Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 183

Faced with Tamura's question, Fukushima Yasumasa pondered for a moment before finally speaking: "I don't think the Navy's proposed solution through a negotiation mechanism can be simply viewed as a delaying tactic. Even if we report the Navy's actions to the Imperial Household, the Imperial Household will likely support the Navy, because there have indeed been many problems with coordination between the Army and Navy in this operation. This was against Russia, which didn't use its full strength. If we were to face other great powers, the lack of coordination between the Army and Navy would become the root cause of our defeat."

After a few seconds of silence, Tamura nodded and said, "What you said is true, but the Navy is indeed using this issue to buy time, and time is very important to us. If we cannot release the Imperial Defense Policy before October, the House of Representatives election will follow, and the new House of Representatives will not be able to support our military expansion proposals."

Fukushima Yasumasa understood Tamura's meaning. With the current parliament about to dissolve, the members might not be willing to obstruct the increase in the military budget for the sake of the next parliament. And once elected, the new parliament would clearly not want to be bogged down in a budget war for the next four years. An increase in the military budget would inevitably require cuts in other areas.

Fukushima Yasumasa then tentatively asked, "Perhaps we should speed up our coordination with the Navy and establish a consultation mechanism between the Army and the Navy, so that the Navy can no longer use this as an excuse to delay."

After thinking for a moment, Tamura said, "This idea is good, but if we let Tanaka and the Navy's negotiators push it, I think it will be difficult to establish a negotiation mechanism in a short time. We must first reach a consensus at the top levels of the Army and Navy before they can establish rules based on that consensus."

Fukushima Yasumasa nodded after a brief moment's thought, replying, "That's true. Ultimately, the consultation mechanism between the Army and Navy depends on the views of their respective high-ranking officials. Perhaps we should consult with Yamagata and Oyama on this matter?"

Tamura nodded and said, "We do need to consult. However, it would be better to let Elder Yamagata understand the ins and outs of the matter before consulting. Once the General Staff formally submits a written report, it will represent the General Staff's position, so it wouldn't be good if Elder Yamagata rejected it."

Fukushima Yasumasa finally understood Tamura's purpose in summoning him. After a moment's thought, he realized that this wouldn't do him any harm. It was the only way he could give a private report to Yamagata without incurring Yamagata's displeasure, and this would be an opportunity for him to intervene in the Army-Navy Consultative Conference. Although he had the support of Yamagata's elders, the officers in the General Staff did not recognize his ability to serve as Vice Chief of Staff.

If Fukushima Yasumasa had simply been in charge of the intelligence department, people wouldn't have felt any resentment. However, the fact that an intelligence officer who had never attended a military academy was in charge of the daily operations of the General Staff Headquarters undoubtedly angered the officers there.

No matter how famous Fukushima Yasumasa was among the people, this kind of promotion that broke the army system was bound to cause widespread dissatisfaction within the system, because it was tantamount to shaking the reliability of organizational promotion. Would it be possible for the Choshu faction to promote whoever they liked to a position that everyone was struggling to reach? If so, what was the difference between the Choshu faction and the old shogunate?

In particular, while Fukushima Yasumasa was being promoted, a group of non-Chōshū generals from the first class of the Army War College were severely suppressed. Although the first class of the Army War College only had ten students, two of whom died young, the remaining eight almost all became key figures in the transformation of European military thought into the ideology of the Japanese Army.

If Shinsaku Takasugi and Masujiro Ōmura established the Japanese Army, and Aritomo Yamagata, Iwao Ōyama, and others perfected its organization, then the first class of the Army War College brought the Army into the era of modern warfare in terms of ideology. No matter what pretext the Choshu faction used to attack this group, it would only enrage their ideological successors within the military.

Fukushima Yasumasa arrived just in time for the intense conflict between Choshu and non-Choshu officers, naturally failing to gain the approval of most officers in the General Staff. The remaining minority of officers recognized Yamagata's appointment, not Fukushima's abilities. As an intelligence officer with virtually no military experience, Fukushima had neither established relationships with these officers nor understood their true thoughts, thus becoming isolated.

Fukushima Yasumasa accepted Tamura's request and left, but Tamura Iyozo did not feel relieved. Although having Yamagata, a senior member, communicate with the Navy was a possible solution, he did not believe it would resolve the conflict between the Army and Navy. Clearly, the Navy would not back down on the issue of downsizing, meaning that negotiations between the Army and Navy would yield little result, and the issue of troop reduction would inevitably have to be addressed by the Army.

Tamura pondered for a long time in his office, but couldn't find a way to extricate the army from its downsizing predicament. He couldn't even shake off the responsibility that the Choshu faction had placed on him. The Imperial Defense Policy proposal was still pending, and what excuse could the General Staff offer? Thinking about the infighting tactics of the Choshu faction, Tamura felt a great headache coming on.

After get off work, Tamura went directly to the ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant) where the newly appointed president of the Army War College, Shogo Iguchi, had arranged to meet him. Unlike usual, the two did not have geishas accompany them; they simply sat quietly drinking, and the atmosphere was quite somber.

When Tamura felt slightly dizzy, he couldn't help but steer the conversation towards internal army affairs, asking Iguchi, "Has Yamaguchi come looking for you?"

Shogo Iguchi was still quite sober and understood that Tamura was asking about his fellow Army War College student, Keizo Yamaguchi. He nodded and said, "I met Yamaguchi when I returned to Tokyo. He seemed to be in good spirits, but he told me that Tojo was not doing well. He was drunk at home all day and would curse the Army when he was drunk."

Tamura remained silent, poured himself a glass of sake, downed it in one gulp, and then exhaled a breath of sake before saying, "Tojo was indeed treated unfairly, so it's normal for him to have grievances."

Shogo Iguchi frowned and couldn't help but complain, "Isn't it too easy to say that we're being treated unfairly? Come to think of it, haven't we shot ourselves in the foot?"

Tamura looked up at the eyes in the well, and after a long while, he sighed and said, "No one expected that General Kodama would suddenly fall ill. Our initial plan was to first deal with the opposition forces outside the faction, and then clean up the opposition forces within the faction, but General Kodama's sudden death has ruined the plan. This must be fate."

Upon hearing of General Kodama's death, Shogo Iguchi's initial indignation vanished, leaving him speechless. He and Tamura, who supported General Kodama's faction, advocated expanding the Choshu faction within the army, transforming it from a geographically-based system to one based on ideology. They believed that if everyone in the army could become a Choshu member, there would be no more factional strife within the army.

However, this proposal was not only opposed by key figures of various factions within the army, but even by those who opposed factions, such as Hideaki Tojo. Tojo and his ilk argued that expanding the Choshu faction to eliminate other factions within the army would not actually eliminate factions. Even if everyone acknowledged being part of the Choshu faction, this broader Choshu faction would still be divided into smaller groups based on regions like Yamaguchi and Fukuoka prefectures; it would simply be a shift from factions below the army level to factions below the Choshu faction.

Although Tojo Hideaki's words were not wrong, faced with the powerful influence of the Choshu faction in the army, and with Kodama Gentaro's attempts to win them over, they ultimately chose Kodama's proposed expansion plan for the Choshu faction. Kodama also successfully persuaded Yamagata, and as a result, these generals who were not from Choshu gradually rose to important positions in the army.

Because the expansionist ideology of the Choshu faction gradually became mainstream within the Choshu faction, Hideaki Tojo, as the leader of the opposing faction, had to be expelled from the army. Only by expelling Tojo from the army would the young generals surrounding him abandon their advocacy of directly confronting and eliminating the faction, and instead turn to the idea of ​​expanding the Choshu faction's scope to eliminate it.

However, no one expected that just as Hideaki Tojo, the leader of the anti-government faction in the army, was forced to retire, Gentaro Kodama, the leader of the Choshu faction's expansionism, suddenly died.

Kodama Gentaro was an army leader on par with Katsura Taro and Kawakami Soroku. He was not only a native of Yamaguchi Prefecture, a direct descendant of the Choshu clique, but also came from a higher social class than Yamagata and Itō. His father and brother-in-law were reformers within the domain and supporters of Takasugi Shinsaku. He not only studied in Germany, but was also a driving force behind the army's shift from the French military system to the German military system, and the founder of the Army War College. Therefore, Kodama enjoyed extremely high prestige among the Choshu faction and graduates of the Army War College.

The Choshu faction's expansionism worked because Kodama was able to unite moderates from both the Choshu and non-Choshu factions, thereby suppressing extremists like Katsura Taro, Terauchi Masatake, and Tojo Hideaki. With Kodama's death, no one could carry the banner of this middle-of-the-road approach in the army. Tamura couldn't get Akiyama Yoshifuru and other Choshu loyalists to obey, and Akiyama Yoshifuru also found it difficult to get Tamura and Iguchi Shogo to follow his orders.

Therefore, after Tojo Hideaki was expelled from the army, the biggest beneficiaries became the Choshu orthodox forces led by Katsura Taro and Terauchi Masatake, as they eliminated two major threats. Even if only one of Kodama or Tojo remained, it would have been a major headache for Katsura Taro and his allies, as both the villainous faction and the anti-Choshu faction would have yielded to one of them. Now that both were gone, it meant these people had become a disorganized mess, no longer able to threaten the Choshu faction's dominance.

Shogo Iguchi didn't want to continue discussing this tedious topic with Tamura. He explained why he had asked him to meet, "A few days ago, Shigemaru Sugiyama came to visit me, and he talked to me for a long time. I didn't understand much of what he said, but there were two things I did understand. One was that the Navy seems to have completed its internal integration, and the Navy Minister Yamamoto has probably chosen his successor. Aren't you curious about who it is?"

Tamura, holding his wine glass, shook his head and said, "It definitely won't be Saito. The Naval General Staff has been making headlines these past two years, so it's unlikely that Minister of the Navy Yamamoto will be able to designate his own successor like Lord Saigo did. The next Minister of the Navy will probably be nominated from outside Yamamoto's faction. So what's the second thing?"

Chapter 618

Shogo Iguchi was not surprised by Tamura's keen intuition. For the central government officials of the army, the navy's movements were always worth paying attention to, especially after the navy proposed a plan to lure the Russians into building a railway branch line from Shuangchengzi to North Hamgyong Province, which solved the problem of troop transport channels for the army's offensive towards Harbin and Vladivostok.

Although the army knew that Harbin was Russia's logistical center in the Far East, no one had actually considered using Russians and Koreans to counter Japanese pressure on the Korean Peninsula and proactively build this railway before the navy proposed the plan. Although the army preemptively submitted the plan to the Imperial Household Agency, thus making it an achievement for the army, the navy's ingenious idea was something the army should be wary of.

As the chief strategist of the war against Russia, Tamura should have been more aware of the excellence of the Shuangchengzi-Hamgyeong North Railway line proposed by the Navy. This greatly increased the army's chances of winning against the Russian army, tying the Russian army down on two battlefields: South Manchuria and the Primorsky Krai. If we add the Chinese battlefields in Shanhaiguan and Inner Mongolia, the Russian army effectively distributed its forces in the Far East across four isolated war zones. Thus, when the Chinese provoked the battles in Outer Mongolia and the Selenga Valley, the organization and logistics of the Russian army in the Far East completely collapsed.

While there is no evidence that the navy influenced the battles between the Wuhan army and the Russian army, the fact that Wuhan was able to obtain strong support from German capital in its war against Russia was inseparable from the Tibetan Expeditionary Force's incursion into Indian territory.

The Germans exploited the chaos created in India by the Tibetan Expeditionary Force, forcing Britain to make significant concessions on the construction of the Baghdad Railway. German investment in Wuhan was also a crucial factor in Wuhan's ability to withstand Russia. Germany's automotive industry was essentially constrained by its well-developed railway system and lack of oil resources, thus its development lagged behind that of France.

However, the poor transportation conditions within the controlled area of ​​Wuhan led the city to focus its development on road transport. Railway construction was far too expensive for an agricultural country lacking a steel industry, while road construction required significantly less investment and offered greater efficiency for short-distance transport. Therefore, automobiles became the best solution for Wuhan to address its land transportation needs.

With China's vast continental transportation market, the German automotive industry quickly found a breakthrough. Previously, European automobiles were toys for the rich, while Americans used cars as a means of transportation for the working class. Therefore, before the war, the United States had a latecomer advantage in the global automotive industry.

The purpose of automobiles in China differs significantly from that in Europe and the United States. Automobiles are neither toys for a few wealthy individuals nor means of transportation for the working class, but rather a means of transport to replace horse-drawn carriages. Therefore, China's automotive industry places greater emphasis on the manufacture of trucks and large and medium-sized buses.

By exporting automotive technology and parts to China, the Germans almost completely dominated the Chinese market. Furthermore, German industry significantly advanced automotive technology to enable cars to run on China's poor roads. Without the support of German industry, Wuhan's attempt to traverse the land distance from Taiyuan to Siberia would have been virtually impossible, as the animal-drawn carts of the past could not support such a large-scale military operation.

The Russians assessed the transport route from the Trans-Siberian Railway to Zhangjiakou based on livestock transport capacity, ultimately concluding it was an impossible task and abandoning any similar blitz plans. It was precisely because the Russians had calculated the enormous transport capacity required for such a plan that they deemed the Outer Mongolia route safe.

Therefore, Wuhan's operational plan to cut off the Trans-Siberian Railway from Outer Mongolia was essentially reliant on the power of German industry. The reason why German capital supported Wuhan, which contradicted the Germans' claimed neutrality, was because the expeditionary force sent by Wuhan to Tibet disrupted India, relieving Germany of pressure from Britain in Europe.

If all of this was merely an unintentional act by the navy, then one could only say the navy was lucky. However, if it was the result of the navy's calculations, then the navy has essentially infringed upon the army's strategy. The navy constantly proclaims that Japan is an island nation and should therefore follow the path of Britain, which was based on maritime power. However, the army can simply ignore such slogans, as it is impossible for the army to relinquish the power to formulate national policy to the navy.

However, the Navy is now using tricks to make the Army an unwitting pawn in the Navy's schemes, which is a real threat to the Army. This means that the Navy is no longer satisfied with just shouting slogans, but is forcing the Army to dance to the Navy's tune with concrete actions. If this continues, Japan may really be dominated by the Navy.

The General Staff's focus on the Navy made it unsurprising to Tamura that a new generational shift had already been completed within the Navy. Therefore, Iguchi Shogo relayed to Tamura an important message that Sugiyama Shigemaru had asked him to deliver: "Sugiyama said that the Navy has proposed separating the power grid from the various power companies and turning it into a public enterprise."

Looking at developments abroad, electricity not only performs exceptionally well in the lighting industry, but it also demonstrates greater efficiency than steam power in power systems. Therefore, the replacement of steam power with electricity is a global trend.

In order to ensure that Japan does not lag behind other industrialized countries in the development of electricity, the Navy believes that the construction of power grids should be promoted by the state. This way, private capital can focus only on power generation without having to consider the cost of building power grids in which areas.

For the country, turning the power grid into a public utility has two advantages: one is that it can promote the popularization of electricity as soon as possible, and the other is that by expanding the number of electricity users, electricity prices can be continuously reduced, as continuous power generation is inevitably more cost-effective than intermittent power generation.

Finally, this type of public utility has little operational aspect. As long as the power grid coverage area is continuously expanded, and electricity is purchased from power plants and sold to users, there's no need to worry about outsiders being unable to manage it. Retired senior officers and soldiers from the Navy and Army can be easily placed in jobs at the power grid company, thus relieving them of any concerns about their future…”

After only a moment's thought, Tamura blurted out, "The Navy is using a series of tactics, advocating for downsizing while simultaneously finding ways out for the laid-off officers and soldiers. This way, the voices against downsizing from the Army and Navy will be greatly reduced."

Shogo Iguchi and Tamura shared similar views, but Iguchi was more concerned about the value of this matter to them. He said, "Judging from the current national finances, it is unlikely that military spending will be increased. Although everyone in the military is against troop reduction, the upper echelons are only expressing their opposition to troop reduction, while the lower echelons are thinking about their future after troop reduction. Those who are truly determined to oppose troop reduction are the middle-level officers who have the potential to be promoted."

Therefore, as long as the government is firm in its stance and takes responsibility for the military's resentment, the upper echelons will eventually compromise with the government, and the lower echelons will not cause trouble as long as they have a way out. In this way, even if some middle-level cadres want to oppose to the end, they will find it difficult to achieve anything because they have lost the support of both the upper and lower echelons.

This is also an opportunity for us. If the Choshu faction chooses to compromise with the government, then those who will be laid off will definitely be cadres outside the faction. If we can secure the proposal to build a power grid, at least the laid-off soldiers will be grateful to us and resent the Choshu faction. In this way, the non-Choshu cadres who originally resented us because of Tojo's retirement will become closer to us again. Only when these non-Choshu cadres reunite with us can we withstand the suppression from people like Katsura Taro and Terauchi Masatake.”

Tamura agreed with Iguchi Shogo's view. To resolve the resentment of the anti-Chōshū faction cadres, leaving them a way out was undoubtedly the best solution; at least those with a place to go wouldn't be constantly thinking about revenge. Kodama's sudden death rendered the Chōshū faction's expansion plan a pipe dream. Those cadres who had no way to advance and no longer had an anti-Chōshū leader clearly hated them even more than the Chōshū faction, since they seemed to have gained Yamagata's approval by betraying Tojo.

If this impression spreads among the officers, Tamura will find himself in a very awkward position. He will neither gain the genuine trust of the Choshu faction nor the recognition of non-Choshu officers, essentially becoming an isolated figure. Fukushima Yasunari's marginalization within the General Staff Headquarters will be Tamura's fate.

Tamura didn't want to end up like that. His reason for cooperating with Kodama was naturally to achieve something significant, not to become a tool like Fukushima Yasumasa. Although he achieved success with Yamagata's support, he was not popular in the military.

Tamura's situation was actually worse than Fukushima Yasumasa's, because he had no personal relationship with Yamagata. During the Sino-Japanese War, he opposed Yamagata's unilateral decision-making, forcing Yamagata to relinquish command and return to Japan to recuperate. Others might forget this incident, but would Yamagata really forget it? Previously, he relied on the support of Kodama and others to control the General Staff Headquarters. Now that Kodama has passed away, Yamagata is clearly using him to absorb the internal and external pressures brought about by the disarmament.

To say that Tamura had no grievances against Yamagata would be a lie. Seeing Tamura's silence, Iguchi Shogo felt a growing anxiety. His relationship with Tojo and Yamaguchi was actually quite good; the three had even collaborated on translating and compiling books such as "The Military Commander's Regulations," many of which became textbooks at the Army War College.

Although the Choshu faction did not target him this time, while Tojo retired, Yamaguchi was dismissed, and he was transferred to the position of president of the Army War College, he was only marginalized rather than expelled from the army. However, Iguchi Shogo was unwilling to accept this. He did not believe that the Choshu faction would stop there. If he could not spend the rest of his career in peace, the Choshu faction would probably have further means of suppression.

Therefore, Shogo Iguchi hoped that Tamura could step forward to fill the vacancy left by Tojo and Kodama, and reorganize the reformist forces in the military, thereby preventing the Choshu faction from acting arbitrarily. Seeing that Tamura was still hesitant, he finally couldn't help but urge him: "Do you really want to shield Elder Yamagata from the resentment in the military caused by the disarmament? The Navy may not only seek cooperation with us; they still have other candidates to choose from, such as Taro Katsura and Yusaku Uehara, who can actually represent the Army in making proposals."

Tamura looked up at him, then said with a wry smile, "It's precisely because the Navy has a choice that I have to think about why they would choose to cooperate with us. The Navy today is not what it used to be. In the past, the Navy was straightforward; their struggles with us were simply about two things: budget and naval supremacy. But now? You can't even tell which of the sweet treats the Navy offers is actually poison."

Shogo Iguchi found himself unable to refute Tamura's views. Although he didn't ponder these things as much as Tamura did, he could still sense the navy's growing dominance over the army in recent years. This wasn't because the navy had more warships, but because it had gained a definite political advantage over the army.

In the past, for the sake of its own budget, no matter how much the navy proclaimed "sea as the master, land as the servant," it still had to submit to the army's plans in the confrontation between the military and the government. Although the navy obtained a budget equal to that of the army, the army always dominated in terms of defense strategy. As Tamura commented, the navy in the past was straightforward and its true intentions were obvious.

However, with Ito Sukeyuki gaining the power to form a cabinet, the Navy's actions became somewhat incomprehensible. In the end, these inexplicable actions actually benefited the Navy the most. For example, when Prime Minister Ito proposed the East Asian peace theory at a time when the war was in Japan's favor, and when the public was keen to discuss how much reparations Russia should pay, Ito's remarks were tantamount to digging his own political grave.

However, the public's anger towards Ito saddled the army with the infamy of signing a peace treaty without reparations. While the army bore the stigma of betraying the country, those who supported peace attributed the success of the peace to the wisdom of Ito Sukeyuki and the navy. In other words, although the army signed the peace agreement, it not only incurred the resentment of the pro-war public but also failed to gain support from the pacifist public. On the contrary, the navy received a reputation for being wise in the public eye.

If it weren't for the fact that everyone felt there was nothing wrong with Katsura Taro's proposals, this failure to form a cabinet alone would have completely ended his political career. However, the army's prestige among the people still suffered a great blow, with more and more people believing that the army was all talk and no action, while the navy was praised as wise and cautious.

Thinking of this, Shogo Iguchi, though also worried about the Navy's suggestion, still asked with some reluctance, "So what conspiracy do you think the Navy's proposal is hiding?"

After a moment's thought, Tamura said, "I'm reminded of a Chinese idiom, 'Two peaches kill three warriors.' You see, isn't the Navy's suggestion like a sweet peach? None of us, Katsura Taro, or Uehara will refuse this proposal. What does that mean? It means that whoever accepts the Navy's proposal will inevitably be viewed with suspicion by the other two parties. Who wouldn't want to take the lead in such a good way to win people's hearts?"

Shogo Iguchi was speechless for a moment before sighing and saying, "Yes, no one would resist such a lucrative offer. However, if we remain indifferent, Uehara will fall into the hands of Katsura Taro and Terauchi Masatake, wouldn't they become even more arrogant?"

Tamura nodded and replied, "That's what's troubling me. We know the Navy didn't have good intentions in making this suggestion, but we can't help but consider it carefully. If the Navy gets in touch with others, our situation will become even more unfavorable."

Shogo Iguchi thought for a few seconds but couldn't come up with a solution. His temper flared, and he slammed his hand on the table, saying, "Whether it's poison or not, we have to swallow it now. If Katsura Taro and his group get the Navy's offer, we won't even have much room to protect ourselves. Isn't that what the Chinese say? There's always a way out. Let's get the benefits first, and we can figure out how to solve any problems later."

Tamura looked at the table stained with food and drink. Iguchi's slap had indeed been quite forceful. He frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed and said, "What you said is not wrong. For now, we can only take it one step at a time. Staying in the same place is the same as no change. There shouldn't be any internal strife breaking out in Choshu for the time being, so it's impossible for us to gain the trust of Yamagata and Katsura..."

When Tamura finished speaking, he lowered his voice to a whisper, as if talking to himself. Iguchi Shogo didn't understand what he said, but Tamura quickly rallied and looked at Iguchi, saying, "The most important thing right now is to figure out the Navy's true intentions regarding this proposal. If they are only trying to create division within us, rather than genuinely wanting to find a way out for the officers and soldiers who are being demobilized, then of course we can't fall for their tricks."

After listening, Iguchi nodded first, and then asked, "What if the Navy really wants to make this happen?"

Tamura thought for a moment and then said, "I'll talk to Uehara Yusaku. Although they've separated from the Satsuma faction in the Navy, there's still a connection between them that we can discuss. Bringing Uehara in will eliminate any worries about the Navy causing trouble, and it will also help us rebuild relationships with the Satsuma and Saga factions, letting them know that we're no longer Choshu advocates..."

Chapter 619

After listening to Fukushima Yasumasa's report, Yamagata Aritomo was greatly dissatisfied with the Navy's delaying tactics, but he also understood that the current situation was indeed in the Navy's favor. With the Navy successfully blocking the nationalization of private railways, the construction of a heavy industry center became Japan's next focus. After all, everyone needs to make a living; if they couldn't get a share of the profits from the nationalization of private railways, then getting a share from the construction of a heavy industry center would be acceptable.

Although many private railway company shareholders are still trying to turn the tide, not all private railway companies want to be nationalized. Those private railway lines close to densely populated areas, such as those in the Tokyo and Osaka areas, are unwilling to be nationalized because these lines have stable profits. The private railways that really want to be nationalized are in relatively remote areas because they are difficult to maintain operations due to insufficient population.

Therefore, after the navy intervened to obstruct the nationalization plan of private railways, it did not provoke a united counterattack from the private railway companies. The profitable private railway companies wanted to wait and see how things went, or they could allow the value of their companies to continue to increase, or they could wait until those small private railway companies could not survive, and then purchase them at a low price to expand their company assets, at which point they could ask the state for a better price.

On the other hand, the banking sector is much more interested in the construction plan for the heavy industry center than the plan to nationalize private railways. The plan to nationalize private railways does not actually add much value to banks; it merely uses state funds to solve the debt problems of these private railways. However, the construction plan for the heavy industry center is equivalent to a new project, and the banking sector naturally hopes to start a new project.

A major difference between banks and traditional money shops is that banks have far less capital than money shops have reserves. Simply put, money shops, which operate lending businesses, prefer high interest rates because their idle funds have very low costs. Modern banks, on the other hand, treat money as a commodity, absorbing large amounts of social capital before lending it out, and therefore place greater emphasis on the safety of the principal.

These two different business philosophies led money lenders to prefer short-term loans at higher interest rates, while banks favored long-term loans at lower interest rates. Therefore, money lenders preferred to lend to speculators, who, as long as they could find funding, usually didn't care about the interest rate because their profits were far higher than those of legitimate businesses, but they were also prone to bankruptcy due to failure. Banks, on the other hand, favored industrial production projects. Although the initial investment was large, once production was established, the risk of default was almost nonexistent.

In the feudal agricultural era, the success or failure of commerce was closely linked to power. Therefore, as long as a merchant could obtain the support of the powerful, it was difficult for their business to fail, which meant that the business of money shops was relatively safe. However, in the capitalist era, power could no longer control the market. After all, power was limited by the state, while capital could break through the state's limitations. Privileged merchants who attempted to monopolize the market by relying on their country's power were ultimately defeated by capital.

Although Japan has retained a large number of feudal remnants, its capitalist development has gradually matured. The Japanese banking sector understands at least this fact: even if private railway companies are not nationalized, their debts to them will not disappear, while the construction of heavy industrial centers can bring them new customers. Comparing the two, they naturally prefer the latter.

Support from the banking sector for the heavy industry center proposal, coupled with differing opinions within numerous private railway companies regarding nationalization, gradually made the heavy industry center proposal the mainstream in the House of Representatives. Consequently, the Navy, which had proposed the heavy industry center, naturally gained a dominant position in the plan, making it difficult for the Army to suppress a Navy with government support.

The army felt an urgent need for the formulation of the Empire's defense policy. Without it, the army could not bypass the government's and navy's unanimous proposal to reduce troop numbers. If the reduction bill were passed, it would inevitably deal a heavy blow to the prestige of the Choshu faction, which controlled the army. Yamagata was well aware of the various contradictions within the army: the conflict between samurai officers and ordinary officers caused by the Satsuma Rebellion, and the special status enjoyed by officers from Choshu in the army. The reduction of troop numbers would further exacerbate these contradictions, which was what Yamagata was worried about.

Therefore, in the face of the Navy's provocative behavior, Yamagata did not react vehemently. Instead, he met with Ito Sukeyuki and tried to persuade Ito to convince the Navy not to cause trouble for the Army.

Although Ito Sukeyuki supported a confrontation between the navy and the army, he personally did not want a direct confrontation with Yamagata. Yamagata, like Saigo, was a spiritual leader of the organization, while he was not. If a direct conflict broke out, he himself might not be in any trouble, but his relatives and friends might not be able to withstand the retaliation from Yamagata's followers.

Faced with Yamagata's request, Ito replied very politely, "There is no fundamental conflict between the Army and the Navy. Lord Yamagata is overthinking it. The Navy is merely following His Majesty's orders to establish a system for negotiations with the Army. If there are no fixed rules for negotiations between the Army and the Navy, and both sides stick to their own versions of events, how can it be called a negotiation?"

Yamagata was also greatly troubled by Ito's words. The reason he humbled himself to ask Ito for help was that although the Navy was using the consultation system to delay time, the Navy's actions were all within the rules and there was nothing obviously wrong with them. He couldn't even complain to His Majesty about the Navy's delaying tactics.

Yamagata could only say, "There should indeed be a consultation mechanism between the Army and the Navy, but wouldn't focusing all our energy on the consultation mechanism go against His Majesty's wishes? His Majesty requires the Army and Navy to discuss the post-war defense policy, not to negotiate for the sake of negotiation. If a defense policy cannot be put forward as soon as possible, how can the military discuss budget issues with the government?"

However, Ito Sukeyuki was not as concerned about the military budget as Yamagata was. As a former member of the navy, he had his own interests at stake in the navy's budget, so he naturally agreed that the army and navy should adopt a common principle in the competition between the military and the government for the budget. If the two sides could not reach a consensus, then the government would inevitably side with one side to attack the other.

But now he has stepped outside the small circle of the Navy. For him, the Navy budget is no longer everything; the Navy's control over the government takes a slightly higher priority over its budget. Since additional funding can be obtained through channels outside the Navy's budget, why should the Navy share its budget with the Army?

The current situation is that the navy not only receives its share from the military budget, but also gets an additional budget from the government. Although the government budget doesn't directly subsidize the navy, it indirectly benefits the navy, and high-ranking naval officers also receive a cut. Therefore, cutting military spending hasn't caused the navy any significant loss; on the contrary, it provides an opportunity to curb the army's expansion. Who would refuse such a good deal?

Ito Sukeyuki knew he couldn't be honest with Yamagata about this reason, so he evaded the question by saying, "Negotiations with the government on the budget are certainly important, but the national finances are so tight right now. This war has cost so much money, at least a third of which came from foreign loans, but we've received almost no cash compensation beyond the land. In other words, the money we borrowed from abroad for the war will ultimately have to be repaid by the people. Considering that the people's burden is already very heavy, we can't squeeze any more oil out of them. At this point, any discussion with the government will inevitably be about reducing military spending. So, it's fine to proceed with the discussion of this defense policy slowly. We can't afford to fight a second major war in the short term."

Yamagata Aritomo nodded at first, but quickly shook his head and said, "I know that the country is facing financial difficulties, but these difficulties are only temporary. The Russians' basic withdrawal from the Far East means that the markets in Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula have fallen into our control. As long as we seize this opportunity, our country's commerce can still reap huge profits."

We can't wait until our finances improve before considering our defense strategy, can we? We can wait, but our enemies won't. Back then, the three powers forced us to hand over the Liaodong Peninsula right after our war with Qing China. This was precisely because the Empire hadn't formulated a comprehensive post-war defense plan, giving Germany, Russia, and France an opportunity to exploit. We must learn from the past lessons, mustn't we?

Ito felt that Yamagata's words were too vague, because Yamagata only mentioned that there was an enemy or that it would attack Japan, but refused to name the enemy that would attack Japan. Ito Sukeyuki did think there was some truth to the army's view of China as the primary enemy after the war. After all, the Sino-Japanese War not only caused China to lose the Korean Peninsula and the Beiyang Fleet, but also forced the Chinese to pay huge war reparations. No one could guarantee that the Chinese would not retaliate against Japan after they recovered their strength.

However, it is still a long way off for China to regain its historical status. Even the most fanatical mainland ronin will only say that China will inevitably pose a threat to Japan in the future, but will not say that China will attack immediately, because that is simply unrealistic.

The Chinese people have just experienced a dynastic change. Although it did not escalate into a violent revolution, the rise of several internal forces fragmented the unified dynastic structure. Even if Wuhan becomes increasingly powerful among these forces, unifying China will not be an easy task in a short period of time.

In China today, all forces are preparing, not for external wars, but for a war of domestic unification. To say that China will attack the Korean Peninsula at this time is blatant nonsense. How can a country without even a major naval fleet fight against Japan, which has the strongest fleet in East Asia?

However, Yamagata clearly didn't intend for Ito to prove the truth of his ideas; he was expressing his own position to Ito. Ito Sukeyuki, of course, couldn't persuade Yamagata, who had already set his stance, since Yamagata represented the interests of the army, not right or wrong.

Ito had no choice but to use the excuse that Lin Xinyi had prepared for him: "The reason why the Navy attaches so much importance to the consultation mechanism is mainly because it is troubled by the Army's past self-centeredness. If a consultation mechanism is not established between the Army and the Navy, then there is no point in discussing the Imperial Defense Policy. If the Army insists on its own ideas and the Navy insists on its own position, then what is the point of such consultation? In the end, won't it just make His Majesty feel embarrassed?"

Yamagata Aritomo was speechless for a while after being stumped by Ito's words. He couldn't very well tell him that the Army had no intention of reaching any conclusions with the Navy; it was just a formality to present the Army's proposals to His Majesty. He knew His Majesty well enough that as long as the Army and Navy's proposals were presented to Meiji, Meiji would most likely acquiesce.

After all, the so-called imperial decision is never made by the Emperor, but rather by the elders discussing and reaching a conclusion in front of the Emperor. The last time he was suppressed by the other elders at the meeting of senior ministers, it was because the main topic of that meeting was ending the war and restoring the economy after the war. Although the army could offer its opinions, it could not go against the general trend. After all, without the support of the government and the navy, the army could not continue the war.

However, the army has now withdrawn from Manchuria, and the external threat to the army has disappeared. He once again submitted the proposal to expand the army to His Majesty under the pretext of discussing national defense policy. Only the army and navy can participate in the discussion of national defense policy. In other words, the navy cannot find any other help. This time, everyone holds their own opinions, and Meiji can only act as a peacemaker in the end, because it is impossible for the army and navy to have a majority in a separate meeting.

However, Ito Sukeyuki, who should theoretically have been oblivious, pointed this out, leaving Yamagata Aritomo in a dilemma. Before this war, although there had been some disputes between the army and the navy, neither Saigo Tsugumichi nor Yamamoto Gonnohyōe would take a hard line with the army in their formal talks. They would always start by taking a hard line, then get some concessions from the army, and then seek a compromise with the army.

Yamagata Aritomo was somewhat used to dealing with the Navy in this way, which was why when Fukushima Yasumasa advised him, he felt that meeting with Ito Sukeyuki wouldn't be a big problem. Yamagata believed that the Navy didn't really have the courage to confront the Army; they just wanted to use this opportunity to make demands on the Army.

However, Ito's current firm stance has put him in a difficult position, because Yamagata really doesn't intend to break ties with the Navy. He came to meet with Ito Sukeyuki because he wanted to reach a compromise with the Navy.

Just as Yamagata hesitated, Ito Sukeyuki ultimately didn't intend to embarrass him further. He offered Yamagata a new way out, saying, "I actually agree with the idea of ​​the army and navy negotiating future defense policies. Although we have defeated the Qing Dynasty and Russia, and brought the Korean Peninsula and Karafuto under our control, we have initially established a security zone for the empire in Northeast Asia."

However, the United States across the Pacific, China undergoing internal reforms, Russia retreating west of Lake Baikal, and Britain and France controlling the islands of South Pacific and the Southeast Asian mainland—these countries all pose potential adversaries to Japan. The army and navy must indeed carefully discuss which of these adversaries pose the greatest immediate threat and which pose the greatest long-term threat; this is precisely the content that the Imperial Defense Policy needs to address.

However, apart from China, none of Japan's other potential imperial rivals are weaker in national strength. Even China, once it ends its internal divisions, will quickly regain its status as a major power. Therefore, none of Japan's future rivals can be confronted by the army and navy alone; victory will inevitably require the combined efforts of both.

The navy's emphasis on establishing a consultation mechanism between the army and navy is actually part of its future defense policy. A defense policy cannot only target external adversaries; it also needs to integrate domestic forces. This war demonstrates that wars between industrialized nations are not simply a matter of victory or defeat between armies, but a confrontation of a nation's entire strength. Russia lost this war because it could not concentrate all its resources on confronting Japan and China in the Far East.

Although neither Japan nor China could match Russia in terms of industrial strength, both countries devoted almost all of their national resources to the battlefield during the war. Therefore, although Russia's industrial strength was superior to that of the two countries, it was unable to devote its full resources and ultimately failed on the battlefield.

Therefore, the key is not how the Army and Navy can reach a conclusion on the consultation mechanism, but whether they can achieve a relationship of mutual trust. Only in this way can we reach a consensus as quickly as possible on the subsequent consultations on the Imperial defense policy.

Yamagata Aritomo listened attentively to Ito's theory of confronting the entire nation's strength. This war had a significant impact on the army. The famous scene of the Japanese army defeating the Qing army with courage in the Sino-Japanese War was not successfully replicated on the battlefield against Russia. Although observers from various countries believed that the courage shown by the Japanese army in the later stages of the battle was the root cause of the Russian army's continuous retreat, the scene of the Russian army completely losing morale and being driven away by a few Japanese soldiers, as in the Sino-Japanese War, did not occur.

The Russian army was an organized armed force, and even when morale was low, there were very few instances of entire units surrendering or fleeing at the first sign of trouble. Therefore, the Japanese army was much more civilized in this war. The large-scale massacres of prisoners of war and civilians seen in the Sino-Japanese War were not common in this war; however, massacres of civilians in Korea and China did occur.

The battles with the Russian army made some Japanese generals realize that the way to fight against the armies of the great powers was different from the way to fight against the armies of the East. Once the armies of the East realized that they were facing defeat, they would seek their own safety first, while the armies of the great powers would fight as long as possible even if they faced defeat, until they achieved a dignified surrender.

Therefore, the supplies consumed in the war against Russia were incomparable to those consumed in the Sino-Japanese War. The latter could even obtain supplies from the Qing army, while dealing with the Russians required mobilizing all domestic resources. Even so, there were several times when the offensive had to be halted due to a lack of artillery shells.