Chapter 65: Between the Peace and the War (11)

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"What does Hori-kun mean by this telegram?" Seeing the telegram sent by Horikichi about the proposed personnel changes in the navy, King Minoru Higashikure was a little confused, and immediately called everyone for a meeting, including Yamamoto Isoroku himself, who was directly impacted.

"I guess it's an expression of dissatisfaction with me." Yamamoto Fifty-six sighed, "Your Highness, I think I can resign." ”

"No way!" Not only did King Minoru Higashikure, including Ishihara Waner, Tada Jun, and Tani Masayuki unanimously oppose it, but Yamamoto, as Minister of the Navy, resigned at this time, which would inevitably cause turmoil in the Cabinet.

"Could it be that Hori-kun is dissatisfied with us and wants to topple the cabinet?"

Everyone also shook their heads hesitantly, Horiyoshi himself was still on the way, and if he wanted to fall down, he would not send such a clear signal.

King Minoru Higashikurenomiya pondered for a long time and said: "There is no problem for Tsukahara-kun to take over as the commander of the combined fleet, he was originally the acting commander, and now it is inevitable that Hori-kun will turn around after the country, but Ito-kun"

Yamamoto Fifty-six smiled bitterly: "Replacing Inoue-kun with Ito-kun is an idea of ours a long time ago, I had some communication with Hori-kun at the beginning, Inoue-kun himself is also willing to have some problems with his temperament as vice admiral of the navy, and Ito-kun is a rare talent, the result of our discussion was to see the situation of Ito-kun's inspection and then decide to appoint, I thought that at least Hori-kun would arrive before deciding, but I didn't expect a telegram to poke it directly. ”

"This is Hori-kun expressing his dissatisfaction with us, the last time the $100 billion claim was sent to the US side without consulting him, and now he wants to retaliate."

"Alas," Gu Zhengzhi sighed.

Regarding the negotiation of the conditions of the United States, it was necessary to seek Horikichi's opinion, but as soon as the Minister of the Interior expressed Hirohito's attitude, this point was stuck, and the base camp had a debate about whether to notify Horikichi or not, and finally Yamamoto 56 thought that Horikichi would definitely not agree to this condition, so he directly pushed the emperor and Horikichi into opposing positions, anyway, everyone thought that the Americans were unlikely to accept this condition, and said it was equivalent to not saying it, so it was simply returned first, and now it seems that Horikichi is not small in resentment about this matter.

"When is Hori-kun coming?" King Minoruhiko of Higashikurenomiya asked, "Since it was agreed a long time ago, it's not impossible for him to adjust it now, but he can't just remotely command it outside without showing up, which makes people feel very bad According to reason, Hori-kun is not such a ignorant person." ”

King Minoruhiko of the Higashikure Palace said very vaguely, the so-called feeling is very bad, which is basically synonymous with arrogance and arrogance, and even the prime minister cannot directly change the vice minister of the navy with a telegram, and what he is doing now is to roast the cabinet and the center on the fire.

"He is expected to arrive in Tokyo around April 20, and it may be even later, and he said that he will go to various naval theaters to inspect it, and he will go around Truk, Rabaul, Chaonan (Singapore) and Ceylon, to express his condolences to the officers and men, and to check the defense."

Ishihara suddenly "popped", and even his breath suddenly became short, and everyone also realized the seriousness of the situation: all of them were veteran bureaucrats who had been tested for a long time, and they knew what Horikichi meant by choosing this delicate period to inspect the various theaters of operations, and the tandem was true, and this road included 4 naval theaters, 2 army dispatch forces (Indian Army, Southern Army), plus the main force of the Combined Fleet in Hawaii, more than 70% of Japan's armed forces were among them. Excluding the local army, which was not very capable of fighting, the Chinese dispatch army, which had suffered greatly and had little intention of fighting, was not included in only one Kwantung Army (the Korean Army), and the area that Horiyoshi was to inspect included more than 85% of Japan's elite forces.

Is it possible to stop him from tandem? Of course, it can't be done, and isn't it a matter of course for the Privy Counsellor of the Navy to inspect the theater of operations? Not to mention that Yamamoto and Ishihara can't control Horikichi's footsteps, even if Hirohito personally decrees it, it may not work. King Minoru Higashikurenomiya felt a chill down his spine, the navy has long been run by Horikiyoshi to be ironclad, the Indian army and the southern army have always been partners of the navy, and they are considered to be units that have benefited more in the army system, and now the troops on the Hawaii front line still have the main force of the Southern Army, and most of the time they are neutral, but now all the materials that the navy gets from the United States are handed over to the middle ** to deal with, plus the previous navy's large European tattered sales The dispatched army has long been covered with oil. When neutral, you can tell who you don't ask.

The only thing that is unfavorable to Horiyoshi may be the Kwantung Army (including the Korean Army) and the general army of the mainland, but don't forget that the navy has an all-American marine corps on the mainland, compared to those third-rate or even fourth-rate security forces that have been temporarily formed and have not even completed all the training, it is properly crushed, and the only combat effectiveness in the mainland is probably only the Guards Division, but the commander of the Guards Division is Takeda to attack Osaka merchants and Indian people.

Ishihara had just ordered Takeda's Guards Division to be on alert, and now he was faced with a tricky test: could Takeda himself be trusted?

"Do you want to?" Tada Jun saw Ishihara's distress, and although he didn't finish his words, the meaning was obvious: whether to remove the garrison mission of the Guards Division or remove Takeda Takeshi's position.

Ishihara understood what Tada Jun meant, and after thinking for a while, he shook his head and refused: If it was before, if he used other means to get Takeda to the base camp, maybe Yamashita Fengfu would be happy to see it, but now at this moment, there is only one conclusion that the Takeda Attack and the Guards Division do not trust the Indian system. This is to push the Indian Governor Yamashita to the navy, and he has not only Japan's largest colony, but also 800,000 occupying troops! In terms of scale and strength, the Indian army is now second only to the Kwantung Army, and in terms of combat experience and armor level, the Indian army is completely above the Kwantung Army, and although the Kwantung Army controls the passage between East Russia and Chinese mainland, this is completely inferior to the Indian army that controls the Asia-Europe trade route.

What makes Ishihara feel even more troublesome is that the Indian army and navy are also mixed with complex German factors, and he is a "qingren" and witness: from the fall of the Tojo cabinet, the alliance between Japan and Germany, and the punishment of national thieves to the present, which thing has not been behind Germany's activities?

In order to balance the strength of the various factions of the army, he supported the Indian army and the Kwantung army to check and balance on the one hand, and used the general army and other neutral forces to restrain it on the other hand.

The Navy can now speak with one voice, can the Army?

"Send a telegram asking Hori-kun to come early, whatever he wants to do, at least discuss it with us, right? If we can't even consult, who else can he consult? Is it true that another batch of red deer will come up? Tada Jun complained, "Last time, it was true that we didn't think about this matter well, and we were too eager to get rocket technology recently, but there is a reason for this, isn't it okay for everyone to sit down and talk about it together?" ”

"Report the latest telegram received."

"Is this Hori-kun's proposal for peace?"

Facing the inquiring gaze cast by King Minoru of the Higashikure Palace, Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your Highness, don't ask me, he is probably angry with me, how can he discuss it with me in advance, this is his opinion, it is the opinion of the navy!" ”

The last sentence of "the opinion of the navy" made the atmosphere suddenly solemn, and everyone could understand Yamamoto Isoroku's voice: Even if there is any contradiction between Horikichi and Yamamoto Isoroku, it is also a matter of handling the internal relations of the navy, and the Navy is a whole in the expression of external opinions, and Yamamoto Isoroku will unconditionally obey Horiyoshi Even if he is unwilling to obey, at most he will resign, and it is impossible to expect Yamamoto to make trouble for the navy and split the navy! Besides, Yamamoto and Horikichi's friends for many years will definitely not be a group of harmony, whether they quarrel or have a red face, there must be a final solution that is not known to everyone.

"Let's discuss it first, we can't ignore the telegram from Hori-kun completely." King Minoru Higashikuremiya banged on the table, "New Zealand for Hawaii, well, it's a very novel idea"

(End of chapter)

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