Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Since Tianhuang was willing to return the Southern Army Group to the Army Headquarters, it made sense to give the Kwantung Army to Tianhuang.

"As for the navy, follow Yamamoto's request and send reinforcements immediately. The Combined Fleet must not be lost!"

"Hai!"

"The public must not be informed of our defeat. What can you do?"

Chapter 665 Losing to Li Yunlong is easier to accept

The situation in the Japanese country is now very bad, although the territory they occupy has expanded.

However, to defend these territories, the Japanese needed a large number of troops, so they recruited soldiers in advance. The number of soldiers in the army has expanded to about four million, and they are still expanding rapidly.

In addition, the navy was also frantically building ships, and weapons in the arsenal were produced day and night.

Although the newly occupied areas were rich in resources, such as Odalia and Siberia, the additional troops caused military expenditures to surge again.

Originally, the Japanese military budget this year was about 22 billion yen, but now it has been overspent, and the overspending is not small.

The excess funds could only be withdrawn from the people's livelihood sector, and the food rations for the Japanese people were reduced again. On average, each citizen could only get more than 130 grams of food for a meal.

There was almost no meat. Meat, rice and other supplies had to be supplied to the troops first, and the people could only eat some messy food. At the same time, the devils also set up a patriotic supervision inspection team.

One person was chosen from a dozen or so Japanese families to supervise the others and search their trash cans. If they found bones or other food scraps in the trash cans, or if they found someone hiding supplies, they had to report it.

This brought the Japanese people to the brink of collapse, but the Japanese always publicized their successive victories on the battlefield, and kept declaring to the Japanese people that as long as they won the final victory in the war, they would be able to eat white rice, drink broth, and enjoy all kinds of honors.

The people in the Japanese homeland also firmly believed that they would achieve ultimate victory. As long as they could hold on until that day of victory, they would be able to live a good life, just like they did enjoy the dividends of war after the Kwantung Army took over the four northeastern provinces in 1931.

With this idea in mind, the Japanese, from teenagers to elderly people in their sixties and even women, all devoted themselves to the construction of a patriotic and powerful country, working sixteen or seventeen hours a day and working overtime to produce all kinds of military supplies.

The workers' favorite extracurricular activities on weekdays are reading the newspaper of the day or listening to free radio.

If the Japanese won on the battlefield, they would celebrate wildly, just like when the Japanese captured Nanjing, they held celebration ceremonies across the country.

For example, in Sakura City, Osaka and other areas, a million-person lantern parade celebration was held, and almost all Japanese citizens participated in it.

In addition, the Japanese also organized activities to visit sacred toilets, and even elementary school students were mobilized to visit various sacred toilets.

They also bought noodles imported from China and named them "Jinling Noodles" to commemorate the Japanese occupation of Jinling.

Another thing is the large-scale planting of cherry blossoms. The Japanese would plant a large number of cherry blossoms in the areas they occupied. On the one hand, it was to show that the place had been conquered by them, and on the other hand, it was an attempt to carry out cultural invasion in this way.

Whenever the Japanese won, these civilians, nearly dying from overwork, would celebrate in the streets, singing and dancing, spending their meager savings on drinks in bars, and even donating generously. Japanese women would hold plaster flags, pray for the men in their families who had participated in the invasion, and use their bodies to please the Japanese soldiers who signed up to join the army.

They are extremely fanatical and extremely crazy.

Once the Japanese news reported the news of defeat, the Japanese would also fall into a frenzy. They would rush into the homes of the commanders of the defeated armies and smash, loot and destroy them, believing that these commanders were criminals.

This also led to the fact that the Japanese often did not dare to report the news of defeat, or did not want to report the news of defeat.

However, there was one exception. Li Yunlong won victory after victory, and gradually the Japanese recognized him. When losing to Li Yunlong became a normal thing, when the Japanese learned that the army had lost to Li Yunlong, they would say: "So we lost to the thorn of the empire, the fox of China..."

This contradictory mentality made them love and hate Li Yunlong. They hated him because Li Yunlong defeated their army again, but they loved him because Li Yunlong was too powerful and could defeat the imperial army in a backward country like China. The Japanese's admiration for the strong began to take effect.

Therefore, the Japanese did not dare to report the news of the defeat of the Kwantung Army and the Navy on a large scale, but some things were difficult to conceal, so they needed to think of countermeasures.

Shimada Shigetaro was the first to speak up and say, "Your Majesty, the Navy has not been defeated, it's just shifting its strategy. We have severely damaged the US Pacific Fleet and are now returning to Pearl Harbor to recuperate!"

This statement was quite shameless, but the Japanese Tianhuang and the navy generals understood its meaning instantly.

By not reporting the casualties of their own fleet and only publicizing the casualties of the American fleet, this becomes a victory.

After hearing the Navy's shameless remarks, Private First Class Tojo thought for a moment and slowly said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Army has also achieved victory. The 171st Division captured the commander of the Soviet Siberian Front, General Gastilovich, and other commanders in the Arshan area, including one general, two lieutenant generals, and five lieutenant generals!"

"Then how should we explain the Fourth Division?"

The 4th Division is the Osaka Division. The people of Osaka are not the lower-class civilians. At least they are all small traders of the Japanese devils. The larger ones are even some companies. They are one of the largest logistics suppliers of the army.

Now that the 4th Division has been destroyed, we must give these people an explanation.

"Haiyi, the 171th and st Divisions fought bloody battles with Li Yunlong's troops in Arshan, and finally successfully entered Arshan and captured the commander of the Soviet Siberian Front, Gastilovich, who had fled to Arshan. The th Division fought with Li Yunlong's troops to the last man, and all were destroyed!"

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent. The Fourth Division's utter defeat was unavoidable and had to be reported.

"Your Majesty, the 4th Division was defeated by Li Yunlong, and the people are relatively more accepting of this."

As soon as this was said, many army generals nodded in agreement.

Seeing the army general's expression, Shimataro Shimada couldn't help but start to sneer again.

"It seems that Lu Jun is used to losing to Li Yunlong. You don't think losing to Li Yunlong is an honor, do you?"

Upon hearing this, the army general immediately retorted, "Humph, our army lost to Li Yunlong, but your navy didn't lose? I heard that your Marines couldn't even hold out for two hours against Li Yunlong, and the lieutenant general was captured. I think his name is Ouchi Denshichiro, right?"

"Baga, Ouchi Denshichiro died in battle, not captured. I heard that Li Yunlong has already sold your general's sword openly in the mountain city. This is simply a disgrace to the empire!"

"Baga, your Vice Admiral's sword is also for sale!"

"..."

The navy and the army quarreled again, but this time they each had an idea, which was to buy the knives in the knife shop in the mountain city and never give the other side the opportunity to mock them.

Chapter 666 The American soldiers who came to Li Yunlong to learn

"Has Kodera Kouta done something great again?"

Guizi Tianhuang heard the name of Kodera Kouta again. Before that, Guizi Tianhuang had specially met with Kodera Kouta's parents, which caused a sensation.

Kota Kodera made headlines in major Japanese newspapers and was called the flower of the second generation of famous generals in the empire and the lucky general of the empire. Many Japanese regarded Kota Kodera as their goal.

"Hayi, he captured the Siberian Front Commander Gastilovich and a group of senior generals!"

Private First Class Tojo bent down and responded.

"How does your army plan to reward him?"

The Japanese army hadn't yet decided how to reward Kodera. A promotion? Kodera had been promoted incredibly quickly, having just been promoted to major general. Now, another promotion?

"Your Majesty, we are preparing to award Kodera Kōta the Order of the Golden Kite and the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Middle Ribbon."

Hearing what Private First Class Tojo said, Tian Huang frowned and said, "The Empire is currently in a troubled time and needs someone to boost the morale of the people. Change Kodera Kouta's Order of the Sacred Treasure, Middle Cordon to the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Grand Cordon, reorganize the 4th Division, and let him be its commander!"

Guizi Tianhuang originally wanted to promote Kodera Kouta directly to lieutenant general, but seeing the expressions of the army generals, he knew that if he did so, he would definitely face opposition. It would be better to take a roundabout way and first award Kodera Kouta with the two highest medals of the Empire.

If we promote Kota Kotera from the commander of a Type B division to the commander of a Type A division, and then promote him to lieutenant general, the resistance will be much smaller.

But the premise of all this is that Kota Kotera must be loyal to himself!

"Your Majesty, is awarding the Grand Cordon of the Sacred Treasure too high a standard? There are currently only a few people in the Empire who have received this honor. Kodera Kouta..."

Hearing this, the devil Tianhuang snorted coldly and said, "Capturing the commander of the Russian Siberian Front, isn't this merit enough to be awarded a Grand Ribbon?"

Seeing that Private First Class Tojo was against even being awarded the Grand Ribbon, the Japanese Tianhuang couldn't help but feel a little angry.

"Hai!"

In the end, the army agreed to the devil's request.

The Imperial Conference discussed some other matters, but ended hastily because naval affairs needed to be dealt with urgently.

The navy was anxious to go back and clean up the mess, and the army was also busy cleaning up the mess.

At this time, Li Yunlong was studying the next battle plan in Fengtian City.

Li Yunlong does not expect to launch a large-scale campaign before the summer of next year, as he needs to train new recruits and rest the troops.

With the Kwantung Army Commander captured alive, the Japanese should be quiet for a while. At the moment, Li Yunlong was most worried about the Japanese fleet.

If the Japanese fleet could not participate in the attack on Tashan and Jinzhou, Li Yunlong was confident that his troops could hold these two places. However, if the Japanese fleet arrived, Li Yunlong would have to abandon these places and then face the difficult decision of whether to give up Fengtian.

Fengtian City has a complete industry, and Li Yunlong has to consider whether to blow it up.

"Deal with the fleet!"

Li Yunlong shook his head helplessly. Although they currently had air superiority, if the Japanese naval fleet arrived, the carrier-based aircraft on several aircraft carriers would be able to regain air superiority.

Moreover, using bombers and fighter planes against warships is not very effective. It is extremely difficult to sink a warship with bombers.

"Report, Stilwell telegram!"

"The Stilwell telegram?"

Li Yunlong and Stilwell had not been in touch for some time, and Li Yunlong missed his old friend. Compared with Beria, Stilwell's conditions were too easy to accept.

"Are the Americans going to give us aid again?"

As soon as they heard that the telegram was from Stilwell, the Chief of Staff and others immediately gathered around.

"Probably not. I don't have time to fool them recently."

Li Yunlong took the telegram and said, "I recently approached the Americans and only secured a $10 million loan. The rest of my time has been busy with military affairs. Now that the military goal has been achieved, we can move on to economic development."

Li Yunlong took the telegram and glanced at it, then said with a smile: "This is good news. The American Pacific Fleet has severely damaged the Japanese Combined Fleet in the Pacific!"

Li Yunlong handed the telegram to the chief of staff and others.

"This is indeed good news. Now, the Japanese won't be able to run around for much longer!"

Li Yunlong nodded, then shook his head: "The Japs were defeated too quickly!"

Li Yunlong originally thought that the Japanese who won the Battle of Midway could at least hold out on the sea for a while longer, but in the end they didn't last long, only about half a year.

But the plot returned to the trajectory that Li Yunlong was familiar with before, with the Japanese Combined Fleet retreating step by step and the Americans advancing triumphantly.

Originally, Li Yunlong hoped that the Japanese would inflict more damage on the Americans, but now it seems that his plan has failed. The Japanese are bleeding too slowly and cannot keep up with the Americans' recovery speed.

"This Stilwell said that we need to send some people to study here?"

"Well, after the American Navy gained the upper hand, they will be conducting landing operations next. They are probably preparing to land in areas like Odalia!"

Having said this, Li Yunlong suddenly paused.

Then he slapped his head and said, "I almost forgot about this!"

After saying this, he quickly walked over to the map. This was a map of the Pacific region, with the names of some islands marked on it, such as Iwo Jima, Tarawa Island, Guadalcanal Island, Guam, Peleliu Island, Okinawa Island, etc.

These islands are where the Japanese and the Americans will fight to the death in the future. Many Americans died on these islands.

There were nearly 30,000 people on Iwo Jima, 70,000 on Okinawa, more than 7,000 on Guadalcanal, more than 7,000 on Guam, and more than 10,000 on Peleliu.

This is the casualty figure of the Americans using the island-hopping tactic. If the Americans could not use the island-hopping tactic and instead carried out landing operations one by one, they would have suffered heavy losses.

Li Yunlong tapped the table silently with his fingers. It was not easy to change the American island-hopping tactics.