Compared with the Chen family's many good things, the Japanese side was much more miserable, and when they were about to sweep the end in 1940, they launched the Second Battle of Changsha, and then they were forced to fight the Battle of Southern Hebei. The Second Battle of Changsha, which was won in the first place, was successfully counterattacked by the Nationalist Government, not to mention the loss of troops, and it also greatly lost face in the international community.

The battle of southern Hebei is the same, except for finding some self-confidence in the Eighth Route Army, the rest of the battlefields are all defeated, if it weren't for the critical moment Kimura Hyotaro was shameless, I am afraid that the North China Front Army has another pattern that was removed by Chen Feng's department.

No, as soon as the war ended, the base camp of the Japanese army couldn't wait to make a major adjustment and change of blood for the Japanese army invading China! After the study of the Japanese army base camp, it was decided: "The newly formed 38th and 39th divisions will be transferred to China." and the 38th Division was incorporated into the 21st Army; The 39th Division was incorporated into the 11th Army. The 5th Division (which originally belonged to the 12th Army, later incorporated into the Kwantung Army, and was placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Base Camp on September 29) was incorporated into the 21st Army. The unit was ordered to immediately set off by boat from Dalian and Lushun and land and assemble at the port of Sanya, Haishi Island. ”

Subsequently, the newly formed 16th, 17th, and 18th independent mixed brigades were transferred to China, and the independent mixed 16th brigade was respectively incorporated into the 12th Army; The 17th Brigade was incorporated into the 13th Army; The 18th Brigade was incorporated into the 11th Army. ”

"On December 12, 1940, the Japanese army headquarters ordered the 20th, 101st, 108th, and 106th divisions to be transferred back to China. Among them: the 20th Division was incorporated into the Korean Army; The 101st and 108th Divisions returned to China and were demobilized, and the 106th Division was ordered to turn back and be incorporated into the 21st Army on the way home. The newly formed Guards Mixed Brigade was incorporated into the 21st Army. At the same time, Lieutenant General Tada was transferred to the Military Staff of the War Department, and Senior General Okamura Ninji took over as commander of the North China Front. Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe, former chief of staff of the North China Front, was transferred to the post of chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, and Lieutenant General Yukio Kasahara took over as chief of staff of the North China Front! ”

"On December 17, 1940, the base camp ordered the formation of the 7th Army and placed it under the jurisdiction of the North China Front! And re-enable Hideki Tojo! ”

"On December 19, 1940, the base camp abolished the battle sequence of the 21st Army, established the South China Front Army and the 22nd Army, and incorporated them into the battle sequence of the Chinese Dispatch Army. Subsequently, the South China Front was ordered to break away from the battle sequence of the Chinese dispatch army and be transferred to the direct command of the base camp. ”

After the above adjustments. By the end of 1940. The garrison of the Japanese army in China reached 27 divisions, 21 independent mixed brigades, tank groups, and 1 flying group. The battle sequence is as follows:

General Yan Jun, Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, and Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo, Chief of the General Staff. The headquarters is still located in Nanjing. It has jurisdiction over the North China Front Army, the 11th and 13th Armies, and the 3rd Flying Group.

Commander of the North China Front, Senior General Okamura Ninji, Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Yukio Kasawara. It has jurisdiction over the 7th and 12th armies, the 27th, 35th, and 110th divisions, the 7th, 8th, and 15th brigades of independent mixed brigades, the 5th Wing of Telecommunications, the North China Meteorological Department, the 2nd Field Railway Department, and the Chinese Military Police stationed in Tun.

Commander of the 7th Army, Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo, Chief of Staff, Major General Takayoshi Tanaka. The headquarters is located in Tangshan, and has jurisdiction over the 36th, 37th, and 41st Divisions, the 5th, 9th, and 16th Independent Mixed Brigades, the 8th Tank Brigade, the 8th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 5th Mountain Artillery Brigade, and the 2nd Antiaircraft Artillery Wing. And ordered to re-form the cavalry group!

Commander of the 12th Army, Lieutenant General Iida, and Chief of Staff, Major General Yoshio Hongo. The headquarters is located in Jinan. It has jurisdiction over the 21st, 32nd and 114th Divisions, the 6th and 10th Independent Mixed Brigades, the 9th Tank Brigade, the 9th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the 6th Mountain Artillery Brigade, and the 4th Anti-aircraft Artillery Wing.

Corps directly under the Front Army: 27th Division. Based in Tianjin. 35th Division. The ministry is stationed in the Beiping area. The 110th Division, which is stationed in the Cangzhou area. Separate mixed into the 7th brigade. It is stationed in Huimin area, Shandong. The 8th Brigade was formed independently and stationed in the Zhulu area. The 15th Brigade was independently mixed and stationed in Beiping.

The commander of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Anami. Chief of Staff, Major General Shigesei Aoki. The headquarters was stationed in Hankow. It has the 3rd, 6th, 13th, 33rd, 34th, 39th, and 40th divisions, and the 14th, 18th, and 20th brigades of independent mixed divisions.

The commander of the 13th Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, and the chief of staff, Major General Sakurai, were headquartered in Shanghai. It has the 15th, 17th, 22nd, and 116th divisions under its jurisdiction, and is independently mixed into the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 17th brigades. Lieutenant General Toshitoshi Kinoshita, commander of the 3rd Flying Group, has its headquarters in Beiping and the 1st and 3rd Flying Regiments under its jurisdiction.

For this major adjustment, some people are happy and some are worried, compared with Tada Jun and others who returned to China gloomily, the newly appointed Okamura Ninji and others are undoubtedly happy, and the happiest is Hideki Tojo. Since a few years ago because of the death of Abe Norihide, Tojo Hideki was transferred back to China for investigation, although afterwards because of the intercession of Prince Zaihito of the Idle House for him, Tojo Hideki was spared from prison, but it was hidden by the Japanese army base camp, and in recent years he has been holding a dispensable idle position in the army department of the base camp, and has been completely forgotten by the high-level.

This time, because the North China Front Army was defeated here, not only did it lose southern Ji, but even North Korea and Manchuria were bombed by the Chinese in retaliation, and the losses were extremely heavy, so the base camp was determined to carry out a major change of blood for the North China Front, replacing not only the commander of the front army, Tadajun, but also the chief of staff, Okabe Naosaburo.

Previously, because the First Army was completely annihilated in Taiyuan, the Japanese army only had the 12th Army left in North China, so the base camp ordered the North China Front Army to form the 7th Army, and under the direct intervention of Prince Zaihito of the Idle Palace, Tojo Hideki, who had been hidden in the snow for more than three years, came back and was appointed commander of the Seventh Army.

This comeback is an extremely rare opportunity for Hideki Tojo, officially marking the beginning of the base camp to selectively ignore his mistakes from three years ago.

In addition to the military adjustments, the Japanese government has also made adjustments to the members of the government's cabinet, and due to the increasing tension between Japan and neighboring countries due to the continuous mistakes in foreign policy, Prime Minister Konoe held consultations with the ministers of the army and navy on December 22, and decided to resign in general, especially Foreign Minister Matsuoka, who is in charge of foreign affairs.

The next night, the second Konoe cabinet carried out the general resignation. The Emperor again ordered Konoe to form a cabinet, and on December 24, the third Konoe Cabinet was formed. The foreign minister of the new cabinet is the former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Admiral Sadajiro Toyoda. The majority of the members of the new Cabinet are members of the previous Cabinet, with the exception of three.

On 25 December, the first joint meeting between the new Government and the base camp was held. At this meeting, which was of the first significance, the Minister of the Army and Navy Commander-in-Chief made the following demands to the Government:

The base camp believes that the impact of a change of cabinet at a time when the internal and external situation is very urgent and the policies of the empire are being pursued. Thankfully, a new cabinet was quickly formed. The Army and Navy Headquarters, which is the base camp, will not hesitate to give strong and sincere impetus and assistance to the new Cabinet.

According to previous government statements and other documents, the government's policy has been clarified, but the High Command would like to take this opportunity to make a few demands: First, the principles of national policy to be adopted by the empire at the present time have been clearly stipulated in the "Outline of the Imperial State Policy to Adapt to the Evolution of the Situation", which was decided by the previous Imperial Council. The various domestic and foreign policies formulated in accordance with the above-mentioned "Outline" need to be implemented promptly. In particular, with regard to the military measures against French Indochina, which are currently being implemented, the High Command will properly implement them in accordance with the established guidelines. To this end, it is hoped that the government's various policies will also be closely coordinated.

There must be no room for slackening or delaying the war preparations for the south that have begun in response to the current state of emergency. In this regard, of course, we are confident that the Government will be able to adhere to the established policy, but we would like to take this opportunity to once again demand that it be implemented in a practical and vigorous manner.

With regard to the adjustment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the United States, I hope that we will always adhere to the established policy and, in particular, that we will implement its measures without violating the spirit of the Trilateral Axis.

These demands of the Japanese army base camp are in fact asking the government to immediately make a decision to start a war against the United States, Britain, and other countries, and the reason for this is not to be said, but the sudden factor that prompted the Japanese army base camp to make such a decision was the United States' act of freezing Japanese assets some time ago. The presence of French Indochina in southern China led to the imposition of an asset freeze by the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands on Japan, which made Japan's external situation increasingly tense and worsened.

Japan's ambassador to the United States, Murano, reported on 23 December that the United States considered the presence of Japanese troops in southern French Indochina as the first step in the invasion of Singapore and the Dutch East Indies. Freezing assets is in essence a complete severance of economic exchanges. From then on, Japan's trade with regions other than the Yen Group was cut off. Japan is already facing a critical critical juncture of life and death in its national defense.

Because the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands imposed an asset freeze on Japan, Japan completely lost its access to liquid fuel, which is absolutely indispensable for the survival of a modern nation. Facts have proved that even if we stop the replenishment of armaments and expand other production sectors and go all out to increase the production of artificial oil, it will not be enough after all. Although there have been plans to develop oil fields in the northern half of Sakhalin or to import oil from places such as Iran and Peru, this has been nothing more than a drowning man climbing the grass for help.

If this development continues, the Japanese navy will be completely incapacitated in about two years, and the important industries based on liquid fuels will be paralyzed in less than one year, and it is inevitable that the so-called situation of poverty will continue day by day. Therefore, for Japan, the severance of economic ties was indeed more painful than the use of force, which also prompted the Japanese base camp to resolve to go to war with the United States.

The war may fail, but compared to the weakening of the national strength one day by day, until there is no longer the ability to stand up, or when the national strength weakens to a certain extent and is overtaken by the Chinese or Britain, France, the United States and other countries, the Japanese army base camp thinks that the empire is still a good deal to fight to the death, and the chances of the empire winning are not small. Once the initiative in the war is gained, then the great Japanese Empire will soar into the sky.

The most important thing is that even if the empire fails, it will only retreat from the battlefield of China, and that's it, with the national strength of the United States and Britain and other countries, the empire will not be able to do anything at all. On the face of it, there was no comparison between risk and profit, so the Japanese decided to take a risk. (To be continued......)