At this time, neither Yang Zhen nor Chen Hanzhang knew that at the same time when they were discussing the entire westward expansion strategy. Thousands of miles away in the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front in Beiping, almost all the giants of the Japanese North China Front gathered together and were also holding a joint operational meeting.

The level of this operational meeting held by the Japanese army can be described as quite high. Not only the commander of the North China Front, Senior General Okamura Ningji, the chief of staff Lieutenant General Anda 23, the commander of the First Army stationed in Shanxi, Lieutenant General Iwamatsu Yoshio, the commander of the Mongolian Xinjiang garrison, Lieutenant General Gan Ji Shigetaro, and the chief of staff, Major General Toyojiro Inamura. and the operations, intelligence, and communications departments of the North China Front, all responsible persons participated.

Out of consideration for whether or not to attach importance to this meeting, the Nanjing Chinese Dispatch Army also sent Lieutenant General Jun Goharem, chief of staff, to attend the meeting on behalf of the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, General Toshiroku Hata. At the same time, the Kwantung Army also sent Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadachi, chief of staff, to participate in the so-called Manchurian-Mongolian Northern Branch Joint Defense Conference.

The central idea of the so-called joint conference this time is a topic, which is to judge the possible direction of the next offensive of the Anti-Japanese Federation in view of the fact that the Anti-Japanese Federation has been fighting from North Manchuria to the North China Front. At the same time, it is also a matter of coordination between the two strategic blocs of the Kwantung Army and the North China Front Army in the complete eradication of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which has obviously become a major danger for the Japanese army invading China.

The southward operation of the base camp has entered the final countdown, and these high-ranking Japanese soldiers are naturally very clear. The base camp believed that the rule of Manchuria and North China was stable or not, and that the grain and mineral resources of North China and Manchuria, as well as China's abundant human resources, especially the industrial resources of South Manchuria, were crucial to the support of the Japanese army's southward expansion strategy.

Out of the need to stabilize the so-called rear, this joint operational meeting was severely reprimanded by the base camp on the one hand, and the Kwantung Army and the Chinese dispatch army had to sit together. On the other hand, the Kwantung Army and the North China Front, which had to join forces to deal with the crisis under the influence of the big picture, held this joint combat meeting.

After all, the North China Front did not want a strong anti-Japanese armed force to appear in its own jurisdiction. This will undoubtedly have an extremely unstable impact on the current relatively stable war situation in North China after the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain last year and the subsequent devastating sweep of various base areas in North China, which dealt a devastating blow to the communist army in North China.

In particular, the North China Front was unwilling to face the Kwantung Army, the most powerful strategic group in the entire Japanese army, alone at this time. Because for the North China Front, they are well aware that the current calm situation in the whole of North China is only temporary.

Once the communist army, which had retreated to the mountainous areas, regained its strength, the situation in the whole of North China was probably not optimistic. In order to maintain the blow to the communist forces that have infiltrated the entire North China region, the strength of the North China Front has been used to the extreme. At this time, if a powerful anti-Japanese armed force comes again, it will be difficult for the North China Front to cope with the situation.

The current General Okamura Ningji of the North China Front Army has a sober understanding of the consequences of this anti-Japanese armed force outside the border, which far surpasses the North China Communist Army in terms of equipment and soldiers, once it enters the pass. After the loss of the northern part of the Rehe River and the seizure of the first line of the Abaga Banner in Chadong by the Anti-Japanese Union, it once took the initiative to propose that the North China Front Army transfer two or three divisions to the north after completing the sweep of the entire North China.

Therefore, despite the superiority of the North China Front, the Chinese dispatch army was very reluctant to deal with the Kwantung Army. However, at the request of the form, the severe reprimand of the base camp, and the repeated requests of the commander of the North China Front, General Okamura Ninji, this joint meeting was convened.

The Japanese say that the Chinese are scattered, but in fact the Japanese themselves are not united. Not to mention the contradictions between the army and navy, there are also deep conflicts of interest between the major strategic groups of the army. Of course, when it comes to the outside, these guys can still advance and retreat together.

After all, everyone's strategic goals are the same. Just like the imperial faction and the control faction back then, in order to compete for the control of the army, the dispute between everyone was also quite fierce, and there was even a mutiny. But the idea of invading China is still the same. However, when it comes to the disputes between the two strategic groups of the Japanese invasion of China, it is different from that back then, and the disputes between everyone at this time are for the sake of competing for interests. To be exact, just to divide the money.

The Kwantung Army and the North China Front Army did not get along very well with each other since the North China Front Army was originally called the Chinese Garrison Army. At that time, the Chinese garrison army was in North China, which was connected with the jurisdiction of the Kwantung Army. Everyone wants to make a fortune in the Chinese and obtain certain political capital and economic benefits. But there are so many interests, how much is it enough for the two groups to be together?

In order to plunder wealth from China, the Japanese not only went all the way to grab the road during the war, but engaged in the so-called war to feed the war. Since the First Sino-Japanese War, a set of drug sales methods has been systematically established in the Chinese garrison. Trying to use drugs to destroy the will of the Chinese while plundering the huge wealth of the Chinese people.

In those years, whether it was the Kwantung Army stationed in Northeast China, the Chinese garrison in North China, or the Special Marine Corps and fleet in Shanghai, they all relied on their respective intelligence systems to establish a sales channel for drugs and arms. In order to implement the strategic intention of feeding war with war and plundering China's wealth.

The huge wealth that was exchanged for the bones of countless Chinese, in addition to a considerable part of it flowing into the Japanese imperial family, and to make up for the lack of military spending and espionage funds. A considerable part of it has also gone into the pockets of commanders at all levels. The competition of interests caused constant disputes within the Japanese army.

At that time, there was an opium producing area, and the two sides fought fiercely back then. In the end, it was not until after the 918 Incident that the Kwantung Army occupied Rehe, and after the 77 Incident, the North China Front Army also relied on the support of the base camp and dug up the opium producing areas of Chanan and Chaxi and Suidong from the Chahar Corps of the Kwantung Army, that there were fewer disputes between the two sides.

However, the competition for the market has become a tangled place for the two sides to live in peace. In fact, the North China Front, which had monopolized the entire Japanese-occupied area of China and supplied the vast majority of the drug market, did not want the tobacco produced in Rehe in the Kwantung Military-controlled Zhì District to enter the North China market.

Because it was tightly controlled by the Kwantung Army, there was almost no resistance to Rehe. Not only is the cost of tobacco production extremely low, but the quality is also better than that produced in Chanan, which is not a traditional opium producing area. As a traditional opium producing area, Suiyuan, only the Suidong region was in the hands of the Japanese army. The quality and output of opium controlled by the North China Front could not be compared with that of the Kwantung Army.

If the North China Front allows Rehe's tobacco to enter the market, it will suffer great losses in terms of interests for the North China Front, which itself has to compete with the Chinese for the Yuntu and Sichuan soil, as well as the tobacco produced in Henan, and even the tobacco produced in Ningxia and Gansu. This market share has been robbed, and this benefit is naturally much less.

However, the Kwantung Army always believed that the whole of China was a traditional market for Rehe tobacco, and you couldn't just sell it and not let me sell it. There are so many markets in the Northeast, I don't sell to the outside world, where can I make money? For many years of conflict of interests, the two strategic blocs of the Japanese army did not get along very happily. It is also normal to divide the accounts unevenly and not look at each other.

If it weren't for the persecution, so many high-ranking officers on these two sides would never have sat together. The thoughts of the commanders of the front army of those generals are different from the commanders of the divisions below. The position of division commander cannot be done for a long time, and each division and regiment will not be stationed in the same place for a long time.

However, the position of the commander of the front army, as long as there is no big difference during the term of office, will not be moved. If you don't reach out when you're in office, when will you reach out? Is it really necessary to wait until he returns home from the reserve and live on the pitiful retirement salary of the Imperial Army? The meat has already entered the mouth, and it is difficult to spit it out.

It's just that although they don't look at each other too much, they are not too pleasing to the eye, but the shape is pressing. Although there is also a certain degree of coordination in the strategic direction, after all, the Japanese remember the allusions to the death of the teeth more clearly than the Chinese. But in fact, everyone has the mentality of waiting to see each other's jokes.

But in the face of the current shape, if you don't want to come up with countermeasures, everyone's life will not be too easy. So even though they don't like each other, it's better for everyone to sit down and talk. Of course, these are either classmates or senior officers from their hometowns, and they still have no internal grievances.

The dislike between each other is mainly a conflict of interests. After all, what song is sung on what mountain, and the position under the butt still determines the thinking of the head. In addition to the conflicts of their own interests, there is nothing that everyone can't get over with each other. Everyone is an officer of the Imperial Army, and if they really lose the battle, then no one will be comfortable.

In fact, after the loss of Ximan, both the Kwantung Army and the North China Front Army had already judged the general intention of the next move of the Anti-Japanese Federation. However, in view of the possible action of the Anti-Japanese Union in the next step, whether it will be to attack South Manchuria or directly insert into the Pingjin area, the Kwantung Army and the North China Front Army have their own disputes.

The Kwantung Army believed that the next move of the Anti-Japanese Federation was likely to cross the Yanshan Mountains and enter the North China Plain in order to obtain abundant manpower and material resources in North China. For this judgment, the Kwantung Army, which has occupied northeast China for a whole decade, has its own theoretical basis.

However, the North China Front believed that the next move of the Anti-Japanese Federation was likely to be a tentative attack on Pingjin in North China, and their real target was the entire industrial and agricultural town of Nanmanchuria, an important industrial and agricultural town in the northeast. The North China Front also has its own theoretical basis for this judgment.

They seized Rehe and Ximan just to outflank the main forces of the Kwantung Army in South Manchuria. Compared with the Great Plain of North China, South Manchuria, with its huge industrial base, will be the main target of this armed force. And if they do not deal with the Kwantung Army in South Manchuria first, but choose to go south to enter the pass, then militarily it is even more not in their interests.

Because in the eyes of the North China Front, if this anti-Japanese armed force wants to penetrate deep into the North China Plain to obtain the abundant manpower, food and other resources there, then in the face of the entire North China Front, or even the entire Chinese army, it must concentrate at least 300,000 troops. And in this case, they simply did not have the strength to defend against the counterattack of the Kwantung Army.

As long as he is a normal person, he will definitely not ignore the fact that there is still a heavy army cluster in the rear and flanks, and risk that he may move his troops south, and be cut off by a powerful opponent who kills from the flank, and completely cut off the narrow area between Yanshan, Dama Mountains, and Qilaotu Mountain. Concentrate the main forces to attack the south to attack the Pingjin area and enter the Hebei Plain.