At the Tokushima wharf, several soldiers who served as guards were in charge of monitoring the unloading of supplies from the ships by more than 100 Japanese people, who only provided two meals a day, and only had a dime of military vouchers a day, and their clothes were all black, and there was a white lacquer sign on their chests, and a circle with the word "倭" written on it, and they all carried the goods with hard work.

Perhaps for the Japanese, the Shogunate had adapted to living under one shogun after another during the past few hundred years, and at this time, they quickly completed the change of status and began to serve in these occupation forces.

"Hey......"

The scene in front of him only made Yokoyama Sao let out a long sigh in his heart.

Originally, he imagined that Tokushima should be a daily gunfire and the Japanese resisting the squadron, but now it seems that the city has completely surrendered to these Chinese occupation forces.

"Smack, smack...... Baga"

There was a burst of scolding on the dock, that was the captains of the people who were reprimanding those who did not work hard, and the ** people were just holding guns on the side, looking at the scene in front of them with a smile, from time to time some Japanese people seemed to say something to those ** people, but in exchange for a burst of laughter, and then there would be a military cao patting the flattering person, as if to encourage him.

Why is this so?

Closing his eyes in pain, Yokoyama Sao did not want to witness this scene in front of him again, and at this time, his eyes appeared in front of the scene he saw in the car when he drove the foreign minister of the small village to the city government to hold negotiations in the morning, Tokushima Prefecture still seemed to be very prosperous, all lively, Chinese army soldiers in groups of three or five carrying guns in Chinese shops to buy things, and you can also see officers and soldiers in groups of people in the city to have fun.

Chinese merchants opened many shops here, including taverns, tea houses, and even theaters, where Chinese officers and soldiers always liked to have fun, and on the streets, you can see homeless refugees, wandering barefoot on the road, huddled and shivering on the roadside, and on the side of the road, you can see Chinese "relief stations", many people lining up to drink a bowl of porridge.

On the other hand, many Japanese people did business with those Chinese soldiers, and the Chinese soldiers waved military vouchers to buy their family heirloom bronze Buddha statues, jewelry, and katana swords from those people, and those Japanese used military vouchers to buy grain from Chinese grain merchants, and then sold them at a high price to ordinary people who only had yen in their hands, and finally they would take the yen and exchange it for military vouchers to the Bank of China at a price of 10 to 1.

The misery of the lives of the people of the defeated countries seems to be fully reflected here.

"Let's hope the talks end soon"

Sao Yokoyama prayed in his heart, perhaps the only way to end their miserable life was to rely on this negotiation.

"Actually, it's not impossible to give in"

After three days of negotiations, Liang Dunyan slowly spat out a sentence in the face of the personnel bureau that could fall into the negotiation at any time.

His words only made Komura Shoutaro happy.

"Our conditions are very simple, and the two basic conditions can compensate for each other"

In an instant, the original joy disappeared from Komura Shoutaro's heart, and he understood what Liang Atsuhiko meant.

"Your Excellency, please forgive your ignorance, and please explain the mutual compensation"

"Either make up appropriately in the land or make up in money"

Saying that, Liang Dunyan proposed a so-called mutual compensation plan.

"If your country does not cede Kyushu, you can compensate us by providing an additional 3 billion yen to our country."

"What"

Komura Shoutaro's eyes opened, and he looked at the other party in complete disbelief, 3 billion yen, negotiated by himself for three days, and only cut a total of 3 billion yen, and now ......

"If your country is willing to cede Hokkaido additionally, our government can accept 9 billion yuan in compensation."

Liang Dunyan had a smile on his face, and his tone was quite relaxed, in the past three days, according to the instructions of the Japanese government, the Japanese army had stopped all attacks, and the navy seized this favorable opportunity to take advantage of the merchant ships sailing into the Seto Inland Sea, providing the army with 50,000 tons of supplies, and also transporting two divisions, and the dispatch command was very confident, they believed that the dispatch army was now capable of attacking Honshu Island.

Therefore, if necessary, the army is willing to cooperate with the negotiations and launch an attack on Honshu, of course, Liang Dunyan is more inclined to get the return due at the negotiating table, and negotiation is always the least costly way. ,

"Your Excellency, can't you make any more concessions?"

Looking directly at Liang Atsuhiko, Komura Shoutaro shook his head when he saw him, and after a long silence, he said categorically.

"Your Excellency should understand that if the contemptible people agree to the agreement, even if the government approves it, then I am afraid that the hatred between Japan and China will never be eliminated, and China will not only get not a friend, but also an enemy."

Then Komura Shoutaro said again.

"Your Excellency is a diplomat, you should know that German Chancellor Bismarck was once the best diplomat, he led the German Empire to strength, but where did he fail the most?"

In the face of Xiao Cun's words, Liang Dunyan was just silent.

"It was the excessive oppression of France, which eventually led to Germany and France becoming enemies of the country, and now, this condition of your country will undoubtedly force Japan to the point of hating your country for generations......

"Your Excellency, we can only adhere to this principle for things that are not guaranteed"

Although the meaning of the words has not yet been understood, Komura Shoutaro still understands what he means, and Liang Dunyan's meaning is very obvious, the most fundamental reason why China insists on these two conditions is that they are afraid that Japan will become China's enemy, and it is precisely because of this that they will insist on these two peace conditions aimed at destroying Japan.

"Isn't there a better option? Excellency? ”

After understanding the ultimate intention of the Chinese government, Komura Shoutaro hurriedly asked, and he realized that perhaps the breakthrough in this negotiation was in this place.

Restraining the smile on his face, Liang Dunyan's whole person became extremely serious.

"Foreign Minister Komura, there is a ......"

Groaning, observing the hint of anticipation in Komura Shoutaro's expression, he continued.

"Actually, the final decision rests with Japan, not China."

Seeing that Komura Shoutaro seemed a little puzzled, Liang Dunyan explained again.

"As Your Excellency said at the beginning of the negotiations, the friendship between China and Japan has lasted for thousands of years, and although there have been unpleasant but undeniable historical friendships in the past decade or so, our Government believes that we would rather ...... friendship without security."

Although the words were not finished, Liang Dunyan had already made the meaning very clear at this time, so much so that Komura Shoutaro even began to appreciate the frankness and straightforwardness of this Lord Liang.

"We ......"

Almost without any thought, as if he was afraid that he would change his mind, Komura Shoutaro immediately spat out an idea.

"Japan is willing to sign an alliance treaty with China, and abrogates the alliance treaty with Great Britain, and please rest assured that Japan is willing to be a friend of China, not an enemy."

Shaking his head, Liang Dunyan said with regret.

"Treaty of Alliance, it doesn't matter"

Without waiting for Komura Shoutaro to explain, Liang Dunyan said bluntly.

"Treaties can be torn up at any time, and those treaties that are not guaranteed are, in fact, just a piece of paper, just like the abrogation of the treaty of alliance with Great Britain, as you just said."

This will make the village want to slap his mouth, how could he bring this up, it is really stupid.

"A treaty without guarantees?"

Komura Shoutaro, who had already made a big mistake, pondered in his heart the meaning of Liang Dunyan's words, what kind of guarantee would this guarantee be?

What kind of guarantee can reassure the Chinese so that they can give up the demand for ceding a large amount of land and paying huge military reparations? Komura understands very well that for Japan, except for Korea and the Ryukyus, the government and the people do not want to cede any territory, and as for the reparations, let alone 12 billion, even 1.2 billion, Japan cannot take it.

But the question is, how can we satisfy the Chinese, and what kind of guarantee do the Chinese need?

Guarantee......

In the cabinet meeting room of the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo, Katsura Taro and others also muttered these two words, and everyone's expressions were extremely serious, in their opinion, this was the most real and substantive progress made by Komura three days after the start of the negotiations.

"Kodama, can you guess what kind of security the Chinese need?"

Turning his head to look at Kodama, who looked extremely haggard, Katsura Taro smiled bitterly at him.

"If we can figure out what kind of security Chinese need, maybe we can end this war, and we don't even need to pay reparations......

"Impossible"

When Gentaro Kodama was talking, he kept coughing,

"If I'm not mistaken, we still need to cede some land to China outside of Korea and the Ryukyus, and these two places can be considered as restitution, but the Chinese definitely need to make some appropriate demands to cede land in addition to the guarantees, so as to achieve their goals." ,

"Well, they need some glorious compensation"

Terauchi Masashi said sarcastically.

"After all, they still need something to explain to the people, land cession and compensation will always be given, it's just a matter of more and less......"

Glancing at Gentaro Kodama and Prime Minister Katsura, he said again.

"Now, it's as if North Korea and Ryukyu are the Chinese."

"At least we have to face reality, don't we? Do you think it is possible for the Chinese to regard the two places as a cession? ”

"Well, Korea is not yet the territory of Japan, but what about the Ryukyus? That's Japanese territory."

"Yes, it's Japanese, but don't forget that Ryukyu used to be a vassal state of the Chinese, and it was a place that we occupied for decades, so the Chinese will see it as a return, not a cession."

Seeing that everyone was arguing again, Katsura Taro leaned forward.

"Okay, don't quarrel anymore, we're talking about Japan's future now instead of having a pointless quarrel, if the quarrel can save Japan, then let's keep arguing, even if it's until next year"

"Now, the most important question is, what do the Chinese need?"

Inoue Shin, one of the three elders who participated in the cabinet meeting, shook her head.

"I think it shouldn't be an easy condition for the Chinese to be willing to exchange land ceded and reparations."

"So what kind of conditions will it be?"

Youpeng asked in a deep voice. Matsukata saw Inoue squint his eyes, trying to figure out what he meant. Of course, for Inoue Xin, he also has no clue. He didn't give any answer, he just looked at them with a strange light in his eyes.

"It's definitely a very demanding condition."

He said slowly.

"It must be so,"

Katsura Taro hurriedly agreed.

At this time, the deep curiosity in Terauchi Masaki's heart was aroused, although he didn't want to reveal it.

"But what kind of conditions will it be?"

Gentaro Kodama asked again, but this question was more like he was asking himself than anyone else.

Matsukata smiled at them, and then said softly.

"These Chinese, really good at playing dumb, they don't point out what kind of protection they need, just let us guess, and we? Just like now, seeing that the Chinese have made such a big concession, although we don't know what the guarantee they need, but we can't help but guess, every time we guess the same, we will say, this is not good, the Chinese definitely do not need to be the same, because there is no exchange, so we will continue to guess, in fact, in this process, our bottom line is constantly expanding, and then it is the Chinese who really take advantage. ”

Everyone listened to Matsukata's words, all of them were dumbfounded, and even amazed, because just like Matsukata Masayoshi said, they had guessed one answer after another in their hearts, but each one did not seem to be able to satisfy the Chinese, and in the process, the answers they guessed, in fact, if the Chinese put forward any, or even all, they would not object.

This is, after a long silence, only to hear Kodama Gentaro gently,。

"Hmm...... I don't think there's anything more important now than ending the war."

"So, we need to talk about it,"

Nodding, Masayoshi Matsukata turned his gaze to Prime Minister Katsura Taro, who had been silent, and then said in a slow voice.

"Let's come up with our ideas first, it's worth thinking about, isn't it?"

For several minutes everyone was speechless, and who would have come up with something first? Every condition seems to be making concessions, all for Chinese......

"I think it may be a concession, and the Chinese are likely to propose to us to open concessions in some cities in Japan."

Finally, Katsura Taro opened his mouth first, but after spitting out the words, he was silent for a while, and then frowned again.

"But it's also too unfeasible, at least the concession is nowhere near like ceding land."

"Yes, we also have concessions in China, but as soon as we fight with the Chinese, all the concessions will be occupied by Chinese troops, and the concessions alone will not satisfy the appetite of the Chinese at all."

"No, if I had made a condition, I'd rather have a piece of land."

"Okay, if the Chinese propose this, is it acceptable?"

The crowd hurriedly shook their heads.

"We can't accept this as an insult to Japan, and if that happens, the people will feel ......."

"So what if the Chinese want to open up leased land?"

Matsukata asked, surprised at why he had mentioned this condition so easily.

"Well, that's right"

Katsura Taro nodded hurriedly.

"It's a thought-provoking condition, isn't it? What if the Chinese really proposed to open up leased land? Then this condition is more stringent than that of the concession, but it is ...... compared to the cession of land."

"Undoubtedly a little easier if ......"

Inoue Xin was silent for a moment, then turned to look at the silent Shan County Youpeng and said.

"If you really can't help it, is this acceptable?"

In a word, everyone fell silent, compared to the concession, the lease is undoubtedly more feasible, and it is even likely to be the guarantee that the Chinese need, but is it really necessary to make this proposal to the Chinese?

They all understood that the reason why Liang Dunyan ended the negotiations after making that huge concession and revealing that China needed "guarantees" was actually telling Japan that China needed Japan to take the initiative to put forward some "guarantee conditions" so that he could possibly convince the Chinese government, or rather, that the Chinese government needed to go through such a formality.

"Even if we do not cede Kyushu and Shikoku Island, there is no doubt that Korea, Ryukyu, and South Sakhalin cannot be preserved, but at least Tsushima Island and the naval base Sasebo will become leased territory by the Chinese, and even Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands will become Chinese territories, which has a high probability from the current international political practice, after all, China still needs to cede land in addition to the need for guarantees."

Katsura Taro said in a slow voice that he would rather cede Hokkaido than cede Kyushu and Shikoku, for Japan, Hokkaido is a backward and barbaric place, but Kyushu and Shikoku are different.

"If this is the case, we should have the opportunity to use the balance between the great powers in the future to avoid the fate of Japan becoming a complete Chinese territory, at least more appropriately than the present conditions."

"These few alone are not enough"

Gentaro Kodama who had been silent suddenly spoke.

"It's definitely not enough to exchange Hokkaido for Kyushu and Shikoku, and if you take 10,000 steps back, you Chinese get Sasebo, which is considered a security guarantee, but they are definitely not satisfied, and I personally think it's ......"

After a moment of silence, Gentaro Kodama suddenly spoke.

"There is a high probability that they will claim the right to station troops in Japan"

I'm sorry.,It's late for today's update.,Just came back.,I'm really sorry to try to be as early as tomorrow Thank you for your support.。

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