In May 1907, Urawa City, northeast of Tokyo, became prosperous after Emperor Taisho decreed that it should be used as a temporary residence and that all central government agencies were relocated to the city. Tokyo was in ruins, and the government seemed to have no intention of rebuilding Tokyo due to the limitations of national power, so most Japanese believed that Urawa would become the new capital of Japan.

There is only one reason for choosing here, that is, outside the range of the Chinese super battleship, the Japanese are really afraid of the super battle. Emperor Meiji was killed by that shelling, and as Meiji's eldest son, Emperor Taisho did not want to follow in his father's footsteps.

Traditional izakaya is popular at the most popular bar in downtown Urawa, where the owner, Yuma Hashiguchi, is standing behind the bar and wiping his glasses, but Western-style bars are also popular, especially among the growing number of Americans in Urawa. Yuma Hashiguchi followed the trend and grew a mustache, donned a Western-style bartender vest, and spoke fluent American English.

On the dance floor in the middle of the bar, several tall Americans are dancing with several Japanese socializing women, and the Japanese women can be clearly seen dancing to the melody of the music, and the Americans are following the traces of the women's writhing. It is not uncommon for a Japanese woman to leave behind traditional shackles in the face of hunger and poverty, as there may be several people in her family waiting for her to make ends meet.

In fact, from the end of 1906, the actions of the Japanese became more and more Americanized, and the Westernization campaign begun by Emperor Meiji was not as effective as it had been in the past six months. After several defeats in the National Fortune War, the Japanese were completely confused, and the domestic population gradually sank, and the number of suicides exceeded the total number of suicides in the previous ten years. Later, the government did not know why it hooked up with the Americans, but with the arrival of a large number of US troops, the investment of a large number of US dollars in Japan, and the opening of branches of a large number of US factories in Japan, the Americans infiltrated all aspects of Japan in half a year, and they brought food and jobs to Japan. It also gave hope to the Japanese. The Americans replaced the British as the gods of Japan, and even the Japanese army was filled with American officers, although it was rumored that these officers were not of a very good level.

"Yo, Sato-kun, is it business as usual today?" Sato, who walked into the bar, looked out of place, he was wearing an army captain's uniform. When you come in, you first bow to the Americans before walking to the bar.

"Yes." The taciturn Captain Sato placed a stack of banknotes on the bar, and then lowered his head in a daze.

Hashiguchi pushed the money back: "In order to thank Sato-kun for taking care of him every day, I will invite today's wine." ”

"Then I'm going to have a few more drinks, thank you Boss Hashiguchi." It's hard for Sato to say a few words, and it seems that being invited to drink has made him feel better.

Pushing the wine glass over, Hashiguchi asked seemingly unintentionally, "Is there anything bothering Sato-kun?" As far as I know, the salary in the army is not enough for Sato-kun to come to me every day to spend, although I would like Sato-kun to patronize it. But let's be honest, the consumption here is not low. ”

"Hehe, it's not about money, I'm not married, what's the use of keeping so much money? Moreover, the country has sunk to this point, and there is no future like me. Captain Sato drank it all, and Hashiguchi filled him with another glass.

Sato-kun said cautiously, if such words are heard by those young people. It is likely that a fight will start on the spot, and such an incident happened yesterday. A drunk man who had drunk and lost his words was beaten to death by several excited young people, and the police didn't care. Just because he said, 'Get out of here,' the Americans," Hashiguchi whispered.

After a drink, Sato seems to be willing to say a few more words to the good boss: "This is normal, this kind of thing often happens in the army, those who oppose American intervention are completely suppressed by supporters, and there are crowds of people cheering for the help of the United States everywhere, is there no one to rationally analyze the consequences of doing so?" Isn't there anyone who stands up bravely to fight for the fate of Japan? ”

Hashiguchi knows more about this than this Captain Sato. Despite the fact that Sato served in the Ministry of Intelligence of the Japanese Army. After the loss of Manchuria, the struggle between the two forces for China and against China reached its peak, and this controversy spread to all levels of Japanese society, and finally almost turned into a civil war. At that time, Japanese civilians, samurai, and ronin could be seen everywhere wielding bamboo swords and slashing at each other, and the troops stationed in various places were frequently moved. When a civil war was about to break out, Emperor Taisho, who had just ascended the throne, intervened to stop the riots and made it clear that he supported the opposition to the Chinese side.

As a result, the forces that advocated defection to China quickly lost the support of the common people, and the emperor's influence among the people exceeded that of others, and with the emperor's support, Japanese society stabilized.

However, the initial ideological unification was only the beginning, and another challenge soon came: because most of the resources were tilted towards the army, the domestic supply chain was extremely scarce, the rice supply chain in the big cities was broken, the farmland in the countryside was short of labor due to conscription, the enthusiasm for production was reduced due to high taxes, and the grain production was reduced, and there was no external purchase channel (and no money to buy).

In September 1906, the "Rice Riots" broke out in major cities in Japan, and the hungry people finally couldn't stand it for their right to live, and gathered to storm major grain stores and government grain warehouses. According to preliminary statistics, a total of 3 million people in the whole of Japan took part in the "rice riots," and the Japanese army dispatched 30,000 soldiers and killed and wounded more than 60,000 civilians to quell the riots.

The British, the original masters, were too busy to take care of themselves and no longer wanted to set foot in the sad land of the Far East, and the only way out for Japan was to find a new master. It just so happened that the Americans, in order to counter China's expansion in the Pacific, were actively expanding their forces, and after losing the Philippines, they were eager to find a pawn in the Far East to restrain China.

The Americans not only provided food to alleviate Japan's food shortage, but also provided financial support, technical support, military equipment support, and so on, filling the vacancy after the British left Japan in a very short period of time, and penetrating into all aspects of Japan, and Japan became an overseas province of the United States in the Far East.

Speaking of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt sold the Philippine Islands to China in exchange for the American consortium's share of trade in China after the war. Unexpectedly, after the American people learned of this news, they quickly set off a wave of opposition throughout the country, and President Roosevelt, who pursued the Monroe Doctrine to the outside world, went so far as to easily sell out the overseas territories that he had so hard to obtain, which made it difficult for the American people to tolerate.

Another incident that happened that year made Roosevelt's situation worse, a freighter bound for Tianjin was sunk because it refused to be blocked by the Chinese navy, although the freighter was loaded with cheap goods such as potatoes and wheat, but it aroused the anger of the American people who were in a sensitive period, and the call for Roosevelt to step down lasted for more than half a month.

The Democratic Party seized the opportunity to attack the situation, united with the consortium that did not benefit from the distribution of trade with China, coerced the public opinion to violently attack the Republican Party and Roosevelt, and initiated an impeachment case against President Roosevelt in Congress.

In order to save the reputation of the Republican Party, Vice President Philbanks took the initiative to change his policy, began to alienate China, and looked for ways to restrain China's expansion. Strangely, some conglomerates are still doing big business with China, and the US government has begun to attach importance to military investment, regarding China as a new enemy. The fact that the two do not interfere with each other is also the result of a compromise between the power of the consortium and the government.

Japan, which had degenerated into a semi-colony, was hated by many radicals, who remembered the glory of Japan's rise in the first place, and turned their eyes to China in the face of its rise without a way out. Trying to emulate the ancestors to learn the history of the Tang Dynasty and Han culture, it rose again. They believed that Japan would become cannon fodder in the struggle between the Americans and the Chinese, and they had seen how powerful China was, and they did not believe that the United States would defeat China.

It's a pity that the strength of the country that hates China far exceeds that of others, and Captain Sato is also disappointed by this, and Japan is definitely on the wrong path in choosing the strong. What does the United States have? How many army soldiers do they have? Can their fleet be compared to the expeditionary fleet of the anti-Chinese alliance? As an army captain, Sato clearly knows what level those American officers are, and they are not even as good as the Beiyang officers under Yuan Shikai!

Having been observing the frustrated officer for a long time, Hashiguchi felt that the time had come. After five glasses of drinking, Captain Sato was already unconscious, and Hashiguchi gave a young man next to him, and the two carried Sato upstairs, and no one noticed what was going on in the dimly lit bar.

Sato came to his senses and found himself lying on the bed, his throat dry from the effects of alcohol, and there was a glass of water at his side, he picked it up, hesitated and put it down. This is a strange place, and Sato is an officer with more than ten years of intelligence experience.

"Sato-kun, are you awake? There is no problem with this glass of water, so please drink it with confidence. Hashiguchi walked over and took a sip of the cup, indicating that there was no poison in the water.

Sato still didn't drink, and after clearing his throat, he asked, "Where is this?" Did Hashiguchi-kun help me here? ”

Yuma Hashiguchi did not answer, but opened the document in his hand with a smile: "Yasuke Sato, a captain in the Japanese Army, serves as an intelligence analyst officer of the Army Intelligence Department. Born in 1866 in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, he was admitted to the Army Junior Military Academy in 1880, the Army Non-commissioned Officer School in 1882, and was awarded the rank of second lieutenant in artillery in 1884, graduating in December of the following year. In 1892, he was appointed to the General Staff Headquarters, enthusiastically studied the Chinese question, and from 1892 to 1895 he was stationed in Guangzhou, China, and was transferred back during the First Sino-Japanese War as a second lieutenant and staff officer of the First Army. (To be continued.) )