The meeting room in the Prime Minister's Cabinet was now silent, even though it was full of civil and military officials of the Japanese Empire. All of them hung their heads and were thinking about the same problem over and over again -- the possible adverse consequences of helping China run education.

As a great power that has developed in recent decades, Japan's senior officials are well aware of the path to the country's rise. Of course, a modern power must have a strong heavy industry, and everyone knows this truth. But heavy industry is not a few arsenals, steel mills and shipyards, but a system of hundreds or thousands of industrial branches! To build such an industrial system, the following conditions are required: markets, resources, capital, technology and labor.

The most important of them is not the first four, but the most inconspicuous workforce! What is the basis for Japan's rise? They have no market, no resources, no capital, no technology, but they have developed anyway! It is relied on by 20 or 30 million working people who are hard-working and have a high level of education! Before the Meiji Restoration, Japan attached great importance to education, and the literacy rate of Japanese men was over 50%, which was one of the highest in the world at that time. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan invested in education as the foundation of the country, and it has been implemented until now! It is no exaggeration to say that Japan now has the highest (perhaps on a par with the German workers) labor force in the world, a force greater than the Japanese navy and army combined! And the foundation of this great power is education!

Now China has finally identified the key to modernization -- education -- and has the determination and conditions to vigorously develop education. Prepare to make education a top priority, just like Japan. If this large country with a population of several hundred million can raise its national education level to a level comparable to that of Japan, then China's national strength may reach seven to eight times that of Japan! Because any of China's resources are more than ten times that of Japan, the only thing that restricts the development of their national strength is the lowly people and laborers -- although this is hard to hear, it is true!

But China's path to education is unlikely to be easy, as the country has not taken advantage of the past few decades. It was only 15 years ago that they abolished the outdated eight-share imperial examination system. It began to develop modern education slowly, but because of the war after the Xinhai Revolution, the pace of modern education development was affected. So much so that now, Chinese have no way to find enough teachers for the thousands of middle schools they have built at great expense, so they have to turn to Japan for help......

And Japan, now to help this behemoth on the East Asian continent?

All cabinet members. The military representatives who attended the meeting as observers were silent. I don't know how long it took before I heard Prime Minister Tanaka's deep voice: "Helping China on education issues is raising tigers, and rejecting China may push China to the side of Britain and the United States...... It's really embarrassing! ”

The other voice that seemed to be crying out through gritted teeth immediately picked up: "There is nothing to be embarrassed about!" Now that the national policy of going south has been decided, it is necessary to practice pan-Asianism and unite China against the Western powers. This is a necessary condition for the empire to defeat the Anglo-American powers and become the ruler of the South Seas and Australia! If Britain and the United States are to be defeated on the one hand, and China on the other hand, it will certainly not be able to win by relying on the national strength of the empire. It is better to give up the national policy of going south as soon as possible and sit on the current territory...... Let the people have a good day for a few years! ”

It was Kita Kazuki who made this argument. This Japanese thinker was a little brainless, he thought that if Japan wanted to go south to seize Nanyang and Australia, it would definitely have to fight with Britain, the United States and France! There is no way to avoid this. In order to defeat Britain, the United States and France, it is necessary to unite with a strong China, otherwise it will absolutely not be able to win with the strength of Japan. In his mind, this future war is a duel between the yellow races of Asia and the white races of the West!

"I don't think there's anything wrong with giving up southward expansion, the empire already has the Far Eastern state, and the resources and land there are enough for 30 years of development." Minister of Commerce and Industry, Tokugoro Nakahashi, who had jumped from the Constitutional Political Friendship Association, immediately retorted loudly. Nakahashi was the only representative of the zaibatsu in Tanaka's cabinet, and his opinion was also meant by the zaibatsu in a certain way.

Admiral Minister Yuzaburo Kato immediately chimed in: "If you give up going south, a 300,000-ton capital ship will be enough." With the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the empire's hegemony in the East can be maintained, and there is no need to pursue a weak policy of goodwill toward China......"

"Do you want to be the watchdog of the British Empire in the East again?" Kita Yihui snorted coldly. "But it's not Victorian anymore! The British Empire is a luxury cruise ship that is about to sink...... And the empire can unite Britain. The United States can also unite with China. In this way, a situation of Anglo-Japanese alliance against Sino-American alliance is formed! ”

"The Imperial and British navies have a total tonnage of 800,000 tons of capital ships, which is enough to defeat the 650,000-ton capital ships of the Chinese and American navies!" Naval Commander Biao did a simple arithmetic problem.

"Wishful thinking!" Kita Yihui sneered and asked the Ministry of Finance, "Your Excellency Minister of Military Orders, when will World War II break out?" Have you Navy agreed with the British and Americans about the time and place? ”

"How is it possible to tell the right time and place for such a thing? It's not a duel between samurai. ”

"What if the Second World War can't be fought for twenty or thirty years? The U.S.-China alliance will bring sufficient capital and technology to China...... Their educational bottlenecks will always be solved, but only a few years later. But with the capital and technology of the United States, China's labor and resource advantages will always come into play! When the time comes. The strength of China and the United States will far exceed that of Britain, Japan and France! Moreover, the United States is still vigorously supporting Germany, and in the future there will probably be a Sino-American alliance that will unite the world's most advanced science and technology, the most money, the most powerful industrial power, the largest population, and the best naval and army officers against the Japanese Empire...... In this way, the empire will only have to wait for death as a way out! Is this the wisdom of your navy? ”

As soon as this discussion came out, the Japanese ghosts in the conference room began to make small calculations in their hearts again-who would fight the Second World War in this time and space. No one could have guessed! However, these military and political elites of the Japanese Empire can still analyze some possibilities. The biggest possibilities at the moment seem to be two.

The first is the Anglo-American struggle for hegemony! Britain's world hegemony is teetering, while the United States' national power is soaring. Sooner or later, there will be a dragon fight, and now Britain is not busy trying to contain the United States?

The second is the liberation of Europe by the Soviet Union, which seems to be a matter of course.

Japan's southward expansion was based on the Soviet Union's westward expansion. The Japanese fantasized about a short-lived alliance between China and Japan and the Soviet Union -- the Soviet Union carried out a policy of westward expansion to liberate Europe, while China and Japan simultaneously went south to challenge the hegemony of Britain and France in the South Seas! The mighty Japanese Navy, after the basic British Navy, will have an ultimate decisive battle with the US Navy. Rely on battleship battles to defeat the U.S. Pacific Fleet and seize maritime supremacy in the Pacific!

Therefore, the basis of Japan's southward policy is the non-aggression pact between the three countries, the Sino-Japanese alliance, and Japan's maritime supremacy. However, before China, Japan, and the Soviet Union made final preparations for war, temporarily joining Britain's world hegemony system was just an expedient measure to obtain a better environment for development.

However, Japan's navy and chaebol have always had a slight fear of Britain and the United States. As long as there is a chance. They will fantasize about the Anglo-Japanese alliance, the US-Japan alliance and the like, and want to act as the watchdogs of the Anglo-American powers in Asia to get a little leftovers. As a result, there is a trend of thought in Japan that has turned the expedient Anglo-Japanese alliance into a national policy.

"Uehara-kun, do you think the Anglo-Japanese alliance is possible?" Tanaka Yoshiichi glanced at the Minister of War who was sitting there without saying a word. Questions were raised.

"Can Britain support the Empire's westward expansion?" Yusaku Uehara asked rhetorically.

His nasal voice was heavy, he seemed to have a cold, and his face was not good-looking.

"I'm afraid it's impossible, Britain has always pursued a balanced policy, and they also need China to contain the Soviet Union." Foreign Minister Kita Kazuki explained. "If China and the United States form an alliance. Britain would not have supported the westward expansion of the empire. Because they are afraid of getting involved in a war with the United States...... Britain is now very afraid of war. ”

Yusaku Uehara looked at Yuzaburo Kato, and when he saw that the other party also nodded slightly, he said loudly: "In this case, the army does not support changing the national policy of going south!" After a pause, he added, "But China must show more sincerity in return for Japan's help in developing China's education." ”

"What do you mean?" Tanaka Yoshiichi sighed in his heart, this Uehara Yusaku has not dealt with him much, but he finally knows what the overall situation is.

"First of all. China must nominally order five battle cruisers with a displacement of about 30,000 tons from Japan, and China must also abandon its so-called policy of non-alignment and conclude security treaties with the Reich and Great Britain...... So that they will have no possibility of defecting to the United States! Second, China should also support Japan's request for a 350,000-ton capital ship at the Shanghai meeting. Third, China and Japan also need to sign a secret alliance treaty against Britain and the United States and delineate the future sphere of influence of the two countries in the South Seas. At last. China should support the revision of the "Sino-Japanese-Russian Non-Aggression Pact" and allow Japan to expand the number of army divisions to 20 and the number of cavalry groups to two. ”

……

Shanghai, U.S. Consulate General Shanghai.

"Mr. Secretary. We have just received news that the United Kingdom, Japan, and China are preparing to sign a trilateral security treaty in the near future. It's obvious. This treaty is against us, the United States! ”

It was Shulman, the U.S. ambassador to China, who had just taken office and was in a terrible mood. Although US President Harding flaunted isolationism during his election campaign and after taking office, he did not seem to have any interest in anything outside the Americas. But this does not mean that the United States really does not care about being surrounded by a grand alliance of "Britain, France, China and Japan" - this will mean that the United States will probably never be able to touch world hegemony! Even if the mediocre US President Harding doesn't care, the US monopoly behind him is not reconciled in any way!

To borrow a bit of Marxist perspective. The capitalist system in the United States dictates that the capitalists do not pay the workers according to their true labor income, they only pay them the minimum wage, and the workers are not paid enough to buy back all the products they produce. As a result, the factories of the capitalists in the United States have accumulated a large amount of surplus materials. In order to make profits, the capitalists have no choice but to sell these surplus products to other countries, so the United States will inevitably have to compete with Britain, France, Japan, and other capitalist countries for foreign markets, and this struggle will doom the United States to no way to practice true isolationism -- sooner or later, the United States will clash with Britain, France, Japan, and other countries in order to compete for markets. Although this theory may not be applicable to the 21st century, it is still very correct in the current situation.

The United States has the most powerful industry in the world, and it also has the most capital in the world! This dictates that the United States needs foreign markets and foreign investment. So while the United States is pursuing an isolationist policy, there is also a policy called open door -- just by the name, you know what it means. In fact, this open-door policy is also the main reason why Sino-US relations are becoming increasingly cold.

After Chang Ruiqing replaced Sun Yat-sen as the ruler of China, he gradually began to implement protectionist policies. Including protective tariffs and foreign exchange controls on gold - Kolchak gold that fell into Chinese hands did not flow into the United States as expected. Instead, he was locked into the vault of the central bank by Chang Ruiqing. High tariffs and exchange controls (effectively import quotas) gave the Nationalist government enough money and foreign exchange to ensure that their heavy industry plans were carried out, but they also made American exporters miserable. Therefore, the US diplomatic representatives in China have made representations to the Chinese side more than once, but they have not achieved any results!

What followed was naturally a cold period in Sino-US relations. However, the United States does not feel that there is anything wrong with it -- China is not the object that the United States wants to support in the first place. China is too big. and far from Europe, the center of power in the world. So a strong China cannot be counted on to shake the world empire of the British. As for using China to contain Japan...... This kind of thing only exists in Chang Ruiqing's fantasy! In fact, the United States is not very afraid of Japan, the United States and Japan do not share a border, and if there is a war between them, they will bombard each other with battleships in the Pacific Ocean. It's a game of more steel than anyone. And the United States has an overwhelming advantage in this!

Therefore, a strong Japan (which is not at all strong in the eyes of the United States) is not a reason for the United States to spend a lot of money on supporting China, so the initial diplomatic line pursued by our Chang Dai revolutionaries can be regarded as a complete failure. But when the British Empire entered the game, or when both China and Japan became pawns of the British Empire to contain the United States, the situation changed dramatically. Now the United States is facing how to break Britain's containment.

Historically, Japan's continued erosion of British interests in China and the diplomatic efforts of the United States eventually prompted Britain to voluntarily abandon the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In this space, however, the situation has changed dramatically.

First of all, the rise of China has completely wiped out the special interests of Britain and Japan in East China, and naturally there will be no conflict as a result. Although relations between the two countries were cold for a time because of the Far Eastern issue, after Soviet Russia defeated Poland and began to threaten the hegemony of Britain and France in Europe, relations between Britain and Japan began to warm up slowly.

Secondly, it is also because of China's pursuit of the status of a great power. There was also Japan's plan of the Tenth Fleet, which greatly threatened British colonial interests in Asia. In the absence of the strength to devote enough troops to Asia, Britain had no choice but to use containment, balancing, and co-opting to bring Japan and China into a new world order headed by Britain. In order to break the isolation situation after the invasion of the Far Eastern States, Japan also tended to maintain the original Anglo-Japanese alliance, and also hoped to include China.

After both China and Japan disguised their cooperation and pro-British posture, Britain's stance toward the United States also quietly changed. From the original hope of "co-governing" the world with the United States, to the desire to use an alliance led by Britain to contain the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Hughes put down his paper, which was the final plan for the Dawes Plan, which had just been finalized after some bargaining, because of the great threat of the Soviet Union, on the issue of Germany and the war debt. The United States, Britain and France did not agree. Hughes said a little tiredly: "Well, Western civilization has just created a cage for the Soviet Union. Now it's time to build another cage for the United States! He laughed mockingly, "Now I've finally fulfilled my wish for the American people, an isolated America, haven't I?" ”

Dawes had just completed a big deal for the United States, and was a little proud, and when he heard Hughes's words, he smiled indifferently: "Britain's policy of putting the United States in a cage will not succeed!" We could have pursued another Dawes Plan in Asia, by the way, Mr. Ambassador, are there any flaws in the relationship between the UK, Japan and China that could allow the dollar to work? Who should we buy? China, or Japan? ”

Schulman had only been in China for a short time and had little knowledge of the intricacies of Asian relations, but he had met many of China's top figures in his Shanghai social circle. Among them are also some pro-American figures. He thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Dawes, I am only the ambassador to China, and I really don't know much about the situation in Japan, but I know a lady who has a very deep network in the upper echelons of China, Miss Soong Meiling. She is the younger sister of Ms. Soong Ching-ling, one of the three giants of the Kuomintang, and the fiancée of General Jiang J-shi, another giant of the Kuomintang. Moreover, she is also a pro-American person, so perhaps we can invite her and General Jiang J-shi to the Consulate General and listen to her opinions. ”