Tokyo.

"General, you're finally back. Admiral Nagano just called and asked you to see him as soon as you arrive. The Black Island turtle man waiting at the airport was respectful, like a student.

Yamamoto looked back at the DC3 passenger plane of the American Douglas Company that he was flying, and secretly sighed that in this world, I am afraid that only the United States has the aviation strength to surpass China. "Is the mainland going to war? Or is it because of the new battleships in China? After retracting his gaze and getting into the car, he asked the reason for the sudden recall of himself.

"There are reasons for this, but the biggest one is probably that the new battleship in China has scared many people. In the past few days, Admiral Nagano has received a lot of calls, all of which are asking to start work as soon as possible! The Admiral has also presented to His Majesty the Emperor that he is ready to make you the commander of the Combined Fleet! Kuroshima Kameto noticed the way Yamamoto looked at the transport plane that the United States had sold to Japan. China's fleet of long-range fighters has already caused a sensation in the world, and it is said that it took only 33 days to transport seven or eight divisions to Saudi Arabia. This ability makes the whole of Japan at the door very nervous. Therefore, recently China has stepped up the development of new fighters again, but just when everyone thought that China would rely on fighters to win, they received the news that the Shandong battleship was launched.

As an island nation with the navy that is the national fortune, the Shandong has too much impact on Japan! It exceeded 50,000 tons before outfitting and adopted a square stern with twelve 40.6 mm/L50 naval guns in the front and rear, which was only slightly worse than Yamato's 46 mm naval guns in any respect.

"Let me be the commander of the Combined Fleet? Very good! Yamamoto didn't seem surprised that he could be the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, and after a faint reply, he moved on to the Shandong. He was also worried, but not as impatient as the other officers, because the Battle of the Andaman had proven that the battleship was a weapon that was about to become obsolete. Of course, if you can get a grant, you can build a few ships. If the appropriation is insufficient, it is better to build cheaper aircraft carriers, so he is more concerned about new aircraft.

Speaking of the new plane, the Black Island Turtle Man seemed to have changed people, and his face was full of excitement: "Your Excellency Jiro's new plane has passed the test!" According to the test, the new aircraft is very fast, maneuverable, has a large range, and has a vertical climb ability below 3000 meters, which is already comparable to the German BF109 fighter! It can easily shoot down all of our current aircraft, and judging from the data, it far surpasses the Snake fighters of the China Air Force. Mitsubishi has already assured the Ministry of Aviation. The first batch of 15 will be delivered in two months. ”

"Can you deal with the Mighty Wind Ship Warfare of the Shina Navy?"

"We don't have data on the battle of the Mighty Wind, but from the observation and analysis of several encounters, the dug Yue Jun and the test pilot said that at least they will not lose to them, and maybe the performance will exceed after the official finalization."

"Excellent! That's great! The Empire finally has a good plane! Urge the Ministry of Aviation to speed up and hand over all the aluminum that the United States sold to us to Mitsubishi! It is necessary to produce equipment as soon as possible. Hearing the good news, Yamamoto Go** breathed a sigh of relief.

"All? However, the army is stepping up the production of Type 1 fighters and heavy explosion aircraft, and the Type 2 fighters have also been successfully test-flowned, and they are also staring at this batch of American aluminum. Kuroshima's words made Yamamoto Fifty-six frown again. In the past, he would not care about the life and death of the army, but the long-range force of the Chinese Air Force is too strong, and the importance of local defense suddenly exceeds the requirements of the navy, so the lack of resources has become a problem again.

Speak from the heart. If he had known that Yang Qiu still had such a hand, he and Yongtian Tieshan would not agree to send troops south! But now it's too late to regret it, so I can only rush forward and do my best to find a way to accumulate the strength for the empire to win. So think about it and say, "Ask Mitsubishi. Is it possible to send someone to Guinea to build a new aircraft plant, preferably a complete set of industrial facilities there. There are enough imperial subjects and resources there, which can reduce the time of transportation. It is also possible to save some strength for the empire. ”

The Black Island Turtle Man understood what he meant, and the mainland could never be moved, but if there was an industrial supplement that the plane could not reach, at least it would not be powerless to fight back. "I'll make arrangements, there are a lot of small factories in the south, and we've captured a lot of machinery and equipment in Chittagong and Kolkata, and I'll arrange for ships to be transferred there as soon as possible. Admiral, have you ever thought about it, the United States still needs us, can we use our navy's special funds to secretly buy a batch of machinery and equipment and where to send it? ”

The special funds of the Navy were prepared for the war of attrition in the south, but I did not expect that the southward movement would be so smooth this time, so the Navy still controlled tens of millions of funds. Yamamoto Fifty-six is right to think about it, it is useless to pinch the money: "I will suggest to Admiral Nagano that you should work as soon as possible." By the way, is there any news on the battleship of China? ”

The Black Island Turtle Man is an aviation faction, but he also loves battleships. In fact, there were many Japanese naval officers like him who swayed around aviation and warships, and so did Yamamoto Isoroku in front of him. So after the Shandong was exposed, he was very concerned: "I have arrived at Chongming Island to start outfitting work." It is said that more than 100 fierce wind ships and two anti-aircraft artillery regiments have been deployed on the island, and the ferries to Chongming Island have also begun to be inspected by the National Guard.

However, there is a lot of news in the United States and Europe. It is said that the Admiralty of the United States has rejected the construction of the Iowa-class battleship and asked for a redesign. Germany also began to build Hindenburg-class battleships, and 42 mm naval guns were to be installed. Italy, France and Britain are also debating whether to continue building stronger warships. General, now everyone is discussing whether to build 12 oversized naval guns of 40.6 mm to deal with China. ”

"Judging from the photos, China uses a 50-fold body tube, and although it has a certain threat, we don't know to what extent the metallurgical technology of China has developed. If metallurgical technology were the same as ours, then it would not be a match for Yamato. But they used the relationship between Germany and France to get a lot of advanced technology, and hundreds of thousands of European technicians had helped them, so I can't be sure. Of course, if there is a grant, you can consider building oversized and. "Yamamoto Fifty-six told the truth. He resented the incompetence of the intelligence services, which affected his judgment of the power of the new battleships in China.

Of course, the Kuroshima turtle people also hoped that there would be more and more capital ships of the navy, and when they heard Yamamoto say that they would depend on the military allocation, they immediately came to the front and lowered their voices: "Yamamoto-kun doesn't know?" The army gendarmes brought back hundreds of tons of gold from Burma, Malaya, and India, and it is said that it has been deposited in private coffers by His Majesty the Emperor! Moreover, they also found out that the Philippine treasury has 51 tons of gold, 32 tons of silver, 140 tons of silver coins, more than 20 million US treasury bonds and a large number of precious stones!

The current situation is also in our favor! Just yesterday, the Soviet ambassador met with the Prime Minister. Kono-kun told me. The Soviet Union asked us to block the Sunda Strait and the Strait of Malacca in two weeks. I think the start of the war should be two weeks away! Moreover, the ambassador of Shina also approached Foreign Minister Hirota Hiroki yesterday afternoon to negotiate the lease of the Huatai Island oil field, and they have promised to extend the lease for one year, and it is said that the contract will be signed in three days at the latest! This should also be a signal for war, and we want to deliberately use this method to ease relations with us. Therefore, Admiral Nagano believed that as long as China and the Soviet Union went to war, we should quickly take the Northern Mariana and the Philippines. Hehe, in addition to the treasury, Kagesa Zhenzhao said that the rich merchants there are very rich! ”

Even if not for money, taking into account the increasingly difficult replenishment. The Philippines also had to do it. As for the thoughts of the Americans, Yamamoto Fifty-six also guessed that Roosevelt would not intervene for a so-called US-Philippine protection treaty and trusteeship of the Northern Mariana Islands, otherwise there would be no sale of DC3 aircraft and a large amount of raw materials to Japan. The dream of the United States is to get the Japanese Navy to stand up, so we might as well make use of it. With a one-year buffer, more supplies and raw materials can be brought back from Southeast Asia, and more gold, silver and jewellery can be excavated. But there is one thing that he is still not at ease, now that a super battleship has been launched, how many will there be in a year? In addition to super-battleships and long-range aircraft. Are there other secret weapons?

In the final analysis, China on the other side of the sea is no longer the decadent Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Yang Qiu's solid 20 years of basic industry and compulsory education have really changed too much! At present, the total industrial volume is far behind Japan. Steel production has even exceeded 40 million tons! And those planes that can easily cover the whole of Japan from Shanghai may have a buffer of a year, and the prospects for war are not very good.

But he could not change anything, and under the government's propaganda, the whole of Japan had fallen into a frenzy of Nanyang wealth. The chariot could no longer brake. As an Imperial Navy officer, all you can do is come up with a way to defeat your opponents. Even if they cannot be conquered, they must be confined to the near sea! The Black Island Turtle Man saw his thoughts, and lowered his voice like a hungry wolf: "Yang Qiu is a good leader, he attaches great importance to education, so the first day of the third week of June every year is designated as a public holiday, so that parents can attend their children's graduation ceremony, and he will choose one to attend." This habit has been maintained for 19 years, so one should not follow in his footsteps, one year is just their idea, and the empire should not abide by it! ”

Yamamoto fifty-six nodded.

The two largest countries in Europe and Asia are finally about to collide!

The large-scale movement of Soviet troops cannot be hidden, from Krasnoyarsk in Siberia to Ahvaz in Iran, a long front of 5,000 kilometers! Tens of thousands of soldiers wriggled eastward like migrating ant colonies. At the same time that the Soviet railway lines were experiencing a surge in traffic, the three railway lines in China to the northwest were also crowded. Every 10 minutes, there is a tightly wrapped military train roaring by, and the trucks from Gansu and Baotou stretch for hundreds of miles! Not only that, but in the face of the growing threat, the General Staff of the Wehrmacht once again called in two strategic transport brigades to send personnel and materials to the Northwest and the Persian Gulf after revising the fuselage number. In just 33 days, 6,748 round-trip takeoffs and landings were made on the Persian Gulf route alone, transporting a total of 150,000 soldiers and 6,000 tons of supplies from eight divisions, artillery and independent regiments to Saudi Arabia.

By 15 July, the theater of the Persian Gulf Group Army of the Chinese National Defense Forces had gathered a huge strength of 1,513 combat planes of various types, 1,056 tanks, 3,122 armored vehicles, and 4,577 artillery pieces of various types. In the same way, the Soviet troops, which relied on the railway, increased their troops faster! A total of 18 infantry divisions, 2 mountain infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, 3 aviation divisions, 3 tank divisions and various independent units, a total of 310,000 troops marched into Iran from the Caucasus, which is close at hand.

Fortress No. 3 in the northwest, the fortress of Karakum is in a hurry, and the drums of civil war are rushing. The huge triple 305 mm fortress gun was pointed to the west, the radar scanned the direction of the border day and night, and the non-commissioned officer operating the radar barely took his eyes off the PPT flat display on the console. In the airfield on the front line, the warhawk opened the hatch, and the pilot on duty was dressed in a sheepskin jacket and inserted a pistol. Don't dare to have the slightest burnout.

"Stand upright!"

After striding into the command center of the fortress, the full army of officers stood up and saluted. After Yang Qiu returned the salute to the generals, he took off his gloves, sat on the side of the conference table facing the map, and said in a deep voice: "Start reporting!" ”

Zhang Wei walked to the map full of arrows and dotted lines, and picked up the whip. This major general, who served the German army with Liu Mingzhao and fought in the quagmire of the European war, is now a staff officer of the Operations Department of the General Staff. Every predecessor in this position is famous, Zhang Xiaozhun, Qin Zhangshu, Zhu Peide, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, and Liu Mingzhao have all become the pillars of the National Defense Army! Now it's finally his turn.

But instead of being excited, he looked solemn and pointed to a large Eurasian map to introduce the deployment: "As of the end of last month." The Supreme Command of the Soviet Army has reorganized the troops within its borders, with a total of 55 army groups, 31 tank divisions, and 35 aviation divisions, with a total strength of more than 5.1 million as of last month! Among them, Siberia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan outside the northwest of our country have a total of 12 army groups and 94 divisions! In Afghanistan and Turkmenistan there are 5 army groups with a total of 22 divisions! There were 7 army groups in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea, a total of 31 divisions! Plus 28 divisions have already entered Iran. The total strength is 2.33 million! To the east of the Urals, there are about 57 small militia divisions, about 300,000 strong.

At present, the Soviet troops arriving in Iran include the 25th Infantry Army, which has three infantry divisions, the 51st, 62nd, and 119th Infantry Divisions, and the 45th Army. It has jurisdiction over the 48th, 271st, and 276th Divisions, the 61st Army, and the 63rd, 70th, and 76th Divisions, and the 65th Army. It has jurisdiction over the 22nd, 95th and 174th divisions; the 67th Army, with 23rd, 130th, and 166th divisions; 82nd Army: 235th, 241st, and 250th Divisions. Caucasian Mountain Infantry Divisions 63rd and 76th, Tank Divisions 6th, 24th and 136th Tank Divisions, Cavalry Divisions 62nd and 64th Cavalry Divisions, and a number of separate tank regiments and anti-aircraft divisions. Of these, the 25 Army came from the South-Western Military District. The 45th Army turned out to be a reserve in Moscow and belonged to a relatively capable force.

A total of 1,133 Bf109 fighters and HE111 bombers, 325 I16s, 51 MiG-1 fighters, and 40 TB3 bombers, have been purchased from Germany. The Soviet Union also began to imitate the Ju52 transport aircraft and HE111 bomber at the beginning of the year, but the BF109 was not successful due to poor engine technology. Furthermore! It has been determined that in the second half of this year, four new aircraft, the HE111, MiG-3, Lager-3 and Il-2, will be gradually put into production.

At present, the deployment of our army has been basically put in place. Garrisoned east of Krasnoyarsk were the 9th Army of General He Xifan, the 21st Army of Lieutenant General Zhao Bingnan, the 7th Army of Lieutenant General Li Zongren of Wulianghai, the 5th Army of Lieutenant General Long Yun in East Kazakhstan, the 20th Army of Lieutenant General He Yingqin, the 15th Army of Lieutenant General Dai Jintang in Almaty, the 16th Army of Lieutenant General Li Yuguo of Shaye Ye, the 14th Army of General Xie Ruyi of Andijan, the 19th Army and the 103rd Central Guard Division of Lieutenant General Luo Peijin, the 10th Army of Lieutenant General Sun Chuanfang of Afghanistan, the 4th Army of Lieutenant General Bai Chongxi of the Persian Gulf, and the 18th Army of Lieutenant General Zhu Jiande. Lieutenant General Zhang Zizhong's 11th Army, the 2nd and 3rd Marine Divisions, the 1st Sumatra Airborne Division, and the 12th Army of Lieutenant General Liao Zhongqiu and Lieutenant General Hu Jingji's 33rd Army in North Korea.

In Urumqi, Belga, Kashgar and Gansu, there are also reserves of the 6th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd and 31st armies, and the entire northwest region air force has 25 combat groups (4 squadrons, 22 squadrons, 118 brigades), 10 attack aircraft groups, 15 bomber groups, 23 transport groups, a total of 8,496 combat aircraft.

After the United States imposed restrictions on our material purchases, the Persian Gulf Army reached an agreement with Italy early last month on oil-for-ammunition and began to purchase food and ammunition from Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Together with the transport of the Air Force, as long as the air routes are continuous, the current reserve can be maintained for three to four medium-sized campaigns, and there will be no problems in maintaining it until the end of next year. If Iran can be recaptured, it can hold out longer. ”

"The movements of the Soviet troops?"

"From reconnaissance aircraft and intelligence analysis, as we thought, the Soviet army set the main assault points in the flat terrain of East Kazakhstan and Zhambyl Oblast. At the moment, the Soviet army deployed a total of 6 army groups in these two areas! They were the 2nd, 7th, 15th, 16th, 24th and 25th armies. In total, there are 41 infantry divisions, 12 tank brigades and related independent units, as well as 19 independent artillery regiments, more than 1,500 aircraft of various types, and a total strength of 570,000! Since yesterday afternoon, the Soviets, Iranian, Kazakh, and Uzbek fronts have begun to replenish tank brigades and armored regiments with fuel and ammunition, and all aircraft have been refueled and on standby.

Taken together. The General Staff predicted that the Soviets would launch an offensive by a week at the latest, but it was not possible to determine exactly how it would be triggered. According to preliminary deductions, Krasnoyarsk is not suitable for the main attack at present, because the current flow of the Yenisei River is large, and we have deployed a 430-kilometer-long mine belt along the east bank to the north, and the No. 2 fortress in the northwest is on the Sayan Ridge, which is 30 kilometers east of the city, so it does not have the suddenness of the attack. Andijan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are also fortresses and air forces to cooperate in garrisoning, and there are many mountains around it, so we have two corps deployed here. It is also impossible to take it in one go. Combined with the analysis of the Soviet army's strengthening of tank forces and the Iranian campaign in recent years, we believe that the Soviet army is most likely to trigger the entire war in the way of large-scale surprise attacks on the Persian Gulf and Kazakh sides at the same time, and the defense of the rest of the region!

The preliminary proposal of the General Staff is that in the event of an attack, the Persian Gulf Army will cooperate with the 10th Afghan Army of the Central Asian Army Group to attack Ahvaz and Herat! In the Kazakh direction, they feigned to be caught off guard and retreated in great strides. After attracting the enemy's main force to go deeper, use Karakum Fortress and Semipalatinsk as horns for each other, and use the air force and fortress to consume the enemy's vital forces, and then launch a counterattack at the right time! Meantime. The secondary offensive of the Belga theater (Krasnoyarsk, west of the Yenisei River, belongs to the Irkutsk Belga theater), mainly uses long-range strike artillery and fighters to destroy the Siberian railway and the front-line living forces, and the rest of the area is temporarily dominated by stalemate defense. ”

Yang Qiu listened to the report and suddenly lost his mind. Twenty-eight years of waiting. Twenty-eight years of preparation, and now it's finally here! Can we use this battlefield to completely complete the industrialization of the country and enhance the cohesion of the nation? What about the process of achieving Asian integration? When a greater alliance emerges, how much does it cost to win? He is still nervous when he recalls the Second World War, which was devastating and tragic in history, and cost countless lives.

Yue Peng, who was sitting next to him, found that he was unconscious, and quietly kicked him with his foot: "President, there are still some minor troubles." Ibn Saud and the Saudi government, fearing for their own status and security, did not agree to let us use the Saudi base to do it first. Insist that only if the Soviets attack first, they can attack from their borders. Secondly, Reza Khan still did not agree to abdicate and insisted on returning to Tehran. ”

Saudi Arabia's attitude is a bit troublesome, but this cannot be blamed, after all, from their point of view, they must first consider their own regime. The Arab world and Iran are already at odds, so if there is no direct threat, the Saudi government will be considered a traitor by the Arab world if it allows China to bail out Iran from its own territory. Coupled with the fact that the British army was stuck in Kuwait and Iraq, the route of the Soviet army's advance was broken, so they were not in a hurry.

Reza Khan is even more troublesome, if he doesn't step down, there will be no steps for Mossatai and others in the country, so Yang Qiu thought about it and waved his hand to Fang Rui: "You go now, please ask Reza Khan and Nader Shah to go to Urumqi, and I will meet them there when I go back." Then help me contact Xiao Jinyun, ask him to pick a few people who know Russian and German, preferably familiar with Poland, and then ask Luo Wenhu to choose some camouflage masters, and take the filming equipment to the Katyn Forest in Smolensk, Soviet Union. ”

"Katyn Forest?" Everyone is inexplicable, maybe the war will break out in the next second, is it too late to go to the territory of the Soviet Union to sabotage? Moreover, if Smolensk is blown up, it will not affect the overall situation here, right?

Yang Qiu didn't want to explain, so he nodded to Yue Peng.

Yue Peng stood up: "Stand up!" Now announce the appointment of the General Staff! Qin Zhangshu was promoted to the first-class general of the Republic and appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Front! Qiu Wenbin was promoted to first-class general and served as commander-in-chief of the Nanyang side! Zhang Xiaozhun was promoted to first-class general, commander-in-chief of the Northeast Front! Fang Wei was promoted to first-class general and served as commander-in-chief of the army and commander-in-chief of the North China Theater! Zhu Peide was promoted to second-class general and served as commander-in-chief of the southwest front!

Sun Chuanfang was promoted to second-class general and served as commander of the Central Asian and Afghan Army Group Theaters. He Xifan was promoted to second-class general and served as the commander of the Siberian Army! Lieutenant General Bai Chongxi, commander of the Persian Gulf Army Theater! Xu Shuzheng was promoted to second-class general and served as the commander of the theater of the Kazakh Army Group! Mei Sheng was promoted to second-class general. ”

As soon as the order was read, there was a buzz in the conference room. Mei Sheng, Qin Zhangshu, Qiu Wenbin, etc. have all been fighting from the civil war to the present, and Zhang Xiaozhun is considered to be a general who can take over Cai Yi's class, even if Bai Chongxi's level is lower, but his beliefs and the personal relationship he established in the Persian Gulf in his early years are acceptable to everyone. However, Xu Shuzheng has been a staff officer of the War Department since the European War, and he was transferred to logistics three years ago, and many people are not convinced.

But everyone didn't dare to ask Yang Qiu, so they had to look at Yue Peng.

Yue Peng also did not explain, in fact, only he and Song Ziqing knew the details of this matter. Xu Shuzheng has real skills, especially good at organization! It was only because he competed with Li Liejun in the European War, and deliberately used the identity of the Kuomintang to talk about things afterwards, so he was deliberately held down by Yang Qiu. No one thought that this press would be more than 20 years. However, what is gratifying is that this little fan has not given up on himself, not only has he completed all his studies at the National Defense University during his tenure as a staff officer, but he has also gone to 12 countries to inspect and study, and has commanded four national blade exercises.

In terms of fighting, there are a bunch of good players in the northwest, Long Yun, He Yingqin, and Li Yuguo are all better than him, and the reason why he is used is not only to give him a chance to be promoted to a first-class general or even a marshal due to his age, but also to consider that once the Soviet Union has a large-scale sneak attack, there will definitely be short-term chaos on his side, and he needs a general who can quickly clear the chaos and be better than the organization.

Although everyone has many misgivings, the Wehrmacht has strictly required obedience to orders from the beginning of its construction, especially at this time, whoever dares to his tail will be dismissed from his post or shot at worst!

Xu Shuzheng's eyes were even more sparkling next to him, he had waited for this day for too long.

After the meeting, Yang Qiu discussed the specific tactics with Xu Shuzheng, He Xifan and others, and then prepared to go back to sleep. When he walked to the door, Xu Shuzheng just wanted to thank Yang Qiu and Yue Peng, when a rapid shout sounded behind him.

"President! Prime Minister Urgent Telegram! Just now, Soviet Ambassador Pan Youxin met with the Prime Minister and gave us an ultimatum to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia! ”

Yang Qiu looked at his watch, it was July 26, 1939, 11:11 p.m....... (To be continued.) )