[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 830: The layout of the Japanese government (ask for subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

At the same time that Minister of Commerce and Industry Kazuzo Kobayashi was on his way to the Dutch East Indies to negotiate economic relations between the two countries, the Japanese Government adopted the "Measures for Developing Economic Relations with the Dutch East Indies" at a cabinet meeting. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

This is an opinion on the guidance of relations between Japan and the Netherlands, and its basic policy is very strong, which states: "With the development of the new world order, an economic circle will inevitably arise, and the pre-eminence of the Imperial State in the Dutch East Indies should be recognized in accordance with the trilateral treaty between Japan, Germany and Italy; Proceeding from the overall situation of coexistence and common prosperity, we will quickly seek close economic cooperation with the Dutch East Indies with a view to developing and utilizing its abundant resources so that it will actually become a link in the Greater East Asian Economic Circle with the Imperial Kingdom as the center."

That is, of course, the ultimate goal, and the priority is to obtain strategic goods, especially the oil that is needed. All in all, we in the Japanese Empire have decided to play hooligans.

Anyway, for a small country like the Netherlands, the Japanese don't have any psychological pressure at all. The Japanese navy even threatened that if the Dutch government dared to say nothing, the powerful Imperial Navy would wipe out the Dutch fleet stationed in the Dutch East Indies within half a month, and the casualties would not exceed 500.

The Japanese wanted to take advantage of the favorable situation to force the Netherlands to submit, but the Japanese underestimated the backbone of the Dutch, and even more underestimated the Dutch's confidence in their allies, Britain, France and the United States.

The Dutch East Indies were extremely firm in their dependence on the United States and Britain, and the Netherlands was originally a wing of the economic strategy of the United States and Britain toward Japan, so the negotiations with the Dutch East Indies were almost no different in essence from those with the United States and Britain, so the Netherlands was not afraid of the Japanese.

In the eyes of the Dutch, although the Dutch navy stationed in the Dutch East Indies was not strong and not very numerous. However, the strength of Britain, France, and the United States in the entire Southeast Asian region is still very strong, and if they are united, the Japanese will not be afraid at all.

Therefore, the attitude of the Dutch was also extremely tough, and they were determined not to compromise with the Japanese, even if the Japanese threatened war, they were not afraid at all, and they did not take the Japanese seriously at all, which made the Japanese hate.

Negotiations between Japan and the Netherlands reached an impasse, and although Japan was willing to force the Dutch East Indies into submission by force, the strong obstruction of Britain, France, and the United States in Southeast Asia forced Japan to restrain itself.

Since the Dutch side could not open the situation, the Japanese government had to turn its attention to the Indochina Peninsula, which is connected to Chinese mainland, so this territory is also the most coveted place in Japan.

The Indochina Peninsula is now in a three-state situation, with Britain and France in addition to its native kingdom of Thailand. If Japan wants to enter Southeast Asia, it is necessary to deal with these countries, so the Japanese government feels that it is necessary to talk to Britain and France, and if they can take the initiative to cede some benefits, Japan does not mind resolving this issue peacefully.

Thailand was an important link in Japan's southward expansion, and before that, Japan and Thailand had concluded a treaty of good-neighborliness and friendship between Japan and Thailand, which had strengthened relations between Japan and Thailand. In order to strengthen relations with Thailand, the War Department, the headquarters of the Japanese army, set up the Military Attaché Office of the Army stationed in Thailand in Thailand. Army Attache Tamura and Thai Prime Minister Luang Phibun have a close relationship, which has further deepened Prime Minister Luang Phibun's pro-Japanese attitude.

However, Thailand had a hard time from the 19th century onwards, with French Indochina to the east and a large number of French troops stationed in the country. To the west of Thailand was Burma, which at this time was a British colony with a large number of British troops, known as the Anglo-Burmese Army. Because British influence has penetrated Thailand for many years and is deeply entrenched, and Prime Minister Luang Phibun's political power also has a certain limit, the strengthening of substantive cooperation between Japan and Thailand has been hindered from time to time.

The question of the separability of relations between Britain, France, and the Netherlands has been debated in Japan for some time, and for the time being, the theory of inseparability has prevailed.

Not long ago, a case of the "Outline of Measures for the South" was largely drawn up among the officers below the head of the department in charge of the War Department in the base camp. This scheme considers the Anglo-Dutch one. Inseparable. It envisaged seizing the opportunity to use force against the Malay and Dutch East Indies in order to fundamentally resolve the so-called southern question.

However, the head of the military affairs bureau of the Ministry of the Army, Muto, advocated that the navy must play a leading role in the southern issue, so the army should not raise the case with the navy. In principle, it is necessary to wait for the proposal of the naval side.

Subsequently, the 20th squad leader of the War Department at the base camp, Arisuji Osa, submitted the key points of the above-mentioned "Outline of Measures for the South" to the Navy supervisors as personal ideas. At this time, the navy officials in charge immediately stressed that the exercise of force against the south is the exercise of force against the United States, and Britain and the United States are inseparable.

Then, the officer-in-charge of the Navy came to the General Staff Headquarters and gave the Navy a written reminder of the main opinions of the Navy. The main point of this is that the United States and Britain are absolutely inseparable, and the exercise of force against the South is a war against the United States, so it is necessary to promote preparations in this regard. As for preparations for the use of force against Britain and the Netherlands, the navy has long been prepared in this regard.

That is to say, the Army's intention is to use force against the South while making preparations for war against the United States, while trying to avoid war against the United States. The Navy, on the other hand, advocates that once force is exercised against the South, it will start with a war against the United States. It seems that the naval side has a strong view of the inseparability between Britain and the United States, and the Army therefore feels that it is extremely difficult to realize the plan of using force against the South.

After several discussions, the principal responsible persons of the army and navy command reached the following clear conclusion on the issue of the navy's use of force against the south. If Japan were to use force against the Dutch East Indies, Britain would of course have to do it, so it would be necessary to use force against Malays. To this end, the acquisition of military bases in southern French Indochina and Thailand is an indispensable condition, and this is the inevitable conclusion that should be drawn with the concretization of the strategic study of the base camp.

In addition, even if Japan does not adopt such a policy of military expansion into the south, in order to establish Japan's self-sufficiency, it is necessary to make it a priority to acquire strategic materials such as rice, rubber, and tin from French Indochina and Thailand.

Thus, it became a prerequisite to draw French Indochina and Thailand into the Japanese camp first, and it was expected that many difficulties would be encountered in achieving this end. In this case, it must be estimated. Japan continued to expand into southern French Indochina and Thailand, and relations with Britain and the United States were bound to deteriorate. Therefore, at this time, the actions of the Japanese army were still relatively modest, mainly by means of political negotiations.

At the same time as the negotiations between Japan and the Netherlands, Japan also sent negotiating teams to Thailand and French Indochina. Moreover, the Japanese government was very resolute in demanding that the negotiating team acquire military bases in Thailand and the right to march troops in Thailand in any case.

In fact, the Japanese government has already felt that since the Japanese government intervened in the border conflict between Thailand and French Indochina half a year ago, Thailand has recovered the territory of the two border provinces forcibly occupied by French Indochina, but after recovering the lost territory, Luang Phibun has begun to detect the ambitions of the Japanese. Songkan began to change politically to a certain extent, alienating Japan and moving closer to the United States and Britain, which made Japan extremely uneasy.

Thailand's important position made it impossible for Japan to lose this nominal "ally", so this time Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka personally led a delegation to Thailand, which was higher than Thailand expected.

In the face of Japan's aggressive posture, Thailand is now quite helpless, although the military dictator is arbitrary, but he is not stupid, he has already sensed Japan's ambitions when Japan proposed to build a military base in Thailand, so he has a non-cooperative attitude towards Japan's negotiations.

Thailand's non-cooperation also made the Japanese government feel angry and pressured, so the Japanese government hopes that the base camp can make a breakthrough in the Chinese battlefield, and also use real achievements to "persuade" Thailand, an ally, to complete the government's layout in the Indochina Peninsula and increase the possibility of a protracted war in the future. (To be continued.) )