"Captain, do you want to continue the attack tomorrow?" When Captain Anteng returned to the station, he was immediately surrounded by soldiers below. There was concern and even fear on everyone's faces.

Captain Anteng could only sigh, but he couldn't say anything.

For Captain Anten, who has prestige, but has always been good to the soldiers, the soldiers of the unit have enough trust and dare to tell the truth. A soldier said in an excited tone: "Captain, hasn't the War Department always said that China is very backward?" It is said that the Chinese are just a lot of people, not afraid of death, and dare to charge. Now it's obviously not like that! ”

Captain Anten could not answer this question, he had fought with the Chinese and knew that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was not a weak brigade. This Chinese army is well-equipped, highly skilled and tactical, and well-trained. Of course, there are many Chinese, they are not afraid of death, and daring to charge is not nonsense but a fact. However, the Japanese War Department cleverly used rhetoric to avoid Japan's weak equipment, technology, and tactics, and only talked about China's fear of death and dared to charge, as if the Japanese army could win victory on the battlefield as long as it was more afraid of death and dared to charge.

When they really went to the battlefield and faced the Chinese attack from the air and the ground, the Japanese soldiers immediately knew that they were facing an enemy armed to the teeth, and they had the ability to fight beyond the imagination of the Japanese soldiers. This huge contrast gave the Japanese soldiers a strong sense of fear and a strong sense of being deceived.

Captain Anteng wanted to say bluntly that everyone was deceived into going to war. Captain Anten also wanted to say bluntly that the War Department's words about the Chinese troops being driven to the battlefield were also nonsense, and that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would do detailed mobilization work before each war, telling the Chinese soldiers the truth why they were fighting this battle. But Captain Anteng's identity makes it impossible for him to speak so bluntly, and speaking directly will not solve any problems, and will only make the soldiers feel emotional.

However, the Japanese soldiers were not fools, and someone had already whispered: "Have we been deceived?" ”

It was a loud voice, but it silenced every soldier. Seeing that the situation had reached this point, Captain Anteng couldn't do it without speaking. The lieutenant said in a loud voice, "Ladies and gentlemen, then I can only ask you to obey my orders. But rest assured, I will try my best to bring you back to your hometown alive. There is no point in any speculation, and only by going back alive can there be a future to speak of. So now I give the order that nothing related to the subsequent march and battle be discussed! ”

The Japanese army had this advantage, and the soldiers would obey such a strict order when the commander gave it, not to mention the prestigious Captain Angteng. Looking at the scattered soldiers, Captain Anteng's heart not only did not relax, but became heavier. A lie is a lie, and it doesn't last long. Although Captain Anteng really wanted to return to Japan alive with his subordinates, he was not confident that he would be able to do so. Unless something earth-shattering happens, the upper echelons of the military department will not give an order to withdraw troops at all.

It was not only the panicked officers and soldiers on the front line who did not rest at night, but also the Japanese military headquarters with bright lights. China's swift and tough response was beyond the expectations of the Japanese military department. After losing Taiwan, Japan's efforts 40 years ago came to naught, and the Japanese military had no choice but to adopt a tough and confrontational attitude. With a short-term response, there is an explanation for the war.

How is this war going to be fought? To what extent? Japan's long-term strategy was effective in defeating the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War, after which Japan's strategy was strongly counterattacked by the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.

The option of declaring war on China was first vetoed by Prime Minister Takahashi Shiqing, who was originally opposed to Japan's meaningless provocation of contradictions with China, but now the main force advocating toughness against China has become the navy, and with the hope of Saionji Gongwang, Takahashi Shiqing cannot take the initiative to oppose the Admiralty. Once a war is fought, it costs a lot of money. Japan's economy was recovering slowly, and the fragility of this recovery during the Great Depression can be imagined. If it were to take on an all-out war now, Japan's economy would inevitably collapse.

There are quite a few people in the Admiralty who understand international conventions, and they even began to shout in the newspapers that after the official declaration of war in the world, all countries must "maintain neutrality" towards the warring countries, and one of them is to reduce or even cut off trade with the warring countries. China's economy will suffer heavy losses in the embargo. Seeing this kind of propaganda, Takahashi is old man's face turned a little green. Japan's total losses may be smaller, but the proportion of losses will only be greater. Prime Minister Takahashi Kiyoshi wonders if these people want to fight and want to go crazy? Can you put forward this kind of idea?

Not only Takahashi is firmly opposed to such a move, but many industrial and commercial forces, including the consortium, are also opposing such a move. They finally got an export to the United States, and if the export stopped, wouldn't it kill them?

The Admiralty's relationship with industry and commerce was relatively difficult, and the opposition of the parliamentarians representing the business was not happy, but they could not refuse. The Army, on the other hand, has always been reluctant to see Japanese companies, and when they were in Korea, they tried to prohibit large companies from investing in Korea. Although the War Department itself set up the Death Mine for production, the War Department regarded its failure as a result of lax management and too moderate methods, although it aroused opposition from the whole of Korea. If it was possible to ensure that all mine slaves could not escape from the mines, then how could the North Koreans know about the existence of the Dead Mine? In the final analysis, it is the management of those enterprises that is problematic, not the War Department's measures.

Seeing that the Admiralty, which had a bit of backbone, was opposed by the bourgeoisie, it showed a cowering posture, and the War Department angrily scolded the Admiralty behind his back that he was a natural traitor.

"Didn't these people think that what would happen after losing Taiwan?"

"The 70-year national fortunes of the imperial state will be ruined with the loss of Taiwan!"

The invective of the Admiralty took up most of the space in the early part of the meeting, and just such invective did not solve the problem. The southward offensive in Taiwan suffered a great setback, and even those in the Taiwan Command very implicitly asked whether or not to choose to hold on for the time being. Now even the War Department's own people are unreliable, and the officers of the War Department who did not participate in the war are even more angry. The War Department is like a gambler who has lost a red eye, seeing that this last one seems to be in danger, and it doesn't want to lose this one.

"Let the whole army of Taiwan attack and fight to the end for the emperor!" In the end, the War Department made such a decision.

After the War Department meeting was over, Nagata Tetsuyama went to find Okamura Ninji. Both of them are now Dazuo, and they can know the situation in the War Department, but they don't have any special right to speak. Both men have played a role in the Navy's strategy to challenge China. But at this time, the mood of the two was not very high.

"This move was too early!" Nagata Tetsuyama said with difficulty.

Okamura nodded slightly, neither of them expected the Chinese side to react so quickly. As a smart man, Okamura Ninji knew that he had miscalculated.

"Okamura-kun, do you think the Taiwan side can hold on?" Nagata Tetsuyama asked.

Okamura Ninji shook his head slightly, meaningless fantasies can't solve things in reality, Okamura Ninji doesn't like to talk very much, firstly, because of his personality, and secondly, because the atmosphere in the War Department makes Okamura Ninji feel that talking is sometimes quite painful.

Nagata Tetsuyama and Okamura Ninji had the same opinion, and he pondered for a while and finally asked what was in his heart, "If we fail this time, will Japan still have a chance?" ”

Okamura replied slowly, "If we form an alliance with China, maybe there will be." ”

"What?" Nagata Tetsuyama asked in astonishment. Defeating China and dominating Asia has been Japan's national policy for decades. Even with Nagata Tetsuyama's cleverness, he couldn't help but put his own thoughts on the idea of this traditional national policy, but he didn't expect Okamura Ninji to jump out of this thinking.

Okamura continued, "If Japan has now annexed China, what are we going to do next? It's definitely an attempt to conquer the world. Now that China has revived, what does their attitude towards Britain and the Netherlands show this time? China also has plans to conquer the world. If Japan is bound to lose, then why don't we work with China while we still have naval superiority? According to an old Chinese saying, if they eat meat, they can always give us some soup. ”

"Soup?" Nagata Tetsuyama is still Japanese after all, and in the habit of the Japanese, the loser will have nothing. The winner will not have any preferential treatment for the loser. Regarding Okamura Ninji's idea, Nagata Tetsuyama couldn't accept it for a while.

Okamura Ninji didn't let Nagata Tetsuyama continue to make up for meaninglessness, he said, "I've talked to Kita Ikki several times recently. Kita's view was that China hoped for a revolution in Japan, and then that China and Japan would form an alliance modeled on China's relationship with North Korea. Once an alliance is reached in the Far East, we will have a navy comparable to that of Britain and the United States in the world, and an army that surpasses that of Britain and the United States. At that time, this Far Eastern alliance was an unwarlike force in the world. ”

"Kita Ikki wants to be anti-feudal, that is, to completely destroy all the foundations of Japan now." Nagata Tetsuyama was a little really excited, and he reminded Okamura Ninji loudly.

Okamura Ninji was not so excited, he still said slowly: "If anti-feudalism can make the imperial kingdom more prosperous, then we can't be anti-feudal." Where are all those daimyo now? If it weren't for the elimination of those daimyos, where would there be an imperial kingdom today? The Choshu clan is gone, but isn't the Choshu faction a feudal force? If we can use China's hand to wipe out these local forces in Japan, it will not be a bad thing for the imperial state. ”

Nagata Tieshan is silent for the time being, his dislike of local forces is incomparable, if he can pull up these "feudal forces" in one go, Nagata Tieshan will naturally welcome it. In the same way, Nagata Tetsuyama is extremely disgusted with democratic politics, and wants to completely annihilate the emerging so-called capitalist democracy. This concept of feudal socialism was the common attitude of the wise people in the War Department. As for the views put forward by Kita Ichiki, how much Nagata Tetsuyama agrees, there are more than that.

Okamura Ninji is much worse than Nagata Tetsuyama in some places, but in terms of strategic considerations and judgment of the greatest interests of the moment, it is at a level that surpasses Nagata Tetsuyama. He saw that Nagata Tieshan was already on the verge of being persuaded, so he continued to persuade: "Nagata Jun, the imperial kingdom still has the ability to reach a compromise with China, if you are timid, it is useless to think about anything when you have nothing in your hand. ”

"Those people in the military department can't be convinced...... "Nagata Tetsuyama made a rare excuse.

Okamura Ninji replied seriously: "Don't care about those people in the military department, if Japan is defeated this time, it will be useless for those people in the military department to say anything." China will not be able to directly enter Japan, and they will also need partners in Japan. At this time, whoever is China's collaborator in Japan will be able to take over Japan's power. ”

Nagata Tetsuyama was frightened by Okamura Ninji, and when he heard what Okamura Ninji meant, he really wanted to start anew.

"We can get in touch with Kita to see what kind of attitude China has. Make a decision then. Okamura replied.

That night, Okamura Ninji and Nagata Tetsuyama went to meet Kita Ikki together. Kita Yihui and Okamura Ninji don't have much friendship, but they can be regarded as inheriting Okamura Ninji's favor. In the aftermath of the Tokyo earthquake, without the help of Okamura Ninji, who was in charge of news and information management, Kita Ikki would have ended up badly.

Seeing the visit of Okamura Ninji and Nagata Tetsuyama, who is also a little famous now, Kita Kazuki was quite polite to them.

Okamura Ninji asked bluntly: "Beijun, I took the liberty to come here this time, but I want to ask what position is the military department in the political program designed by Beijun?" ”

Bei Yihui did not fool these two, "The army must be commanded by the party!" ”

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army resolutely obeyed the command of the People's Party, and this was something that the Japanese military department knew very well. China's system is not unacceptable in the eyes of the Japanese military department, and they even envy it. The reason why this was not done was due to the political system, but the dispute between the Japanese army and navy was also an unsolvable problem. There is simply no way for the two to be united under one banner.

The two sides talked for a while, and Bei Yihui said seriously: "Two, I know that many people in the military department envy the Chinese Party's system of commanding guns, but where does the power of the People's Party come from? Not from Chen Ke, but from the Chinese. The BJP does not rely on military force to suppress the people, but by military force to suppress the enemies of the people. In the middle of the Meiji Restoration, there were many state-owned enterprises, and these enterprises supported the country. When the state-owned enterprises were carved up by the consortium, the power of the state also fell into the hands of the various consortiums. The new system I hope to establish is not a dictatorship of the military ministry or the dictatorship of the emperor, but a system in which everyone is equal before labor. The party that will dominate Japan in the future will be a party of workers. ”

Okamura Ninji and Nagata Tetsuyama don't really object to Kita Ikki's idea, neither of them is from the upper echelons. For those who were born with a golden key, these two are envious and despised on the other. If they were able to do it, they considered themselves to be below anyone in the slightest. The pursuit of equality is a social instinct of human beings, and the more capable people are, the less they see reason to be inherently inferior to others.

In recent years, Kita Yihui has considered a lot in the light of China's revolutionary practice, and he analyzed in detail the relationship between science and democracy, between class and oppression, and between the emperor system and the emperor's dictatorship. Okamura Ninji and Nagata Tetsuyama finally figured out that democracy does not necessarily mean that the emperor should be abolished, and that there is a big difference between democracy and populism. Theoretically, modern democracy is based on science, and it is a kind of discussion of interests within the class, and it is the distribution of the fruits of labor. Instead of a bunch of people sitting around and voting to decide everything. Modern democracies are opposed to absolute egalitarianism. With this in mind, military experts Tetsuyama Nagata and Ninji Okamura have a new understanding of modern democracy, and they feel that this kind of modern democracy is not necessarily useless.

At this time, the sky is almost dawn. The next day, Nagata Tetsuyama and Okamura Ninji still had official business, so the two got up and said goodbye. When sending the two to the door, Kita Yihui said seriously: "Two, I think that no matter how the future is, the first thing Japan needs to do now is to work hard to bury the feudal system." ”