133 Collapse (21)

On October 23, 1915, the 21st day since the establishment of Sun Yat-sen's Provisional Government of the Chinese Republic, Wang Jingwei rushed into the "Presidential Palace." Sun Yat-sen was talking to his Japanese wife, Otsuki Kaoru. At this time, Otsuki Kaoru was already pregnant with their second child.

Seeing Wang Jingwei rush in, Otsuki Kaoru held her belly and stood up to greet Wang Jingwei first, then withdrew.

"President, the large group of Japanese prisoners released by the People's Party has arrived outside the city." Wang Jingwei looked anxious and said straight to the point.

Sun Yat-sen showed no surprise; he simply asked, "Is that so?"

Wang Jingwei didn't have such good self-control. He immediately said, "President, although we don't know if what the People's Party said in the leaflets is true or not, judging by now, they may not really be lying. Now the People's Party has likely surrounded Fengtian, and it's impossible for the Japanese 19th Division to fly out."

"So what?" Sun Yat-sen still replied calmly.

This time Wang Jingwei saw it a bit; Sun Yat-sen's expression might not be calmness, but rather a meaning of smashing a cracked pot.

"President, how about we sound out the Japanese and ask if we can go to Tianjin first according to the plan?" Wang Jingwei said. This was Sun Yat-sen's original plan. After Japan occupied the Northeast, Sun Yat-sen would go first to Tianjin, which was still under the control of the Beiyang remnants, to obtain recognition from as many countries as possible. As long as all countries admitted that the Sun Yat-sen government was the legal government of China, Sun Yat-sen could use this name to demand that the southern Beiyang Army and the Shanxi Beiyang Army, which still existed, fall under Sun Yat-sen's banner.

Sun Yat-sen had always attached great importance to the matter of foreign support. In private, Sun Yat-sen had also told Wang Jingwei and others that even if many conditions were promised to foreign countries now, once Sun Yat-sen became the real President of China, couldn't the parliament deny these treaties? Foreign governments were all parliamentary systems, and they had to respect China's public opinion no matter what. So Sun Yat-sen felt that his biggest problem currently was that he couldn't become the real President of China. Therefore, many means could not be implemented at all. So no matter what difficulties and obstacles he had to go through, Sun Yat-sen's primary task was first to be recognized by various countries as the President.

However, the situation changed so fast that Sun Yat-sen really hadn't expected it. The Japanese army, once thought invincible in the Far East, suffered heavy blows one after another. After the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army built an airfield in the Panjin area, they began to drop leaflets on Shenyang. The Japanese 20th Division was annihilated, and the Yalu River Bridge was blockaded. These bad news came one after another.

The Japanese army originally didn't allow Sun Yat-sen and others to intervene in the slightest. When Sun Yat-sen sent someone to ask about the whereabouts of the 20th Division, the Japanese side answered coldly: "The 20th Division has now arrived in Korea."

However, the People's Party's leaflets announced that because the People's Party had no capacity to accommodate them, the wounded soldiers of the 20th Division would be released on October 20. Japan immediately implemented a comprehensive blockade of the entire Fengtian. Wang Jingwei had managed to get a little news with great difficulty. This news precisely proved that the wounded soldiers of the Japanese 20th Division had really arrived in Fengtian.

Hearing Wang Jingwei's suggestion to sound them out, Sun Yat-sen's face finally changed. After a long while, he said, "We must trust our friendly nation! They need our support now."

Hearing this, Wang Jingwei really didn't know what to say. Logically speaking, this was not a wrong choice. But at this time, if Sun Yat-sen had said he wanted to find a way to safeguard his own interests first, perhaps Wang Jingwei would have felt happier.

"Mr. Sun, what if the Japanese army really fails?" Wang Jingwei asked.

"Do you believe the Japanese army will fail?" Sun Yat-sen asked back. "They haven't used all their strength yet. When I negotiated with Japan, the Japanese army said they would send ten divisions to China. Under the current situation, they will soon send more troops to come to China to fight the People's Party. At that time, Jingwei, do you still believe the People's Party can be like now?"

Hearing this inside information, Wang Jingwei suddenly felt the thousand-jin burden in his heart completely lifted, but what immediately replaced this emotion in his heart was a kind of jealousy. Wang Jingwei was indeed among the representatives negotiating with Japan. However, the ones who truly conducted the core negotiations were Sun Yat-sen and Chen Qimei. These secret messages were also only known to Sun Yat-sen and Chen Qimei.

"No wonder Chen Qimei has had no reaction all along!" Wang Jingwei thought in his heart.

After the previously most concerning problem was solved, a new problem popped up. Wang Jingwei asked: "When will Japan's reinforcements arrive?"

"Only the Japanese know this. It's useless for us to be anxious," Sun Yat-sen replied.

The Japanese headquarters in the Northeast was indeed anxious about this matter. In the original campaign design, Japan originally wanted to suddenly kill into Northeast China, eliminate Zhang Zuolin and other Northeast forces, and prop up Sun Yat-sen's government. Militarily, they would march into Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan to block the People's Party's road north. After surviving this winter, Japan could calmly arrange troops to completely control Northeast China with Mantetsu's economic support.

This wishful thinking was disrupted by the swift action of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. The Fengtian Army's Zhang Zuolin occupied Changchun. Although not much of a threat, this military force that should have been eliminated in the plan still existed. Now, not only was the entire infantry of the 20th Division lost due to underestimating the enemy, but the Yalu River Bridge was also blown up. The news brought by the damage assessment department was that to fully repair it, it would take at least four months. Next, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army began to purge Mantetsu with brutal means. This was the truly fatal blow to the Japanese army occupying Fengtian. After losing Mantetsu, the Japanese army could no longer implement railway maneuvers, and the Japanese army's intelligence sources were also dug out. If the People's Party was a newcomer outsider, the Japanese army in Fengtian now was not much better than the People's Party.

Now the People's Party released several thousand wounded soldiers of the 20th Division. On the surface, it was full of humanitarianism, but in reality, it was a greater poison scheme. It was already late October, and the weather was quite cold. With these several thousand Japanese wounded suddenly appearing in Fengtian City, for the Japanese army which relied completely on animals for long-distance transport, this was an unbearable logistical pressure. The current Japanese army was not the Japanese army of World War II; they really couldn't bring themselves to force the wounded to die.

Besides hurriedly sending people to get the wounded into Fengtian City first, the Fengtian Japanese army also couldn't care about face and kept sending messages to Japan domestically, asking the Japanese Army Ministry to hurriedly send more troops to the Northeast.

At this time, the Japanese Army Ministry was also going crazy. Katsura Taro had managed to incite domestic sentiment for war against China with great difficulty. Now, except for the cavalry units left in Korea, the infantry units of the 20th Division were completely wiped out. The 19th Division couldn't move in Fengtian. Korea was also completely empty, and the original plan went completely out of shape right from the start. Japan had indeed told Sun Yat-sen that it would send ten divisions to Northeast China. But the purpose of saying this to Sun Yat-sen was actually to scare Sun Yat-sen so that he wouldn't have any disloyal thoughts.

Now Japan didn't have the ability to swallow China in one bite, not to mention that Britain wouldn't agree at all. Japan's plan was also to let the Sun Yat-sen government get recognition from various countries first, and then support Sun Yat-sen to become the real ruler of China as much as possible. At that time, Japan, having contributed greatly, could naturally get benefits in the Northeast. As for what treaties Sun Yat-sen signed with other countries, as long as they didn't damage Japan's interests, Japan had no interest in paying attention.

In the current situation, Fengtian was in imminent danger. If the Sun Yat-sen government was finished off by the People's Party together with the Japanese army in the Northeast, Japan's loss would be great. They had lost to the People's Party once in Shandong. If they lost again in the Northeast, with the virtue of Britain and France, let alone the European war going on now, even if the war ended, and the People's Party and Japan went to war in Korea, Britain and France might not be willing to lend money to Japan again. Without borrowed military funds, what would Japan use to fight?

Originally, Katsura Taro looked down on Takahashi Korekiyo, who came from a lowly background. The Japanese army was invincible, and the biggest contradiction was the issue of the Army Ministry and the Navy Ministry fighting for credit. Now, facing a tough opponent and Japan showing signs of defeat, Katsura Taro suddenly completely understood what kind of amazing achievement Takahashi Korekiyo had actually accomplished during the Russo-Japanese War.

Sending ten divisions to Northeast China was completely impossible. After emergency mobilization, Japan could only send three divisions to Korea first. After the Yalu River Bridge was blown up, the Japanese army needed to use ships to cross the river. For three divisions of forty to fifty thousand men, relying on transport ships to cross the river would take several days, and reorganization after crossing would take a few more days. According to the Northeast meteorological data collected by Mantetsu, the first snow of the Northeast would likely have fallen by then.

If the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's troops in the Northeast couldn't be thoroughly eliminated in the short term, then the Japanese army would have to conduct war in the Northeast's snow that could reach over a meter deep! With continuous low temperatures and severe cold for four or five months, to put it extremely, even a cut on a finger could kill a person. Fighting in such weather, wasn't that bullshit!

"These incompetent things!" Thinking of the Japanese Army's ugly state, Katsura Taro slapped the tatami while cursing loudly in anger.

The Army generals in front of Katsura Taro listened to Katsura Taro's angry curses with shy and awkward expressions on their faces. If the people opposite were from the Navy Ministry, the Army Ministry could treat it easily and even use the insult as an excuse to fight directly with the other side. Katsura Taro was one of their own; the Army Ministry generals didn't even have a reason to unite and resist his scolding. Most of these Army Ministry generals had participated in the First Sino-Japanese War. They really thought the Chinese army was vulnerable before the Japanese army. Facts also proved this idea; Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian Army indeed collapsed at the first touch when facing the Japanese army.

Even for the People's Party, the anomaly among Chinese, the Japanese Army Ministry thought the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army just took advantage of the geography in Shandong. They absolutely never expected that even in the Northeast, the Japanese army would still be vulnerable before the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Actually, quite a few Japanese generals discussed privately whether the reason these anomalous Chinese of the People's Party could rise was that the combat effectiveness of the northern Chinese armies was far lower than that of the southern armies. If evaluating the People's Party alone, perhaps this conclusion could be reached. But the Japanese generals had to face a paradox: when the Beiyang Army fought into Zhejiang, it was a complete victory all the way. They didn't encounter any real resistance at all. From this perspective, the south might not be stronger than the north. In addition, what annihilated the Japanese army was the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's Shandong troops. Compared to the south, Shandong could be considered the north. So the "Anhui Special Theory," "Hubei Special Theory," and even "Shandong Special Theory" regarding China came out one after another. The Japanese Army could be considered united when facing the Navy. But within the Army itself, factions stood in great numbers, and regional concepts were extremely strong. The contradiction between Kanto and Kansai was the biggest problem.

The Japanese Army Ministry of 1915 naturally didn't know that for a country as small as a fart like Japan, by 2015, 100 years later, the voltage of the power grids in Kanto and Kansai would actually be different.

However, at this time, the Army Ministry generals had two things to do. The first thing was to shirk responsibilities related to themselves, and the second was to consider how to solve the immediate problem. So in front of Katsura Taro, the generals of the Army Ministry quickly argued the military contradiction of sending troops into a factional contradiction, and from a factional contradiction into a regional contradiction.

Looking at this bunch of disappointing things, Katsura Taro had to slap the tatami fiercely again and roar: "You all shut up!"

Finally, under Katsura Taro's restraint, the Army Ministry somehow reached a consensus on sending three army divisions first to stabilize the Northeast war situation. But the Army Ministry generals demanded that Katsura Taro fight for conditions from the Diet to expand the army by at least six divisions. These generals of the Army Ministry believed that this war with the People's Party would not end in a short time. If they wanted to achieve the strategy of dominating Asia, the Army needed at least 26 divisions, or at least maintain a standing army of over a million.

Katsura Taro was the leader of the Army Ministry, but he was not the Emperor of the Army Ministry. His status was obtained due to the consistency of political views and interest groups. The Army Ministry's hope to expand the establishment was not a matter of one or two days, and he couldn't refuse these requests. As a last resort, he went privately to the official residence of the current Prime Minister, Takahashi Korekiyo, for a private visit.

Hearing Katsura Taro's request, Takahashi Korekiyo didn't immediately express agreement or opposition. After becoming this Prime Minister, Takahashi Korekiyo contacted more upper levels and witnessed the internal factional struggles dominating Japanese politics from a closer angle. He used to think that pulling together in times of trouble was the kingly way and was very disgusted with party struggles and political struggles. Now Takahashi Korekiyo didn't think so. Speaking from the heart, whether it was Katsura Taro or Saionji Kinmochi, what they wanted to achieve was a powerful Japan, a Japan full of future. The struggle between the Navy faction and the Army faction had traditional reasons, reasons of factional interests, and even reasons of personal likes and dislikes. But in the final analysis, it was all because Japan's current poor and weak national strength was not enough to support the ambitions of these Japanese political bigwigs. From this perspective, there was no difference between Katsura Taro and Saionji Kinmochi.

"Mr. Katsura, it's not that I can't agree to this request," Takahashi Korekiyo finally said.

Hearing this reply, Katsura Taro was startled. Takahashi Korekiyo, as the Prime Minister elected by the Navy Ministry, turning to support the Army Ministry's request—it felt very strange no matter how he heard it. Katsura Taro felt that Takahashi Korekiyo had some special demand. He answered seriously: "Then what request does Takahashi-kun have?"

"If I agree to Mr. Katsura's request, can you guarantee that the Great Japanese Empire can achieve victory no matter what and seize the benefits you mentioned?" Takahashi Korekiyo asked. After saying this, he felt the need to supplement, so he continued: "I mean if I satisfy the request you just proposed. And then you don't propose any new supplementary requests during the execution process."

Katsura Taro was stunned. Katsura Taro knew that the condition Takahashi Korekiyo stated was absolutely impossible for him to achieve. If he could achieve it, war bonds wouldn't have been issued several times during the Russo-Japanese War. Although the generals of the Army Ministry thumped their chests and said that if they could have this and that, the Army would be able to do this and that. But Katsura Taro himself didn't believe such words. If the words of the Army Ministry generals really counted, Qingdao would have been taken long ago, and Northeast China would have been occupied long ago.

Looking at Katsura Taro's hesitant expression, Takahashi Korekiyo said: "Mr. Katsura, now the Navy and the Army have reached a consistent attitude on fighting the People's Party. But Japan's national strength can only support to this extent. If I satisfy your request, we can hold on in the short term. But once the operation fails, we will all face a result."

Speaking of this, Takahashi Korekiyo paused for a moment. He looked at Katsura Taro seriously, and then said word by word: "That result is the complete collapse of the Great Japanese Empire."