Japan's rise from the end of the 19th century is legendary, one of the biggest factors is the decline of China, and the other is that Japan actively or passively turned to the world's largest power as a godfather. At least in Chen's time, the United States had stationed troops in Japan for nearly 70 years, and the vast majority of Japanese people had lived in Japan with foreign troops all their lives.

In 1915, after Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, it began to try to break free from British control. At least the War Office is trying to get rid of its dependence on Britain. The Admiralty was very affectionate towards the British. After all, the Japanese shipbuilding industry also needs a lot of technical support from the British.

Although the British godfather is still alive, another element of Japan's rise, China's continued decline, has been interrupted by the very unexpected rise of the People's Party. The war, Japan's tried and tested method against China, was completely defeated in Qingdao. And the People's Party fought with Britain without breaking it, and Britain has not let Japan act until now. At a time when the People's Party (KP) has made it clear that it wants to enter the Tohoku, the Japanese upper echelons are indeed faced with an extremely difficult choice.

It's not that Katsura Taro is unaware of the difficulties that will be encountered in intervening in the Chinese civil war now, but if he does not intervene now, when the People's Party completely occupies the northeast like Shandong, then is the time to intervene? Katsura Taro clearly doesn't think so.

"Even if the timing is not good, we still have a chance. Even if they send troops to China, they will not be opposed by the Entente," Katsura Taro said seriously, "I know that Saionji-kun thinks that the Entente Congress will carry out a general liquidation of the People's Party after the war in Europe is over. But at that time, at most, a new Eight-Nation Coalition situation, and we Japan sent the most troops, so what could we get? ”

"But at least we don't risk failure." Saionji replied firmly, "We in Japan have never faced a big country alone, and we have always received clear support from all sides. In this situation, it seems that we can get the support of the Entente, but this support will be very limited. In the Russo-Japanese War, we won the Russo-Japanese War by raising a huge amount of money. Takahashi-kun has made great contributions in it. But what practical support do we have at the moment? Even if the British Far East Fleet can provide some support, we do not need this support from the British Far East Fleet at the moment. War money, troops, and even political support. We can't get anything now. If we win, we're just going to keep the status quo. If it fails, it will not only be northeastern China, but the war will most likely reach Korea. ”

Katsura Taro could have talked to Saionji Gongwang relatively calmly, but after hearing Xionji Gongwang's firm attitude, he became a little impatient again, "Saionji-kun, when was the victory of the Imperial Kingdom not completed under this extremely risky situation?" Moreover, the People's Party does not have a navy, and even if it fails, we will only have another Sino-Japanese war in Korea. ”

Saionji Gongwang was amused by Katsura Taro's words, "Gui Jun, do you think the Manchu army can compare with the People's Party's army?" ”

The question of "......" really hit Katsura Taro's soft underbelly, and he had to be silent again. The silence only lasted for a moment, and Katsura Taro still said firmly: "Saionji-kun, now we can't send troops. I'm sure you can understand this. ”

This time, it was Saionji Gongwang's turn to remain silent, and the reason why he opposed Katsura Taro's opinion was that the struggle between the Admiralty and the War Department was certainly one of the reasons, and the other reason was that Saionji Gongwang was very worried about the chances of sending troops. But when it comes to the question of whether or not to send troops, the Saionji Gongwang cannot but admit that Japan does have the need to send troops now. Even on the basis of the fact that the Japanese Army is likely to be unable to defeat the People's Party, it would be better to send troops now than later.

When he was in a dilemma, Saionji Gongwang finally "remembered" Takahashi Shiqing, who had been sitting quietly next to him. He turned his head and asked, "Takahashi-kun, what do you think about sending troops?" ”

Takahashi is clear that he is a bystander, at most a landlord who provides a venue for talks. He never expected that the public hope of Xiyuan Temple would actually ask him. Even if Takahashi is now prime minister, he is well aware that he is only an excessive prime minister who has come to solve Japan's economic problems. When Japan's economic problems ease, he could step down at any time.

Even so, Takahashi had no intention of staying out of the matter completely. This is not only about the fact that he came to power because of the support of Saionji Gongwang, but also because Takahashi himself is quite opposed to meaningless wars, especially such gambling wars. After thinking for a while, Takahashi Shiqing said: "There is a sentence that I think is very important, if you don't send troops, the People's Party may not dare to attack North Korea, but if the war is together, North Korea may not be able to avoid being attacked. ”

Korea is a Japanese colony, especially the mining of mineral deposits in northern Korea, which is very important to Japan. Takahashi is Kiyoshi and does not want to get North Korea into it because of the war.

After hearing this, Katsura Taro suddenly sneered, "Saionji-kun, the navy has always been at sea, and I am afraid that there is not so much information on land. Did you know that Miyazaki had been in contact with the North Korean rebels? ”

"What?" Xiyuan Temple Gongwang was surprised by the sudden news.

"This matter can be investigated by the Emperor of Xiyuan Temple, this is not a story I fabricated to deceive everyone. Miyazaki, a non-national, had defected to the People's Party and was trying to win over North Korean rebels. What do you think the BJP is doing this for? It's not for the sake of seizing North Korea, what are they bothering to do? Katsura Taro said quite lightly, since he had figured out the bottom line of the naval faction during the conversation, Katsura Taro already had confidence in his strategy. The Admiralty may be reluctant to intervene in China's affairs lightly, but the Admiralty cannot afford to lose North Korea.

Saionji Gongwang was well aware that the People's Party's power had been in south-central China, and this was the first time he had heard that the People's Party had intervened in North Korean affairs. He looked at Katsura Taro suspiciously, and suspected that Katsura Taro had made up such a news casually. For a character like Katsura Taro, it is not difficult to make up fake news as if it were true.

However, the mocking look on Katsura Taro's face came from the heart, and this extremely unfriendly attitude made Katsura Taro's words more credible.

Katsura Taro smiled and said, "Saionji-kun, if the People's Party really wants to seize Korea, I would like to know the opinion of the Admiralty. ”

Saionji Konozo did not respond at all to Katsura Taro's provocative statement.

Although he didn't mean to think so, Katsura Taro felt that after this incident, the opportunity for the Army faction to once again dominate the direction of Japanese political policy had finally come again. And there is no need to change the prime minister in such a drastic way. He couldn't help but glance at the current Prime Minister Takahashi Isakito, who was a little overwhelmed. Although Takahashi is not from the War Department, Katsura Taro still admires Takahashi for his skill and ability in finance. If Takahashi is Kiyoshi is willing to defect to the army faction, Katsura Taro doesn't care about letting Takahashi be the prime minister for two years.

Katsura Taro is not telling nonsense, and the War Department has received a lot of such news in the past two years. From the War Department's point of view, these North Korean rebels can't really make much of a storm, and the People's Party is still thousands of miles away from North Korea, so they don't take this information as a big deal. In fact, there are not only rebels in Korea who are inclined to China, but also some rebels who are inclined to Russia. It was the North Korean rebels who had defected to the Russians who were more threatening.

Now that this information has finally come into use, the War Department has taken the initiative to propagate the agitation of "strong intervention in the situation in China" within the Japanese government, without waiting for the Admiralty to investigate the facts. The People's Party's plot against the DPRK is extremely clear, and the distance between the People's Party-controlled areas and the DPRK has changed from several thousand miles to several hundred miles.

For the Japanese upper echelons, whether they are pro-war or pro-peace, there is no possibility of making the slightest concession on the Korean issue. As Japan's first colony, Korea provided Japan with raw materials, markets, and manpower. Because the People's Party cut off Japan's access to iron ore from China's Yangtze River valley, iron ore in northern Korea is now Japan's largest source of ore. Beginning in 1911, Japan stepped up its prospecting in Korea. In 1912, he began to invest in mining in northern Korea. The People's Party's attempt to seize Korea touched the interests of the entire Japanese government, the military, and the capitalists.

Japan was already hostile to the People's Party, but now they are even more "enraged." Katsura Taro's proposal to "intervene in the Chinese civil war and ensure Japan's de facto control over Northeast China" quickly gained considerable support in Japan. Katsura Taro is quite happy with the direction of the political winds. What is needed now is an excuse for the sentiment of the people. However, pie in the sky was like pie, and the excuses soon appeared.

After the People's Party finally provided telegraph services to the embassies in Beijing, especially after the barracks of the Japanese troops stationed in China were blocked, but the telegraph services of this army were released, the Japanese legations began to strongly protest to the "Beijing occupation forces" of the People's Party. Katsura Taro immediately ordered the Japanese newspapers to hype up the matter, and a considerable part of the Japanese people were outraged! How dare China, as a defeated general under Japan, threaten to harm the lives of Japanese troops in such a way?!

Beginning on 6 September, Japanese patriotic youths "spontaneously took to the streets," and then various forces instructed and instigated behind them took to the streets to march and advocate war on paper and public opinion. On 9 September, the slogan "Punish tyranny and restore peace" appeared in Japan.

Japan began to enter the pre-war preparatory stage, and representatives of the People's Party had already made formal contact with the British and French ministers on September 4. From the moment the two sides sat down at the negotiating table, they had a frank conversation and a full exchange of views. Naturally, Britain demanded that the People's Party recognize all the treaties of the Manchus, while the People's Party demanded the restoration of all the sovereignty of China.

Of course, this is always the case at the beginning of such negotiations. The British don't care, and neither does Zhang Yu. The few deputies elected by Zhang Yu were all very young, and even though these young people knew that this was an inevitable process, the British delegates followed the convention and repeated all the threats and intimidation of Nationalism, and the young comrades were all angry with the British delegates.

Zhang Yule said: "This is not normal, don't be angry." Again, as I said earlier, don't listen to what they say, but see what they have to do. I don't know if you have noticed, the British did not mention the issue of trade at all? ”

The young comrades had a good memory, but they were afraid that they would not pay attention to such things, so they read the minutes again. Sure enough, apart from empty threats, there was a bunch of other meaningless nonsense, and the British representatives did not mention a word of trade at all, let alone a threat to interrupt it.

Zhang Yu said solemnly: "Comrades, since we have our own patriotism, then we cannot despise or even deny the patriotism of others. From the point of view of the British minister, it was his duty to seek the best interests of Britain. There was no difference between us and the British minister, except for the difference in position. ”

The next day, 5 September, the negotiations continued. The British minister, as if he had not made any demands yesterday, had not changed his position, but what he was talking about was very different. Britain asked the BJP delegates if they would be willing to accept the treaty signed between Yuan Shikai and the Entente countries. Zhang Yu also said in a hearty manner as if nothing had happened yesterday, "We agreed to join the Entente, but we cannot provide troops militarily. We can only provide 20,000 military doctors and nurses. ”

The British minister was stunned by this reply, and before the talks, the British minister had considered the victory of the People's Party against Beiyang, and it was very likely that he would make all kinds of unreasonable demands, and even threaten him to join the Central Powers. He just didn't expect that the People's Party's diplomatic concept would be quite mature and rational, but in the agreement signed between the British minister and Beiyang, Beiyang agreed to provide more than 500,000 troops. When it came to the People's Party, 500,000 troops became 20,000 military doctors and nurses. The gap between that is simply too great.

Of course, military doctors and nurses are also very important. For the sake of the war, the Entente recruited a large number of doctors into the army, and the news obtained by the British public had a rather negative impact on the medical treatment in Britain itself.

The performance of the BJP was so unexpected that the British delegates proposed a temporary adjournment. Zhang Yu also agreed.

"The war in Europe was an unjust war between nationalist countries, why did we join the Entente?" The young comrades were puzzled by this.

Zhang Yu replied: "The victorious side of this war will inevitably dominate the world situation, and China's future will no longer be closed off from the rest of the world, so we must participate." Of course, we have no reason to bury the lives of Chinese soldiers for the unjust war of Nationalism. We can only provide medical help as well. ”

"Minister Zhang, as Japan is a member of the Entente, why do we continue to stimulate them? If we had joined the Entente, there would have been no chance of war with Japan at all. Li Runshi asked.

Zhang Yu smiled, "If it doesn't prove that we can fight better than Japan, the Entente will not pay attention to us at all." Only by beating Japan can the Entente have less helpers. This will be even more powerful for us to join the Entente. So we can only prove that we can create a bigger problem for the Entente in the Far East if we bring down Japan. ”

Li Runshi was not satisfied with Zhang Yu's answer, and he asked: "Even if the Entente abandons the Far East, it will not have much impact on the war in the whole of Europe. And if China, China, is completely hostile to the Entente, we will be in an extremely disadvantageous position after the end of the war in Europe. Unless there is an opportunity for the Entente to ignore our war with Japan. Minister Zhang, where is this opportunity? ”

Zhang Yu nodded with satisfaction, "Chairman Chen has his own plans for this, but the central government can only wait and see the specific opportunity now." However, the decision of the central government to go to war against Japan was a decision of the central authorities, and there was no need to discuss this matter. We just need to get the job done. ”