It's a hot summer day, but the sun that spreads through the streets of Tokyo still looks a little cold to those who are familiar with the big city.
In the largest cosmopolitan metropolis in the Far East, the asphalted roads are empty and there are no cars in sight.
The shops on both sides of the road that should have been filled with all kinds of goods are now mostly empty, with nothing to sell and no customers to visit.
Only a small number of specialized shops selling rations and collecting folk metal utensils do they form long queues.
It seems that the joint sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, and the Dutch East Indies have had a great effect, as the channels for importing American scrap steel have been completely cut off, the oil of the United States, the Dutch East Indies, and British Malaya has stopped being shipped to Japan, and the silk and all kinds of shoddy goods produced in Japan have no international market, and all of a sudden they have become unsalable.
What made the Japanese government and businessmen even more stunned was that the market of the East Asian continent also quietly closed its doors to Japan after the United States announced sanctions against Japan.
Moreover, in Manchuria, which was firmly controlled by Japan, there were also large-scale strikes these days, and the major iron and coal mines were all in a state of shutdown or semi-shutdown, which was obviously a joint effort by the United States and the Soviet Union And from the beginning of 1941, the number of merchant ships sailing from the United States to the East Asian continent increased dramatically several times.
Another railway from Irkutsk to the south through Mongolia was completed and opened in March 1941.
In addition, the Soviet oil field in North Sakhalin Island also had a major accident in April 1941, and production has not resumed until now, and according to the treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union in the 20s, the oil produced by this oil field was sold to Japan.
All kinds of indications show that the Japanese Empire is facing an unprecedented crisis, and the three first-class powers of Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union are now joining forces to deal with Japan, and have woven an almost impermeable Japanese encirclement network.
Faced with this dangerous situation, which seemed to make the whole world an enemy of Japan, the Japanese Empire responded by speeding up preparations for war and strengthening the construction of the army and navy.
Heavy industry manufacturers are all producing artillery, guns, ammunition, ships and aircraft at full capacity, and have even begun to invest heavily in the production and research and development of combat vehicles.
The large-scale production of weapons and ammunition quickly consumed Japan's limited metals, which soon outstripped production, and had to start using strategic reserves, while at the same time starting to loot the broken copper and iron of the civilian population for emergencies.
As for the consumption of oil, it has been limited to a minimum, almost to the point of not taking into account the most basic needs of the people's livelihood, and even the gasoline and diesel control measures of European countries that are now in wartime are not as strict as those of Japan.
It can be said that in preparation for the war, Japan has gambled everything However, no matter how strict the control measures are, no matter how much the people are looted for broken copper and iron, there is a limit.
And once the most precious war resource of the Japanese Empire, oil, is exhausted in the consumption of in-and-out, the war machine of the Japanese Empire will become a huge pile of useless scrap metal.
At that time, Japan will just want to gamble, and there will be no possibility of victory.
Lieutenant General Hideki Tojo, Minister of War, was traveling in a car on an empty road through a deserted city to attend the Imperial Council at the Imperial Palace.
The lieutenant general frowned, his face was as blue as black, but at the same time he looked eager to try and ready to show his skills.
He knew the deadline set by Hersmann for "making a decision to enter the war by October and going to war against Britain and the United States before the end of the year."
At first, Hideki Tojo was also shocked.
At the prospect that Germany might make peace with Britain after this deadline and become an ally of Britain's enemies, Tojo's first reaction was that Japan was about to be betrayed.
However, when he thought about it, he felt that this "deadline" had actually pushed Japan into a situation where it could only fight against the water, and this was not necessarily unfavorable for Japan.
If it weren't for the "deadline" given by Hirschman, Konoe Fumiro, a fearless aristocratic lord, would not know how long it would have been delayed.
At the joint meeting of the army and navy held overnight yesterday, the senior naval officers who had been fond of raising the bar with the army were rarely in agreement with Tojo, the minister of war, and they all agreed that it was necessary to go to war in order to obtain all kinds of resources needed for the development of the Japanese Empire, especially oil resources In order to obtain oil resources, it was necessary to go south to seize Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.
And if we want to go south with confidence and boldness, we must start a war with the United States and seize control of the Pacific Sea.
To this end, the senior officials of the Japanese army and navy also discussed and formulated an outline of the imperial national policy that would suit the changing situation, which was to be adopted at today's imperial meeting and make it the latest national policy.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, the current situation is that oil will last for a maximum of 1,218 months, and we can't wait until the last drop of oil is used up to find a solution, there must be a advance amount."
Hideki Tojo said this, and his eyes swept over the empty throne.
Emperor Showa did not attend the meeting today, and the meeting was presided over by Minister of the Interior Koichi Kido.
Kido doesn't have a big opinion, and in front of the cabinet five, he is just playing the role of the emperor's follower and mouthpiece.
Since the emperor was not there, the ministers attending the meeting spoke freely, and Hideki Tojo touched his big bald head, and then continued: "Now that Britain and Germany are secretly negotiating peace, it is very likely that the international situation will undergo a great change that is not conducive to the empire.
So my empire can't wait any longer, there must be a time to make a final decision.
I think it's today."
"Today" Fumiro Konoe was taken aback by the reckless request of Hideki Tojo, and quickly set his eyes on the Minister of the Navy and Shiro Kawako.
"Prime Minister, I think it's today."
And Kawakoshiro's words shocked Fumiro Konoe even more.
"What" Konoe Fumiro was stunned and stunned, now the Japanese army and navy actually wear a pair of pants, which makes this prime minister still command the overall situation Fumihiro Konoe set his sights on Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka, who had served as president of the Manchurian Railway and advocated the theory of "Manchurian lifeline".
However, his way to realize the "Manchurian lifeline" is rather strange, not to take refuge in Britain and the United States, but to unite Germany and the Soviet Union.
He advocated the goal of dividing up the East Asian continent by coordinating relations with the Soviet Union through Germany.
Therefore, after pushing Japan to join the Triple Alliance, he signed a Japanese-Soviet non-aggression pact with Stalin.
In this treaty, the Soviet Union pledged not to enter Manchuria, but refused to pledge not to support "socialist comrades and brothers" on the East Asian continent, so Matsuoka's goal was not achieved.
Later, Matsuoka advocated achieving his goals through US-Japan coordination and personally presided over negotiations with the United States.
However, the Americans apparently put US-Soviet relations above US-Japan relations, and not only resolutely refused to form an alliance with Japan, but also began to impose severe sanctions on Japan.
At the same time, it also began to deploy planes and submarines in the Philippines in a posture of resolutely containing Japan.
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"Prime Minister," said Matsuoka, "it is inevitable that we will go south, but our empire should still avoid war with the United States." ” Matsuoka spent a lot of time in the United States as a child and knew the power of the United States very well, so his idea was to go south to Malaya and Singapore to open up maritime contact with Germany.
But don't go to attack the Philippines and don't give the United States an excuse to declare war.
Once Singapore was conquered, it was connected to Germany through the Indian Ocean.
Then Japan will be able to get support from Germany, and it will not be afraid that the United States will come to find fault.
"This is not going to work," Hideki Tojo interrupted Matsuoka, "The United States has bases and garrisons in the Philippines and Guam, and it has deployed thousands of aircraft, if it is not cleared, how can we rest assured that the United States will go south in case we attack the Singapore fortress and sneak up on our backs?"
"Tojo-kun," Matsuoka shook his head repeatedly, "such a thing will not happen, the United States will not launch a sneak attack, this is not allowed by their national system." ” "But the United States will still go to war," said Secretary of the Navy Kazukoshiro Kazuko, frowning, "and the United States has attacked Mexico and Spain, and has taken the initiative to participate in the last world war."
As long as the president of the United States is willing to fight, there will always be an excuse.
As for the isolationism of the United States, it is only for Europe.
If we cannot achieve superiority over the US Pacific Fleet in the early stages of the war, then we have no hope of victory as the war continues. ” He was right, and the United States can always find an excuse.
Or blow up a ship, or make up some conspiracy between Japan and Mexico to fight the United States, or simply get a Japanese plane to hit the Empire State Building.
And now the situation in the Pacific is very unfavorable for Japan, because there is also a USSR as a potential enemy of Japan.
Considering that the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union is getting closer and closer, the possibility of a joint confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union against Japan always exists.
Therefore, the most advantageous situation for Japan was to gain a huge advantage in the early stages of the war, so as to deter the Soviet Union and its little brothers.
Let them not dare to think otherwise, and they must also obediently continue to provide war resources to Japan.
The only way to achieve such a goal was to adopt Yamamoto's plan and attack Pearl Harbor, the home port of the US Pacific Fleet "Therefore, we should strike first," Hideki Tojo said loudly, "The Army believes that this is the only way out at present, and it must strike hard at the United States and Britain at the beginning of the war and achieve a decisive victory."
Moreover, the Germans have promised that they will support us once we make a decision.
Therefore, we should make a decision as soon as possible so that we can get support sooner. ” He said "the Army thinks", not "the officer thinks".
This shows that what I just said represents the Japanese Army Fumiro Konoe hurriedly turned his gaze to the Minister of the Navy, and Shiro Kawakoshi also nodded and said, "The Navy also thinks so, so I implore His Excellency the Prime Minister to support the outline of the imperial national policy that adapts to the changes in the situation, and immediately determine the national policy of going south and fighting against the United States." t1706231537: