The reason why Konoe Fumima reiterated the need to control the scale of the war was due to economic factors.

Just love literature. The current oil reserves of the Great Japanese Empire were only enough for half a year, and now that the war between Japan and the Soviet Union was fought, a large amount of gasoline would be consumed, and he was worried that if the military department expanded the scale of the war, the oil reserves would not be able to support the end of the war between Japan and the Soviet Union. ，

Just the day before yesterday, on the day the Japanese army launched the Soviet-German war, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced the freezing of all Japanese assets in the United States and a complete embargo on oil shipments to Japan. Yesterday, the Japanese army entered Vietnam.

The main reason why the Americans did this was because the Vichy government of France agreed to the stationing of Japanese troops in Vietnam on 21 July, and on 24 July, President Roosevelt proposed to the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Kichizaburo Nomura, that Vietnam be neutral, but Japan did not respond. Then the Japanese army attacked the Soviet Far East and invaded everywhere, angering the Americans.

In fact, since the suspension of the Japan-US Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, Japan and the United States have entered a period of no-treaty, and the United States has long since embargoed Japan. However, because Japan is constantly trying to negotiate with the United States, the US embargo is not complete, and Japan is still able to import some urgently needed materials from the United States sporadically. Roosevelt's announcement of a total embargo was tantamount to cutting off the rations of the Japanese war machine. As the prime minister of the Cabinet, Konoe Fumima naturally knows the weight.

Konoe Bunma doesn't need to think about it to know that the sanctions imposed by the Americans will become more and more severe, the rope around the neck will become tighter and tighter, and even the United States will go back to the war directly.

"In any case, we must end the war in the Far East as soon as possible!"

Fumima Konoe made up his mind.

Fumima Konoe, who had made up his mind, ignored the cold eyes of Sugi Sugimoto and Hideki Tojo, and no longer asked about the progress of the war, but instead asked Foreign Minister Sajiro Toyoda to report on the negotiations with the United States and the negotiations with the Soviet Union.

Sadajiro Toyoda reported that negotiations with the United States have reached an impasse, marked by the unilateral freezing of Japanese assets in the United States and a comprehensive embargo on oil. The Americans were insatiable and wantonly revised the conditions put forward by Japan, wanting to maintain peace in the Pacific, avoid being attacked by the Japanese navy, and let Japan break away from the German-Italian-Japanese Triple Alliance, but they were also unwilling to make sincere concessions. What is particularly intolerable is that the United States is particularly persecuted by the United States when Japan will withdraw its troops from China, which is unacceptable.

As for the negotiations with the Soviet Union, Sadajiro Toyoda reported that since the Chairman of the People's Settlement Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union very impolitely barged into the Soviet embassy on the day of the war and called Ambassador Miji Kenkawa out of his bed to question and curse, the Soviets no longer paid attention to Miji Jianchuan, but only said that Moscow did not welcome the Japanese Government and its diplomats in the Soviet Union, and urged them to evacuate.

Just Love Literature**

Sadajiro Toyoda was a graduate of the Naval University, literate and cultured, and spoke more subtly, and Molotov's exact words were to get Miji Kenkawa and the Japanese government he represented out of Moscow. It's "rolling" and not withdrawing!

The world is like this, and weak countries are always treated as victims of strong countries. Negotiations between Japan and the United States began on March 8, with the Japanese ambassador to the United States and U.S. Secretary of State Hull in constant contact because the two countries have something in common.

That common denominator is Pacific security.

The Japanese wanted to use the United States to pressure China to accept Japan's end to the Sino-Japanese War, so as to liberate the main force of the Japanese army that was mired in the war of aggression against China, so as to strive for more benefits in the world war. The United States wants to compromise with Japan at the expense of China's interests, stop Japan's further southward invasion, and even break Japan from the German-Italian-Japanese Triple Alliance, at least to ensure that Japan will not attack the United States once the United States is drawn into the European theater.

Ni Hua has done so much work in the United States, the American people have been awakened, and the US government and military have also recognized the true face of Japan, but the powerful German offensive and the surrender of France have shaken the confidence of the US government, for fear that the Japanese devils will stab them in the back. As a result, Japan and the United States began to secretly engage and negotiate with each other, either openly or covertly.

There is no diplomacy for a weak country!

Japan and the United States made peace, but they both took China as a victim!

The basic package for the U.S. negotiations was the Japan-U.S. Understanding that was handed over to Hull on April 9. In addition to the two countries' attitudes toward the war in Europe, that is, the interpretation of the Triple Alliance, the economic activities of the United States and Japan in the Southwest Pacific, and the deployment of the navy and air force in the Pacific, the plan also included (1) the withdrawal of Japanese troops from China in accordance with the agreement to be established between Japan and China. (2) China's territory shall not be annexed. (3) No compensation. (4) The interpretation and application of the policy of resuming the open door shall be agreed between Japan and the United States. (5) The Chongqing Nationalist Government merged with the Wang regime in Nanjing. (6) Recognition of "Manchukuo", etc.

The Konoe cabinet agreed to this plan, but was opposed by then Foreign Minister Yoyo Matsuoka, on the grounds that Japan could not turn its back on the Triple Alliance. As a result, the Joint Council of the Japanese Headquarters and the Cabinet made major changes to the plan, forming amendments. The specific items listed in the original plan of the article on China were all deleted, and only the US Government was required to recognize the Three Principles of Konoe, namely, Sino-Japanese goodwill, joint defense against communism, and economic cooperation, as well as the treaty and the "Manchu-China Joint Declaration" concluded with the Wang regime in Nanjing in accordance with these three principles.

As a result, Matsuoka was shot dead in Harbin before he could telegraph the amendment to the United States, Kichizaburo Nomura. The Americans received no response, and on May 6 they formally announced that Lend-Lease applied to China, increasing aid to China.

It wasn't until May 12 that Japan's revised amendments reached Washington. Since then, the United States and Japan have held talks behind the Chinese government's back, based on the amendments proposed by Japan and the oral explanations provided by Nomura. Among them, the oral instructions sent by Nomura Kichizaburo listed the following items in the Konoe Three Principles: (1) Mutual respect for territorial sovereignty. 2. Strive to do a good job in good-neighborly and friendly cooperation, and build an East Asian core that "contributes to world peace". 3. Japan withdraws its troops from China in accordance with the agreement between China and Japan. (4) Do not annex land and do not claim compensation. (5) Independence of Manchukuo. In addition, there was a secret understanding that if the Nationalist Government of Chongqing did not accept the advice of the United States to make peace with Japan, the United States should immediately stop aiding Chongqing.

Next, the United States and Japan began to bargain.

On 16 May, Hull handed over to Nomura the US bargaining proposal, and on 20 May, Hull asked the Japanese side to explain the two points of joint defense against communism and Japan's stationing of troops in certain areas of China. On the 21st, Hull again proposed to Nomura that the Japanese army should retreat from China for a limited time. By June 6, Nomura Kichizaburo could not wait to suggest that the views of Japan and the United States were so close that Roosevelt should come forward to urge the Chiang Kai-shek government to negotiate with Japan. As a result, Hull replied that President Roosevelt would not be able to propose negotiations to the Chinese government until the Japan-US agreement was established.

Only now did it become clear that the Americans were using China as a bargaining chip to force Japan to compromise with it.

On the 21st of July, the day before the German blitzkrieg attack on the Soviet Union, US Secretary of State Hull proposed to the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Nomura Kichizaburo, the second amendment to the United States, the third item concerning China, which explicitly recognized the Konoe three principles.

Pity the Chinese ** people who are fighting with the Japanese army are still kept in the dark.

Chiang Kai-shek, who smelled the slightest rumor, was shocked and telegraphed Hu Shih, the ambassador to the United States, to find out whether the United States and Japan were secretly negotiating peace. This time, Secretary of State Hull, who was originally very supportive of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and had a great sense of justice, deceived Hu Shih, who came to inquire about it, saying that the so-called US mediation of the Japan-US dispute was pure rumor. Hu Shih told Hull that China would never be able to negotiate peace with Japan now, suggesting that mediation was not appropriate at the moment. Hull replied that Japan and the United States do not hold informal talks and that the United States will never deal with any matters related to China without full discussion with the Chinese government.

Grandma has a leg, but fortunately, the little Japanese are not enough to swallow the elephant, and they invaded Vietnam and attacked the Soviet Union, which brought the negotiations to a deadlock. Otherwise, once Japan and the United States make peace, big things will go!

After listening to Sadajiro Toyoda's report, Hideki Tojo, the prime minister, told Fumima Konoe bluntly that he should not have illusions about the United States. The United States is now the biggest obstacle to the Japanese Empire's struggle for hegemony in Asia, and Japan and the United States are bound to go to war. Diplomatic negotiations can continue, but they will have to put pressure on the United States and set a timetable. The Great Japanese Army could not wait endlessly for the attitude of the Americans to improve! As for the Soviet Union, Hideki Tojo said more simply, he didn't need to pay attention to them at all, or in 10 days, Molotov would come to the door to apologize to His Excellency Miji Kenkawa and beg Miji Kenkawa to negotiate and sign a contract with them. Otherwise, the Kwantung Army and the Korean Army will take the Ural region in one fell swoop and bury the Soviet Union completely.

Chief of the General Staff, Sugi Sugimoto, immediately chimed in, saying that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was weak and incompetent and could not well represent the interests of the Great Japanese Empire. The Great Japanese Army will never sit idly by and watch the Americans kick Japan like a ball!

Konoe Fumima was reluctant, feeling that his authority as prime minister was being despised by the army, and immediately reprimanded Hideki Tojo and Genna Sugisugi as a child's play on national affairs, and opened his mouth and closed his mouth to start a war against the United States, which was very dangerous! Under the present circumstances, the Japanese Empire did not have the strength to start a war against China, the United States, and the Soviet Union at the same time, and should actively engage in diplomatic mediation of the war, negotiate peace with the United States, and obtain American oil. The war against the Soviet Union should also end as soon as possible, because the Far East did not have the oil and rubber that Great Japan urgently needed. If it is delayed any longer, the army's planes, tanks, and cars will not be able to drive because they lack fuel.

Hideki Tojo and Sugi Sugimoto dismissed Konoe Fumima's reprimand, saying that the army could quickly march south and start a war against the United States after finishing the northward advance and gaining a large number of captures. In one fell swoop, he conquered Southeast Asia and obtained oil and rubber for the continuation of Great Japan. The British and American defenders in Southeast Asia were a group of captive soldiers in the eyes of the Japanese Army, which was not worth mentioning.

After three strikes and two blows, the prime minister quarreled with the Minister of War and the Chief of Staff.

Once again, there was a rift in the Konoe cabinet.

The impact of the sneak attack on Japan continues, and the shock is far from over!