Yoshida was a man of uneasy nerves - when he was commander of the Combined Fleet, his staff officers had a consensus on this. And he is not a popular commander, he is too picky, likes to ask about trivial matters, is not at ease about anything, and often reprimands the staff officers around him for a little thing. is such a person, who can still be a minister after becoming a commander, and this is when the current situation is extremely complicated.

Unlike the Army, which can barely come up with a unified opinion, the current Japanese Navy is unable to reach an agreement at all under the leadership of this minister who is not very nervous.

Of course, the controversy within the Navy is also related to the "Anglo-American phobia" that has always existed in the Navy. Unlike those army commanders who did not have any good weapons in their hands, but were not afraid of heaven and earth, most of the Japanese naval officers were well-informed figures who knew the British and American situations very well.

Moreover, the navy's combat methods are not quite the same as those of the army, and the army can still win by desperate human life -- at least in the eyes of the Japanese army, and the navy cannot fight a war without aircraft warships, and the strength of aircraft warships will directly determine the outcome of a war at sea.

And the manufacture of aircraft and warships is inseparable from strong industrial strength! Therefore, the soldiers of the Japanese Army could not care about the amount of steel, ships, oil, and aluminum in Britain and the United States, but the officers of the Navy could not ignore them.

Therefore, the naval leaders of the Japanese Empire, which was absolutely inferior in terms of national strength, never thought of taking the initiative to start a war with Britain and the United States, and even the operational plans of the imaginary enemy United States were defensive in nature. For example, the well-known "nine-stage operation" and "gradual reduction and attack" are both defensive schemes.

However, those who know a little about the navy know that relying on the "nine-stage operation" and the "gradual reduction of the attack" (the two plans are actually the same thing, that is, when the US fleet begins to pounce on Japan, it will first resist and weaken the US fleet, and put the main fleet in the final decisive battle) will not win against the United States at all. This is because in a decisive battle with an opponent of the US Navy's level, it is impossible to imagine a "big lead," and if it is only an exchange ratio of "killing 10,000 enemies and losing thousands of itself," with the industrial strength of the United States dozens of times that of Japan, as long as it fights a few more times, Japan will always lose.

So the mainstream of the Japanese Navy. Whether it was the "treaty faction", the "fleet faction" or the "aircraft carrier faction", it was the "pacifists" who opposed an alliance with Germany. Only some of the young Zhuang faction, such as the director of the Navy Military Affairs Bureau Oka Keisun and the military affairs bureau member Shen Shigetoku and others, insisted that they should form an alliance with Germany.

However, the fact that the mainstream of the Japanese Navy did not support a war with Britain and the United States did not mean that they supported westward expansion and northward expansion. If Japan takes this as a national policy, it should not engage in any "03 ship replenishment plan" and should use its limited financial resources to expand its army.

Therefore, it is impossible for the Japanese Navy to reach any agreement before this five-phase imperial meeting, and it can get the imperial minister's opinion.

However, since Yoshida is now the Minister of the Navy, he can't pretend to be deaf and dumb at the Imperial Council, and he has to say something.

"Your Majesty, the Navy thinks," said Yoshida with a bitter face, "that the current situation in the world is very uncertain, and that our empire should act cautiously and give priority to accumulating national strength, and must not act rashly." If you go south, you will be hostile to Britain and the United States, and unless Britain and France are defeated in Europe, our empire will have no chance of victory. If Britain and France are defeated, our empire should resolutely pursue a southward policy. Therefore, the naval strength still needs to be strengthened.

Although the northward and westward advances did not have to be enemies of the British and American powers, the army was not well prepared for war, and it was difficult to win a single blow, and it was very likely that it would fall into a long-lasting situation. Moreover, the industrial raw materials of our empire, except for oil and rubber, need to be imported from the northwest and northwest, if a war is started and we cannot win quickly, how can our empire's industry be maintained? If Britain and the United States really support our empire's westward expansion into the north, they should help the empire obtain sufficient raw material markets. ”

Although Yoshida's navy could not come up with an idea, they were able to find out what was wrong with going south, north, and west. It is impossible to fight in the south, but it is easy to fight a protracted war between the north and the west.

Emperor Hirohito already understood what the navy meant: the navy's military spending must not be reduced, because the possibility of going south still exists.

The Emperor shook his head slightly, and the opinions of the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy were the same. He looked at Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe again, Abe's whole face was wrinkled, and he said thoughtfully: "If the national policy is to go south, it is necessary to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union to ensure that the lifeline of the empire is worry-free. If it is a national policy to go west to the north...... Then our empire should fight side by side with Britain, France, the United States, and other countries to form an alliance, and Britain, France, and the United States should also give our empire full assistance. ”

In the end, the Prime Minister! Hirohito nodded, this Nobuyuki Abe has said something - this Japan is going west and north to conflict with the Soviet Union, so who is Britain, the United States and France on? Neutrality is not possible, an alliance must be formed, and after the victory is won, the Japanese Empire will have to share the benefits, and it must be said first.

Qingdao can't happen again!

……

By the time Japan's Imperial Council of the Five Ministers was meeting, German Ambassador Todmann had already arrived at the embassy and was handing over a large package of documents and photographs to the military attache at the embassy in Japan, Eugene Edward. Otter. This is a top-secret document sent by the German Foreign Ministry to the Consulate General in Vladivostok, which Toddmann brought back by the way when he went to Vladivostok.

"Eugene, this is the top secret information of the 'Scarpa Bay Air Raid' and the 'Operation Scharnhorst', there are photos and descriptions of the combat process, as well as plans drawn up before the war." "I believe it will satisfy our friends." ”

Eugene. Ott opened his file bag, pulled out a few photos of the "Scapa Bay Air Raid", looked at them and said, "Yes, yes, yes, this is it!" Photos of sunken aircraft carriers and battleships...... Major General Oka and Major General Ishihara will definitely be satisfied. ”

Rear Admiral Oka was the leader of the pro-German faction of the Japanese Navy, Oka Keijun.

Major General Ishihara was the first director of the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, Ishihara Wanji, who was a confidant of Nagata Tetsuyama, a control boss who was hacked to death before the "February 26 Incident" (August 1935), and contributed to the suppression of the "February 26 Incident", so he was promoted to major general and served as the head of the first department of the General Staff Headquarters (in charge of operations and mobilization).

Moreover, this Ishihara is very thoughtful, and is considered to be the most cerebral "genius staff officer" of the Japanese Army after Nagata Tetsuyama, and is very influential in the Japanese Army Staff Headquarters.

After the outbreak of the World War, most of the influential officers in the army and navy had already expressed their pro-German or non-German attitudes, but this Ishihara did not express any opinion, but asked the German embassy to provide information on important battles to the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters for study.

Ishihara had already obtained the information on the Polish campaign, and now Eugene. Colonel Otto sent him and Oka Keijun materials related to the "Battle of Scapa Bay" and the "Operation of the Scharnhorst".

"The effect of the bombing is amazing!" Ishihara looked at the photos one by one, and kept commenting, "Ahh ”

Keijun Oka, a submarine commander who is now at Ishihara's house, was also very surprised by the failure of the "Scharnhorst Operation": "10 submarines did not sink the Hood, and they have already hit 2 shots...... If it were replaced by our Type 93 torpedoes, the Hood would be finished. ”

"It's a bit of a pity," Eugene. "But the final victory undoubtedly belongs to the German Empire!" said Ott. ”

"If the United States had not entered the war, Germany would have won." Ishihara said lightly.

"Ishihara-kun, the United States is not so scary!" Oka shook his head and said, "If the '03 Ship Replenishment Plan' is completed, the Navy will have 8 large aircraft carriers and 14 powerful battleships, which is enough to defeat the US Navy's Pacific Fleet!" ”

"The Americans also have their plans for naval expansion," Ishihara shook his head, "not enough in terms of troops." ”

Eugene. Otto interjected: "General Ishihara, what if you add 4 Soviet-class battleships, 4 Veneto-class battleships, 2 Bismarck-class battleships and 4 more powerful battleships than the Bismarck-class?" ”

"United USSR?" Ishihara looked up at Eugene. Otto, "That's almost the whole world fighting the United States!" ”

No matter how strong the United States was in 1940, the whole world couldn't help beating it together! Even if it is a battleship, there are as many as 18 cutting-edge battleships under construction in the four countries of Soviet, German, Japanese and Italy, which is enough to confront the United States.

"Ishihara-kun, you're definitely going to join Japan, aren't you?" Eugene. Otto asked.

"Yes, Japan will definitely join!" Oka Keijun's eyes were fixed on Ishihara. Although Ishihara is not very good at being a man, he is after all the leading figure of the unification faction, and the unification faction has swelled very much after the basic collapse of the imperial faction, and the backbone figures in the Japanese army are all members of the unification faction. Moreover, it is not some old men who really call the shots in the control faction, but middle-level people like Ishihara who actually control the combat units of the army, and it is up to them to suppress or instigate.

This kind of real power may not have existed before the "2.26 Incident", but after the "2.26 Incident", the generals of the army and navy, as well as politicians in the Japanese political arena and even the emperor himself, began to fear the "**** thought" in the army, so they could only redouble their use and rely on these middle-level control officers. This is how the so-called "Dazuo", "Zhongzuo" and "Shaozuo" had the final say

The "February 26 Incident" was actually a failed social revolution, a revolution instigated by a group of lower-level officers who were dissatisfied with the status quo of Japanese society at that time. (To be continued.) )