Iron Cross

The Expeditionary Force not only attracted investment from Japan and Europe, but also restored the industrial facilities in Jiangsu and Zhejiang that were destroyed and destroyed during the initial attack and built more factories. In addition, second-hand equipment, machine tools, and industrial facilities in China were moved to China, and they were sold to whoever paid, regardless of the Kuomintang or the Communist Party. The Japanese capitalists who made money imported better goods from Europe for upgrading - a lot of industrial facilities in France, Germany, and Italy were waiting to be exported.

Because of this relationship, the chaebols felt that although the army's orders were a little less, other businesses could still be maintained, and they did not intend to quarrel with the military for the time being. Besides, the headquarters also left a survivor. As long as the quality of the things you imitated was similar to that of the imported goods, the price was higher, and imitation could shorten the technological gap after all.

In order to win over the people, referring to the suggestion of Germany to set up an oil fund and the navy to prepare for the military merit land distribution, the senior officials of the Expeditionary Force took out a part of the shares of these newly established enterprises to distribute to the lower levels - officers were allocated according to their ranks, and the big soldiers could not even think of drinking soup. The target group was limited to the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Now the army has begun to polarize: the Kwantung Army is obsessed with fighting, and it keeps messing around with equipment and organization all day long, grabbing tanks, planes, and railway guns. It has a small exercise today and a big exercise tomorrow, just waiting to sharpen its knives and fire at the Russians, and it only needs to put a "Northward Advance" note on its forehead; the Chinese Expeditionary Army is full of business, thinking about which materials can be resold, which industrial facilities can be moved, which equipment and equipment can be exported, which places can be invested in factories, and which fields can be developed through "international" cooperation. The top leaders have no time to manage the field troops, and are busy holding cocktail parties, developing the economy, and doing business all day long.

The overall situation is becoming more and more delicate. Not only do the army and navy keep calling each other "idiots", but even several heavy army groups in the army have begun to call each other "idiots".

The attitude of each heavy military group towards the navy is obviously different from the previous one. It can be seen during Hori Teikichi's "Tenchu ​​****" period. The Southern Army has the closest relationship with the Navy and guards the island together. It also has a relationship with the Vice Admiral who sent weapons. The number of people is only more than 300,000, but it is a hardcore Navy faction. The Southern Army is all first-line elites with good equipment; the Indian Expeditionary Force has come from behind and currently has 700,000 troops, but only 300,000 can fight, and the other 400,000 are security forces that have been formed one after another. Due to the geographical location, it has flirted with the Navy and the German side. Industrial construction has not started yet, but maritime trade is booming, so naturally it will not say anything bad about the Navy.

The Chinese Expeditionary Force, which currently has a total force of less than 350,000, was very dissatisfied with the Navy at the beginning. It believed that it was because the Navy wanted to attack that they were forced to withdraw from the Chinese mainland, and at the same time caused their own strength to decline. But now because of the Navy, the business is doing well, and they don’t want to say bad things about the Navy.

The Kwantung Army was the strongest group, with 900,000 soldiers and quite complete equipment and weapons. They were determined to go north and were very dissatisfied with the navy occupying more resources, but they could not go north without the cooperation of the navy. Besides, the navy was needed to provide convenience for equipment, so the emotions of both sides were quite subtle; the Korean Army had always been dependent on the Kwantung Army, and was the weakest and poorest, with only 100,000 people. They did not have the large amount of equipment and supplies of the Kwantung Army, nor did they have such a prosperous business as the Chinese Expeditionary Army. They could only stare and drool while watching others eat meat, but they dared not to express their opinions openly, and only dared to make some insignificant sidelines; as for the largest local army (with a nominal total strength of more than 1 million), except for the Guards Division, which was a first-class unit built with great effort, the rest were not only second-rate, but also barely third-rate, but they had a high political status, and there were people who acted as matchmakers everywhere, and the relationships involved were also the most complicated.

This situation made the Tokyo Army leaders a little anxious, but in the final analysis, this situation was created by the central government itself, and no one else could be blamed. In order to stabilize the situation and prevent the generals from threatening their positions, the Ishihara-Tada faction set a strategy for the various heavy military groups to check each other and let the center play the greatest role. The heads of the army groups generally did not change for 2-3 years. Apart from other things, according to the generals who completed the Indian strategy, Yamashita Tomoyuki should have been the Minister of the Army or Chief of the General Staff in China, but the army leaders still arranged him as the Governor-General of India - the latter was also happy and did not want to go back to Tokyo to stir up trouble for the time being.

Under this arrangement, people like Ishihara Kanji, who did not have deep qualifications and had never been a commander of a force, could firmly control the situation and achieve cooperation and unity between the army and the sea, and Prince Higashikuni Toshihiko's position as prime minister was also secure. .

As for the navy, which originally had many factions, it has now been completely reversed and has become a solid block, or in other words, only the "Hori faction" is left.

In the past six months, the Navy has carried out institutional reforms and adjustments again and again according to Hori Teikichi's opinions. All those who disobeyed, did not cooperate, and were disrespectful were dealt with by Yamamoto Isoroku and Inoue Narumi. At first, many people wondered why Hori Teikichi kept Yamamoto Isoroku, and even publicly stated that he was away fighting and Yamamoto would command the Navy. Looking at this posture, it is clear that Yamamoto is the sharpest personnel razor in Hori Teikichi's hands! If he follows Hori Teikichi's wishes, Yamamoto Isoroku's power can be exerted to the extreme, otherwise it will be useless, because Yamamoto no longer has a team - all his team has gone to Hori Teikichi's hands.

In the minds of many people, the original Commander Yamamoto has long since disappeared, and now it is Minister Yamamoto who can be seen. There are still rumors circulating in the market that Inoue Narumi will soon be transferred to the position of president of the University of Marine Science and Technology, and the post of Vice-Minister of the Navy will be handed over to him. Ito Seiichi, who returned from an inspection in Germany, thought that die-hard "remnants of the Fushiminomiya faction" like Ito Seiichi had already been subdued. What else could others say?

After receiving the battle report and troop dispatch requirements from Horikichi, Kanji Ishihara and other top army officials were happy and distressed. Fortunately, the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet was destroyed, and Japan could move sideways in the Pacific. This war would basically not be fought. Lost; what worries me is what to do next. Someone in the Army must propose to invade Australia and New Zealand, and the Kwantung Army must be clamoring to advance northward. However, like Horikichi, he firmly opposes further intervention in Australia and New Zealand, and also opposes the northward advance. He just wants to Let's live a peaceful life with peace and stability.

Yamamoto Isoroku had different thoughts on this: "What happens to the Australia-New Zealand issue does not depend on the army, or even on the navy. It depends on how the Japan-US issue is finally negotiated. The combined fleet has not even captured Hawaii yet, so why? Do you have the ability to deal with Australia and New Zealand? As for the northward march, I think no one except the Kwantung Army is enthusiastic about it. Anyway, the navy doesn’t support it. If the Kwantung Army has the ability, they can do it themselves!”

Ishihara Wanji could only nod helplessly, Yamamoto Isoroku was right.

"The top priority is to fight the Jie 3, win Hawaii, and establish victory. This is the key. The Army originally said that if we attack Hawaii, you will provide 150,000 troops. Does this still count?"

"Of course it counts, but it's hard to handle so many troops..." Ishihara smiled and spread his hands, "You know the situation now, and many things are not as simple as before."

"The 150,000 yuan cannot be used for the time being. Two infantry divisions and four flying divisions must be guaranteed!" Yamamoto Isoroku did not want to fight with him, so he made a straightforward request, "It must be shipped at the end of this month, and the ship will be handled by the navy."

"The infantry division will draw the Southern Army's troops stationed in the direction of New Guinea. Let alone two, there will be no problem in drawing four - you are not going to sell New Guinea to the Germans, you must make proper arrangements for Imamura-kun. But the pilot regiment does not dare to attack the Southern Army. It is still not peaceful there. Besides, the Germans have not officially settled in, and Australia and New Zealand have to be careful and vigilant. They cannot also attack the Indian Army. They just did it last time..."

Yamamoto Isoroku interrupted him and said bluntly: "Hori-kun's main intention is to defeat the Kwantung Army."

"Kwantung Army?" Ishihara Wanji was surprised, "It's difficult to twitch."

"The Kwantung Army now has a surplus of troops. It has more than 3,000 aircraft. Who can we slap if we don't slap them? Doesn't the Kwantung Army want to fight? Why don't the pilots go fight and train with the Americans first? If the U.S. No one can beat him, Shaobei will be embarrassed if he goes in..."

"This... I will discuss this with General Umezu first."

Seeing that Ishihara Wanji still refused to give in, Yamamoto Isoroku finally took out the big killer: "Hori-kun said that if the Army fully cooperates in this matter, he can hand over the Navy's Plan F and put it under the unified control of the Army."

Ishihara Wanji stood up excitedly and lost his voice: "Seriously?"

"Why are you lying to me? Hori-kun has always been trustworthy."

"That's good, that's good." Ishihara smiled while rubbing his hands, and then said, "Then what will happen to the funds in the future?"

"Land 6 sea 4."

"No, the army is poor, the navy is rich, the land is 4 and the sea is 6!"

"Ishihara-kun, I haven't seen you for a few days, why have you started learning to do business?"

"Didn't you learn it from Hori-kun?" Ishihara smiled playfully, "He does well in business and fights well. Everyone admires him. I want to learn from him..."

"I really can't do anything to you. Let's leave half and half to you. The navy also needs to take the lead. Do you have the nerve to tell me?"

"Okay, deal! When will it be handed over?"

"When you have the troops ready, we will hand them over. You have to give me the 2 army divisions + 4 aviation divisions before the end of this month! Otherwise, the front line in Hawaii will be tight, and you and I can't afford it."

"Of course, of course...Then let me report to the Prime Minister and organize a victory parade?"

"Yes, but please control the caliber. Don't talk about destroying the US Pacific Fleet, only talk about the Hawaiian fleet. There is a difference between internal and external."

Ishihara smiled for a moment, then understood, with a solemn look on his face: "I understand what Hori-kun means."

While they were talking, Foreign Minister Tani Masayuki hurried in, looked at Ishihara Wanji and Yamamoto Isoroku and asked breathlessly: "Where is Your Highness?"

"There hasn't been much going on lately, and the weather has gotten colder. Your Highness went to the hot spring pool to recuperate... What, is there something urgent?"

"There's something big happening!" Gu Zhengzhi calmed down, "News just came from secret channels in Switzerland. The Americans requested an armistice and set out the conditions."

"What?" The two were shocked.

Yamamoto Isoroku quickly asked: "What are the conditions?"

Gu Zhengzhi immediately handed over the telegram with the word "top secret" to the two people for review.

After seeing this, the two of them shook their heads in unison - this was a condition that Japan could not ask for before, but it would be difficult to negotiate now!