When the news of General Itagaki Seishiro's capture came back to the empire, Emperor Song Biao was on vacation in Lushan. It was still the National Assembly that was responsible for presiding over the Lushan Conference. The new Speaker of the National Assembly at this time was Wang Zhaoming.
There are always many interesting things in history.
Wang Zhaoming is actually the Speaker of the Imperial Congress and the Chairman of the Restoration Party. This is really a bit dramatic.
Wang Zhaoming, who has not become a traitor, has almost a perfect resume in his life. Although this is not something Emperor Song Biao feels gratifying, in terms of actual national interests, Wang Zhaoming's appointment as Speaker of the National Assembly is also popular, and Gu Weijun He is already confident of winning the election for his third term as prime minister.
During these days at the Lushan Summer Palace, Emperor Song Biao personally participated in many seminars, involving education, social institutions, business, science and technology, politics, international relations, religion and many other issues that concerned him.
He is most concerned about education and technology, which are the foundation for the empire's continued development and strength.
The 20th Lushan Conference in 1940 was of great significance to China's long-term development. Perhaps many years later, when people recall this conference, they will still think more of the launch of China's space and aerospace system research project and the "Next Twenty" "World Science and Technology Outlook", I think of the "universalization of higher education" proposed by Mei Yiqi, but in fact, the 20th Lushan Conference in 1940 more represented the Chinese people's self-confidence and good expectations for the future, and Willingness to make every effort to achieve this goal.
The night is getting darker.
The wonderful and calming sandalwood incense burns in the silent study.
Emperor Song Biao carefully studied the "World Science and Technology Outlook for the Next Twenty Years" jointly compiled by more than 40 academicians of the Central Academy of Sciences in the Imperial Study Room. This outlook report has great impact on aerospace, metallurgy, electromechanical automation, computers and electronic communications, and ships. , electrical engineering, agriculture, food, transportation, medicine and drugs, etc., the development and various possibilities in the next twenty years have been relatively comprehensively predicted.
Before the Chinese Academy of Sciences attempted to compile this report, President Wu Xunzhi once asked Emperor Song Biao for his suggestions, and the Emperor also gave his own opinion. In Emperor Song Biao's estimation, he believed that it would have the greatest impact on China in the next twenty years. The most scientific and technological progress should be in the fields of jet airliners, semiconductors and microprocessors, microcomputers and programs, program-controlled and wireless communications, CNC and heavy machine tools, nuclear power systems, high-speed railways, aerospace engineering and satellites. The Chinese Academy of Sciences uses this and Based on the requirements of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Industry and the Ministry of Military Affairs, we conduct a comprehensive assessment and prediction of future scientific and technological development.
After Emperor Song Biao read the report, he felt that most of the predictions were good, but a few predictions seemed a bit strange. After thinking about it, he picked up the phone and dialed the switchboard, preparing to answer the call in Wu Xunzhi's room. Ask Wu Xunzhi to come over and talk to him.
At this moment, the first-class chamberlain Jiang Shoulin hurriedly walked in, bowed and saluted, handed over a telegram from the Central Military Department, and reported: "Your Majesty, there is an urgent telegram from the Central Military Intelligence Department."
Emperor Song Biao didn't pay much attention. It was probably that the Military Intelligence Department had collected new information in Japan, so he opened it and took a look. The result surprised him.
It turns out that this telegram has nothing to do with Japan, but a letter sent by the Central Military Intelligence Department that Britain has new military operations in the southwestern frontier of the empire, which may threaten the security of the empire in the southwest.
This is a very surprising thing, and of course there is a reason for it.
The empire has always had disagreements with Britain on the southern Tibetan issue in the southwestern frontier. Of course, the British Empire will not give in easily because of China's strength. As Churchill said, don't get anything from the British Empire without going through a war.
The empire¡¯s control over this area is still very weak, but the British Empire is not much stronger.
The empire has always been ruthless. After taking over the Yeren Mountains in northern Myanmar through both soft and hard tactics, it invested a lot of money and manpower to build a railway from Xikang Province to the Yeshan area. In this way, the empire had two railways that could enter Myanmar. In the barren virgin forest of Yeshan, the empire arranged for patrol troops to be stationed in the name of Yeshan Construction Corps and continued to forcibly build railways into the Assam region.
The Assam region is dominated by the Shan ethnic group, which is a branch of the Dai ethnic group. The empire used this as a springboard to penetrate into the Indian state of Assam and dispatched officers from the Dai ethnic group to organize the local revolutionary army.
The ultimate goal of the empire is of course to plan the secession of Assam or its integration into the empire, and the Central Military Intelligence Department is the implementer of this plan. In the past ten years, the empire has supported nearly 100,000 troops in the Assam region. With a military expenditure of 40 million yuan, it not only organized the Shan ethnic armed forces, but also sent troops across the disputed areas between the two sides to set up a military reclamation bureau on the Assam border.
The so-called territorial dispute means that you want to occupy itPeople¡¯s land.
It is always easy to cause controversy. For the empire, the possibility of using railways and roads to connect southern Tibet is too low. However, it would be necessary to bypass Xikang and Yunnan provinces to build railways and roads to the Assam region. Much easier.
Therefore, after the empire built railways and roads to the Assam region, it took advantage of the fact that the British Empire had a small local garrison and continued to advance layer by layer through the Fourth Bureau of the Southwest Army Reclamation Bureau and the Wild Mountain Construction Corps. Every year, they move forward more than ten kilometers and control the land within the military system through land reclamation.
The British Empire has a very tough attitude towards this. It keeps asking the empire to restrain itself, but it is also unwilling to send more troops for confrontation. The British always believe that the empire will gradually stabilize, or it is just an adventurous policy of the lower-level military. With the southwest The land occupied by the Third Bureau of the Military Reclamation Bureau expanded to Dinsukiya, nearly 110 kilometers across what the British considered the border between the two sides, and the British finally couldn't bear it anymore.
Seeing that the main military forces of the Chinese Empire have been transferred to the northwest and northeast regions, and the main forces are more than a few thousand kilometers away from the southwest, the British Empire couldn't wait to dispatch two armored brigades into the Assam region.
The response of the Central Military Intelligence Department was extremely fast. The two armored brigades of the British Army confirmed this information as soon as they arrived in Chittagong and immediately sent a message to the emperor. In Beijing, Chief of General Staff Jiang Fangzhen was also communicating with Prime Minister Gu Weijun.
It was indeed the empire that started the matter, but the empire had no intention of giving in, even though the previous negotiations with the Soviet Union had essentially broken down, the war with Japan was still going on, and there were new disputes with the United States over the suzerainty of Guam. Nor will it give up its expansion policy in the southwest.
If there is no war, the empire will occupy as much as it can in the southwest. Once the war begins, the empire will definitely not penetrate and expand forward by a few kilometers every year.
The intelligence currently obtained by the Military Intelligence Department is still very limited, and it is not yet certain what the British real plan is. No one can tell whether the British will take the opportunity to regain control of Assam, or whether it will only make some warning military deployments to restrict China. Continue to penetrate and expand.
Precisely for this reason, Emperor Song Biao was unwilling to make a hasty decision.
After receiving the urgent telegram from the Ministry of Military Intelligence, he weighed it a little and gave approval to the Ministry of Military Intelligence and the General Staff at the same time, asking the Ministry of Military Intelligence to continue to strengthen intelligence work and confirm the true intentions of the British side as soon as possible. At the same time, he asked the General Staff to send information from the Kunming Military Region Mobilize troops to strengthen the defense of wild mountains, and make complete preparations to strengthen the reserve of war materials. If a small-scale military conflict breaks out, the Imperial Defense Force must fight quickly and destroy the British army with a thunderous blow.
If the empire wants to start a war with the British army in the southwest, there are still many difficulties. However, if it launches a war from Afghanistan to attack India, the empire can sweep thousands of troops and directly capture India.
¡°If Britain were not afraid of this, it might have launched a military counterattack against the empire.
¡° If we really want to fight a large-scale army decisive battle, the four British forces combined are no match for China.
After asking Jiang Shoulin to call back to the Ministry of Military Affairs and the Ministry of Military Intelligence, Song Biao continued to ponder the matter in the imperial study. The fact is obvious. In the long run, the competitors that pose the greatest threat to the empire are the United States, the Soviet Union, and Germany. But at this stage, those who most conflict with the interests of the empire are Britain and Japan.
Once Britain launches a military provocation, if the gap between the Soviet-German war can be effectively used to take the opportunity to give Britain a severe blow, the situation may be more beneficial to the empire.
Song Biao originally intended to attend the entire 20th Lushan Conference in Lushan, but the military emergency in the southwest forced him to take a special plane back to Beijing the next day.
After returning to Beijing, Song Biao did not return to the Central Palace, but took a car directly to the Central Military Headquarters.
The full name of the Central Military Department is the "General Staff Department of the Central Defense Forces of the Empire of China", which consists of various military staff departments. At the level of military institutions, the General Staff Department, the General Political Department, the General Logistics Department, the General Armament Department, and the Central Military Intelligence Department are At the same level, but in actual operation and work, the General Staff is responsible for assisting the Central Defense and Military Commission in leading the other three headquarters and the Central Military Intelligence Department, and the Chief of General Staff is the Vice Chairman of the Military Commission second only to the Supreme Military Commander-in-Chief, the Emperor. In essence, He is also the first deputy commander-in-chief of the Imperial Military Armed Forces, and his status is higher than that of the Minister of Defense, because the Minister of Defense is usually only a member of the National Defense Committee, not the chairman or deputy chairman.
After arriving at the Central Military Headquarters, Song Biao went straight to the Ministerial Conference Room of the General Staff Headquarters, accompanied by Jiang Fangzhen and Zhang Jun, Minister of Military Intelligence, who had gone to the airport to pick him up in advance.
In the ministerial conference room, all the national defense committee members have arrived. Except for Prime Minister Gu Weijun, the others are all senior military generals. They all salute the emperor together.
??Minister of National Defense Chen Houfu, Chief of Naval Staff Chen Jiliang, Chief of Logistics Chen Qicai, Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Forces and Central Committee?Military Region Commander Cai E, Army Chief of Staff Fu Liangzuo, Air Force Chief of Staff Pan Zhaoqin, Political Chief and President of the Central Military Academy Zhang Xiaohuai and others were all present. At this level, the regular meeting of the National Defense Committee was still very high.
Emperor Song Biao didn¡¯t say much. As soon as he sat down as Chairman of the General Committee, he asked Jiang Fangzhen: ¡°Is the director of the Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau Zhang Zhixiu?¡±
Jiang Fangzhen nodded.
After hearing these words, Song Biao felt much more relieved.
Zhang Zhixiu's ability is very outstanding. When he was transferred from the instructor of the 3rd Infantry Division of the Central Military Region to the Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau, many people thought it was a big talent with little use. Now we can see how long-term he is for the Central Military Region. layout.
The Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau was initially located in Lijiang, and was later relocated to Diqing. Finally, under the name of the Third Bureau, the main force of the entire Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau was moved to Assam and the wild mountains in northern Myanmar. After the scale of the Wild Mountain Construction Corps gradually increased, the Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau The Army Reclamation Bureau has been focusing on the Assam region.
Song Biao took off his gloves and put them aside, and handed the saber he carried with him to Jiang Shoulin behind him for safekeeping. He continued to give instructions to Jiang Fangzhen: "Tell me about the situation over there?"
"yes!"
Jiang Fangzhen agreed, opened the information book he had prepared in advance, picked out the key parts and replied: "The current jurisdiction of the Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau is about 24,000 square kilometers. The total number of people in the jurisdiction is about 11,500 households, and there are 14 groups under its jurisdiction. The patrol detachment is equivalent in size to a reinforced brigade and is mainly composed of mountain troops. There is a patrol aviation detachment in this area, which has 32 J-3 fighters and 4 J-502 reconnaissance aircraft. In fact, this patrol aviation detachment is It is under the jurisdiction of the Southwest Military Region Combat Staff Department.¡±
Song Biao thought for a moment in silence, and then said to others: "It's not clear yet what the priority is for Britain to increase its troops in the southwest, but I don't think Britain would do such a thing at such a moment for no reason, more or less. There is a plan. Our response must be accurate and we must have adequate countermeasures, but we must not further exacerbate the situation. Therefore, I think it is a better choice to send the National Defense Force to the wild mountains to conduct mountain combat exercises and training. In the wild mountains and The Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau is also speeding up the reserve of war supplies and will immediately dispatch two divisions to garrison once the situation worsens."
Jiang Fangzhen and others nodded silently.
In fact, everyone thinks that this kind of thing will happen sooner or later. The British Empire is not a small country that is easily bullied. The empire has always adopted an active and progressive expansion policy in northern Burma, southern Tibet and the west of the Hengduan Mountains, without emphasizing the debate on sovereignty. , and focus on the scope of actual control.
Sooner or later, this aggressive expansion policy will pressure Britain's bottom line. Even if the two sides do not have a large-scale war, a small war is very likely.
Minister of National Defense Chen Houfu asked Emperor Song Biao: "Your Majesty, do you want to send a national defense committee member to the southwest to prevent emergencies from happening?"
Song Biao nodded in agreement, and then asked Zhang Xiaohuai, "Can you go?"
Zhang Xiaohuai was a little surprised. He originally thought that the emperor would send Liu Jinggui there, because Liu Jinggui once served as the commander of the Kunming Military Region and was familiar with the local situation, and the focus of his work in recent years has been at the Central Military Academy.
He did not reject the emperor's proposal and replied: "How can you not go according to your majesty's order?"
Song Biao thought for a moment.
Fu Zuoyi's incident gave Emperor Song Biao a new understanding. It was not that he doubted the abilities of these new generals and lieutenant generals. It was just that facts proved that experienced veterans were more reliable in many cases. Especially for war.
Although Liu Jinggui also participated in World War I, he was only a major at that time. The gap between him and Zhang Xiaohuai, who served as a group army commander during the Sino-Soviet War, is still obvious.
Ability is one aspect, mind is another aspect, and experience is a more important aspect.
Song Biao thought for a while, and sighed with Zhang Xiaohuai and others: "Our goal in the southwest is still relatively large, and it may be sooner or later that a more intense military confrontation breaks out with the United Kingdom. Now there are two questions, the first The question is what do we want to do? Should we seize the opportunity to fight a war to gain more territory? The second question is how should we fight once China and Britain start a war? Both of these questions are a bit premature for the current situation. , but the military has always been like this, it is better to think further than to be unprepared, and always prepare for the worst."
??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? away from China???????????????????????????????????????????????????????? away?
of course not.
The reason why this is the case is nothing more than two reasons.??, first, the empire has a guilty conscience. The empire is the real troublemaker in the territorial disputes on the southwest border. Britain has made many concessions before and after World War I, allowing the empire to steadily advance about 100,000 in the southwest border. Three hundred kilometers away, even so, the empire continued to move forward step by step by encroaching and actively creating new disputes; secondly, the empire wanted nothing more.
At this time, the Chinese Empire is not afraid of provoking the British Empire, but is afraid that the British Empire will adopt a defensive policy of calming down the incident. If the British want to expand the incident into a war between the two countries, China really wants it.
For China, the possibility of losing is very low. If it wins, it will take the opportunity to occupy the southwest Assam region and continue to expand its actual occupation and control area to the Bay of Bengal. At the same time, it can completely dethrone the British Empire and disintegrate the British Empire first. , and then disintegrated India, leaving the empire with no enemies strong enough to challenge the empire in Southwest, West Asia and Indochina.
If it wants to fight the British Navy in the Indian Ocean, the empire is actually guaranteed to win. The premise is that the empire first stabilizes the defensive operations at sea, moves forward from Central Asia to attack on land, uses its strength and mechanization advantages to eliminate the British military bases in India, and then uses its air force Cooperating with naval operations, Britain will bid farewell to the Indian Ocean completely.
In addition, the empire's navy, army and air force are all in a state of high readiness for war, and their military strength is at the peak of the empire's history. Not only does the navy have a certain advantage over the UK, but the army and air force maintain an absolute several-fold advantage over the UK.
??If Britain fights back, the empire wants it, and it is afraid that Britain will not fight back.
Now that Japan has been basically conquered, and there is no direct military conflict with the Soviet Union and Germany, it is of course the best thing to take advantage of this year or so to attack Britain and annihilate the main force of the British navy in the Indian Ocean. In the name of the Asian League, it supports the decolonization of Myanmar and India and overthrows the rule of the British Empire. That is obviously the best thing.
Although the United Kingdom is arrogant, they obviously also know that China is not only not afraid of a military conflict with the United Kingdom, but even desires it.
At the regular meeting of the National Defense Committee, Emperor Song Biao communicated with the various National Defense Committee members, and the internal opinions were still very unified. If the United Kingdom wants to provoke a small-scale military action during this period, it will take the opportunity to expand the situation.
¡°If the British stop provocation, they will also take the opportunity to expand their control over Assam and northern Burma. The main force of the navy will go south to threaten Malaya and Singapore, and induce the British navy to go to Southeast Asia for a decisive battle with the empire.
¡°Either we don¡¯t make trouble, or we make big things happen.
¡°Perhaps the British think they have tolerated China for a long time, but in fact, hasn¡¯t China also tolerated the UK for a long time?
Emperor Song Biao spent half an hour holding a brief and direct meeting of the National Defense Committee, and asked Zhang Xiaohuai to go to Kunming to supervise the army and be responsible for coordinating the Central Military Headquarters, Kunming Military Region and Southwest Military Reclamation Bureau to prepare for war with the British. Regarding the navy, Four aircraft carriers and their formations were dispatched from the Central Aviation Combined Fleet south to Bandar Seri Begawan Port, while the Air Force dispatched its main forces from the Northeast to the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Sichuan, and Xikang.
The empire has always maintained the division of Xikang Province. On the one hand, it wants to control Tibetan areas separately. On the other hand, it is also because the conditions in Xikang Province are relatively suitable for establishing a modern economy and can be used as an air force base to threaten the entire Southwest Asia region.
In addition, the empire's main military power in Southwest Asia is concentrated in the wild mountains, that is, the Kachin Autonomous Prefecture was established in 1937. The administrative jurisdiction of the Kachin Prefecture not only conflicts with the Kachin State of Myanmar, but actually also Continue to gradually advance towards Kachin State.
Judging from the past two decades and the long-term future situation, China and Britain are indeed in a state of ups and downs in Southwest Asia.
In response to the British dispatching two armored brigades, Emperor Song Biao also asked the Central Military Headquarters to dispatch two mountain divisions and a light armored brigade to Kachin Prefecture and the Wild Mountain Construction Corps to give warning arrangements to the British troops. If Britain is determined to continue provoking the situation and exacerbating regional tensions, and the empire will further dispatch its air force and more field army troops.
From this point of view, it was a wise idea for the British to do everything possible to obstruct the construction of the Kunming-Myanmar Railway. However, the British ultimately failed to restrict this matter. Today, the empire has basically completed the construction of many railways to the Kachin region. The construction of local military facilities and roads has also been completed, providing the conditions for large-scale operations in the area.
After the meeting of the National Defense Committee, Song Biao stayed with Defense Minister Chen Houfu and Chief of Naval Staff Chen Jiliang and asked them individually about the situation in the navy.
Song Biao only asked one question, that is, in a decisive battle between the Imperial Navy and the British Navy, what are the chances of victory or defeat?
Faced with this simple and direct question, Chen Houfu was silent for a moment, and then he answered with Emperor Song Biao: "Your Majesty, I think ifIn a decisive battle with the British Navy, if it takes place in the South Seas, it can be won in one battle, and if it takes place in the Indian Ocean, there is a 60-70% probability. In other words, as long as it does not go to Europe, it will definitely win in a decisive battle with the main force of the British Navy in Asia. The British Navy must be well aware of this, but if the British Navy thinks too highly of itself and takes the risk of sending its main force to the Indian Ocean to confront our navy, then the opportunity must not be missed and a decisive battle must be launched immediately to eliminate the main force of the British Navy first. If the British navy, despite its high self-esteem, only sends a small part of its navy, there is no need to break up with Britain. "
Song Biao nodded slightly. He had a similar judgment, but he just needed confirmation from Admiral Chen Houfu.
He, Chen Houfu and Chen Jiliang sighed and said: "A Sino-British war can be avoided in principle, but it is better to fight decisively and knock the British navy off the throne at once. Otherwise, we will have to confront the British for a long time in South and West Asia." Prolonged war will lead to death, but necessary war is also the cornerstone of the empire's dominance of the world. After preparing for so long, now is the time to completely push Britain off the throne. Since ancient times, the old and new hegemons must eventually have a battle."
Chen Houfu once studied in the British Navy for a long time and knew the United Kingdom quite well. As a naval admiral of this era, he and others were envious of the past glory of the British Empire Navy, and they yearned for it.
Now that he finally realized that the glory of the British Empire's naval supremacy was actually going to end in his own hands, Chen Houfu couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.
Chen Houfu and Chen Jiliang, two of the imperial navies, together with Emperor Song Biao, analyzed the strength comparison between the Chinese and British navies. The Imperial Navy's early ability to narrow the gap between the Chinese and British navies was entirely due to the "Washington Naval Treaty". After the treaty ended, Later, the overall strength of the Imperial Navy was approximately half that of the British Imperial Navy. In terms of the development of aircraft carriers, the Imperial Navy was on par with the British.
To this day, the total size of the Imperial Navy's battleships is still only half that of the British Empire. However, the Imperial Navy has 12 main aircraft carriers and 10 escort aircraft carriers, while the British Navy has only 7 aircraft carriers in total, 4 of which are Of the old models from the treaty era, only three were built in the last five years.
With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese naval war, the British Navy, which realized the arrival of the aircraft carrier era and the end of the battleship era, immediately began to adjust its naval plan. Since last year, the UK has passed multiple naval purchases and is building 4 aircraft carriers, and the Empire is also in the process of building 4 aircraft carriers. Accelerate scientific research work on a new generation of aircraft carriers.
With the J-602 carrier-based aircraft project and the development of steam catapults coming to an end, the empire¡¯s third-generation large-scale aircraft carrier plan with a displacement of 75,000 tons has also entered the final development stage.
Before the new generation of large aircraft carriers is successfully developed, the Empire will not build new aircraft carriers for the time being. The current number of aircraft carriers is already sufficient. Continued expansion will also put great pressure on naval military expenditures. Even so, Britain wants to surpass the Empire. The navy is also very difficult and cannot be achieved in a short time.
The British Navy's military expenditure is about 40% less than that of China, but the British Navy's annual maintenance costs for battleships are very staggering. Compared with battleships, the cost of aircraft carriers is much lower. After calculating the maintenance costs of carrier-based aircraft, the cost is roughly quite.
For the British Empire Navy, which has the largest battleship group in the world, they are in a very embarrassing situation. Unless the UK massively reduces the number of existing battleships, the existing military expenditures of the British Navy will not be enough to support it. An aircraft carrier group of unprecedented scale like the Chinese Navy.
In addition, the British Navy also needs to train a large number of carrier-based aircraft pilots, have better carrier-based aircraft, and put them into mass production. These tasks themselves can only be developed after long-term implementation. Even if the British Navy is now turning to the Five-Year Plan at all costs, It is also difficult to compete with the Chinese Navy's aircraft carrier fleet.
These five years are the best time for the decisive battle between the Chinese and British navies.
Chen Houfu made his thoughts very clear. In his heart, he was not particularly willing to see the decline of Britain, but for the Imperial Navy's dream of dominating the world from now on, he hoped to start a large-scale decisive battle with the British Navy. In these five years, the British navy was pushed off the throne.
"Chief of Naval Staff Chen Jiliang has no objection to Chen Houfu's analysis and inference. In fact, the two of them have discussed this in private many times and agree on this point of view."
Emperor Song Biao was not in a hurry to make a statement. He also wanted to find this opportunity. The key was that the British navy was not stupid. The other party would not do this, and the empire was not suitable for an aggressive posture. If it took two to three years It would also be difficult to gradually intensify conflicts, because in two or three years, the empire is likely to be launching its final offensive against Nazi Germany.
The current embarrassment of the empire is that the empire does not want Nazi Germany to expand to the extent that it can challenge the empire. At the same time, it also wants to push the British?Squeezing out the sphere of influence in Asia, and these two strategic goals are precisely difficult to achieve at the same time. (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)