Chapter 157 Ishihara came to investigate

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In Hubei in March, the grass showed tender shoots (). As the ice and snow melted upstream, the unbearable four-month dry period finally ended, and the golden waterway of the Yangtze River regained its vitality, with river ships coming and going to crowd the waterway, but this year is a little different from previous years, in addition to the British flag is still the most, there are also many German flags, and even the stars and stripes that rarely go upstream in the past have begun to gradually increase.

Mixed in the meantime is now the Flying Tiger Battle Flag of South China, although most of them are small and broken river steamers, or even sailboats, but now who dares to underestimate this dog who dares to scold others on the political turf of Nanjing, even the Beiyang Army has no choice but to hand over the banner of Wushengguan?

The more ships represent the more prosperous the trade, incomplete statistics, only in Germany in the busiest month of January and February, Hankou and Hanyang to usher in an average of 16 river boats per day, the peak of 21 per day, the total unloading tonnage reached 8,000 tons per day (). In addition, they would not leave empty-handed, and large quantities of tea, tung oil, and raw silk were brought to Shanghai to be loaded onto ships carrying equipment to Europe. Therefore, in just these two months, the total trade volume of the wharf was as high as more than 40 million, which really made Shen Shukai and Zhang Wenjing, who took advantage of the war to hoard goods at a low price in advance for sale, make a fortune.

As more and more people know what these foreign steamers have shipped, but the Japanese flag that was generally recognized by everyone before began to be unpopular, the Nanjing incident has long been known to everyone under the propaganda of well-intentioned people, Han Yeping was almost swallowed by Japan and was exposed, thinking that the largest and best ironworks in China and the first iron mine in Asia in their province are cheaper than Japan, everyone also wears a little resentment in their eyes when they look at the Japanese flag.

The Japanese flag rarely goes to the area above Hankou, because this is not the time of the comprehensive contraction of Britain and France in the late stage of World War I, and now the Yangtze River still belongs to Britain, and Germany and the United States can come in by virtue of trade orders and the hard power behind it, although Japan and Britain are allies, but Britain will not make concessions on the interests of the Yangtze River, in fact, Britain is unwilling to reduce the burden on its allies after the war between Japan and Japan, and insists on paying high interest has warned Japan, and Whitehall has begun to worry about the situation in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, the Japanese ships that came to the middle and upper reaches were basically for Han Yeping, and among them, the most iron ore was transported.

In March of previous years, it was the season when Daye County (Huangshi) wharf produced the most ore, because it was inconvenient for large ships to enter and exit during the dry season in winter, so most of the refined iron ore mined and roughed in four months of winter was hoarded here, with a total of about hundreds of thousands of tons. So at this time, there are only a few large ore carriers in Japan and there is a constant stream of water on the docks, but today there is silence.

The improvised deer wood blocked all the roads leading to the wharf, and the thick sandbag bunkers covered the entire wharf and the Daye mining area overnight like mushrooms after the rain, and the muzzle of the machine gun poked out from the center of the sandbag, and even the cannon pulled a lot (). Red warning signs were erected on tree trunks, on the walls of houses, everywhere you could see.

"Military exercise area, avoid."

Dressed like a coolie looking for work on the dock, the young Ishihara stood in front of the notice with two companions who had come to investigate, looking at the scarlet Chinese and Japanese characters and frowning secretly.

After receiving the news of the success of the Wuchang Shouyi, he couldn't help but be excited, and asked for leave overnight to come here, disguised as an ordinary person, hoping to witness the changes in China with his own eyes. However, when he arrived in Shanghai, he was disappointed that the police and army were in disarray, and that the underworld forces were openly exploiting, robbing and raping in the name of revolution, and it was said that the amount of opium smuggled exceeded that of any other year during the Qing Dynasty.

At first, he thought that this was only a brief period of chaos after the uprising, and that Japan was also full of such chaos during the transition from the shogunate period to the Meiji period, so it was not too difficult to accept, but when he arrived in Nanjing, he was completely disappointed. As the seat of the central government, what should have been the most disciplined area was even more chaotic than Shanghai, and a large number of troops who had nothing to do and could not get military pay were scattered around Nanjing, not only setting up private checkpoints to blatantly loot the people, but also constantly harassing merchants, and even smashing, looting, and burning. The politicians turned a blind eye to these acts, as if everything was easy to say as long as the army did not bother them, and this connivance made the exploitation of the Lianghuai region more severe than during the Qing Dynasty, and many people were displaced and became revolutionary refugees.

The companions who came with him were discouraged when they saw this situation, and only he and the remaining two continued their trip to China, but judging from the disdain and ridicule on the journey, he may be left alone in the end on this trip to China.

From Jiangxi all the way to the north, the situation is similar to Nanjing, originally he also lost confidence in Hubei, but when he stepped into Wuxue, he suddenly felt that the air was much fresher. Young political officials, disciplined police and the military, the downstream often seen private cards were all banned, replaced by the unified government and taxation department, once after entering the country, there was no picture of setting up cards to collect centi, and the traders came and went a lot more conveniently, even if they were ready for spring ploughing at this time, but the government still used a lot of people to build public facilities, water conservancy, waterways and roads, as well as endless shipping, all of which are refreshing.

Is the quality of the people different? Definitely not! Or the kind of people who are small and rich, the vast majority of people still only care about stomach food, but why has there been such a huge change in the same country? And it only happened in just half a year?

The answer lies in the eye-catching notice on the pier ()!

Power!

The young man, who has been recognized as the biggest warlord in China by all countries in the world, skillfully used the war to forge an army that is absolutely obedient to his will, and then used this army to purge all opposition on the road, such as still in the three provinces, no! It is said that in the Guibei controlled areas, the anti-rebellion movement has been launched, and those uncooperative landlords, gentry and politicians have all been ruthlessly eradicated!

He is very smart, he knows that since the current China can only use the barrel of the gun to speak, then simply use the gun to the extreme, as for those opposition, the Beiyang to which they are attached is blocked from the Wusheng Pass, and the south is full of a group of compromise parties, without any support, they can only accept the end of change or expulsion and slaughter.

It can be seen that this plan was carefully conceived, because most of the soldiers in the Wehrmacht at present came from the children of peasants of poor status, and behind them were countless families eager for land and wealth. On the contrary, it won popularity because of the establishment of one national farm after another to absorb the cultivation of the landless.

This political executioner, the military strongman, knew too well how to use the means of coercing the majority, and it can be seen from the speeches of the soldiers and officers during the Nanking Incident that he followed the same path as Japan, and achieved control by arousing strong nationalism, and this has already had some effect.

He absolutely knew that Japan at this time was not something he could defeat, but he still erected this signboard! Taking advantage of the gap after the Nanjing incident, when the party had fallen apart and was too far to the north to reach, he prepared to forcibly regain control of Han Yeping.

How far can he go in the future? Will the popular sentiment he has inspired take the country out of the mudflats? Will he be able to accept the idea of building prosperity in Asia with Japan and expelling the European and American powers?

Ishihara was suddenly curious, but his two remaining companions didn't think so. Shinji Akino is an officer from a noble family of samurai in Kyoto, and his little eyes have not been facing it since he stepped into this country, not so much to inspect the future of China, but to travel and ridicule, and when he saw that the notice was actually in Japanese, he was so angry that he shouted: "Yaga! Ishihara-kun, they are deliberately provoking! Acting on New Year's Eve, it's so damn it's only March now! No army in the world will accept a drill mission that lasts for at least nine months, and he is deliberately humiliating our Great Japanese Empire! ”

"Yes! Look over there, our ore carriers have all been driven away from the docks, they should have loaded tens of thousands of tons of iron ore back to the Yawata Iron Works and smelted steel for the navy to build new battleships. Damn the Navy, why haven't they opened fire yet? The leech god is on top, and Japan will be strangled! "Shintaro Imada is from Osaka, which used to be called Settsu Province, so he believes in the god of leeches. But although he comes from rural Osaka, he has clearly not learned to see things with his mind, not his eyes.

Ishihara Wan'er frowned quietly, the analysis of the two was too idiotic, as long as the people who controlled Hubei did not want to take back Han Yeping, it was like Japan without Hachiman Steel. Thinking of this, he simply took the lead and walked towards the mining area: "Go to the Tunjun and take a look, there may be new news there." ”

The three of them were very careful along the way, and although Ishihara personally thought that the probability of the Wehrmacht making the first move was not high, he still increased his vigilance.

In addition to the Kwantung Army stationed in South Manchuria and Korea, the Japanese troops sent to China were all called Tun Army, and the number of these garrisons varied, and many of them were even dissatisfied with the number of troops, such as the Tun Army stationed in Daye, which was called a brigade, but in fact there were only more than 400 people, at best the size of a battalion.

Although the Daye Tun army was outnumbered, the main arms were fully equipped, four 75mm field guns were pulled out, and three Haqikis machine guns were also loaded, this machine gun helped the Japanese army save some face in the Rilu War, the barracks were piled with sandbags, and the muzzles of long bayonets poked out from behind the sandbags, and the air was full of tension and the frenzy of the battle was about to erupt.

The guards quickly blocked the three coolies of unknown origin, and only after Ishihara had identified them and removed their documents were they allowed to enter the barracks. The barracks were more tense than outside, and many soldiers were tying headbands with all sorts of morale-boosting words to their heads, then pulling out their bayonets and sticking their guns into their muzzles.

The barracks command post was set up in a wooden house across the wall from the ore processing plant, and when he walked to the door, Ishihara found that the narrow room was filled not only with army officers, but also with naval officers, one of whom even carried the rank of rear admiral, if he guessed correctly, it was the commander of the Third Fleet, Reijiro Kawashima.

"Report to Shaozuo, these three are ensigns from the 63rd Wing of Chunshan, and they are here to investigate." The sound of the guards' reports interrupted the discussion in the room, and Kenjiro Takakawa turned his head in dissatisfaction.

He is a bearded young man from Kobe, who participated in the Rilu War and captured a Russian colonel with his own hands, looked at the three of Ishihara, and waved his hand impatiently: "Since you are all emperors, then go and get a gun, now I need to gather all my strength." ”

Without saying a word, Akino and Kaneda followed the soldiers to get guns and prepare to defend Han Yeping, but Ishihara Wan'er stayed at the command post: "Your Excellency Shaozuo, please allow me to observe the current situation first. Gao Chuan was worried about the situation, and he was afraid that he didn't know the situation when he first came, so he nodded and agreed.

Ishihara guessed correctly, standing next to him was Rear Admiral Kawashima Reijiro, commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, who didn't seem to see Ishihara, and said arrogantly: "Your Excellency Shaoza, I just want to know how long you can hold once the war starts?" It takes five days for the Marines to arrive, and I don't want to see major changes to Han Yeping until then. ”

The arrogant tone made Ishihara Wan'er frown, and he could even see that Takakawa had clenched his fists. In Japan, the dispute between sea and land is well known, and the navy has always looked down on the army, so even if it is at the same level, it is very arrogant to speak, let alone face a young man.

"Your Excellency General, please rest assured, Takakawa will not lose the face of the Japanese Army, and I will keep them out of the mine."

"Good." Kawashima Reijiro nodded and was about to leave, but suddenly stopped at the door and deliberately said: "Takakawa Shaoza, I think it is necessary to remind you once again that the Daye Mining Area is related to our navy's shipbuilding plan, and I hope that Your Excellency will remember your words." ”

"Yaga ()."

Looking at the back of Reijiro Kawashima, Ishihara Wan'er, who heard Takakawa's low curse, could only choose to shake his head, he was only a second lieutenant and could not interfere in the dispute between land and sea, and asked, "Shaozuo, can you tell me the current situation?" ”

"It's not good." Gao Chuan still attaches more importance to the training of young officers, and although he is full of anger, he still patiently introduces the current situation.

Outside, the staff officers and guards followed Kawashima closely and asked, "Your Excellency, commander, why didn't you tell him that the marines would not be coming for the time being?" ”

"Takahashi, do you really think the Empire can go to war now? The Admiralty has informed me that unless it is necessary to avoid direct conflict as much as possible, our allies will never want us to come here to develop, as strong as possible. Kawashima glanced at the Tieshan mine in the distance with some helplessness: "We are not ready yet." ”

"Then why do you say that Han Yeping will affect the construction of battleships? Even with this iron sand, the quality of Hachiman Steel's steel was not satisfactory, so this time we had to use all British steel. And after you accentuate your tone, with the character of that Shao Zuo, you will definitely be. ”

"Is it right to shoot?" Kawashima smiled slightly: "First, these troops in the army don't know that we never use Hachiman Iron steel, I just deliberately provoked him. The Second Army has never considered its own affordability, and perhaps after they make a mistake, the budget for our remaining two battleships can be passed as soon as possible. ”

The staff officer's eyes rolled, and he understood. If the army is deflated, the status of the navy will naturally be raised, and there will be an opportunity to lobby the cabinet to increase naval appropriations and block China in the coastal waters forever.

This has nothing to do with the Navy......

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