Shunroku Hata, the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Force, looked at the blue arrows on the map that were launching counterattacks to the outskirts of Xuzhou, and murmured: "This Chairman Chiang underestimated me too much, and actually turned the already exhausted soldiers into
The fifth theater of war took the initiative to die. Well, let me show you how powerful our imperial warriors are."
"Order the Sixth Division to launch a counterattack from Xiao County starting this afternoon. The Ninth Division will insert itself into the rear of Xuzhou from Zaozhuang immediately. The 101st Division, the 11th Division, and the 13th Division will stop retreating and immediately stay where they are.
Build fortifications. The Third Division and the Eighth Division immediately support the Xuzhou front line. I want to show Chiang Kai-shek that even if the Japanese Empire is defeated temporarily, it is not something he can manipulate at will."
Under the command of Shunroku Hata, the originally somewhat scattered Japanese army gradually stabilized its position and began to launch a local counterattack. The fifth theater, which had just finished the Battle of Taierzhuang and had not yet had time to replenish weapons, ammunition, personnel and equipment, was lost.
After being vigorous in the first few days, they were gradually pushed back to Xuzhou by the Japanese army.
In the yard of the Japanese Army Headquarters, one wire after another extends from here to all sides like a spider web. The antenna of the radio station is set on the tall tree in the yard and stretches into the sky. The northwest wind is slowly shaking in the dark night.
These crystallizations of modern science, battle orders one after another were transmitted with the ticking sound in invisible and intangible notes, and a tense atmosphere before the war enveloped the dark night sky.
General Hata Toshiroku, the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Force, took a hot bath and came to the living room. His confidential secretary, Major Kazuko Ikeda, was arranging chrysanthemums. Ikeda Kazuko, who had taken off his military uniform, showed even more charm as a woman, with short men's hair.
Her charm adds to the naughtiness and innocence of a little boy. Shunroku Hata likes to have flowers and the voice of young women around him.
With the fresh and bitter fragrance of chrysanthemum floating around her body after just taking a bath, Kazuko came over and put a pile of information that Shunroku Hata needed on the warm table. Shunroku Hata flipped through it and pulled out a speech Wang Jingwei gave last year. Let's tell the truth.
, everyone must be responsible.
In this article, Wang Jingwei said, "In peace, you will suffer losses. Just admit the losses honestly and seek compensation after suffering losses. In war, you will lose the war."
Seeing this, Shunroku Hata smiled and said to Kazuko Ikeda: "Miss Kazuko, look at how interesting these Chinese people are. They are very smart, but they put their intelligence in other places. It is really disappointing."
Ikeda Kazuko pursed her lips and smiled and said: "General, you have read this information no less than ten times. Is this article really so well written that it deserves your repeated consideration?"
Hata Shunroku smiled and said: "The Chinese people have two most sad words: First, Zheng Guo said: "I will extend the life of Han for a few years, but it will benefit Qin forever." Knowing that he could not save Han from death.
, but just want to prolong his life for several years; using ginseng soup to prolong the last breath is not the way. First, Zhang Ti said: "When Wu fell, no one died, it is not a shame." Knowing that
He could not save Wu from death, but he only wanted to die to commit suicide; but when he thought that after he died, everyone who was still alive would be slaves and slaves, how could he rest in peace to the end?"
Yan Junliu paused and then said: "Now China has actually been divided into two governments, one is the Chongqing Government, and the other is the Chahar Government. Faced with the aggressive posture of the Chahar Government, Chiang Kai-shek
The leader of the Chongqing government was naturally unwilling to lose the prestige and popular support of his government to the Chahar government, so he launched this counterattack plan and gave us the opportunity to find out their flaws."
Just when Shun Rokuike Hata was explaining the current situation to Kazuko Ikeda, there was a knock on the door. Kazuko Ikeda stood up, opened the door, and came in to report: "Colonel Masaaki Kage has arrived."
Shunroku Hata nodded, "Let him wait for me in the living room."
This is an important meeting with Shunroku Hata tonight. It is arranged in the living room of the room, which shows the informality and has a gentle atmosphere.
Kage Sasaki was the section chief of the Chinese Strategy Section of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters, which was a scientific research unit similar to the Strategic Research Institute of later generations of China.
But this Kage Sasaki is not a simple nerd. He originally served as the captain of the Sendai Division. As soon as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out, he was recalled to the staff headquarters. Kage Sa's unique opinion is that the Japan-China Incident has expanded from North China to
Central China, if the line south of Nanjing is not stopped immediately, the two peoples of Japan and China will forever be trapped in endless suffering."
At that time, Shunroku Hata scorned this statement, but the facts proved that the statement of Colonel Kage Sasaki was correct. The current Japanese-Chinese war has lost control, and the Japanese have become unable to stop while riding a tiger.
As the top commander of the Japanese army in central China and Japanese army general Shunroku Hata, he knew very well how difficult this war was. The war has reached this point, let alone occupying all of China. Even the Kwantung Army has been driven to North Korea. From now on
Judging from the situation, as long as one of the two countries, Japan and China, does not fall, this war will continue endlessly.
As of June 1938, Japan's regular infantry only had one Guards division left in Tokyo in the entire country, and the remaining dozens of divisions were all used in the Chinese battlefield. And just one Manchuria campaign said
The army suffered nearly hundreds of thousands of casualties. Domestic troops are already running low, and weapons, equipment, supply and demand, and energy are already scarce. Germany and the United States were stimulated by Chahar's victory like a lion in estrus. U.S. Secretary of State Hull actually said categorically
It is really unreasonable to ask Japan to withdraw its troops from all of China.
The anger of Shunroku Hata and Masahashi Nihon was indescribable. It felt like "being slapped on the face by a good friend for no reason."
However, despite being angry, Shunroku Hata had to admit that if Japan's war in China at this time did not make any big improvement, it could only last for eight months to a year at most. If it exceeded this time, Japan's own war would
The economy will not be able to sustain it, so this is why Shunroku Hata asked Colonel Kage Satoaki to come over today.
Kage Sasaki walked into Commander Hata Shunroku's living room. Hata Shunroku asked Kage Sa some trivial matters about Tokyo in a very gentle and casual manner, such as the weather, market supplies, etc. Then he naturally turned to the topic.
"Ying Zuo-kun is really young and promising. Even Tokyo is praising your outstanding wisdom and bravery. The words you said before returning to China last time are still echoing in my ears. It's a pity that no one listened."
At first, Shunroku Hata praised Shoichi Kagesa.
However, Yingzuo Zhenzhao did not dare to get carried away. He still sat aside politely and bowed his head and thanked him: "When Your Excellency, Commander, was presenting the award, the temporary graffiti I made unexpectedly alarmed Your Majesty. I am very frightened."
At this time, Ikeda Kazuko walked in gently, gave the two of them a cup of tea, and then bowed and left.
Shunroku Hata took a sip gently and asked: "Kagezuo-kun, what do you think of the current war between Japan and China?"
Colonel Yingzuo Zhenzhao hesitated for a while and then said resolutely: "Currently, our empire is at a disadvantage. If we don't find a way to reverse the situation quickly, the fate of our empire will be worrying."
After finishing speaking, Kage Sasaki looked at Hata Shunroku with some uneasiness, waiting for the thunderous wrath from the commander. Unexpectedly, Hata Shunroku sighed and nodded: "King Sa, you are right, the current situation in the empire is indeed worrying.
The Chahar government will launch an attack on North China at any time. General Sugiyama Moto has sent several reports to the base camp to mobilize troops from central China, but I have rejected them all. Do you know why?"
Yingzuo Zhenzhao said: "I understand, naturally it is because our Central China Expeditionary Force is insufficient in strength."
Shunroku Hata shook his head, "Not only that, we also need to maintain a deterrent effect against Yucheng Masahe. If we cannot maintain a deterrent effect against Yucheng Masahe, then wait until they turn all their troops to deal with us.
Then we become passive.”
Yingzuo Zhenzhao bowed and said, "Hai has learned a lesson."
"I recruited you today because there is something I want you to do." When Hata Shunroku said this, he saw that Kage Sasaki's face was still calm, and he nodded secretly and said: "Now we really need the National Congress Party to oppose Chiang Kai-shek.
With the support of the powerful forces, you secretly go to Yucheng and tell Wang Jingwei that our empire has no intention of invading their territory. In the past, it was really helpless, but Chiang’s army repeatedly provoked disputes innocently, so our army had no choice but to fight back. Hope they
Forgive me."
Yingzuo Zhenzhao said calmly, "Commander, do you want the Chongqing government to fight among themselves?"
"Yes." Shunroku Hata nodded. "The Chinese people are very smart, but they are too smart, so none of them are willing to be inferior to others. Therefore, the thousands of years of war history in China is almost a history of internal strife. It was like this now.
The same is true. As long as Wang can fight with Chiang, we will be the ones who benefit in the end. You understand."
"Hai, Commander, please rest assured. I have already contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chongqing Government. Someone from them will be here in two days. Please meet me in person." Yingzuo Zhenzhao replied loudly.
"Oh" Shunroku Hata asked with great interest: "Who are they?"
"Gao Zongwu and Mei Siping."
"It's them." Shunroku Hata shook his head slowly, "I'm not very interested in diplomatic negotiations, you can figure it out yourself."
Shadow Sadaaki seemed to want to cheer up Shunroku Hata and said: "Diplomatic negotiations are very interesting. If you are not careful, it will become an eternal joke. Two years ago, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of China made a joke. He said that Manchuria is like
She is Hua Xia's wife. Now Japan has had a relationship with her and lured her away from home. It is indeed very unpleasant to be a husband, but he has no intention of pursuing his wife who has changed his heart. In addition, the other man is prone to fighting.
It's quite troublesome. The husband has no choice but to endure it and pretends not to see this shameless relationship. But now Japan is taking advantage of the husband's weakness and is planning to hold a public wedding ceremony with Manchuria recently and proposes that China must
Also attend, no matter what, this is something China cannot tolerate."
Shunroku Hata couldn't hold back his laughter anymore and burst into laughter.
After a long time, he said: "Okay, I will meet them in person in two days."
"Thank you, Commander, for your trust." Yingzuo knew it was time to leave, so he stood up, bowed deeply and said, "Tonight, thanks to the Commander's favor, I have taken up so much time. I am very uneasy, so I have to leave."
Shunroku Hata was still smiling: "You can rest assured, Mr. Kage, only the two of us know about tonight's conversation. We can borrow a sentence from Chiang Kai-shek: Politics is secrets, secrets are politics, and politicians do not have to let their left hand do what they want.
My right hand knows. You do your job well and I appreciate your straightforwardness."
Yingzuo Zhenzhao bowed deeply again and turned to leave.
As soon as Kage Sasaki left, Kazuko Ikeda walked in and reported softly: "Your Excellency, Commander, the commander of the 15th Division, Yoshio Iwamatsu, has arrived and is waiting for your summons outside."
"Oh." Shunroku Hata walked around for a few times and then said, "Please come in."
As soon as Yoshio Iwamatsu entered the living room, Shunroku Hata handed him a copy of the Japanese base camp's operational outline for situation assessment after the capture of Xuzhou.
Iwamatsu Yoshio's eyes first came into contact with a paragraph of text outlined in red pen: "The essence of the war against China is a protracted war. Instead of persisting in pursuing the Chiang regime with force, which has become a local political axe, it is better to maintain the necessary force and pursue
The construction of New China is moving forward. If it is purely based on combat, further searching for the enemy's weaknesses to attack, or hoping to partially seize strategic points, although there is some hope, but given that such operations often outweigh the gains, the losses should be mainly focused on ensuring the security of the occupied area.
should."
Iwamatsu Yoshio said doubtfully: "Your Excellency, Commander, this combat outline is different from last year's outline."
Shunroku Hata pulled out a chrysanthemum from the jade bottle, smelled it, and threw it aside. He looked at Yoshio Iwamatsu and sneered: "When the war just started last year, some people said that the war would be resolved in three months. Now,
How can we fight back and forth and even lose Manchuria? How long can we hold on? I don’t think anyone is sure. Commander Iwamatsu, are you mentally prepared for a protracted war?"
Yoshio Iwamatsu didn't know how to answer.
"Your task now is to consolidate our occupied areas and build good relations with the local people. You can no longer use Matsui Iwane's methods. You must restrain the soldiers and cannot burn, kill and loot at will, let alone annihilate women at will."
The people are angry, the 11th Army has come up with a plan that I think is very good, you can see it for yourself."
After saying that, Kazuko Ikeda came over and handed a piece of information to Yoshio Iwamatsu.
This is a report on the need for comfort women.
The Eleventh Army has a total of more than 2,000 officers and assistants, including 56 generals, each of whom is required to be paired with a comfort woman on a long-term basis, and 56 of them are required; there are 800 officers above the rank of major sergeant, and every two officers are assigned to a comfort woman.
Four hundred are needed; there are more than 1,200 lieutenants, with one comfort woman for every five, so 250 are needed; more than 310,000 soldiers, one comfort woman for every 100, a total of 3,100 are needed.
Thirty-eight hundred comfort women are needed.
Looking at this plan, Iwamatsu Yoshio couldn't help but be stunned.