The daylight was projected through the gaps in the curtains, and the house was said to be the book at seven o'clock in the afternoon, six

Kimio Nishizawa walked to the window. Pull back the curtains. The bright sunlight made his eyes a little uncomfortable for a moment, and he squinted his eyes and looked out the window, and the street was a little deserted. There are more police officers patrolling than pedestrians.

This is a small private inn in the town of Minami, Abandoned Mountain, Akapa-ku, Tokyo, very close to the Japanese Army University, and you can see the gate of the Army University a few streets away.

Kimio Nishizawa had only moved into this private inn the day before yesterday, as an "expatriate" who had retreated from Lushun. "Kimio Nishizawa is relatively lucky. At least he returned to Japan safely, and on the way back to Japan, he did not encounter the legendary haunting Chinese submarine

Kimio Nishizawa returned to Japan on the last Japanese cargo ship to leave the port of Dalian, and at that time, the squadron had already conquered Jinzhou. Chinese Air Force planes were indiscriminately bombarding Japanese ships anchored in Dalian Bay, and there is no doubt that this Sino-Japanese battle made Nishizawa reacquaint himself with the Chinese.

Although Japan's "Kanto Governor" Fukushima Yasumasa tried his best to persuade Nishizawa to leave Dalian as soon as possible. But Nishizawa dragged on until the end before he made up his mind to leave the city that had belonged to China before the squadron attacked Dalian. And after leaving this time, I don't know when I'll be able to return to that city again.

Among the hundreds of Japanese expatriates evacuated from Dalian, Kimio Nishizawa wandered in fear on a battered Japanese cargo ship in the Yellow Sea for two days and two nights, during which he experienced several heart-pounding chaos, first rumors that the cargo ship was occupied by a Chinese submarine and that the Chinese would immediately fire torpedoes to sink the Japanese ship, although it turned out to be just a hallucicity of some Japanese expatriates in a trance. But above the vast sea, people's isolation and helplessness really made everyone feel hopeless, and Nishizawa was no exception, and as a "special personnel" who had access to top-secret military intelligence, Nishizawa knew very well that the Chinese Navy's submarines did not exist only in the "illusion" of the Japanese, but were a powerful weapon that really existed in reality, as evidenced by the Japanese ships sunk in the ports of Lushun and Dalian.

In addition to experiencing the panic of the submarine attack, Nishizawa Kimio also experienced robbery on that Japanese cargo ship, because there was no one to maintain discipline on board, a group of Japanese ronin who retreated from Lushun and Dalian ransacked all the luggage that Nishizawa was carrying, except for some belongings he carried with him, Nishizawa Kirio had nothing else to do when he went ashore, the only thing to be thankful for was that the documents he carried with him were not in danger.

Those documents were handed over to him by the "Kanto Governor" Yasumasa Fukushima, and as for the contents, Nishizawa is not clear. He only knew that he had to personally send these top-secret documents to the Japanese Navy Command Department.

So, after Sasebo came ashore, Nishizawa immediately headed for Tokyo, and after arriving in Tokyo the day before yesterday, he went to the Japanese Navy Command Department. After handing over all the top-secret documents, he was arranged to stay in this small private hotel and await the summons of the relevant personnel of the Japanese government.

After only two days in Tokyo, Nishizawa has already seen the chaos in the city. As a result of the attack by Chinese submarines, Japan's maritime trade routes were seriously threatened, maritime communications were blocked, many raw materials and industrial products could not be transported into Japan, and goods manufactured by Japanese factories could not be shipped out. Workers are unemployed, have nothing to do, and roam the streets all day long. Taken together, these two situations have led to the chaos that is now in Tokyo.

Just yesterday, there were riots in some areas of Tokyo where hungry people grabbed rice, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department did not dispatch a large number of police forces to cooperate with the Japanese army to suppress them, and the riots spread to the red garbage area where Nishizawa was staying, and this small hotel was almost burned down by a group of unemployed workers.

In the past, this chaotic scene could only be seen in the Qing Kingdom. But now, what does it mean that Kimio Nishizawa did indeed see it in Japan, and he was born in Tokyo? This shows that the situation in Japan is rapidly spiraling out of control.

A war that took Japan off guard changed in this way, and many believe that it was the incompetence of the Japanese army that betrayed Japan's interests, and that it was the defeat at the front that led to everything that is now.

But these Japanese only see the surface. They fail to see the underlying cause of the current predicament, which is the extreme fragility of Japan's finances.

, Wanbi

Due to the long-term expansion of the armament war, Japan's government finances have long been overwhelmed, after the Russo-Japanese War. Because Japan did not receive the expected war reparations, Japan's government expenditures were immediately affected, and it had to slow down the pace of its armament buildup.

This can also be understood, in the inertial thinking of the Japanese government, China absolutely does not dare to take the initiative to start a war against Japan, although the Chinese president is a madman and often makes some provocative actions in diplomacy, but in the eyes of the top level of the Japanese government, the madman president is just acting, they never expected that the other side would dare to really provoke a war against Japan, and at the beginning of the war, it was thunderous

In fact, it would be unfair to say that the Japanese government has lax its guards. Indeed, the Japanese Government has also seriously studied the information sent back to Japan by those spies who are lurking in China, and all kinds of indications show that the central government of China is indeed enriching its armaments. But that doesn't change one basic fact, and that is. Japan's government finances are already overwhelmed. In other words, the Japanese government at that time did not have enough budget to engage in an arms race with China, and in the face of Japan's domestic economic weakness, the Japanese government had to improve its fiscal situation first, and the Japanese people could not compete with the Chinese poor to endure poverty, especially the Japanese workers, who could not tolerate a sharp decline in living standards, and Japan's rural areas could no longer accommodate more labor. The landlord economy has soothed any attempt to use the countryside as a buffer for the industrial population.

According to the Japanese government's plan, they will take countermeasures against China after the economic situation improves. But before this opportunity came, the Chinese had already taken the lead, so. The Japanese army was completely defeated in this local war, and Japan's domestic economy was even worse, and it was irreparable.

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The outbreak of the war in Europe was originally a good match for the Japanese government, which could take advantage of the opportunity of Yin Qiang's lack of time to look east in Europe to revive the Japanese economy. It has further gained strategic superiority in East Asia, but now that the war with China is still ongoing, it is impossible for the Japanese government to develop its economy with peace of mind.

It's in this situation. Two very different opinions have emerged within the Japanese government. One opinion is that since the war has proved the overall inferiority of the Japanese army in terms of tactics and weapons, it is time to sit down rationally at the negotiating table, reach a peace agreement or armistice agreement with the Chinese, and then make every effort to restore the domestic economy; Another view is that at such a time, the national mood is extreme. If we seek peace now, we will be angering the Japanese people. Rather than this, the government and the cabinet will fall. It is better to continue the war and carry out a general mobilization. The remnants of the naval force will be used to escort the land forces to carry out landing operations in the southeast coastal areas of China, and strive to open up a new situation in the south China direction. In this way, China is forced to take the initiative to sue for peace.

These two opposing views represent two groups, one of which is the "Kaijin faction", which belongs to the constitutionalist political force supported by Ito Hirobumi, who believes that they cannot put their eggs in one basket and should retreat from the difficulties. Let's first protect Japan's capital, and then talk about it, it is the Japanese Navy Command Department that supports the proposition of this faction; The other group is the "Lu Jin faction", they belong to the army force in the military force, they insist that only expansion in the direction of the East Asian continent is the way for Japan to survive, there is no other way, and the source of this idea is the extreme desire of the Japanese people at the bottom for land, and these people are precisely the backbone of the Japanese army, through the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese car has controlled Korea and South Manchuria, as long as time is over, these areas can provide a large amount of arable land for Japanese immigrants, But if you take the initiative to sue for peace with China now. Then, it will be difficult to protect the interests of these regions.

In the final analysis, the divergence remains the divergence of interests and the consequent divergent direction of strategic priorities.

As an insider, Nishizawa also understands this to some extent, and he has always speculated that the top-secret documents handed over to him before Fukushima Yasushi sent him on the ship to return to Japan are also likely to be related to the current quarrel in the Japanese government.

Fukushima Yasumasa had close ties to the Japanese Army, but this time he handed over some top-secret documents to the Japanese Navy, a move that was no small felt, and Nishizawa suspected that Fukushima Yasumasa might have questioned his previous "mainland policy."

Whatever Fukushima Yasumasa's opinion is. They are all directly related to Nishizawa Kimio, because when the Japanese Navy Command Department placed him in this small private hotel, they told him to stay in the hotel at all times. "Some big guys" will most likely ask to be summoned.

Because of this, Kimio Nishizawa stayed in the hotel and didn't go anywhere.

, Wanbi

Finally, a navy major arrived at the hotel and brought a verbal order to Kimio Nishizawa.

"Nishizawa-kun, please come with me in the car. His Excellency Kato intends to summon you. ”

Kimio Nishizawa was indeed surprised. After he got dressed, he finally decided to check it.

"Your Excellency Kato? Is it His Excellency Foreign Minister Kato? ”

"Yes, please act quickly."

Kimio Nishizawa followed the officer out of the hotel. Climb aboard a horse-drawn carriage sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Go to the National Assembly of Japan to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Takaaki Kato.

To get to the National Assembly Hall from Chipo District, you need to pass through the Chinese Legation in Japan, which is still very lively in front of the former legation site, although China had severed diplomatic relations with Japan before the war began, and the embassy in Japan had withdrawn its flag and returned to China. Many Japanese gathered outside the legation, holding signs and shouting slogans, throwing stones at the already empty legation, and some young Japanese students were even lighting some papier-mâché models of submarines.

This may be seen as the anger of the Japanese people. Anger under the watchful eye of the Japanese police.