You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you brought out a Tiger tank?

Kita Seiichi, with his hands behind his back, spoke eloquently:

"I've been undercover in China for over a decade, and I know these Chinese generals all too well."

Who is Lin Feng?

He was originally just an unknown young officer who rose to prominence by chance after winning a few battles.

Now, he has conquered Jiaodong and commands a well-trained army of over 100,000 men.

To appease him, Jiangcheng even gave him the title of acting bamboo mat official in Shandong Province.

Gentlemen, think about it.

On this land of China, what would a general become if he had guns, territory, and a title?

Without waiting for everyone's answer, Kita Seiichi gave his conclusion directly:

"He will become a new local warlord."

Just like Han, who ruled Shandong in the past, and Yan, who ruled Shanxi.

For these warlords, talk of national righteousness and fighting to the end was just a slogan for the common people.

All they really care about is their own territory and the army they control.

The army is their lifeblood, and their territory is their money bag.

Upon hearing this, Terauchi Hisaichi's eyes narrowed slightly, as if he had grasped something.

"Kita-kun, you mean...?"

"What I mean is, we can definitely play the appeasement card with Lin Feng."

Kita Seiichi said confidently:

"Lin Feng has just experienced a major battle. Although he annihilated the Fifth Division, his ammunition consumption must have been astronomical."

What he needs most now is to consolidate the territory he has just occupied in Jiaodong and to recuperate.

He absolutely refused to risk all his savings at this time for the sake of the crumbling government in Jiangcheng.

We can send someone to make secret contact with him.

Kita Seiichi revealed his plan:

Tell Lin Feng that as long as he doesn't interfere with the Imperial Army's attack on Pengcheng...

As long as his army does not cross the Yellow River.

The empire could then recognize his rule in Lu Province.

It could even be promised a high degree of autonomy, just like it would with those pro-Japan autonomous governments in North China.

If he's willing, we can even secretly provide him with weapons and ammunition to support him in fighting the Central Army in Jiangcheng for territory.

The meeting room fell silent.

The generals looked at each other, pondering the feasibility of the plan.

In their understanding, the warlord struggles of the Republic of China lasted for more than a decade.

Today you attack me, tomorrow I'll team up with you to attack him; betraying the country for personal gain is commonplace.

Since Lin Feng had become a regional warlord, he naturally could not escape this historical pattern.

"This plan sounds very tempting."

Terauchi Hisaichi stroked his chin and pondered:

"If we can stabilize Lin Feng through political means, we can concentrate all our forces and take Pengcheng in one fell swoop."

But he was, after all, a seasoned veteran, and did not place all his hopes on the enemy's greed.

"However, we can't put all our eggs in one basket."

Terauchi Hisaichi stood up, placed his hands on the table, and made his final decision:

"Kita-kun, I'm leaving the matter of contacting Lin Feng to you."

"Send our highest-ranking envoy, carrying our sincerity, to meet him in Qingcheng Port."

Then, Terauchi Hisaichi turned to look at Chief of Staff Okabe Naosaburo:

"Military preparations cannot be relaxed either."

The order was given to the two special divisions, the 106th and the 114th.

Immediately construct a defensive line in the Weifang and Zibo areas.

Tell their division commander not to engage Lin Feng's armored forces in a direct confrontation on the plains.

Adopt tactics of delaying resistance.

Fight back, then retreat.

They led Lin Feng's troops to the edge of the mountainous areas such as Pingshan and Heishan.

Taking advantage of the complex terrain of the mountains, they built permanent fortifications for defense from a high vantage point.

As long as Lin Feng is kept in the mountains, his tanks and heavy artillery will be unable to exert their full power.

Terauchi Hisaichi's gaze finally settled on the southern end of the Jinpu Railway.

"As for the main force of the 10th Division, and the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 15."

We must rest and resupply in the provincial capital as soon as possible before heading south again along the Jinpu Railway.

This time, you must take Pengcheng!

"Hi!"

The Japanese generals in the conference room all bowed their heads and accepted the order.

A strategic plan that was thought to be flawless was officially formed in the Japanese headquarters in Beiping.

They had no idea.

They were not facing the traditional warlords of the Republic of China who were only concerned with seizing territory and preserving their power.

Instead, he is a transmigrator with a system and a strong sense of patriotism!

-----

In April, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. A spring breeze blew by, and the pink and white petals fell like snowflakes, covering the moat of the outer garden of the Imperial Palace.

Inside the National Diet Building in Nagata-cho, far from the Imperial Palace, high-ranking Japanese officials were holding a meeting.

"The army is incompetent!"

"The navy is a waste of the national treasury! Tens of thousands of tons of warships can't even handle a few aircraft!"

It seems the army and navy are about to stage another traditional blame-shifting drama.

The Minister of Finance, Kaya Okinobu, who was sitting at the end of the table, finally couldn't hold back any longer.

He stood up, took a thick ledger out of his briefcase, and slammed it onto the table.

"Your Highnesses, Your Ministers, please cease your arguing!"

Dressed in a suit, He Wuxingxuan stood out starkly against the backdrop of the room full of elderly men in military uniforms, and he completely lost it:

"Is there any point in arguing here about whose responsibility it is?"

Do you know what the real crisis facing the Empire is right now?

It wasn't the loss of a division, nor the sinking of a few warships.

"But the empire is on the verge of bankruptcy!"

The moment those words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent.

Everyone turned to look at the minister who controlled the empire's treasury.

He Wuxingxuan took off his glasses, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, opened the account book, and recited a set of chilling data.

"Before the full-scale war began in 1943, the Empire's annual military budget was approximately 1.4 billion yen."

This already accounts for 47 percent of the country's total budget.

But what about since the start of the war?

In the latter half of last year, the cabinet allocated temporary military spending three times in succession, totaling more than 2.5 billion yen.

This year, 1943 (Showa 13), the military's budget proposal has soared to over four billion yen.

Kōkichi, his hands resting on the table, glanced at the assembled military leaders:

"Gentlemen, the empire's fiscal revenue simply cannot fill such a huge hole."

We are sustaining this war by printing government bonds at an alarming rate.

Even more frightening are the foreign exchange and gold reserves.

We are an island nation with no oil, no rubber, and a lack of scrap steel.

To manufacture bullets, shells, tanks, and airplanes, all the raw materials had to be purchased from the White Eagles and the Johns.

They don't accept Japanese yen, they only accept gold and foreign currency!

His voice was trembling:

"Before the war, we had about four hundred tons of gold in our vaults."

In less than a year, we have shipped more than 200 tons of gold overseas to purchase military supplies.

At this rate, the empire's gold reserves will be completely depleted by next spring at the latest.

What will we use to buy oil then? What will we use to buy steel?

Warships couldn't leave port, planes couldn't take off, and soldiers' rifles wouldn't fire.

How can we possibly fight this battle?!

These words were like a bucket of ice water poured over everyone's heads.

An industrialized country attacking an agricultural country sounds like a dimensional reduction attack.

But the Great Xia Dynasty was too large, with too much strategic depth.

The Japanese occupied northern and coastal areas of Daxia, and what they seized were mostly primary agricultural and mineral products such as coal, grain, and cotton.

While shipping these items back to China can alleviate some of the pressure, they are simply not enough to exchange for the hard currency that is urgently needed on the international market.

This is a war of attrition that is losing money.