Chapter 215 Decision

When the Japanese Expeditionary Force landed on Shikoku Island, it happened to be the third time that Roosevelt made a request for "commission" to the Chinese ambassador to the United States. In fact, some British and even Russians tried to end the Sino-Japanese war through various means - some in private.

"The Japanese policy is to face the peace conditions aimed at the destruction of the Japanese peace, so I will stick to the last person, but if we learn that China can rationally put forward the appropriate peace conditions, we are very willing to start peace negotiations with China!"

During his second visit to the United States, Kentaro Kaneko, who visited Roosevelt, put forward the bottom line to his old classmates.

"These conditions are difficult for Chinese people to accept!"

Although Kaneko Kentaro is his friend and friend, Roosevelt has always adhered to an attitude that the weakened Japanese is the "beautiful Japanese". In his heart, he also believes that the Japanese is really "stupid" or extremely stupid to launch this war.

"You have to try it!"

Jinzi Jiantaro said helplessly. He also realized that there was no hope of winning, but the responsibility of the state forced him to make the last efforts to save the Japanese. This time, he came to the United States with him, not only him, but also two of them - the postal ship. Tsuda Shigeji and Takahashi, the representative of the transportation company in the United States, are Qing.

The former came to the United States to negotiate with American companies about using American merchant ships to send weapons to Japan, while the latter came to the United States to raise war funds for Japan, especially to persuade those Jewish financiers to support Japan, while reminding them that if Japan was defeated, what would happen to their previous investments.

When Jinzi Jiantaro held talks with Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., the latter two held a series of secret meetings with the shipping and financial communities of the United States, and did their best to convince them that it was still possible to win the war. Although everyone knew that their promise was just a lie, but In the end, they still got some support, especially some of the financiers who were not happy to lose to the last pair of trousers because they bought a huge amount of Japanese bonds.

So, when Kaneko Kentaro held talks with Roosevelt in Washington, Washington, those businessmen who were driven by interests racked their brains to help me contact the dignitaries of the House of Representatives in Congress, hoping that they would play a role in the mediation of the war between China, and then, suddenly a piece of news came. Come here, the [***] team landed on Shikoku Island. This news is like thunder. The whole world was shocked. No country expected that the [***] team finally chose to land in Japan. Compared with shock, I'm afraid that no country can be more shocked than Japan, because I clearly realized that with China's landing, I'm losing the bargaining chip little by little.

In the face of the invasion of the mainland, foreigners were surprised to find that, although on the surface, all the newspapers were there saying, "This war is a country forced to defend itself for its own survival. It is said that the people are determined to take the royal family that has been handed down from generation to generation for 2,500 years as the center. Men, women and children are united to fight to the last person!"

But in fact, on the other side, the inflation after the war in Russia, the people have been burdened for decades for war and industry. At this time, the fiasco on the battlefield, the dangerous period when the mainland may be occupied at any time, and the pressure on life, they are with a kind of disloyalty. I am eager to end everything in my heart.

On the garden stone path tightly surrounded by the breath of early spring, Emperor Meiji was walking slowly in a distraught mood at this time. The dazzling sun hanging in the sky made people around uneasily restless. Although Jiaoyang was fierce, he failed to melt the cloud in the heart of the emperor who pioneered the Meiji era and led the powerful country.

Since the declaration of war, Japan has almost lost 30 years since the founding of the country, several generations of people have worked hard and sacrificed everything, just like a dream, defeated! It's not just failure! It is a complete failure, and it is possible to pay for it at any time, and this price is at the cost of the subjugation of the country.

Although his heart is deep, Meiji is unwilling to admit this reality, but now he has to face such a fact.

Since the [***] team landed on Shikoku Island and repeatedly occupied cities that Meiji was not familiar with and had never even heard of, in Tokyo, in the palace, the cabinet held talks again and again, and the core of the talks was only one, whether to end the war!

To be precise, how to end this war.

"Either end the war or subjug the country!"

Now, with the Chinese Marines occupying Tsushima Island, which has almost no military defense, more than 50 small warships, including torpedo boats, have been put into the Tsushima Strait to prevent the infiltration of the North Korean army and returning home, while the invasion of the Chinese [***] team has no ability to counterattack at all.

How to end the war?

Do you really want the conditions for peace proposed by the Chinese people?

If you accept it, it means that you will not only lose North Korea, Ryukyu, South Sakhalin, these self-developed territories, but also Kyushu, the four countries, and one island after another.

Those are all Japanese territories!

More importantly, the greed of the Chinese people cannot be satisfied by this alone. They also ask for huge compensation that they are unable to pay at all. As soon as they accept these conditions, the whole Japanese is bound to fall into a state of extinction.

"I can only rely on those soldiers who have trained for one to two months to defend! But even so, they don't have enough weapons. In many new divisions, ten people use a rifle... The prices of the empire are rising, the people bear heavy taxes, and adult men are recruited into the army from factories and fields... The people have begun to despair... Armistice! Only a truce can save the empire! ...Stop the war! Your Majesty, in order to maintain the existence of Japan! Now we must end the war..."

Other people's warnings echoed in Meiji's mind. He knew that these were all facts, but another fact was that in order to end the war, in exchange for the survival of the Japanese, and then accepted the peace conditions of the Chinese people, would it still exist at that time?

"Roosevelt, maybe he is the only one who can stop the Chinese now. If we ask him, I believe he will make every effort on behalf of Japan."

In the face of the current crisis, Taro Katsu, as Prime Minister, once again put forward the hope that Roosevelt should come forward and put pressure on China.

"It should be made clear to the United States that if the United States cannot help Japan now, then there will be an unprecedentedly powerful China in Asia. At that time, China's threat to the United States will far exceed that of China, because in the future, China may become the enemy of the United States."

"The problem is not this!"

Foreign Minister Shoutaro Komura said directly.

"Now, the most fundamental reason is that the price proposed by the Chinese may be much higher than we think. If we want to end the war, we should at least be prepared to give up Korea, Ryukyu, the Four Kingdoms, South Kusahare Island and the Kuril Islands, and we need to pay 10 billion in compensation! And the conditions offered by the Chinese are still much higher than this!"

"Maybe we can talk about it!"

Kodama Gentaro spit out a sentence heavily, and then closed his eyes in pain.

"Are you going to give up the land of Japan?"

Zhengyi in the temple looked at Er Yu and asked angrily.

"In any case, we must start negotiations first. We must let the Chinese people stop at the four countries, instead of continuing to attack the state along the four countries. Other than that, we have no other way!"

Do you really want to give up a large area of land? Taro Katsura originally thought that the military would oppose it. Unexpectedly, Kodama's words silence Masayoshi Terauchi and others. "I don't know how long it will take to negotiate through Roosevelt, and this time, we all know that the conditions previously offered by the Chinese are superficially It's harsh. In fact, we want to block the possibility of peace with that condition. Let's negotiate directly with the Chinese!"

The haggard Kodama Gentaro said that this was the only possibility he came up with after thinking hard to end the war, at least the possibility of negotiating as soon as possible.

"Negotiate directly with China. How to talk about it? We are now in a state of war with China, and there is no way to negotiate at all!"

"Aren't their ambassadors under house arrest by us? Release their ambassadors! Then Prime Minister Gui, you go to talk to this ambassador in person. The Chinese have an alliance with Germany, and then tell China the news through the German embassy, which can show our sincerity!"

As a Chinese ambassador to Japan, in recent months, Cai Jun's son has been very difficult. After the declaration of war, he was placed under house arrest in the embassy with other embassy staff for the first week. A week later, the embassy's military officers and marines were sent to the prisoner of war camp, and as an ambassador, he and others The staff were sent to a valley in Japan for imprisonment. Every day, someone was responsible for the trial training of him and other staff. Their purpose was to obtain the secrets of the embassy. Fortunately, it was the people of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who were responsible for the trial training, and they did not execute everyone.

Similarly, Cai Jun was also glad that the confidential officer committed suicide on the day of the declaration of war. Only in this way could he keep the secrets he had, but Cai Jun, as an ambassador, had very limited secrets.

In Tokyo on May 5th, the streets are a little deserted. Only people lined up in front of the rice shop waiting to buy from the rice shop. The price of rice is rising every day or even every hour, but even so, not everyone can buy it. The rice shop also does not have enough rice, because the way to come was delayed until today. I just arrived in Tokyo.

That night, Cai Jun, who was suddenly released, as in the past, took several embassy staff to walk and enjoy the cherry blossoms in Ueno Park in Tokyo with a calm expression. Of course, it was carried out under the supervision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several policemen. For Cai Jun, the reason why he was suddenly However, after the release, I chose to take a walk in Ueno Park to enjoy the cherry blossoms. The most important reason is to figure out why I suddenly released everyone.

Cai Jun and his five people, after a walk around in Ueno Park, looked at the cherry blossom viewing person, Cai Jun realized some problems, "There are only some women!"

"There are still some old people!"

"Teenage boys are also rare!"

When his subordinates expressed their opinions, Cai Jun smiled, "It seems that I let us go because they lost the battle!"

"Losing the battle?"

"It's more than defeat! It's just a big defeat! If that's right, they want to make peace with us, so they let us out!"

And pretended to be very happy after enjoying the cherry blossoms. After leaving Ueno Park, Cai Jun, accompanied by officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, walked into the European-style building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will hold a meeting with Shotaro Komura here today.

"Fortunately, we still have room for manoeuvre in this war!"

Shoutaro Komura said very cordially that he had apologized to the Chinese ambassador in front of him as a foreign minister before, and he also assured him that his people sincerely hoped to establish friendly relations with China.

For Shoutaro Komura's words, Cai Jun just sneered in his heart while maintaining a certain alert. At this time, facing the room for Shotaro Komura's words, Cai Jun said.

"I think the roundabout in your mouth should reach a consensus with China's political axe, and now, Cai is just a prisoner!"

When he spoke, Cai Jun didn't show a trace of expression on his face. Those who said that his guards were so rigorous that he couldn't get any further information at all. How far the war has progressed? He said that the purpose of releasing himself was to show goodwill to China, or did he have any other requests?

In the face of Cai Jun's words, Shoutaro Komura just opened his mouth and said.

"I hope that I can improve relations with China, stop the war, and restore a relationship of trust and cooperation with each other. In the future, China, as the leader of Asian yellow people, will protect Asia from the slavery of Westerners, and I was willing to give full play to my actions in this process and fully cooperate with China. "

Although Shoutaro Komura did not show too much information, Cai Jun still realized from his words that perhaps the situation in this war was worse than he thought. Otherwise, with his surname, Xiaocun would never say such soft words. They could say such words, only One possibility is to be subdued on the battlefield!

After a moment of meditation, Cai Jun answered directly.

"The Chinese Empire has always pursued a peace policy. China's distrust of Japan is based on Japan's many belligerent actions and [***] emotions in the past. Before I was imprisoned by your country, China's foreign policy was peaceful. I believe that there has not been much change so far. We have no intention of seeking Asian leaders. It also has no intention to be an enemy of Westerners. For China, the most important thing now and in the future is to seek the development of the country!"

For Cai Jun's words, Shoutaro Komura just mocked in his heart that the Chinese are always like this. They will never say their true thoughts. If they have no intention of being an enemy of Westerners, how will they intervene in the Dutch East India? If they have no intention of seeking the status of Asian leaders, How can you get along with the Japanese... Although I think so in my heart, the small village still doesn't praise it on the surface. Now more and more people are beginning to understand China's attitude. It is said that the country is small. There is a saying in China that Ye Lang is arrogant, so he made some mistakes. For thousands of years, he has always regarded China as a teacher, and now he hopes to find a way to live in peace with China for a long time.

"Sir, is this your personal opinion?"

Cai Jun asked back. Although his heart was full of vigilance, Shoutaro Komura's weakness and compliments always made him some changes.

Shoutaro Komura immediately replied:

"What I want to tell you is that what I just said reflects not only the attitude of the people, but also the attitude of the people. Now, we are willing to start negotiations with your country, but your country has cut off the channels of communication between the two countries. Therefore, we hope that your Excellency the Ambassador can play an important role in this process. Function."

"If you expect it, don't you have the United Kingdom and the United States?"

Cai Jun immediately interrupted him and said.

"We do not believe in the Westerners who enslaved Asians, Your Excellency Ambassador, as Asians, I believe that we can definitely sit down and solve the misunderstanding between China and Japan, so that the two countries can achieve true permanent peace and understanding between the two countries. In this case, the United States believes that by the West It is not appropriate to pass it on behalf of others.

After a moment of meditation, Cai Jun took a look at Shoutaro Komura in front of him and said.

"I need to think about this for a few days before I can answer! I hope you can understand!"

However, Cai Jun's words greatly encouraged Shoutaro Komura. He has been in contact with Chinese people more than once. Naturally, he knows that they are born cautious. Especially for these foreign personnel, they are very cautious and never dare to cross the minefield. Now the consideration is probably the best result!

"Of course! Ambassador, there were some misunderstandings between our two countries before, which led to some unhappiness in you. Therefore, I have prepared a room for you and your entourage at the State Guest House. You can think about it there,"

"I have some questions. I need to go to Nanjing..."

"At the right time, I think this problem can be solved!"

Shoutaro Komura's reply only made Cai Jun frown slightly. Obviously, he wanted to make a decision first, and then he could not get specific information.

After Cai Jun left the office, Shoutaro Komura immediately called the Prime Minister.

"The atmosphere of the talks is friendly, and Cai Jun's response is satisfactory. This conversation seems promising, and I believe it can play a certain role in future communication."

When leaving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, through the window of the carriage, Cai Jun accidentally saw that there seemed to be a barricade at the corner of the street. The appearance of the barricade only stunned him, and then immediately connected the attitude of the small village with the barricade in his heart.

"No wonder... No wonder the small village will..."

(to be continued)