Chapter 2089
In fact, Schneider was not completely opposed to the use of military means. Before that, he even mentioned to the Executive Committee the use of force to force the Japanese shogunate to agree to trade. This was just because the objective environmental conditions of this era were not suitable for this method. The committee ultimately did not agree with his proposal. Schneider believes that if military intimidation can be effective, there will be no need to mobilize troops to carry out military attacks on the Hirado Domain. The Eighteen Shiba Yu Party was once defeated by Haihan. In theory, they should know very well that they have no chance of defeating the Hirado Domain on the frontal battlefield. Given the opportunity, choosing to bow to Haihan and compromise through peace talks is the most rational response.
But not everyone hopes to resolve the issues between Haihan and the Eighteen Zhiyu Party through peace talks. For the intelligence agencies and the military, which have invested a lot of resources in the early stage of investigation, peace talks mean that they have to share some of the key information they have finally obtained with the diplomatic department, and hand over the credit for solving the problem to the diplomatic department. . Unless the peace talks ultimately fail, they will get another chance to clean up the mess. By then, the opponent will have more time to arrange countermeasures, and it will definitely be more difficult to deal with it than it is now.
After the meeting, He Xi had just boarded the carriage and was about to give the order to leave Fort Victory. An officer quickly came to the carriage, whispered a few words to his personal guard, and then left quickly. The guard then informed He Xi of the news delivered by the officer. It turned out that Yan Chujie had invited him to meet somewhere.
He Xi was not surprised by this. During the meeting just now, Yan Chujie had a heated argument with several people from the peace faction. In the end, the purpose of getting the executive committee to agree to launch a military strike was not achieved. He must be dissatisfied with such a result. Now I want to meet with him probably because he wants to discuss how to resolve the current dispute.
"Take a walk around the city, and then go to Minister Yan's house." He Xi gave up the idea of returning to the Security Department to continue handling official business, and decided to meet Yan Chujie again. Although He Xi is not a staunch militant, he is more willing to stand with the military on this matter. However, since Yan Chujie met with him in private, it meant that he did not want the meeting to become a public operation known to everyone, so he ordered to walk around the city first to avoid anyone noticing his whereabouts.
Yan Chujie's mansion is actually not far from Victory Fort. It is at the foot of the mountain to the north of Victory Fort. It is a small manor covering an area of only more than 20 acres. In contrast to his status as the commander-in-chief of the Haihan Army, this manor is not a heavily guarded fortress. Instead, it looks like a farm. In addition to a few horses that pull carts and serve as mounts, there are also many horses here. Among other poultry and livestock, there are still four pigs raised in a pigsty built in the early years. There are also seven or eight acres of land in the manor where various fruits and vegetables are grown, which are basically self-produced and sold.
Of course, Yan Chujie did not have the time or energy to take care of these farm works. The people who worked here were some of his old subordinates. They were discharged from the army due to injuries in their early years and had no family to take care of their lives. Yan Chujie simply kept them around and let them do what they could. Simple farm work can also give them a livelihood. Later, although the military pension and retirement benefits increased, some people still stayed here to continue working on the farm because of their old friendship.
Therefore, although there are no soldiers with live ammunition serving as guards in Yan Chujie's residence, in fact, any honest man who grows vegetables and feeds pigs here is probably a combat hero who has made meritorious service and received awards on the battlefield in his early years. Their status here is He is a farmer and also works part-time as Yan Chujie's personal bodyguard.
Yan Chujie married a Guangzhou woman in his third year here, and later married a concubine. The wife gave birth to a son, and the concubine gave birth to a daughter, so now he can be regarded as having both children and a happy life. As for the recent years, they have rarely taken the initiative to apply for the task of leading troops to fight overseas.
However, life has not completely worn away Yan Chujie's military spirit. His decisiveness and decisiveness are still one of his most obvious character traits. Haihan's large-scale military operations overseas have continued unabated in recent years. One of the main reasons is that hawks led by Yan Chujie are promoting them. In Yan Chujie's view, military means are the most effective way to resolve external conflicts and disputes at this stage, and negotiation only provides an opportunity for both parties to the conflict to choose a compromise.
Of course, in actual operation, the choices Haihan needs to make as a country cannot simply be based on the will of the military. The heads of each department have their own interests to consider, and they will not be judged just because Yan Chujie has a loud voice and a hard fist. Accommodating the military on key issues. Yan Chujie needs to consider not only the effects of military means, but also the political interests behind various voices. Some private meetings and communications outside the conference room have become more and more necessary as the political arena of Haihan Kingdom gradually matures.
After He Xi got out of the car, he found that in addition to Yan Chujie's carriage, there was another carriage reserved for high-ranking officials also parked here. It seemed that he was not the only one invited today.
Soon he met another guest in Yan Chujie's study, Bai Kesi, who was in charge of military affairs. It's not unusual for Yan Chujie to invite him. After all, the departments closest to the military are intelligence and military industry. They can be regarded as stakeholders in the same camp.
After the orderlies had tea and left, Yan Chujie took the initiative to mention the purpose of inviting them to a private meeting today: "With regard to the Hirado clan in Japan, the foreign affairs department wants to seek a solution to the problem through negotiation. I am worried that they will only make the issue more talk. The more we achieve on the battlefield, the more they want to achieve it through negotiation. Isn’t this nonsense? Lao Bai, Lao He, let’s talk about it from your perspective!”
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Bai Kesi responded slowly: "Lao Yan, what you said is exaggerated. Isn't my position the same as yours? When it's time to fight, when have our military industry ever been vague?"
"I knew you were reliable, Lao Bai. I have nothing to say!" Yan Chujie seemed very satisfied with Bai Kesi's statement.
When He Xi saw this situation, he probably had no choice but to express his position. He smiled and said: "Our Ministry of Security was responsible for this case at the beginning, and later the Military Intelligence Bureau also got involved, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was just a fool from the beginning to the end. , when it’s time to close the net, they jump out to steal the credit, how can that be done?”
In fact, from the beginning of overseas investigation work, the proportion of military forces deployed in investigation operations has become larger and larger. After all, the Ministry of Security's overseas staffing scale is very limited, and it is impossible to mobilize hundreds of people at any time like the military. Thousands of people were involved in the operation. By the time we went to Japan to carry out the investigation mission, all the personnel dispatched were from the military, and the Ministry of Security was just a bystander. However, He Xi still had to take credit for the Security Department first. After all, it was the Security Department who discovered the clues in the first place. When it came time to award rewards based on merit, the Security Department would definitely take a share.
Yan Chujie nodded and agreed with He Xi's statement: "Lao He is right. I feel that Schneider and his gang are opposed to each other, in the end just to find opportunities to highlight their presence. Shibazhi and his gang are all They are desperadoes. If they can surrender through negotiation, why would they spend so much effort to deal with us along the coast of Ming Dynasty? ”
He Xi said: "Having said that, I think Mr. Tao's reaction should be a little moved by what they said. After all, according to Schneider and the others, the savings alone will be enough to make 20% of next year's expenses." The military budget has been reduced." Yan Chujie expressed disdain for this: "This iron rooster tries to cut off part of the military budget every year. He also does not want to have an army to expand territory overseas and attack enemy countries. Our country's external affairs will be affected. Can trade reach today's level? When we sent troops to North Korea last year, we opposed it. What was the result? After the war, wouldn't the military expenditures be recovered from the North Koreans? The same goes for the war. After all, it is an old trading port. I think it has more oil and water than North Korea. How can it lose money?”
There were no outsiders present, so Yan Chujie's words were very explicit. In his opinion, the military expenditures for attacking the Hirado Domain can be recovered from the local area during the war. After all, that place is a genuine trading port, just like those where Haihan sent troops to Korea last year and was plundered by the Qing army. The areas are completely different. If necessary, the Haihan Army can even scrape the ground within three feet of Hirado and take away everything that can be transported out of Hirado, including the population. No matter how you calculate it, you will not lose military expenses.
After hearing this, Bai Kesi interjected and asked: "Will this trigger an all-out war with Japan?"
Yan Chujie shook his head and said: "With the strength of local armed forces like the Hirado Domain, the war could not have lasted that long. At most, the shogunate got the news that the Hirado Domain was invaded by foreign armed forces, and they did not wait for them to figure out who to declare war on. , the war is over. If Japan wants to have a fight with us, it can give it a try, just because their fleet can’t reach our territory!”
Yan Chujie understood this very clearly. The purpose of Haihan's military action was to eliminate the hidden dangers hidden in the Hirado Domain, rather than to launch an all-out war with Japan. The Haihan army would not stay there for a long time to fight with the Japanese armed forces. A pointless fight. With Japan's current military strength, it is basically impossible to cross the sea to conquer the Ming Dynasty or go south to directly attack the mainland of Haihan. The only visible and tangible solution is to bully its neighbors. North Korea. However, attacking North Korea would hurt the interests of the local vassal states in Kyushu that had trade relations with North Korea, so it should be difficult to implement it.
In Yan Chujie's view, the military risk of attacking Hirado is actually very low and controllable, and there is a chance to solve a series of problems caused by the Eighteen Shiba Remaining Party once and for all, so he insists on using military means to solve the current situation. situation.
"But in the end the executive committee still has to vote to determine the final resolution. At present, there don't seem to be that many people willing to support the military in fighting this battle." He Xi finally stated the objective reality that worried Yan Chujie.
In addition to Schneider and Gu Kai, the current executive committee members who have the right to participate in voting include Ning Qi and Minister of Agriculture Gao Huan, who should also support a negotiated settlement. This means that the advocate and the peace faction have nine votes in the executive committee. Four votes have been confirmed, and it only takes one more vote to win.
On the other side, only Yan Chujie and Bai Kesi clearly called for the use of military means. Although He Xi can participate in executive committee meetings, he is not an executive committee member and does not have the right to vote. This is why the power structure was originally designed to prevent privileged departments from interfering with the executive committee. A method used to make decisions.
There are also three votes whose positions are currently uncertain, coming from Tao Donglai, Yue Zhiyun and Zhou Hengxing respectively. Yue Zhiyun was more inclined to choose the military in the previous meeting, while Zhou Hengxing, from being the director of Li and Miao affairs many years ago to the mayor of Sanya now, has always been good at making peace with each other, and often works in two boats. The position wavers.
Therefore, for the military, they need to win at least two votes, while the peace faction only needs one vote to win, so Yan Chujie anxiously asked them to meet in private to discuss countermeasures.
Yan Chujie said: "The reason why these people still have illusions about negotiation methods is mainly because the situation has not developed to the point where the military must take action to control it. Just imagine if the time was pushed back one or two years, we would have noticed it. Due to the sudden changes in the Hirado Domain, the opponent may have had an armed fleet of more than twenty warships at that time, and had laid a number of hidden stakes in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty to provide intelligence, allowing it to shuttle back and forth during the intervals between the deployment of our navy. There are Spaniards in the south, Qing troops in the north, and various civilian armed forces from the Ming Dynasty in the middle. There may also be rebellions from North Korea. When the time comes, they will work together to cause trouble for us, and some people will hope to negotiate with the other party. Solved? ”
"But we have solved most of these troubles in advance, so the difficult situation you assumed will not arise." He Xi reminded.
Yan Chujie nodded and said: "Yes, it is exactly what you said. The opponent does not have enough ability to control such a large plan, so he keeps exposing flaws in various places, and we have resolved the hidden dangers one by one. But the Executive Committee views The seriousness of these things mainly comes from our feedback, the Ministry of Security, the Military Intelligence Bureau, and relevant units in various places. It is the combination of the information sent back to Sanya by these departments that makes some people have problems that can be solved through negotiation. The illusion of the problem.”
Yan Chujie paused and said slowly: "And I think these illusions can be corrected through technical means."
When He Xi heard this, his mind suddenly became chaotic. Although Yan Chujie did not explain it clearly, he had already understood it and used technical means to correct the misunderstanding. This was to put it bluntly, to deceive the executive committee with false information and allow the use of military force. Means become the only option.
(End of chapter)