Chapter 14 13. The Central Department of the Army sent a special envoy to the Kwantung Army

On this morning, Mitani Kiyoshi, captain of the Japanese Mukden Gendarmerie, was still soundly asleep.Last night, no, it should be said that he fell asleep in the early morning of this day, and his heart was full of frustration, disappointment, and worries about the future of the empire.Suddenly, he was woken up by someone, and saw a baby-faced person saying to him: "If you really want to do it, do it." Immediately, San Guqing's drowsiness was all driven away.The person who spoke was Wanji Ishihara, the "brain tank" of the young military officer who planned the September 18th Incident in the Japanese army.

What Shi Yuan wants to do is to implement his long-planned "Wicker Ditch Plan" in advance. One day at the end of June, Ishihara Wanji and Itagaki Seishiro told several young officers of the Kwantung Army that they would start combat operations in Liutiaogou in late September and asked for their assistance.Major Hanaya, who was engaged in intelligence work, and Captain Shintaro Imada, who was the assistant officer to Zhang Xueliang's adviser Shibayama, were the first to join in, and soon Lieutenant Colonel Mitani Kiyoshi, the captain of the Fengtian Gendarmerie, also joined.Later, two junior officers of the Kwantung Army, Captain Masao Ono and Captain Nagakawa Shimamasa, also heard the news and went to Hanagu to inquire. The plan is explained.Then the three held a meeting on the second floor of the Japanese Secret Service in Fengtian, and later Shintaro Imada also attended.

The participation of everyone made Ishihara and Itagaki's plan perfect, and the "Wicked Tiaogou Project" was formed.It includes three aspects: first, the blasting site is chosen to be in Liutiaogou (also known as Liutiao Lake) 2.5 kilometers away from Shenyang. It can be said that it was the military dispatch of the Chinese army, and it was used as a reason for the Japanese army to counterattack; second, the time was arranged on September 28, when the crops had been cut down and the ground was exposed, making it easier to fight; The sound of the explosion was a signal to start bombarding the Beida Camp, launching a full-scale attack, and occupying the entire city of Shenyang overnight.

Everything is going on in secret.The young officers of the Kwantung Army even made the following arrangements for the military operation on the night of September 28: Blasting is the starting point of the whole plan, and it cannot be destroyed, so Itagaki and Ishihara handed over the blasting task to Huagu Masa and Imada Shintaro, who were the first to participate in the project, and who had professional skills and professionalism, and asked them to be responsible for forming the secret team of the explosive railway .Soon, San Guqing also joined in.Imada transferred Lieutenant Kawamoto Mamoru, who was an engineer and was familiar with blasting technology, from the 3rd Squadron of the 2nd Battalion of the Torashidai Independent Garrison to the Wicker Lake Detachment, and issued a secret order to him in person.Huagu considered: "Since after the blasting, the troops must be gathered and started to act immediately, then, no matter what, it is necessary to reveal the secret to the key members of the Fengtian troops. Then, explain the plan to like-minded people and consolidate unity." What he said here The "like-minded" people referred to include Lieutenant Kawashima Masa (Captain of the No. 2nd Squadron of the 2nd Brigade), Major Kojima (Deputy of the 29th Regiment in Mukden), Major Nakura (Captain of the 29th Regiment in Mukden), Major Mitani (Mokden Gendarmerie), etc., only those who lead troops Only by knowing and supporting the plan can we attack Beidaying and Shenyang City.

The conspiracy of the Kwantung Army was still detected by the intelligence personnel of the foreign affairs department. At the beginning of September, there were rumors in Japan that the Kwantung Army was going to take military action in Northeast China, so that journalists asked Prime Minister Ruo the question of when to send troops, Ruo looked embarrassed. On September 4, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received another piece of important information: "Young officers of the Kwantung Army are planning to kill the Chinese army in Manchuria." Gu Zhengzhi, director of the Asian Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, specifically raised a question to the Ministry of Army.The next day, Foreign Minister Coinhara called Hayashi Kujiro, Consul General in Fengtian, asking him to control the Japanese ronin and ask them not to participate in the underground activities of the Kwantung Army.The young officers of the Kwantung Army felt the pressure from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so they said: "The Liutiaogou plan will not be carried out in late September." Hayashi Jiujiro believed it was true, and made a special report to Coinhara.

But soon, Hayashi Kyujiro realized that he had been fooled, so he issued a warning to Coinhara, "The Kwantung Army is planning a big conspiracy in Fengtian, and there are signs of a big event soon." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs became alert again. On the morning of the 15th, Major General Mitsumi Tsunekawa, who had just been promoted to head of the Operational Staff Department of the General Staff Headquarters, had just arrived at the General Staff Headquarters when he was summoned by Chief of Staff Kanaya Nomo Sansan. understood.It turned out that after receiving the report from Kujiro Hayashi, Foreign Minister Coinhara questioned Minister Lu about the authenticity of General Nanjiro's incident in person at a cabinet meeting.He is an influential politician in Japan as well as in the world. His questioning made Nanjiro feel the pressure, so he could only vaguely say: "If you don't investigate, you can't believe it." Not long ago, Emperor Hirohito seemed to I also heard some rumors that Nanjiro was ordered to pay attention to rectifying the military discipline of the Kwantung Army. Even Duke Saiyuanji, who is quite influential in Japanese politics, also warned him to be cautious in his words.Nanjiro hesitated, he couldn't see the direction of the wind, although he himself was in favor of using force in the northeast.So Nanjiro, Kanaya Nozomi, and Education Director Araki Sadao, the so-called "Three Chiefs of the Army", held a meeting, and decided to send Jianchuan Miji to the Northeast through collective decision-making, and asked the Kwantung Army to "repeat" Bear with self-respect for one year." At the same time, Nanjiro Lu Xiang also brought a letter of his own to the commander of the Kwantung Army Shigeru Honjo.

It is quite interesting to send Jianchuan as the special envoy to restrain the Northeast Army.Jianchuan is not a moderate. Not long ago, he said in the "Asahi Shimbun": "Nakamura was tortured and killed in Mongolia, which is a national humiliation to Japan, and should be severely punished. If other countries are oppressed, they must be outraged." He said The "other country" mentioned here, of course, refers to China. The development of the situation seems to be unfavorable to the young officers of the Kwantung Army.However, they were not isolated. Even in the Central Department of the Japanese Army, there were many "comrades" among them, such as Nagata Tieshan who was respected by Ishihara Wanji as a "senior".At that time, he was the Minister of Military Operations of the Ministry of Army, and he had learned from Ishihara's letter that the Kwantung Army was going to use the Nakamura incident to launch a military operation.The two discussed the possible military operations of the Kwantung Army in the Northeast through letters on many occasions.

However, it was not Tieshan Nagata who played a key role in the political crisis of Itagaki and Ishihara, but Colonel Kingoro Hashimoto, the monitor of the Russian squad of the intelligence section of the General Staff Headquarters.Before Meiji Jianchuan boarded the plane, he sent three telegrams to Itagaki in Jianchuan's office. The content of the first telegram was "The plan has been revealed, and we should act decisively and quickly"; the content of the second telegram was "We should act decisively before Jianchuan arrives in Fengtian"; the content of the third telegram was "Don't worry about the mainland (referring to Japan), you should act decisively."The "resolute action" that Hashimoto mentioned in every telegram, of course, refers to the "Wicker Ditch Project".

On the 15th, Seishiro Itagaki, who was accompanying the commander of the Kwantung Army in Shenyang to inspect the troops, received three telegrams.The young officers were a little at a loss.At 9:30 in the evening, Itagaki and Ishihara held an emergency meeting at the Fengtian Secret Service to discuss countermeasures.At the meeting, Hashimoto's telegram was first read out.I heard that the special envoy of Jianchuan was coming, and everyone didn't know the way of Jianchuan, so everyone seemed a little worried. Hua Guzheng was the first to speak. He said: "What kind of order Jianchuan came here, I don't know yet. If we come here under the emperor's order, we will become rebels. Will we still have the courage to resolutely implement it? Anyway, we should Make a decision after meeting with Jianchuan."

But Shintaro Imada did not agree to back down: "The established plan has been leaked out, we must do it before seeing Jianchuan, while the spirit is still alive." The two sides insisted on their own opinions, and they couldn't stop arguing, but Seishiro Itagaki stood aside, with a half-smile expression on his face, and remained silent. Suddenly, Shi Yuan asked San Guqing, "What do you say?" The captain of the gendarmerie replied: "I insist on resoluteness. Now that the plan is so far, if only the fire is lit, there will always be a way." The debate continued, and before we knew it, it was already two o'clock in the morning the next day.

Itagaki stood up. He was short in stature, always dressed neatly, with a snow-white shirt showing from the cuffs of his coat, his head was shaved clean, and his cheeks were shaved blue.He rubbed his hands habitually, giving off a meticulous and gentle look.He suggested using the "drawing method" to make a conclusion.I saw him grab a handful of chopsticks, stand on the table, and said: If there are too many chopsticks falling to the right, stop immediately; otherwise, act immediately. Everyone held their breath. "Wow", the chopsticks fell down, mostly to the right.Itagaki's face turned greener, and he announced the suspension of the plan.After a while of silence, everyone left the venue in frustration. San Guqing fell asleep in such dejection.But not long after, he was woken up by Shi Yuan.Unlike Itagaki, Ishihara is a rationalist, he will not let any accidental events affect his decision, once he thinks he has figured it out, he will do it desperately. The young officers of the Kwantung Army over there are about to act in advance, and the special envoy of Jianchuan here finally met one of the main targets of his trip to China—Seishiro Itagaki at noon on the 18th.Jianchuan and Itagaki have a friendship as classmates, and their positions are higher than Itagaki. It stands to reason that if Jianchuan Miji really wants to stop the incident, there is still time.But Jianchuan didn't want to do that.The two greeted each other all the way and arrived in Shenyang together at 7:00 pm. After arriving in Shenyang, Huagu, the Kwantung Army's Shenyang spy agency, was waiting to meet him at the station and send Jianchuan to Juwen Restaurant.It is said that Jianchuan and Itagaki had the following conversation in front of Hanaya: Jianchuan said: "Are the young officers excited about the Captain Nakamura incident?" "There will never be such a thing." Itagaki replied. "Then I'm relieved. I'm very tired today, so let's talk about something tomorrow." That night, the gunshots of the Japanese army attacking the Beidaying camp rang out.At this time, the special envoy Jianchuan was still sleeping soundly. Some western historians called the September 18th Incident a "night war". In fact, no war can happen overnight.To this end, people should keep these three details in mind: In April 1931, the 2nd Division of the Japanese Army was transferred to Northeast China for defense. This is a force adapted to combat in severe cold areas. On July 1, the Ministry of the Army issued a statement, the main point of which was to change the rotation system of the Northeast China Garrison to a permanent system.The Chief of Staff and the Secretary of the Army explained that this change was entirely for the needs of using troops to fight. In the spring of the same year, Nagata Tieshan came to the Northeast to inspect. After Ishihara made a report on the equipment of the Kwantung Army, he said that Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army had 220,000 people and 30 planes bought from France. There is no heavy artillery.Nagata immediately decided to solve it for the Kwantung Army.Soon, two 24cm large-caliber howitzers arrived in Shenyang from Kobe, Japan.In order not to let people know that it was a cannon, the Japanese army disassembled the cannon body and the gun mount, and disguised it as other objects for secret transportation.The gun body and the gun mount weigh more than 18 tons, and the maximum range is 10350 meters.The aiming target has been aligned since the reinstallation of the two cannons - one aimed at Beidaying and the other at Fengtian Airport. "As soon as the shell exploded, the barracks seemed to be blown into the dark night sky" - Ishihara later wrote when recalling the bombardment of the Beidaying camp with heavy artillery on the night of the September 18th Incident. On the night of August 3, the Japanese Army had a party at a Japanese restaurant called "Huyue", which was also the place where they conspired to start a war with Russia.Attending the party were Deputy Chief of Staff Ninomiya Harushige, Army Vice-Officer Sugiyama Moto, Chief of Operations Minister Takekawa Miji, Intelligence Minister Hashimoto Toranosuke, Director of Military Affairs Bureau Koiso Kuniaki, Chief of Military Section Nagata Tetszan, etc., as well as the new Kwantung Army Commander Honjo Fanny, Commander of the Korean Army Hayashi Jujuro, Commander of the Taiwan Army Jinzaburo Masaki, and Seishiro Itagaki also attended the party.Participants discussed the issue of Manchuria and Mongolia, and none of them had any objection to "actively resolving the issue of Manchuria and Mongolia".After the party, some young military officers stayed and made an agreement that "the troops stationed abroad should start first, and then push the leaders to do it."