At the end of 1937, the regular meeting of the Standing Committee of the Central National Defense Commission was as ordinary as usual, but it was unusual, it was the last Standing Committee meeting of the year, under the strong vote of His Majesty the Emperor Hua, the Premier of the Imperial Central Cabinet Gu Weijun passed the vote of the Standing Committee and officially attended one of the Standing Committee members.

This means that Premier Gu Weijun will know everything about the military department during his future tenure, all the classified research and backup battle plans, and he will also have the right to know all the details of the military expenditures that amount to 2.7 billion yuan a year.

After the meeting of the Standing Committee, Emperor Song asked Gu Weijun and Jiang Fangzhen to stay and prepare to coordinate again on the issue between the military department and the cabinet.

The Emperor was the supreme commander of the empire above the military department and the cabinet.

On the cabinet side, Song Biao met with Gu Weijun once a week on average, sometimes to discuss the situation, sometimes to listen to the cabinet's explanations, and sometimes to make some requests on some major domestic and foreign events.

Unlike the cabinet era of Tang Shaoyi and Ouyang Geng, Song Biao interfered less in Gu Weijun's cabinet and managed less, and even if many cabinet policies were not satisfactory to him, he would sign and agree to approve them.

Among the three prime ministers, Tang Shaoyi and Gu Weijun are particularly shrewd talents, in Gu Weijun's ten years as foreign minister coincided with the stage of the empire's progress from a great power to a top power, during his tenure, the empire encountered a lot of challenges in the field of diplomacy, such as two Indonesian turmoil, such as the Seoul provocation, and the Great Depression, etc., but Gu Weijun can deal with it very skillfully.

Now the world seems to be chaotic, but it is the most favorable situation for China, and this situation is precisely the result of Gu Weijun's vague strategy, whether as foreign minister or as prime minister, Gu Weijun in the foreign policy of the empire has adopted a policy of unclear hostile forces, and has maintained a stable and ingenious balance strategy for Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and Germany, making it difficult for the empire to be contained by any party in the process of rising to become the world's first hegemon, the empire has no clear enemies, and there are no clear allies among the great powers. A balanced and ambiguous strategy was adopted against Britain and the United States, and a balanced ambiguous strategy was also adopted against the Soviet Union and Germany.

If the empire has been firmly maintaining the alliance camp between Britain and France, the empire will inevitably encounter more risks in the process of development, and if it maintains the alliance between China and the United States and France too closely, it will also encounter the containment of the Soviet Union and Britain.

None of these choices are in the best interests of the Empire.

While promoting the ambiguous strategy, Gu Weijun continued to adopt the strategy of long-distance friendship and close attack, uniting the west to suppress the east, and implementing strategic and diplomatic containment against the country, forcing Britain, France, the United States, the Soviet Union and Germany not to be too blatant to maintain cooperation with the country, and not to give obvious assistance to the country, and at the same time the empire established the Asian League and the Shanghai International Trade Association, relying on the identity of the Asian leader to contain Britain and the Soviet Union, France to contain Britain, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and other countries to contain the United States, and then use the Soviet Union and Germany to contain each other.

The reason why today's world is in chaos, the various camps are hostile to each other, and no one can unite into a whole, is the credit of Premier Gu Weijun, which can be called a great contribution.

It is precisely because of his diplomatic means of joint checks and balances that China can rise rapidly with very little containment and pressure, and even if today's empire surpasses Britain and the United States in terms of economic aggregate, military strength, and even naval size, it is extremely difficult for Britain and the United States to have a way to contain and contain China.

This dangerous balancing and ambiguous strategy is exactly what Premier Gu Weijun wants.

Gu Weijun's cabinet has a beautiful record in foreign affairs, but there was a lack of appropriate policies and programs in domestic affairs for a period of time, until Song Biao gave a series of suggestions, and asked Wang Zhaoming to promote a new case in the Congress, and added the post of vice minister in the central cabinet, the vice minister is the vice premier, and the chairman of the State Economic Work Commission, ranking higher than the foreign minister in the cabinet, and Chen Qicai served as the first vice minister of the empire, responsible for assisting Gu Weijun in handling domestic affairs.

Since then, Gu Weijun's current central cabinet has been completely finalized, with Chen Qicai as vice minister and Guo Taiqi as foreign minister, because Gu Weijun and Ouyang Xi have always been at odds, after Ouyang Xi stepped down, Gu Weijun nominated Liu Dajun, former director of the Monetary Committee of the Central Bank, as the new Minister of Finance, and Yang Zhaolin took over as the Minister of Agriculture and Water Conservancy.

After Cai Ye returned to the military department, this post was held by Jiang Guangnai, director of the Military Command Department of the Central National Patrol Garrison Army, and after Yang Tiesheng and Jiang Guangnai, the post of director of the Military Command Department of the Central Patrol Army was taken over by Lieutenant General Ding Ying, the official of the first class of the Inner Court.

Gu Weijun, as the prime minister, actually doesn't have such a big network to suppress these people, except for a few people he nominated, the others are much more senior than him, and their abilities may not be below him.

Everyone is willing to cooperate with him, but there is nothing more than the support of the emperor and Wang Zhaoming's coordination within the Liberation Party.

If the country is to be stable, the cabinet must first be stable.

The empire does not necessarily have more political talents than other countries, but under the coordination of the emperor, each cabinet of the empire can basically ensure a stable and optimal allocation of candidates, each of whom is an experienced and capable minister, and the empire has long implemented the two systems of public examination and party recruitment, and the official system of the entire empire has maintained a very stable situation.

This is the key to the long-term stability of the empire in terms of internal politics and the long-term implementation of every policy.

After several other members of the National Defense Commission left, Jiang Fangzhen got up and shook hands with Gu Weijun and congratulated: "Congratulations on becoming a member of the Standing Committee of the Central National Defense Commission, and I hope that you will cooperate happily in the future." ”

Although it was a late congratulation, Gu Weijun was still very happy, and he shook hands tightly with Jiang Fangzhen and replied, "Definitely, definitely." ”

The military department has always been arrogant, and many people don't take the cabinet seriously, if it weren't for the emperor above the empire, I am afraid that even the prime minister will always be subverted like the original one.

Therefore, the emperor said that there was no difference between the empire and the militarism of the Emperor.

Although he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Central National Defense Commission at the end of the meeting, because he had just strongly recommended that the emperor was not in a hurry to start a war against him, almost all the efforts of the Navy, Army and Air Force in the past six months were in vain, and the Standing Committee members were very angry, and they were about to leave the table in anger, which made Gu Weijun quite embarrassed, and he felt more and more that even if he was the prime minister, he had no prestige on the side of the Central Military Department of the Empire.

Tang Shaoyi and Ouyang Geng suffered many losses on the side of the military department, and even Tang Shaoyi finally had no chance to ascend to the third term of prime minister because he offended the military department.

Song Biao naturally saw Gu Weijun's embarrassment, and after Jiang Fangzhen and him sat down again, Song Biao comforted Gu Weijun and said: "You don't have to care too much, aren't all dynasties like this, where will the civil officials be taken into account?" A country like China has a long history, and some things are never the same as those of the West. ”

Gu Weijun replied cautiously: "The emperor is sage." ”

Song Biao and Jiang Fangzhen laughed: "Actually, I think Gu Weijun is much luckier than Tang Shaoyi back then, and better than Ouyang Geng's luck. ”

Jiang Fangzhen agreed: "That's true, the emperor is now promoting the nationalization of national defense and military departments, I think it is the right time, early or late is not as appropriate as now." ””

Song Biao snorted.

A very important reason why this time is good is that Jiang Fangzhen is the chief of the general staff and Chen Qicai is the minister of national defense.

In a few years, if there is no large-scale war, Jiang Fangzhen will retire, or go to the Central Military Academy to serve as the dean for a long time, or be responsible for the establishment of the Central National Defense University.

Song Biao thought about it for a while and decided not to discuss this topic for the time being, after all, he had not yet reached the point where he could not control people like the military department.

It is normal for soldiers to be unruly, especially these high-level people whose qualifications, prestige and ability have reached the pinnacle of the emperor's [***] side, and each of them has the ability to command hundreds of thousands of group armies to fight, if they are just a group of sycophants, the country is afraid that it will suffer.

It is precisely because they are imperial hawks that foreign countries dare not offend that the cabinet can have a stable and peaceful environment to govern the country, check and balance foreign powers, and use diplomatic means to balance and contain countries and regions.

Song Biao turned to ask Gu Weijun directly: "Do you have a more suitable idea about going to war against each other?" ”

Gu Weijun pondered cautiously for a moment and replied: "Back to the emperor, the minister thinks that there are only two sworn enemies of the empire today, one is the Soviet Union, and the other is the capital, and the others are just temporary troubles. Either we will not fight against the Soviet Union, but if we want to fight, we should fight to the end without any scruples, and the first war will keep the peace between China and East Asia for a hundred years, and this time is very simple, as long as we induce Germany to attack the Soviet Union, so that the Soviet Union will not be able to take the opportunity to attack our country, and the rear of the Soviet Union will be empty, and we will not be able to retain a large number of troops in the rear of our country to contain our country, we will be able to seize an opportunity of about two years to fight a fierce battle against the Soviet Union, and we will be able to fight until we sweep through the entire homeland of the Soviet Union. ”

Song Biao sighed in agreement, and asked Jiang Fangzhen: "What do you think of the Prime Minister's idea?" ”

Jiang Fangzhen said: "The prime minister is a great diplomat, and his grasp of the international situation is naturally exquisite, but if we want to create this opportunity, our country will inevitably pay too much price, and the German-Soviet war, no matter who wins or loses, the result will definitely be unfavorable to our country." ”

Song Biao chose a Yuxi cigar, lit it and smoked it for a while, and analyzed with Jiang Fangzhen and Gu Weijun: "For my country, the worst thing is that the Soviet Union defeats Germany, and the best thing is that the Soviet Union and Germany continue to be unable to distinguish the winner from the loser. Generally speaking, we would rather let Germany win first, and if Germany is not satisfied, and then counterattack France, and we happen to defeat the original and defeat the original capital, then we will fight Germany again, and destroy both the ultra-left and ultra-right forces at once, and restore the long-term peaceful development situation of the international community, which is the outcome we want most. ”

Jiang Fangzhen asked: "Your Majesty, if after Germany defeated the Soviet Union, it would no longer counterattack France and use the foundation of the occupation of the Soviet Union to develop steadily, then I am afraid it would be even more of a great trouble for our henchmen?" ”

Song Biao said: "Those who want revenge always want to take revenge, if even the Soviet Union is defeated, Germany will definitely counterattack France." We need to maximize our interests, and a Germany like this is definitely more conducive to our negotiations with Britain and France. Therefore, our current policy is still to support Germany, especially in the field of the arms industry, and it is very valuable to have some more in-depth exchanges with Germany appropriately, and in Sweden, as long as Germany guarantees the principle of Sweden's neutrality, we can also continue to increase investment in Sweden as an important aid to support Germany's declaration of war on the Soviet Union. ”

Jiang Fangzhen continued to ask: "What about Poland, Germany mentioned this matter to us a few years ago, I think they really want to annex Poland, and the only thing they are worried about is the attitude of our country and Britain and France." ”

Song Biao sighed, and Gu Weijun instructed: "At a more appropriate time in the near future, you can visit Germany with Defense Minister Chen Qicai, and visit Poland before that, or suggest that they form an alliance." ”

Gu Weijun silently said yes.

The relationship between the Reich and Poland was indeed special, but this did not mean that Germany would abandon its aggression against Poland if the Reich forcibly prevented it.

The problem between Germany and Poland is that it is in the German Corridor, but it is better to say that Poland is also a lowly country, and it has never had a proper grasp of its own strength, and has always regarded itself as a European power equal to Britain, France and Germany.

Since Gu Weijun has the right idea, Song Biao will not ask more, it is more appropriate to leave these things to the cabinet to deal with, as the emperor, he should not control these things too much, and Gu Weijun's advocate of inducing Germany to attack the Soviet Union first, so that the empire can eliminate the capital without distraction, which is indeed the best strategy for the empire.

Imagine that when the empire was attacking the capital, if the Soviet Union took this opportunity to expand its penetration in Central Asia, or dragged the empire into the quagmire of war, and accumulated heavy troops in the northwest region on a large scale to contain the main force of the empire, the results can be imagined.

Taking advantage of this meeting, Song Biao also briefly asked Gu Weijun about the audit report of this year's finances and some other questions.

After Chen Qicai served as vice minister, Gu Weijun and Chen Qicai formed a stable cabinet team, basically adopted the centrist policy of "liberal nationalism" advocated by the emperor and the construction plan of the world's largest industrial power of "three mediums", launched a new 102 key university plan and 1235 plan in education, promoted the construction plan of 102 key universities in the country, promoted 12-year compulsory education, and all students enjoyed the right to complete secondary vocational education free of charge. The development of 37 key industries, including machinery, electrical, computer, semiconductor, shipbuilding, aviation, automobiles, and chemical industry, all of which are aimed at the goal of building the world's largest industrial power.

In the field of culture, the empire also began to focus on promoting the development of the film industry, setting up film academies in the background, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Guangzhou, and giving more clear long-term support policies to the reformist cultural trend of the empire, to create a more prosperous era of cultural rejuvenation in this era, just like all dynasties, national rejuvenation will inevitably usher in the development of culture, which is also an important part of the emperor's advocacy of building a great empire.

The Empire's massive tax cuts in 1935 ended at the end of 1937, and next year the central government was expected to get rid of a three-year deficit.

According to the estimates of the Cabinet, the decline of the Empire's low-level industries will continue to maintain an annual rate of about 2% in the next ten years, gradually weakening, while the growth of the Empire's machinery and other industries will still grow rapidly, the Empire's share of industrial products in South America, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Africa and other markets is rising, exports to Europe and the United States also set a new historical record in 1937, and the scale of the Empire's capital investment in Asia, Africa and South America markets is also growing slightly.

Economically, there are no problems with the current empire.

In addition to the fact that Britain is still in the process of decline, the industrial development of the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany and France is also very smooth, and the development of the world economy has also exceeded the level before the Great Depression in recent years.

This steady growth of the global economy has enabled the four major trust companies of the empire to make extremely high profits in the process of selling and cashing out assets overseas, and to a large extent have stabilized the central finances, and even if there are relatively large deficits in the central finances, the financial situation of the empire is much better than that of Britain and the United States.

Gu Weijun is a rare great diplomat in this era.

If he were to be given full responsibility for the decolonization of North Korea, the military would basically have to stand aside, and it would take at least another two years to start a war with him.

Jiang Fangzhen complained a little about this in general, after all, the military department was ready, but Gu Weijun's consideration was not wrong, it was best to wait for Germany to start a war against the Soviet Union, so he could only rearrange the new plan and take a more long-term view.

After Gu Weijun left first, Song Biao and Jiang Fangzhen continued to talk for a while, and the two of them determined the two long-term military industry development tasks of the nuclear-powered ship unit and the turbine gas power unit, and prepared to start investing in research next year, numbered 201s042 and 201s043 respectively, these two projects are obviously very long-term things, and it is difficult to see the final results in ten or even twenty years, but the empire is willing to explore in this field in advance, As long as we can get there first.

…… In March 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria.

At this time, Austria was also a country ruled by a fascist party, more like Italy than Nazi Germany, with a strong conservative religious tendency, and the world's reaction to this kind of fascist internal annexation was naturally very cold, although it violated the "Treaty of Versailles", France did not explicitly oppose it, and China and Britain and the United States could not commit it.

For the British, they are more worried about China.

Also in the same month, the Central Political Axe of the Chinese Empire announced that it would abolish its trusteeship of North Korea within two to three years and support North Korea as an Asian country with free reading.

Such a statement caused panic among Emperor Yi of the Korean Empire, as China had spent the past few years propping up the Korean Freedom Party, which had declared that it would establish a Korean republic and would no longer recognize the emperor, citing Emperor Lee's incompetence and pedantry as the main reasons for the country's decline.

Most of the members of the Korean Liberal Party are North Korean students studying in China, and most of the backbone members graduated from the Central Imperial University, and some of them also graduated from the Far Eastern Military Academy and the Far Eastern Army.

A few months before China announced its promotion of the DPRK's free reading force, the Korean Liberal Party had already obtained a charter to form a northern political axe, and they actively organized the Korean patrol force into the Northern National Revolutionary Army.

As a veteran diplomat, Gu Weijun's skills are very flexible, he does not intend to support North Korea in attacking South Korea, a protracted war is not good for Northeast Asia, nor is it good for China, he just wants to use this way to contain the original and delay the inevitable outbreak of war until a few years later.

He also needed time to improve the central financial situation of the Reich, and at the same time to sell off the assets of the Central Trust Company in Europe for the next two years, and with the merger of Germany and Austria, and with the conclusion of the German-Italian Iron Alliance, he was fully aware of the inevitability of a world war.

Taking advantage of the fact that the international economy is still in a good state at this stage, the central government must sell off overseas assets in exchange for sufficient gold and silver reserves, and move assets to Canada, the United States, and Australia, as well as South American countries, which are not at risk of war, rather than staying in places like Europe.

After the merger of Germany and Austria, Premier Gu Weijun personally visited Germany on a special plane, and while recognizing the legality and validity of the merger between Nazi Germany and fascist Austria, he exchanged this with Adolf Adolf. Hitler's Führer reached a series of deals to withdraw both the Reich and private investments in Germany and Austria, and Germany bought these assets under the name of the political axe.

Behind this series of transactions, the Reich further increased its cooperation with Germany in the field of science and technology, and negotiated for the alliance negotiations between Germany and Poland, secretly encouraging Germany and Poland to conclude an anti-Soviet alliance, and for Italy, because Italy's relations with the Reich were very bad, and it involved the issue of the Reich, the Reich did not want Germany and Italy to form an alliance, but it did not oppose it.

In this respect, the Reich's diplomatic work was the exact opposite of that of the German ambassador to Britain at the time, Ribbentrop, who tried to persuade Germany to annex Poland rather than sign an alliance agreement. At the meeting, Hitler made it clear that the Reich and Poland still had a very special relationship, and it was absolutely impossible to sit idly by and watch Poland be invaded, and even if the Reich was unwilling to get involved in European affairs, if such a critical situation really occurred, the Reich would definitely intervene with France in this matter.

In this way, Nazi Germany's only option was to conclude a treaty of alliance with Poland and guarantee Poland's rights as a political axe.

(To be continued)