At eight o'clock in the morning of the 6th, the Qing army in the south of Taierzhuang launched a counter-charge, trying to swing the advantage of the long range of their rifle units with good visibility during the day and recapture the place lost at night.

Thousands of Qing troops, under the cover of dozens of heavy tanks, advanced from south to north in the entire Taierzhuang. But complex terrain is always more advantageous for defenders, and urban warfare is no exception. After the Qing army was compressed to the south in the early morning, the Ming army did not plan to lose the position in its hands. The self-propelled mortars and self-propelled cannons of the 4th and 5th Panzer Divisions of the People's Guard then moved in, closely following the infantry.

On the morning of the 6th, due to the large proportion of self-propelled artillery put in, the Ming army's positional defense deployment was far faster than the Qing army imagined. The Qing army thought that it would "seesaw" again like yesterday, and pushed back with the rush of heavy tanks. I didn't expect the artillery of the Ming army to come up so quickly today.

Originally, it was planned to sweep the infantry of the Ming army and deal with the Lightning 3 tank with only 47mm guns at most, but now it suddenly encountered a head-on attack from the 57mm self-propelled guns, and was frequently attacked by the Ming troops in the buildings on both sides, and the Qing army lost more than ten tanks in a short time. The remaining tanks retreated under the cover of the infantry.

……

Just when the battle of Taierzhuang was in full swing, a special train was sent south from Nanjing. Zheng Yuxuan, the monarch of Leping, took more than ten maids and servants and more than 100 guards of the People's Guard to the south. There, they will board the ocean-going yacht "Yokoba" and head to Europe.

At the same time, on the other side of the ocean in Japan, in Tokyo, there was also a secret negotiation underway.

In a cosy little living room, sunlight pours in through tall floor-to-ceiling windows. The fire in the fireplace danced warmly. There are several sands in the center of the room, and on the wall is a map of East Asia.

The three important ministers of Hirota Hiroki's cabinet and a veteran of the military department are in secret talks.

They are: Hiroki Hirota, Minister of Imperial Japan and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Toshiichi Terauchi, Minister of the 6th Army, Shuseki Nagano, Minister of the Navy, and Prince Zaihito Kanin, Chief of Staff of the Military Command Department.

The oldest, the most qualified, and the most noble of the four is Prince Jaehito. Prince Zaihito is the uncle of the current Emperor Hirohito, and is in charge of the 6th Army on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor. Few people in the entire Japanese military circles can compare with each other in terms of qualifications. The old man studied military affairs in France in 1882, and in 1887 he was appointed as a second lieutenant in the 6th Army, and performed well in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. He is 71 years old this year, wearing a gorgeous marshal's military uniform, a ribbon on his body, an upturned "Budyonny-style" beard under his nose, thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a majestic style.

But now it's the world of young people. The older the old man gets, the more refined he becomes, and now he serves as the chief of staff of the military command department with the rank of marshal, as the head of a group of stunned young "staff officers", the deeper he is, and the depth of the city is simply unfathomable.

He leaned in the sand, his hands on his knees, the posture of the prince of the royal family was full, but his eyes were slightly closed, and the two upturned beards moved slightly, as if he was recuperating his nerves, tossed by a few "young people" in front of him, but in fact, his ears were like radar, keenly catching every word.

Hirota Hiroki was the only civil official among the four, in his fifties, dressed in a sophisticated suit, pacing slowly in front of the map by the wall, while muttering gently:

“…… Taking into account a number of factors, and the opinion of His Royal Highness the Chief of Staff, I believe that it is a safe path. Regarding the current situation in the Qing Kingdom...... And the possibility of its revival, I think you all think the same as I do. We have reached a consensus on this point...... The territory, resources, population, and so on of the Qing State are all far away from the Ming Kingdom. However, in the past 100 years, it has not carried out real, political-level reforms like our empire and the Ming state. And in the visible future. Its rulers will continue to refuse to carry out reforms that touch on the political dimension......

"Self-helpers, then God helps. Whether it's a person or a country, if you don't change your mind, even if it's heaven, you can't help it, let alone Japan. Since the twentieth century, our country has poured too much enthusiasm into this behemoth, and now it is about to come to naught. Now the Qing State has relied on the slaughter of the families of the surrendered officers and soldiers to maintain the morale of the front. According to yesterday's information, more than 10,000 people were executed in Zhili province alone. The families of soldiers sent to labor camps should be more than five times that number. According to common sense, on the battlefield of the Central Plains, the morale of the Qing army collapsed and a large-scale mutiny could occur at any time...... At this critical time, our empire, as the first awakened country in Asia, has the responsibility to strike in a timely manner, at least in Manchuria......

Speaking of this, he walked quickly to the map, raised his arms, drew a large circle in Northeast China, knocked it twice, and said firmly:

"At least in Manchuria, we will do something positive to create a space for the exhibition of empires to show their ambitions. At the same time, as the leader of the Asian nation, Japan should reserve a purely Asian space in Northeast Asia, between the dark Qing Kingdom and the Anglo-American proxy Ming Kingdom. In the future, Japan will start from here and embark on a path of expulsion from the West and liberation of Asia. For this reason, it is a wise choice to resolutely abandon the Qing State and temporarily unite the Ming State. ”

The three men on the sand all looked at him and didn't react much. Prince Jaehito was still squinting slightly, and the beard on his lips trembled slightly. He thought to himself, this Hirota has probably been a diplomat for too long, and he has contracted an occupational disease, and now he can't even talk behind closed doors.

The 6th Army Minister Terauchi Shouichi smiled at the corner of his mouth, looked very satisfied, and nodded slightly. This generous statement is quite in line with his expansive thinking.

Admiral Nagano Shushen looked at the others and said calmly:

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister just said that we have reached a consensus...... I would like to agree with His Excellency the Prime Minister, but for now, I would like to share my personal views. ”

Hirota Hiroki walked back to the sand, sat down and picked up the teacup, and said with a smile:

"You're welcome, please speak your mind."

Nagano came to the map, pointed to a large area of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, and said loudly:

"Our empire is a sea power. The Ming Kingdom was also a sea power country. The combined fleet of our empire and the fleet of the Ming Kingdom, and the two most powerful fleets in Asia. Of course, to put it mildly, we are a little stronger than the navy of the Ming Kingdom. However, it is only stronger, and it does not form an overwhelming advantage. I think that if we compare East Asia and Oceania, that is, the western Pacific rim, to Europe, then there is no doubt that the Qing country is Russia, the Ming country is Germany or France, and we Japan are Britain. There is no more appropriate analogy in terms of territory, land area, or naval strength.

As we all know, a very important factor in the British Empire's glory for more than 300 years is that it has always adopted the national policy of "uniting the weak and suppressing the strong, and balancing power in Europe". During the Napoleonic period, France was the dominant power, and it came forward to unite European countries against France. Later, Russia became strong as the leader of the anti-French alliance, and Britain supported France to oppose Russia. After Russia, France became strong again, and Britain supported Prussia against France. Later, at the end of the 19th century, Britain united with the two old enemies of France and Russia to form the Entente to jointly oppose Germany. To this day, Britain has managed to maintain the largest colonial territory in the world, the largest naval fleet in the world.

"Please note that at that time the contradictions between Britain and Russia and France were no less than before. In Asia, there were constant expansion-induced conflicts between Britain and Russia. In Africa, the competition between Britain and France for this big 6 is even more intense. However, the most important reason why Britain was determined to unite with Russia and France to oppose Germany was that Germany was trying to expand its navy. This goes straight to the UK's bottom line. At that time, Germany not only had the strongest 6th Army, but was also having the strongest navy in the world, which Britain could not tolerate. Because it threatens the security of the British homeland.

"In Asia, we are in the UK. For a long time, we have argued: Japan has the strongest navy in Asia, and Qing has the strongest 6th Army. The Ming Kingdom had both the second strongest 6th Army and the Navy. According to this line of thinking, after the Sino-Japanese War wiped out the Qing navy, we have always been on the side of the Qing and contain the Ming state, which had the second strongest navy. But today's war shattered this view, and the Qing 6th Army proved to be vulnerable, and the title of the strongest 6th Army in Asia shifted to the Ming State. As a result, an extremely dangerous situation arose: the Ming State not only had the strongest 6th Army, but also the almost strongest navy.

"I call it an 'extremely dangerous situation' only to show that the situation of the Empire is almost the same as that of England in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The national strength of the empire is obviously inferior to that of the Ming State, and the 6th army of the empire ......"

He glanced at Shouichi Terauchi, who was sitting precariously, and now the minister of the 6th Army was staring at him viciously. Nagano Xiushen smiled slightly and continued:

"As for the Imperial 6th Army, I believe that there is no army in the world as good as the Imperial Japanese Army. But it must be objectively stated that we have the best samurai in the world, but these samurai are not armed with enough planes, tanks, self-propelled guns, and automobiles. And these things are extremely important in the wars of the twentieth century......"

Shouichi Terauchi sneered:

"Your Excellency, Lord of the Admiralty, if you are only talking about naval battles, I have nothing to say. But even though it is the 6th World War in the new era, it is people who play a decisive role, not one or two beautiful machines. I would like to remind you that the Imperial Army has the most powerful spiritual weapon, and that is the 'Yamato Soul'. The soldiers of the Ming Kingdom were weak and afraid of death, lived a superior life since childhood, and seriously lacked the quality of hardship and hard work. For slightly higher casualties, that is, unbearable. What they lack is spirit. This is the biggest weakness of the Ming team. ”

Nagano Xiu smiled slightly, nodded, didn't entangle with him, just continued:

“…… In view of this, our empire was faced with two choices: first, to willingly recognize the Ming as the leader of Asia and submit to its feet. It's still lucky. As an ambitious sea power country, the Ming Kingdom also wants to 'open up thousands of miles of waves and spread the country's prestige in all directions.' And my Japanese island chain is like a barrier, blocking the way of the Ming Kingdom to the Pacific Ocean. 'The husband is not guilty, but he is guilty'. The strategic location of our country is bound to become the 'original sin' of our country, and the motive for the Ming State to use gunboats to open the gate of the empire and transport its 6th Army to the 6 islands......

"Second, it is to fight hard and spare no effort to support the Qing State to resist the Ming State on 6 points, drag the Ming State into the quagmire of a long-term war, and drain its financial and human resources...... At sea, when the time comes, annihilate its fleet. In this way, the Empire's leadership in Asia could be ensured in the long run. ”

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