When the news of the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact reached Guisui, Chen Feng was also quite surprised. Although this was expected by him, he did not expect it to be so early, the Soviet-German treaty was signed much later in history, and the most important thing is that after the Soviet-German treaty was signed, Germany immediately launched a full-scale attack on Poland and destroyed Poland in a very short time.

Now that the Soviet-German non-aggression pact was signed ahead of schedule, does it mean that Germany will take action against Poland in advance, and whether World War II will break out in advance? Out of concern for the situation in Europe and the world, Chen Feng ordered the troops on the front line to temporarily stop the offensive, and except for part of the cavalry units of the Mongolian National Salvation Army, which remained in the eastern steppe, the large force immediately returned to Xilinhot.

With the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact and the large-scale military mobilization of the Soviet side, the Japanese side also took active action, and on June 30, 1939, the Togo ambassador to the Soviet Union put forward a request for a Nomenkan armistice to the Soviet Union.

On 7 July, Japanese Ambassador to the Soviet Union Togo and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signed an armistice agreement, and the two countries ceased all actual military operations at the time of the signing of the armistice agreement.

Although Chen Feng had been prepared for the sudden truce between the Soviet Union and Japan, he still protested to the Soviet side in a righteous and stern manner, and accused the Soviet Union of blatant betrayal of its allies.

The Soviet Union saw the performance of Chen Feng's troops in the war, especially after Zhukov visited the two provinces of Suicha and submitted to the Kremlin what he had seen and heard in the northern part of the country, Stalin's views on Chen Feng's troops changed dramatically, and in Stalin's eyes. Although Chen Feng's department was not a separate country, it was qualified to dialogue with the Soviet Union on an equal footing.

Therefore, the Soviet side attached great importance to the protest raised by Chen Feng's subordinates. As Stalin's special ambassador, Rear Admiral Ivan went to Guisui to hold talks with Chen Feng, and the result was that in addition to fulfilling all the promises made to Chen Feng's troops before the war, including 50,000 tons of oil and oil and gas resources in Siberia, the Soviet Union also had to provide Chen Feng's troops with an additional 300 mile-2 transport planes and deliver some warships to the naval officers and men trained in the Soviet Union ahead of schedule.

At this point, both China and Japan temporarily shrank back, ending all military conflicts on the front line. Yes. The Japanese lost a full infantry division in the eastern steppes and a heavy artillery brigade assigned to the 12th Division. Four generals were killed in battle. More importantly, in this war, the pro-Japanese traitor King Dede and Li Shouxin became prisoners of Chen Feng's subordinates, and the Japanese army suddenly lost the most important spokesman in the Saibei grassland.

In addition, the 8th Division also lost more than 5,000 people in this battle. And in the battles in the Nomenkan area, the losses of the Japanese army were even more staggering. According to incomplete statistics. Its casualties should have been more than 50,000, and the Japanese lost about 100,000 soldiers during this period of fighting. And that's not counting the losses of the puppet army.

For this reason, the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Ueda, was removed from the base camp as the first person responsible, and Lieutenant General Komatsubara, the commander of the 23rd Division, was also transferred back to Japan and put in the cold palace.

This war also made the Japanese completely realize how many catties and taels they had, although they were no longer the Japan of the Meiji period, but the Soviets did not stop moving. Their national strength has increased rapidly, and it can be said that they have become the undisputed strongest country in Asia. But the Soviets were developing faster than they were, the Soviet army was far from being as powerful as they could compare, and when Soviet tanks were overwhelming, the ridiculous bushido spirit of the Japanese did not bring miracles, only greater casualties.

However, the Japanese army is not only defeated and killed, the Japanese army in Shanxi is still very good, in less than a month of fighting, the Japanese army not only recaptured Taiyuan, but also re-advanced the position to the area of Yanmen Pass and Ningwu Pass, the southern front is to capture most of the Jinzhong area, in addition to part of the troops also penetrated into Luliang and Changzhi, if it were not for Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army desperately resisted, I am afraid that Shanxi would be divided into two by the Japanese army.

Due to his outstanding performance, on 10 July, the base camp issued an order ordering Senior General Umezu Mijiro, commander of the First Army of the North China Front Army in Shanxi, to take over as commander of the Kwantung Army and take up his post with immediate effect. At the same time, Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, commander of the 10th Division, was transferred to take over the vacancy left by Mijiro Umezu as commander of the First Army.

The first thing Shinozuka Yoshio did after taking office was to shrink his forces, the war in the north of Shina had ended, and he already knew that the Dao Empire had suffered an unprecedented defeat this time, this fiasco was not only a military defeat, but also a huge blow to confidence, in case the Shina army took this opportunity to launch a counterattack, Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio ordered all troops to immediately shrink their forces.

In addition, unlike other Japanese generals, Yoshio Shinozuka was very interested in the nascent special operations, summoned Yamamoto Kazuki for talks on several occasions, and appointed Yamamoto Kazuki to form a special force for the First Army to be used in mountain operations.

The defeat in the Battle of Nomenkan greatly stimulated the Japanese, and at the same time, at the same time, the Japanese top brass had different views on the development strategy of the Japanese army in the future, and some officers believed that because of the inherent historical contradictions between the Soviet Union and Germany, although the two countries had signed a non-aggression pact, there would definitely be a war between them, and Japan should continue to increase its troops in Manchuria and be ready to join forces with Germany to attack the Soviet Union at any time.

However, more Japanese high-ranking officials did not agree to fight in the north, because according to the combat effectiveness displayed by the Soviet army in the First Battle of Nomenkan, with the current weapons and equipment of the Imperial Japanese Army and the quality of its soldiers, there was no certainty of victory, and in order to defeat such an enemy, the Great Japanese Empire must go all out. But now the center of gravity of the empire is in China, and it is simply impossible to defeat the government of China in a short time and concentrate on dealing with the Soviet Union.

More importantly, Japan's domestic economy was on the verge of collapse, and the protracted war dragged down the Japanese economy, which reached 28.3 billion US dollars before the 77 Incident, making it the sixth largest economic power in the world. Before the 77 Incident, Japan had only four fully equipped divisions and regiments, less than 200,000 people, and even with the navy, it was less than 250,000, and the annual military expenditure was not large.

However, with the continuous escalation of the war, the Japanese army has continued to expand, and so far there are more than 100 integrated divisions and dozens of mixed brigades and regiments in the country, and the total strength has expanded to 2 million. The cost of the war soared to an astronomical figure of 500 billion yen, the balance of the national debt increased from 6.2 billion yen in 1930 to 66 billion yen now, and the entire economy was on the verge of collapse.

According to the statistics made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, if the situation in China cannot be resolved within two years, then without anyone else attacking, Japan will collapse without a war because of economic problems, and then domestic prices will soar and the currency will depreciate, and the army will lack supplies and ammunition for war. Therefore, the empire must find a way to solve the problem of China as soon as possible, or open up another channel to obtain war resources.

The report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs surprised the Japanese high-level very much, originally they thought that the powerful Japanese Empire was so vulnerable, and they originally thought that if they continued to fight like this, they would be able to completely occupy China, but they did not expect that things would be like this, that is to say, as long as the people of China hold out for another two or three years, the Great Japanese Empire must take the initiative to withdraw its troops, otherwise the whole country will face a greater crisis.

In addition to being surprised, Japan's top brass also realized the seriousness of the matter, and Japan's current Prime Minister Kiichiro Hiranuma suddenly thought of former Prime Minister Fumima Konoe's strategy toward China, and felt that it was necessary to learn from it, so he personally visited Fumima Konoe.

After several talks, Kiichiro Hiranuma came up with an outline for resolving the China issue, put forward the strategy of using China to contain China, divide and rule, and demanded the formation of a new pro-Japanese government in the occupied areas with the support of the Empire of Japan, so as to achieve the goal of dividing the resistance of China and reducing the military pressure of the Empire of Japan.

This plan was quickly adopted at the Imperial Council, and at this time Wang Jingwei and others were negotiating with the Japanese government in Japan, hoping to form a new national government with the support of Japan, but at the beginning, the Japanese land minister Itagaki Seishiro and his Japanese spy Takeo Imai were not very active.

Itagaki Seishiro was a war maniac, especially when he was the commander of the Fifth Division in the North China Front, and he achieved very good results, especially the miracle of defeating more than 30 Chinese infantry divisions with the strength of one division, so Itagaki Seishiro looked down on the Chinese, including pro-Japanese factions like Wang Jingwei. Moreover, they did not want to surrender the results of the war to Wang Jingwei under such circumstances, what he wanted was to let the Japanese army digest the occupied areas by themselves, and then completely turn the places that were now occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army into Japanese territory, just like the Kwantung Prefecture, instead of entrusting the establishment of a Chinese regime.

After Seishiro Itagaki became the Japanese land minister, he had two generals under him, one was Kagesa Zhenzhao; One is Takeo Imai. The two men differed greatly in their claims to the lure of Chinese politicians. Ying Zuo Zhenzhao took the route of supporting Wang Jingwei; Imai Takeo wanted to make peace with Chiang Kai-shek directly. Imai Takeo believes that since the Qing Dynasty, the most difficult way to resolve all wars or disputes between China and Japan has been China's "compromise and seeking perfection", but this has been more than 100 years, China is still China, and the Japanese Empire, which has won many victories, has still not been able to completely occupy China. At present, Japan has dealt the greatest blow to China in history, and China is facing the greatest crisis, and if Japan does not take this opportunity to completely occupy and digest it, I am afraid that Japan will never have such an opportunity again.

Therefore, from the very beginning, Takeo Imai and others were not very attentive to the negotiations with Wang Jingwei and others, and Itagaki Seishiro even ridiculed Wang Jingwei as soon as they met: "I thought that in order to establish a new and strong central government in China, it was necessary to win over the dignitaries and the majority of the army in Chongqing. You must be quite sure about this, and it would be a pleasure to hear about it."

However, with the proposal of Kiichiro Hiranuma's strategy of using China to contain China, the Japanese side immediately became enthusiastic about the talks, and Wang Jingwei and others were treated very highly in Japan, and the two sides quickly reached a consensus on the content of the talks. (To be continued......)