After Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace, Lu Xiangshan Sugimoto, and the commander of the North China Front Army, Terauchi Shou, left the palace and went directly to the General Staff Headquarters. After arriving at the General Staff Headquarters, Prince Zaihito of the Kanin Palace ordered his subordinates to inform Tani Toshio to immediately enter the palace to meet His Majesty the Emperor, and then report to the General Staff Headquarters. Then, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace urgently summoned Deputy Chief of Staff Tada Jun and Vice-Minister of the Army Hideki Tojo to discuss the situation in Shandong.

Born on the 30th of the month in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, and grew up in Tokyo, he was the son of Lieutenant General Hidekyo Tojo, the first chief graduate of the Japanese Army University, and graduated from the 27th class of the University at the age of 31 in 1915.

After graduating from Lu University, Hideki Tojo served as an instructor at Lu University, a staff officer of the General Staff Headquarters, a wing commander, a section chief of the War Department, and the head of the Military Investigation Department. It was not until September 1935, when he was almost 51 years old, that he was strongly recommended by his classmate from the Army Infant School and the director of the Personnel Bureau of the Ministry of the Army, Harem Jun, to become the commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army. At this time, the war maniac Hideki Tojo finally found a place to use, and he vowed to let the emperor know that there was another doer named Hideki Tojo in the army.

During his tenure as commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army, Hideki Tojo made a drastic move, first expanding the military police of the Kwantung Army from only 200 to 1,000 people, and then integrating the three police systems of the puppet Manchu Ministry of Civil Affairs police, the Japanese consulate police, and the Kwantung Agency police, and unified them under the command of his military police headquarters, establishing a complete Japanese puppet police system in the northeast and winning the title of Razor General.

At this time, the Imperial Highway officers within the Japanese army launched the "226" coup d'état, and Hideki Tojo, who was a control faction, immediately sent a telegram to the emperor and the military department, declaring that the Kwantung Army opposed the military advice and supported the emperor, and used his position as the commander of the military police of the Kwantung Army to hunt down and kill all the imperial officers in the Kwantung Army, thus winning the trust and favor of the Japanese military department and smoothly promoting him to lieutenant general.

Then, Hideki Tojo seized the opportunity of the Japanese army to suppress the resistance forces in the northeast, and planned with Sasaki Toichi, who was the top adviser of the puppet Manchukuo at the time, and mobilized 25,000 people from 11 brigades of the puppet Manchukuo, and launched the independent crusade of the Eastern Side Province, which became famous in the first war.

By this time, Hideki Tojo had become a celebrity in the Japanese army, and in March 1937 he successfully assumed the post of chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. In May of this year, he replaced Umezu Mijiro as vice minister of the War Department.

After Hideki Tojo and Tada Jun came to Prince Zaihito's office in the Kanin Palace, Tada Jun was fine, and after saluting, he greeted several people very affectionately. After Hideki Tojo saluted, he sat down in his seat with a solemn face, took out his notebook from his purse, unscrewed the fountain pen, and wrote the year, month and day on the notebook in a dignified manner, writing down the names and positions of the participants, and then raised his head and waited for the instructions of the chief and Lord Land.

Terauchi Shou is in a very bad mood right now, and he has just quarreled with Prime Minister Konoe in front of the emperor, and he is worried that Prime Minister Konoe will take the opportunity to rectify him when he meets with the emperor alone.

Prince Zaihito of Xianyuan Palace is an old man, and he has seen through the thoughts of Shouichi in the temple, and comforted: "Your Excellency, you don't have to cry and mourn, the prime minister and we have the same opinion, he is just worried about the war situation and is in a bad mood, don't worry, he will firmly support the North China Front to fight." ”

Shouichi Terauchi smiled bitterly: "Your Royal Highness, the war situation in North China is so erosive, and the front army does have an unshirkable responsibility. However, the Prime Minister should understand that war is a two-sided affair and not just us. That Jiang Qiang was extremely cunning and ferocious, often planning and then acting, and hitting the most critical and weak place of the imperial army, which was impossible to guard. What I regret most now is that at that time, the heavy army group encircled and suppressed Shandong, and the net was not big enough, and the speed of action was not fast enough, so he escaped by luck. ”

Since Tada Jun went to North China and cooperated with Terauchi Shou for a period of time, the two of them have a similar smell, and their relationship has become extremely iron. He is also extremely smart, and from the conversation between Prince Zaihito of the Idle Courtyard and Terauchi Shouichi, he has already guessed that there must have been an unpleasant situation between Terauchi Shouichi and Konoe Bunma. Needless to say, it was because of the fact that Otaka Kamizo was caught.

Tada Jun had the heart to help Terauchi Shou speak, and when he opened his mouth, he said: "Earl Terauchi has worked hard in North China and has worked hard. Last time, the heavy army group swept Shandong, not to mention anything else, just strengthening the public security in central and southern Hebei was equivalent to ending the job bowl of Shanxi Tuba Road. During this period, the main reason why the Tubalu offensive in the Shanxi battlefield was weak was that there was a problem with their logistics supply. The Great Japanese Empire should commend meritorious officials, how can you pick a bone in the egg? Besides, the general of the temple was ordered to go to Europe, and he has not yet returned to North China. What does what happened there have to do with him? ”

Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace, Sugi Sugimoto, and Terauchi Shouichi were essentially wearing a pair of pants, and they almost attacked Prime Minister Konoe in a group just now, and when they saw that Tada Jun, who had resolutely advocated not expanding the invasion, really stood on his side and spoke, several people felt more comfortable.

Prince Zaihito of the Idle Yuan Palace glanced at Tada Jun with approving, and then asked Terauchi Shouchi to briefly introduce the battle situation in Shandong, and also introduced his disposal plan, and then led a few people to look at the map of Shandong and carefully consider it.

Hideki Tojo himself said that he was a doer, and this was not wrong, he was indeed politically short-sighted, ambitious, and bold guy, after listening to Terauchi Shouichi's battle plan, he was very dissatisfied, thinking that Terauchi Shouichi's plan was too conservative, how could the Japanese Army be frightened by the small Jiaodong Group Army Jiang Qiang, and watch the 33rd Division be annihilated?

After reading the map, Hideki Tojo put forward his own idea, that is, since Jiang Qiang was going to fight, the army would accompany him to the end, even if the order was to exhaust the national and military strength, he would also fight to defeat the Jiaodong Group Army in Shandong.

Listening to what Hideki Tojo said, he asked him: "Tojo-kun, do you have any strange plans?" ”

Hideki Tojo was waiting for this sentence, and immediately replied: "Lord Lu Xiang, the Great Japanese Empire must be prepared to start a war with China, the Soviet Union, Britain, the United States and France at the same time, no matter how powerful Jiang Qiang is, can he be more powerful than so many countries?" My plan is: 1. Immediately order the front-line troops in Xuzhou and Yanzhou to quickly attack northward. Since Jiang Qiang was originally hiding on the Jiaodong Peninsula, then his old nest must be there, and our army attacking southeast Lu will inevitably force Jiang Qiang to come back to the rescue, which is the strategy of the people of China to encircle Wei and save Zhao. In order to strengthen the ability to continue the attack on the southeast of Shandong, the offensive operations on the Zhengzhou front line were suspended, and the 14th Division was immediately transferred back to Xuzhou to join the second echelon attack. 2. The defense line of Jinpu Road cannot be shaken, the 35th Division stationed in Tai'an cannot reinforce Jinan, and the 13th Independent Mixed Brigade stationed in Dongping can return to defend Tai'an. He could go north with the 35th Division to reinforce Jinan at any time. Immediately carry out an emergency contraction in Luxi, southern Hebei, and central Hebei, these areas are all plains, and our army can reoccupy them at any time, so it does not matter if they are temporarily abandoned. The North China Public Security Army, commanded by the three garrison divisions in the above three regions, rushed to the aid of Jinan, formed a heavy army group around Jinan, and marched west at any time to fight a decisive battle with Jiang Qiang. Considering the limited combat effectiveness of the garrison division, the Kwantung Army was ordered to urgently mobilize, secretly transfer the first and second divisions into the pass, and move south along the Jinpu Road to serve as the main force in the attack on Shandong. 3. Order the 33rd Division to immediately assemble in Haizhou Bay, establish a strong position, resolutely block the attack of the Jiaodong Army, and prepare to receive the landing of the reinforcement troops. 4. Order all fighters and ships at the Sasebo base to set off to support the 33rd Division. All fighters of the Kwantung Army were transferred to the airports of Beiping, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, and Baoding, and all the fighters of the above-mentioned airports were transferred to the airports of Jinan, Haizhou, Dawenkou, and Xuzhou. All the reconnaissance planes took off immediately, and it was necessary to find out the location of the airfield of the Jiaodong Army Aviation Brigade and destroy it in one fell swoop. 5. Once Nanchang was captured, the 6th, 3rd, and 9th Divisions quickly moved north, went to Xuzhou to replenish, and joined the Shandong war. After capturing Guangzhou, the 21st Division quickly moved north to Qingdao, held on to Qingdao and attacked westward. This time, we must purge the Jiaodong Group Army in Shandong and completely eradicate future troubles. ”

Tada Jun couldn't help but interrupt him when he saw that Tojo Hideki was foaming at the mouth, and couldn't help but interrupt him: "Tojo-kun, the troops of the first and second divisions are scattered and stationed, and when they gather and rush to Jinan, the corpses of the soldiers of the 33rd Division may have been eaten by wild dogs." If the 21st Division wants to return to Qingdao, it will take at least half a month, and after the 6th, 3rd, and 9th Divisions occupy Nanchang, they will probably have to replenish their soldiers, weapons and ammunition before they can be deployed. You haven't fought against Jiang Qiang's troops, and you don't know how fierce his tactics are. If the estimate is good, it will be difficult for the 33rd Division to survive tonight. Have you forgotten the fate of the 20th Division that you personally formed? Have you forgotten the fate of the mighty 5th Division? Have you forgotten what happened to Lieutenant General Sasaki? I see that the only thing you said is that the one that mobilizes fighters to reinforce Shandong works. Everything else is on paper. ”

Terauchi Shou had a better attitude, and patted Tojo Hideki on the shoulder: "Tojo-kun, if it is really as you imagined, the 33rd Division can wait for reinforcements to arrive, then Jiang Qiang will not do it at this time." Besides, the troops on the Nanchang front could not move at all, and the troops of the Nanking government must have suffered heavy losses in the Wuhan operation, but they replenished quickly and would soon return to the pre-war level. If these main divisions are withdrawn now, the results of the Wuhan Raid will be in vain. ”

When Tojo Hideki heard the words of these two people, his heart trembled, yes, Sasaki is not a weak hand, and the 20th Division is also from the Kwantung Army, and after they were broken, the first and second divisions were urgently replenished to ensure their combat effectiveness. The past does not forget the teacher of the future, maybe what these two people said is really reasonable! However, Hideki Tojo is a natural tough, he has been the king of fighting in the army school since he was a child, and his will is very tenacious, and he will not turn back if he doesn't hit the south wall. He understands that now he has no room for much talk in front of these people, not to mention that his suggestions are not perfect in a hurry, even if they are very complete and practical, they will not listen. That's okay, when you are in charge and can take charge of the entire army, you will meet that Jiang Qiang again to see if he is really three heads and six arms!

In the end, several old devils formed a consensus, one is to strengthen the defense of Jinan in accordance with the deployment of Terauchi Shou. However, the operational arrangements of the 33rd Division were revised, and it was decided to transfer additional fighters from the Kwantung Army and the Sasebo base to fight in Shandong, and it was necessary to blow up a bloody road to cover the 33rd Division's breakthrough to Dezhou. Second, it immediately ordered the 114th Division stationed in Xuzhou and the puppet Manchurian Defense Army to launch an offensive in southeastern Shandong to contain the offensive of the strong troops in Luzhongjiang. The troops stationed in Yanzhou served as a flank attacker. Third, it is necessary to find and destroy the air force of the Jiaodong Group Army to prevent this air force from taking another risk and sneaking up on the fleet and airfield. Fourth, the First and Second Divisions of the Kwantung Army were ordered to immediately mobilize, assemble troops, and be ready to enter the customs at any time for operation.

After the plan was decided, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace said to Terauchi Shouichi: "General Terauchi, we must concentrate our aviation forces to cover the 33rd Division's operations, and if necessary, we can order the division to disperse and break through. Luzhong is so big, there are always gaps to drill. In any case, the division commander, Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro, and the military flag must not fall into the hands of the Jiaodong Army. ”

Why didn't Terauchi Shouichi want to withdraw the 33rd Division to Texas in its entirety? It's just that I'm afraid I can't do it. Now that we have a strong aviation force as the backing, let's try it and see if Liu Yimin's offensive is fast, or the fighters of the imperial army are fast.

By the time Tani had rushed to the General Staff Headquarters after meeting with Emperor Hirohito, orders from the base camp had already been transmitted to the Kwantung Army, the Sasebo Army Naval Base, and the North China Front, and the Japanese tanks were starting again.

There was a small mistake in the middle, and it was a joke. It turned out that it was the 34th Division that was stationed in Tai'an, and it was the 35th Division that was stationed in Yanzhou. Terauchi Shouichi ordered the 35th Division to leave a brigade to guard Tai'an, and waited for the 13th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade to arrive at Tai'an to receive a visit. The commander of the 35th Division, Maeda Osamu called to ask for instructions, and his words were very respectful: "Your Excellency Commander's orders will be obeyed and carried out, but the 35th Division is stationed in Yanzhou and undertakes the task of blockading Lunan, and Your Excellency the Commander wants the 35th Division to send a brigade to garrison Tai'an, which may be difficult to complete, and it will embarrass the 34th Division stationed in Tai'an." "It made Terauchi Shouichi scold himself for being old and useless, and he couldn't even figure out the defense area of the troops, so he hurriedly called back and ordered the 34th Division to reinforce Jinan.

The war was urgent, and Terauchi Shouichi and Gu Shoufu didn't have time to ramble anymore, so they rushed directly to Jinan by plane, and from there they flew to Jinan. In order to ensure their safety and to strengthen the strength of the Shandong Air Force, Prince Zaihito of the Imperial Palace of the Idle Yuan and Sugi Shan Moto, after discussing with him, transferred a fighter wing from the First Flying Group that remained in the homeland to escort Terauchi Shouichi and Tani Shouo to North China.

Of course, Shouichi Terauchi did not forget his beloved Miss Masako and called the guards to pick her up in a car to meet her at the airport. Pingdu to Weicheng is more than 80 kilometers, under normal circumstances, the cavalry takes nearly five hours, the car takes nearly three hours, and the infantry is much slower, even if you don't eat, drink or rest, you have to walk for more than ten hours!

During the bloody battle of Zhoucun, Liu Qingshan commanded the main force of the Seventh Brigade to attack the 33rd Division at night, beating these little devils who had just arrived in China for a short time and were routed on all fronts. If it weren't for the presence of the 14th Division, it is likely that Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro would have been a prisoner of the Eighth Route Army.

With the lessons of this fiasco, in the following days, Lieutenant General Shigetaro Kanji devoted all his attention to the training of the troops. Not to mention, after the whole training and the Jiaodong sweeping operation, the combat effectiveness of the 33rd Division has been greatly improved. Lieutenant General Ganji Jutaro sometimes thinks that if the Jiaodong Army is now coming to fight the 33rd Division's idea, keep it and let them run into a bloody mess.

Originally, the task of the 33rd Division was to garrison Haizhou and encircle and suppress the guerrilla troops in Haizhou in the Eighth Route Army. However, Ogao Guizang made a plan for the Jiaoji Road sweeping operation, asking the 33rd Division to hand over the defense of Jiaodong to the Qingdao garrison, advance westward, and assist the 10th Eighth Division in sweeping the Qinghe area and the Changwei area of the Eighth Route Army.

Lieutenant General Ganji Shigetaro did not have the worry that the commander of the 1st 08th Division, Shimoto Kumaya, might be transferred to the reserve, and he looked at the problem more objectively, and after receiving the order, he scoffed, and secretly scolded Ozaka Kamizo for being reckless, and in such a big place as Shandong, a 33rd Division thought that the strength was too weak, so he was better and let Xintai be handed over to the Qingdao garrison for defense. This guy regards the Qingdao garrison as the second, fifth, and sixth divisions, and China as North Korea!

Although he didn't want to, he still had to carry out Otaka Kamizo's order, because he didn't want to be the chicken that Otaka Kamizo killed to show the monkey!

Ganji Jutaro had objections in his heart, and when he carried out the order of Ozaka Kamezo, it seemed that he was not so proactive. As a result, when he arrived at the front line of Xintai and Surabaya, he received a new order, asking him to lead the 33rd Division to move closer to the 108th Division to form a heavy army group and avoid being broken by the Jiaodong Group Army.

At this time, the situation of the 33rd Division was as follows: the 33rd Wing of the Divisional Search Wing cooperated with the 213th Infantry Wing to occupy Xintai, taking over the defense of the 10th and 8th Divisions to supplement the first brigade. The 214th Infantry Wing, together with the tank squadron, rushed to the area of Ming Village and Bawangbu, fifty miles east of Surabaya County. Gan Ji Shigetaro led the division headquarters, the 33rd Infantry Regiment Headquarters and the armored vehicle squadron directly under the division, the 33rd Mountain Artillery Wing, the Engineer Wing, and the Baggage Wing to be stationed in Xintai County.

Gansu Jutaro couldn't understand why the Jiaodong Army had been chased and beaten by the imperial army in the past few months, so why did it suddenly start to attack? It wasn't until the 12th Army sent a notice that it was judged that the main force of the Jiaodong Group Army had moved west to conquer the whole of Shandong, and the combat targets should be the 108th Division and the 33rd Division. If it was really Liu Yimin's Eighth Route Army instructor who came, I am afraid that they would first aim their attack arrows at themselves.

Thinking about this, Gansu Shigetaro no longer considered how strong his 33rd Division's combat effectiveness was, nor did he dare to let the Tuba Road meet and bleed, so he hurriedly ordered to gather the troops, collect mules, horses, carts and bicycles, and prepare to advance to Weicheng after dawn to join the 108th Division. Gansu Shigetaro was still cautious, he kept in mind the instructions of the commander of the North China Front, Terauchi Shouichi, and did not march at night, so he could only camp in the village to prevent sneak attacks.

At this time, Japan's economy was still okay, and the equipment of the troops could still be guaranteed. Like a permanent division, its baggage wing generally has three brigades, each with 50 vehicles, as well as rubber-bottomed trucks. Although the 33rd Division is a three-unit garrison division, it also has a squadron of combat vehicles, a squadron of armored vehicles, and 50 vehicles. Later, after the Japanese army further adjusted its establishment and expanded its army, it would be difficult for a garrison division like the 33rd Division to have automobiles.

At 5 o'clock in the morning, it felt that the day was almost clear, and Gansu Shigetaro couldn't wait any longer, so he ordered the troops to set off, with armored vehicles taking the lead, automobiles, rubber-bottomed carts and collected mules and horses pulling the infantry and baggage, and the infantry without vehicles and horses followed behind, and advanced quickly towards Weicheng.

After the departure of the troops, Tataro received telegrams from the 12th Army and the 108th Division, asking about the progress. Later, there was a report that Commander Odaka Kamezo had fallen into the hands of the Jiaodong Army, and Kobayashi Asaburo, chief of staff of the 12th Army, was already a little angry in the telegram, and strictly ordered the 33rd Division to speed up its action, join up with the 108th Division as soon as possible, and be sure to rescue Commander Otaka Kamezo. Immediately afterwards, a telegram from the commander of the 1st 08th Division, Kuami Shimoto, also arrived, saying that he and the chief of staff were both injured in a traffic accident, and implored Gansu Shigetaro to speed up and rush to Weicheng to command the two divisions to fight.

At this time, Gansu Shigetaro was in a hurry, and while ordering the 213th Wing in Xintai and the 214th Wing near Ming Village to speed up the march, he ordered his direct troops to continue to collect mules, horses, carts, and bicycles along the way to transport troops and speed up the march. And ordered the car team to transport the infantry back and forth, increase the speed of the march, and save the physical strength of the soldiers.

Shigetaro could have formed a formation of motorcycles, automobiles, and armored vehicles, and led a brigade to Weicheng first, in which case, he could arrive in three hours at most. However, this guy was scared, and he was unwilling to leave the unit to advance, not to mention, and wanted the armored car squadron to stay behind to escort the troops directly under him. In this way, we had to burn more gasoline and let the car fleet, rubber bottom trucks, and mule and horse carts pick up and drop off the infantry section by piece, just like ants moving.

Fortunately, the road was safe, and the marching speed was still very fast. By ten o'clock in the morning, the 213th Wing reported that it had arrived in Kaiyuan Town, less than fifteen miles from Weicheng, and asked for instructions. The 214th Wing also reported that troops had arrived at the front line of Cheongchi and asked how to proceed.

At this time, Gansu Jutaro hurried and hurried and had just crossed the Jiaolai River. Therefore, he ordered the 213th Wing to rush to Weicheng immediately and prepare to take over Weicheng. The 214th Wing was ordered to go directly to Fangzi to contact the troops of the 108th Division and assist in the operation. As soon as he gave the order, he received a telegram from Terauchi Shou, which he personally translated.