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

Although the three of them were all Japanese political diplomats across the Taisho and Showa periods, and they all served as foreign ministers, they didn't have much contact with each other, so Hirota wondered a little, what did they ask 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 of Malacca (the Japanese army regarded 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 erroneously ordered that all 140,000 young Japanese and tens of thousands of overseas Chinese had been killed in retaliation was so shocking that 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 surrendered, Britain and the United States would definitely put pressure on Beijing, but now that the United States and the Soviet Union had obvious signs of war, they also took the initiative to cede Northeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific, so unless Japan agreed to extremely harsh conditions, even if Yang Qiu surrendered, he would not see it. ”

"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 expression, 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 still very hesitant, but after Malacca's farewell, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and expatriates were executed in retaliation for the wrong battle plan of the military headquarters, 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 Japan were contradictory and distrustful of each other, so he lacked people who knew Beijing at hand, so after thinking about it, only Hirota Hongyi, who had dealt with Yang Qiu, was the most suitable.

After saying the idea of letting Hirota secretly contact Beijing as a special 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, he can see Japan and the outside more clearly from the perspective of a bystander. He already knew very well where Yang Qiu's hatred for Japan came from and why he regarded Japan as a great enemy! It is not the First Sino-Japanese War, not Manchuria, Mongolia, and still less Taiwan, because there is a fundamental conflict between the "common prosperity of Asia" proposed by Japan and the "Asia-Pacific region of peaceful development" proposed by Japan. This is not a national hatred, nor is it a clash of ideas, but fundamentally the core confrontation of national interests! It is very difficult for a country to rise, especially a populous country like China, so since the beginning of Xinhai, Yang Qiu first wooed Germany, which was eager to expand, and then betrayed 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 the "Washington Naval Treaty" to make a good baby and take the initiative to limit the size of the navy.

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 Japan and the Soviet Union began to expand their armaments, they continued to reduce their military expenditures in order to put 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 Japan that has fallen 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 China's doorstep who can create a very annoying problem for Beijing.

So the more powerful Japan becomes, especially with a world-class navy that occupies Sakhalin Island in the Ryukyus and can completely block Northeast Asia's access to the Pacific Ocean, the more Beijing will find it intolerable. Therefore, when Japan rapidly increased its naval strength in the thirties, it maintained a "weak navy" while strengthening new technologies such as aircraft carrier aviation, which made Japan and the world think that the Chinese navy could not stop Japan. 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 Beijing now, he will definitely be troubled in every way, because Yang Qiu needs an abnormal Japan that completely surrenders to him, not a complete Japan 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 conference, forcing Yang Qiu to let Singapore and Borneo become independent instead of "referendum on merger". A China that controls all of Asia is a naked challenge to the white world order! So if it weren't for the accident of being deep in Europe, Churchill and Roosevelt would never mind co-opting Japan and starting an all-out war with China in the Southwest Pacific!

But can you not go?

Japan has already paid for the lives of more than a million soldiers, and its country is already devastated. Since the Chinese navy raided Sasebo's bombing of the city, China's successive bombardments have killed 800,000 people, injured and sick more than 4 million, and displaced more than 10 million people. Eighty percent of Japan's cities with a population of more than 100,000 were 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! Japan is not a China with a population of 600 million, and the easy mobilization of tens of millions of soldiers will not hurt its foundations, even if you count the expatriates in South Korea and the colonies, the population before the war was less than 70 million. At present, two-sevenths of the Japanese 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." Thinking of this, Guangtian 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 only 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, they, the politicians, actually want to wipe their butts for the military department, and go to negotiate such a big thing as surrender, they dare not tell the military department, how can they do such an errand? But Shigemitsu Aoi also has difficulties, those radicals in the military department are really not easy to mess with, especially those middle and low-level officers, if the news of the preparation for surrender is leaked, God knows if they will die on the streets like Saionji 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 Guangtian would refuse, so he had to get up and bow deeply: "Hirota-kun, please rest assured, Your Majesty also wants to end the war." I have already agreed with the navy that they will send a Red Cross plane to Okinawa to send you to Okinawa, and I believe that China will not shoot it down, so please leave everything 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 hurried to Sagami Bay to board a Navy Red Cross plane with Japan's future in mind, Beijing continued to craft its 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 the cabinet also understood that the war had only been going on for a small 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 it waited for the beginning of the spring of the Urals to carry out a comprehensive strategic bombing of the Soviet Union, it 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 in Yunnan and Tibet. 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. Stepping down as justice minister, attending the Cape Town conference, becoming the first interior minister, and traveling to Central Asia to pave the way for Yang Qiu's visit to Central Asia, are all sending a message to the outside world that the pending National Socialist Party 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, is the US aid going well?" ”

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, there's no hope anyway, they may not have what we have, we don't have it, and self-reliance can always come out." With an open-minded wave of his hand, Pei Zuyi 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." I heard from the people sent there that his temper and temperament are 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 was asked to cooperate, and asked: "Prime Minister, why does the president have to ask 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 Xinhai, and there are more pro-Japanese and 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 countries that can become world powers have one thing in common, that is, there are relatively few troubles in 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 it is we and the United States that are currently qualified to compete for world power! 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, still lacks such capabilities and advantages, don't look at Japan 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 geography. 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 Central Asian military-political convention similar to the "London Straits Convention" and the "Lausanne Agreement", 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 need to maintain some military bases and troops in the Urals, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Muslim League region, so as to form a geographical encirclement of Central Asia and cut off the channel for external interference in Central Asia. Don't sink too deep. The same is true 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 become independent 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 the fact that our country is currently more than twice the size 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 in the Pacific and the huge population advantage in Asia, may not be as fast growing as the United States, but sooner or later it will be able to become a world power competing 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, let's get the money down as soon as possible, otherwise it will be a big mistake." ”