It's a hot summer day, but the sun that spreads through the streets of Tokyo still looks a little cold to those who are familiar with the big city. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

In the largest cosmopolitan metropolis in the Far East, the asphalted roads are empty and there are no cars in sight. The shops on both sides of the road that should have been filled with all kinds of goods are now mostly empty, with nothing to sell and no customers to visit. Only a small number of specialized shops selling rations and collecting folk metal utensils do they form long queues.

It seems that the joint sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom, the United States and the Netherlands (Dutch East Indies) have had a great effect, the channels for importing American scrap steel have been completely cut off, the oil of the United States, the Dutch East Indies, and British Malaya has stopped being shipped to Japan, and the silk and all kinds of shoddy goods produced in Japan have no international market, and all of a sudden they have become unsalable. What made the Japanese government and businessmen even more stunned was that the market of the East Asian continent also quietly closed its doors to Japan after the United States announced sanctions against Japan. And in Manchuria, which was firmly controlled by Japan, there were also large-scale strikes these days, and the main iron and coal mines were all in a state of shutdown or semi-shutdown - this is clearly the United States and the Soviet Union are working together!

And from the beginning of 1941, the number of merchant ships sailing from the United States to the East Asian continent increased dramatically several times. Another railway from Irkutsk to the south through Mongolia was completed and opened in March 1941. In addition, the Soviet oil field in North Sakhalin was also involved in a major accident in April 1941 and has not resumed production until now, according to the treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union in the 20s, all oil produced from this field was sold to Japan.

By all indications, the Japanese Empire is facing an unprecedented crisis! The three first-class powers of Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, are now joining forces to deal with Japan, and have woven an almost impermeable Japanese encirclement network.

Faced with this dangerous situation, which seemed to make the whole world an enemy of Japan, the Japanese Empire responded by speeding up preparations for war and strengthening the construction of the army and navy. Heavy industry manufacturers are all producing artillery, guns, ammunition, ships and aircraft at full capacity, and have even begun to invest heavily in the production and research and development of combat vehicles.

The large-scale production of weapons and ammunition quickly consumed Japan's limited metals, which soon outstripped production, and had to start using strategic reserves, while at the same time starting to loot the broken copper and iron of the civilian population for emergencies.

As for the consumption of oil, it has been limited to a minimum, almost to the point of not taking into account the most basic needs of people's livelihood! Even the current wartime European countries have not as strict controls on gasoline and diesel as Japan.

It can be said that in preparation for the war, Japan has already gambled on everything!

However, no matter how strict the control measures are, no matter how much the people are looted for broken copper and iron, there is a limit.

And once the most precious war resource of the Japanese Empire, oil, is exhausted in the flow of consumption, the war machine of the Japanese Empire will become a pile of useless scrap metal.

At that time, Japan will just want to gamble, and there will be no possibility of victory.

Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo, Minister of War, was traveling in a car on an empty road through a deserted city to attend the Imperial Council at the Imperial Palace.

The lieutenant general frowned, his face was as blue as black, but at the same time he looked eager to try and ready to show his skills. He knew the deadline set by Hersmann for "making a decision to enter the war by October and going to war against Britain and the United States before the end of the year." At first, Hideki Tojo was also shocked. At the prospect that Germany might make peace with Britain after this deadline and become an ally of Britain's enemies, Tojo's first reaction was that Japan was about to be betrayed.

However, when he thought about it, he felt that this "deadline" had actually pushed Japan into a situation where it could only fight against the water, and this was not necessarily unfavorable for Japan. If it weren't for the "deadline" given by Hirschman, Konoe Fumiro, a fearless aristocratic lord, would not know how long it would have been delayed.

At the joint meeting of the army and navy held overnight yesterday, the senior naval officers who originally liked to raise the bar with the army were rarely in agreement with Tojo, the minister of the army, and they all agreed that they must not hesitate to fight in order to obtain all kinds of resources needed for the development of the Japanese Empire, especially oil resources!

In order to obtain oil resources, it was necessary to go south to seize Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. And if we want to go south with confidence and boldness, we must start a war with the United States and seize control of the Pacific Sea. To this end, the senior officials of the Japanese army and navy have also discussed and drawn up an "Outline of Imperial National Policy to Adapt to Changes in the Situation," which will be adopted at today's Imperial Council and become the latest national policy.

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"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the current situation is that oil will last for a maximum of 12-18 months, and we can't wait until the last drop of oil is used up to find a solution, there must be an advance amount." Hideki Tojo said this, and his eyes swept over the empty throne.

Emperor Showa did not attend the meeting today, and the meeting was presided over by Minister of the Interior Koichi Kido. Kido doesn't have a big opinion, and in front of the cabinet five, he is just playing the role of the emperor's follower and mouthpiece.

Since the emperor was not there, the ministers attending the meeting spoke freely, and Hideki Tojo touched his big bald head, and then continued: "Now that Britain and Germany are secretly negotiating peace, it is very likely that the international situation will undergo a great change that is not conducive to the empire. So my empire can't wait any longer, there must be a time to make a final decision. I think it's today! ”

"Today?" Fumiro Konoe was taken aback by Hideki Tojo's reckless request and quickly set his sights on the Minister of the Navy and Shiro Kawako.

"Prime Minister, I think it's today." And Kawakoshiro's words shocked Fumiro Konoe even more.

"What?" Konoe Fumiro was stunned and stunned, now the Japanese army and navy are actually wearing a pair of pants, which makes this prime minister still command the overall situation!

Fumihiro Konoe set his sights on Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka, who had served as president of the Manchurian Railway and advocated the theory of "Manchurian lifeline". However, his way to realize the "Manchurian lifeline" is rather strange, not to take refuge in Britain and the United States, but to unite Germany and the Soviet Union. He advocated the goal of dividing up the East Asian continent by coordinating relations with the Soviet Union through Germany. Therefore, after pushing Japan to join the Triple Alliance, he signed the "Japan-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact" with Stalin. In this treaty, the Soviet Union pledged not to enter Manchuria, but refused to pledge not to support "socialist comrades and brothers" on the East Asian continent, so Matsuoka's goal was not achieved.

Later, Matsuoka advocated achieving his goals through US-Japan coordination and personally presided over negotiations with the United States. However, the Americans apparently put US-Soviet relations above US-Japan relations, and not only resolutely refused to form an alliance with Japan, but also began to impose severe sanctions on Japan. At the same time, it also began to deploy planes and submarines in the Philippines in a posture of resolutely containing Japan.

"Prime Minister," said Matsuoka, "it is inevitable that we will go south, but our empire should still avoid war with the United States." ”

Matsuoka spent a lot of time in the United States as a child and knew the power of the United States very well, so his idea was to go south to Malaya and Singapore to open up maritime contact with Germany. But don't go to attack the Philippines and don't give the United States an excuse to declare war.

Once Singapore was conquered, it was connected to Germany through the Indian Ocean. Then Japan will be able to get support from Germany, and it will not be afraid that the United States will come to find fault.

"It's not going to work!" Hideki Tojo interrupted Matsuoka's words, "The United States has bases and garrisons in the Philippines and Guam, and it has also deployed thousands of aircraft. What if the United States sneaks up on our back when we attack the Singapore Fortress? ”

"Tojo-kun," Matsuoka shook his head repeatedly, "such a thing will not happen, the United States will not launch a sneak attack, this is not allowed by their national system." ”

"But the United States will still go to war!" Minister of the Navy Kazushiro Kawakoshiro frowned and said, "The United States has attacked Mexico and Spain, and it also took the initiative to participate in the last world war. As long as the president of the United States is willing to fight, there will always be an excuse. As for the isolationism of the United States, it is only for Europe. If we cannot achieve superiority over the US Pacific Fleet in the early stages of the war, then we have no hope of victory as the war continues. ”

He was right, and the United States can always find an excuse. Or blow up a ship, or make up some conspiracy between Japan and Mexico to fight the United States, or simply get a Japanese plane to hit the Empire State Building.

And now the situation in the Pacific is very unfavorable for Japan, because there is also a USSR as a potential enemy of Japan. Considering that the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union is getting closer and closer, the possibility of a joint confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union against Japan always exists.

Therefore, the most advantageous situation for Japan was to gain a huge advantage in the early stages of the war, so as to deter the Soviet Union and its little brothers. Let them not dare to think otherwise, and they must also obediently continue to provide war resources to Japan.

To achieve such a goal, the only way to achieve this goal is to adopt Yamamoto Isoroku's plan and attack Pearl Harbor, the home port of the US Pacific Fleet!

"So you should strike first!" Hideki Tojo took over the topic and said loudly, "The Army believes that this is the only way out at the moment!" It is necessary to strike hard at the United States and Great Britain at the beginning of the war and achieve a decisive victory. Moreover, the Germans have promised that they will support us once we make a decision. Therefore, we should make a decision as soon as possible so that we can get support sooner. ”

He said "the Army thinks", not "the officer thinks". This shows that what I just said represents the Japanese Army!

Konoe Fumiro hurriedly set his eyes on the Minister of the Navy, and Kazukawa Koshiro also nodded and said, "The Navy thinks so too...... Therefore, I implore Your Excellency the Prime Minister to support the "Outline of the Imperial National Policy to Adapt to the Changing Situation" and immediately determine the national policy of going south and fighting against the United States! (To be continued.) )