Iron Cross

"Article 3: Establish a theater joint command center, with the joint fleet as the core, to govern the island marines, shore-based aviation teams, and transportation and supply formations on the southern front..."

Looking at this, Yamamoto Isoroku took a deep breath. In 1889, Japan established four military ports in Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo, and Maizuru to establish garrison offices, with almost all-encompassing powers, including the Marine Corps, shore-based air force, supply, training, education, security, recruitment, and many other functions. There are many very funny practices in it. For example, soldiers recruited in the recruitment area where a certain garrison is located can only serve on ships whose registration belongs to the garrison (a Niigata native who enlists in the nearby Maizuru garrison cannot be assigned to Serving on the battleship Yamato belonging to the Kure Governorate). Of course there is no problem with such compartmentalization in peacetime, but in wartime who cares where you were recruited?

This kind of old-fashioned situation is not particularly obvious among surface ships, and it becomes even more ridiculous after the formation of aviation operations-for example, the pilots on the Shokaku cannot be affiliated with the Akagi. If the Akagi is sunk, the ship to which it belongs will be destroyed. The carrier pilots could only be brought back in batches for rest and replenishment. On one side, the aircraft carrier was short of pilots, and on the other side, the aircraft carrier was short of pilots. This was the reason why Lianghe did not participate in the Battle of Midway after the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Because the fundamental idea of ​​this system is to treat the combined fleet and the garrison separately: the combined fleet does not belong to a certain garrison, but exists parallel to each garrison. If I have to be more serious, I can only say that the fleets under the Combined Fleet are subordinate to the garrison. The Combined Fleet is just a temporary organization that comes into being after the fleets are matched together. It is just that the Combined Fleet has existed for a long time and has basically formed a stable structure. The logical starting point of this approach is based on the traditional concept of naval warfare: traditional naval warfare is a two-dimensional battle between ships. Nowadays, naval battle is a three-dimensional battle involving water, underwater, air, and land. If we separate them artificially, something will happen. .

Horikichi's reform idea is to use the theater system to break the garrison + combined fleet system, and essentially give frontline command officers more and greater command authority - such as fighting in Tarawa or Rabaul, accepting thousands of kilometers behind It is not only ridiculous and in fact impossible to command the garrison outside the town, it is better to delegate power directly to front-line officers.

In his idea, the home garrison would remain unchanged and four more theaters would be established in Truk, Rabaul, Singapore and Ceylon. Based on the absolute defense circle: Truk is in charge of the eastern section of the sea, including the Ogasawara Islands, Mariana Islands, Marshall Islands, Gilbert Islands, etc. starting offshore Japan; Rabaul is in charge of the southern section of the sea, including the Solomon Islands and Guinea Islands and the islands in the eastern part of the Dutch East Indies; Singapore is responsible for the western section of the sea, including the Indochina Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines and the islands in the western part of the Dutch East Indies; Ceylon is responsible for the direction of the Indian Ocean and the Japanese-occupied islands distributed in the Indian Ocean. .

If Yamamoto Isoroku was still the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet, he would certainly support this approach with both hands. But now that he is the Navy Minister and the top military bureaucrat, his considerations have to be more comprehensive and conservative - just as he He used to attack his old friend Mitsumasa Yoneuchi as "conservative, rigid, and bureaucratic", but the person has not changed, but because of his position and butt, his ideas have changed, and he demands stability!

According to Horikichi's reform plan, apart from recruitment, maintenance, supplies and education, the four major garrison offices in the country have almost no combat affairs. During the war, only those who can fight will have money, and only those who can fight will have status and power. Wouldn't this reform Is it equivalent to directly attacking the bureaucrats of the four major garrison offices? No wonder Yamamoto gasped.

"I won't comment on ideas. What you do is putting yourself and the United Fleet against too many people, which is detrimental to the future. My old classmate..." Yamamoto Isoroku said sincerely, "Although you He is a marshal and an admiral, but his steps are too big and may cause trouble."

"I suddenly remembered what you said about Mitsumasa Yoneuchi before..." Horikichi laughed, imitating Yamamoto Isoroku's tone of criticizing Mitsumasa Yoneuchi and said, "A good general will become unlikeable once he becomes the navy minister." People and ghosts are not like ghosts. They say things all day long that are cloudy, ambiguous, and confusing, leaving the people below at a loss, so as to make him seem more mysterious and unfathomable..."

These words were all complaints made by Yamamoto Isoroku against Mitsumasa Yoneuchi when the two were chatting privately. Unexpectedly, things turned around and it came true for Yamamoto himself in less than a year.

"This is retribution." Yamamoto Isoroku couldn't laugh or cry, and sighed repeatedly, "To be honest, in the past few months since you have been away, our Highness has come up with many clever tricks for your affairs. I am tired of dealing with these open and covert attacks. How can I It’s good to stabilize the current situation, so why bother to think about reform?”

"So he would think of blaming me for the loss of Midway Island. I don't care..."

"You are underestimating him." Yamamoto Isoroku sighed, "I heard that he has been secretly looking for someone to understand your combat command in the past few days, and vaguely accused you of deliberately allowing the loss of Mutsu during the Panama Campaign. , Hiei..."

"On purpose?" Horikichi asked with his eyes widened in disbelief, "Am I betraying the country?"

"It's not about being a traitor. Isn't it okay to forcefully take a warship that still has hope of saving and block it on the beach? - These are his exact words." Yamamoto Isoroku explained, "Look at the current battleships There are only 2 Yamato-class ships, 1 Nagato-class ship and 2 Kongo-class ships. It is difficult to form two fleets. Musashi, Nagato and Kirishima are still scarred, and he is very dissatisfied."

"After all this fighting, are you still dreaming about fleet battles?" Horikichi said in a contemptuous tone, "So what if we lose it? Didn't we still kill so many British and American battleships? At that time, the world's 7th largest We have two Nagato-class battleships, and there are still Virginia and Nagato left in the world. Could it be that we haven’t done a good job?”

"But everyone in the fleet supports you one-sidedly, so you don't have to worry about that." Yamamoto Isoroku comforted his old friend while complaining, "I'm worried about your other problems now."

"What's my problem?"

"It's too much. Do you want me to tell you the exact words? I'll make you angry."

"Okay, you go ahead and I'll listen."

"First, you abuse public funds and buy people's hearts. You give high allowances to officers and soldiers, buy gifts, and so on. Second, you bribe officers and form cliques for private gain. I heard that you gave Tsukahara and others money to buy villas. We also issued cars to a group of key officers; thirdly, you are coercing foreigners and self-respect, and have evil intentions, saying that your relationship with the German and Italian allies is very abnormal. On the one hand, they only recognize you, and on the other hand, the relevant opinions you put forward are in line with theirs. interests, suspecting that you have been bribed by the German and Italian leaders; fourth, you despise your superiors and insist on going your own way. How many times have you reported and asked for instructions on combat operations and the military command department along the way? Fifth, you are too proud to take credit, so I will let you return to China in April. I refused to do anything and kept delaying it for nearly half a year..."

"I actually have so many crimes?" Horikichi smiled instead of getting angry, "How can such a person still become a marshal and admiral? This is really the most ridiculous thing in the world!"

Yamamoto Isoroku shook his head and sighed: "I don't understand why so many things happened when you went out? Also, where did the money for you to buy them a villa and a car come from?"

"Are you questioning me? Or interrogating me?"

"I..." Yamamoto Isoroku was speechless, "Is it okay to ask as a friend?"

"The Germans and Italians gave it to them. Germany gave the big head, and the Italians gave the small head." Horikichi explained, "I fought for it with my old face and the German head of state, saying that the soldiers had great achievements in combat and achieved perfect results. After achieving the goal, it was hard work to fight continuously in Europe and the United States, so we got this reward and 4 Marine brigades, otherwise where do you think it came from? "

"Give it to you so easily?"

"What is there to be reluctant to part with? Isn't it just a matter of tens of millions of marks? One less battleship will be sunk and we will have everything! The German head of state and the Italian leader were chatting and laughing with me, and they didn't take it to heart at all. They also said that they hope that the combined fleet will be launched this winter and next spring. If we continue the Western Expedition, they are willing to support us with a large amount of military expenditure. Besides..." Horikichi explained, "Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers have seen the prosperity and extremely rich material life in Europe. Don't they have any ideas at home if they don't reward me? I’m too lazy to care about it, but I can’t deny it if I have merit, right? You can do it once or twice, but who will do it if you use empty words every time to make people lose their lives?”

"A group of old diehards will definitely suppress you with their loyalty to the emperor and patriotism."

"It doesn't matter, you can do whatever you want. If it's too big, I'll quit."

"Can you resign?" Yamamoto Fifty-Six was very surprised.

"What's wrong?" Horikichi laughed, "Don't you think I'm domineering? Can I change places? If it doesn't work at home, I'll go abroad."

"Overseas?" Yamamoto Isoroku frowned, "Germany?"

"The head of state told me before he left that if I am willing to take up my post in Germany, he will support me as commander-in-chief of the Axis Navy and command the entire German and Italian fleets. Germany will provide at least 60 billion marks in naval military expenditures every year!"

"60 billion?" Yamamoto Isoroku shook his head in disbelief, "How much does Germany spend on its military annually?"

"It was estimated to be 150 billion in 1943, and maybe 170-180 billion in 1944." Horikichi laughed. "Although it is said that the Japanese yen and the mark have the same exchange rate, in fact, the mark is far more valuable than the Japanese yen. For the same aircraft, the Germans The selling price is cheaper than making it ourselves, and the cost is conceivably lower. ”

Japan's total military budget for this year is only a little over 60 billion yen, and the army still has to take a large share. Yamamoto Isoroku was completely speechless, and he believed that the Germans would not brag, because the United States is at least three times that of Germany.

"You must not have such thoughts."

Neither of them expected that while they were having a secret conversation, Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Kyouchi was suing Horikichi in the palace. The charges were basically the ones summarized by Yamamoto.