In Tokyo, Matsubara-kun is already fulfilling his duties as Prime Minister.
The rebels in the city laid down their weapons, and he also met Emperor Taisho. Taisho was very satisfied with Naokami Matsubara. This satisfaction was not only because of Naokami Matsubara's performance this time, but more importantly, in Taisho's eyes, Naokami Matsubara was not from the Meiji period.
The halo of Meiji shines so brightly in Japan. After Taisho came to power, I felt that the veterans did not take him seriously at all. This is the case for Youpeng in Shanxian County, and the same is true for Xiyuan Temple. It was not easy to replace Katsura Taro, but the cabinet was all from Meiji from top to bottom.
It would be a lie to say that he had no ideas. Bismarck was such a capable prime minister, and William II wanted to drive him away when he came to power. No one wants to live under the halo of his father.
This time, when the rebellion first broke out, Dazheng was really scared, but now he feels faintly excited. Katsura Taro is dead, Yamagata Aritomo is finished, Togo Heihachiro and Terauchi Masaki cannot escape the blame this time. It is their duty to punish them, and it is a great grace to let them go.
The veterans killed by the rebels were all members of the team left over from Meiji.
It¡¯s better to go straight to Matsubara. This guy is not from Meiji, and he has no foundation in Japan. If he wants to secure his position as prime minister, he must express his loyalty to himself! There is also Inoue Ryoxin, this naval admiral has been suppressed by Dongxiang until now. If you ask him to stand up, there is no way he will not be loyal to you.
Taisho seems to have seen an opportunity to express his ambition. He can finally bring Japan into the real Taisho era. I don¡¯t know why, but he actually feels a little nervous!
"Matsuhara-kun, I will walk out of the palace to meet the people tomorrow under the protection of the navy guard. What do you think?"
Go straight to Matsubara and bend down: "Your Majesty, I think it is more appropriate for you to be under the protection of the army. I have made arrangements. Tomorrow, Juichi Terauchi and others will escort you out of the palace. I will lead the navy officers and the people of Japan to welcome you outside. Your hadith.¡±
Taisho's expression changed: "Terauchi Juichi? Those guys are really uneasy."
Straight up Matsubara immediately said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the twenty guards around you are the bravest warriors selected from the navy. And they are thirty meters away from you in the temple, and there are no bullets in their gun chambers. Let By escorting you, they can show the emperor's generosity and kindness, and they will also be very beneficial to our future work."
Taisho thought for a while and reluctantly nodded: "Okay. Matsubara-kun, after this turmoil, Japan's national life will inevitably fall into extreme poverty. I plan to issue an edict. Starting from tomorrow, I will only eat two meals a day. Learn from the late emperor. Work with the people to overcome difficulties."
He went straight to Matsubara and stood at attention and bowed: "The Emperor is wise! The Emperor is merciful!"
A smile appeared on Taisho's face: "Needless to say, this is what I should do. I just hope that Mr. Matsubara can come up with a proper plan so that our empire can get through this as soon as possible."
Straight up Matsubara immediately said: "Your Majesty, I am about to report to you that Navy Marshal Inoue has begun preparations for battle, and we plan to launch an attack on the Philippines."
Taisho was very shocked: "At this time? Matsubara-kun, are you kidding?"
Straight up Matsubara shook his head: "No! This is a well-thought-out plan. Your Majesty also knows the difficulties faced by our Empire of Japan. Without a large amount of material injection, there is no possibility for us to stand up on our own. There are only two ways to obtain these , One is foreign help, which is impossible for us in Japan. The second way is expansion."
Tai Zheng still looked very nervous: "But we have nothing now. What can we use to fight the war?"
Straight up Matsubara smiled: "It is precisely because we have nothing that we need a victory more! Your Majesty, going to war with the United States is our best choice. First of all, our soldiers in the army have a strong hatred for Americans. What they did in Indonesia is very untrue. The soldiers will definitely go all out. Moreover, the United States is far away from here. They currently only have twenty warships cruising in the waters of the Philippines and Indonesia. If we launch a surprise attack, we have full power Sure!"
"Have you considered the attitudes of Britain and France?"
"Your Majesty, don't worry. The British and the French don't have the energy to take care of the affairs in Asia now. Moreover, China has communicated with us about this war, and the Chinese Navy is willing to provide us with material support. As long as we act quickly enough, we can do it in a short time." Annihilate U.S. forces in Asia and everything will be fine."
Tai Zheng¡¯s two fists kept rubbing behind him: ¡°You are gambling.¡±
Shang Songyuan did not refute: "Your Majesty, don't you think that we have no other way out now except to give it a try?"What? "
The hungrier the wolf, the more ferocious it is.
Japan really has no way out. Matsubara has long thought about how to quickly recover Japan's economy, but he can't find a good way. Now they have broken their relationship with Britain and France, and even without him, they would not want to have any contact with Britain and France.
The right path is unavailable, at least for Japan it is very difficult. When Abe Shoutarou told him that Yang Xiaolin asked Japan to fight the Philippines, Naomi Matsubara didn't think about it for long at all.
There is a 90% chance that the Americans will lose this battle to Japan, because Japan has no other choice. If they cannot defeat the Philippines, they will not be able to obtain the materials they want to revitalize Japan. If so, as Abe Shoutaro said, they might not be able to breathe this breath for more than ten years on their own.
Japan is a hungry wolf, he desperately needs food.
The Americans are different. They are thinking about how to sow discord between China and Britain. It is best to drag China into the war and make their country the only place in the world that will not be ravaged by war. They have no preparation for war. .
The Japanese Navy has almost lost its combat effectiveness under the pressure of the Chinese Navy. The U.S. fleet in the Philippines has been reduced from more than 30 warships last year to 20, and as the situation in Southeast Asia stabilizes, they have plans to continue to withdraw their troops. They never thought that Japan would dare to attack them at this time.
Attacking the Philippines was a decision made by Yang Xiaolin after careful consideration. His ultimate goal was to drive the British power out of Asia, but under the current circumstances, he did not want to directly conflict with the British.
How do you say that being a person is kind, the allies and the cooperation country have opened the posture and are ready. At this time, we cannot go up and insert a bar. Even if I want to poke the British in the butt, I have to wait until they really start fighting with Germany.
Hands now is not a stabbing buttock. It's a slap in the face.
Let Japan attack the American fleet and see how the British Empire reacts.
The most ideal outcome of the matter is for Japan to kill the U.S. fleet in Asia at once, resulting in the fact that the U.S. military power in Asia no longer exists. In that case, things will be interesting. If Little Japan's actions are not fierce enough, it depends on whether the British Empire's performance is very intense.
¡°If you go out to chase the dog, and I come out to call the dog back, I will at most kick the dog in front of you, and you won¡¯t be able to say anything.
Yang Xiaolin said to the Japanese very simply, the Japanese navy now has more than 40 ships, and China will provide you with 15 more medium-sized cruisers. You go up and fight, try to go as fast as possible, and when you start fighting, I will ask you to stop immediately, but you don't need to pay attention to me, I will call mine, and you continue to hit yours.
The key is to be fast.
The British are now mobilizing troops to prepare for war with Germany and eliminate the U.S. military presence in Asia before they react, and then everything will be fine.
Taisho finally accepted the suggestion to go straight to Matsubara, because something Mr. Matsubara said touched his heart. The reorganized Japanese cabinet is the Taisho Cabinet in the true sense. He really needed a victory in a foreign war, a Taisho victory.
Little Japan likes sneak attacks very much and is very good at it.
From the Sino-Japanese War to the Russo-Japanese War, and then to Pearl Harbor. Basically every time they start a fight and then declare war on you. It is the same now. Taisho and Naokami Matsubara immediately sent telegrams to Beijing after making up their mind. Before their domestic problems were completely solved, they began to sharpen their knives.
December 18th. After the blockade of Japanese waters was lifted, thirty warships of the Japanese Navy, led by Marshal Inoue, quietly sailed to the Naha port and announced that they would negotiate with the Chinese Navy here about the defense issues of the Naha port. In fact, the Chinese fleet has already prepared sufficient combat supplies in Naha, and boxes of torpedoes and bombs have been moved to Japanese ships.
At the same time, Chinese torpedo speedboats suddenly became active in the waters east of the Philippines. These speedboats seemed to be just performing ordinary patrol missions. They even said hello in a friendly manner when they encountered American warships. The American warships also behaved like gentlemen. Everything seemed normal when they returned the favor to these Chinese "little guys", but the Americans didn't know that a series of telegrams were sent out from these Chinese speedboats, and it didn't take long to reach the hands of the Japanese. .
The locations of various U.S. warships cruising, the ports where each main warship often docked, and even the firepower layout on the warships were slowly revealed in front of Inoue.
Based on the information provided by China, Inoue made a bold decision. The Japanese navy attacked in separate ways.Choose a suitable time to block all the American warships in the harbor and kill them all! Then hunt down the scattered fish on the sea that have slipped through the net.
By January of the fifth year of the Republic of China, Japan's strategies and tactics for attacking the U.S. Philippine Fleet had been formulated, and all combat preparations were in place. If they had anything to worry about, it was that they had only prepared combat supplies for a month.
It¡¯s not that the emperor is stingy, Japan is really spending money to fight the war now. This month's supplies were borrowed from the Chinese Navy. They agreed to kill the Americans and share the Philippines' interests with China.
In one month, if the war had a slight twist, they would be finished. Therefore, Inoue was very excited when he received the emperor's order. He said this to his trusted officers: "If we have to fight for the fate of the empire again, if we fail, I will commit suicide to thank my countrymen."
There is no way to retreat for the country. General, he has the determination to die.
The knife is ready, just waiting for the order to go. (To be continued)