Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 167

Yamagata Aritomo instantly understood the relief behind those words. Since the mutiny in Wuhan, the city had been gushing forth with many brilliant talents. These previously unknown names suddenly illuminated China. Even Li Yuanhong, who seemed to have only average talent in the past, was one of the only generals from Wuhan whom the army had ever received. He handled the Zhang Xun Rebellion in Nanjing with ease.

Although Li Yuanhong had already distinguished himself under Zhang Zhidong, he still couldn't compare to the young generals in Wuhan. Fu Cixiang's ability to defend, Lan Tianwei's organizational skills, and Cai E's assault capabilities were talents that even the army found difficult to deal with. However, Lin Feng, who was above these young generals, was a combat force that the army couldn't assess.

Since the army considered China a primary target of its continental policy, it naturally conducted investigations and research into the capabilities of Chinese troops and generals. Even as far away as Yunnan, army officers were dispatched to assist the Qing army in training, essentially investigating local customs and assessing the Qing army's combat capabilities. Before the Wuhan Incident, the army almost unanimously believed that the only force posing a threat to the army was Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army, and that the Southern Army's combat strength was far inferior to that of the Northern Army.

Of course, the army only investigated the combat capabilities of existing troops and the abilities of senior officers. There was not much investigation of junior and middle-ranking officers. This is why, after the Wuhan Mutiny, the army suddenly found that almost all of the investigation reports on Wuhan were invalid, because the senior officers in the original Wuhan army had been dismissed, and only Li Yuanhong remained. Moreover, Li Yuanhong was mainly retained because of his experience in the navy. He was not a core figure in the Wuhan army.

The core of the Wuhan New Army was actually composed of junior officers, veterans, and workers who had joined the uprising. The army knew nothing about these people, but they overturned the army's assessment that the New Army was weaker than the Northern Army. Not only did the Northern Army fail to defeat this New Army, but even the Allied Powers suffered losses. In subsequent battles with the Russian Army, the New Army grew stronger and stronger. Even the army had to admit that, at least in defense, the New Army was at a similar level to itself.

However, the army did not believe that it could not defeat this new army. Even though Fu Cixiang, Lan Tianwei, and Cai E performed brilliantly in the war, the army also achieved outstanding results in cutting off the Trans-Siberian Railway and forcing Vladivostok to surrender quickly. The two sides then set off to fight a war of attrition. The army believed that it still had the advantage, as long as the new army did not retreat into the interior of China, because Japan's biggest weakness was that it could not fight a protracted war.

However, none of the army generals dared to claim that they could have achieved the same feats as the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Tibet. When reviewing these achievements, the Army General Staff believed that the British army could not possibly have lost unless the British commander was a traitor, otherwise it would have been impossible to send the troops into the encirclement of the Tibetan Expeditionary Force one by one.

Furthermore, the Tibetan Expeditionary Force couldn't have numbered only a few hundred men; judging from their achievements, it was the British who consistently fought with fewer troops. However, Yamagata Aritomo was well aware that while the Chinese Tibetan Expeditionary Force was indeed small in number, the only problem was its rapid expansion in Tibet and India. This was something the army couldn't accomplish. Could an army invade China and then train Chinese to fight against other Chinese? Judging from the number of attacks the army suffered at the hands of local populations in Manchuria, it was simply a pipe dream.

Therefore, the army generals on the front lines were worried that a conflict between Manchuria and China would give Wuhan an opportunity to integrate China. If Lin Feng, who had returned from India, were to lead all the Chinese troops against the army, could the army really win? Everyone was completely baffled by this man's military tactics, and they couldn't even understand his battle strategy. However, the British had already learned a painful lesson that Lin Feng's combat command ability was not a charade, but rather a genuine grasp of the winning formula. Just like Napoleon, the confident Allied forces were always defeated by Napoleon's unbelievable loopholes.

Terauchi Masatake's remark clearly indicated that this question had been troubling him for some time. Yamagata Aritomo couldn't blame him for this, as he himself didn't understand how Lin Xinyi had defeated the British in India. However, he was clear on one fact: both Lord Curzon and Viscount Kitchener were near-core figures in British politics and the military, and were expected to be leading figures in Britain for the next decade.

In other words, Lin Xinyi's opponents in India were not incompetent fools, but true British elites. Faced with such British elites, coupled with the resources that the British Empire could mobilize, even the Germans once considered the defeat of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to be an honor, because no one could seek to defeat Britain under such circumstances unless God himself protected the Chinese.

However, the war in India ultimately surprised the Germans and greatly boosted their confidence in challenging Britain. German newspapers even commented that while the Royal Navy was worthy of respect, the British army could only bully African natives. The reputation of the British Empire suffered another blow after the Boer War, further contributing to the Conservative Party's loss of power.

Even though public opinion in Japan echoed that of Europe and America, believing that the British army was indeed ineffective and that the Chinese were able to defeat the British in India not because the Chinese were too strong, but because the British were too weak, such arguments could only fool the lower-ranking citizens. The army's upper echelons remained clear-headed; even if the British army's combat strength was poor, their artillery was not to be underestimated.

Removing Lin Feng as an opponent indeed removes many unpredictable factors for the army. It would be strange not to feel pressure when fighting against a commander with such a brilliant record. After all, even fighting against the Russian army has led many army generals to write their wills, and the pressure that Lin Feng puts on the army is no less than the past reputation of the Russian army.

At this time, the admiration of famous generals by various countries did not diminish. Although the British suffered heavy losses in the Boer War, they still praised Viscount Kitchener. The Germans lauded Moltke the Elder. The French were still nostalgic for Emperor Napoleon. The Russians relished the defeat of Duke Kutuzov, who had defeated Napoleon. The Americans, on the other hand, praised Mahan, who had no real achievements on the battlefield.

In peacetime, these renowned generals served as a deterrent. Therefore, after the war, the navy lavishly promoted Togo Heihachiro, while the army brought Tamura Isozo, who had fallen in Vladivostok, to the forefront of the nation's attention. This was not only to seek public approval but also to serve as part of the country's strength and to intimidate neighboring countries.

However, among all the renowned Eastern generals who truly gained the recognition of the European powers, only Lin Feng truly stood out. The Russians believed that Japan had launched a surprise attack on them, so they scoffed at Japan's so-called naval and land generals, attributing the defeat solely to the incompetence and corruption of their own commanders, and refusing to acknowledge that Japan had defeated them through sheer strength.

The Russians acknowledged that Fu Cixiang and Cai E's performance in the war far surpassed that of their own generals, but the Germans and British disagreed. Lin Feng's achievements in Tibet and India, however, were unanimously recognized by the British, Germans, and French.

On the one hand, the disparity in strength between Lin Feng's expeditionary force and the British Indian government was undeniably vast; even British generals admitted that if the balance of power were reversed, the war would never have broken out. On the other hand, the discipline of the Chinese Expeditionary Force was so exceptional that it would put even the self-proclaimed civilized Europeans to shame. Compared to the civilian casualties inflicted by the British army in Tibet and South Africa, the Chinese Expeditionary Force's humanitarian treatment of British prisoners of war was so remarkable that even captured British officers and soldiers remarked that the Chinese seemed more like the army of a civilized nation.

The official and public praise for Lin Feng in Britain transformed the commander of the expeditionary force into a legendary general renowned throughout Europe. This European recognition naturally put immense pressure on the Japanese, who were eager to emulate Europe. For example, Terauchi remarked with regret, "How could someone like him go to the navy? Has the army lost its appeal to the people...?"

As Terauchi Masatake spoke, he glanced at Yamagata out of the corner of his eye and noticed a clear displeasure on Yamagata's face. He immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing. Yamagata had made great contributions to the army and had taken good care of his juniors from Choshu. However, because he valued generals from Choshu too much, there was a lot of disapproval of the Choshu faction in the army. In comparison, Saigo Tsugumichi was more low-key, so his reputation in the army was better than Yamagata's.

Of course, the factionalism among the Satsuma people within the navy was also criticized, but the navy was much smaller than the army, so the complaints were less frequent. A Kanto native like Hayashi Nobuyoshi would obviously not rise in the army, because Yamagata Aritomo would never trust such an outsider.

While Terauchi Masatake enjoyed the benefits brought by the Choshu clique, he actually disapproved of Yamagata's traditional mindset that placed too much emphasis on regionalism. The Satsuma clique was able to suppress discontent within the navy because the total number of navy personnel was only slightly over 40,000, equivalent to more than two divisions of the army. Therefore, the Satsuma people occupied core positions in the navy and did not feel a shortage of manpower. However, for the Choshu clique, the number of officers required for the establishment of 17 divisions far exceeded the upper limit of the talent that the Choshu clique could train. The Choshu clique also wanted to control all the senior officer positions. How could it not be hated?

Therefore, Terauchi Masatake and Katsura Taro shared the same idea: if the army wanted to continue expanding, breaking down the factionalism of the Choshu faction was inevitable. Talents from other regions needed to be treated equally for the Choshu faction to have a future in the army.

However, Yamagata's stubbornness lies in this: he simply does not understand that the times and the army are developing, and past experience is no longer applicable to the present. Just as he has always rejected party politics, he still insists on giving priority to Choshu people in the personnel matters of the army, and even bypassed Katsura Taro, directly promoting Tanaka Giichi as the next leader of the army.

Yamagata Aritomo's actions deepened the divide between the Choshu faction and non-Choshu factions within the army. Even key figures of the Choshu faction, such as Katsura Taro and Terauchi Masatake, became dissatisfied with Yamagata's refusal to relinquish control of the army. Terauchi Masatake's criticism of the army's inability to recruit talent clearly displeased Yamagata Aritomo.

Terauchi understood Yamagata's personality, so he quickly changed the subject, saying, "The Navy's proposal of two opposing camps at this time clearly shows that it does not have a good opinion of the old world order represented by Britain and France, and is trying to get the Empire to join the camp of the new world."

However, this would essentially overturn the continental policy, which was based on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. If the alliance were to break down, Japan would have to prioritize coastal defense, leaving it unable to provide any resources for the continental policy… In this light, Yamamoto Kaijō's actions at today's cabinet meeting weren't just disruptive, but rather preparations for tearing up the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. But what makes the navy capable of challenging the Royal Navy? Even if Hayashi Shin-yi were a true military genius, he couldn't possibly bridge the enormous power gap between Japan and Britain.

As expected, Terauchi's attention was diverted, and he frowned, looking quite troubled, and said, "Naval warfare and land warfare are different. No matter how excellent the tactics are, destroyers cannot defeat capital ships. Using torpedo night attacks is a tactic that will be guarded against once it's been used. However, I believe the Navy wouldn't release this plan without a reason. At least this plan has made His Majesty even less interested in the continental policy, which is the biggest problem the Army is facing now. From this point of view alone, the Navy's plan has already paid off."

Terauchi Masatake remained silent on this matter. Yamagata Aritomo, however, had a keen political sense. Although the Navy's plan did not include specific implementation steps, it had undoubtedly reignited the debate on the issue of coastal and land defense. While the Army would not abandon its continental policy, if it could not produce a theoretical document that was equivalent to the theory of two opposing worlds, then the continental policy would become the Army's arbitrary decision, which would inevitably provoke dissatisfaction and targeting from other parties.

Terauchi Masatake pondered for a long time before saying, "It's impossible for the navy to sail south without warships. So the navy's previous proposal to reduce its naval strength was probably a strategy of retreating to advance. The navy's proposal to reduce its naval strength was opposed by the people. Now that the navy is advocating to prioritize the construction of the Eight-Eight Fleet, it would seem that people are in the wrong if they still oppose it. Such a treacherous plan doesn't seem like what Minister Yamamoto wanted."

Yamagata Aritomo also agreed with Terauchi's point of view. Although Yamamoto Gonnohyōe had a bad temper, he was still straightforward and wouldn't set a trap for someone so suddenly. This can be seen from Yamamoto's reform of naval personnel. At that time, Yamamoto directly persuaded those old men to transfer to the reserves.

Terauchi then added, “Of course, I can’t think of a way to bridge the huge power gap between Japan and Britain, but that person may not be without a solution. So the budget proposal for the Eight-Eight Fleet that is hindering the navy is just the beginning. The important thing is that we need to figure out exactly how the navy plans to go south. We need more specific plans to find a countermeasure.”

Yamagata nodded, but then quickly shook his head and said, "The navy has protected Hayashi Shin'ichi very well. If it weren't for Ito submitting this report to His Majesty this time, I wouldn't have known that he had already returned to Japan. Getting close to him and extracting the specific plans for heading south is not something that can be done by just anyone."

After thinking for a moment, Terauchi suggested, "The matter in Russia is now largely settled. I suggest we bring Colonel Akashi Genjiro back and have him take charge of this matter. Colonel Akashi seems to have more experience in this kind of clandestine work."

After thinking for a long time, Yamagata finally nodded in agreement with Terauchi's suggestion. However, he then asked, "Finding out the specific plan for heading south is an urgent matter, but there is another important thing that needs to be done as soon as possible: finding someone to write an article refuting this. Who do you think would be suitable?"

Terauchi Masatake looked at the manuscript in front of him, hesitated for a long time, and then shook his head and said, "I don't think there is such a person in the army. Perhaps we can let Tamura give it a try. However, I think this document will be very difficult to refute. If we just try to refute it, it will only make people doubt the army's level even more. However, if we can distribute this article and attract the attention of the British, it may be able to restrain the navy's actions."

Yamagata Yachiji's assessment is fair. His Majesty's willingness to copy this article for himself clearly shows that he has been convinced by the theory of the two opposing worlds. Even if he himself finds the text very reasonable, it has at least greatly improved Japan's international environment.

Ever since the Black Ships incident forced Japan to open its doors, the Japanese viewed the new world outside with a sense of fear. Therefore, before the Second Opium War, the Japanese had hoped that the Qing Dynasty would rescue them and expel the foreigners from Asia. Even after defeating China in the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan did not feel safe; the "Prosperous Asia" theory still had a large following.

Simply put, after opening their doors to the world, the Japanese were exposed to Western colonialism and social Darwinism, which they believed to be the truth of national wealth, military strength, and social progress. However, faced with the reality that white people dominated the world, Japan hoped that the yellow race in Asia could unite to fight against the white race, while at the same time wanting to obtain resources from its neighbors to strengthen its own power.

The Japanese, who loudly proclaim their intention to "leave Asia and join Europe," actually distrust the world controlled by white imperial powers and feel lonely at heart. This leads to a contradictory foreign policy: they want to emulate Western colonialism and exploit their neighbors, yet, due to their distrust of white people, they also seek to unite with their Asian neighbors. Their continental policy is a product of this contradiction.

The reason the Navy's theory of two opposing worlds was taken seriously by His Majesty was that it relieved Japan of its international isolation and pointed out how to redivide the world using both old and new worldviews, ultimately allowing Japan to gain allies to confront the old world system. In this way, the ideologically contradictory continental policy came to an end.

Yamagata sighed and said, "Even if we can't refute it, we must at least make it compatible with the mainland policy. Otherwise, what will the army use to confront the navy in terms of defense policy?"

At this point, Terauchi was able to understand Yamagata's inner conflict. The two-world theory was not bad for Japan, but it was a real disaster for the army. They now had to choose between protecting the nation and the army.

Chapter 579

In mid-March, Lin Xinyi and a group of officers received promotion orders. With all the formal members of the cultural class now in place, Lin Xinyi convened a meeting to formally establish the cultural class. The purpose was twofold: first, to allow the members to get to know each other, and second, to announce the work direction of the cultural class.

All other sections of the Naval General Staff required guidance from the Minister. The various sections of the Naval General Staff had been transformed into departments. Although this was merely a name change, the Naval General Staff had finally achieved its ideal of being on par with the Ministry of the Navy, becoming an institution half a level above other central ministries. The transformation from sections to departments signified that the Naval General Staff was no longer a ministerial-level agency, but rather a leading ministerial-level agency.

The Fourth Division was originally responsible for communications affairs. It ranked last among the various departments of the Naval General Staff. Nominally, the department's job was to be responsible for the overall communications planning and design of the navy. However, in reality, communications units were managed by the Ministry of the Navy. The communications plan was simply to provide communications support plans according to the requirements of the First Squad. Sometimes, the First Squad would even directly issue instructions to the Fourth Squad, requiring them to supplement the communications plan according to the operational plan. There was no room for the Fourth Squad to make any changes. But once a problem occurred, the Fourth Squad had to take responsibility for the untimely communications.

Therefore, this newly established department was essentially a retirement home within the Naval General Staff. Everyone who came here was either just getting by or waiting to retire, and no one expected to achieve anything significant. However, after Lin Xinyi returned, he first established a cultural studies department under the Fourth Division, and then seized control of the Radio Research Institute from the Navy Ministry. The Communications Department was renamed the Communications Technology Department, and the Fourth Division finally saw a glimmer of hope for advancement.

However, when it was a nursing home, few people wanted to come to the fourth department. But now, the communications technology class and cultural class in the fourth department look very promising, and are obviously places where you can achieve good results. As a result, the department head and the head of the communications technology class have become coveted positions.

However, no one would challenge Lin Xinyi for control of the cultural studies department. On the one hand, Lin Xinyi had single-handedly changed the status of the fourth department, and it could be said that the future development of the fourth department was closely related to him, so naturally no one wanted to offend him. On the other hand, no one really knew what the cultural studies department should do, and only Lin Xinyi could make this new department work in a new way, so why should everyone else humiliate themselves?

The backgrounds of the nine staff members in the cultural studies department are also interesting. Captain Hirotoku Mizuno and Captain Gengo Hyakutake were Hayashi Nobuyoshi's seniors, but of the remaining seven, only Lieutenant Teijiro Toyoda was a graduate of the 33rd Marine Corps class; the other six were either from the 32nd Marine Corps class or the 7st Marine Corps School class. This personnel arrangement reveals that the Naval General Staff did not take any measures to restrain the cultural studies department, and Hayashi Nobuyoshi held absolute control within it.

Captain Hirotoku Mizuno was the oldest member of the cultural studies department, and the only one who had never met Shinji Hayashi before. Captain Gengo Hyakutake, on the other hand, had met Hayashi during his time at the school. Seeing that there were only two lieutenants in the cultural studies department, Toyoda Teijiro from the 33rd class and Tsuda Shizue from the 32nd class, Hirotoku Mizuno felt a heavy burden of pressure.

However, apart from Hyakutake Gengo, whose rank of captain was somewhat questionable, the other captains all had solid achievements to back them up. The three from the first Marine Corps unit are a prime example; they went to India with Hayashi Shin-yi, and the rank of captain was already a low rank. In fact, someone had spoken with these three, saying that if they were willing to leave the General Staff Headquarters, they could be granted the rank of major, while staying would only grant them the rank of captain.

Kaoru Matsushita and Tsunetsu Inoue were key figures in seminars and received awards during their time at the Marine Academy, so their appointment as lieutenants was not undeserved. In fact, both were members of the first selection group in the 32nd class, and they would have had better prospects if they had stayed in the fleet. However, Kaoru Matsushita disliked life on board, and Tsunetsu Inoue had difficulty getting along with his colleagues, so both of them ultimately chose to attend the cultural studies class.

Having reviewed the resumes of these instructors, Hirotoku Mizuno knew that even though he was Hayashi Nobuyoshi's senior, he couldn't possibly challenge the latter's authority in the cultural studies department. Of course, he didn't even have that idea. After all, he was able to attend the cultural studies department because of the friendship between Akiyama Saneyuki and Hayashi Nobuyoshi, so he certainly wouldn't try to compete with the other party for any power. However, Hyakutake Gengo might be a possibility, since Hyakutake was not only a senior but also had a powerful background.

However, after the meeting, Hirotoku Mizuno felt that Gengo Hyakutake would be unable to compete with Shinji Hayashi for the power over the cultural studies curriculum. Before the meeting, Shinji Hayashi brought a scroll, saying it would serve as a compass for the future after the establishment of the cultural studies curriculum, but when he opened the scroll, everyone found that it was just a blank sheet of paper.

Just as everyone was wondering if Lin Xinyi had picked up the wrong scroll, he held up the blank scroll and said to them, "This is the current state of academic subjects—a blank sheet of paper. The future of academic subjects depends on us filling in the content together. So everyone's imagination and execution will determine whether the future of academic subjects will be a masterpiece or just a piece of waste paper."

After everyone was captivated by Lin Xinyi's opening remarks, Lin Xinyi put down the scroll in his hand and continued, "If I were to emphasize discipline and obedience to you today, then the navy would just be another bureaucratic institution that obeys orders. Such institutions are everywhere in the navy. I don't think such institutions are of any benefit to the navy. After all, culture is quite mysterious when it comes to improving the combat effectiveness of the army. Rather than trying to inspire the courage of soldiers through culture, it would be better to honestly purchase more warships and train them in combat and ship handling skills."

Therefore, while academic subjects have a responsibility to boost morale, this is not their entire task. Now, I would like to invite everyone to share their opinions and discuss what other tasks academic subjects must be performed, and what tasks they can perform…”

Lieutenant Commander Hirotoku Mizuno quickly noticed that, apart from himself and Lieutenant Commander Gengo Hyakutake, everyone else had soon entered into a discussion. Clearly, this meeting format was familiar to them, but for the two of them, this kind of meeting without a specific topic was somewhat unsettling. The Navy wasn't lacking in meetings where free discussion was allowed, but such free discussion only occurred after the superiors had determined the topic, rather than the entire meeting being within the scope of the discussion.

Generally speaking, the democratic atmosphere within the navy was much stronger than that within the army. However, this strength was only relative to the army. In the early Meiji period, when the modern army and navy were being established, the democratic atmosphere within the military was quite strong. After all, everyone was completely ignorant about what constituted a modern army and navy, so they could only brainstorm ideas. It was through these classless discussions that Japan built a modern army that was distinct from that of the feudal era.

However, as the army turned to the German military system and the Satsuma Rebellion led to the suppression of dissident ideas within the military, the army and navy began to become conservative and class-oriented. Subordinates had to unconditionally obey the unreasonable actions of their superiors and were not allowed to resist, otherwise they would be punished by military law.

Both Mizuno Hirotoku and Hyakutake Gengo grew up under this distorted military education. Of course, the latter suffered far less harassment from his superiors than the former. After all, bullying in the military depends on one's background. For those high-ranking members of the imperial family and the children of military personnel, they only received meticulous care, not this kind of torture-like education of obedience. Because the care given to members of the imperial family was too thorough, Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu voluntarily withdrew from school and went to study in Germany.

Therefore, both Hirotoku Mizuno and Gengo Hyakutake felt isolated from the circle. Although Shinji Hayashi did not treat them differently in the meeting, they found that their seniority was useless in such free discussions. Only those who expressed their opinions and received the majority's approval could gain the dominant power in the meeting, not those who were senior or junior.

Generally speaking, although Hayashi Shin-yi has taken on the position of head of the cultural studies department, Mizuno Hirotoku and Hyakutake Gengo, as senior members of the department, would naturally take on the daily work, which is one of the reasons why they were assigned here. However, this meeting broke this unspoken rule. During the discussion, everyone naturally divided the work of the cultural studies department into three parts: internal publicity, external publicity, and general affairs.

Lin Xinyi then assigned Mizuno Hirotoku, Hyakutake Gengo, and Lieutenant Inoue Tsunomatsu to internal propaganda work, since this was considered the main task of the cultural department by the upper echelons of the navy. The other six were assigned to the external propaganda group and the general affairs group, and the cultural department was roughly divided into three working groups.

Hirotoku Mizuno realized that he and Hyakutake had actually lost their positions as the second and third under Nobuyoshi Hayashi. Now everyone in the department was obviously equal, with no obvious superior-subordinate relationship. Everyone had their own responsibilities, and for controversial matters, the principle of majority rule was adopted.

Although this work allocation method diminished his and Hyakutake's seniority advantage, Mizuno remained silent and did not object to Hayashi Shin'ichi. Hayashi Shin'ichi's ability to assign tasks to everyone was already surprising. Before joining the cultural studies department, he had never imagined there would be so much work to do. But now, after this discussion, Mizuno realized that the work in the cultural studies department was even more tedious than that in the operations department. He had no idea where to begin, so naturally, he had nothing to argue about.

Hyakutake Gengo's thoughts were probably similar to Mizuno's. He didn't express any dissatisfaction with the new job arrangement. So, Hayashi Shinji began to talk about his work ideas for the nascent cultural courses.

"Our main tasks at present are as follows: First, to publicize the significance of industrialization and why the Navy should support it; second, to properly handle the relationship between the Navy and external enterprises, especially ensuring that the financial accounts are clear. The civilian newspapers currently under the control of the Cultural Affairs Department and the series of media projects that are being planned will all be placed under the name of the soon-to-be-established Oriental Culture and Arts Foundation. If the accounts are not properly settled, the work we have done before will become a stain on the Navy's reputation."

The third task was to prepare for a large-scale survey. The purpose of this survey was twofold: first, to provide data and reference for the design of Japan's industrialization path; and second, to investigate the morale of officers and soldiers within the navy, to find out how many people wanted to stay in the navy and why, and how many people wanted to be demobilized and why.

Our main tasks at present are the above three points, and the three groups of internal publicity, external publicity, and general affairs must work closely together to accomplish them…

To be fair, the formal establishment meeting of the Cultural Studies Department went quite well. At least Vice Minister Togo was satisfied with the meeting minutes submitted by Hayashi Shin-yi. Of course, the main tasks of the Cultural Studies Department were not limited to these three items. At least Hayashi Shin-yi himself was not making the public opinion work he was currently in charge of public relations public to the department members.

At a cabinet meeting, Yamamoto Kaisho challenged the plan to nationalize private railways. Seiyukai quickly launched a counterattack afterward, accusing the military of arbitrarily interfering in government work and acting like a feudal lord.

However, soon a tabloid leaning towards the army published a report revealing the plan to nationalize private railways. The report claimed: "Since the completion of the Keihin Railway in 1872, Japan has built more than 7000 kilometers of railways in 30 years. It can be said that the railway network around the Japanese mainland has been basically completed, providing great convenience for the people's travel."

However, when private individuals built railways, they were solely focused on economic interests, resulting in many railway lines being poorly designed and of low quality. Thirty years later, many railway lines are either operating at a loss or in poor condition. Worst of all, in order to reduce costs, the railways were designed with narrow gauge.

In the early Meiji period, when the economy was still underdeveloped, narrow-gauge railways did indeed meet the needs of the people, since there weren't many people and goods that needed to be transported by rail across Japan at that time. However, after 40 years of Meiji Restoration, Japan's national strength was rapidly increasing, and the transportation capacity of the main railway lines was no longer sufficient. Private railway companies, however, were unwilling to invest heavily in upgrading these old railways and wanted to sell them to the state.

Citizens, please think about this: what will the government do next after acquiring these old railways? Won't it invest huge sums in renovation? Isn't this just spending a fortune to buy a pile of scrap metal? If the government truly cares about the people's travel and the country's future, then it shouldn't be buying this scrap metal, but rather building brand-new standard-gauge railways alongside these old tracks…”

The army accused the private railway nationalization plan of being a way for political parties to transfer benefits to tycoons. The tabloids controlled by the tycoons naturally retaliated by bringing up the army's reluctance to withdraw troops from Manchuria and its desire to increase the number of divisions to 25. They argued that the army's actions were intended to drag the country into a war with no end in sight, from which the people would not benefit at all.

Right-wing elements who supported the war immediately countered the anti-war tabloids, arguing that Japan was a nation built by the military in a series of foreign wars. They questioned how Japan could have received hundreds of millions of taels of silver in reparations from the Qing Dynasty without the military's victory in the Sino-Japanese War, and how Japan could have landed on the Korean Peninsula.

In this war, Japan has paid the price of tens of thousands of lives and more than a billion yen. Naturally, it should receive a greater return than in the Sino-Japanese War. If China and Russia do not acknowledge this, then the war must continue. At this point, proposing peace would be a betrayal of the Emperor, the Japanese people, and the soldiers who sacrificed their lives on the battlefield.

During the debate, some even argued that Japan isn't short of money for war, but rather that the money has been pocketed by conglomerates. Japan is the Emperor's country, and everyone is his subject; why should a portion of the subjects possess the majority of the wealth, while the majority struggle to even afford basic necessities? Is this permitted by the Emperor? All land and factories should be confiscated in the Emperor's name, the land redistributed to the people, and the factories nationalized to serve the war effort…

The article was quickly banned by the government, but its author was remembered by many. Many people thought that what this man named Kita Terujiro said made a lot of sense, and as a result, his previously banned book "On the National System and Pure Socialism" was also circulated and copied in private.

It should be said that when newspapers supporting the military and those controlled by conglomerates attacked each other at the beginning, the upper echelons of the army were half-hearted. On the one hand, they felt that attacking political parties was not a bad thing; on the other hand, they did not think it was a big deal. After all, the people could not overthrow the military and the party at the same time and then form their own government, could they?

However, as some uninformed right-wingers and party members personally joined the debate, the media battle gradually spiraled out of control, turning into a direct confrontation between the Army and the Seiyukai. While the Navy and the Constitutional Party were also affected by the media frenzy, both sides exercised considerable restraint.

In mid-April, Hara Takashi, in an effort to quell public discontent over the Seiyukai's plan to nationalize private railways, announced his resignation as Minister of Home Affairs, effectively ending the nationalization plan. A week later, Foreign Minister Kato Takaaki also announced his resignation. Kato's resignation stemmed from a diplomatic impasse in Japan; he could neither demand compensation from China nor change his stance to demand the unconditional withdrawal of the army. He could only feign illness and resign, leaving the Saionji Cabinet teetering on the brink of collapse.

Chapter 580

“It’s time to deliver the final blow.” When Hara Takashi announced his resignation, Hayashi Shin-yi said this to everyone in the conference room of the Toyo Keizai Shimbun.

Before its name change, the Toyo Keizai Shimbun was called Mancho-ho. Through a series of mergers, the Ministry of the Navy eventually merged more than ten newspapers, including Mancho-ho, into a newspaper group. Then, it integrated resources to form a total of four newspapers: one main publication, two subsidiary publications, and one periodical.

Of course, Wanchaobao was the largest of the dozen or so newspapers. The combined sales of the other tabloids were less than a third of Wanchaobao's. After all, some tabloids were practically private companies, with daily sales of only a hundred copies.

The reason why Tokyo's newspaper industry was so prosperous at this time was partly because Tokyo was home to the country's major universities, and the educational level in the Tokyo area was much higher than in other places. In addition, the children of Edo loved to listen to all kinds of gossip, so newspaper sales were much higher than in other regions. Osaka's economy was stronger than Tokyo's, but its newspaper sales were far lower than Tokyo's because Osaka residents only cared about news that made money and were not interested in other news.

On the other hand, Tokyo, which lags behind Osaka in industry, is stronger in printing and papermaking. This is a tradition left over from the Edo period. Therefore, printing newspapers in Tokyo is much cheaper than in other places. As long as the number of newspapers in circulation reaches a certain level, printing newspapers is no different from printing banknotes. Therefore, people can't help but devote themselves to this industry that can make them famous and rich quickly.

Due to intense competition in the newspaper industry, tabloids in the Meiji era were quite daring in their coverage of political news, sensational crimes, and erotic stories that were of interest to citizens. This explains why, although many tabloids published all sorts of vulgar stories, they were almost all radical on political issues, because non-radical political commentary simply went unnoticed.

Lin Xinyi's integration of tabloid resources was not for profit, but to try to control a tool of public opinion. Therefore, he naturally would not advocate radicalism or publish full-page pornographic stories or celebrity scandals. He needed the newspapers to show a certain degree of progressiveness, but they could not readily call for radical slogans such as overthrowing the government or the emperor.

This approach to running the newspaper was quite unpalatable to Kuroiwa and others, but they approved of Uchimura Kenzo, Kinoshita Naoe, Ishikawa Sanshiro, and others who had left the People's News Agency. After the People's News Agency was ordered to close by the government, these socialists from well-off families showed weakness in their confrontation with the government. They did not want to be imprisoned like Kotoku Shusui and lose their reputation and social status.

From one perspective, the severe crackdown on the People's News Agency by the government resulted in these individuals further inclining towards Christian humanism and distancing themselves from socialist theories that were more relevant to contemporary issues. In other words, they shifted their focus from revolution to doctrines of social reform and progress. The progressive path set by Hayashi Shin-yi for the Toyo Keizai Shimbun was naturally very popular among them.

At this moment, Lin Xinyi said he would give them the final blow. Everyone in the meeting room knew that "they" referred to the Political Friends Association, which was pushing for the nationalization of private railways, and the military, which advocated for military expansion. In the past, although they opposed the chaebols and clans, their opposition was actually quite empty, because they could not propose a path to promote social progress. They could only criticize the government's actions from a humanitarian perspective, that is, they only criticized without doing anything.

However, after Hayashi Shin-yi proposed the path of Japanese industrialization, which aimed to promote social progress through the development of productive forces, these progressives finally found a way forward. Under Hayashi Shin-yi's leadership, they successfully provoked a public opinion confrontation between the military and the Democratic Party, causing a breakdown in the collusion between the feudal lords and the financial cliques.

Therefore, upon hearing Lin Hsin-yi's final blow, everyone became serious, wanting to know what to do next to ensure the final victory of progressivism. Lin Hsin-yi confidently stated, "The final blow is, of course, to let the people voice their opinions, to conduct a survey, to let those high-ranking officials know how dissatisfied the people are with them, thereby making them fear public opinion."

Abe Isoo immediately pressed, "A questionnaire survey? How do we do that?"

Lin Xinyi said, "Design a questionnaire and then invite passersby to answer it on the street. Hmm, I have already had some small gifts prepared. As long as you complete a questionnaire, you can get a gift. The target audience for the questionnaire is set at 30,000 to 50,000 people. With such a large population, it should be quite representative of the public's opinion."

Someone exclaimed in surprise, "Thirty to fifty thousand questionnaires, how many gifts would that require? And we don't have that many people to complete them, do we?"

Lin Xinyi said, "We can ask college students for help. This is a good social experience. We only need to pay for some meals and daily wages. For those college students who perform well, we can also keep them as talent reserves and give them priority in future recruitment by the newspaper."

As for the gifts, there's no need to worry about that. We can cover that with the advertising budget. I've already had someone handle the gift issue, so you don't need to worry about that. The key is to design the questionnaire well.

I have already thought of three questions. Please add them in a similar manner. It would be best to limit the number of questions to between 10 and 15, and set them as multiple choice or no-answer questions.

The first question is: Do you support government funding for the army to continue the war? The second question is: Do you support using taxpayers' money to buy up dilapidated railways controlled by conglomerates? The third question is: Do you support funding for the navy to defend the country? These three questions cannot be rearranged…”

Setting up the question in this way was clearly intended to provoke public opposition to the Army and Seiyukai. Even progressives who were dissatisfied with the military and Seiyukai felt it was going too far. Therefore, Abe spoke on behalf of everyone, saying, "With this kind of question, the Army and Seiyukai probably won't accept the survey results, right? Besides, we don't agree with allocating funds to the Navy to build a fleet."

After glancing at everyone, Lin Xinyi replied seriously, "That's why we don't publish the questions in the newspaper, but instead ask passersby individually through questionnaires. We only publish the survey results, not the questions and answers."

The Army and the Political Friends Association raising objections will only make the people think that this is another trampling on the will of the people. Although they often ignored the opinions of the people in the past, at that time the people lacked a channel to express their own voices, so they could only silently endure it. But now they will regard supporting us as their own will to resist the Army and the Political Friends Association. At this point, the question of how it was set up is no longer important. What is important is that the confrontation between the people and the Army and the Political Friends Association has been formed.

We certainly do not support allocating funds to the navy to build a large fleet. The people have simply chosen the least bad option under our guidance. If the navy truly believes it has the support of the people, it will face hostility from the army, the political party, and the people, which would create an opportunity for change within the navy.

Therefore, the best option for the Navy is to leverage public support to negotiate with the Army and the Seiyukai (Political Friends Association) on the condition of developing heavy industry that benefits the Navy's future. Our support would be for increased investment in heavy industry. Although our goals for developing heavy industry differ from the Navy's, we could still work together on this path of industrialization for a while. At least compared to the Army and the zaibatsu (financial conglomerates), the Navy still possesses a certain degree of progressiveness…”

Lin Hsin-yi had some things he didn't say. The process of conducting a questionnaire survey is actually the shaping of national consciousness and the initial organization of groups. By continuously strengthening this survey method, a social consciousness group with the same values ​​can eventually be shaped. This is also a basic template used by American capital to differentiate different social classes.

Ultimately, Kenzo Uchimura, Naoe Kinoshita, Sanshiro Ishikawa, and others agreed with Shin-Yi Hayashi's proposed questionnaire survey method. Having resolved the issue of the social progressivist line, this difference in specific working methods became easier to resolve. In the past, the differences between socialists who advocated humanitarianism and socialists who advocated violent revolution could only be addressed through avoidance; negotiation was impossible. If these differences were brought up for discussion, even the smallest disagreement would eventually escalate to the point of tearing apart their cooperation.

However, here, Lin Xinyi first planned the general route and discussed the solution of the problem in the direction of the general route. Basically, there is only the confrontation between individuals and groups, and there will be no confrontation between two groups, because everyone agrees with the general route. It is impossible for someone to betray the general route that the group has already determined because of personal relationships. Such a person cannot stay in this idealist group.

Although this progressive group is relatively new, most people have already begun to identify with it and have forgotten the smaller group that was united by humanitarianism. The connection between Lin Hsin-yi and these Christian socialists has also begun to solidify; their shared political ideals have ensured that a falling out is unlikely in the short term.

This was an excellent start for Lin Xinyi and the Naval General Staff's Cultural Section, which he led. Although people like Hei Yan Ruixiang showed affinity for the Navy, they were only affinity for the power the Navy represented. In other words, they did not recognize Lin Xinyi as a person. If one day Lin Xinyi no longer represented the Navy, then they would no longer be so obsequious to him.

However, people like Isoo Abe and Kenzo Uchimura are different. Their connection with Nobuyoshi Hayashi stems from their political ideals. As long as Hayashi's political ideals don't conflict with theirs, their close ties will remain unbroken. Even if Hayashi no longer represents the Navy, he can still seek help from Isoo Abe and others.

It was precisely because of the support of this group of influential figures in the cultural sphere that Hsin-Yi Hayashi had the confidence to launch a propaganda war against the Army and the Seiyukai, and to prepare for a broad social survey to better understand how contemporary Japanese society operates. For Hayashi now, he feels that his understanding of the true state of contemporary Japanese society is insufficient. Whether promoting urbanization, developing industry, or implementing land reform, it is essential to have access to various data on the true state of society.