Chapter 377 Prelude

General Tsouichi Shou commanded the North China Front Army. After the Kwantung Army Air Force destroyed the Eighth Route Army's military industrial base and aviation team airport, he was not relieved. In the afternoon, he ordered the plane to take off again and carry out a second bombing on the Mian County military industrial base and aviation team airport. After confirming the complete blowout target, General Tsouichi Souichi reported the victory to the base camp and held a press conference in Peiping.

Major General Seiichi Kita, the head of the North China Front Army's secret service, has been directly promoted to the Emperor's promotion to Lieutenant General by General Seiichi Desouchi. Therefore, Major General Seiichi Kita was dressed in a straight uniform and smiled all over his face, and hosted the press conference.

Seeing that the reporters were all here, Major General Kita Seiichi said: "My friends from reporters, first of all, I was commissioned by the Earl of the Great Japanese Empire and General Soichi Teraunuchi, the commander of the North China Front Army, to inform two good news. One was that the Great Japanese Imperial Army captured Xuzhou on May 19, defeated the 200,000 Chinese government troops that defended Xuzhou, and achieved the goal of integrating central and northern China companies. The Second was that this morning, the Imperial Army Air Force of the Great Japanese Imperial Army mobilized more than 300 fighter jets, raided Shaanxi, completely blowing up the military industrial base of the rear of the Communist Eighth Route Army, and cut off the source of arms supply for the Eighth Route Army. The Eighth Route Army Air Force was overestimated and dared to fight fiercely with the Imperial Army Air Force and was destroyed by all the Imperial Army fighter jets. According to statistics, the more than 50 fighter jets of the Eighth Route Army Liu Yimin's unit stole the Imperial Army, which had turned into ashes. At present, the air supremacy of North China is completely in the hands of the Imperial Army."

After the loss of Xuzhou, China did not inform the outside world. The Japanese army lost the opportunity in Xuzhou and felt that the strategic goal had not been achieved. The base camp and the North China Front Army, the Central China Front Army spent a lot of effort, but the bamboo basket was in vain and in shame, they did not make a big announcement. Therefore, the outside world did not know the news of the fall of Xuzhou. Seiichi Kita said that a bombshell was undoubtedly dropped. Therefore, as soon as the translation was finished, the reporters at the scene immediately recorded the rustling records.

Seeing the reporters' performance, Kita Seihiro's smile became even more intense: "The next time is the time to ask questions. If you have any questions, you can directly ask General Soichi Teraunuchi. Who will tell me first?"

A reporter from Japan's Asahi Shimbun stationed in Peking took the lead in raising his hand, and Seiichi Kita nodded with satisfaction: "Please, sir!"

The Japanese reporter stood up, glanced at his colleagues arrogantly and proudly, and then bowed to General Soichi Teraunuchi, and then asked: "Dear General Soichi Teraunuchi, I am a reporter from Asahi News in Peking, the Great Japanese Empire. First of all, on behalf of the readers of the Asahi News, I would like to congratulate the outstanding achievements made by the North China Front Army of the Great Japanese Empire! I would like to ask the commander, what is the significance of the Imperial Army's capture of Xuzhou for the construction of a new order in Great East Asia that integrates Japan and China? Is it helpful to destroy the Eighth Route Army's military factory in the North China? Thank you!"

The Asahi Shimbun is one of Japan's three major newspapers. It was founded by Tokugura and Ryuhei Murayama in Osaka on January 25, 1879, and is called the Osaka Asahi Shimbun. During the period of creation, it was an illustration tabloid, with the policy of "not biased or not party" as the newspaper run. The readers were mainly intellectuals. In 1888, industrial management was implemented, and the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun entered Tokyo for publication.

The title of the Asahi Shimbun was written by Ouyang Xun, a famous regular script writer in the Tang Dynasty in my country. There is a reason here. When the Asahi Shimbun was founded in Tokyo, several preparatory committee members were calligraphers at that time. They respected Ouyang Xun's calligraphy, so they found Ouyang Xun's "Zongsheng Guan Ji" and selected the three words "Chao", "Ri" and "Wen" to describe them in the double hook method. However, there was no "New" in the post. They used the characters "Qing" and "Xi" to eliminate "See" and "Mu" respectively, and combined them into "New". In this way, the four full and thin characters "Asahi Shimbun" appeared in front of the eyes of the whole of Japan.

Teraunuchi’s reputation in Japan is a bit bad now. Seeing the cooperation of the reporter of the Asahi Shimbun of the three major Japanese newspapers, I was happy and immediately said: “My friend of the journalist, I am very happy to communicate with the readers of the Asahi Shimbun through you. Let me answer your first question first. As you all know, Xuzhou is an important city in northern Jiangsu and an important transportation hub connecting the Jinpu Railway and the Longhai Railway. The capture of Xuzhou not only allowed Manchuria, Mongolia, North China, and Central China to form a unit, greatly improving the combat efficiency of the Imperial Army, but also blocking the outskirts of Chiang Kai-shek’s reactionary government.

Haikou, and then provides a bridgehead for capturing the hinterland of China and accelerating the pace of the Imperial Army's liberation of the Chinese people, its importance is self-evident. Here, because it involves military secrets, I won't say much. It's not too much to ask readers to fully utilize their imagination to make a reasonable imagination. As for your second question, everyone knows that since the Eighth Route Army of the Communist Party joined the battlefield in North China, it has caused a series of unexpected losses to the Imperial Army, resulting in dissatisfaction among the people in the domestic army and general. In fact, readers don't understand that the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party is

A non-governmental guerrilla armed forces have never been in constant warfare and never stick to the same place. Chiang Kai-shek's troops had no choice but to do anything about them. Especially their instructor, the leader was a guy named Liu Yimin. This guy was a liar, gangster, scoundrel and despicable sneak attacker who did not play according to common sense. He was simply a bandit, or a professional thief, who specialized in destroying social order and always carried out sneak attacks while the imperial army was unprepared. This time, the imperial army's aviation bombed their military base and wiped out their aviation army, which was equivalent to

Their job was kicked and their lifeline was cut off. It won’t take long before the Eighth Route Army would become a beggar army without ammunition supplies, and there would no longer be a material basis for opposing the Imperial Army. At that time, as soon as the Imperial Army arrived, these Eighth Route Army would collapse and the security situation in North China would soon improve. When our army captured Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Liu Yimin, Lin Biao, Liu Bocheng, He Long, and Xu Xiangqian in the future, I will definitely escort them back to Japan and ask them to apologize to the families of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for Japan and China! I don’t know if you are satisfied with my answer?"

Before the reporter could answer whether he was satisfied, General Tsouichi Desou continued: "There is another question, that is, I want to tell friends who are close to Chiang Kai-shek through the Asahi News that the vast coverage is that they ask them to tell Chiang Kai-shek that resistance is meaningless. Only by surrendering to the Imperial Army, joining forces with the Imperial Army to eliminate the Communist Party, eradicate communism, and jointly build the Greater East Asia Comprehensive Prosperity Circle is the only way out."

This guy named Touchi Tanaka is worthy of being a famous Japanese general. At this critical point, he still missed to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to surrender and provoke relations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. In history, the Lanfeng War was also one of the most dangerous periods in the history of China's War of Resistance. The Japanese army advanced westward and could take Wuhan directly at any time. Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to order the explosion of Huayuankou, and at the tragic price of more than one million people dying and more than one million people fleeing famine and begging for food, temporarily blocking the Japanese army's footsteps and winning time for the safe transfer of war resources in Wuhan.

At this time, although Liu Yimin arrived, threatening the Japanese army at all times, the confident Shouyi and others also believed that the Japanese army was intertwined and detoured, and eliminated the main force of the Chinese army on the plains. Wuhan was about to be exposed nakedly at the gun of the Japanese army and could be occupied by them anytime and anywhere. As for the threat of the Eighth Route Army teacher Liu Yimin, Shouyi believed that the Independent Mixed Fifth Brigade, the 24th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 108th Division, the 8th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the Independent Mixed Seventh Brigade, the 10th Division, the 114th Division, and the 10th Division, the 18th Division, the 10th Division, the troop strength was unprecedentedly strong. Liu Yimin wanted to play any tricks and could not succeed.

The reporter of "Yomiuri Shimbun" raised his hand to speak. The question he raised was that since the teacher Liu Yimin caused a series of major losses to the Imperial Army, why did the North China Front Army not mobilize heavy troops to completely eliminate it, but instead went to seize Xuzhou from a distance. Will this cause the tiger to be left behind?

Shinuen Shou shook like a rattle, even saying that the reporter's strategy was not understood. Whether it was the Communist Party or the Eighth Route Army, they were just local forces and local armed forces in China and had no influence in the country. For the Imperial Army, they were just scabies. Chiang Kai-shek's National Government was different. They were the legal government of China and the real enemy of the Great Japanese Empire. As long as Chiang Kai-shek's government army was defeated, the problem of China would be solved.

The reporter was tactful and asked next: "Master, Domestic readers are very concerned about the security situation in North China. They want to know what measures will the powerful North China Front Army take to stabilize the security of North China?"

Shinui Suo immediately looked calm and leisurely and talked: "Readers and friends don't have to worry about the security situation in North China. The North China Front Army has taken effective measures. I believe that after a period of hard work, the economy, production, commercial circulation, and road traffic in North China will be on the right track. At present, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China is actively establishing a new regime system, economic order, and public security order in North China. Specifically, in military terms, the Imperial Army will guide the North China Security Army to carry out a large-scale security and rectifying war, eliminate the Turkish Eighth Route Guerrillas and all resistance forces, and create a good environment for the people of North China to learn from the advanced culture, advanced technology and comprehensive liberation of Japan. Politically, cooperate with military actions to carry out the security and rectifying movement, and establish it in Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Beiping, and Tianjin.

The province, road, county, district, and guarantee the five-level regime, and give full play to the overall strength of Japan, China, military, officials and people to build North China into a zodiac paradise. Economically, we will focus on the five major cities of Beiping, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao and Taiyuan to actively develop industrial production, and at the same time we will want to increase rural grain production and try our best to restore and develop the North China economy. Of course, this is a long process, the premise is to achieve the expected results of the public security and rectification battle. However, I am very confident that the development momentum of China's joint preparation bank, which has opened recently, is very good, which is a good omen. As for local security, the North China Front Army will guide the Provisional Government of the Republic of China to establish and improve the provincial, road and county three-level police stations and public security police forces, form self-defense groups among the people, so that the Tujia Eighth Route Army has no hiding place, and completely eliminate the work of the guerrillas."

The story of Soichi Shinui was very enthusiastic, and the reporters also listened with relish. Unexpectedly, people always came out to ruin the scenery at critical moments.

A golden-haired reporter stood up and asked, "Commander, according to Chinese radio and newspaper reports, Liu Yimin, the 18th Army Army Army, recently won consecutive victories in southeastern Shandong and central and southern Shandong. He once captured Tai'an, and successively eliminated the main force of the Imperial Army's 10th Independence Brigade and the Independence Sixth Brigade, and killed Major General Mizuno and Major General Tuya. My readers would like to know if Liu Yimin is really the evil star of the Japanese army as the legendary one. How many Japanese generals and soldiers are going to be broken in his hands?"

Before the reporter finished speaking, General Takaichi Tezuo was furious, slapped his right hand on the table, cursed "Baga", and stood up suddenly, pointing at the reporter, cursing: "Your conscience is broken, you dare to listen to the propaganda of Chinese people catching shadows. Now you take a car to Tai'an to see if the soldiers patrolling the streets were Chinese soldiers or warriors of the Japanese Empire. Major General Mizuno and Major General Toya were clearly transferred to the Kanto Army.

But you said crazy that they were broken. What was your intention? Now, hundreds of thousands of imperial warriors were singing and making great strides on the front line, and the progress was very smooth. But you believed in lies, spread rumors, slandered the invincible Japanese Imperial Army, and their conscience was very bad! The military police arrested me this remnant of communism who spread rumors and destroyed the Greater East Asian holy war! Find out which newspaper he was from, escort him back to their consulate, and protested strongly to them!"

Two gendarmes, who were like wolves and tigers, immediately rushed over and pressed the seemingly gentle reporter to the ground, handcuffed him directly, and lifted him out.

At this moment, the reporters present were speechless. No matter how many smiles were covered with Major General Kita Seiichi's face and how tempting they were, no reporter asked any questions. Kita Seiichi had to announce that the reporter meeting ended here.

After the press conference, Soichi Teraenae issued three orders in a row, one was to order the aviation force to mobilize urgently, and make sure to complete the airdrop supply for the 14th Division before 8 a.m. tomorrow. The other was to order the 27th Division in Peking to secretly take a car south along Pinghan Road overnight, preparing to cooperate with the 22nd Division to cross the river to support the 14th Division's operations. The third was to order the 108th Division to end the offensive against western Shandong and return to Jinan. After issuing the order, Soichi Teraenae felt that the major event was settled and was waiting for the good news to come.

In fact, Soichi Nakachi was too stubborn. He didn't know that Liu Yimin was a time traveler. He was very familiar with Chiang Kai-shek's forced to open the garden. He would definitely not allow the tragedy to repeat. Since he had successfully stopped the Nanjing Massacre, Liu Yimin had confidence and naturally had to launch a thunder strike to disrupt the deployment of the Japanese army and save the crisis. What's more, the chairman, headquarters and Chiang Kai-shek were urging his mentors to launch an attack as soon as possible?

After sending a telegram to the Chairman and Feng Dafei, Liu Yimin calculated the time and knew that the Lanfeng Battle had entered the stage of the second besieging the 14th Division of Tukaiyuan. At this time, the Japanese army should have been extremely shocked. The Japanese army in Xuzhou must have advanced west day and night to seize Shangqiu. I wonder if the Shangqiu defenders would still abandon the city as in history. Thinking about it, even if the Shangqiu defenders were asked to defend Shangqiu, even if they lost their air superiority, they would face heavy siege of Japanese troops, and Shangqiu could not defend them, but they could defend for a period of time to win time for Xue Yue to encircle and annihilate the Tukaiyuan division.

Originally, Liu Yimin felt that the situation now is very different from the original historical situation. Chiang Kai-shek must have gathered heavy troops in eastern Henan, and the southwestern Shandong security brigade seized the Japanese supply materials, and the Doihara Division would definitely be destroyed. The best time for the launch of the Central Lu Battle should be after the Doihara Division was eliminated. Then he fought in central Lu, and the north and south sides would take action together, which would make the Japanese heavy army group lose sight of the other. Maybe the national army could take advantage of the situation to launch a full-scale counterattack. In panic, the Japanese army would probably retreat to Xuzhou to defend. Maybe the Japanese army would divide its troops, and our army could encounter opportunities again. If it was done well, it could even force the Japanese army to retreat on the whole line in one battle.

The Japanese bombing today sounded the alarm for Liu Yimin. The Japanese army is still powerful for the time being. This powerful cannot be eliminated, but two divisions can change it. Maybe the new heavy army group of the Japanese army is rushing to China by boat. Thinking of this, the expectations for the Lanfeng Battle should not be too high. After all, the Japanese army has planes in the sky and tanks and cannons on the ground. Even if the national soldiers with their blood and courage are not afraid of death and have all their strength to eliminate the Doihara Division, they will probably have no strength to deal with the heavy army group of the Japanese army advancing westward in Xuzhou. At that time, it will inevitably be a situation of losing thousands of miles. If this happens, Chiang Kai-shek, as the commander of the entire army, may still be able to open the entrance of the garden. He will not be able to have any kindness.

Luo Ronghuan saw Liu Yimin sitting alone after sending the telegram, thinking, knowing that he was thinking about major issues, he didn't bother him, but just took care of the guards to pour water in time.

When it was time for dinner, He Xinghua brought the news from the Japanese and puppet radio stations he answered and recorded the content of the reporter meeting of General Tsouichi Teraenaka. After seeing it, Liu Yimin's face became more gloomy and kept cursing the old Japanese devil in his heart that was extremely cruel and wanted to carry out public security and rectify activities in North China. If he succeeded, wouldn't North China go back to the difficult situation in history? It seems that the trick that Okamura Yasuji in history was inspired by Souichi Teraenaka and summarized the experience and lessons of the Souichi Teraenaka's public security and rectifying movement.

After scolding Sakaichi Seunuchi, Liu Yimin passed the combat plan from scratch in his heart. He felt that the only variable now is that once the reaction of the 108th Division was started, will they directly retreat back to Jinan, or will they directly stick to it? It would be great if they insisted on confronting the Second Education Brigade and the Shandong Military Guard Brigade on the spot. In that case, as long as the 8th Division reinforces Weixian, they can take advantage of the opportunity to win Jinan and expand the results of the battle. What if the 1108th Division retreats back to Jinan and comes to support side by side with the 8th Division? Can their main force win?

After thinking about it, there is no perfect solution, so I can only do it first and then make appropriate adjustments depending on the changes in the enemy situation.

So, Liu Yimin called Chief of Staff Zeng Zhongsheng and began to issue orders for the battle between Luzhong.
Chapter completed!