In fact, even if Tada Jun did not commit seppuku, the Japanese base camp was already planning to replace him as commander.

At that time, Lieutenant General Gangcun Ningji, who was serving as the military counselor at the Japanese base camp, was appointed as the new commander of the North China Expeditionary Force.

(Right now, Neiji Okamura is still at the rank of lieutenant general. According to the historical process, he will not be promoted to the rank of general until next year.)

In fact, the so-called military counselor is a sinecure.

Due to some special reasons, Okamura Neiji was transferred back to China to serve as the military counselor.

And this happened for a few months, and now it is finally being reused again.

Neiji Okamura was naturally very happy, so after receiving the appointment, the old devil immediately rushed to North China without stopping.

When Gangcun Ning'er's plane landed at Beiping Nanyuan Airport, a large number of little devils had already gathered here.

Led by Yukio Kasahara, Chief of Staff of the North China Expeditionary Force, these little devils all came to greet Neiji Okamura.

Tada Jun committed seppuku and committed suicide, but he had taken all the blame before and did not implicate Yukio Kasahara as the chief of staff, so the old devil was able to stay in office.

As soon as Neiji Okamura got off the plane, Yukio Kasahara greeted him and said respectfully: "Your Excellency, Commander!"

Okamura Neiji patted Kasahara Yukio's shoulder, smiled and said, "Kasahara-kun, you have worked hard during this time."

Yukio Kasahara quickly said: "Your Excellency, Commander, the real hardship is the long journey."

Okamura Neiji waved his hand slightly and said: "Kasahara-kun, you don't have to be so restrained. After all, we are also old friends."

"And from now on, I will be the commander and you will be the chief of staff. The two of us must work together and cooperate. Only in this way can we gradually restore order in North China and make this the real rear area of ​​the imperial army."

"Hai!"

Kasahara Yukio responded respectfully: "It is a humble honor to be able to assist Your Excellency, Commander. I will definitely do my best to assist Your Excellency, Commander, to quell all the resistance forces in North China as soon as possible."

Okamura Neiji nodded with satisfaction and said: "Xinxi, with Kasahara-kun's help, it will definitely be twice the result with half the effort."

The two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then Yukio Kasahara quickly let Neiji Okamura get into the car.

Yukio Kasahara held a grand reception ceremony for Neiji Okamura.

In this way, Neiji Okamura officially took over the position of commander of the North China Expeditionary Force.

The day after Okamura Neiji took office, he held a grand press conference.

Under the constantly flashing spotlight, Neiji Okamura stepped onto the podium and accepted questions from reporters from all sides.

"Your Majesty General, what do you think of the current situation in North China?"

Okamura Neiji said with a smile: "I admit that the situation in North China is a bit chaotic now, but this is only temporary."

"The enemy troops are nothing more than desperate dogs jumping over the wall. The imperial army will soon be able to completely eliminate these enemy troops and restore order in North China."

"Your Excellency, Commander, most of the railway lines across North China are now paralyzed. In the just-concluded Ping'an Campaign, your army suffered heavy losses. Do you really have the ability to pacify North China?"

Okamura Neiji said confidently: "Of course, as I just said, the enemy was so anxious that they took some extraordinary actions, which caused the situation in North China to worsen in a short period of time."

"But this is only temporary. The strength of the imperial army is obvious to all. We will never be defeated by a group of Tubal soldiers."

At this time, a reporter asked: "But in the First World War, your army suffered heavy losses. The 9th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 37th Division were wiped out one after another. Is this the strength of your army you said?"

Okamura Neiji frowned slightly, and then said: "In the Battle of Heian, the imperial army did suffer some setbacks, but it was definitely not what the enemy claimed."

"Neither the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade nor the 37th Division were completely wiped out. This is an indisputable fact. I hope all journalists can distinguish right from wrong."

"Of course, we also admit that we were indeed caught in an ambush by the Eighth Route Army, resulting in heavy losses to the troops."

"But this was just an accident. We will learn lessons. I can guarantee that something like this will never happen again."

"And the imperial army has the ability and determination to pacify North China and restore order in North China."

"We will also solve the railway paralysis situation mentioned just now."

"Moreover, the imperial army is also mobilizing troops to prepare for encirclement and suppression of the enemy. I believe that it will not take long to gradually eliminate the resistance forces in all parts of North China. By then, the entire North China region will be completely restored to peace."

The little devils publicized that the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 37th Division were not completely wiped out, just to cover up their ugliness.

The actual situation is that, except for some of the wounded who stayed in Heyuan and were not killed, the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 37th Division were all killed. The losses exceeded 90% of the troops. They were already considered to have been killed.

All wiped out.

However, in order to hide their ugly face, the little devil only announced that these two armies had suffered heavy losses, and mobilized some troops from other armies to join these two armies to create the illusion that these two armies had not been completely wiped out.

This is also the consistent style of the little devil.

At this time, a reporter continued to ask: "Your Excellency, Commander, according to Chinese propaganda, the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 37th Division have been completely wiped out by them."

Gudou

Okamura Neiji smiled and said: "I just said, these are all rumors."

"They are deliberately spreading rumors, or deliberately spreading false propaganda for political purposes."

At this time, the reporter continued to ask: "But the commander of the Hirata Kenyoshi division and the commander of the Fujioka Takeo brigade really died in the battle."

Okamura Neiji said: "This is indeed very unfortunate news. This time the empire lost a total of three generals."

"This is indeed a very heavy blow to the Imperial Army."

The 37th Division is a three-unit division with three infantry regiments under its jurisdiction. These three infantry regiments are combined into one infantry regiment, and the infantry regiment leader has the rank of major general.

So the 37th Division lost a major general and a lieutenant general this time.

Including Major General Takeo Fujioka of the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade, three generals were killed.

The reporter then asked: "Since the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 37th Division were not completely wiped out, why were so many senior officers killed in action?"

Gangcun Ning Ertian replied shamelessly: "Our Imperial Army fights bravely, and senior officers often set an example by going to the front lines to command, or even going into battle in person. This has resulted in relatively high casualties among the senior officers of the Imperial Army.

"

"And this time, the enemy attacked our headquarters in a surprise attack. Lieutenant General Hirata Kenkichi was shattered in the enemy's attack."

"These enemies are so cunning. This situation is just an accident."

"We will also learn from our experiences and lessons in the future to avoid similar tragedies from happening again."

As Okamura Neiji spoke, he pretended to take out a handkerchief and pretended to wipe his tears.

This old devil acted very well and seemed to really cry for the death of his comrades in battle.

But some reporters present had no intention of letting him go.

At this time, another reporter asked: "Then why did Commander Tada commit seppuku? What does General Okamura think of this?"

Okamura Neiji said with a serious face: "Tada-kun is an excellent imperial soldier and a true samurai."

"The failure in the frontline battle caused the imperial army to suffer huge losses. Tada-kun blamed himself very much and believed that this was all his responsibility. It was his command errors that led to this failure."

"Tada-kun is also an extremely strong person. He is unwilling to bear such a shame. In a moment of anger, he chose to end his life in the way of a samurai."

"First of all, what I want to say is that the spirit of a samurai like Tada-kun is worth learning from our officers and soldiers, but we do not advocate this approach."

"Tada-kun's misfortune is also a huge loss to the empire."

At this time, a reporter asked: "Your Excellency, Commander, you just said that you are confident of restoring the situation in North China. How long will it take to restore stability in North China?"

Okamura Neiji pondered for a moment, and then said confidently: "First of all, all major railway lines in North China are currently paralyzed. I promise that within a month, traffic flow will be restored everywhere."

"At the same time, the imperial army will go all out to prepare to wipe out the bandits everywhere."

"But North China is too big, and our North China dispatched troops are relatively weak, and the enemies are still scattered all over the place, especially on Tubal Road. Most of them are in the mountainous areas. It will still be troublesome to clear them up."

"So it will take a little more time, but we are confident that within half a year, order will be basically restored in North China and all the enemy's main forces will be eliminated."

"Within one year, their remaining forces will be completely eliminated and peace and stability in North China will be completely restored."

At this time, reporters on the scene couldn't help but start talking.

In fact, the Japanese have been fighting for three years, but they have not completely eliminated the anti-Japanese armed forces in North China. Instead, they have fought more and more.

Furthermore, Neiji Okamura's predecessor, Toshi Tada, and his predecessor, Sugimoto Yuan, both swore by themselves when they first took office.

Of course, the most arrogant person is Shan Shanyuan. It was this old devil who said that China would be destroyed in three months.

During the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, this old Japanese man served as Minister of War and strongly advocated an all-out invasion of China. He was the chief culprit for the all-out invasion of China.

At that time, this old devil was clamoring for the destruction of China in three months.

But after fighting for half a year, I still couldn't win.

As a result, Shan Shanyuan became a scapegoat and was removed from the post of Minister of War and demoted to North China as the commander of the North China Expeditionary Force.

After arriving in Peiping, this guy's arrogance did not change at all. As soon as he took office, he once again clamored that all resistance forces in North China could be wiped out within two months.

But the facts eventually proved that this guy was just bragging.

The number of Eighth Roads in North China is still larger and more numerous.

So Tada Shun was replaced as the commander. When this old Japanese came, he was also very arrogant and confident. He also made arrogant remarks, but in the end he ended up being defeated and committing seppuku.
Chapter completed!