Chapter 656: Far Eastern Expeditionary Force (3)
Although the plan was formulated, it first needed domestic approval, and secondly, it needed Japan's cooperation, because Taiwan was still under Japan's control, and it was still necessary to land on Japan itself, and without Japan's cooperation, it would have been impossible to complete it. However, the communication and coordination between these governments is handled within the country, and the expeditionary force only needs to wait patiently in Singapore and recuperate. During this period, the commander continued to conduct war games to calculate the chances of the reorganized three fleets fighting the KPA fleet.
After receiving the revised battle plan of the expeditionary force, Britain and France also launched urgent consultations, and finally agreed to the revised battle plan, of course, the process was also very intense.
According to the original establishment of the expeditionary force by Britain and France, it was to end the battle within half a year with overwhelming superiority, after all, the focus of the two countries is not in the Far East now, and they do not want to consume more national strength in the Far East, and according to the revised plan, this battle will definitely last more than half a year, and there is a great possibility that it will exceed a year.
But the results of the naval battle of the Natuna Islands are indeed too amazing, the British Empire has dominated for more than 100 years, but it is not blindly arrogant, there is a gap must be admitted, and although France has always regarded itself very highly, but in the naval war it has to admit that Britain's level is higher than its own, since Britain attaches so much importance to the navy of the East China government, France naturally does not dare to despise it. Moreover, at this time, both Japan and Russia were hit hard by the East China government, and their strength was greatly damaged, and they could not provide sufficient assistance to the expeditionary force, and it was indeed difficult to completely defeat the East China government in a short period of time by relying on the expeditionary force alone.
At the same time, the militaries of the two countries also strongly support the revised battle plan, after all, the military considers more battlefield factors than political factors, and now that the situation in the Far East has changed, if the original battle plan is still implemented, not only will it not be able to win a quick victory, but it will also be dragged into the quagmire of war, let alone one year, even two or three years may not be able to end the war.
The British and French governments are still sensible, and the attitude of the military cannot be ignored, in addition, the two countries are indeed a little difficult to ride the tiger, and the Bi Jing army has already been sent, if it cannot win, it will be a heavy blow to the two governments, because the Monaco crisis has just ended, although Germany has adopted a concession attitude on the Monaco issue under the pressure of Britain and France, but if Britain and France fall into the quagmire of war in the Far East, Germany will definitely find other excuses to make trouble. Therefore, there is no room for failure in this war. In this case, the British and French governments could only agree to a revised battle plan, but demanded that the expeditionary force must win.
When Britain proposed to Japan to be stationed in the port of Sasebo in Nagasaki, Japan returned to Britain almost in seconds, warmly welcomed the arrival of the British fleet, and also agreed that the expeditionary fleet would use the port of Kaohsiung to land troops and station them in Taiwan. He also said that if the British fleet can help Japan and annihilate the invading KPA, Japan can organize 4-5 divisions and regiments to participate in the landing operations of the expeditionary force within three months, and that Japan still has 5 divisions and regiments on the Korean Peninsula and 3 Korean divisions, and as long as the route between Japan and the Korean Peninsula can be restored, Japan can launch another attack from the Korean Peninsula to contain the strength of the KPA.
To be honest, Japan has now regarded the expeditionary force as its own life-saving straw, because after the disastrous defeat in the Battle of the Noto Peninsula, the Japanese army was no longer able to drive up the KPA occupying the Noto Peninsula, so it could only send four more divisions to set up a defensive line at the entrance of the Noto Peninsula to block the road for the KPA to enter Kyushu Island from the Noto Peninsula. The rest of the army could only fight fire in Japan and attack the landing KPA.
However, Japan's western coast is more than 1,200 kilometers long, and the People's Army can land at any time and any place at will, so that Japan cannot be defeated at all, and the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the battle of the Noto Peninsula, and was forced to put a group of soldiers who were still fully trained into the battlefield, these soldiers not only lack actual combat experience, but even the basic military quality is extremely insufficient, and in addition, Japan's national strength is now insufficient, and sea shipping has been cut off by the People's Army, so the weapons are very simple, and the artillery is scarce, because it is very few large and medium-caliber artillery, and the combat effectiveness is naturally very worrisome, and although the weapons of the Russian mercenary regiment are more rudimentary, except for rifles, there are basically no other weapons, but under the same conditions, the Japanese army is still not the opponent of the Russian army, and once the war is unfavorable, the Russian army can get on the ship and withdraw to regroup, and then choose another place to land, while the Japanese army can only be exhausted to plug the leaks everywhere. On the whole, the KPA has repeatedly succeeded in naval attacks, and has also caused great damage to Japan, and has also captured a large number of people, and more than 200,000 Japanese laborers have been sent back to the East China government, and nearly 200,000 laborers have gathered on the Noto Peninsula to be transported.
The Japanese government and military basically did not have much to deal with this, and although the army went around plugging and filling in the gaps, the results were not great, and the people were very dissatisfied with the incompetence of the government and the military, and the newspapers also criticized the government's unfavorable governance, resulting in an attack on Japan's homeland. The war, which had lasted for two and a half years, had brought Japan's economy to the brink of collapse, and the people's lives were extremely difficult and full of resentment, and at this time they had found an opportunity to vent, so in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and other places, there were successive outbreaks of cluster incidents, demanding that the Cabinet members come to power, and some even demanded that cabinet members commit suicide en masse and apologize, and at the same time, there have also been many violent incidents such as smashing, looting, and burning in various parts of Japan.
Moreover, at this time, even the Meiji Emperor was a little unbreathable, and summoned Prime Minister Katsura Taro twice in a row, and was furious, asking the Cabinet and the War Department to stabilize the situation in Japan as soon as possible, so the Cabinet and the War Department also felt heavy pressure, although the pressure on the Navy was a little less, but the current situation in Japan was really not optimistic, and he did not dare to gloat.
There are also some people in the cabinet who regret it, thinking that it is better to agree to the negotiation terms of the East China government during the Portsmouth negotiations, when the East China government asked Japan to compensate for the war losses of 50 million pounds, but Japan refused, which led to the breakdown of the Portsmouth negotiations, and now Japan's war losses have far exceeded 50 million pounds. But now it is too late to regret it, and it is impossible to renegotiate now, firstly, at this time to negotiate with the East China government, Japan will pay a heavier price, and secondly, the expeditionary force has been dispatched, at this time Japan and the East China government are negotiating, so where will their ally Britain be placed?
Another thing that the Japanese government regretted was that it did not restore diplomatic relations with Russia at the end of the day. When Japan launched the Russo-Japanese War, the diplomats of the two countries were evacuated separately, and after the breakdown of the Portsmouth negotiations, Britain and France had arranged for the restoration of diplomatic relations between Japan and Russia, so as to facilitate the liaison between the two sides and was conducive to the war against the East China government, but at this time Japan and Russia were still resentful, and there was little interest in resuming diplomatic relations, and Britain and France did not force it, and the Bijing expeditionary force was led by Britain and France, and there was not much contact between Japan and Russia. Knowing the difference in this thought has become one of the things that the Japanese government regrets the most.
Since a considerable part of the People's Army this time were Russian soldiers, although they were discussed in the name of mercenaries, everyone understood that these Russian soldiers were actually prisoners of war of the East China Government, and the Japanese Government had also contacted Russia when there was nothing to be done, hoping that Russia could play a little role in these Russian mercenaries, and if the Russian mercenaries could be withdrawn from this battle, Japan's pressure would be greatly reduced. However, the Russian government said that it could not help, because there was no Russian diplomatic office in Japan, otherwise Russia could persuade the Russian mercenaries to withdraw from the fighting, and even help Japan in the war.
As a matter of fact, when the Japanese mainland was attacked by the People's Army, Russia was completely in a state of mind of schadenfreude rather than a big deal to see the excitement; first, Russia's resentment against Japan was still unresolved; second, Russia believed that it would be beneficial for Russia for the East China Government to launch a war against the Japanese mainland, because it would shift the attention of the East China Government from Russia to Japan, and this would also help Russia gain time to restore its military strength in the Far East.
At the same time, Russia also made a suggestion to Japan, that is, it could release and arm all the Russian prisoners captured by Japan to help Japan fight. However, this proposal was collectively opposed by the Japanese cabinet, because Japan did not believe in Russia, and if they let out all these hairy people, who could control them, and if they colluded with Russian mercenaries, it would not cost Japan its life.
Now that the expeditionary force has finally arrived in Asia and will also be stationed in Japan, the British fleet will be stationed in Sasebo and help Japan annihilate the invading KPA, which is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the whole of Japan, and the British fleet will be regarded as a lifeline for Japan, as if as soon as the British fleet arrives, it can immediately annihilate the KPA that has invaded Japan.
In fact, it is not wrong to think this way, because the failure of the battle on the Noto Peninsula was because Japan did not have the right to control the sea, so that the KPA stationed on the Noto Peninsula could receive naval fire support, and furthermore, the KPA was able to attack the Japanese mainland, and it was also because the East China Government controlled the sea supremacy, so once the British fleet entered Japan, it would inevitably help Japan regain sea supremacy, and in this way, the KPA that landed in Japan would also lose its greatest reliance, and if it did not take the initiative to retreat, it would inevitably be annihilated. Therefore, the Japanese government impatiently expressed its welcome to the expeditionary force stationed in Kaohsiung and Sasebo.
After receiving the reply from China, Phillips and Beauchamp also breathed a sigh of relief, the two had been worried that the country would refuse the expeditionary force's proposal to revise the battle plan for political interests, or with the mentality of a quick battle, asking the expeditionary force to act according to the original plan. However, the two countries also demanded that the expeditionary force rush to the Far East as soon as possible to join the war and achieve a victory to boost morale and give the two governments a sigh of relief.