Itagaki was not a simple man. In 1913, Itagaki Seishiro was transferred back to Japan and entered the 28th batch of the Japanese Army University. At the same time, he was promoted to an infantry captain. He graduated from the mainland university in 1916. Because Itagaki Seishiro had studied Chinese culture since he was a child, he was well versed in Chinese people's customs.
He was able to speak Chinese fluently, so in the second year after graduation, he was sent to Yunnan, China as a researcher by the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters. In 1922, Itagaki was transferred to the China Course of the General Staff Headquarters and concurrently served as an instructor at Army University.
During this period, he was still very concerned about the Chinese issue, looking for information from all aspects, and further theoretically analyzing the Chinese issue. From the first time he set foot on the land of China in 1904, to becoming a senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army in 1929, Itagaki
Seishiro knew all about China's geography, politics, economy, and military situation. Therefore, together with Kenji Doihara and Rensuke Isotani, he was regarded as the three "China experts" in the Japanese Army.
In Fengtian, Itagaki, then senior staff officer of the Kwantung Army, reunited with his old acquaintance Ishihara Kanji, and the two began to "join hands" in the "big drama" of the invasion of Northeast China. At the beginning of taking office, he teamed up with Ishihara Kanji to organize Kanto three times.
The military staff conducted a "travel" exercise. The first time was the "Northern Manchuria Staff Travel" from July 3 to 12, 1929. It was led by Seishiro Itagaki and Kanji Ishihara, and was accompanied by engineering captains Kato Reizo and Takahashi Shigehisa.
Captain Kei, Captain Kengo Kanno, Captain Kazuo Horiuchi, Captain Ryozo Sakuma and other five people. The main topic is to study the offensive and defensive warfare of the Japanese army in the area near Harbin, and proposed a study on "Research on Issues Concerning the Rule of Occupied Areas"
Topic.
The second time was the "Southern Manchuria and Western Liaoning Staff Tour" organized in October 1929. Itagaki and Ishihara led the team. The main topic of this trip was to study the Japanese army's operations in the Jinzhou area. The third time was in 1931
The "Northern Manchuria Staff Trip" conducted in July was still led by Itagaki and Ishihara. The research topic was ostensibly designated as "Research on the Outcome of the Battle against the Soviet Union", but it was actually for the purpose of conducting on-the-spot military exploration of the terrain of Northern Manchuria.
After a staff "trip", they spied on the terrain of Changchun, Harbin, Hailar, Taonan, Shanhaiguan, Jinzhou and other places as well as the military situation of the Chinese army. Based on this, they secretly formulated a battle plan to invade Northeast China. According to them
It is estimated that Zhang Xueliang's Northeastern Army had about 250,000 people, of which 20,000 were elite troops near Shenyang, equipped with aircraft, tanks, artillery and other weapons and equipment. At that time, the Kwantung Army near Fengtian only had 10,900 people, so it was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. However,
Due to the defeat of the Northeastern Army in the Middle East Road Incident, Ishihara said contemptuously: I don't need to draw my sword, just a bamboo knife is enough to scare Zhang Xueliang away. Therefore, he and Itagaki and others formulated a strategy of "controlling the masses with a few" and decided to use a surprise attack.
It dealt a fatal blow to the Chinese army, quickly captured Fengtian, and quickly occupied other strategic locations in the Northeast before the intervention of other countries had begun.
Under Itagaki's unswerving encouragement, the occupation of "Manchuria and Mongolia" gradually became a consensus within the Japanese army. At that time, the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Hisashi Kararitaka, openly advocated that Japan should "break the status quo" and "seek the development of the national destiny." Among them, "the first is
Fundamentally solve the 'Manchuria-Mongolia' problem." In order to find excuses and create a tense atmosphere, between June and July 1931, Itagaki Seishiro deliberately planned and created the Wanbaoshan Incident and the Nakamura Incident in Northeast China. The latter directly became the trigger for Japan to
The reasons for the September 18th Incident.
With the tense events foreshadowing, Japanese militarists in Japan took the opportunity to stir up the tense atmosphere of the "Manchuria-Mongolia crisis." On August 4, Army Minister Nanjiro made tough remarks on the "Manchuria-Mongolia issue" and demanded that the military "be at any time Prepare to fulfill the bounden duty of soldiers." The Prime Minister of the Cabinet also preached at the meeting that in order to defend the rights and interests of "Manchuria and Mongolia," the people should be prepared to "rise up bravely at any sacrifice." And as early as June, the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters had produced "Resolution" "Outline of the Plan for the Manchuria and Mongolia Issues" requires a one-year period to strive for "understanding" at home and abroad, to make preparations to completely occupy Northeast China in three stages, and to solve the so-called "Manchuria and Mongolia Issues." In short, the Japanese government and the military And the Kwantung Army's policy of preparing to solve the "Manchuria-Mongolia issue" by force has been set, but it is just looking for a favorable "opportunity".
At the same time, in July, the two 24-cm-caliber heavy artillery that Nagata Tieshan promised to support arrived at the Japanese garrison in Fengtian. They were secretly installed and aimed at the North Camp of the Northeastern Army of China (located in today's Dadong District, Shenyang City, Liaoning Province). (near Yuanyuan Road) and Fengtian East Airfield (now known as Dongta Airport). As the major personnel adjustments within the Japanese military headquarters were exhausted in early August, organizational guarantees were basically formed - the Jianchuan Meiji who secretly indulged and supported the occupation of "Manchuria and Mongolia" The second major general was transferred to the chief of operations, Lieutenant General Shigemoto Honjo, the "China expert", was appointed commander of the Kwantung Army, and Colonel Kenji Doihara was appointed chief of the Fengtian secret service.
Everything was ready, just waiting for action. However, at this moment, the news leaked and reached Tokyo. The cabinet put pressure on the General Staff Headquarters, believing that the time was not yet ripe to provoke trouble. Itagaki and others saw that the matter had come to this, so they could only fight for it. They took the initiative. So, they first called Mitsu Takekawa, the chief of operations of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters, in the name of Kwantung Army Chief of Staff Miyake Mitsuharu, explaining that the Kwantung Army was "unbearable to the recent brutal insults" and requested that someone be sent to Manchuria for "inspection." In order to "make the government have a proper understanding of the current situation". After receiving the telegram, Chief of Staff Kanaya Norizan tried to prevent them from acting too hastily on the grounds that the time was not ripe at home and abroad, and asked them to "bear it for another year", and sent the Minister of Operations Kenchuan Meiji went to Manchuria to "pacify" the Kwantung Army.
Takekawa Mitsuji actually supported the plan to invade "Manchuria and Mongolia". On the surface, he was ordered to go to the Northeast to dissuade Itagaki and other young officers from taking action. In fact, he had already disclosed the decision of the General Staff Headquarters to the "Sakura Club", the army's fascist young officer organization at that time. The leader, Hashimoto Kingoro, the leader of the Russian section of the General Staff Headquarters, Hashimoto sent three secret messages to Itagaki in succession, urging him to act quickly.
Subsequently, Itagaki Seishiro escorted Takekawa Miji to the Japanese-owned Kikubun Hotel in Fengtian City, and also found a geisha to accompany the general who was tired from the journey. After the arrangements were made, Itagaki excused himself and left, and Takekawa Miji also kept silent. The purpose of this trip was actually to secretly encourage Itagaki and others to take action as soon as possible. After the two tacitly broke up, the carefully planned action plan by Itagaki and others has entered the countdown. At 10:20 pm on September 18, 1931 According to the scheduled plan, the Kwantung Army, led by Lieutenant Mamoru Kawamoto of the Independent Guard, detonated explosives that had been buried on the South Manchuria Railway near the Chinese Army's Beida Camp, blowing up a section of track near Liutiao Lake in the northern suburbs of Fengtian City. They were already on the alert. After hearing the explosion, the Japanese army immediately launched an attack on the Chinese army on the pretext that the Chinese army had blown up the South Manchuria Railway.
What Itagaki never expected at this time was that Wang Yizhe suddenly attacked Shenyang, and there was no one at Dongta Airport. At this time, the heavy artillery regiment immediately retreated to Liaoyang, but it did not replace the loss of Shenyang. How could Itagaki not have it? Considering that Wang Yizhe would resist, and even Huang Xiansheng, a policeman, would resist, what was even more unexpected was that Wang Yizhe pointed all the contradictions at the Japanese civilians in the Northeast.
What I didn't expect in the end was that planes from the Northeast would bomb Dalian, turning more than 50,000 tons of supplies into nothing, and losing so many warships and cargo ships. The five divisions now rely on food shipped from the mainland. The Japanese government and the United States ordered a large amount of grain, and the U.S. government demanded that all be settled in gold. When the money arrived, the grain was shipped. There was no reason to say that the grain ordered by the Japanese made the American farmers breathe a sigh of relief. The emperor was like, eight squares every day He scolded me, everything was caused by Itagaki, and Itagaki's courage was just a straw bag. He didn't think of this, he didn't think of that, he didn't think of anything.
At this time, when Itagaki didn't think of anything, Wang Yizhe's clear message was also something that Itagaki didn't expect. Wang Yizhe released the clear code in Shanghai, saying that the Japanese country had been thinking about China since the Ming Dynasty, and was finally destroyed by the Ming Dynasty general Qi Jiguang. Itagaki didn't expect this. I killed the Japanese pirates in the Northeast. If they stayed in Japan obediently, would I kill them? Who invited them to the Northeast? It was not their personal behavior. When they came to China, they were bandits. We The Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces are not the trash that relies on smoking cigarettes to maintain the army. The Northeast is the Northeast for us Northeasterners, nor is it the Northeast for the Nanjing government. The League of Nations is a joke to us. We declare that as long as there are Japanese pirates in the Northeast, our resistance will It will not stop. Remember the Koreans. You killed 170 of our civilians. We will make you pay a thousand times the price in the future. Long live the Chinese nation and long live the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces.
At this time, when Zhang Xueliang saw the telegram, he was shaking with anger. Not resisting was what the Nanjing government asked me to do. What can I do? The Northeast is no longer named Zhang. Hey, one wrong step and the next, the great Northeast will be given to Japan. I was very unwilling. After reading the telegram, the Chairman of the Nanjing Committee was trembling with anger and cursed. Do they still have me as Chairman of the Committee in their eyes? I didn’t expect that Wang Yizhe would become a celebrity. That Itagaki saw the telegram. Sometimes I was so angry that I vomited blood.
Jiang Qiang returned to Lihe Trading Company to go to work. At this time, Hongkou Airport welcomed Gao Zhihang and officers from the Northeast. The only person who greeted them at the airport was General Tang Juwu, who was very low-key. Tang Juwu welcomed them to the military camp. , At this time, Wang Yizhe and Huang Xiansheng were all shocked. They never thought that it was their old friend Tang Juwu who was in Hongkou, Shanghai. Tang Juwu said, last year we knew that Itagaki and Ishihara Wanji planned to attack and occupy the Northeast. This Guo Xiaoliu is now the director of our Military Intelligence Bureau. He is a ruthless person in the Northeast. Wang Yaqiao, the number one killer in China, is also the deputy director of our Military Intelligence Bureau. We have long known that Marshal Zhang will not resist. , and even the chairman of the Nanjing Committee will not resist. Their thoughts are all in Jiangxi.
Tang Juwu asked if the harvest this time was big. Guo Xiaoliu said that he would make a lot of money this time, haha, it would be more than five billion US dollars no matter what? Ah, Tang Juwu said,
Why are there so many? Guo Xiaoliu pointed at Wang Yizhe and said, just ask him. Wang Yizhe said, all the properties belonging to Japanese people in the Northeast belong to us, and almost all Japanese men have been killed, most of them.
It was the bandits from the Northeast who did it. Almost 200,000 young Japanese men were killed in the Northeast. We did not kill the women and children. We still have to talk about the basic ethics of being a human being. How did you kill those bandits?
It's not our business anymore. The next step is to train our troops well.
Tang Juwu said that resistance against Japan is not a matter for us Northeasterners, but only for the military and civilians across the country to unite. This is for us to completely defeat the Japanese, and we also need to recover Taiwan and Mongolia. This is for us.
We can no longer leave these disasters to our children and grandchildren, which is the responsibility of a lifetime. Xinjiang is also the land of our Chinese nation, and we will take back the land occupied by the Soviet Union. I hope you will do it this time.
The military academy must study seriously. The hope of a strong Chinese nation depends on our efforts in this lifetime, and the construction is left to our next generation. Our military concepts here are all brand new, and in the future, even the above cadres will
Only those who have graduated from the military academy can do it. Also, this year, the Japanese will not attack you, and you should not take the initiative to start a war. This year is to train an iron army that cannot be defeated or delayed.
You, the main officers, must master all kinds of weapons naturally. We have our own weapons factories and research institutes here, and a large number of new weapons will be transferred to the battlefield in the Northeast one after another. Finally, Tang Juwu said, you and I will work together to create