Chapter 59: Iwane Matsui And Masao Okamura Get Excited
“Do you think His Majesty will agree to us sending troops for the Shanghai Operation?”
“Today I have been anxiously persuading His Majesty all along, and I told him a lot about the benefits and gains we obtained on our side in the Northeast! But His Majesty’s expression seemed to show little change!”
“So now I still don’t quite understand His Majesty’s inner thoughts, exactly what they are?”
“What do you think? Mr. Okamura!”
After Iwane Matsui ate some food,
especially after drinking some wine, with his face slightly flushed, he inquired of Masao Okamura.
“Hard to say! Today I also secretly observed His Majesty’s expression for a long time, but I couldn’t discern his inner thoughts either—whether he agrees to our operation proposal or not!”
“His Majesty is so profound; it’s probably hard for us to know his inner thoughts!”
Masao Okamura had also drunk some wine, his face flushed red, and he responded.
In fact, his mood right now was the same as Iwane Matsui’s; he completely couldn’t guess their His Majesty’s thoughts.
“I hope His Majesty will allow us to send troops for the operation! For our Empire’s prosperity and rise, and the best way to divert all foreigners’ line of sight to other battlefields!”
“Even if this time our attack on Shanghai fails to achieve victory or gain any huge benefits, as long as we can divert the foreigners’ line of sight to the Shanghai battlefield, then we will have a chance to stabilize the Northeast, this huge natural resources base!”
“Then we can lay a solid foundation for our Empire’s development!”
“As long as we build a solid foundation in military industry, and domestic sufficient food and clothing and other basics, then our Empire can rise in the world and absolutely won’t lose to those foreign countries!”
After hearing this, Iwane Matsui felt complex emotions, his face full of expectation, hoping their His Majesty could approve their proposal, send troops for the Shanghai Operation, and divert all foreigners’ line of sight.
And it would be best if they could also gain huge benefits in this new battle.
It could be said that at this moment, Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura were both brimming with ambition; they shared a common goal, to massively annex the territory of the attack target they had their eyes on, to develop their own domestic economic development and industrial development, thereby making their country prosperous,
becoming a powerful country like the foreigners.
“He should!”
“I believe our His Majesty will definitely approve our operation proposal this time!”
“His Majesty must also hope, like us, that our Empire becomes increasingly powerful!”
“Ever since those damned foreigners used guns and cannons and fleets to force open our gates, we have been pursuing change; our rise to this extent now is already quite remarkable!”
“So we won’t return to that era of backwardness, beatings, and being bullied by foreigners!”
After Iwane Matsui finished speaking, Masao Okamura, with drunkenness, gazed firmly and responded.
“Mm! I’ll take your auspicious words! Mr. Okamura!”
“Come! For our Empire’s prosperity and flourishing, cheers!”
Hearing Masao Okamura’s rather drunken speech, Iwane Matsui was equally emotionally excited, with drunkenness, and responded.
And he also raised his wine glass and clinked it with Masao Okamura’s.
“Good! Cheers!”
“For our Empire’s prosperity and flourishing!”
“We must work hard!”
“Mr. Matsui!”
Masao Okamura also became emotionally excited and excitedly clinked glasses with Iwane Matsui.
Then, he downed all the remaining wine in his glass in one go.
Then, the two of them continued clinking glasses several more times,
until both were dead drunk.
The next day, when the warm sun shone down from the sky onto the earth,
the two of them finally woke up in the tavern,
this tavern’s private room had been booked by them,
and seeing that they were both drunk, the tavern boss had someone cover them with blankets,
then let them spend the night there without disturbing them.
Just as the two of them had just woken up,
they saw personnel jointly dispatched by Prime Minister Reijiro Wakatsuki and Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu, Chief of Naval Operations.
“What!”
“You’re not deceiving us, are you?”
“His Majesty really agreed to us sending troops for the Shanghai Operation in China?”
After the visitors told Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura that their His Majesty had agreed to their operation proposal,
Iwane Matsui, trembling with excitement and exhilaration, widened his eyes and kept pressing the other party, asking.
And Masao Okamura beside him was similarly trembling with excitement all over, waiting for their response.
“Hai!”
“For the detailed situation, you two still need to go see Your Excellency the Prime Minister and the Chief of Naval Operations immediately!”
“We are just here to convey their words; we are not very clear on the other situations!”
But facing Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura’s excitement and exhilaration,
these messengers were full of anxiety and tension as they responded.
“Alright! Take me to see Your Excellency the Prime Minister and Your Excellency Prince Fushimi Hiroyasu right away!”
Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura nodded and agreed without hesitation.
At this moment, the elation in their hearts was simply indescribable.
It really excited and thrilled them too much.
“Hai!”
“Please follow us!”
“Major General Matsui and Major General Okamura!”
The messengers immediately agreed.
Immediately, Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura didn’t even bother to brush their teeth or wash their faces; they hurriedly followed these people, got into a car, and headed to the Prime Minister’s mansion.
That very night, Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura also shouted excitedly and boarded the warship heading back to the Northeast.
Because they had finally obtained the result they wanted; they could finally send troops for the Shanghai Operation.
They had to quickly bring this great news back to the Kwantung Army side and prepare the troops for the operation.
Although this time, the ones who superficially agreed to send troops for the operation were Your Excellency the Prime Minister and a large group of high-level figures, as well as high-level figures from the Army Department and Navy Department,
but they were very clear that without their His Majesty privately nodding in tacit approval, probably no one would dare to agree to such a major troop deployment matter.
Regarding Iwane Matsui and Masao Okamura, and the matter of them obtaining the result they wanted,
Zhou Wenhua at this moment knew nothing about it at all.
Anyway, for him, he was very clear about the outbreak time of the First Battle of Shanghai and what troops the Japanese Army would deploy, so he didn’t pay attention to these matters.
He now was researching the steel and machine tools for manufacturing firearms and mortars, as well as formulas and raw materials combinations for manufacturing new-style toys, and so on.
So he was also very busy.
Especially the issue of procuring steel raw materials, which troubled him even more.
