Masayoshi Matsukata came to China for the second time, last year because of the trade post exhibition in Shanghai, when with the eyes of his financial experts, he found that with the careful preparation of the Chinese government, the Chinese in the European war would reap high profits; For this reason, after he returned to Japan, he immediately persuaded Inoue Xin to start stimulating the economy and revitalizing the wartime industry, in order to make a big profit like China.

After a day of meetings, he finally knew what the Chinese wanted to do -- taking advantage of the war in Europe, China and Japan joined forces to control the world shipping industry, although this is short-term, but the cost of war is extremely high, once the monopoly is successful, then the profit will be extremely amazing. Such profits are bound to bring unexpected disasters, so China needs Japan.

Matsukata Masayoshi understood this truth, but King Fushimi Miyahiro Gong did not understand this truth, and in the conference room of the embassy in China, the prince looked at the people who did not speak, and asked puzzledly: "Why don't the Chinese build more ships themselves, but pull Japan to build together?" ”

Masayoshi Matsukata was about to answer the prince's question, but the Minister of the Navy, Minoru Saito, spoke first: "This may be the Yang family's method of winning over Japan, and to fight against Lucia, Japan and China must work together; In addition, Japan has a strong navy, and in the event of any accidents, the Imperial Navy can escort the merchant fleet. ”

"Whoosh." Fushimi Palace nodded, and he looked at Matsukata Justice: "Matsukata, can this matter be done well?" ”

"This matter should be done well, we are already a belligerent party of the Entente and an ally of Britain, if we come forward to undertake and operate the freight. Britain and the Buddha will not object; The people of the United States did not want to be involved in the war in Europe, and the isolation situation was very strict. They won't, and can't stop us, either. Masayoshi Matsukata said what he thought, but he had some opinions. He continued:

"From now on, China and Japan will go all out into the shipbuilding industry, only producing wartime standard ships, and they can build nearly 10 million tons of ocean-going merchant ships in three years, but we don't know how the situation in the European war will change. Is the unrestricted submarine warfare that the Chinese are talking about so powerful, and will Germany use this tactic? These are unpredictable. This matter is very beneficial, but it is also very risky, with the current volume of merchant ships in the empire, if it wants to reach five million tons, it still needs to build three million tons of merchant ships. Based on the price of marine steel plates in China, plus the investment in expanding the shipyard and increasing the equipment, this will require at least one billion yen. ”

"Ahh When Fushimi Palace heard about one billion yen, he immediately took a breath of relief, and the Minister of the Navy, Minoru Saito, said: "The foreign debt of the empire is already more than three billion, and if it loses another billion yen in the European war, the consequences are unimaginable." ”

"yes." Matsukata Masayoshi replied unsurprised, and he said again: "Therefore, China will provide shipbuilding steel plates, and Japan will provide shipyards, shipbuilding labor, and merchant ship operation crews. The two countries jointly invest. The two countries also benefit together......"

"What's wrong with that?" Fushiminomiya did not quite understand what Matsukata meant, and he believed that since China would provide steel plates for shipbuilding, and Japan would only provide labor, then Japan would have to pay very little. Risks are minimized; As for labor wages, isn't it a matter of the printing speed of the printing press, and Japan is not China. Banknotes are not exchanged for gold and silver in kind.

"Your Highness, the Yang family can have today's achievements. In addition to his resolute and resolute subordinates, his judgment of the world situation is extremely accurate. If he judged correctly again this time. Then these three million tons of merchant ships jointly invested by the two sides will create billions of yen of wealth, because the two countries share the same interests, and the empire will lose more than a billion dollars.

Before the war in Europe, the world's shipping revenue was one billion meters, but last year, the world's freight rates soared, and the shipping revenue rose fivefold in the case of the Imperial Mail Shipping Company. Beginning last Christmas, independent submarines began to attack merchant ships, and by the next three months, more than 600,000 tons of merchant ships had been sunk. The world's merchant ships, which were already blocked by independence, Austria, and Lu, have plummeted by nearly 10 million tons, and now they are losing more than 200,000 tons of merchant ships every month, which will exceed 2.4 million tons a year.

At the same time, due to the shortage of steel and high prices, the amount of shipbuilding in the world has been greatly reduced, and only 1.4 million tons of merchant ships were launched last year, of which China accounted for more than 400,000 tons. The newly built ones did not sink much, this is still a limited submarine warfare, if the independent country really starts unlimited submarine warfare, how many merchant ships can be sunk in that year? Five million tons, six million tons, eight million tons? At that time, what will be the world's shipping revenue? If there are 10 million merchant ships, how many billion yen can there be in shipping profits? ”

Masayoshi Matsukata can't judge the future as clearly as Yang Rui, and because he hasn't suffered the loss of unlimited submarine warfare, he can't understand how many merchant ships this tactic will sink and how much danger it will bring. He didn't understand here, and Tetsutaro Sato, who was sitting on Minoru Saito's side and had accompanied Minoru Saito to negotiate last month, said: "Your Excellency, the Navy Command Department estimates that with the current number of more than 100 submarines in the independent country and the number of new submarines launched every month, it can sink no less than 300,000 tons of merchant ships every month and 4 million tons of merchant ships a year. ”

Receiving a more reliable number from the Naval Staff, Matsukata said to himself: "I wonder how many new ships will be built in the world by then?" ”

"Your Excellency, there is another question that should be considered, that is, what should the merchant fleet do in the face of a submarine attack by the Independents? This is a problem that no one in the world's navies can solve. Tetsutaro Sato said.

How to effectively deal with submarines has been a problem that Tetsutaro Sato and even the entire Japanese Navy have been studying since the defeat of submarines last year, but so far, no one has come up with a countermeasure. Since the Chinese want to control the world shipping industry during the war, they naturally have to sail in the Atlantic, and when the time comes, can he deal with the submarine of the independent country?

"That is, the Chinese have found a way to deal with submarines?" The layman, King Fushimi Miyahiro Kyo, interjected, with some excitement, and said, "If this is true, then what is there to fear if there are more ships in the British and Mime countries?" Only our merchant ships can sail safely on the seas. ”

"The Japanese Navy should master this method, so that it will not be so difficult for us to negotiate with the Chinese Navy." Minoru Saito. He had been in China for almost a month to discuss the tonnage of the Chinese and Japanese navies. Negotiations were difficult, and the Navy was extremely important for Japan. So even if China makes heavy concessions, there are still many problems that remain unresolved.

The Japanese at the embassy discussed and raised eyebrows. The heads of the General Staff Headquarters and the Navy Office are reporting to Yang Rui the results of the negotiations with the Japanese Navy over the past half month -- if it can be called results.

"The tonnage ratio of the two countries is one to three, and the ratio of aircraft carriers is one to one. The ratio of light and heavy cruisers was one to two, and destroyers, gunboats, etc. were not specified; The Japanese strongly demanded that we limit the number of submarines, and at first he agreed that the ratio between China and Japan should be one to one, but he was very surprised to know that we had more than 170 submarines, and they thought that we should dismantle some submarines and limit their number to less than 70......"

Rear Admiral Wen Shude, head of the Navy Office of the General Staff, reported on the final results of the negotiations. It can be said that all other issues have been negotiated, but the Chinese submarines have been shelved because their number is too large for Japan's request to accept. In addition to the tonnage ratio, and other powers. In particular, the relationship between the US Navy and the US Navy has also been clearly stipulated in this negotiation, which is basically a tone in which the Chinese Navy can only be close to Japan in the future, and other countries will treat it indifferently.

Major General Wen Shude was very aggrieved when he read the results of the negotiations, in his opinion, the national situation of China and Japan has begun to reverse, so why make such concessions to small Japan? If this treaty is signed, how can the navy turn over in the future? Yang Rui, who didn't understand Wen Shude's thoughts, listened to his report but didn't feel that anything was wrong, all he cared about was the aircraft carrier; And submarines. This kind of World War I garbage is not something he is satisfied with, and there are no new plans for the construction of submarines except for those under construction in the dockyard.

"Since there are so many submarines, they can't be dismantled." Yang Rui listened to the report. "We can promise not to build such a large submarine fleet after the decommissioning of these submarines. Now we can only keep these ships, or when we find a buyer, we can sell fifty or sixty ships. But the sale of warships has always been difficult. There are no hard and fast rules. The Japanese have limited the size of our capital ships, and they should be able to let go, what are they panicking about this submarine. Is it possible to land on the main island of Japan by submarine? ”

"Sir, the Japanese are afraid that these submarines will seal off all of Japan. So hopefully we'll bring the numbers down. Now the negotiations are left with this last issue, and if this issue is resolved, then the two countries will sign an agreement immediately. "Bei Shou is like-minded.

"Well," Yang Rui agreed, his mind was not here, he only asked: "Why did the Japanese agree to fight us one-to-one with this aircraft carrier, and it stands to reason that they should be restricted?" ”

"Sir, the Intelligence Bureau reported that Japan bought more than 20 torpedo bombers last year and went back to conduct air defense tests, and the Military Command Department came to the conclusion that if dense anti-aircraft fire was placed on both sides of the ship, the losses of the torpedo bombers would be minimized, and in particular, the killing effect of large-caliber machine guns would be amazing." Bei Shou is the same way. "I think the Japanese have done experiments and think that aircraft carriers are just an immature technology, and after a comprehensive response, the decisive naval battle can only be solved by battleships."

"Is that so?" Yang Rui muttered. Only then did I remember that the Japanese had never seen a dive bomber, and once the horsepower of such an aircraft was large enough to carry 500 kilograms of bombs, then the end of the battleship would come -- compared with the torpedo bomber, which had to be at low speed and low altitude in order to effectively drop torpedoes, and the dive bomber with a high hit rate was the battleship's killer, but the Japanese did not know about this kind of aircraft.

"On the submarines we can make concessions, in five years the fleet will be reduced to a hundred, in ten years it will be seventy-five, if this is not agreed, then there is no way." Yang Rui said.

"Prime Minister, this ......" Wen Shude's face changed greatly, but because of Yang Rui's majesty, he couldn't hold back what he wanted to say.

"It's nothing." Yang Rui said very indifferently. "The tonnage of submarines is only a few hundred tons, and the submarines will be bigger and bigger, the displacement of four or five thousand tons is very normal, and I don't know how much it will cost to seventy-five submarines, I think that in twenty years, the scale of submarines will still be controlled at thirty, and it is better to not exceed fifty. Besides, what's the use of having more submarines, after all, it won't be on the table. I want an aircraft carrier, can we build it now? If we can't build it now, it's very likely that we won't have a chance to build it in the future, and if we don't make concessions to Japan, where are we going to build it? ”

Hearing Yang Rui's voice, Wen Shude immediately lowered his head, he fully knew what the original intention of the negotiation was, that is, to build a few more big ships while the great powers were still in the European war, once the war ended, the great powers were likely to interfere in the construction of ships. Wen Shude didn't know if there was a spectrum in this matter. But the above thinks that this thing is true, and he can only admit it.

"Sir. What if the Japanese still don't budge? Bei Shou, who understands Yang Rui's thoughts better.

"Still not budging? If you don't give in, the negotiations will be nullified. Yang Rui said. I can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, and I blindly make too many concessions to Japan. He's going to get an inch. In this naval negotiation, we took the initiative to find restrictions for ourselves, and Japan is so ignorant, what do we have to regret. ”

Yang Rui's words are talking about interest rates, but his heart is sour. If we don't sort out the tonnage of the navy and other matters with Japan now, it will be difficult to order a new aircraft carrier. The sketches of the new aircraft carrier on the side of the Navy Design Bureau have been drawn, and they are waiting to negotiate with Japan and place an order, and the matter will drag on, and I really don't know when the construction of this aircraft carrier will begin.

Yang Rui sent Bei Shoutong away, still thinking about the aircraft carrier. Originally, he wanted to talk to Xu Huafeng, but last month, the Ministry of Industry just submitted a report, saying that it was really unsure that the Nanjing Shipyard would build a large warship. At present, the specific method is to first imitate a 6,000-ton cruiser to try its hand, and then to imitate a dreadnought of more than 10,000 tons, and then to build an aircraft carrier of about 25,000 tons. The first two steps take a minimum of four years; Not to mention the armor, I am afraid that large-caliber naval guns can only be purchased from outside, which cannot be solved in just four or five years.

The third step is to build a 25,000-ton aircraft carrier, because there is no specific reference, and the best way is to build one by other technologically mature shipyards. After the Nanjing shipyard was built, it built another one at home according to the drawings and experience, and after the aircraft carrier was built and put into service, it summarized the advantages and disadvantages of the order and imitation. Then build new ships, and just step by step, gradually from imitation to self-construction.

That's it. Without ten years, it will be difficult to thoroughly understand the construction technology of large-tonnage warships. But Yang Rui believes that China does not have ten years. The Washington Naval Conference will be held in the 10th year of Shenwu, six years before now; And that six-thousand-ton cruiser will be launched in the middle of the year. Therefore, the ship-building path has removed the step of more than 10,000-ton dreadnoughts, and it is planned to order two 20,000-50,000-ton aircraft carriers from Japan this year, and two years later, the Nanjing Shipyard will build one or two more by itself.

In this way, before the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty, the Chinese Navy had five aircraft carriers, one super-dreadnought, and the others were a long list of cruisers, destroyers, submarines, and auxiliary ships under 10,000 tons. According to the provisions of the Washington Naval Agreement, the tonnage of the capital ship is about 150,000 tons. At this point, especially the eyebrows between China and Japan, Yang Rui can expect that in the Washington naval negotiations, even if China has a fait accompli, the tonnage it can get will not be much better than that of France.

It is precisely because of this that he wants to build all the warships before the Washington Treaty, and when the time comes, he will negotiate and act at the opportune time, and if he can get one or two more capital ships, then he will get one or two, and if not, then he will get some supplementary tonnage to facilitate later refits. As for the technical problems brought about by building ships ahead of schedule, this can only be changed slowly later, and there is no way to spend more money for this, and the key is to use a fait accompli to make the European and American first-class people recognize the existing tonnage of the Chinese Navy. Moreover, according to the treaty, the capital ships can be replaced after 20 years of service, which means that all of these capital ships can be replaced with new ships before World War II. It's just that, under the butterfly effect, will the future continue according to the previous trajectory?

The owner of the Yin'an Palace thinks about the future, and the owner of the Tingwei Mansion thinks about the present. In the Tingwei Mansion in Gaobei Hutong, Tingwei Lord Wu Tingfang was worried: Although the Prime Minister's Office avoided the legal obstacles to land reform by amending the constitution last year, in less than four months, in less than four months, more than 1,200 counties across the country that have carried out land reform, except for the Liaodong region in northeast China, Yizhou, Yanzhou, and other revolutionary base areas of the Fuxing Society, have seen many riots, rebellions, and criminal offenses, with more than 5,000 people killed, more than 50,000 'criminal suspects' arrested in the case, and more than 200,000 forced immigrants.

As China's first doctor of law, Wu Tingfang, who intends to dedicate his life to the construction of China's legal system like Shen Jiaben, is helpless in the face of such a tragic situation. In his opinion, the law was supposed to protect citizens, but now, the law is like a **, which is distorted, and the rich use it to help their classmates, fellow villagers, relatives and friends; The poor use it to rob the rich and help the poor, and to rob people of their wealth, the original intent of the law has disappeared.

In such a situation, Wu Tingfang couldn't find a way to crack it. The former, such as Zhang Yuanji in Shanghai, is entrusted by his relatives. Because of his feelings, he had to save Wu Zhihui, while Yang Yinhang and Wang Chonghui were invited by their teachers. I had to find a way to make this happen. This is absolutely impossible from a legal point of view, but from the perspective of thousands of years of tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education. Again, this is commendable. This is also why these three people were tried, and public opinion was all sympathetic and praised.

In the latter, in order to achieve the goal of Juntian, the Revival Society actually used the constitution to circumvent the law. As soon as this evil example is opened, if you want to confiscate the property, gold and silver of the people's family, you can also achieve the mission by amending the constitution. China's representative system is inherently wrong, and it was deliberately mistaken by the Revival Society in order to take power. According to the practice of Western countries. A person who has the right to vote and to stand for election must have a fixed property and a certain income. As the saying goes, those who have constant property have perseverance, and those tenants who have nothing and only a few mouths left in their families in order to be fed, what should they not approve of? Even if the Revival Society wants to confiscate all the property of the landed people in the world, they will also raise their hands in favor, anyway, they have nothing, as long as it is beneficial to themselves, why can't they agree?

The propertied are close to each other, and the proletarians rob the rich and help the poor, and this is the legal status quo in China. Before succeeding Shen Jiaben. Wu Tingfang did not expect that the road to the legal system would be so difficult. Now, in the face of this situation, he has nothing to do, because many times when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he will think of Shen Jiaben, if he is there. And what will be done?

'Peel... Peel... The knock on the door of the ...... woke up Wu Tingfang, who was worried, and the Supreme Justices Xu Shiying and Dong Kang were standing at the open door, looking at him with a somewhat confused expression. The old man coughed. Wu Tingfang said: "Come in, how is the case in Shanghai?" ”

"The trial of the Shanghai case was only completed in the morning...... Xu Shiying has been in charge of the Shanghai case. Because there are so many judges who have recused themselves from this case, the matter has dragged on until today. "Zhang Yuanji was punished concurrently for the crime of offering bribes and obstructing judicial fairness. sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment; Yang Yinhang and Wang Chonghui were sentenced to 10 years in prison for dereliction of duty; Cai Yin, a judge of the Dali Temple in Shanghai in the original case, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for dereliction of duty and accepting bribes. ”

Xu Shiying read the verdict in one breath, his tone was relieved, and he said: "Zhang Yuanji has influence in the academic circles, the press circles, and even the military circles, and he is the former dynasty Hanlin, so the second-instance verdict came out, if it wasn't for the protection of the army, the Dali Temple in Shanghai would have been almost demolished by those people." A few days before the trial, the judge presiding over the case pleaded with me, asking that I be transferred to the north or west, either to the Western Regions or Heilongjiang, and that I should no longer stay in Guannai anyway. ”

"Then tune it up." Wu Tingfang sighed in his heart, he knew that this must be the result after the trial of the case, so he specially invited the local garrison to protect Dali Temple, but this could only be protected for a while, not for a lifetime.

"My lord, there is one more thing." Dong Kang said on the side, "Liang Qichao and others of the Constitutional Protection Party gathered more than 100 landless landlords in Shanghai and handed over the letter to the Dali Temple in Shanghai. They believe that the government has compensated for the unfair land price, and that most of the acres of land that have been confiscated by the land reform yamen have only made up about 30% of the land price......"

"If you don't make up 30% of the land price, the Yin'an Palace will go bankrupt, isn't there enough of him Liang Qichao who is disgusted with death?" Although he is a fellow villager, Wu Tingfang does not have much affection for Liang Qichao, especially now, provoking a lawsuit with land reform, which is obviously for the interests of the party. In the former Qing Dynasty, there was a dispute between the blue vote party and the white vote party, but the dispute was only about ethics, and it was still polite in private; But now, the two small parties in the country, the people and the Constitution, are doing everything they can to get votes, and one generation is really not as good as the next.

"My lord, according to the judicial procedure, the Dali Temple in Shanghai has received the case. Liang Qichao and others hired the British firm Gao Yi Law Firm in the Shanghai Concession as the plaintiff's lawyer. Looking at the situation handed over, they do not want to make a fuss about the legality of land reform, but look for loopholes in the verification price of cultivated land, compensation methods, and interest payment. These are not explicitly stated in the Constitution, and are only specified in the regulations of the Land Reform Law. Dong Kang said. From this point of view, they have a good chance of winning the case. ”

"yes, I see." Wu Tingfang nodded numbly, he felt that once this matter was not handled well, the Yin'an Palace would take a risk, and the judicial construction would be abandoned halfway. At present, Xu Qian, the supreme justice of the pro-revival association, and others have been preaching everywhere the need for judicial partisanization. If that's the case, this Dali Temple will really become a listed green building. At that time, whether a case is sentenced or not, whether the death penalty is or a living sentence, it is nothing more than a phone call and a letter of worship from the Yin'an Palace, and this justice has returned to the former Qing Dynasty, but it is just that the Manchurians have been replaced by the Revival Society.

After a slight pause, Wu Tingfang said, "Winning or losing the case is not something we have to care about, what we can do and do is to make a fair trial based on the original intent of the law and the existing provisions." Wu Tingfang stopped talking for a while, and finally said, "You guys go down." (To be continued......)