The spy career of a surgeon

Chapter 355 No food
With so many people agreeing, Hirohito finally adopted Tojo's plan.

The ministers felt that this was the best solution at the moment, as it had both advances and retreats and a bottom line, which made them feel at ease.

Zhou Qinghe also felt relieved.

Anyway, the opposing opinions have been raised to Hirohito, so if the war goes badly in the future, don't blame him for not informing you in advance.

The next focus must be on the Chinese battlefield to deal with these Japanese soldiers.

The number of 380 million is indeed frighteningly large.

However, head-on confrontation was not something Zhou Qinghe had to consider. All he could do was to deal with the logistics.

Zhou Qinghe had been reading a lot of war reports from the General Staff these days. At that time, he brought news about the Japanese food supplies being taken away to Boss Dai, but the General Staff had never received any reports like the burning of granaries.

There is no movement at all. What is Boss Dai doing?

He returned to the Army Ministry and Tojo called him.

"Your Majesty has agreed to our plan to annex China. Have you sorted out the intelligence? What are the weaknesses of Chongqing and the Red Party now?"

"Weaknesses? Although I don't agree with your plan, I have to admit that China actually has many weaknesses. For example, the entire territory is blocked by us, and there is a lack of food supplies. For example, their expeditionary force was defeated by us, which greatly affected their morale. For example, their combat effectiveness is low, and too many people are hungry.

Since you suddenly asked me this, it is hard for me to say which weakness is worse than the other. It depends on what you need. "

“What is Chongqing busy with now?”

"There are three main things to do: first, destroy the Red Party; second, continue to make money; and third, train the troops.

The United States divided the world into war zones. They did not trust the Chinese in the Chinese theater, so they sent an American to be the chief of staff of the Chinese theater. The person in command now should be this American, named Joseph Stilwell.

The expeditionary force that fled from Burma went to India. The information I got was that they were going to set up a soldier training base in India, and there would probably be Americans as instructors. My starting point was that Americans felt that the quality of Chinese soldiers was not as good as theirs, and that their combat capabilities would be better if they were responsible for training.

The rest is training the air force, which is the plane that bombed Tokyo. This should be part of the aid. I guess they want to snatch air supremacy from us to avoid being helpless in air battles in East Asia. Moreover, Chongqing is bombed every day, which is not good for face. "

Tojo listened quietly, and when he saw Zhou Qinghe didn't say anything, he asked in surprise, "That's it?"

"No more, what else do you want?"

"Don't they have any plans to attack us in Chongqing?"

Tojo actually didn't understand Chongqing's current attitude. He frowned and said, "There is something I have never figured out. Since the attack in Hankou, Chongqing has not launched a large-scale campaign against us. Not even once. Why? The Red Party has launched a campaign. What on earth is Chongqing thinking?"

"That's a good question. I want to know that, too. You should wait until you capture Chongqing and ask him in person."

Zhou Qinghe smiled and said, "What I know is that they really have no action plan against us. As for the reason, it's probably because they are poor. The little military funds they have are all eaten up by the four major families. What other plans can they launch?
Chongqing is terribly poor now. The monthly salary of a private is 12 yuan, legal tender. But you know that they are in short supply now, and prices are rising sharply. A bowl of ordinary noodles in a store costs 3 yuan, which means 4 bowls of noodles a month. Just think about it, what kind of combat effectiveness do you expect from such soldiers?"

Tojo even laughed: "Are supplies so scarce?"

"Of course, I didn't believe it at first. I asked a few intelligence officers to verify it, and it was exactly this price. And this was for the Whampoa Military Academy. The miscellaneous troops had even fewer. If the military leaders were a little greedy, I heard that in some places, soldiers could get only 7 yuan a month, which was good enough for two bowls of noodles."

"Very good, the morale of the Chinese people has indeed reached its lowest point. If this is the case, we should be able to resolve the issue soon."

Tojo picked up the phone and called the General Staff: "Notify everyone to launch a full-scale attack on the Chinese, including the Red Party!"

After hanging up the phone, Tojo said to Zhou Qinghe: "Arrange the logistics of the Medical Bureau, send out the medicines in time, and collect more intelligence."

"clear."

That night, Japanese troops in China launched a fierce attack together, and the whole land was filled with the roar of artillery fire.

Aircraft bombing of Chongqing was launched on a large scale.

The Japanese army launched an unprecedented large-scale sweep against the Red Party in Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei.

chongqing.

Boss Dai hurried into the principal's study.

The principal also had a cold face at this time. When he saw him, he pointed at the phone on the table that kept ringing and said, "I tell you, I don't need to answer it. I know it's the Japanese who have started the fight and are calling me for reinforcements."

Boss Dai immediately said, "I was just about to report to you the news from Qinghe that the Japanese have changed their strategy and are planning to launch a full-scale attack on us."

"Why?" The principal frowned.

"Because the Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, they had to shrink strategically, but if they did, they were afraid that they would not be able to build ships faster than the Americans, so they had to deal with us as soon as possible and then free up all their forces to fight the Americans on our land."

"That's a good idea."

The principal thought for a moment and said, "The food cut-off plan that Qinghe mentioned last time can be started. The Japanese cut off our food supply, and we will also cut off their food supply. With 380 million, I wonder how the Japanese can support themselves!"

"Yes, there is one more thing. Qinghe said that the General Staff knew that we had received a batch of aircraft. In order to ensure that the airspace is in their hands, the airport became a key target."

"Our plane is in Lishui. OK, I got it. I'll send more people over."

After the food cut-off plan was implemented, the Military Control Commission immediately took action. Because they had made preparations in advance, the first batch of operations went relatively smoothly.

Although the 380 million Japanese troops were terrifying, the reduction in food also caused complaints from Japanese soldiers, so much so that they had to allocate heavy troops to guard the granaries.

Upon learning that a large amount of granary was damaged, Tojo Hideji was worried.

Telegrams came in from the army below every day asking for food allocations, but where could he find the food?

Everything can be conjured up, except food.

"You ask me for rice every day, won't you steal it?"

Tojo ordered his soldiers to rob the Chinese on the spot and seize their rations, which was also a strategy.

The idea is good, but Chongqing's strategy of exhausting military resources means that not only do the farmers have no extra food, but even the landlords have no extra food.

In desperation, we can only reduce the configuration.

The staple food is 350 grams, first reduce it to 300 grams.

I found that 300 grams was not enough, so I increased it to 220 grams.

The fighting had only lasted two months, and the food ration had already been reduced to 150 grams.

At the beginning of the war, it was indeed summer in China and it was not yet harvest time, but it was also summer in the whole of East Asia and it was not yet harvest time, and everyone was equally poor.

150 grams, and he kept asking for food every day. Tojo was so worried that he even started rummaging through the trash can.

When Zhou Qinghe came to work, he suddenly smelled a stinky smell on Tojo. He thought the garbage in the room was not emptied, so he called the cleaning lady to sweep the floor.

Who knew that the cleaning lady secretly told him, "It's not the smell in the room, it's the Prime Minister. I went to take out the trash these two days and saw the Prime Minister rummaging through the trash can with a stick."

"Looking through the trash can?" Zhou Qinghe frowned: "Why are you looking through the trash can?"

The cleaner glanced outside and whispered, "I heard that they are checking the trash cans to see if there is any wasted food or any extravagant food. I heard yesterday that the Prime Minister found a piece of paper with chocolate left over and cursed at it for a long time."

"Is there such a thing?" Zhou Qinghe was stunned.

The cleaner nodded and said, "Just bear with it. You'll definitely get that smell from rummaging through the trash cans every day. It's so hot out here, it'll easily stink."

Zhou Qinghe was convinced. Tojo was truly a remarkable person. It was truly admirable that he could have such a wide range of interests as a prime minister.

Soon, the military spread the reputation of "Garbage Picker Tojo".

The pressure was indeed great. Zhou Qinghe was very clear about Japan's food situation. There was indeed no food.

First of all, there are no imports, and the production itself is not enough to feed the local people. Then, they have to exchange coal for the North Koreans. There is fertile soil in Southeast Asia, but it will take time to grow, and forget about expecting those enslaved people to work hard.

Could Japanese soldiers in the past be kind to the local colonized people?

Japan's logistics are really a big problem.

The harvest season is approaching, and there will always be some output in Southeast Asia. Zhou Qinghe has to increase the intensity of Tojo.

Send a telegram to Boss Dai, asking the Americans to send submarines to keep an eye on the Japanese cargo ships and sink any that are carrying grain.

As for the Southeast Asian countries that could be transported by land, they sent bombers to bomb the trucks carrying the food, and cooperated with the military intelligence agents to monitor the entire process to ensure that the food would not be consumed halfway. Tojo had been waiting for this batch of food harvested in the fall for a long time, and he was counting on this batch of food to survive.

Who knew that as news came in, all the food was destroyed.

Tojo was immediately furious: "How do they know our food transportation route!"

Who knows?
Zhou Qinghe was not afraid of Tojo's questions. This was the plan adopted by Chongqing. The transportation of grain would not be completed in a day or two, so it was not normal for the information to be leaked in the middle of the process.

Moreover, the submarine belongs to the United States, so you can tell at a glance that there are American spies who are particularly powerful.

The Japanese army's rations were reduced again, and cans of beef blood were replaced by cans of beef soup.

Zhou Qinghe actually had no idea what this beef soup was. When he opened the can, he saw a little bit of beef blood and some vegetables.

A good can of beef turned into this.

Originally, Japanese canned beef is a good thing. It is real beef and sells for quite a high price on the black market in China. It is very face-saving to give it to others as a gift.

But now the shell still has the words "canned beef" on it, and merchants think it takes up too much inventory.

Tojo's mood became more and more irritable day by day.

We have tried every possible means, but still cannot solve the food problem.

As of today, Japan's foreign exchange reserves only have 4 German marks left on its books.

A loaf of bread cost 50 German marks.

Of course there are many rich people, such as Zhou Qinghe and so many nobles, but one thing is certain, the country’s money may not be the country’s money, but one’s own money is definitely one’s own money.

The staple food of the Japanese army has become 100 grams.

100 grams, I’ll feel hungry even if I don’t work!

What’s more, they are soldiers who are going to fight?
To make matters worse, although there was no food to eat, they still had oil and were self-sufficient, which was what Tojo was most proud of.

However, the Americans had built their warships, including a dozen grain ships and two dozen oil tankers.

Japan is not an oil-producing country, and the number of its oil tankers is already small. Now that they have been attacked, rebuilding the ships is a small matter. The key is that the oil cannot be brought back.

There is no oil in the country, there is no oil on the battlefield, and all the aircraft factories have to come to a standstill.

"Why do Americans know our transportation routes so clearly?" Tojo asked Tsukahara Jishizo.

Tsukahara Jishisan frowned: "This is a bit strange. Not only does he know the transportation route, he also seems to know where our aircraft carrier is."

Zhou Qinghe directly told them the answer: "Think carefully about what happened during this period. Put it together and think about whether your navy's code book has been deciphered by the US military."

"Impossible?" Tsukahara Jishizo thought for a moment and said, "Our navy's code books are all highly confidential, either in the headquarters or on the ships. How could the US military decipher them?"

This may not work in some places in Japan, but they do have a system for password encryption.

"If the U.S. military can crack our navy's code, then won't your army's code also be cracked? The encryption method we use is similar, right?" asked Tsukahara Jishizo.

"Do you have code books on every ship?"

Tsukahara Jishizo nodded: "Of course. We can't communicate at sea, so we can only use radio commands."

Zhou Qinghe thought of a possibility, "The US military really has your code book, and more than one."

Tsukahara Jishizo was shocked: "How did you know?"

"Shipwreck, the U.S. military may have salvaged your shipwreck."

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured down on him. Tsukahara Jishisan suddenly came to his senses and yelled, "These idiots in the telecommunications department, why didn't anyone think of this!"

“The entire password system needs to be replaced”

Zhou Qinghe certainly didn't give the advice out of kindness.

The Japanese were facing a serious shortage of food and their combat effectiveness continued to decline. When the principal of Chongqing saw the Japanese in this state, he was overjoyed. He stopped fighting the Japanese and started to suppress the bandits again.

Zhou Qinghe certainly couldn't force the principal to change his mind, but he could get the Japanese to cause some trouble for the Americans.

Tsukahara Jishizo's naval combat skills are definitely good enough. As long as we cause trouble for the Americans and the Americans get beaten, and we provide food for the principal, I guess the principal will be able to regain his original intention.

These days Zhou Qinghe no longer needs to give Tojo any advice.

There is no problem at all with the combat effectiveness of the 380 million army. It's just a shortage of food. It's useless to ask him about the food shortage because Zhou Qinghe is not an agricultural expert.

Even Tojo couldn't blame him for this.

The Japanese army was already starving to death on the Chinese battlefield. At this point in the war, it was no longer as simple as an industrial country fighting an agricultural country. To be precise, it was one group of hungry ghosts fighting another group of hungry ghosts. But obviously, the older hungry ghosts had a poor standard of living and were more adaptable.

As for the new hungry ghosts, their living standards have been getting worse every year since they were born. This contrast is even more difficult to accept.

Smart Japanese soldiers have begun to learn from the Chinese army, such as selling guns in exchange for food.

Tojo's inability to resolve the current predicament caused great dissatisfaction in the army.

There have been voices in the Council of Nobles calling for Tojo to resign, and some have even gone so far as to say, “Tojo! You should immediately apologize to the Emperor and then commit suicide!”

But Tojo would definitely not commit suicide.

In desperation, Tojo could only downsize his army, reduce food expenditures, and increase the labor force to restore the economy.

The army's food situation is like this, not to mention the Japanese mainland. There is no foreign exchange income, no oil, and all factories have stopped working. One thing is linked to another, with even more foreign exchange income. Without money, wages cannot be paid, and without wages, nothing can be bought.

People began to starve to death in Japan.

When this incident was reported by the media, the reporters were of course sent to the front line by Tojo, but after the incident was exposed, Hirohito finally couldn't stand it anymore.

Summon Zhou Qinghe to talk.

Zhou Qinghe walked into the palace, and Hirohito sighed when he saw him.

"Fujita, is there any way to save the situation now?"

Zhou Qinghe didn't say anything, his brows were furrowed and he remained silent.

Hirohito stared at him, as if waiting for an answer.

Zhou Qinghe was silent for a while before he said, "Your Majesty, now that things have come to this, I can't think of a better way. Although we are still suppressing the Chinese army on the Chinese battlefield, I don't see any possibility of victory when the United States launches a full-scale attack."

The war is still a long way from being lost, but the top leaders actually see the outcome very clearly. The result is certain, it is just a matter of delaying time.

Japan has no friends, and Germany has hit a wall in the Soviet Union, so there is no possibility of reinforcement.

Forty thousand German marks, that's all the friendship.

Hirohito's expression did not show much disappointment, because all the disappointment was left to Tojo.

"Every time I think of your advice, I feel sad these days. Rest and recuperate. Rest and recuperate. Years of war have made Japan's foundation unstable. We have occupied East Asia, mostly voluntarily. While the Americans have no time to trouble us, if we really rest and recuperate, let alone the prosperity of industry, at least there will definitely not be such a big problem with food, and the atmosphere in the country will not be so sluggish. I really regret it.

Tojo deceived me!"

Hirohito's words were full of real hatred. He walked up to Zhou Qinghe and asked intently, "While there is still time, is there any way to resolve the current situation? At least Japan cannot perish in my hands. I don't want to be a king who loses his country."

Passing the throne to your son will solve this problem.
Zhou Qinghe looked sad. He thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty, that depends on how far you want to go."

Hirohito stared at Zhou Qinghe and said word by word, "Japan's national destiny will last forever! The dynasty will last forever!"

"I understand." Zhou Qinghe nodded. After thinking for a while, he said, "Your Majesty, there is still a way. We even have a chance to make a comeback, but you may suffer a little injustice."

"I am not afraid of being wronged! I only need one word, can we make the family line last forever?"

"Okay." Zhou Qinghe nodded heavily.

(End of this chapter)