Japan, Tokyo, Prime Minister's Office. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

On the terrace of the low, bunker-looking official residence of the Japanese prime minister, a buffet on the terrace is about to begin.

Snow-white tablecloths were spread, and bottles of French champagne and red wine, Italian sparkling wine, German Riesling white wine, as well as Japan's own Nada sake, Yong sake, and Tsuruyaki ...... It's all over the place. Waiters dressed in black dresses continue to serve a variety of sake and craft-like dishes.

Looking at this extravagant appearance, you can imagine that today's buffet must have been held for a great event.

Yes, there is great news from Switzerland.

The Americans sued for peace! And it also offered terms that satisfied Japan! Just when Japan was already fighting unsustainably -- not that the losses on the frontal battlefield could not be sustained, but that the Americans had broken the war and made Japan breathless, the Americans sincerely sued for peace!

Although the United States is so big, its industrial strength is 10 or 20 times that of Japan, and its science and technology are far ahead of Japan, and its resources are even more than those of Japan. Moreover, the military strength of the United States is also approaching its peak after more than two years of expansion since the start of the war. Japan, on the other hand, is on the verge of depleting its national strength, military strength, and resources after a long and bitter war.

The ongoing war of attrition in the Hawaiian Islands, for example, has created a sense of untenability on the Japanese side. From March to now, it has only been more than 2 months, but the captain-level (pilot) pilots of the army and navy have lost more than 3,000 people! Before the start of the campaign, the reserves in the Hawaiian Islands were almost depleted.

The "Galaxy", "Dragon-Swallowing" and "Wyvern" bombers with a long range can transfer through the airfield on Attu Island and use their super range to land directly on Oahu.

But the fighter did not have such a large range, so it could only risk sending a combined fleet, taking the North Pacific route, taking advantage of the cover of night or rain clouds to get slightly closer to Oahu, and release the Zero fighter 2,000 kilometers away. But using the fleet to transport aircraft is not only risky, but also too costly.

Because every time a fleet is dispatched to deliver planes, it is a huge and complex plan. Feints, lure, sneak attacks, surprise attacks, and escapes can be done with more than just a few aircraft carriers or a small fleet. In general, the main forces of the combined fleet must be dispatched, and it is also necessary to be ready for a decisive battle at sea!

And the main force of the combined fleet is dispatched, and the fuel consumption alone is close to 15,000 tons per day! It took at least 20 days for a single delivery operation, and 300,000 tons of heavy oil were burned in this way.

If it weren't for the countless U.S. submarines that were destroying Japan's sea lines of communication, 300,000 tons of heavy fuel oil would not have been out of the way. However, since 1944, the activities of American submarines have become more and more rampant. In March, the total tonnage of Japanese transport ships sunk by submarines and mines exceeded 150,000 tons! By April, the total tonnage sunk had risen to 160,000 tons. The loss of such a cargo ship is simply fatal for Japan! Because the total tonnage of ships owned by Japan before the war was only about 5 million tons, after more than two years of consumption, the total tonnage has dropped to less than 4 million tons, and the annual output of ships (excluding warships) is more than 300,000 tons.

In other words, US submarines can now sink half a year's worth of Japan's merchant ship production or 4% of Japan's total merchant ship tonnage in a month. At this rate of sinking, if Japan's shipbuilding industry ceases production, in 25 months, Japan will not have a single merchant ship available.

Even if Japanese shipyards were able to maintain production despite the growing shortage of raw materials, in 25 months, Japan would only have a few hundred thousand tons of merchant ships left. For an island country like Japan, where most of its industrial raw materials need to be imported from overseas, hundreds of thousands of tons of ships cannot sustain even the most basic industrial production, let alone support a world war.

And what's even more terrifying is that the American submarines are still in service, and most of them will be put into the Pacific theater. And the destroyers, destroyers, destroyers, and planes of the Japanese Navy simply do not have the ability to sink many American submarines. Therefore, it is powerless to curb the rapid increase in the number of US submarines in the Pacific theater. According to the estimates of German intelligence, the total number of submarines now owned by the US Navy and the British Royal Navy (Canada and Australia) is likely to be close to 700!

This number is 15 times more than the destroyers that the Japanese Navy can use to escort anti-submarine ships, and if all of them are put into the Pacific theater, I am afraid that all the remaining Japanese merchant ships will be sunk in less than 12 months.

In addition, the submarines of the Americans have also laid a large number of mines along the coasts of the Nanyang Islands, the Taiwan Strait, the Indochina Peninsula, and even the Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula. Some of them are traditional anchor mines, while others are magnetic mines that have sunk to the bottom. Although not as many ships were sunk by these mines as by torpedoes, mines had a "blockade" function.

Once a mine is found in a certain area of the sea, a merchant ship can only make a detour or stop sailing until the minesweeper or minesweeper has cleared a channel (which is not 100% safe, of course). However, because the Japanese Navy did not have a sufficient number of minesweepers and minesweepers, the speed of shipbuilding and minelaying by the US military was much faster than that of the Japanese army. Therefore, the transportation losses caused by mines (not necessarily sunken ships, it is also a loss if you can't transport them) are also increasing. Naturally, the amount of supplies being shipped into Japan is getting smaller and smaller every day.

If this trend continues, Japan will be defeated by American submarines and mines.

Luckily, however, Japan is not alone in confronting the behemoth of the United States.

After all, the war in the Pacific and the war in the Atlantic and on the European continent are one.

The crushing defeat of the USSR in the Battle of the Periphery of Moscow and the actions of the European Community, the Roman Empire in South America, have now finally forced the United States to sue for peace with Japan!

The Empire of Japan is finally about to win!

What will be held today on the terrace of the Prime Minister's official residence will be a reception to celebrate victory.

These days, Hideki Tojo, who is under great political pressure because of the increasingly unfavorable war, can't wait to take advantage of the victory that has not yet been reached to stabilize his power. That's the purpose of holding this toast.

Dressed in a general's uniform and with a first-class Order of the Rising Sun on his chest, Hideki Tojo was strolling on the terrace where the celebration reception was to be held. But his face didn't look much surprised, and his brows kept frowning faintly.

Beside him, one left and one right, walked a lieutenant general and a civilian officer in a tuxedo. The lieutenant general of the army is Hiroshi Oshima, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, and the civilian official is Aoi Shigemitsu, the minister of foreign affairs.

Hiroshi Oshima was recalled to Tokyo by Hideki Tojo to report on his duties after Matsuoka Yoyo and Hopkins reached a verbal agreement. Shigemitsu Aoi is about to leave for Switzerland to discuss a final peace treaty with the United States, Rome, and the European Community.

At this time, Hideki Tojo opened his mouth and asked, "Oshima-kun, you say that the Germans are actually not interested in the land east of the Ural Mountains?" ”

"Yes." Hiroshi Oshima replied in the affirmative, "In fact, the German government and the Wehrmacht do not even want the European part of Russia, they only want Ukraine and Belarus." The reason why Moscow is being hit now is entirely because it has not grasped the scale on the issue of supporting Belarus. In fact, Hitler and Hersmann were dragged into the water by Empress Olga. But the Ural Mountains were also a limit, Germany's military and financial resources were limited, and the Germanic population was not large, which was simply not enough to digest the whole of Russia. ”

Hiroshi Oshima is a Japanese with a "German soul", and he knows very well the German thinking, and he also knows the European view of the mainland and the colonies - of course, the bigger the colonies, the better, and it is very happy that they can't develop the land and hold the dry land.

But the bigger the mainland, the better, because the common people of the European powers are different from the oppressed people of the colonies and the diligent civilians of Japan, they are all masters!

The blind expansion of the local area means that the number of uncles is expanding rapidly, and if you don't serve these uncles well, who can afford to make a revolution with you all day long?

Therefore, European countries are very energetic when expanding their colonies, and they are very cautious when expanding their own territories. For Germany, of course, integration with France, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and other rich countries with large colonies is a good thing. It is also advantageous to swallow up small countries such as Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania, which are not too large in population and have very rich land, to strengthen their own base.

But Russia ...... It's really bitter and I can't say it.

"What if we send troops to seize the Far East?" Hideki Tojo asked again.

The seizure of the Far East in the event of the collapse of the Soviet Union seemed to the Japanese Army to be a matter of course, and they were not preparing for this by stationing hundreds of thousands of troops in Manchuria and Korea?

And if Japan doesn't take the Far East now, and the European community expands in the future, will the Japanese Empire still be the hegemon of the East? Therefore, Hideki Tojo is ready to send troops to the Far East after negotiating peace with the United States, and at least one puppet state will be played, and then talk about other things.

"The Germans will object." "This is a question of the European Community's correct position, but they will not send troops east of the Ural Mountains," Hiroshi Oshima said. ”

"Are you sure?" Tojo asked again.

"Pretty sure!"

Hideki Tojo nodded, "What about Australia and New Zealand?" Will the Germans accept being a permanent neutral country there? ”

"This ......" Hiroshi Oshima, a "spiritual German", is also uncertain. "The British will be very angry."

Hideki Tojo thought for a while, then turned back and asked Shigemitsu Aoi, "Shige-kun, what do you think?" ”