The heavens start from Changjin Lake

The moon crescents in the sky, its silver light shining brightly, illuminating the Hanshan Temple in Zhousu into a vast expanse of white.

It was very cold in Zhousu in early winter, and there was silence between heaven and earth.

The whole Zhou Su seemed to be in a deep sleep. In a villa building not far from Hanshan Temple, the lights were bright. Because the curtains were tightly drawn, no light could be seen outside.

This is the highest command structure of the Japanese army in Central China, headed by General Matsui Iwane, commander of the Central China Front.

He had been retired for several years and was reactivated due to war needs.At that time, he was the only retired soldier in the entire Japanese military system. Therefore, in front of active soldiers, he seemed very humble and rarely had the domineering style of other senior officers.

At this moment, Matsui Iwane was holding a secret combat meeting in the highest command structure of the Japanese army in Central China. In addition to Major General Chief of Staff Tsukada Tsukuda and Osaka Deputy Chief of Staff Akira Muto, the meeting was also attended by the commander of the 10th Front Army who had returned from the Jinling front line. Officer, Yanagawa Heisuke, Division Commander Ito Masaki of the 101st Division, Division Commander Fujita Susumu of the 3rd Division, Division Commander Yoshizumi Ryosuke of the 9th Division, etc.

In order to stabilize the mood of the frontline soldiers and ensure that the speed of the frontline attack was not affected, several division commanders, such as Hisao Tani, Nakajima Kongo, and Yamamuro Munetake, were not notified to participate.

The Japanese army was stubbornly blocked by the Chinese army outside Jinling and was unable to move forward. Some troops suffered heavy casualties, which they did not expect. They all complained and asked for rest and replenishment.

On December 12, Matsui Iwane received an urgent telegram from Hisao Tani requesting a ceasefire, rest, and replenishment of troops.

Iwane Matsui was not only an expert on China, but also an expert on Chiang Kai-shek. He knew Chiang Kai-shek's character very well. During this attack on Jinling, he figured out Chiang Kai-shek's thoughts and believed that Chiang Kai-shek's defense of Jinling was only temporary, so he asked the soldiers to be patient and persist, and at the same time made an immediate decision The decision to attack the city.

If Chiang knew that Matsui Iwane held such a meeting, he would definitely not leave Jinling, and he would not be able to easily ask Tang Shengzhi to retreat.

What he could think of was that in the face of the Japanese attack, the Chinese defenders were unable to withstand the brutal Japanese advance. When Chiang Kai-shek initially expected the Songhu battlefield, the Japanese would invest at most three divisions, but he never imagined that only In the early stages of the Songhu Battle, the Japanese army deployed three divisions, and subsequently deployed three divisions, bringing the number of Japanese divisions on the Songhu battlefield to six.

After the Songhu War ended, the Japanese army sent an additional Tenth Army.

The size of the Japanese divisions on the Songhu battlefield has reached more than seven.

It far exceeded Chiang's prediction of the strength of the Japanese army.

Therefore, Jiang believed that it was inevitable that they would not be able to defend Jinling City.

At the beginning of the Japanese military meeting, Matsui Iwane seemed a little tired. He said: "I want to tell you some news. Unfortunately, I have pneumonia and I am still running a fever."

When he said this, a blush rose on his face and he was a little out of breath. He stopped listening, took a few sips of water, and then said: "Birth, old age, illness and death are natural laws. As a veteran, I have an end to my life and an endless battle." , We died fighting for the Emperor, and our reputation will be passed down through the ages. I am willing to fight and die for the Emperor. However, the Emperor learned that I was overworking in commanding the war in Shanghai, felt cold, and was not suitable for Shanghai. In early winter, I received a call today, ordering the commander of Chaoxiang Palace to take over my job and command the troops to attack Jinling."

Before Matsui Iwane finished speaking, Asaka Palace stood up and said humbly: "Everyone, this is not to take over, but to assist General Matsui Iwane."

"Commander Asaka Palace does not need to be humble." Matsui Iwane took out a piece of paper from his bag and said to everyone: "Here is the emperor's order. He is not assisting me, but taking over my position, and he will be the commander of the Jinling battle. Supreme Commander."

After saying that, he took the lead in applauding.

The officers attending the meeting clapped their hands and welcomed him.Some clapped their hands while chatting privately, and some turned sideways and asked others why the emperor appointed Asaka Palace to replace Matsui Iwane. In addition to the reasons mentioned by Matsui Iwane, there are probably other reasons.

The person in question said in a low voice: "Don't you know? Asaka Palace is the emperor's uncle. The emperor trusts him very much. In order to successfully conquer Jinling, he specially arranged for him to secretly supervise."

Someone whispered: "Last February, there was a mutiny within the Japanese Army. Asaka Palace sided with the emperor's younger brother, Chichibu Palace, and opposed Emperor Hirohito on many political issues. In order to punish Asaka Palace, the emperor deliberately used a red pen If Asaka Palace's name is checked off the palace roster, he is no longer a member of the sacred Imperial family. I estimate that the Emperor's appointment of him as the commander of the Central China Expeditionary Force this time shows that he has passed the Emperor's test and repented. Good. If Chaoxiang Palace conducts the Jinling battle well, I estimate that he will regain his status in the royal family."

Many of the officers present had a certain understanding of Asaka Palace, and they also knew a little bit about the mutiny that occurred within the Japanese army last year. After all, this incident was quite violent at the time.

Matsui Iwane and Asagi Kazu said nothing, quietly watching the officers participating in the combat meeting, listening to the discussions of these people, without saying a word.

In the end, Matsui Iwane coughed lightly, stopped the discussion, and raised his voice, "Asaka Palace said that he is not familiar with the situation in Jinling, so I will chair today's combat meeting."

He glanced at the officers and continued: "The central topic of today's meeting is to study the current wrong situation and determine the time to attack Jinling. I would like to invite everyone to speak now." Yoshizumi Ryosuke spoke first. He said: "This attack During the battle in Jinling, we encountered many unexpected difficulties. For me, there were several unexpected ones. One was that the Chinese army fought particularly bravely. When attacking the Chinese army’s position, a Chinese soldier was beaten in one leg. They even gritted their teeth and crawled under our tanks, fired grenades, and died together with our tanks. My conclusion is that Chinese soldiers are not as vulnerable as we thought, and the situation in China is not as bad as we thought. So bad, calling them the 'sick men of East Asia' is totally a sign that we are underestimating them."

"The second unexpected thing is the cunningness of the Chinese soldiers. They are very cunning in fighting, and their weapons and equipment are far inferior to ours. They can resist our cavalry just by relying on their numerical advantage. This shows that their tactical level is very high. Every inch of China's land they gain , our soldiers paid a heavy price. If we are not careful, our army will be outflanked by them. From the map, many villages have to go through fierce and repeated battles. Often, we have just occupied the village. Within a few hours, the village would be robbed by them.”

"I came to the conclusion that we underestimated China and their soldiers. Their soldiers were much more difficult to deal with than we thought. Our division suffered heavy casualties outside Shanghai and Jinling."

After a pause, Yoshizumi Ryosuke said his plan: "I think we can besiege them first and adopt a strategy of resting while besieging them. This will give our troops and soldiers some breathing space, otherwise this battle will be impossible to win. Those who come down, even if they come down hard, will have to pay a very heavy price.”

"Yoshizumi-kun, you are worrying too much." Matsui Iwane listened very carefully and nodded: "You regard China's ants as fierce lions. I hope you will not exaggerate the Chinese soldiers too much. Although we have casualties, the Chinese soldiers' The casualties are far higher than ours. We get rest and recuperation, but they also don't get rest and recuperation. War is fair, it does not favor any side, and war is relative. We have casualties, they also have casualties, and we don't get rest and recuperation. , and they won’t be able to rest. As for the victory of the war, it depends on the commanders’ skills on both sides. I think everyone here is better than the officers in China. Don’t belittle yourselves.”

A confident smile appeared on Matsui Iwane's face: "I don't think China's Tang Shengzhi's military quality is higher than mine. Besides, China's Central Army has basically been wiped out in Shanghai. To use the Chinese idiom, it is already at the end of its war effort. We should If we take advantage of Shanghai's momentum and attack for another week, we may be able to capture Jinling."

He motioned Yoshizumi Ryosuke to sit down, and then looked at Ito Masaki, "What's your opinion? Do you agree to occupy Jinling immediately? Ito-kun, tell me your opinion."

When Ito Masaki was called, he stood up and said: "The situation of our division is similar to that of the Yoshizumi Division. We suffered heavy losses in the Shanghai Theater and more than 3000 troops were lost in the peripheral operations of Jinling. We I really want to rest for one to two months, replenish personnel and ammunition, and then attack Jinling."

After a pause, he continued: "However, what I heard from Mr. Yoshizumi is that many of them are wrong. You are not on the front line, and you don't know much about the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army. There are not many heroic Chinese soldiers. More They saw us flee."

Matsui Iwane nodded and looked at Fujita Susumu. Fujita Susumu's speech was very short: "I agree with Yoshizumi-kun and Ito and ask for a temporary rest."

Next came Yanagawa Heisuke. After waiting for them to finish, he said: "The situation of our Tenth Army is very similar to that of other units. I won't go into more details. I think Matsui-kun is neither a recruit nor a junior officer. What he proposed There must be good reasons for his suggestion of an immediate occupation ban, and I think it can be considered, but before considering it, I would rather hear Matsui-kun’s specific thoughts, okay?”

Asaka Miya, who had been silent for a while, began to speak as his host. He said in agreement: "Yes, Yanagawa-kun is right. We might as well listen to Matsui-kun's specific thoughts and reasons before making a decision. I think If his reasons for attacking Jinling are sufficient and everyone has no objections, I think everyone will agree."

Matsui Iwane saw that the direction of the meeting had changed towards him, his face gradually softened, and he said with a smile: "Okay, let me tell you my reasons. I believe that after everyone listens to my reasons, they will rush to be the first. Attack Jinling."

He opened his notebook and began to tell his reasons. However, he did not start talking directly. Instead, he first talked about it and introduced himself.

"You may know a little bit about me, but I think you still don't know enough about me. In addition to fighting in China, I also served as a spy in China and served as a military attaché for Japan in China. I am said to be a military attaché. In fact, I was specialized in collecting intelligence about China. I served as a military attache in Jinling and stayed there for four years. I had contact with more than a dozen senior officials of the Chinese government, and I visited the general’s home five times to have in-depth conversations with Chiang Kai-shek.”

He smiled and looked at the officers in the meeting, "Twice we actually talked all night long. I know Chiang better than his wife. I know very well what kind of person he is. You may not believe it. It's true. It’s unbelievable.”

Matsui Iwane's words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake. It immediately exploded in the meeting. Many officers looked very shocked. Unexpectedly, Matsui Iwane visited the Chiang family five times, twice. I talked with Chiang all night long.

Some people believe it, and some people don't believe it.

Matsui Iwane also knew that he was really shocked when he told this. In fact, even he was the same. When he first served as Japan's military attache in China, he never thought that he would have a good conversation with the king of China. He even did so twice. All night long.

Matsui Iwane knew everyone's reaction to these words, and said calmly: "You are surprised, shocked, and even don't believe it, but do you know? In the past few years, Jiang's mind was filled with the Red Party, and he always wanted to know The attitude of our Japanese high-level officials towards China will be affected by any big moves in the next few years. The most dangerous enemy in Chiang's mind is not us, but the Red Party. He really wanted to kill all the Red Party before Japan attacks China. His then The policy is very famous: to fight against the outside world, we must first pacify the inside. Chiang Kai-shek once said something that shocked the world."

"'He would rather be a slave to the subjugation of his country than compete with the Red Party for superiority'"

"He wanted to find out when our Empire of Japan would take action so that he could set a schedule. I took the opportunity to approach him and have a true and false conversation with him. I knew that in order to gain his trust, I had to say Telling the truth is not enough."

"Because I told some truths, he was very enthusiastic towards me and regarded me as a distinguished guest. I wanted to understand his thoughts, and he also wanted to understand mine. We were just using each other, and therefore, he You've been talking to me for so long."

At this point, Matsui Iwane's expression was somewhat proud, and he told the whole conversation between him and Chiang, "I am well aware of China's contradictions, and I have an even more thorough analysis of Chiang. Everyone, there is a famous saying in China, 'There is no diamond. , I dare not take this porcelain job.' Since I dare to accept the emperor's commission, I can't do it without any skills. I dare say that I am not without confidence to attack Jinling immediately."

It was only now that he began to really get down to business. He did have a thorough understanding of Chiang's character and a good understanding of China's national conditions.

He was well aware of China's contradictions, combined with the recent trend of international public opinion, and the recent activities of the government in Jinling from the information submitted by the spies, he analyzed China clearly, and he almost took off Chiang Kai-shek's underwear. Come out and see what color it is.