The sudden attack of the Japanese Second Army on the Northern Front not only caught Li Zhongren off guard, but even Kitashirakawa Sei was the same.

Kitashirakawa Sei was very worried that the first war on the North Line would attract Dragon Boat Festival. Moreover, the intelligence department had reported later that it had found that the Independent Regiment and the 522nd Regiment had shown signs of departing. However, the two regiments returned to normal after unknown reasons.

Kitashirakawa Shi scolded the commander of the North China Expeditionary Army, Soichi Deanuchi, as a fool, who almost broke his plan.

But he didn't know that the Second Army of Soichi Teraunuchi had already prepared for the battle a few months ago.

As early as the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai, the North China Front Army believed that the decisive battle between China and Japan would break out in Hebei.

To this end, the North China Front Army has made sufficient preparations to quickly cut and encircle and annihilate the Chinese army, forcing China to surrender in one fell swoop.

But what no one expected was that the highest strategic decision-making level of the National Government moved the decisive battle site to central China, allowing the Central China Front Army to get the opportunity to fight and capture the capital Nanjing.

The North China Front Army not only did not even have the opportunity to assist, but also had to draw two and a half divisions to support the Central China Front Army in combat.

Originally, the North China Front Army wanted to perform on the battlefield, but unexpectedly, a standby order to prevent the Soviet Union would leave the North China Front Army without any room for performance.

General Tochi Tanuchi watched the Central China Front Army win the major victory and honor of capturing Nanjing, and therefore, he became increasingly unable to hold back.

So, Soichi Teraunuchi went to the base camp to prepare for the combat concept of entering China.

In particular, the 2nd Army, commanded by Nishio Suzuo, was even more dissatisfied because the North China Front Army originally believed that the focus of the decisive battle with the Chinese army should be on the Pinghan Railway, which was mainly attacked by the 1st Army, and the 2nd Japanese Army, which was fighting on the Jinpu Railway, was responsible for the assists and encirclement of the right wing.

However, since the main force of the Chinese army did not assemble on the Pinghan Railway, the Japanese Second Army had no chance to use force.

What's even more surprising is that due to the expansion and development of the battle situation in Shanxi, the main force of the Japanese First Army entered Shanxi and assisted the 5th Division in combat. The 2nd Army became a reserve force, and therefore could not attack the Chinese army in depth along the Jinpu Road. They could only stay in the area north of the Yellow River to stand by to prepare for combat in case of Soviet attack on the Japanese army.

It was not until the Central China Front Army successfully captured Nanjing that the ice and snow blocked the traffic in Siberia, and the Soviet army did not threaten to assemble. In this way, the Japanese Second Army lifted the reserve force's standby state. Therefore, Nishio Suzuo actively asked for permission to allow the 2nd Army to attack the Shandong Peninsula.

At this time, the Japanese base camp saw that the combat target in central China was almost achieved and the Soviet army had no assembly activities, so it allowed Soichi Deanuchi to send the North China Front Army to cross the Yellow River to attack Shandong.

But what no one expected was that this almost broke Prince Beibai's plan.

He issued an order and telegraphed Toichi Teruchi, asking him to slow down the attack of the Second Army, and scolded Toichi Teruchi for making great progress and sending troops without any preparations on the southern line. Once the Chinese army secretly drew troops from the southern line and opened the pocket formation, the Imperial Army on the northern line was at risk of being surrounded and annihilated.

Therefore, Kitashirakawa Ai is not as stupid as he seems. If he scolded Shouchi Tanuchi for saying that the Japanese on the North Line had influenced his plan, then his Prince Beihai would be too small.

On the contrary, he scolded Shinui Tochi for being greedy for his achievements and proactive, and attacked the Japanese on the southern front without being prepared. Once a large number of Chinese troops on the southern front were drawn out to attack the northern front, Shinui Tochi would definitely suffer huge losses. This seemed to be concerned, and I am afraid that even if he was scolded, Shinui Tochi would be grateful.

So it is the same thing, and the effects of different statements are completely different.

Kitashirakawa Sei once again proved his wisdom. He would play with the Chinese madman who was frightened by the Great Japanese Imperial Army in this battle.

However, at this time, let’s not mention the operation of Kitashirakawa washing the secret box for now, but the Japanese army on the North Line soon stopped advancing.

Jinan has been temporarily saved. Not only Li Zhongren felt the surprise, but also the Dragon Boat Festival.

After Jiyang was defeated, Jinan had no natural barriers to defend except the city walls, but the Japanese army stopped attacking. This abnormal behavior was puzzled even for Dragon Boat Festival.

Because he would never have thought that there would be a prince like Kitashirakawa Sei who would keep staring at him.

However, this bought enough time for Dragon Boat Festival, because just two days later, on December 30, he waited for the person he wanted to wait for - Ma Ping'an.

Ma Ping'an is an old underground party member. As he said, he is familiar with everything.

And what Dragon Boat Festival wants is his words.

When Ma Ping'an arrived at the Dragon Boat Festival command center, the Dragon Boat Festival went straight to the point and said that he wanted Ma Ping'an to help.

But Ma Ping'an smiled and said, "Let's put the things you help out first, because there are things that are more important than this."

As he spoke, Ma Ping'an whispered for a while with Dragon Boat Festival. Dragon Boat Festival immediately frowned because in Bengbu, there were spies from the Japanese lurking in the city early.

Of course, Dragon Boat Festival also speculated that there might be spies from the Japanese in the city, but he did not have the time to do the energy to take care of this matter.

All battalions are stepping up training. Who has the time to search for Japanese spies in the city now?

What's more, many Japanese spies have been lurking in the city for several years or more. If they are new faces in the city, then most of them are talking about the Dragon Boat Festival Independence Regiment and the 522nd Regiment of Zhou Weiguo.

Therefore, without clues, Japanese spies had no way to investigate. As for the police station and local county magistrates in the city, if they could find out, they would have found out long ago and would not have waited until the Dragon Boat Festival comes before checking.

However, Ma Ping'an's arrival provided this clue for Dragon Boat Festival.

Ma Ping'an said: Feixiang Photo Studio in the south of the city and Fenglaide Foreign Service in the east of the city are 90% likely to be the den of Japanese spies.

Ninety percent of this is enough. Dragon Boat Festival asked Lao Supan to go to the secret service camp in person and tell Lao Su about this. He believed Lao Su would know how to do it.

As for fishing big fish with long lines, don’t think about it. Dragon Boat Festival has no time at all. Use these two Japanese dens to fish, and there is no time to catch them all in one place.

Because after Ma Ping'an arrived, the war was about to begin. If he waited further, Han Fuju would probably withdraw his troops from Jinan and send the entire Shandong out.

So it is enough to directly dispatch the Japanese spies, then make an attempt to search the whole city, drive the Japanese spies out of Bengbu, and let the Japanese spies be in a vacuum in Bengbu City in a short period of time.
Chapter completed!