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On December 28, Yang Yufang returned to the General Staff.

Mu Haoyang did not go to the airport, but asked Zhou Yusheng to come forward. Anyway, before the establishment of the Frontline Command, Zhou Yusheng had nothing else to do in the General Staff.

On this day, something crucial happened.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, shortly after Yang Yu's special plane arrived, Chinese Premier Huang Hanlin announced at a press conference that, given that the Japanese authorities have always refused to accept the comprehensive inspection of the International Atomic Energy Agency, China will impose a strategic embargo on Japan starting from January 1, 2035.

Subsequently, Du Xiaolei announced the first embargo list to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Perhaps for political and diplomatic considerations, the first embargo list only included some waste electronic products and all waste special steel.

Even so, it is equivalent to dropping a bombshell on the diplomatic battlefield.

Four hours after Huang Hanlin held a press conference, the Japanese Prime Minister publicly declared to reporters that China's strategic embargo seriously violates international trade rules and has posed a serious harm to Japan's sovereignty and interests, and Japan will take active measures.

However, when saying this, the Japanese Prime Minister was very confident.

Relatively speaking, the Japanese folk reaction is even stronger.

In the afternoon of the same day, thousands of protesters surrounded the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo in Japan, and a large number of protesters gathered outside the consulates in Nagasaki and other places. Although the Japanese authorities urgently mobilized police forces to the scene to maintain order, many protesters still threw stones at the Chinese embassy and consulate.

Commenting on this matter, Western news media unanimously declared that China's move is tantamount to launching an economic war on Japan.

Interestingly, most news media in China's neighboring countries made more moderate comments.

In any case, China has ignited the fuse of war.

That night, the Japanese Minister of Tripitaka Province mentioned in an interview with reporters that if China imposes a strategic embargo on Japan, it will only lead to a complete breakdown in the relationship between the two countries.

This means that Japan will choose extreme means for national interests.

The problem is that Japan really doesn’t have much confidence.

If the war breaks out in 2035, even the most confident Japanese politicians and soldiers believe that Japan has no possibility of winning.

According to the information disclosed later, at the emergency cabinet meeting held that night, most cabinet ministers believed that Japan would be defeated within half a year.

That's why the Prime Minister of the Japanese Cabinet spoke with the US President that night.

The only one who can make China change its decision is the United States.

To put it bluntly, only when the United States comes forward can the tension between China and Japan be alleviated and prevent the war from breaking out in 2035.

The problem is that even if the United States wants to come forward, it must have a sufficient reason.

In the circumstances at that time, the only reason was that Japan was subject to a comprehensive inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, especially allowing surprise inspections of any facilities.

For Japan, this is the only delaying strategy.

On the 29th, the US Ambassador to China submitted a diplomatic note to Huang Hanlin, proposing that the United States would come forward to persuade Japan and allow Japan to undergo a comprehensive verification.

Huang Hanlin gave a positive reply, only making it clear that China will not lift the embargo policy before the verification begins.

Now, the ball hit Japan's feet.

When will Japan accept a comprehensive inspection, to be precise, when will the comprehensive inspection begin, China will end its strategic embargo.

On the 30th, the US ambassador to China met with Huang Hanlin again and suggested that Japan had agreed to undergo a comprehensive inspection.

However, on key issues, negotiations and consultations are needed, such as the scope of the surprise inspection, and how long to inform the Japanese authorities before the surprise inspection.

Since Japan proposed negotiations, China had no reason to refuse.

On the last day of 2034, the Chinese Ambassador to the United States and the Japanese Ambassador to the United States held their first meeting in Washington and proposed detailed rules for a comprehensive verification.

In fact, the key is the two issues mentioned above.

Japan only promises to open all official facilities, but not private people-owned enterprises to undergo verification, and requires the verification team to notify the Japanese authorities at least 24 hours in advance in order to arrange necessary work such as itinerary. China's requirements are more direct, not only to verify Japan's official facilities, but also to target all private enterprises, and not to inform the Japanese authorities in advance, and the verification team has the highest right of way.

Because the differences were too big, the meeting broke down on the same day.

On this day, something happened, that is, the Chinese head of state formally informed all allies and demanded a strategic embargo on Japan in accordance with the provisions of the alliance treaty. As compensation, China will provide corresponding trade and financial assistance based on the losses suffered by each allies.

On January 1, 2035, the strategic embargo against Japan officially began.

Starting from midnight on the same day, all goods on the embargo list must undergo a comprehensive inspection when customs declaration, and all ships must pay a deposit.

In order to strengthen the embargo, the State Council has also introduced a series of relevant measures.

For example, all enterprises engaged in foreign trade of banned goods must be registered with the Ministry of Commerce, and a deposit shall be paid according to the registered capital and the turnover in the previous quarter. If the enterprise violates the ban regulations, it will not only lose all the deposit, but will also be severely punished. According to the specific details issued later, the most severe punishment is that the legal representative of the enterprise will bear legal responsibility and the enterprise will also lose its qualification for employment. Later, the State Council also increased the punishment, that is, all enterprises engaged in banned goods trade must make guarantees for trade products to ensure that banned goods do not enter Japan through third parties, otherwise they will be punished.

In order to implement these embargo measures, the Ministry of Commerce of China has adopted many high-tech means.

For example, starting from February 1, 2035, all embargoed goods will undergo a separate security check when they leave the port. The security company commissioned by the Ministry of Commerce will install global tracking and positioning equipment on some goods to determine the final destination of the goods.

In this way, Japan's channels for purchasing banned goods through third parties will be blocked.

Starting from March 1, after the Ministry of Commerce issued the embargo rules, more than 30 trading companies were sealed in less than a month.

Because some foreign companies were involved, some troubles were caused.

For example, at the end of March, two Vietnamese trading companies were illegally sealed, and the Vietnamese Foreign Minister came forward in person, and the Chinese government returned the frozen assets, and the two companies also withdrew from the Chinese market.

Strict embargo measures almost crushed the Japanese economy.

China's embargo policy directly raised the price of strategic resources. Not only did rare earth resources rise in response, but some resources that had nothing to do with them also rose.

For example, in the first quarter of 2035, grain prices rose by 17%.

The most powerful product is the product that has been banned.

Starting from March 1, China expanded the scope of embargo. Not only did all waste electronic products enter the embargo catalog, but some commercial electronic products were also included in the embargo list. The result was that the electronics industry, which had been unrest, ushered in the first period of rapid growth in nearly 20 years in the second quarter of 2035. Another result was that electronic products became popular on the international black market.

Li Mingyang's judgment is correct. As long as the embargo lasts for half a year, the Japanese economy will be over.

Although this is a bit serious, there will definitely be big problems in the Japanese economy.

At that time, Japan did its best to deal with China's embargo measures.

For example, in early January, several Japanese cabinet officials visited Washington collectively, hoping to purchase more embargoed goods from the United States.

More than a month later, the Japanese Prime Minister visited the United States and Canada and directly proposed to import rare earth resources.

Although Japan's diplomatic activities have played some roles, such as the United States promised to sell ten tons of rare earth mines to Japan every month, and Canada also promised to sell rare earth resources, this is by no means a long-term solution. First, rare earth resources are expensive, and Japan cannot always buy them at high prices. Second, China will definitely expand the scope of the embargo, which will put greater pressure on Japan. Third, the United States and Canada cannot bet on strategic resources.

Of course, there is another more important reason, that is, the United States is the direct promoter of the war.

Helping Japan overcome difficulties is equivalent to resolving the threat of war. To put it bluntly, as long as Japan can solve the economic problems caused by the embargo, there is no reason to confront China on the nuclear issue, and China has no reason to start a war against Japan on the nuclear issue.

The United States has only one goal: to delay the war time as much as possible.

However, in terms of strategic judgment, the United States and Japan are different.

Given the situation at that time, Japan chose to start the war at the end of 2036, preferably at the beginning of 2037, while the United States believed that by the end of 2035, the opportunity for the war would be ripe. If it was delayed until the end of 2036, Japan might not be able to gain military advantages.

The reason is very simple. China's military expansion is getting faster and faster, and there are signs of surpassing Japan.

It was also at this time that the Japanese Prime Minister showed up to the US President. After admitting that the war was inevitable, the two sides began to discuss the details, namely the accurate time of the war.

Of course, these are all later stories.

After the embargo began, the war plan formulated by Mu Haoyang entered the pre-implementation preparation stage.

On January 3, after Zhang Yuting arrived, Mu Haoyang led several senior generals to Zhoushan. Because Mu Haoyang was the commander of the Marine Corps, according to his requirements, the front-line command was located in Zhoushan and worked together with the Marine Corps Command, but had a separate communication system.

Mu Haoyang did not stay in Zhoushan. After arranging his work, he returned to the General Staff the next day.

According to his judgment, after the embargo begins, the war may break out at any time, so he has to stay in Beijing so that he can contact Li Mingyang at any time.

It was not Mu Haoyang who decided the war time, but Li Mingyang. To be precise, it was the first-hand information provided by Li Mingyang.
Chapter completed!