Shanghai Public Concession, the conference room on the first floor of the Consulate General.

The two people on the main seat were Lin Quansuke, minister of the Chinese army in China, and Yoshiichi Tanaka, chief of staff of the Chinese armed forces, who made a special trip to attend the annual meeting in Shanghai under the pretext of a visit, and on the left and right were Lieutenant General Aoki, military attache of the Consulate General in Shanghai, Consul Ao Nei, consul in Yunnan, Ota in Guangzhou, and more than 10 diplomats stationed in Changsha, Wuhan, and Shashi.

Genjiro Tsukasa, chairman of the Osaka Tsukagen Trading Company, whose branches are located in the five major cities in the Yangtze River Valley, and Oda Kirimanju, director of the Yokohama Shojin Bank, unexpectedly attended the meeting, and the well-dressed middle-aged man sitting opposite the two businessmen was Mitsuo Sato, general manager of Taipei Corporation, an intelligence agency of the Ministry of the Army in China.

In the spacious and solemn conference room, only the slightly trembling voice of the new consul general of Yucheng, Yamato Yoshikuro, was echoing, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the young and emaciated diplomat, who was already sweating profusely, his expression was ashamed and terrified, and the report manuscript in his hand made a trembling sound.

Yamato Yoshikuro's nearly twenty-minute report was finally finished, and the tall and elegant young diplomat was already soaked, he took a big step back, bowed suddenly, and made a request with great pain:

"Yamato Yoshikuro is ashamed of his trust in the emperor and has failed to live up to the expectations of the kings, so I ask you to give me the most severe punishment!"

There was silence in the conference room, and no one dared to speak out at this time, so they could only look at Yoshikuro Yamato, who maintained a deep bowing posture, with pity.

Lin Quansuke on the main seat discussed a few words in a low voice with Tanaka beside him, turned to Yamato Yoshikuro with a ninety-degree angle to his body, and said kindly:

"Jiulang, please don't do this, we all know the sinister situation in Sichuan, so we transferred you to Yucheng to take over the post of consul general in October last year, in general, you don't have much responsibility, and you shouldn't be asked to bear the mistakes made by the previous officials in the past five years, on the contrary, you have done a good job, I myself and General Tanaka are very satisfied with your spirit, please sit down."

"Thank you, sir! General Xie Tianzhong! ”

Yamato Yoshikuro repeatedly bowed and thanked the two lords on the throne, and returned to his position to sit down, and the participants immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and no one noticed that Yamato Yoshikuro's legs and hands were still shaking.

Lin Quan, the minister to China with white sideburns and a round face, helped his glasses and began to summarize with a solemn face:

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the past year, I have made great achievements in the diplomatic and military and political affairs of the Empire in China, not only opening consulates and civil affairs offices in all the coastal cities of China, but also setting up consulates in major cities in nine provinces, including Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan, making tremendous progress in penetrating the military and political circles and the vast market of China, and very brilliantly fulfilling the glorious task entrusted to us by the Emperor and the Cabinet, gentlemen, hard work! ”

"Hey—"

From the beginning of the Great War in Europe to the present, all of us here, like countless colleagues in northern China, have worked hard all night and night for the five-year top-secret plan of the political axe, and today we have finally won the approval and praise of the Minister and Chief of Staff of the Military Department, General Tanaka Yoshiichi.

Lin Quanzhu motioned for everyone to sit down, glanced around and slowly tensed his face: "In the face of excellent results, the mistakes we made on the Sichuan issue are even more eye-catching, not only the previous consul general of Yucheng has to bear great responsibility, but also our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Army, and the General Staff are also responsible, which is an irrefutable fact. ”

Everyone immediately straightened their spines and listened with their ears pricked up, not daring to move, hoping to find something important in the words of the minister.

Lin Quanzhu continued: "The reason why we say that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the War Department, and the General Staff are responsible is that our three departments have seriously underestimated Sichuan's strength, ignored the rapid growth of Sichuan's local army, and are not sufficiently vigilant against Sichuan's amazing progress in economy, science and technology, and culture, so they will fall into passivity in all aspects

"We did not expect that the military and political authorities in Sichuan would be so bold and cunning that they would take advantage of the turmoil between the north and the south of China and the world war, and use the pretext of defending the sacred land to openly send troops to Tibetan Province, successfully inciting the patriotic spirit of the people of China, quietly developing industry, commerce, science and technology, and culture for five consecutive years, winning valuable time and huge funds for the construction of their own industrial system, culture and science and technology, and at the same time building up a good army step by step through two civil wars that won the hearts of the people, and finally suddenly exerting force. Caught the world's most powerful British political axe off guard and drove British forces out of Sichuan in one fell swoop.

"I have to say that the courage and strategy of the Sichuan military and political authorities are worthy of our admiration and learning, and at the same time, they have also brought severe challenges to our empire. Next, I would like to ask General Tanaka to introduce us to the issue of the army in Sichuan, and you must listen attentively! ”

Yoshiichi Tanaka, with a high nose and a narrow face, puffed up his chest, glanced around majestically, and began to introduce in a very serious tone: "According to the intelligence analysis of all aspects, the Sichuan army is a powerful army, and its combat effectiveness and weapons and equipment have basically reached the middle level of our imperial army, and what is lacking is only the number of artillery.

"This army, with a total number of 150,000 people, has obtained the essence of the German Army, their military law is strict, the training is hard, the experience is rich, hard-working, no matter which aspect, far more than any army in China, what is more worthy of our vigilance is that they secretly cooperated with the German [***] team five years ago, established their own military school, hundreds of German professional military instructors in the Sichuan Military Academy to teach modern military knowledge, to help the Sichuan army quickly move towards science and civilization.

"Over the past five years, more than 3,000 non-commissioned officer graduates of the Sichuan Military Academy with knowledge of modern military theories have successively entered various departments of the Sichuan Army, which has led to the rapid improvement of the Sichuan Army's operational thinking and military technology, and has become a major obstacle that our empire cannot ignore!"

For the first time, everyone heard that the [***] team in the army of Ben Ben made such a high parity, and they were all shocked and inexplicable, and they also gave birth to great vigilance.

Yoshiichi Tanaka was very satisfied with the reaction of the crowd, raised his hands flat on the table, and consciously raised his voice:

"As a result of our mistakes in formulating our strategic plan, we lost control of Sichuan Province, the largest and most important province in the western part of China, and two years ago, the military and political authorities in Sichuan, which had not received our attention and support, began to systematically and step by step squeeze the infiltration of our empire, and shifted the direction of economic, cultural, and military development to Europe and the United States. The contents of the textbook range from the conflict between the two sides of the Ming Dynasty in China to the First Sino-Japanese War, and all of them are shameless slanders against our empire and army.

"It is a pity that in the past four years, we have not found this serious incident, which has caused the younger generation in Sichuan to have misunderstanding and resentment towards our empire, and a whole generation has gradually regarded the United States and Europe as the first choice for studying abroad, and for more than ten years, it has been the first place to study in China, and thus lost its influence on the younger generation of Sichuan.

Everyone lowered their heads in shame, and Lin Quansuke, who was sitting on the main seat, also sighed guiltily.

Yoshiichi Tanaka continued:

"In the past three months, I have been to China twice and visited six provinces in the north and south, and everywhere I went, I was warmly welcomed by the political axe of China and the major military and political forces, and all of them received due respect, and all of them made the military and political forces in China feel inferior and worried, but I encountered the most unreasonable rejection in Sichuan Province, which made me think deeply at night.

"As far as I know, both our diplomatic and economic circles have been severely challenged in Sichuan, and even the foreign affairs agencies in Sichuan and the three self-owned docks have not been able to be saved. Why is this happening? Ladies and gentlemen, we must examine it deeply! This concludes my remarks, and I hope that they will be of help to you. ”

As Tanaka's thick and stern voice stopped, the atmosphere of the meeting became more solemn.

Lin Quanzhu, who presided over the meeting, unhurriedly maintained this depressed atmosphere, and only after two minutes did he make a few sentences of summary, give some encouragement, and ask every military and political official stationed in China to write a review report, and finally announced the dismissal of the meeting with a wave of his hand.

The officials hurriedly left with their heads bowed, and Genjiro Tsukasa and Mitsuo Sato, who had been left behind, respectfully followed behind Hayashi Quansuke and Tanaka, entered the side room, sat down cross-legged in an orderly manner, and silently accepted the thoughtful service of several maids with their heads bowed.

Tanaka waved his hand to let the irrelevant personnel step down, and kindly invited Tsukagen and Sato to have tea, and when everyone put down the teacups, Tanaka asked Sato with a smile:

"Sato-kun, I have read your report, and I also know the situation of Sichuan's military industry, but there is something I don't understand, why can the empire's weapons and equipment be sold in large quantities in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Hunan, but cannot enter the Sichuan market?"

The short and thin Sato put his hands on his knees, bowed deeply, raised his head, and explained bitterly:

"General, we are all wrong in the intelligence collection and analysis of the Sichuan military industry, and the mistake is very big, I am afraid that you have to ask Your Excellency to return the original report to me, and I will present you with a more detailed report."

Sato took out a cowhide envelope from the inner pocket of his suit, lowered his head and handed it with both hands:

"General, there is nothing wrong with the information we have about the Sichuan Arsenal, but the scale and technical estimation of the Ya'an Arsenal, which is more than 100 kilometers southwest of Chengdu, is completely wrong, the production technology and innovation ability of the Ya'an Arsenal are far beyond our imagination...... General, please believe my report, and if in doubt, Gen-kun Tsukasa will explain it to the general in detail, because this new report of mine was written with the great help of Gen-kun Tsuka. ”

Hayashi Quansuke and Tanaka looked at each other with a look of disbelief in their eyes.

Tanaka pinched the thick cowhide envelope, gently put it aside, and looked at Genjiro Tsukasa, who bowed slightly: "Genjiro Tsukasa, please tell me the latest information you have." ”

"Hey!"

Tsukasa Yuan bowed again, raised his head, and his face was full of grief and indignation:

"General, this new report beside you embodies the hard work of your subordinates in the past eight years, and the blood of the four martyrs who have their hearts on the Chinese empire! In order to understand the real situation of the Ya'an Arsenal in Sichuan, four officials who had been trained by his subordinates for eight years were accidentally exposed, and overnight, these four officials were secretly arrested and interrogated, and were executed in less than three days, and their families were all sent to the cold Xikang to serve hard labor. ”

Everyone was taken aback, and Yoshiichi Tanaka asked eagerly, "Are you in danger at the moment?" ”

"Not for the time being, they have no evidence to accuse their subordinates, with their subordinates' understanding of Xiao Yimin, he will not do anything to his subordinates, but my subordinates may no longer be able to easily obtain information, and their subordinates have been working hard for more than ten years, and they have not made any contributions, and they have failed to live up to the trust of the emperor and the generals......"

When Tsukagen said this, he shed tears of grief.

Tanaka was excited, stood up suddenly, walked to Tsukasa Gen, who was crying bitterly, slowly squatted down, and clasped Tsukagen's trembling hand: "Tsukasa Gen-kun, you are the best officer in my army, our best intelligence officer, your merits will never be erased, your position should be promoted, and your wife and children who stay in this will receive the greatest honor and care!"

"Please relax your mind, let's discuss it slowly, no matter what the situation encounters, we can't give up our great faith!"

Lin Quansuke also stepped forward to comfort him emotionally, patiently waiting for Genjiro Tsukasa to calm down, and then began to discuss in depth.

At noon the next day, Tsukasa Yuan resolutely left Shanghai, with indomitable ambition, with the important mission directly delivered by Tanaka Yoshiichi to return to Sichuan again, he knew what was waiting for him in front of him, but he had no regrets, even if it could still have a slight effect, and it could still do something beneficial to the emperor and the empire, Tsukagen would do it without hesitation, even if it was a halberd and a sinking sand.

(To be continued)