The sharp attack of Chen Feng's department completely shocked the entire Kwantung Army Headquarters, whether it was General Yamada Otosan or Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo, they did not expect that Chen Feng's department would use so many paratroopers to fight, of course, they did not expect that Chen Feng's department would have so many well-trained paratroopers and transport aircraft, so they were hit by Chen Feng's department to the soft underbelly at once.

Immediately, the Kwantung Army Headquarters urgently convened a military meeting to discuss countermeasures, and for Chen Feng's troops to gather more than 100,000 troops to launch the Hulunbuir Campaign, the Kwantung Army leaders unanimously agreed that this was the beginning of Chen Feng's troops to seize the entire Suidong steppe, and even the beginning of Chen Feng's troops to seize the entire Manchuria.

General Yamada Otosan is well aware of the importance of Manchuria to the empire, if it is just a Hulunbuir grassland, the Kwantung Army can barely pinch its nose and admit it, but if the ultimate goal of the people of China is the whole of Manchuria, then even if all the Eastern Army and the Chinese army are dispatched to a strategic decisive battle.

As a general of the Japanese Army, Yamada Otozo is already one of the top officers in the entire Japan, so he knows a lot of secrets, especially the main combat direction of the Imperial Army in the next few years.

In the opinion of General Yamada Otozo, there is no room for the empire to launch a war against the United States and Britain, and sooner or later there will be a war between the empire and those Western countries, it is only a matter of time.

Fighting a war is not just about fighting people against each other, but also about the economy, resources, logistics, and industrial production capacity, and in the end, it is the comprehensive national strength that is fighting.

Although the Japanese Empire is now strong in military strength, it is not yet able to compete with the United States and Britain in terms of overall national strength. Especially in terms of resources, the empire had inherent shortcomings, so the importance of Manchuria was highlighted.

Manchuria is vast and sparsely populated, and is very rich in natural resources. According to the resource survey report of the puppet Manchukuo "State Council" in 1936, the entire Manchuria region had about 3 billion tons of coal reserves and about 4 billion tons of iron reserves. Gold, magnesium, aluminum, oil shale, diamonds, forestry, fisheries and other resources are also very abundant.

The most irritating aspect of the Japanese is the agricultural conditions in Manchuria, where there are 40 million hectares of arable land (4 billion mu), of which 25 million hectares have been cultivated. The forest area is 170 million hectares. The annual output is 2.5 million tons of soybeans, 2 million tons of wheat and 700,000 tons of rice. Millet 1 million tons. 8 million tons of sorghum, 5 million tons of corn, 600,000 tons of coarse grains and beans, and 300,000 tons of cotton. 160,000 tons of tobacco. The herd includes 4 million horses. 3 million head of cattle. 30 million sheep and 40 million pigs. The annual output of grain is about 20 million tons, of which about 7.5 million tons of edible grain are required by farmers throughout the year. 4 million tons of seed grain.

This was a very important grain replenishment base for the Great Japanese Empire, which was severely short of grain, and according to the requirements of the Kwantung Army, Manchukuo was to provide Japan with more than 1 million tons of grain every year.

In addition, the industrial base of the region is very developed, the steel and chemical industries are mainly concentrated in Anshan and Benxi, the coal industry is concentrated in Fushun, Benxi and Fuxin, the oil shale and synthetic fuel industries are concentrated in Fushun and Jilin, and the magnesite mining industry is concentrated in Haicheng and Dashiqiao. Hydropower generation was concentrated in Jilin and the Yalu River, the center of machinery, munitions, and aircraft industries was Fengtian (present-day Shenyang), and light industries such as textiles and food were concentrated in cities such as Dalian, Dandong, Harbin, and Qiqihar.

For the Japanese Empire, Manchuria was a milkmaid, a source of strength to support the continuous expansion of the Japanese Empire, and an important reliance for the Japanese Empire to dare to compete with the United States and Britain. In order to turn Manchuria into a base for the empire to wage war, the Empire of Japan had high hopes for Manchuria.

All in all, Manchuria cannot be lost in any way, and if Manchuria is lost, the efforts of the Great Japanese Empire for a hundred years will be in vain.

With such a consensus, the Kwantung Army Command reacted quickly and immediately dispatched elite troops from the entire puppet Manchurian region to Hulunbuir to reinforce the Ninth Division.

According to the operational arrangements of the Kwantung Army Headquarters, the Ninth Division should try its best to restrain the main force of Chen Feng's headquarters, and then give the Kwantung Army Command time to transfer troops. Then, after the reinforcements arrived in Manchuria, the Ninth Division cooperated with the reinforcement center to blossom and completely crush Chen Feng's department.

Subsequently, the Kwantung Army Command issued the No. 8 operational plan, mobilizing the 1st Division, the 11th Division, the 24th Division, the 25th Division, the 28th Division, the 1st Tank Division, the 2nd Tank Division, the 7th, 8th, and 11th Brigades of Field Heavy Artillery, and the Fifth Aviation Group to assemble in the direction of Hailar.

Due to the extreme deterioration of public order in the entire Manchuria region in recent times, it will take a while for the troops to assemble, and the strength of the Kwantung Army is now very limited, so Yamada Otozo sent a report to the Japanese army base camp, requesting domestic military assistance, according to Yamada Otozo's estimate, in order to restore the state of law and order a few years ago, the Kwantung Army still needs only a few divisions and regiments.

On March 30, 1941, after three days and three nights of fierce attack, all the positions on the periphery of the Japanese army in Manchuria were destroyed by Chen Feng's department, and the walls of the ancient city of Manchuria on all sides almost collapsed.

In the past three days, the Japanese puppet army in the city has been living like a year, more than 30,000 defenders have suffered more than half of the casualties, and many wounded have died of pain because they cannot be treated in time, and the whole city of Manchuria is full of mourning.

What worries Lieutenant General Higuchi Jiichiro the most is that the troops killed in the past few days are mainly Japanese troops, although the puppet army has not suffered a small loss, but in comparison, the Japanese army has suffered much more casualties, and there are still more than 14,000 troops in the city, of which the Japanese army only accounts for 6,000 people, while the puppet army has as many as 8,000 people, and there are more than 10,000 wounded in the city.

The continuous attacks directly tested the will of everyone in the city, and Chen Feng's department had to distribute a large number of leaflets to the city every day, stating that as long as the puppet army took the initiative to do the opposite, Chen Feng's department could not blame the past, and if it could lead the troops to surrender, then it could also give certain treatment, and made a detailed list. Led 10 people to surrender and was immediately appointed as an infantry squad leader; Led 50 men to surrender, immediately conferred the rank of second lieutenant, and appointed infantry platoon commander; If you can bring 1,000 people to surrender, you will be immediately awarded the rank of infantry captain and appointed as the commander of the infantry battalion. If you can surrender with all the puppet troops in the city, then the Theater Command will directly grant you the rank of Major of the National Revolutionary Army, and after training and learning, you will be appointed as the commander of the infantry regiment.

This is a naked temptation, in this case, once there is a crack in the will of one person, then the unlucky one will be the entire Ninth Division, in desperation, Lieutenant General Kiguchi Jiichiro only strictly ordered all soldiers not to read the leaflets distributed by Chen Feng's department, and those who violated the order were immediately shot on the spot.

However, the mouth of the people is more important than the Sichuan, and if the river collapses, there will be many injuries. As the positions outside the city were conquered one by one, the elite of the Japanese army was constantly consumed, and an abnormal undercurrent was surging among the puppet army in the city.

On the night of the 30th, the commander of an infantry company of a puppet army could not hold on to the huge pressure, and took the only 42 soldiers left in his department to the battlefield anyway, although the Japanese army found out in time and executed more than half of the puppet soldiers who tried to escape, but there were still fish that escaped from the net.

Although the Ninth Division held an emergency meeting that night to report the incident and execute a puppet battalion commander, the matter still spread secretly in the city like wings.

On the morning of the 31st, Okabe Naosaburo arrived at Yakeshi with the vanguard of an infantry division and a chariot division, and successfully rendezvoused with the remnants of the Japanese 23rd Division, and then this Japanese army quickly came in the direction of Hailar.

According to the idea of the Kwantung Army Headquarters, the imperial army used Yakeshi as a base, recaptured Manhailar in one fell swoop with superior forces and a devastating formation, and finally concentrated hundreds of thousands of large troops to march west into Manchuria and crushed Chen Feng's troops in one fell swoop.

However, the ideal is plump, but the reality is skinny, and on the 31st, two infantry divisions and one tank division of the Japanese army encountered hard bones when attacking Hailar.

In the face of more than 50,000 Japanese troops, more than 30,000 Chinese troops in Hailar City were not afraid, and the Japanese army fought a decisive battle outside Hailar City.

After receiving a telegram from Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo, General Yamada Otozo ordered the rest of the troops to speed up and assemble in the direction of Hailar, and at the same time ordered Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo to crush the Shina army in front of him at all costs, and to rush to the outside of Manchuria before April 2, otherwise the 9th Division would be in danger of being completely annihilated.

The Ninth Division had indeed reached the most dangerous juncture, and by the end of March, there were less than 10,000 troops left in the Ninth Division, and the rest had either been killed or wounded, and since yesterday the lightly wounded have also been organized and sent to the battlefield.

As for the battlefield situation, it is extremely unfavorable to the Ninth War Zone, Chen Feng's troops have already attacked the inner city, and the three inner city defense lines built by the Japanese army before have also been broken through two, leaving only the last defense line to support it.

Although the Kwantung Army Headquarters ordered him to hold on for two days anyway, and the reinforcements would definitely arrive in two days, Lieutenant General Higuchi Jiichiro thought that with the current situation in the Ninth Theater, let alone two days, it would be a miracle to be able to hold out for one day.

However, just when Vice Admiral Kiichiro Higuchi was completely desperate, a telegram from the Admiralty, the base camp, made Kiichiro Higuchi's eyes light up. (To be continued......)