Chapter 233 Compensation for defeat

Zhou Charter shook his head and sneered: "I'm glad that Mr. Ito can realize that the Japanese occupation of Liaodong and Shandong is illegal. However, the occupation of Ryukyu by the Chinese army is completely different. Because the Chinese army's occupation of Ryukyu is an important means to force the Japanese army to stop the war and a prerequisite for achieving peace! Zhang Jun captured Ryukyu and ended the war! If we don't do this, you will continue to fight the war of aggression! The Japanese army captured Shandong and Liaodong in order to expand the war! Mr. Ito, these two are incomparable!"

Hirofumi Ito is speechless, and Zhou Charter is right. During the First Sino-Japanese War, if the Japanese troops successfully captured Liaodong and Shandong, the war would never end, but would further expand to the whole of China. In the Second War, after Zhang Jun captured Ryukyu, he did not take advantage of the situation to attack the Japanese mainland, and the war ended. From this point, Zhang's occupation of Ryukyu did end the war, because under the circumstances, even if Nogi's troops were in a desperate situation in Tainan, the fanatical and stubborn Japanese military still refused to admit defeat, and they had to do everything possible to continue the war, and after Okinawa was lost, they could no longer find a cover. Play the fig leaf of failure!

At the beginning of the negotiations, Hirofumi Ito fell into a passive position. According to Zhou Charter, Zhang Jun's occupation of Ryukyu was inevitable and legal!

"All right!" Hirofumi Ito said demerically, "I agree with Governor Zhou's statement."

"Very well, I suggest that our consensus on Zhang Jun's occupation of Ryukyu today should be written into the joint statement. This is an important document. We should have an explanation for the victims of the war between China and Japan and our descendants."

Hirofumi Ito thought for a moment and said, "I agree, then, in the joint statement, we should write like this, because Zhang Jun captured Okinawa and its affiliated islands under Japanese jurisdiction in order to end the war as soon as possible." Hirofumi Ito has to admit Zhou Charter, but he still wants to emphasize that Japan has jurisdiction over Okinawa!

Zhou Charter nodded: "It's okay to write like this. It seems that we soon reached a consensus, which is a good start!"

Hirofumi Ito breathed a sigh of relief: "Well, we should now talk about the next ownership of Okinawa."

Zhou Charter nodded: "Excuse me, what is Japan's opinion?" Both sides are very clear that there is only one issue in this negotiation - the ownership of Okinawa.

Ito Hirobumi said: "A month ago, Governor Zhou proposed to the Southern Army Command the condition for Zhang's withdrawal from Okinawa, that is, 100 million taels of silver for defeat. Japan believes that 100 million taels of silver is too high. After this war, the Japanese economy has been hit hard and it is difficult to raise such a large amount of money. Therefore, we believe that 50 million taels of silver should be more appropriate for the defeat.

Zhou Charter sneered: "Prime Minister Ito, Japan's economy has been hit hard and has nothing to do with us. That's your own business! Moreover, you should know that according to international practice, the amount of compensation for defeat is not measured by the economic capacity of the defeated country, but by the damage caused by the defeated country to other countries! Is the damage caused by Japan to North Korea, Liaodong, Shandong and Taiwan only 50 million taels of silver? Millions of Chinese people have been displaced, hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians have lost their lives, and countless villages and towns have been razed to the ground. Let's calculate these accounts in detail. Prime Minister Ito, you should know what the number will be!"

Ito Hirofumi is silent. That number is not 100 million, but billions, tens of billions!

Shinsei Mitsushin said slowly, "General Zhou, Japan will bear the responsibility of the Second Sino-Japanese War, but Japan has reached an agreement with the Qing Dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War. Admiral Zhou, please note that the First Sino-Japanese War is not within the scope of this negotiation. The Okinawa issue is a legacy of the Second Sino-Japanese War and has nothing to do with the First Sino-Japanese War. Shenwei Guangchen said and took a look at Zhang Menghuan: "Lord Zhang, you should be very clear about the agreement reached between Japan and Qing on the First Sino-Japanese War."

Zhang Menghuan's face was a little embarrassed. In the late Sino-Japanese War, the Qing army won in the waters of Liaodong, Shandong and Miao Island. Under extremely favorable circumstances, the Qing court reached an agreement with Japan to stop Zhang Jun and jointly destroy the Zhou Charter. In order to use the Japanese to eliminate the Zhou Charter, the court signed An agreement has been signed to cede Taiwan's bereate power and humiliate the country! It was directed by the Empress Dowager Buddha. It's really shameful that Chinese people killed each other with the help of foreigners! However, in order to maintain the prestige of the court, this matter cannot be said.

Zhang Menghuan had to say, "Governor Zhou, the meaning of the court, this negotiation only involves matters related to the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Sino-Japanese War has been interrupted."

Zhou Charter looked at Zhang Menghuan, and Zhang Menghuan lowered his head in shame.

"Okay." Zhou Charter said, "Well, let's talk about the Second-Wei War. Yes, Zhang Jun occupied Ryukyu in the year of the Second Division. We also admit that Ryukyu is a legacy of the Second Division War.

It is the wit of Mitsutomi Shinbi to divide the Sino-Japanese War from the Second Sino-Japanese War to negotiate. Zhou Charter agreed with Shino Mitsumi's statement, which made Hirofumi Ito breathe a great sigh of relief. He looked at Shino Mitsumi with admiration and said, "Japan admits that Japan's launch of the Second Sino-Japanese War has caused considerable damage to Taiwan. Therefore, although Japan believes that the amount of 100 million taels of silver proposed by Governor Zhou is huge, Japan is willing to compensate Taiwan for 100 million consecutive silver in exchange for Zhang Jun's withdrawal from Okinawa.

In fact, the bottom line of Ito Hirofumi's negotiation is 100 million taels of silver, 5,000 taels of silver doesn't make sense, so Hirofumi Ito has to throw out the bottom line.

Zhou Charter shook his head: "100 million taels of silver? No, it's a billion taels of silver!"

Ito Hirofumi was shocked: "One billion? Governor Zhou, two months ago, your request was 100 million, but now it has become 1 billion. As far as I know, Governor Zhou is an honest person and should not go back on his way!"

Zhou Charter sneered: "Prime Minister Ito, two months ago, when Zhang Jun captured Penghu and surrounded Nomu Himian, we proposed a truce of 100 million taels of silver, which I do not deny. However, you did not give any answer to this armistice condition! In other words, you rejected our terms of armistice. Therefore, the defeat compensation of 100 million taels of silver proposed at that time will automatically expire! Prime Minister Ito, it was you who rejected our terms. How can we start from this?"

Ito Hirofumi was extremely depressed. At the beginning, those stupid and arrogant generals in the Hiroshima base camp did reject Zhou's proposal. They thought it was a great shame imposed on Japan by Zhang Jun. However, now, Japan has to bear a greater shame for this.

"So, what is the basis for increasing the repayment from 100 million to 1 billion?" Hirofumi Ito asked.

Nahawu shouted, "Mr. Ito, when we proposed 100 million taels of silver, we just occupied Penghu and surrounded the southern army. Now, we have occupied Ryukyu. As for the basis, Ryukyu is the basis! Mr. Ito, isn't Ryukyu worth a billion?"

The basis of Hawu is actually the robber logic. If I rob your things, you have to redeem your things with the corresponding value of money! However, in the world tide at the end of the 19th century, it was the time for robber logic to be very powerful. This is the logic of the Western powers towards China. This is also the logic that the Japanese followed in the First Sino-Japanese War. Now, Ha Wu has given this robber logic to Ito Hirofumi, and Ito Hirofumi can only admit it!

However, one billion taels of silver is completely unacceptable to Japan! Hirofumi Ito doesn't dare to make his own decision. When he left Japan, the emperor did not set a bottom line for him. All the emperor wanted was Okinawa, but even so, Hirofumi Ito did not dare to promise a huge sum of 1 billion taels of silver!

Kaomi Mitsutomi said, "General Zhou, I know that you know Japan very well. As early as in Tianjin Military Academy, you studied Japan's military and economy. You should know that Japan can't produce a billion taels of silver at all, which is equivalent to bankrupting all Japanese families, from nobles to ordinary civilians!" Kamio Mitsumi's tone suddenly became extremely tough: "Instead of this, Japan would rather fight with your army again, because even if it is defeated, the result is the same as compensating one billion silver. It's all about the destruction of the country!"

"Zhang Jun will not go to war with Japan!" Zhou Charter shook his head: "Even if you want to fight, you can't fight! Zhang Jun only needs to guard Ryukyu. Excuse me, you don't even have a navy. How can you attack Ryukyu? The problem is not in Zhang Jun or Okinawa, but the Western powers, especially the Russians, whose Far East fleet has appeared in the Kuril Islands. I think the biggest problem facing Japan is not Zhang Jun's occupation of Ryukyu, but the division of Japan by Western powers!"

"How can Japan give you all the money? Even if we get Okinawa, how can we resist the partition of Japan by the Western powers!" Hirofumi Ito said, "Governor Zhou, you are going to force Japan to a dead end!"

Zhou Charter smiled and said, "Maybe Japan, which is going to a dead end, can get a new life! Prime Minister Ito, you should know Phoenix Nirvana, right?

Ito Hirofumi was stunned: "Please make it clear."

Zhou Charter exhaled and said, "Well, I'll make our conditions clear. If Japan wants to get Ryukyu from Zhangjun, it must pay a compensation of 1 billion taels of silver, or, clearly, it is the redemption of Ryukyu! This money can't be less than a taels of silver! However, one billion taels of silver can be paid in three ways.

"Which three ways?"