"Yo Xi! The Shandong region has an extremely important military geographical location, and the existence of the Shandong Group Army has seriously cut off the transportation hub of the empire and seriously threatened the Chinese ruling area of the empire! In any case, it must be eradicated as soon as possible! Nishio Shouzo nodded and said: "But if you want to solve this big problem as soon as possible, the most important thing is the Imperial Japanese Air Force, not our Imperial Army!"

If we do not gain air supremacy, we will not be able to deploy a formation at all, and we will carry out a strong attack and encirclement without any scruples! Speaking of this, Nishio Shouzo was extremely sad in his heart, and two months ago, the base camp issued an order to launch an encirclement and suppression of Jiang Qiang, and appointed him as the commander of the 13th Army, responsible for leading his troops to attack the Shandong Group Army from south to north.

At that time, Nishio Shouzo was really full of ambition and kept praising His Majesty the Emperor for his wisdom. However, the later plot surprised Nishio Shouzo, and until now he is still a little confused, why can't the Great Japanese Air Corps understand the air force of the local warlords? "That's right, the role of the air force in modern warfare is indeed very powerful, especially when the enemy has an air force."

Okamura Ninji nodded approvingly: "Nishio-kun, it's better to choose a day than to hit the day, why don't we go and discuss with Yamaguchi-kun in advance now?" "Nishio Shouzo and Okamura Ninji, the more you talk about it, the more it makes sense, and the two of them should take action and jointly visit the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, Yamaguchi Tashi.

After listening to the intentions of Okamura Ninji and Nishio Shouzo, Yamaguchi shook his head like a rattle, and said in a non-negotiable tone: "No, this thing is absolutely not okay!" Nishio Shouzao frowned slightly, and asked with some displeasure: "Yamaguchi-kun, don't you think you should eradicate Jiang Qiang's henchman as soon as possible?" Don't you know how much of a threat the Tiger Army entrenched on the Shandong Peninsula is to the Empire? ”

"No!" Yamaguchi shook his head and said, "Like you, I can't wait to tear Jiang Qiang to pieces immediately and annihilate all the Shandong Group Army!" However, at present, the Air Force is still far from having a crushing advantage in terms of fighter performance and pilot quality, and if it is forced to fight a decisive battle, the Air Force will pay a heavy price. Nishio Shouzao suppressed his anger and asked, "Heavy price? Yamaguchi-kun, I'd love to know how heavy the price you said was? Is it just because we are afraid of a little loss that we can ignore the future and fate of the Japanese Empire? ”

Faced with Nishio Shouzo's rhythmic questioning, Yamaguchi Tashi felt very uncomfortable, but the other party was an army general, and even if Yamaguchi Tawen was dissatisfied, he naturally wouldn't show it. Yamaguchi Tawen calmed down and said indifferently: "Nishio-kun, Okamura-kun, the consequences are really serious, at least beyond your imagination." Okamura Ninji frowned slightly, and asked in a deep voice, "Yamaguchi-kun, have you done a war game deduction, can you tell me more about the situation?" "That's right, wargames have been done, and more than once."

Yamaguchi nodded very seriously and said: "According to the comprehensive analysis of intelligence, the enemy currently has at least 700 fighters with advanced performance, powerful ground air defense forces and a dense and efficient radar network!" The end result is that in the best case scenario, we will lose two divisions, and in the worst case, we will lose more than four divisions! ”

After a pause, Yamaguchi Tashi said with a bit of mockery: "That is, the minimum loss of 1,200 combat aircraft, and the worst loss will exceed 2,600 combat aircraft." Nishio-kun and Okamura-kun, do you still think that the Air Force is worth paying such losses at this stage? "Loss of at least 1200 aircraft? Worst losses of more than 2,600 aircraft? ”

Nishio Shouzo was suddenly dumbfounded, he was really frightened by this data, the total number of combat aircraft of the newly formed Japanese Air Force is more than 2,500, doesn't this mean that the worst case is that the entire army is wiped out and there is no way to completely annihilate the Huaxia Flying Tigers? Okamura Ninji frowned, and asked puzzledly: "Yamaguchi-kun, it's not that I don't believe your words, it's just that I don't know much about air combat. I really don't understand, you just said that the Huaxia Air Force has more than 700 fighters, and the Imperial Air Force is currently at least three times as large as the enemy, how can they cause the Imperial Air Force to lose more than four flight divisions? ”

"yes." Nishio Shouzo nodded and said, "Even if you said that the enemy's fighter performance is very superior, isn't the Imperial Air Force equipped with a large number of extremely excellent Zero fighters?" Moreover, there are still many experienced ace pilots in the Imperial Air Force, can they still compete with the warlord troops who occupy a corner? "Nishio-kun is right, the Imperial Zero fighter is indeed a very good fighter, as long as it breaks through to the enemy plane's approach, it can shoot down the enemy plane cleanly with excellent maneuverability and strong firepower."

Yamaguchi nodded, not hiding his love for the Zero fighter at all, but then changed the conversation and said: "The key is that the enemy's fighter speed is much higher than that of the Zero fighter, and they will not easily let the Imperial Air Force get close.

Moreover, the Huaxia Air Force has radar early warning and home field advantage, they can seize the opportunity in air combat and concentrate superior forces anywhere to launch a surprise attack on the Imperial Air Force! "Air combat is no better than land combat, and often the most important thing is a few minutes. In other words, it's crucial to get ahead of the curve, and it can even make the difference between winning and losing. Yamaguchi Tawen then said: "For example, if the Huaxia radar station detects the flight routes and the number of aircraft of the Imperial Air Force in advance, then the Huaxia Air Force can send out combat planes in advance to set up an ambush at high altitude.

When the Imperial Air Force enters the ambush airspace, the Huaxia Air Force can launch a high-speed dive from a high position. At the moment of the firefight, the Huaxia Air Force can inflict at least 30% of the losses on us! Especially when there is a sunny day and the sun, the Huaxia Air Force can also use the sun's dazzling rays as a cover to launch an attack on the Imperial Air Force in the direction of the sun, then the consequences will be even more serious. ”

"Why not talk about the favorable factors? Doesn't the empire have the same radar stations? It is not the same as the movement of the Huaxia Air Force that can be detected in advance, although it cannot detect the entire territory of the Shandong Peninsula! Nishio Shouzo was still very unconvinced, and snorted with a snort: "What's more, your air force now has more than 2,500 combat aircraft, and if you add the full support of the Imperial Naval Aviation Corps, how can it exceed 6,000 fighters." In this case, the number of Imperial combat aircraft will be at least 8 times that of the Huaxia Air Force, and I don't believe that 6,000 combat aircraft will be dispatched together, and only 700 Huaxia fighters will be able to block it? ”

"Nishio-kun, air combat is not a land battle, it's not that simple!" Yamaguchi shook his head again and again when asked, and patiently explained: "Airplanes need airfields and runways to take off, and according to the current take-off and landing capacity of airfields around Shandong, a maximum of 900 fighters can take off and land at a time, not to mention 6,000 combat planes arriving at the Shandong Group Army Air Base at the same time.

Even if the 900 combat planes that took off from Taiyuan, Tianjin, Dalian, and other places at the agreed time, they would not be able to arrive at the same time to participate in the war due to the constraints of enemy aircraft interception and human factors. ......" Just when Yamaguchi was patiently explaining, the impatient Nishio Shouzo interrupted: "Isn't this still easy to solve?" We can completely take off one after another in several batches, with the fighters in the front being slower and the latter being faster, and as long as the time is agreed, it is completely possible to achieve 6,000 combat planes arriving in the Shandong region at the same time to participate in the battle.

Isn't that so? "Nishio-kun, isn't your expectation too ideal? With a perfect radar network, the Huaxia Air Force can fully grasp the flight routes and numbers of the Imperial Air Force in a timely and accurate manner, and then make proper arrangements. Yamaguchi patted his head, there was really a sense of powerlessness that Xiucai couldn't explain when he met Bing, and after taking a deep breath, he said:

"It often only takes a few minutes to decide an air victory, and the Huaxia Air Force will not give the Imperial Air Force a chance to split up and join the encirclement! Could it be that you still want to concentrate the Imperial Air Force in one airspace and then launch a collective charge? In that case, not to mention fuel consumption, the ground air defense forces on the Shandong Peninsula alone can make the Imperial Air Force suffer a big loss, and it will be difficult to maintain the formation!

Once the formation is disrupted, the Huaxia Air Force, which has the advantage of fighting at home, with the support of ground radar stations, can give full play to its speed advantage and look for weak points to carry out local encirclement and annihilation battles. In this case, it will be either a big win or a pyrrhic victory, and the result is unpredictable, and the risk factor is very large! The Air Force is a new branch of the armed forces that His Majesty the Emperor has put in to overcome public opinion and devote countless painstaking efforts and high hopes to it. ”

At this time, Okamura Ningji understood and nodded: "That's true, this gives the Huaxia Air Force the opportunity to seize the opportunity and win more with less." "That's right, if it weren't for these reasons, the previous decisive battle of the Air Force would not have been so badly defeated! The Imperial Air Corps will not be helpless against them either. Yamaguchi nodded and said, "Nishio-kun, Okamura-kun, I know that you are thinking about the future of the empire, and I also know the difficulties of your army. But as the commander of the Air Force, I have to think from the perspective of the Air Force!

At the same time, I also believe that Nishio-kun and Okamura-kun are both pillars of the empire with a long-term strategic vision, and they will definitely be able to understand the difficulties of the imperial air force! Nishio Shouzo didn't appreciate the good guy card sent by Yamaguchi Duowen, and snorted coldly: "According to what you say, doesn't that mean that the empire will never have a way to take Jiang Qiang?" Now they can only adopt a policy of appeasement, and let them develop and grow in the hinterland of the empire's ruling area, and eventually become the henchmen of the empire? ”

Yamaguchi Duowen frowned and said: "Nishio-kun's words are serious, although the Shandong Group Army is very strong, but under the heavy encirclement and blockade of the imperial army and navy, even if Jiang Qiang has the ability, he will be a warlord on one side at most!" With the empire's war potential and national strength skyrocketing in the future, it will be easy to go back and clean up Jiang Qiang! ”

"Who wouldn't say pretty things?" Nishio Shouzo continued to snort unhappily, and then asked: "Didn't you always emphasize that the Huaxia ground radar station played a key role just now, so what if we find a way to destroy the radar station of the Huaxia army?" "If it had been so easy, it would have been destroyed a long time ago, and the last air decisive battle, the Great Japanese Air Corps would not have paid such a heavy price!"

Yamaguchi snorted softly: "You should know what the most important strategic goal of the empire is at present, and you should also know the historical mission of the imperial air force. The so-called small intolerable will make a big plan, and there will be half a year at the latest, and the empire will face a real enemy, so the main task of the imperial air force at this stage is to train and grow, not to do unnecessary consumption.

Of course, if you are determined to solve this big trouble now, it is not completely impossible, as long as His Majesty the Emperor still has the base camp to give orders, our air force will absolutely obey the order, even if it is fought to the last soldier! In the end, Yamaguchi stopped being verbose and kicked the ball directly to Emperor Hirohito and the base camp. Anyway, if you want the Air Force to cooperate with you to launch a general attack, there is absolutely no way, if you have the ability, you can go to the emperor to give a combat order! “……”

Nishio Shouzo suddenly felt bad, and suddenly had a bad intuition in his heart, that is, this matter was already ironclad and could not be changed. "Nishio-kun, this matter should indeed be considered in the long run!" Okamura Ninji glanced at Nishio Shouzo and told him not to continue, because Yamaguchi Tabun had already made a firm stance, and if he said it, it would only get more and more stiff.

The Air Force is now an independent branch of the Army and Navy, and is no longer a subsidiary auxiliary branch of the Army, and even if Nishio Toshizo is an army general, he does not have the right to give orders directly. "As the commander of the Air Force, I will never do anything against the Air Force unless it is directly ordered by the base camp or His Majesty the Emperor. If there is nothing else, I will not accompany me, I still have important things to deal with! ”

Seeing Nishio Shouzo and Okamura Ninji standing aside and silent, Yamaguchi didn't want to continue to consume it, and after finishing speaking, he bowed slightly to the two of them, turned around and walked out of the Air Force Command office. Although this territory is his, the people who should leave are Nishio Shouzo and Okamura Ninji. When Yamaguchi walked out of the office, Nishio Shouzao was so angry that he knocked heavily on his desk, looked back at Okamura Ninji and said, "Okamura-kun, what should I do now?" ”

Okamura Ninji sighed lightly: "Yamaguchi-kun's meaning is already very clear, unless he can say the will of His Majesty the Emperor, then there is absolutely no way to make the air force fight a decisive battle with the Huaxia Air Force." So the key point is whether we can talk about moving His Majesty the Emperor and the base camp! Nishio Shouzo nodded silently and said: "That's right, then we will go back to plan the telegram now, and we must say that His Majesty the Emperor will eradicate Jiang Qiang's Shandong Group Army as soon as possible, and we must not tolerate the traitor!" ”

Imperial Palace of the Emperor of Japan. After receiving a telegram from Nishio Toshizo and Okamura Ninji, Hirohito immediately summoned Hideki Tojo and Kanin Miyakihito to the Imperial Palace's study. After Tojo Hideki and Kanin Miyajihito were seated, Hirohito gave a brief introduction to the situation, and then asked, "Uncle Huangzu, Tojo-kun, I really want to know your opinion!" ”

Hideki Tojo glanced at the Kanin Palace, and spoke first: "The minister thinks that Nishio-kun and Okamura-kun's proposal to attack the south is very good, and it points out the opportunities and challenges that the Great Japanese Empire will face. As Okamura-kun said, in the war against China in the past three years, although the empire spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, it had an elite army of up to two million people.

Coupled with the Combined Fleet of the Empire and the powerful Air Force that was about to have more than 7,000 combat aircraft, with such a large armament, the Empire would be able to wipe out the entire Southeast Asia and wipe out the Western armies of Luzon, Vietnam, and Malaysia without much effort! Hirohito nodded and smiled: "That's right, the Western army in Southeast Asia has not experienced war for a long time, and it is completely unmatched compared to the elite army of the empire!" ”

"Hmm!" Nodding, Hideki Tojo continued: "If this is the line of attack, but then the empire will face the real ultimate opponent, the United States. The United States is the true industrial power of the world today, with more industrial manufacturing capacity than Germany, Britain, and the empire combined.

If this huge war machine is fully mobilized, the United States may be able to produce more than 100,000 combat planes, hundreds of thousands of tanks, and millions of artillery pieces within a year. Dozens, even hundreds, aircraft carriers, and even more destroyers, cruisers, etc., can be described as dumplings! ”

Hirohito's face changed slightly, and he nodded: "This is what I am most worried about, but at present, the empire has no other choice, because sooner or later the United States will attack the empire!" "His Majesty the Emperor is very right! But tanks, airplanes, and warships are not produced and can be transformed into force, especially the growth of pilots and sailors, it will take some time! ”

Hideki Tojo said with a fierce look in his eyes: "So we can't give the United States this time for development, and before attacking Southeast Asia, we must first deal with the US Pacific Fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor." Then take advantage of the situation to seize Australia, Midway, and Hawaii Island, and completely end the foothold of the US Navy in the Pacific, and the empire will be invincible! ”

Hirohito smiled again and said, "That's right, as long as the first wave of attacks can destroy the main force of the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, the Imperial Navy can completely control the entire western Pacific." When we further occupy Australia, Midway, and Hawaii, we will be able to control the entire Pacific Ocean, and the US Army will be blocked on the mainland. ”

At this time, he said: "If that is the case, the Japanese Empire can still use Hawaii as a fulcrum to launch continuous raids and bombardments on the heavy industrial cities and ports on the west coast of the United States. This will certainly seriously weaken the industrial capacity of the United States, seriously delay the recovery of the combat strength of the US Navy and Air Force, and create a better war environment for the great Japanese Empire! ”

"What His Royal Highness the Prince said is extremely true, as long as the flames of war will spread to the United States, it will cause serious damage to its production and industrial system." Hideki Tojo nodded and said, "The United States will become weaker and weaker, and the empire will only get stronger and stronger!" If this situation can be maintained, the United States will be completely defeated in less than ten years, and the Great Japanese Empire will never suffer again! ”

"Shw! It would be even more wonderful if Germany and the Soviet Union were both defeated, the Empire of Japan would surely become the global hegemon, and the Yamato nation would usher in an unprecedented prosperity! ”

Hirohito breathed a sigh of relief, and after listening to these words, he felt more and more that the great cause of the Japanese Empire was about to be realized in his own hands, and he would eventually become a generation of emperors who would go down in history. After a pause, Hirohito then asked, "What do you think about Nishio-kun and Okamura-kun's insistence on launching a general attack on the Shandong Peninsula?" Xianyuan Gong Zairen said: "The ministers have always believed that the Shandong Group Army is a very dangerous enemy, and the Shandong Peninsula they now occupy has caused great obstacles and threats to the empire, and it is naturally best if they can eradicate it as soon as possible.

Once the Shandong Group Army is resolved, it will be a great blow to the morale and confidence of the Chinese anti-Japanese fighters as a whole, and if the Chinese War is not successful, there will be a major turning point. If the war in China is completely resolved, the Japanese Empire will be invincible! Hirohito frowned slightly, turned his head to look at Hideki Tojo and said, "Tojo-kun, tell me what you think!" After thinking for a while, Hideki Tojo said: "His Royal Highness is very reasonable, during the decisive battle between the empire and the United States, the Chinese side will definitely carry out comprehensive cooperation with the United States.

If China receives a steady stream of supplies from the United States, then the empire will be in great trouble! Hirohito asked, "The United States and China are separated by the Pacific Ocean, and after the Japanese Empire controls the Pacific Ocean, how can the Chinese people receive military assistance again?" ”

Hideki Tojo explained: "Your Majesty, it is useless to just block the Pacific Ocean, because American aid can also enter India and Burma from the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and eventually enter China through the Yunnan-Burma Highway. "I understand, that means Malaysia is going to be extremely important!" Hirohito nodded, waved his fist viciously and said: "In this case, after the empire launches an attack on the United States, Malaysia must implement military occupation at the first time, and it must cut off China's foreign aid route!" ”

"His Majesty the Emperor is wise!" Hideki Tojo nodded, and then said: "At most, there is still half a year at most, and the empire will go to war against the United States, and the empire can only win this war, and there must be no losses." Therefore, the minister believes that the empire should stop all large-scale military operations now, and make war preparations around the attack on the United States, and it is really not appropriate to consume too much!

Although Jiang Qiang is dangerous and hateful, as long as he continues to maintain the warlord division and does not connect with the Nationalist Government and the Eighth Route Army, there will not be much danger. When the empire is freed up in the future, it can be crushed with the power of Mount Tai! "Yo Si!" A smile appeared on the corner of Hirohito's mouth, and he nodded heavily: "The lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, not to mention that the empire is facing the world's number one industrial power, and indeed we must concentrate all our forces!"

Uncle Huang, what do you think? "If things are prioritized, then stop!" Which one is heavy and which one is light, Xianyuan Gong Zairen can naturally carry it clearly, compared to occupying the Pacific Ocean and defeating the United States, Jiang Qiang's side is completely a comparison of watermelon and sesame! "Then it's decided!" Hirohito nodded very easily, although he had already made a decision in his heart, but it was still very pleasant to reach an agreement with the two most trusted ministers!