Shallow and gloomy. The wind whistled from the east, and the clouds grew denser and denser, and it was a storm in the heart.

In the morning, the sun was still scorching, and in the afternoon, it was a rainstorm that was about to come and the wind was all over the building, and the change in the weather was almost catching up with the change in the international situation now. At this time, as a diplomat, you can't pick on your own guns, you must fulfill your responsibilities, run for the interests of your country, and run for the unity of your allies.

As Minister of Japan to China. Kohata Baiji has been suffering from insomnia in recent days, and like the British minister to China, Kohata Baiji is now a member of the "Insomnia Club", but the difference is that Zhu Erdian is worried about the situation in Europe, while Kohata Baiji is worried about Sino-Japanese relations.

The birth of the "626 Incident" in Hankou caught the Japanese government off guard, and Sino-Japanese relations, which were already covered with a shadow, became even more uncontrollable.

The Japanese military department hoped that the Sino-Japanese side would break up, so that they would be able to carry out the long-awaited "Sino-Japanese strategic decisive battle." However, the Japanese government does not want to break with China now, the reason is very simple, Japan's economic and financial situation is in a continuous downturn, and now fighting a war with China, a behemoth, will only further deteriorate the Japanese government's finances, since the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Japan's domestic and foreign debts have been high, and the interest on foreign debts alone exceeds 100 million yen every year, which is a heavy burden, which has weighed down the Japanese government. And the Japanese people, whose per capita tax burden has exceeded 15 yen, are about to be crushed.

In this context, the policy differences between the Japanese government and the Japanese military department are even more acute. The day after the "June 26 Incident," the Japanese military department submitted to the cabinet a proposal to immediately start expanding the Sixth Army, but it was strongly opposed by the Japanese Government; although the Japanese Sixth Army had indeed begun the work of recruiting reserves, it was too far from the expectations of the military department, which made the Japanese military department very annoyed. Tomotomo Yamagu, a veteran of the Japanese military circles, even threatened to remove the six prime ministers from the cabinet and bring down the cabinet.

In the face of the aggressive trend of the Japanese military department, the Japanese government has no way back, either to engage in a local war with China to interrupt the industrialization process of this country, or to seek international mediation and ask Britain, France, the United States, and Russia to come forward and jointly exert diplomatic pressure on the central government of China to force the Chinese to apologize and compensate Japan for the "June 26 Incident", taking into account the emotions of the Chinese, the specific amount of compensation can be negotiated, but an apology is necessary, Moreover, it must be a certain high-level figure in the center of China who personally apologizes to Japan, and compared with the fact that the Manchu court sent the prince to Europe to apologize after the war of the Eight-Nation Alliance, what the Japanese government needs most now is this face, which is not only related to Japan's international image, but also related to the stability of Japan's domestic political situation.

However, this wishful thinking of the Japanese government was miscalculated: on the one hand, the central government of China not only refused to apologize. Opposite. They demanded compensation from the Japanese government, and the Chinese insisted that the "June 26 Incident" was planned by certain politicians in the Japanese government, and that the safety of the lives and property of peaceful Chinese residents was seriously threatened during the incident, and that the Japanese Government should apologize to China for this. On the other hand. The Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince was assassinated in Sarajevo, and the Austro-Judicial government was instigated and supported by the German government. Formal solemn representations to the Serbian government on the assassination of the crown prince, although at present, the Austrian emperor seems to be reasonable and abide by public international law, but behind this "solemn representation" lies a worrying conspiracy, the assassin was in Bosnia, but the Austrian diplomatic protest was submitted to the Serbian government, accusing the Serbian government of planning the matter, everyone can see that this is actually a pretext for war. For Serbia, Austria-Hungary has long been salivating, and the assassination of the crown prince undoubtedly provided a good excuse for the Allied bloc.

In this international situation. Which European power would care about the situation in the Far East? The British and French governments were worried that war would break out in Europe, while the Russian government was more anxious than the British and French governments, because its armament buildup was far behind the armament plan, according to the Russian government's own estimates, Russia would not be ready for war until five years in the state, while the German General Staff's estimate was that Russia's war preparations would be completed between the old and the seven years of the state, which determined the strategy of Germany and the Central Powers. That is, to concentrate on defeating France and disintegrating the war confidence of the Entente bloc before Russia completes its preparations for war.

Now Europe, like the Far East, is covered with war clouds, and it depends on which side strikes first.

Do the Chinese really have the determination to declare war on Japan? In this regard, the Japanese government and the military department are still very different, and the Japanese government insists that it is impossible for the Chinese to abandon peace and industrial construction and fight a major war with Japan. "The 626 incident. The reason why it was born was completely because the "mad president" was hot-headed

。 It is also a political trick of his. Because China's general election is approaching, the "madman president" will certainly need to stir up the patriotic fervor of the people, and under such circumstances, the Japanese diaspora will become the victims of the political struggle tricks of the "madman president."

However, the Japanese military department did not see it that way, and most people in the top echelons of the military department insisted that the Chinese were ready for war, which can be seen from the Chinese naval construction, and the two large attack ships built by the United States are the best proof of this, the kind of warships with strange shapes, the main turret one in front and two in the back, and extremely fast. At a glance, it is clear that this is by no means used for a decisive battle of the fleet, this is for conducting a naval assault battle, and who is the target of the Chinese? It can only be a Japanese merchant ship. Therefore, the Japanese military department insisted that no matter what the cause of the "June 26 Incident" was, Japan must immediately enter a state of war. Sending the Navy 6th Army into China, defeating the United Front in one go, and then supporting a proxy who obeys Japan's orders to rule China, and now the situation in Europe is tense, at this time Japan takes unilateral actions, it is unlikely to be opposed by European powers, the only thing to worry about is the United States, but the United States' maritime power in the Far East is far inferior to Japan, and the situation in Europe involves the attention of the US government, so there is no need to worry about the verbal threats of the United States, at most the United States imposes trade sanctions on Japan, But as long as the central government controls China, do Japanese companies still have to worry about losing the American market?

Amid the disagreements and disputes between the Japanese government and the Japanese military department, Japan's preparations for war were rather slow, and the agricultural harvest season was soon begins, and the strong laborers in the Japanese countryside were reluctant to embark on the road to a foreign land.

In consideration of national security, the Japanese Government was very sharp about the dispatch of the navy, and immediately dispatched the main force of the Combined Fleet to roam the coast of China and show off its military might, and the commander of the fleet was the Imperial Marshal and the famous Heihachiro Togo, who was known as the "Nelson of the East."

The veteran Count Heihachiro Togo put on his robe again, and the purpose of the Japanese government was very clear, that is, to scare the Chinese, and Heihachiro Togo not only led the Japanese combined fleet to defeat the Russian fleet, but also in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of that year, he was the captain of the Japanese cruiser "Lang", and some senior generals in the Chinese Navy were his defeated generals that year.

On the day of the "June 26 Incident," all the large warships of the Chinese Navy were ordered to sail into the Yangtze River and be stationed in Shanghai and Jiangyin, relying on the cover of the 6 upper batteries, completely ignoring the existence of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

In this case, the veteran Togo Heihachiro can only look at the ocean and sigh, the navy is not as good as the 6th Army, the enemy of the 6th Army does not move, you can take the initiative to hit the door, but the navy is not good, the current China does not go to the past China, with the help of the Germans, Chinese has established a considerable strength of coastal defense artillery units, the main equipment of this force is the kind of heavy train guns, these train guns can easily drive into the railway network of important coastal cities, In the face of this kind of weapon, even a powerful combined fleet would not dare to easily approach any port in China, not to mention that the Japanese government had a strict order prohibiting the combined fleet from entering China's territorial sea line to swim in the country, which was tantamount to tying a rope around the neck of Marshal Heihachiro Togo, and the other end of the rope was pinched by the Japanese government

Village.

The Japanese Government still pinned its hopes on international mediation, and although it knew that the Hideme Government had no time to take care of the situation in the Far East, it still ordered Kohata Bashigi to step up its ties with the British Minister to China, and at the same time to strengthen its ties with the anti-presidential forces in the Chinese Diet. Of course, the Japanese ambassador to Britain and the British ambassador to Japan are the protagonists in this international mediation game, and as for the Japanese minister to China, Hagekichi is just a supporting role, and even the British minister to China, Zhu Erdian, is also a supporting role.

Rushing back from Tianjin today, Kohata Baiji was fully prepared on the train, but under the current situation, he could only do his best to obey the fate of heaven, and the initiative was not in his hands, not even in the hands of the British, but in the "madman president." hand, "Mad President." If you say war, then war, and if you say peace, then peace. Unless he is ousted from power, the Japanese government will only be able to see a move on the strategic chessboard of the Far East, and it will be impossible for the Japanese government to seize the initiative.

"What a strange character. Being able to become president in his twenties, not many people have this strength throughout the ages, right? After all, he is a powerful person, not a puppet figure. In the past few years, in the competition with him, the imperial government has suffered a lot, and he is really a fan-like figure

"Obsessed with the same characters." This is Kohata Baiji's evaluation of the president of the Republic of China.