World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

Chapter 230 Yamagata Aritomo's Status

"Prime Minister!" Okaichinosuke screamed.

"Let me finish!" Terauchi roared, this was the first time he had lost his composure in front of the "Five Elders." "Accepting negotiations doesn't mean accepting all conditions! We can talk! We can bargain! Three hundred million indemnities is too much, we can reduce it; naval restrictions are too strict, we can loosen them; the conditions for opening ports can be changed! But the prerequisite is that we must sit down at the negotiating table!"

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down: "And now, as long as we don't show any willingness to talk, Lanfang's warships will continue to bombard our port and sink our merchant ships. Every day we delay, our losses increase, and our bargaining chips decrease."

"Then let them fight!" Okaichi said, his eyes red. "Let all the people of Sakura see how brutally the Lanfang people attack a peaceful nation! Let the international community see how the Lanfang people bully the weak! Then, the great powers like Britain, the United States, France, and Russia won't stand idly by; they will..."

"What will they do?" Yamamoto Gonnohyōe finally spoke, his voice icy. "Britain is at war with Germany, France is at war with Germany, Russia is at war with Germany. The United States is watching from the sidelines, only interested in doing business. Minister Okaichi, do you think this is the Russo-Japanese War? Do you think the great powers will still interfere in Far Eastern affairs as they did back then?"

He took another document from his briefcase: "This is intelligence sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this morning. The British Admiralty is reassessing its Far East strategy, the German Emperor sent Chen Feng a warm congratulatory telegram, and the United States has expressed its willingness to 'mediate'—but the prerequisite for mediation is that both sides are willing to talk. The international community is not here to help us; they are here to watch us die."

"You're talking nonsense!" Okaichinosuke had lost his temper. "This is treason! This is capitulationism!"

"That's enough." Yamagata Aritomo spoke slowly, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable authority.

The meeting room fell silent instantly. This veteran of the Meiji Restoration, the founder of the army, and the true shaper of the modern army of Japan, though he had stepped down from the center of power for many years, still commanded unparalleled prestige.

"What's the use of arguing?" Yamagata slowly stood up, leaning on his cane, and walked to the map. He stared at the East China Sea covered by red crosses for a very long time.

"A loss is a loss." He finally said this, his voice carrying a sorrow unique to the elderly. "I was wounded in the Satsuma Rebellion, I know what it feels like to be hit by a bullet. Japan right now is like being shot in the heart. Continuing to bleed will kill us, but surgery… might also kill us."

He turned around, a sharp glint flashing in his cloudy eyes: "Temple inside."

"exist."

"Go and negotiate. But remember, negotiation is not surrender. Reparations can be paid, but the country cannot be bankrupted. The navy can be limited, but it cannot be toothless. Ports can be opened, but sovereignty cannot be lost. Understand?"

"Understood." The temple staff bowed deeply.

"Yamamoto."

"exist."

"As the First Minister of the Navy, you're about to face the greatest pressure. The Army will criticize you, the public will criticize you, and even some within the Navy will criticize you. But you must hold on. Because the Navy... needs someone to take on this responsibility."

Yamamoto Gonbei stood up and bowed deeply: "I understand."

"Oka City." Yamagata looked at the Minister of the Army, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "I know you're unwilling. I'm unwilling too. But sometimes, living takes more courage than dying. What the Army needs to do is ensure homeland security during the negotiations, ensure that national morale doesn't collapse, and ensure... there's still a chance to turn things around in the future."

Okaichi opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he just gritted his teeth and bowed deeply.

"Finally," Yamagata looked at Togo Heihachiro, "Togo-kun, the glory of the Battle of Tsushima is over. Now is a new era, a new war. It's time for us old folks to retire."

Togo Heihachiro didn't speak, but nodded slowly. His back was still straight, but for the first time, weariness showed in his eyes—not physical weariness, but the weariness of seeing what he had fought for his whole life crumbling.

"Well then," Yamagata finally said, "it's settled then. Negotiate, but don't surrender. Make concessions, but hold the line. Survive, and wait for the future."

He leaned on his cane and walked step by step toward the door. Before opening it, he stopped, without turning back.

"Gentlemen, please remember: the empire is not yet gone. As long as the people are still here, the land is still here, and the spirit is still here, there is still hope. Today's humiliation is for tomorrow's revenge."

The door opened and then closed. The old man's footsteps faded into the distance in the corridor.

The remaining four people sat silently in the meeting room. After a long silence, Terauchi Masatake finally spoke:

"Minister Yamamoto, please formally request a ceasefire negotiation from Lanfang through a neutral country. Minister Okaichi, please order all army units to enter a state of high alert, but... do not provoke them."

"What if Lanfang continues to attack?" Okaichi asked coldly.

"Then we'll fight back." Terauchi's voice was soft but firm. "Negotiation is not surrender. If the enemy thinks we're weak and easy to bully, then let them know that Japan still has 30 million citizens, and a spirit of never surrendering."

Okaichinosuke stared at him for a few seconds, then finally nodded: "Alright. But I must remind the Prime Minister that the pro-war faction within the army is very vocal. If the negotiating terms are too humiliating, I won't be able to control them."

"I know," Terauchi said wearily. "So we need time. Time for the people to slowly accept reality, time for the international community to intervene and mediate, time for this war to... end in a dignified manner."

He looked out the window; the sky over Tokyo was gloomy, and it looked like it was going to rain again.

"Hopefully, there's still enough time."

East China Sea, waters west of Kyushu, the battleship Yangtze, at 10:30 AM

Zhang Zhen stood on the bridge, holding the radio communications record of the Japanese merchant ship that he had just intercepted. The record was brief, a message from the Nagasaki Port Authority to a cargo ship: "Return to port immediately or change course. The Lanfang battleship is operating west of Kyushu."

"They know," said Vice Captain Chen Qiming.

"Of course they'd know." Zhang Zhen tossed the records onto the chart table. "We fired cannons at Yokosuka. Unless the Japanese are all blind and deaf, they'd definitely be alert."

He walked to the radar screen. On the screen, several small dots were moving slowly, at distances ranging from thirty to fifty nautical miles, all moving either from the Japanese mainland towards the open sea or from the open sea towards the mainland.

"Merchant ships," the radar officer reported. "Judging from their speed and size, they are cargo ships of three to eight thousand tons. There are no warships escorting them."

Zhang Zhen stared at the points of light, remaining silent for a few seconds. Then he asked, "How far away is the closest one?"

"Southeast, about 35 nautical miles away, heading 120, speed 12 knots. It is judged to be a cargo ship that departed from Nagasaki and is heading to Taiwan or the Philippines."

"Is there a radio on board?"

"Yes, it was just sending a telegram."