"Miyamoto, I'm very sorry. The supplies are quite tight now, so there is no good thing to entertain you. Please forgive me."

"No need, Mr. Ito, I came to you not to eat. Of course, as a major Japanese official, you are so tight now. You can imagine what kind of scene is the Japanese people now."

Hirofumi Ito lowered his head, not daring to look at Naotao Miyamoto. After a while, he said, "I'm sorry, Miyamoto, it's me that's wrong, you are right."

Naotao Miyamoto sighed and said, "Mr. Ito, it is meaningless to pursue who is right and who is wrong now. What we should do now is to reverse the wrong approach. Japan has paid a significant price for this war and cannot continue to expand its losses."

Hirobu Ito smiled bitterly again and said, "How easy is this?"

Miyamoto Naotao said: "I know this is not easy, but I can't just watch Japan be doomed. Someone must come out to do the right thing!"

And Hirobu Ito became silent again.

As early as during the Poetsmouth negotiations, Naotao Miyamoto suggested to Hirofumi Ito that he would accept the conditions of East China ** and sign a peace treaty with East China **, even if he paid a certain amount of compensation, he would not hesitate to pay the promise of Britain at that time. However, Japan had already received the promise of Britain. Once the Poetsmouth negotiations broke down, Britain would send troops to join the war. In this case, Japan certainly could not pay the price of paying the compensation and make peace with East China **. However, Naotao Miyamoto also specifically pointed out that Britain is unreliable and Japan should decide on the national strategy based on its own national interests without considering the attitude of Britain. Even if necessary, it could use Britain as a bargaining chip and include it in the transaction.

Naotaku Miyamoto's remarks caused a small storm in Japan at that time. Almost everyone accused Naotaku Miyamoto's remarks of their stupidity and weakness, and some even threatened to withdraw from politics from now on. However, Hirofumi Ito admired Naotaku Miyamoto's attitude of "Japan should decide on the national strategy that Japan should adopt based on its own national interests." In addition, what he knew about Naotaku Miyamoto's views and attitudes on international affairs in the past made Hirofumi Ito praise it, thinking that Naotaku Miyamoto was a rare young talent, so Hirofumi Ito came forward to say a lot of good things for Naotaku Miyamoto, which ensured that Naotaku Miyamoto remained in the Japanese political arena.

After the Far East Expeditionary Force arrived in Asia, Japan was full of confidence in the Far East Expeditionary Force, believing that the Expeditionary Force would definitely defeat the East China Expeditionary Force and resolve the crisis in Japan. Some people even optimistically believed that Japan could use the power of the Expeditionary Force to return to China's Northeast region and regain the results lost from the battlefield in the early stage. In this optimistic mood, Naotaku Miyamoto held a different opinion. He once advised Hiromoto Ito, believing that in this war, the winning rate of East China Expeditionary Force was extremely high, so he suggested to Hiromoto Ito that at this time, negotiate with the East China Expeditionary Force, and use the pressure on the East China Expeditionary Force to reach a peace agreement with the East China Expeditionary Force at a lower cost.

But at that time, Imori Ito, like other Japanese, believed that the East China ** was definitely not a rival to the Expeditionary Force, so he ignored Naotao Miyamoto's suggestions. However, Imori Ito was an excellent politician after all, and it was not unwilling tolerate dissent. He also believed that Naotao Miyamoto could stick to his own opinions and not follow the crowd. It was also a rare quality. His appreciation of Naotao Miyamoto did not decrease, but he believed that Naotao Miyamoto was still too young after all and needed time to practice. Fortunately, Naotao Miyamoto only expressed his ideas to Ito alone, and did not make any public, so there was no controversy.

Seeing that Ito Ifun did not accept his opinion, Naotao Miyamoto said that he wanted to go to the public to investigate. After considering it, Ifun thought it would be better to let Miyamoto leave the political arena temporarily so that he would not make any remarks or cause controversy. After the war ends and the situation stabilizes, he will communicate with Naotao Miyamoto and teach him well.

However, the result of the Battle of Taiwan Straits made all the Japanese predicted the predictions and made the situation in Japan worse. Hirofumi Ito then remembered Naotao Miyamoto's prediction of this war, and suddenly realized that he had always been lowering Naotao Miyamoto. Although Hirofumi Ito admired Naotao Miyamoto's insights, he subconsciously regarded Naotao Miyamoto as a young man. Although he had active thinking and unique insights, he lacked experience and needed more experience and someone to guide him. Of course, Hirofumi Ito believes that he is the one who guided Naotao Miyamoto, but the reality is that Naotao Miyamoto's judgment of the current situation is above him, and he cannot guide him at all.

In fact, after the Battle of the Taiwan Strait, Hirofumi Ito was also very clear that Japan had no capital to continue to fight against East China. The top priority was to negotiate with East China at all costs and end the war as soon as possible, even if it was compensation.

It’s just that I understand it in my heart, but the actual operation is another. On the one hand, in Japan, due to so many years of education and publicity, the war atmosphere is quite strong, and the military’s power is getting stronger and stronger. Even at this time, a considerable number of people in the military advocated continuing the battle at all costs, so it is difficult to accept the result of compensation. Those who propose peacekeeping compensation will inevitably be criticized by thousands of people. Li Hongzhang after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 are the best example. However, in the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang could also temporarily avoid the limelight by resigning from office and retreating, and wait for the opportunity to make a comeback. However, it is not so easy in Japan. Unless it is committed suicide, there may be a lot of "heaven punishment" and "people punishment" waiting behind.

On the other hand, the UK's attitude cannot be underestimated. Although Ito Hirofumi Tomoe Ito "Japan should decide on the national strategy adopted based on its own national interests", in the face of reality, it cannot without giving in. Japan now cannot do without Britain's support, because this war has greatly damaged Japan's vitality, and the East China ** will definitely rise strongly after the war. If it loses Britain's support, Japan will not be able to compete with the East China *** after the war. Therefore, after the Battle of the Taiwan Strait, Britain still advocates a tough attitude towards the East China *** and uses a trade embargo to put pressure on the East China **, and requires that the five countries participating in the expeditionary force must not negotiate separately with the East China **. Although Ito Hirofumi also knows that this decision is inappropriate, he still has to worry about the UK's attitude and has to obey the requirements of the UK.

As a result, Japan followed the United Kingdom to issue a statement that was tough on East China, which attracted tough revenge from East China and blocked Japan by sea, which also caused a serious blow to Japan. Because Japan was originally a country that was extremely dependent on sea transportation, and now its domestic economy has completely collapsed due to the war and survived entirely by blood transfusions from Britain, France, the United States and other countries. However, in the maritime blockade of East China, merchant ships from Britain, France, and the United States dared not dock in Japan, which resulted in worsening. Japan was about to be cut off.

In fact, the maritime power of East China is still very limited. Although the fleet is not small in size, it lacks small and medium-sized warships. It may not have much impact when the fleet is fighting. However, if it wants to carry out blockade operations, it is necessary to block Japan, one of the countries with the longest coastline in the world. With the current maritime power of East China, it is impossible for Japan to blockade Japan from the sea. There will always be some fish that miss the net. Because of this, Japan can still survive and not die immediately. Of course, the probability of being intercepted, captured, and sunk by the People's Army Navy is also quite high.

However, for merchant ships in France, the United States and other countries, they have no obligation to assume such risks for Japan. Even if Japan increases the cost of navigation and sets up huge rewards, only less than 20% of the merchant ships willing to go to Japan are left. Foreign merchant ships are unwilling to do so, so they can only rely on their own merchant ships to support them. However, in such a war, Japan has lost a large amount of merchant ships and its capacity is greatly damaged. Taking the risk of transporting materials for Japan will definitely suffer major losses, and there is no place to supplement them. However, in this situation, it can only be used to quench thirst.

Just a few days ago, the Netherlands decided to give up the alliance of the five countries of the Expeditionary Force, negotiate with the East China ** alone, and accept the conditions for paying compensation to the East China ***. This caused a huge shock in the Japanese ***. Although the Netherlands is not strong, Bi Jing is one of the alliances of the five countries, which also shows that the Netherlands is not optimistic about the prospects of the five countries, and it also shows that Britain and France have limited control over the five countries. And some knowledgeable people can also think that since the Netherlands has given up the five countries, will the other three countries still be shaken, and whether Japan should also be more flexible.

Although there are still a few stubborn people in Japan who insist on resisting to the end and never compromise, and Britain and France repeatedly appease Japan, promising to do everything possible to resolve Japan's crisis and let Japan withdraw from the war with a decent amount. At the same time, it also warned Japan not to follow the footsteps of the Netherlands and negotiate with East China alone, Hirofumi Ito still realized that Japan really needs to make changes and could not completely pin Japan's national security on Britain and France, and he still had to work hard to find a way.

At this moment, Naotao Miyamoto, who went to the public for investigation, returned to Tokyo and visited Hirofumi Ito as soon as possible. At this time, Hirofumi Ito did not dare to underestimate Naotao Miyamoto's attitude, so he welcomed him warmly at home.
Chapter completed!