Kanin Miya Zaijin, a member of the Japanese royal family. He studied at a French military academy and holds the rank of marshal. He is one of the few professional soldiers in the Japanese royal family. He has participated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1888-88 and the Russo-Japanese War, although he is now seventy-three years old.
, but still serves as the Chief of General Staff of the Japanese Army and controls the command of the Japanese army.
When Hanin Gong Zaijin walked into the imperial study, he saw Hirohito furious at the two guards who were on duty, but the cause of the incident was just that the two guards opened the window.
Of course Xianyuan Gong Zairen knew that these two guards had just suffered an unreasonable disaster.
Normally, Hirohito would never have been furious with Miyagi's guards on duty, but today's situation was special.
Seeing Hanyuan Gong Zairen walking in slowly, Hirohito's anger immediately transferred to his imperial uncle, and he said to Hanyin Gong Zairen with a livid face: "Imperial uncle, have you seen all the comments in the Western media?
"
Xianyuan Gong Zairen nodded and responded: "Report to Your Majesty, I have already heard about it."
Hirohito's eyes showed cold anger, and then asked: "I wonder what the emperor's uncle thinks?"
Kanin Miya Zaihito didn’t know how to answer Hirohito. After Fushimi Miya Toshihiko was attacked to pieces early yesterday morning, Kanin Miya Zaihito foresaw that the Western media would definitely make a fuss about this matter, especially Britain and France.
Japan is ridiculing, but this is indeed the case. Major newspapers in Britain and France, such as The Times and Le Figaro, all published the news of Fushimiya Toshihiko's death in the attack on their front pages today, expressing their disapproval of the Japanese army in words.
, quite mocking of the Japanese royal family.
Take The Times, for example, the headline is quite irritating: A small country is ridiculously overconfident, and the prince crushes China!
Due to the vast distance across the ocean, Hanin Gong Zaijin did not see the original English version of The Times, but the Japanese translation version translated by the secret service was enough to drive Hanin Gong Zaijin to death. What is a small country?
Are the British Three Islands much larger than the four Japanese islands? What does it mean to be ridiculous and overconfident? If you, the United Kingdom, become an empire on which the sun never sets, why don’t we, the Japanese Empire, be allowed to dominate Greater East Asia?
However, the cold wave of public opinion in Britain and France has long been in the mind of Xianyuan Gong Zairen.
But what Hanyin Gong Zairen didn't expect was that even the United States, the Soviet Union and even Germany would join the ranks of ridicule.
Especially Germany, which is now an ally of Japan, is actually taunting the Japanese army, saying that the Japanese army's combat effectiveness is so low that they can't even guarantee the safety of the commander of their sent troops. This is still facing an opponent like China. If
Facing a more powerful opponent, such as the British army, the performance of the Japanese army will probably be even worse. The editor of the German "Le Monde" even made a serious suggestion to the German government to re-examine the alliance with the Japanese government.
When he saw this paragraph, Hanyuan Palace was so angry that he tore the Japanese translation in his hand into pieces.
Previously, the German government provided a large amount of military assistance to the Nationalist government. Even after the Sino-Japanese war broke out, there were still German advisers advising the Chinese army. The Japanese government has not protested to the German government about this matter, but the German media has
It is really unreasonable to make irresponsible remarks about Japan.
If the editor-in-chief of "Le Monde" were in front of him, Hanyuan Gong Zairen would really want to have a good talk with him.
But the problem now is how to calm down Hirohito's anger. This young emperor has been regent since he was 20 years old and became emperor at the age of 25. Moreover, he has caught up with Japan's national destiny and is booming. In the more than ten years since he ascended the throne, Hirohito has also been
There has never been a bad time, so he is more proud and arrogant than Emperor Meiji.
Because of this, Hirohito became increasingly intolerant of stains in the royal family.
Now, as an elite member of the imperial family, Toshihiko Fushimi was shattered on the Chinese battlefield, and the one who attacked and killed Toshihiko Fushimi was an almost crippled Chinese army. This is simply an unprecedented shame and humiliation for the Japanese royal family, because
Fushimi Miya Toshihiko was the first member of the imperial family to die in battle, and he died in such a cowardly manner.
At that moment, Hanin Gongzai Ren carefully considered his words and said: "Your Majesty, the Western media has always been like this. Although the national power of the Empire of Japan has been growing day by day in recent years and is not inferior to the Western powers, the Western world has never really accepted us. Now Toshihiko
Unfortunately, the Chinese battlefield was shattered, and it is not surprising that public opinion in Western countries would have such a reaction."
Hirohito added: "So, how did the emperor feel about Toshihiko's uncle Yu being smashed on the Chinese battlefield?"
"Toshihiko's crushing on the Chinese battlefield is indeed a great disgrace to the empire and the imperial family. The veteran has already sent a telegram to the commander of the Central China Front, Matsui Iwane, to express the concern of the imperial family." Hirohito suddenly stopped when he said this, and for a moment he didn't know.
How should I go on?
After the Battle of Songhu broke out, the Imperial Council decided to form the Central China Condemnation Army. At that time, there were a total of six candidates for commanders, including North Korean Governor Nanjiro, Kwantung Army Commander Ueda Kenkichi, former Prime Minister Hayashi Senjuro, and Minister of War.
Sugimoto Sugi, Army Education Director Juichi Terauchi and Matsui Iwane who is at home.
At that time, most of the members present at the meeting, including Hirohito, were leaning towards War Minister Sugimoto Moto, but Kanin Miyazaihito had a close personal relationship with Matsui Iwane and pushed for Matsui Iwane to be promoted against all odds.
However, Matsui Iwane's performance was quite inconsistent with his reputation.
First of all, the Battle of Songhu was not fought well. Due to the delay in opening up the situation in Shanghai, the base camp was forced to increase troops in Songhu again and again. In the end, it was only after the 11th Army of Yanagawa Heisuke landed from Jinshanwei that the battle was completed.
The three-month-long stalemate in the Battle of Songhu was finally broken. By this time, the Japanese army had already suffered more than 50,000 casualties.
There were 50,000 casualties, which greatly exceeded the base camp’s previous expectations.
It was not easy to win the Battle of Songhu, and due to Chiang's mistakes, hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the Songhu battlefield were defeated. The Japanese army took advantage of the victory to pursue it, and it was overwhelming. It was expected that Nanjing would be captured within a few days. As long as it was captured
After arriving in Nanjing, Matsui Iwane will become a hero of the empire, and his promotion to the rank of marshal is inevitable.
And he, Kanin Miya Zaijin, will also leave a reputation as a wise man in Japanese history.
But at this juncture, the unfortunate incident occurred where Fushimi Miya Toshihiko was attacked.
Fushimi Miya Toshihiko's arrogance and underestimation of the enemy led to his own destruction of China. This matter has nothing to do with Matsui Iwane, but the next thing is related. If Matsui Iwane cannot destroy the Chinese rout army that attacked and killed Fushimi Miya Toshihiko as soon as possible.
, cannot save face for the empire and the Japanese royal family, that is his incompetence.
The final result indeed proved that Matsui Iwane is really an incompetent person.
Matsui Iwane, with three infantry regiments and the full support of the aviation corps, failed to wipe out a Chinese defeated army of less than 500 people. In the end, he allowed this Chinese defeated army to successfully cross the Yangtze River and remain in the north of the Yangtze River.
A slogan insulting Emperor Hirohito was left on the beach. Kanin Miyazaihito simply couldn’t imagine how this battle was fought.
Apart from incompetence, Kanin Miyazaihito really can't think of any other adjective to use to describe Matsui Iwane's performance.
It's no wonder that Hirohito was so furious just now, because the slogans left by the Provisional 79th Division on the Yangtze River beach really stuck in people's throats.
"The concern of the imperial family?" Hirohito's brows twitched and he said faintly: "Uncle Emperor, the imperial family is more than just concerned about the performance of the Central China Front. Let's not talk about the outcome of the Songhu Battle. Between the three infantry regiments,
The heavy troops could not annihilate a defeated Chinese army of less than 500 people. How can such a person be worthy of being a commander? Let's replace him!"
The last sentence, let's replace him, Hirohito said categorically, he could no longer tolerate Matsui Iwane's performance.
Kanin Miyazaihito sighed inwardly. He originally wanted to fight for Matsui Iwane again, but when he saw Hirohito's tone, he knew that he was determined. He immediately took out the resignation letter that Matsui Iwane had just sent.
He sent a telegram and said: "Your Majesty, Matsui Iwane has sent a resignation telegram."
"He still has some self-awareness." Hirohito snorted and added, "Convene an imperial meeting immediately to decide on replacements for the commanders of the Central China Front Army and the Central China Condemnation Army."
Soon, the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Prime Minister of the Land, Prime Minister of the Sea, and various officials who were qualified to attend the imperial meeting who stayed in Tokyo came to the palace one after another and started the imperial meeting.
Due to Matsui Iwane's previous failure, Kanin Miyazai Jin chose to keep his mouth shut this time.
In the end, Emperor Hirohito made the final decision and selected the Minister of War, Gen. Sugisugimoto, to fly to China and serve as the commander of the Central China Front and the commander of the Central China Condemnation Force.
History goes awry here.
After Shan Shanyuan received the letter of appointment, he immediately issued an order to the Chongteng detachment of the Central China Condemnation Army as the commander of the Central China Condemnation Army. He ordered the Chongteng Detachment to attack the Chongteng Detachment that was advancing along the Yangtze River in the direction of Yangzhou.
They turned around and returned to Nantong from Jingjiang to mop up the remnants of the temporary 79th Division. At the same time, they ordered the aviation corps to go all out to provide tactical guidance.
Shan Shanyuan knew very well that the reason why Matsui Iwane was dismissed from his post was not because of his poor performance in the Battle of Songhu, let alone because the advance to Nanjing was not fast enough, but because he failed to wipe out the remnants of the temporary 79th Division.
If he can save the face of the Japanese royal family and the empire, if he does not want to make the same mistake as Matsui Iwane, he must deal with the temporary 79th Division as soon as possible.
When Chongteng detachment received the order, the troops had just crossed Jingjiang and were attacking in the direction of Yangzhou.
Although Shigeto Chiaki was very dissatisfied, he finally carried out the order of the dispatched army headquarters and led the Shigeto detachment based on Taiwan's mixed brigade to turn east and go to the vicinity of Nantong to mop up the remnants of the temporary 79th Division.
It had been less than four hours since the remnants of the temporary 79th Division came ashore from Nantong and wrote provocative slogans on the riverside.
In less than four hours, the commander of the Japanese Army's Central China Front was replaced.
This also shows how eager the Japanese royal family or Emperor Hirohito is to save face.
Of course, along with Yi Shuai, commander of the Japanese Central China Front, the chief officers of the three infantry regiments responsible for mopping up the remnants of the temporary 79th Division were also punished without exception, especially the agent of the 6th Infantry Regiment.
The captain of the regiment, Akita, suffered the worst. He was actually ordered by the headquarters to protect his honor in a samurai manner.
