Comrade, Your Ingredients Are Too Complicated

Tokyo, Imperial Conference Venue.

"Everyone, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come to the meeting."

"In addition to the southward advance plan today, we have another issue to discuss. The Eighth Route Army in North China is currently very active. Is it necessary to launch a large-scale military operation before officially moving south to completely kill the enemies entrenched in Shanxi?"

"The information in front of you was submitted by the commander of the North China Front Army, Okamura Neiji. Please take a look!"

Today is Hideki Tojo's third day as Prime Minister. In order to ensure that there would be no worries about his southward advance plan, he immediately applied for a convening of the Imperial Council after receiving the secret telegram from the dispatched troops.

In addition to members of the Locust Chamber, the participants at this meeting also included the Foreign Minister, the Maritime Minister, the Ministers and Deputy Ministers of the Army and Navy, the Speaker of the Privy Council, and the Tibetan Prime Minister.

Such a lineup can definitely be called a crowd-like demon dance.

After the opening remarks, the sound of turning documents was heard in the conference room. Looking at the attendees who were reading carefully, Tojo Hideki showed a comfortable smile on his face.

At this moment, Tianchu, who usually didn't speak much, suddenly said:

"If war starts in North China now, how long will it take for my country to take over Shanxi? Will it affect our plan to advance southward?"

Although he did not expect that the other party would care about such a problem, Tojo Hideki responded immediately.

"One month!"

"As long as His Majesty approves the operation, the dispatched troops can defeat the enemy in just one month and restore our brother's occupied area to what it was like at the beginning of 1941."

That's right, the old devil is talking about the dispatched army, not simply the North China Front Army.

Tojo Hideki was an out-and-out aggressor. He did enough homework on Shanxi before convening the imperial meeting.

The current Eighth Route Army has changed too much. It is no longer the poor appearance it was when it attacked.

Relying on the strength of the North China Front Army alone, it is impossible to successfully implement the counterattack plan. There is a real chance that Hebei and Suiyuan will be lost at once.

If you want to invade Shanxi again, you must at least mobilize the 12th Army.

Obviously, Locust doesn't like this. Regarding the behavior of his Prime Minister, he directly gave a soul blow.

"A month?"

"When the China Incident happened, your army said that the battle could be over in one month. What about now? It has been fighting for four full years and there is still no result!"

"I think you are wishful thinking!"

It is understandable that this guy suddenly went crazy, because the domestic economy is not far away from collapse.

In July of this year, the Japanese army finally took the first step towards the south, occupying and stationing French Indochina.

Faced with this kind of slap in the face, it is naturally impossible for Chou Guo to remain indifferent. Master Luo directly froze all assets of Benzi at the end of that month and implemented a comprehensive embargo in August.

As a result, most of Japan's defense industries had to suspend production due to lack of raw materials.

Among them, the steel industry has been hit the hardest. Without ore and scrap steel, 30% of the country's factories will have to shut down to wait for materials. Production will be reduced by at least 30% this year.

The machine tool industry and the automobile industry are relatively better, but they can only be regarded as the generals. It is almost the end of the year and they have only completed half of the planned targets.

The trade aspect is not that good either. Export volume dropped by 20% compared with the previous year, resulting in a serious deficit.

To make matters worse, in order to raise military expenses, Japan issued a large amount of public bonds and banknotes, and the national finances were facing a serious crisis.

The former has accumulated 37.3 billion yen, which has more than tripled compared with 1936. I don’t even know how to repay this money.

The situation of the latter is more serious. In the ten months of this year alone, an additional 4.7 billion yen was printed, and the current circulation in society has reached 7.9 billion.

Such trouble will inevitably lead to inflation, and prices have more than doubled.

Coupled with various new taxes, the average living standard in this country is declining at an exaggerated rate.

The above situations, placed in any country, will definitely promote the birth of some kind of red doctrine. If there happen to be sprouts already existing in your local area, this is a great time to thrive.

After all, where there is oppression, there is resistance.

Just when Tojo Hideki was silent, Tian Locust seemed to have thought of something terrible.

"Let's not mention the matter in North China for now. Let's first talk about what's going on with Tokuichi? I remember, isn't that man imprisoned in Chiba? Why is there news about his activities recently!"

"You are the Prime Minister appointed by me! Since I can help you up, I can also find someone to replace you at any time! If you can't handle this matter within a month, just pack up and leave!"

As soon as these words came out, Tojo Hideki felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He hasn't officially formed a cabinet yet, so it would be a big joke if he was kicked out now.

He had also heard about De Yi, but no one expected that those remnants could actually start a prairie fire, and even have a vague tendency to spread to the whole country.

Faced with the threat from his own leader, the old devil responded with an idea:

"Now the people need a big victory to regain their confidence. As long as they see hope, they will not think about rebellion."

"We barely managed a tie with Preserved Fruit in Tanzhou, and now the North China battlefield is the best choice. As for the time issue, you can rest assured, one month is definitely enough!"

"The previous miscalculation was due to the vast territory of the Republic of China. If it were just a province, the warriors would definitely be able to crush the enemy into powder!"

Looking at the confident Tojo Hideki, Tian Locust showed a suspicious expression. After thinking for a moment, he nodded slightly hesitantly.

For Japan now, every major military strategy cannot go wrong.

The implementation of the southward advance plan will inevitably draw troops from the dispatched army. If the Eighth Route Army is not dealt with in advance, the other party may even pose a threat to Manchukuo.

There is the lifeblood of my country’s huge investment in wealth, so we must not throw it away!

"Okay! Then I'll give you a month!"

"One month later! I want to see the entire North China under the rule of my younger brother's country! Remember the promise you made to me now, what I just said was not a joke!"

"Next item!"

Following the order from their leader, the Imperial Council officially entered its second stage.

This meeting, strictly speaking, should be the third discussion on the details of the southward strategy.

The first time was on July 2, when Desan's Barbarossa plan disrupted the original arrangements. At that time, they still fantasized about pulling their beards into the axis and dividing the Asian, African and European continents together.

After the Soviet-German war, Benzi even had the idea of ​​withdrawing from the Axis Group. That meeting was mainly to discuss the future development direction.

The second time was two months later. Since strategic supplies were sanctioned by the British and Chou countries, the military department had begun preparations for a full-scale operation.

Against the above background, the Locust Chamber could no longer sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and hold meetings in person to inquire about the war series.

"The content of today's meeting is to discuss the process prediction of the war direction and the assessment of required resources."

"I personally believe that until we are fully prepared for war, we should continue to paralyze our opponents under the guise of peace. At the same time, all military preparations must be carried out overtime."

"Before we officially start, I still want to ask. There should be no one who supports going north now."

Seeing no one responded, Tojo nodded with satisfaction.

After all, the army and navy across the country don't have much fuel now, and they are not qualified to go north to challenge the Far East Army. How to fight this situation? Running up to T34 and spitting?

Neither T26 nor BT7 can beat them, let alone medium tanks.

Even if Big Beard pulls all the Far Eastern troops back to the Western Front, or Amaterasu pulls out the Amancong Cloud Sword and kills millions of people, as long as others cut off the Siberian Railway, their own troops will be helpless.

Even if the Kwantung Army sets out from HLBE, it will need to walk at least more than two thousand kilometers westward to reach large cities. If you want to join forces with Mustache, you have to travel more than two thousand kilometers.

By the time the troops reach the finish line, the Battle of Stalingrad will probably be over.

Although the book is not a thing, it is far from the point where you can survive by eating frozen soil. It is better to go to Southeast Asia to eat grass, scavenge, and bite yourself.

What's more, switching from the Asian battlefield to the European battlefield, isn't it equivalent to upgrading the difficulty from "Battlefield" to "Hearts of Iron"?

Compared with the Far East Czar, Marshal Mai from the Philippines is obviously easier to bully. Maybe the opponent is a parallel import lieutenant general who pays attention to victory.

Given the current situation and resources, standing still is the best way to help Mustache. If we don't send troops, we can still hold back hundreds of thousands of Far Eastern troops. If we send troops, wouldn't we forcefully liberate their combat effectiveness?

At present, the best way to support Benzi is to cut off the bearded man's route to obtain foreign aid. It is definitely better to kick the Atlantic Charter than to send troops to die.

"Okay, then the meeting officially begins!"

"Let's discuss the specific time schedule first. After all, we need to fight in two areas at the same time."

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