"Onboard!"

"Onboard!"

On the morning of 21 May, the Combined Fleet arrived at Tokyo Bay, where thousands of people were greeted in empty alleys and sandwiches on the streets of Tokyo.

Half a month before the fleet's arrival, the newspapers began to build up momentum in a row, enumerating the merits of the navy, especially the exploits of destroying the US Pacific Fleet, occupying Hawaii, and actually controlling most of the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, this is not bragging, in terms of the record of the combined fleet, in terms of strength, it is indeed the first in the world now, and it is more than the second and third combined, the complete "two strong standards", even by the end of 1945, can arbitrarily outperform either of the United States and Germany, after all, they are building ships, Japan also has a steady stream of new warships in service, and in June, two more Yunlong-class ships will be put into service, and the third air fleet is about to be reorganized, and by this time there will be the first, second, third, fifth, and sixth five air fleets, Coupled with 3 Yamato-class super battleships, the strength is unprecedentedly strong; In addition, there is a large stack of Yunlong-class and Axis-class on the slipway waiting to be completed, although there is not a single battleship left, but the inventory in hand is enough.

This Tokyo report was Tsukahara 243 leading the team to show his merit, Hori Yiji could actually delay it for two more days, waiting for the main forces to converge before meeting Tokyo, but he did not accept Matsuda Chiaki's advice, but arrived in Tokyo two days in advance, in order to give the opportunity to Tsukahara 243, after all, the latter is the new commander of the combined fleet, he wants to build this frame and the torch pass, this point is convincing from top to bottom of the combined fleet, and the commander can't make a mistake.

The only difference is that the atmosphere of this greeting is even better than the last time, the previous time there was Fushimi Miyashi Hirokoshi from the obstacle, this time Horiyoshi and Yamamoto Fifty-six joined forces, the momentum was huge, plus the Hawaii campaign and the army's credit, it was even more stars holding the moon, the whole country was excited.

Especially watching one after another of captured supplies being transported down from the ship, everyone has this feeling: rich.

Of course, this is just the perception of the people, and the real big head is far from being in place. The Battle of Hawaii captured more than 60,000 U.S. troops and 70,000 civilians, which is a lot of money, and although the value of the U.S. dollar has depreciated many times, the intrinsic value is still enough for the Navy to rebuild the five Yamato, and it is even more valuable if it is priced according to the pre-war price.

Therefore, the base camp strongly agrees with the Navy's idea of selling prisoners and civilians, and never mentions such a thing as "letting the tiger go back to the mountain"; as for the United States, which would not talk about ransom prisoners after the war is over, the Hawaii campaign was really badly fought, and Venezuela is also about to miss, and the East Coast is facing rocket threats every day, and the US military top brass still has to pay money to buy them in order to maintain morale.

But for the high-level who really knew the inside story, the Zhujie ceremony and the subsequent reward ceremony were just a passing scene, and the real wrestling had already been transferred to the court.

In order to build a good relationship, King Minoru of the Higashikure Palace still took a lot of effort, first agreed to Horikichi's plan for the army and navy's reward, and then asked Horikichi to be canonized as a duke Horikichi has risen to the pinnacle of official positions, and can only use his brains on titles and medals, although everyone knows that Horikichi doesn't value this, but it is stronger than the dollar, and high is stronger than low. Because of this, the first thing Horikichi did after returning to Tokyo was to go to King Minoru Higashikunomiya to admit his mistake and inspect for a long time, which caused inconvenience to the base camp and His Royal Highness. King Minoru Higashikuremiya didn't say anything about this matter, but sighed at Hori-kun's hard work, and the relevant people adjusted the plan and issued it together with the original content

But everyone knows that on the surface everyone is still a group of harmony, but the differences are doomed, Hori Yikichi proposed the reform proposal (draft for comments) has been sent to everyone, the relevant content seems to be prosaic, than Hori Yikichi in the telegram expounded on the point of view, much more prosaic, plain, but everyone knows that this is only the first step, there is a second step, a third step, without the first step to start, there is no follow-up second and third steps, but watching the next two steps, whether to take the first step will also make people difficult to choose, this is where the pain lies.

"Hori-kun wants to lay off employees and reduce fees?"

"Yes, now the military expenditure is huge, the national strength is unbearable, and the debt owed to Germany is accumulating day by day, and if it is not for the lack of interest, the annual interest expense alone is a large expense." Horikichi's attitude was very sincere, "Since Hawaii is over and the big battle is over, there is naturally no need for such a high military expenditure for this, and it is inevitable to reduce the number of personnel and reduce expenses." ”

"If you do this, the army will bounce back." King Minoru of the Higashikure Palace was not angry, but only said slowly, "Isn't it a slow-down?" ”

"His Royal Highness's deficit this year" Horikichi didn't speak, and the Minister of Finance spoke first.

King Minoru of Higashikure Palace wants to scold people, do you listen to the prime minister or the navy? However, he knew that this was the other party's instinct, and it was more uncomfortable not to let the Minister of Finance worry about the deficit than to kill him.

"However, I heard that Hori-kun seems to be interested in agreeing to go north? How can this military budget be cut? Isn't it only cutting the navy, not the army? Tada was the first to jump out against it.

"I didn't say that I support going north," Horikichi smiled slightly, "Now I don't even have a plan to go north, how can I talk about support?" ”

Of course, this is talking nonsense with his eyes open, the transaction between Umezu Mijiro and the Navy is not complicated, the center will know it after a little inquiry, and even the parties concerned do not mean to hide it or not report it, but Horiyoshi's words are not wrong: the Kwantung Army and the North Korean Army have not yet proposed to go north, where does the Navy get the support opinion?

Tada Jun hated itchy, but there was no way, the secret discussion was not suitable for being put on the table, Hori Yiji was engaged in a conspiracy this time, and the movement was not afraid of you knowing, unlike the "Heavenly Punishment National Thief" who made a conspiracy, and it was a private collusion, and it was an undercover agent, which was not a level of action at all.

"Of course, the army also needs to be disarmed, and now that the war has been decided, there is no need to maintain the size of the 4 million army, and some can be cut off, and from the experience of Europe, disarmament is very normal, and the Germans are stronger than us."

As soon as Ito brought out the example of Germany, everyone had nothing to say: Germany was indeed disarming, not only withdrawing a large number of troops from Western Russia, but also reducing at least 1.5 million troops back and forth, and at the same time reducing military spending. What is even worse is that Germany's reduction in military spending is not in the same proportion; Germany has basically only reduced the military expenditure of the army and slightly reduced the cost of the air force, and the expenditure of the navy has not only not decreased, but is still increasing.

However, everyone did not want to easily agree to Horikichi's disarmament, because the disarmament would definitely start with the old, weak, sick, and disabled troops with low combat effectiveness, and the adjustment of naval forces could be settled with Horikichi's words, so what should the army do? If you want to abolish the divisions and regiments, the first thing is to dismantle the general army in the country, so don't you fall into the pit of Horiyoshi step by step?

(End of chapter)