"Miyamoto-kun, I'm very sorry, but the supplies are quite tight right now, so I don't have anything good to entertain you, so please forgive me. ”

"No need, Mr. Ito, I didn't come to you to eat. Of course, as an important minister of Japan, you are now so poor, you can imagine what kind of situation the Japanese people are like now. ”

Ito Hirofumi lowered his head, a little afraid to meet Miyamoto's gaze, and after a long while, he said, "I'm sorry, Miyamoto-kun, I was wrong, you are right." ”

Miyamoto Naoto sighed and said: "Mr. Ito, there is no point in investigating who is right and who is wrong now, what we should do now is to reverse the wrong approach, Japan has already paid a heavy price for this war, and it cannot continue to expand its losses." ”

Ito Hirobumi smiled bitterly again and said, "It's not easy to talk about. ”

Miyamoto Naoto said: "I know it's not easy, but you can't just watch Japan recover, someone has to come out and do the right thing!"

And Ito Hirobumi fell silent again.

As early as the Portsmouth negotiations, Miyamoto Naoto suggested to Ito Hirobumi that he accept the conditions of East China ** and sign a peace treaty with East China **, even if it is to pay a certain amount of compensation, it is no longer hesitant, but at that time Japan has already received a commitment from Britain, once the Portsmouth negotiations break down, Britain will send troops to participate in the war, in this case, of course, Japan cannot pay the price of paying reparations and make peace with East China. However, Miyamoto also specifically pointed out that Britain is unreliable, and that Japan should decide on its national strategy based on its own national interests, without considering Britain's attitude, and even when necessary, Britain can be used as a bargaining chip in the deal.

Miyamoto's remarks caused a big storm in Japan at that time, and almost everyone accused Miyamoto of being stupid and weak, and some people even threatened to ask Miyamoto Naoto to withdraw from politics from now on. However, Ito Hirobumi admired Miyamoto's attitude that "Japan should decide to adopt a national strategy based on its own national interests", coupled with Miyamoto's views and attitudes on international affairs, which made Ito Hirobumi praise him, thinking that Miyamoto Naoto was a rare young talent, so Ito Hirobumi came forward and said a lot of good things for Miyamoto Naoto, which ensured that Miyamoto Naoto remained in the Japanese political arena.

After the Far Eastern Expeditionary Force arrived in Asia, Japan was full of confidence in the Far East Expeditionary Force, believing that the Expeditionary Force would definitely be able to defeat East China and resolve Japan's crisis. And in this optimistic mood, it was Miyamoto Naoto who held a different opinion, he once made a statement to Ito Hirobumi, believing that in this war, East China ** won a great rate, so he suggested to Ito Hirobumi that at this time, negotiate with East China**, you can use the pressure of the expeditionary force on East China **, and reach a peace agreement with East China ** at a lower cost.

But at that time, Ito, like other Japanese, firmly believed that East China ** was by no means an opponent of the expeditionary force, so he ignored Miyamoto's suggestion. However, Ito Evan is an excellent politician after all, and he is not intolerant of different opinions, and he also thinks that Miyamoto Naoto can stick to his own opinions and not follow the crowd, which is also a rare quality, and his appreciation for Miyamoto Naoto has not decreased, but he thinks that Miyamoto Naoto is still too young after all, and it still takes time to experience. Fortunately, this time Miyamoto Naoto only said his thoughts to Ito Evan alone, and did not make it public, so it did not cause any controversy.

Seeing that Ito Evan did not accept his own opinion, Miyamoto Naoto said that he wanted to go to the private sector to conduct an investigation, and after Ito Ivan, he felt that it would be better to temporarily let Miyamoto Naoto leave the political arena, so as not to make any more remarks and cause controversy. After the war is over and the situation stabilizes, I will communicate with Miyamoto Naoto and teach him well.

But the result of the battle of the Taiwan Strait disappointed all the Japanese predictions, and also made the situation in Japan worse, and Ito Hirobumi remembered Miyamoto Naoto's prediction of this war, and suddenly found that he had always been inferior to Miyamoto Naoto, in order to train Although Ito Hirobumi admired Miyamoto's opinions, but subconsciously, he still regarded Miyamoto Naoto as a young man, although he was active in thinking and had unique views, but he lacked experience, and he still needed more experience and someone to guide, of course, Ito Hirobumi thought that he was the person who guided Miyamoto Naoto, but the reality was that Miyamoto Naoto's judgment and opinions on the current situation were above him, I can't guide him at all.

In fact, after the battle of the Taiwan Strait, Ito Hirobumi also knew very well that Japan no longer had the capital to confront East China, and the top priority was to negotiate with East China as soon as possible at all costs to end the war, even if it was reparations.

On the one hand, in Japan, due to so many years of education and propaganda, the atmosphere of war is quite strong, and the military is becoming more and more powerful, even at this time, there are still a considerable number of people in the military who advocate continuing the battle regardless of the cost, so it is difficult to accept the results of the reparations, and those who propose peace and reparations will inevitably be pointed out by thousands of people, Li Hongzhang after the First Sino-Japanese War is the best example, but in the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang can also pass the resignation, the way of retreat to temporarily avoid the limelight, waiting for the opportunity to make a comeback, but in Japan it is not so good, unless it is suicide, I am afraid that there are a lot of "heavenly punishment" and "human punishment" waiting behind.

On the other hand, Britain's attitude can not be underestimated, although Ito Hirobumi Tomome "Japan should decide to adopt a national strategy based on its own national interests" but in the face of reality, can not but back down, the current Japan is indeed inseparable from the British support, because this war has caused Japan to be greatly injured, and East China will rise strongly after the war, if it loses the support of Britain, Japan will not be able to compete with East China after the war, so after the battle of the Taiwan Strait, Britain still advocates East China ** It took a tough stance and used a trade embargo to exert pressure on East China, and demanded that none of the five countries participating in the expeditionary force should negotiate separately with East China. Although Ito Hirobumi also knew that this decision was inappropriate, he still had to take into account the attitude of the United Kingdom, and he had to comply with the demands of the United Kingdom.

As a result, Japan followed Britain in issuing a statement with a tough attitude towards East China, which attracted a tough retaliation from East China and imposed a naval blockade on Japan, which also dealt a serious blow to Japan. Because Japan was originally a country that relied heavily on shipping, and now the domestic economy has completely collapsed due to the war, and it completely depends on the blood transfusion of Britain, France, the United States and other countries to survive, but the maritime blockade of East China, the merchant ships of Britain, France, the United States and other countries dare not dock in Japan, and the result is even worse, seeing that Japan is about to run out of blood.

In fact, the sea power of East China is still very limited, although the size of the fleet is not small, but the lack of small and medium-sized warships, in the decisive battle of the fleet, may not have much impact, but to carry out the blockade operation, it is necessary to blockade Japan, one of the countries with the longest coastline in the world, with the current sea power of East China, it is impossible to really block Japan from the sea, there will always be some fish that slip through the net, and because of this, Japan can still survive and not die immediately. Of course, the probability of being intercepted, captured and sunk by the KPA Navy is not small.

However, for the merchant ships of France and the United States, they are not obliged to bear such a risk for Japan, even if Japan raises the cost of sailing and sets a huge amount of incentives, but only less than 20% of the merchant ships are willing to go to Japan. Foreign merchant ships are unwilling to do it, so they can only rely on their own merchant ships to support them. However, in such a war, Japan has lost a large number of merchant ships, and its own transportation capacity has been greatly damaged, and it will definitely suffer heavy losses if it takes the risk of transporting supplies for Japan, and there is no place to replenish it, but in this situation, it can only drink doves to quench its thirst.

Just a few days ago, the Netherlands decided to abandon the alliance of the five countries of the expeditionary force, negotiate separately with East China**, and accept the conditions for the payment of reparations to East China**. This caused a huge shock in Japan, although the strength of the Netherlands is not strong, but Bi Jing is one of the alliances of the five countries, which also shows that the Netherlands is actually not optimistic about the prospects of the five-nation alliance, and also shows that Britain and France have limited control over the five-nation alliance. And there are also some people of insight who can think that since the Netherlands has abandoned the five-nation alliance, the other three countries will not waver, and whether Japan should also be flexible.

Although there are still a few diehards in Japan who clamored to resist to the end and never compromise, and Britain and France have repeatedly appeased Japan, promising to do everything possible to resolve Japan's crisis and let Japan withdraw from the war with dignity, and at the same time warning Japan not to follow in the footsteps of the Netherlands and negotiate with East China alone, Ito Hirobumi still realized that Japan really needed to make changes, and that Japan's national security could not be completely pinned on Britain and France, and that he had to work hard to find a way.

At this time, Miyamoto Naoto, who went to the people to conduct an investigation, returned to Tokyo and visited Ito Hirobumi for the first time, and at this time, Ito Hirobumi did not dare to despise Miyamoto Naoto's attitude, so he received him warmly at home.

After listening to Miyamoto's words, Ito Hirobumi said: "Miyamoto-kun, I remember you once told me that East China will not fight an unprepared battle, which is also the reason why you judge that East China will be able to defeat the Far East Expeditionary Force. In other words, it is on this basis that you conclude that East China will win the victory of the Far Eastern Expeditionary Force. To be honest, until now, I still don't think this is a very good reason, can you explain it to me in detail. ”