Japan wanted very much to make a profit from providing labor to Europe, but Japan found itself really powerless. Even if they completely opposed the socialist set, fabricated various theories to explain or distort the facts, Japan could not deny the facts by its own will. Economic operation requires the input of labor; manpower is the most basic factor for human society to create wealth.

Compared with the population of more than 300 million controlled by the People's Party, Japan's population of more than 54 million was less than one-sixth of that in the People's Party's controlled area. And Japan's land area was less than one-tenth of the People's Party's controlled area. In order to repay debts, the maximum squeeze was also implemented on its own people. If the Japanese people could go without eating, the Japanese upper echelons wouldn't mind the population reaching a level equal to that of China.

Even facing heavy population pressure at present, the Japanese cabinet abandoned the idea of providing manpower support to Europe after discussion. Every laborer was very important to Japan. With Japan's current squeezing ability, Japanese labor staying in the homeland could enable the upper echelons to earn far more money than sending them out. Moreover, Japan still had Korea to squeeze. The Army Department had already put forward a request for the Japanese homeland to provide more landless people. These poor landless Japanese were sent to Korea. In addition to farming, they could also provide various military assistance. The comprehensive benefit was higher.

After analysis, the cabinet meeting unanimously agreed: "Troops and labor cannot be dispatched overseas."

After accepting this fact with extreme unwillingness in their hearts, Japan couldn't help but shift the topic to China again. Takahashi Korekiyo raised a question: "Why hasn't the People's Party killed Cai Yuanpei yet?"

This was a question the Japanese cabinet had discussed many times. However, those members of the cabinet who supported party politics did not understand the operation mode of the People's Party's one-party dominance, while those members of the cabinet who opposed party politics did not understand why the People's Party system adopted the mode of a political party. Therefore, the Japanese cabinet did not know why the People's Party went to great lengths on the Cai Yuanpei matter. They originally didn't care about Cai Yuanpei; it was entirely because the People's Party attached importance to Cai Yuanpei that the Japanese side paid attention to this matter, hoping to find opportunities beneficial to themselves in it.

But no matter how they discussed the behavior of the People's Party, it was difficult for Japan to come up with an interpretation. As for the formal statement of the People's Party, "Execute murderers, promote and implement the rule of law, learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, and cure the sickness to save the patient," the Japanese cabinet didn't believe it at all.

Seeing everyone looking at each other, Takahashi Korekiyo stopped wasting time and asked: "Have you contacted those Chinese who oppose killing Cai Yuanpei?"

This time it was the turn of the Army Department people to speak, "The people we sent tried their best to contact these people. After contacting our personnel, the attitude of these Chinese was very consistent. They don't want to have any contact with us Japanese. On the contrary, Duan Qirui's side proposed the idea of forming an alliance with us."

The cabinet was very disappointed with this; saying these words was like saying nothing. Duan Qirui definitely wanted to get any support, but Japan couldn't fly and really couldn't cross the vast People's Party controlled area to give Duan Qirui any help. Duan Qirui wanted Japan to intimidate the People's Party with military threats, which was precisely the promise Japan could least give.

External affairs were not going smoothly. The Japanese Foreign Minister said: "We received news that the Russian Provisional Government launched an attack on the German-Austrian coalition forces and suffered heavy casualties. Russia continues to be in turmoil internally. Can we prepare for this?"

Hearing this news, the eyes of the Japanese cabinet members lit up. If they couldn't get benefits from China, getting benefits from Russia was also a very good choice. Before the discussion could unfold, Takahashi Korekiyo stopped the discussion neatly, "Before completely definite news, no intention of intervening in Russian affairs is allowed."

After the cabinet meeting ended, Saionji Kinmochi pulled Takahashi Korekiyo aside and said privately: "Takahashi-kun, do you have an impression of Kita Ikki?"

Takahashi Korekiyo certainly had an impression. Kita Ikki, Miyazaki Toten, and others were relatively famous figures even before the rise of the People's Party. As for names like Kuroshima Jin and Umekawa Kamiyoshi who already held high positions in the People's Party as Japanese, as well as hundreds of Japanese who defected to the People's Party and thousands of family members who followed them to China, the Japanese intelligence agency had dedicated personnel responsible for managing their information.

"What about Kita Ikki?" Takahashi Korekiyo asked.

Saionji Kinmochi said somewhat embarrassedly: "Kita Ikki wrote me a letter and sent me his own new work along the way. I heard that I am not the only one who received it. Although many people in the cabinet may not have accepted it, Kita Ikki sent it to them. What I can be sure of is that many people in the Army Department accepted Kita Ikki's things."

Now, Takahashi Korekiyo was stunned.