Outside the round porthole, the weather is clear, cloudless, and the endless blue sea looks refreshing.

In the round porthole, Chen Dao sits, and Major Bach and the four of them stand.

Chen Dao did not speak, and neither did Major Bach and the four others.

Chen Dao faced the four of them sideways, staring out of the window expressionlessly, and the four of Major Bach also held their heads high and were expressionless, but they squinted their eyes and secretly looked at Chen Dao's expression.

After a long time, Chen Dao subconsciously reached out and touched the pocket of his left chest, but he felt empty, and then he remembered that he had quit smoking for a long time.

Major Bach had a flash of inspiration in his mind, and he instantly seized this good opportunity to break the awkward atmosphere.

He took out a pack of cigarettes, pulled out one and handed it to Chen Dao, Major Lorenz took out a lighter and played a perfect match, but in exchange for only Chen Dao's handwave.

"So that's what you think, you bothered." Chen Dao said.

Major Bach straightened up in tacit understanding, shook his heels, and said in unison: "Yes, Your Excellency. ”

Chen Dao flipped through the four articles on the table and waved his hand to signal that the four of them did not need to be punished.

During the fleet's passage through the Red Sea for a few days, Major Bach and the four of them finished reading the "Rabe's Diary" at hand, and each handed in a review of the reading.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to give Chen Daoshang his feelings after reading, the four of them expressed their worries in their hearts, which led to a previously depressed scene.

Chen Dao casually flipped through the reading impressions on the table, but he was hesitating in his heart how to answer the concerns of the four subordinates.

Do you want to say that this visit to Japan was originally to find fault?

Chen Dao changed his mind to dispel this thought, and the purpose of this trip must be kept secret and not disclosed.

For the sake of the four of them caring about themselves and having a sense of the overall situation, Chen Dao decided to appease the four of them first.

"Japan is our ally, and our visit to Japan is to strengthen strategic cooperation between the two sides, and this visit is an invitation from the commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, Admiral Yamamoto Go**, and they will not do anything to make me angry. And as you yourself have said, my anomaly was only mild at the beginning of December, and my self-control was able to restrain the destructive desires that this anomaly brought me. You don't have to worry, thank you for the reminder, you don't say I almost forgot about it. Chen Dao said very kindly.

Major Bach saw that Chen Dao did not lose his temper, and his heart relaxed slightly. He continued to advise: "We believe in the general's self-control, but we can't trust the Japanese. Before we saw this "Rabe's Diary", we thought that this trip to Japan would be very enjoyable, but after reading this book, we firmly believe it. The actions of the Japanese described in this book have crossed the bottom line of human morality. We think that during our visit to Japan, they will definitely make a decision that goes against ours"

Major Bach looked at Major Lorenz and the others.

Major Lorenz and Captain Nobel and Captain Nietzsche added in turn with a tacit understanding.

"Worldview"

"Outlook on Life"

"Values."

"They must have acted in a way that violates our three views, and those behaviors will definitely irritate you deeply, so we are very worried, not because we are not worried about you, but because we are not worried about the Japanese." Major Bach made his closing remarks.

"Don't worry, nothing will happen, you have also seen the Japanese, they have a dirty heart. But the superficial work is very well done, and there will be no adverse behavior that irritates me, so you can rest assured. Chen Dao said.

Major Bach saw that Chen Dao accepted their suggestion safely, so he stopped dwelling, and was about to say goodbye to Chen Dao, when Captain Nietzsche suddenly asked: "Your Excellency, the words and photographs in this book record the atrocities witnessed by Mr. Rabe himself, and the content should be basically true. IMHO, the Japanese are really inhumane, if the content of this book spreads to the military and civilians. Germany would be humiliated by having such an ally as the Japanese, and if the contents of this book were to be circulated around the world, the history of Germany would be disgraced by having such an ally as Japan. I don't understand why we should ally with the Japanese when we know that they have committed such heinous crimes. ”

Captain Nietzsche's question resonated strongly in Major Bach's tripartite. Chen Dao saw that the eyes of the four of them were full of powerful curiosity**, and he was about to get over the addiction of being a teacher, when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.

"Your Excellency, an urgent telegram from China."

The lieutenant of Colonel Brinkmann, the captain of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, handed a telegram to Chen Dao and closed the door and left.

Chen Dao laughed out loud after reading the telegram.

"We have one more task for this trip, to congratulate Japan's new prime minister on taking office."

"Who is Japan's new prime minister?" Major Bach asked.

Chen Dao threw down the telegram: "It's a four-eyed head named Hideki Tojo." At the same time, he is also the Minister of Land and the Minister of the Interior of Japan, oh, he is still a general, and our Japanese allies have now completely transformed into a military government, and the head of this military government has a combination of military and political power, and they are really going to fight a big war, a big war far beyond our imagination. But it doesn't matter, let's continue with our topic, about "Rabe's Diary", this book has not yet been published, you see the early edition, remember to do a good job of confidentiality, it is strictly forbidden to borrow, and it is not allowed to reveal the contents to others. Now let's talk about Japan, first of all, you must know that Japan does not have an air force, only an army and a navy, and the two branches of the armed forces are full of sharp contradictions."

When Chen Dao was "tirelessly ruining" Major Bach and others, Hirohito held a formal meeting of the Imperial Military Senate in the conference room of the Japanese Imperial Palace, attended by members of the newly formed Tojo Cabinet and some senior generals of the army and navy, and the theme of the meeting was to discuss the next trend of the war.

Hirohito sat in the center, his seemingly unfathomable expression on his face.

The members of Tojo's cabinet and the senior generals of the army sat on his left hand, and the senior admirals of the navy sat on his right hand.

"Tojo-ki, now that everyone has arrived, the meeting can begin."

Hideki Tojo's face was filled with an uncontrollable smile, he didn't expect that the Konoe Cabinet, which had wavered in the Japanese political circles after forming a cabinet three times, would be destroyed by a duel, which was really an unexpected accident.

After the peace talks between Britain and Germany, according to the advice from Chen Dao sent back to Japan by Hiroshi Oshima, Fumiro Konoe also decided to concentrate on defeating Britain first, and began to seriously explore ways to repair Japan-US relations and avoid fighting on two fronts.

However, with the Soviet Union's entry into the Axis bloc, Foreign Minister Yoyoshi Matsuoka, after returning from Europe, once again pursued a hardline policy toward the United States.

Matsuoka offered two reasons. One is that the Soviet Union joined the Axis powers and became an ally of Japan, and Japan's greatest enemy in the north no longer existed, so that it could concentrate on dealing with the situation in the south.

Second, the United States has taken an increasingly hardline attitude toward Japan. Moreover, according to reports from spies in the United States, the United States is secretly expanding its armaments, and there is no doubt that the number one imaginary enemy of the United States must be Japan.

Fumiro Konoe ignored Matsuoka's suggestion and wisely chose to ease relations with the United States. The front was no longer stretched until the end of the war against Britain.

However, Roosevelt mercilessly gave Konoe a blow in the face.

During the negotiations between Japan and the United States, the first demand put forward by the United States was to demand that Japan negotiate with China and withdraw its troops from China, and stressed that except for some sensitive areas, the withdrawal of Japanese troops in other areas should be completed within two years in accordance with the Sino-Japanese negotiations while achieving peace.

Having been hit by the United States on the head, and under the active instigation of Matsuoka Yoyou, Fumiro Konoe threw Chen Dao's persuasion into the Pacific Ocean, and the mood for southward expansion became unprecedentedly urgent.

In early July, the Imperial Council presided over by Fumiro Konoe decided to expand into Southeast Asia with all its might, and did not hesitate to go to war with the United States.

In order to cooperate with the implementation of the southward expansion policy. The Konoe Cabinet launched an active diplomatic offensive, pretending to agree to negotiate with China, and attempting to cut off the United States, the most important foreign aid country for China, on the one hand, through negotiations, and force China to submit at an early date; On the other hand, it is to paralyze the United States and buy time for the preparation of war against the United States.

However, in the course of the negotiations, Foreign Minister Yoyo Matsuoka, who was extremely self-confident, was too sharp-edged, and instead of paralyzing the United States, he intensified the contradictions between Japan and the United States, leading to the United States' decision to completely suspend the export of oil and scrap steel to Japan. In addition, Japan's assets in the United States were frozen, and Japan-US relations fell to an unprecedented freezing point.

At the Imperial Council in September, Fumiro Konoe decided that if diplomatic negotiations could not be fruited by early October. then immediately go to war with the United States. This resolution became a noose around the neck of the Konoe cabinet and decided the fate of Japan. By October, negotiations between Japan and the United States were still deadlocked. Hideki Tojo, the prime minister of the land, advocated the cessation of negotiations and the immediate start of war.

Konoe believed that the conditions were not yet ripe for an immediate war with the United States, that victory was not very certain, and that it would be better to have the support of Germany. Hideki Tojo, as a representative of the immediate war faction, proposed to Konoe that the national policy would not be carried out if the decision of the Imperial Council to start war was not followed. Then the Konoe Cabinet, which participated in this decision, should take the blame and resign.

At this time, a bad news came, in the Sino-Japanese duel tournament held in Berlin, the Japanese team lost to the Chinese team with two losses and one victory, and the three players were killed and disabled, and Japan became the sick man of East Asia in the eyes of Europeans.

When the news was transmitted back to China, public opinion in Japan was in an uproar, and Hideki Tojo took the opportunity to direct the spearhead of public criticism to Fumiro Konoe.

Fumiro Konoe was unwilling to give up the prime minister's throne and vowed to fight Hideki Tojo to the end.

Stimulated by the duel and tempted by the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" that Hideki Tojo strenuously described, Hirohito's brain fever and his side were on the side of Hideki Tojo, and Fumiro Konoe was forced to resign.

Knocking down Fumiro Konoe, Hideki Tojo kicked away the last stumbling block before the start of the war, and became the first person under Emperor Hirohito, of course, he couldn't stop being proud.

Hideki Tojo understood Hirohito's mind very clearly, and wisely chose to attack Hirohito's weakness: "There can only be one hegemon in the Pacific, and this hegemon can only be born between the Great Japanese Empire and the United States." It is the national policy of the empire to establish the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Circle and realize His Majesty's dream of eight wildernesses and one universe, and the imperial warriors must march forward with the unity of the whole country under the majesty of His Majesty's mighty imperial authority.

Now that the Soviet Union has become an ally of the empire, it cannot help but free the Kwantung Army to join the southward war, and the Soviet Foreign Ministry will promise to launch an attack on India, attract British troops, and provide the Japanese Empire with all the resources to fight the United States.

The United States is secretly preparing for war, and war between the Japanese Empire and the United States is inevitable. Defeating the Americans before they are ready for war, with the least possible price in exchange for victory, is exactly what we have to do now. ”

Hirohito's slitted eyes hidden behind the lenses showed a blazing light, and he pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose to hide the strangeness in his eyes, and then asked, "What do you think of Tojo Qing's explanation?" ”

Although the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet, General Yamamoto Go**, is a skinhead with Hideki Tojo, he has always looked down on Hideki Tojo, who was born in the army.

The villain has a will.

Seeing Hideki Tojo's smug smile after becoming prime minister, Yamamoto Fifty-six snorted coldly in his heart.

"Before General Nagumo returned home, the commander of the German naval aviation, now the governor of Poland, the architect of the Manstein-Rosen plan to defeat France, and the outstanding German military strategist, General Rosen, had solemnly suggested to us that we should try to avoid fighting Britain and the United States at the same time, and I think General Rosen's suggestion is very reasonable.

Since the USSR is willing to assist us, why don't we first join forces and march on India, then conquer Oceania, completely defeat Britain, and then start a war against the United States? Rather, it is unwise to choose a two-front war? ”

The look of dissatisfaction in Hirohito's eyes flashed, but instead of refuting Yamamoto Fifty-six, he turned his head and asked, "Tojo-kiyo, what do you think?" ”

"Yamamoto-kun, do you really think that General Rosen is a military strategist, or a genius that the Germans boast of? You're too innocent. Don't you know his background? Don't know about his relationship with Marshal Goering? And the name of the Manstein-Rosen plan, why is Manstein's surname put in front and his surname in the back? To put it bluntly, he was nothing more than a gentleman who relied on nepotism to win feats, and according to information from the embassy, German high society was currently rumored to be the illegitimate son of German Führer Hitler.

I don't know if others believe this rumor, but in short, I believe it, otherwise at his age, what qualifications does he have to be the governor of Poland? Yamamoto-kun, do you want to leave the national policy of the empire to a vaunted military strategist? What's more, this military strategist is still a foreigner. ”

Villain, Nagumo Zhongichi, who was sitting next to Yamamoto, scolded secretly in his heart.

"Mr. Prime Minister, before I set off with the European task force, it was you who entrusted me to invite General Rosen to visit Japan, and you called him 'the Great General Rosen' at that time. Nanyun couldn't help but sneer.

Hideki Tojo pretended not to hear Nagumo's sarcasm, and still said with a smile: "I called him the great General Rosen because I didn't know him at the time. Now, I think I've figured out the details of him, and of course I need to change my evaluation of him. ”

"General Rosen will soon arrive in Japan, don't you want to get to know him more closely? Your Majesty, gentlemen, I think that if the Reich had been able to get the help of Germany after the war with the United States, and the German and Italian navies had pinned down the American Atlantic Fleet in the Atlantic, our victory would have come sooner, and our losses would have been smaller. General Rosen's visit is an opportunity for the Reich to fight for Germany to join the war against the United States, and I suggest that this discussion be resumed after General Rosen's arrival on the Japanese mainland. ”

It would be great if he could help Germany and Italy, and Hirohito quickly analyzed the pros and cons.

"I agree with Yamamoto's suggestion, but preparations for war against the United States cannot be stopped or slackened."

Hirohito ended the conversation of the war against the United States, and the group began to discuss other military affairs (to be continued). )