Traveling through 1937, starting from the Battle of Songhu

Chapter 211 The Devil Prince Takes Office

Things were going relatively smoothly on Gu Changfeng's side, but the Japanese headquarters was in a solemn mood.

The old Japanese soldier Matsui dragged his sick body to attend the combat meeting and report on the recent situation in Nanjing.

In fact, the old Japanese soldier Matsui had been ill for a long time, but the battle was so bad that no one took over the position of commander, so he could only command from his sickbed.

It was not until a few days ago that we received news from the headquarters that Prince Asaka Hato took over as commander and brought a large amount of supplies.

It can be said that this news saved the old Japanese soldier Matsui. Otherwise, if the fighting continued, he suspected that he would die on the battlefield of Nanjing.

After all, the current situation in Jinling is not very good.

"General Matsui, if you are ill, please let your subordinates report it. There is no need to come in person."

Prince Higashikuni Hato behaved very friendly in front of the division commanders.

He had just taken office, and he needed military achievements and the cooperation of all divisions. It was not an exaggeration to have such performance.

"Ahem," the old man Matsui coughed heavily a few times and said with a wry smile, "Your Highness, my health is really..."

He didn't really want to come and participate, but the prince had just arrived and he wanted to show respect.

When Prince Asaka heard Matsui's cough, he frowned slightly, then smiled normally.

"General, you have worked hard and made great contributions. You should go down and rest. The elites of the empire are here. There is no need for you to come here in person."

They both had their own thoughts, but it was all going their way.

The old Japanese soldier Matsui apologized again and then let his men help him leave.

Upon seeing this, Prince Asaka Hatobu boasted about Matsui's achievements to the officers of each division, and then began to ask about the affairs of Nanjing.

In fact, he already had a general understanding on the way here, and now he just wanted to hear the opinions of the commanders of each division.

"Your Highness, we have all the gates of Jinling's outer city in our hands, and the supplies have arrived."

"Give us three days and I will definitely capture Jinling City."

The 6th Division suffered the heaviest losses in the attack on Nanjing, and its commander, Tani Hisao, was the first to speak out.

Prince Higashikuni glanced at Tani Hisao and said nonchalantly, "Do you have any different opinions?"

Seeing Prince Higashikuni Hato's performance, Tani Hisao was shocked, but then he sat down again calmly.

He performed extremely poorly on the Jinling battlefield and lost points in the base camp.

Now he can only strive to capture Nanjing as soon as possible, otherwise his position as the commander of the Type A division will have to be moved.

"Your Highness, the warriors have fought from Songhu to Nanjing for more than four months and are now exhausted."

Nakajima Imao pondered for a moment and suddenly said something that was a morale-destroying remark.

This statement was very destructive, and everyone's eyes immediately looked at him.

Seeing his goal achieved, Nakajima Imao changed the subject and said, "According to intelligence, the Chinese themselves have already felt that Nanjing cannot be defended."

"We have been evacuating the people these past few days, and I think this is a good opportunity to make a breakthrough."

"As long as we cut off their retreat, the Chinese soldiers in Nanjing will be defeated. With no way out, they will have no choice but to surrender to us."

"And I know those Chinese commanders. If their retreat is at risk of being cut off, most of them will be the first to run."

"In this way, it will be easy for us to capture Jinling."

"Yoshi." Prince Higashikuni nodded with satisfaction. Nakajima Imazo's words were very much in line with his thoughts.

He analyzed the situation on the Nanjing battlefield and it could be said that it was entirely caused by various accidents, or it would not be an exaggeration to say that the various divisions underestimated the enemy.

This time he came to take office with a new mindset.

"General Nakajima is right. We should cut off their retreat, but there's no need to mobilize those navy personnel."

"Let the aviation brigade cooperate with the ground forces, General Kunisaki. I leave the ground affairs to you."

"My request is that no one, whether civilians or Chinese soldiers, should be spared."

Prince Higashikuni Hato still had a friendly smile and acted very harmless, but what he said made the Japanese officers' blood boil.

They were all a group of people who had been poisoned by that damn Bushido, so they were naturally very excited when they heard such an order.

"Hi!" Major General Guizi of the Aviation Brigade and Major General Kunisaki Noboru immediately stood up and bowed.

Asaka Miyabi pondered for a moment and continued, "Mr. Nakajima's suggestion is correct. General Kunisaki, don't push too hard. Just attack moderately to make the Chinese in Jinling City feel threatened."

"Hi!" Major General Kunisaki Noboru bowed again.

Prince Higashikuni then looked at Nakajima Imao of the 16th Division:

"This time, I've specially transferred a heavy artillery regiment from Shanghai to assist. I have only one request: capture Purple Mountain within three days."

Purple Mountain is important to Nanjing and equally important to the Japanese devils. It is not excessive for Prince Higashikuni to make such an arrangement.

When Nakajima Imao heard the news, his face flushed with excitement. He stood up and bowed, saying, "Hi!"

With the assistance of the heavy artillery regiment, even if Purple Mountain is an iron wall, what difference does it make to him?

"The other divisions continue to advance towards their target. Within three days, I hope to be sitting in Jinling City to celebrate your success!"

"Hi," this time the devils all stood up and bowed.

In their view, with Prince Higashikuni Hato personally in charge, the support from both supplies and the base camp was completely different from before.

At this moment, the division commanders were full of confidence.

In fact, the Chinese battlefield at this time was not only in Nanjing, but also in Xuzhou, North China, and Taiyuan.

The Japanese headquarters was also under great pressure. The fact that they were able to gather so many supplies to support the Nanjing battlefield was also due to the efforts of Prince Higashikuni Hato.

In fact, Prince Higashikuni Hato had wanted to come for a long time, but the war had not been going smoothly, and there were problems with material coordination, so he had to wait until now.

The various divisions in Jinling City received the news relatively late, because after the Japanese meeting ended, they launched a fierce attack on various places in Jinling in the afternoon.

However, the fact that the Japanese changed their commander may be very important to the divisions stationed in Jinling, but it has no effect on Gu Changfeng.

The Japs will attack whatever they want, and they will not let anyone go if they can massacre the people of Nanjing. There is no distinction.

"Changfeng, the Japanese attack is coming."

When Zhao Ziqing heard the people talking, he went straight to Gu Changfeng and looked at him with great concern.

Even though the plan is now underway, he is still uneasy and always feels that something unexpected will happen.

"Old Zhao, this isn't your first time facing a Japanese attack, why are you so nervous?"

Gu Changfeng was speechless. It would have been strange if the Japanese hadn't attacked. Now that they had started attacking, it actually calmed him down.

Otherwise, he would have been worried about what conspiracy the Japanese were plotting, which would have made him feel even more uncomfortable.

Zhao Ziqing said angrily: "I just saw that there were so many civilians here, and I couldn't bear to see them die under the artillery fire."

"If we have to fight the Japanese, I'll be the first one there. When have I ever been afraid of death?"

He left angrily after saying this. He felt that he could not get any comfort from Gu Changfeng.

In fact, he also knew that what Gu Changfeng did was right, but as a Huangpu native, he really couldn't bear to see so many people.

He just couldn't understand why Gu Changfeng would rather take such a big risk to send the people away.

"Old Zhao, you will understand sooner or later." Gu Changfeng sighed lightly.

He knew the risks of doing so, but he came from the future and had to do so.