Chapter 3575
Chapter 3575
Chapter 3575
Although the measures proposed by Schneider were of an emergency nature, they also took some time to implement and were unlikely to produce immediate results. Although Yan Chujie and others were not very satisfied, they could not come up with a better solution.
Shi Diwen, who rushed back from Japan to attend the meeting, reported to everyone the current situation of the Japanese civil war.
The battle between the Tokugawa shogunate and the Kyushu feudal domains was still over the control of the Kanmon Strait, but the fight between the two sides was no longer limited to this area. Instead, they began to shift from land warfare to sea, using armed ships to continuously launch sneak attacks on the opponent's rear ports and towns.
Since the Kyushu coalition forces were far inferior to the shogunate army in terms of military strength, they could only concentrate their combat forces on the battlefield in northern Kyushu and did not dare to divide their troops to garrison in various places. This left the shogunate army with plenty of opportunities to continuously launch harassment wars in various parts of Kyushu.
The Kyushu domains also quickly found a way to deal with the situation. After that, the Tsushima domain was the first to introduce external forces, allowing the Korean army to enter Asu Bay on Tsushima Island in the form of mercenaries to help them guard against the invasion of the shogunate army.
This special method soon proved effective and successfully repelled the invading shogunate army. Seeing that Tsushima had tasted the sweetness, several other families also began to follow suit, reaching agreements with Korea and hiring Korean troops to enter their own territories.
This matter was originally facilitated by Hai Han, which invisibly became the guarantor of Korea. Therefore, several daimyo in Kyushu dared to boldly hand over part of the defense task of their homeland to the Koreans. Although this move was expensive, it was better than being raided by the shogunate army.
"The strength of the North Korean army should be above that of the Kyushu coalition forces, right?"
Hearing someone asking this question, Shi Diwen nodded and said, "The troops sent by North Korea to Kyushu as mercenaries are almost all new troops reorganized after Li Yi ascended the throne. Not only are they equipped with a large number of weapons and equipment provided by our country, but even their organization and tactics are inherited from our country."
"In addition, most of their senior officers above the battalion level have received training in our country. Many of them have participated in military operations organized by us as military observers. In terms of tactical literacy and combat experience, they are probably much better than those Japanese officers who were converted from samurai."
What Shi Diwen said was indeed true. After years of operation, North Korea's military strength was already above Japan, and Li Li had long planned to take revenge on it. This time, Li Li and several of his generals had the idea of taking advantage of this opportunity to send troops to Japan to station there.
Shi Diwen continued, "I talked to Li Yi before, and his meaning was very clear. The troops sent to Japan for garrison will not be withdrawn after the war. Regardless of whether the final winner is the Tokugawa Shogunate or the Kyushu Allied Forces, Korea will enclose a piece of land in Japan as a reward for this dispatch of troops."
"If Kyushu wins, Korea will demand a large area of Honshu Island north of Osaka and west to the Kanmon Strait. If the shogunate wins...then the Koreans may not withdraw their troops from Kyushu, which would give them a good excuse to go to war with the shogunate."
Tao Donglai said: "Li Yi has a good plan! After Japan finishes its civil war, the warring parties will have almost exhausted their remaining soldiers. By then, North Korea will come forward to clean up the mess. As long as we don't intervene, no one will be able to stop them."
Shi Diwen nodded and said, "Lao Tao is right. The North Koreans' position is different from ours. We hope that this civil war will continue for a long time, while they hope that the war will be accelerated. After both sides have exhausted their armed forces, the North Korean army will come out to pick up the ready-made spoils."
Tao Donglai pondered and said, "If the Japanese civil war continues for a long time as we intend, will the Koreans become impatient and take the initiative to seek to join the war?" Shi Diwen said, "That depends on our attitude. After all, even if the Koreans join the war, their armaments, like the Kyushu Allied Forces and the Shogunate Army, need to be provided by our country. If this problem cannot be solved, they will not act rashly."
Bai Kesi coughed dryly and said, "I would like to remind everyone that our military equipment production capacity for export probably cannot meet the needs of the three warring parties at the same time."
Schneider said, "Maybe we can sign a sales contract first and collect the money?"
Bai Kesi said: "It is not difficult to sign a contract and collect money. As long as we are willing to sell, there will never be a shortage of buyers for arms. But the problem is that sales must be delivered after all, and our production capacity has reached its limit, so it is difficult to estimate a reasonable delivery period."
For Baikesi and the domestic military industry, the current market situation is a sweet trouble. The large number of orders that have come in from all directions in the past two years has long pushed Haihan's military production capacity to its limit. Even though this year's Zhoushan Forum has begun to introduce some civilian manufacturing to share the pressure of the military industry, it has not completely solved the problem of the explosion of orders in major arsenals and shipyards.
Even if it has been decided to expand military production capacity, it will not produce results in a short period of time. Bai Kesi had to remind everyone to avoid misjudgment when formulating foreign strategies.
What the Executive Committee can do now is just to provide some care in industrial policies and increase related investment.
After the meeting, Shi Diwen took a carriage back to his residence. As soon as he got off the car, he heard that Shi Chengwu had arrived home, so he asked his servant to call him to meet in the study.
Shi Chengwu came to the study room soon, greeted Shi Diwen respectfully, and then gave him a brief account of his itinerary.
Shi Chengwu came back from Nanjing after receiving a notice from Shi Diwen. The straight-line distance between the two places is about 500 miles, but the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions are densely covered with rivers, so taking a boat is much faster than driving a horse or a carriage.
He started from Nanjing, took a boat to Zhenjiang, then entered the Grand Canal, passed through Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Jiaxing to Hangzhou. Although the journey seemed to be longer, it actually took two days faster than traveling by car.
Although Shi Diwen did not explain in the telegram why he was called back to Hangzhou for a meeting, Shi Chengwu had guessed something: "Father called me back specially. Is he going abroad soon?"
Shi Diwen nodded and said, "With the war in Japan, North Korea has now been added to the mix. It won't be enough to rely on your brother to keep an eye on it alone. I'll have to go back and keep an eye on it for a while after I come back to deal with things. If I don't take this opportunity to meet you, the next meeting will probably have to wait for several months."
"Tell me, father, what have you gained from being a local official in Nanjing for a year?"
(End of this chapter)