134 Collapse (22)

"The Great Japanese Empire will collapse?" Katsura Taro stared at Takahashi Korekiyo with a sharp gaze, his eyes and expression filled with malice and anger. Takahashi Korekiyo's words were clearly implying that Katsura Taro's policy would be the chief culprit of the Great Japanese Empire's collapse. Even if Takahashi Korekiyo's attitude was mild and sincere, Katsura Taro would absolutely not ignore Takahashi Korekiyo's words just because of this bit of politeness.

Since Takahashi Korekiyo dared to say this, naturally he had no misgivings or fear. He continued in the same tone and intonation as before, "Mr. Katsura, your plan doesn't even need to fail completely. As long as your plan cannot be completed smoothly, the Great Japanese Empire's finances will collapse first. Even if this financial collapse doesn't spread rapidly to the army, the time the army can continue to complete the war objectives won't be much. It is even possible that the war situation appears excellent, but the army fails due to domestic problems."

No one had ever dared to describe such a situation so straightforwardly to Katsura Taro. The muscles on Katsura Taro's face twisted; that was the effect caused by gritting his teeth. A moment later, Katsura Taro squeezed words out through his teeth, "Then let the military thoroughly control the country."

For Katsura Taro's performance, Takahashi Korekiyo was not surprised at all. The military's tendency to want to go it alone had always been strong. "After the Meiji Restoration, wasn't it the military samurai class that controlled this country? And the result? In the end, didn't they hand over the problems to the parliament, the government, and party politics to handle because of various unsolvable problems? Mr. Katsura, I believe in the patriotism of you and the military, but first there is a country, and then there is an army to protect the country. Letting the army become the ruler of the country—this isn't a question of whether it works or not, but that such a situation is bound to fail."

After hearing these words, the little respect and appreciation Katsura Taro had before coming to see Takahashi Korekiyo had long flown to the nine heavens. He pointed at Takahashi Korekiyo, wanting to curse this former servant loudly. However, Katsura Taro felt this would be too easy on Takahashi Korekiyo, currently a baron member of the Imperial House of Peers. Finally, Katsura Taro let out a furious shout, "You unpatriotic scum!"

Facing the angry curse of the 67-year-old Katsura Taro, the 61-year-old Takahashi Korekiyo couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Mr. Katsura, it's not that I'm unwilling to support the war. As I see it now, if we don't overthrow China, our Great Japanese Empire has no future. However, this war allows no failure. If we fail, the efforts of our Great Japanese Empire over so many years will turn into bubbles. I am not unable to accept the request you proposed to expand the establishment and expand the war. But you also have to prove that this war will definitely be won!"

The two old men in their sixties stared at each other like this. In Katsura Taro's anger, there was a guilty conscience difficult to completely hide, while Takahashi Korekiyo sat upright in his seat calmly and open-heartedly. Comparing status, prestige, influence, and even age, Katsura Taro was above Takahashi Korekiyo, but at this moment, Takahashi Korekiyo completely held the upper hand.

After a long time, Katsura Taro finally returned to normal. He asked: "Then what kind of victory does Takahashi-kun hope to achieve?"

Takahashi Korekiyo said calmly: "Even if I support it, I have to see what kind of military plan you propose first."

These words were extremely blunt. Katsura Taro didn't ask more and got up to take his leave. Returning to his official residence, Katsura Taro immediately summoned the generals and officers of the Army Ministry, demanding they formulate a comprehensive plan to finally seize the Northeast. This wasn't too difficult a matter. The Japanese Army Ministry had long had various plans on how to thoroughly annex Northeast China, and the preparatory work for this plan had begun implementation since the victory of the Russo-Japanese War.

However, by October 30, 1915, perhaps due to overwork, or as some said, because Katsura Taro was extremely dissatisfied with the final plans presented by the Army Ministry several times and flew into a rage, Katsura Taro suddenly fell ill. He lasted until November 11, when the 67-year-old Katsura Taro passed away.

This variable shocked the entire Japanese political circle, especially the Japanese Army Ministry. Tokutomi Soho had said: "Although Yamagata Aritomo should be pushed as the first for the distinguished service of rebuilding the Imperial Army, regarding reforming the military system of the Imperial Army, rectifying administrative institutions, and strengthening the functions of the Army from 1885, through 1890 and 1891, the one with the most outstanding contributions should be Prince Katsura."

In the Katsura Taro era, facing factional disputes and establishment issues within the Japanese Army Ministry, Katsura Taro implemented drastic reforms. In 1912, he was recommended as a Field Marshal by the army leadership but was refused by Katsura Taro on the grounds that he was an "active politician rather than an active soldier." He was the true bigwig of the Army faction. Katsura Taro's death left the Army Ministry leaderless and in chaos for a time.

At the same time, the 18th Corps of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, far away in the Northeast, did not know that such a major event had happened in Japan. To exterminate the numerous Mantetsu strongholds within five or six hundred li vertically and horizontally, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had done its utmost. By mid-November, the extermination action came to a preliminary conclusion.

"Japan's reaction is too strange," Mu Husan raised this issue at the corps meeting. Actually, if the 18th Corps had attacked comprehensively, the extermination activities could have been completed by early November. But the 18th Corps had to monitor the Japanese army trapped in Shenyang on one hand, and guard against the sudden appearance of Japanese reinforcements on the other, so the troop dispatch efficiency wasn't high.

The comrades in the Corps Headquarters were also quite puzzled by this. If they had known earlier that Japan's reaction was so slow, the 18th Corps could have even gathered together with the 14th Corps to attack Shenyang. The Chief of Staff put forward a view: "Could it be that the Japanese are preparing to launch an attack in winter? Among the Mantetsu intelligence we captured, there is a lot of data on the Northeast's weather as well as cold protection and marching. Compared to the Japanese army, our preparations for wintering are obviously insufficient."

"Fighting in temperatures of minus thirty-something degrees? Small-scale surprise attacks can be considered, but for large-scale campaigns, unless there's a reason we absolutely must fight, this dead of winter is simply not the time for fighting." The Army Logistics Head had just finished receiving winter clothes. Hearing the Chief of Staff's words, he couldn't help but refute. The Military Commission had clearly decided to let the 18th Corps stay in the Panjin area this winter, so before winter, they began to transport a large amount of wintering equipment to the Northeast front line.

After conquering Hebei, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army encountered something that might be called lucky. One of the achievements of the Beiyang government was implementing commercial cotton planting in Hebei. And they also imported long-staple cotton seeds from the United States. After Hebei implemented land reform, to increase farmers' purchasing power, the Hebei Provincial Committee purchased Hebei's cotton in large quantities and opened multiple garment factories at the same time. The troops marching into the Northeast were still wearing summer clothes when they set out. At least before the temperature dropped to an irresistible level, rubber-soled leather boots lined with thick wool inside, long johns, knee pads, hats, wool headgear, wrist guards, thick socks, gloves, and cotton overcoats were transported up.

The Logistics Department was the last batch to change into this equipment. Those in the Logistics Department had to understand arithmetic knowledge, so most were comrades from the old base areas. Back in their hometowns, in November they would at most add an outer jacket over a single layer of clothes. How had they ever endured such bitter cold in the Northeast? Thinking of fighting under the bitter cold never seen before, he really couldn't help but voice his objection.

Although he didn't know if Japan would risk their lives to fight in the dead of winter, the Logistics Head couldn't help but add a sentence, "We Chinese are humans, Japanese are humans too."

Japan's recent military performance was really strange, and the comrades of the Staff Department also couldn't guess what the Japanese exactly wanted to do. Facing the Logistics Head's questioning, the Chief of Staff simply didn't answer.

All eyes then fell on Corps Commander Mu Husan and the Political Commissar. The Political Commissar looked somewhat low-spirited. Everyone couldn't guess what exactly happened, but the Political Commissar himself knew clearly. A few days ago, he and Mu Husan discussed work and had a dispute. The result was that the Political Commissar was lectured by Mu Husan, and the Political Commissar himself actually admitted that his own thinking indeed had problems.

Regarding the two Special Class Combat Heroes who blew up the Yalu River Bridge publicized this time, the troops didn't narrate how they didn't fear death, but placed the emphasis on "If the mission wasn't completed, the troops would suffer greater losses. So for these two combat heroes, the reason making them take such incomparably brave action wasn't to go to their deaths, but to complete the combat mission at all costs."

Some comrades in the troops also raised the point that it wasn't just these two comrades who completed combat missions regardless of life and death. Why were other comrades First Class Combat Heroes, while these two comrades obtained the title of Special Class Combat Heroes?

The troops' explanation for this was: "We entered battle to complete the combat mission. Those sacrificed comrades were indeed very brave. These two sacrificed Special Class Combat Heroes were not only brave but also completed the combat mission and blew up the Yalu River Bridge. This is why when evaluating merit, they are Special Class Combat Heroes, while other sacrificed comrades are First Class Combat Heroes."

The Political Commissar was somewhat troubled by this explanation. After all, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was a revolutionary army. Would this explanation appear too utilitarian?

Mu Husan was very disdainful of this kind of rather "petty bourgeois" view. In the training of middle and high-ranking commanders, Chen Ke's view on war execution had been narrated very bluntly: "No matter how war is beautified, from an extremely cold perspective, war is about how to let our personnel die most effectively! Since war is so cruel, we must let the soldiers understand the purpose of war even more. Everyone is a member of the army, and all commanders and fighters of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army are for achieving victory in war and other operations."

And the Political Commissar obviously hadn't figured this out on this matter. On the battlefield, there are sacrifices and survivors, victories or defeats. The only standard to judge a commander or fighter's contribution to the troops is whether they completed the combat mission. The purpose of the war machine is to win. Every commander and fighter is a member of this war machine and must complete their own task. There is absolutely no such thing as "earning credit for hard work even without achievement."

Fortunately, the Political Commissar's objection to this matter was only said to Mu Husan in private, and Mu Husan didn't intend to argue too much with the Political Commissar. After the Political Commissar expressed that his consideration angle had problems, Mu Husan didn't bring it up again. However, discovering that he had a relatively large error in understanding war was a blow to the Political Commissar's mood.

Mu Husan also couldn't guess what exactly the Japanese wanted to do. Based on the intelligence currently obtained by the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, if Japan still wanted to do something to the Northeast, they would inevitably risk the military taboo of using troops in winter. Even having obtained intelligence that Japan's domestic political struggle was fierce, with Mu Husan's cleverness, he couldn't imagine how this struggle would have a huge impact on military affairs. This couldn't be blamed on Mu Husan's lack of imagination. Since the Insurance Corps era, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had never experienced political interference in military affairs. All problems creating confusion were at most divergences on the specific execution of war on the front line. Even on the strategic level, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army always had clear strategic steps. Adjustments to the strategic process were all adjustments that had to be made in response to changes in external situations; there had never been a problem of strategic goals being unexecutable. So regarding this kind of internal strife, using "you can't talk to a summer insect about ice" to describe Mu Husan's ignorance of Japan's internal strife was perhaps very appropriate.

Seeing the comrades all looking at him, Mu Husan said: "Since the situation is unclear, we will persist in 'you fight yours, I fight mine.' Create an environment more favorable to us as much as possible before the battle."