Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 257

End of this chapter

Chapter 802

When Hayashi Shin-yi arrived at Yokosuka Naval Base aboard a warship, Ito Sukeyuki had already passed away. Togo Masamichi, who came to pick him up, told him this unfortunate news. However, Hayashi Shin-yi immediately asked, "Then how is Prime Minister Katsura's condition?"

Togo paused for a moment before saying, "Lord Katsura's condition doesn't seem optimistic either; he's just hanging on by a thread. Public opinion now believes that Lord Katsura is no longer able to govern and that the Emperor should issue an edict to remove him from the position of Prime Minister. However, the elder statesmen still hope that the Army will resign gracefully and are unwilling to make this decision that would offend people."

Lin Xinyi looked at the beautiful scenery of Yokosuka Naval Port and sighed, "Nobody wants to offend anyone, so Principal Kawahara called me back, does he want me to persuade Lord Yamamoto to admit defeat?"

Togo Masamichi spoke frankly: "When Yamamoto and Saito were working on the Six-Six Fleet Plan, they kept all the benefits for their own people. Now that something has gone wrong, they want the Navy to step in. Everyone is very unwilling. Lord Kawahara's idea is that this matter originally had nothing to do with us, so we might as well cut ties with them and at the same time free up a lot of positions in the Navy."

Togo Masamichi made no attempt to hide anything from Hayashi Shinichi, clearly regarding Hayashi as a core member of his faction. Therefore, he felt there was nothing Hayashi couldn't know. Hayashi Shinichi, similarly, had no intention of concealing anything from Togo Masamichi, and frankly replied, "If the corruption case only targets the Yamamoto and Saito factions, its impact on us is indeed minimal. However, while we can sever ties with the Yamamoto and Saito factions, can we sever ties with the Navy as an organization? The corruption of the Yamamoto and Saito factions isn't just individual corruption; it represents systemic corruption within the Navy organization. I don't think the Army will be so honest as to only attack Lord Yamamoto, will they?"

After a moment's hesitation, Togo Masamichi asked, "What evidence do you have? The Army will use this case to target the Navy."

Lin Xinyi looked around before turning to Togo Masamichi and saying, "When you were still serving in the Naval General Staff, I asked you to set aside a piece of land in Yokosuka Naval Base as a archive for cultural studies. Do you remember that?"

"Huh?" Dongxiang Zhenglu looked at Lin Xinyi with a blank expression, completely not understanding why Lin Xinyi would bring up such a small matter. Of course, he didn't remember such a small matter, but he still asked, "Is there anything special about this warehouse?"

Lin Xinyi then said, "Then Vice Minister Togo and I will go and take a look. The Army doesn't really have any secrets for us."

Togo Masamichi didn't understand what Lin Xinyi was talking about, but he still had his car drive towards the location of the naval base's prison, as Lin Xinyi had instructed. The naval base's prison was in a relatively remote location, and no officers would come to inspect it, so this was the first time Togo had known that the archives warehouse chosen for the cultural studies course was located right next to the prison.

Even more outrageous, the cultural studies class disguised the warehouse as part of the prison. At first, the naval soldiers guarding the gate refused them entry, saying that the main gate of the prison was not there. It wasn't until Lin Xinyi got out of the car and explained to the guards, "Code name: Xuefeng, password: 1984," that they were allowed to enter.

The guards at the gate went back inside to make a phone call and then opened the gate to let Togo's car into the yard. After they got out of the car, a captain appeared in front of the hall with several junior officers. The captain ignored Lieutenant General Togo Masamichi and saluted Hayashi Shinichi first, saying, "Reporting to the section chief, Captain Oshima Shinichi of the Archives Department greets you."

Lin Xinyi didn't even look at Togo's expression, and calmly said to the captain, "I want to hear the army's intelligence. About the public opinion of mid-level officers, the recent actions of various factions in the army, the morale of officers and soldiers stationed overseas, and the morale of officers and soldiers in the Imperial Guard regiments."

Captain Oshima turned and discussed it with his deputy for a moment, then reported back to Lin Xinyi: "Please give us half an hour to prepare."

Lin Xinyi nodded in agreement and said, "Then please take me and Vice Minister Togo on a tour of the archives. I haven't been here for a long time and would like to learn about the development of the archives."

Captain Oshima nodded in agreement. Lieutenant General Togo quickly realized that the so-called visit was actually mainly to let him understand the establishment process of the archives, its daily work, and its equipment.

The equipment in the archives refers to machines such as tabulation machines. The data storage in this archives is different from the archives that Dongxiang had previously encountered. It stores information through machine-classified punch cards.

Captain Oshima pointed to a row of machines in the room and explained to Lieutenant General Togo, "In order to cope with the census, American engineer Herman Hollerith invented a punch card machine for statistical data. It saves half the time of manual data entry and only one-tenth the time of manual statistical data collection."

We are introducing Mr. James Powers' patent, which is not much different from Mr. Herman's, but with a few more automated steps. It can be seen as an imitation of Mr. Herman's.

We collaborated with the Wuhan Railway Department and Siemens in 1908 to research and produce the machine, and designed its information processing system based on Wuhan's railway ticketing system. In 1912, the system was a success; statistical data that previously took 300 employees six months to process could now be completed by 15 employees in a week.

We modified and applied this system to the population census in Chiba Prefecture, national import and export trade, and background analysis of personnel in the army and navy, and achieved good results…

Togo Masamichi quickly understood what Lieutenant Oshima meant when he proudly said that their machines had achieved good results. The staff at the archives quickly presented him with detailed data charts showing the movements of various factions in the army, the opinions of mid-level officers, and the opinions of officers and soldiers stationed overseas and the Imperial Guard.

Lin Xinyi had previously said that the Army's movements could not be kept secret from the Navy's Cultural Affairs Department, and Togo thought this was true. Togo understood the importance of intelligence work, but he also knew that the biggest problem with intelligence work was timeliness and effectiveness. So-called genius agents could only obtain the attitudes and plans of their superiors at a few key moments, which did not mean that they could guarantee that the intelligence they obtained was in line with reality.

After all, there are always discrepancies between practice and planning, and some plans simply cannot be realized. For example, the Army's continental plan is important intelligence for China, Russia, and South Korea, but this intelligence only indicates the Army's upper echelons' inclination towards continental expansionism, and does not mean that the Army can perfectly execute it. Countries obtain such intelligence only to use it to exert political pressure on Japan, and cannot determine the practicality of this intelligence.

The so-called practicality refers to the ability to immediately formulate targeted and specific plans based on the intelligence obtained, thereby gaining practical benefits. However, most intelligence cannot achieve this. Therefore, the army and navy focus more on collecting geographical data when gathering intelligence, as this type of intelligence has a long time-limited effect and will not lose its effectiveness in the short term.

However, the information statistics system for cultural courses is different. Although the thoughts of individual soldiers may not be expressed, the analysis and statistics of a large amount of personal data and action information have made it very clear what the army is doing, what the army plans to do, and what the army may do.

For example, the statistical analysis results given in the archives now show that the Choshu faction in the army is trying to have Terauchi Masatake replace Katsura Taro as prime minister in order to ensure the continued advancement of the army's national policy. The recent statements made by the top leaders of the Choshu faction are quite consistent, namely that Katsura Taro is unwell and unable to take on the overall situation, but there is no problem with the Katsura cabinet's national policy. Changing the cabinet at this time would cause the country to lose its direction. Therefore, having someone from the army replace Katsura Taro and continue the current cabinet is the best way to stabilize the country.

The non-Chōshū faction within the army began to split. Tamura, a high-ranking army officer, believed that military personnel should not interfere in politics, while Uehara emphasized that the army's continental policy could not be abandoned. He argued that if concessions were made on the continental issue at this juncture, then the army's leaders should bear the responsibility. Meanwhile, younger officers in the army supported Uehara's views, but were more radical, believing that the unification of China in Wuhan was a disruption of the East Asian order, and that Japan should retaliate against Wuhan's actions that undermined the East Asian order, just as it had dealt with the Russians.

In particular, the young officers in the Imperial Guard Division, the General Staff Headquarters, and the divisions stationed in Korea expressed their dissatisfaction with domestic financial magnates, politicians, and the revolutionary forces in China in their letters. They frequently mentioned a book in their exchanges—the Outline of the Japanese Reform Law.

Togo Masamichi then inquired, "What exactly is this 'Outline of the Japanese Reform Law'? Who is its author?"

Captain Oshima glanced at Lin Xinyi, who nodded slightly, before replying to Togo Masamichi: "The author of the Outline of the Japanese Reform Law is Kita Ikki, whose original name was Kita Terujiro. He was born in Sado District, Niigata Prefecture in Meiji 16. In his youth, he embraced socialist ideas and published 'On the National System and Pure Socialism' in Meiji 39, opposing the theory of Emperor sovereignty."

Due to the suppression of socialist thought in China, he went to China two years later to study the history of the Wuhan Revolution. In the summer of Meiji 43, he published the History of the Wuhan Revolution, which began to attract attention in China. In the summer of Meiji 44, he published the Outline of the Japanese Reform Law, which was not published in China. It was collected by some officers and soldiers of the army and navy stationed in China and mailed back to Japan.

In 1912, Kita Terujiro changed his name to Kita Ikki and returned to Japan. He first investigated the results of land reform in Chiba Prefecture, and published a report on the land reform in Chiba Prefecture the following year. He also revised the outline of the Japanese Reform Law. During this period, Kita Ikki had frequent contact with the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guard Division. His outline of the Japanese Reform Law was published in Japan and began to circulate in the Army Officer Academy.

Although differing opinions remained regarding the economic reform strategies outlined in the Reform Law Outline, army officers reached a consensus on the first step mentioned in the outline: to exercise the Emperor's authority, impose martial law nationwide, suspend the Constitution within three years, dissolve the Diet, and have a general loyal to the Emperor preside over national governance.

Togo Masamichi was taken aback and asked, "Are they planning a rebellion?"

After a moment's thought, Captain Oshima said, "The conditions for the Imperial Guard Division to rebel are already in place; all that's missing is a spark, or rather, a leader. If the Continental Policy fails and the reinforcement bill cannot be passed, then these army officers who are not from the Choshu faction will be the ones who will directly suffer. Either they accept the prospect of retiring as field officers, or they take a gamble. Even if they can't establish an army dictatorship, they can at least force politicians to relax restrictions on the army."

Now Togo Masamichi truly understands what the army wants. Kawahara and others' attempt to abandon Yamamoto Gonnohyōe's faction in exchange for the public's understanding of the navy has clearly become a joke, because they have completely misjudged the target. It's not that the public has any opinion about the navy, but that the army is about to explode. So they need to suppress the navy first, and then seek to expand the size of the army to quell the dissatisfaction of the officers and soldiers within.

Therefore, according to Kawahara and others, the people could never forgive the Navy because the Army would definitely stir up trouble behind the scenes. Hayashi Shin-yi was right; they could sever ties with the Yamamoto and Saito factions, but they couldn't sever ties with the Navy. This meant that the Army would definitely use Yamamoto's corruption to bring down the Navy in order to prevent the Navy and Army from vying for the power to form a cabinet.

Looking at it this way, Ito Sukeyuki's death really was ill-timed. If Yamamoto had been brought down now, the Navy would have had almost no chance against political attacks from the Army at the highest levels. However, Togo still asked Hayashi Shin'ichi with some concern, "This archive must have cost a lot of money, right? Why haven't I seen any related budget in the Ministry of the Navy?"

Sitting in the car watching the gate slowly close, Lin Xinyi calmly said, "It did cost a lot of money. The machinery and equipment here alone cost 350 million marks. However, this money did not come from the Navy Ministry's accounts."

The cultural studies department has a cooperation agreement with various conglomerates, providing them with product image services and customer data statistics. The operating costs here are almost entirely covered by donations and collaborative projects from these conglomerates to the arts foundation; only the personnel and land belong to the navy.

After a long silence, Togo Masamichi asked again, "Since there's an analysis of the army, is there also an analysis report for the navy?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi replied, "Yes, there is, but I don't think it's appropriate to announce it, because it might cause dissatisfaction among other factions in the Navy. That's why I don't want the archives to be exposed to everyone. If everyone knew that someone was investigating them, would they still let us control the archives?"

Togo Masamichi thought that made sense. If he knew there was an archives department outside his faction analyzing him and his cronies all day, he'd probably shut it down immediately. But he still couldn't help asking, "Are you sure these people are reliable? They won't betray us?"

Lin Xinyi certainly knew these people were reliable, because the main staff of this archive were socialists who had been under police surveillance in the past. He went to great lengths to erase their records of being under police surveillance and then selected qualified personnel through continuous testing. He then used the back door of the Marine Corps School to get them into the Navy.

However, in front of Togo, he said: "The members here are all specially recruited from the Marine Corps School. They have no special connection with the Naval Academy, so it is unlikely that they will leak information through personal relationships. As for their status within the system, their academic studies are managed separately. In the future, I will incorporate them into the Allied Fleet system to ensure that they are isolated from the domestic naval system, so that there will be no problem of intelligence leakage."

Although Togo Masamichi was relieved, he still looked back for a long time before turning to Lin Xinyi and saying, "You brought me here to see this, so you definitely don't agree to sever ties with Yamamoto and the others. So what's your opinion on the current situation?"

After a moment's thought, Lin Xinyi said, "Even if Lord Yamamoto manages to avoid this vortex, I don't think he's suitable to form a cabinet. Shouldn't Principal Kawahara consider forming a cabinet? As for you, you could take this opportunity to rise to the position of Minister of the Navy."

Togo Masamichi had completely put the archives matter out of his mind. He asked Hayashi Shinichi with concern, "How do you plan to get the Army to give up targeting the Navy? Yamagata might not admit defeat so easily. Right now, the Emperor can't suppress the Army. Lord Ito only wants to preserve his constitution and might not help us fight the Army to the death."

Lin Xinyi looked at him and said, "Didn't you just hear it? The young officers in the army are so dissatisfied with the status quo that they're just one step away from staging a coup. Compared to the corruption scandal in the navy, isn't a coup by the army even more unforgivable to the people?"

If the officers and soldiers of the Imperial Guard Division were to stage a coup, what face would Lord Yamagata have left to criticize the navy's corruption? Lord Itō would have no choice but to support the navy in cleaning up the mess, otherwise his Meiji Constitution would cease to exist.

Minister Kawahara has quelled the rebellion of the Army's Imperial Guard Division, so it's natural that he should form a cabinet to stabilize the situation. The question now is whether Minister Kawahara has the courage to do so…”

End of this chapter

Chapter 803

Paulista, a coffee shop in the backstreets of Ginza 6-chome, is named after a place in Brazil, meaning "coffee from the local area." It was the first Western-style coffee shop opened in Tokyo by Ryu Mizuno, an immigrant from Brazil. It has a very exotic feel and is very popular among young people.

Of course, the young people who like coffee shops are students of Mita Private Keio University, which is not far from Ginza. For these students who are able to attend private universities, spending half a day in a coffee shop on a 5-sen donut and a 5-sen coffee is indeed an extremely cheap expense.

In addition, for upper-class families, a relatively safe café is the best choice to rest in after shopping and relaxing in Ginza. Why are cafés considered safer? Because in the past, teahouses and ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurants) in Ginza offered brothels catering to men. It can be said that there were few entertainment activities suitable for families during the Edo period, except for outdoor fireworks festivals.

The Meiji Restoration gave women the opportunity to work independently and gradually changed Japan's old business model. Public opinion began to crack down on the sex industry, believing that this rampant industry should be restrained so that ordinary families could live in a safer environment. In particular, after the Russo-Japanese War, intellectual youth who believed that Japan had become one of the great powers began to look down on the fact that Japanese women were engaged in prostitution overseas, considering it an insult to Japan's national dignity. They began to criticize the pervasive pornography in traditional Japanese culture and advocated for women's self-respect and dignity.

Of course, the criticisms of the sex industry by educated youth were divided into two camps. One camp argued that it was the women's fault, believing that women's vanity led to the proliferation of the sex industry in Japan; the other camp believed that the responsibility lay with the government, arguing that the unjust distribution of social wealth forced women to resort to prostitution for a living.

Although neither of these two groups of intellectuals could convince the other, the number of places in Tokyo's service industry that began to abandon prostitution did increase. The development of capitalism and the victory in two foreign wars did indeed create a wealthy class in Japan, especially in the Tokyo area. Real estate development and urban planning in Tokyo gave many families the money for leisure, thus beginning to reverse the old era's business environment.

In particular, the renovations following the fire caused rents to rise significantly, making it difficult for small vendors and grocers to continue operating. However, with the development of upscale shops and the entertainment industry in the surrounding area, Ginza became the center of Tokyo, surpassing the prosperity of old Nihonbashi.

Ginza not only boasted numerous modern shops, but also housed many newspapers and magazines. In the western Hibiya and Yurakucho districts, modern theaters like the Imperial Theater and Yurakuza opened, hosting nightly performances of Western plays; while in the east lay the Kabuki-za, the heart of traditional theater. Thus, Ginza became a center for leisure and consumption for young people and upper-class families.

However, in Kimura Taro's view, Ginza cannot represent Tokyo, because the proletariat of Tokyo cannot enjoy the commerce and entertainment here at all. After all, a bowl of ramen only costs 2 sen, and 5 sen can buy a bowl of curry rice. For the proletariat, curry rice is already a big meal on ordinary days, since the monthly salary of an ordinary worker is only eight or nine yen, which is about 30 sen a day.

Tokyo's prosperity is nothing to be proud of for the low-income proletariat, because such prosperity is irrelevant to them. The sense of powerlessness and unvented anger stemming from the rapid societal development while they remain stagnant is not unique to the proletariat; elementary school teachers and soldiers feel the same way. Soldiers earn only 8.80 yen a month, and elementary school teachers earn not much more.

So what kind of news did the Tokyo newspapers publish? It was all about adultery, sex scandals, bizarre murder cases, and the adoration of the wealthy—storylines about rich people spending lavishly just to win a geisha's smile. But behind this extravagant spending lay a mountain of news about unpaid wages and refusal to compensate workers for injuries.

Under such unjust social rules, it was only natural that the proletariat and the military were filled with anger. The difference was that the former believed the emperor system should be overthrown to create a completely new Japan, while the latter advocated using the emperor's banner to purge the financial cliques and politicians, and to carry out another Taisho Restoration.

As Kita Ikki's publishing secretary, the former publisher of the Osaka People's News, and a former socialist, Morichika Unpei naturally agreed with Kita Ikki's ideas on the reform of Japan. Of course, he also knew that he and his group, along with a portion of the army's reformist faction, could not control the country by staging a coup; they also needed the support of the navy.

Kimura Taro then met with Naval General Staff Chief of Staff Keiichi Domoto at Paulista once again. When Domoto sat down in front of him in civilian clothes, Kimura asked directly, "When exactly will Mr. Hayashi return to Japan? With the passing of Elder Ito and Prime Minister Katsura on his deathbed, the Army believes it is a good time for another Meiji Restoration. What is the Navy's opinion?"

Domoto silently observed Kimura for a while before saying, "Kimura-kun should understand that the funding we provided was a routine grant from the Arts Foundation for social science research projects, and it does not mean that the Navy endorses Mr. Kitaichi's ideas on the Japanese reformation law. I have always emphasized this point when we met in the past, but your actions now have gone beyond the scope of academic research and entered into concrete practice, which has violated our original agreement."

Kimura met Domoto's gaze frankly and said, "Mr. Kitaichi and I discussed this issue with Mr. Hayashi while we were in Wuhan. At that time, Mr. Kotoku chose Mr. Hayashi's proposal, which is why we left Wuhan and returned to Japan."

However, without Mr. Lin's guidance, Mr. Kitaichi could not have completed the outline of the Japanese Reform Law so quickly. Without Mr. Lin's funding and protection, we could not have started our activities in Chiba Prefecture so quickly and gained the recognition of our Army comrades.

It can be said that the ideas behind Japan's reform laws were not solely those of Mr. Kitaichi; Mr. Hayashi also made significant contributions. Since these were ideas beneficial to Japan, why couldn't they be put into practice and validated?

I believe that once Mr. Lin returns to China and engages in discussions with us, he will definitely agree with our position.

Domoto Keiichi sighed and said, "Since you think you're right, why drag Lin Jun into it? I believe Lin Jun's stance has always been clear; he doesn't intend to support your actions."

After thinking for a moment, Kimura said, "Although the comrades in the army are full of enthusiasm, I feel that they lack Mr. Lin's composure. If Mr. Lin were to lead this reform operation, I believe our chances of success would be very high."

Domoto Keiichi shook his head and said, "First, Mr. Lin did not return to the country; second, Mr. Lin believes that your plan will not succeed because the upper echelons of the army will definitely betray the Meiji Restoration. I advise you to reconsider carefully. The navy will not participate in the Meiji Restoration, which is bound to fail. We believe that having Yamamoto form a cabinet and promote social change is a more prudent path."

Kimura was greatly disappointed. He immediately retorted, "Can the Navy's reformism really change Japan? It's not that Lord Ito and Lord Yamamoto haven't formed cabinets before, but the social welfare laws they issued either failed to pass in the Diet or were revised beyond recognition. Even the laws that protect workers were passed but no one in the localities enforced them because the zaibatsu could hire lawyers to sue the workers until the workers could no longer afford the legal costs and gave up on their own."

Social reformism is futile; we need direct action, using the power of the government to crush the judiciary manipulated by zaibatsu and politicians. Our comrades in the Army sincerely hope the Navy will join us; it is a progressive force for reforming Japan. As a new generation leader of the Navy dedicated to changing Japan, will Mr. Hayashi abandon his ideals of reforming Japan?

After a long silence, Keiichi Domoto said, "As I just said, the upper echelons of the army will not approve of the Taisho Restoration, and the navy cannot be caught up in a failed coup."

Kimura seemed to understand Domoto's implication, and then asked, "If the Meiji Restoration goes smoothly, will the Navy change its attitude and support us?"

After thinking for a moment, Domoto asked, "If the reform movement goes smoothly, who do you plan to recommend to clean up the mess?"

Kimura hesitated for a moment before saying, "The comrades in the army advocate that General Uehara should form a cabinet."

Domoto countered, "Does General Uehara know about the Meiji Restoration?"

Kimura remained silent, while Domoto could only shake his head and say, "If we didn't know beforehand, would General Uehara have dared to implement a military dictatorship afterward? I think it would be better to have Prince Kan'in handle it than General Uehara."

Kimura didn't actually know much about the internal relationships within the army, so he could only follow up on Domoto's topic and ask, "Prince Kan'in is a member of the imperial family. Won't his formation of a cabinet cause resentment from all sides?"

Hearing Kimura's concerns, Domoto couldn't help but scoff, "You're already planning a reform, and you're worried about public backlash? Of course, I'm just using an analogy, not recommending Prince Kan'in. Anyway, the navy won't risk failure. All we can do is provide you with a ship, so that if we fail, you can leave Japan safely..."

Although he was unable to persuade the Navy to join the Meiji Restoration, Kimura still felt that the communication with the Navy was fruitful. The Navy was only worried about failure, rather than completely opposing the Meiji Restoration.

After breaking up with Kimura, Keiichi Domoto went to the Toyo Keizai Shimbun newspaper building in Ginza 2-chome. The building had four floors, but the newspaper only used the first to third floors. The fourth floor was nominally part of the newspaper, but in reality, it was the external office of the Navy Cultural Section.

After Domoto went upstairs, he found Furukawa Shunga standing guard in the corridor, so he went up to him and asked, "Who are you talking to, Section Chief?"

Although Domoto himself is now the head of the cultural studies department, Furukawa immediately understood Domoto's question. He looked at his office and replied quietly, "It's Hideo Uemura from Radio Tokyo."

Hideo Uemura, whose real name is Rikisaku Furukawa, is a follower of Shusui Kotoku and a member of the People's Newspaper. Although he is only about 1.3 meters tall, he is never inferior to others when it comes to promoting socialist ideas on the streets. In fact, his short stature makes it an advantage for him to rely on the crowd to evade the police.

Like Morichika Unpei, after the collapse of the People's News Agency, he followed Kotoku Shusui to Wuhan. However, due to Kotoku Shusui's change of thought, the Direct Action Faction split. One group turned to Kita Ikki's nationalism, while the other group continued to move forward along the path of socialist theory.

However, unlike Morichika Unpei, Furukawa Rikisaku did not believe in nationalism and did not think that the outline of the Japanese reform law would succeed. His life experience in Wuhan made him believe that the Labor Party's laborist direction was correct. What Japan needed was comprehensive land reform and control of private capital, not the confiscation of personal property in the name of the state. If those who control the state do not represent the people, it means that social wealth is still concentrated in the hands of a few people. It is just a matter of putting on the coat of a state.

He was instructed by Hayashi Shin-yi to infiltrate among the nationalists to understand the development of nationalism within Japan and to monitor their actions. It should be said that Uemura Hideo's work was very successful; he became the most trusted advisor of Toyama Hidezo, the third son of Toyama Mitsuru and a key figure under Uchida Ryohei, the leader of the Black Dragon Society, primarily responsible for managing the Black Dragon Society's development in the Tokyo area.

Although the Black Dragon Society suffered significant losses in Tokyo due to crackdowns more than a decade ago, the army and navy still need people to carry out shady operations. After all, contemporary Japanese politics and the economy are inseparable from violence, and without the backing of yakuza groups, many things cannot be accomplished. While Japanese law is a copy of the European legal system, the social conditions in Japan and Europe are different, and in many corners of society, violence is more effective than law in maintaining order.

So with the support of the army, the Black Dragon Society quietly returned to the country. Of course, its influence was not what it used to be. In the past, there was only one Black Dragon Society in Tokyo. Other gangs had to pay protection money to the Black Dragon Society to obtain territory. Gangs that did not pay protection money to the Black Dragon Society did not even have a fixed territory and were just a bunch of rabble.

However, the Kanto Federation in the Tokyo area has now replaced the Black Dragon Society as the highest arbitrator of the Tokyo underworld, and the Black Dragon Society can only ensure that its businesses do not have to pay protection money. Under these circumstances, Ryohei Uchida focused his energy on overseas businesses and his cooperation with the army, almost all of which were overseas. His domestic businesses were merely channels for money laundering and transferring funds to the army.

Toyama Hidezo became the main person in charge of the Black Dragon Society in the Kanto region, and Uemura Hideo, who had the support of the Navy Cultural Department, solved many of Toyama Hidezo's business problems, and soon became his close friend and strategist.

Hideo Uemura's meeting with Shin-yi Lin this time was mainly to talk about the Black Dragon Society's work in connecting the Imperial Guard Division and the South Korean Division, explaining the Black Dragon Society's ambition and plans to annex the Korean Peninsula.

Uemura's final conclusion was that "the Black Dragon Society's foundation is mainly in the land and resources of the Korean Peninsula. With the support of the army, the Black Dragon Society obtained the right to develop land and mineral resources, but the Black Dragon Society itself has no management talent. Their main income is still from rent collection and drug trafficking, and a large part of the profits from these businesses actually goes to the army."

Ryohei Uchida focused his efforts on North Korea because if he couldn't pay the tribute to the army, the Black Dragon Society wouldn't be able to survive there. Furthermore, the Black Dragon Society's past illicit income within the country was now being resisted by various gangs. Therefore, the Black Dragon Society couldn't accept the failure of its mainland policy; otherwise, it would cease to exist.

The Black Dragon Society was a major supporter of Taro Katsura's foreign policy. If the Katsura cabinet ends and Japan's foreign policy shifts towards peace, the Black Dragon Society will likely go bankrupt. This is why the Black Dragon Society is now actively encouraging lower and middle-ranking officers in the army to wage war against China.

Compared to Ryohei Uchida, Hidezo Toyama was more determined in his stance on launching the Tokyo coup. This was because the latter sought to prove himself to be Mitsuru Toyama's successor, and Toyama himself supported the coup, seemingly viewing it as a golden opportunity to break free from the army's high command's control of the Black Dragon Society, which was currently controlled by the Choshu faction…

After listening to Hideo Uemura's report, Lin Xinyi nodded and said, "It seems that the Black Dragon Society is the one that really wants to launch a coup and establish an army dictatorship. The army's high command has room for compromise. In that case, you should push Hidezo Toyama to come up with a plan for a coup. Once there is a concrete plan, the reformists in the army will prepare. When external changes break their tolerance threshold, the coup will naturally break out."

Hideo Uemura then asked, "When do you intend to instigate a coup d'état by the Restorationists within the Army?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Xinyi said, "With both the army and navy losing hope of forming a cabinet, I think the reformists in the army will not be able to tolerate a peace cabinet that opposes war coming to power."