In Tokyo, an Imperial Council is being held, and the discussion is naturally about the current situation.

"Miki-kun, what's going on in Hawaii now?"

Sitting in front of Emperor Hirohito, Hideki Tojo asked earnestly.

Although the current situation in Japan is not very good, Hideki Tojo's position is still stable, after all, it has not yet reached the point of a decisive battle on home.

Hearing Hideki Tojo's question, Miki, who had just returned from Hawaii, replied.

"The current situation is not bad, and the Hawaiian side can hold out for a while...... However, the strength of the Americans is growing rapidly, and if they don't think of a way, by next year, I'm afraid they will..."

Hearing Miki's words, Hideki Tojo nodded.

As the head of the cabinet, he is naturally well aware of this.

With the launch of the Yunlong-class aircraft carrier built a long time ago, the strength of the Combined Fleet, which had been battered in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, began to recover.

On the other hand, as the squadron got closer to Australia, the Allies became anxious, and they feared that the squadron would get to Australia before them.

If that's the case, then things will be in big trouble.

Therefore, although the strength was only partially restored, the Americans still organized a fleet with a certain strength and marched towards Hawaii, which was occupied by the Japanese.

There, the Pacific Fleet of the Americans collided with the combined fleet of Isoroku Yamamoto.

However, because the difference in strength between the two sides is not very large, so far the Hawaiian side is still in a state of fierce fighting.

At this time, Kazuo Aoki, who was the Minister of Greater East Asia, spoke to the Minister of the Navy, Shigetaro Shimada.

"Shimada-kun, can't you just let the Americans go?"

Shigetaro Shimada. A short and stocky middle-aged man, he is a Japanese naval admiral and a second-class war criminal. During World War II, he served as Minister of the Japanese Navy and Chief of the Military Command Department.

Shigetaro Shimada was born in 1883 in Tokyo, Japan. His father, Shimada Shogunate, served as a priest during the Tokugawa shogunate. In 1904, Shigetaro Shimada graduated from the 32nd class of the Japan Naval Academy, on the same level as Isoroku Yamamoto and Yoshida Zengo. 1905 year. Shigetaro Shimada served on the Japanese cruiser Izumi and participated in the Battle of the Tsushima Strait in the Russo-Japanese War.

In 1915, Shigetaro Shimada graduated from the 13th class of the Japan Naval University. On December 13, he was promoted to the rank of Naval Commander. In 1923, he became an instructor at the Naval University. In 1928, he served as captain of the Japanese Navy cruiser Tama and the battleship Hiei. In 1929 he was promoted to rear admiral. One of the Japanese invasions of Shanghai? During the 28 incident, Shimada served as chief of staff of the Third Fleet. In 1934 he was promoted to Lieutenant General of the Navy. In 1935, he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Naval Command Department. In 1937, he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Fleet of the Japanese Navy. In 1938, he was appointed commander of the Wu Zhen Shoufu. In May 1940, he was appointed commander of the Chinese fleet, and in November he was promoted to the rank of admiral of the Navy.

In September 1941, he was appointed commander of the Yokosuka Town Guard. October. Shigetaro Shimada was appointed Minister of the Navy in the cabinet of Hideki Tojo. At the end of the year, the Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor and launched the Pacific War. Shigetaro Shimada was ridiculed by the Japanese naval circles as "Tojo's adjutant" because of his firm support for Hideki Tojo's stance. After the U.S. military launched the air raid on Chuuk Island, on February 21, 1944, Shigetaro Shimada succeeded Shusei Nagano as the chief of the Japanese Military Command Department, commanding the Japanese Navy. After the defeat at the Battle of Saipan in July 1944, the Tojo Cabinet resigned. Shigetaro Shimada stepped down, and Naokuni Nomura became Minister of the Navy. This month, Shigetaro Shimada was featured on the cover of Time magazine in the United States. At the beginning of August, he resigned as the chief of the military command department and was appointed as a military counselor. In January 1945, he was transferred to the reserve.

After the end of World War II, Shigetaro Shimada was tried as a war criminal. November 12, 1948. Shigetaro Shimada was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and classified as a Class A war criminal. He was pardoned after parole in 1955. He died in 1976 at the age of 92.

When Kazuo Aoki asked Shimada this, everyone else in the venue turned their heads to look at him. …,

They are all well aware of the fact that Shimada, as a staunch supporter of Hideki Tojo, is called "Tojo's adjutant". So a lot of the time. Asking Shimada is the same question as asking Tojo, but it's more subtle...

Really. After hearing Aoki's words, it was natural that Shimada turned his gaze to Tojo.

Kazuo Aoki cannot be blamed, but the Great East Asia Province was established by the decision of the Tojo Cabinet to strengthen the special relationship between Japan and the occupied areas and complete the "Greater East Asia War."

On September 1, 1942, the Cabinet passed the "Bill for the Establishment of the Province of Greater East Asia". The purpose of stipulating the new province is: "To concentrate the overall strength of the Greater East Asia region in order to enhance its combat effectiveness." "On November 1, according to the imperial decree of Emperor Hirohito. The Greater East Asia Province was formally established, with seven bureaus, including the Cabinet Secretariat, the General Affairs Bureau, the Manchuria Affairs Bureau, the China Affairs Bureau, and the Southern Affairs Bureau. At the same time, the former Ministry of Tourism, the Koya Academy, the Manchurian Affairs Bureau, and the East Asia Bureau and Nanyang Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were merged into the province.

Nowadays, of course, there is no Manchurian Bureau, but special institutions such as the Indian Bureau have been set up.

Due to the rapid expansion of Japan in the early years of the war, Kazuo Aoki, the minister of the Greater East Asian Province, was also extremely powerful. But now? The Indochina Peninsula has all been lost, India is almost gone, and the Philippines, and now even the Nanyang Islands are also being lost, if this continues, Kazuo Aoki's Greater East Asia Province is estimated to have nothing to manage—————— Australia is too important, so it is not under the jurisdiction of the Greater East Asia Province.

It is precisely for this reason that Kazuo Aoki wants to ask clearly.

Of course, Aoki's other idea is whether he can sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, put the Americans in, and then watch the Americans and the Chinese fight each other.

However, Kazuo Aoki's suggestion, after Shimada got permission from Hideki Tojo, was rejected without thinking.

Although Shimada has always been known as "Tojo's adjutant", since he is the Minister of the Navy, Shimada can never be incompetent.

"It's true that both Americans and Chinese are eyeing Australia right now. The Americans, in particular, would never cede Australia to China, but that doesn't mean that the two countries will clash, especially at times like this, and most importantly..." Shimada smiled bitterly. "The most important thing is that both Chinese and Americans want to include Australia in their own hands." Now just to guard against the Chinese, our strength in Australia may be enough, but don't forget. The Americans are also coming for Australia, and if the Americans are also included, it will not be enough to face China and the United States at the same time..."

As Shimada said, China and the United States do not look favorably, and the United States cannot sit idly by and watch Australia fall into the hands of the Chinese.

But one thing will not change, and that is whether it is Chinese or American. Essentially, it's all for Australia.

If the Americans are blocked in Hawaii now, then with Australia's own strength, it may be possible to resist the Chinese, but if the Americans are also released. Caught between China and the United States at the same time, then in the end, whether China wins or the United States loses, it has nothing to do with Japan...

"But if this continues, the situation in Australia may also be ...... The latest intelligence from the front line, the large-scale use of chemical weapons by the Chinese in the Nanyang Islands, the troops on the front line suffered heavy casualties..."

"Oh?"

I heard one of you say that. Everyone else looked at it. …,

Although they are also very concerned about the intelligence of the South Seas, it is obvious that this situation is unfamiliar to them.

This time. Hideki Tojo cleared his throat.

At this time, the Minister of War was concurrently held by Hideki Tojo himself, so Hideki Tojo also knew the situation at the front well.

"Indeed, Chinese seem to have dropped a very powerful chemical weapon on the islands of the South Seas, and we are in the jungle of the archipelago...... The casualties of the fighting troops were very heavy..."

"What about the protective measures? Aren't the gas masks issued to the front line enough? ”

Hearing Hideki Tojo say this, an official frowned and asked.

At this time, the quartermaster of the Tojo Cabinet, like the Minister of War, was concurrently served by Tojo Hideki himself. Therefore, some people looked at Hideki Tojo with a puzzled gaze, as if he was greedy for ink.

To know. Hideki Tojo himself is not very popular.

And receiving such a gaze, Hideki Tojo himself became uncomfortable.

It's just that after thinking of the things he saw in the photos, Hideki Tojo suddenly felt a chill on his body...

Although some of the experiments conducted in Japan are no secret to Tojo, the appearance of those who have almost melted their skin away...

As long as he thinks of those people, Hideki Tojo can't even get angry...

"Gas masks and the like are sufficient, especially after the Chinese began to use chemical weapons, the troops mobilized a considerable number of gas masks to the front line, the problem is that the chemical weapons used by the Chinese must be fully protected to be effective." Otherwise, even exposing a little bit of skin would lead to the death of the person, and even the skin of those who died would be melted away..."

Hearing this, everyone present showed surprise.

————————————————————

While Tojo and others were still discussing the topic, the Americans were on the offensive against Hawaii.

Although the Pacific Ocean was almost the same as the pond of the United States in later generations, this was not the case in this era, and the vastness of the Pacific Ocean itself was a huge obstacle.

So for Americans, Hawaii is definitely an indispensable transit point for their expansion into Asia, probably similar to the Azores in the Atlantic during the Age of Discovery.

In the 15th century, Portuguese navigators discovered the Azores, which for a long time served as an important supply point for the Atlantic route. The Azores are volcanic islands in the central and eastern part of the North Atlantic, an overseas territory of Portugal, with a land area of 2,344 square kilometers, with rugged terrain, crater lakes, hot springs and earthquakes, and are important shipping stations and international air relay stations between Western Europe, South America and West Africa.

For three hundred years, the islands controlled most of Europe's trade with Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

Abandoning Hawaii was also a last resort for the Americans, because at that time, the US Pacific Fleet was completely wiped out in Pearl Harbor, and there was no longer the strength to continue to protect Hawaii, not even the American coast.

So in the absence of a way, the Americans can only transfer the remaining forces back to the American mainland. Otherwise, if they continue to maintain their power in Hawaii, the only thing that awaits them is destruction.

For the Japanese, Hawaii itself is not a place they covet, because they did not think about attacking the —————— without the mainland, and if they rely on China, it is likely to be sold by China one day, which is the thinking of most Japanese.

However, since the Americans themselves sent Hawaii to the door, the Japanese felt that if they didn't laugh at it, they would be too sorry for the Japanese. …,

As a result, Japan reluctantly accepted Hawaii.

However, Hawaii is indispensable for Americans today, and even more so for the Japanese, because if Hawaii is lost, then Americans will be able to go to Japan or Australia without hindrance.

Hawaii will also become the best transit point for Americans to enter Asia.

And now, for the place where there are only three words in this name, the two sides are engaged in a battle to the death.

On the other hand, the progress of the Indian Defense Forces is also quite gratifying, and after the capture of Kolkata, Ho Zhu Guo has captured a number of important cities one after another. The Japanese territory in India was getting smaller and smaller, and in the end, He Zhuguo even gave up attacking the Japanese troops located inland and attacked the coastal Japanese territory instead.

Seeing that he will be besieged to death in India, he is even likely to be surrounded and annihilated.

Although Yamashita knew very well that Tojo Hideki would never let go of this opportunity, Yamashita Fumimi could only command the troops to move to the coastal area and cede the inland land to He Zhuguo to avoid the annihilation of his own army.

At this time, however, the British were in full swing and intended to compete with the Wehrmacht.

Fortunately, He Zhuguo's airborne troops have rarely been used so far, and their strength has been preserved quite well.

So when fighting for territory, He Zhuguo did not suffer too many losses.

It is at this time that the new year is about to pass...