Chapter 57: Japan's Opportunities

Oriental, which can be used as another name for Japan in the Chinese language circle, is a saying that is relative to the South Seas and the West (Europe and the United States). At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Borneo was bounded, and the east was called the East Ocean, and the west was called the West Ocean, so it was called the South China Sea in the past, and beyond the Southwest Sea, the Ming Dynasty called the East Ocean and the West Ocean.

It also refers to East Asia in general, and the "Oriental" that emerged in modern times may have originated in Japan. The word was invented in Japan mainly to translate the English word "orient" (meaning orient), which has the opposite meaning of "Western" and refers to the Oriental region, including Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, etc.

"The East rose first in Japan, and then in China!"

It can be said that for the Oriental world, China and Japan are two inseparable countries, these two countries, in the past thousands of years, Japan has been taking China as a teacher, learning from China, and China has experienced the disaster of Yashan and the disaster of Jiashen, the Han civilization has suffered a heavy blow, and Japan in the East, but still inherits the Han style and Tang rhyme from China, which is why "the Han style and Tang rhyme are stored in the East".

Since the 19th century, Western countries entered the East, the Opium War opened the door to China, more than ten years later, Perry's fleet of black ships attacked, Japan opened the door, and then, Japan entered the Restoration and self-improvement, and correspondingly, in China, the Manchu Qing Dynasty who carried out colonial rule thought about it only for the benefit of one family, so China quickly fell behind Japan.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Japanese launched the Sino-Japanese War to defeat the Qing Dynasty, which decided the fate of the East, and Japan became an Oriental power, and ten years later, Japan, which had initially completed industrialization, declared war on Russia, in this war, not only fought Japan as a power, but also set off a national uprising in China under the enslavement of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

The following year, a new China stood in the land of the East, a year later, China and Japan clashed, the result of the war was unexpected, the new China defeated Japan, which had been squeezed into one of the great powers, and even completed the feat of landing on the enemy mainland, and Japan had to sign an armistice treaty with China in Nanjing in order to maintain the existence of the country, and the signing of the "Treaty of Security between the Chinese Empire and the Japanese Empire" was to a certain extent, which meant that Japan ceded part of the country's rights to Japan.

Power!

In the eyes of the world, Japan has declined, but this is by no means the case, although as much as 1.5 billion yen in reparations, hundreds of thousands of Chinese garrison military expenditures, Japan has carried a heavy burden, but on the basis of learning China's "special economic policy", Japan has brought into play this special economic mode aimed at concentrating the country's finances to the extreme, and China has eased Sino-Japanese relations and made up for the emotional wounds brought about by the war between the two countries. It also stimulates Japan's economic development.

"The Emperor couldn't have made a better choice!"

In the face of relative economic and industrial success, many Japanese have answered foreign reporters' questions about "Sino-Japanese relations", but many Japanese have also noticed one point, that is, Japan's economy and industry are based on a number game, in 1913, Japan built 82 ships, a total of 86,540 tons, and of which 12 were built by Japanese-funded companies, with a tonnage of less than 15,000 tons, and the rest were Chinese-funded or joint ventures, Japan's steel output was 400,000 tons, while Chinese-funded enterprises provided 75% of the outputIn the past eight years, Chinese enterprises have controlled the country's economy and industrial lifeline through loans, aid, and economic cooperation, and even the Imperial Bank of Japan has a 50% stake in the Imperial Bank of China, and the central bank of a country is owned by foreigners, perhaps only Japan in the world. …,

But for outsiders, what people see is Japan's rapidly developing industrial economy, "The East rose first in Japan, and then in China!" China, Japan and Asia's top two! For the world, it seems that Japan is still the Asian power that defeated Russia and proved that the yellow race can defeat the white race, but for the past eight years, Japan, the light of this oriental power, has been blocked by its neighbor China.

As far as the world is concerned, China's industrialization is a miracle, but in just ten years, China has achieved the transformation from a backward agricultural country to an industrial country, although it has paid some costs, but who can doubt that a strong industrial country in this era, can dominate many international things, maybe some countries will doubt, but for Japan, Japan will never doubt, China can dominate Japan's things to a large extent.

On January 23, the fourth year of Taisho, Keiko, who was seventeen years old, climbed the stairs leading to the sake with her father to attend the dance held here by the Ministry of War tonight. Under the bright crystal chandelier, on both sides of the wide staircase, there are three hedges made of chrysanthemum gardens, which are so large that they look like artificial fake flowers. In the ballroom above the steps, the cheerful sound of orchestral music, as if it was an irrepressible whisper of happiness, floated over for a moment.

Tonight was a reception hosted by the Ministry of War for the new commander of the Japanese garrison, and Keiko learned Chinese and was trained in dance when she was very young, but tonight was the first time in her life that she officially participated in the ball. So in the carriage, answering the questions that my father asked from time to time, I was always absent-minded, so to speak, a little nervous in the excitement.

The father and daughter walked upstairs. In front of the second-floor ballroom, Lieutenant General Yukihiko Kusunase, Minister of War with a half-self-cured beard, wearing several medals on his chest, stood alongside his wife and greeted the guests with grace and elegance. When the lieutenant general saw Keiko, a trace of amazement without evil thoughts flashed across his face in an instant. Even this didn't escape Keiko's eyes. Keiko's easy-going father introduced his daughter to the lieutenant general and his wife with a smile on his face. Keiko is half shy, half proud.

The dance hall is also full of blooming chrysanthemums, which are beautiful. Moreover, there are celebrities and ladies waiting to be invited to dance, and they are like silent waves surging in the refreshing perfume smell. Keiko quickly leaves her father and walks to the flamboyant women's pile. This small group of people are all girls of the same age.

However, as soon as they stayed with them, out of nowhere, a Chinese naval officer who had never met quietly walked in. The officer bowed in a Japanese manner with his hands bowed bowed. Keiko felt a red cloud creep up her pink cheeks. The meaning of this bow, no need to ask, of course she understands.

And a smile appeared on the officer's face, and in a standard Japanese, he said clearly:

"Can you enjoy the light and dance?"

Soon, Keiko and the Chinese naval officers stepped on the beat of "The Blue Danube" and danced a waltz. The officer's face was tanned by the scorching sun, he was well-looked and well-defined, and Keiko put her long gloved hand on the left shoulder of her dancing partner's uniform, but she was too short. The naval officer, who had long been familiar with this kind of scene, skillfully led her and walked lightly in the crowd. From time to time, he whispered words of praise in her ear.

Keiko smiled shy at these gentle words, and from time to time she looked around the ballroom. Every time the other person casts a curious gaze at her feet, her gorgeous rose-colored dancing shoes glide and dance more and more briskly on the smooth floor.

But soon the officer felt that the cat girl was tired and gazed at her face with pity, and asked:

"Do you want to keep jumping?"

"No thanks!" …,

Keiko gasped and replied frankly.

As a result, the Chinese naval officers continued to waltz. After the last turn, he settled her in a chair beautifully, straightened his chest under his military uniform, and then, as before, respectfully and respectfully, made a Japanese salute.

She had expected the handsome naval officer to sit down and chat with her, but Keiko was disappointed to see the salute and walked over to another group of Chinese army officers surrounded by officers and politicians and businessmen in suits.

"Why does China want us to send our limited military power to Europe? You know, for Japan, there are only six pitiful divisions! I think that with the size of China, I should not care about these divisions! ”

Jotaro Yamamoto, who was holding a wine glass, said with a smile, as the president of Mitsui Property Management, he is also the head of the Honkai Keir Group.

At this time, Japan was called the "corporate state", that is, the whole country was a company, and the Japanese jokingly called their own country "Nippon Co., Ltd." And the core of the power of this "corporate state" is the complex of government, government and finance. Congress is just an ornament, for this, Cheng Qian does not think there is anything strange, in fact, the same is true of China, China's industrialization is under the national policy of giving priority to heavy industry, the resources of the whole of China are concentrated, serving the circulation of heavy industry in the body, and compared to China, Japan is more extreme.

In contrast to China, which set aside a share of the consumer goods industry, Japan's consumer goods industry was unable to obtain supplies from heavy industry in the first five years after the Sino-Japanese War and was forced to suspend production. The standard of living of the Japanese was kept to a minimum, and they had to survive on the remnants of local agriculture. Agrarian reform, which gave farmers access to land and enabled them to afford low grain purchase prices and high taxes. Grain and very small quantities of daily necessities were purchased and sold uniformly, rationed per capitation, the free market was outlawed, each Japanese was given a quota of four matches a day, a bar of soap a year, and only a small amount of supplies from the Guards bases and some hidden goods were able to alleviate this extreme scarcity on the black market. This deprivation is not limited to the Japanese common people, but is almost evenly imposed on the whole society.

In October 1907, on the basis of China's "special economic policy" with the control of the planned economy as the core, the economic circles established the Federation of Economic Organizations, which included all large industrial enterprises, financial enterprises, and high-tech industries. Subsequently, on the basis of the existing industry associations and regional business associations, the Japan Business Association was further established, and the vast majority of small and medium-sized enterprises were united. From now on, Japanese companies will be subject to uniform guidance.

Over the past few years, Japan's economy has grown rapidly thanks to this regulated economy, and the two groups have also influenced the policymaking of the Japanese government, which is unthinkable in China, and in Cheng Qian's view, the government is His Majesty's government, and will never be reduced to being controlled by the National Economic Commission.

Moreover, now that China is gradually deregulating the economy, in the past six months, a large number of shares in state-owned enterprises have been sold to private individuals, and perhaps in a few years, China will announce the end of its special economic policy. However, Cheng Qian, who knew Yamamoto Jotaro's influence on the Japanese government, said with a smile.

"Now, countries have gathered hundreds of divisions in Europe, and on the entire European front, Western countries have gathered tens of millions of troops, how can a few divisions be satisfied, in the future, China will mobilize millions of army forces to Europe, and when Cheng was in the General Staff, the General Staff supported the Japanese Army to form a new division to fight in Europe!"

New divisions! …,

These four words only made everyone's hearts flutter, especially Lieutenant General Yukihiko Kurose, the Minister of War, who began to think about the meaning of his sentence in his heart.

"What do you mean by the liaison officer that sending troops to Europe is not limited to six divisions?"

Not to mention Lieutenant General Yukihiko Kusunase is also moved by Yamamoto Jotaro, although Keidanren has a great influence on the Japanese government, but it is repeatedly inferior in the competition with Chinese-funded institutions, the reason is very simple, behind the Chinese-funded enterprises is a big country, Keidanren can only choose to cooperate with it.

There has always been an argument at the top level in Japan that if Japan wants to develop, it must get rid of China's restraint, and if it wants to get rid of China's restraint, it must break through the restrictions of the security treaty, whether it is the army or the navy, but Japan has never had a suitable excuse to break the security treaty.

When China proposed to let Japan send troops to Europe, Japanese military and political circles once thought that this was an opportunity to break through the security treaty, but the limitation of three divisions made Japan hesitate, which may be a conspiracy of the Chinese to use the hand of Europe to consume the Japanese army, and now the meaning revealed in Cheng Qian's words made them hesitate again.

"It can only be said that in the long run, as far as the development of the war is concerned, we believe that it is undoubtedly not in the interests of the East that Japan will invest only three or six divisions, and the East must give full play to its role in this war, so that it can safeguard the interests of the East as much as possible in the division of interests in the war!"

Cheng Qian's words only made the surrounding Japanese mutter, "It's better to protect China's interests", but despite this, Cheng Qian's words still made them see an opportunity to break through the security treaty.

Opportunity, sometimes, you have to seize an opportunity!

As far as the most important thing is concerned, the most important thing now is to rebuild the army, and only by rebuilding the army can it be possible to rebuild Japan's prestige little by little, at least so that China can no longer ignore Japan, and in that case, at least little by little, it can get rid of China's clamp and realize Japan's true independence again.

"Autonomous?"

Chen Moran, who was in the palace, looked at Jiang Baili and almost didn't laugh, an independent Japan, what are you kidding.

"Even if Japan agrees to send troops now, it will take at least a year from the formation of the army to the completion of the training of the army, and it will be put into the European battlefield at the earliest.

Which battlefield?

Jiang Baili's brows furrowed slightly, he couldn't understand what His Majesty meant, could it be that there was any difference between the battlefield and the battlefield?

"The battlefield, for us, from this year to next year, the main battlefield will be dominated by the Arab region, as for Europe, we will definitely not send troops, but in order to reassure the Entente, it is necessary for us to send troops to Europe, and I personally prefer to send troops to Russia!"

"Russia?"

"That's right, it's Russia!"

Standing up, Chen Moran walked to the map and pointed to Russia and explained.

"Compared with Western Europe, Russia needs reinforcements more, and if the Japanese army is put into the Russian battlefield, we will be able to have enough reasons to transfer the Japanese army to Outer Mongolia for training, so as to avoid the Japanese army from becoming bigger on the mainland, and then produce a series of troubles, and after these troops complete the training, we can continue to put the Japanese army into the Russian battlefield, of course, the command can belong to the Russians, the Russians who have the lessons of the Russo-Japanese War will not care about the lives of the Japanese army, for the Russians, The Japanese army is nothing more than consumables,......"

At this point, Chen Moran suddenly fell silent, turning the Japanese army into consumables by the hands of the Russians, this is a way to consume Japan's vitality, but this is only the first step, the brutal war will change many things, and what he hopes for is that this army will change color, once this army changes color, in the future, after they return to Japan, maybe there will be a revolution, and after that revolution, Japan still has a future? The Army stationed in Japan can ......

"Therefore, as long as Japan is willing, we not only have to support them to build more than a dozen divisions, even if there are hundreds of divisions, what does it matter, the cruel battlefield on the Eastern Front will constantly consume their vitality, just ask, even the supply of the Russians' own army is a problem, is it possible for the Russians to provide them with abundant supplies?"

"Your Majesty, do you mean to send the Japanese to death on the Eastern Front?"

Looking at His Majesty, Jiang Baili only felt a chill in his heart, before that, he didn't think at all why His Majesty would insist on arming Japan, and all of this was nothing more than to let the Japanese die in vain on the battlefield, so as to consume Japan's vitality to the greatest extent. "It's not that I sent them to the Eastern Front to die, but what does Russia's demand and Japan's demand have to do with China? We have generously provided them with weapons, which is the greatest obligation that a responsible power can bear! ”

Smiling, a sly look flashed on Chen Moran's face.

*J@a