Rebirth of the Spanish Empire

Nantori Island, an island in the Western Pacific, was first discovered by Chinese navigators in 1864. After determining its location, it was given an English name. Four years later, the Americans had not come back, but they were waiting for the arrival of the Japanese. The Japanese also left a place, and in 1879, the Japanese officially settled on the island. In 1898, it officially came under the Japanese government and was named Minamitorishima. But four years later, the American navigators came back, along with the American small fleet affiliated with Hawaii. At that time, Japan also had warships guarding what Japan considered the southeastern gate, so the American warships tried to acquire the island. At the time of sovereignty, the two sides ended up in a confrontation after adding more warships to their respective rears. In the end, the United States ended in defeat and was besieged. At this time, the Americans panicked, and after panicking, they could only compromise. In this way, the United States recognized Japanese control of the island, and Japan let the American fleet leave.

Although not many people paid attention to this small-scale conflict, and even the media did not know that such a thing had happened during that time, the United States naturally would not talk about its own scandal. In the end, people only knew about it because of the then Prime Minister of Japan. Katsura Taro deliberately publicized it in order to increase his support rate, and the effect was really good. Once the news came out, his support rate increased by more than 20 points. And because of the Russo-Japanese War, Katsura Taro's approval rating at that time reached the highest record for a Japanese prime minister in history.

Since this island has been publicized in this way, it has naturally attracted more attention, and the consequence of this attention is that Japan has now built a small port on it specifically for warships to dock, in order to conduct effective operations on the surrounding area from time to time. of cruise. There is also a monitoring telegraph center on the island.

Not only that, the Japanese are very careful and serious people in doing things, so even if there are no hostile parties now, they have arranged for warships to patrol around every day. Today is no exception. Even because other ships returned to the mainland for repairs, this time it was carried out by the only submarine in the island port. The captain is Mitsumasa Yoneuchi, who was born in 1880 and is now 28 years old. He joined the navy during the Russo-Japanese War. Next to him is the deputy captain. He is the son of Konoe Atsumaro, the president of Graduate School and Privy Councilor of the Japanese government. Wen Mao, and now he has just turned 23 years old, he can be called a miracle of the Japanese Navy.

"Captain, I don't know what the current views of our empire are in Daqing. I heard from my father that we should try our best to preserve the vitality of Daqing. Otherwise, if we are late, one day we will become theirs."

"I told you not to believe too much in your father's theory. He is the president of the university, and we are the senior navy admirals of the empire. Don't forget, we are practical people, and he is just a scholar. Since you If you choose this path, then in the eyes of those of us on the warship, pragmatism and practical interests are the most real. As for his so-called Greater East Asia theory, I think if our Empire of Japan can one day rule Territory in East Asia, then we don’t have to be as timid as we are now, but can directly develop the entire East Asia into another Europe controlled by the Japanese. At that time, the results were not the same. It will even be better managed.”

In fact, Konoe Fumimaro has always been dissatisfied with his father's views, especially his father's political views. He opposed domestic warlordism and vigorously criticized them. He was committed to the revitalization of East Asia and the development of East Asian culture, and angrily criticized the European and American powers. He didn't want to think about the carving up of East Asia, especially China. The country he was in was now planning to implement the same policy towards China. Wouldn't that be indirectly criticizing his own government? Fortunately, neither the current Prime Minister Saionji Konomo nor the former Prime Minister Katsura Taro have a bad feeling towards him, otherwise the consequences would be hard to say. ….

Sometimes he even felt that he and his father were from two different worlds. He was closer to a hard-line military prime minister like Katsura Taro, rather than the current Riksei Seyoukai led by Prime Minister Saionji Konobo. Because of this, he is planning to join the military side soon, but this may be difficult, after all, many people in the Konoe family may not agree.

"Captain, look, what is that?"

Just as the two people were planning their future directions based on these exchanges, the soldiers who were specially monitoring the surroundings discovered something unusual.

Both of them had received professional professional training, and Mitsumasa Yoneuchi had directly killed people in the Russo-Japanese War. They quickly ran over without saying anything.

Sure enough, they saw the huge monster through the periscope. Oh, my God, it was a battleship, but two ships. Next to them, Mitsumasa Yoneuchi discovered that there were 1, 2, 3, 4, There are actually 4 armored cruisers and 4 pre-dreadnoughts, as well as other small ships, frigates, etc. The total number is no less than 30 ships. When he calculated this, he was shocked. You must know that Japan now has a total of There are only 8 battleships in total, including the old battleships Fuji, Yashima, Shikishima, Asahi, Hatsuse, Mikasa, Katori Kashima and other eight battleships. Although there are many, Even comparable to European powers such as Spain, and only less than Britain, Germany and the United States, but these are all old-fashioned. Among them, Fuji and Yashima are the oldest Fuji-class battleships. They have been in service for more than 12 years.

The Shikishima-class battleships Shikishima, Asahi, Hatsuse and Mikasa also have ten years. Compared with the Fuji in the front, it is much more advanced. The two Katori and Kashima Go in the back were put into service in 1906 and early this year. Although they are not much better than the Spanish battleships, don't forget that Spain still has There are a large number of armored cruisers and pre-dreadnoughts, and there is even a dreadnought. This is an existence that Japan can only be afraid of.

But here it seems that so many battleships, armored cruisers and pre-dreadnoughts appeared all at once. Fortunately, he was relieved when he saw clearly that this fleet with astonishing tonnage was not flying the American flag, but the flag of Spain, a powerful European country. But then he felt something was wrong again, but for a moment, the shock and noise made him confused, and he didn't know where the problem was.

"Captain, that's not right," Konoe Fumimaro said doubtfully from the side.

"Of course it's wrong. I feel it too. It's just that I don't know where the problem is?"

"No, I mean that the Spanish fleet in Guam seems to have only one battleship there, but there are two battleships appearing in front of us now, and the combined size of all the Spanish Western Pacific fleet warships there should not be this big. That's right. The last time I went with the Navy Minister Gonbei Yamamoto on a friendly visit to their Guam, we were still lamenting that their navy was powerful. Even when the Navy Minister talked to them, they also said that It was already their strongest strength, etc., and they also said that it was the smallest naval branch in Spain. At that time, I remember that I read it several times. But now when I compare it with now, I find that it is much larger now. And there are a lot more large ships.”

"oh?"

"What I mean is that the current fleet may be the result of Spain adding more warships."

"No, I don't think Spain will suddenly add so many people to the Western Pacific. Captain, don't forget, there are many big countries around us. Spain shouldn't. Such a move will definitely trigger a chain reaction. Yes, their top management should know the consequences. So what you mentioned should be impossible, at least not when the weather is calm now." Mitsumasa Yoneuchi immediately objected with disapproval. ….

"Then should we follow up and take a look, so that I can find the problem more accurately."

"No need, Konoe-kun, you should know that this is a very dangerous move. It is a very unfriendly move for a country to approach another country's warships and even follow them. I hope you will keep this in mind, of course. , we can do this if it is a small country or even the navy of the Qing Dynasty, but for Spain, a powerful Western country, if we do this, it will only cause misunderstandings and even trigger military and diplomatic disputes. This is the last thing our empire needs now, otherwise Forgot, the world’s largest country, the United Kingdom, also has to be a little tolerant when it treats Spain. Our powerful allies are like this, it would be really stupid if we still send it to others to bully them.”

"In that case, what should we do now?" Konoe Fumimaro is also a smart man. He also knows that weak people have no diplomacy, not to mention giving reasons, isn't it self-abuse. Therefore, he asked about how this matter was handled.

"Of course I have to send a telegram directly to the Navy Headquarters. Report everything you just saw, and be as careful as possible about the quantity. I am guessing that this discovery will be of use to the Empire." Mitsumasa Yoneuchi looked at it. While envious of the huge fleet that left in the distance, he secretly made up his mind to help Japan develop its own powerful navy in the future. But, the direction this fleet is sailing in, isn't that Hawaii, the branch of the U.S. Pacific Navy Fleet?

Yamamoto Gonbei quickly received the news. He was shocked when he first heard it, but he breathed a sigh of relief after knowing that the sailing direction of this fleet was not pointing towards Japan. But then when he saw that the direction pointed to was Hawaii in the United States, he took a deep breath of air-conditioning. He realized the seriousness of the matter, so he got into a car bound for the Prime Minister's official residence.

First update, here is a foreshadowing mine to be used when needed in the future. Mitsumasa Yoneuchi and Fumimaro Konoe were both the three prime ministers of Japan during World War II and were also one of the Class A war criminals. Take it out here and use it. This book is gradually expanding its scope and broadening its horizons. It is still a slow-burning progress, with two updates per day. Finally, I ask all readers to recommend and support my collection.

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