Chapter 304 Japanese Empire

Dr. Oscar Paul Trautmann was the German Empire's ambassador to China and served in Wuhan and Beijing for many years. However, before being sent to China, he served in Japan for five years, serving as the Consul General in Kobe and the Assistant Ambassador to Japan and the Chargé d'Affaires. Earlier, from 1907 to 1914, he also served as a diplomat in Russia. It can be said that his entire diplomatic career revolved around Russia, Japan and China.

Therefore, from the beginning of 1939, he became the core figure in coordinating Soviet-Japanese relations, and frequently traveled between Wuhan-Vladivostok-Tokyo. According to the instructions of German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop, his task was to eliminate the worries of the Japanese Empire's southward advance.

Facilitating the southward advance of the Japanese Empire has always been the core of Hersman's Eastern Policy! Because Hersman never fantasized about peaceful coexistence with the United States. And to go to war with the United States, it is natural that Japan will contain it in the Pacific direction.

For this reason, Germany has gradually moved closer to Japan since 1928 and launched a 10-year-long economic and technological cooperation between Japan and Germany. The focus of the economic and technological cooperation between Japan and Germany was to increase the military power of the Japanese Empire at sea and in the air.

In addition to economic and technological cooperation, coordinating the contradictions between Japan and Germany's other partner, the Soviet Union, was another important means to promote the southward advance of the Japanese Empire. After all, Japan's national strength was limited, and it was simply unable to undertake the three major tasks of going north, west, and south at the same time.

Moreover, since the status of Soviet-German relations was higher than that of Japanese-German relations, once the contradictions between Japan and the Soviet Union escalated into armed conflict, Germany would have to stand on the side of the Soviet Union. Although it was impossible for Germany to send troops directly to fight Japan (in Hersmann's view, it was unnecessary because the Japanese Army could not beat the Soviet Red Army at all), all Japanese-German cooperation projects had to be stopped, which would inevitably seriously affect Japan's future southward operations.

However, this coordination policy encountered great troubles in early 1939, and the relationship between the Soviet Union and Japan showed a trend of rapid deterioration.

Therefore, Trautmann, the German ambassador to China, was busy mediating between the Soviet Union and Japan.

However, before his mediation was successful, Hitler and Stalin, the "close comrades-in-arms of socialism", met in Riga and subsequently issued the "Liberator's Declaration". Although the "Declaration" was not directed at Japan, it still caused an uproar in Japan and brought a lot of trouble to Dr. Todman's mediation.

When Dr. Todman got off a Junkers 52 passenger plane of Lufthansa Airlines, he felt the change in Japan's attitude.

The gangway was empty, and there were no Japanese senior officials to greet them. There were only German Ambassador to Japan Dixon and German Military Attaché to Japan Colonel Eugene Ott, and a director of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in charge of East Asian affairs, Ishiya Ichitaro. He had served in Shanghai and Wuhan and was an old acquaintance of Todman. After serving as the director of the East Asian Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March 1937, he became the official in charge of Soviet-Japanese coordination on the Japanese side.

"This Zhutaro is finally here." Todman thought, "This shows that the Japanese have not closed the door to negotiations."

"Zhutaro," Todman walked up quickly, speaking fluent Japanese, "It's great to see you here."

He shook hands with Zhutaro, who bowed and said, "Mr. Ambassador, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has an important meeting today. The minister and the vice minister are busy, and I am the only one who is free, so I came to the airport to greet you."

"Oh, is that so." Todman laughed, as if he didn't care, and shook hands with Ambassador Dixon and Colonel Ott. Both of them looked quite heavy, and it seemed that the Japanese side was alienating Germany.

After a brief greeting, Todman and Colonel Eugene Ott got on a Mercedes-Benz W07 sedan of the German Embassy, ​​while Ambassador Dixon and Ishiya Zhutaro got on a Nissan 70 sedan sent by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The two cars drove one after the other and headed towards downtown Tokyo.

Sitting in the car, Todman carefully observed the situation in Tokyo. This capital of the Japanese Empire, which consists of a large number of low-rise wooden houses and a few Western-style buildings, looks very prosperous at this time. There are many cars driving on the streets, which means that Japan has not yet strictly controlled gasoline-which may mean that Japan has not yet decided to go to war with the Soviet Union.

"They don't want to fight, right?" Todman asked Colonel Ott beside him.

"Mr. Ambassador, it should be said that they are not ready for war yet." Colonel Eugene Ott said. "The change in the situation was too drastic, far beyond Japan's expectations. Moreover, their army was not well prepared, with only 17 divisions with weapons and equipment equivalent to the Polish infantry division and some independent brigades, and the full-staff rate was not very high. It was difficult to win with these troops.

For this reason, fierce differences arose within the Japanese military. Some people believed that they should take advantage of the opportunity of the Soviet Union being involved in the war on the Western Front to expand Japan's interests and launch a large-scale war;

While others believed that the current changes would not harm Japan's interests, because the other party had guaranteed that Japan's existing rights and interests would not be damaged, and was willing to continue to provide cheap coal, iron ore and non-ferrous metals, and the quantity would be greater than in the past. In this case, it was unnecessary to start a war and the risks were difficult to control."

"So do they know the Empire's position?" Toddman asked immediately.

"Ambassador Dixon has clearly informed the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Empire's position," said Colonel Eugene Ott.

"What about Britain, the United States and France?" Toddman asked, "How did their ambassadors in Japan react?"

“Britain, the United States, and France all support Japan,” said Eugene Ott. “They hope that Japan will fall into a long and arduous ground war so that Japan’s maritime power will not threaten the colonies of Britain, the United States, and France in Southeast Asia. Precisely because Britain, the United States, and France attitude, so now Japan's army and navy are divided into two factions, arguing endlessly, and a meeting of the Five Prime Ministers will be held today to discuss national policies. "

"Five-phase meeting?" Toddman suddenly became nervous. Although he had stayed in the Far East for many years, he still didn't understand the weird thinking of the Japanese. Maybe they will really let go of the large and easy-to-obtain fat meat in the south and fight another larger-scale "Russian-Japanese War."

"So what is Prime Minister Abe's proposition?" Todman then asked.

Prime Minister Abe is Nobuyuki Abe. He is an army general and belongs to the "Ugaki faction" in the Japanese army (Ugakiichi is the leader). Therefore, he is free from the struggle between the control faction and the emperor's faction. However, he still participated in the Second World War in 1936. .He was kicked out of active service after the February 6th Incident.

However, Abe Nobuyuki was very popular among the Japanese army and navy, and the Ugaki faction still had strength in the Japanese army, so he was able to replace Fumimaro Konoe as prime minister, who was helpless in the face of major changes in the situation.

However, Abe Nobuyuki's ability is also not enough to solve the current crisis. Now he has to convene a meeting of the five imperial ministers and push the problem to the army, navy and the emperor.

And the intellectually deficient Emperor Hirohito who currently rules the Japanese Empire (this Japanese emperor is not good) is also at a loss to deal with the current situation.

"Currently, the lifeline of our empire has been seriously threatened by the Red Russian forces. If drastic measures are not taken, the future and fate of the empire will be in the hands of others." Army Minister Shunroku Hata shouted at a meeting of important ministers, "Therefore, the Army proposes to use Fight decisively with Red Russia by force! But at the same time, we will not give up preparations for marching south. Once the situation in the European battlefield is favorable to Germany, the Imperial Navy and Army will not hesitate to shoulder the mission of going south to liberate the oppressed peoples of Asia. "

Emperor Hirohito glanced at the dry-looking Minister of War indifferently. He knew that what the minister wanted to express was not consistent with what he said, and it required careful analysis to draw the correct conclusion.

The Army seems to be proposing a war with the Soviet Union - but in the past 10 years, the Japanese Army has not made preparations for a war. Most of Japan's military expenditures are spent on the navy. Excluding the aviation force, the army's weapons and equipment are similar to those of World War I, and the number of people is too small. If the army were to attack rashly now, it would definitely be impossible to defeat them.

In other words, in order to start a war, you must first prepare for the war, expand your troops, and purchase equipment... The military expenses are huge!

While preparing to move westward, the Army must also prepare to move south - in fact, this is the same thing for the Army, which requires a significant increase in military expenditures.

However, moving south cannot rely solely on the army, but must be coordinated by land and sea. For most of the past 10 years, because the Western continent was peaceful and peaceful, most of Japan's military expenditures were spent on the navy. In early 1937, the "03 Ship Supplementary Plan" was adopted, which determined the construction of four "Yamato" class battleships and four "ideal aircraft carriers."

Because Japan has had a relatively stable situation in the Far East in the past 10 years, and its channels for obtaining raw materials and selling industrial products (mainly machinery, steel and chemical products) are also very smooth, Japan's economy has developed well and has a relatively strong The financial resources can be invested in naval construction, allowing eight capital ships with high hopes to be started at the same time.

According to the plan, these eight battleships will be completed before the end of 1943. By then, the Japanese Navy will have the most powerful battleships and aircraft carriers!

From the Army's perspective, the Navy has so many expensive battleships, so of course it must show off its capabilities in Southeast Asia. The Army can also follow along to liberate the oppressed people of Southeast Asia... This is a great contribution!

Therefore, the Japanese Army has now unified its opinion - first expand its armaments and prepare for war! If we don’t invest in military spending quickly, the army will not be able to defeat us if we march westward, southward, and northward!

Emperor Hirohito understood what the Army meant, so now it depends on what the Navy means. He turned his attention to Admiral Yoshida Zengo, who was physically and mentally haggard, as if suffering from depression.