Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 232

After Ito Hirobumi offered to compensate China for the Gando Incident, the Beiyang clique represented by Yuan Shikai finally began to declare that Sino-Japanese peace was the way out for East Asia. After Japan made concessions on the Gando Incident, the contradictions between China and Japan had eased. For the landlord class in the north, relying on Japan to resist Wuhan's northward expansion was the top priority.

Yuan Shikai was so eager to respond to the Japanese request because the Beiyang government had lost control of Shaanxi. Even if Gansu was retained, the Northwest region would no longer belong to the Beiyang government, because without the economic support of Shaanxi, the economies of Gansu, Ningxia, and Qinghai could not support a powerful military force.

Under these circumstances, the Beiyang Army's foundation for rule in the Northwest had effectively collapsed. The Beiyang Army's westward advance was actually dependent on the collapse of the Gansu Army. During the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Gansu Army, as a supporter of the imperial court, suffered heavy losses. After the war, Dong Fuxiang was forced into seclusion, and the Gansu Army's organization was reduced from 32 battalions to eight battalions, with five battalions stationed in Gansu and three battalions stationed in Shaanxi. The armed forces in the Northwest that were loyal to the imperial court began to disintegrate, and local forces began to rise.

Although Yang Shixiang treated Dong Fuxiang with courtesy upon entering Gansu, he was also wary of this Gansu army leader. After all, Dong Fuxiang was loyal to the imperial court and obviously could not rely on the Beiyang group that had rebelled against the court. Therefore, Yang Shixiang could only support the Ma family of Hezhou.

The Ma family of Hezhou was the tribe of Ma Zhan'ao, who surrendered to the imperial court during the Tongzhi Hui Rebellion. Although the court incorporated and divided these Hui armed forces after their surrender, with the disintegration of the Gansu Army, the various minor leaders from Ma Zhan'ao's tribe became the backbone of the Northwest armed forces.

Ma Zhan'ao's son Ma Anliang, Ma Haiyan's son Ma Qi, and Ma Qianling's son Ma Fuxiang were representative figures of the Hezhou Ma clique. While Yang Shixiang was alive, he could suppress these unruly Hui Muslim generals; however, after his departure, the ambitions of the Hezhou Ma clique began to sprout. The problem facing the Beiyang government now was that not only was Wuhan unwilling to withdraw from Shaanxi, but Wuhan also believed that Shaanxi did not belong to anyone but to the people of Shaanxi. Therefore, Wuhan actively promoted the establishment of Shaanxi peasant associations, chambers of commerce, and workers', peasants', and soldiers' congresses, thereby overthrowing the old Shaanxi government system and rebuilding a new administrative system.

Under this new system, the Beiyang government was unable to appoint officials because its appointments lacked the support of local representatives and were ultimately rejected. Furthermore, the Beiyang government was no match for Wuhan in terms of force, so Shaanxi could no longer be controlled by the Beiyang government.

Of course, the reason why the people of Shaanxi favored Wuhan was that the Beiyang government did not purge the former Qing system when it ruled the Northwest. Yang Shixiang relied on these former Qing officials to stabilize the situation in the Northwest, so it was impossible for him to purge them and redistribute land and wealth to the people of Shaanxi. This made the people of Shaanxi extremely disappointed with the Beiyang government, believing that the Beiyang government was no different from the imperial court. They thought it was just a matter of changing hairstyles, and the same few officials were still in charge. Was this still the Qing Dynasty?

Wuhan did not need these former Qing officials to maintain the situation after entering Shaanxi. Wuhan's ruling methods, power structure, and even talent cultivation were completely different from those of the former Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the conservative forces in Shaanxi quickly became the target of Wuhan's attacks, which greatly gained the support of the people of Shaanxi. This was because Shaanxi was on the verge of economic collapse at the end of the Qing Dynasty. Long-term agricultural development had led to the extreme deterioration of Shaanxi's natural environment. The once fertile Guanzhong Plain had now become a disaster-prone famine-stricken area. Moreover, due to Shaanxi's inconvenient transportation to the outside world, the best farmland in Shaanxi was planted with opium, because only small and high-value commodities like opium could be sold to the Central Plains.

This large-scale opium cultivation further reduced grain production in Shaanxi, making the people of Shaanxi even less able to help themselves during years of disaster. Therefore, the people of Shaanxi wanted to try the changes brought about by Wuhan, regardless of whether they were good or bad, because if they didn't change, they really wouldn't be able to survive.

In fact, after the Beiyang Army entered the Northwest and replaced the imperial court, Shaanxi experienced another wave of peasant bankruptcies due to the need to support the Beiyang Army in establishing the Gansu New Army. This led to a surge in banditry in many areas, further disrupting social order, and even landlords found life difficult. Although Wuhan advocated land reform, it was able to maintain social order, forcing even landlords to side with Wuhan to protect themselves.

Although the various warlords of Hezhou strengthened their power with the support of the Beiyang Army, after Yang Shixiang's death and the entry of the Wuhan Army into Shaanxi, the warlords of Hezhou and other local forces began to consider excluding the Beiyang Army and the Wuhan Army.

Ma Anliang and Ma Qi believed that with the Gansu New Army under their control, the strength of this one division was comparable to that of the Gansu Army at its peak. Therefore, they could use this strength to refuse Wuhan's request to send troops into Gansu. After all, Wuhan had the Beiyang Army behind it and could not possibly deal with them with all its might. It was also unlikely that the Beiyang Army could bypass Shaanxi, which was controlled by Wuhan, to seize Gansu. Thus, by controlling the New Army and occupying Gansu, Qinghai, and Ningxia, they could also establish their own independent regime.

As for Ma Fuxiang and the others, they feared that continuing to support the Beiyang government would lead to a military attack on Gansu by Wuhan. To avoid Gansu being drawn into the struggle between the two major Han Chinese military groups, Wuhan and Beiyang, self-preservation became the best option. Although they did not have the ambitions of Ma Anliang and Ma Qi, their desire for self-preservation made it inevitable that they would refuse the Beiyang government's request to send someone to take over Gansu.

Yuan Shikai then realized that the Beiyang Army had inexplicably lost the Northwest simply because Yang Shixiang had died and a railway had been built in Shaanxi. The people of the Northwest had abandoned the Beiyang Army. Faced with this situation, no matter how much he argued with Wuhan, he could not win back the hearts of the people in the Northwest. This forced the Beiyang Army to further align itself with Japan, using Japan as its backing, and to confront Wuhan.

Considering this, a peaceful resolution to the Gando Incident was clearly most advantageous for the Beiyang government. Within the Asian Union, a unified resolution finally emerged, with representatives from various regions believing that Japan and China should maintain peace and not allow a complete confrontation between the two countries to occur. Such a confrontation would affect the Japanese proletariat's support for the Asian national unity, forcing the Workers' Party of Korea to formally consider the issue of peace talks.

Chapter 739

Author: Fuchun Mountain Residence Number: 4941 Comments: 0 Update Date: 2023-09-17 12:34:46

Because of the antagonism between the Beiyang government and Wuhan, and the loss of control over the situation in the Northwest, Yuan Shikai knew that the joint naval exercises between China, Japan, and South Korea would actually provoke the Germans, but he couldn't care less at this point. In any case, the Germans had always supported Wuhan but refused to support him, so provoking the Germans would actually gain the trust of Britain and France. This was Yuan Shikai's idea.

So, the navy originally thought that the trilateral military exercise would either be canceled or postponed, but at the end of August, it received a definite reply from Beijing that the State Council had approved the plan for the trilateral military exercise, which greatly encouraged the entire navy.

The trilateral naval exercise was not initially taken seriously domestically because the army believed that the Korean Empire was not qualified to participate, as it would cause many problems for the annexation of Korea. Because of the army's attitude, even pro-army nationalists criticized the exercise plan. In particular, the navy's attempt to donate warships to South Korea and China was criticized by many Japanese patriots.

For example, the Kyushu Daily, controlled by Genyosha, criticized the navy's act of donating warships to China and South Korea as equivalent to the Song Dynasty paying tribute to the Liao Dynasty, a humble act of begging for peace in East Asia, and an insult to the Great Japanese Empire.

The criticism from the Kyushu Daily seemed to have some effect, but then it seemed to have no effect at all, because the Navy quickly issued a clarification, stating that the warships the Navy planned to donate were all Russian warships that needed major repairs before they could be used. China and South Korea would have to pay for the repairs themselves in order to accept these warships, and the Navy also mentioned how many jobs these repair projects would provide for the shipyards.

While the Navy clarified the inside story of the warship donation, the newspapers controlled by the Navy's Cultural Affairs Department began to vigorously promote the movie "The Great Battle". This movie, which was made with the strong support of the Navy and assembled the best filmmakers in Japan, can be said to be a milestone in Japanese cinema. It completely broke away from the concept of moving images and told a historical event, telling a story on the screen.

Thanks to the navy's propaganda and promotion, the construction of cinemas across the country was greatly boosted, and movies began to become a fashionable pastime for urban residents. As a result, with the public's enthusiasm for the navy sparked by this film, criticisms of the navy quickly disappeared.

Japan Events Photo Co., Ltd. established its position in the Japanese film industry through this film, successfully transforming film into an entertainment industry, no longer just a street performance, while the Navy gained tremendous reputation.

The success of the naval battle began to attract investment from all sides into the film industry. This new industry absorbed many college graduates who were unemployed. Under Lin Xinyi's arrangement, the training courses for film scripts almost became a club for left-wing intellectuals. Those left-wing writers who could not work as journalists under news control are now writing film scripts.

Thus, the development of a new media technology dismantled the control of Japanese conservatives over public opinion. Although conservatives attempted to regulate film art, the cabinet, controlled by the navy, repeatedly rejected their efforts. Yamamoto Gonnohyōe, who was already dissatisfied with the conservatives' overly pro-army stance, as if the navy were merely a branch of the army, was now even more unhappy as prime minister with the army's attempts to support conservatives in suppressing cultural forces close to the navy.

Although both the army and navy harbored ambitions for overseas expansion, their expansionist philosophies had diverged significantly. The army's primary focus in overseas expansion was on land acquisition, essentially seizing land for Japanese farmers to cultivate. However, the navy consistently viewed the forced occupation of overseas lands and the subsequent relocation of Japanese people to become overseas farmers as an extremely inefficient form of colonization. The navy preferred to preserve the existing order of overseas colonies and plunder resources from them to develop Japan's military power—specifically, its warships.

After Hayashi Shinji established the new naval strategy, the navy's overseas expansion strategy became clearer: Japan should take advantage of the difference in labor efficiency between industry and agriculture to acquire overseas agricultural and mineral resources, rather than driving away local residents and sending Japanese people to build a Japanese settlement from scratch.

The management of Mindanao also proves that the Japanese are simply unable to withstand the diseases and climate of tropical regions. Although the Japanese are capable of enduring hardship, compared to the vast tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia, they have no idea how to live in such a place. In fact, the more habitable areas of Southeast Asia have long been developed, and these undeveloped virgin forests prove that they are not suitable for human habitation and require a large investment of resources to transform the local environment.

Many Japanese preferred to go to South America rather than Mindanao. After a period of observation, the Japanese had to admit that the main force in developing Southeast Asia was actually the Chinese, especially those from Guangdong and Fujian. Due to insufficient arable land, the Chinese in these areas began migrating to Southeast Asia as early as the Song Dynasty. The claim that Europeans developed Southeast Asia is a lie. In fact, until the 18th century, the mortality rate of European immigrants in Southeast Asia was extremely high. If it weren't for relying on the Chinese as laborers in the colonies, Europeans would never have been able to establish an economic and trade network in Southeast Asia.

The reason why Chinese people were able to become the main force of labor in Southeast Asia is twofold: first, their habit of drinking hot water and their knowledge of hygiene in managing their living environment greatly reduced their mortality rate in tropical regions; second, their knowledge transmission system enabled them to quickly master the necessary skills to survive in the tropics.

This is evident from the fact that almost all those who went to Southeast Asia were from Fujian and Guangdong. Chinese from other regions also faced extremely high mortality rates because they lacked a local community to guide them on how to live there. Therefore, the idea that simply relocating Japanese people to Mindanao would allow for the development of local natural resources is clearly an unrealistic and unrealistic claim.

Through its records of governing Mindanao, the Navy further confirmed that the Army's continental expansion plan was a complete disaster. Aside from the Army benefiting, the nation and the Navy would gain absolutely nothing. This was because the Army's continental expansion plan required a continuous increase in army numbers to ensure Japan's rule over its colonies on the mainland. For example, the current Korean independence army was not a problem that could be solved by just one or two stationed divisions.

The focus of the Army's continental policy was the invasion of China, which meant that Japan would eventually have to face a nation with a population ten times its own. The Army was already clamoring to expand its military when it was already dealing with Korea, which had less than half its population. If it were to face China as well, wouldn't it have to hand over all of the country's resources to the Army?

Therefore, Saito's faction, which had previously advocated for equal strength with the army, increasingly lost support within the navy. This was because people judged from the performance of the Korean Independence Army that increasing the army to 50 divisions in wartime was not an exaggeration, but a conservative assessment. As for the navy, let alone increasing to 50 tons in wartime, even maintaining 25 tons in peacetime would be a considerable burden on the country.

Therefore, if the army were to provoke a continental war, its expansion plan would break through the negotiations between the army and navy, while the navy's expansion plan would almost certainly not receive parliamentary support unless the navy also provoked a major war with Britain and the United States. However, in that case, Japan would likely be defeated, because not only Japan, but even Britain could not withstand a strategy of being at odds with the entire world.

As a result, the Navy increasingly desires peace with China and is therefore increasingly unwilling to allow the Army and its supporters to suppress liberals who oppose the war, and even tolerates the remarks of socialists who oppose the system, because the Navy needs these voices to suppress the Army's voices advocating for expanding the war.

Beijing's positive response to the trilateral military exercises naturally encouraged the navy, meaning that the hope for peace between Japan and China has not been destroyed, and the navy has further expanded its voice in diplomacy, beginning to have a guiding influence on the direction of Japanese diplomacy.

After becoming Foreign Minister, Komura Jutaro vigorously promoted bureaucrats from the University of Tokyo and actively promoted an independent foreign policy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He not only opposed the interference of the elder statesmen in foreign affairs, but also did not want the Prime Minister to interfere. Komura believed that the elder statesmen's knowledge level was no longer sufficient to guide modern diplomacy, and that the Prime Minister was not a specialist in international law and had term limits. Therefore, in order to maintain the consistency of foreign policy, Japan's foreign policy should be led by the elites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

To achieve its goal of an independent foreign policy, Foreign Minister Komura even allied with the younger generation of army officers, thus orchestrating two major geopolitical events: the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and the war against Russia. Although Makino's rise to power represented the interests of the Satsuma clique, Makino himself did not object to Komura's principle of independent foreign policy.

However, Makino was far inferior to Komura in terms of diplomatic philosophy. Simply put, Makino was indeed very familiar with international law, but he had no concept of how to build a regional order. Therefore, although Makino had the awareness of independent diplomacy, he was ultimately pushed along by the Japan-China peace led by the Navy. This was because the Navy had a very clear goal on the basis of Japan-China peace: to build an Asian cooperative order.

Because of public opinion in Japan favoring a peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula issue, the joint naval exercises between Japan, China, and South Korea, which had previously been met with considerable criticism, began to receive increasing attention from the Japanese public. People believed that these exercises shattered Japan's lie about attempting to completely annex North Korea and could also ease the differences between Japan and China on the Korean issue.

However, as the trilateral military exercises gained increasing attention in public opinion, the initial indifference within the navy towards the position of commander-in-chief of the exercises changed. Previously, naval officers were unsure whether being in charge of the exercises would cause public discontent, so they had no intention of vying for the position, which is why Masamichi Togo successfully obtained it.

However, in mid-June, Togo Masamichi was suddenly hospitalized for appendicitis, leaving the position of commander-in-chief of the military exercise vacant. As the political influence of the three-nation military exercise increased, the navy suddenly realized that this military exercise could become a kind of political capital, so some generals who planned to enter politics in the future began to actively compete for the position of commander-in-chief of the military exercise.

The two strongest candidates are Shibayama Yahachi and Saito Minoru. Shibayama Yahachi needs to use this military exercise to shed his image as a technical expert, while Saito Minoru needs to shed his bureaucratic image from the Yamamoto era. Both intend to use this military exercise to prove that they are also capable of commanding the navy.

However, the final decision on who would fill this position rested with the fleet faction led by Togo Heihachiro and the reform group led by the Third Naval Staff. The fleet faction represented the will of the frontline officers and soldiers, while the reform group represented the will of the younger officers and soldiers in the navy. From a certain perspective, this was yet another clash between the old and new forces within the navy.

Although Togo Heihachiro did not fully agree with Saito Makoto's naval philosophy, Saito Makoto was more like an executor of Yamamoto Gonnohyōe's military philosophy. Without Yamamoto Gonnohyōe's ideas, Saito Makoto was just an excellent naval bureaucrat. This is also why Saito Makoto was unable to control the various departments under him after he became the Chief of the Naval General Staff, because he could not come up with a large project that the Naval General Staff could work together on.

As a staff agency, the Naval General Staff is very different from an administrative agency like the Navy Ministry. While personnel struggles are important, the ability to formulate naval policies is even more important. The Naval General Staff cannot obtain new resources by relying solely on internal strife. The Navy Ministry prioritizes personnel struggles because it holds the power to allocate naval resources. Controlling the personnel in the Navy Ministry means controlling the allocation of naval resources.

Saito Makoto's attempt to apply his experience from the Ministry of the Navy to the Naval General Staff was clearly futile. Especially with the Naval Cultural Section constantly leveraging social resources to circumvent the Ministry of the Navy and expand the Naval General Staff's power, Saito's attempt to constrain the Cultural Section's power through personnel changes was unlikely to gain the support of anyone within the Naval General Staff.

Therefore, if Saito Makoto wanted to obtain the position of commander-in-chief of the military exercises, he really couldn't rely on the support of the young officers under the Naval General Staff. As a key member of the Yamamoto faction, Togo Heihachiro, although he had different military philosophies from Saito Makoto, could not ignore the unity of the faction. Moreover, Yamamoto and Saito had established him as a hero of the Russo-Japanese War, and he also needed to repay him for this.

On the other hand, the reformist group originally had no particular inclination. Although Saito Minoru was a bit too bureaucratic, he was still the Chief of the Naval General Staff and the superior of the three naval staff officers. Sato Tetsutaro and Akiyama Saneyuki felt that it would be good to accept Saito Minoru as the commander-in-chief of the military exercises, at least it could enhance the influence of the Naval General Staff over the fleet.

However, Hayashi Shin-yi chose Shibayama Yahachi, and under his strong advocacy, Sato and Akiyama also changed their minds, which directly led to the reform group's stance on the matter. The struggle between the two sides made Minister Kawahara and the naval high command uneasy. In the end, Ito Sukeyuki intervened and arranged for Shibayama Yahachi and Saito Minoru to have a debate to see who was more suitable to serve as the commander-in-chief of the military exercise.

It was said that Shibayama Yahachi and Saito Minoru would each give their views on the military exercise, but in reality, this debate was to allow the fleet faction and the reform faction to each explain their reasons for supporting it. If neither side could convince the other, then the naval high command would directly vote to resolve the matter, in order to avoid creating antagonism among front-line officers and staff officers within the navy.

Togo Heihachiro, of course, would not personally participate in the debate. Instead, his close subordinate, Ogasawara Nagayoshi, explained the reasons why the fleet faction supported Saito Minoru. Although Ogasawara did not belittle Shibayama Yahachi, he implied that Saito Minoru was more experienced in administrative affairs than Shibayama and was able to handle some unexpected situations that might arise during the joint military exercises between Japan, China, and South Korea.

This is not a military exercise conducted solely by Japan, so many issues cannot be handled using domestic principles. Otherwise, the trilateral military exercise would not be about building peaceful relations, but rather about inciting antagonism among the three navies. Shibayama has been away from the naval decision-making center for many years, and his ability to handle such matters is clearly inferior to that of the experienced Vice Minister Saito, which is Saito's greatest source of confidence.

Shibayama Yahachi was also helpless in the face of this argument. He knew very well that this was his weakness. Just when he felt that he was getting further and further away from this position, Hayashi Shin-yi spoke on behalf of the young officers who supported him.

Lin Xinyi did not compare Shibayama Yahachi and Saito Minoru's pasts, but instead said directly to everyone: "The military exercise is just a prelude. The key point is the establishment of the Asian Joint Fleet after the military exercise."

It's impossible for the Combined Fleet to explicitly define Japan's command over it; not only would China disagree, but the other major powers wouldn't stand idly by. Therefore, we must use a system to control the Combined Fleet under Japanese control. How do we control a fleet? Through a robust logistical supply system, of course.

In other words, we can engage in equal dialogue with China and South Korea on military and political issues, but we must take the lead in building our own logistics system, as neither China nor South Korea possesses a logistics system that can compete with ours. This is why we support Vice Minister Shibayama; while his logistics-centric theory may still be open to debate with the Japanese Navy, it is absolutely correct for the Asian Combined Fleet…”

Shibayama Yahachi looked at Hayashi Shin-yi with some surprise. He knew very well that the logistics center theory was not his own creation, but rather something Hayashi Shin-yi had provided him. He hadn't expected Hayashi Shin-yi to use it in this way at this time. However, it was clearly just the right time. The navy was indeed seeking to establish an Asian joint fleet and had been considering how to control it, so Saito Makoto's past experience suddenly lost its luster.

Chapter 740

Author: Fuchun Mountain Residence Number: 4879 Comments: 0 Update Date: 2023-09-18 12:37:04

The navy's overtures to China were aimed at gaining control of the Asian joint fleet, which was to be built on the basis of Japan and China. The idea of ​​this fleet had received great attention within the navy after it was proposed by Hayashi Shin-yoshi.

The navy is well aware that for a continental country like China with a long coastline, as long as its national strength improves even slightly, it will inevitably seek to develop the capability for coastal defense.

In the past, there were two opinions within the navy. One was to continue to suppress China and prevent it from having the opportunity to develop its navy. This path highly overlapped with the army's continental policy. The other idea was to cooperate with China to control the East Asian seas and make the Chinese navy subordinate to the Japanese navy. In this way, the Japanese navy would not only have one less enemy, but also gain an advantage in countering the European powers.

Unfortunately, while the latter was the best option, it was extremely difficult to implement due to political influences. It wasn't until Lin Xinyi proposed the Asian Alliance, which politically resolved the issue of Sino-Japanese cooperation, that the latter option began to outweigh the former and became the mainstream consensus in the navy.

The reason why the latter option became a consensus in the navy so quickly is that the navy clearly understands this reality: suppressing a weak China does not require a large navy, but rather a large army. Therefore, suppressing China so that it cannot defend its coastline lies not in maritime suppression, but in land pressure.

If the navy wanted to obtain more resources, it could only take Britain, the United States, France and the Netherlands as its enemies. Although the strength of France, the United States and the Netherlands in Southeast Asia was negligible, their shared colonial interests meant that these powers would not confront Japan alone, but would unite to prevent the Japanese navy from advancing south.

This fact was confirmed in previous disputes between Japan and the United States and in the Russo-Japanese War. When the United States handed over Mindanao to Japan for administration, the Dutch were the most vocal opponents, but everyone knew that the Dutch represented the British position. If Russia had not infringed on Britain's fundamental interests in the Far East, Japan might not have been able to obtain Mindanao.

Although the Battle of Cam Ranh Bay was a glorious victory for the Japanese Navy, and even the French did not dare to question whether the Japanese Navy's actions in Cam Ranh Bay infringed on French interests, the Royal Navy issued a warning to the Japanese Navy, believing that the Japanese Navy's actions had caused unease among the Royal Fleet. If the Japanese Navy became too active in the South China Sea, the Royal Navy would have to strengthen its patrol forces in the South China Sea.

Because of British warnings, the Japanese Navy dared not build large-scale military bases on Mindanao, and could only focus on developing commercial ports. However, this increased the sense of confrontation with the great powers within the Japanese Navy. Although the older generation of naval commanders still feared the strength of the great powers' navies, the new generation of naval officers, based on the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, had come to regard the Asian seas as the natural sphere of influence of the Japanese Navy, and were unwilling to continue to bow to other powers besides the Royal Navy.

In this context, Hayashi Shin-yi's idea of ​​an Asian Joint Fleet naturally gained the approval of the younger generation of the navy. Under the name of the Asian Joint Fleet, the Japanese navy could not only legitimately intervene in Asian maritime issues, but also use the dissatisfaction of various Asian nations with the great powers to exert political pressure on them.

Although the Royal Navy was invincible, the vast British Indian colony was a destabilizing factor for the British Empire. If British India showed signs of national independence, what energy would the Royal Navy have left to compete with the Japanese Navy for the South Seas? The Royal Fleet could only guard the Strait of Malacca and prevent the Japanese Navy from entering the Indian Ocean. This was the conclusion reached by the Naval General Staff after analysis.

When Hayashi Shin-yi shifted the comparison of candidates for the chief commander of the military exercise to the issue of the struggle for control of the Asian Joint Fleet, the debate came to an end. Whether it was the younger generation or the naval high command, their positions on the issue of controlling the Asian Joint Fleet were consistent: Japan must gain control of the Joint Fleet. Under such a topic, Saito Makoto's personal connections could not play a role.

The position of overall commander of the military exercise ultimately fell to Shibayama Yahachi. When Togo Heihachiro came out of Ito Sukeyuki's residence, his face was very serious. Before getting into his carriage, he couldn't help but warn Saito Minoru: "Saito, as the chief of the Naval General Staff, you are far too lax in your management of the young officers under you. If you can't even manage your own subordinates, how can others believe that you can lead the navy?"

Although Togo Heihachiro was not a graduate of the Royal Naval Academy in the UK, his seniority was indeed longer than that of Saito Minoru. However, due to his lack of formal education, Togo was never groomed to be a leader within the navy. Nevertheless, as an admiral who had worked on the front lines for a long time, Togo had always enjoyed a good reputation among the fleet's officers and men, which was the key reason why Yamamoto Gonnohyōe was able to replace Hidaka with him.

Although more senior, Togo remained relatively polite to Saito Makoto, knowing that Saito was Yamamoto Gonnohyōe's successor in the Navy, and that he himself had been promoted by Yamamoto to protect Saito. However, Saito Makoto's abilities were simply too weak. While Yamamoto Gonnohyōe served as Minister of the Navy, Saito Makoto's shortcomings were not apparent, but after Yamamoto left the Navy and Saito Makoto lost the protection of his faction leader, his weakness became magnified.

Togo Heihachiro also knew that Hayashi Nobuyoshi was a problem. After all, this group of young staff officers in the Naval General Staff were all promoted from the fleet after the war, so he should have considerable influence over these staff officers. For example, Arima Ryōtachi was not only Yamamoto Gonbei's son-in-law, but also his confidant. Such a person should have been on the side of Saitō Makoto, the leader of the Yamamoto faction, as Hayashi Nobuyoshi's superior. However, in reality, Arima became a member of the reformist faction.

Togo had also discussed this issue with Arima. Arima still respected his old superior, but he harbored considerable resentment towards Saito Minoru. His assessment of Saito was, "Chief Saito is more suited to be an administrative bureaucrat in the central ministries and is not suitable to lead the Naval General Staff or the Navy, because he has no other ideas besides personnel struggles."

No officer attempting to promote naval reform would stand against Lieutenant Commander Hayashi; doing so would only make them appear as a pedantic bureaucrat, not a leader of the navy. Saito thought he could use personnel changes to strip Lieutenant Commander Hayashi of his influence over the younger officers, but in reality, he couldn't even outmaneuver Hayashi in personnel battles, and his plans within the Ministry of the Navy were easily dismantled.

Lieutenant Commander Hayashi wasn't incapable of personnel struggles; he simply refused to use them to determine victory or defeat, as that would plunge the navy into endless infighting. On this point, Commander-in-Chief Saito remained stubbornly unenlightened. Therefore, I have nothing more to say to him.”

Togo knew that the officers below him were actually fed up with the personnel struggles of the Yamamoto Gonnohyōe era. The Yamamoto era relied on personnel struggles to solve the problem of leadership within the navy, thereby establishing the Satsuma faction's dominance. This also led to the problem of excessive power in the Ministry of the Navy. As a result, the central ministries became the primary targets for promising officers, making it difficult for frontline fleet officers to rise in rank.

Yamamoto Gonnohyōe's ability to replace the influential Hidaka in the fleet before the war effectively demonstrated the Navy Ministry's absolute control over the fleet. Although the Russo-Japanese War achieved a favorable outcome, this did not mean that the dissatisfaction of fleet officers with the central government's bureaucracy had disappeared. Therefore, when Hayashi Nobuyoshi, representing the Ito-Kawahara faction, advocated for reforms to the navy, he naturally gained the support of most disgruntled lower-ranking officers in the navy.

Fleet officers like Arima Ryotachi, who had deep ties with the Yamamoto faction, had no choice but to abandon the Yamamoto faction and support the reformists when faced with the issue of naval system reform. This was because it was the wish of the majority of naval personnel. If they abandoned this consensus, they would lose their own position and be marginalized.

Togo Heihachiro's dissatisfaction with Saito Minoru stemmed from the fact that after Yamamoto Gonnohyōe left the Navy, Saito Minoru did not follow public opinion to promote reforms of the Navy Ministry. Instead, he attempted to use personnel struggles to sideline Minister Kawahara, but was ultimately outmaneuvered. This effectively uprooted at least half of the Yamamoto faction's foundation in the Navy. Even Togo Heihachiro's support for Saito Minoru was met with considerable skepticism from the Fleet faction, who felt that Saito Minoru did not represent their interests and was a supporter of central government officials.

Therefore, after failing to win the position of commander-in-chief of the military exercise, Togo Heihachiro had to make his stance clear to Saito Minoru: he would no longer be able to unconditionally support Saito Minoru in the future, which was indeed a major blow to Saito.

Saito couldn't even muster up his anger towards Hayashi Shinyoshi anymore. In fact, Arima's assessment of him was quite accurate. In the past, Saito was able to wield great power in the navy not because of his own talent, but because of the trust given to him by Minister Yamamoto, who bestowed upon him the halo of the naval system.

After losing the halo of the system that supported him, Saito Minoru found that everything he did now seemed to be met with great resistance. Everyone below him was genuinely obedient to him, but most of their orders were paid lip service to him. In the General Staff Headquarters, it was much easier for Lieutenant Colonel Hayashi Shin-yi to do anything than for him, the Chief of Staff. This was because Hayashi Shin-yi could directly turn his proposals into decisions by the section chiefs through joint meetings of section chiefs, while Saito Minoru had to persuade the department head and then the section chiefs before he could issue any orders.

While Saito Minoru was in a low point in his life, Shibayama Yahachi began to rise steadily, making him feel as if he had returned to the days when he was young and competed with Yamamoto Gonnohyōe for the leadership of the navy. That was the most glorious moment after he returned from studying abroad. Apart from Yamamoto Gonnohyōe, who was at odds with him, everyone else respected his ideas.

Shibayama Yahachi was well aware of how he had gotten into this situation, so soon after the meeting at the Ito residence, he invited Hayashi Shin-yoshi to meet alone to consult him on military exercises. This was partly to gain further support from the staff and partly to show Hayashi Shin-yoshi that he was not the kind of person who would abandon someone after they had served their purpose.

During this private meeting, Hayashi Shin-yi presented the two-stage plan for the military exercise, which was key to his ability to persuade his staff to choose Shibayama Yahachi. Saito Makoto, having served as a ministerial bureaucrat for too long, lacked the adventurous spirit and was clearly unlikely to overly provoke the Germans during the exercise. Shibayama Yahachi, on the other hand, was willing to take the risk to ensure the exercise would bring him sufficient prestige.

The reformists devised a two-stage plan for the trilateral naval exercise. The first stage was to announce it to the public to ensure that the exercise would be accepted by the Japanese and Chinese governments. If the Japanese and Chinese governments knew that the ultimate goal of the exercise was to target Germany's colony in Qingdao, then both governments might reject the plan.

Therefore, the true purpose of this trilateral military exercise is to create a first phase of military exercise objectives that are acceptable to both governments, and then add a second phase of military exercise objectives after the exercise begins. Even if the two governments react, the exercise will still have a stimulating effect on Germany.

Shibayama Yahachi felt a chill run down his spine when he saw the two-stage military exercise plan that Lin Xinyi handed him. He couldn't help but look up at Lin Xinyi and ask, "Doesn't this plan mean that the target of the three-nation military exercise is Germany? No, in fact, our navy has made Germany the next enemy. China simply doesn't have the naval power to deal with Germany's East Asian fleet."

While pouring sake for Shibayama, Lin Xinyi corrected him, saying, "No, we are not turning Germany into an adversary, but making the German government understand that they are isolated and helpless in East Asia."

Shibayama Yahachi asked, somewhat bewildered, "Is there any difference?"

Lin Xinyi nodded and replied, "Of course, it's different. If we consider Germany as our enemy, then our next step would be to formulate a plan to eliminate the German navy. But in reality, we don't intend to do that. Although the German High Seas Fleet is unlikely to abandon its homeland security to fight us in East Asia, eliminating the German East Asia Fleet would only bring huge benefits to Britain, France, and the United States, while our country would bear huge risks. It would just be another Russo-Japanese War."

After hearing this, Shibayama Yahachi asked in surprise, "Are you planning to use a military exercise to make the Germans voluntarily withdraw from East Asia? I think that's unlikely. Germany has invested huge sums of money in Qingdao, how could they give it up so easily?"

Lin Xinyi said, "Of course, the Germans cannot easily give up their interests in Asia, but there is more than one way to protect their interests in Asia than by force. As long as Germany pays a sufficient price, the Asian Joint Fleet will protect Germany's interests in Asia."

What we need to prove now is that Germany's naval power cannot protect its interests outside its homeland. Therefore, Germany's struggle against our country is meaningless, because even if it defeats our country, Germany cannot protect its overseas interests under the siege of Britain, France, and the United States.

If my country, as a newly emerging power, dares to challenge Germany's overseas interests, then how can Germany defend its overseas interests once other powers start to take action? Compared to its interests in the Mediterranean and Africa, Asia is the region with the smallest overseas interests and the weakest German power.

Therefore, once German politicians realize this, they will adopt more appropriate methods to safeguard their overseas interests, and all we need to do is present Germany with a proposal that benefits us.

After a long silence, Shibayama Yahachi asked, "Do Kawahara and Ito know about this?"

Lin Xinyi smiled and said, "In principle, they shouldn't know about this, but they will accept the Navy's position afterwards."

Shibayama Yahachi understood. Ito and Kawahara had chosen him because they believed he was more suited to the purpose of the military exercise, while Saito Makoto was clearly incapable of undertaking such a task in their eyes. Once he realized this, he found the competition with Saito Makoto somewhat tedious. He had initially thought he had turned the tables, but it turned out to be something that had been decided long ago.

Finally, Shibayama Yahachi asked, "How can you be so sure that Germany would accept such a humiliation?"

However, Lin Xinyi's answer surprised him greatly. "There are naturally people doing the work on the German side. If you pay attention to the news in Germany, you will find that there have been quite frequent reports of concerns about the protection of Germany's overseas colonies this year. There are also more voices that believe that returning Shandong to China would give Germany a solid ally in the East."

Through our friends in Germany, we conducted a survey of the German East Asia Fleet, specifically the German officials stationed in Qingdao. From last year to this year, the number of German officers, soldiers, and businessmen willing to go to war with China over Qingdao has halved, and several hardliners have been transferred from Qingdao and the East Asia Fleet. Therefore, faced with the provocation of the proposed military exercise, the German East Asia Fleet will likely choose to withdraw from the exercise and raise the issue of security for its Asian colonies with Berlin.

Our friends in Germany will persuade the Kaiser to return Qingdao to China and push for the Asian colonies to become independent states under German supervision, joining the Asian Union as independent nations, thus preventing these colonies from being attacked by the Allied Powers after the outbreak of war in Europe.

Shibayama Yahachi asked in great surprise, "Are the Germans also partners in the military exercise?"

Lin Xinyi replied calmly, "Although this military exercise is ostensibly a Japan-China cooperation, it is actually a trilateral cooperation between Japan, China, and Germany. Our ultimate goal is to rebuild order in Asia..."

Chapter 741

Author: Fuchun Mountain Residence Number: 4858 Comments: 0 Update Date: 2023-09-19 12:39:00

When Shibayama Yahachi realized that the military exercise was not just a separate plan for the navy to demonstrate its superiority in the Yellow Sea, but rather a part of the navy's southward strategy, he let go of his last bit of resistance.

Although Shibayama Yahachi chose to cooperate with the Kawahara faction, he still had his own path for naval development. Without the support of this belief, he would have left the navy as early as the Yamamoto era.

The cooperation with Kawahara's side was mainly due to the deep-rooted influence of the Yamamoto-Saito faction, which made it almost impossible for him to promote his own ideas within the Ministry of the Navy. Hayashi Nobuyoshi's logistics-centric approach also gave him the opportunity to carve out a piece of power from the Ministry of the Navy. Therefore, Shibayama Yahachi ultimately sided with the Kawahara faction.

However, Shibayama Yahachi still looked down on Kawahara Yoichi. After all, Kawahara's seniority and achievements were beyond his reach. While Hayashi Shinji's talent left him speechless, Hayashi Shinji was not Kawahara. As a young officer, Hayashi Shinji had risen too quickly and could not directly lead the navy. Therefore, Shibayama Yahachi felt that Kawahara was just lucky to have found a treasure when he was the principal. Otherwise, Kawahara would have been able to retire as the principal of the Naval Academy.

With such thoughts in mind, Shibayama Yahachi naturally acted quite independently within the Navy Ministry. However, he finally realized during the military exercises that he probably couldn't compete with the Kawahara faction. Under Hayashi Shin'ichi's planning, the Kawahara faction was turning the impossible southward expansion strategy into a reality. No wonder Yamamoto had to relinquish naval power to engage in politics. Yamamoto probably also knew that only the Kawahara faction could actually realize the southward expansion strategy at present; no one else could do it.