"This is the demeanor of a true great power!" When the Japanese delegation was resting for the evening, Isoroku Yamamoto expressed his heartfelt admiration for the bearing displayed by Li Runshi. Japan had always been boasting to its own citizens that it had become a first-rate power. But when compared with the current China, they discovered that Japan's status as a first-rate power was somewhat unworthy of the name.

Interest groups exist in any major power. For example, China's Ministry of Commerce and the banking system undoubtedly belong to interest groups. If these people were allowed to dominate the situation, China would certainly become a nation where commercial interests reigned supreme. Whether a country is a true great power does not depend on how powerful the interest groups are, but on whether the entire country has a genuine leadership system and whether national policies have a clear line of thought.

Yasuji Okamura also rarely praised China. Analyze the situation seen so far, China's long-term and short-term policies were very clear, which proved that China had an unbreakable leadership core. The future Japanese system that the *Tōseiha* (Control Faction) dreamed of had actually been completely realized in China.

When Isoroku Yamamoto and Yasuji Okamura held a private meeting, Okamura asked Yamamoto for his views on Japan's anti-feudalism. Yamamoto brewed his words for a good while before answering: "When treating others, who doesn't want to oppose feudalism?"

Isoroku Yamamoto looked quite elegant, perhaps because he was from a proper background and had attended several universities. But these words were laughable. After laughing and reflecting, Yasuji Okamura felt that it really made sense. The Japanese military forces were divided into the Army Ministry and the Navy Ministry. Before the military could even take power, these two forces were already fighting openly and maneuvering secretly, each wanting to be the sole dominant power. Opposing others' feudalism was fine, but one could not oppose it onto oneself. Disobeying others' orders was due to insisting on the truth; others disobeying one's own orders was obstinacy. Yasuji Okamura knew very well that the entire Japan was most definitely not lacking in this kind of trash.

As a "Showa Warlord," that is, a soldier trusted by Hirohito, when facing facts, Yasuji Okamura could only think disrespectfully that if Hirohito didn't even need Chen Ke's strength and prestige, but just had the capability of the People's Party Foreign Minister Li Runshi, the entire Japan could be easily unified.

The problem lay in the fact that the "Emperor" was a living god who could not make mistakes. If Hirohito were to truly take full charge of government affairs, he would be destined to expose various errors to the public. Yasuji Okamura had read the People's Party's "On Practice" thoroughly. It repeatedly emphasized that it is impossible not to fail or make mistakes. The problem does not lie in the mistakes and failures that are destined to occur, but in the view and attitude towards the world.

Just like the several demands Li Runshi made to the Japanese delegation today, one could hear that they completely saw through the thinking behind the issues between China and Japan. The People's Party required the Japanese military to promise to maintain economic stability and also required the Japanese military to formally publicize in newspapers the goodwill released by China in this trade.

From the perspective of national strategy, China's requirements could be summed up in one point: China and Japan must break away from the state of quasi-war confrontation. Breaking away from this state was good for both Japan and China. The problem was not with the Chinese side, but that there were too many forces within Japan that actually ate "patriotic rice." Once they wanted to realize their own interests, they would use the method of "labeling others as traitors" to attack others.

Yasuji Okamura didn't need to exert much effort to figure out that the *zaibatsu* wanted to control the synthetic ammonia production line. If the military could gain the upper hand, the *zaibatsu* would accuse the military of colluding with China. If the *zaibatsu* were given the opportunity for this collusion, they would probably collude even more thoroughly. At that time, the *zaibatsu* would beautify themselves as great patriots "planning anxiously for Japan's future," while others were insidious and cowardly "traitors." This trick had been played not only by the Japanese *zaibatsu* but also by the military headquarters and government bureaucrats.

In short, the Japanese ruling class thought of every way to say various things that could seek benefits for themselves, just avoiding the truth. It was truly unprecedented to see a country like China that relied on telling the truth to safeguard its own interests.

Since he was born Japanese, Yasuji Okamura also had to muddle through in Japan. He was often helpless against such a status quo.

Seeing Yasuji Okamura frowning and contemplating in silence, Isoroku Yamamoto simply said: "We are only responsible for negotiations. Let's just take the current negotiation results back."

The Japanese delegation had no other way. China had no factional disputes, at least no factional disputes that Japan could utilize. Facing a monolithic China, the most efficient response for the Japanese delegation was to bring the results obtained from this negotiation, as well as everything they had personally seen during their travels in China before the negotiation, back to Japan as soon as possible.

After Yasuji Okamura returned to Japan, he soon received unprecedented attention. Most of the people in the Army Ministry who had read Okamura's report began to attack Okamura for "spreading defeatist remarks!"

"The smuggled goods you brought back seem pretty good," Tetsuzan Nagata teased Yasuji Okamura while adding white sugar to his red tea cup. The supply of white sugar in China was not rationed; anyone with Renminbi could buy it, and the price was only thirty percent of the domestic price in Japan. Isoroku Yamamoto was not a stingy person. Since he had won a large sum of money in China, he bought a thousand *jin* of white sugar when he went back and distributed it equally among the ten people in the delegation.

Yasuji Okamura, on the other hand, bought some black tea to bring back as a gift for Tetsuzan Nagata. In order to contact people from various factions, Nagata was now forced to dabble in wine, women, avarice, and pride. The policy of "Leaving Asia and Entering Europe" triggered a pursuit of Western lifestyles among the Japanese upper class. Black tea was considered a "noble" beverage by the Japanese. naturally, sugar had to be put in black tea. When visiting others, presenting a *jin* of refined white granulated sugar was already considered a valuable gift in Japan.

Japanese customs managed such "luxury goods" very strictly, and the delegation was detained by customs when they returned to Japan. It was Tetsuzan Nagata who took action to get these people out of trouble.

Knowing that Tetsuzan Nagata was simply teasing, Yasuji Okamura didn't take it to heart. He asked: "Looking at the current situation, it seems these people have already agreed to change the policy?"

Those who shouted the happiest in Japan were not necessarily the ones opposed to such a policy. The most common situation was that these people often supported the policy and hoped to monopolize the benefits of executing it themselves. To be able to set off such a wave of opposition because of a report showed that various interest groups hoped to ease relations with China, and even hoped to reach normalization of relations with China as soon as possible. It was just that the military, especially the Army Ministry, was walking at the very front. According to Japanese tradition, various interest groups began to curse loudly while tearing down the stage from behind.

"That old thief Korekiyo Takahashi had this intention long ago, he just refused to say it first himself. After your report was sent up, Takahashi invited the Army Minister to dinner and even called me along, saying something about the Army not affecting Japan's foreign policy and so on. Between the lines, he still didn't want the Army to control the synthetic ammonia production line," Tetsuzan Nagata replied.

"China is more powerful than we imagined," Yasuji Okamura said slowly. "I originally thought that for the sake of war, China had invested all its national power into the military industry. Now it seems that the proportion of their investment in the military industry is far lower than that of Japan."

"Mmm! Those canned yellow peaches you brought back are quite delicious," Tetsuzan Nagata replied. " The texture of that glass is far better than Japan's."

Yasuji Okamura sighed slightly. That was indeed very high-quality glass, with a crystal-clear texture and a beautiful shape. It wasn't a simple bucket shape, but a small-mouthed, big-bellied shape resembling a pottery urn, and the volume was large too. After eating the delicious canned yellow peaches, Yasuji Okamura's wife specially kept the jar to pickle vegetables. The emerald green vegetables soaked in the clear and transparent brine looked delightful. Yasuji Okamura knew that even if Japan also had Chinese yellow peaches—with the same taste, same price, and same portion—Japanese people would definitely want to buy Chinese goods more. Because the bottle was beautiful. A country that could spend effort on such things was definitely not a militaristic state that focused fully on the army.

Seeing Yasuji Okamura's expression, Tetsuzan Nagata understood Okamura's thoughts. He said: "Okamura-kun, prepare yourself. You will set off for China immediately. You can tell the Chinese side that the military does not want to block the cooperation budget bill. Even if it means cutting military expenses to maintain the current size of the army, we also hope to reach an agreement in this regard as soon as possible and start engineering construction as soon as possible."

Yasuji Okamura asked: "Where will the factory be located?"

"Right near Tokyo," Tetsuzan Nagata replied. "As soon as the agreement is reached, we will start fundraising immediately. Because of the special approval for synthetic ammonia fertilizer, those few rural communes Ikki Kita organized recently show signs of linking up into a continuous area."

"Oh?" Yasuji Okamura was quite surprised by this. Ikki Kita's rural communes were also a focal point. With a brand-new administrative and organizational model, plus the combination of several related industries, even the *Tōseiha* felt that this kind of rural commune had redeeming qualities. Originally, the *Tōseiha* allied with middle peasants in the countryside as cooperation targets. If the rural commune model could really be realized across Japan, controlling the entire countryside would also be a good method.

It was just that the landlords near the rural communes originally refused to join the communes or sell land to them. Unexpectedly, with synthetic ammonia, even the landlords could be shaken. Yasuji Okamura certainly knew Tetsuzan Nagata's urgent desire to complete the integration of the army and army families as soon as possible. Once synthetic ammonia could be promoted, the effect would probably be even more huge than imagined.

"By the way, when you go to China this time, I'll assign a ship to you. Based on the things you brought back this time, I want ten times the amount," Tetsuzan Nagata instructed.

Yasuji Okamura knew that Tetsuzan Nagata had been very active recently and needed a large amount of presentable gifts. However, this was no longer just bringing a large amount of things; it could count as smuggling. But Yasuji Okamura said nothing, only nodding to express agreement.

Once both cooperating parties had a clear goal, matters proceeded extremely rapidly. As the military's plenipotentiary representative, Yasuji Okamura cooperated very happily with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Runshi. New equipment was relatively expensive. Both sides inspected the completed synthetic ammonia production enterprises in Tianjin and Xuzhou, and finally settled on the one in Xuzhou.

Once the agreement was signed, China immediately began dismantling the equipment. The Japanese side began to convert the land of a military uniform factory into land for the army's synthetic ammonia plant. Both China and Japan displayed super high efficiency. The agreement was reached in February. In March, the factory was being dismantled in China while basic civil construction was being done in Japan. In April, the dismantled parts began to be loaded onto ships for transport.

Construction started in May. Chinese workers and technicians, along with troops conscripted by the Japanese army, worked in three shifts 24 hours a day in full swing. The factory installation was completed in July, test runs were conducted in August, and the first batch of synthetic ammonia was produced in September. The skilled construction ability of the Chinese engineering personnel and their down-to-earth and hard-working attitude left a deep impression on the Japanese side.

The profitability speed of the synthetic ammonia industry also satisfied the military. Utilizing the "Chinese Soda Making Process" purchased at a high price, by November, Japan no longer imported soda ash from China, and the price of soda ash in Japan fell rapidly.

The army's fundraising process also went very well. The funds raised in November were already in place. Applications for purchasing synthetic ammonia fertilizer were queued up to December 1935 by December. The Japanese military headquarters made a request to China to purchase four more sets of old equipment.

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce finally reluctantly accepted the reality. The purchase fees obtained from Japan roughly offset the cost of the new synthetic ammonia production lines. Xuzhou dismantled an old 70,000-ton plant and built a new 125,000-ton plant on the old site, and prepared to build two more new 125,000-ton plants.

Learning that old plants could be sold for money, coastal cities one after another submitted requests to the Ministry of Commerce to sell local 30,000 to 70,000-ton old synthetic ammonia plants. Every place knew very well that dismantling an old plant could be exchanged for a new one. Only a fool wouldn't do such a thing.

From 1934 to 1935, the "Agricultural Revolution" led by the Japanese military headquarters was booming. In two years, by purchasing old Chinese factories, Japan's synthetic ammonia production jumped from 30,000 tons all the way to 350,000 tons, achieving a historic great leap. Japan's agricultural industry output in 1935 increased by more than ten percent. It was estimated that it could increase by at least another ten percent in 1936.

Of course, given Japanese tradition, it was impossible for farmers to pocket this ten percent of grain for themselves. The Japanese tax department demanded an increase of five percent in agricultural tax. This clashed fiercely with the "Fifty Percent Tax" movement launched by Ikki Kita. The Japanese Anti-Feudal Alliance obtained 16 seats in the Diet in the 1935 elections. Although it was still a small party in the Diet, after uniting with several other MPs, the Anti-Feudal Alliance was also able to propose its own bills.

As the leader of the Anti-Feudal Alliance, Ikki Kita proposed that Japan maintain the 1934 agricultural tax amount, that the state implement policies tilted towards agriculture and strive to increase agricultural output, and to only consider increasing agricultural tax after the 1934 agricultural levy reached 50% of the total output.

This proposal could be considered an "agricultural tax reduction" plan unprecedented in Japanese history. It wasn't that tax reduction plans hadn't been proposed before, but those were simple tax reductions. What Ikki Kita proposed was tax reduction based on increasing agricultural output, which greatly increased feasibility. This naturally triggered a fierce political struggle in the Japanese political arena.