"Who ordered the shooting?" The veins on Nagata Tetsuzan's forehead bulged, and the look on his face was quite ferocious. What angered Nagata Tetsuzan was not that some civilians had been killed, but that someone dared to disobey orders and open fire directly.

Okamura Yasuji didn't want to say too much; he had gone to the scene. Amidst the sky-filled flying snow, the crowd of thousands of petitioners appeared in his field of vision, a mass of black moving from far to near. That sense of oppression was truly hard to describe.

Not continuing to lose his temper, Nagata Tetsuzan ordered: "Have all the newspapers publish articles stating that mixed among these people are traitors intending to murder the Emperor, and call upon those good-natured participants in the demonstration to report and expose them!"

After listening, Okamura Yasuji asked, "Should we focus on arresting people?"

Nagata Tetsuzan shook his head, "Not for the time being. First, hurry up and transfer the First Division to Sakhalin."

This action was clearly led by the Imperial Way Faction, and the thoughts behind it were quite easy to understand. The Control Faction wanted to integrate Japan's ruling class and achieve a unified system. The Imperial Way Faction, on the other hand, wanted to tear down Japan's current ruling class and start over. Who were the "bad people" mentioned in these petitions? Were they not Japan's existing ruling class? Now was not the time to intensify conflicts, but a good opportunity to demonstrate that the Control Faction had the ability to control the situation.

When the Imperial Way Faction learned that the order to transfer the First Division to Sakhalin had not changed, their internal members exploded. For Japan, Hokkaido was already a bitter cold land, and Sakhalin, further north, was an even more arduous place. Everyone had stayed in Tokyo for a long time, and no one wanted to go to Sakhalin. This was not a transfer; this was exile.

Soldiers opening fire on petitioning Japanese citizens was also a major event in the eyes of the Imperial Way Faction. Emotionally, the soldiers were quite supportive of the petitioners, believing that the petitioners were saying what they themselves wanted to say. They requested the Emperor to come forward and clean up Japan's chaotic situation, so why did they end up shedding blood right in front of the Imperial Palace?

"Is the Emperor truly the Emperor of the Japanese people? Or is he a puppet in the hands of those high officials and dignitaries?" This argument was becoming increasingly appealing within the First Division, and even among those who were very dissatisfied with the current situation in Japan. In Japan's feudal era, no commoner dared to disturb the Emperor. In this industrial age, the Japanese lower classes increasingly hoped to possess political power. They themselves might not have thought their ideas through clearly, but since the Emperor was the legal source of Japanese power, why couldn't the lower classes obtain power from the Emperor?

Kita Ikki, however, could understand the thoughts of these people. Precisely because he understood, Kita Ikki felt a mix of joy and worry. He certainly hoped the revolution could succeed, but if the people were not truly organized and mobilized, the success of the revolution would be impossible. Only when the entire Japanese lower class united could the revolution succeed. The Control Faction had at least gradually united the upper class, while the movement of the Japanese lower class had not even moved from spontaneity to self-consciousness.

These days, the branches everywhere that Kita Ikki had started to manage over the years sent back a lot of news. Every place already knew about this petition to the Emperor. Most people's reaction was quite astonished. People seeing the Emperor directly was, to the Japanese, fresh and stimulating, perhaps even a bit "treasonous and immoral". Of course, the saying "The Emperor of the Japanese people" also stimulated many Japanese commoners, making them start to consider this possibility.

On the contrary, the fact that someone opened fire and killed petitioners, followed by the military group's diligent propaganda that there were people in the petitioning team intending to harm the Emperor—these claims fit the timid psychology of the Japanese commoners. The people did not dare to face big shots to fight for the power that belonged to them; they believed their own strength was too small, insufficient to confront those people. This was indeed the truth. It was just that if they never fought for it, they would never be able to obtain power. Because power is something that can absolutely never be given as charity by others; it must be fought for by oneself.

In the midst of such chaos, new news finally came out. Prime Minister Takahashi Korekiyo decided to reduce the military in the latest cabinet meeting. This plan was relatively reasonable overall; Japan would reduce the Army to 9 divisions and two brigades. The Navy would maintain its current scale of one Six-Six Fleet. Regarding the future of the disbanded troops, Takahashi Korekiyo prepared to rebuild a series of Japanese state-owned enterprises. Including electricity, transportation, grain, and many other core enterprises, this was quite consistent with China's current economic layout. After soldiers retired, they could work in these state-owned enterprises. The enterprises could get well-trained labor, and the soldiers could also get relatively stable employment opportunities.

This plan received the support of the Japanese bureaucratic class but encountered opposition from the military upper echelon and even the financial groups. Various rumors flew all over the sky, mostly accusing Takahashi Korekiyo. The First Division, which already didn't want to go to Sakhalin, was particularly indignant. The officers believed that reducing the army likely meant performing surgery on the First Division.

Kita Ikki certainly didn't think so. Having seen China's powerful state-owned enterprises, Kita Ikki did not think there was any problem with state-owned enterprises. In China, joining the army was a very good path. Retired soldiers all had employment counseling and would be arranged jobs. Being able to work in a state-owned enterprise itself meant a stable job and a stable life. As far as Kita Ikki knew, even those retired soldiers who ultimately chose to come out and work solo, opening a restaurant for instance, as long as the taste wasn't bad, could get a lot of support from old comrades-in-arms. For the first three years after retirement, if a soldier wanted to apply for technical training, such as going to university, or entering a technical school for training, or even applying for chef training, the state would waive the tuition fees for the retired soldier.

Whether Japan could truly execute such a policy was what Kita Ikki worried about; he actually supported the matter of arranging employment for retired soldiers.

Just as Kita Ikki was putting his energy into contacting the people's forces in various places, Lieutenant Colonel Ando of the First Division came to find Kita Ikki. He said anxiously, "Mr. Kita, the mood in the First Division is very volatile right now. Those young people from last time are preparing to make trouble again!"

Kita Ikki immediately asked, "How many soldiers do they have in their hands? How many soldiers does the First Division have? do they really think they can defeat the other fourteen divisions plus that bunch from the Navy?"

"Now it's not just the First Division; there are people in other units starting to link up as well," Ando Teruzo replied. Once the disarmament plan came out, everyone felt insecure. Japanese state-owned enterprises were originally not that easy to enter, and the soldiers simply didn't believe there was any possibility of this plan being executed. Besides, settling down in a Japanese city was not an easy thing. Just having a job was absolutely not enough.

"It is absolutely not the time now. No matter what they say, they cannot move." Kita Ikki gave Ando Teruzo a strict order. Political competition is often not about who has the ability to win, but about who can persist to the end. With the situation having reached such a state, there was simply no lack of people jumping out. What everyone had to watch was merely who could persist to the end.

After persuading Ando Teruzo to stay calm, Kita Ikki couldn't help but think of Japan's neighbor, China. "How would Chen Ke consider this matter at this stage?"

In Zhengzhou, China, Chen Ke was also discussing with comrades from the Politburo. "How will Kita Ikki utilize this situation?"

The fragile revolutionary action of the Japanese people met with gunfire; this in itself was a variable. First, the Japanese people rose up and tried. Second, this attempt met with temporary failure. Whether the drums would be muffled and the flags furled, or if they would fight more courageously as the battle went on, Chen Ke could not judge.

China's future policy could be said to be swaying; whether to go south was a core point at this time. The Dutch had suffered a heavy blow, making China feel the feasibility of going south.

"We do not hold the advantage in the situation; it can even be said to be very uncomfortable." Pu Guanshui was also a Politburo member; at the Politburo meeting, he represented the military to introduce the situation. "The European and American sides occupy all the key points in the south."

Looking at the map, among the results of China's southward advance, French Indochina choked China's key point for controlling the South China Sea, and British East Malaysia forcefully threatened China's connection with Borneo. China maintained a good relationship with the colossal neighbor to the north, the Soviet Union, but this relationship was merely built on the fact that the Soviet Union would not allow powerful nations like Britain and the United States to attack China through Soviet territory. If China suffered a total defeat and reached a point where it couldn't protect itself, the Soviet Union might not necessarily refrain from stabbing China in the back.

"We can make a strong threatening gesture towards Britain, but that is all. No matter which land route we take to attack Burma and India, it will be a terrifying logistical disaster." Pu Guanshui spoke very frankly. "If we want to go south with full force, we must guard against Japan. If Japan becomes a springboard for Britain and the United States to attack China, our situation will be very passive."

An army of a million or even ten million sweeping across the world is military romanticism; in reality, it is a terrifying thing. China had been frantically building railways for more than twenty years, and by '36, it finally had over one hundred thousand kilometers of railways. The problem lay in that these hundred thousand kilometers of railways were mainly distributed in China's core regions. Not to mention the borderlands, just the section of the Longhai Railway from Gansu to Xinjiang encountered huge technical problems.

The Kra Canal that China was excavating met with full opposition from Britain. Once the Kra Canal opened, the Chinese fleet could charge into the Indian Ocean. The British would absolutely not allow China to enter the Indian Ocean, which was Britain's back garden.

To go south, one must determine Japan's wavering stance. To put it more clearly, China had to be sure that Japan would at least not sneak attack China from behind before China failed. This was not an easy thing to determine.

After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the attitude of the United States made Chen Ke alert. The United States believed that the Soviet Union participated in the 1931 overthrow of the Spanish royal family, and thus was hostile to the newly appointed Republican government. When the civil war broke out, Secretary of State Cordell Hull ordered a ban on all weapon sales to the Spanish government, upholding a policy of neutrality. The Republican government thus obtained armaments from the Soviet Union. However, private American companies provided support to both warring sides. Texaco provided the Nationalists with 3.5 million tons of gasoline sales and offered indefinite loans. General Motors and Ford Motor Company together provided the Nationalists with 12,000 trucks. The DuPont Company sold a lot of ammunition to Franco.

The United States had made its stance clear. The conflict between China and Britain was one thing; the United States could still view the struggle between the two countries from the perspective of watching tigers fight from the mountaintop. If China directly intervened in Japanese affairs, the attitude of the Americans would likely not be benevolent. On this point, Chen Ke did not consider it optimistically.

To go south or not? This strategic question determined China's attitude towards Japan. If they didn't go south, and China was merely satisfied with everything it had already obtained, then China could completely calmly ease relations with neighboring countries and focus on its own domestic work. If they wanted to go south, they had to make the surrounding situation become more favorable to China.

To wait or not to wait, that is the question!