Indeed, emotionally speaking, Xianyuan Palace is unacceptable. The Japanese Army invested as many as one million troops in China, and more than 300,000 troops were defeated or annihilated by the Wehrmacht in previous battles.

Even in those victorious battles, the Japanese Army lost fifty or sixty thousand people. In this way, Japan's losses in China have been close to 400,000 until now.

But what did Japan gain?! In the areas they occupied, most of them were minerals, and many of them had not even repaired roads. Most of the food was levied and consumed by the Japanese army itself.

Very little was shipped back home, and not a single drop of the most important oil was found. As a result, the cost of aggression invested by Japan was too high, but the recovery was low.

In this way, Japan's losses are very serious. In fact, this was one of the reasons why Japan had to launch a campaign in Southeast Asia. But after it was launched, the Japanese had a different kind of mind.

On the battlefield in China, it was all attrition, consuming troops and resources, but nothing was gained. And what about Southeast Asia?! This time alone sent back tens of thousands of tons of crude oil and iron ore, as well as large quantities of rare metals and thousands of tons of rice.

The number of troops invested in the Southeast Asian campaign was even less than 300,000, and the losses were less than 50,000. And Japan in Southeast Asia has a better foundation, and those upper-class families who cooperate with Japan continue to help Japan.

And the large number of suggestions provided by those "Japanese overseas Chinese" also made the development of minerals and oil smooth. Japan tasted the sweetness, and some people began to consider whether it was appropriate to continue to invest in the Chinese theater.

The main thing that thinks this is actually the Japanese Navy. Although there are people in the army who have ideas, absolutely no one will dare to say them. After all, the army has lost too much face and life in China, and if it is brought up, it may be directly killed by those fanatics in the General Staff.

"Think about it! Xianyuan Palace, I just don't think it will do the empire any better if it continues to fight like this. Fushimi Palace said to Kanin Palace: "Of course, I don't mean to just give up on Shina. It's just that I don't think we're fully prepared yet. ”

"If we can fully arm ourselves through Southeast Asia. When the time comes, we will launch an offensive from the Myitkyina area and a landing operation from the sea. As long as we are well prepared, it is just a matter of taking the branches. ”

Kanin Gong Zairen did not speak with a gloomy face, he knew that since Fushimi Palace could say these words to him, then he must have the support of some people. Perhaps the shadow that is active behind him is Xiyuan Temple.

Others, the chaebols who benefited from the Southeast Asian campaign. In contrast to the serious losses in China and the enormous natural resources gained in Southeast Asia, the merchants naturally hoped that Japan would focus more on what would benefit them.

"The war against China is expected and unexpected at the same time." Fushiminomiya sighed, looked at the vehicles that were busy transporting various supplies, and said, "We have long had plans to start a war. But we didn't expect to pay such a big price and didn't take it down. ”

"But this can't blame the Army, it can only be said that fate makes people! The road is endless, and the tiger that suddenly appeared gave us a real headache. After a pause, Fushimi Palace turned to Kanin Gong Zairen and said sincerely: "Only with the resources of Southeast Asia can we restart the war with China." Then. That's when we get the final victory! ”

"The new fighters and tanks that are staying at Mitsubishi are not mass-produced and entered the battlefield due to lack of materials. If we can find enough resources in Southeast Asia, do you think that's a problem?! When we have more new fighters and vehicles, do you think we'll still lose to that Tiger?! ”

Kanin Palace didn't speak, he knew from the bottom of his heart that what King Fushimi Palace Hirokoto said was the truth. But he also knows that once he withdraws from China, it will be difficult to go back.

And this kind of mental blow will be more violent than the actual defeat, and the damage to the morale of the army is immeasurable. Emotionally, Xianyuan Gong Zairen can't accept it.

The entire War Department. Or maybe the whole of Japan is not planning to invade China for a day or two. It can even be said that he has been planning for several terms as the chief of staff. Just give up, who would be willing?!

"It's not on our radar. Your Highness, this topic is stopped. Xianyuan Gong Zairen took a deep breath and said, "The empire's troops will not be withdrawn from China!" ”

Fushimiya looked at his face. There was no further dissuasion. He knew that the difficulties faced by Xianyuan Palace himself were also very great. It was already very difficult to subdue the radicals in the General Staff Headquarters.

At the same time, the withdrawal of troops from China will undoubtedly irritate a large part of the senior generals. These include the current Prime Minister of Japan, Hideki Tojo.

Unlike the Admiralty, the War Department saw the attack on Southeast Asia as a way to obtain resources to better conduct the war against China. But in the eyes of the Navy. China's war is like a bottomless pit.

Last time, the army filled in the entire North China Front, but now it has lost a lot of the land it originally occupied and is forced to retreat to Zhejiang. And their enemies have skyrocketed to more than two million.

So. How much more will Japan have to pay to win the war?! How many more resources do you have to fill it up?! How many more lives do you have to fill in?! This is simply unthinkable.

No matter how much Southeast Asia gains, I am afraid that it will not be able to fill the bottomless pit of China. If you don't know if you fill it in at the end, the whole of Japan will have to lose it.

And why hasn't Xianyuan Palace thought about this problem?! But in the end, he chose to continue the war in China, because he could not imagine the consequences of announcing a retreat from China.

No matter what the Japanese thought, Tu Menghu had no intention of letting them go. After several months of preparation and running-in, the Wehrmacht has arrived at the outlying positions in Shanghai.

From afar, they could even see the Japanese pillboxes. Yan Chenghan is now very excited, after a series of adjustments, replenishment of troops and training, his Third Army is now under the North China Military Region.

The original commander of the Third Army Corps, Tian Jixiang, was transferred to the post of commander-in-chief of the East China Military Region.

"Grandma's, it's finally time to fight! Lao Tzu is going to grow hair here, and if you don't fight our Third Legion, it will rust! Yan Chenghan smiled in his headquarters.

Beside him was his new chief of staff, Tao Hong, Tao Hong looked at the happy Yan Chenghan and said with a smile: "This is also an opportunity given to us by the commander-in-chief." The 1st Panzer Army was also sent to assist us. If we don't play well, it's a shame......"

Got down to business. Yan Chenghan's expression became serious. He said to his deputy: "Lao Tao, what you said is true." This time, the brothers of our Second Army took their lives in exchange for the city of Nanjing, if they can't make a brilliant fight, then they really can't stand the brothers who died in the city of Nanjing......"

Tao Hong nodded and said, "I guess, this is also a chance for the commander-in-chief to give us revenge." After all, it was the troops of the Central China Front that attacked and defended us. And the troops guarding Shanghai are also them, if they are defeated, it can be regarded as revenge for those brothers who died in the city of Nanjing. ”

Yan Chenghan nodded and said, "How is the situation of the Japanese army in Shanghai?!" ”

"According to the information given to us by the General Headquarters, there are as many as 300,000 Japanese troops entrenched in Shanghai." Tao Hong opened his folder, took out a document and handed it to Yan Chenghan.

"At the same time. They also had 300,000 coerced servants. Those were brought by the officers of the former government. After a pause, Tao Hong said: "They don't have any equipment in terms of artillery, but the Japanese don't treat them badly in terms of guns." They are all equipped according to the standards of the Japanese army. ”

The Japanese army stationed in Shanghai was the entire front army of the former South China Front Army and the three divisions drawn from the Central China Front Army. The main person in charge was Shunroku Hatata, the new commander-in-chief of the Japanese Army's Chinese Dispatch Army. He integrated the remnants of the former North China Front Army and the Central and South China Front armies, and formulated a new campaign plan. ”

There was a pause. Tao Hong said with a smile: "He put the main force in Shanghai, and the other part was placed on the front line of Quzhou by him. It is estimated that he is going to prepare for the defense of our South China Military Region......"

"He is in Shanghai, but he has let out his words to make Shanghai another 38th parallel."

"Humph! He thought it was beautiful! Yan Chenghan snorted coldly: "Even if he built the Maginot Line, Lao Tzu would smash him all with one punch!" ”

"Commander, don't underestimate them." Tao Hong warned his commander: "The Japanese have made a bloody investment this time, and the entire Shanghai family has become a huge military city, which contains grain collected from all over Zhejiang and a large amount of ammunition transported from the Japanese mainland. Didn't say it. These Japanese are planning to die here with us! ”

"Then we have to be willing to spend it with them!" Yan Chenghan smiled, his face was hideous.

Like Yan Chenghan, he is full of confidence, but it is the new commander-in-chief of the Japanese army's Chinese dispatch army, Shunroku Hatata. The work of 300,000 puppet troops under machine guns can not be described as hardworking.

The dug fortifications were connected along the entire outskirts of Shanghai, and most of the steel in the city was used to lay them. Even the tram tracks were torn down. Used to build these bunkers.

From the outside to the inside, the entire Shanghai defense line formed five lines. Each of them is connected by concrete-paved communication trenches, bunkers, machine gun holes, and chain bunkers...... And so on, these form a shooting blind spot.

Looking at these carefully constructed defense lines, Shunroku Hata was full of confidence. A large number of anti-tank guns, heavy machine guns, and grenadiers were allocated to each bunker for storage.

And even for the defense of the Wehrmacht tanks. They placed a large number of anti-tank mines in front-line positions. These are high-powered anti-tank mines specially made by the base camp after receiving reports from the forward positions on the power of the Wehrmacht tanks.

The first anti-tank mines were created by the Germans in 1918 to deal with the tanks of the British at that time, and the first anti-tank mines were simple. That is, with artillery shells plus detonation, it is an anti-tank mine.

As the war progressed, anti-tank mines were constantly changing. And when the Japanese found that their tanks could not compete with the Wehrmacht's tanks, they thought of anti-tank mines.

The cost of anti-tank mines is much lower than that of tanks. However, the complete anti-tank mines were too heavy to be used on the battlefield, so the Japanese anti-tank mines were made into large-sized grenades.

In order to blow up the tank, the Japanese even added four magnets to this new anti-tank weapon, which can be thrown by hand or buried. In the end, the result of the Japanese army's experiments was that this new anti-tank weapon only needed 1 round to penetrate the high-strength alloy armor plate, and 2 rounds overlapped to penetrate the high-strength alloy armor plate.

After the results were achieved, this kind of "Type 99 Magnetic Anti-Tank Bomb" was immediately named twice. Then they were sent to Shanghai in large numbers, and then they were assigned to the front.

However, Hata did not intend to use these anti-tank bombs on a large scale, and everyone knew that the Wehrmacht would definitely use artillery fire to clear the mines in front of the position. It's an absolute waste to use it like this.

Shunroku Hata played the traditional spirit of the Japanese army and let the infantry units use these anti-tank bombs. Said it was an anti-tank bomb. In fact, Shunroku Hata uses it in the form of a suicide bomber.

The anti-tank bomb made by the Japanese army weighed about 1.25 kilograms. The inside charge is 0.68 kg. And this is a completely large grenade, and of course not everyone can throw it.

"Gentlemen! With our efforts, let's turn this place into the Verdun of the Chinese army! Hata Shunroku was in high spirits and said loudly to the division commanders behind him.

"Hail!!"

The soldiers of the Japanese army did not have the confidence of their own commander-in-chief, and a soldier looked at the anti-tank bombs shaped like a kettle depressedly and did not say a word.

"Can this thing penetrate Wehrmacht vehicles?!" A captain grabbed the kettle-like explosive bomb in his hand, looked left and right for a long time and sighed: "Could it be the whimsical stuff of those old men in the base camp?!" ”

"Shut up! Mihara, your mission is to carry out orders! Not questioning! Do you understand?! This military cao scolded the commander named Mihara: "Don't question the order, otherwise your family in the empire will be disgraced because of you!" ”

"I'm an orphan. The family has long since died. Mihara shrugged his shoulders and put the bomb back on the ground: "If I die, I will trouble Juncao to celebrate the New Year's Festival, give me a stick of incense." ”

This military cao was silent, and was silent for a while before saying, "Sanyuan." You should have confidence that you will survive......"

"To be honest, I don't have even the slightest bit of faith." Sanyuan suddenly became serious, looked at this military officer and said word by word: "You haven't seen those Wehrmacht fighting, you can say such things." ”

"But, I've seen it."

At 4 o'clock in the morning on March 30, 1939, the artillery division of the Third Army Corps of the North China Theater of the National Defense Army slowly pushed 80 Liao howitzers out of their positions.

Along with these eighty howitzers were pushed out, there were also twenty heavy howitzers. This is an artillery made on the basis of the imitation Japanese Type 38 150mm howitzer during the period of the three eastern provinces.

Later refined by German engineers. This makes the gun increase from the original range of 5.9 km to the current range of 10 km. Muzzle velocity has also increased from 275 m/s to 400 m/s.

Such artillery was not very much equipped even in the Wehrmacht, and even such a unit as the Third Army Corps was only equipped with twenty guns in the artillery divisions directly under the Corps.

When all the artillery was withdrawn and all the elements were adjusted, the commander of the artillery division, Xi Lin, took a deep breath, picked up the phone, shook it, and connected to the headquarters.

"Report to the commander, the artillery division is all ready! Please instruct! ”

"According to the scheduled plan. Get ready to fire! On the other end of the phone, Yan Chenghan's voice came. And Xi Lin's eyes suddenly turned red, and he responded loudly: "Yes!" Get ready to fire!! ”

After scraping the phone, Xi Lin looked at his watch and said to the adjutant: "Order!" The last five minutes are ready! 4:30 a.m. Fire on time! ”

"Yes!!" This order reached all corners of the artillery division with telephone calls, and everyone was nervously making final preparations.

The shells had already been pushed into the chamber. Just shoot it and you'll be able to go with the breath of death to where the Wehrmacht artillerymen want them to go.

Everyone was staring at each other, waiting for the artillery to strike. This also includes Cai Jun, the commander of the 64th Regiment of the 22nd Division of the Eighth Army, who was preparing to attack the Third Army.

At this moment, Cai Jun, as a veteran, actually felt a little nervous, it is said that he has already fought old and died, and he has seen countless people who should not be nervous. But Cai Jun just couldn't help but be nervous.

Cai Jun's arms, thighs and military uniform on his chest were written with his name, a habit of Wehrmacht veterans. The main purpose was to make it easier for his brothers to find their remaining limbs when they were blown to pieces.

Otherwise, they will all blow up to the ground, and they won't be able to tell whose hands and feet they are. Write your name, at least you know who it belongs to.

"Boom! Rumble!! Boom ......" At 4:30, a thunderstorm suddenly exploded! Countless shells hit the Japanese positions in the night sky in the early morning!

The roar of hundreds of artillery pieces seemed to make the whole of Shanghai tremble, and the shells rained down on the Japanese positions! Steel pierced through the bunkers, knocking them over in pieces.

The Japanese army used the puppet army to build a dark bunker, but they didn't know that there were a large number of people in the puppet army. Through various channels and methods, these people have roughly penetrated the Japanese army's hidden bunker and transmitted the information to the headquarters of the Wehrmacht.

The Wehrmacht General Staff, which had obtained the information, conducted a comprehensive analysis of the Japanese positions and planned out suspicious coordinates and handed them over to the Third Army Corps.

And the damage caused by this intelligence leak is now finally revealed......