Chapter 146 Holy Judgment (Ask for a Monthly Pass!) Read! ）

In Japan, whenever ministers are at odds, or when ministers want not to take responsibility, there will always be ministers who propose "jiāo by the Holy Judgment", the so-called Imperial Judgment is the Imperial Council, which has been held again and again since the founding of Japan for more than 30 years, and has decided the future direction of the Japanese Empire again and again. ()

It is safe to say that the Imperial Council largely determines the fortunes of Japan, and today is no different, with the hour hand pointing to 19:35 in the evening, and the calendar is torn to August 24, Meiji 38.

"For the sake of this situation, don't ask us to attack China at the same time and attack the Luguo Army, the navy may be able to vacate it, but if we can't make peace with the country, then don't provoke China."

War Minister Masashi Terauchi still insisted on the advice he had made when the Imperial Council was held in the afternoon. When he put forward this opinion, he did not go to His Majesty, and the so-called Imperial Council was more of a "Imperial Dispute", and the Emperor decided in the end, and if the Emperor could not decide, then the minority obeyed the majority.

At this time, the Minister of the Navy, Gonbei Yamamoto, said again.

"If we don't attack China now, then in less than five years, we will be far behind China in all aspects!" Then he said something strange that did not correspond to the status of the Lord of the Navy.

"We're either bleeding or we're going to carry out the outer jiāo. Bleeding is better, it's simpler, and it solves the problem. In the past few days, he has really stated this point of view, and he still adheres to it.

The Chief of Staff of the Army, Gentaro Yu, replied.

"We can't make the people aware of what we think, and if we plan to attack China now, it will inevitably lead to a misstep in negotiations with the United States."

There can't be a war with China, at least not now! Although Gentaro Koyu thought so in his heart, he didn't reveal his thoughts. He knows why people are talking about attacking China, because all I want to do is attack China.

"It all depends on the situation. We can't go hand in hand at the same time. ”

Katsura Taro once again spit out ambiguous words, but in fact, who doesn't know that among the ministers, the one who shouted the most ferocious war against China was Katsura Taro, and he was deceived by the Chinese emperor during the negotiation of Hoshishima, although Ito took responsibility for it when peace was later made, but in fact, now many people are already thinking about whether he should be allowed to step down, and in the end, if it were not for the emperor and political dignitaries who were worried that the fall of the cabinet might affect the war against Lu, he was lucky to escape.

After Ito's assassination at the docks, Katsura Taro has publicly called on several occasions for "recovering Taiwan!" He supported the war against China not for Japan's sake, but for his own personal gain.

"We have nothing to gain in the north, judging from the current negotiations, we cannot get even one ruble of indemnity from Lu State, maybe we can get some land, after the seventh negotiation, President Roosevelt has already told our negotiators that Nicholas II's attitude is that "an inch of land, a kopeck will not be given to us", so hopefully we can make huge concessions, the negotiations may be deadlocked, but in the end the negotiations still need to go on. This war is better for us, from now on, to end a day sooner than a day later! ”

The Minister of Finance, Zeng You, said in a somewhat hoarse voice.

"Our war with Lu has exhausted 2.2 billion yen in military spending, but now it seems that unless we can fight Moscow, we will not be able to get a single ruble of military spending, and Lu may give in, maybe cede some land to us, but if we attack China! As long as we defeat their navy, we can threaten their capital, and then we can also support the republicans in China in a subversive uprising, and their emperor will definitely agree to our demands by that time unless he wants to see himself lose control of China. ”

In fact, the logic of the Minister of Finance, Soyu Arasuke, fully represents the logic of the Japanese cabinet, that what Lu could not get, was obtained in China, and in short, Japan must get what it lost in the war, and it must return what belongs to Japan.

"In the war against Lu, Japan's war expenditure was nearly 2.2 billion yen, Japan's national debt rose from 600 million to 2.6 billion, interest alone needed to pay 170 million yuan a year, and the per capita tax burden increased from 5 yen two years ago to 10 yen now, both the financial business community and the people were eager to get a huge war reparation, and most of the people believed that the Lu country would cede Sakhalin, Vladivostok, Primorsky Province and Kamchatka, and get 2 billion yen in reparations, and even the most conservative would think that Russia would pay 1 billion yen in reparations... … But what about the facts? ”,

No way!

Of course, they know that this is impossible, but now Japan must find a way to solve the current problem; if there is no compensation for the country, the interest of 170 million yuan a year will drag down the entire Japan, not to mention that it will have to face the Chinese arms race at sea in the future.

"Pay 170 million yuan of benefits to foreign countries a year, and then there is less than 100 million yuan of budget left, what do we use to compete with the Chinese, what do we take to build the Zhiyuan ship? Even if we get North Korea, what can we change? Nothing can be changed! Therefore, if you want to solve the problem, you must declare war on China, defeat the Chinese, and get at least 2 billion reparations! ”

"If we declare war on the Chinese, will the United States support them and declare war on us?"

"It's not impossible. The United States is very wary of our maritime power, and China has refused to purchase warships from other countries except Germany, but the United States has agreed at the beginning, of course, if they have enough warships, maybe they will export warships to China instead of armored cruisers, but in war, everything is difficult to say. ”

The interest of 170 million yen, the future naval arms race, one by one as the ministers talked, from time to time hit Meiji's brain, on the surface he seemed to be majestic, the whole person would be completely in a struggle, in his heart, he did not want to continue the war, he understood what it meant for Japan to continue the war.

In this war against Lu, Japan has exhausted its wealth, and its foreign debt alone is equivalent to 16 years of Japan's fiscal revenue, and the annual interest paid is equivalent to 80% of the government's fiscal revenue, which is undoubtedly dangerous. All this was lost, and the heavy interest was enough to bring down Japan.

The key to solving the problem lies in China, as long as China can be defeated, all problems will be solved, but if it fails? Although he thought so in his heart, Meiji, who looked extremely serious, didn't say anything, he just quietly listened to the discussion of the ministers, and the holy judgment was not his decision.

"If we don't address the China problem now, then with the end of the war against Lu, the wariness of the United States against Japan will inevitably lead to a close alliance between China and the United States, and then we will achieve nothing on the outside world. If China is attacked now, the United States will not be able to enter the war. ”

"If we sit back and wait for the results as we do now, within 10 years we will be surrounded by China, the United States, and Russia, which is very complex. We must end the war with Lu and then go south, attack China, completely solve the Chinese problem, and we must interrupt the attack of the Chinese at any cost. ”

At this point, Yamamoto continued to speak, almost as if he was being compelled, until he saw that his words had no effect. No, he wanted to force a solution to the problem.

"I hope that the decision will be made on the question of whether or not to make huge concessions to the country of Lu."

"No way!"

At this time, Terauchi Masaki suddenly spoke, he looked at Yamamoto Gonbei categorically rejected him, in Terauchi Masaki's view, the fundamental reason why Yamamoto Gonbei was in a hurry to fight against China was that he wanted to use the current naval advantage to solve the Chinese Navy, but the navy had an advantage, but the army had no advantage.

What if the Navy is victorious and the Army is defeated?

"Then please ask the Holy Judge!"

Traditionally, in such meetings, the emperor sat without saying a word, listening to explanations of the policy under consideration. He then gave his approval with the Imperial Seal. The members of the Imperial Council were the members of the Liaison Council, plus one or two experts, and the President of the Privy Council, who appeared in his capacity as a civil servant representing the Emperor and asked questions on behalf of the Emperor when he was inconvenient to speak, in order to show his detachment from secular matters.

Meiji, who was sitting under the throne facing south at this time, glanced at Masaki Terauchi, and he understood why the navy wanted to fight and the army did not. Although the following attendees sit at an angle to him. They put their hands on their knees and stared at each other like wooden men. But when Terauchi Masashi interrupted Yamamoto Gonbei's words, Meiji still saw Yamamoto Gonbei's anger to suppress it, and in front of Yamamoto, Terauchi Masaki was simply a junior.

He glanced at Aritomo Yamagu, who had taken over as Speaker of the Privy Council after Ito's assassination, and then handed over a note.

After receiving the note from the emperor, Yamaguchi Aritomo bowed, and he glanced at the note first.

"If the declaration of war against China is beneficial to the Empire, I think we should also use force to resolve this issue to ensure the future security of the Empire."

Throughout the meeting, the emperor sat without saying a word, expressionless. Traditionally, his presence merely legitimized and binding.

At this time, as Yama Prefecture Youpeng read out such a sentence on the note, the final judgment was made by this person who "did not say a word", and then a document that had already been decided was sent to the cabinet office, and a copy was written on official paper, signed by the prime minister, the chief of staff of the army, and the chief of the naval command department, and presented to the emperor, and finally Jiāo went to the Imperial Household Province and stamped the imperial seal.

A few thin sheets of paper became a national policy, and Japan took a step in the direction of war.