"What's going on?"

Ma Liang, who heard the rumbling cannon, sat up from the chuáng suddenly, and before he could understand what was happening, another loud bang came, and a Russian nobleman lying beside him couldn't help but scream in shock.

Ma Liang jumped off the chuáng barefoot, took his clothes and draped them over his body, and just as he was scrambling to find his pistol, an adjutant stumbled in.

"Who the fuck is there to fight*?" Ma Liang looked at the panicked adjutant and asked angrily.

"Japanese...... The general is Japanese, and the Japanese have called," the adjutant replied breathlessly, holding his hat tilted to the side.

"The Japanese? Wasn't it the Japanese soldiers killed by Qu Tongfeng's men of the 23rd Division? Lao Tzu didn't provoke them, why did they hit Lao Tzu on the head? Listening to the adjutant's words, Ma Liang's bull's eyes couldn't help but stare at the boss.

"I don't know, I heard that even the Russian batteries occupied by the Japanese have all been fired, and they are attacking our navy" The adjutant said helplessly, "The Japanese are quite unreasonable now, what can we do?"

"nǎinǎi's how can there be a reason to slap me and not fight back, pass my order, give me a hard blow" Ma Liang remembered the scene he saw when he visited the "Glorious" battlecruiser a few days ago, at this moment, those huge gun barrels actually gave him a lot of courage, he hesitated, grabbed the pistol and pinned it to his waist, and gave a loud battle order.

"What do the Japanese want to do?"

On the bridge of the cruiser USS Brooklyn, in the rising sun, Vice Admiral Glennon's eyes almost widened as he watched the Allied ships coming from shore in the Golden Horn to and fro to avoid the Allied ships coming from the shore.

"The Japanese are shelling the Chinese fleet, but their gunners are so poor that they treat our ship as a medium ** ship." Major Jason, the captain of the USS Brooklyn, held a telescope and watched the battle intently.

At this time, under the heavy shelling of the Chinese battle cruiser, the Russian coastal batteries occupied by the Japanese army were all shrouded in thick smoke.

"The Chinese's artillery is so accurate," Major Jason sighed when he saw that the Japanese artillery fire gradually weakened.

"This shows that the Chinese are not completely unprepared for the coming of this conflict." Lieutenant General Glennon said.

As the sun gradually rose, the sky soon brightened, but at this time it was not only the fortress of the harbor, but also the distant city where a high column of smoke rose.

Suddenly there was a loud roar in the sky from the propellers churning the air, and Vice Admiral Glennon and the U.S. Navy officers on the bridge looked at the sky in unison, and soon saw the figures of biplanes chasing each other in the sky.

"Even the planes are joining the fray." A U.S. ** official said in surprise, "It's incredible." ”

"It's kind of incredible." Lieutenant General Glennon noticed that the movements of the Chinese and Japanese troops were so fast, it was almost like a tacit performance, and he had a faint uneasy premonition in his heart.

Tokyo, Japan, Army Staff Headquarters.

At this time, the Japanese Ministry of War and the General Staff Headquarters were holding a joint meeting to discuss the national defense policy.

"The Imperial Army should crush the forces of the Far Eastern China Army in one fell swoop before the strength of the Chinese army is fully strengthened, so as to consolidate the security of the northern part of the Empire."

"At present, Japan's relations with China are extremely bad, and it is not advisable to make enemies on both sides, and from the point of view of military mobilization, it is impossible to support a long-term war against Soviet Russia if it cannot obtain the resources of China. Therefore, the best way is to expand the gains in Manchuria on the one hand, and on the other hand, to use the strategy of coercion against China to bring it to its knees, so that the national strength can be strengthened, and then deal with Soviet Russia. ”

"What really threatens Japan is not China, but the pioneering actions of the Soviet Russian empire against Soviet Russia as a country as a target, and it is already very difficult, and it is no longer appropriate to take China as an enemy, and once a full-scale war breaks out between Japan and China, it is difficult to hope for an end in the short term, and it will be extremely depleting of national strength, so we should try not to use our strength and seek a way to peace. If there is a full-scale war between Japan and China now, there is a risk that it will become an enemy of the whole world."

"The concrete embodiment of the policy of the support of the Japanese branch should be to realize the cooperation and mutual assistance between Japan and Russia under the guidance of the empire, to control the Manchurian economy and the economic regulation with Japan, to take a stern attitude towards the administration of China, to force it to abandon the anti-Japanese policy, to eradicate the anti-Japanese movement, and to thoroughly urge it to settle all specific cases in accordance with the policy of our country. ,

The Japanese officers were arguing with red faces.

The focus of the controversy between the two sides was mainly on the China policy and attitude toward Soviet Russia.

The argument ended in the end, and after the meeting ended, War Minister Ugaki Kazunari looked at a bespectacled officer sitting there without saying a word, as if to ask for his opinion. But the man fell into a meditative state as if he were asleep.

This person is Nagata Tetsuyama, a member of the Education Director of the Army General Staff Headquarters.

The fact that the Minister of War insisted on listening to the opinions of a small class member was an incredible thing in the eyes of many people, but Ugaki Kazunari didn't seem to feel anything wrong.

Nagata Tetsuyama was born in Nagano Prefecture. Graduated from the Japanese Army University. In 1913, he went to Germany to study military affairs and returned to China the following year. In 1916, he was appointed military attaché to the legations in Denmark and Sweden. In 1918, he was appointed military attaché to the Swiss legation. After returning to China in 1920, he joined the General Staff Headquarters and served as a member of the Education Directorate Department.

After graduating from Lu University, Nagata Tetsuyama was assigned to the Department of Education Directorate, and soon rose to prominence, presiding over and formulating the "Military Education Order". Lieutenant General Botaro Hongo, then director of the Education Department (with the same status as the army vice minister and deputy chief of staff), was amazed to see that Nagata Tetsuyama, a fledgling with the rank of captain, was able to take on such an epoch-making plan covering the education of the whole army.

Nagata Tetsuyama was an extremely intelligent and knowledge-seeking man, because he had been stationed in Europe three times, just in time for the most intense period of the First World War, Nagata Tetsuyama paid close attention to the war situation, and at the same time had a relatively in-depth study of the strategic resources, industrial standards, and the general mobilization system of the countries that invested in the war, as well as the human, financial, and material resources invested to play the overall war function. After returning to China, he could not wait to submit a rich "National Mobilization Opinion" to the Japanese army authorities, which was seen by Senior General Ugaki Isseari, who was appointed Minister of War, and Ugaki Kazunari was greatly impressed by his talent, praising his proposal as "more colorful than the German General Ludendorff's 'general war theory'." ”

In the "Opinion Paper on National General Mobilization," Nagata Tetsuyama put forward the following proposals: First, establish a general mobilization system, which is embodied in the fact that the Ministry of the Army has set up a "maintenance bureau" with jurisdiction over the two sections of "mobilization" and "control." In the cabinet, a new "committee for the preparation of organs for the establishment of national general mobilization" will be established, with the director of the Legislative Affairs Bureau of the Cabinet concurrently serving as the chairman, one member and one officer nominated by each locality, and the officers appointed by the army and provincial governments actually presiding over the work of the committee and leading the planning of the general mobilization system. With regard to the establishment of a general mobilization system, Nagata Tetsuyama not only demanded the reorganization of armaments, but also demanded that political, educational, economic, and social affairs be brought within the scope of the general war, and that a system of general mobilization of the state be established. Second, it is the general mobilization of the national jīng gods. Nagata Tetsuyama suggested that from now on, young and outstanding retired officers should be placed in various schools as instructors to carry out military training for students; For young people, a "youth training center" will be set up; At the same time, in line with the strengthening of the activities of the "Township Military Union", the idea of "loyalty to the monarch and patriotism" and the consciousness of "imperial road" and "divine right" were instilled in all social strata and corners, so as to unite the people and unify the national action. That is, "in peacetime and wartime, the army of 70 million compatriots, under the supreme control, gallops to their fate, only I generally touch more than 200,000 active-duty soldiers, more than 3 million soldiers in the township, 560,000 middle and upper class students, and more than 1,000,000 young people, which is enough to deserve it." "The third is the modernization of weapons and equipment. During World War I, Nagata Tetsuyama, who went to Europe to observe the war, was shocked by the tremendous role played by the new weapons such as airplanes, submarines, tanks, giant artillery, and light machine guns that appeared on the battlefields of Europe, and was especially impressed by the large-scale use of poison gas by both sides in the later stages of the war. Nagata Tetsuyama profoundly felt that the guns and artillery of the Russo-Japanese War era equipped by the Japanese army had become completely waste, and if Japan could not implement "weapons" in a timely manner, it would not be able to survive in the world. As for the reasons for the failure of Japan's invasion of China in 1915, Nagata Tetsuyama made a serious summary, and he believed that the failure of this war was not only due to the mistakes in the decision-making of the Japanese government and the improper command of the generals, but also because of the lack of advanced weapons and equipment. Adhering to the instructions of War Minister Kazunari Ugaki, he planned to reduce the standing strength of the four divisions and regiments, and use the saved personnel costs to develop new weapons such as aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery. At the same time, Nagata Tetsusei also advocated the protection of Japan's domestic automobile industry and vigorously promoted the development of heavy industry to support research in national defense science and technology. Fourth, to ensure the need for strategic resources: in World War I, the German army fired a total of about 20 million shells in the Battle of Verdun, and the French Army fired 34 million shells in the Battle of the Somme; The U.S. and Chinese armies dispatched thousands of tanks and 50 million shells at a time during the Battle of Amiens, and because the United States consumed a lot of steel for the war against Germany, in order to meet its own needs, it once banned the export of steel to Japan. These circumstances made Nagata Tetsuyama realize that in the future war, it was necessary to ensure the supply of large quantities of coal, iron, and other strategic resources. Otherwise, not to mention the struggle for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, even the survival of the country cannot be guaranteed. For this reason, Nagata Tetsuyama suggested that the Ministry of War set up a "Combat Materials Preparation Council" and set up a "Resources Bureau" and a "Resources Council" in the Cabinet to investigate, conserve, and control the use of war resources. Because Japan is an island country with poor resources, and many kinds of strategic resources that Japan needs at home must be sought from abroad, Nagata Tetsuyama, who is bent on promoting national mobilization, actively advocates "establishing a Japan-Manchurian economic bloc and self-sufficiency", and to achieve this goal, "it is necessary to solve the Manchurian problem by force."

"Nagata-kun, do you have any ideas for me?" Seeing that Nagata Tetsuyama didn't seem to have come back to his senses, Ugaki Kazunari couldn't help but ask.

"Oh." Nagata Tetsuyama came back to his senses and gave an apologetic smile to the Minister of War, "I'm thinking about how to solve the Manmang problem quickly." ”

"You mean, now is a good time to go to war against China?" Kazunari Ugaki asked.

"That's right," Nagata Tetsuyama nodded, "War against Shina is inevitable now. ”

"But now China's military strength has become very strong, far exceeding Yuan Shikai's era, and behind China, there is the support of the United States, I think it is not very appropriate for us to start a war with China at this time." Kazunari Ugaki bluntly spoke his opinion and waited for Nagata Tetsuyama's next words.

"The reason why we are going to war with China now is because Japan can't wait any longer." Nagata Tetsuyama explained, "Today's China Navy is no longer the ant that can be strangled by only Japan's fingers, and the battle cruisers deployed by the China Navy in the area of Tianjin and Qingdao have been able to directly bombard Korea and the Japanese mainland." The fleet deployed by the China Navy in the vicinity of Guangzhou is also capable of attacking Taiwan at any time. The strength of the China Army is also very strong. Politically, the political situation in China has stabilized, and militarily, although the various warlords in China have gone through several wars, the Beijing government is now in control, and a unified and powerful China is being formed, and if we want to prevent the baby from growing into a giant, we must now strangle it in the cradle. ”

Listening to Nagata Tetsuyama's words, Ugaki Kazunari couldn't help but nod his head again and again.

"The enemy of Japan, in addition to China, is also Soviet Russia." Nagata Tetsuyama continued, "Soviet Russia is now fledgling, and if this multinational intervention cannot be successful, he will suffer the first victim of Japan, except for China, which will be Japan, and Japan and Soviet Russia will have a war in the other day. Therefore, Japan had to include Manchuria, intending to keep the enemy out of the country in the war against Soviet Russia, and to preemptively destroy the Soviet Russian military power in the Far East in one fell swoop; In addition, and more importantly, Japan lacked strategic resources and had to take them from Manchuria. If Manchuria can be truly controlled, on the one hand, it can stop the southward movement of Soviet Russia, and on the other hand, it can increase the pressure on China. Therefore, it is necessary to make the solution of the Manchurian problem the central national policy of Japan. ”

"The only way to solve the Manchurian problem is to resort to force." Ugaki Kazunari said to himself.

"Manchuria, in ancient times, should become an economic unit with Japan, which is the minimum living conditions of Japan. The issue of relations with China is a major issue of Japan's survival and the life or death of its people. The imperial position on China is divided into the general and the special, and the special is the full méng; The basic points of Manchurian countermeasures should be: 1. Inclusion in the territory of the empire. 2. To make it independent as an imperial protectorate or a free state. Nagata Tetsuyama said, "If our empire cannot obtain independent resources and markets from overseas, it will not be able to guarantee the survival of the country." The imperial policy is to seize every opportunity to acquire overseas territories or expand spheres of influence. By all accounts, suitable places for this goal were Manchuria and Méng, which bordered the empire, and even Siberia. The urgent task at present is to unify the army's determination, establish its convictions, and provide guidance and encouragement to the government and the people. ”

Hearing the latter sentence said by Nagata Tetsuyama, Ugaki Kazunari's face couldn't help but feel a little depressed.

Due to Japan's excessively large military expenditures and the hardships of the people at the lower levels, various political parties in the country have repeatedly called for disarmament, and the dispatch of troops to the Far East has exacerbated this situation. But if there is a war with China, disarmament will certainly not be possible.

"Another advantage of starting a war against the branch is that it can cultivate the people to look overseas and forge ahead (to put it bluntly, it is to use war to divert the attention of the people at home)." Nagata Tetsuyama seemed to understand what the Minister of War was worried about, and then said, "The land full of méng, several times the size of Japan, is abundant, if it can be owned by Japan, it is enough to make the people's livelihood rich, as long as the war against the army is victorious, all problems can be easily solved." ”

Listening to Nagata Tetsuyama's words, Ugaki Kazunari's face became soothed.

"This time the war against the Qing Dynasty was comparable to the Qing Dynasty in the 278th year of the Meiji Era, when the government decided to start a war against the Qing Dynasty, and there were many voices of concern and doubts in the country, but the later result was the beginning of Japan's uninherited foundation." Nagata Tetsuyama said. "The difference between today's China and the Qing State at that time is that the Qing State was rich but weak at that time, and the current China is poor and strong. If China fights with our country, Britain and the United States may not be willing to support it as before, and without enough money, the war of the Chinese army will not be able to continue. This is also a favorable condition for us to go to war now. ”

"I see" At this time, Ugaki Kazunari had completely convinced Nagata Tetsuyama, "What we lack now is a reason to convince the people to go to war against China." ”

"There will be no shortage of reasons." Nagata Tetsuyama remembered the plan he had made with his colleagues in the "Futabakai", and his eyes flashed with indescribable excitement.

"What do you mean?" Ugaki Kazunari noticed the strangeness of Nagata Tetsuyama God Sè and couldn't help but ask.

"With the stupidity of the Ishina, they would have easily given us such a reason." Of course, Nagata Tetsuyama would not tell the Minister of War who appreciated him and his colleagues in the "Futabakai", "I can definitely be sure of this. ”