Iron Cross

"Kwantung Army? Are you involved with the Kwantung Army?" Inoue Narumi was stunned for a moment, then she suddenly realized what she was doing and shouted in shock, "There is a gentleman's agreement between Horikichi and the Kwantung Army?"

"My old classmate is not a reckless person. He is a person who takes one step, sees three steps, and thinks five steps. If he wants to fall out with the Soviet Union, he will not do so without the support and support of the Kwantung Army. Of course, he does not rule out other ideas. ..." Yamamoto Isoroku said with a bitter smile, "There is nothing more than human relationships outside of legal principles, not to mention the fact that the law does not punish everyone. Although Umezu Yoshijiro was vague when he came to me yesterday, I have an intuition that Horikichi will be with him. How can a poor guy like the Kwantung Army get away with 200,000 tons of supplies? "

"But it's taboo for generals to associate with other generals, and for commanders to associate with other commanders. Not to mention that the relationship between the fleet and the Kwantung Army spans land and sea. I'm afraid Your Majesty won't be able to sleep."

"That's why he said time waits for no man."

"But Your Highness, His Majesty's anger..."

"Are you afraid?"

"I...I have nothing to be afraid of. It's not my order."

"Then what does he have to fear?"

Inoue Narumi suddenly woke up: with Horikichi's military exploits, status, prestige and control of the fleet, the most he can do is to remove his commander of the combined fleet. As long as he does not rebel, others will not even dare to raise a hair. Touch him, otherwise you'll have to wait for "Heaven's Punishment".

"Have you ever thought that his military exploits are so outstanding that no one has ever done it before or since? Whoever takes over his team will not be wary and walk on thin ice. Now he maintains a record of complete victory and retreats bravely. If the fleet suffers a minor defeat in the future, What will the grassroots think after comparing it? Isn't it going to be a big change? Then he will naturally return." Yamamoto Isoroku showed a helpless expression, "I also had this status as the Queen of Pearl Harbor and Coral Sea, but it was a pity that it was lost to Midway. If the fight is gone, if I had retreated bravely, I would say the same thing now, right?"

Inoue Narumi was shocked: "He thinks so far? He won't be able to survive without the United Fleet?"

"It doesn't have to be that you can't live without him, just make people feel that you can't live without him. Now we are at war. The position of commander is so important during war. Can we use the intrigues of political struggles in peacetime to deal with it? So I I just said that His Highness is not smart enough. If he takes a step back and retires from the position of commander-in-chief, the pressure will be on Horikichi, but His Highness is blinded by personal grudges and cannot see or hear. "

"I admit that no one can touch him now, so how to deal with this matter? The Soviets are still waiting."

"I guess everyone will scold each other and let it go."

"No way." Inoue Narumi looked confused, "Russians are so soft?"

"What else can you do? Declare war on us and fight us? Don't be kidding me. The Red Army was beaten by the Germans on the Western Front and was struggling. It has no energy left to open up a battlefield in the Far East. It is not afraid of a real fight. The Army has already begun to fight. The Chinese mainland has been withdrawing its troops continuously and has a surplus of troops. The strength of the Kwantung Army is second to none. If it can't defeat the defense, is there no problem with the current front? I guessed it right. Now the two bold guys are probably escorting the ship to deliver the goods to the Kwantung Army. How do you expect Umezu Yoshijiro to spit out the things? As for the remaining half, the navy will probably take it himself, plus the Germans. The reward from others, the business experience of my old classmate, you and I are willing to be inferior..."

Inoue Narumi was silent and did not ask any more stupid questions about what to do with the remaining half of the navy's supplies: Do you want to hand it back to the navy after it arrives? Whoever dares to issue this order will be punished by the fanatical officers and soldiers tomorrow.

"Ruthless enough!" After thinking for a long time and having no idea what to do, he could only spit these two words out of his mouth bitterly.

"This routine is unacceptable!" Yamamoto Isoroku laughed, "We don't need to talk tonight, just watch how the fleet quarrels with the Military Command. The fleet has always quarreled with the Navy Ministry, and no fleet has ever fought against the Military Command. He did the same The only spicy one in Japan.”

"Your Highness, sirs, and your ambassador, this is a record of the entire ship incident captured by our military photographer. It was transported as quickly as possible by an aircraft carrier-based aircraft. Please watch the projection..."

A clear image soon appeared on the screen: first the Japanese fleet forced the Soviet fleet to stop, then the two sides shouted, and then Japanese planes rushed to the scene - the only thing omitted was the scene of the Japanese heavy cruiser opening fire.

"Please note that this is 1:17 in the afternoon. The fleets of both sides are in a confrontation. At this time, your destroyer opened fire first..." An image of gunfire came from the screen.

"Then he also attempted to release torpedoes to threaten our flagship..." An image of a Red Army destroyer adjusting its position came on the screen.

"In order to self-defense, our military commander was forced to issue a self-defense order." Then the scene showed Shoji Nishimura giving the order, and the next minute it showed the Soviet destroyer being torpedoed and sunk by bombers - omitting the fighter jets strafing the sea. lens.

"Then our troops came forcibly and took these pictures..."

The screen showed footage of Japanese soldiers forcing the crew to kneel down and recite the Russian version of "The Complete Works of Lenin", followed by the American crew's wry smiles, and even an American sailor wailing at the camera: "Don't kill me, don't kill me, I am American civilian, I'm just a sailor, not a soldier, don't kill me, don't kill me, I'm an American!"

The navy officials all understand English and can hear these words clearly.

"After statistics, a total of 4,197 people were intercepted, 4,103 of whom were American citizens, and the remaining 94 were Soviet citizens. Your Excellency, Ambassador, a group of Americans arrived in the Sea of ​​Japan on American ships carrying a large amount of arms and weapons. The purpose is not clear enough. If it is revealed? Isn’t it natural for us to take action?”

"But they are all Soviet ships, American ships hired by the Soviet Union." The Soviet ambassador knew that the Japanese were well prepared after seeing the movie. He was not at the scene, and now the fleet cannot be contacted and cannot be verified, so he can only elaborate in vain own point of view.

"Has this situation been reported?"

It was obvious that there was no such thing. The Soviet ambassador could not hold back his anger and said angrily: "Why do we need to report the Soviet flag?"

"Isn't that right?" Chiaki Matsuda, who had been watching coldly, added, "If you fly the Soviet flag, you don't need to inspect it? What if tomorrow an American warship also flies the Soviet flag and comes over?"

"This is impossible." The ambassador immediately retorted with veins bulging.

"Why is it impossible? The German Navy recently reportedly wanted to borrow ships from the Imperial Navy for training... If they go to Vladivostok, will you check them?"

Matsuda Chiaki's nonsense made Tani Masayuki shake his head, but he was convinced of one thing now: the military had no intention of going to war with the Soviet Union. At most, it was jealous of the supplies and wanted to get some. Now he finally had the confidence in his heart. I feel that the situation is not as serious as I expected.

Cold sweat broke out on the Soviet ambassador's forehead. In fact, the Soviet destroyer had bumped into a German submarine more than once. Although the Japanese flag was flying, they both kept restraint and did not take action. He knew about the Japanese-German naval cooperation, so this sentence The words cannot simply be regarded as threats from the Japanese - these little devils might actually be able to do it. I thought so, but I couldn't lose with my words: "Comrade Stalin told us that if we don't give an explanation for this matter, the relationship between the two countries will enter a state of war from now on."

When they heard the word "war", everyone's brows jumped. Only Horikichi smiled calmly and said, "Show the ambassador the map."

With a bang, Chiaki Matsuda took out a map of the Far East from his bag, pointed at Vladivostok and said, "This is the largest port in the Far East. The Red Army has stationed more than 50,000 troops and 200 aircraft here, and the Red Navy's Pacific Fleet is stationed here; Soviet Port, the second largest port in the Far East, has more than 30,000 troops and more than 100 aircraft. The specific distribution is as follows..."

"Order..." Inoue Narumi glanced sideways. Except for Matsuda Chiaki, all the fleet staff members who participated in the meeting stood upright as if reflexively. "The First Fleet, the Second Fleet, and the First Air Battle were dispatched to blow up the two ports and Relevant ancillary facilities will cover the landing of the Kwantung Army! Battleships and heavy cruiser formations will provide shooting cover from the other side!"

"Hai!"

This response completely ignored the instructions of the Military Command and made Prince Fushimi Miyahiro, who was attending the meeting, trembling with anger, but he could not get angry.

"Wait a minute..." The Soviet ambassador was horrified and took action after saying a few words. The Japanese were really perverted, but he remembered Comrade Stalin's instructions, "We must achieve our goals and at the same time avoid allowing Germany's conspiracy to provoke conflict between the Soviet Union and Japan to succeed."

"Didn't your ambassador want to declare war? The foreign minister happened to be here too, so just read it directly. There are still 2 hours from the time the order is issued to the execution, which is enough for you to finish reading. Don't worry, although the troops are very fast, I will not go to war without declaring it. You can avoid it by moving faster..." Horikichi said calmly, "Our army has a tradition of raiding ports. Pearl Harbor, New York Harbor, Panama Port, and Port-au-Prince have all been attacked. We have no idea how to attack ports, destroy facilities, and eliminate The enemy has rich combat experience.”

Hearing that Horikichi satirized Yamamoto Isoroku's undeclared fight for Pearl Harbor, Inoue Narumi curled her lips and disapproved, but Yamamoto himself seemed not to hear it.

"You, you! You will pay the price..." the Soviet ambassador said angrily. He neither dared to walk away nor openly declare war - at least he did not report these situations to Moscow. He did not dare to express his position. If he really wanted to If it leads to a dispute between the two countries, no matter what the situation is in the future, he will definitely not be able to get over it.

"Forget it, Hori-kun, don't be so angry." Yamamoto Isoroku came out to smooth things over, "We are all soldiers, be realistic and go straight to solve the problem."

Matsuda immediately continued: "Chief Yamamoto is right. We are not going to war against the Soviet Union, but we will never allow American ships to sail into imperial waters like this. Otherwise, where will the empire's face be? Where will the navy's face be?"

Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Kyo heard that Matsuda said "Navy", and his face turned from green to red, then from red to purple, and finally turned completely black...