Glancing around, Ito replied stiffly, "Your Majesty, this continental war is extraordinary. On the surface, it was the expansion of the French in Europe, which caused dissatisfaction in Austria and the outbreak of war, but in essence it was a struggle for continental supremacy.

Britain and Russia, because of the war in Afghanistan, are unable to intervene in the European continent in the short term, so that France and Austria see an opportunity to defeat their rivals.

So far, seven countries in Europe, including France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Black and Asia, have been involved in the war, and although the remaining European countries are still waiting and seeing, they do not rule out the possibility of involvement.

Although France is strong, they are fighting alone, and if the war continues and more European countries are involved, I am afraid they will also be fierce tigers and wolves.

According to information from Europe, the French had mobilized more than 5 million troops, and the anti-French alliance had mobilized more than 7 million troops, a figure that would increase greatly if the confrontation between the French and Austrian colonies was added.

A big war of tens of millions of people is simply not something we have the strength to mix. In my opinion, any strategy of going south until the European war is won or lost is unwise. ”

There is nothing wrong with it, from a political point of view, as long as war is declared, even if it is a country that has made up a number. Greece, Montenegro, and Ameria are also members of the anti-French alliance.

They have also made important contributions to the cause of anti-French, and although they have not done anything militarily, their political contributions are not small at all.

Ordinary people can't see it, but politicians understand it very well. To be able to define this European war as a war of aggression against the French, Austria relied on these little brothers to follow the flag and shout.

It is well known that France is not well received in Europe, after all, Napoleon the Great beat everyone again, and the Bonaparte dynasty is only problematic if it is not excluded.

However, they were directly boycotted by half of the countries in Europe, and the remaining neutral countries were also dragging them back, and in the eyes of Ito Hirobumi, this was an absolute failure of French diplomacy.

Based on past experience, the French are bound to be beaten badly, and no one knows whether a new country will be involved in the war tomorrow. Judging from political and diplomatic points, Ito Hirobumi was not at all optimistic that the French would be able to win the war.

Not being optimistic about the French does not mean that the Japanese government will be able to bet. A large-scale melee of tens of millions of troops, not to mention Japan, is the first time in human history.

Despite the initial completion of the Meiji Restoration, Japan was still a weak agricultural country, and its increased military strength was still far from that of the top powers.

With only the hundreds of thousands of new troops in China, the combat effectiveness is not even comparable to Belgium, and the Continental Army that spans East Asia in later generations is still an infant.

There is a huge disparity in the strength of the Army, and the same is true for the Navy. Against a naval power like Britain, France and Austria, two former dreadnoughts can beat the Japanese Navy once, and such capital ships are in double digits.

"The European War was so extensive that we really didn't qualify to get involved. However, it was not difficult to attack the Philippines, Spain had long since fallen, and it was simply not qualified to continue to occupy the fertile colonies.

The four great powers of Britain, Russia, Austria and France are all at war, and they have no time to worry about the practice of the Far East, and it is the best time for us to do it.

Don't look at the Spaniards who are still in the name of a great power, in fact in the new round of military revolution they have fallen behind in all aspects.

According to the intelligence collected by the Navy, most of the fleets deployed by Spain in the Philippines are sail warships, and the only two ironclad ships are also products of more than ten years ago, and the Navy is confident that they can easily deal with them.

The Suez Canal is now blocked, as long as the Philippine fleet of the Spaniards is killed, and then they will send reinforcements after receiving the news, it will be half a year at the earliest.

As long as the army can occupy the Philippine Islands within half a year, the Spaniards, who have no foothold, are toothless tigers. ”

Navy Minister Saigo said lightly, as if it was a matter of course that he could not be involved in the European War, and he did not feel aggrieved at all.

The grievances involved in the dispute between Japan and the sea and land can be traced back hundreds of years, and the historical contradiction between the "Choshu Valve" and the "Satsuma Valve" has been directly continued.

In the face of the navy's contempt, War Minister Yama Yama Aritomo was not to be outdone: "As long as your navy can deal with the enemy's fleet, our army will be able to occupy the Philippine Islands within half a year."

I'm afraid that you won't be able to fight quickly, and you will waste precious time with the Spanish Navy. ”

The Navy and Army are not on the same page, and this is definitely bad news for the Bunshi faction led by Hirobumi Ito.

No matter how fierce the struggle between the Japanese military headquarters in the south and north in later generations was, the strategic differences between the two sides were not big in substance.

Before getting the springboard of North Korea, whether the Japanese army was going south or north, the main force must be the navy, which is the consensus of everyone.

Purely on the surface, the current Japanese Navy does not seem to be an opponent of the Beiyang Fleet, but in terms of the tonnage of warships.

The Japanese rulers, who were not carried away by the victory, were still cowardly, not only did not dare to participate in the European war, but even feared their next-door neighbors.

In order to ensure victory in the war, it was only natural for the navy and land forces to unite for a short time under the common interest. After all, Japan's current family background is weak, and if you lose once, it will be all gone.

Seeing that the opinions of the military were about to be unified, Finance Minister Shigenobu Okuma hurriedly objected: "No, Spain is a European country, and if it dares to attack a white country, who knows if it will cause a backlash from the European powers?"

In the unlikely event of interference by other powers, even if we occupy the Philippine Islands, we will eventually spit it out, and we will even be retaliated against by Spain.

Don't look at the decline of the Spaniards, but their overall strength is still above us, and our only advantage is that the Philippines is too far away from them.

But if the European powers had supported them, the situation would have been very different. They could easily assemble a large fleet to hunt for our bad luck. ”

It is a fact that the warships of the Japanese Navy were all bought from Europe, and it would only be easier for the Spaniards on the European continent to buy warships.

Moreover, Spain's shipbuilding capability is not weak, second only to Britain, France and Austria, and is in the second echelon in the world, which is not at all comparable to Japan, which is just starting out.

In fact, Shigenobu Okuma still has something to say. The most popular naval theory in those years was the "hundred-year navy" thrown out by the British, and all countries were deeply influenced by it.

No matter how much the Spanish Navy declined, its ancestors were also broad, and the tactics and experience inherited were not comparable to those of the nascent Japanese Navy.

On the bright side, the strength of the Japanese navy far surpassed that of the Spanish fleet stationed in the Philippines, but if a fight really broke out, it was unknown whether they could be defeated.

If they can't fight in a fight, the Spaniards will be in trouble if they go around in circles to delay the time and wait for the arrival of domestic reinforcements before fighting a decisive battle.

Navy Minister Saigo Namichi analyzed, "Okuma-kun, the interference of the great powers you are worried about is not a problem at all. Spain had a vendetta with the British, and the British had been suppressing Spain's development all these years, and it was simply impossible to support them.

Originally, the Spanish government was mixed with the French, and Alfonso XII was supported by the French, but in recent times, there has been a change of power in Spain, and the pro-Austrian faction has seized power and parted ways with the French.

If it's just that, it's not a big deal, it can't be an ally. It's a pity that while the Spaniards were pro-Austrian, they didn't really fall to Austria, but instead started to be a wall-to-wall.

It stands to reason that this European war was Spain's best chance, and as long as they sent troops from the rear to stab the French in the eye, the anti-French alliance would immediately win the war.

With Britain and Russia on its side, Austria needs a strong ally if it wants to successfully dominate the hegemony of the European continent, and it is impossible to leave Spain behind, and they can naturally share the fruits of victory with Austria.

The Spaniards gave up such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it was simply impossible for Austria to do everything they could to help them.

By doing it now, we may even have the support of the French, under the pretext of clearing the stumbling blocks on the way south, and then attacking the Austrian South Seas with them.

The French government had no choice now, they were fighting alone on the continent, and their only British ally was still fighting the Russians. If they hadn't been forced to do so, they wouldn't have come to us. ”

It's not a mess to find allies, this is the year when the chain of contempt is the strongest, and under normal circumstances, European countries will not unite with small Asian countries, because it will be very embarrassing.

Since the beginning of the French government's co-optation of the Japanese, it has been looked down upon more than a hand. It became one of the reasons why the top of the Japanese government was not optimistic that the French would win the war.

This is a cultural difference between the East and the West, and for European countries, although face is important, it is not worth the substantive benefits; In the East, the situation changed, and many times the face outweighed the benefits.

Judging by their own inherent concepts, the top level of the Japanese government took it for granted that the French were about to be unable to hold on, so they rushed to the world to find allies.

If Austria had not directly ignored them and refused to give them even the opportunity to negotiate conditions, perhaps some people in the Japanese government would have advocated joining the anti-French alliance and seizing the French Indochina Peninsula.

Ito Hirofumi scolded sharply: "Saigo-kun, this is definitely a bad idea. If we express our intention to move closer to the French, we will certainly be hostile to Austria.

Even if Austria is pinned down by the French and is unable to intervene directly in our operations, it does not mean that they will not be able to stumble on us.

Don't forget that there are still the Dutch in the South Seas, and if Austria takes the lead and encourages the Netherlands to intervene, we will not be able to deal with both Spain and the Netherlands at the same time. ”