"What? The 21st Flying Squadron encountered China's Rendai Flying Group and had to withdraw after suffering heavy losses?" In the office of the commander of the First Army, Naosaburo Okabe looked at the communications staff officer who came to report the news, with a look of disbelief on his face.
.
"Yes, Your Excellency, Chief of Staff." The Communications Staff Officer also looked sad, "According to the news from the 21st Flying Team, they were ambushed by the Liantai Flying Group. There was a fierce battle between the two sides, and we lost twelve aircraft.
Falcon, six Type 99 light explosive aircraft and one Type 97 heavy explosive aircraft, and even Weijiazhuang fell into the hands of the Chinese."
Naosaburo Okabe's heart sank, and he quickly asked: "Where are the Chinese people? How many Chinese planes have we shot down?"
"The Chinese..." the communications staff hesitated, "we shot down one Chinese fighter plane and damaged two."
"Baga...trash...they are all a bunch of rubbish!" Okabe Naosaburo couldn't help but cursed loudly.
"A majestic flying squadron was beaten like this by the Chinese. Do they still have any dignity as a samurai of the Japanese Empire?"
Naosaburo Okabe was really disgusted. The normally arrogant Lu Hang was defeated by the Rendai Flying Team, and this time it was the team led by Captain Fujino Shigeharu himself.
And what makes Naosaburo Okabe most panicked is that this represents a trend, that is, from now on, the era when the skies of Shanxi are ruled by the Japanese Empire is over, and even Taiyuan may be attacked by the Rendai Flying Brigade at any time.
This is absolutely unacceptable to him.
In anger, he yelled: "Go... tell the military police and send someone to arrest Fujino Shigeharu and send him to a military court immediately!"
"Chief of Staff...this..." the communications officer hesitated. Fujino Shigeharu is the captain of the flying squadron. Although his military rank is only colonel, his actual status and role are not even below the division commander. If it is because of a defeat,
If we just arrest people, I'm afraid that the 21st Flying Team will fall into chaos. More importantly, Naosaburo Okabe is only the chief of staff and has no right to arrest him.
Just when the communications staff was in a dilemma, Yoshio Shinozuka spoke, "Forget it... Fujino-kun is still loyal to the empire and the emperor. We can't arrest him just because he lost the battle, let alone this defeat.
You can’t blame him entirely.”
"Your Excellency, Commander!" Naosaburo Okabe wanted to say something, but was stopped by Yoshio Shinozuka.
He waved his hand: "Okabe-kun, the reason why the 21st Flying Squadron has been losing one after another these days is not that the pilots of the empire are not brave enough or not skilled enough, but that the performance of the fighters we equip has lagged far behind our opponents. Fujino-kun
He has tried his best, we can't demand too much from him."
"Your Excellency, Commander, Yan Xishan has dispatched a group army this time. If we cannot seize air supremacy, Xinkou will be in danger!"
"I know."
Yoshio Shinozuka sighed softly and made a gesture to the communications staff officer. The staff member understood and left, closing the door behind him.
After the door of the office was closed, Yoshio Shinozuka said to Naosaburo Okabe: "Okabe-kun... I won't stay in the First Army for too long. Maybe the person who will replace me is already there.
On the way to Shanxi, I don’t care so much about winning or losing, so you don’t have to worry about me.”
Naosaburo Okabe felt sour in his heart and choked up: "But...but you have done meritorious service to the empire. The base camp should not treat you like this!"
"Achieving merit?"
Yoshio Shinozuka snorted, "Before the war started, someone promised the emperor that the China Incident would be resolved within three months. But four years later, has the China Incident been resolved?
Yes, on the surface, the empire has indeed occupied more than half of the land in China, but in fact, the empire has only occupied the superficial cities, and the wider countryside is still in the hands of the Chinese. Four years have passed,
We consumed astronomical amounts of materials and money, and all we got in exchange were the corpses of hundreds of thousands of elite imperial warriors. The money and materials we received from China were simply not enough to offset the losses of the empire. From this point of view, this war was basically useless.
It shouldn’t be beaten.”
Naosaburo Okabe was silent. He and Yoshio Shinozuka were both senior Japanese generals, and they naturally looked at problems from a much higher perspective than ordinary soldiers and low-level officers.
In essence, war is the same as doing business. Only when there is profit will there be motivation. No one likes to make a loss-making business.
When the war of aggression against China began in 1937, Japan's military expenditure for the invasion of China was 5.5 billion yen. By 1938, Japan's military expenditure had reached 6.15 billion yen, far exceeding its national gold reserves.
The "Wuhan Battle" launched at that time alone cost more than 3 billion yen in combat expenses.
By 1939, Japan had begun printing money, which resulted in skyrocketing prices and a sharp decline in people's living standards.
As we all know, Japan is a resource-scarce country, and more than 90% of the important military supplies it needs, such as refined oil, rubber, special metals, etc., are purchased from the United States.
In this era, especially during wars, trade settlements between countries are all conducted using the hard currency of gold.
Since the war started... Japan's domestic gold reserves have been wiped out and all have flowed into the pockets of the United States, which has also made Japan's domestic banknotes even more worthless.
At this time, some far-sighted people in Japan had realized that the dialogue war could no longer continue like this. If it continued like this, the domestic economy might really collapse, so they strongly called for an end to the war against China as soon as possible.
But at this time, the Japanese army was like a gambler who lost his sights. They were unwilling to admit the failure of the dialogue war.
In their view, China is like a crumbling building. It only needs to work harder and it will fall to the ground. By then, Japan will be able to permanently occupy this land of nearly 10 million square kilometers and leave the land with poor resources and frequent earthquakes.
soil of.
On the surface, this view seems to be correct. As long as it persists a little longer, the Chinese government may not be able to persist tomorrow or next year. It would be a pity to end it now.
But Yoshio Shinozuka understands that Japan can no longer afford it. The Japanese government has almost emptied its wealth for this war. If the war continues, the consequences will be disastrous.
Just when the two were sitting in silence facing each other, there was a noise outside, accompanied by the sound of rapid footsteps. Then the door of the office was suddenly pushed open, and two expressionless military policemen in military uniforms walked in.
After the two military police entered the door, a lieutenant general also appeared in front of them.