Beiyang reactionaries

Ultimatum.

After Duan Xun publicly issued an ultimatum, little Pan Youji wanted to see Duan Xun.Since the rapid deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations, Duan Xun has not seen little Pan Youji once.

It was Yang Yongtai who met with Pan Youji on behalf of the cabinet.

But this time Duan Xun met little Pan Youji.Little Pan Youji himself was very surprised, but the moment he saw Duan Xun, little Pan Youji became furious instantly.

How could Duan Xun do this?

Little Pan Youji still can't believe that the friend of the Great Japanese Empire back then, the person who cooperated with the Great Japanese Empire several times, how could this happen.If you say turn your face, turn your face, if you say war, you will fight.Therefore, little Pan Youji even felt grief and indignation, and said: "General Duan, have you forgotten how you got to where you are now? Without the help of our Great Japanese Empire, how could you have walked from the southwest to Beijing. And all these years The Japanese empire helped the Chinese government to delay the loan and reparation time, and the customs duties were deposited in the Bank of China. In order to help the Chinese government, the empire was under tremendous pressure. General Duan, there is an old Chinese saying in your country that the grace of a drop of water should be a blessing from a spring. Is this how General Duan repays the Great Japanese Empire?"

Seeing little Pan Youji's grief and indignation, Duan Xun smiled slightly.

It's funny.

You, a seasoned diplomat, talk to yourself about the so-called favor?

What a joke.

Duan Xun made a "please" gesture and said, "Minister Pan, let's sit down and talk."

"Humph."

Little Pan Youji's task today is very simple.That is to postpone the ultimatum time of the Chinese government.In fact, it is to postpone the time for the official war between China and Japan.

why?

Very simple.

Japan's current war preparations are seriously insufficient.Regarding Duan Xun's sudden turn of events, or even Duan Xun's real choice to fight, the Japanese side never thought of it, and had no preparations at all.All of Japan's attention has been focused on the United States in recent years.

Japan is worried about the United States meddling in the Far East, so it has been guarding against the United States.

In the work of the Japanese government, it even directly stated that the United States is Japan's number one enemy.

The United States is Japan's biggest rival to dominate the Far East.In particular, the strength of Britain and France in the Far East is getting weaker and weaker, and now the Far East has become a hegemony between the United States and Japan.

In addition, because the world has started to play tariff protection policies in recent years, Japan's exports have been hit hard.Japan is a country with very important imports and exports, and the proportion of imports and exports in the economy is astonishing.But world trade is currently being severely hit, so Japan's financial problems are too great.

Insufficient military spending.

More importantly, Japan's military expenditures were already insufficient, but too much was taken up by the navy.In the current use of Japanese military expenditures, the navy uses an astonishing proportion.Therefore, the military expenditure of the Japanese army has plummeted, and it can only start a round of disarmament.

Who would have thought that Duan Xun would suddenly turn his back on him.

Even when China and Japan clashed over customs issues, Japan believed that this was just a way for Duan Xun to bargain with Japan in order to obtain other benefits.

In addition, the Japanese Prime Minister was suddenly bedridden, which affected the normal work of the Japanese cabinet.

So now facing Duan Xun's ultimatum, Japan is a little caught off guard.

The Japanese navy was dispatched and fought a battle with the Chinese army at Wusongkou.The losses on both sides are not small.The Japanese navy destroyed many Chinese artillery positions, and the heavy artillery in China was also not for display.Sunk a Japanese warship and damaged several others.

But this is the limit of the navy.

If there is a conflict in the Northeast, the role of the navy will not be as great as imagined, and the army will still have to fight in the end.The most places you can threaten the navy are Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.But these places are important places, and the defense of the Chinese government is also very strict.

At present, Duan Xun has deployed nearly 20 troops in the Gyeonggi area, that is, Beijing and Tianjin.If your navy threatens Tianjin, you can also threaten the shore and bomb the city. It is impossible to do more.Moreover, if the navy's troops dare to go ashore, they will hit a stone with an egg.

The same goes for Shanghai and Guangzhou.

In Shanghai, there is the first army unit of the most direct line of Duan Xun and Li Jishen, and a considerable number of artillery units have also been deployed.Moreover, Duan Xun has deployed heavy troops in Zhenjiang, Nanjing, and Hangzhou behind Shanghai.Once something happens in Shanghai, these troops will be able to support Shanghai immediately.

Guangzhou is where the headquarters of the First Army is located.The surrounding circle is the main force of the First Army, and the deployment of troops is no worse than that of Shanghai.

Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are already the most important places in China at this time.These are heavily guarded areas.

As for other places, even if your navy bombards them, it won't have much effect.

China is so big.

Moreover, it is still a very backward country, and the speed of message transmission is very slow.It is very easy for Duan Xun to conceal some information.The bombardment by the Japanese navy in those small places was just a waste of shells, which basically had no effect on China.Don't say you are bombarding those places. Even if you occupy those places, it will have no effect on the overall war.

In the end, the army is still needed.

The same is true for the Sino-Japanese War.The fiasco of the Beiyang Navy alone would not completely defeat China, and finally paid an astonishing amount of compensation.The defeat of the Sino-Japanese War was defeated by the army, and the army was defeated at the first touch. From the Korean Peninsula to the Northeast, all the defeats were disastrous.Only then did the real Sino-Japanese War fiasco occur.

Therefore, in a war with a country like China, it is still the army that goes up in the end, and it is the army that decides the war.

But the Japanese Army was not prepared at all.

fight?

The ultimatum is on the 13th, and there are only three days. How can the Japanese Army be ready.Even if the North Korean division, which is close at hand, wants to rush to the northeast to participate in the war, three days are not enough.

If the troops in Japan want to participate in the war, it is even more impossible to rush to the northeast to fight in three days.

It will take at least a week to ten days for the Japanese army to assemble, prepare enough ammunition, and then go to the Northeast.This is still the fastest unit.And it's impossible to be prepared for all of them.

So little Pan Youji's task is to delay time.

Delay for a while, let the Japanese army get ready, and then the two sides are fighting.Even if China does not want to fight at that time, Japan will not let it go.

"Minister Pan, we have come to the current situation, and there is only you and me here today, so there is no need to cover up or use those diplomatic terms between us. We both know it well. At the time we With the support of your country, I have given you a lot of benefits. Every time I get loans and support from your country, I have given the same return to your country. Without my support, how can Japanese goods be so smooth in our country Unimpeded, defeated the products of European and American countries. Without my support, how could Japanese businessmen do business in our country casually, and they could not pay taxes. More importantly, without my support, how could the Japanese military own six The military dock suppresses the influence of Britain in the Yangtze River. Without my support, how can Japan have the exclusive right to sell strategic materials such as pig bristles and tung oil, and set the prices of these things at will in the world. And because of my support , Japan can import so much coal, iron ore, and pig iron from China at a low price, and how much money it has earned. And if I hadn't turned a blind eye, how could your country have set up so many spy agencies in our country. Those so-called geological research 90.00% of them are secret agencies of your country. Do you really think that I don’t know? And from a general perspective, if it is not for my support and the support of the Chinese government, how can your country become more and more powerful in the Far East? , How can we suppress Britain, France and the United States. To put it bluntly, there is no one owed between me and your country, but we need each other. So it should be said that we are only interested in each other. "

"General Duan, if you think so, I'm really sorry."

What Duan Xun said was so direct that little Pan Youji didn't know what to say.Because Duan Xun showed the relationship between China and Japan naked.Although it was true, little Pan Youji still felt upset when Duan Xun said this.

Duan Xun is a soldier, a Qiuba background, you can say whatever you want.Anyway, no one would ask a person from Qiu Ba to speak in a gentle manner.

But little Pan Youji is different.

Even under the current situation, little Pan Youji still maintains his diplomat demeanor.

Duan Xun smiled.

False politeness.

"Minister Pan, my idea is very simple. I just want our country to be like a normal country. I don't want our country's land to be occupied by others, and I don't want our railways to be controlled by others for no reason. I think my request is very legitimate. , without any excessive requirements. For any sovereign and independent country, this is a normal requirement. But your country has never thought about my situation or the requirements of our government. So it has become the situation today, I Don't think there is anything wrong with me and the Chinese government."

"General Duan, if it is a legitimate request, the empire will consider it."

Little Pan Youji understood Duan Xun's thoughts now.

Duan Xun is a nationalist.

And summarizing what Duan Xun has done over the years, little Pan Youji already has a general idea.After all, since Duan Xun entered Beijing, little Pan Youji has been the Japanese envoy to China.