The U.S. fleet left Japan and sailed for Qingdao the day after the visiting fleet of the East China Government left Japanese waters. And before Yamamoto could breathe a sigh of relief, something happened again.

It turned out that on the day the US fleet left, the Japanese news media reported on the incident of the Japanese civil society attacking the East China government fleet. The consulate of the East China Government in Japan notified several European and American reporters in Japan overnight that Japanese civil society organizations had attacked the East China Government Fleet, and that they could take photographs of the East China Government Fleet in the waters off Nagasaki for evidence.

When the reporters heard the news, they were naturally very interested, because it was big news, so they rented boats and rushed to Nagasaki overnight, or sent a telegram to their colleagues in Nagasaki to ask them to cover the news. After the Nagasaki incident two days ago, many foreign journalists rushed to Nagasaki to cover the big news, so in the past few days, Nagasaki reporters have gathered.

The East China government was worried that the Japanese news media would block the news, so it announced it to reporters from various countries overnight. However, the journalists' sense of secrecy was not so strong, and some of the reporters had good support in Japan, and many of them had telegraphed their colleagues in Nagasaki, so it was not yet dawn, and the news leaked out, and some Japanese reporters also knew about it.

However, the situation that the East China government was worried about by the Japanese news media blocking this news did not happen, and Japanese reporters were very active in covering and reporting on this incident, and a small number of Japanese reporters begged European and American reporters to take them to the sea to cover the fleet, and they were also very enthusiastic to help them contact the ships.

Of course, the reason why Japanese journalists are so enthusiastic is not because of any freedom of the press, but because Japanese reporters do not think that the night attack will damage Japan's reputation, but on the contrary, they regard this operation as a feat, and those who participated in this operation are regarded by the reporters as heroes and righteous men of Japan.

Although the night attack ended in the annihilation of the entire army, and none of the people involved returned, and it is estimated that they were either captured by the fleet or died at sea, it made the operation more tragic, and in this regard, the Japanese and the Chinese have similarities, both of them are more appreciative of the tragic heroes, in the words of a Japanese reporter: I hope that the sacrifice of these heroes and righteous men can awaken the spirit of common hatred and hard work of the Japanese people.

Sure enough, after the report on the night attack appeared in the newspapers, there was another wave of public opinion among the Japanese people, which aroused the righteous indignation of the people, and under the brilliant pen of the reporters, the people who participated in the night attack were indeed regarded by the people as heroes and righteous men, some suggested that the spiritual tablets of these people be sent to the Jingkuni Shrine for worship, some people advocated the erection of a monument in Nagasaki to show the heroic and heroic deeds, and many people demanded that the cabinet take effective measures to rescue the arrested righteous men.

In the face of the huge public opinion, Yamamoto Gonbei was not moved at all, after all, he was ready to be the one who was going to resign, and he was still ignoring these, anyway, now the fleet of the East China Government has already left, and the people they captured have been brought back to Qingdao, and no one can save them;

The rest of Yamamoto Gonbei's affairs were mainly to negotiate compensation with the United States, and Bi Jing killed three American soldiers, so it is really unreasonable not to compensate at all. Of course, the negotiations went very smoothly, after all, the United States didn't care about the money, and Guan Jian needed a soft posture from the Japanese government. After the news of the Nagasaki incident reached the United States, the antipathy toward Japan in the United States also increased sharply, which exerted tremendous pressure on Roosevelt's cabinet, so the US government and Japan were not allowed to compromise, and the Japanese government had to make a clear statement. In the end, the two sides negotiated that Japan would pay the United States 500,000 yen, or about $200,000.

However, in the eyes of the Japanese people, this was another major crime of the Yamamoto Gonbei cabinet's external weakness, loss of power and humiliation of the country, and at this time, it came from Qingdao that 12 captured Japanese were tried and convicted in Qingdao, each of whom was sentenced to 20 years of service, and at the same time, the fishing boats captured by the fleet were also on public display.

Although the Yamamoto Gonbei cabinet immediately announced that all the so-called evidence of the East China government was false and the Japanese government did not admit it, this news made the Japanese people indignant, so large-scale popular protests broke out in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagasaki, Kyoto, Kobe, and other major cities, demanding that the Yamamoto Gonbei cabinet immediately resign and step down.

At this time, Gonbei Yamamoto finally announced his resignation as prime minister.

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"Isn't it true that the situation is very good? ”

"Alas, this time it can only be said that it is the will of God, and it is beyond the power of man. ”

"No, sir, I think this time it was not providence, but man-made disaster, caused by man-made disaster. ”

Ito Hirofumi was slightly stunned and said, "Man-made disaster?Miyamoto-kun, why do you think that this time it was caused by a man-made disaster." ”

Although the Nagasaki incident has been basically resolved so far, it has completely destroyed the excellent situation in which Ito Hirobumi has worked so hard to visit the East China Government and invited the fleet of the East China Government to visit Japan. In the Nagasaki incident, Japan and the East China government will completely tear their faces and become hostile relations, so that Japan will not only lose a good external environment for peaceful recovery and development of national strength, but also in order to confront the East China government, Japan must strengthen its dependence on Britain and France, not only will it completely lose its flexible position of being left and right, but it will also face a very difficult situation when it conducts tariff negotiations with Britain in the future, after all, Japan has already abolished its most favorable bargaining chip, and Britain can have nothing to fear.

However, although Ito Hirobumi was distressed, he still believed that the Nagasaki incident was just an accidental incident, so it was attributed to the will of God, while Miyamoto Naoto attributed the Nagasaki incident to man-made disasters, which naturally puzzled Ito Hirobumi.

Miyamoto Naoto said: "Sir, on the surface, this Nagasaki incident, like the last time, was completely caused by an unexpected incident, that is, several American soldiers went ashore and clashed with the people, which was caused by accident, but in the end, the people's grievances were not directed against the United States, but all went to the side of the East China government, which shows that there must be a reason, and it must not be explained by chance." ”

Ito Hirobumi said: "It's not difficult to explain, we lost to the East China government in the Far East War, so the people have great resentment against the East China government, although the Nagasaki incident was caused by American soldiers, but after all, the fleet of the East China government is also in Nagasaki, so the grievances are sent to the side of the East China government, which is also reasonable." ”

Miyamoto Naoto shook his head and said: "Losing the Far East War is only one of the reasons, but if the government's propaganda and control are effective, even if the Nagasaki incident happens, it will not cause such a big public resentment." However, after the war in the Far East, in order to reduce its own responsibility, the government continued to incite hatred of the East China government among the people, although the government hoped to improve relations with the East China government, but the public opinion was full of hatred and hostility towards the East China government, so although the Nagasaki incident was caused by American soldiers, the people sent their grievances to the East China government, which became inevitable. ”

Ito Hirobumi frowned and said: "If we don't set up an enemy, how can we arouse the people's hatred and hatred of the people? How can we unite the people's collective will to forge ahead! Moreover, we were indeed defeated by the East China government in the Far East War, so do we still need to be polite to our enemies?"

Miyamoto Naoto smiled bitterly and said: "Of course, it is necessary to set up an enemy, but our propaganda is that the East China Government has stolen our victory, and this kind of propaganda can only make the people miscalculate, not to mention that we need to improve relations with the East China Government at present, but among the people, we have repeatedly propagated the sentiment of hostility to the East China Government, isn't this a contradiction? How can there be no accidents! Even if the Nagasaki incident does not cause a catastrophe, there will be accidents in other directions in the future. ”

Ito Hirofumi listened to it, thought about it seriously, and finally nodded, and said: "Miyamoto-kun, what you said is indeed reasonable, we really ignore this point, thinking that it is only an expedient move to improve relations with the East China government, and we don't care about the propaganda to the people, which has caused the current situation, and it is indeed a man-made disaster." But now that we have completely torn our faces with the East China government, we won't have to worry about the contradiction you said in the future. ”

Miyamoto Naoto listened, sighed, shook his head again, and said: "Sir, what I said is not just what I mean, but I think that the government's propaganda to the people has gone astray. Originally, it is understandable to set up enemies, exaggerate one's own cultural strength, and even achieve racial superiority, and deliberately propagate hatred of the enemy among the people, and if this kind of propaganda is used properly, it can naturally arouse the people's hatred and hatred of the people and unite the people's collective desire to forge ahead. Fortunately, this time the backlash is not serious, there is still a way to remedy, if it is not improved now, if it continues like this, the consequences will only be more serious. ”

Ito Hirofumi nodded and said, "Miyamoto-kun, what you said makes sense! In the future, we will really pay attention to the propaganda of the people, but you just said that there is a remedy this time, I don't know what else you can do!"