Chapter 3572
At the end of June 1658, Hangzhou.
After a few months, Shi Diwen finally returned to this familiar city. He returned from Japan this time specifically to attend the first half-year work summary meeting of the Executive Committee, and at the same time, he also wanted to report to his colleagues on the current status of the Japanese Civil War.
Shi Diwen asked his second son Shi Chengxin to temporarily stay in Kyushu, Japan. Firstly, he would supervise the war on his behalf to ensure that the Kyushu forces would not compromise and cease war with the shogunate. Secondly, Shi Chengxin could take this opportunity to brush up on his resume and evaluate his future promotion. It will definitely be of great benefit.
In addition, Shi Diwen also specially sent a message to his eldest son Shi Chengwu, asking him to return to Hangzhou from Nanjing. The father and son had not met for a long time, and Shi Diwen also wanted to confirm in person what kind of gains his eldest son had gained after serving as the garrison commander in Nanjing for a year.
Shi Diwen's itinerary to return to Hangzhou was not widely publicized, and even many subordinates did not know that he had quietly returned. At his current status, there is no need to prove his importance to the outside world by increasing his presence.
After dinner, Shi Diwen took a short rest and came to the study room to prepare for processing some government documents that had been accumulated during his time abroad.
In addition to two piles of documents more than a foot thick, there are also several newspapers published in recent days on the desk. Shi Diwen did not rush to start reviewing the official documents, but opened the newspaper first to see what recent news was worthy of attention.
While he is in Japan, there will inevitably be a relatively large time lag in obtaining domestic news. Although there are instant notifications of national events through telegrams, time-sensitive information platforms like newspapers are often delayed for several days when delivered to Japan, and the value of the information is greatly reduced.
Of course, what Shi Diwen is most concerned about is the domestic reports and repercussions of the Japanese Civil War, but perhaps because the war has been going on for several months, domestic attention to it has gradually faded, and there are not many related articles in newspapers.
It wasn't until he turned to the third page that he saw a large article that briefly summarized the recent situation of the Japanese Civil War, but there were basically not many details at all. The person who wrote the article probably compared public battle reports in China and came up with such a summary.
Shi Diwen could also understand this. After all, Haihan did not directly participate in this war, but sat on the mountain and watched the fight as a third party. There are no heroic deeds to write about in the newspaper's pen, and it cannot report in detail the inside story of Haihan's arsenal and shipyard making huge war profits, so it can only write briefings.
However, the decline in domestic attention will inevitably have an impact on the investment of resources required to maintain the war situation. Shi Diwen did not want this battle to be stopped by the Executive Committee on its own initiative due to issues such as tight supply of military supplies.
This is not his unfounded idea. Whether it is materials or production capacity, the amount that the country can provide to the outside world is limited. The Japanese civil war has entered a stalemate stage, and the Executive Committee cannot always pay close attention to this.
Once new demands arise elsewhere, it may cause the executive committee to change its existing attitude.
As for where domestic public opinion is focusing its attention today, you can get a glimpse of it from the hot articles in newspapers.
After Shi Diwen put down the newspaper, he ordered someone to call Ji Yuanqing, director of the regional military intelligence bureau.
After receiving the notice, Ji Yuanqing did not dare to neglect and immediately took a carriage to Shifu. On the way, he also secretly pondered the reason for the urgent summons. He thought that there were no major domestic events in the near future, and this summons was probably related to the current international situation.
Sure enough, after Shi Diwen saw him, he got straight to the point and got to the point: "I just read the new newspaper, and a lot of it was about the New World. If you have any specific news here, tell me. .”
Most of these articles in newspapers are written for ordinary people, and the information contained in them is mixed between true and false, and may not be accurate. Shi Diwen must find the most reliable source to understand the situation, and the function of the Military Intelligence Bureau lies here. All battle reports in the New World will be reported by the participating troops themselves. The Military Intelligence Bureau will also have its own channels to compile various battle reports. In some aspects, they will even be more comprehensive and detailed than those of the participating troops.
Although Ji Yuanqing was in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, with his status, he would definitely have access to these confidential battle reports, so Shi Diwen directly called him in for questioning.
Ji Yuanqing did not dare to hide it, and then told Shi Diwen roughly what he knew.
Shi Diwen, as a member of the executive committee, was certainly aware of the fact that the two regions, Xingdao and Luzon, were vying to explore the new continent in the south. However, he had been staying in Japan in recent months and did not have much time to pay attention to the affairs in the south. Unexpectedly, these two families had already carried out large-scale colonial operations.
There were numerous reports on this in the newspapers, because this matter is also quite worthy of speculation. First, it is the open competition between the two regions. Second, it is the development prospect of the unowned New World. Third, there is a new conflict between the Luzon Expeditionary Force and Spain. A round of war.
Any of these topics can revive readers' interest in reading newspapers who are tired of the Japanese Civil War.
In order to increase newspaper sales, the newspaper naturally shifted the focus of its recent reports to the New World in the South.
However, because the New World is too far away, there are not many primary sources of information in domestic newspapers at present, so these newspaper articles are mostly full of exaggerated words. Many of them are made up by writers out of thin air, which is far less reliable than the information provided by Ji Yuanqing.
When Shi Diwen learned that the Luzon region was at war with the Spaniards again, and the situation was still relatively stalemate, he secretly felt something was wrong.
If the Luzon Region's operations are blocked, it will inevitably request more military resources from the Executive Committee, and this request will definitely be met, because this is related to Haihan's development prospects in the South Pacific, and the Executive Committee will definitely do whatever it takes. The cost is to remove obstacles that stand in the way of progress.
No matter whether you are a Spaniard or an alien, if you dare to jump out and block the road, you must take it down.
However, if the Executive Committee decides to provide more military resources to the Luzon Region, it may inevitably affect the progress of the Tokai Region in delivering weapons and equipment to both parties in the Japanese Civil War, and thus affect its layout in Japan.
After listening to Ji Yuanqing's story, Shi Diwen was silent for a moment before asking: "What is the Ministry of National Defense's opinion on the war situation in Luzon?"
Ji Yuanqing responded: "What the Lords of the Ministry of National Defense mean is that it depends on the actual needs of the Luzon region. If reinforcements are needed, reinforcements will be sent from the Fujian area. I heard that Xu Yuzhuo from Fujian is already quietly working on this matter. , I want to get this job.”
Shi Diwen said noncommittally: "The Xu family wants to go out and earn military merits for a day or two. It's just that it's hard to wait for the right opportunity."
Ji Yuanqing was not sure what he meant and did not dare to continue, so he could only continue what he had said before: "If the Luzon Region does not want reinforcements and only needs armaments, then the Ministry of National Defense will probably agree and allocate supplies from arsenals everywhere. Priority is given to meeting the operational needs of the Luzon region.”
(End of chapter)