After a short period of hesitation, Umezu Mijiro finally asked Yoshimoto-kun: "Yoshimoto-kun, since the chief of staff Takei Nakasa, also agrees with your plan, then follow your ideas. It is up to you to personally order all the divisions on the front to immediately stop the attack and retreat at full speed. After the retreat of these divisions, the defense area will be done according to your decision. ”

"For future strategic actions, you and Takeju Nakasa have come up with a detailed plan. If I had not been dismissed from my post by the base camp this time, the Kwantung Army would have implemented this plan at the end of this year, before the base camp completed its next strategic goal. As for the question of accountability, in the future, the Kwantung Army will give a complete explanation to His Majesty the Emperor and the base camp. ”

As soon as Umezu Mijiro's words fell, Lieutenant General Naosaburo Okabe over there said: "I don't want to express my opinion on how the Kwantung Army adjusts its deployment. But now that the Kwantung Army has made up its mind to terminate the operation, the base camp of the 5th and 10th Divisions will be transferred. When the divisions on the front retreated, the two divisions were immediately transported by train to Kwantung Prefecture. ”

"Now it is getting closer and closer to the next step of the strategy of the base camp. If these two divisions continue to be in Manchuria, it will affect the development of the next strategic intention of the base camp. Moreover, not only these two divisions must be transferred, but the 13th division must also be returned to the formation of the Chinese dispatch army in the shortest possible time. ”

"Admiral Umezu, this is the base camp's overall plan for the future strategic development of the empire. The battlefield of China is now almost dependent on the support of special divisions and newly formed divisions, and Yan Zòng lacks backbones. The Empire's current control area in China is not only a grain warehouse, a resource warehouse, and a base for necessary labor to support the Empire's future strategic development, but also an important financial source for the Empire. ”

"In order to ensure that the empire tightly controls the areas currently occupied in China, to ensure the supply of strategic materials such as coal, grain, and cotton to the empire, and to take advantage of the richness of China and secure part of the empire's financial resources, the empire must maintain a strong garrison in China. The return of this 13th Division to the Chinese Dispatch Army was decided at the beginning of the battle in the base camp. ”

However, considering the current predicament of the Kwantung Army and the current situation of the Manchurian Empire, the base camp agreed to replenish the several divisions and regiments lost by the Kwantung Army in this battle as soon as possible. At the same time, the base camp will consider adding two divisions to the Kwantung Army at its discretion. Based on the Princess Ridge Army Tank School, expand the mecha unit. ”

"However, whether it is to increase the formation of two divisions or to expand the establishment and scale of the mecha force, we must wait for the next step of the empire's strategy to be completed before we can start to proceed. As for now, the main energies of the empire cannot all be focused on Manchuria. You must know that the Kwantung Army is indeed the most important strategic group in the Empire, but there is not only one Kwantung Army in the Empire at present. ”

"I hope that before the empire completes the expansion of the Kwantung Army, the Kwantung Army will at least temporarily refrain from acting rashly, and will focus on ensuring the safety of South Manchuria and Rehe. I would like to stress that until the empire is fully restored and the Kwantung Army is strengthened, the security of South Manchuria and Rehe must be ensured, and there must be no mistakes in the direction of Xinjing. This is the minimum requirement for the Kwantung Army from the base camp. ”

"Manchuria-Mongolia is the lifeline of the empire, and South Manchuria is the lifeline of Manchuria. If anyone at this time puts Nanman in danger, he will become the historical sinner of the empire. However, considering the current situation in Manchuria, the base camp will order the North China Front to give the Kwantung Army the greatest cooperation in the strategic aspect, and coordinate its actions with the Kwantung Army. ”

"When I return to the mainland, I will also ask the base camp to add some special operations weapons to the Kwantung Army. From now on, strive to ensure that the Kwantung Army's reserves of special operations weapons will double the current number by the end of the year. In the Kwantung Army, 20,000 Korean troops were allocated to expand the force of the Manchurian Empire and temporarily make up for the shortage of troops in the Kwantung Army. ”

However, if the Kwantung Army agrees to this plan, then the weapons and equipment needed for the expansion of the Manchukuo Army can only be temporarily resolved within the Kwantung Army. The base camp could only coordinate the dispatch of troops from China to allocate a part of the spoils and reserves to the Kwantung Army. The rest can only rely on the Kwantung Army itself. ”

As for Okabe Naosaburo, not only the 5th and 12th divisions should be transferred, but even the 13th division should be returned to the Shina dispatch army system. Umezu Yoshijiro never expressed any objection, because he knew that even if he was firmly opposed, it would be useless.

The southward war situation is the top priority of the empire at present, and the base camp will not affect the southward battle for the sake of the Kwantung Army. It is true that Manchuria and Mongolia are the lifeblood of the empire, but what the empire needs more now is not available in Manchuria. In order to solve the current predicament, the empire is now in a state of being ready to launch an arrow in the south.

At this time, even if the base camp attaches great importance to the Kwantung Army, from a strategic point of view, it will not invest most of its strength and energy in the Kwantung Army. At least as long as the battle to the south is fully clear, they still have to focus most of their efforts on the south.

The fact that these two divisions could remain in Manchuria for such a long time in this battle was already the best efforts of the representative of the base camp of Naosaburo Okabe. If these two divisions want to stay in the Kwantung Army for a long time, the base camp will definitely not agree. As for the 13th Division, it was originally supported by the army sent by China. Now that the fighting has stopped, it is normal to return the system.

Compared with North Manchuria, which has not yet been developed in most areas, in the opinion of the base camp, as long as the industrial base of South Manchuria, as well as the coal and steel bases, will not have any impact on the continuation of the war in the empire for the time being. As for North Manchuria, it is no longer so important when the war against the Soviet Union has been abandoned for the time being.

Therefore, in this battle for troops, the base camp is destined not to tilt its main attention to the Kwantung Army. Previously, when the battle was still going on, the base camp ignored the current situation of the Kwantung Army's fierce fighting. The continuous transfer of a large number of artillery shells from the reserves of the Kwantung Army to the south has already explained the problem.

And the influence of himself, the commander of the Kwantung Army, in the upper echelons of the army is far less than that of the commander of the Southern Army, who once served as the Minister of War and the director of education, and held two positions in the army's triumvirate. In this battle for strength, he is in a weak position.

He knew that it was simply impossible for the base camp to increase the strength of the Kwantung Army at this time. If the base camp can complete the replenishment and restoration of the 7th Division, the 14th Division, and the 23rd Division, the three main divisions of the Kwantung Army, in the shortest possible time, it will already be very face-saving.

Moreover, this fiasco, the base camp does not know what to do with himself and Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadachi. Like his predecessor, General Kenkichi Ueda, it is not impossible to be removed to the end. After all, if you talk about failure, you will be much stricter than the original Ueda Daisei if you lose troops for two consecutive years.

If the base camp orders itself and Lieutenant General Sadachi Yoshimoto to transfer to the reserve this time in accordance with the precedent of rectifying the senior officers of the Kwantung Army after the Battle of Normenhan, then it has nothing to do with itself how many troops the base camp will mobilize for the Kwantung Army and where the Kwantung Army will go.

Therefore, General Umezu Mijiro did not show any consideration for Okabe Naosaburo's move to draw salary at the bottom of the kettle at this time. That was the matter of the commander later, not the self who now belongs to the body of half-sin, and should think too much. This defeat of the Kwantung Army, as a commander, is an unshirkable responsibility. And I'm afraid that after losing consecutive battles since Manchuria, the emperor may have lost confidence in himself.

Although Umezu Mijiro does not know how the base camp will deal with his defeat, he has not made any statement about the base camp's move. He even helped Okabe Naosaburo to suppress the dissatisfaction that erupted on the scene after listening to the move of the base camp to transfer the three divisions.

But although he thinks he has been dismissed, Umezu Mijiro thinks that after all, he is still the commander of the Kwantung Army, and there are some things that he should still fight for. In particular, as the current commander of the Kwantung Army, he had to complete the replenishment of troops and battle-damaged equipment in the shortest possible time.

In fact, it is not too difficult for the Kwantung Army to replenish the troops lost in this battle. You don't even have to work in the base camp, you can do it alone. There are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and expatriates in South Manchuria. Mobilizing a part of the young and strong into the army can easily complete the replenishment of the battle-damaged troops.

Doing so is much faster than mobilizing troops from home. Moreover, the number of expatriates in South Manchuria, as well as the number of soldiers in the townships, can fully meet the needs of replenishing soldiers. This will not only save a lot of time, but also prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the situation.

The transfer of three divisions at once is tantamount to weakening the strength of the Kwantung Army, which has been quite weak since the end of the war. The local people's slow supplementary training should have given the Kwantung Army additional troops, so before the replenishment was completed, the Kwantung Army, not to mention counterattacking, was sticking to the existing front, and the strength was also insufficient.

Umezu Mijiro believes that in these extraordinary times, it is natural that we should not stick to convention. How to complete the existing structure of the Kwantung Army in the shortest possible time is what to do. Doing things step by step can only make the Kwantung Army weak for a long time and give the enemy army on the opposite side an opportunity to take advantage of. The anti-Japanese alliance in person was not the Northeast Army at the time of the Manchurian Incident.

It's just that although the Kwantung Army can rely on the diaspora currently in Manchuria, independence can complete the replenishment. But after all, as a modern army, Japan has a strict conscription system. The temporary conscription of some expatriates to participate in the war did not violate the Japanese army's conscription system, and it was also the practice of the Japanese army.

However, without the consent of the base camp, a large number of additional troops were recruited among the diaspora without authorization, which was tantamount to a partial mobilization. No matter what the starting point of the Kwantung Army was, in the eyes of Umezu Mijiro, it was tantamount to directly destroying the Japanese army's conscription system.

However, this is precisely what Umezu Mijiro, who resolutely opposed the actions of the lower and took various measures to completely eliminate the customs of the Kwantung Army, which was the strictest after taking office, could not accept it. Without the approval of the base camp, he would not have acted on his own.

It's just that on the home side of the country, new divisions are constantly being formed for the upcoming southward operation. In order to stabilize the occupied areas in the interior of China and ensure the supply of materials, new divisions and regiments of the China Dispatch Army are also constantly replenished to fill the vacancies caused by the transfer of the original divisions and regiments.

and those divisions and regiments that are old and well-equipped, and whose combat effectiveness has been weakened by a certain distance after being transferred. The Kwantung Army is definitely not in the first place in the replenishment sequence of the entire base camp at the moment. At least until the end of the southward operation, it will definitely not be at the front. If it is still the usual practice to wait for the reinforcements of the local army, then when it is the turn of the Kwantung Army, it is no longer known that it is the year of the monkey.