Back to the Republic of China as a commander

Yuan Jing became hesitant. According to his original idea, he should lead a peace cabinet.Including improving the living standards of the people, withdrawing troops from Russia's Siberia, and carrying out large-scale infrastructure construction in Japan, such as the construction of national railways, and finding new outlets for Japanese heavy industrial goods after the end of the European War.

But now that Yoshiichi Tanaka has come to such a move, it would be a lie to say that his grand goal will not waver.Shandong in China is different from the uninhabited Russian Siberia. There is a vast market, cheap and abundant labor, and rich agricultural products. It is one of the two excellent colonies that best meet the development needs of the Great Japanese Empire in this era. The other is Manchuria .

Needless to say, Manchuria, according to the changes in China's national conditions, the imperial government established the Kwantung Army Command there in advance to replace the original Kwantung Prefecture Governor's Mansion.In Shandong, due to time constraints, there are not many imperial troops currently stationed. Even during the Xuzhou battle the year before last, Japan did not send more troops to Qingdao.Fortunately, the army of Southern China chose to advance westward instead of continuing the northern expedition after defeating the Feng army, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.This matter has also become the focus of controversy in the military for more than a year. The army has repeatedly emphasized that the military strength of Southern China far exceeds that of Northern China, and that sufficient imperial troops must be invested to ensure the interests of the Great Japanese Empire in Shandong.The navy dismissed this. Their point of view is very simple. China’s coastline is so long. As long as the empire increases its investment in the navy, the empire will always be able to suppress that end. The Southern China Navy has only four cruisers, not even a single battleship. Such an opponent is really not as good as their Imperial Japanese Navy.As for the army's worries, they didn't take it seriously at all, because in their eyes, the army was composed of a bunch of idiots who shouted to be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor every day, and they were different from the elites of the navy.

However, Yoshiichi Tanaka in front of Hara Kei is obviously not an idiot of the army, but a genius. Since the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, this man has been a tiger that cannot be ignored in Japanese political circles. In 1907, Tanaka was ordered to try out military education reform and served as the captain of the third regiment of the first division. The reform introduced new educational policies such as respecting individuality, regiments as home, and coordination between officers and soldiers, and supplemented the single education method of corporal punishment and commanding sword drills. The military has expanded its influence.At this time, he was already impressive, and Tanaka was from Changzhou, "I'm not close, I'm from my hometown", so I was promoted to a department in charge of combat.

After Tanaka Yoshiichi arrived at the first department, he wrote an opinion paper called "Suikan Miscellaneous Records", which covered everything from national strategy and military strategy to the organization and system of the army, and passed it to Marshal Aritomo of Yamagata through General Kodama Gentaro There went.Yamagata took a look, um, yes, reported it to Emperor Meiji, and came back and said to Tanaka: "You can have a look at the national defense policy of the empire."He took the Navy's Ministry of Finance Biao to formulate a plan, stipulating that the army should have 25 divisions in peacetime and 50 divisions in wartime, and the navy should build eight or eight fleets. In 1909, Tanaka was promoted to the head of the military section, the head of the second brigade, and the director of the Military Affairs Bureau of the Army Province. "Order", his deeds in office have proved his strength. In November 1910, the Imperial Civil Service Association, which he had been advocating, was established.The association is to organize reservists who have finished active service, which can not only reduce the maintenance cost of the national army, but also spread the will of the country to the people (later the reserve will also be included).At the beginning of its establishment, the association only targeted the army. Since 11, the navy has also been included, making the organization perfect. In August 1914, as the mastermind behind the scenes, Major General Tanaka Yoshiichi, the deputy chief of staff, planned to submit the infamous 1915 Articles to Yuan Shikai, but was strongly opposed by the Chinese people and failed.

In the operation of the temple cabinet to send troops to Siberia, it was also planned and directed by the Tanaka in front of him.

In addition to his influence among the soldiers in the village and his influence in the army, Tanaka himself is also a good hand at making money.In Hara Kei's election as Prime Minister this time, Yoshiichi Tanaka contributed 300 million yen for activities.You must know that Tanaka is just a general in the army, and the salary is not good. It is impressive to be able to spend so much money.Later, Yuan Jing learned that in the operation of sending troops to Siberia, Tanaka Yoshiichi used his power to list a total of 2400 million yen in army secret fees, of which about 340 million was given to the temple cabinet.Then according to elementary school mathematics addition and subtraction, this Tanaka Yoshiichi probably has 00 million yen in his hand.

Another point that Yuan Jing cannot ignore about Tanaka is his good personal relationship with Zhang Zuolin, the current actual leader of the Chinese central government and the ruler of Manchuria.Tanaka had a close relationship with Zhang Zuolin. During the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the horse thief Zhang Zuolin was captured by the Japanese army on charges of Russian espionage.When he was about to be shot, Army Staff Yoshiichi Tanaka pleaded with Major General Fukushima Yasuo to rescue Zhang Zuolin from the gunpoint.More than ten years later, the horse thief Zhang Zuolin became the Northeast King of China, and Tanaka also became the Prime Minister of Japan. In the Chinese civil war last year, it was Tanaka who strongly supported Zhang Zuolin, which made Zhang Zuolin, who received huge Japanese aid, successful. Entered Beijing and occupied the North China Plain.In this regard, Tanaka said that "Zhang Zuolin is like my younger brother", so Tanaka was naturally the first to stand up when he sent troops to Shandong this time.

Yuan Jing sighed and said, "Tanaka-kun, if we send troops in Shandong to fight a war with Southern China, how much will the empire gain? Don't end up taking advantage of your Chinese brother and wasting the blood of His Majesty's loyal warriors in vain. "

Yoshiichi Tanaka pretended not to hear the sarcasm contained in Prime Minister Keihara's words, but continued to sell his war plan: "... In any case, the completion of the substantial unification of China is very detrimental to the empire. Once China is strong The empire will lose its sources of raw materials and markets, and there will be a strong competitor in Asia. So in any case, we must find a way to plan for the unification of China. But to achieve this goal, only by assassination and bribery Obviously, this is not possible anymore. The empire must repel the army of Southern China in Shandong, which is the most basic. It would be even better if the Southern Branch can be defeated, and China will surely fall into unprecedented chaos again. At this time, Zhang Zuolin must We will fight for the richer southern China territory, and we can justifiably lease the entire Manchuria. At that time, adding the Russian Far East coastal area we currently control, the continental area of ​​the empire will be expanded by more than 300 million square kilometers. This is the most important step in creating the eternal foundation of the empire..."

Seeing that Yuan Jing was still hesitating, Tanaka suddenly got up and knelt down on the tatami and kowtowed: "I know that the prime minister wants to compensate the people for the difficulties they have suffered in the past, but the prime minister, a golden opportunity is in front of you. Compared with the eternal foundation of the Great Japanese Empire, what does it matter if the citizens contribute more and the emperor's people sacrifice a little more? Please make a decision!"

Hearing this, Yuan Jing couldn't help standing up, and looked at the small scenery in the courtyard without saying a word with his hands behind his back. . .

On July 7, the last stop of Wang Zhenyu's inspection was Youth Army Air Force Base 1, which was the code name of the original training base of the Expeditionary Force, but now the base has moved to Xiangyang and has expanded more than ten times.Currently, the 101st Airborne Division and the First Flight Division of the Air Force, which are affiliated to the Ministry of Air Force, are being formed and trained here. Strictly speaking, for the lack of airborne technology, only the First Flight Division is currently working at this base.The 101 excellent pilots trained in the past three years and 580 flight instructors from Germany who have participated in actual combat are working together for this intense combat preparation.

Lieutenant General Yang Xianyi, Minister and Commander of the Air Force, is reporting to Wang Zhenyu on the preparations of the Air Force: "...Since the commander-in-chief issued an order to build an air force in an all-round way in the sixth year of the Republic of China, we first completed Zhengzhou, Xuzhou, Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Guangzhou. , Xi'an and other 22 large military airports, as well as 33 secondary airports and 1 tertiary airports, to ensure the smooth transfer of Air Force combat aircraft. Our current fighter is the Chinese Dragon fighter, code-named k[-] .”

Wang Zhenyu nodded and said, "What's the situation with the plane? How about its combat performance?"

Yang Xianyi quickly took the folder from the adjutant and opened it, and said seriously: "Our aircraft is divided into four categories according to the German standards: a reconnaissance b bombing c assault d combat. Specifically, our current aircraft is made up of Jointly developed by the four major U.S. airlines, it is a new product that combines the performance and technology of the current European fighter jets. The flight distance is all about 8000 kilometers, the altitude is about 260 meters, the speed is currently 160 kilometers per hour, and the engine horsepower is 360. The horsepower ranges from 1 horsepower. At present, I personally serve as the commander of our first flight division. The a brigade is the reconnaissance brigade, equipped with 36 Shenlong A72 reconnaissance planes and 5 pilots, all of which are biplanes. 1mm steel plates and automatic cameras are installed. In addition, machine guns are installed at the bottom, which has a certain degree of protection. The b brigade is a bombing brigade, equipped with 0 Huolong b1500 monoplane bombers, and 13600 pilots. Refer to It is the British Handley Page V3400, with a total weight of about 1 kilograms and a maximum load of 360 kilograms; our Fire Dragon b18 has been improved on this basis, with five members, an engine of 6 horsepower, and a total weight of 95 Tons, the maximum loading is 1 tons. In addition, our aerial bombs have been thrown from hand-controlled bomb racks instead of hand-throwing. The power of these aerial bombs has also been improved. According to your request, Wuhan Military Industry has developed a more Aerial artillery shells suitable for bombing have been proven through repeated tests to have a 50% explosion probability after landing, and their power is equivalent to that of mortar shells. Therefore, our bomber is currently envisioned to be used to bomb the enemy's supply and storage units in future battles. Artillery. Brigade C is an assault brigade equipped with 1 Water Dragon C1 biplane attack aircraft and [-] pilots. This prototype is a J-class Junker fighter that participated in Germany. It is mainly used by our army's ground troops when they attack The three airborne submachine guns equipped on the belly of the aircraft repeatedly fired at the enemy's ground positions and firepower points. D Brigade is a fighter brigade equipped with sixty Jiaolong D[-] monoplane fighters and one pilot, mainly for air combat and Security and defense missions."