African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1721 Soviet Compromise
Ultimately, the poison of Japanese militarism had penetrated to the bone marrow, and Tsuji Masanobu's attitude toward the war was completely fanatical.

Komatsubara Michitaro gritted his teeth and said, "That's true, but if we want to go to war with the Soviet Union, shouldn't we consult with General Ueda Kenkichi first?"

General Kenkichi Ueda, who is now the commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army, was their superior.

Tsuji Masanobu said, "Of course. Commander Ueda Kenkichi is also a member of the hardliners against the Soviet Union. I believe the general will support our actions. I will write a report to the commander to persuade him to support our actions."

"However, General Komatsubara Michitaro, you must also be mentally prepared. Going to war with the Soviet Union is an extremely serious matter. Now that the General Headquarters has determined the direction of the southward advance, if we go to war with the Soviet Union at this time, it would be disobeying orders, and we will naturally have to bear the corresponding consequences."

Komatsubara Michitaro didn't seem to care much about this. He said, "As long as we win the war, the Empire will not blame us. I also firmly believe that we can defeat the Soviets."

"Gekokujo" (overthrowing superiors) was a tradition of the Japanese army, so Komatsubara Michitaro was not worried at all that they would act first and report later, and that they would be punished afterward. Of course, all of this was based on the premise of victory in the war.

Masanobu Tsuji said, "In that case, we can begin preparations for the war against the Soviet Union."

after one day.

The Far Eastern Empire, Changchun.

This was also the location of the headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army in 1939. The commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army, Kenkichi Ueda, was stationed here. At this moment, he was holding a telegram sent from the border by Masanobu Tsuji and read the text on it with a solemn expression.

Then, Kenkichi Ueda handed the telegram to Chief of Staff Rensuke Isogai.

He snorted and said to Isogai Rensuke, "This Tsuji Masanobu is simply ridiculous! A mere major dares to question the Empire's decisions."

Isogai Rensuke, on the contrary, said with a smile: "Commander, this Tsuji Masanobu is no ordinary man. He is an 'Imperial Envoy' who was transferred directly from the mainland to us by the General Staff Headquarters. He has deep connections in the General Staff Headquarters."

"Of course, Major Masanobu Tsuji himself graduated from the Army War College with excellent grades. He is a representative of the Empire's young and middle-aged officers and has considerable influence within the army."

Commander Ueda Kenkichi said, "Chief of Staff Isogai, don't try to excuse him. He's just an inexperienced and reckless junior! I don't think he respects us seniors at all."

Although his words seemed harsh, Chief of Staff Rensuke Isogai knew what Kenji Ueda was really thinking, so he said, "Commander, since Major Masanobu Tsuji wants to do something for the expansion of the Empire, we shouldn't discourage the enthusiasm and patriotism of young people, should we?"

"Moreover, as Tsuji Masanobu said in his telegram, going to war with the Soviet Union is probably the true thought of the imperial warriors on the front lines right now."

In the telegram, Tsuji Masanobu claimed that the rank-and-file soldiers and officers were eager to make a name for themselves and actively volunteered for battle, which Isogai Rensuke did not doubt.

Even if that wasn't the case, Isogai Rensuke wouldn't mind reporting it to Commander Ueda Kenkichi, because he, Ueda Kenkichi, Tsuji Masanobu, and the like were all the same kind of people.

Isogai Rensuke continued, "Furthermore, I think Major Tsuji Masanobu's most reasonable point is that the Empire could have pursued the Northward Expansion Plan while also considering the Southward Expansion Plan, instead of abandoning it outright."

"Right now, the empire can fight on two fronts. To put it bluntly, the South Pacific region has no military power to begin with, only a bunch of colonies established by Westerners."

"These colonies, no matter how powerful the countries behind them are, are themselves extremely vulnerable in terms of military strength."

"Moreover, Britain and France are currently completely tied down by Germany. As long as we do not touch East Africa and the United States for the time being, there is no force in Southeast Asia that can resist the empire."

"In comparison, the Soviet Union had real territory in the Far East, not colonies, and the Trans-Siberian Railway connected it to its European part. This was the real threat that the empire could not ignore."

After listening attentively to Chief of Staff Rensuke Isogai's analysis, Commander Ueda Kenkichi said, "Chief of Staff Rensuke Isogai, what you said is very good."

"The Soviet Union posed a far greater threat to the empire than any other country. After all, even powerful nations like East Africa and the United States would have to cross oceans to intervene in Far Eastern affairs."

"The Soviet Union bordered the empire's sphere of influence directly, which meant that the Soviet Union could easily mobilize its troops and pose a threat to the empire."

"Therefore, eliminating the threat from the Soviet Union was crucial, even the most important, for the Empire to establish a Greater East Asia order. Unfortunately, our ideas were not taken seriously by the General Headquarters."

Isogai Rensuke quickly said, "If there is no opportunity, we will create one. Now that Major Tsuji Masanobu is willing to take the lead, we might as well go with the flow and make it a fait accompli."

Commander Kenkichi Ueda stared at Rensuke Isogai, then asked, "You mean we should directly support Major Masanobu Tsuji?"

Rensuke Isogai shook his head and said, "It's not support, it's ignorance!"

He emphasized the word "unaware" in his tone.

Commander Ueda Kenkichi laughed: "What a fine excuse of being unaware! Then we'll give Tsuji Masanobu and Division Commander Komatsubara Michitaro this reply: tell them to be cautious in their relations with the Soviet border troops, and that they must not lose face when the dignity and interests of the Empire are harmed."

Chief of Staff Rensuke Isogai nodded and said, "I think Major Masanobu Tsuji and Michitaro Komatsubara will not be able to hold back. If they make a move, we will see how the war develops."

"If everything goes well, we can take advantage of the situation to expand our gains. Conversely, if we suffer setbacks at the front, we can cut our losses in time. However, I believe that the Imperial Army will not lose to the Soviet Union."

People like Isogai Rensuke still had an impression of the Soviet Union from the Tsarist era, and did not have a direct understanding of the Soviet Union's development in recent years. After all, the Soviet Union's development focus was in Europe.

Of course, Europeans were not as shocked by the development of the Soviet Union as they were in the previous life. On the one hand, Germany was not weakened, but became stronger. Therefore, with Germany as a counterbalance, the Soviet threat theory was not as persuasive as it was in the previous life.

Today, the world's capitalist countries, East Africa, the United States, and Germany are all incredibly powerful, and the great powers such as Britain and France are not far behind. The situation was completely different in the past, when almost only the United States could counterbalance the Soviet Union.

Even Germany was somewhat lacking, after all, in its previous life Germany was emasculated by the Treaty of Versailles and then suffered a severe economic crisis. For more than a decade after the end of World War I, Germany was in a state of chaos.

This also led many Europeans in the previous life not to believe that Germany could inflict such a significant blow on the Soviet Union before the war. Another point to note is that the Germany in this timeline is completely different from the one in the previous life. This Germany is a combination of Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, thus making up for many of Germany's shortcomings, especially in terms of population.

1939 2 Month 28 Day.

Moscow, USSR.

At this time, the Soviet government was unaware that the Japanese Kwantung Army planned to take advantage of Germany's war in Europe to stab the Soviet Union in the back; their attention was completely drawn to the war between Germany and Britain and France.

Joseph was listening to a report from the intelligence department.

"Germany's war machine is fully operational, and troops are converging on the French border. We estimate that Germany's forces against France will exceed two million, possibly even three million. France is also mobilizing its domestic troops, converging towards the northeast. Britain is also planning an expeditionary force to France, Italy..."

After listening to the latest war developments in Western Europe, Joseph frowned and said, "It is now certain that the war between the Axis powers and Britain and France has officially begun. What do you think we should do next?"

"Should we take advantage of the fact that Germany is at war with Britain and France to declare war on Germany as well, choose neutrality, or take the opportunity to deal with potential threats such as Finland and Japan?"

The Soviet Union now had three options. The first was to also declare war on Germany, since the Soviet government was well aware that Germany was the Soviet Union's mortal enemy.

Therefore, the Soviet Union could now choose to cooperate with Britain and France to attack Germany from two sides, which would give it a greater chance of winning.

As for the second condition of neutrality, it was also very attractive to the Soviet Union. Of course, regarding this point, it was clear that neutrality was only temporary. More specifically, the Soviet Union would sit back and watch the two sides fight, and then launch a "fatal" blow against Germany when Germany and Britain and France were both exhausted.

The third point is also easy to understand. Now that Germany is at war with Britain and France, the major European countries will naturally relax their surveillance of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union can take the opportunity to launch wars against its neighbors, especially those countries that the Soviet Union considers to be a threat to its security.

Of these countries, Finland and Japan were clearly the ones that the Soviet Union paid more attention to and was more wary of.

Both countries have one thing in common: they have a good relationship with Germany, and Japan is an ally of Germany. Therefore, if Germany and the Soviet Union go to war in the future, they may become Germany's accomplices.

Soviet Chief of the General Staff Shaposhnikov said, "Comrade Joseph, I think we should choose the third point first to consolidate the Soviet Union's geopolitical security."

Joseph frowned and asked, "What are your thoughts?"

Shaposhnikov explained: "Germany is currently tied up in the Western European theater by Britain and France. I think Germany certainly cannot defeat Britain and France in a short time. So we can sit back and watch them fight. Even if Germany gains the upper hand in the war against Britain and France later, it will take a considerable amount of time."

"During this window of opportunity, we can certainly start by dealing with either Finland or Japan."

"Finland's geographical location was particularly important to the Soviet Union, and it had a good relationship with Germany, so it could become a springboard for Germany to attack us in the future, directly threatening cities such as Leningrad and Murmansk."

"Therefore, we should strike first, turn Finland into our ally, and transform it."

"The same logic applies to Japan. Although they pose a relatively small threat to us, if Japan launches an attack after Germany goes to war with us, they could catch us off guard."

The threat Shaposhnikov was referring to as relatively small was mainly the small threat Japan posed to the Soviet Union's European region. However, if Japan were to actually go to war with the Soviet Union, the defensive pressure on the Soviet Union's Asian territory would be immense, especially if Germany were to completely tie the Soviet Union down in Europe later on.

When the topic turned to Japan, Joseph's expression became more serious. He said, "While Japan's industry may not be outstanding in Europe, we must understand that Japan is by no means a small country."

"Their population is over 60 million, which would be considered a large population country in Europe, while our population in the Far East is far too sparse."

"Moreover, our border with Japan's sphere of influence is very long, which makes it easy for us to become a point of attack, leading to a situation where we have to focus on one thing while neglecting another."

"However, Japan is currently tied down by the Far Eastern Empire. Therefore, the situation on the Far Eastern battlefield is particularly crucial in determining whether Japan might go to war with us. What is the intelligence department's view on this?"

Beria, the head of Soviet intelligence, began, “Comrade Joseph, the war situation in the Far Eastern Empire is not optimistic. At the end of last year, two key cities of the Far Eastern Empire, Jiangcheng and Guangzhou, were completely lost.”

"The Far Eastern Empire government has moved to a mountain city in their southwest to continue the resistance."

"The fall of Jiangcheng also means that the Far Eastern Empire has once again lost a large number of industrial facilities and production capacity, especially the steel and military industries, which have been greatly affected. Jiangcheng's steel production occupies a very important position in the Far Eastern Empire."

"After losing the Northeast, the Far Eastern Empire's steel production had already declined to an appalling level. The main steel mills in the Far Eastern Empire's Shanhaiguan Pass were mainly located in the north, on both sides of the Taihang Mountains, and these areas had also basically fallen."

"Therefore, after losing Jiangcheng, it is not an exaggeration to say that the Far Eastern Empire's steel industry has completely collapsed, and its national steel production may be less than 10,000 tons. We cannot even imagine what less than 10,000 tons of steel production could be used for, even if it were all used for military purposes."

"The loss of Guangzhou also means that it will be more difficult for the Far Eastern Empire to obtain various anti-Japanese war materials from the outside. After all, Guangzhou is an important port for the Far Eastern Empire's foreign trade and the largest port closest to the south."

"Therefore, the Far Eastern Empire is now facing a severe shortage of supplies, which is even a thousand times, ten thousand times more difficult than that faced by Japan, the instigator of the war."

As the war dragged on, Japan was already complaining bitterly about the lack of resources, but the Far Eastern Empire was in even worse shape. After all, Japan could at least plunder resources from the occupied territories, such as coal, iron ore, and grain.

Japan is unable to obtain oil, rubber, and other resources from the Far Eastern Empire, but even these resources are more difficult for the Far Eastern Empire to acquire than for Japan. Currently, they can only obtain them with the help of East Africa and overseas Chinese.

After listening to his report, Joseph said solemnly, "It seems that it is time for us to speed up the construction of the last section of the Central Asia Highway. We must get East Africa involved in the Far East war so that they can be tied down by Japan. Otherwise, we will be in trouble once Japan actually occupies the Far East Empire."

Joseph was originally not at ease with East Africa and was highly vigilant, so the Soviet Union had been trying to delay the construction and opening of the Central Asia Highway as much as possible. However, the grim situation the Soviet Union was facing now forced him to completely compromise with East Africa.

(End of this chapter)