9.29 Northward

Sadao Araki looked at Kazunari Ugaki, who was sweating profusely, and his eyes were full of complicated emotions!

Originally, he really hoped that the combination of Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe and Foreign Minister Kazunari Ugaki would extinguish the army's ambition to attack Wuhan, but from the current situation, it seems that this is no longer possible!

How could poor Foreign Minister Ugaki Kazunari have thought that within a few tens of minutes of the previous adjournment, Land Minister Seishiro Sakagaki had already reached an agreement of cooperation with the Minister of Military Command, the Minister of the Navy, and the Speaker of the Privy Council in private, and the army even accepted the harsh demands put forward by the navy in order to gain the support of the cabinet members! In the face of Seishiro Sakagaki, a new land minister who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, Ugaki Issei's performance is really a little powerless. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Can the growth of age really wear away people's ambitions? Sadao Araki sighed in his heart! Looking at Kazunari Ugaki, who was isolated by everyone, Sadao Araki couldn't help but feel a sense of empathy!

Isn't this more than déjà vu? The cold eyes that everyone looked at Kazunari Ugaki reminded Sadao Araki of his retirement life for more than four years after he stepped down from the land minister.

As a politician, the most painful thing is not to lose your official position, but that no one cares about what you say. Now Foreign Minister Kazusei Ugaki is suffering from this!

The people who were also staring at Foreign Minister Ugaki Issei were also Lu Xiang Sakagaki Seishiro, and his current mood can be said to be diametrically opposed to Ugaki Issei! The actions of the Minister of the Combined Military Order, the Minister of Customs, and the Speaker of the Privy Council have already been effective, and Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe suddenly fell silent, which is equivalent to indirectly pronouncing the "death sentence" of Foreign Minister Ugaki Kazunari, so it seems that the army's plan to attack Wuhan in the west will no longer encounter any resistance!

It's a pity that Seishiro Sakagaki was a little bit early in his joy! Sadao Araki, who seemed to have been supporting Seishiro Sakagaki before, suddenly opened his mouth at this time:

"Vice Minister Tada, if the Imperial Army starts an operation in Wuhan now, can the troops and transportation capacity be guaranteed to be full?"

Sadao Araki's question surprised Deputy Chief of Staff Tada, and he looked at Sadao Araki with a puzzled gaze, and replied mechanically: "The problem of military strength is already being solved, and I believe that in the near future, with the arrival of the Taiwan garrison and the newly built army divisions in China, the combat strength of the imperial army on the Chinese battlefield can be fully guaranteed!" As for transportation, the situation is not so rosy! The terrain on the periphery of Hankou is complex, with many rivers, lakes and marshes, and the movement of mechanized troops is restricted, which requires extremely high troop movements. In addition, the Yellow River Flood Area formed by the Yellow River has not yet been completely stabilized, and the Third Fleet is currently busy rescuing several army divisions and regiments in the Yellow River Flood Area, and it is impossible to withdraw at all. If the army were to launch an immediate attack, it would inevitably need a large number of naval transport ships. Then other fleets can only be temporarily transferred, but due to the limitation of the shipping lane, even if there are enough ships, it will be difficult to assemble on time, so in general it is very difficult! ”

After listening to what Tada Jun said, Emperor Hirohito's face began to turn yin again! Seishiro Sakagaki didn't expect that Sadao Araki would jump out and pull the army's hind legs, so he seemed a little helpless.

In a hurry, Seishiro Sakagaki cast an inquiring glance at Sadao Araki, but Sadao Araki turned his face away as if he didn't see Seishiro Sakagaki's gaze.

What an irony! But only a few minutes later, and the cold reception received by Foreign Minister Ugaki Kazunari also fell on Seishiro Sakagaki!

In the eyes of the important ministers of the Konoe cabinet, Sadao Araki and Seishiro Sakagaki have too much in common. Both of them believe that Japan's foreign policy should be adjusted in the footsteps of the military, and not the other way around, foreign policy should command the army! It is precisely because he feels that Sadao Araki's views are very similar to his own, that Seishiro Sakagaki will take it for granted that Sadao Araki, the "military uniform" minister, will definitely support the army's plan to attack Wuhan.

But it's a pity that Seishiro Sakagaki is obviously overconfident this time! Although Sadao Araki supported the army to continue to expand the results of the war, Sadao Araki's eyes were not on Wuhan in the west, but aimed at the north! He had long coveted the Soviet Union, which was getting weaker and weaker by the Great Purge!

As one of the founders of the "Northward Expansion Theory", Sadao Araki believes that the opportunity that Japan has been waiting for for many years has finally arrived!

In the northeast and Korea, the Kwantung Army and Koiso Kuniaki's Korean garrison army had already begun to mobilize secretly, and if Sakagaki Seishiro's Wuhan strategy was approved at the Imperial Council, the "northward strategy" of the Kwantung Army and the Korean garrison army would inevitably be affected, and might even be forced to postpone it indefinitely! That kind of situation is absolutely unacceptable to Sadao Araki! So when he saw that Foreign Minister Ugaki Isnari was isolated, Sadao Araki could only stand up and pull the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to help!

The enemy of the enemy is the friend, and this logic also applies in the strif of the Japanese cabinet!

Sadao Araki was born in Wakayama Prefecture. His ancestors were samurai in the feudal prefecture, but when he came to Sadao Araki's father's generation, he deviated from the traditions of his ancestors, abandoned martial arts and became scholars, and opened a private school. Although Sadao Araki was born into a family of small intellectuals, because his ancestors were samurai, he had both the clever and meticulous side of a literati and the iron-blooded and brutal side of a samurai.

Before becoming Minister of Literature, Sadao Araki served as Minister of Land for two years, and his reign coincided with a critical period in which Japan formulated its policy of foreign expansion and aggression. After the Kwantung Army launched the "918" incident, the Japanese invading army quickly occupied the three eastern provinces of China, and then marched into Rehe, encroaching on North China, and its military expansion ambitions became increasingly inflated. In Japan, bewitched by the military department, the nationalist trend of thought has risen vigorously, and a large number of right-wing groups have sprung up one after another. Every morning, the Japanese radio would broadcast the military song of the independent garrison: "Ah, the great plains of Manchuria, rising from the east of the Asian continent...... for a time, militarists of all kinds were very active up and down Japanese society.

As Minister of War, Sadao Araki wasted no time in making use of radio, newspapers, periodicals, and books to desperately clamorate for the so-called "mission of Showa Japan," talk about Japan's lifeline, and raise the flag and shout for Japan's military buildup and expansion of foreign aggression. During this time, Sadao Araki's name became a household name not only in Japan, but also as far as the European continent. At that time, someone in Germany published a book called "Ten Masterpieces of the Modern World", which juxtaposed Sadao Araki with Mussolini, Hitler and others.

Sadao Araki believed that if Japan wanted to dominate the world, it must first occupy "Manchuria" and Mongolia, that is, northeastern China and Mongolia, and sooner or later a full-scale war would start with the Soviet Union. Sadao Araki believed that in order to gain the initiative in the war against the Soviet Union, Japan must strike preemptively, and immediately "march north" to attack the Soviet Union after occupying "Manchuria."

Sadao Araki's "Theory of Advancing to the North" advocated quite influential among the young officers of the Young Zhuang faction of the Japanese Army. And the reason why Sadao Araki hates the Soviet Union so much has an extremely deep relationship with the background of the era in which he grew up.

In Sadao Araki's youth, something big happened in Japan! That is to win the Sino-Japanese War! However, in the end, Japan's gains were not as great as the Japanese people imagined! Under the strong intervention of France, Germany, and Russia, especially Russia, Japan had to spit out the Liaodong Peninsula that had been swallowed into its mouth, and the Japanese felt that they had suffered a great humiliation, and the nationalist sentiment throughout the country was unprecedentedly high, and the call for "lying down and swearing to compete with Russia" became the main voice of that era. It was under the influence of this atmosphere that Sadao Araki applied for the Army Non-commissioned Officer School.

After graduating from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School, Sadao Araki entered the Army University to continue his studies. In the end, he graduated with the first place in the 19th class of the Army University. Later, he successively served in the General Staff Headquarters and the Japanese Legation in Russia, and participated in the Siberian Expeditionary Force, becoming a well-known "expert on the Soviet Army" within the Japanese Army.

After the start of the all-out war against China, the Soviet Union not only provided China with a huge amount of loans and military supplies, but also sent the Soviet support air force to China to help the Wuhan government's troops against the Japanese army, creating a lot of trouble for Japan to annex China! This has raised the number of officers within the Japanese Army who support the "theory of northward expansion" to an unprecedented number!

Therefore, from February 1938, the Kwantung Army began to secretly prepare for the war against the Soviet Union, and proposed that the war expenses used should be paid from the expenses of the Chinese incident. Officers were also sent to inspect the border line and report their strong claims to the base camp and the North Korean army. It can be said that since then, the Kwantung Army has wanted to try the catties of the Soviets!

Later, the intelligence brought to Japan by the Soviet Union Ryushikov political general who defected directly ignited the ambitions of the Kwantung Army!

In early July, the Soviet army entered the mountainous area around Zhanggufeng. The Japanese base camp initially decided to demand that the Soviet Union withdraw its troops, and as a precaution, the headquarters also ordered the 19th Division of the Korean Army, which was close to this area, to move towards Jangkupong.

This series of events made Sadao Araki ecstatic! He thought the time had come to test the USSR!

In order to win this war with the Soviet Union, Sadao Araki felt that he had to let the imperial army on the Chinese battlefield stop first! In this way, the Kwantung Army will have enough capital to compete with the Soviets!

"In that case, the plan to attack Wuhan has only been postponed......

Although the Emperor's voice seemed a little disappointed, it was still clear and powerful! As soon as these words came out, it was equivalent to drawing an end to this imperial meeting!

Even if Seishiro Sakagaki has a lot of reluctance and regret, he can only swallow it back in his stomach first! After Emperor Hirohito disappeared behind the screen, Foreign Minister Kazunari Ugaki couldn't wait to express his gratitude to Sadao Araki, the prime minister!

"Araki-kun! Thank you so much! It was your words that prevented the Great Japanese Empire from falling into the quagmire, and I now thank you on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!"

After saying that, Ugaki Kazunari bowed to the end at Sadao Araki! But Sadao Araki didn't pay attention to Ugaki Issei, he just patted Ugaki Issei's back, and then strode out of the room.

From beginning to end, Sadao Araki helped himself! If you tell Ugaki Issei Araki Sadao now to help him deal with the land minister, Seishiro Sakagaki, is to let the Kwantung Army attack the Soviet Union without worries! Maybe Ugaki Kazunari will faint on the spot!

Compared with poor China, the Soviet Union was a strong and big polar bear! Even now, this bear is bleeding all over its body, and it is definitely not something that Japan can touch!

Just now, it was hard to pull the head of the Central China Dispatch Army, but Sadao Araki and the Kwantung Army are going to bring even more trouble to Kazunari Ugaki and his Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

This July of 1938 is not destined to be peaceful!

After returning to his residence, Sadao Araki immediately sent two telegrams, the recipients of which were Koiso Kuniaki, the commander of the Korean Army, and Kagesa Akira, the head of the Shanghai Mei Agency.

The telegram sent by Sadao Araki to Kuniaki Koiso was very brief, in which Sadao Araki reminded Koiso that the emperor and the cabinet had not yet made a final decision, and as samurai of the empire, they should share the emperor's worries!

This is actually nakedly inciting Koiso Kuniaki to provoke a war on the border! Although the current commander of the North Korean Army, Koiso Kuniaki, was ostracized by Sadao Araki back then. He was transferred out of the Ministry of War to serve as chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, but he was also a supporter of the "theory of northward expansion"! The 19th Division of the North Korean Army was the first to embark on the journey to the border, which is very revealing!

In order to realize his long-cherished wish of a decisive battle with the Soviet Union, Sadao Araki is willing to join forces with Kuniaki Koiso!

The content of the telegram sent to Kagesa is a little weird, although it is very simple, but it is very imaginative!

"How's the two-headed snake project going? Looking forward to it! ”

In just two sentences, it took a full fifteen minutes to become a ciphercode! You can imagine how complicated the encryption process is! The level of secrecy of this telegram is obviously much higher than that of the telegram to Koiso Kuniaki!

What exactly does this "Project Two-Headed Snake" refer to?

An hour later, Kagesa's call back arrived, and it took fifteen minutes to translate the cipher code into a message! Compared to Sadao Araki's call, Kagesa Zhenaki's answer was even shorter!

"Fangs have been bared!"

It seems that the Mei Agency, which has just been established not long ago, is carrying out some important task......

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Wuhan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Building.

Huang Haoran now in addition to continuing to talk to Jiang Baili in Berlin every day, is racking his brains to knock on the bamboo pole of the Soviet ambassador! Although the life is leisurely, it is inevitably a little monotonous.

The Judge Advocate General's Office postponed the sentencing of Huang Jie and Gui Yongqing again, and it should be Minister He's activities that played a role. If there is no accident, Huang Jie and Gui Yongqing will soon be successfully released from the prison of the Military Justice Department, which means that the rank of second-class general of the army is not far from Huang Haoran! (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )