12dz Chapter 295 The Ambition of the Kangaroo Country?
Chapter 295 The Ambition of the Kangaroo Country?
"Hey, dear Zhang..." Stevenson pulled Zhang Chi aside, "This is the first general we captured. I know no words can express my gratitude, but I still want to say thank you."
"We Chinese have an old saying, 'return a favor, return a favor.'" Zhang Chi shrugged. "I'm well aware that handing over the next series of operations in Southeast Asia to the Anmin Army to conduct independently has put a lot of pressure on you."
"I think this Mr. Trophy..." Zhang Chi pointed at the idiotic Kimura Heitaro, "will help you shut up a lot of people."
"Of course, of course." Stevenson was very satisfied after suddenly receiving such a big gift.
As if he had thought of something, his expression changed slightly, and he suddenly whispered, "The descendants of the exiles on Kangaroo Island have been restless lately. If you have any small territorial claims in certain places, you'd better hurry up."
After saying this, the elderly Stevenson winked playfully. How could he not know Zhang Chi's desire for many islands in the South China Sea?
However, for the United States, Southeast Asia is regarded as a forbidden territory by the Johns, the Hairy People, and the Dutch. Now there are two more troublemakers, Zhang Chi and the Kangaroo Country, which is not a bad thing.
From Stevenson's perspective, he naturally prefers Zhang Chi, with whom he works closely.
As for the Kangaroo Country, isolated in the South Pacific?
Who is that? Is he one of Ma Chao's lackeys?
Was Stevenson familiar with them?
After hearing this well-intentioned reminder, Zhang Chi smiled slightly and didn't say much.
He knew that the current Kangaroo Country was naturally completely different from the one before he traveled through time.
In the 21st century, the Kangaroo Country has given up its expansionist ambitions and has become a loyal younger brother of the White Eagle, acting as a troublemaker in the South Pacific and specifically annoying ASEAN and China.
In terms of industry, the Kangaroo Country in the 21st century is completely dependent on importing various industrial products from China, and only mines ores and engages in livestock production. It has no processing capabilities and no high-tech enterprises.
The Kangaroo Country is now at a time of great ambition. It has a basic complete set of industries in the country and can produce a series of military equipment from rifles to tanks to warships.
Previously, because General MacArthur evacuated Luzon Island to the Kangaroo Country, it also became the White Eagle's forward base in this war. The assistance from the United States not only enabled it to arm a lot of troops, but also had the ability to maintain the operation of the aircraft carrier fleet.
Therefore, the Kangaroo Country was also expanding its strategic depth at this time. After all, the Japanese invaders had reached their doorstep, and the fact that the Japanese air force directly bombed the major cities of the Kangaroo Country still scared them.
As the Kangaroo Army followed the White Eagle soldiers to take over the Papua New Guinea area on their doorstep, they naturally turned their attention to the rich East Indies.
Zhang Chi estimated in his mind that the straight-line distance from Darwin Port in the northwest corner of Kangaroo Country to Jakarta was almost the same as the straight-line distance from Yangon to Jakarta, or even closer in Kangaroo Country.
However, at present, the Japanese general Imamura Jun is still hiding with more than 10 Japanese soldiers on various islands in the Solomon Islands northeast of Kangaroo Island, playing hide-and-seek with the Kangaroo Country. Zhang Chi estimates that the Kangaroo's expansion to the northwest East Indies will not begin immediately.
This means he still has some time to deploy, but he also knows that this window will not last too long.
John Country, Hair Country, Japs, and now Kangaroo Country. Zhang Chi smiled bitterly in his heart. Nanyang is really a hot spot, and everyone wants to take a bite.
The Anmin Army has quite a few enemies.
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On the other side, a group of Japanese leaders were holding a meeting in front of the emperor.
"The army's 10-man army was wiped out in one day, leaving only Mutaguchi Renya's 8-plus troops struggling to hold out in Sindhu. This is a failure for the army headquarters! A failure!"
"That's right, you should commit seppuku to apologize!"
"Ultimately, it's all the navy's fault. If you hadn't been unable to control sea power, supplies and support forces would have been shipped to Pegu long ago."
"That's right. The defeat at the Battle of Yangon resulted in the loss of our front commander, General Kimura. How dare you, traitors, shout like that?"
"Bakano-yarou, you traitors should commit seppuku in front of General Kimura's spirit tablet!"
However, although it was a meeting before the Emperor, Showa Tenko himself did not say a word. He just watched coldly as Private First Class Tojo and other naval officers such as Shigetaro Shimada and Mitsumasa Yonai quarreled and blamed each other for the defeat at Pegu.
Showa, who had almost no real power, coughed impatiently. The Minister of the Interior, Kido Koichi, immediately stepped forward to mediate:
"Everyone, everyone, you are all pillars of the Locust Nation, your Majesty's right-hand men. Why are you cursing at each other?"
Finance Minister Shotaro Ishiwata, who had just taken office, also chimed in:
"The most urgent task is to have the navy and army work together sincerely to find a way to eliminate Zhang Chi and the Anmin Army, the locust country's biggest threat."
Prime Minister and Army Minister Private First Class Tojo, with veins bulging on his head and looking ready to hurt someone at any time, took advantage of the situation and glanced at the meeting room.
Foreign Minister Shigemitsu Mamoru sat in the corner with his arms folded, saying nothing. As the foreign minister, he no longer had any diplomatic efforts to make at this point in the war.
The senior officials from both the navy and the army were glaring at each other.
The Showa Emperor, who sat on the upper throne, hid behind a pearl curtain, with only the Minister of the Interior, Kido Koichi, as his mouthpiece.
Finance Minister Shotaro Ishiwatari looked at Tojo with a flattering smile on his face.
As for Tojo himself, he served as the Minister of War, Minister of Munitions, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of Education, and was in charge of both military and political affairs.
Even if he has defeated the senior naval officers, he can't still serve as the Minister of the Navy, right?
He rolled his eyes and looked at Finance Minister Ishiwatari Shotaro and asked, "Do you have any good suggestions, Ishiwatari-san?"
"Printing counterfeit currency to undermine Zhang Chi's base in Pegu? Wait until the entire Pegu population is destitute and the Anmin Army loses its will to fight. Then the Locust Nation army will launch a thundering attack and will surely retake Pegu in one fell swoop."
Everyone present curled their lips when they heard Ishiwatari Shotaro's suggestion.
The Anmin Army currently uses the White Eagle Sword as its currency. Given the current capabilities of the Japanese, it is still a bit difficult to imitate the sword.
Not to mention that the Japanese had already suffered a great loss in the matter of printing counterfeit money.
It was originally agreed that the Japanese would print legal tender to strike at the economy of the Republic of China. However, when the Japanese took great pains to print out more than 40 billion legal tenders of good quality that could be mistaken for the real thing, they thought they could disrupt the economy of the rear of the Republic of China in one fell swoop.
Unexpectedly, the White Party printed more than 1000 billion real French currency, and the more than 40 billion counterfeit currency invested by the Japanese was not even worth a penny!