Seeing Tojo Hideki and the other three being so nervous, Hirohito smiled miserably.
With a sad laugh, Hirohito said: "You don't have to be like this, I'm just joking."
"Hai!" Juichi Terauchi and Mitsumasa Yoneuchi dared to stand up tremblingly. Hideki Tojo also quickly picked up the brush that fell on the floor and put it back on the desk.
Hirohito breathed a sigh of relief and said: "So, let's discuss it now, how should we deal with this matter?"
"Your Majesty, the first thing is to eliminate the international influence." Tojo Hideki said, "I believe that we must use the propaganda machine to make it clear to our international friends, especially our friends in Germany and Italy, that the destruction of the Third Fleet was not caused by war.
The crime was because he fell into the Chinese trick and was defeated because he was undefeated."
"In addition to eliminating the influence, we must also take revenge!" Mitsumasa Yoneuchi said, "The empire must prove to the world and all international friends that the Imperial Navy has the ability to safeguard its dignity. Anyone who dares to desecrate the dignity of the Imperial Navy will be brutally punished.
They will all pay the price for their stupid behavior!"
Hirohito frowned and asked: "How do you plan to maintain the dignity of the Imperial Navy?"
Mitsumasa Yoneuchi said with murderous intent: "I thought that we should immediately form a combined fleet, and then dispatch the combined fleet to brutally bomb Shanghai, including the concessions, blowing up the entire Shanghai into a burning hell! Let the patrol battalion go to hell with Shanghai,
Otherwise, it is not enough to maintain the dignity of the Imperial Navy."
Hirohito said: "Munei-kun, do you mean to destroy both the jade and the stone? The whole of Shanghai is gone?"
"Hai!" Mitsumasa Minai paused and said, "I believe that the dignity of the Imperial Navy is above all else!"
Hirohito asked: "If Shanghai is bombed, what will happen to the imperial expatriates and Western expatriates in the concession? Are they killed together?"
Tojo Hideki also sneered: "What should we do with the remnants of the Ninth Division that are trapped in Hongkou and Yangshupu?"
"There is also international influence!" Juichi Terauchi said unfavorably, "Western countries have significant interests in the public concession and the French Concession, so how can they sit back and watch the Imperial Navy brutally bomb Shanghai? Other countries and empires can ignore it, even the British Empire
You can ignore it, but the empire cannot ignore the attitude of the United States."
Hirohito said: "Yes, I'm afraid the United States will not sit back and watch us bomb the Shanghai Concession."
Yoneuchi Mitsumasa immediately shut up. The reason why he proposed such an unrealistic plan was just to use up his "opportunity to speak". It means that I made a suggestion anyway, but you didn't adopt it.
, then it’s your turn to come up with your own countermeasures.
Sure enough, seeing Mitsumasa Yoneuchi's silence, Hirohito turned his attention to Hideki Tojo and Juichi Terauchi.
Shouichi Terauchi just said that others were sensible, but now he was asked to come up with countermeasures, but he was immediately blinded.
Finally, Tojo Hideki said: "Your Majesty, I think it is better to carry out the original plan. Although the destruction of the Third Fleet is annoying, its impact on the Shanghai battle situation is actually very limited, because there may or may not be a navy participating in the battle.
The influence of the Bureau is not great. As long as the 7th Division and the 20th Division arrive in Shanghai, the patrol battalion will no longer be able to make any waves. Even if they hide in the public concession, it will be of no use. It just provides the imperial army with access to the concession.
Excuse!"
Hirohito nodded and said quietly: "It seems that we can only do what Tojo-kun said."
After a slight pause, Hirohito added: "Tojo-kun, immediately call the remaining members of the Ninth Division and order them to hold on until reinforcements arrive no matter what!"
"Hai!"
(Dividing line)
What hangs over the Imperial Palace in Tokyo is gloom and mist, but at the same time, what floats over Shanghai is joy. Or to be more precise, what floats over the Shanghai Concession is joy. Almost everyone
All the citizens who heard the broadcast rushed to tell the news.
However, after all, only a few people heard the broadcast, and more people were accustomed to reading newspapers. At nearly noon, additional issues of various newspapers in the concession were finally printed.
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers, the patrol battalion won a great victory in the naval battle!"
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers, the patrol battalion has officially formed a navy!"
"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers, the patrol camp captured Japanese Navy Admiral Kiyoshi Hasegawa alive!"
"The newspaper was sold, the newspaper was sold. After hearing the news, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted!"
At noon, various print media in the Shanghai Concession finally printed out the latest issue.
In an instant, hundreds of newsboys suddenly swarmed onto the street, shouting shocking news one by one with their childish voices. Hearing the newsboys' cries, pedestrians wandering around on the street gathered around them.
, workers who were preparing to go home gathered around one after another, and students who were organizing charity donations also ran over.
"Give me one!"
"I'll have two!"
"I'll have one too!"
"And me, I want one too!"
Whether they are white-collar workers in suits, whether they are refugees in ragged clothes, whether they are workers stained with sweat, or students with immature faces, they all rush forward to buy today's newspapers from the newsboys. In fact, many of them
They had already heard the good news from the morning radio, but they were still willing to pay for one, for no other reason than to enjoy the pride of being a winner for a few more moments.
Since the end of the Songhu Battle, the Shanghai Concession has been completely reduced to an isolated island. In addition, what I read in the newspapers and heard on the radio is all bad news. Either the battle of so-and-so was lost again, or the city of so-and-so
It was lost again. They had heard too much bad news, but rarely heard good news.
However, today, they finally heard the great news!
Moreover, this great victory happened in Shanghai, right under their eyes. Many citizens even witnessed the big explosion that happened on the Huangpu River last night. This pride and joy became even more intense.
And that feeling of elation and elation became even stronger.
On the street, an elderly professor read the newspaper carefully word for word, his eyes filled with tears. Since the battle of Songhu, he had been completely despairing of the entire country and the entire nation. He originally thought that he would never be able to live forever in this life.
We may see Chinese troops fighting back to Shanghai and regaining Shanghai.
However, I never thought that in just two years, the Chinese army would fight back to Shanghai!
The Chinese army not only fought back to Shanghai, but also won a great victory!
"There is hope, there is hope for China!" The old professor couldn't help but burst into tears, "There is hope for China again."
A beggar wearing dirty and ragged clothes walked past the old professor. He seemed to be infected by the crowd around him. He looked at the old professor with hopeful eyes and asked pleadingly: "Sir, can you read to me?"
"Okay." The old professor agreed, not caring at all about the stench emanating from the beggar. He opened the newspaper, pointed to the front page and read it word for word to the beggar, listening to the old professor reading the newspaper.
The beggar's dim eyes gradually brightened up, and a strange look was quietly brewing in his eyes.
In fact, this beggar is also a veteran of the National Army.
(Dividing line)
At the same time, in the concession building of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Steve, Ferguson and Jonathan were still gathered together. Not only them, but also Police Commissioner Johnson and Colonel Wilson, the military attache of the US Embassy in Shanghai, also gathered together. The five people discussed only one focus, that
It was the patrol battalion's complete annihilation of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet.
"Colonel Wilson, is the information reliable?" Steve asked Wilson again.
Although the patrol camp's battlefield radio station had already broadcast the good news, Steve and the others still didn't believe it because this thing was too unbelievable. To say that the patrol camp was completely annihilated after a night of fierce fighting and was trapped in Hongkou.
They believed that the remnants of the Japanese 9th Division in Yangshupu could completely annihilate the Japanese Third Fleet on the Huangpu River and even sink the Kaga aircraft carrier anchored off the coast of Wusong, but they were killed.
I don’t believe it!
How is this possible? The army is always an army. There is no way it can go to the river, let alone the sea! How can the patrol battalion threaten the Japanese Navy’s Third Fleet? I really think that with a few sampans or small fishing boats loaded with explosives
, can sink the iron-clad battleships of the Japanese Navy? Dreaming!
However, to the dismay of Steve and the others, Wilson nodded solemnly.
Wilson nodded solemnly, and then said: "The news is absolutely reliable, because Ensign Lucas, the engineer of the light cruiser Cincinnati, was at the bow of the ship at the time and witnessed with his own eyes the repeated explosions on the warships of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet.
He also saw that the patrol camp rented a dozen tugboats to tow the Japanese warship that had lost power to Wusongkou and scuttled it."
"My God." Jonathan kept crossing himself on his chest with his fat hands, and then murmured, "Then the Japanese have suffered heavy losses this time! Although the Third Fleet is not the main fleet of the Japanese Navy, what happened?
It is also a fleet, especially the Kaga aircraft carrier, which is the absolute main aircraft carrier!"
Ferguson said: "Presumably at this time, the emperor of Japan must be crazy."
Steve said: "Next, the Japanese are bound to launch crazy revenge. If nothing unexpected happens, the Japanese Navy will definitely form a combined fleet again, and then send the combined fleet to Shanghai. Soon, Admiral Huangpu River
It will be filled with Japanese naval ships, and the sky over Shanghai will be obscured by Japanese naval aviation aircraft..."
However, before Steve could speak, Wilson waved his hand and said, "Your Excellency, Baron, I'm afraid this situation won't happen anymore because Wusongkou is blocked."