Japan is a country that is difficult to speculate with common sense, and so is this nation. Just as when they launched the Sino-Japanese War of 1898 and the Russo-Japanese War, people felt it was incredible. If Japan launched a large-scale war against China here, it would definitely also make people wonder.

I can't figure it out.

From Japan's perspective, they must have a thousand reasons to go to war, and they have also seized a very rare God-given opportunity. A strong sense of national and national crisis is forcing them to continue to take desperate risks.

At the same time, they also have an absolutely certain trump card, which is the navy of the Empire of Japan.

If the Japanese navy is a crocodile, then the Chinese navy is not even a turtle. This means that even if the Japanese army is defeated again, China without a navy will still be unable to do anything to them, because this country is an island country and cannot be defeated.

A navy that defeats them can never truly defeat them.

…

After convening a regular joint military meeting between the General Staff of the Central Army and the Ministry of War, Song Biao felt heavy. He wished he could use nuclear warheads to raze Japan to the ground right now. Fortunately, he still had enough cards in his hand to play.

As for sending out a pair of jokers directly.

After the regular meeting, Song Biao asked everyone else to go back and continue to actively prepare for the war, while he thought silently in the office for a while, and then made a phone call to Zhang Kangren, Minister of Finance of the Interim Cabinet Government, and asked Zhang Kangren

Come over as quickly as possible.

After hearing the new emperor's edict, Zhang Kangren wished he had four legs and eight hands. He mounted his horse and ran all the way from the Ministry of Finance. He was still breathing heavily when he arrived at the General Office.

After a little tidying up, Zhang Kangren, accompanied by another first-class attaché, Jiang Zuobin, hurriedly entered the general office to meet Song Biao.

When he saw Song Biao, he bowed respectfully on the red carpet and said, "Your Majesty!"

Nowadays, in the new emperor's office, no one is qualified to sit down. No matter who comes in to report something, they have to stand and speak. Anyway, if everyone is not asked to kneel down, it is a small gift to you.

equal dignity.

Song Biao was sorting out various military intelligence in his hands. Hearing Zhang Kangren's voice, he said: "Sit down. I have a few things to ask you."

Zhang Kangren's heart skipped a beat, and he felt that Song Biao probably had something important to ask him to handle, and maybe it was a difficult matter. As the Minister of Finance, he had lived a life like a pig or a dog in the past six months.

I was busy from morning to night every day and was under great pressure, so I had many gray hairs.

The guards brought a very simple mahogany chair for Zhang Kangren and asked him to sit down. It was only two steps away from Song Biao's desk, with three steps in between.

When Zhang Kangren sat over, Song Biao compiled all the information in his hand, put it aside, and asked Zhang Kangren: "How are things going with Zhongyuan?"

Zhang Kangren hurriedly replied: "Report to your Majesty. Everything has been arranged very smoothly. Currently, 24 million Chinese silver dollars have been minted, and the total issuance of Chinese yuan notes has reached a scale of 60 million yuan. Although we had previously entered the customs

It has been secretly planned for a long time, but after all, it is starting from scratch, and the central government's fiscal expenditures are still mainly based on votes at the current stage. It is expected that starting from next year, this situation will be greatly alleviated, and the central bank will generally be able to officially operate.

"

Song Biao nodded slightly. If there was no war with Japan, such work progress would still be worthy of commendation.

After the founding of the empire, Song Biao did not continue to follow the financial policies of the three eastern provinces. Instead, he established the Central Imperial Bank as the central bank of China, which issued Chinese silver dollars at the same rate as the Qing Dynasty silver dollar and Guandong silver dollar. One silver dollar was exchanged for one hundred new coins.

Copper coins, old-style copper coins issued by various provinces are required to be redeemed within two years.

Previously, the copper yuan issued by the provinces was still a copper-standard currency, and only one machine-printed copper yuan was exchanged for 10 cents. Although the provinces clearly stipulated that one hundred copper yuan could be exchanged for one Qing silver yuan, but this was only the official price, and in fact there was no exchange rate at all.

A yamen, bank, bank operates in this way. Due to the excessive issuance of copper yuan in various provinces, people basically need 300 copper yuan to exchange for one silver yuan. This is also the main reason for the skyrocketing prices in various places.

The scale of the copper coins spam in various provinces was too large, and the Central Imperial Bank could not admit this old account, so the copper coins continued to be converted into the category of old copper coins. The private sector set prices according to the market, and the newly printed copper coins were made of brass.

, to make a distinction.

Monetary policy is like this, it is always beneficial to the government.

The Central Imperial Bank purchased a large amount of old copper coins and copper rounds, purchased zinc in the international market, minted new copper rounds, and issued large quantities of copper rounds and copper round bonds within a range that could maintain exchangeability.

Before Britain and Russia handed over China's customs duties at the end of the year, the imperial fiscal expenditures were currently met by coined currency. The financial foundation left by the Qing government was pitifully small, and the property forcibly confiscated from the Manchu government and Manchu dignitaries was

The total amount is only 20 million taels of silver, which is not enough.

Huge military spending is a very serious problem.

If we continue to go to war with Japan, once the scale expands, we will definitely not be able to sustain it without three to four hundred million taels of silver. After all, modern warfare is a money-burning military. The Northeast New Army has installed a large number of machine guns and artillery, and on the surface it has powerful firepower.

The fighting power is fierce, but the speed of burning money every minute is also more powerful.

If the new empire created by Song Biao were to go to war with Japan in the year of 1911, the military expenditures of this War of 1911 would far exceed that of the Sino-Japanese War of 1891-88 during the Qing Dynasty. The Japanese government must have also calculated this, and Song Biao's new empire would

At that time, effective comprehensive rule had not yet been established in China, and the source of central finance was an extremely painful problem.

Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, Song Biao happened to have such a military expenditure.

After Zhang Kangren briefly reported the situation at the Imperial Bank, Song Biao thought for a moment in silence, and then asked Zhang Kangren: "So, what about the situation at the Far East Bank?"

Zhang Kangren thought for a while and replied in a low voice: "It's obviously much easier for the Far East Bank. At present, the main source of the central finance is borrowing directly from the Far East Bank. As far as inventory is concerned, the Far East Bank still holds

Over £70 million in foreign exchange

It can be exchanged for gold in the international market at any time and used to pay for the issuance of gold yuan notes. A few days ago, I just asked Zhang Bishi that Nanyang Bank currently has 14 million pounds in reserves. If the situation is urgent, he is willing to lend it.

To the Reichsbank."

Song Biao took a box of Shengjing brand military iron cigarettes from the table, took out a straight black pipe with a brass holder and lit it. After thinking about it for a moment, he and Zhang Kangren ordered: "You give it to Rong Rong.

Kui made a phone call and asked him to transfer all remaining shares of Pemex

Transfer. As long as the price is right and you pay immediately, it doesn't matter who you sell it to. In addition, you can also contact Mr. Corns. Just say that I want him to help me sell the national debt of the empire. I need at least 10 million pounds of long-term debt. OK.

Use coal taxes from the three eastern provinces as collateral."

Zhang Kangren nodded solemnly and said: "Wei Chen understands, then Wei Chen will handle the matter now."

Song Biao nodded slightly and signaled Jiang Zuobin to send Zhang Kangren out of the office. He wrote a telegram and asked the Secretariat to send it to Zhang Bishi, asking Zhang Bishi to go to Nanyang to prepare. If China and Japan start war again, Chinese merchants in Nanyang must do so.

China stepped up its efforts to raise donations and sell war bonds.

The more military expenditures are, the better. Never be afraid of too much, just be afraid of not having enough.

The central finance is indeed relatively difficult now. First, the taxes of various provinces have been reduced or reduced this year, and exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes have been cancelled. Second, both the central and local governments are still in a transitional stage, and comprehensive financial work has not yet begun. Third, the empire has decided to adopt new measures.

The tax sharing system, and Ouyang Xi has not determined the specific tax sharing ratio with each province. On this basis, the finance of the three northeastern provinces, the largest tax source areas, has not directly transferred funds to the central government. Now it is temporarily adopted by the Central Ministry of Finance and the Finance Department of the three northeastern provinces.

Borrowing method.

Song Biao actually has another amount of money in his hand, which is the silver assets recovered by the Secret Service during the investigation of rubber stock fraudsters. A total of 18.33 million taels of silver have been recovered so far, because it is a gangster recovery method.

, the fraudsters were basically assassinated, and there was no way to formally sue for compensation. Even after the compensation was settled, it could not be included in the central finance. Song Biao simply kept the money in the Secret Service as special secret funds for espionage work.

The Japanese government believes that Song Biao's military expenditure must be a big problem. In fact, Song Biao does not have many big problems. If it is like the Russo-Japanese War, and the military expenditures of both sides are more than 200 million pounds, then it will really give Song Biao

Biao brings a lot of trouble.

There are actually many territorial disputes between North Korea and Northeast China. The biggest problem is the issue of Jiandao that North Korea has raised unnecessarily. Whether it was during the Japanese occupation or before the Japanese occupation, the Kingdom of Korea has always been concerned about the issue of stealing territory from China.

It is very bold and completely lacks the respect for the suzerain and major powers.

In other words, China has not received the respect it deserves since its inception. Even small countries like North Korea do not take China seriously.

Now with Japan's support and even under Japan's control, while the main force of the Northeast Army is moving south, North Korea has raised various issues of territorial disputes to be resolved. China's interim cabinet government has taken measures to delay this.

As for the delaying strategy, there is no rush to negotiate with North Korea.

In the past few years, due to the lack of control over the northern part of North Korea, Japan organized a military force called the "Rebel Army" in North Korea. On the surface, it was a patriotic armed force formed spontaneously by the North Korean people. In fact, it was Japan's military force in North Korea.

Great support for a masterpiece.

Even with such an armed force, due to its limited scale, Japan has never easily challenged the military authority of the Northeast Army in the past few years. It was not until September 1910 that, with the support of Japan, the Korean rebels began to madly provoke Dandong and Hunjiang.

, Yanji's three major military reclamation bureaus, the disputed territories between the two sides have drastically expanded to more than a dozen places.

In addition to the two issues of Changbai Mountain and Jiandao that North Korea has been constantly raising, more than ten river islands on the Yalu River have also become disputed territories. The current problem is that with the stroke of a pen in the hand of the leader of the North Korean rebel army, General Ri Byung-wu, this place

It became the territory of the Korean Empire, and it was the Korean rebels who did not hesitate to sacrifice all the national dignity and interests they wanted to fight for.

Even during the Revolution of 1911, North Korea had never been so crazy. The reason for such madness at this time was entirely due to the hysteria and madness of the Japanese army, and there was also a reason for Japan's madness. Song Biao could understand this very well. If he was

The Japanese will also go crazy.

The core problem now is that Japan can also develop while China is reviving. These two points are very conflicting. Once China continues to export tea raw silk on a large scale, it will be fatal to Japan's largest and fourth largest export industries.

Attack. Japan still occupies Taiwan, Ryukyu and North Korea. A resurgent China cannot accept this status quo.

This war will have to be fought sooner or later for Japan. It is better to fight it late than to fight it early.

To put it simply, Japan's strategy is to take advantage of you to cause chaos and kill you, and fight with all your strength so that you Chinese people will never be able to stand up.

…

The newly established Chinese Empire and the "Great" Japanese Empire were already in a state of active war preparation. On one side was Japan's rapid troop deployment, on the other side was the rapid return of the Northeastern Army. The main forces of both sides were regrouped in the Far East.

The haze of the war once again enveloped Northeast China. Faced with a war and the rapid deployment of both sides, Japan and China's war deployments were constantly adjusting to each other, each competing in a way that was most beneficial to their own countries.

Song Biao must unify the domestic consensus as soon as possible. Even if it recognizes Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan-Guizhou special autonomy, it is acceptable.

It was under such circumstances and through Song Jiaoren's efforts that Song Biao officially met with Mr. Sun Yixian in Tongzhou before New Year's Day in 1911. The time for the meeting was agreed on December 25, 1910. Sun Yixian arrived in Tianjin by boat.

After Tianjin, he transferred to a train and entered Tongzhou. Sun Yixian insisted on his principles and still could not recognize China's imperial system. He also refused to accept some of the etiquette requests made by Cai Yuanpei when he arranged the meeting. Even so, Song Biao still agreed to meet.

That afternoon, Song Biao dedicated three hours of time to talk to Mr. Sun.

Song Jiaoren accompanied Sun Yixian here. After Song Jiaoren established the China Democratic Party, the conflict between the two of them had become public, but at least they could still be regarded as old acquaintances with many contacts. Song Jiaoren introduced Sun Yixian and Song Biao.

Meeting is also a more reasonable arrangement.

Prior to this, Song Biao had sent his special envoy Cai Yuanpei to hold talks with him twice in Guangzhou. After Sun Yat-sen arrived in Tongzhou in the morning, he also held a meeting with Tang Shaoyi, the interim prime minister. Therefore, what Sun Yat-sen really wanted to discuss with Song Biao this time was
To be continued...