Beiyang reactionaries

"As for the cannons, it goes without saying. The Chinese army has always attached great importance to the production of cannons. The current number of cannons in the Chinese army is estimated to be no less than [-]. Recently, because of the war with the Soviet Union, the military factories have been expanding the production of cannons. Prime Minister, this is the strength of the Chinese troops."

"This time in Xinjiang, in the battle in Tacheng, Xinjiang, China and the Soviet Union invested nearly 200 million troops, mobilized more than 5000 aircraft, more than 5000 cannons, and more than 3000 tanks. Prime Minister, you talk about the army of this level, Can we equip it? Do we have so many troops? But for their two countries, this is only a local war, and it is easy for them to pull up the same size of troops again. This is especially true for China, China With a population of more than 8 million. If they want, they can arm tens of millions, 2000 million or even more army troops.”

"Prime Minister, I am an imperial soldier, and I want to think about the future of the empire. The empire should not have military conflicts with countries of such strength, especially ground wars should not occur. If a war of this scale really happens, In the face of thousands of planes, thousands of tanks, and thousands of cannons in China, how many army units does the empire need to be able to resist. Therefore, my last suggestion is written in the conscience of the soldiers of the empire."

"Hey--"

Tanaka Yoshiichi couldn't help sighing.

Then he looked at Ishihara Waner carefully, and said, "General Ishihara, if the soldiers of the empire are like you, then things will be easy. The future of the empire must be bright."

Appreciate it.

Tanaka Yoshiichi is a person who makes decisions before acting, and he likes smart people like Ishihara Wanji the most.Be able to accurately judge your own strength and the strength of your opponent.Not contaminated with the habit of being arrogant of those fanatical soldiers.

The situation in Japan is also very good recently.

The entire Southeast Asia is basically under the control of Japan.Except that the Philippines is still in the hands of the United States, and French Indochina is still in the hands of France, the British Malaya region has been completely controlled by Japan.The British Far East Fleet has also been destroyed, and Malacca is under the control of the Japanese.

And now Yoshiichi Tanaka has sent someone to discuss with Germany.

Now that France has surrendered, the French colonies in Southeast Asia should also be handed over to Japan.Like the "Triple Alliance Treaty" they signed, Japan supported Germany and Italy's interests in continental Europe and North Africa, and Germany and Italy also supported Japan's interests in Asia.In this case, the French colonies should be handed over to Japan for management.

In addition to negotiating with Germany, the Japanese army currently has two directions in Nanyang.

One is by land, attacking Burma from Malaya, and then attacking India.Completely drive Britain out of Asia, preferably India.If India is taken down, Japan will be really powerful by then.The other is to continue going south and take Australia, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.The Japanese Navy has begun to form a new fleet, which is preparing to attack Australia.

The consecutive victories made the Japanese soldiers more and more ambitious and defiant.Originally, the plan formulated by the cabinet was to deter the United States and prevent them from participating in the war.But now there are a bunch of fanatical soldiers below, clamoring to go to war with the United States and occupy the Philippines.

None of them knew how much they weighed.

On the contrary, Ishihara smiled nicely, knew how to advance and retreat, and had self-knowledge.

So Yoshihiro Tanaka said: "General Ishihara, do you know how much crude steel production is in my country? How much is China's crude steel production? Our crude steel production this year is expected to be only about 600 million tons. For these crude steel production, the empire has already They are trying their best. But do you know how much China’s crude steel output is? It’s more than 3000 million tons, and it’s still growing. Think about it. What’s the concept? And this is not the total crude steel output of the Chinese government. There are many steel factories run by local governments. As long as the Chinese government wants, they can continue to expand the scale of their steel factories and continue to increase their crude steel production.”

When talking about these, Tanaka Yoshiichi was very uncomfortable.

But it is true.

Therefore, Tanaka Yoshida said: "You just said that the Chinese government's annual output of tens of thousands of aircraft, tens of thousands of tanks, and tens of thousands of cannons are capable of making them because they have enough steel. It is also because they have enough Steel, so they can produce enough ammunition for those weapons. And they also have enough oil, don't worry about lack of oil for planes and tanks. But not in our country, we don't have enough steel to support our production of these weapons and equipment, and there is not enough Steel supports us in producing enough ammunition."

"Prime Minister, do you agree with me?"

"You write well."

Yoshihide Tanaka nodded.

After thinking for a while, he said, "General Ishihara, do you think the Chinese government will turn against us because of the Taiwan issue?"

"I think it's very likely."

Ishihara Waner replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Prime Minister, this time I stayed in China for nearly two months. Wherever I went, from top to bottom in China, whether government officials, military officers and soldiers, or even ordinary people, they all supported the Chinese government to take back the lost land. Maybe these few days The rise of China's strength in [-] has made this voice in China more and more loud. Now China's biggest opponent is the Soviet Union, so they have no time to think about other things. But as long as the war with the Soviet Union has a result, they will always think about the Taiwan issue of."

"Yes."

Yoshihiro Tanaka frowned and said, "That's what I've been thinking about. In the past ten years, the Chinese government has taken back a large amount of land. Starting from Hong Kong, Macau, and Tibet, and now it's fighting the Soviet Union. Such a tough I don’t dare to take chances with the government of China. It seems to me that China will definitely talk to us about Taiwan.”

"Prime Minister, I don't think we need to have a conflict with China. Although Taiwan is important, it is not worth fighting for Taiwan and China."

"Then you mean to return Taiwan to China?"

"Prime Minister, our two countries are allies. I think the two countries can continue to increase cooperation. As long as our two countries continue to cooperate, then even the United States has nothing to do with us. We can lease ports in Taiwan. Now the empire is strongest in Nanyang, China also has many interests in Nanyang. But to maintain those interests, China also needs the support of the empire. Compared with conflicts over Taiwan, it is better to abandon Taiwan and increase more cooperation between the two sides.”

"Ah."

Tanaka Yoshiichi just said "hmm" without giving a clear answer.Because of such a big matter, Yoshiichi Tanaka not only needs to discuss it with cabinet members, but also report it to the emperor for the emperor to make a decision.

"General Ishihara, I hope you will keep the content of today's conversation secret."

"Yes."

"The base camp is ready to go to the staff headquarters, you are ready to prepare."

"Yes."

After Ishihara Waner left, Tanaka Yoshiichi smiled and muttered to himself, "There are successors to the empire."

"Zangxiang, what do you think?"

After letting Ishihara Wanji leave, Tanaka Yoshiichi thought for a long time, and finally invited Takahashi Shiqing.Tanaka Yoshiichi and Takahashi are the two oldest members of the Japanese cabinet in the Qing Dynasty, and they are also the two most senior, and they have been partners for the longest time.

Besides, Yoshiichi Tanaka and Takahashi belong to the same party.Tanaka Yoshiichi needed the support of Takahashi Yukiyoshi for many things.

"What does Tanaka-kun mean?"

Takahashi Shiqing is really old.

This year is already 75 years old.

No one can match the deep experience in Japanese politics.Tanaka Yoshiichi is known as the tenth Japanese Prime Minister, and he served as the Prime Minister 30 years ago.In addition to this term, he has served as the Prime Minister of Japan for eleven terms.After reading Ishihara Waner's report, Takahashi Shiqing asked Tanaka Yoshiichi.

Tanaka frowned.

He sighed and said: "Master Zang, to be honest, Taiwan is very important to the empire. This is the most important base connecting our country and Southeast Asia. If Taiwan is lost, once the Chinese government uses Taiwan to deploy a large number of naval forces, what will the empire do then? Everything depends on the face of the Chinese government. As long as the Chinese government is willing, they can completely cut off the connection between the empire and Nanyang, and cut off the communication between the two places. Now the empire needs the resources of Nanyang, and Nanyang needs the support of the empire. China If Taiwan is in control, then the Chinese government will hold the lifeline of the empire.”

Taiwan's geographical location is very important.

If Taiwan is lost, the future actions of the Japanese Navy will be greatly restricted.Not to mention anything else, Nanyang's resources also have to go to Taiwan, and finally enter Japan.If this is cut off, it will greatly affect Japan's logistics.This is what Tanaka Yoshiichi is most worried about.

"Everyone knows this."

Takahashi Shiqing's expression didn't change at all.

And Takahashi is not very satisfied with Yoshiichi Tanaka.Because there are only two people now, it's completely useless for Tanaka Yoshi to talk about this.No one knows the importance of Taiwan.Tanaka Yoshihito saw that Takahashi looked Qing, so he stopped talking politely and said directly: "Master Zang, I have contacted Duan Xun of the Chinese government. This person is an ambitious person, and he most wants to do something. The most important thing is to restore the prosperity of China in the past. For this, he brazenly went to war with a behemoth like the Soviet Union, and he did not hesitate to suffer hundreds of thousands or millions of casualties. Look at the scale of the troops used by the two countries this time."

"The two sides participated in the war with more than 300 million troops, more than 2 aircraft, more than [-] tanks, and more than [-] cannons. Moreover, this is only a part of the troops they used, and it is only a local war. If there is a major war In large-scale wars, they will be able to use twice or three times as many troops and weapons as they do now. Prime Minister Zang, the strength of China and the Soviet Union is no longer comparable to that of the empire. As long as the Chinese government ends the war with the Soviet Union, they will definitely Keep your eyes on Taiwan."

"Minister Zang, in the current situation, it is very necessary for us to cooperate with the Chinese government. Fighting with the Chinese government over the Taiwan issue is very detrimental to the empire's strategy. Even if the empire breaks up with the Chinese government, it should not be In the past two years, when the empire digests Nanyang, has enough raw material bases, and gets rid of its dependence on China, then we will not be afraid of conflicts with the China government."

In front of Takahashi Shiqing, Tanaka Yoshiichi did not hide his opinion.

It is very straightforward to admit that Japan cannot fall out with China now.First of all, China is Japan's largest supplier of raw materials. Most of the raw materials needed for Japan's industrial development are provided by China.Food security, including Japan, is supported by China.

Every year, China provides Japan with a large amount of oil, coal, pig iron, rice, and flour, not to mention other bristles, tung oil, and rubber.Without the support of raw materials from China, Japan's industry will soon be in shock.

In addition to these, China also directly provides arms.