Beiyang reactionaries

So ask Minai Mitsumasa directly.Minai Mitsumasa saw that Tanaka Yoshiichi listened to his words, so he was very excited and said: "Prime Minister, increase the number of naval warships. Use your strength to tell the United States not to conflict with us."

"Master Hai, our country's shipyards are already working very hard. If there are more orders, our shipyards may not be able to make it in time."

Tanaka Yoshiichi explained to Minai Mitsumasa.

Japan is an industrial country, but compared with the old imperialism, its industrial strength is limited, and its industrial output is also limited.Just look at the shipbuilding speed of those great powers during World War II in history.

The strength of the Japanese navy during World War II was the result of their accumulation for more than ten years.When a war really breaks out and everyone starts to develop the military with all their strength, the gap will be very obvious.Needless to say, such a powerful country as Britain and France, even a country with a not very famous navy like Germany, the number of warships they produce is astonishing.In comparison, Japan relied entirely on the warships accumulated over the past decade or so before the war.The production of warships is far less than that of Britain and France. It has been less than two years since the war with the United States, and it is already far behind the United States in terms of naval size.

This is the gap in industrial strength.

For the war, a large amount of Japanese military expenditure has flowed into the navy in recent years. At present, Japanese shipyards have a large number of orders that are too late to complete.If the navy wants to increase its warships to scare off the United States, how many warships does it need to produce?

"Prime Minister, there is no other way."

"Prime Minister, there is no other way."

Japan has the deepest political qualifications, and Takahashi, who served as the Minister of Finance of the Ministry of Finance of Japan for ten times, is Qing Kaikai.Takahashi Shiqing is really experienced. In the Japanese political circle, no one can compare with Takahashi Shiqing.

Takahashi, who is 83 years old this year, is Qing, who was a character during the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War.It was the first time that Takahashi received the attention of the Japanese political circles in the Qing Dynasty. It was because after the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-], it was proposed to use China's war reparations as a reserve fund and change to the gold standard.His proposition at the time was appreciated by many high-level executives, and Takahashi Shikiyoshi began to quickly stand out in the Japanese financial industry.

Of course, the most powerful thing about Takahashi is that during the Russo-Japanese War, he kept raising war funds for Japan.At that time, Japan's finances were completely exhausted, relying on the war funds raised by Takahashi Shiqing.

Including after the Great Kanto Earthquake, to deal with the aftermath of the battered Japanese economy.

The tenth Tibetan Prime Minister is not in vain.It is because Takahashi is Qing's contribution to Japan's finances, as well as his contribution to the Japanese economy, so Takahashi is still the prime minister of Japan at such an old age in Qing.In Japanese political circles, everyone respects Takahashi Shiqing very much.Even the Emperor of Japan respected a veteran figure like Shiqing Takahashi very much.

At this time, Takahashi Shiqing no longer has any hair on the top of his head, leaving only a gray beard.

"Zangxiang, what can I do?"

"China, place an order with China's shipyard."

"The shipyard in China?"

Tanaka Yoshiro frowned, but quickly turned around to look at Minai Mitsumasa.Minai Mitsumasa understood what Tanaka Yoshiichi meant at once, so he immediately said: "The warships of the China Shipyard, I dare not say anything else. But the quality of the destroyers manufactured by their Dalian Shipyard is very good. Our Ministry of the Navy sent experts to guide We have used the destroyers built by the Dalian Shipyard, and our two militaries have also conducted joint exercises, and we fought side by side when annihilating the Dutch Far East Fleet. The people in our Navy Ministry approve of the destroyers built by their shipyards."

The destroyer of the Dalian Shipyard, that is a complete copy of the Japanese destroyer.

At that time, Japan dispatched experts and transferred a complete set of technology to Dalian Shipyard.Under the guidance of Japanese experts, Dalian Shipyard began to imitate, or completely replicated, Japanese destroyers.And it's still three thousand tons, almost a light cruiser.Not only have they trained with the Japanese Navy over the years, they have also formed a joint fleet and fought with the Dutch Far East Fleet.

In the past ten years or so, destroyers have become the best project of Dalian Shipbuilding.The current [-]-ton destroyers of the Chinese Navy, except for a few Japanese destroyers ordered earlier, are all products of Dalian Shipyard, and there are already more than ten ships.

"What I mean is that orders for some small-tonnage warships can be handed over to China's shipyards, including orders for some transport ships. This saves a lot of manpower and material resources, mainly for the construction of aircraft carriers, battleships, and cruisers. "

Takahashi opened his mouth.

Japan's industrial strength is limited, but the Japanese Navy needs a large number of warships, warships for various purposes.Needless to say, aircraft carriers, battleships, and cruisers, destroyers, escort destroyers, submarines, torpedo boats, and transport ships must also be built.

The manufacture of many other ships occupies a large share of the Japanese shipbuilding industry.

The meaning of Takahashi is clear is very simple.Those small-tonnage warships and those transport ships should be properly ordered to Chinese shipyards.Although Chinese shipyards have a short history of development, they have no problems manufacturing destroyers, torpedo boats, and transport ships.And Japan's shipyards concentrate on manufacturing those large warships, which will greatly increase the speed of Japanese navy warship manufacturing.

"The shipyard in China?"

Tanaka Yoshiichi hesitated.

Seeing Yoshiichi Tanaka like this, Takahashi said: "China's shipyards have developed rapidly in recent years, and even the total tonnage of transport ships produced by China's shipyards has almost caught up with our country. Including their military control The number of warships produced by those shipyards in my country has also increased sharply. For some warships with relatively low technical content, the shipyards in my country can fully meet the needs of our country."

"But, do we have money?"

This is what Tanaka Yoshiichi is worried about.

Looking at Takahashi Shiqing, Tanaka Yoshiichi frowned and said: "Master Zang, your method is indeed very good. Place an order with China Shipyard and ask them to help us manufacture auxiliary warships. But do we have the money to place an order for them? "

For these years, Japan has always had a trade deficit with China and Japan.Because in Japan's industry, there are not many products that can be sold to China.Because of the rise of Chinese industry, it has been hitting the Japanese market.Some businessmen in Japan would rather open factories in China than produce domestically and then export to China.Because that's basically not competitive.

Moreover, China's industrial strength has developed too fast in recent years.For example, China's chemical industry has completely crushed Japanese chemical industry.Not only in scale, but also far surpasses Japan in technology.There are also many trucks used by the Japanese military, all imported from China.Under such circumstances, Japan has to import a large amount of raw materials, resulting in an increasingly serious trade deficit.

Fortunately, Japan still has many technologies that make China greedy.

China has spent a lot of money for Japanese technology.Including Japanese warship technology, China has imported a lot of Japanese warship technology from Japan.Needless to say, destroyers more than ten years ago, China has also introduced aircraft carrier technology, heavy cruiser technology, etc. from Japan.

This is how the situation can be maintained.

But now we have to place orders for Chinese shipyards. How can Japan have money by then.Is it really necessary to use Japan's gold reserves in large quantities?When a country starts drawing down its gold reserves, that is the last resort.Especially in countries like Japan whose economy is inseparable from imports and exports, they pay more attention to foreign exchange.The gold reserve will never be used until the last moment.Once the foreign exchange is exhausted and the Japanese currency collapses, Japan's imports and exports will also collapse.

"Prime Minister, have you forgotten that we have already controlled Java Island, Sulawesi Island, and Irian Island. If we control Kalimantan Island, then many of our resource problems can be solved. Kalimantan Island Having a large amount of coal can greatly reduce our coal imports from China. At present, China imports more than 4000 million tons of coal from China every year. With Kalimantan Island, at least half of the imports can be reduced. Moreover, the Republic of Indonesia also has oil, Nickel ore, manganese ore, tin ore, natural rubber, and even food are very rich in resources anyway. As long as we develop them properly, we can greatly reduce our dependence on China. And for the reduced part, we can place orders with China’s shipyards. Our financial pressure will not be too great."

Takahashi gave Tanaka Yoshiichi an analysis.

Why did Japan enter Southeast Asia, and why is it so interested in places like Java Island and Kalimantan Island.The reason is that these places are very rich in resources, and there is no shortage of oil and coal.After controlling Kalimantan Island, as long as it is developed a little bit, it can make up for Japan's energy shortage in many aspects.In particular, the current coal production in Kalimantan is not low.

Reducing dependence on Chinese resources is, first of all, beneficial to Japan from a general perspective.And save a lot of money, you can place an order with a Chinese shipyard.Let Chinese shipyards help the Japanese Navy build those auxiliary warships.

"Master Hai, what do you think? Can you accept the auxiliary warship built by the China Shipyard?"

"Prime Minister, as long as our technicians pass the review and there is no problem with the quality, then our Admiralty will not refuse."

"it is good."

Yoshihide Tanaka nodded.

Tanaka Yoshiichi is a person who knows how to judge the situation.Mitsumasa Yone was very opposed to the alliance between Yoshiichi Tanaka and Germany and Italy before. He was the most opposed Yoshiichi Tanaka in the cabinet at that time, and he almost resigned.

But Yoshiichi Tanaka still supports Mitsumasa Minai.

what is the reason.

The reason is that both of them are people who know the severity, and both are very worried about the United States.It is really because the industrial strength of the United States is too strong, and its industrial output is several times, ten times that of Japan.

Therefore, Yoshiichi Tanaka supported the idea of ​​Mitsumasa Minai.

Never really go to war with the US if possible.Because the U.S. industry is too strong, once a fight cannot be won within a short period of time, the war will fall into a confrontation.At that time, the United States will have plenty of resources and strong industrial strength.In comparison, Japan lacks resources and its industrial strength is far inferior to that of the United States, which is absolutely not good for Japan.

Therefore, to scare the United States and tell them that our navy is so powerful, don't think about fighting with us, this kind of strategic deterrence is indeed good.Use a strong naval power to scare the United States strategically.But relying on Japan's industrial strength alone, it is difficult to form a navy that can deter the United States in a short period of time.But if China is tied together and borrowed from China's shipbuilding strength, it is entirely possible to create a huge naval fleet in a short period of time.

"Foreign Minister, you should contact China immediately to express our thoughts. The Prime Minister of the China government, Duan Xun, is an old fox, and he is absolutely unwilling to personally participate in the war. But we have been allies for many years, and we have jointly drafted the charter of the Asian Alliance .Now that our country is fighting for the independence of Asian countries and nations, the Chinese government should support us. Let the Chinese government’s shipyards have to accept our orders.”

"I see."

"Also in terms of price, the Chinese government should give us preferential treatment."

"Yes."

"Prime Minister, warships alone are not enough. Our army also needs new equipment. We must equip us with more tanks, artillery, trucks, and motorcycles to improve the automation level of our army."

Sugiyama Moto expressed his dissatisfaction again.