Age of Conquest Reborn

Chapter 686 Jinling Undercurrent

Okamura Neiji looked at the great rivers and mountains of Shaanxi in Taiyuan, leaving behind the ancient capital Xi'an. His heart was as scratched as a cat, staring at Dingbian and drooling. Tang Qiuli in Wubao was not idle either, looking at the distribution of Japanese troops in Shanxi.

, he understood the reason why Okamura Neiji did not immediately cross the Yellow River to the west and attack Shaanxi. He had insufficient troops and was racing to enclose the land. He was short of manpower. He was waiting for the Kwantung Army to move south.

This cunning old devil can keep his composure. No, he cannot follow Neji Okamura's style of play. If the Kwantung Army moves south and joins the Japanese army in Shanxi, and the strength of the army is greatly increased, it will be much more difficult to fight in the future.

, a situation should be created to allow Okamura Neiji to cross the Yellow River westward as soon as possible, and consume the Japanese troops in constant battles, so that Okamura Neiji can finally be killed in Shanxi.

He sent a telegram to Tang Qiusheng, who was fighting hard with the Kwantung Army's southward troops in the east of Hebei Province. He said that the Kwantung Army should not be too tight and should be blocked appropriately. Once the Kwantung Army reoccupied Tianjin and had the intention of marching westward to the Taihang Mountains, Sulu

The mobile corps immediately returned to the Taihang Mountains to wait for orders. Tang Qiusheng, who received Tang Qiuli's order, breathed a sigh of relief. This was easy to handle.

In the past few days, Tang Qiusheng's regiment has been fighting very hard. The Kwantung Army's troops, which are basically equal in strength to him, have combat effectiveness and firepower equipment that are far superior to those of the North China Japanese army. The Kwantung Army's soldiers fight extremely fiercely. Every day, the Sulu Mobile Corps must

pay accordingly

At a high price, the Kwantung Army could be stopped from advancing. However, after about five days of fighting, the regiment's casualties had reached about 18,000 people, and more than one brigade was lost. This has never happened in the combat history of the Sulu Mobile Corps.

past things.

The Kwantung Army did not take advantage either. At least more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers fell on the land of Eastern Hebei, not counting the number of wounded soldiers. After several days of fighting, the Kwantung Army's southward corps had reduced its strength from thirteen when it first entered the Pass.

Thousands of people have been reduced to about 100,000. How can the Kwantung Army, which has never suffered heavy losses in recent years, swallow this breath? The greater the casualties, the more ferocious the fighting, continuous group charges, and human sea tactics.

, but also quite aggressive.

According to the latest order from the division commander Tang Qiuli, the Sulu Mobile Corps deliberately relaxed its frontal blocking force. The Kwantung Army troops immediately accelerated their pace and were getting closer and closer to their intended target of Tianjin. This situation gave the enemy troops

Okamura Neiji from Taiyuan brought great comfort. The only thing left was to worry about Tang Qiuli going to the west bank of the Yellow River to increase his troops.

While Okamura Neiji started to prepare the operational plan for attacking Shaanxi, he calmed down and sent a long telegram to the base camp. He felt that the fall of Tianjin, the destruction of all 60,000 defenders, and the death of the lieutenant general commander should be reported

, there is an explanation or a statement, now is the best time,

Neji Okamura cunningly analyzed that if he sent a telegram as soon as Tianjin fell, he would be very passive and would end up similar to the fate of Kozuki Seiji. At the very least, he would have to be transferred out of North China, and his position would be taken by other generals.

To replace it would not be to live up to the expectations and entrustment of all colleagues in the Kwantung Army.

Therefore, after he lost Tianjin, the telegrams from the country, the base camp, and the staff headquarters were just "drag", using the excuse of commanding operations in the Taihang Mountains, conquering Taiyuan, and occupying the entire Shanxi Province. The situation was different. From Tashiro

From the beginning of Anhui Ichiro, to Xiangyue Qingsi, he has always been around Pingjin. No commander of the Imperial North China Expedition Army has had such a record. Losing Tianjin and capturing Shanxi, whichever is easier, the base camp and the general staff will naturally

Will consider.

In the telegram, Okamura Neiji asked for punishment and asked the base camp to remove him from his position as commander of the North China Expeditionary Force. He was willing to take full responsibility for the fall of Tianjin and fully accept any punishment from the base camp to comfort the 60,000 soldiers of the Tianjin Empire and Ono.

The ghost of Lieutenant General Ichiro, this is a typical tactic of retreating to advance. Okamura Neji has figured out the pulse of the base camp. At this time, even if he wants to chop off his own head, he has to wait for the entire Shanxi Province to be completely occupied and become

During the Imperial Holy War on the home front.

After receiving a telegram from Okamura Neiji to resign, this time, the senior officials in the Japanese military base camp surprisingly did not get into a fight, and each faction did not use the Tianjin incident to make a fuss. They all agreed on stabilizing the situation in North China.

Emperor Hirohito is very happy. He does not want the Tianjin incident to become a arena for various factions to compete for interests and a debate stage to attack each other.

On a deeper level, after the war against China began, in less than a year, North China changed three commanders one after another. Is it because the generals of the Japanese Empire are incompetent, or is that China devil Tang Qiuli powerful?

, not to mention affecting the morale of the Imperial Army soldiers, where is the Imperial Army’s face? Where is my face? The Navy will find reasons to attack the Army again, and it will have to work hard to find a balance.

In fact, the heads of various factions in the Japanese military also considered the actual situation. They saw that the North China region of China had become a quagmire for the generals of the Imperial Japanese Empire, and two commanders were trapped. How could Okamura Neiji achieve such a big victory?

Achievements, pay attention to prove his military command ability, and furthermore, oppose

The faction also has no suitable candidate to replace Okamura Neiji. If a general is sent to take charge of the overall situation in North China, his performance will not be as good as Okamura Neiji. It will not only lose his personal face and future, but also the face of his faction. Okamura

This guy Ningji Murura is currently the best candidate to take charge of the North China region.

Emperor Hirohito had some insight into the thoughts of these important ministers, but he did not say it clearly. In his opinion, no matter which faction's generals can win the war for himself and the empire, they are the best candidates. What's more, the Imperial Staff Headquarters

is planning an attack on Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing

It is said that the peace negotiation operation is progressing smoothly. Once the Nanjing government can stand aside from the war in North China, all the power of the empire will be used to deal with the China devil Tang Qiuli. After Tang Qiuli's power is eradicated, it will then turn to deal with the Nanjing government.

This is a great plan to defeat each one.

Therefore, Okamura Neiji received the telegram from the base camp. Not only did he not blame a word for the fall of Tianjin and the death of the soldiers, he also praised him for occupying Shanxi and praised him as a famous army general and a hero of the empire for his contribution to His Majesty the Emperor's Holy War in Greater East Asia.

Outstanding people who have made outstanding contributions were awarded royal medals. Okamura Neji smiled proudly. All this was within his expectation and was the result he wanted most. He got everything, including honors.

But Okamura Neiji was not a guy who was easily satisfied. He struck while the iron was hot and called back to the base camp. In addition to expressing his gratitude and determination to serve His Majesty the Emperor, he analyzed the situation in North China and began to put forward conditions, asking the country to increase the strength of the North China Expeditionary Force.

Whether it is the army or navy, aircraft or artillery, tanks and vehicles, the more the better.

The Japanese base camp called back and said that they could add more troops and equipment to the North China Expeditionary Force, but they had to wait. The newly formed divisions in the country had not yet been formed. They would not be able to go to North China until at least the end of August this year. Okamura Neiji couldn't wait any longer.

He received extremely unfavorable news that made him restless and anxious.

Tang Qiuli massively increased his troops on the Yellow River defense line in Shaanxi. New troops were arriving at all major crossings. The number and number were unknown. In fact, this was Tang Qiuli's fire for Okamura Neji.

It means that Okamura Neiji can cross the river to attack with his existing troops without waiting for the arrival of the Kwantung Army troops. In addition, in recent days, the Kwantung Army's march south has accelerated, and he does not believe that the old devil Okamura Neiji is not tempted.

A large number of Japanese spies have recently sneaked into Shaanxi. The situation has long been grasped by the Secret Service. Tang Qiuli ordered Sun Zhenbang's troops to hide among the civilian armed forces in Dingbian. He instructed the Secret Service not to alert the Japanese spies and let these couriers pass on the intelligence.

Taking it back, this is the modern version of "Chiang Kai-shek's Stolen Book". On the Yellow River defense line and in Shaanxi Province, there is no main force of the army, only civilian armed forces, which is enough to whet the appetite of Okamura Neji and prompt him to take action as soon as possible.

Tang Qiuli didn't know the inside story of the Japanese base camp meeting. He was busy deploying troops in Wubao, Shaanxi Province, and used Japanese spies to dig holes for Okamura Neiji. He didn't know yet that at this time, dark clouds were rolling in Nanjing, and there was a wave of

The undercurrent is quietly surging, and the target is himself.

From the beginning of November of the 27th year of the Republic of China, the third phase of the Battle of Songhu started. By the end of the month, the Japanese army retreated in panic without taking any advantage. For more than half a year, the Japanese never wanted to attack Songhu again.

Any military operation, even

The Japanese warships that had been loitering like ghosts in the sea off Wusongkou also disappeared. The Nanjing government and the Central Army troops stationed in the Songhu area waited in fear for more than a month, but no Japanese guns came.

The sound of gunfire.

The uneasy Spring Festival of 1938 was also calm as usual. The Nanjing government breathed a huge sigh of relief from top to bottom. The Japanese did not dare to come. The Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou areas had returned to their former prosperity and bustle, and business photos were restored.

do, invest

Machine dealers are still buying and selling short, gang leaders are still opening incense halls and recruiting apprentices, busy building fires and fighting for territory, ordinary people are also busy for food, clothing, housing and transportation. The war a few months ago seems to have happened in the very distant past.

The senior officials of the Nanjing government were still scheming and scheming, strolling around flower houses and drinking wine, and had forgotten the sound of guns and artillery. At this time, in North China, Tang Qiuli and the hundreds of thousands of troops under his command were fighting inextricably with the Japanese.

There was smoke everywhere, corpses littered the fields, and there was no threat from the Japanese on the surface. Some officials in the government began to think about Tang Qiuli, whose reputation was getting bigger and bigger, his power was unlimited, and he was conquering more and more territories.

They got together when nothing happened, looking for Tang Qiuli's flaws with their eyes wide open, and gradually formed a small group that wanted to overthrow the Tang Dynasty. The scary thing is that the members of this group were all high-ranking officials with actual power in the Nanjing government.

Senior officials, they inevitably exerted a subtle influence on the policy direction of the national government and the attitude of the Japanese government. They almost became the mainstream opinion of the national government in decision-making, and they gradually attracted the attention of Chairman Chiang Kai-shek.

(To be continued)