Volume 1: The Empire Awakens Chapter 67: Accomplice (Part 1)
The news that Tan Renhao had rescued a family of overseas Chinese spread quickly throughout the embassy. Thanks to General Nie Renfeng, the embassy staff quickly arranged for the family of three to leave Japan, and two days later sent someone to send them on a ship bound for the Tang Empire.
However, Tan Renhao did not take this matter to heart. He had realized that Japan's hatred for the Tang Empire was not just among the top government officials, but even the Japanese civilians were full of hatred for the Tang Empire.
When this hatred breaks out, it will inevitably lead to a deadly war between the two countries.
That night, Nie Renfeng also came back. He didn't even have dinner and directly called Tan Renhao to his room.
"I went to see the Emperor of Japan during the day."
Nie Renfeng sneered, "On the surface, the Japanese emperor keeps promoting friendly diplomatic relations between Tang and Japan.
In fact, everyone from the Prime Minister of the Guards to the ordinary officials below were already preparing for war .
By the way, are you familiar with Tojo Kiyoshige?"
Tan Renhao was stunned, hesitated for a moment, and said, "He seems to be the former chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, right?"
The Japanese Kwantung Army refers to the army in the area east of Tokyo, Japan. It is the most powerful army in Japan. Its predecessor was the Imperial Guard that assisted the Japanese emperor in quelling rebellions. It was a powerful army established by the Tang Empire to help the Japanese emperor at that time. Until now, it is still the most powerful army in Japan and the one with the greatest influence in the Japanese Army.
"He has been nominated as the Chief of Staff of the Army Training Department and will probably be promoted soon."
Nie Renfeng let out a long sigh, "This guy is an extreme nationalist, and also an extreme militarist.
Now, he organized a group of young military officers and wanted to seize power in the cabinet, reorganize the cabinet government and establish a military government.
We don't have much specific information, but we heard that he is the most opposed to the extension of the arms treaty and is the most active war advocate. "
"He was just an army general, but he also had a great influence on the Japanese navy?"
"Now, he is not only a soldier, but also a politician."
Nie Renfeng smiled bitterly, "Forget it, this is not something we should care about.
Tomorrow, the negotiations will begin.
Therefore, we must hurry up to understand the situation in Japan.
How much do you know about the Iwasaki, Mitsui, Sumitomo and other families in Japan? "
Tan Renhao was stunned, then shook his head. He only knew that these families were the largest families in Japan.
These families all benefited from the wave of industrialization.
However, Japan's national conditions determined that it was impossible for Japan to adopt the Western free capitalist economic model, nor could it develop in the way of state monopoly capitalism of the Tang Empire.
Family power has great influence in Japan.
And these three families are the most representative among them.
"The Mitsubishi Group established by the Iwasaki family is now Japan's largest heavy industry group.
From small items like firearms to large items like battleships, the factories controlled by the Mitsubishi Group are the main suppliers to the Japanese military.
Now, several major combat aircraft of the Japanese Navy are manufactured by it. "
Nie Renfeng handed a document to Tan Renhao, " Take a closer look, this is some information about the Iwasaki family.
Similarly, the Mitsui Group and Sumitomo Group, all controlled by the Mitsui family, are the most powerful industrial groups in Japan.
The industries controlled by these families account for 60% of Japan’s arms industry.”
“What do they have to do with the negotiations?”
Tan Renhao was a little confused.
"Because we will be visiting their factories soon. The arms treaty has not yet come into effect. I am afraid that this will be our last visit to Japan's arms factories as supervisors."
Nie Renfeng patted the armrest of the sofa. "Okay, take the information back and read it. You should also go to bed early. Tomorrow morning, we will go to the negotiation meeting. If everything goes well, then we will be able to see the Japanese arms factory soon."
The negotiations were not going smoothly, and Tan Renhao had already anticipated this.
The extension of the Songjiang Treaty actually continued to restrict the naval expansion and preparation of the major powers.
At most, this can only delay the outbreak of war. In fact, it is impossible to prevent the outbreak of war.
Of course, for some countries that believe they are strong enough to challenge other powers, extending the arms treaty will only make them miss the opportunity.
Japan is such a country. Therefore, during the negotiations, Japan was the most resolute opponent of extending the arms treaty.
During the negotiations, Tan Renhao was only responsible for acting as an advisor to the imperial negotiators and providing them with some necessary knowledge.
The formal negotiations were conducted between the main representatives of the nine countries (the representative of the Tang Empire was Lieutenant General Nie Renfeng) and the diplomatic negotiators who assisted these representatives.
However, every country has advisors like Tan Renhao.
These people would not be of very high status, but they would be more familiar with the development of the world's navy.
The status of these advisors is also very important because the information they provide will directly determine the attitude of diplomatic negotiators at the negotiating table.
On the first day of the negotiations, the nine countries had only one focus of debate, which was whether there was value in extending the Songjiang Treaty and the specific extension period.
At noon, the Japanese representatives took the initiative to withdraw from the negotiations and even announced that they would withdraw from the treaty system ahead of schedule and speed up the construction of main battleships.
The American representative acted as a mediator, and in the afternoon, the Japanese representative returned to the negotiating table again.
The focus of the negotiations then fell on how many warships Japan should reasonably have.
According to the provisions of the Treaty of Songjiang, if the naval strength of the Tang Empire, the United States of America, and the British Empire is 100, then the naval strength of Japan, the Kingdom of France, the German Empire is 70, and the Kingdom of Italy, the Russian Empire, and the Persian Empire is 50.
The Japanese side mainly opposed this ratio and demanded that its naval strength be increased to at least 85, otherwise it would withdraw from the negotiations.
The British Empire supported Japan's demands, while the Tang Empire strongly opposed them.
In addition, the Persian Empire and the German Empire also put forward demands to strengthen their naval power, which was strongly opposed by the British Empire, the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Italy and the Russian Empire.
The negotiations soon reached a deadlock.
Over the next two days, the nine nations argued over the proportions of their naval power.
Tan Renhao felt that this was just like bargaining in a vegetable market. All countries wanted to strengthen their own strength while weakening the strength of their main opponents.
Obviously, such negotiations will not produce any results if neither side is willing to make concessions.
