It can be said that Japan is facing the biggest crisis since the success of the rebellion. If Tokyo is captured by the People's Army, then Japan will be completely over. Even if ** can withdraw from Tokyo, its authority will inevitably decline greatly and it will be difficult to control the situation. On the contrary, if Japan can defend Tokyo this time, it will inevitably greatly boost the morale of the people of Japan and may bring a turning point to Japan. Therefore, Japan's ** also immediately decided to establish the Tokyo Defense Command, with Yama Prefecture Aritoto himself as the commander, and Teraunuchi Masato served as the deputy commander and chief of staff. This is also the candidate among the current senior Japanese army officers who have experience in commanding large-scale wars.

After Yama Prefecture took office, on the one hand, he ordered the garrisons in various parts of Tokyo to strengthen their garrisons. When the People's Army attacked, they must defend their positions to the death and never retreat. He also ordered Masato Desouchi to personally rush to the People's Army to attack Tokyo by Mito to supervise the war. On the other hand, he ordered the mobilization of troops from all over Japan to reinforce Tokyo.

On the third day after the People's Army landed in Mito, the People's Army concentrated about 20,000 troops and launched an attack on Ishioka. The Japanese army stationed in Ishioka was the 37th Division. This division is also considered an elite unit in Japan at present, but it is no match for the People's Army.

The People's Army first concentrated the mortar troops and launched a fierce bombardment on the Japanese positions. In fact, the Japanese defensive positions were arranged in a normal manner and had certain resistance to artillery. However, the Japanese soldiers were basically on the battlefield for the first time, and it was the first time that they had experienced such artillery attacks. They had seen such scenes before, and they were all at a loss. Most of them were lying in the trenches and did not dare to move. The bold words of fighting the People's Army that were established before the war had long been left behind.

Of course, there are also a few people with a tendon on their heads, who are really not afraid of death. They shouted "Long live the emperor" in the position, but under the bombardment of the People's Army's artillery shells, they were immediately blown to pieces and died of a disaster.

After the artillery attack, the People's Army launched an attack on the Japanese positions, with the Russian mercenary group taking the lead. The Japanese Army attached great importance to the technology of hand-to-hand combat. Almost every Japanese army soldier received strict hand-to-hand combat training. On the battlefield of the Russo-Japanese War, he could compete with the Russian army evenly, even surpass it. However, at the beginning of the war in East China, the People's Army was still inferior to the Japanese army in hand-to-hand combat technology.

The 37th Division has been established for nearly two years, and the training of hand-to-hand combat technology is what they usually practice the most. In terms of technology alone, it is no less than the Japanese army who participated in the battle on the Northeast battlefield. However, the battle competition is not pure technology, morale, experience, and tactics. The 37th Division obviously has a great apology in these three links, so it cannot compete with the People's Army in hand-to-hand combat. Although some Japanese soldiers are indeed fighting hard, their strength is indeed not good and they cannot stop the attack of the People's Army. After more than three hours of fierce fighting, the Japanese defense line was finally broken through by the People's Army, and the entire front line was immediately defeated.

Even if Masato Tanuchi was supervising the battle on the front line, he could not restore the decline of the Japanese army. As a result, in just one day, the People's Army occupied Ishioka. More than 3,000 Japanese 37th Division suffered casualties, so he had to retreat to Tsura.

Ishioka's fall shocked Tokyo because Ishioka is an important station on the outer defense line north of Tokyo. However, it could not be defended for a day, which made people shake their confidence in the Japanese army. Moreover, Tsura is less than 50 kilometers away from Tokyo, which can be said to be close at hand. Therefore, people in Tokyo were panic for a while, and many people were preparing to flee Tokyo and retreat to the southwest. At the same time, social order was in chaos, and some people took the opportunity to rob, kill, and cause trouble. Dozens of serious social events occurred overnight.

However, Japan's actions were still sensible at this time. When it reached its peak, it took measures. First, it ordered the implementation of military control in Tokyo and sent additional inspection troops and police. Once anyone found that there were violations of the law, they could be shot and killed on the spot. Secondly, it blocked all roads into and out of Tokyo and strictly prohibited residents from escaping from Tokyo. In this way, it could not escape, so it had to stay. Finally, it was strictly ordered to spread rumors, gather people to cause trouble, and handle them strictly. And on the next day, Emperor Meiji issued an edict, calling for the residents of Tokyo to unite and fight to the death with the People's Army, defend Tokyo, and declared that all members of the royal family would vow to live and die with Tokyo, etc.

Due to years of creation, the emperor's prestige in Japanese society is still quite high. Therefore, the emperor's edict issued, coupled with the tough measures of Japan, finally restored Tokyo to normal order, and the morale soldiers of the military were also improved to a certain extent. Keitaro, Ito Hirofumi, Yama Prefecture and others also breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, after Ishioka's loss, Emperor Meiji recruited Kanetaro, Ito Hirofumi, and Yama Prefecture's Tomoto to inquire, and was furious at the three of them, accusing the three of them of having the trust of the emperor and making state affairs messy. Faced with the emperor's thunder, the three most powerful Japanese politicians could only kneel down to the ground and apologize to the emperor.

In fact, Emperor Meiji did not have any real power, but because in order to make the emperor a representative of Japan's image and become the common belief of the Japanese people, Japan deliberately deified the emperor to enhance the cohesion of Japan. As a result, the reverse created such a freak. Although he had no real political power, he had supreme authority in Japan's political situation. Even those who hold real political power must bow to his feet.

Then Emperor Meiji seemed to have inadvertently said that given the current critical situation in Tokyo, should the royal family members evacuate from Tokyo and temporarily avoid their edge. Otherwise, if the People's Army invades Tokyo, the royal family members will be humiliated, which will be the eternal stain of Japan.

Kanetaro, Hirofumi Ito, and Yama Prefecture friends are all good people, so they don’t understand the Emperor’s true intention. In fact, they have no confidence in the current situation of war and are afraid that Tokyo will be captured by the People’s Army, so they want to escape from Tokyo. However, the three of them are also very clear. Once the Emperor evacuates Tokyo, the morale of the military will immediately collapse, and there is no need to fight this battle. No matter what, the Emperor must be persuaded to stay.

So the three of them immediately said to the Emperor Mingli that they would never evacuate Tokyo at this time, otherwise the Japanese army would be defeated and Japan would also destroy the country and the race. They also repeatedly assured the Emperor that as long as the Emperor did not leave Tokyo, the Japanese army would definitely defend Tokyo and swear to defend the Tianfu to the death and would never humiliate the royal family.

Emperor Meiji also knew that if these three people did not agree, he would not be able to leave Tokyo. Without real political power, he was the fatal weakness, so he could only agree to stay in Tokyo without strong permission and issued an edict to boost morale.

Although the situation in Tokyo was temporarily settled after the Emperor issued an edict and the morale of the people also increased to a certain extent, Yuto Yama Prefecture knew that only morale could not be maintained, and it was difficult to say how long this morale could last, so Tokyo's defense must be re-arranged.

After Yama Prefecture Aritomo and Masatoshi Desouchi negotiated, he ordered the remnants of the 37th Division to arrange positions on site in Tsuura. The task was to delay the advance of the People's Army and to prevent the People's Army from attacking the People's Army in the Guardian, about 30 kilometers away from Tokyo. The 42nd Division was responsible for the defense of Tokyo's inside. At the same time, the 40th Division on the west and outside of Tokyo was dispatched to reinforce to ensure that there were two divisions guarding Guardian. Because Guardian was the northern gateway of Tokyo, once Guardian was lost, Tokyo's gateway opened. The 39th Division was also dispatched to threaten the flank of the People's Army from the northwest. Moreover, in order to allow soldiers to defend their positions to death, Yutomomori of Yama Prefecture ordered the establishment of a supervision team, and soldiers retreating from the positions could be killed on the spot.

Although the arrangement was arranged, Yama Prefecture Aritoto and Teraunuchi Masato were not sure of it because the army had to deploy defenses. However, after the People's Army captured Ishioka, it did not attack Tsura immediately. It also attacked along the coastline, occupying Naka in the north of Mito and Ibaraki Town in the south. This was also to protect the landing site. However, this gave the Japanese army three days, which not only allowed Japan to arrange the army, but also a division rushed to Tokyo and became the first army to support Tokyo. Although there was only one division, it had a great effect on the morale of the Tokyo military and civilians.

At this moment, the People's Army launched an attack on Tsura. Yama Prefecture Aitoto considered that Tsura was not the position that the Japanese army planned to garrison, but just to gain time. Now the Japanese army's defense line of the valley has been strengthened, so it is no longer meaningful to defend or not. Moreover, the 37th Division stationed at Tsura is an elite force among the local Japanese army. If the losses are large in the battle to guard Tsura, it is not worth it. Therefore, Yama Prefecture Aitoto finally decided to give up Tsura and withdraw the 37th Division back to the Guard Guard.

The People's Army then concentrated about 25,000 troops and launched an attack on the Gugu.

This time, the Japanese army was much more tenacious than Ishioka. Under the powerful artillery bombardment of the People's Army, they were still on the position. After the People's Army launched a charge, the Japanese army continued to fill in one batch after another, falling down one after another, almost blocking the People's Army's attack with flesh and blood. As a result, in the first day of the battle, the Japanese army suffered more than 5,000 casualties, but they defended the position.

On the second day, the People's Army's offensive became stronger and the firepower was stronger. The Japanese army gradually couldn't resist it, so some troops were forced to retreat from the positions. The supervision team established by Yutoshi Yama County was not ruthless and shot more than a hundred officers and soldiers on the spot, which greatly shocked the Japanese army. Seeing that there was no hope of retreat, the Japanese army could only defend the positions and not retreat. Some positions had a squadron, and even the soldiers in the brigade died in battle.

So after another day of fierce fighting, although the Japanese army lost several local positions, they still stabilized the defense line in general.

On the third day, the People's Army seemed to have exhausted its strength, and the intensity of its attack was far lower than the previous two days, and it quickly withdrew to retreat.
Chapter completed!