The Sarajevo incident was the trigger for the outbreak of World War I. However, the essence of World War I was caused by the conflicts between the respective interest groups of the imperialist countries. Without the Sarajevo incident, World War I would still have broken out.
The death of the Japanese Emperor's special envoy seemed to be at the hands of the Eighth Route Army, but in fact it was the result of a struggle between various forces in Japan.
Japan's domestic conflicts intensified, and the Japanese military's war overseas was unfavorable. Therefore, the cabinet recommended to the emperor to shorten the front line, recall the Southern Army from the Southeast Asian battlefield, concentrate several Class A divisions to use all their strength to solve China, and transfer several other divisions back to quell the rebellion.
The Emperor of Japan was quite enthusiastic about this proposal, but during the discussion stage, the military officers were extremely dissatisfied, especially the Japanese Navy. Some young officers of the Navy even besieged the office of the Cabinet.
Although the withdrawal of the Southern Army will cause the Japanese Army to lose some territory in Southeast Asia, if it can resolve the war in China, it is not a strategy to consolidate its foundation and strengthen its base.
Japan's strategy of going south is what the Japanese Navy has been vigorously promoting. Once it shrinks its front lines from Southeast Asia and the Pacific battlefield, it will be tantamount to greatly damaging the interests of the Navy. This is something the Japanese Navy cannot tolerate.
As a result, the Army and Navy, which had always looked down upon each other, joined forces in a rare move. The military was originally supported by the Emperor of Japan. Once the war machine was started, even if the Emperor of Japan stood in the way, it would be like a mantis. High-level officials in Japan are launching a war.
Fierce struggle.
At the same time, under the instruction of the Japanese Emperor, the cabinet frequently contacted overseas generals in an attempt to gain support from the military.
In this regard, the commander of the North China Front, Kanji Ishihara, supports the strategy of withdrawing troops. However, the power of the military is too great, and the institutions and systems used for checks and balances are no longer in name only. The military can send them back to the country with just a transfer order. Under the insight of domestic
After the situation, the only choice is to be patient and sit on the sidelines.
The First Army in Shanxi and the Second Army in Shandong were also silent. The remaining Chinese dispatched troops had different opinions. The Kwantung Army outside the Pass frequently sent reports to the base camp, urging them to fight.
Therefore, Aihara Takahiro, the special envoy of the Emperor, came to China for two purposes. In name, he came to negotiate and mediate the import and export shares of the military, powerful chaebols, and business groups in the port city. The real purpose was to take the opportunity to contact the powerful people abroad.
General, convey the emperor's will and gain support.
Who would have expected that Jinmen, as the first stop, would get off to a bad start. After being inspired by Ishihara Wanji, Tanabe Moritake, the chief of staff who was stationed at Jinmen, looked conciliatory. Not only did Aihara Takahiro fail to see Ishihara Wanji,
, but the mediation caused dissatisfaction among the three parties.
Terauchi Isamu's uncle, Juichi Terauchi, was the commander of the Southern Army. It was precisely because of this relationship that the Osaka business group was able to operate unimpeded in the waters controlled by the Japanese navy, transporting supplies back and forth between Southeast Asia and China, and shrinking the front line was no different.
This cut off the financial path of people like Isamu Terauchi.
On the other hand, the transfer of the Class A Division affiliated to the Southern Army to the Chinese battlefield will inevitably break the existing distribution of forces. How could Isamu Terauchi be willing to spit out the benefits he has gained? Therefore, Isamu Terauchi is a firm leader in the war.
As a result, Isamu Terauchi became the knife of the military department, but this guy was slippery and unwilling to take action directly, so the Eighth Route Army became Isamu Terauchi's knife.
Under this strange compromise, the reconnaissance company appeared in Haizhou openly, shot and killed the Japanese Emperor's envoy, and then evacuated unharmed in full view of the public.
The reconnaissance company came out of Haizhou Railway Station and ran through the two blockades openly with the clothes on their bodies. They did not slow down until they saw the third group of personnel responding in front.
"Company commander, where are the Japs' pursuers?" Li Dongsheng, leader of the third group, asked.
"There are no pursuers, go up the mountain first!" Cao Dabao took a deep breath. Although he had the physical strength of a soldier from the reconnaissance company to run for five kilometers, his mind was a little dazed at this time.
Even though there were no pursuing troops at the moment, the third group of soldiers still waited at the blocking point for a while before retreating. By the time the third group retreated into the mountains, Cao Dabao had already joined his comrades in the northern Jiangsu base area.
"Comrade, let me ask, did you succeed?" The comrades in the northern Jiangsu base area who were responsible for the response couldn't believe it. Although they didn't know what the specific mission was, the reconnaissance company ran out of the Japanese station, so why was there no movement at all?
"Stay close!" Cao Dabao replied, turned around and shouted: "We can't rest now, Peach Blossom Stream is not big, and it will be bad if we let the little devils surround us!"
On the other side, Kaishu Railway Station was in chaos. As the chief official of Kaishu, Morii Takayuki bore the unshirkable responsibility for the emperor's envoy being shot dead in Kaishu.
He immediately ordered a group of little devils in the train station to block the entrances and exits, and then launched a blanket search inside the station, but no suspicious persons were found.
"Nani? How could he disappear out of thin air? Impossible!" Morii Takayuki's mind went blank, and his bloated body was burning to the point of being unbearable, and then freezing to the bone.
The Japanese Major General on the side seemed to have recovered. He stood up angrily and slapped Morii Takayuki, and said sternly: "You are stupid. It seems that the luxurious life in Haizhou has turned you into a waste. The emperor's special envoy died in Haizhou. You
He is responsible, take him down!"
The original personnel at Haizhou Railway Station did not move. Although Haizhou is under the divisional jurisdiction of the 21st Xuzhou Division, it is under the direct jurisdiction of the dispatched army and does not need to obey the orders of the 21st Division Chief of Staff.
However, the Japanese troops in Haizhou were not the only ones at the scene. After hearing the order, the Japanese troops in other Xuzhou areas who were detained at Haizhou Railway Station seemed to have a tacit understanding and pushed Morii Takayuki to the ground.
"I don't accept it. You have no right to deal with me. I want to appeal to the dispatch army headquarters and let me go!" No matter how hard Morii Takayuki struggled, he still couldn't change the fact that he was dragged away.
The Chief of Staff of the 21st Division bowed to several of Takahiro Aihara's entourage and said: "I deeply apologize for the unfortunate experience of the special envoy. The assassination of the special envoy in Haizhou is closely related, but this place does not belong to our 21st Division.
Jurisdiction, we can only act according to authority!"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Several followers were so frightened that they could only accept the arrangements of the Japanese Chief of Staff and were taken away obediently along with Aihara Takahiro's body.
There were more Japanese troops belonging to the 21st Division in the train station than the local Japanese troops in Haishu. After Morii Takayuki was taken away, the Japanese Chief of Staff, as a major general officer present, took control of the situation in a few seconds, and then ordered the Japanese troops to attack outside the station.
Conduct a search.
After the others left, the Japanese lieutenant who was responsible for allocating positions to the reconnaissance company came forward and said, "Sir, why don't you send troops to Haizhou City immediately? If the navy gets the better of you, won't we make wedding clothes for them?"
A disdainful smile flashed across the face of the Japanese chief of staff. The 21st Division had long wanted to occupy the port of Haizhou, otherwise it would never have let the division chief of staff take a trip into this troubled water.
No matter whether the Emperor's envoy would be assassinated or not, as long as it was ensured that the Eighth Route Army would take action, the soldiers of the surrounding 21st Division would seize the time and rush to Haizhou to ensure that Haizhou was occupied before the navy.
Although Morii Takayuki is the chief official of Kaishu, he is just a scapegoat who was dragged out.
"Are those navy red deer trying to occupy Haizhou City? Haizhou must be placed under the jurisdiction of our 21st Division. The military trains from Xuzhou have already set off, and it won't be long before they arrive at Haizhou!"
"Lieutenant Matsui, you did a good job this time. I will ask the division commander for credit!" the Japanese chief of staff patted Ichiro Matsui on the shoulder and said.
Ichiro Matsui straightened his body and seemed greatly encouraged: "Ichiro Matsui is willing to serve as the division commander and chief of staff!"
"well!"
The reconnaissance company arrived in northern Jiangsu that night, and then reported to Zhou Weihan via the radio. There was only one line in the telegram. The target person was shot in the head. Whether he was the special envoy of the Japanese Emperor has yet to be confirmed.
Japan's Emperor's special envoy Aihara Takahiro has been confirmed dead.
"Judging from the monitoring reports reported from various places, there were frequent telegrams from the Japanese military throughout the day. The deceased should be the special envoy of the Japanese Emperor!"
"It's past eight o'clock in the evening. Let's call Isamu Terauchi and see what he has to say." The deputy chief of staff said, "Isamu Terauchi said he wanted to open up the transportation channel of the Longhai Railway, but just because of this
He dares to kill the so-called special envoy of the emperor? He is too courageous. Wouldn't it be better to kill Takayuki Morii directly?"
"After all, the news sent back by Comrade Wei Guo is limited. I always feel that it is not that simple. There must be a change in the top management of Japan, and Terauchi Isamu is just following orders!"
Zhou Weihan nodded and said: "I think so. The emperor's special envoy was equivalent to an imperial envoy in ancient China. As a result, he went to inspect a local area and was killed by a local official. There must be a lot of interests involved to make him want to kill. Although
Is it possible that the Japanese army has committed the following crimes and does not take the Emperor of Japan seriously?"
The phone beeped for more than ten seconds before it was connected. Zhou Weihan obviously heard the sound of Terauchi Isamu's door closing, so he deliberately said: "It seems to have disturbed Terauchi-kun's business, how about changing the time?"
"No, no, thank you very much for Zhou Jun's help. I got accurate news that the emperor's envoy has died!" Terauchi Isamu said.
"Oh, then I would also like to congratulate Mr. Temple. There is an additional transportation channel for Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Shandong, Northern Jiangsu, and Huaibei. Whatever you need, I can provide it. I will make more gold bars in the future!"
Zhou Weihan has been dealing with Isamu Terauchi for such a long time, so he naturally knows him very well. This guy is actually very shrewd, but he has one shortcoming: whenever money is mentioned, his guard will be lowered and his mouth will loosen up.
Sure enough, Terauchi Yong on the other end of the phone laughed strangely: "Let's get rich together, let's get rich together, let's share what we have. Mr. Zhou, you are sincere, I will also give you an explanation. I can give you whatever you need in your base area."
You brought it, and to express my gratitude, I have informed the business group to bring over a batch of natural rubber from Southeast Asia!"
Zhou Weihan was overjoyed after hearing this. Natural rubber has great military applications and can be used in tanks, warships, and airplanes. However, for the Eighth Route Army, its biggest use is to make shoe soles.
The shoes worn by soldiers can best reflect the combat effectiveness of an army. The Eighth Route Army troops basically rely on two legs. Marching and fighting rely entirely on the shoes they wear, so a good pair of shoes is very important.
Originally, the Eighth Route Army mostly wore straw sandals. After the base area was consolidated, the main force was basically able to wear cloth shoes. However, in terms of wear resistance and durability, ten pairs of straw sandals are not as good as one pair of cloth shoes, and ten pairs of cloth shoes may not be as good as one pair of rubber shoes.
The equipment gap between China and Japan can be seen in the shoes worn by soldiers. In the early days of the war, Japanese soldiers wore Showa Type 5 military boots, with soles and uppers made of cowhide. Now, only newly-enlisted soldiers are equipped with rubber shoes.
As for the national army, taking the 28th Group Army as an example, directly affiliated units such as the Guard Regiment and Artillery Regiment wear cowhide shoes, the 98th Army, a direct branch of the Central Army, wears rubber shoes, and He Cuizhi's soldiers generally wear cloth shoes.
Although the Eighth Route Army captured a lot through previous battles, the little devils were short in stature, so their feet were generally small, which made it impossible for Eighth Route Army soldiers to wear them directly.
Zhou Weihan was naturally very happy when he heard that Temple Yong had brought a batch of natural rubber, but he did not forget about business: "Terauchi-kun, when will the transportation channel you arranged on the Longhai Railway be able to operate normally? You know, this is related to
Our business will suffer more losses if we are late for one day!"
"Tomorrow, as long as you can prepare the supplies, it will be officially operational tomorrow. The transportation line is the lifeline, and there can be no delay for a moment!" Terauchi Isamu said.
Zhou Weihan was a little surprised: "So soon? The emperor's special envoy of yours died. How can the impact be eliminated so quickly? Don't let your impatience affect your future business. It's not worth the gain!"
Seeing that Zhou Weihan didn't believe it, Isamu Terauchi felt that in order to have better cooperation in the future, it was necessary to strengthen the confidence of the political commissar of his partner: "The 21st Division has taken Haizhou under its command, and I will communicate with the 41st Division in the future.
, of course they don’t have the same attitude towards the Eighth Route Army as I do, and I am the only sincere partner!”
"As for His Majesty the Emperor's desire to hold him to account, of course there are people above him who will support him!"
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Weihan and the deputy chief of staff fell into deep thought. Terauchi was so confident that he could even be said to be emboldened. Who gave him the courage?
"Who is the person above what Isamu said? Ishihara Wanji? Is he worthy enough?"