… The river is deep, but the office building is still lit up, here is Lushun. After the abolition of the military and political center of the Japanese leased "Kanto Prefecture" and the "Kanto Prefecture". The "Kanto Office" was established in the former Kanto Governor's Office.

This office building is the main office area of the "Kanto Agency", and the new "Director of the Kanto Agency" Sage Ya Huangsuke has not yet arrived. Therefore, all military and political work here is still presided over by the former governor of the Kwantung region, Yoshimasa Oshima. And his official position now is "Commander of the Kwantung Army"

It's past two o'clock in the morning, and Yoshimasa Oshima is still presiding over the meeting in a conference room in the office building. In addition to the high-ranking military officers of the "Kwantung Army," several civil affairs officials were also invited to attend the meeting as observers.

The main topic of the meeting was the current situation in the South Manchurian region and how to deal with it, and the Japanese government's unauthorized establishment of the "Kwantung Agency" aroused the anger of the Chinese side. The "Northeast Asia Crisis" erupted, and with the Chinese National Defense Forces' major northward advance. The situation is getting worse and worse. Although Britain and the United States mediated between them, they were part of the radical forces of the Japanese military. Oshima Yoshimasa himself was not at all worried about the outbreak of war, he believed that the Japanese Imperial Army, which had defeated the Russian Empire, would win the "Manchurian War" and take advantage of this step to incorporate the South Manchurian region and even the entire Manchuria region into the Japanese colonial circle. More importantly, if he could command the Japanese Kwantung Army to victory, then he would use it as his stepping stone.

Now Emperor Meiji of Japan is terminally ill. All who know the inside story understands that once the spiritual idol of this Restoration era died. Then the political landscape of Japan that has been formed since the Meiji Restoration is likely to change, and this impending redistribution of political interests is an unavoidable topic for every big man, and there are both opportunities and challenges. For Japan's rising military forces, the biggest challenge comes from the constitutionalist political forces in Japan.

Therefore, the Japanese military department urgently needed a brilliant victory on the battlefield to consolidate their power. Seven years ago, by virtue of the victory in the Russo-Japanese War. The Japanese military forces have succeeded in shaping themselves into national icons. Drawing on this experience from the rise of the military and the balance of power in the government, the Japanese military has now become particularly belligerent, following the outbreak of the anti-Japanese uprising on the Korean Peninsula two years ago. The reason why the Japanese military department ignored the domestic financial situation and insisted on expanding the scale of the war was also out of this belligerent mentality.

However, as the war of the great anti-Japanese uprising in Korea continued, the Japanese military headquarters not only failed to quickly quell the resistance of the Korean patriots, but dragged the entire army into the quagmire of war, and the war costs remained high and the casualties of the soldiers gradually increased. Public opinion from the international side, especially China, the United States, Germany and other countries, condemned it. All of them have led to a surge of discontent among the Japanese people. At first, the Japanese people blamed the government for failing to appoint colonial officials, which led to a heightened national sentiment in Korea. But then. With the stalemate of the war approaching, the Japanese people began to point the finger at the Japanese military headquarters, accusing the military headquarters of incompetent command, while on the other hand, the Japanese left-wing forces, which had become increasingly strong in the economic depression of previous years, also joined the race. Anti-war voices are growing louder. All this has put the Japanese government and military in a dilemma.

Korea is Japan's most important colony, and if we count from the end of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese government has been working the Korean Peninsula for more than 10 years, and if it cannot quickly quell the Korean people's resistance and bring the Korean Peninsula back under Japanese colonial rule, let alone be said to be a Japanese politician. Even the Japanese people would never agree, but on the other hand. As the war could not be ended for a long time, a great deal of the Japanese government's energy and financial resources were consumed in the contest with the anti-Japanese guerrillas in Korea. And so it goes. Not only is the Japanese government unable to account for its people, but it is also unable to concentrate on international affairs. Even the economic penetration of China, which had been unwilling to relax, was contained, which was very detrimental to the Japanese Empire, and the domestic economic development began to tilt towards the military industry. A handful of chaebols reaped huge profits from the war. However, the standard of living of the majority of the population has fallen markedly.

Workers' strikes. Student strikes. Merchants' strikes, hawkers' riots"In the past two years, these embarrassing incidents abound the Japanese government, and the mood of the people has become increasingly difficult to control. No one knows if it will be a revolution, because of the defeat of the war against Japan. Tsarist Russia had a revolution that swept the country, taking into account the growing power of the left. There is a general sense of crisis among Japanese politicians.

Indeed, when the great anti-Japanese uprising in Korea first broke out, the vast majority of people in Japan did not realize that the war would last for two years, and most Japanese believed that as long as the army arrived, the guns would be discharged. Then, those Korean rabble will disperse in a rush like the previous anti-appeasements, but the Japanese could not have imagined that on the Korean Peninsula, they would encounter the kind of guerrilla warfare that the British ** team encountered in South Africa back then, and. Compared to the guerrilla warfare of the Boers in South Africa, the guerrilla warfare of the Koreans was more flexible and had an advantage in terms of terrain. More importantly, the North Korean guerrillas had theoretical guidance, and the source of their tactics was the pamphlet "Guerrilla Warfare."

"Guerrilla Warfare". It is said that this tactical booklet was compiled by the Chinese president, Zhao Bei. Over there. Many tactics are jaw-dropping, such as sparrow warfare, tunnel warfare, sabotage warfare, and harassment warfare, which are dazzling, compared to the anti-British guerrilla warfare of the Boers in South Africa. The anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare of the Koreans was particularly flexible, and the Japanese colonial forces on the Korean Peninsula did encounter a completely new tactic.

In order to study the tactics of countering guerrilla warfare, the Japanese translated "Guerrilla Warfare" into Japanese. The military is researching, and the people are also arguing, after a period of difficult exploration. The Japanese military eventually found effective tactics of confrontation, and the Korean Peninsula immediately became a ruin and a killing field, because the Japanese soldiers now had the best way to eliminate the guerrillas was to eliminate the civilian population.

But it is unrealistic to exterminate all North Korean civilians in a short period of time, and the international impact is too bad. Therefore, many people in the Japanese Government and the military department believe that the anti-Japanese forces in Korea should be taken out of the pot. Cut off its logistical supplies, especially firearms and ammunition.

China has been supplying weapons to the anti-Japanese forces in Korea for the past two years, and this is a fact that the Japanese military department has long been aware of, but because of the Japanese government's cautiousness, it has been impossible for the Japanese military department to take any effective and swift measures to cut off the supply of weapons to the anti-Japanese guerrillas in Korea. For this reason, the Japanese veterans and the top echelons of the military department were very helpless.

But now. As the signs of political instability in Japan intensified, the Japanese government finally lifted the "shackles" of the dagger of the military department. agreed to the Japanese military department's bottom salary; state, and this plan is the "Northeast Asian crisis."

If the central government of China is unwilling to make "satisfactory concessions" on the issue of supporting the anti-Japanese forces in Korea, then no one can guarantee that war will not break out, and once the war breaks out, the Japanese military department will never again allow it to be dictated by those domestic politicians. It was determined to take this opportunity to further strengthen the military and even to organize a full war cabinet by the military if necessary. Kick the constitutionalists in Japan out of the way and clear the way for Imperial Japan's expansion in Northeast Asia.

Got the background. He certainly understood that with the current domestic situation in Japan, it was very risky and even very dangerous to start a full-scale war against China, after all. Since the United Front came to power, China has taken advantage of the two years that Japan has no time to take care of its industry to carry out a drastic rectification and reform, although the "four industrial exhibition plans" have not yet been completed. However, no one can deny that China's current industrial strength has been strengthened, and it can not only manufacture most of the weapons of the Sixth Army, but even aircraft, and at the same time, because of the establishment and familiarity with the modern military mobilization system, China's armed forces can rapidly expand to more than one million people in a short period of time, under the current situation. If Japan and China are caught in a full-scale war. If this war becomes as protracted as the anti-Japanese guerrilla war in Korea, then Japan may be completely crushed.

But on the other hand, Yoshimasa Oshima also saw it at the same time. Once Japan takes the opportunity of a war with China to strengthen its military forces, Japan's future military expansion strategy will be fully implemented and carried out, and there will be no restraint from the Diet and the government. Japan's expansion will be faster, and if tensions in Europe become more tense and war breaks out in Europe, Japan will quickly become the only power in the Far East.

So. Oshima Yoshimasa was a little conflicted in his heart, he wanted China to go to war with Japan, but now he felt that the time was not ripe enough. Therefore, his mood was excited and uneasy. I only hope that the telegram in China will be photographed as soon as possible, so as to relieve his hesitation.

Most of the people present were as hesitant as Oshima Yoshimasa, and according to the domestic instructions of the previous day, the "Kanto Office" must be prepared for war. Once the war broke out, the Japanese "Kwantung Army" would quickly eliminate the Chinese garrisons along the South Manchurian Railway, and then go all the way along the Jingbong Railway to Shanhaiguan, and then continue to advance southward, and attack Beijing and Tianjin with the "Korean Army" from Dagu Deng6, and strive to take the Chinese capital in one fell swoop, so as to prompt those local powerful factions in China to change their stance and move closer to Japan and the foreign powers, and even if they could not destroy the United Front, they would have to drive them back to Hubei and Fourth.

But this strategy is too difficult to implement. Since the United Front came to power, China's national defense capabilities have long since changed from what they used to be, under the personal auspices of the strongman president. Even if the Japanese army can quickly occupy Tianjin and Beijing, China's central military force will not collapse quickly, and once this decisive goal cannot be achieved, then this Sino-Japanese war will definitely become a protracted war, and Japan will be dragged down.

The key is the attitude and stance of those local powerful factions in China, judging from past experience, as long as the central government of China is defeated and its prestige is reduced, then. The centrifugal tendencies of the local powerful faction will intensify, and opportunities will arise for Japan. But the question is, has China's political power fundamentally changed during the two years that the United Front has been in power? Do the overseers and town guards in those provinces still effectively control the military power? Until there was action, all this was unknown to the Japanese government and the military department.

The reason why the meeting in the Kanto Hall dragged on until the early hours of the morning was to discuss how to divide the local powerful factions in China.

However, before Yoshimasa Oshima and his staff could discuss a practical solution, a military secretary of the Kanto Agency walked into the conference room with a telegram and handed it to Yoshimasa.

Yoshimasa Oshima read the contents of the telegram with a straight face, then stood up expressionlessly and announced the end of the meeting.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need to discuss it. Domestic order, "The Manchurian operation, postponed indefinitely, and from now on, all units of the Eastern Army immediately cease military exercises." All the garrisons along the South Manchurian Railway were withdrawn

Everyone was in an uproar, and the order was a little chaotic for a while, and Oshima Yoshimasa had to reprimand everyone for being quiet.

"Do you think the government has compromised? No! It is China that has compromised! The Chinese have promised to stop supplying weapons to the Koreans, and soon the empire will re-stabilize the order of the Korean Viceroyalty. The empire's reclamation business will continue to be carried out in Korea! ”

The crowd applauded happily for this "great diplomatic victory" of the rival imperial government. Rejoiced.

Looking at these subordinates, Oshima Yoshimasa was still expressionless, walked to the window, and read the telegram from China again with a wall lamp.

The content of the telegram was cold. Let Oshima Yoshima's heart also be cold:

According to a report by Ambassador Palin, the German fleet to China officially set sail from the port of Hamburg to the Mediterranean Sea yesterday, and in addition to the supply ships, it has a total of six warships, in order: the former dreadnought "Wittesbach," the former dreadnought "Hesse," and the light cruiser "Bremen." , the light cruiser "Königsberg", the light cruiser "Emden", the mine-laying cruiser "Albatross", . Judging by the route, the fleet will sail from the Suez Canal to Qingdao, China.

In addition, the British ambassador to Japan has officially informed the cabinet ministers that the British government will temporarily suspend all borrowing and borrowing from Japan until the conclusion of negotiations with China.

Judging by the content of the post-means of telegrams. The Japanese government has not achieved any "major diplomatic victory" at all, and the reason why China and Japan have decided to end the situation of military tension and confrontation is entirely because of the intervention of the European and American powers.

Although Japan is far stronger than Korea and stronger than China, it is still compared to the old European and American powers. Japan is a small foot.

With a sigh, Oshima Yoshimasa pushed open the window and looked at the Port Arthur, where the lights were flickering, all of them were signal lights on the warships, and those warships had arrived at the port from Japan by net, but now, I am afraid that they will soon be transferred back to Japan.