If the imperial army did not take the initiative to crusade, the Chinese side would rarely attack. At first glance, it seems that a non-aggression pact has been concluded. But don't forget that this is in China, and while the two sides coexist, the Chinese army is secretly working among the common people, replenishing its strength, and when the time is ripe, it can turn to the offensive in one fell swoop. ”

In addition, the military discipline and style of the imperial army were really poor, and it had left a bad influence on the common people of China, such as cruelty, tyranny, and murder, which greatly hindered the operations of the front army in the security area. I am extremely dissatisfied with the performance of the Imperial Japanese Army in the security area, and the existence of those scum will only discredit the Imperial Japanese Army, and will only make the common people of China hate us more and be more willing to assist the Eighth Route of the Chinese Army against us. ”

Before Okamura Ninji's words were finished, the commander of the 32nd Division, Kimura Hyotaro, got up and said loudly: "Your Excellency Commander, those common people are very cunning, they are all Diao people, and they should all die!" ”

"Yaga, Kimura-kun, I know everything about your performance in this battle of Jinan, and to be honest, I'm disappointed. As a lieutenant general commander of the Great Japanese Empire, a real soldier, Your Excellency actually took only the common people to blackmail Chen Feng's subordinates, and the face of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Great Japanese Empire has been lost by you! ”

"Those common people are certainly very cunning, but without those cunning Chinese farmers, who do we collect food from, and how can our army fight without food. The Imperial Army wanted long-term peace and stability, not plundering and withdrawing. Therefore, we must create a good public order environment for the common people of China, so that it will be much easier to deal with the eight roads of the earth. Okamura said angrily.

As a soldier, despite being in a state of hostility with the Chinese, Okamura Ninji still believes that soldiers should have military ethics, and is extremely dissatisfied with Kimura Hyotaro's violent and murderous words and deeds. (To be continued......)