Just as Ishihara Kanji and Kerr were bragging and chatting with a funny combination of whiskey and dried fish, Tojo Hideki was thinking about the direction of the cabinet like an ant on a hot pan. He no longer cared about trouble for Kumatsuyuki, and he had to calm down everything. According to his original idea, the problem was with the Navy. He felt that he had no responsibility and was absolutely unwilling to resign, but the Navy hated Tojo deeply, especially Shimada had always followed Tojo's leader during his term of office, which made them even more annoyed. Tojo called tentatively

The Navy Ministry asked the new candidate for the Maritime Prime Minister, but the Navy was beaten back without hesitation. Of course, the wording was very official - the Navy's central center was in turmoil and it was difficult to make decisions for the time being. This was not a lie. The Navy had no family members now. After the Navy committed suicide. After the General Secretary of the Military Order resigned, it was logical that the Navy's secondary officer should be responsible for the center. But everyone knew that without the commander-in-chief of the Joint Fleet, Yamamoto Iroji, who was far away in Truke, the navy could not form a unified opinion. After thinking about it, Tojo could only send a telegram to Yamamoto directly.

Just as Hideki Tojo was running up and down, the next afternoon, the meeting of the important ministers on the reorganization of the cabinet was held in a fierce atmosphere. The people participating in this emergency meeting mainly included Wakatsuki Reijiro, Okada Keisuke, Hirota Hirota Hirota, Fumiko Koebe, Nobuyuki Abe Nobusu, Minushimasa, Kado Hara, Saburo Mori (the chief servant) and others. Because Yukichi Kido came to solicit opinions on behalf of the Emperor, he also presided over the meeting. Most of the people on the list were those who have served as prime ministers of the cabinet in the past 10 years, which is of great importance in Japanese politics. Originally, the list of important officials also included the name of Kiyoura Kiyosu, but he gave up because of his poor health. After counting, Yukichi Kido found that he had exactly 9 votes, so he decided to report to Emperor Hirohito if there were 5 votes (excluding himself) to reach an agreement.

The atmosphere of this meeting was completely different from the atmosphere when Koebe Fumika resigned and elected a new prime minister a year ago. At the last meeting, everyone suppressed their emotions - because no one knew the ultimate impact of the war between Japan and the United States on Japan. It seemed that a student did not learn well but was about to go through a big test. When he was nervous, he felt relieved. At that time, facing the situation where Koebe Fumika gave up, everyone thought that Hideki Tojo, no matter whether it was good or bad, the meeting finally picked up a prime minister who was capable and willing to take responsibility.

But after one year of operation, there were more problems with the cabinet: First of all, the Chinese battlefield army was getting deeper and deeper. The "China Incident" had been in the past five years. At first, it was optimistic that the problem was solved in three months, and then it was about 6 months. Later, it was about cutting off all its foreign aid and ending in another year. Unexpectedly, the battles between Myanmar and Indochina were all over, and the Wang Jingwei regime also operated for a long time, but China's will to resist the war became more firm. On the surface, the army occupied a large area, but in fact the front line was too long, the logistics was difficult, and the troops were seriously insufficient. According to the report of the Chinese dispatched troops, there were only 2 Japanese soldiers in every 3 square kilometers in North China, which could not maintain order and stability at all.

Secondly, the situation in the Pacific battlefield became increasingly bad. After a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and severely hit the US Pacific Fleet, the navy quickly swept across Southeast Asia. It was thought that the other side would sit down with Japan to negotiate on the basis of acknowledging the status quo. It turned out that the Americans not only had no intention of peace talks, but instead tilted more than 70% of the naval strength to the Pacific region, passing through a series of operations in the Coral Sea, Midway Island, Guadalo Island, and the Empire

The navy's situation took a sharp turn and was in danger. In particular, the battle of Midway lost four large aircraft carriers accumulated before the war, more than 300 aircraft, and more than 100 elite pilots, which almost broke the backbone of the maneuvering fleet. If Midway still has the chance of luck or the enemy deciphering this secret telegram, the Guadalam war was completely suppressed and beaten. The navy could not drive in, and the army was defeated step by step. Now even the transportation of front-line materials is almost impossible to guarantee.

Finally, there was the employment issue of Prime Minister Tojo. He once served as the Mainland Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and combined all kinds of power, seriously undermining the balance of the cabinet. He used personal likes and dislikes as the principle, only promoted personnel from the faction, vigorously suppressed other factions or figures with different political views, and even sent military police to monitor retired lieutenant generals to abuse public power. The other party did not commit treason. He was stubborn and suppressed other colleagues on weekdays. At this time, a scandal broke out in the cabinet to deceive the superiors and subordinates and deceive the emperor. In the words of important officials, it was an unprecedented incident since the Meiji Restoration. In the seriousness, it could be called a traitor.

Although Hitoshimada Shintaro had committed suicide by separatism, everyone thought that Tojo's responsibility could not be escaped. So when Yukichi Kido tentatively raised the issue of cabinet restructuring, everyone insisted that the Prime Minister must be replaced, and Tojo should be responsible for the whole matter and resigned. They also clearly pointed out that even the position of the Land Prime Minister cannot be left for Tojo, and at most he was asked to be a military police commander - don't he like to go through the trash cans of residents in the middle of the night to check if there is any waste? Then be a military police!

The unification opinion of Tojo was reached within 5 minutes, but the resolution to elect the successor Prime Minister was difficult to implement. After a fierce debate, one person after another was raised and commented by everyone. When the sun set, there was no unified opinion. Finally, several principles were reached at the urging of Kido Yukichi:

Article 1: It is currently a war period, and the Prime Minister must be a soldier. Whether active or retired, it is also the origin of an army general. It is not only because the navy has too many scandals recently, but also because the Prime Minister wants to find ways to solve the China issue, but it is not possible to be unfamiliar with the Army;

Article 2: A smart and capable prime minister must be chosen, and the prime minister must never be allowed to serve as the prime minister. The consequences of Tojo as the prime minister are already obvious. Many combat policies are completely slapped, which means that he asks for instructions and gives orders to himself, and the decision-making system is in chaos;

Article 3: Except for the Prime Minister, Mainland Prime Minister and Maritime Prime Minister, the rest of the cabinet members can remain in office except those who are obviously part of the Tojo faction.

One thing that the important officials were unanimous: Foreign Minister Gu Zhengzhi performed outstandingly in this incident, had a good relationship with Germany but was not too close to Germany. No matter who formed a cabinet, it was recommended that he remained as Foreign Minister and played a greater role.

When Takaichi Kido dragged his tired body to return to the palace to report the situation for the whole afternoon, he suddenly found that the commander-in-chief of the local defense army, the general of the local defense army, King Minorhito Hiroshima, was paying homage to the emperor. He instinctively wanted to avoid it, but he did not expect Hirohito to directly report the progress of the meeting. While guessing the purpose of King Minorhito Hiroshima, Kido reported the situation concisely and listed several possible candidates proposed at the meeting:

The Prime Minister's call is the most popular. When Hirota Hirota and Fumimaki resigned, someone recommended him as prime minister. This time, the highest voice was also the highest; secondly, the Governor of North Korea, General Koisaki Koi, and finally General Mijiro Umezu, the commander of the Kanto Army; on the mainland Prime Minister, Umezu, Mijiro Umezu, the six generals of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, and only one person mentioned General Tada Jung who is currently a reserve; there are no good candidates in the Navy. Originally, there were Yamamoto Irosaurus, Minuchi Minumasa, and Inoue, the famous iron triangle of Inoue, which was the chief of the joint fleet, the minister of the Navy and the chief of the military command, but the Iron Triangle has always opposed the Three Kingdoms Alliance, opposes Japan and the United States to go to war, and even insists on this view until now, which makes the Army absolutely unable to accept it, so the meeting of the important ministers is ready to listen to the Navy's own opinions first.

"What about your opinion?" Hirohito turned his inquiry gaze to King Minorhito Higakimiya.

"North Korea Governor Koi Kyuki Aki is not good. First of all, he is a junior of Ugaki's sect in terms of qualifications. Secondly, since the cabinet wants to solve the Chinese problem, it cannot be without the experience of the Chinese battlefield. Commander Mijiro Umezu may not be good either."

"Why?" Takaichi Kido asked strangely.

"Your Majesty just discussed it with me and planned to let me serve as Chief of Staff, have a transcendent position, ensure the emperor's command, and avoid similar incidents of deceiving the emperor."

"Ah?" Takaichi Kido was shocked. In fact, when he was electing the new prime minister last year, someone recommended Tokuri Miya Minorhiko to serve as the position. However, Takaichi Kido considered that if the war with Britain and the United States was unfavorable, the royal family might be criticized and opposed it. Finally, he recommended Tojo Hideki as Prime Minister. The same is true for the Navy. Originally, the Tojo Cabinet was the head of the military command before the Tojo Cabinet formed the cabinet. Because Hirohito was unsure of the war between Japan and the United States, he was asked to take the stage to Hirohito, the agent of Fushimi Miya Hirohito, Shimada Shintaro, to the stage. However, no one expected that Shimada would become Tojo's response after he came to power.

Now that he heard that King Minorhiko Tokuramiya was going to be the chief of staff, Takaichi Kido felt a little sad. His Majesty finally became suspicious: it doesn’t matter if the troops were defeated. Don’t think that the lower-level officers were ordered to seduce the stomach at any time. There are very few senior officers being investigated. I didn’t see that General Tadashi Nakamoto suffered such a big defeat in Midway Island and is still alive now? But the emperor cannot tolerate his subordinates concealing and deceiving him. If this momentum is allowed to develop, they will pull the royal family out to take the blame if they lose in the future - this is what the emperor fears the most.

Takaichi Kido asked tentatively: "If Hirokurimiya Minori is the Chief of Staff, would you please invite Fushimiya Hiroki to return to serve as the Chief of Military Command?"

"It's because of this consideration, and my opinion has not been sought."

Having said that, Takaichi Kido has already made it clear: the Emperor is not satisfied with the role of the various parties in the Army and Navy in this incident, and is determined to completely capture the commandership. No one else can trust him and can only use the royal family to block the core position of the two military orders. However, he still doesn't understand why King Minor Higakimiya, who served as Chief of Staff, could not allow Mijiro Umezu to serve as the Prime Minister or Prime Minister. Didn't he hear that the two had major conflicts? (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!