As for Jiamusi. Umezu Mijiro can only give up for the time being. He knew that even if the Japanese army could fight, even if it was three-headed and six-armed. But eight or nine hundred people in a brigade are no match for tens of thousands. What's more, it is the soft-footed crab of the Fourth Division that is now guarding Jiamusi.

The vanguard of the 14th Division, which was originally scheduled to reinforce Jiamusi, had just arrived in Harbin, and it was still far from Jiamusi. And even if reinforcements arrive, it will no longer help. The 2nd Division had been completely wiped out, and even if the first wing of the 14th Division arrived, it would not only be ineffective, but would instead serve people snacks and food.

First of all, the commander of the 24th Division, Lieutenant General Nemoto Hiroshi, was killed, and now the commander of the 2nd Division, Toji Yasui, has lost contact for two days, and I am afraid that the situation is no longer optimistic. In less than a month, the Kwantung Army had lost two division commanders. If you lose another army commander, your career will come to an end.

At present, the official order for Shigeru Sawada to be transferred to the post of deputy chief of staff headquarters has been issued. From his original appointment as commander of the army stationed in Mongolia, Lieutenant General Yamashita Fumi, the new commander of the Fourth Division, who had been named by Umezu Mijiro to come over to reorganize the Fourth Division, had arrived in Shinkyo. In other words, the current Sawada Shigeru is actually no longer the commander of the Fourth Division, but the commander of the 13th Army of the Chinese Dispatch Army.

And to lose the responsibility of a lieutenant general's deputy chief of staff, Umezu Mijiro can't afford it anyway. Therefore, when the reinforcements could not arrive for a while, Umezu Mijiro could only send a plane to pick up Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada first. As for the remnants of the Fourth Division in Jiamusi, they still begged for more blessings.

The turmoil caused by the construction of the city wall by Jiamusi, Umezu Mijiro is not unaware. It's just that the matter is too involved, and the roots behind the Fourth Division are extremely hard. It also involves the face of a certain prince and a certain marshal in the back, and even these two are also involved, and he is not easy to deal with for a while.

What's more, in his opinion, the current shape of Jiamusi is purely a retribution for the Osaka soldiers of the Fourth Division who got into the eyes of money. This battle should teach those Osaka soldiers a clear lesson. Let them know that they can't make any money in the future.

Just after Umezu Mijiro gave the order to send a plane to rescue Shigeru Sawada, who was in a sea of suffering, he pondered for a moment and asked his adjutant to find Lieutenant General Yamashita Fumi, the new commander of the Fourth Division, who had arrived in Shinkyo. And Umezu Mijiro received the report, and it was rare to greet him at the door of the office in person.

With the return of the adjutant, he walked into the office of Umezu Mijiro, who had just been handed over to the chief of staff of the North China Front, had just arrived in Shinkyo and was still in the future to hand over to Sawada Shigeru, and was temporarily in Yamashita at the Kwantung Army Headquarters. Hurriedly saluted: "His Excellency Commander Lao personally greeted him, and the mountain was extremely frightened. ”

Although the two were already very familiar with each other as early as when Umezu Mijiro was the commander of the First Army of the North China Front. But now the identities are very different. One was the commander of the front army who commanded hundreds of thousands of troops, and the other was now just one of the many division commanders under him. Yamashita Fengfumi naturally did not think that General Umezu Mijiro personally greeted him, thinking of the friendship between the two when they were in the Kwantung Army.

It's just that Yamashita Fumimi looks very reserved, but Umezu Mijiro is obviously very happy about his arrival. After Umezu Mijiro let Yamashita Fengwen into his office, he said to Yamashita Fengfumi: "Yamashita Jun, if I am pulled from the appointment of the commander of the Mongolian army to this bitter cold land of Manchuria, you won't resent me." ”

Hearing that Umezu Mijiro mentioned his transfer and the full-time commander of the division commander, although he was full of resentment, he didn't dare to say it in front of the ruthless general of the Kwantung Army, and Yamashita Fumifumi hurriedly said: "Your Excellency the commander is too worried. Whether it is the Mongolian Army or the Kwantung Army, they are the elite divisions of the Imperial Army. No matter where he goes, he will serve the emperor, and there is no resentment or resentment. ”

Umezu Mijiro waved his hand when he heard this: "Yamashita-kun, you and I are acquaintances, so don't talk about this." Although the Mongolian army is not as important as Manchuria, which is known as the lifeline of the empire, it is a military-level establishment after all. The position in the Imperial Army is also far inferior to that of the Kwantung Army. But I can still distinguish the difference from a corps commander to a division commander. ”

"However, has Yamashita-kun considered that although the army stationed in Mongolia is a corps-level formation, it only has an independent mixed brigade and an expanded 26th division and an independent second mixed brigade, and in the current battlefield of China, the position it is in has never been in the main combat direction."

"During the war, the soldiers of the empire valued military merit more. Yamashita-kun is going to be the commander of the army stationed in Mongolia, although he has been promoted to the commander of the army, but it may be difficult to upgrade in the next step. ”

"If Yamashita-kun goes to the First Army, the Eleventh Army, and the Thirteenth Army, these few have been fighting in the main direction, and they can let Yamashita-kun show what he can as the commander. Even if even a field unit in a subordinate direction such as the 12th Army and the 23rd Army is appointed as the commander of the army, I naturally will not embarrass Yamashita-kun. But in that place of the Mongolian army, I built yì Yamashita Jun or forget it. ”

"Although the Fourth Division is only a division-level unit, it cannot be compared with the military level of the Mongolian Army. But it was a real standing field division of the Imperial Army. Serving as a division commander may seem inferior to the prestige of a military commander, but as a division commander of a front-line standing field division, there are often more opportunities sometimes. ”

Speaking of this, Umezu Mijiro, who was already overwhelmed by the Xiajiang battle situation, sighed slightly, shifted the topic away from Yamashita Fengwen's transfer, and said directly without making any more detours: "Yamashita-kun has been in Xinjing for two days, and he should already have an understanding of the current shape of the entire Manchuria. I should also understand why I asked the Tokyo base camp to transfer Yamashita by name. ”

"The reason why I asked Yamashita Jun to come by name this time is actually a big problem. The Fourth Division has been completely rotten, and it has really reached the point where it is no longer possible to put great effort into rectification. I have transferred you from the North China Front this time in the hope that I can rely on your ability to thoroughly reorganize the Fourth Division. ”

"Yamashita-kun is a famous tiger general in the imperial army, and I also hope that Yamashita-kun can show the courage to be on the battlefield and command the fourth division in the shortest possible time."

"The current appearance of this Fourth Division is simply a shame for the imperial army. In addition to the shameless money-making of the upper and lower levels working together to change their methods, the martial tradition of the imperial army has been lost. Several times to suppress bandits, the fight was a mess. Not only did it not have the might of the imperial army, but it even implicated other troops. ”

After that, Umezu Mijiro handed the telegram sent by Lieutenant General Shigeru Ssawada in his hand to Yamashita Fengfumi: "Two complete infantry brigades with artillery and chariots, a cavalry brigade, plus the cavalry wing of the second division, thousands of soldiers were eaten up in less than one night. Not even a single one who came back to report the news did not come back. ”

"If I didn't know what Major General Kobayashi Asaburo was, I really thought they were cowardly and took the initiative to surrender to their opponents. Now Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada has received an order from the military headquarters to enter the customs and take up his post on the same day. The reason why the shape of Xiajiang has reached the point where it has become uncontrollable has a great deal to do with the current situation of the Fourth Division. So I need a strong division commander to give this fourth division a complete overhaul. ”

"The Kwantung Army now seems to have a lot of troops, but it has to guard against hundreds of thousands of Russian troops on the Manchu-Soviet border, and it also has to clear out this increasingly strong anti-Manchu army. He also left some deterrent and alert troops in the hinterland of Manchuria, and several troops were sent down, and the strength of the troops could already be said to be stretched. Both the Kwantung Army Command and I personally can tolerate a standing division being idle. ”

"But letting this Fourth Division go to the battlefield without reorganization is not only irresponsible for the war situation, but also irresponsible for other troops. What happened before in Qunce Mountain was that he couldn't save himself when he saw death, and sat back and watched the whole army be wiped out after the hard fighting of the friendly army, no matter what, it can't be staged again. ”

Within two days, from a large amount of information, Yamashita Fumi, who already had a certain understanding of the division he was about to take over, hurriedly flipped through the telegram given to him by Umezu Mijiro, and the more he looked at it, the more surprised he became. Putting down the telegram in his hand, Yamashita Fengfumi looked at Umezu Mijiro with a sincere face in front of him, but he scolded in his heart: "Isn't you Y's framing people?" ”

"He, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, patted his ass and walked away like this, and you didn't report to the Tokyo base camp truthfully, but you threw such a big stall to yourself. Why should I clean up this mess for that one-eyed dragon? This Jiamusi is going to be lost, and he will take over the position of commander of the Fourth Division at this time, won't he be looking for death after being full? ”

"Besides, what the Fourth Division is, you General Umezu Mijiro don't know. Even if the Mongolian army is a cold bench, it is much stronger than this super garbage pit. Only crazy people like you will transfer this division to the battlefield. These Osaka soldiers are good for nothing except making money, and whoever gets on it is unlucky. ”

"What is his ability in Sawada Shigeru, I'm afraid you, the commander of the Kwantung Army, know better than me. Those guys in the base camp are not crazy, and they will use a waste to be the deputy chief of staff. He has been the division commander of Shigeru Sawada for more than a year, and he has nothing to do with these guys who can't get on the wall, even if I go, what can I do? ”

Of course, this scolding, Yamashita Fengwen can only be in his heart. No matter how much resentment he had, he didn't dare to lie to the guy in front of him, the current commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, who was known as the first smiling tiger of the Japanese army. It's just scolding and scolding, but since he has been sent to the Fourth Division as the division commander, this problem will still have to be solved after all.

Putting down the telegram in his hand, Yamashita Fengwen took a few deep breaths, tried to calm the anger in his heart, and said: "Your Excellency Commander, now it seems that Jiamusi is obviously unable to hold it. Let's not talk about the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Division, even from the perspective of troops, it is difficult for an obviously patchwork brigade to be an opponent of a well-equipped team of tens of thousands of people. ”

"The geographical location of Jiamusi is extremely important, and it is an important strategic location in the northeast of the empire. But judging from the current battle situation in Jiamusi, before the arrival of our reinforcements, Jiamusi was already lost. Transferring soft-footed crabs like the Fourth Division to reinforce Jiamusi can only increase the results of the battle. ”

"I built yì, and all the units of the Fourth Division, which are now distributed in the Xiajiang area, immediately assembled in Fujin and did not go south for the time being, and made every effort to ensure the safety of the Fujin Fortress, which was under construction. After the 8th Division stationed in Muling and the 11th Division in Mishan completed the assembly, and the 14th Division all arrived in Yilan, the forces of these three divisions were concentrated, plus the 1st Division of the 25th Division, which was still on the front line of the Haoliang River, and was going all out to suppress it. ”

Speaking of this, Yamashita Fengwen looked at Umezu Mijiro's face, and after a deep sigh, he said, "If possible, I will build the Fourth Division and not participate in the war." This division should not be used lightly until it is completely reorganized. ”

"On the line of the Lianjiang estuary, almost all the search wings and artillery wings of the Fourth Division are concentrated. Now these two wings are probably completely wiped out and need to be reorganized. This will require the great assistance of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief. ”

"In addition, in order to be able to reorganize the Fourth Division as much as possible, among the current three infantry wing commanders. Except for Xing Xianyi, the other two co-captains, all the captains must be replaced. All differences were drawn by the Kwantung Army Command from other divisions. ”

"Since the Meiji Restoration and the formation of the new army, the Japanese Empire has implemented a regional conscription system for several decades, and I have no right to change it, and I can't change the source of soldiers in the Fourth Division. But to remove the captain's authority, I think I still have it. The brigade is the main formed unit of the imperial army's field operations, and it is also the main field force. Most of the temporary detachments were formed with the brigade as the backbone, and the brigade commander was not effective, and the idea of rectifying the Fourth Division could only be empty talk. ”

Regarding Yamashita Fengfumi's idea of transferring the main forces of the Eighth Division and the Eleventh Division to participate in the battle, Umezu Mijiro frowned and did not answer him for a long time. After a long time, Umezu Mijiro said: "Yamashita-kun, the Eighth Division and the Eleventh Division are key divisions and regiments fighting against the Soviet Union. Even I don't have the right to use it without the approval of the base camp. ”

"Moreover, with the use of more than three divisions at a time, the procurement of all kinds of materials will require a lot of painstaking work. Nowadays there is a shortage of shells, especially heavy ones. The First Battle of Normenhan almost wiped out the old capital of the Kwantung Army, and the products of the Shenyang Arsenal had to give priority to ensuring the battlefield of China. ”

"This time, I finally collected some 150-millimeter heavy howitzer shells, but it was completely wiped out by the losers of the Fourth Division. For at least a month, the Kwantung Army will no longer be able to come up with enough shells. ”

"That stupid guy Kenkichi Ueda threw away the largest secret warehouse of the Kwantung Army, and together with a large number of materials and weapons and equipment stored in it, he gave them away for free, fattening them, but he didn't even get a receipt. On the contrary, he made a shortage of inventory, and he was tied up in a war. Shells, especially heavy ones, did not dare to open up. ”