Seeing Ito Yanzaburo's battle situation shows that Prince Zaihito, chief of the general staff of the base camp, has a bottom in his heart, as he judged, things are not as bad as the navy said, but the defeat in the first battle of the Coral Sea and the failure to completely annihilate 100,000 British and Australian soldiers is an indisputable fact, Ito Yanzaburo is not wrong, Shirakawa Yoshizhe and Okamura Masao are not wrong, this is difficult to do.

Holding the war report, Prince Zaihito hesitated for a long time, but decided to meet his emperor brother, and after the two brothers discussed a safe way, they would convene a meeting of the important ministers of the army and navy.

After reading this battle report, Emperor Hirohito groaned for a while and asked, "Zaihito, what do you think of this report?" ”

Zairen replied affirmatively: "Your Majesty, my brother thinks that this is true, there is no need for Ito Yanzaburo to lie, and as the commander-in-chief of the Southwest Pacific Theater, he also assumed his own responsibilities in the report, and his heart is commendable, he is an imperial general who has the courage to take responsibility!" ”

Emperor Hirohito's eyes widened, and he said angrily: "Since Ito Yanzaburo did not make a mistake, then, it was Shirakawa Yoshizhe and Gangmura Masao who made a mistake, delayed the fighter plane, and caused me to lose more than 100 carrier-based aircraft and five warships, and I will never spare the two of them!" You immediately give an order for the Judge Advocate General of the base camp to send someone to escort the two defeated generals back to their homeland and face a court-martial! ”

Prince Zairen grinned and said in his heart, "I, the emperor's elder brother, has a little bigger temper, maybe." The emperor has been in office for a long time, and there is a problem with IQ, this is not an either/or problem, if you really want to escort Shirakawa Yoshitsu and Masao Gangmura back to the mainland, the navy will have to fry the pot! ”

Prince Zairen hurriedly said: "Your Majesty is slow, the younger brother thinks that Shirakawa Yoshizhe and Gangmura Masao are not wrong!" ”

When Emperor Hirohito heard this, he was furious. Roared angrily: "Jae-in, what do you mean? Play this two-sided trick with me, you're still tender! Ito Yanzaburo is right, Shirakawa Yoshitetsu and Okamura Masao are not wrong, the army and navy are not wrong. The Coral Sea lost the first battle, and the losses were huge. Am I wrong? ”

Prince Jaehito hurriedly bowed to the end. said: "Your Majesty is angry, my brother doesn't mean that, put yourself in your shoes, when the big group of the devil Tang Qiuli passed through Kalimantan and Sumatra, Ito didn't want to send fighter jets to intercept it. Rather, it was because of the containment of the carrier-based aircraft of the independent division's fleet that it did not dare to act rashly, otherwise, if the two places were lost. The loss of the empire will be even greater! ”

"And the number of fighter groups of the Devil Tang Qiuli far exceeds the number of carrier-based aircraft of the Second Fleet and the Fourth Fleet of the Navy, and it is inevitable that the fleet will lose some losses in the case of superior and inferior forces, and it is also a great gain that the Navy's British fleet was heavily damaged in the First Battle of the Coral Sea, and a total of more than 20 British warships were sunk, so your Majesty, my brother thinks that if you talk about responsibility and mistakes, it can only be that the strength of the Devil Tang Qiuli is too strong, and we underestimate it!"

Emperor Hirohito stopped talking, his face softened, he admitted that what his imperial brother said was very reasonable, Ito Yanzaburo considered the overall situation, this is right, Shirakawa Yoshitsu and Okamura Masao also did their best, but after suffering so many losses, he was unwilling to do that!

Emperor Hirohito said: "Zaihito, immediately convene a meeting of the army and navy generals, this matter should also be settled, and you will preside over it!" After speaking, Wu sighed to himself: "That devil has always been a big trouble for the empire, but the hateful thing is that I can't do anything about him!" ”

The army and navy bigwigs, after receiving the notice, rushed to the palace as quickly as possible, and the heavyweights on both sides went through their respective channels to understand the ins and outs of this matter in detail, and they both felt that their side was wronged, and they were ready to challenge each other at this meeting.

Therefore, as soon as the two families met, they had a cold face, sharpening their knives, and before the meeting began, they jumped around, and Prince Zaihito saw it, he was furious, and he reprimanded the bigwigs of the two sides, and the emperor was on the throne, and before the lawsuit began, he was put out by His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff, and in addition, the role of Prince Zaihito, that is the younger brother of His Majesty the Emperor, this should be discussed by the two brothers.

Immediately, Prince Zairen boiled down this incident to one sentence, "The army and navy are not wrong, it's not that the imperial army is incompetent, but that the devil Tang Qiuli is too powerful!" "It can be regarded as a conclusion that almost triggered a big battle within the army and navy.

The members of the army and navy pondered, this is not bad, it is barely acceptable, anyway, no one has suffered, it is the Japanese Empire that suffers, and if it continues to be entangled, it will be against His Majesty the Emperor and Prince Zaihito, now that the matter has been concluded, the content of the next meeting will revolve around how to end the Southwest Pacific Theater as much as possible.

Zairen said: "In view of the current war situation, the return of 100,000 British and Australian soldiers to aid Australia will inevitably increase the pressure on the Australian army and delay the time to solve the Australian problem. ”

As for the navy, which had just suffered a loss and disgrace in the first battle in the Coral Sea, was embarrassed to stretch out its hand again and snatch food from the army's mouth, besides, the failure to intercept and kill 100,000 British and Australian convoys had already alarmed MacArthur on Luzon, and the Americans would no longer be stupid enough to wait for a second such good opportunity for the Imperial Navy.

The Emperor's Imperial Military Council, with an unprecedented high degree of unanimity, approved the campaign plan of Prince Zaihito, Chief of the General Staff, and then, after the meeting was dismissed, Zaihito, in the name of the General Staff, sent the order to the headquarters of the Japanese Southwest Pacific Dispatch Army, ordering the immediate launch of the Luzon Campaign.

On the surface, no one has been reproached by His Majesty the Emperor, but in fact, the estrangement and resentment between the army and navy have deepened, and it is impossible to cooperate and cooperate with each other sincerely.

Admiral Ito Yanzaburo was also quite dissatisfied with the results of such a disposition, but there was no way, he hated Shirakawa Yoshitsu and Masao Gangmura for their behavior of complaining about the black, and disdained to be with them, so he simply put aside the Second Fleet and the Fourth Fleet of the Navy and used the Army to do it alone in the future campaign deployment, he was confident that he would not need the Navy's guys, even if there were 100,000 more British and Australian soldiers on the Australian mainland, it would not be a matter of concern.

Happy, only the commander of the 14th Army, Vice Admiral Yoshihiko Haruta, the army and navy far away from the mainland, fought with each other, what did they have to do with themselves? Moreover, with his current status, he couldn't get involved, and after receiving the order of Admiral Ito, the commander-in-chief of the dispatch army, Vice Admiral Haruta was so excited that he finally didn't have to tie his hands to fight, and he no longer had to play a supporting role for the bastards in the navy, and drove the Yankees to the sea!

Beginning in the early morning of 27 August, Lieutenant General Haruta commanded his troops to launch the most ferocious attack on the positions of the US and Philippine troops on the front line of Manila; on the front line of Manila, the artillery fire roared incessantly all day long, and the air seemed to be dried up by the artillery fire, and the soldiers of the US and Philippine troops had to pay a great price every day to hold their positions, and MacArthur was under unprecedented pressure, and by 29 August, the Manila defense line was crumbling.

MacArthur understood that he would not be able to hold out for long, and if he did not withdraw to Australia, he and more than 200,000 soldiers would only be buried on Luzon Island, and after learning that 100,000 British and Australian soldiers had returned to Australia safely under the cover of the independent division air force, MacArthur's heart was greatly moved, and he also wanted Tang Qiuli to lend a helping hand and escort his troops.

But after careful consideration, MacArthur found that he had done everything in the past, and he himself knew how many stumbling blocks he had made to the troops of the Independent Division, and how many times he had made a black hand, in other words, he had offended Tang Qiuli very thoroughly, and he was afraid that he would be killed by the Japanese on Luzon Island, and Tang Qiuli would be satisfied! I came forward to make a request, and the answer I got was only one sentence, "I'm not interested!" ”

MacArthur never wanted to die on Luzon, so he flew to Washington like snowflakes of urgent telegrams, but this time, MacArthur did not play the usual trick of exaggerating and exaggerating the dangers of the war situation, and did not need to make false reports.

He himself knew that Manila was already precarious, and in the emergency telegram, MacArthur did not care about face, and directly proposed that without the fighter escort of the Chinese Tang Qiuli, the US and Philippine troops on Luzon Island would never be able to withdraw safely to Australia.

He demanded that the US Government come forward to contact Tang Qiuli to discuss the matter of escorting the retreating troops, and in the telegram to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, MacArthur also put forward a limit on the time for negotiations with Tang Qiuli, which should not exceed five days, and within five days, the troops on Luzon Island must leave by boat, otherwise, it would be the end of the total annihilation.

In fact, MacArthur also left a way out for himself, once he could not reach an agreement with Tang Qiuli, more than 200,000 soldiers could only die in the devil's prison on Luzon Island, and he would take a plane alone and escape from Luzon.

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