1890 King of Southeast Asia

"Is it worth it?"

"Is it really worth it to do this?"

"If we lose, we will ruin the entire navy and the empire's efforts for decades."

"If we win, we will only get a chance to stop the war, and we will not get any compensation."

Terauchi Masaki knelt opposite Yamagata, lowered his head after saying these words, and remained silent.

"You can consider the navy, which proves that you are already a qualified imperial official and politician, not just a soldier." Yamagata nodded with relief.

"Mistakes must be paid for. I didn't expect that Liu Yiming of the South China Empire was so cruel and wanted to cut off Japan's future."

"I guess they deliberately let those transport ships in last time. The purpose of sending warships was to make us deepen our belief in local defense and destroy the warships by the way."

"We were wrong. We made a fundamental mistake in strategy. If we make a mistake, we have to pay the price."

"At present, we have only two opportunities, two opportunities to save Japan from the abyss."

Yamagata picked up the wine glass, drank the sake in the glass, and then put it down heavily.

"Two? In addition to the navy's attack, are there other opportunities?" Terauchi Masayoshi asked in surprise.

After they noticed that Nanhua's real purpose was to strangle Japan (they thought), they immediately began to look for a way to crack it.

But Japan's geographical location was too bad for the war, and a large number of raw materials had become finished industrial products, and there was a shortage of materials.

They always believed that Japan no longer had many choices.

At this time, Yamagata stood up, pulled Saionji together, and used his strong influence to give the last supplies to the navy.

The two big guys stood up, which undoubtedly showed that they put their last hope on the navy. Although Saionji was a little dissatisfied with the position of the army, he couldn't say anything in front of the father of the army.

After careful thinking, he also desperately found that in this war, the army really had no effect in breaking the blockade of Nanhua.

"The two solutions are about the navy and the army."

Yamagata picked up a piece of sashimi, dipped it in mustard, put it in his mouth and chewed it gently.

"The navy's method is to use the main force of the combined fleet to attack, fight a decisive battle with the Chinese navy, and remain undefeated."

"It doesn't matter even if the combined fleet is completely wiped out, as long as the main force of the Chinese Empire Navy also loses its combat effectiveness."

"Of course, the best result is a victory in the naval battle. What we strive for is to retain several advanced warships while dealing a heavy blow to the South China Navy."

"A blow that they don't want to bear again."

Yamagata closed his eyes, feeling the elasticity of the fish and the irritation of mustard.

"Of course, the difficulty of this plan lies in how to ensure that the South China Navy will send out its main force to fight the combined fleet."

"The combined fleet is short of supplies, and the newly produced coal cannot be supplied to the warships. Otherwise, it will not only damage the warships, but also fail to provide enough power."

"If the South China Navy avoids the battle, the plan is likely to fail."

Yamagata put down his chopsticks, poured a glass of wine, and held it to his mouth without drinking it directly.

"We don't have the capital to gamble, so we must attract the South China Fleet, which gave me a second opportunity."

Yamagata finished the wine in the glass.

Terauchi Masaki looked at Yamagata expectantly, hoping to hear some good news.

"North Korea, we have prepared a large amount of military supplies, but they can only be supplied to the army or the marines."

"If Nanhua does not carry out landing operations, these supplies can only be left in the warehouse to rot, so I thought of North Korea."

"The Chinese have only more than 100,000 troops deployed in Manchuria. Of course, there was nothing before, and we only had five divisions to defend in North Korea."

"But what if we launch an attack?"

Yamagata looked at Terauchi Masaki.

Terauchi Masaki thought about it for a while and found that this method was feasible.

Isn't it the same as the Japan-Qing War?

First, make a breakthrough on land, so that the Qing Empire has to dispatch the navy. This time, it can also be done to force the Chinese navy to fight a decisive battle.

"The Chinese have built a large number of bunkers and fortifications. I don't know how many people are needed to attack them." Terauchi Masaki began to consider sending troops.

This is a very difficult calculation problem. If there are too few, it will not be enough to exert pressure, and if there are too many, it will be difficult to ensure smooth supply and local defense.

Although the Chinese are in this state, if the Chinese suddenly attack, you transfer the troops away, you are a traitor to the country and will be punished by God!

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"Based on the experience of the Germans attacking the Liege Fortress in the early days of the European war, it is difficult for troops without heavy artillery to attack the fortress fortifications."

"Considering the deployment of Chinese troops, there are more than 200,000 Chinese soldiers in the grassland and northern regions who can be mobilized at any time. We need enough troops."

Terauchi Masaki said to Yamagata.

"There is a saying in China that we should be generous when predicting the enemy. We will calculate that the troops that China can mobilize in the short term are 400,000. We need at least 500,000 people."

As for the heavy artillery, Terauchi Masaki did not dare to mention it. At present, Japan's heavy artillery is used to consolidate the coastal defense fortifications, and he can't transfer it away.

"Move eight heavy artillery, 280mm siege heavy artillery, and let the Chinese feel the pressure."

"If it's just soldiers, the Chinese will not be so anxious, and then our plan will not succeed."

"In addition, the number of troops has increased to 700,000, but the newly added troops are mainly special divisions."

"There is not enough food in the country, so let them hurry up to collect it, including the food in the Korean region, and send it all back to Japan."

Yamagata shook his head and raised the price.

The special division is a new division set up by Japan to deal with the landing operations in China. It is mainly composed of reserve forces, with a small number of new recruits as the backbone, and its combat effectiveness is relatively weak.

Sending these people to attack the heavily guarded fortress fortifications is equivalent to sending them to die, and there will definitely be a lot of casualties.

But Yamagata doesn't care, and Terauchi Masayoshi doesn't care either.

"Back to your question just now, is it worth it?" Yamagata was silent for a long time when he said this, and finally took a big sip directly from the wine pot.

"It's worth it. This is an opportunity for Japan to continue to exist under the name of Japan."

"If the war fails, all our efforts over the past few decades will be in vain, Japan will lose the opportunity to develop and become a vassal."

"It's been a thousand years. Japan has been a vassal for a thousand years. That's enough."

"And once it succeeds, we will have won Japan a chance to recuperate! A chance to make Japan great again!"

Speaking of this, Yamagata was a little excited.

"Whether it is a breakthrough on land or a goal at sea, we can negotiate with China and stop the war."

"At present, war is breaking out in Europe, and the demand for materials is huge. Almost everything is lacking. This is an opportunity for Japan, but it has to be invisible because of China's blockade."

"As long as the war can be stopped under relatively acceptable conditions, we can quickly recover through trade, accumulate wealth, and obtain technologies that are usually unavailable."

"The empire still has a chance."

"If it continues to be blockaded like this and misses this opportunity, the empire will be over..."

Yamagata sighed at the roof and the wooden ceiling.

Japan has never given up trying to resolve the issue through negotiations with Nanhua or Huaxia, and has made more and more concessions.

From the initial apology by Japan, to Japan's admission of defeat and compensation, to the "sky-high" compensation.

However, the Nanhua Empire or the later Huaxia Empire has never made concessions. The first one is to demand that Japan demilitarize and not have warships over 3,000 tons and cannons over 100 mm.

There is no requirement for compensation. The Imperial Foreign Minister Lin Anmin generously stated:

"As long as Japan can make a reasonable contribution to peace, the Nanhua Empire will not hold Japan responsible for provoking the war."

Look, how generous Huaxia is. Even if you sneak attack and sink one of my battleships, as long as you contribute to peace, I will not hold you responsible.

By the way, the requirement for demilitarization is that the Japanese Army can only maintain a scale of five divisions and cannot have automatic weapons and explosives such as artillery over 100 mm or bombs.

All warships of the Japanese Navy are dismantled at the expense of Huaxia, and the dismantling profits belong to Japan. Japan is not allowed to own and manufacture warships over 3,000 tons.

As for security issues, after the treaty is signed, Japan's security will be guaranteed by Nanhua, and the Chinese Empire Navy will provide military protection for Japan.

Finally, China will send a special technical team to supervise the Japanese navy, army, military industry and enterprises that may be involved in military industry to ensure that Japan does not breach the contract.

If Japan breaches the contract, it will be regarded as an act of war, and China has the right to respond to it, including a war of self-defense.

The regulations are very broad and very rigid. At first, Japan wanted to negotiate, but later found that China had no intention of loosening its terms, so it gave up.

If Japan agrees to this treaty, will there be any future? Without fighting and plundering, without sufficient troops and powerful weapons, how can Japan become strong and compete for hegemony?

"It takes time to dispatch so many troops, and we cannot achieve the purpose of a surprise attack... I understand!" Terauchi Masayoshi was about to say confidentiality, and suddenly came to his senses.

They don't have to consider casualties in this battle (although they didn't consider it much before), they just need to be eye-catching enough.

Anyway, the first phase of the army's mission is to attack in a high-profile manner and attract China's attention.

Didn't you merge? The fleet can't just watch me use ships to transport supplies and soldiers to the mainland, right?

Terauchi Masaki certainly knows the current trade situation. This is a time when even a fool can make money.

Up to now, no matter what materials the European countries have, he wants them, and the price is several times or even ten times higher than before the war.

China, shouldn't be willing to engage in a war of attrition at this time? Should they want a quick victory?