Chapter 223 The meeting before the invasion of China
On June 28, the 26th year of the Republic of China, Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo, Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army Command, was convening the staff of the Kwantung Army Headquarters to conduct a simulation drill in the war room. After the drill, Tojo Hideki was
The deduction was summarized. At this moment, the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Kenkichi Ueda, walked in supported by a group of guards.
"Everyone, stand up"
At the command of the officer on duty, all the officers stood up and saluted the commander.
"Well, thank you for your hard work." Ueda Kenkichi looked at the staff and nodded. Then he sat down, turned his eyes to Tojo Hideki and asked: "Tojo-kun, I heard that you are conducting a deduction."
"Hi" Tojo Hideki replied: "We are conducting a deduction for the China-Nanjing policy."
Ueda Kenkichi asked calmly: "Oh Tojo-kun, what is the result of your deduction?"
Tojo replied confidently: "We believe that, as our force allows, it is best to strike at the Nanjing regime first and remove the threat behind me. At this time, the Nanjing government order can only be issued to the Yangtze River.
There are only a few provinces such as Zhejiang. The empire should attack them with lightning speed. As long as the Nanjing political ax is resolved, the whole of China will be leaderless. In this way, the empire can encroach on them step by step and solve the entire China in one fell swoop."
"What about the Chahar government? Have you considered their reaction?" Ueda Kenkichi asked.
As soon as Chahar's political ax was mentioned, the atmosphere in the war room suddenly condensed, because this is an unavoidable issue.
Tojo Hideki thought for a while, sorted out his thoughts and then returned: "Now the Soviet Union's nearly 700,000-strong army is pressing forward step by step under the leadership of its general Zhukov. Most of the troops of the Chahar government are hoarded in
The front line of Ulan-Ude in Siberia is confronting Zhukov. Before Zhukov is solved, the Chahar government will not have the extra troops to deal with our attack, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our empire."
Seeing Tojo Hideki's confident look, Ueda Kenkichi poured cold water on him at an inappropriate time: "Tojo-kun, don't forget that they still have 400,000 troops in Chahar."
Tojo Hideki smiled coldly: "Huh, even though he has 400,000 troops, Su Tong's appetite is too big. He now occupies four provinces including Mongolia, Ningxia, and Qinghai. Although the territory is large,
However, the number of places that need to be garrisoned has also increased accordingly. In addition, they have also stationed nearly 100,000 troops as mobile troops on the Mongolian border so that they can reinforce Siberia at any time when the war in Siberia is unfavorable, so that their troops in Chahar can be used.
Around 200,000. So we don’t have to worry about them at all.”
Ueda Kenkichi slowly looked around, looked at these staff officers and asked: "Do you all think so?"
"Hi." All the staff officers bowed sharply to Ueda Kenkichi and said in unison: "The junior ranks all agree that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the empire. If we wait for Chahar's political ax to come back, we will be able to occupy China."
The difficulty will increase exponentially.”
Ueda Kenkichi began to ponder. At this time, Ueda Kenkichi was already sixty-two years old and could not work in the military for a few more years. Therefore, his wish was just to make more benefits during his tenure while living.
He went home for two years to retire.
Therefore, since he took office as the commander of the Kwantung Army, he ordered the Puppet Concord Society to do its best in cooperating with the puppet military and police in crusade, brutally squeezing, plundering food, materials, etc., and spiritual enslavement. To give just one example: this spring, Ueda
Qianji issued an order to ask members of the Puppet Concorde Association to donate 150,000 yuan to purchase an aircraft to support the "jihad". In the end, more than 170,000 yuan was allocated and scraped, and only 50,000 yuan was used to purchase a second-hand aircraft.
A 140-horsepower aircraft carrying the sick and wounded, and the rest went into his own pocket.
Now seeing that a group of young military officers led by Tojo Hideki had such strong demands to start a full-scale occupation of China, he hesitated in his heart.
Speaking of which, I have to mention that the Japanese Army has a strange tradition, that is, after a battle, everyone is promoted to the rank of officer. However, if the battle is lost, the chief officer will definitely be unlucky, but the staff usually has nothing to do.
Therefore, seeing Hideki Tojo actively encouraging a war, Ueda Kenkichi couldn't help but mutter in his heart, you guys are so active in wanting to start a war, so naturally you want to be in power again, but if you lose the war, it will take an old man like me.
I want to take the blame. I want to refuse, but I am afraid that the staff will accuse me of being stupid and harming the country.
After being reserved for a while, Ueda Kenkichi, who was in a dilemma, came up with a compromise, which was to send more troops to Rehe in the name of an exercise, and send two regiments towards Peiping to join forces with the North China garrison.
The troops will attack Peiping and then make a decision based on the situation.
While the Kwantung Army was actively planning a strategy to invade China, the North China garrison was not idle either. Under the planning of General Tada Shun, they also began to plan ways to attack Peiping.
Late at night, in the conference room of the North China Garrison Army Headquarters, Tada Shun was laying out a combat plan.
"The First Regiment sent a brigade to Peking City in the name of acting, and then joined the Third Regiment to quickly attack Peiping in the name of missing soldiers. The Second Division followed closely behind to expand the results."
At the end, Tada Shun put down his baton and asked: "Gentlemen, what do you think of this plan?"
"I have a question." At this time, a person stood up below. Everyone looked closely and saw that it was a general with a thin face and a stern expression wearing glasses. He was Okamura, the commander of the Second Division at the time.
Lieutenant General Neji.
Tada Shun was unhappy when he saw that the division commander who had just been transferred from the Kwantung Army to the North China garrison did not give him face during the first meeting. However, in order to show his grace, he still asked with a smile: "Oh Okamura
Do you have any questions?"
"Yes." Okamura Neiji's usual stern expression became more serious: "After our army captures Peiping, it will directly face the powerful Chahar government. I would like to know. The base camp or the North China garrison.
Do you have any countermeasures? You must know that the Chahar government under the leadership of Su Tong is not as easy to bully as the 29th Army of Song Zheyuan opposite us."
After hearing what Okamura Neiji said, Tada Shun and the generals in the combat conference room suddenly pulled their faces down. This Okamura Neiji was clearly saying that our North China garrison only knows how to pick weak persimmons.
When it comes to hard times, it's a big deal.
Tada Shun said with a dark face: "Okamura-kun, I forgot to tell you that with the approval of His Majesty the Emperor, the base camp just passed a mobilization order yesterday. Our Imperial Army will send an additional 400,000 troops to China to solve the China problem as soon as possible. I believe there is
With such a strong force, we can quickly eliminate the Nanjing government and force them to surrender. At that time, we can gather the strength of the whole country to solve the scabies problem of the Chahar government."
After Tada Shunyi finished speaking, Lieutenant General Koiso Kuniaki, the commander of the 12th Division next to him, also stood up and said: "Now the north, east and south sides of Peiping have been controlled by the imperial army; the north side is the Kwantung Army deployed in Rehe.
to the northwest, there are eight divisions of the Puppet Mongolian Army controlled by the Eastern Army, with about 40,000 people; to the east, there are the Puppet "Jidong Anti-Communist Autonomous Government" and the Puppet Security Force of about 17,000 people under their jurisdiction;
To the south, the imperial army has occupied Fengtai. In the words of the Chinese people, the city of Beiping is already a turtle in a jar. Mr. Gangcun, what are you worried about?"
"That is, how can our Imperial Army be afraid of a small local government?"
"As soon as our 400,000-strong army from the Japanese Empire arrives, the Chahar regime will be destroyed."
After hearing the discussion of the generals in the conference room, Tada Jun showed a satisfied smile on his face. He pressed his hand down, and the conference room suddenly became silent.
Tada Shunshi said with satisfaction: "Gentlemen, this war plan for Peiping has been approved and supported by the base camp. Prince Kanin Miya Zaihito personally called us on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor to inquire about our war plan, so this
There is no room for failure in the plan, gentlemen, let us work together."
"Imperial Onboard"
"His Majesty the Emperor is on board"
"Capture Beiping City and approach Chahar"
Listening to the enthusiastic shouts of the division commanders and staff officers in the conference room, Okamura Neiji, who was sitting below, shook his head secretly. These division commanders were all overwhelmed by the good news that the base camp would increase its troops by 400,000. Japan
We can increase the number of troops by 400,000. Is there no one in China? You know, China has a population of 450 million. These people in the military actually want to compete with China in terms of population. How stupid do you have to be?
What a plan.
Sighing, Okamura Neji quietly walked out of the conference room and went outside to get some air. At this time, his chief of staff, Major General Taro Hashimoto, also walked out. He came to Okamura Neji's side and comforted him softly.
Said: "Your Excellency, Division Commander, the people inside are all short-sighted people, you don't need to pay attention to them."
Okamura Neiji sighed: "Hashimoto-kun, look at them. As soon as they heard that the mainland would increase its troops by 400,000, they forgot about it. They seemed to be able to conquer China tomorrow. But they didn't expect that even if they increased their troops by 400,000, they would be able to conquer China.
How many people will be allocated to North China? I can say that a hundred thousand people would be enough to support them. However, our opponents have a population of 45 million. As long as the Nanjing government has enough weapons to support them, they will be able to
They can continuously expand their troops, not to mention 400,000 or 4 million soldiers."
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, as long as we act quickly and force the Nanjing government to step down before the Chahar government withdraws from the Siberian battlefield, then everything is still possible." Taro Hashimoto consoled him.
"I hope so" Okamura Neji looked at the twinkling stars in the sky and sighed.
Chahar and Su Tong are the most serious dangers to the empire in the future. We must take advantage of him being held back by the Soviet Union and eliminate them when he is at his weakest. Okamura Neiji secretly thought fiercely.