Chapter 320 The Cabinet of Internal and External Troubles

In 1918, the average daily wage for female workers was only 4 jiao 8 cents, and for male workers it was only 9 jiao 2 cents. Since August, the price of rice has continued to rise, rising from 3 jiao 8 points to 5 jiao 3 points. The dividends brought by the First World War to Japan did not affect the people at the bottom in the slightest, and the benefits went into the pockets of the chaebols. With the rise in rice prices, the contradictions between the Japanese and the people have reached a critical point.

Wu Wei, an intern at the Army University, came to the gate of the Army Province early in the morning, and the sound of the car horn behind him startled Wu Wei and hurriedly gave way. A black Ford hurriedly drove into the gate, and Wu Wei recognized it as the special car of Lieutenant General Kenichi Oshima, the Minister of War.

Wu Wei's internship point was in the second military class of the Military Affairs Bureau, and when he was strolling through the corridor unhurriedly, hurried footsteps sounded behind him. Wu Wei looked back and saw that Major General Chai Shengzaburo, director of the Military Affairs Bureau, was walking in a hurry, and hurriedly stood on the side and bowed in greetings.

Chai Shengzaburo didn't seem to notice Wu Wei, his steps quickened, and he walked upstairs with a pummer. When I walked into the office, I saw the second military section chief Takahashi Daijian coming out with a black circle under his eyes, holding a bag, and walking cautiously. Wu Wei hurriedly greeted, Gao Qiao glanced at him, and nodded to mean it. For this intern who is the third in the overall score of Lu University, Takahashi still values it very much. Looking at this young man, Takahashi opened his mouth and wanted to say something encouraging, but he didn't know where to start at all, so he could only nod and hurry out.

"Chunshan-senpai, what's wrong?" Wu Wei keenly sensed that something was wrong, and hurriedly asked the senior in the class, who was also Captain Chunshan who graduated from Lu University. Chunshan's face was also ugly, and he rubbed his hands and said: "Something happened to the Far Eastern Intervention Army, the 3rd Division tried to prevent the Chinese from going south to Vladivostok, but was heavily shelled and bombarded by the 22nd Division of the National Defense Army. With more than 1,500 casualties, Chief Otani was forced to order a retreat to Vladivostok. ”

"Yaga!" Wu Wei looked extremely angry. He slapped his hands on the table and said, "This is a shameless provocation against the Great Japanese Empire, and we must resolutely fight back." ”

Chunshan looked at the young junior, smiled bitterly, handed him a piece and said, "You can talk about it after you finish reading." ”

The report was a handwritten copy, and Wu Wei sideways avoided Chunshan's gaze, hiding his mood for a while. Seeing Chunshan return to his position, he stretched out his hand and scratched his head and said with a bitter smile: "Hurry up and look, I've been busy all night, and I have to go back to sleep." ”

Wu Wei looked very slowly. Don't miss a word. Although there is a lot of water in this report, such as how strong the firepower of the 22nd Division was and how undeclared war was, it could not hide the fact that in the face of the powerful force of the Wehrmacht, the Japanese army did not have the courage to fight a war. In fact, this reaction of the Japanese army was not surprising at all. Japan has always been a nation that bullies the weak and fears the hard. In parallel history, Japan dared to attack Pearl Harbor because it was forced to a dead end by US imperialism, because 50 percent of Japan's strategic materials came from the South Seas. One was stimulated by the German victory. In addition, the supplies of the South Seas are really indispensable for Japan, a naval power. There are many other reasons, such as the decline of Britain and France, and so on.

The day of this plane. After the battle of Qingdao, he began to reflect on why he was so defeated in the face of the squadron. The conclusion was drawn that the Chinese had an advantage in equipment and at the same time a huge superiority in troops. As far as this conclusion is concerned, the Japanese Army is very unconvinced. But the shadows remained.

Razdolinoye's fat beating once again made the Japanese see the difference in firepower between the two armies. The 3rd Division, which was the main division of the Japanese army, was also elite in the face of the 22nd Division of the civilian army. But this firepower gap is even bigger than before. This one is too devastating. Otani has two options in the report, the first of which is a protest by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Britain, the United States, France and other countries are invited to mediate. The second is to send an additional heavy artillery wing to fight a solid battle with the Chinese army.

How to put it, Otani still hopes to save a little face for the Japanese army. Exaggerating the firepower of the Chinese army is undoubtedly an attempt to compete for more resource quotas for the army, and Japan's resources are limited, and it is normal for the navy and the army to fight for resources.

After Wu Wei finished reading the report and returned it to Chunshan, Wu Wei was so excited that he couldn't help himself, and his whole body was trembling slightly. When Chunshan saw him, he thought he was angry, and persuaded with a wry smile: "Young man, don't get excited. Wu Wei nodded, excused himself to go to the toilet, walked to a corner, leaned on the wall with one hand, bowed his head and wept silently. For him, there was no better news than good news from the Republic of China.

What measures the cabinet and the military department took to deal with the changes in the Far East, Wu Weigen could not touch the edge, and he could only be silently excited. When I got off work at noon, I left in a hurry, and when I walked down the street, I couldn't be better in a good mood. The streets and crowds that Hara saw every day were a little annoyed, but at this time it was a pleasant sight.

Otani actually built a protest against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and he wanted to sing when he thought of this.

"Kawada-kun!" On the tram platform, a young girl greeted her. Wu Wei looked over, this is Masako Fujino, who is studying in a girls' junior high school in Tokyo, and Wu Wei met by chance when he was studying at the Army University.

For contemporary Tokyo Huaichun girls, Wu Wei, who is studying at the Army University, is undoubtedly an ideal husband. Not to mention Wu Wei, who is seven or eight meters tall, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, he definitely stands out among the crowd in Tokyo. It is a young talent that girls need to look up to see clearly.

Wu Wei, who was in a good mood, walked over to say hello, and found that Fujino Masako had a copy of "Asahi Shimbun" in his hand, so he said with grief and indignation: "Miss Masako, as a soldier, I am ashamed to care about the country as a citizen like you. ”

"Don't do this, Kawada-kun, you're still in the internship stage." The girl Masako glanced at this handsome guy who had been seducing for a long time with joy, and was about to further increase the intensity of seduction, when suddenly there was a commotion on the street, and a group of people rushed over. Wu Wei subconsciously hugged Masako's waist and flashed to the side of the road, and a group of people rushed over, seeing that there were five or six hundred people, rushing to a rice shop in front.

"What's going on?" Wu Wei looked at the commotion of the crowd, and didn't notice the girls clinging to each other at all, and their hands were already actively hugging back. Excitedly, the crowd rushed into the rice shop, frantically grabbing the rice, and the police at the far end blew a sharp whistle.

From August 10th to 15th, cities large and small across the country were involved in fierce riots in the region (Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Wakayama, etc.), Sanyo (Okayama, Hiroshima, Kureko, etc.), Shikoku (Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Kochi, etc.), Kyushu (Moji, etc.), Hokuriku (Kanazawa, Fukui, Maizuru, etc.), Tokai (Shizuoka, Kofu, etc.), Kanto (Tokyo, Yokohama, etc.), Tohoku (Fukushima, Sendai, etc.), and from the northeast to the southwest. In these places, tens of thousands of people often gather, demonstrate, destroy shops, especially rice shops, and fight with the military and police.

This is the famous rice riot! Wu Wei suffered only a small part, in fact, throughout the days from August to September, there were riots everywhere, and the intensity became more and more out of control. After the Terauchi Masatsui cabinet sent troops to the Far East in the Qing Dynasty, it was first hit head-on by the National Defense Forces of the Republic of China, and then caught up with the fatal matter of the rice riots, which was really an internal and external trouble.

When the Far East intervention was faced with a great threat to the squadron, although it was decided to increase the troops, there was no chance of victory. Again, the balance of power between China and Japan is there, especially the army. Despite a strong navy, warships could not be driven on land.

Of course, the Japanese fleet could sail to any point along China's long coastline and carry out the so-called retaliation. The problem is that small targets are not cost-effective, and large targets such as Shanghai, Wusong Fort, a dozen large-caliber cannons of more than 300, are really not vegetarians. There is also a navy that the Chinese do not seem to be too powerful, and once a fight starts, the faster Chinese navy is entirely likely to severely damage Japan's sea lines of communication.

The Japanese cabinet has not reached an agreement on how to respond to the military provocations of the Republic of China. The position of the Ministry of War is to start a war, well, the battlefield can be properly controlled, and it is enough to fight a dozen in the Far East, and not to turn it into a full-scale war. The Ministry of Finance said, what kind of fight, only a few days have passed? If China had fought well, Qingdao would have been conquered in 14 years, and as for the peace talks, it had lost so much Gengzi indemnity, and the economy was in a mess, not to mention, the Japanese government's finances have not slowed down. It was hard to earn a little money by relying on World War I, and the government had to vigorously support the steel industry, so as not to lag behind the rapid development of the Republic of China too much. It is easy for you soldiers to fight and fight, but where can you find money in the treasury province that manages money?

The cabinet quarreled for a day without results, and Terauchi Masatsuki never said anything, and quietly left that night to go to the residence of the Meiji elder Yama Prefecture Aritomo. This Terauchi Masatoshi, known as the trump card in the hands of Aritomo Yamagu, defeated Kato, who was recommended by Shigenobu Okuma, in the race for the position of prime minister. During his tenure, Terauchi Masatsushi vigorously supported the Japanese steel industry, and the military expenditure was biased towards the army.

Judging from the results, Terauchi Masatsu's eccentricity did not change the situation of the Japanese army too much. As the rice turmoil intensified, Terauchi Masatsuki's position as prime minister was in jeopardy, and if these two things could not be properly handled, Terauchi Masayoshi could only resign.

Terauchi Zhengyi had a closed-door meal here in Youpeng in Shan County, and a staff member came out of it with a sentence: "Terauchi-kun, resign and apologize!" The temple was stunned and stood at the door in a daze.

On the morning of September 17, 1918, the Japanese Minister Yijiyuan appeared at the door of the residence of Sun Baoqi, the president of the Republic of China.

Almost at the same time, the commotion in Chita finally quieted down, and the Russian troops waving the white flag left the city one after another. The Far Eastern fortress Chita fell into the hands of the people, and on the same day, Xu Shuzheng's troops took Ulan-Ude lightly.