The news that Tan Renhao saved a family of expatriates immediately spread in the embassy, because of the relationship of General Nie Renfeng, the embassy staff quickly arranged for the three to leave Japan, and sent someone to send them on a ship bound for the Tang Empire two days later. However, Tan Renhao did not take this matter to heart, he had already realized that Japan's hatred of the Tang Empire was no longer only for the upper echelons of the government, but even for the Japanese civilians who were full of hatred for the Tang Empire. When this hatred erupts, it will inevitably lead to a war to the death between the two countries.

That night, Nie Renfeng also came back, and he didn't even eat dinner, so he directly called Tan Renhao to his room.

"During the day, I went to see the Emperor of Japan." Nie Renfeng sneered, "On the surface, the Japanese emperor keeps preaching friendly diplomatic relations between Tang and Japan. In fact, from Prime Minister Konoe to ordinary officials below, they are already preparing for war. By the way, are you familiar with the person of Kiei Tojo? ”

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, hesitated for a moment, and said, "He seems to be the former chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, right?" ”

The Japanese Kwantung Army refers to the army east of Tokyo, Japan, which is the strongest army in Japan, its predecessor is the Guards Army that assisted the Japanese Emperor to quell the rebellion, and it was a powerful army established by the Tang Empire to help the Japanese Emperor at that time, and until now, it is also the most powerful army in Japan and the most influential army in the Japanese Army.

"He has been nominated as Chief of Staff of the Army Military Training Department, and will probably be promoted in the near future." Nie Renfeng sighed, "This guy is an extreme nationalist, and at the same time an extreme militarist. Now, he has organized a group of young officers and wants to seize the power of the cabinet, reorganize the cabinet government, and form a military government. We don't have much specific information, but I have heard that he is the most opposed to the continuation of the arms treaty and is the most active advocate of war. ”

"He's just an army general, and he has a lot of influence on the Japanese navy?"

"Now, he's not just a soldier, he's a politician." Nie Renfeng smiled bitterly, "Forget it, this is not something we should care about." Tomorrow, negotiations will begin. Therefore, we need to take a closer look at the situation in Japan. How much do you know about the Iwasaki, Mitsui, Sumitomo and other families in Japan? ”

Tan Renhao was stunned for a moment, and then shook his head, he only knew that these families were the largest families in Japan. In the wave of industrialization, these families have reaped the benefits. However, Japan's national conditions determined that it was impossible for Japan to adopt the liberal capitalist economic model of the West, nor could it develop according to the state monopoly capitalist mode of the Tang Empire. Family power has a great influence in Japan. And these three families are the most representative of them.

"The Mitsubishi Foundation, established by the Iwasaki family, is now the largest heavy industry group in Japan. From firearms to warships, the factories controlled by the Mitsubishi consortium were major suppliers to the Japanese military. At present, several of the main combat aircraft of the Japanese Navy are manufactured by it. Nie Renfeng handed a document to Tan Renhao, "Take a closer look, this is some information about the Iwasaki family." Similarly, the Mitsui Foundation, the Sumitomo Foundation, and so on, which are controlled by the Mitsui family, are the most powerful industrial groups in Japan. The industries controlled by these families accounted for 60% of Japan's arms industry. ”

"What do they have to do with negotiations?" Tan Renhao was a little puzzled.

"Because we will soon be visiting their factories, and now that the arms treaty has not yet been effective, I am afraid that this will be the last time we will visit Japanese arms factories as overseers." Nie Renfeng patted the armrest of the sofa, "Okay, you take the information back to read, you also have to rest early, tomorrow morning, we will go to the negotiation meeting." If all goes well, then we will soon be able to see the Japanese munitions factories. ”

The negotiations did not go well, and Tan Renhao had expected it a long time ago. The extension of the "Songjiang Treaty" was in fact a continuation of the restrictions on the naval expansion of the navies of the great powers. At most, this is only the time to delay the outbreak of war, and in fact, it is impossible to prevent it from breaking out. Of course, for some countries that believe they are strong enough to challenge other powers, extending the arms treaty will only make them miss the opportunity. Japan is such a country, and therefore it is the most resolute opponent of the extension of the arms treaty during the negotiations.

During the negotiation process, Tan Renhao was only responsible for acting as an adviser to the Imperial negotiators, providing them with some necessary knowledge. Formal negotiations were conducted between the main representatives of the nine countries (the representative of the Tang Empire was Lieutenant General Nie Renfeng) and the diplomatic negotiators who assisted these representatives. However, every country has advisers like Tan Renhao. These people will not be very high-status, but they know more about the development of the world's navies. The status of these advisers is also very important, because the information they provide will directly determine the attitude of diplomatic negotiators at the negotiating table.

On the first day of the negotiations, the nine countries argued about the value of the Songjiang Treaty, and the specific time frame for extending it. At noon, the Japanese representatives took the initiative to withdraw from the negotiations, and even announced that they would withdraw from the treaty system ahead of schedule and speed up the construction of the main warships. The representative of the United States acted as a mediator, and in the afternoon, the representative of the Japanese side returned to the negotiating table. The focus of the negotiations then fell on how many warships Japan should have to be reasonable.

According to the provisions of the Treaty of Songjiang, if the naval strength of the Tang Empire, the United States of America, and the British Empire was 100, then Japan, the Kingdom of France, and the German Empire were 70, and the Kingdom of Italy, the Russian Empire, and the Persian Empire were 50. The Japanese side mainly opposed this ratio, demanding that its naval strength be increased to at least 85, otherwise it would withdraw from the negotiations. The British Empire supported Japan's demands, while the Tang Empire was firmly opposed. In addition, the Persian and German empires also demanded a greater naval power, which was firmly opposed by the British Empire, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Italy, and the Russian Empire.

Negotiations soon reached an impasse. For the next two days, nine nations were wrangling over the proportions of naval power. Tan Renhao felt that this was like haggling in the vegetable market, and all countries wanted to strengthen their own strength while weakening the strength of their main rivals. Obviously, in the absence of a party willing to make concessions, nothing would have come from such negotiations.