The book explained that because of the continuous "tragedy" in the Sixth Division, the Fourth Division, Jinzhou, Dalian, Andong and other places, on October 20, 1937, Konoe Fumiro resigned from the post of Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and recommended a 70-year-old old bachelor Hiranuma Kiichiro to temporarily transition and calm the doubts on the island.

Unexpectedly, this Hiranuma Kiichiro was also unlucky, as soon as he came to power, he had accidents in a row!

First of all, a vast area in the southern part of Tokyo was suddenly bombed by unknown forces, and tens of thousands of people were burned to death, leaving more than 100,000 people homeless.

Yamamoto later insisted on going his own way, and as a result, he led the aircraft carrier Akagi, which had just completed modernization, and was destroyed, losing one aircraft carrier and dozens of aircraft. What's even worse is that Lieutenant General Nanyun Zhongyi is shattered!

What is especially strict is that the whereabouts of the imperial cruise ship "Glacier Maru" are unknown after leading a fleet out of the port of Keelung in Taiwan, and no one knows where such a huge fleet has gone.

In addition, the three submarines sent by Yamamoto 56's Admiralty, saying that they were going to Jinzhou to carry fuel, disappeared inexplicably, and no trace has been found until now.

According to reliable sources, the empire's cargo ships in the North Pacific, the Taiwan Strait, and the South China Sea have recently had a series of accidents. The MSA has reported three times that three consignments, 39 freighters and cruise ships have left their places of departure and have not returned to the island since the beginning of this year. So far, the empire has lost 1 million tons of cargo ships and cruise ships.

It has now been confirmed that the person who stole Pyongyang was the "Devil of China" Baek Shujie, because he had issued two telegrams in a row, and the communications department had already identified the source of the signal, which was in North Korea.

It can be seen that Kiichiro Hiranuma's ability is not enough to control the overall situation. As a result, the new cabinet ended its short life after only one year in power, and Konoe Fumiro once again came forward to organize the cabinet.

The first thing Konoe did after returning to power was to put forward the so-called three principles of "good-neighborliness and friendship," "joint defense against communism," and "economic cooperation" between Japan and China. This includes the implementation of the policy of focusing on political inducement and surrender to the Kuomintang, supplemented by military strikes.

As soon as these three principles came out, they had an immediate effect!

Hu Zongnan, commander of the Kuomintang's Eighth Theater of Operations, set up defensive areas in the vicinity of Longdong and Guanzhong, in which 13 corps and eight artillery regiments, with about 200,000 horses, were deployed along the west and south of Longdong.

The main purpose is to blockade and sabotage the construction of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border region. In Longdong, they provoked incidents one after another, spread rumors and caused trouble, harassed and sabotage, attacked cities and plundered land, and massacred soldiers and civilians, and successively created more than 70 incidents of friction and friction.

The Kuomintang government troops turned their guns to beat their own people, and the little devils who were stuck in the quagmire finally relented, and the first fire of Konoe Fumi's rise to power was successful.

However, the situation has improved, but it does not mean that the fundamental problem has been solved.

First of all, not only did the island's economy show no signs of recovery, but because Tokyo was bombed and the Yokohama oil reserve was destroyed, there was an even bigger gap in the energy supply.

Therefore, the next biggest task of the empire is to immediately obtain huge resources to stimulate economic growth on the island. Therefore, how to determine the future development strategy has become a core issue.

The development to the north has already encountered great resistance. The military standoff at Nomenkan has been going on for more than four months, and the Soviet Red Army has no intention of backing down. It seems that you can't solve the problem without a little real effort.

Secondly, the issue of the Korean Peninsula has now become even more prominent.

After more than a year of construction, the Jinzhou, Yingkou, Dalian, and Andong lines have now begun to slowly resume production, and the fuel refining process is slowly moving towards normal.

However, because North Korea was in the hands of the "Shina Devil" Bai Shujie, the Andong Yamato Bridge was bombed. Now it has to be detoured to Ji'an and then transported back by tanker from Luojin Terminal. This cost is too high, and the fuel shipped back barely pays for the freight!

The empire lacked oil, but Manchuria did not lack coal. If you use coal-fired train wagons to load fuel and transport it to Busan via Andong and Pyongyang, and then cross Tsushima Island to Fukuoka, that is the most economical railway transportation line!

The damned "China Devil" Bai Shujie pinched Pyongyang, that is, pinched the lifeblood of the empire's economy. If it is in the throat, it will not remove the unpleasantness.

All of these issues had to come up with a comprehensive plan, so Konoe convened a cabinet meeting to comprehensively study the major policies for the future.

"Gentlemen! According to reliable information, Bai Shujie's armament buildup in Pyongyang has advanced by leaps and bounds. War Minister Seishiro Itagaki was the first to speak: "If the army units under his command are so strong in combat that they can almost be compared with the Imperial Army, then he is now vigorously developing the navy and air force, which has directly posed a threat to the security of the Empire." ”

"There is intelligence that Bai Shujie was able to build a battleship by himself, and the last time he swaggered out for sea trials, it was estimated that the displacement exceeded 50,000 tons. And all at once there were 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers to escort the ship, which was already able to form a detachment to fight independently. ”

"The empire built hundreds of warships under extremely severe economic conditions, which was really a waste of money and money, but there was no effect to be seen. Now I have a little flea bouncing around, and I don't know what our Admiralty is doing! ”

"Sakagaki-kun's words are wrong!" Admiral Minister Nagano Xiushen saw that the spearhead was aimed at his Admiralty, and he was immediately dissatisfied: "Bai Shujie has always been an army unit, from a few people to 200,000 people, all of them grew up and grew up around the Imperial Army, and then swept through Liaonan and South Manchuria, and finally stole Pyongyang. ”

"Then I would like to ask Sakagaki-kun, what have your more than one million troops in the War Department done in the past ten years, in addition to losing the sixth and fourth divisions?"

"I think the foreign minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should take the blame and resign!" Yamamoto Fifty-six said in a deep voice: "Bai Shujie is just a small rebel, not even a local warlord. However, while the Americans do business with us, they also do business with Bai Shujie. ”

"What's even more outrageous is that our ally, the German Empire, actually did business with Bai Shujie. Why did Bai Shujie develop, huh? Is it possible without the strong support of the Americans, the Germans? With our allies and our enemies so close, what is the Foreign Secretary doing? ”

"What can we do with the Admiralty? The Third Fleet of Wusongkou and the Fourth Fleet of Qingdao all saw Bai Shujie's fleet come out, either flying the American flag or the German flag. Do you authorize our naval ministry units to sink them regardless of nationality? ”

"Don't get excited, gentlemen, we don't want to quarrel, and we don't want to hold accountable." Konoe Fumiro saw that this did not look like a meeting, but like a shrew sprinkled in the vegetable market, and immediately performed his duties as a host: "The key lies in the Soviet Union in the north, the China in the west, the resources in the South China Sea, and finally the North Korean Bai Shujie issue." ”

"We need to come up with a general approach, otherwise we won't be able to deal with the situation at hand. There are priorities in the matter, and I hope that you will express your opinions. ”

Seishiro Itagaki said: "The three principles of Your Excellency the Prime Minister, the Chiang Kai-shek government should have been enlightened, and the current counterattack on our front has completely disappeared, and now it is entangled with the Communist Party, and the conflict is getting bigger and bigger. ”

"The contemptible people feel that it should be a better opportunity to appropriately allocate some troops to the north and teach the Soviets a good lesson. As for Bai Shujie of the DPRK, it is definitely not enough to have only one 20th division. The 19th Division in the north had to keep an eye on Vladivostok and could not move. ”

"If we can increase the number of two more divisions and regiments, landing at Wonsan in the east and Inchon in the west, and the 20th Division in the south will be able to attack from three sides, Bai Shujie will definitely be able to annihilate them all in one fell swoop."

"It is my consistent view to eliminate internal troubles, contain the Soviet Union, and develop to the south." Yamamoto Fifty-six saw his boss and friend Nagano Shushen bowing his head and saying nothing, so he had to say with a gloomy face: "As for increasing the establishment of two divisions, I think some of them have other plans, and they also have ulterior motives. ”

"The 88th Fleet plan has not been able to go smoothly, and the navy is full of old-fashioned warships and aircraft. If two more divisions are added, the artillery of two artillery wings, the combat vehicles of two tank brigades, and the war horses of two search wings will be needed. In this way, the plan to update the battleship is even more distant. ”

"Could it be that our enemies are the Soviets, the Chinese and Bai Shujie? Miss by a mile! Our real enemies should be the Americans to the east and the British on the other side. ”

"The oil, the rubber, the iron ore we need, it's in Manila, Malaysia, Vietnam, Burma and Indochina, all of which are colonies of the Americans and the British."

"If you want to achieve the three goals of your Excellency the Prime Minister's freedom to obtain resources, the freedom to exploit resources, and the freedom of labor necessary for the exploitation of resources, it is necessary to be prepared for war with the Americans and the British."

"The United States and Britain are both maritime powers, and their naval forces are much stronger than their land forces. If we fail to complete the plan to renew the Navy's equipment, we will be caught off guard and resentful of the changes in the international form. I am sorry for the cultivation of His Majesty the Emperor, and I am sorry for the support of the people. ”

"When it comes to dealing with Bai Shujie, my opinion is to attack suddenly with a thunderous force and completely destroy his development potential. Instead of increasing the number of two infantry divisions and regiments, and then proceeding to the offensive step by step. ”

"I have studied every battle of Bai Shujie, and this enemy is not as idiotic as everyone thinks. In fact, the tactical policy he has always followed is to take things by surprise if he does not move; Flexible and well-founded. ”

"Let's look at Bai Shujie's arrangement, it seems to be a long snake formation. In fact, each of his troops is placed in a very flexible position, and the level is very clear. You can attack, you can defend, and you can walk! ”

"By the time you have set up the cart and horse artillery, and then pull off the formation, he will already run! Then take advantage of your lack of attention, come on your back and let all your layout work go to waste! ”

"For such an opponent, let alone adding two divisions, even if you add four divisions, you may not be able to catch him. Therefore, if we don't fight Bai Shujie, once we want to fight, we must be able to force him into a corner, without any room for maneuver, and then we can fight with him for strength and consumption. ”

After all, what happens next, let's see how it will be broken down next time.