Although the Far Eastern Campaign went very smoothly and the Japanese troops participating in the battle were on the offensive, from the day of the attack on the Soviet Far Eastern Front, Prince Jaehito, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Far East Campaign, was accompanied by a tremendous pressure.

Prince Zairen knew very well that it seemed that now he had the upper hand, and the Soviet Far Eastern Front was surrounded on all sides and had no way to escape, but the foundation was built on the prerequisites for the rapid annihilation of the Soviet Far Eastern Front.

According to the Far East campaign plan, the troops of the Far Eastern Front that besieged it should break through all the defensive systems of the Soviet army within a week, and then, in another week, divide and surround the Soviet army, gradually wipe out, and solve more than one million Soviet troops in two weeks, which is already the limit of the combat strength of the Japanese army in the Far East.

Perhaps, since the independent division troops stranded the troops of the two fronts of the Soviet Army on the line from Chita to Irkutsk, the trend of the war situation has completely deviated from Prince Zairen's expectations, but the situation at that time was already ready to be launched, and no matter what, it had to be fought hard.

Therefore, Prince Zaihito had to rush to solve the Soviet Far Eastern Front before the arrival of Soviet reinforcements, but, contrary to his wishes, nearly two million Japanese troops attacked the Soviet army's defense system from all directions, and fought for a week, although they successively broke through the two defensive lines of the Soviet army, and compressed the Soviet army's battlefield living space step by step, the Imperial Japanese Army seemed to be victorious?

However, not only Prince Zaihito, but also the Japanese commanders on the front line could see it. This is Zhukov's intention to shrink the defensive circle and preserve enough strength, the more the Soviet army's defensive circle shrinks, the thicker the Soviet army's defensive strength becomes, and every time the Japanese army takes a step forward, it has to pay a great price.

Prince Jaehito was quite dissatisfied with the speed of the attack of the troops, and in a telegram to General Norigoro Ono, commander of the Japanese Far East Dispatch Army, and General Shinichi Tanaka, commander of the Korean garrison. It was full of words of urging and reprimand, but there was not a single stern order for the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Minamijiro.

Prince Zaihito was quite satisfied with the Kwantung Army's performance. After the siege of Minamijiro came up and the Far Eastern Front campaign began, the table was remarkable. In the face of Zhukov's strong ice and snow fortifications. The Kwantung Army was the first Imperial Army unit to break through the Soviet position, and then led the Imperial Army in other directions to seize the Soviet Army's first assured offensive speed.

After breaking through two defensive rings of Soviet troops in a row. The attacking troops could no longer arch and for a whole day of onslaught, including the Kwantung Army troops, there was not the slightest progress. The troops of the Soviet Far Eastern Front, like a steel plate with excellent elasticity, although it is deformed in many places and will break at any time, but at every critical moment, it will burst out with amazing elasticity and vitality, and bounce back the attacking Japanese troops.

Prince Zairen was angry, extremely angry, Zhukov, who could not be killed, desperately broke through the two front troops of the Soviet army, like two heavy boulders, pressing on his heart, the current Far Eastern Battlefield, in fact, is divided into two parts, the troops besieging the Soviet Far Eastern Front are attacking the main battlefield in the main battlefield, and blocking the main defense of the secondary battlefield of the Soviet reinforcements, but it is a completely different situation, it seems that all the battlefield situations are in favor of the Imperial Army.

However, Prince Zaihito saw the huge crisis hidden in it, the entire Far East campaign plan, the campaign rearguard cluster to block the Soviet reinforcements, is the biggest weak point, Prince Zaihito believes that the troops commanded by Lieutenant General Haruhiko Taiichi are also a steel plate with excellent elasticity, but this steel plate has a fatal weakness, and the troops are at an absolute disadvantage, so that this blocking line lacks sufficient defensive depth support, as long as it breaks a little, the entire blocking line will collapse immediately.

Next, more than 2 million Soviet soldiers will rush to the Far East battlefield like a tide, and the German Imperial Army troops besieging Zhukov will change from besiegers to besieged.

"Yamada-kun, send a telegram to the commander of the Far East Army, Norigoro Ono, and the commander of the Korean garrison, Tanaka Shinichi, ordering them that within two days, they must break through the core defensive positions of the Soviet army, divide and surround the Soviet army, and if they fail to complete this task, they will come to the headquarters on their own to confess! I'll prepare a caesarean section for them! Prince Zaihito, who had just finished his anger and almost smashed the utensils in the office, gritted his teeth and commanded Major General Yamada, head of the General Staff Headquarters of the Headquarters.

At this time, Prince Zaihito, in the eyes of Minister Yamada, had a hideous and terrifying face, "Two Imperial Army generals, the supreme commander in charge of a campaign direction, have only two days to live!" Major General Yamada lamented in his heart.

After recording the order, Major General Yamada pondered for a moment and asked, "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, is there an latest order from the headquarters for the Kwantung Army troops?" ”

Prince Zairen shook his head and said with a tired look: "No need, Nanjijun has his own offensive rhythm, the Kwantung Army's appearance is excellent, and the headquarters should not interfere too much!" ”

Major General Yamada immediately shut up and stopped at the point, but he still had a strange feeling in his heart, "The commanders of the same campaign offensive direction, the treatment of each other, but there are thousands of differences, General Ono and General Tanaka, who were scolded by His Royal Highness the Prince, also prepared a place for self-determination, General Minamijiro, but it is a transcendent and external treatment, not only does not have a word of reprimand, but even how to attack, the headquarters does not interfere, the same is the same as eating imperial rice, the treatment of being a human being, why is the difference so big?" ”

Major General Yamada was about to say goodbye, and Prince Zaihito suddenly said: "Send a telegram to General Minamijiro, Nanjijun, the Far East Campaign has reached the most critical moment, the Soviet army's reinforcements are attacking fiercely, and the imperial blocking troops are fighting extremely hard, time is very precious for the Imperial Army, every minute and every second is very precious, I hope that Nanjijun will create another miracle, take the lead in breaking through the core defensive position of the Soviet army, and set an example for the imperial troops participating in the war, please, Nanjijun!" ”

After Major General Yamada went out, Prince Zaihito's eyes looked at the dark night sky, he didn't understand very much, in the face of Zhukov, who was surrounded and besieged, why could he still play the rhythm of the battlefield, step by step, and plan to narrow the scope of defense, "This person, when he is the fierce enemy of the Imperial Army, Nanjiro can confront this person for more than three years, without falling behind, it is commendable!" He thought with emotion.

At about nine o'clock that night, in Kulun, Outer Mongolia, in the headquarters of the Independent Division, Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe pushed open the door of Tang Qiu's office, "Division Commander, Deputy Division Commander Liu has called, all the troops in our Far East have been separated from contact with the Soviet Army in accordance with the orders of the division commander, in addition, the troops of the Niangziguan Garrison Corps have returned to western Liaoning overnight under the command of Chief of Staff Zhang Hansheng, and Yuan Jinghao's unit of the North China Field Corps has left Irkutsk and headed south. He read the telegram quickly.

Tang Qiuli was silent thoughtfully, but asked another question, "Yuhe, in the telegram of Deputy Division Commander Liu, did you mention the reaction of the Soviet army after our army retreated?" ”

Zhao Yuhe said with a smile, "Division Commander, Deputy Division Commander Liu really knows you, yes, in another telegram, Deputy Division Commander Liu mentioned the Soviet Army's cousin, after our troops in the Far East did not hide their whereabouts and broke away from contact with the Soviet Army, according to the report of the reconnaissance troops, the Soviet Army not only did not relax its vigilance, but on the contrary, it was like facing a great enemy, and the whole line entered a state of battle. ”

"What?" Tang Qiuli raised his eyebrows in surprise, "It's not normal, our negotiation agreement with the Soviet Union has been signed, Molotov has been gone for more than five hours, enough to return to Moscow, the generals of the Soviet army on the front line should have received Stalin's briefing, knowing that our army's retreat is fulfilling the negotiation agreement, but why are you still so nervous?" He muttered to himself, confused.

Zhao Yuhe explained the abnormal behavior of the Soviet army from another angle, "Division commander, it is very likely that Stalin did not believe in our sincerity and ordered the Soviet army to maintain due vigilance, and it was not until it was determined that all the troops would dare to devote all the troops to the attack to break through the Japanese blocking line!" After finishing speaking, he added, "Division commander, think about it, how many times did the Soviet army suffer losses under your hands, and Stalin was afraid of you!" ”

Tang Qiuli laughed, agreeing with Zhao Yuhe's interpretation, but in his heart, he still had great doubts, "Time is precious for the Soviet army, a few hours of time, enough time for the Soviet army to come back to help, use all its forces in the attack, but put on a posture like facing a great enemy, and there is a difference in that link?" ”

Although he thinks so, he will not be bothered by this problem, he has already done it in accordance with the negotiation agreement, as for what kind of reaction the Soviets had, that was Stalin's own business, and he couldn't help it if he didn't believe in himself, too, Stalin was a master of intrigue and trickery, so he would naturally guard against letting others be yin, but it was completely unnecessary, his attention was no longer on the Soviet army.

Soon, Tang Qiuli's mind was all focused on the upcoming plan to launch a large-scale offensive against the Japanese army in the Far East, and the staff officers who came in and out from time to time sent over the materials they needed, and the chief of staff, Zhao Yuhe, and the chief of staff, Ge Zhenzhuang, also threw themselves into intense work, and the abnormal reaction of the Soviet army was soon forgotten.

(To be continued)(To be continued......