Unlike China, a Japanese empire that wants to become a world power must have a large enough colony, especially when Sino-Japanese economic and trade has fallen into an unprecedented period of stagnation. The Sino-Japanese economic and trade war has continued from 1908 to the present, spreading from the Northeast to the
Worldwide, in addition to each other’s internal markets being protected by tariffs, China
Japan's economic and trade war in the Asian, African and Latin American markets has become increasingly fierce. After fifteen years of development, this economic and trade war has actually been of great benefit to both sides. It has stimulated the national industries of both sides to make great progress in technology, management, marketing and products.
The development of China has only changed from Japan's initial absolute advantage to China's gradually occupying a more comprehensive advantage.
Right now, today, in this era, in the 11th year of Taisho in the Japanese Empire, in the 12th year of Jinmu in the Chinese Empire.
Standing next to the increasingly powerful Chinese Empire, Japan's sense of crisis is far stronger than that of the entire world. The empire's territory is 42 times that of Japan, its population is 8 times that of Japan, and its total economic volume is 10 times that of Japan.
The total amount of major resources such as coal, iron, copper and aluminum is thousands of times more.
Japan cannot stop the pace of development. Once it stops, it will be severely grasped and crushed into pieces by the Chinese Empire. At this moment, the gap between the navies of China and Japan is the largest.
Japan is in its most glorious stage after the Treaty of Washington, while the Imperial Navy is just starting out. It will take at least ten years to make up for this gap.
Japan, which was suddenly becoming more timid, embarked on yet another more thrilling adventure strategy.
…
Song Biao's political acumen allowed him to make another successful prediction. Rather than sending Rear Admiral Akiyama Shinyuki to apologize, it is better to say that Japan is asking for the colonial rights of Chinese New Guinea. At the very least, Japan wants China to pay a suitable price.
Sold to Japan.
Japan also proposed that if China transferred the former German New Guinea to Japan or sold it to the Empire of Japan, the Empire of Japan could meet the requirements of the Chinese Empire and ban the use of the word "China" in domestic government documents and diplomacy.
A notable feature of Ouyang Geng's cabinet in diplomacy is that it is tougher than that of Tang Shaoyi's cabinet. The cabinet not only rejected Japan's unreasonable and ridiculous demands, but also condemned Japan's arrogance and rudeness. It will not make any decisions on colonial issues.
Give in.
What is German New Guinea?
How could the empire cede a colony that produces hundreds of thousands of tons of copper concentrate and nearly ten tons of gold to a foreign country each year, much less to Japan. Don’t underestimate this place. The climate and environment here determine its advantages. German colonization
During this period, a good economic and agricultural foundation has been laid here. It is rich in palm, copra, coffee, cocoa and rubber, plus the surrounding abundant fishery resources, as well as oil and gas resources, it is absolutely impossible for the empire to transfer it.
The empire's consistent policy is to do its best to "reduce imports and increase exports," and this place is the best complement to the empire. The empire has even begun a large-scale immigration plan to settle in New Britain, which has the most intensive gold and copper resources.
and the oil-rich New Ireland Island as its own. In the next ten years, the empire will gradually immigrate 600,000 people there. It will also use this as a springboard to continue to export more people to the South Pacific.
As the empire enters the second industrial revolution, the empire's demand for copper grows rapidly. Currently, the world's refined copper production is only 1.4 million tons. The empire's copper output last year accounted for 17% of the world's. The New Guinea copper mine is not only the only world-class mine controlled by the empire.
The copper content of copper mines and copper concentrates is also much higher than that of domestic poor copper mines, so the empire will never make any form of concession.
A new round of conflict between China and Japan has come again.
Although Akiyama Shinyuki hoped to solve this problem by meeting Emperor Hua directly, the Emperor did not make arrangements to meet him. He could only return home sadly amidst a tough conflict with the Imperial Foreign Minister. No one expected that this would be
The complete decline of the pro-China faction in Japan.
Japan's greed and the expansionism they must maintain have caused renewed turmoil in Sino-Japanese relations, which have been in a cold war for a long time due to economic and trade wars.
Shortly after Akiyama Masayuki left, Japan dispatched two battleships to Port Moresby, which was hosted by Australia. The Empire ordered the garrison in Chinese New Guinea to be on first-level alert, and was also preparing to send two Cathay-class battleships to Laos.
City port garrison.
Before the warship was about to leave the Qingdao Naval Base, Chief of General Staff of the Central Military Department Jiang Fangzhen, Chief of Naval Staff Sa Zhenbing, and Minister of Navy Song Wenhui went to the General Office of the Central Palace to report the latest situation of the incident to Emperor Song Biao, and waited for the Emperor
the final order.
The expressions of the three of them were extremely serious and nervous, because the Japanese navy they were facing maintained a level three times that of the Empire on its battleships.
The written report was written by Chief of Naval Staff Sa Zhenbing himself, and he presented it to His Majesty the Emperor with respectful hands. At this moment, deep in his heart, he was also filled with an inexplicable fear, worried that the Emperor would decide to adopt a more violent confrontation.
As the chief of naval staff of the empire, Sa Zhenbing knew very well that the imperial navy was not a match for the Japanese navy at all. Although the empire already had two Austro-Hungarian Empire's Combined Forces-class battleships and four Cathay-class battleships, due to their smaller tonnage
, the total displacement tonnage is only 114,000 tons (imperial system), which is only equivalent to the Japanese army's 13.
The Japanese Navy has 6 super-dreadnoughts with a displacement of more than 30,000 tons, and 4 super-dreadnoughts with a displacement of more than 25,000 tons. If you add the Nassau class compensated by Germany and the Japanese-made Satsuma that have not been officially dismantled,
Class, Settsu class, the gap between the Chinese and Japanese navies is 4 times.
This battle is obviously unwinnable.
The Imperial Army is the best in the world, but it is an indisputable fact that the Navy is far weaker than Japan. Of course, the Imperial Navy also has long-term grand plans, but such long-term plans happen to be in the most vacuum at this stage.
According to the Treaty of Washington, the Imperial Navy will have a total tonnage index of capital ship displacement of up to 275,000 tons (imperial system). Although the total is smaller than Japan's 385,000 tons, the Empire is allowed to subsequently build two more 35,000-ton battleships, and is allowed to
Uses a 16-inch main gun.
The most supplementary agreement. The Imperial Navy maintains the same 85,000-ton (British tons) standard as Japan in terms of the total tonnage limit for aircraft carrier construction. Relying on the Empire’s air force and aircraft industry advantages, this will further bring the Imperial Navy and Japan closer to a certain extent.
The gap between the Japanese navy.
However, according to the plan of the Imperial Navy, this gap will eventually be filled around 1935, and the Imperial Navy will not have the strength to challenge Japan's naval hegemony in the Western Pacific in the next ten years. Regarding this, Song Biao
, Jiang Fangzhen, Sa Zhenbing, and Song Wenhui all knew it very well, because this decision was made jointly by them.
Song Biao looked at the latest information provided by the Naval Intelligence Department. The Japanese Navy was under full martial law, which meant that the Japanese Navy was ready for battle. And all of this was just another long-planned conspiracy by Japan.
He knew very well that Japan had wanted to attack the Imperial Navy for a long time, but it had never had the chance in the past, but now it finally found it.
At this time, Japan probably also had a policy confusion. On one side, the cabinet wanted to get Chinese New Guinea, and on the other side, the navy was crazy and dreaming of fighting the Chinese navy. It defeated the Chinese navy in the first battle and once again established through war claims that Japan was the only naval hegemon in Asia.
status, once again regaining the national destiny and all privileges in China that were lost by the Japanese Army.
When Song Biao was reading various information here, Jiang Fangzhen, Song Wenhui and Sa Zhenbing were all filled with nervousness. They knew very well that once the Aurora and Lushun left the port, they would probably be like Zhenyuan and Dingyuan.
Can't come back.
Everyone was struggling. They didn't want to cede New Guinea to Japan, but they also didn't want to risk a decisive battle with the Japanese navy.
Song Biao didn't know that the Imperial Navy was still in its infancy and had just learned to walk, while Japan had been sharpening its sword for a long time. However, the real reason that forced Japan to adopt such a tough stance came from the compromise between Britain and the United States.
, and Japan itself indeed has no choice. If it wants to develop, it has almost no other choice except to use crazy provocations to fight for interests.
All the colonies that can be fought for around the world already have owners. Although the Dutch colony in Indonesia is weak, it has the protection of the United Kingdom, and to the east is the United States, which cannot be offended at all. Japan can only take risks with China to gain benefits.
maximize.
Song Biao was silently thinking about this issue.
Song Wenhui finally couldn't help but suggested to Song Biao: "Your Majesty, maybe Japan has no intention of starting a war. After all, they have just signed the "Washington Treaty". They are launching a new round of naval war at this time just to completely force our country to withdraw from the treaty. Other countries
You won’t allow it, right?”
Song Biao hummed slightly, and then corrected: "It's hard to say, I think the tolerance and sympathy of countries such as Britain and the United States towards Japan is largely due to our country's expansion too fast. Even quasi-allies like the United States and France are
allies, they actually have a mentality of wanting to contain our country.
. It should be said that Japan seized this opportunity. We did rely on the army to force the British to make many concessions, but how could the British be willing to do so? I think the British supported Japan's tough stance, otherwise they would not have moved the port
Giving up the garrison to Japan already shows Britain's attitude."
Song Wenhui asked: "Your Majesty, how should we respond? Should we ask the United States and France to coordinate?"
Song Biao was noncommittal.
Before signing the Treaty of Washington, he considered purchasing four battleships from the United States as an emergency. The United States was going to dismantle this part of the battleships anyway, but in the end he gave up the matter out of luck, and now he has suffered retribution.
Because the United States made major concessions to Japan and withdrew from various naval bases in the Western Pacific, the United States is now unable to stop this situation.
After careful consideration for a period of time, Song Biao speculated that the current international environment was relatively stable. Although various countries had some intention of using Japan to contain the empire, they may not really want to tear up the "Washington Treaty".
Especially for the United States, once the United States is involved in this matter, the outcome will become difficult to say.
Taking this into consideration, Song Biao and Jiang Fangzhen ordered: "There is no need to send battleships into Nanyang for the time being. The entire Air Force will be put on level 2 alert. The 215th Division will be transferred from Fujian to New Britain Island, and the 204, 205, 207, 208, and 210 Air Force Divisions will be transferred to the Northeast Military Headquarters.
, the 208th and 210th divisions were transferred to the Pyongyang area to allow the Air Force to unblock and overhaul old models at any time.
In preparation for resumption of service, the 213th Division was transferred from Nanchang to Taiwan. Other divisions were transferred to the coast one after another, and five new air force divisions from 216 to 220 were added to prepare for entering the Northeast and North Korea. At the same time, the production speed of heavy bombers was increased.
An air force bombing exercise targeting warships was secretly conducted in the waters of Qiongzhou Bay to test various previous related research and new torpedo technologies."
After hearing these instructions, Jiang Fangzhen and the others understood that the emperor wanted to use the empire's superior air force to fight Japan. Due to the large number of aircraft exported during World War I, the scale and level of the empire's aircraft industry has remained at the leading level in the world, with
Shenyang Aircraft, Far East Fokker and Shanghai Curtis are three famous aircraft manufacturing companies. They also cooperate very closely with France and the United States. In recent years, they have also conducted secret cooperation with Germany on a large scale.
This is something that Japan cannot achieve.
Affected by the Sino-Soviet War, the empire still maintains a regular establishment of 15 air force divisions. Each provincial patrol force also retains an air patrol detachment. The empire's air force establishment is greatly affected by the army. Each air force division maintains two air force combat groups.
, one bombing regiment and two ground support regiments, each air regiment maintains three aviation detachments, each detachment has 3,035 fighter jets.
The difference between the air force of World War I and World War II and that of the latter part of World War II is very big. For now, especially after the test of the Sino-Soviet War, the establishment of the Imperial Air Force is generally more suitable for the needs of the current stage of war.
If a large-scale war is encountered, the aviation detachments under each air force will surge from three to ten, the limit of large-scale air combat, and the reserve of flight and ground staff will also remain at the world's leading level.
If Japan cannot understand the empire's air superiority, attack blindly and attempt blackmail, the empire can only take the initiative and use its air force superiority and land superiority to prove its strength to Japan.
After making a series of military deployments, Song Biao believed that his warnings to Japan were sufficient. If Japan ignored these warnings, the next step would inevitably be a new Sino-Japanese war.
After the Imperial Air Force began to mobilize frequently, Japan seemed to suddenly realize that China was no longer the Manchu Empire it had been in the past. The Chinese Empire had no intention of making any kind of concessions, and would not even hesitate to engage in an all-out war. This result made Japan quite unhappy.
Surprisingly, although it has absolute superiority in the navy, Japan must also consider the influence of the Sino-French alliance and other factors.
Because Japan demanded that the Empire transfer German New Guinea and sent two Ise-class battleships to Port Moresby to threaten the Empire, it was called the Sino-Japanese Ise Incident. After the Empire's 215th Air Force Division stationed in New Britain Island,
The Japanese army, which lacked sufficient air support, was forced to withdraw its two Ise-class battleships to the mainland.
Japan's long-planned Ise incident thus turned into a contest between the Chinese Air Force and the Japanese Navy. Because of the large-scale use of the Chinese Air Force and its irreversible tactical advantages in the Sino-Soviet war, Japan was in the middle of the war between China and Japan.
The Ise Incident ended silently in the secret battle.
After the Ise incident, the Japanese government no longer mentioned the New Guinea issue to the empire, and instead requested a new Sino-Japanese trade treaty that was more beneficial to Japan. However, it continued to use "
"China" scornfully called China without any intention of apologizing, and the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs' intention to pursue the case was also downplayed. China and Japan seemed to have entered a new stage of cold war, but the Ise incident once again deepened the degree of the cold war between the two countries. From the government
The entire nation is filled with a hostility as cold as an ice cave.
A few days later, Song Biao went to the general office early to handle official business as usual.
Wang Zhaoming prepared a special "Asahi Shimbun" from Japan for him early in the morning and prepared a translation for it. This arrangement was somewhat unconventional and was not within Wang Zhaoming's scope of authority.
Song Biao still read the translation of the "Asahi Shimbun" morning report a week ago, and then he understood Wang Zhaoming's intention. It turned out that that day's "Asahi Shimbun" published an article by Rear Admiral Akiyama Shinyuki, Japan's new deputy navy minister.
"Who have we offended?".
Wang Zhaoming's translation is basically faithful to the wording of the original text, and has a prose-like writing style, which makes people sigh with emotion after reading it.
Akiyama Shinyuki wrote this in the first line of the article - Before I accepted Prime Minister Takahashi's entrustment to go to China, I had a premonition that this would be a bad official trip, and it turned out to be like this.
People also feel depressed and sad.
"After returning to China, I cried bitterly in the spacious office behind the birch door at the Navy Headquarters and closed the door. So no one knows how much pain and mourning I felt in my heart. Maybe I knew that we would not fight with the China Empire.
risk war
, but I am still very sad. I am alone in the middle of the night at the Navy Headquarters. I have been sleeping soundly during the Battle of Japan and I can’t sleep. I always keep thinking about why the Empire and China are like this.
To the point of heartbreak?”
"We ask for colonies because every country has the right to make the country prosperous and make the people happy. This is the right of every country. Mr. Yukichi Fukuzawa, the reforming philosopher whom my brother and I admire the most, said so. We are also convinced that
So, the world is cruel and always forces our nation to face the most painful situations."
"After the defeat of the Korean Peninsula in Meiji 44, I was forced to end my beloved position as commander of the Port Arthur Fleet. I returned to my country and served as the principal of the Naval Academy. At the moment when I heartbrokenly ordered the fleet to set sail,
I seem to have seen the beginning of the nation's suffering.
Before, I probably liked the Yamato people living in China. I liked their ignorant and simple hard-working people. I liked the former governor of the three eastern provinces and later the emperor of the China Empire, His Majesty Song. At that time, he
More of a simple soldier, always with tactics and strategies
His sharp thinking, as well as his amazing tactical innovations and novel and progressive modern warfare ideas. In limited interactions, even a naval soldier like me can always benefit a lot from talking to him. Therefore, I always like to talk about him.
He is the military god of Asia. He is so powerful that even my friend who has been proud of him since he was a child
My arrogant and arrogant brother, you have nothing to say in admiration. After I left Port Arthur, even as the principal of the Naval Academy, I would always find various opportunities to go to China every year, thinking of ways to be able to
See him, even if you just have a simple chat with him about boring topics like the weather."
"I know that His Majesty the Emperor of China is always changing, becoming more and more unfamiliar. He is still sharp and can be called the God of Asian Army, but he is aloof and despises all living things. So that I can no longer understand his heart. In the limited few years,
During this meeting, through his eyes,
All I can see besides nobility is indifference and ruthlessness. I will always insist on reading all the Central China editorials under his pseudonym. Although I know that many of those articles are written by his staff, but
After all, it can still represent his thoughts."
"We hate His Majesty Shenwu himself. That is the biggest reason why we hate him. But every time I sort out his editorials and his public remarks in China, I am still surprised to think that he is simply the kind of emperor who reincarnated His Majesty Shenwu.
Your Excellency, he seems to be very good at and likes to greatly westernize while maintaining the essence of Chinese culture and tradition. I always feel that this is the main reason why China has become stronger rapidly in the past ten years."
"Many times, I am always very sad, not because my friendship with him has gradually become colder to the point where we can hardly meet, but because since he came to the throne, China has excluded us Japan when it opened up to the world. This is also
It is not difficult to explain, as it is well known that his parents and family were killed at the hands of our soldiers, but we have always denied this time and time again and refused to apologize to him and his nation."
"Oh my God!"
"Whenever I suggest that the military department apologize for this, I am met with unanimous rebuke and vicious criticism. I am surprised to think what is wrong with us. Are our hearts sick? Don't we know what we have done?
Everything? Don’t we know that the emperor is the God of War in Asia and the emperor who rules a population of 400 million? I always question my already tortured soul again and again, do we really need to be so arrogant?
Are you so arrogant that you lose your reason and humanity?”
"Based on my understanding of China and us, our two nations are the kind of groups that like to blame others. We always believe that we are innocent and righteous. So we refuse to apologize, we do not apologize, and China has never
Apologize to us. They never realize they hurt us, and we never realize it, so things just keep getting worse."
"During the Taisho Year, whenever we opened the newspapers, there were reports that hated China. They adjusted tariffs against us time and time again, shutting out our products that were better than theirs, and not allowing their citizens to enjoy better products.
Cheap and affordable life. They have also targeted us with domestic tax cuts time and time again to make their products cheaper internationally, even if their products always have problems of one kind or another. After we have cultivated them for
There are so many talents that half of the people in the China Cabinet once studied in Japan.
More than 70% of the army's mid-level and senior officers graduated from the army. During the five-year period of the New Deal in the three northeastern provinces, we opened our arms to provide them with all the talents they needed. We established schools for them in the three northeastern provinces, and then dreamed of Asia.
Two nations soaring together, united against the Anglos, only for this to happen? Did all our efforts result in them ostracizing us? After we had done so much for them. The Europeans had bullied them for so many years.
But they exclude us and embrace Europe with open arms?"
"So. We have reason to hate their stupidity."
"It's just that when we look back on the past, when we demanded a huge compensation of 200 million taels of silver from them after the Japanese-Qing War, which pushed the Qing Dynasty into desperation. Have we considered that the source of everything is our too eager desire to be strong and rich?
"
"Now when they are powerful, excluding them unceremoniously is as annoying as kicking a despicable person out of a banquet after taking advantage of his neighbor. But they are indeed powerful. This is an indisputable fact.
.Perhaps I will receive a lot of opposition when I say this. We always
They will continue to report on their ugliness and ignorance as in the past. Even the most impartial newspapers like to use words like "China pigs" to describe them, but for them they purchased two 10,000-ton water presses from the United States.
But they are unwilling to make any reports about the fact that they produced battleships themselves.
They criticized us, saying that they were provoking us. They said that they actually relied on the help of Europeans. In fact, they couldn't even make screws very well. But as far as I know, they have now done a good job in making screws by themselves.
The super-dreadnoughts used home-made steam turbines and possibly fifteen-inch or larger caliber engines.
Triple main gun. We always criticize them for producing aircraft and tanks with the help of Europeans. Without the charity and help of Europeans, they will be nothing, and they will still be the most ignorant "China pigs", but they
It is indeed the largest aircraft manufacturing country in World War I, and this is an indisputable fact."
"When their aviation combat group arrived in German New Guinea, our navy had no plan to deal with it. When we discussed this matter, an idiot general who was always very stupid actually said that just adding a few anti-aircraft guns would be enough.
Deal with those aircraft. I asked him if the empire has its own anti-aircraft guns, or does it have to buy them from France, and will France sell them to us? Even if France is willing to sell them, how many do we need to buy to withstand thousands, or even ten thousand?
A bomber?"
"No one answered. When the entire navy headquarters was silent, what I felt was deeper pain!"
"After everything I've been through, I always talk to my friends late at night about these sad things, and I always say that if they realize that we are Asians and we realize that they are Asians, it will work out.
All the hate, then turned into great friends."
"Every country has the right to make the country prosperous and strong and make its people happy. This is the right of every country!"
"The thinker who influenced my life said this, and I think so, but I always ask why we don't have room for development. We need places to sell our products. We need resources. Only in this way can we change.
Only by becoming richer and stronger can we make people happy. This is our right.
This is also China's right, but why did China deprive us of this right? Looking back on the past, we always made mistakes, and so did they. Now it has reached a time when both sides must admit their mistakes. If we still want to lead Asia
If so, I think we should probably apologize first."
"As for the saying that 'even if we apologize to China, we will not be able to get forgiveness and fair conditions', it may be correct, and I will never deny it, but if we don't face our hearts bravely and make a brave attempt
,how will we know the result?”
"I think I know. In fact, there are other people who know. At least my brother who always likes to teach me and our friends know that the empire has reached a time when it must change. I have to face the real reality. Even Europeans
We all know the reality that China has become one of the most powerful empires in the world in the past ten years. Even though their navy is still very weak, they will become the most powerful in the world in a few years.
One of the naval nations."
"I think I know, and actually more people know that if we don't do something now, we will be torn apart by the empire around us that is 42 times the size of our country, but it will definitely not be like what happened in the past few months.
That kind of provocative behavior will only make things worse between the two Asian empires."
"But, if we don't even have the courage to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor who rules half of Asia, what else can we do to give Japan a chance to regain its prosperity?"
"In this cold, cold night, which is as painful as before and unable to sleep, I asked myself this. At this moment, one day in the early summer of Taisho 11, I also want to ask other people."
Song Biao read the entire article carefully. He was deeply touched in his heart. He suddenly realized how painful it was for a awake person to live in a sleeping and impending world.
Akiyama is really in pain precisely because he is awake.
Song Biao lamented silently. He felt painful for his former friend and the only few people who knew China in Japan. Since the Sino-Japanese economic and trade war basically decided the winner in 1913, Japanese products have left the Chinese market on a large scale.
People-to-people exchanges between Japan and China have almost been interrupted.
China will still send students to Japan. Due to the rapid deterioration of the environment, it is sending fewer and fewer students now. The exchanges between the two countries are getting less and less. If calculated from Sakhalin Island, the territories of the two countries are already bordering. If calculated from East and West Ryukyu, China will still send students to Japan.
Since then, the two countries have only been separated by a strait of 300 kilometers, but the exchanges between the two countries have been almost completely interrupted.
Both parties no longer understand each other and think about each other one-sidedly. Both think they are right.
What really touched Song Biao's heart was the words quoted by Akiyama Masayuki Fukuzawa Yukichi - every country has the right to make the country prosperous and strong and the nation happy. This is the right of every country!
He had nothing to say about it.
Japan's domestic market is too small, while China's domestic market is more than ten times that of Japan. The empire's economy and industrial development have different logics and methods. Although the labor resources of the two countries are similar and cheap, China has stronger than
Japan’s physical resources are thousands of times greater.
The Sino-Japanese economic and trade war was doomed from the moment it began.
During World War I, European industry declined significantly. Products from China and Japan seemed to have unlimited market space. Only the past few years were Japan's prosperous moments during the Taisho period, starting in 1921. The Sino-Japanese economic and trade war began to become more serious.
It is fierce, with both sides fighting on a large scale in Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the United States on the basis of sticking to their own domestic markets.
When Japan imports most of its production raw materials from China, Japan is destined to be at a disadvantage in this war. Moreover, Japan adopts a high tax policy to maintain military spending, while China adopts a light tax policy because of its financial abundance, causing both sides to
The gap further widens.
China's industrial planning and support policies, as well as a more relaxed talent introduction plan, have also enabled China's industry to improve rapidly in technology. Since World War I, there have been planned continuous improvements and expansions. At this watershed in 1921, in addition to the shipbuilding industry,
The gap between the two sides has been further widened to the point where it is difficult for Japan to catch up.
Even in the shipbuilding industry, apart from its disadvantages in battleships of over 30,000 tons, China has surpassed Japan in the fields of merchant ships, engines, boilers and marine steel. When Japan also needs to import gun steel and special ship steel from the UK,
When it came to main guns, the Chinese Empire had basically achieved self-production and export.
Japan now only has the most protective military industry left as the backbone of the empire, but China already has the strength to compete with Germany in the fields of oleochemicals, industrial ceramics, coal chemicals, dyes, fertilizers, electrical appliances, internal combustion engines, etc.
The textile and food industries are also increasingly approaching Britain and France. They are impacting the United States in the fields of automobiles, petrochemicals, machine tools, metallurgy, and communications. In emerging fields such as aircraft, electrified railways, and special machine tools, they are already capable of competing with Germany, the United States, Britain, and France.
After importing two 10,000-ton hydraulic presses from the United Machine Tool Company for use in the manufacturing of automobiles, aircraft, steam turbines, bearings and ships, China is also challenging the Far East Machine Tool Corporation to build a 12,500-ton hydraulic press and more super-heavy boring machines.
Milling machine.
The gap between Japan and China is getting wider and wider, but Japan has never really realized this. They still look at China from the perspective of ten years ago, or even before the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894.
This may be understandable. Before 1911, there were more than 400,000 people traveling between China and Japan each year. After 1913, the number of people traveling between China and Japan each year had dropped to less than 20,000. Most of them were from the military, political and educational circles.
of dealings.
This is a terrible thing.
Perhaps it was Song Biao who caused it.
Song Biao also realized this after reading Akiyama Masayuki's "Who have we offended?" with a fair attitude. Perhaps he wants to account for the various current problems between China and Japan.
Half of the responsibility is that he ruthlessly and indifferently kicked Japan out of China, and also closed the future of Japan's China-savvy and pro-China factions, causing them to decline day by day and no longer be able to have a positive impact on Japan.
Song Biao inevitably sighed sadly, and asked Wang Zhaoming, who had been waiting with him to read the entire article: "How long did it take you to translate this article?"
Wang Zhaoming replied respectfully: "Replying to the Emperor, it only took me one day to complete the translation. Because I think it is best to have the original text of such an article, so I waited until the embassy in Japan sent the original text of the urgent message today before submitting it to the Emperor.
.However, according to the latest intelligence, Major General Shinyuki Akiyama seems to have offended senior Japanese military and cabinet leaders because of this article, and has been ordered to resign from the cabinet. It is said that even the Navy does not intend to keep him in service."
Song Biao was surprised and asked: "So miserable?"
Wang Zhaoming replied: "Yes, it is indeed very bad. I think that apart from using contemptuous names, his article may be quite fair and objective, and it may also have some inspiration for us. No matter how bad Japan is, there is no need for us to force it.
So urgent.”
Song Biao thought for a while and said: "What we did was indeed wrong, but we have no other choice. 'Every country has the right to make the country prosperous and strong and the nation happy. This is the right of every country.' We are just driving
It’s just our own rights, do we still have the obligation to give Japan the same rights to share the prosperity and strength of our country? Akiyama’s reflection is not thorough enough. If Japan positions itself in countries like the Netherlands and Belgium, it adopts light taxes and limited low-income countries.
Military spending policy, they can develop better. Development is the right of every country, but no country has the right to deprive other countries of the same rights. They cannot satisfy themselves by exporting goods and occupying colonies and other countries' markets. This is also what we
The reason for implementing the national policy of respecting the law and loving the people and promoting the general prosperity of the people is that as long as the people are prosperous, the domestic market can be expanded, enterprises can be expanded, and the country can become more prosperous and stronger."
Regarding Song Biao's last words, when Prime Minister Ouyang Geng strongly implemented the "Land Restriction Act" and the "Labor Protection Act", there was already a comprehensive debate in the country. Now almost everyone knows this truth
.
If the country wants to be strong, the people must get rich first.
Japan just reversed this principle.
Wang Zhaoming paused and said: "Your Majesty, your Majesty."
Song Biao thought for a while and then said: "Actually, the truth lies in this sentence in "Encouragement to Learning". Longli respected the virtuous and became king, valued the law and loved the people and hegemony. It's just a question of how to interpret this sentence from the perspective of a modern world view.
.Akiyama Shinyuki’s intelligence and his realm are largely derived from Fukuzawa Yukichi, so we say that thinkers are the most important, and thoughts can guide actions, but where are our modern thinkers?”
Wang Zhaoming immediately replied: "I believe that the emperor is the thinker of today's empire. It is because of the emperor that the empire is prosperous and strong today. The emperor's every word and deed guides the development of the empire."
Song Biao snorted slightly, but said: "I'm afraid it's not true. The current empire is developing very well, but it is far from good enough, because we still lack thinkers like Fukuzawa Yukichi. We always say
We want to honor the virtuous, but we still have not been able to wait for the real new Chinese thinkers. This takes time, because what we need are great thinkers who can truly interpret the West and are proficient in Chinese studies. Only such great thinkers can answer the questions about China.
Various questions
The root of the problem. We always talk about modernization. In fact, it is because we are too timid to admit that modernization is Westernization. All we have done is to use the slogan of "recovering China" to significantly Westernize. On this basis, we have only guaranteed the Chinese culture.
We have some foundations, but this is not enough. Our degree of Westernization is far from enough, and the degree of our revival of Chinese studies is also far from enough. Longli respects the virtuous, values the law and loves the people. It is easy to say it, but it is really difficult to do it.
Disaster."
After hearing these words, Wang Zhaoming did not dare to flatter the emperor anymore, but he had always felt that although the emperor's ideas were not worthy of the status of Confucius, Mencius and Xun, they were practical enough to lead the empire to become rich and powerful, and to lead the empire to realize the great rejuvenation of China.