The current Prime Minister of the Imperial Japanese Cabinet, Duke Fumiro Konoe was of noble birth, a descendant of the ancient Fujiwara clan, the head of the Five Regent families, and the head of the Konoe family, and his ancestors have been high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the Japanese Imperial Court for generations. Although in the long era www.biquge.info of samurai politics, the high-ranking officials of the imperial court had no real power, and their fortunes were extremely meager. However, in the eyes of many ignorant Japanese, the Konoe family, who have been married to the Imperial family for generations, still have an unattainable lineage and bloodline. After the Meiji Restoration, as the status and power of the emperor increased, the Konoe family became prominent again.

Konoe Fumiro's father, Atsuto, was made a duke and served as the chairman of the House of Nobles, becoming a prominent figure. And Konoe Fumiro is a two-term prime minister, and he is the most relied on confidant of Emperor Showa.

But such a noble and illustrious figure did not have the ability to match his present position, and he was weak-willed and lacked courage. Unable to find a way out for the confused Japanese Empire, it was incapable of controlling the aggressive army to maintain internal stability in Japan.

If you want to give him a more pertinent evaluation, it is about a prime minister who is led by the nose by the military. Although he knew that the empire was sliding into the abyss, he was powerless to stop it, not only did he have no power to stop it, but he also had to add fuel to it.

In a quiet Japanese-style room in the Prime Minister's office, Fumiro Konoe, who had just presented the "Outline of Imperial National Policy to Adapt to Changes in the Situation" adopted by the Gozen Five Ministers' Council to Emperor Showa, was looking for regret medicine.

This Japanese-style room is deliberately low and crowded, with a few simple Japanese dishes on a small table, and if it weren't for one of the precious blackfin tuna sashimi, it would hardly reveal the illustrious status of the guests and hosts in the room.

Now, the Prime Minister of Japan, Duke Fumihiro Konoe, is inviting the Minister of the Interior, Koichi Kido, to dinner. Konoe and Kido are classmates in Gakuin.,Good friends who played small - Konoe was originally one level lower than Kido.,But Kido repeated a grade in the sixth grade of elementary school.,So the two have to become classmates.。

Konoe Fumiro lowered his head and said to Kido, a good friend who was nearly 30 centimeters shorter than himself: "Kido-kun, now the empire is facing an unprecedented crisis, and the only one who can save the empire from fire and water is probably only Your Majesty." ”

He was actually opposed to a war with the United States, and uniting Britain and the United States against the Soviet Union was what he really wanted to do. But now the United States and the Soviet Union are doing just that, and they are joining hands to clean up Japan.

Under these circumstances, Japan will certainly not be able to go west and north at all costs—Manchuria and Mongolia are now without oil, and even the entire East Asian continent has only two very small oil fields, and they are still in the remote western region.

According to the words of the cheeky Hideki Tojo: Although the invincible Imperial Army can achieve great victories in the northwest, there is no way to obtain oil after all, and once the Empire's oil is exhausted, the Empire's war machine will not be able to operate. Therefore, the empire could only go south to obtain oil, and then go west and north......

A person who went south had already exceeded the limit of Japan's national strength, and actually wanted to go west and go north, and Konoe was speechless to such a war minister.

However, Fumiro Konoe did not point out the absurdity of Hideki Tojo at the Imperial Council, and formulated the "Outline of Imperial National Policy to Adapt to Changes in the Situation" according to Tojo's intentions. According to his thoughts, such a ridiculous new national policy would definitely be rejected by the emperor, so that Tojo Kazukawa (Minister of the Navy) would naturally not be able to mess around.

Today, he invited Kido Koichi to the Prime Minister's Office in order to get Kido to exert influence on the emperor and ensure that the "Outline of Imperial National Policy to Adapt to the Changing Situation" could be vetoed.

"If Your Majesty rejects the Outline of the Imperial Policy to Adapt to the Changing Situation," Kido Koichi asked with a frown, looking up at the slender Konoe, "then do you have any better way?" ”

"Yes!" Konoe Fumiro nodded and said, "The empire can wait and see the victory and defeat on the European battlefield, and once the Anglo-German peace negotiations are successful, the blockade of Japan by the United States, the Netherlands, and the Soviet Union will naturally cease to exist." At that time, the Soviet Union must defend Germany with all its might, and it will inevitably compromise with our empire in the east, and the time will be completely ripe for the westward expansion into the East Asian continent. ”

Koichi Kido asked, "So...... If Britain and Germany negotiate but do not make peace, or the Soviet-German fight but do not break, or the United States and the Soviet Union form an alliance, what should our empire do? ”

The U.S.-led oil embargo was a clever move. Japan will either take a risk before its oil reserves are depleted, or it will die when its oil reserves are depleted. The only possibility that Japan could defuse the crisis was for Germany and Britain to turn around and fight the Soviet Union after negotiating peace, and the United States would have to continue to stay out of the matter and engage in isolationism. It's almost impossible to happen, and only Fumiro Konoe can think of it.

Fumiro Konoe touched his head, and then said to Kido seriously, "In any case, it's better than breaking with the United States right away...... If the Anglo-German peace is delayed, our empire may be able to declare war on Britain and then join the peace treaty in the hope of obtaining oil from Malaya. If the Soviet-German struggle is not broken, then our empire may be able to join forces with the United States to fight against the Soviet-German side. If the United States and the Soviet Union form an alliance, our empire can also manage to join it. ”

Kido Koichi thought for a moment, and then said to Konoe, "That's ...... It makes sense, but the "Outline of Imperial National Policy to Adapt to the Changing Situation" was, after all, a decision of the Imperial Council. Moreover, it was jointly proposed by the army and navy, which cannot be dismissed casually......"

According to the customary practice of the Imperial Council, the emperor will not reject the decision, and this decision is made by the army and navy together, representing the common will of the army and navy. Even if the emperor wants to reject it, he must have a reasonable reason. Otherwise, those loyal ministers in the army would not dare to take the emperor as a result, but they could punish the traitor Kido Koichi next to the emperor.

"So......" Fumiro Konoe thought for a moment and said, "Is it okay for the cabinet to resign?" ”

The five ministers in the Five Phases Imperial Council are the Prime Minister, the Land Minister, the Sea Minister, the Foreign Minister, and the Tibetan Minister, all of whom are members of the Cabinet. If the cabinet itself collapses, then the emperor can naturally veto the national policy decided by the five phases, and there should be a new cabinet to decide the national policy.

"That's fine, but ...... Who will be the new Prime Minister? Koichi Kido asked again.

He, the Minister of the Interior, now plays the role of the Emperor's adviser and can recommend the Prime Minister - Japan's parliamentary politics in "II. After the "26 Incident", it gradually declined. In 1940, under the impetus of Fumihiro Konoe, who formed the second cabinet, the "Great Political Wing Praise Association" was formed, and the traditional political parties such as the Mass Party, the Political Friends Association, and the Democratic Party were absorbed and merged, and in effect a one-party system was established.

And the supreme leader of this "Great Political Wing Praise Society" is not Fumihiro Konoe, but the Emperor of Japan himself! The so-called "Tsubasan" means to assist the emperor.

In other words, the emperor is now the "general secretary" of the only political party in Japan, and he can decide who will be the prime minister. And because Kido is a trusted confidant of the emperor, he can also influence the choice of prime minister to some extent.

"Tojo!" Konoe Fumiro thought about it for a long time, and suddenly proposed a surprising candidate.

"Which Tojo?" Koichi Kido asked uncertainly.

"Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo." Konoe replied.

"What?" Kido was stunned, "How can you let this brainless guy be the prime minister?" And Tojo is just a lieutenant general. ”

Hideki Tojo gives the impression that he is reckless and brainless, and his qualifications are not enough. Generally speaking, Japan's military prime ministers are all generals, and the vice admiral has reached the end of his position as minister of the army and navy.

"That's him!" Konoe smiled and said, "Your Majesty won't let Tojo be prime minister at all." ”

"Won't Tojo be prime minister?" Kido nodded, "That's true, Tojo is really not qualified. But if Tojo can't be the prime minister, who can be? ”

Konoe smiled, picked up a glass of sake on the low table and drank it down, "Naturally, it's the third time I've formed a cabinet!" ”

……

"This is ......"

Yamamoto Isoroku, who had returned to the flagship Nagato, was at this time in a daze with several photos, which Minoru Genda had brought back from Germany, and the contents were all related to "dreadnought" weapons.

"Commander, this is a suicide weapon used by the British to defend their homeland!" Minoru Genda said, "The aircraft with the propeller mounted on the back is a 'dreadnought' bomb plane, which is actually a manned 1,000-kilogram armor-piercing bomb propelled by a liquid-cooled engine!" This thing that looks like a torpedo is called a 'dreadnought' man-operated torpedo, and it is a manned torpedo. This speedboat is called the Dreadnought Bomb Boat......"

"Is this true? This can't be......" Yamamoto Fifty-six shook his head, an expression of disbelief.

"General, this may be true." Takijiro Onishi picked up a photo of a bomb jet ski and looked at it, saying, "Isn't there a Churchill bomb vest in Afghanistan?" That was given to the Afghans by the British, which had already caused a lot of trouble for the Soviet Red Army. ”

The Churchill bomb vest is now a brand-name product, and it was used in suicide bombings in Kabul and Kandahar.

"No wonder the Germans are willing to make peace with the British," Yamamoto Isoroku frowned, "it turns out that the British, when they are facing a crisis at home, are as brave and fearless as us Japanese......

"Of course," Minoru Genda, a former naval attache in the United Kingdom, thought he knew the British, "the world hegemony of the British Empire was also fought out with a sea of corpses and blood, and if the Germans dared to invade, they would definitely meet with the most stubborn resistance." ”

Takijiro Onishi was still looking at the photos one by one, and suddenly pinched a photo of a "dreadnought" bomb plane and asked: "There is an iron cross on this plane, is it a German dreadnought?" (To be continued.) )