Yanjing City, Dongjiaomin Lane, Japanese Embassy. Although Japan is still regarded as one of the great powers, other than Britain, the other powers basically do not take Japan very seriously. After all, how does Japan, which can't even defeat a local warlord in China, qualify to become a world power? This makes the position of the Japanese in the international community very embarrassing.

Of course, because of the fiasco in the last war, the Japanese also held back a lot of energy in their hearts. They desperately hoped to defeat the Northern Army and restore the glory of the Japanese Army.

After the end of the war, Japan began to intensify its economic recovery on the one hand, and on the other hand, it began to reorganize its armament. Five of the country's 25 standing divisions were sent to Korea to reorganize the Korean Army. Those divisions and regiments that were encircled and annihilated by the Jilin Army during the war were also rebuilt. Before Saionji Gongwang came to power, Aritomo Yamaguchi and Ito Hirobumi had already reached an agreement. After Saionji Gongwang came to power, he had to support the development of the Japanese Army, so that after being fully prepared, he could defeat the Northern Army in one fell swoop.

However, because of the deterioration of Japan's economy, there is a large amount of foreign debt that needs to be repaid. As a result, Japan's armament plan for war is very slow. However, the Japanese had continued to contact the British and French, hoping to obtain more loans from them to complete preparations for war. In addition, the Japanese government has also intensified its oppression at home, and food prices have risen again and again. In this way, the Japanese government wants to drain the last penny in the pockets of ordinary Japanese people and use it to support war preparedness.

Before Japan was ready for war, Japan's intelligence agencies were the first to act. A large number of spies were sent to the seven northern provinces to gather intelligence so that they could defeat the northern army in a future war. The Japanese have always done a relatively good job of intelligence work. Whether it was the First Sino-Japanese War or the Russo-Japanese War, and later the War of Aggression against China. The intelligence work of the Japanese is much better than that of their opponents.

However, after the end of the war, the seven northern provinces also increased their investment in counterintelligence. The Military Intelligence Directorate intensified its crackdown on Japanese spies. In addition, a large number of Japanese immigrants had to evacuate China according to the armistice agreement, which made Japanese espionage activities. It has also been greatly affected. In just one year, from the end of last year's war to this year, at least 100 Japanese spies were arrested and several Japanese spy organizations in the seven northern provinces were smashed.

Of course, it is undoubtedly impossible to make all the Japanese spies clear. The Japanese look too similar to the Chinese, and if they speak Chinese, it is even more difficult to distinguish them. In addition, the Japanese bribed many self-depraved Chinese to spy on intelligence for them, which made it much more difficult to eliminate Japanese spies.

Inside an office of the Japanese Embassy. A middle-aged man is talking to a young man. This middle-aged man is the military attache of the Japanese Embassy in China, Nobujun Aoki, who is also known as the first generation of China experts. And the young man he talked to was Rihachiro Sakanishi, known as the second generation of China experts. It's just that the current Sakanishi Rihachiro hasn't fully grown up, and he doesn't look like the spy leader who taught the third generation of China experts such as Kenji Dohihara, Itako Seishiro, and Shigeru Honjo.

The current Rihachiro Sakanishi is just a junior officer of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters. Ordered to go to China. Cooperate with the work of Nobujun Aoki.

"Banxi-kun, this trip to the north. What's the catch? Aoki smiled. He was very optimistic about Rihachiro Sakanishi, so he asked him from the General Staff Headquarters as his assistant. This is the fourth time he has served as a military attache in China. He hopes that after his departure, Rihachiro Sakanishi will be able to replace him.

Aoki Nobujun is a native of Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan, and the eldest son of Aoki Shinzo, a member of the Sadohara domain. Since childhood, I have loved to read "Three Kingdoms", and my later interest in China also stemmed from this book. In 1875, he was admitted to the Army Infant School. In May 1877, he was admitted to the old 3rd phase of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School. In December 1879 (Meiji 12), he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant in artillery and graduated in December of the following year. Aoki lived in China for more than 20 years, founded the Aoki Agency in Beijing, and trained a large number of secret service personnel. It has become the originator of espionage activities against China. Aoki Xuanchun's most proud move is to gain the trust of Yuan Shikai, who is the secretary of Yili. When Yuan served as governor of Shandong, he invited Aoki to Jinan to assist in the training of the new army, and Yuan Shikai often told his colleagues; Aoki is "the only reliable Japanese".

In the Russo-Japanese War, Aoki Xuanchun convened his subordinates to recruit horse thieves active in the Northeast to form the East Asian Volunteer Army in the form of a "special task class", and to cooperate with the regular army to fight, as a result, his subordinates ronin gathered tens of thousands of horse thieves, including Feng Linge, Zhang Haipeng, Du Lishan, Babuyon, etc., Feng Linge had no less than 2,000 people, and after Aoki was wooed, it was repeatedly expanded, and by the end of the war, it had expanded to more than 4,000 cavalry; The horse thieves in other parts of the country who were snare did not have less than 10,000 relatives. Under the manipulation of the "special task squad", the "Manchurian Rebels" were active in the rear of the Russian army, sabotaging railways, attacking military stations, and burning military supplies. And waiting for the opportunity to attack the Russian army, such as the 5th and 6th squadrons of the Heilongjiang Cossacks, almost all of them were annihilated. In March 1905, the commander of the Japanese Manchurian Army, Oyama Iwa, led 270,000 troops to defeat 350,000 Russian troops in Mukden, killing and capturing 110,000 Russian troops, winning a decisive victory in the land battle. This also includes the credit of Aoki and the East Asian Volunteers.

"Your Excellency, the humble secret has gone around the three provinces of Mukden, Jilin and Heilongjiang, and everywhere I went, I found that the people of China were building up industry, and factories were rising from the ground. Among them, except for those light industry factories built by the private sector, they are all heavy industry factories invested and built by the northern government, especially iron and steel enterprises and military enterprises. A lot of factories, and there are also investments from Americans, Germans and French. The humble position is very worried, if this continues, the industrial strength of the seven northern provinces will greatly exceed that of the empire. Once the northern government completes industrialization, it is highly likely that they will further seize the leadership of the whole of China. When the time comes, it will be even more difficult for us to defeat them and realize our dream of dominating East Asia. Rihachiro Sakanishi looked worried.

Rihachiro Sakanishi was born in 1870 in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, into a family of samurai from the former domain. Father Ryochi Sakanishi artillery captain. After graduating from the second class of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School in 1891, he served as an artillery second lieutenant and participated in the Sino-Japanese War with the 6th Field Artillery Wing. In November 1896, he became a member of the Higher Department of the Army Artillery School. In 1900, he graduated from the 14th saber group of Lu University (classmates included Kazunari Ugaki, Kitaro Inoue, Isomura and Nakashige Ida). He is the second-generation giant of Japan's espionage against China after Aoki Xuanjun, and he has been operating behind the scenes after seven generations of government changes during the Beiyang government, so he is known as the tumbler of the rise and fall of seven generations. In the Japanese Army, the so-called third-generation Chinese Todo Hihara Kenji, Itagaki Seishiro, Honjo Shigeru and others were all out of his family.

Historically, during the more than ten years that the Beiyang warlords were in charge of the Beijing government, Sakanishi made extensive friends with warlords and politicians of various factions in the Beiyang, infiltrating the Japanese cabinet's intentions and interfering in China's political affairs. For example, during the administration of Duan Qirui, the "Nishihara Loan" signed by the Terauchi Masashi cabinet of Japan to control the Duan regime was brokered by Sakanishi. The Beiyang government started with Yuan Shikai, passed through Li Yuanhong, Feng Guozhang, Xu Shichang, and Li Yuanhong came to power for the second time. and then to Cao Kun and Duan Qirui, seven presidents have been changed before and after, and Banxi has either openly served as an adviser or hid behind the scenes, and has always been appreciated and reused by those in power, so Japanese public opinion called Banxi "the tumbler of the rise and fall of seven generations".

"The people of China are so fortunate that they have a vast territory and abundant resources, and it is much easier to develop industry than the empire. Therefore, if the empire wants to rise, it must occupy China. Aoki said.

"Unfortunately, we lost last year's war. Otherwise, the entire Northeast would be ours. Rihachiro Sakanishi's hands clenched into fists, as if angry at last year's defeat.

"Bansai-kun, the army has done its best in last year's war, and more than 100,000 people have been killed and wounded, which is greater than our casualties in the Russo-Japanese War! If it weren't for the constraints of Britain and the United States, we wouldn't have lost the war. Therefore, we need to lie down and try our courage in order to defeat the people of China in one fell swoop in the future. Aoki said solemnly.

"Hi, Your Excellency, General." Rihachiro Sakanishi nodded. However, after he secretly traveled to the north, he saw the industrial construction in the north, which made him very worried. When Japan recompletes its preparations for war, the Northern Army will probably become even stronger! When the time comes, will they still be able to defeat the Northern Army?

"Your Excellency, the industrialization that the northern government is doing will pose a serious threat to the Empire, so we must find a way to interrupt their industrial construction." Rihachiro Sakanishi suggested.

"The people of China have stepped up their counter-espionage work, and our spy agencies in the seven northern provinces have been dealt a major blow and have gone underground. It is impossible to launch a large-scale operation to destroy the industrial construction of the people of China. Aoki shook his head. The Aoki agency he set up also suffered heavy losses in the north, and a large number of spies were captured and then executed, so that now Japan's spy force in the seven northern provinces has been greatly weakened.

"Your Excellency General, I have a way, maybe I can solve the problem for the empire once and for all!" A hint of hideousness flashed across Sakanishi's face. (To be continued......)

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