Li Zongren looked at the battle report, nodded and said, "Okay, very good. Now most of the battles between all parties are over and the dust has settled."
Li Pinxian also took a breath and said, "This is our first big victory since the war started."
Li Zongren took off his white gloves and said, "Let's go out with me. Our reporter friends have been waiting for a long time."
Since the Battle of Taierzhuang and later the decisive battle in Southern Shandong, countless reporters have gathered in Xuzhou, waiting for the latest news.
The news that Li Zongren was going to hold a press conference immediately excited the reporters who had been waiting for many days. They saw Li Zongren and Li Pinxian entering the press conference hall with a group of guards.
Li Zongren looked at the countless flashing lights and said with a smile, "Dear journalists, welcome everyone. I have a news to announce to you."
Seeing Li Zongren's smile, everyone knew what the news was, and all the reporters suddenly became even more excited.
Li Zongren looked at it and said slowly, "The Battle of Lunan, no, the Battle of Xuzhou, has been successfully concluded today. Our army jointly mobilized 13 armies and seven independent divisions, brigades and other special forces.
The army has more than 300 aircraft and 350,000 soldiers. After a series of battles such as the Linyi Defense Battle, the Teng County Defense Battle, the Taierzhuang Defense Battle, the Taierzhuang Encirclement and Annihilation Battle, the Hundred Mile Chase, and the Linyi Decisive Battle, 70,000 soldiers were killed and wounded.
The entire 10th Division of the Japanese Army and most of the 5th Division were annihilated. The estimated number of personnel is more than 50,000. The specific number of casualties and annihilations are still being calculated and will be disclosed in an announcement in a few days. This is the first time since the July 7th Incident that our army has
The first major victory was also the first failure of the Japanese strategic offensive, but it was definitely not the last. Our army will win one victory after another in the future until the Japanese army is completely driven out of China."
"La la la la." Both Chinese and foreign reporters stood up and applauded. Everyone knew how sensational tomorrow's newspapers would be.
A reporter stood up and said, "Dear Chief Li, this is China's first victory since the war began. You are truly our number one general in the war of resistance."
Li Zongren shook his head modestly, and a reporter came out and said, "I think he can be called the first person in the Anti-Japanese War."
The first person in the Anti-Japanese War? Li Zongren felt secretly happy, but he quickly said, "This title should belong to the Chairman of the Generalissimo. I can never afford it."
"Excuse me, is the news that the commander of the Japanese Tenth Division was captured true?" a reporter stood up and asked.
"Is there such a thing? Why didn't I know?" Li Zongren frowned and asked Li Pinxian next to him.
Li Pinxian looked at the person who spoke and whispered, "I know that reporter. He is a child of the Chen family. They should have gotten the news from Wuhan."
Li Zongren was furious. What do you mean? He caught the Japanese division commander and instead of telling him about the military region commander, he directly reported it to Wuhan? Is there anyone like him as the military region commander along the way? Is there any military discipline?
Li Zongren looked at the crowd of reporters in the audience and knew that this was not the time to get angry. He took a deep breath and said, "As for this issue, it is all the reward for the hard work of our soldiers. As for whether he is the commander of the Japanese Tenth Division,
It needs to be confirmed again. Once there is news, we will announce it as soon as possible."
Li Zongren was not in any mood at this time, so he said a few words and left.
Back in the office, Li Zongren closed his eyes and was thinking about something. Li Pinxian came in and said, "There is a telegram from Wuhan. The Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China asked us to continue to march troops to completely drive the Japanese army out of Shandong and to send us more troops."
Li Zongren suddenly started fighting. He poked the map hard and said, "Fight, fight, fight, what to fight? The Japanese have only two divisions. If we continue to pursue them, we will go deep alone. If we don't fight, we will all withdraw and prepare for the second attack."
The Battle of Xuzhou."
Li Pinxian said worriedly, "Would this be inappropriate?"
Li Zongren laughed angrily and said, "This is fighting, not politics. Besides, I can't command his Central Army at all. If I can do anything, I'll just respond like this."
——Tokyo Imperial Conference
Hirohito looked at Konoe and the others who had their heads lowered in front of him, knocked on the table with Yu Ruyi and said, "What's wrong? Are they all mute? What about the three-month oath to resolve China? What about the strategy of promoting peace through fighting? Why not?"
Have you spoken? Aren't you usually very talkative? Tell me!!!" Hirohito knocked hard, and Yu Ruyi broke into two halves.
Konoe Fumimaro knew that he was the Prime Minister and had to answer. He raised his head cautiously and said, "Your Majesty, there are special reasons for Lunan's defeat. Please let Rong Chen wait for a report. Moreover, although our army lost more than 40,000 people in this battle, the National Army's
The loss will be at least over 100,000, and our army is still proud of being defeated."
Hirohito took a breath, calmed down, returned to his usual calm, and began to speak in a crane voice again, "It's a good thing that you will be honored even if you lose. Okay, you say."
Konoe Fumimaro took out a document from his back and raised it above his head and said, "Your Majesty, please take a look. This is top-secret information from the commander of the Fifth Division, Itagaki Seishiro."
Hirohito nodded, and the guard took the document and handed it to Hirohito. Hirohito looked at it, but his eyes widened. He slowly closed the document and asked, "Is everything in this true?"
Konoe Fumimaro immediately replied, "It's all true. The captured Lucia Air Force pilot has been sent to Tokyo. We also immediately used agents within Lucia. It is said that Lucia has handed over military equipment of several armies to China.
It also provided more than 300 aircraft and pilots, and intelligence also showed that Stalin also had the idea of increasing assistance."
Hirohito looked at Gen Sugiyama and asked, "Does the Army Ministry have any thoughts on this?"
Sugiyama Gen immediately said, "Your Majesty, according to our analysis, the reason why Chiang Kai-shek is unwilling to surrender is simply because he has extravagant hopes for the outcome of the war. The source of this extravagant hope was initially the hope that European and American countries would intervene in us, just like
The Battle of Shanghai on 129 was the same as the Three Kingdoms' intervention that year, but what disappointed Chiang Kai-shek was that European and American countries were afraid of our country's strength and were unwilling to interfere with our actions.
But now Stalin has given Chiang Kai-shek a lot of aid, giving Chiang Kai-shek the courage to fight again. Therefore, if we want to solve the China Incident, we must completely destroy Chiang Kai-shek's courage to fight, and we must make Lucia unable to fight.
Provide intermediary support to Chiang Kai-shek."
Hirohito nodded and said, "Go on, what are your plans?"
Sugiyama Gen's eyes were shining as he said, "We have made a plan to increase our troops. First, we will mobilize the existing troops and immediately launch the second Battle of Xuzhou. We will definitely avenge our shame and capture Xuzhou first to prepare for the rest.
Foreshadowing, this time we will attack the north and south at the same time and mobilize more than five divisions of troops.
In addition, within two months, the strength of the imperial army in China Pass will be increased from the current sixteen divisions to thirty divisions, and the number of troops is expected to reach 800,000. The Kwantung Army in Manchuria will also have five divisions.
to ten divisions, and then mobilize 25 of the 30 divisions in the pass to launch simultaneous attacks from Henan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu and other directions to jointly attack Wuhan. They must completely annihilate the main force of Chiang Kai-shek's army.
The Chinese government no longer has the will to resist. At the same time, in order to punish Lucia for supporting China, the Kwantung Army will dispatch five divisions from Manchuria to make Lucia realize her mistake. If all goes well, the war will begin in
It will end before the end of this year.”
Konoe said in surprise, "Sending troops to Lucia? Wouldn't it be too risky?"
Sugiyama Gen smiled and said, "Don't worry, we are only preparing to launch a trial attack and will not fight a full-scale war with Lucia. What's more, Germany's actions in Europe are getting bigger and bigger, and Lucia's attention will soon shift from Asia to Europe."
.
Hirohito's brows jumped when he heard this, and he looked at Finance Minister Kagoya Hoshinobu. Kagoya Hoshinobu immediately understood and asked, "Where do these expanded divisions come from? Has the War Ministry considered the issue of military expenditures?"
?”
Sugiyama Gen said excitedly, "Can't the empire even afford this amount of money? It's just a difficult period for more than half a year. Can't you see the benefits after China surrenders?"
Konoe asked, "Is there any difficulty with the Finance Minister?"
Konobu Kagoya nodded and said, "Last year our military expenditure was 3.27 billion. If the Ministry of War's plan is to be implemented, I estimate that this year's military expenditure will reach more than 6 billion."
Everyone gasped when they heard this figure. What is the concept of 6 billion yen? In 1937, Japan's entire fiscal expenditure was just over 4.7 billion yen. This time, military expenditure alone will exceed last year's fiscal expenditure by a large margin.
Cut.
Sugiyama Moto didn't want this plan to go to waste, and said excitedly, "Your Majesty, we have two paths now. One is to work hard for a year, and then get a colony dozens of times larger than ours. From then on, we will completely embark on the road to prosperity. The other is to
One way is to negotiate peace with Chiang Kai-shek, agree to Chiang Kai-shek's conditions, return to the state before the China Incident, wait for China to be strengthened by Lucia, and finally China will take back Manchuria. After all, Asia is big, but it cannot accommodate two powerful countries."
Hirohito closed his eyes and thought about it. Of course he didn't want the war to end like this. He nodded and looked at Kagoya Konobu again.
Kagoya Konobu understood and said, "If this is the case, extraordinary means must be used to ensure military expenditures."
Konoe asked curiously, "How?"
Kagoya Konobu said with a smile, "It's very simple. Print more money. Don't worry about whether it will cause inflation. I have already made a plan for this method. As long as the cabinet authorizes it, I can take action."
Hirohito asked worriedly, "How much income can we increase in a year by using special means?"
Kagoya Konobu thought for a while and said, "I can guarantee that this year's fiscal revenue can increase by more than 70% compared to last year."
Everyone looked at him sideways, wondering what his clever plan was. Hirohito nodded and said, "Then just follow the plan of the Army Ministry."
——Linyi
"What? Li Zongren said this?" Tang Enbo took the newspaper and read it. He only saw that all the credit for the Battle of Xuzhou was attributed to Li Zongren's command and Sun Lianzhong's persistence. Tang Enbo only said a few words about him, that is, that young boy.
Hu Lian has more pages than him.
"Okay, okay, this Li Delin, dares to play tricks on me?" Tang Enbo laughed.
"Commander, what should we do?" a young officer asked.
Tang Enbo patted him and said, "Don't worry, no one will take away your credit. This Li Delin really takes himself seriously. As a military commander, he will get out whenever I tell him to."
——Wuhan
"Okay, what a first person to resist Japan. I think we should just let him be the chairman of the committee." Jiang Jie looked at the newspapers that kept boasting about Li Zongren and said angrily.
Chen Brei advised: "Calm down your anger. This is just nonsense from boring reporters and is nothing to worry about."
If other people were praised in this way, Jiang Jiayi wouldn't care, but Li Zongren was the brains of the Gui clan and had huge power. Jiang Jiajie was really worried that his too much credit would pose a threat to himself.
Agent Jiang waved his staff and said, "Bray, you don't know. Keqin sent me a message saying that Li Zongren was vigorously wooing the local army in the army. Look, this newspaper is talking about the Northwest Army and the Sichuan Army. There are a few words about it."
Our Central Army and our German neighbors may not have any ideas now, but the war will eventually be fought to its end, and by then you will regret not taking action from the very beginning."
As he spoke, Agent Jiang closed his eyes and sat on the chair to think. After thinking for a while, he said, "Well, our southwest rear area is undergoing major construction. I think we need a person with high moral integrity to lead the overall situation. Let De Lin do it."
.”
Chen Brei said worriedly, "I'm worried that he won't be willing, and who will take over from Xuzhou?"
Jiang Zhonghe said hehe, "Aren't we all resisting the Japanese on the front and rear? He won't object. Besides, I won't remove him from his post. He is still the commander-in-chief of the fifth theater, but Keqin is the deputy commander. This is called
Sitting in the southwest and leading Xuzhou from afar, will I still let him come back when necessary?"
Chen Bulei saw that he could no longer persuade him, so he had no choice but to give up.
Agent Jiang added, "I heard that the news of Isoya Rensuke's capture has spread. It's really outrageous. There is no sense of confidentiality at all."
Chen Bulei nodded quickly and said yes.
Agent Jiang closed his eyes and said, "Isotani Rensuke and I are old acquaintances. Don't make it difficult for him. Let him come to see me."
After a while, Isotani Rensuke walked in wearing casual clothes.
Agent Jiang smiled and pointed to the sofa and said, "Sit down. Brother Isoya has had a hard journey. I'm afraid you didn't expect to see me like this, right?"
Isotani Rensuke shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Mr. Sun is also my teacher. I don't know how to face Mr. Sun's criticism."
Agent Jiang immediately heard that there was something wrong with Isotani Rensuke's words and said, "Brother Isotani, I want to hear your views on our war. Please tell the truth."
Isotani Rensuke nodded, thought for a while and said, "I have thought a lot during this period. First of all, I have always believed that many of Japan's policies towards China are problematic. Japan's China policy has not seen the impact of China since the Revolution of 1911.
The new direction of progress, the progress of the natural development of the nation, the understanding of ancient China and the era of warlord separatism, and the lack of understanding of the progress of a unified country represented by Mr. Chiang. Most people within the army have too much ideas about China.
Being preconceived and unable to see the general trend of China's progress, China's current alliance with Su Ronghong is ultimately caused by us."
Agent Jiang clapped his hands and said, "If everyone in your country could be as wise as you, then this war would not have started."
Isotani Rensuke smiled and said, "It's too late to say anything now. I'm also a prisoner now. It's useless to talk more."
Agent Jiang asked seriously, "Brother Isotani, does he really think that peace between China and Japan is better than war?"
Isotani Rensuke immediately replied, "Of course, I have always believed that Japan's choice of war was an extremely stupid act."
Agent Jiang smiled and nodded and said, "You go down and rest first."
Looking at Isotani Rensuke's back, Jiang Jie fell into deep thought.
——Xuzhou
"Commander, how can this chairman do this?" Li Pinxian said angrily.
Li Zongren smiled and shook his head and said, "Don't worry, Xuzhou will soon become a thorn in the side of the Japanese army. We don't know whether it will be a blessing or a curse if we leave now."
