Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

"Speaking of which, Hashimoto-kun." Kazuki Seiji suddenly turned to Hashimoto Gun, his eyes gleaming with gratitude: "I really want to thank you very much.

If you hadn't urged me to give up my dispute with Itagaki Seishirō and instead fully support him, I'm afraid we wouldn't be in this situation now." He paused meaningfully.

"Now it seems that you have a very long-term vision, and your prediction of the situation is amazingly accurate."

"Your Excellency, I appreciate your compliment." Hashimoto Gun immediately bowed respectfully in response, a perfectly humbly expression on his face. "As a subordinate, it's my duty to help you solve your problems."

After that, he straightened his back and glanced at Takeda Koichi who was standing beside him with an expressionless face, a hint of contempt flashed in his eyes.

This subtle change in expression naturally did not escape Kazuki Seiji's eyes, but he just smiled meaningfully and did not point it out.

In the office, three people each have their own thoughts, but on the surface they appear to be in harmony.

. . . . . . . .

The corners of Kazuki Seiji's mouth rose slightly, and his eyes flashed with excitement. The battle he just mentioned was the Battle of Nankou.

The reason why Kazuki Seiji was so excited was that the garrison troops, as the main combatant in this battle, had already secured victory and were about to usher in the dawn of victory.

At this moment, he seemed to have seen the moment when he successfully took over the command of the North China Expeditionary Army after the Japanese army won a great victory in the Nankou battlefield.

He had no idea what kind of miserable end he was about to face.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The Battle of Nankou is a battle that is easily overlooked in the long river of history, but it has great significance.

It took place before the Battle of Shanghai and was the first large-scale battle between the Japanese Army and the Central Army of the Nanjing Government of China.

However, the glory and cruelty of this battle are often forgotten by people. The huge vortex of brutality in the Battle of Shanghai attracted the attention of the world, causing the brilliance of the Battle of Nankou to be obscured by the shadow of history.

More than 60,000 Chinese troops, along the line from Zhangjiakou to Nankou, stubbornly resisted the north-south attack of more than 100,000 Japanese troops like a Great Wall of Steel.

The intensity of the battle and the brutality of the battlefield were beyond the expectations of even the Japanese army themselves.

Passing through the gap in the valley between the Inner and Outer Great Walls, a main road connects to the northern desert.

Nankou is the throat of this important road and the main battlefield for resisting the Japanese army in the Battle of Nankou.

As early as the beginning of August, after the North China Garrison Army had aggressively occupied Tianjin and Beijing, it was gearing up to advance to Baoding.

Nankou, which was originally responsible for defending Beijing and Tianjin and defending the northern part of Mobei, now became the biggest threat to the Japanese army.

Nankou can be used for attack or defense, just like a nail, threatening the safety of the city of Peking at all times.

Its existence prevented the Japanese army from advancing southward in large numbers. It was like a thorn in their side, making the Japanese generals unable to sleep or eat.

If the Japanese army could capture Nankou, then the Zhangjiakou area would not only be under the control of the Japanese army, solving their worries, but they could also attack the flank of Baoding from the west of Taihang Mountain, achieving a strategic detour.

Moreover, the Kwantung Army of Manchukuo was also ready to make a move. They wanted to take the opportunity to seize the Hetao Plain and achieve a semi-encirclement of Mongolia, and they also wanted to extend their hands into the interior of the country and get involved in the entire North China region.

The Kwantung Army volunteered to attack the Zhangjiakou area from the north in an attempt to get a share of the spoils of this war.

Katsuki Seiji knew the Kwantung Army's ambitions like a mirror.

So at the beginning, Kazuki Seiji did not want to cooperate with the Kwantung Army to attack Nankou first.

He had his own strategic considerations and planned to go directly south, quickly occupy the Baoding front line, and expand the Japanese army's sphere of influence.

Because of this, he had a fierce dispute with the commander of the 5th Division, Seishirō Sakata. The two of them slammed the table in the conference room, neither of them giving in, and the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.

Katsuki Seiji insisted on his own point of view, believing that going directly south was the wisest option, while Sakata Seishirō strongly advocated cooperating with the Kwantung Army to attack Nankou.

But in the end, after repeated persuasion from Hashimoto Gun, Kazuki Seiji weighed the pros and cons again and again before fully supporting the garrison army to cooperate with the Kwantung Army to take over Nankou.

After weighing the pros and cons, the Japanese General Staff immediately formulated a pincer attack plan with the Kwantung Army in the north and the garrison army in the south.

A brutal battle is about to begin, and the fate of Nankou becomes precarious in the interweaving of conspiracy and war.

The rapid fall of Peking and Tianjin was like two heavy hammers that hit the morale and strategic layout of the Chinese army.

At this critical moment, the Chinese army had to hastily prepare for war in Nankou. However, the troops at this time were like a pile of loose sand, lacking effective organization and coordination.

On the eve of the Battle of Nankou, the Chinese army faced an extremely urgent situation and urgently needed to quickly deploy troops to Nankou via the Pingsui Railway.

The top leaders of the Nanjing government, who were well aware of the various problems on the North China front, could only rely more on the Central Army's direct troops to take the lead at this critical juncture, hoping that they could turn the tide in this fierce battle.

As early as July 7, the fall of Peking was like a thunderclap exploding in the Nanjing Headquarters.

The Nanjing Headquarters acted decisively and quickly ordered the 13th Army of the Central Army, led by Tang Enbo, to rush day and night from Suiyuan to Nankou to deploy defenses. At the same time, in order to coordinate the forces of all parties, the Headquarters also urgently called Yan Xishan, Fu Zuoyi, Liu Ruming and others, asking them to quickly adjust the military deployment from Suiyuan to southern Chahar and strengthen defense to deal with further attacks by the Japanese army.

At that time, Liu Ruming, who held the military and political power of Chahar, had his own plans in mind.

Fearing that the Central Army would seize his territory in Chahar, he deliberately blocked Tang Enbo's 13th Army in Zhangjiakou for several days. This action undoubtedly brought great obstacles to the already tense pre-war preparations. It was not until Liu Ruming's old boss Lu Zhonglin intervened that Liu Ruming reluctantly agreed to let them go.

This episode fully exposed the complex contradictions and conflicts of interest within the Chinese military.

At this time, the Japanese Air Force of the garrison had issued a combat order and began to bombard the Pingsui Railway.

Japanese planes roared across the sky like a flock of ferocious hawks, dropping bombs like rain, which severely delayed Nankou's pre-war preparations. The railway was destroyed, the transportation of supplies was blocked, and the soldiers' march was greatly affected.

Until August 8, after a difficult journey, only three regiments of the 3th Army of the Central Army arrived at Nankou through a forced march.

A large number of troops and supplies were still in transit and were delayed by the Japanese bombing and the complicated situation.