Chapter 445 Hornet's Nest (End)
Vice Admiral Narumi Inoue, Vice Admiral of the Navy, listened curiously to the questions and answers just now, and asked Yamamoto Isoroku as he walked: "Sir, you don't seem to be worried at all that the Communist army will use this to become stronger."
"Strong? Just by buying weapons from us?"
"Yes, this is both a tank and an aircraft, which means we are arming the enemy with our own hands - even though we have decided to withdraw our troops from China, we are still the enemy after all, right?"
"I said that their power may not be enhanced. Do you believe it?"
Inoue Narumi shook her head. After a moment, she thought of a possibility and asked, "Is it because these are technical arms and the Chinese can't learn them?"
"Can't learn? How is this possible? The Chinese are not stupider than us. The Naval Academy does not recruit Chinese, so you can't see Chinese students. The Army Academy used to recruit Chinese students, and the results are generally good, above average. In order to support the Communist Army, the Soviet Bolsheviks helped them train a group of military talents through Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Mongolia. To put it more bluntly, where did the Communist Army's radio stations learn their reporting technology? Who is using it? What’s more, Mr. Ishihara just didn’t say it completely. Whether we sell planes or tanks, you can learn it with a trainer pack—as long as you pay enough.”
Inoue Narumi was shocked: If this spreads out, a Japanese rapist will not be able to escape.
"I hate that the Communist Army is so poor. If they were rich, I would even sell them a cruiser." Not to mention Inoue Narumi's shock, even Koga Mine who was following behind was greatly shocked when he heard this sentence. Surprised.
"Can't figure it out?" Yamamoto Isoroku laughed when he saw the other party's surprised look.
The latter bowed honestly: "Please enlighten me."
"A cruiser is worth tens of millions of yen, and can be equipped with light weapons to equip 100,000 people. I would like to ask, is a communist army of 100,000 people more powerful, or a communist cruiser?"
"This..." Inoue Narumi figured out the answer after a moment's thought.
"Learning technical weapons is only the first step, and the second step is manufacturing. There are probably dozens of countries in the world equipped with tanks and aircraft, but there are not even ten countries that can fully produce tanks and aircraft. The Communist Army has obtained technical weapons and then How about it? Do they have backup engines?" Yamamoto Isoroku asked, "I'll sell it if I want to. If I don't want to sell it, it will be just a pile of scrap metal..." It only takes a few months to build an aircraft tank, but it takes decades to learn how to build an aircraft tank.”
"oh……"
"Third, judging from the current situation in China, no one has any objection to saying that the government army is stronger than the communist army, right? Since we want to withdraw, of course we must support the weak and contain the strong - whoever is weak will support the other, and when the two of them start fighting in the future, Money is flowing in, and then we can buy better equipment for Germany. The enemy has new weapons, and we also have new weapons, so the enemy's strength will not necessarily increase. "
At this time, Inoue Narimi was completely convinced, and even Koga Mineichi secretly nodded: General Yamamoto is far-sighted and has the overall situation in mind. There is no way to refute this truth.
Inoue Narumi changed the subject and asked Horikichi: "Is the United Fleet really going to attack the east coast?"
"Probably not. If so, I won't issue a notice." Yamamoto Isoroku smiled, "You don't know Horikichi, but I am very familiar with him. My old classmate is famous for his clever ideas. If you want to Otherwise, why is it that he is the only one who was born in a military academy and has a prosperous business? This trick can be used to deceive others, but it cannot be hidden from me. "
"Then where will he fight?"
"Mostly going to South America or Panama."
Inoue Narumi didn't feel much about South America, but she became excited when she heard the word Panama. He whispered: "Why didn't you remind him when His Highness asked just now?"
"Let this idiot think for himself!" The words were spoken a little loudly, and Koga Mine, who was following behind, could hear them clearly. He had a wry smile on his face - Minister Yamamoto has been very bad-tempered recently, and he beat Toyota's deputy military commander last time. After the incident got serious, not only did Toyota lose his position as deputy director of the military command department, but he was also kicked into the reserve force. This time, he was in tit-for-tat with Fushimi Miyahiro Prince. In the end, we still don’t know how it will end. The whole thing seemed to be completely transparent. It's weird, you have to be careful and don't get involved in it accidentally.
Inoue Narumi knows a little bit about the original story: The conflict between the Navy Ministry and the Military Command has been going on for a long time. Although harmony has been barely formed through the unity of the whole country, the deep-rooted contradiction cannot be resolved. The two sides had another dispute some time ago: The Navy Ministry and the Army Ministry struggled An agreement was reached that all materials would be uniformly transported, dispatched, and escorted by naval transport ships. After arriving at the mainland, they would be distributed according to actual needs. However, the right to dispatch escort fleets was in the hands of the Military Command. Prince Fushimi Miyahiro used the excuse of "combat needs." "The refusal to dispatch enough escort aircraft carriers and destroyers does not mean that he does not know the importance of escort, but that he wants to use the escort to force the Navy Ministry to give up the power of material dispatch.
The Military Command has been eroding the power of the Navy Ministry under the pretext of wartime needs. According to Prince Fushimi Miyahiro, the Military Command is responsible for warship dispatching and combat command at the top, personnel appointments and removals for the fleet and base at the middle, and warship manufacturing and supplies at the bottom. Distribution - In this way, the Navy Ministry will have no power at all. This is why Yamamoto Isoroku is tit-for-tat and refuses to give in. Having been immersed in the top ranks of the Navy for many years, Yamamoto also learned about power struggles.
"One thing I don't understand is that His Highness has always been pro-Germany. Why did he react so aggressively to the joint operation with Germany and Italy this time? If he wants to find trouble, he can do it in other ways."
"Excessive? Not at all! Why did he come out in person? To control the fleet and prevent the recurrence of the Shimada incident, but..." Yamamoto paused, "He thought that he could divide the fleet by relying on the strategy of attacking one faction and pulling the other? That's totally wrong! He has never been a fleet commander, and he doesn't know that in wartime, a general who can win battles is more effective than any conspiracy or any power struggle - after all, no one wants to die on the battlefield with a useless boss. Did Hori Teikichi fail in the political struggle because of his lack of ability? Was it because of his wrong ideas? None of them! It's just that in peacetime, bureaucrats' words are more effective than soldiers. Now it's wartime, soldiers are more effective than bureaucrats, and soldiers who can fight and win battles are even more effective."
Inoue Narumi knew the strategy of attacking one faction and pulling the other: when Nagano Osami was the Minister of the General Staff, he protected Chuichi Nagumo to divide the Combined Fleet. Otherwise, why would Nagumo always be incompatible with Isoroku Yamamoto? Once Nagano Osami fell, Nanyun could only obediently go to the reserve; last time, Toyota Fuetake jumped out to make trouble because of the use of Yamato, and as a result, all the fleet commanders from the fleet faction stood up to support Hori Teikichi. Don’t they know that Hori Teikichi is a treaty faction and an aviation faction? Neither! It’s just because Hori Teikichi led the fleet to win, not only won but also won beautifully, everyone will only support the commander who can win the battle.
“Oh, I really envy the army, the army is so united now.” Inoue Narumi said with emotion.
"It's useless. The top leaders are united, but the middle leaders are in a mess." Yamamoto Isoroku shook his head. "The Kwantung Army, the China Army, and the Southern Army have been quarreling... At least the Combined Fleet is still very united in the Navy. Admirals Kondo, Tsukahara and others are staunch supporters. If you don't believe me, try it. Send a telegram to dismiss Hori Teikichi now and see if anyone dares to take over?"
"No one dares to do that." Inoue Narumi thought that Hori Teikichi was recommended by Yamamoto Isoroku with his reputation. To defeat Hori Teikichi, Yamamoto must be defeated as well, but this is completely impossible. Not to mention dismissing Hori Teikichi, Toyota was scolded to death by the fleet last time for being too talkative. If they are really pushed to the limit, the Marine Corps can also take machine guns to the streets - do you really think that the naval officers and soldiers dare not do 226?
"Think about it again, what else did Hori Teikichi do in Europe besides resting?"
Inoue Narumi thought for a long time and uttered three words: "Buy, buy, buy?" This made Yamamoto Isoroku laugh.
"On the one hand, he made friends with the German head of state and the Italian leader... Without him to negotiate, how could the 1 billion marks be obtained? Can it be done by relying on idiots like Oshima Hiroshi or Matsuoka Yosuke who are only pro-German but have accomplished nothing?"
Inoue Narumi thought: This is obviously using foreign powers to gain self-esteem, but it is also amazing. Yamamoto Isoroku, Hori Teikichi, and Ishiwara Kanji are all famous opponents of the Three Kingdoms Axis, but they are valued by the German head of state. On the contrary, Oshima Hiroshi, Matsuoka Yosuke and even Tojo Hideki, who strongly advocated the alliance between Japan and Germany, are not very popular with the Germans.
"On the other hand, he has to make friends with his subordinates. He has been away from the front line for many years and has no direct lineage. In other words, everyone can be his confidant, otherwise, all the pocket money will be wasted?"
"I understand, I understand..." Inoue Shigemi nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, "I don't think I'm suitable for politics. I'd better teach in the future."
"Alas..." Now it was Yamamoto Isoroku's turn to sigh. In his opinion, although Inoue Shigemi had good vision and strategy, his level of commanding wars was really poor. He couldn't convince the people even after trying several times; he couldn't win over a group of bureaucrats in political struggles, and his future achievements might be limited to this. Outsiders thought that "Mitsumasa Yonai - Isoroku Yamamoto - Narumi Inoue" was a famous iron triangle, but in Yamamoto's opinion, the triangle combination of "Mitsumasa Yonai - Isoroku Yamamoto - Teikichi Hori" was closer to perfection: Teikichi Hori, who was good at fighting, was in charge of the Combined Fleet, Mitsumasa Yonai, who was good at political struggle, was in charge of the Navy Ministry, and he could go to the Military General Staff. This was the most appropriate personnel assignment - but unfortunately the Imperial Military Order messed everything up.
The two never expected that while they were sighing, Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi had already entered the palace angrily to complain. The latter also knew that Teikichi Hori, who had won the South Pacific and Indian Ocean naval battles, was now in high spirits, and it was wishful thinking to replace him, but this did not prevent him from flattering Teikichi Hori in front of Hirohito and discrediting Isoroku Yamamoto once again.
Who knew that after listening to it, Hirohito just nodded and said calmly: "I understand. The Navy Ministry, the General Staff, and the Combined Fleet are all key agencies of the Navy. We must communicate more." Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi finally ended the audience with confusion.