Chapter 85: Battle of Shanghai (Five)

Just as Maeda Toshio attacked Hongqiao Airport in a large-scale attack and Chiang Kai-shek convened military and political officials to discuss emergency response measures, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs received an emergency telegram from the Shanghai Consulate, Japanese Foreign Minister Sato Sato hurriedly informed the newly appointed Prime Minister Lin Xijuro. Lin Xijuro felt that the situation was very serious and immediately held an emergency cabinet meeting.

"I think it is not appropriate to further expand the situation against China at present. The threats that the empire had to China in the past have been gradually weakening recently. We should see that after the Suiyuan incident, the Nanjing government has voluntarily interrupted the negotiations between Zhang Qun and Kawagoe on adjusting Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations. The Xi'an Incident later made the Nanjing government abandon the policy of first resolutely pacifying the country, which further prompted the attitude towards the empire to become tougher. If the empire does not change its current attitude towards China, the situation and status of the Nanjing government, such as Jiang Wang, who knows Japan, will become increasingly unstable, and the power of the anti-Japanese faction will increase."

Sato Sato first expressed his position. Since he became Foreign Minister, the talks between Zhang Qun and Kawagoe Shigeru had been suspended. The Nanjing government replaced Zhang Qun, who was pro-Japanese, and Wang Chonghui, who was pro-British and the United States, became Foreign Minister. This made Sato Sato very worried. In order to break the deadlock in relations with China, Sato Sato was preparing to engage in civil diplomacy centered on economic and cultural exchanges to ease the relationship between China and Japan. However, this sudden incident occurred in Shanghai today, which undoubtedly disrupted Sato Sato's wishful thinking and was very annoyed.

"So, we must change the past policy of directly imposing high pressure on the Nanjing government. We focus on starting from economy and culture, launching civil diplomacy, and easing relations with China. Taking the Chinese people as the target actually reflects coexistence and prosperity. At the same time, it has also led the Nanjing government to gradually abandon the policies of tolerance, pro-Sovietness and relying on Europe and the United States, and be close to the empire. In particular, in North China, the Nanjing government will automatically cooperate with various measures to promote mutual assistance to Japan, Manchuria and China."

Sato Sato stared at the Massacre Mine Hiromasa, and said dissatisfiedly: "I don't know why the Navy had to happen at this critical moment. This is a huge obstacle to the empire's current policy toward China."

Faced with Sato Naojutsu's accusations, Mine Hiromatsu was very annoyed. In terms of China's policies, especially in the North China region, Mine Hiromatsu has always advocated non-expansion. Moreover, when it comes to provoking China, the army has been provoking since the January 28th Incident, and the Navy has not done anything else. The strategy of dividing North China and advancing northwards that the Japanese government has always sought to represent the interests of the Army, while the Navy has always advocated going south. The Third Fleet stationed in Shanghai to make Shanghai an important base for going south. The Navy advocated that the non-expansion of China is actually a non-expansion of North China. However, for Shanghai and even the entire East China region, expanding the situation and then occupying the entire Shanghai and Nanjing is something that the Navy cannot seek.

In fact, before the emergency meeting of the cabinet, Mine Hiromasa had also received a secret telegram from Hasegawa Kiyoshi. Hasegawa Kiyoshi requested to end the exercise in the Taiwan Strait immediately, and the Third Fleet rushed to Shanghai to reinforce. It also said that the Shanghai incident was not accidental, but an incident planned by the Japanese elements of China. If they were not severely punished, the empire's expatriates in China would be insecured in the future.

"On the contrary, whether Chiang Kai-shek's regime is strengthening internal forces, enriching its military, relying on Europe and the United States and actively promoting the unification of Nanjing and North China, it is completely unimaginable that Japan-China relations will be able to be adjusted by ordinary means. Therefore, I think this Shanghai incident must teach the Nanjing government a lesson. Otherwise, the interests of the empire in China and the safety of the expatriates will not be guaranteed in the future." Mine Hiromasa immediately refuted Sato's view. Finally, he sneered: "The so-called non-expansion is actually to avoid a full-scale war, rather than ignoring the face of the imperial army and the interests of the empire."

Mine Hiromasa's tough tone made Lin Heijuro, who was originally inclined to the opinions of Sato Naojuro. In fact, since the 226th Mutiny, the Japanese government has long become a slave to the military headquarters. After the fall of the Hirota Cabinet at the beginning of this year, former North Korean Governor Utan was originally scheduled to succeed as Prime Minister, but it was because of the opposition of the military headquarters that Lin Heijuro had the opportunity to ascend to the throne of the prime minister.

"What do the Army Department have any opinions on this?" Lin Xianjuro frowned and sought the opinions of Army Minister Sugiyama Moto. It should be said that Sugiyama Moto was not the most ideal candidate for marshal in Lin Xianjuro's mind, but after he formed the cabinet, Takataro Nakamura, suffered from intestinal typhoid fever eight days after taking office. He resigned due to illness and became the shortest-lived Army Minister in Japanese history. Lin Xianjuro had to appoint Education Director Sugiyama Moto as the Army Minister.

Sugiyama has always strongly advocated increasing troops in China, expanding the scale of the war, and forcing the Nanjing government to surrender. This Shanghai incident gave him an opportunity and hurriedly said: "The Army Department fully agrees with the opinions of the Navy Department. We must not only increase troops in Shanghai, but also increase troops in North China. Only when the army and the Navy work together to carry out north-south attacks, can we capture Shanghai and Nanjing, force the Nanjing government to surrender, and resolve the China issue in three months!"

Looking at Sugiyama Moto's confidence-filled look, Lin Xianjuro hesitated even more. The Army and the Navy Department were rarely unified. And as Sugiyama Moto said, if he could solve the problem of China in three months, the temptation would be too great. But he was also worried that if the division was unknown, it would lead to a passive position in the international community. He said worriedly: "Shanghai is different from North China after all, and rashly increasing troops will inevitably lead to interference from Britain, the United States and other countries, and it is likely to be a replica of the 128th Incident."

The Navy had been facing accusations from Japan for the 128th Incident launched by the Navy five years ago. Compared with the September 18th Incident launched by the Kanto Army, it occupied the entire Northeast. The Neon Army suffered heavy losses in the 128th Incident, but in the end, due to the intervention of Britain, the United States and other countries, Japan did not gain any fundamental benefits except for withdrawing the Chinese national team from Shanghai.

As soon as Lin Xianjuro said this, Sato Naojuro couldn't help but sigh and shook his head. At this time, he knew that Lin Xianjuro's previous determination had begun to shake. He did not believe that Sugiyama Sora said that it would solve the China problem in three months, but in the face of the unified opinions of the Army and the Navy, the power of his foreign minister alone could obviously not be confronted.

Sugiyama Moto was also a little dissatisfied with Lin Xianjuro's anxiety about gains and losses, and continued: "Prime Minister, since last year, the Nanjing government has transferred heavy troops to garrison on the front lines of Shanghai and Nanjing, and has organized military exercises against the empire many times. Moreover, their security forces in Shanghai are constantly increasing, and have surpassed the agreement of the "Shanghai Armistice Agreement". Therefore, we cannot hold on to the policy of not expanding. Now it is time to change the situation. Although we must first cause major events of a total war, it is very necessary to resolutely fight back based on the facts and situations."

However, Sugiyama's arrogant attitude aroused the dissatisfaction of the Minister of Interior Affairs Kawahara Kawada Kawaya and Minister of Otaro Yukichi Yuki Toyotaro. Kawahara asked with a white beard, "Please don't forget that the Nanjing government's dispatch of security forces in Shanghai is a security force that maintains public security, at least not only did not destroy the "Shanghu Armistice Agreement", but we have increased our troops to Shanghai, but the agreement was broken. Britain, the United States and other countries will inevitably put pressure on the empire with this. Do you want His Majesty the Emperor and the entire cabinet to bear this pressure?"

Toyotaro Ozuka Iyu Castle nodded deeply and said, "What if the Chinese people resist in full? Don't forget that although China is behind the empire, their territory and population are much larger than that of the empire. I think we still need to be cautious and we must not rashly increase troops to further escalate the situation."

Sugiyama said disdainfully: "The Chinese have always been a mess. Although they have nominally unified, the Nanjing government can control only several provinces along the east China and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. North China, northwest and southwest provinces are not obeying the command of the central government. These local government officials only want to keep their territory and will only verbally shout over the sky. If they really fight, they will not do it. If we can concentrate our troops this time to eliminate the elite of the Nanjing Central Army in Shanghai and around Nanjing, if the Nanjing government does not choose to surrender to the empire, it will collapse. Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei will never do such a fool."

Seeing that with the support of the Minister of the Interior and Minister of the Tibetan Buddhism, Sato Naotake regained his strength and joined forces with most of the cabinet officials to believe that Sugiyama's words were too heavy and that it was not time to send troops from the country.

Faced with a lot of debate, the emergency meeting of the cabinet had to end hastily. Lin Xianjuro hurried to the palace to report to Emperor Hirohito.

"It's all a group of short-sighted guys. How is your Navy Department going to deal with this Shanghai incident?" After the meeting, Sugiyama Moto took the initiative to walk to Mine Kwang-zheng and said indignantly.

Faced with the opposition from the cabinet, Mine Hiromasa was also very annoyed. Faced with Sugiyama's active show of kindness, Mine Hiromasa also knew the purpose of the Army Department. However, he also knew that if he wanted to fight in Shanghai, it would be difficult to solve the problem with the navy alone in a short period of time, and the army must be assisted.

"I have ordered the Third Fleet to end the exercise immediately and return to Shanghai. Sasebo Naval Base is ready to reinforce Shanghai at any time. I hope to get strong support from the Ministry of the Army." Mine Hiromasa said sincerely.

"No problem, the Army Department can mobilize two divisions immediately. Since the cabinet meeting cannot reach an agreement, I suggest memorializing directly to His Majesty the Emperor. This Shanghai incident is a good opportunity to resolve the China issue." Sugiyama Moto agreed and suggested that he bypass the cabinet and submitting a memorial directly to Emperor Hirohito.

Mine Hiromatsu pondered for a moment, nodded, and agreed to the suggestion of Sugiyama-Sama-Massman.

(There was a mistake in the previous chapter. Let me correct it. The artillery position of the Neon Army is set on a high ground five hundred meters away from the grove. Since the artillery position is still vigilant from the artillery position, the secret position of the secret service company is still five hundred meters away from the edge of the grove. Mortars cannot be used in the woods at all, so I can only rush to the edge of the grove to launch artillery positions at the Neon Army. I will explain it here, and I would like to thank the readers for their reminder of the Dream Infinite 99.)

Tang Cheng led the raid team to slowly approach the edge of the grove, and stopped at a distance of 200 meters. From the glasses, he could clearly see the neon army guarding the grove. They could only wait quietly, waiting for Peng Hui to launch an attack on the other side and lead these neon army guarding. A distance of 200 meters, Tang Cheng was sure to rush to the edge of the grove within three points, set up a mortar to launch a raid on the neon army's artillery position. A distance of 500 meters, there was no need to test the shooting at all, and basically it could point to wherever it was. However, as long as the gunfire sounded, it would alarm the nearby neon army's large team, and they would not have to arrive here for more than ten minutes. In other words, only six or seven minutes were left for Tang Cheng's assault team to destroy the artillery position. At the same time, they had to deal with the Neon army team that turned around and returned to the rescue.

With the sound of a gunshot from the "Table" and half surrounded the grove of the small highland where the artillery position was located, gunfire suddenly burst out, and the Neon Army soldiers responsible for the guarding on the other side fell to the ground.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack" shouted in a burst of shouts. Tang Cheng saw the neon troops defending this side in the telescope to reinforce the other side of the grove, leaving only five or six nervous-looking soldiers on the side to watch.

Toshio Maeda, who was observing Masao Kazuno's second attack, suddenly heard gunfire from the direction of the artillery position behind him, and was shocked.

"Hiss Commander, the artillery position was attacked." A staff officer next to him couldn't help but scream at this time.

"Reinforcement, the Second Battalion will reinforce immediately, and the artillery position must not be lost." Maeda Toshio shouted in anger. He knew that if he lost the artillery, the Hongqiao Airport in front of him would not be able to be taken down at all.

"Roar up and deal with the Japanese as soon as possible. Explore the Japanese artillery positions as fast as possible." With Tang Cheng's order, the raid team quickly ran towards the edge of the woods.

Because the Japanese in charge of the alert were attracted by the other side, when Tang Cheng's assault team appeared on the edge of the woods, they just discovered that when they were shouting and preparing to counterattack, there was a raucous sound of submachine guns, and the barrage shot from four submachine guns suddenly fell to the ground.

The artillery soldiers following behind quickly straightened up two sixty mortars, and an M2 Browning heavy machine gun was set up to cover it.

"Dong, dong." With the sound of two dull mortar shells coming out of the bore, two fireballs accurately landed on the Neon Army artillery position five hundred meters away.
Chapter completed!