A meeting was held in the living room of Katsura Taro's mansion in Tokyo, where the main generals of the War Department were gathered, and Katsura Taro hung a large map of China in the living room. The red People's Party site and the blue Beiyang site are very eye-catching.

The meeting was attended by Katsura Taro and ministers of the Ministry of the Army, as well as quite a few representatives who held real power in the armed forces, division commanders and chiefs of staff of first-class divisions, and representatives of other divisions and regiments. Except for Katsura Taro, who wore a kimono, the rest of the participants were all in the black uniforms of the Japanese army.

In peacetime, it was the navy warships that could demonstrate Japan's national strength, and now Takahashi is the Qing cabinet is a naval faction, and the current Japanese policy is not to participate in the Chinese civil war, but to concentrate on making a fortune through the opportunity of the war in Europe. Naturally, the demand for the expansion of the army by two divisions and regiments could not be passed, and the entire War Department stood on the position of the "opposition party." It's just that the struggle between the Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Navy has a long history, and everyone takes turns to come to power. No matter how much the War Department scolds, it can still accept the current political facts in its heart. The purpose of the meeting was to study the situation in China and prepare for the return of the army faction to power in the future.

The Ministry of War has a lot of information about the Beiyang regime and knows a lot about the strategic arrangements of the Beiyang. Quantitatively speaking, China's civil war of 1915 was second only to the European war. And the front may be longer than the war in Europe. The Japanese War Ministry, having suffered losses in the Battle of Qingdao and the Battle of Rizhao, thought in their hearts that the Chinese civil war would surprise both sides, and it turned out that both sides of the Chinese civil war surprised Japan.

"The Beiyang side has no decent strategy at all, and they have also recruited two million troops." As a disciple of Yama Prefecture Aritomo, Katsura Taro was really surprised by Beiyang's performance.

"Beiyang can carry out a two-sided attack on the People's Party, but so far there has been no action, although the land route has been completely cut off by the People's Party, but the People's Party does not have a navy, and Beiyang can still effectively command the troops." The Chief of Staff of the Army, Hasegawa Yoshisa, was equally contemptuous of Beiyang. With an army of millions in his hands, he did not dare to advance in the face of the enemy's patrol, which was a taboo for soldiers.

"The information of the People's Party is indeed unknown, and it is not unreasonable that Beiyang is reluctant to venture." Yusaku Uehara, deputy chief of staff, had his own opinion, "Until now, the internal mobilization of the People's Party has always been unclear, and they have won every war, and the Beiyang Army has been forced to do so. ”

In the Battle of Qingdao, the Japanese army and navy suffered losses, and the Japanese navy had to engage in an artillery battle with the People's Party, and the damage to the ships was expected. The army lost the Kyushu Division, and this loss was absolutely impossible to ignore. This is also one of the important reasons for the fall of the Katsura Taro cabinet. At the mention of this, the generals of the army looked at each other. Although it can be said that the Japanese Army was careless, the fact that a division was annihilated in one day was still beyond the imagination of the Japanese Army.

Katsura Taro naturally couldn't let these people from the War Department be depressed, and he said loudly: "If the current situation develops, who do you think will have a greater chance of winning?" ”

In fact, these people in the War Department were not optimistic about the Beiyang Army, but they all knew in their hearts that if it was the People's Party that held power in China, then Japan would have to face a thorny enemy. This is not a blessing for Japan.

"If Beiyang can play to its advantages, it is still possible to defeat the People's Party." Hasegawa replied in the way that the Japanese are best at. Such a subtle statement means that he is not optimistic about Beiyang.

"What is the arrangement of the BJP? We didn't even hear any from it. The head of the Shina class (lesson 7) replied with great difficulty. In fact, he didn't want to speak, but the bigwigs in the army had already pressed him many times, so he simply said it in front of him, saving him the trouble of being questioned in the future.

After getting such a result, the people of the army faction did not ask too much. After all, any of these people's ideals must first regain power in Japan. After several years of political turmoil, the economic situation in Japan as a whole has become very poor. Takahashi was Kiyono, a major contributor to solving Japan's economic problems during the Russo-Japanese War. The reason why he was elected prime minister in such a bad economic situation was that everyone hoped that Takahashi would be able to solve Japan's current problems.

Katsura Taro naturally knew the thoughts of the participants, and he sneered, "Gentlemen, everyone doesn't want to participate in the war, I can understand your peace-loving thoughts. Just I would like to give you an example, according to the information we have received, when the People's Party seized the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant in 1908, the steel production was only 70,000 tons a year. At present, it has exceeded 700,000 tons, and the total amount has increased tenfold. And we in Japan have not exceeded 20,000 tons of steel so far, and the iron production is less than 200,000 tons. It's only twice as much as it was seven years ago, do you know why? ”

Most of the people who attended this meeting were military personnel and, naturally, did not know about these detailed economic issues. "Mr. Gui, why is this?"

Katsura Taro said loudly: "That Takahashi is clear and has also studied it, we originally had an agreement with Hubei on "coke for iron ore", but the People's Party terminated this agreement immediately after seizing Hubei. Ladies and gentlemen, the People's Party's steel production is now four times that of ours, and if it were seven years from now, the People's Party's steel output would increase tenfold to 7 million tons in seven years, and even if we in Japan were to grow faster than we are now, to 700,000 tons. The People's Party produces ten times as much steel as ours, and what future does our Great Japanese Empire have? ”

The modern army competes with weapons and firepower, and the amount of steel produced directly determines the outcome of the war. The generals of the Japanese Army are well aware of the main points in this regard. The tenfold difference in steel production between the two countries means that there is a huge difference in war capabilities.

"Is the People's Party really capable of pushing China to such a point?" An officer couldn't help but ask. China's decline was witnessed by Japan, and it was by virtue of China's decline that Japan gradually gained its current status. If China can re-emerge, it will mean that all of Japan's efforts so far will be in vain. If Japan had not won the First Sino-Japanese War and had not taken the lead over China, Japan would not have felt too sad. But Japan is now taking the lead in Asia, so they are particularly afraid of falling back behind China.

"Gentlemen, although Takahashi is Qing, it can't be said that he doesn't understand the economy, but this person is useless. You haven't seen the recent trade between China and Japan. Japan imports machinery and equipment from Britain and the United States, while industrial acids and alkalis are all imported from China, including the brushes used by the navy to brush the breeches are also made in China. "Katsura Taro is unceremonious to attack Takahashi Kiyoshi who has defected to the navy." A few days ago, the navy was preparing for war, and a large amount of silk was needed as artillery kits, and the raw silk and silk produced in Japan were sold to the British, and Edo was starved of silk. In the end, it was by importing a batch of cheap silk from China that the problem in the market was solved. If Japan continues in this way, the gains of the Meiji Restoration over the past few decades will inevitably be lost. ”

The army generals didn't understand other economic issues, but everyone knew about the silk issue raised by Katsura Taro. Naturally, high-ranking Japanese military officers must have officer models, and one of the officer models is to go in and out of wine shops with drinking women. Everyone has heard a lot of wine girls complaining about the difficulty of buying silk. Although the army's large-caliber artillery also needed silk as a medicine bag. So when Katsura Taro said this, the officers nodded yes one after another.

Seeing that he had finally mobilized everyone's sense of identity through specific things, Katsura Taro hurriedly struck while the iron was hot: "Gentlemen, Takahashi Shiqing seems to be able to solve Japan's current predicament, but he is just struggling to get through it." If we blindly follow Takahashi's line of thinking, when the situation in Japan improves, China will become stronger. If China's power overwhelms Japan, then the real unforeseen disaster will be. At most, those people in the navy can fire artillery to scare and frighten China, and the First Sino-Japanese War has proved that if you want China to surrender, you can only rely on our army. No matter how big a warship is, it can't sail on land. ”

"That's right!" "Gui Sang is right!" The army officers agreed that it was not the Japanese navy that really brought the Manchus to their knees, but the army that had defeated the Qing army from Korea, and the Japanese army had wiped out the Russian army in the northeast. What's the use of relying only on the navy?

Katsura Taro pointed to the map and shouted: "Gentlemen, we must study carefully how the war situation in China will develop and determine the strategy of the army. This is what will be able to be achieved in the future. ”

……

When the guys from the background of the army held a strategic meeting, Takahashi Kiyoya visited the residence of the Saionji Konozo. The Admiralty officers and the financial bigwigs attended the Admiralty meeting. As the spokesperson of the navy, Saionji Gongwang was not complacent. Although Takahashi's economic situation improved greatly after the formation of the Qing Cabinet, orders from the British eased the pressure on Japan to repay its debts, and Japan's once-sluggish exports were restored. This seemingly good news may be attractive to people in the financial world, and Saionji is not too complacent about the improvement of the situation.

Like Katsura Taro, Saionji believes that Japan's current crisis has just begun. Not only is the military superiority of the People's Party, but also the decline of China for decades has faintly changed completely, which is what makes Xiyuan Temple Gongwang feel afraid.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the recent economic situation seems to be good, but Chinese products are now entering the Japanese market in large quantities, especially in terms of power, and Chinese gas engines occupy almost all the share of power sources for small Japanese businesses. This matter must not be taken lightly! Xiyuan Temple Gongwang expressed his concern on another economic parameter.