"Your Excellency the Foreign Minister, Your Excellency Bihara." Hirota stopped.

Although the three of them were all political diplomats who straddled the Taisho and Showa periods, and they all served as foreign ministers, they didn't have much contact with each other, so Hirota wondered what they were asking themselves to do here.

Shigemitsu Aoi asked him to sit down, and asked someone to serve tea before opening the conversation: "Hirota-kun, did they tell you the news that the Malacca army (the Rì army regards Singapore and Sumatra as both Malacca battles)?" The people in his mouth are naturally die-hard military departments. Since the defeat of Seoul, the military department has adopted an increasingly strict system of information blockade, wantonly confiscating radios and private radios, strictly prohibiting the dissemination of any leaflets dropped by the Chinese Air Force, and immediately arresting those who oppose spreading rumors. Because he is the foreign minister, Chongguang Aoi can still know some things about the army, but it is difficult for many marginal figures to get timely and accurate information.

"Yesterday my Excellency a friend from the Army came to visit me." Hirota didn't say that the Army was going to visit him, but just nodded and felt heavy. The news that Yamashita had given an erroneous order that all 140,000 young people and tens of thousands of expatriates had been killed in retaliation was too shocking, and if it spread in the country, it would definitely cause a major earthquake. Therefore, he didn't want to talk about this matter more, so he clasped his hands together and hugged the cup, covered his hands and asked, "Is Your Excellency the Foreign Minister coming to me to talk about this matter?" IMHO, the war has been going on to such a point that it can only end with the army itself, and it will be too late for us to say anything. ”

"No, no, please cheer up Hirota-kun." Hearing that he didn't seem to care anymore, Bihara hurriedly waved his hand: "The Foreign Minister invited Your Excellency to seek a way to end the war. ”

"A way to end the war?" Hirota lowered his head and looked at the water in the teacup. He was also quite disdainful of Chongguang Kui's use of the word "method" instead of "surrender", and muttered secretly in his heart: "Why did you go earlier?" If the Cape Town Conference had surrendered, Britain and the United States would have put pressure on Běijīng, but now the United States and the Soviet Union have obvious signs of war, and they have also taken the initiative to cede Northeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Therefore, unless Rì Ben agreed to extremely harsh conditions, even if he surrendered, Yang Qiu would be regarded as not seeing. ”

"Your Excellency Guangtian, the empire has reached the edge of the precipice of survival, and at this time, we should stand up and turn the tide, and we can't let tens of millions of subjects suffer!" Shigemitsu Aoi didn't notice his god Sè and slowly said the details. It turned out that after the last time he proposed to send someone to China to make peace at the Imperial Council was vetoed by the military department, he had been haunted by it, so he went in and out of the palace many times to persuade Hirohito. Originally, Hirohito was very hesitant, but Malacca said goodbye. More than 100,000 soldiers and expatriates were executed in retaliation for the military department's erroneous battle plan, and Hirohito also realized that if he continued to fight, he was afraid that he would suffer more casualties. But he was reluctant to give up the idea of "as long as you hold the island and hold on until the allies counterattack, there is hope", so he thought of a compromise and asked Chongguang Kui to send someone to contact Yang Qiu secretly. Of course, Shigemitsu Aoi was willing to accept this task, but China and China were contradictory and distrustful of each other, so he lacked people at hand who knew běijīng, so after thinking about it, only Hirota Hongyi, who had dealt with Yang Qiu, was the most suitable.

After saying the idea of having Hirota secretly contact Běijīng as an envoy. Shigemitsu Aoi looked at Hirota nervously, for fear that the other party would refuse, and he didn't even notice that the teacup in his hand was getting colder and colder.

Hirota Hongyi was silent, and he didn't want to get involved in this troubled water. Because after leaving the decision-making circle. On the contrary, it allows him to see more clearly inside and outside from the perspective of a bystander. He already knew very well where Yang Qiu's hatred for rì ben came from, and why he regarded rì ben as a great enemy! It's not the First Sino-Japanese War, it's not Manchuria, it's not Mongolia, it's not Taiwan. This is because there is a fundamental conflict between the "co-prosperity of Asia" proposed by Rìmoto and the "Asia-Pacific of peaceful development" proposed by him. This is not a national hatred, nor is it a clash of ideas, but fundamentally the core confrontation of national interests! It's hard for a country to rise. Especially in a populous country like China, so since the beginning of Xinhai, Yang Qiu first wooed Germany, which was eager to expand, then sold Germany to act as a thug for the British, and finally took the opportunity of GCISM to cause panic in capitalist countries to take the initiative to act as an eastern barrier between Britain and the United States, spending national strength to fight the Soviet Union, and also took the initiative to join in and take the initiative to limit the size of the navy as a good baby.

Even during the period of the world economic crisis, when Britain and the United States were unable to expedition to Eurasia, he did not be radical, but first tested Britain's reaction in Saudi Arabia under the pretext that hundreds of millions of people needed oil, and then provoked the Dutch to settle in the South Seas. But he still didn't do it, and kept holding back! Even when the Soviet Union began to expand its armament, it continued to reduce its military spending, putting on the illusion of concentrating on domestic development.

Until Germany rearmed.

However, forbearance alone is not enough, because for China to rise, it cannot have a power that is close to it but cannot be mastered. He can accept that Europe and the United States exert influence on other countries in Asia, and can even accept a direct war between the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, but he will certainly not let Europe and the United States have an ally in the Asia-Pacific region that has the ability to contain and challenge him, this is the bottom line! Not only Yang Qiu, but also future Chinese politicians will not accept a rì book that falls to Europe and the United States in any way! After all, Europe and the United States are too far away, and no matter how powerful they are, they will not be naïve enough to think that they can win the war at China's doorstep.

Unless, they have an ally on the Chinese doorstep who can cause a lot of trouble for Běijīng.

Therefore, the more powerful the rìben, especially with a world-class navy that occupies Sakhalin Island in the Ryukyus and can completely block the passage of Northeast Asia to the Pacific Ocean, the more intolerable it will become. Therefore, when Rìben rapidly increased his naval strength in the thirties, he maintained a "weak navy" while strengthening new technologies such as aircraft carrier aviation, which made Rìben and the whole world think that the Chinese Navy could not stop Rìben. What is ridiculous is that before the war, the military idiots even thought that the Chinese Navy was a "schoolboy who could just walk", thought that Yang Qiu would tolerate them to defeat the ghost animals and occupy Southeast Asia, and finally tacitly acquiesced to the "Asian twin pillars" to deal with the white people and realize the "Asian co-prosperity" view.

Therefore, he understands that even if he goes to běijīng now, he will definitely be troubled in every way, because Yang Qiu needs an abnormal rì book that completely surrenders to him, not a complete rì book that is likely to fall to Europe and the United States at any time. Because it is all too clear that the expansion of Britain and the United States against China in the Asia-Pacific has reached an unbearable point! That's why Yang Qiu was forced to make a statement at the Cape Town meeting, forcing Yang Qiu to let Singapore and Borneo dúlì instead of "referendum merge". A China that controls all of Asia is a naked challenge to the white world order! So if it weren't for the accidental entrapment in Europe, Churchill and Roosevelt would never mind co-opting Rìben and starting an all-out war with China in the Southwest Pacific!

But can you not go?

The lives of more than a million soldiers have already been paid, and the country has been devastated. Since the Chinese navy raided Sasebo to bomb the city, China's successive bombardments have killed 800,000 people. More than 4 million people have been injured and ill as a result, and more than 10 million have been displaced. Eighty percent of the city's population of more than 100,000 people was burned to the ground by incendiary bombs! Fishery and grain production plummeted to 60 percent of the pre-war level, and industrial capacity fell to less than 20 percent of the pre-war level! It was not China, with a population of 600 million and an easy mobilization of tens of millions of soldiers that would not hurt its foundations, and even if you count the expatriates in South Korea and the colonies, the population before the war was less than 70 million. Now two-sevenths of the people themselves have been directly affected by the war, and more than half of the people are hungry.

"I can go, but please tell me one thing before I go." Think of these. Hirota sighed in his heart, and after a long time, he raised his eyelids and looked at the two: "Did the military department promise to surrender?" ”

Shigemitsu Aoi suddenly looked embarrassed, because he hadn't told the military department about this matter, and Hirohito just told the military department for some reason to go and find out, so he had to ask for help from Kishigero Bihara with his eyes. The latter was also embarrassed, and his lips squirmed for a long time before he spit out a sentence: "The Navy has already agreed." ”

"Is it just the Navy?" Hirota Hiroki felt a tightness in his chest. The military department was supposed to serve politics, but now it's good that these politicians have to wipe their asses for the military department. And to negotiate such a big thing as surrender, you dare not tell the military department, how can you do such an errand? But Chongguang Aoi also has difficulties, and those radicals in the military department are really not easy to mess with. Especially those middle and low-ranking officers, if the news of the preparation for surrender is leaked, God knows if they will die on the streets like Saionji Temple and Nagata. The ghost of the following Katagami, which was born in the Meiji period, was a terrifying force that politicians feared.

He was afraid that Hirota would refuse. I had to get up and bow deeply: "Hirota-kun, please rest assured, Your Majesty also wants to end the war." I've already agreed with the Navy. They will send a Red Cross plane to take you to Okinawa, believing that China will not shoot down, everything is up to Your Excellency! ”

Looking at Chongguang Aoi, who looked resolute, Hirota showed a wry smile after a while: "I understand, I will do my best." But I hope that Your Excellency will be prepared, I am afraid that the conditions in China will be very humiliating and harsh. Your Excellency should also know that there is a herd of blind bison in our army, and they are the greatest obstacle to the Empire! ”

Shigemitsu Aoi and Kishigero Bihara both nodded, promising to do everything they could to stabilize the military headquarters.

While Hirota Hiroki hurried to Sagami Bay to board a Navy Red Cross plane with his future, Běijīng continued to carve out his own Asian future.

In the prime minister's office, Gu Weijun handed the plan for the formation of the Southwest Frontier Province to Murong Han and Pei Zuyi. After the reconquest of Singapore and the capture of Palembang to end the main fighting in Sumatra, he and his cabinet breathed a sigh of relief. The end of the nineteen-month two-front battle saw the end of the East, and although the gunfire on the two peninsulas and at sea would continue for some time, the cost of funds would be reduced by half. Of course, he and his cabinet also understood that the war had only been carried out for a short time, and there would be many major battles on the long western front from the Persian Gulf to the Urals, and the heyday of Germany was far from coming, but Germany had the support of Britain and the United States, and as long as the Urals opened the chūn, they would carry out a comprehensive strategic bombing of the Soviet Union, which would definitely greatly weaken the war potential of the Soviet Union and give them plenty of time to continue to adjust. On the contrary, Southeast Asia around us needs to be resolved as soon as possible, because everyone also knows that as most of Asia falls into the arms of China, Britain and the United States have become more and more hostile, so it is necessary to accelerate the completion of new territorial integration at the end of the war, and integrate Southeast Asia into the Asian League mechanism, so as to achieve mastery of the Asia-Pacific region and establish the defensive superiority of the first and second island chains at sea.

"This is a plan for the establishment of a province that has just been prepared, and there are many ethnic groups in the southwest border province, as well as many diehards who fled after the abolition of serfdom and the return of land to the people in Yunnan. The pressure on you, Minister Murong, is not small. Murong Han first took the plan and looked at it, and snorted coldly: "The president said that pressure is the driving force." As for those slave owners, it is best to be obedient and disobedient. Hum! It's a time of war. "My long-term work in the Ministry of Justice makes this muffled snort sound like ice slag.

Gu Weijun and Pei Zuyi looked at each other and smiled. He stepped down as Minister of Justice, attended the Cape Town Conference, became the first Minister of the Interior, and traveled to Central Asia to pave the way for Yang Qiu's visit to Central Asia. are all conveying a message to the outside world that the pending National Socialist candidate is slowly emerging. However, the two also knew that their tempers were not suitable for maintaining the toughness that Yang Qiu needed. After all, after the war, both domestic and international chaos will definitely be chaotic for a while, and a hawk will be needed to continue to calm the situation. So he was not jealous, but joked about the two arguing about the national system and politics in front of Yang Qiu: "You are still the same, and your temper on the boat has not changed at all." ”

"I can't get rid of my bad temper. But Prime Minister, you're getting more and more at ease. Murong Han also smiled, put down the plan for the time being, and asked about the US aid: "Songsun." Are things going well with U.S. aid? ”

Pei Zuyi made a special trip to the United States some time ago to discuss the matter of assistance. said: "It's still quite timely, the first batch of goods has been loaded in San Francisco, but as you know, there are no urgently needed heavy metal raw materials, and industrial products are all self-produced by us, and we can't produce them ourselves." ”

"Hehe, as expected."

"No matter. Anyway, there is no hope, they may not have what we have, we don't have it, and self-reliance can always be done. Pei Zuyi waved his hand open-mindedly. Instead, he asked about the King of Siam: "Prime Minister, what happened to the King of Siam who was so angry that you wanted to kick people?" ”

Thinking of Rama VIII, Gu Weijun was still angry: "I have already asked someone to accompany him to visit the whole country, and it is estimated that he will be back in two days." Listen to those who were sent. The temper is still like that, but he is a little envious of China's strength and construction, and there are already some signs of cooperation. ”

Pei Zuyi did not understand why Rama VIII should cooperate. "Prime Minister, why does the president have to bring King Rama VIII?" Can't we just come forward and clean up Thailand? ”

"Yes." Before Gu Weijun could answer, Murong Han put down the document and interjected: "But have you thought about it, purging will bring hatred, unless it is to kill all of them, how to ensure border security in the future?" ”

"Murong is right, Siam's domestic forces are more complex than ours in the Xinhai years, and there are more pro-British forces, if we come by ourselves, it will become a massacre in the eyes of the Siamese people, and it will provoke unnecessary hatred. But if King Rama VIII had ordered that by virtue of his prestige among the Siamese people, we and the Siamese military, loyal to him, would have formed a reckoning committee that would have avoided clashes between the two communities to the greatest extent possible, since we would have to consider the long-term peace and stability of the southwestern frontier. ”

"And that's not all."

Compared with Gu Weijun, who only talked about the relationship between the southwest and the southeast peninsula, Murong Han preferred to put the southeast strategy in the context of the whole world. After leaving the next sentence, he got up and brought a hot water bottle, poured hot water for him and the two of them, and then continued: "Actually, it can be understood that the president doesn't want to have too many borders and ethnic contradictions around him. If you open the history books, you can see that all the countries that can become the world's great powers have one thing in common, that is, there are relatively few troubles with borders and neighboring countries. Britain is an example of this, and their ability to become a world power has a lot to do with their isolation from the European continent, allowing them to focus on the seas and invest in the navy. The decline of Britain was also due to the fact that Britain mistakenly believed that Germany would threaten its sea power, so it became more and more mired in continental affairs, and finally entered into a full-scale war with Wilhelm II.

Britain has declined, and the ones who are currently qualified to compete with the world's great powers are us and the United States! But the United States has a better geographical environment than us, far from Europe and Asia, there are no major threats in the surrounding area, and they are all Anglo-Saxons, so they can easily get the support of British and white Europeans, and the technology and industry of the whole white world are helping. And Asia, where China is located, currently lacks such capabilities and advantages, don't look at rì is the second largest Asian technology country after China, but in fact, it has seriously lagged behind the world, so China has to suffer a lot in the competition for the world's head, not to mention geographically. That's why the president conceived the Central Asian barrier, and asked me to go to the Central Asian countries to prepare for the drafting of a military and political convention in Central Asia similar to peace, to limit the number of troops in the Central Asian countries, and to limit the opening of military passages to countries outside Central Asia, and so on, so that the future garrison in the northwest can be minimized, and only a few military bases and troops need to be maintained in the Urals, the Persian Gulf, and the Muslim League region of India, so that a geographical encirclement of Central Asia can be formed, and the channel for external interference in Central Asia will not be too deep. This is also the case for Siam and Nanyang, but here it is different from Central Asia, and the Chinese have a better base, so as long as Singapore and Borneo are dúlì as soon as possible, it will not hurt to mix them appropriately, but it must not cause serious ethnic antagonism!

If our generation can do these things well in full accordance with the president's ideas, then with China's current land area exceeding twice that of the United States, the rich amount of oil in the Persian Gulf and the mineral deposits in Central Asia under its control, coupled with the strategic points of the Pacific Ocean and the huge population advantage in Asia, it may not be as fast as the United States, but sooner or later it will be able to become a world power that competes with the United States! So, ah. Murong Han picked up the plan on the table, patted the cover and changed his tone, and said with a mischievous smile: "Our money bag minister, allocate the money as soon as possible, otherwise it will be a big mistake." ”……