Chapter 573: Battle between Land and Sea

"I'm sorry, Minister Card, my rank is too low to make such a promise. Moreover, the Senkaku Islands are not just a few islands. It concerns the safety of the Miyako Strait and maritime border issues. So I cannot give you an answer now, but have to report to the government." said the Japanese diplomat.

As Card said, Japan could indeed not take the South Ryukyu Islands first, because Japan had never declared sovereignty before, but instead compromised with the Far Eastern Empire, creating an incongruous dichotomy.

This makes Japan psychologically believe that the Ryukyu Islands can be used for trading, rather than insisting that they are its own territory.

Therefore, Japanese diplomats were quite tempted by Card's proposal, but now that the matter had become a big deal, it was not easy to resolve. Could it be that they really had to fight a war for the South Ryukyu Islands and East Africa!

It would be fine if East Africa was really a weak country, but East Africa gives people the impression of a strong country that is not easy to mess with. After all, East Africa had serious conflicts with Britain and Portugal before. If Japan puts itself in East Africa's shoes, it will realize that it will definitely not be able to be as calm as East Africa.

Of course, East Africa has the support of Germany, especially the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This is an important factor that cannot be avoided. This is also what makes the Japanese envious and jealous. This kind of sense of achievement is truly rare.

The three major German countries are like three brothers. Of course, only Germany is more orthodox. But it is only more orthodox. After all, Prussia was not originally a part of Germany. The Germans in the Austro-Hungarian Empire were less than 30%, and East Africa was also too much. Even if all white people were counted as Germans, it would only be 50%. However, considering the comprehensive Germanization of East Africa and the fact that more than 70% of the population of marriageable age are intermarried, it is more convincing for East Africa to call itself a German country than the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

East Africa is more like the previous Austrian Empire. There was no sense of incongruity in the Austrian Empire led by Austrians participating in the affairs of the Holy Roman Empire. The situation in East Africa is almost the same now, and East Africa has cut off the hidden dangers of future national independence.

In short, the three German countries cannot represent Germany in essence. They are all mixed with other ethnic groups. East Africa is the worst, with direct hybridization of races. But now everyone considers themselves Germany, and what maintains the relationship between the three countries is culture and the aristocratic groups.

The most important of these is the aristocratic group. The relationship between the rulers is the main reason for maintaining the German culture in East Africa. For example, the largest ethnic group in the United States before was Germans, but the United States is indeed a true English-speaking country.

"Okay then, but I hope your government can give a quick reply. After all, my personal time is precious and I don't want to waste it on such things," Card said.

In Card's opinion, Japan does not need to fight to the death for the South Ryukyu Islands and East Africa. Even if East Africa does not intervene, there is still the Far East. It is not the turn of the Japanese to take advantage of this.

After all, at this time, the Far Eastern Empire still had some influence in the Far East region, and Japan's ability to become a great power in its previous life was mainly due to two wars, one was the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the other was the Russo-Japanese War.

Although Japan is now jumping around in the Far East and plotting against the Ryukyu Islands, the Korean Peninsula, and the Far Eastern Empire, it has no outstanding military achievements.

This is not the case in East Africa. Many countries that have fought against East Africa have been destroyed. Some people may say that Africans are not good at fighting, but the fact that East Africa was able to occupy such a large area of ​​territory and its war organization capabilities definitely fits people's stereotype of Germans.

In addition, East Africa defeated the Transvaal Republic and the Kingdom of Portugal, which were also white regimes, so East Africa's strength is at least considered a military power in the eyes of other countries.

Therefore, the East African people have a psychological sense of superiority over Japan. This is closely related to the influence of the European civilization-centrism of that era. In addition, Japan itself is very strong and has the ideal of "leaving Asia and joining Europe". Japan has a strong filter for all Western countries. Japan is still relatively blind when facing East Africa or all white countries, just like many people in the West in later generations who blindly and arrogantly believe in American-style freedom and democracy.

Freedom is freedom, but there is absolutely no freedom without money. Democracy was taken over by the United States after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was indeed very democratic, and this was true in terms of the system, but people are selfish and blindly follow others, so that Soviet-style democracy is unsustainable, unless all members of the Soviet Union are saints and selfless, which is obviously impossible.

The 19th century was the era of white people. Even their farts smelled good. And the black smoke from the chimneys of the industrial age was so intense that the Japanese couldn't help but inhale a few more breaths. Therefore, countries like East Africa, especially those with important ties to the two world powers, were not respected for their strength, but at least they would not be ostracized overseas.

Therefore, in the eyes of Japanese officials, Minister Kade was extremely arrogant, but the Japanese did not think that this arrogance was rude. Instead, it was justified and a manifestation of confidence in their own strength.

"Of course, we don't want to have a real conflict with East Africa. We hope that the two countries can take a step back and seek a solution that everyone can accept and put aside the dispute."

Kade: “That’s better.”

Soon, the Japanese government began to discuss the South Ryukyu Islands, also known as the Sakishima Islands in Japan.

"We must not give up the Senkaku Islands. East Africa is not the Far East Empire. If we give them to East Africa now, it will not be easy to take them back in the future."

"Eida Shoji, I understand your feelings, but the current situation is that the enemy is strong and we are weak. We must face up to the gap in strength between the two sides, and the Senkaku Islands are not worth our national destiny."

"Congressman Yamamoto is right. The East African Navy is a powerful navy ranked among the top ten in the world, and we may not be able to win even if we concentrate our national strength. It is not worth it to sacrifice the fate of the Imperial Navy for the ownership of the Senkaku Islands." said someone from the Navy Department.

The Japanese Navy did not want to fight to the death with the East African Navy because the East African Navy's data on paper was very strong and the Japanese Navy had no confidence in defeating the East African Navy.

And what would happen if they won? This was the most important issue for the Japanese Navy. Even if Japan could win, it would be a 100% miserable victory. Most of the East African Navy was in the Indian Ocean. Even if the East African Navy in the South Ryukyu Islands was annihilated, it would not cause much damage to East Africa.

The East African Navy has a strong ability to withstand pressure, but the Japanese Navy is not like that, because the Japanese Navy has a competitor, that is the Japanese Army. If the Japanese Navy suffers huge losses, then the group of "red deer" in the Army will have to ride on their heads and shit for the next ten years. This is what the Japanese Navy cannot accept the most.

The spokesman of the Army Department saw through the Navy's thoughts and said provocatively: "It seems that some people only know how to use the Empire's taxpayers' money to enjoy coffee and Western food, but cannot guarantee the interests of the Empire. I think it would be better for us to manage the Navy's funds so that they can be used in the right way."

"Ichiro Tsuruo, you are slandering us. The budget of the Imperial Navy is pitifully small. Look at our ships, they are two generations behind those of East Africa. This is the reason why the Empire cannot deal with East Africa in the Senkaku Islands. Are we going to use fishing boats and East Africa like Gao Shao Morita? Moreover, without our navy, your army will only be able to bully others at home. It is still up to our navy to expand the territory. So in my opinion, your army is the most useless department. You should reduce military spending and provide the Empire with more warships."

(End of this chapter)