Iron Cross

But looking at Fushimi Miyahiro Prince Kyoto on the hospital bed, Ito felt a sore nose again: His Highness may not be considerate in many aspects and is too tough, but he really has nothing to say to himself. This important place is also completely left to myself.

He took a breath and asked: "What should we do if so many people want to go abroad? The palace is still waiting for your attitude. Your Majesty is very concerned about this, but he is frustrated by the reform memorial."

"Get out! Get out of here! Get away as far away as possible! The faster the better! I am out of sight and out of mind!"

"Where's Horikichi?"

"Go away!" Fushimi Miyahiro Prince suddenly remembered something and sneered, "Let His Majesty give him a title, such as the head of the Imperial Japanese Navy's European Arms Inspection Group. His domestic military position will remain unchanged, and he will continue to write in Europe. Domestic structural reform report, now you should be satisfied and stop making trouble with me at home? Your Majesty's face will be saved by going abroad according to the order, right? Let him discuss it for five or eight years, waiting for me to die and you, Ito, to take power. Let’s reform it now.”

When Ito Zhengyi apologetically conveyed the communication situation to Yamamoto Isoroku, the latter was speechless for a while. Inoue Narumi shook his head and sighed. He finally gave up on the matter of system reform! Horikichi is right, it is more realistic to expect these old stubborns to change than to expect the stones to blossom.

Despite this, Ito Zhengichi still begged Yamamoto Isoroku on the phone to think of a way to retain Horikichi as much as possible.

"What should I do? Are you still going?"

"I have to go, I'll go tomorrow." Yamamoto Isoroku gritted his teeth, "I can't go if I don't go. If we continue like this, the fleet will be really doomed!"

Narumi Inoue pointedly pointed out: "It's not that the fleet is going to be doomed, it's that the people's hearts and the team are really doomed!"

"What's the difference? Without the support of the people and the team, can warships be called a fleet? Can they fight a war?" Yamamoto Isoroku looked up to the sky and roared, "No matter what, we can't let him mess things up. Japan is tossing Sorry!"

"Will he listen to you?"

"I will try my best." Yamamoto Isoroku thought for a while, "If it still doesn't work, let him go abroad in a dignified and honorable manner. He can also help us talk to Germany. It is better to go abroad on a public official basis than to slip away privately. Bar?"

Inoue Narumi sarcastically said: "You are trying to hide something! Typical bureaucracy."

Yamamoto Isoroku, who was exhausted both physically and mentally, now ignored Inoue Narumi's ridicule and went home with a sigh full of worries.

While the Military Command and the Navy Ministry were causing disturbances and panic, the Army General Staff Headquarters was smiling.

"Your Highness, General Umezu sent a telegram to repel the Soviet attack! In this battle, the Soviet army dispatched about 2 corps with about 50,000 troops (including 5 armored brigades). Our army used 2 infantry divisions, 1 A total of more than 70,000 superior troops from the tank division, permanent border fortifications and independent heavy artillery regiment responded. According to His Highness's instructions, they first retreated moderately to lure the Soviet side to attack, and then encircled the enemy and retreated desperately. The entire battle process. It only lasted 4 days. At least 9,000 opponents were wiped out, more than 4,000 enemy officers and soldiers below major general level were captured, more than 170 tanks and other armored vehicles were destroyed, more than 80 enemy aircraft were shot down, and a large amount of military supplies were seized. Our army lost less than 4,000 soldiers and lost about one-third of the enemy's tanks and various heavy equipment. We even counterattacked more than 20 kilometers into the enemy's territory. However, Commander Umezu wanted to calm down the situation. In order to escalate the situation, we robbed some supplies, destroyed some railways and enemy fortifications, and then retreated to the original defense line."

"Good! Very good! Very good!" King Higashikata Minuhiko clapped his hands, "The Kwantung Army is worthy of being the flower of the imperial army. It taught the Russians a lesson and wiped away the shame of Nomenhan. We must send orders to commend the meritorious soldiers. Report on the list for promotion and encouragement! I will report the success to His Majesty, and he must be very happy."

"In addition, Commander Umezu said that he has also received the list of supplies sent by the Navy. There are more than 300 American tanks (diesel Shermans), thousands of trucks or jeeps, and many anti-aircraft guns - the Navy is quite interesting and promised things. All were given, and the materials allocated to the Korean army were delivered after negotiation. Did he propose that the mecha army could be expanded? If the divisions were not available, it would be similar to the independent one formed by the Indian dispatched army. A chariot brigade is also possible—an independent chariot brigade with pure and beautiful weapons and heavy equipment!”

"This..." King Higashikata Minuhiko turned his head to Ishihara Wanji, "What do you think?"

"I think I can support it. The Kwantung Army has never been in war. The promotion of generals is the slowest and the military pay is low. With the new organization, there will be more official hats. Besides, the chariot brigade and the infantry brigade are two levels. Even if They are both major generals, but it's different when it comes to it - can the commanders of the cavalry and infantry have the same prestige?" Ishihara Wanji then made a change, "But I don't recommend forming a tank division. The German consultant has pointed out that we have The shortcomings of the organization are too bloated and ineffective command. I think an independent tank brigade is more suitable. "

Hearing Ishihara's smile and his nod, King Higashino Higashinohiko immediately gave the order and approved the establishment of two independent tank brigades.

"This frontline victory was mainly due to His Highness's good leadership and wise decision-making."

"Hey, I don't have any merit. The battle was fought by you. I just listened to the information, looked at the map, and signed the battle plan you drew up." King Higashikata Minuhiko was embarrassed said.

"This is the uniqueness of His Highness. How can a person in a superior position have to worry about everything and take care of everything? It's enough for us to worry about small things like battle plans. Your Highness only cares about big things - making up the determination to fight and being able to calmly make appropriate decisions. It's entirely His Highness's fault to stop." Ishihara smiled and said, "Look at the red deer in the navy, I really don't know what they are doing."

"Ishihara-kun, please stop praising me. If you praise me any more, you will become proud. Once you are proud, you won't know how much you weigh - this is not good. It will easily lead to being hot-headed and arrogant. As for the navy..." Dong King Kūge Miyazaki also complained, "I really don't know what to argue about. I've been hospitalized over and over again and still can't think about it. If Horikichi is willing to do the hard work, let him do it. If you succeed, you are a good leader. If you fail, it's Hortikichi's problem." . Oh, Ishihara-kun, I’m just making a metaphor, you can come to me if you have any problem, just do it boldly, I will shoulder the burden for you if there is any problem.”

Army Minister Tada Shun couldn't help but laugh. It was a blessing for the army to have such a highness on the stand. Determination, quick closing, and wise decision-making were all Ishihara Wanji's ideas. Wang's words came out of his mouth and he nodded at the end.

After complimenting each other, Army Undersecretary Shimomura Shimomura sighed with emotion about the Tiger tank: "This heavy tank is easy to use. It can fire without miss within 2,000 meters. Basically, the Russian tank will be destroyed if it hits us, but the enemy will not move at all when it hits us." The mechanical performance is good, not to mention it is spacious and comfortable inside. The failure rate is actually acceptable in the ice and snow of Manchuria. It is much better than the domestic tanks. Except for the higher fuel consumption and slightly more troublesome maintenance, it has all the advantages. The army. Keep asking for more.”

Out of ammunition conservationism, the Japanese army has always advocated precise shooting, and tanks are no exception - one 88mm shell is equivalent to a month's salary. The Tiger's good sighting system, coupled with the Japanese army's unique hard training, has surprisingly effective results. The ground is good, and it shines even more brightly when used in defensive battles. Half of the losses of Soviet armored vehicles were caused by Tigers, but they only lost one, which was blown up by Soviet aircraft. As for launching a blitzkrieg similar to that of the German army, the Japanese army had not thought about it, and in fact did not know how to do it.

"Of course that's good, one costs 600,000 marks."

"Can it be made domestically?"

"No, not to mention the Tiger, even the T-34, which has a much lower technical level, has not been successfully imitated yet. Only the Stalker has been imitated, but it is not a pure tank, but an artillery tank (tank destroyer). That's all." Shimomura Sada has been focusing more on weapons development recently. "In addition to heavy tanks, the Iron Fist rocket is very effective and the frontline officers and soldiers like it very much. This time, many Soviet tanks were killed by the infantry with the Iron Fist. What's even more rare is that, This thing has a low technical threshold and low cost. It is easy to build in the arsenal. I plan to triple the production next year - it will be very useful against the Mi-Ying monster tanks in Nanyang. "

"Yes, yes..." Everyone sighed. If Nomen had such a thing back then, maybe the situation could be restored.

"German aircraft are also easy to use. After the Fw-190\\Bf-109\\Bf-219 jointly appeared, they killed a lot of Russian aircraft. They couldn't understand the situation and thought the German pilots were helping us fight the war. They screamed. It's really funny. ”

"You still have to be willing to spend money to buy heavy equipment. The Kwantung Army pointed out that during this period, they did business with the Soviet Union and obtained a large amount of gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, oil paintings, tapestries and valuable furniture. In addition, they also had some Leather goods and ginseng are equivalent to 200-300 million marks. I would like to ask His Highness to agree to purchase weapons from Germany, but they must be used exclusively for the Kwantung Army."

"I think it's okay." King Higashikata Minuhiko just nodded, and suddenly saw Ishihara frowning, and he immediately shouted, "Wait a minute, Ishihara-kun has a different opinion." He is good at one thing. He obeys Ishihara's words and openly He said to the following - "Ishihara's opinion is my opinion." If Ishihara does not agree, he can immediately change his opinion even if he has already approved it. The following all know this relationship, and there are many things that cannot be decided without Ishihara here, but there is no People dare to despise this prince - this is called knowing people and being kind to them. Otherwise, why doesn't His Highness trust others?

"200 million to 300 million is too little, at least 500 million is needed." Ishihara smiled and said slowly, "But it cannot increase the cost burden in other aspects. After thinking about it, I decided to go against the Germans."

"It's great to beat the Germans in the autumn wind..." Upon hearing this, a group of people immediately became excited, smiling around Ishihara and asking, "What to do?"

Ishihara Wanji cleared his throat and began to explain one by one...