.......In order to support Chang Jingwu's airborne regiment, Wang Yizhe of the Harbin Military Region Command in Heilongjiang Province sent him an entire aviation division today; of course, because of the need to take into account the endurance of the fighters and the sustainability of ammunition and firepower, it was naturally impossible for several hundred planes to pour out of the nest, but they were divided into three or four different batches to attack in turn.

But even so, it was also a painful torture for the Japanese army without the cover of fighters, and watching a large number of soldiers brave the artillery fire bravely attack fall in the sea of fire and gunsmoke, Lieutenant General Kazuo Miura, commander of the 66th Division of the Japanese Army, felt like a knife in his heart.

"Miura-kun, we can't go on like this, our attack is purely for the warriors of the empire to die!" Major General Uegen Heimoto couldn't stand it anymore, he rushed to Kazuo Miura's side regardless of his manners and roared loudly: "What about the imperial plane, why didn't the imperial plane come." Why do we want our soldiers to die in vain, and why is that? ”

Lieutenant General Kazuo Miura's slightly obese body slowly turned around, stared at Major General Uegen Heimoto and said word by word: "In order to keep the warriors of the hundreds of thousands of empires in Tongliao, in order to open up our lifeline, for Manchuria, and for the future of our empire." Do you understand when I say that? ”

"Puff ......" Shangyuan Heimoto sat on the ground, covered his eyes with his hands, and finally cried out in disregard of the image after a trance for a while, just in the round of bombing just now, he had another team that was destroyed by the plane, and a whole brigade of more than 1,000 people attacked for half an hour, and there were only more than 200 people left, so that the major general could no longer help but cry on the spot.

"Okay, Shangyuan-kun, you are a general of the empire, not a sentimental poet, and now your main task is to command the troops to continue the attack, not crying like a housewife, so please stand up like a warrior!" I don't know when, Kazuo Miura walked to the side of Uegen Hiramoto and said softly. "Well, even if I die, I'm going to die with my soldiers." Kazumoto stood up and strode towards his headquarters, but Kazuo Miura, who was behind, had a smell of wind 'Xiao Xiao Xi Yi Shui Cold' no matter how he looked at it.

"Kill to ........" Under the bombardment overhead, more than 30,000 Japanese troops kept attacking Dalin, as if no matter how fierce the artillery fire was, they didn't want to stop their pace. The bombardment of dozens of planes lasted for nearly half an hour, and it was not until the bombs he carried were exhausted that he returned with a triumphant twist.....

The news of the defeat of the 66th Division and the 78th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade was quickly reported to the Kwantung Army Headquarters, and Hideki Tojo and the officers in the staff were relatively speechless when they saw the casualty report from Kazuo Miura. More than 30,000 troops went to attack the opponent, and more than 6,000 people were killed and wounded in just over 5,000 days in just over 5,000 people. Where is this attack, it is clearly sending people to death.

"Planes, damn planes!" I saw that the telegrams were all asking for the support of the aviation troops, but where did the Kwantung Army get so many planes? The entire Kwantung Army also has only more than 500 fighters and two flight divisions, and after the first flight division was disabled last time, the planes and personnel replenished by the country have not yet arrived, and the remaining second flight division has to guard against the expeditionary group army on the Vladivostok side, so there are really not many planes to support the Tongliao battlefield.

If the number of planes is too small, they can only deliver food to the people on the other side, and in the face of the snowflakes of telegram requesting air support, Hideki Tojo and the officers in the staff can only stare helplessly. Seeing Hideki Tojo's worried appearance, a staff officer cautiously proposed, "Your Excellency Chief of Staff, if we transfer another division from Tongliao to besiege Dalin, otherwise in three to four days, our troops will be in a situation of running out of ammunition and food." ”

After thinking for a while, Tojo Hideki nodded reluctantly, "Okay, then send another division from Tongliao to besiege Dalin, remember to march at night, otherwise they won't be able to reach Dalin once they are discovered by Zhina's plane." "Hello!" The staff officer bowed and was about to walk away, but was stopped by Hideki Tojo, "In addition, send a telegram to Tokyo, asking them to hurry up and transport the additional fighters and personnel as quickly as possible, otherwise our front will be in danger of collapsing." ”

"Hello!" Hideki Tojo let out a long sigh, sat down on the stool tiredly, picked up the strong tea on the table and took a big sip, the already cold strong tea and bitter taste seemed to indicate his mood.

Could it be that he really did a mistake in attacking Daliao and Rehe, and is that Wang Yizhe's strength really so huge? Hideki Tojo put down the teacup and rubbed his hand on his temples vigorously for a while, feeling dizzy before thinking slowly. "It seems that air power has become an indispensable force in modern warfare, and the empire used the superior strength of 500,000 troops to attack Tongliao, but now it has ended up with a loss of troops, isn't it because there is no air superiority? It seems that there is another way to find another way, and it is unrealistic to just wait for the local shipment to come. The question is where to mobilize aviation forces now? Does Central China send troops? No, although the local newspapers boasted about Matsui Ishine's godliness, saying that he was brave and good at fighting to conquer the capital of China, but the discerning people understood that it was because they took the initiative to give up and let them take advantage of it, and finally said so in order to take care of the face of the imperial army, their own flying third division was disabled, so they counted on it. ”

Hideki Tojo's eyes kept turning around on the map, and finally fixed on one place, which was the location of the North China Dispatch Army Headquarters, and the Tianjin ....... North China Dispatch Army Command Li Sugiyama was holding a high-level military meeting to arrange the work of the year, after all, the new year must have a new beginning.

At this time, Sugiyama Motomasa said with satisfaction, "Gentlemen, after half a year's efforts, our North China Dispatch Army has occupied most of Shanxi, Shandong, Hebei, Henan and many other places, which can be described as brilliant results, and the government of China has completely shrunk in the corner of Chongqing, so to speak, the Chiang regime at this time has been reduced to a local government!" "Boom, la......" The generals below applauded their face-saving efforts.

Okamura Ninji also clapped lightly in his hands, with a hypocritical smile on his face, how happy he was at first glance. Only the chief of staff Hashimoto Ryutaro, who was sitting behind him, knew that His Excellency, the arrogant division commander, had considerable disdain for the commander on the stage. "Report!" Suddenly, a junior officer stood upright in the doorway.

"Yes!" Sugiyama Moto, who was talking happily, turned his head and saw that it was an official of the Communications Division, and he couldn't help but feel unhappy for a while, and said, "What the hell is going on, I don't know if we are in a meeting now?" How can you casually interrupt our meeting! "Hello!" The young man bowed, "I'm really sorry to disturb Your Excellency." But this was an urgent telegram from the Kwantung Army Command, and he did not dare to delay it, so he rushed to it immediately. After saying that, the young man stepped forward and respectfully handed a telegram to Sugiyama Moto.

"The Kwantung Army? What do they have to send an urgent telegram? Sugiyama Yuan curiously opened the message and said to the young man with an impatient face: "Ridiculous, why should they draw our forces to fill your deficit when the war is unfavorable, it's ridiculous. "You go and tell Tojo-kun, just say that we are also very nervous here, and there is really no way to support them, so please solve this little difficulty on their own." "This ......" the young man couldn't help but hesitate.

"Yaga, didn't you hear? Don't go yet! Seeing Shaozuo's hesitant appearance, Sugiyama Yuan couldn't help but be furious, and immediately trained him. Hello! The young man was about to walk out slowly. But I heard a voice next to me shouting, "Please wait, please tell us what happened!" ”

Sugiyama Yuan saw that it was Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji, the commander of the Second Division, and Sugiyama Yuan took a breath before saying: "It turned out to be Okamura-kun, this is a telegram from Tojo-kun, chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, asking us to send a flying division to Tongliao to help them compete for air supremacy with the Harbin Wang Yizhe Theater in Heilongjiang Province, and also said that the Shina people are attacking fiercely, and they are almost unable to resist now." Hmph, alarmist! ”

In the final analysis, Sugiyama Moto, who had not directly fought with the Heilongjiang Military Region, did not believe in the authenticity of this telegram too much, if the Kwantung Army fought one or two defeats, he believed this, after all, there was no undefeated general in this world. But as Hideki Tojo said in his telegram, the war had reached its most dangerous moment, and the urgent need for air power was urgent, and he did not believe it.

What kind of unit is the Kwantung Army, it is the most powerful front army level unit in the entire Japanese army. During this time, he knew that the Kwantung Army had mobilized 500,000 troops to launch an attack on the Seventh War Zone, but he didn't expect that it would be urgent in less than half a month, and in Sugiyama Moto's opinion, it was simply a joke.

It's okay for you Tojo to bully Umezu Mijiro in Manchuria, do you still want to come to North China to bully me Sugiyama Moto? Are you dreaming?

After listening to General Sugiyama's words, Okamura Ninji pondered for a while and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, I think that Your Excellency Tojo is a proud person, and that he can directly ask for help from our North China Front Army at this time without going through the base camp, which in itself means that the situation is already more critical than what he said in the telegram, otherwise a person with such a high heart and arrogance as him would not have sent such a telegram!" ”

"Yo Sai, Okamura-kun has a point, Your Excellency Tojo is a proud man, and the fact that he was able to pull down his head and send this telegram proves in itself that the front line of Tongliao has reached a very critical time!" Koiso Kuniaki, commander of the 12th Division, nodded in agreement and said that among the North China Dispatch Army, he had dealt with the Heilongjiang side for the longest time, and he also knew the combat effectiveness of the Heilongjiang Military Region's aviation unit the best.

But Kojima Nojiro on the side shook his head in opposition, "But our North China Dispatch Army only has one flying division, if we all support the Kwantung Army, then what should we do, we can't say that we don't need air support!" ”

In the second half of last year, Kojimano Jiro's Fifth Division defeated more than 30 divisions of the Chinese army in Shanxi with half a division, which can be regarded as a great achievement, so Kojima Nojiro also had a group of supporters in the North China Dispatch Army, and even Emperor Hirohito, who was far away in Tokyo, heard of his name. Kojima's statement was also agreed. "As the so-called father dies and mother marries, everyone takes care of everyone", your Kwantung Army's own butt is still good to wipe by yourself, we ourselves don't think the plane is enough, how can we have this time to take care of you.

"Stupid!" Okamura Ninji couldn't hold back any longer, stood up and said loudly: "There is an old saying in the people of China, "Lips are dead and teeth are cold", don't you understand this truth? If the Kwantung Army fails, what good will it do us? At that time, Heilongjiang District will immediately turn around and beat us! Don't you understand? ”

"Okamura-kun!" Kojima Nojiro also stood up, not caring about the face of his old classmates: "But our North China Dispatch Army also has only one flying division, if they are all sent to the Kwantung Army, do you dare to guarantee that they will not be wiped out like the first flying division of the Kwantung Army?" At that time, what can we use to resist the attack of the Heilongjiang theater of operations? I don't know if Okamura-kun dares to make a bet with me, if our Fifth Flying Division loses too much, the base camp will definitely not be replenished to us at the first time, and if Qin Siyu's army takes the opportunity to counterattack Tianjin, what will we be able to resist? ”

Okamura was silent, because Kojima Nojiro's words were not unreasonable, in the heart of the base camp, Manchuria was fundamental, and if the base camp was asked to make a choice between the Kwantung Army and the North China Dispatch Army, their certainty would be beyond doubt.

"Moreover, I can be sure that if our Fifth Flying Division is sent over this time, it will definitely be the corner of cannon fodder, I know that 'superior soldier' too well!" Kojima sneered and said, "He can even abandon Commander Umezu, let alone a few of our planes?" ”

"Kojima-kun, please be careful!" Sugiyama Moto, who was on the side, said with a straight face: "I know that you have a good relationship with Ishihara Wan'er, but Tojo-kun is a high-ranking general of the empire after all, so I can't help you accuse him like this!" ”

"Hello!" Kojima Nojiro hurriedly lowered his head and apologized, just now he said this to really mean to vent his anger for his friend Ishihara Waner, who was excluded by Tojo, but he immediately realized that it was inappropriate for such words to be said by himself, so he quickly apologized.

"That's okay, let's secondment the 17th and 18th Flying Regiments to the Kwantung Army first, so that they won't save us if we die in the future," Sugiyama Yuan thought for a long time, and finally came up with a way to make peace with the mud.

Seeing this, Okamura's opinion of Sugiyama Moto was degraded again, such a refueling tactic was clearly a taboo for soldiers, and General Sugiyama Moto, as the commander, would not fail to understand this, but he still did it. This shows that he did not want to offend most of the officers of the North China Dispatch Army by taking advantage of the Kwantung arms, and he was also afraid of offending Hideki Tojo, a rising star in the Japanese military circles with a promising future.

Doesn't he understand that the consequence of not wanting to offend both ends is likely to be to offend both?

After the meeting ended, Okamura Ninji was about to return to the headquarters of the Second Division, but Kojima Nojiro found Okamura Ninji, "Okamura-kun, can you accompany Kojima to have a meal with your face?" ”

Okamura Ningji stared at Itagaki Seishiro for a while before he smiled reservedly: "I don't dare to ask for what I want, Okamura can't ask for it." ”

The two laughed and walked hand in hand to a Japanese-owned hotel in Tianjin, where they summoned geisha and fine sake to drink. The two of them tacitly did not mention the differences in the meeting just now, but talked about the stormy night.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors, Kojima Nojiro bent down and filled the wine glass in front of Okamura Ninji with sake and said with a smile: "Okamura-kun, there are not many of our sixteenth classmates now, retired from the military, and those who died in battle for His Majesty the Emperor, and now there are not many people who can sit together and drink together like us." ”

"yes!" Okamura Ninji nodded with emotion: "Thirty-five years have passed in the blink of an eye since we graduated, and the classmates of that year died in battle, and those who retired were retired, and there are really not many people left." ”

Kojima Nojiro raised his glass with a smile, "Hehe, let's not talk about these uninteresting topics today, Okamura-kun, you just got married a few years ago?" I'm really sorry that I didn't congratulate you in person because of my busy military affairs, but I'm here to apologize to you now! After saying that, Seishiro Itagaki made a ninety-degree bow to make amends.

Okamura sighed and shook his head silently, and said for a long time: "Since the death of Kodako, I have not remarried, and I didn't marry until the year before last.... Forget it, let's not talk about that, let's talk about today's events first! Itagaki-kun, can you tell me why you oppose sending the 5th Flying Division to Manchuria? Are you just trying to give Ishihara-kun a vent? ”

"No, no!" Kojima Nojiro shook his head: "Ishihara-kun and I are indeed best friends, although Kojima is not talented, he will not do such a thing for personal reasons." The reason why I stopped this matter is to reserve a flying force for our North China army that can resist Wang Yizhe of the Heilongjiang government! ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Okamura asked curiously.

Kojima Nojiro picked up the wine glass and drank it all before he said indignantly: "Okamura-kun, let me ask you, why did our empire defeat the armies of Jiang Qiang and Tang Juwu repeatedly? ”

Okamura Ninji smiled bitterly, "Isn't Itagaki-kun testing me, the Tang Juwu army is well-equipped and disciplined, especially since their fighters are much more advanced than those of the empire." Through my observations, I found that this Jiang Qiang always fought in a decent manner, and I watched and figured out his tactics many times, and his tactics came and went just like these few moves, nothing more than the first bombardment by planes and artillery, and then the charge of infantry or chariots, nothing new at all. But it's such a simple move, but our imperial army has repeatedly put it in his hands, reconcile? ”

Speaking of this, the two of them looked at each other in unison before they said in unison: "Absolute strength!" ”

Kojino also sighed: "Yes, absolute strength, everything yī."

Stratagems are so pale in the face of absolute strength. That's why I'm in such a hurry to stop that incident, you must know that the fighters of the Shandong Group Army are much more advanced than ours now, and I can assert that even if we send the Fifth Flying Division to Manchuria, it will only be to send food to Wang Yizhe's army, and it is better to retain our strength than to send them to death! ”

"Humph!" Okamura did not agree with Kojima's words, "Kojima-kun is too pessimistic, it is true that our planes are lagging behind the fighters of the Shandong Group Army, but we can't passively avoid war because of this." A brave samurai is one who dares to draw his sword in the face of a powerful opponent, and even if he loses, his reputation as a samurai will not be damaged. ”

"Hehe, but don't forget Okamura-kun, this is not a street samurai brawl, but the fate of a flying division! If you lose, you won't even have a chance to turn it over. Kojino, who came from a merchant family, obviously had a different understanding of Okamura's samurai theory, so he didn't buy it.

"Hmph, Kojima-kun, how can your merchant theory be related to bushido, it's related to the rise and fall of the empire." Okamura Ninji also argued about the spark.

"No, no, no...."Jiro Kojimano shook his head, "In my opinion, governing the country is no different from doing business, both are about pursuing the maximum benefit with the minimum cost. You see what the purpose of the existence of our army is, it is nothing more than to seek the greater good of the empire. Just as we fight a war, we have to exchange the least casualties for the greater gain. ”

"You...... Kojima-kun, have you forgotten the oath we made when we were in school? Okamura Ninji pointed at Kojima Nojiro and was speechless with anger, and the two soldiers with two different philosophies were arguing in the hotel.

"I haven't forgotten, but don't you think that the senseless sacrifice should not be paid?" Kojino Jiro sighed as he looked at the figure of Okamura Ninji eating.

"Hmph, it seems that you have completely forgotten the teachings of your superintendent, Captain Daikoshi Kenkichi, and are becoming more and more greedy for life and afraid of death." Okamura stood up calmly, "Don't speculate for more than half a sentence, since that's the case, Okamura has taken his leave." ”

Looking at the figure of Okamura Ninji going out angrily, Kojima Nojiro silently poured a glass of wine and drank it to himself, muttering in his mouth: "Did I make a mistake by keeping a division's plane for the empire, or Okamura-kun are so sure that you can deal with the planes of the Shina?" ”