In fact, there has been a debate in Japan about where this war will eventually go, but because the Japanese army has won many battles on the Chinese battlefield before, the Japanese people have been fascinated by the brilliant results in front of them, and the reminders and suggestions of some anti-war people have been taken as a deaf ear, and no one cares.

At the same time, Japan's domestic contradictions were also disguised by the record of successive victories, and the expanding ambitions made the Japanese completely lost. But they did not think at all that one day they would be defeated by the Chinese, and they were defeated so badly.

Attacked by the crushing defeat and catastrophe at the same time, the contradictions and divisions that had been hidden within the Japanese government were once again detonated, and this time even the emperor could not make the two factions compromise, but put the contradictions on the table.

On January 27, 1940, the plague in Japan was basically under control, but there were still nearly 400,000 plague infected people who had not yet recovered, and a large amount of tetracycline drugs were needed every day. Even so, the Japanese government is already satisfied, at least now that the scope of the plague is no longer expanding, and a large number of infected people are cured every day. The Japanese government believed that with enough tetracycline medicine, this terrible plague would soon be extinguished, and because of this, the Japanese top brass began to have time and energy to consider the heavy and serious question of where this war would eventually go!

On the afternoon of January 27, the Japanese cabinet and all the high-ranking officials in the base camp received a notice from the Inner Palace that the imperial meeting would be held at 8 p.m., and all those who received the notice must attend.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, Prime Minister Fumima Konoe, Foreign Minister Yoyo Matsuoka, Interior Minister Eiji Yasui, Kiichiro Hiranuma, Minister of War Seishiro Itagaki, and Minister of the Navy Yoshida Zengo all arrived.

On the issues discussed at this Imperial Council. In fact, everyone already knows the Tao in advance. Seeing that everyone had arrived, Prime Minister Konoe Fumima got up and said, "Your Majesty, all the people who participated in the meeting have arrived, and you can start!" ”

"Yo Si! Now that everyone has arrived, let's start the meeting! Emperor Hirohito said in a deep voice.

In Japan, the Imperial Council is a very serious meeting, and unlike the Cabinet Meeting, the Imperial Council usually decides military affairs, and domestic affairs are generally not discussed at the Imperial Council, and there is a very strange phenomenon when the meeting is held. That is, the emperor generally does not speak. The entire meeting was presided over by the Prime Minister, and at the end of the meeting, the emperor would state his thoughts and decisions, or simply after the meeting, and this time was no exception.

"Gentlemen. Nearly three years have passed since the incident. In the past three years, our Imperial Japanese Army has achieved brilliant results. We have occupied most of China, and even the capital and the second capital of China have been occupied by the imperial army, which is the pride of all imperial soldiers and civilians! Speaking of this, Konoe Fumima's voice changed. Suddenly, he said: "But we can't ignore a problem, that is, in order to support this war, the Japanese Empire has exhausted more than half of the wealth accumulated during the Meiji Emperor, and now the domestic economy has reached a dangerous situation where it is unable to sustain, so how we should face this war still needs to be carefully considered!" ”

This time, Japan suffered an unprecedented defeat, and at the same time, a large-scale plague broke out in the country, which not only affected the fate of a large number of high-ranking officers such as Binshan Moto, but also forced the Japanese Minai cabinet to collapse quickly, and in desperation, Emperor Hirohito only ordered Konoe Fumima to form a cabinet for the second time.

The reason why Fumima Konoe was able to be entrusted with the important role of prime minister again by Emperor Hirohito has a lot to do with the statement of "new system movement" put forward by Fumiro Konoe before. Konoe, who had been discouraged by pressure from the military ministry during the first cabinet period, resigned and devoted himself to the movement for a new system.

His idea was supported by many people in the country, especially the main battle faction led by the military department. On September 1, 1939, Hitler blitzed Poland and launched the Second World War, which engulfed most of Western Europe and Northern Europe in less than half a year. The brilliant results of the German army greatly stimulated the aggressive ambitions of the Japanese fascists, and the Japanese imperial kings were extremely dissatisfied with the stalemate of the war of aggression against China and were anxious to expand the scale of the war.

In order to break the stalemate, the base camp even did not hesitate to bring down the Mine cabinet, which opposed the alliance with Germany and Italy, and actively supported Konoe Fumima to form a cabinet.

As soon as Konoe Fumima's words fell, former Prime Minister Mitsumasa Yonechi stood up and said: "Your Majesty, I reiterate once again that we must stop the war as soon as possible, otherwise the Japanese Empire will face the greatest crisis in nearly a hundred years, and even endanger the foundation of the empire. ”

As a well-known military strategist and statesman in Japan's Showa period, Mitsumasa Yonechi was undoubtedly the elite of Japan's upper-class elite, and he was different from the mainstream of the main war in Japan now; he saw that the Japanese army was invincible and at the same time saw the hidden dangers hidden under the brilliant achievements, so he actively advocated peace talks with China, and even more opposed to strengthening ties with Germany and Italy.

"Your Excellency Mine, you are still so stubborn that a small defeat has made you, the former Minister of the Navy and former Prime Minister, lose the blood and honor of a soldier?" It was the Minister of War Seishiro Itagaki who stood up to speak.

Seishiro Itagaki and Mitsumasa Yonechi had not had much of a conflict before, but in January 1939, Seishiro Itagaki proposed a plan to strengthen the defense and communist pact between Japan, Germany, and Italy, and submitted it to the cabinet as an important part of the national policy, with the intention of establishing a military alliance.

However, this plan was fully opposed by Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonechi, Vice Minister Isoroku Yamamoto, and Military Affairs Bureau Chief Inoue Narumi, while the army stubbornly persisted, and a situation of serious confrontation between the army and navy appeared, and the two sides debated more than 70 times at the cabinet meeting. As the differences between the two sides grew, the relationship between Seishiro Itagaki and Mitsumasa Yonechi gradually deteriorated, so much so that now no matter what the occasion, as long as the two men are present, they always have an argument.

"Humph! Itagaki, I'm afraid it's you who is stubborn, right? Don't you know how far the economy in the Dao Empire has deteriorated? Do you think that if you continue to fight, you will be able to force the people of China to surrender? It's a pipe dream, and I'm telling you, as long as the army can't completely wipe out the people of China within half a year, then the recently issued treasury bonds will be exhausted again, and then your soldiers will have to fight the people with bayonets! Mitsumasa Yonechi said angrily.

"Minei, our Imperial Japanese Army is invincible, even with bayonets, we can defeat the incompetent Shina people, we can defeat the 300,000 Northeast Army with only 20,000 people, and we can wipe out 3 million Shina troops with 1 million people!" Seishiro Itagaki said loudly.

"Humph! Itagaki are you kidding? That's right, it is precisely because of the Minister of War like you that the Imperial Japanese Army will not be as good as day by day, don't always use the previous achievements to advertise that you are a hero, in the words of Shina, it is a good man who does not mention the courage of the year. Looking at the current army, it took nearly a year for more than 300,000 troops to defeat Wuhan, and nearly 150,000 troops were lost. Not to mention the North China Front Army this time, nearly 350,000 troops were beaten by the two war zones in China and lost their armor, and they were swallowed up by others in one bite at the end, and they were chased to their homes by others at the end, and they used the special ammunition developed by the Japanese Empire itself to deal with the Great Japanese Empire, your army is really okay, what else can you do except brag and talk big? Mitsumasa Yonechi sneered.

"Yaga, Your Excellency Minei, you can insult me Seishiro Itagaki, but you can't insult hundreds of thousands of imperial warriors on the front line, the defeat of the war is the dereliction of duty of the commander, and it has nothing to do with the warriors who fought bloody battles on the front line, have you ever thought that you are also a soldier when you insult them like this?" Seishiro Itagaki said angrily.

"Itagaki, don't buckle my hat, as you said, I'm also a soldier, how can I insult myself boringly? As the Minister of War of the Imperial Japan, you should know that fighting a war is not just a fight between people, but a competition between national strength, in terms of comprehensive national strength, the people of China are indeed inferior to our Empire Japan, but after all, China is China, the land area of China is 30 times that of the Empire, and China has a population of 400 million, which is six times that of the Empire. The empire occupies the northeast of China, the people of China can withdraw to Guannai, the empire occupies Hebei and they can withdraw to Shanxi and Suiyuan, the empire occupies central China, the people of China can also withdraw to the Sichuan Basin, the people of China have enough strategic depth, but does the empire have so many troops? No, in fact, with the economic strength of the empire, it can only equip a maximum of 500,000 troops, and any more will greatly affect the normal development of the empire! I tell you, as long as the Shina people hold out for another year, the Great Japanese Empire will collapse without a fight, and the Shina people will win without a fight! You don't know what to do, you only don't know what to call for more troops and fight! Mitsumasa Minechi said loudly.

Then Mitsumasa Yonechi said: "War is certainly the only way out for the Japanese Empire, but it does not mean that the Great Japanese Empire can be in place in one step, we can start a war with the Chinese people, but we can't stand with the Chinese people for a long time, just like the Sino-Japanese War more than 30 years ago, we only fought with the Chinese people for one year, and the Great Japanese Empire got 230 million taels of silver, and at the same time got the island of Taiwan." Nine years ago, in the Manchurian Incident, we only fought for half a year, and we got the whole of Manchuria. But this time we have been fighting for more than three years, paying a huge price, and now we have not gained the slightest benefit, so our strategy must be adjusted, otherwise the Great Japanese Empire will decline because of this, and will eventually be surpassed by the Chinese people! (To be continued......)