The solemn Imperial Council was held at 10 a.m. on January 15, 1941 in the East Hall of the Palace. In addition to the usual attendees, Uchisho Tanabe and Masatozo Ogura were also present.

The meeting was still presided over by Prime Minister Fumima Konoe, and when the time was up, the door of the East Hall was closed by His Majesty's bodyguards, and secrets were never allowed to be leaked in such a top-secret meeting. After the door of the hall was closed, Konoe Fumima got up and bowed to His Majesty the Emperor, who was sitting on the throne, and then got up and said, "Ministers, the meeting will now begin. With Your Majesty's permission, I am presiding over today's meeting. In view of the fact that the Empire of Japan is now suffering from serious threats from the United States and Britain and other countries, resulting in the Empire being in an extremely difficult historical period, especially the Empire is stuck in the battlefield of China and unable to extricate itself, and the war is dragging the Empire into the abyss from which it cannot be extricated, the Imperial Base Camp and the Cabinet have decided to fight against the United States and Britain as a last resort! After the joint discussion of the headquarters and the cabinet, it was decided to approve the plan of the Admiralty "Imperial National Policy Implementation Guidelines", and the implementation of this national policy is hereby submitted to His Majesty the Emperor for the Imperial Review, and discussed with all the ministers and ministers to make the final decision! ”

All the ministers nodded lightly when they saw Emperor Hirohito on the throne, they all understood what it meant, and His Majesty the Emperor meant that he had already read the essentials for the implementation of this national policy.

Fumima Konoe then continued: "As the Prime Minister of the Empire, I would like to first state the contents of the 'Guidelines for the Implementation of the Imperial National Policy': As you already know, the international situation surrounding the empire is becoming more and more urgent, especially the United States, Britain, the Netherlands and other countries are using all means to confront the empire, and the United States and the government of China have signed an agreement not long ago. The U.S. government will provide a low-interest loan of $250 million to the government of China in a short period of time, and these loans will be used entirely for military innovation in China, and according to the information available to the imperial intelligence service, the loan agreement between the United States and the government of China is likely to exceed $250 million. ”

"The most important thing is that as the German-Soviet war drags on, there is still a tendency for the United States and the Soviet Union to form a united front against Japan. If this development continues, the empire will gradually lose the mobility of its national strength, so that the gap in national strength between it and the United States and Britain will become wider and wider. At the present time, of course, the Empire must be prepared quickly for any eventuality, and on the other hand, it must still use all diplomatic means. Efforts should be made to prevent the scourge of war before it happens. In the unlikely event that the above-mentioned diplomatic measures do not work within a certain period of time. When the time comes, it is also a last resort to take the most reckless means of self-defense. The Government and the Army and Navy of the Headquarters have held repeated consultations on this issue, and have now reached an agreement, and have jointly worked out the agenda item of the day, "Essentials for the Implementation of the Imperial National Policy," which is contained in the annex. Now, I would like to ask His Excellency Shusei Nagano, Chief of Operations of the Admiralty, to explain to you in detail the contents of the "Essentials for the Implementation of the Imperial National Policy"! ”

After Konoe Fumima sat down, Chief of Naval Operations Nagano Shusei immediately got up. He also bowed to Emperor Hirohito on the throne and said, "Your Majesty, colleagues. Thanks to His Excellency Konoe's love. I will read out to you the contents of the "Essentials for the Implementation of the Imperial National Policy", which is divided into major national policies and annexes, and now I will read out the content of the main national policies for you. There are three articles: First, in order to ensure self-survival and self-defense, the empire will not hesitate to fight against the United States (Britain and the Netherlands) and complete preparations for war in late May. Article 2 The Empire, while carrying out the preparations described in the preceding paragraph, shall use all diplomatic means with respect to the United States and Britain in an effort to fulfill the Empire's demands. Article 3 If the diplomatic negotiations described in the preceding paragraph fail to meet our demands by the beginning of August, we shall immediately resolve to go to war against the United States (Britain and the Netherlands). With regard to other measures other than those in the south, we will implement them in accordance with the established national policy, and in particular, we will make efforts to prevent the United States and the Soviet Union from forming a united front against Japan. ”

"The annex is only used in negotiations with the United States and Britain and other countries, and the negotiations between the empire and the United States and Britain and other countries must be limited to the minimum requirements in the annex, otherwise the base camp will not recognize the results of the negotiations. First, in the negotiations with the United States (Britain), the Empire must achieve the following minimum requirements: 1. The United States and Britain must not interfere with or hinder the Empire's handling of the Chinese incident, first of all, it must not hinder the Empire's attempt to resolve the incident in accordance with the Japan-China Basic Treaty and the Japan-Manchurian-Chinese Joint Declaration. Second, the closure of the "Burma" highway will not provide military, political, and economic assistance to Chiang's regime. The above clauses should not be prejudiced to the Empire's consistent position on dealing with the Chinese incident in the work of Japan and the United States, and in particular, it is necessary to adhere to the newly agreed upon issue of the stationing of Imperial troops between Japan and China. However, it may be clear that after the incident is resolved, the other armies will in principle be prepared to retreat, except for the above-mentioned troops sent to China for the settlement of the Chinese affairs. With regard to the economic activities of the United States and Britain in China, it may be useful to make it clear that as long as they are conducted on a fair basis, they will not be restricted. ”

"2. The United States and Britain shall not take any action that threatens the defense of the Reich in the Far East: First, the United States and Britain and other countries shall not seize military rights and interests in the territories of Thailand, the Dutch East Indies, China, and the Soviet Far East. The second is to maintain the status quo of armaments in the Far East and not to build. ”

"3. The United States and Britain must assist the Empire in obtaining the necessary supplies: first of all, trade with the Empire must be restored, and the supplies necessary for the survival of the Empire must be supplied from the territories of the two countries in the Southwestern Pacific. Secondly, the economic cooperation between the empire and Thailand and the Dutch East Indies must be facilitated amicably. ”

"Second, the limits of what the empire can promise: If the United States and Britain agree to the imperial demands in the first paragraph, the empire may make certain concessions on relevant issues, such as the empire not using French Indochina as a base for military expansion into its neighbors, except for China. If the other side asks about the attitude of the Reich toward the Soviet Union, he can reply that as long as the Soviet Union abides by the Japanese-Soviet neutrality treaty and does not take any action contrary to the spirit of the treaty, such as threatening Japan, the Japanese and Manchurian countries, we will not take the initiative to take military action. In addition, the empire could guarantee the withdrawal of troops from French Indochina after a just peace in the Far East had been established. The empire could also guarantee the neutrality of the Philippines. ”

Since this "Imperial National Policy Implementation Essentials" was only discussed in a small area before, so the vast majority of people did not know about this matter, let alone the content of this national policy implementation essentials, and now when Yongye Xiu made the content public, everyone in the entire East Hall was taken aback, although the content of this new national policy is not much, only more than 100 words, but its significance should not be underestimated.

You must know that although there are only three new national policies, each of them is full of blood, and some sensitive people have even smelled the smoke of war. This seems to be the most difficult discussion of Japan-U.S. and Japan-Britain relations, and if this new national policy is passed, then the entire empire will enter a state of war against the United States and Britain. If negotiations to join the United States and the Reich do not reach an effective agreement within three months, then war will be inevitable.

In addition, the negotiation requirements mentioned in the annex are also strange to many, because in the past few years, the negotiations between the empire and the United States have been in a passive position, to put it bluntly, at a disadvantage. But in this annex, the conditions of the empire are extremely harsh, and the attitude is unusually tough, and it seems that the base camp is ready for war, of course, this preparation is only ideological, not material.

After Nagano sat down, Konoe Fumima got up again and said, "Now you can express your opinions, the war in the south mainly relies on the navy, so let Your Excellency Kazukawa tell me your opinion first!" ”

The Minister of the Navy and Admiral Shiro Kawakoshi hurriedly stood up and said, "The current situation has been summarized by the Prime Minister, and I think you have some feelings. It goes without saying that it is very difficult for the Empire to seek a way out of the present difficult situation through peaceful means, and the Empire does not see the sincerity of the United States in the peace talks, so in order to ensure the future development and consolidation of the Empire, we must be prepared in case there is no peaceful solution, that is, to use war to safeguard the interests of the Empire. ”

The High Command made some observations from an operational point of view, and the Empire was currently in a state of depletion of oil and other vital military supplies, which was leading to a gradual weakening of its national defense capabilities. If this status quo continues, it is inevitable that after a certain period of time, the country's capacity will be reduced and it will eventually fall into a paralyzed predicament. At the same time, the defense of the military installations and important places of Great Britain and the United States and other countries in the Far East, as well as the armaments of these countries, especially the United States, are increasing extremely rapidly, and according to the Imperial Admiralty, the Reich will be faced with a situation that will be difficult to deal with by the second half of next year at the latest, because of the tremendous progress made in the United States' armaments. ”

"Therefore, it is very dangerous for the current empire to do nothing now, to delay the time. Therefore, if the other side does not recognize the minimum requirements of the empire for self-survival and self-defense in diplomatic negotiations, so that war is finally inevitable, then the empire must adopt the method of surviving the death, first make proper preparations, lose no time in making up its mind, and move towards active combat with a resolute and resolute attitude. ”

Obviously, Shiro Kawako's opinion is in favor of a war against the United States and Britain, but if you think about it, this "Essentials for the Implementation of the Imperial National Policy" was originally proposed by the Admiralty, and if he, the Minister of the Navy, does not agree, how can others agree.

Konoe Fumima couldn't help but feel a little anxious when he heard this, and Kawakoshiro's words were considered from the imperial defense and the external environment, which explained a problem from many aspects, that is, the empire is very dangerous now, and it must be prepared for a larger-scale war.

However, Konoe Fumima was more aware of the current situation in Japan, and even if the United States and Britain and other countries did not participate, it would be difficult for the empire to withdraw from the battlefield in China, let alone launch a larger-scale war.

The prime minister of the largest Japanese Empire, Fumima Konoe has analyzed the way out of the empire with his staff many times, but no matter from the analysis of politics, economy, culture, diplomacy and other fields, it is impossible to see the way out of the empire, the only way to make the empire recover in a short period of time is to immediately negotiate with the people of China, and then immediately withdraw troops from the battlefield of China, if you can obtain a certain amount of war reparations, it is the best, and it is the most stupid thing to expand the scale of the war at a loss, and can only plunge the empire into the abyss of no return.

Although he knows this, but now it is the world of soldiers, and the base camp is the most influential institution in Japan, and he can't manage the base camp at all, and he, the prime minister, is more like a wet nurse, constantly replenishing nutrition for the chariots of the base camp, and the base camp says that if you want to go to war, the cabinet must agree, so he pinned his hopes on the imperial meeting, hoping that the discussion at the imperial meeting can reject the decision of the base camp, but now it seems that there is little hope. (To be continued......)