Chapter 897 The End of the Far East War
While East Africa was carrying out a massive national construction, the Far East was in the midst of war. Although it had the support of East Africa, the performance of the Far Eastern Imperial Navy was still very unsatisfactory. You must know that the Far Eastern Imperial Navy at that time was even stronger than the same period in history, but it was difficult to open up the situation in the face of the treacherous Japanese Navy.
Not only the Far Eastern Empire was feeling uncomfortable, but the Japanese government was also feeling uncomfortable. After all, the Far Eastern Empire Navy was larger in scale and had an additional navy. Even if the quality of the Japanese naval personnel was higher, it would be difficult to break the situation in a short period of time. The rising military expenditure became a haze that lingered in the mind of the Japanese government all the time.
"Baka, the Imperial Navy has been slow to make a breakthrough, which is a disgrace to the Imperial soldiers. Your Navy has no Bushido spirit at all, otherwise the war would not have been dragged on until now, and so much military expenditure every year is just wasted!"
In order to end the war as soon as possible, Japan formulated an arrogant plan shortly after the outbreak of the war, which was to land in Zhili and force the Qing government to surrender by attacking the capital of the Far East Empire.
The first step of this plan was to capture and control Lushun and Weihaiwei at the mouth of Bohai Bay and completely destroy the Beiyang Fleet to prevent it from interfering with the landing operation and to serve as a springboard for the landing operation.
The Japanese Navy leaders certainly could not tolerate the army's incompetent duties: "The Far Eastern Empire Navy's military expenditure and ship expenditure far exceed ours. It is already an extraordinary performance that our navy can tie with the Far Eastern Empire. Your army is not much better. The advancement speed on the Korean Peninsula is so slow..."
"Assholes, if your navy hadn't been afraid of us making a contribution and hadn't tampered with the transport ship, we would have invaded the Far East Empire from land long ago! You naval idiots..."
After all, the Japanese Navy did act unkindly this time, so it ultimately lost the argument. At the same time, because of this experience, the top Japanese Army officials became more determined to build their own warships in the future. They would not be restrained by these naval idiots. The Japanese Navy and Army retained the tradition of infighting and will further carry it forward.
"Okay, stop arguing! Now that the war is deteriorating, the whole country should be united instead of blaming anyone. Now talk about how to deal with the aftermath!" The Japanese Emperor said in pretended anger.
"Hmph..." The generals from the navy and the army glared at each other angrily.
"Your Majesty, I think we have indeed underestimated the strength of the Far Eastern Empire before. As a region in East Asia, the Far Eastern Empire still has considerable strength, which is why this war did not achieve the expected results." Ito Hirobumi said.
"Before the war, our strategy was to directly threaten the Far Eastern Empire and Korea from both the sea and land. But now it seems that as a latecomer, Japan is inevitably powerless in the face of the huge Far Eastern Empire. So the next focus should be on the Korean Peninsula."
The Japanese government obviously did not consider the Far Eastern Empire as its opponent, but it had to admit that it did not have the ability to annex the Far Eastern Empire at present.
"Moreover, the war cannot continue to be stalemated, otherwise countries like Tsarist Russia will definitely not be able to hold back, so we must ensure that this war does not end in a loss, and we cannot get too entangled with the Far Eastern Empire."
Japan is very wary of the great powers. After all, Japan knows very well why the war was tacitly approved by the great powers. They are just a knife in the hands of the great powers. If the knife cannot play its role, Japan will probably be abandoned by the great powers.
The Japanese Emperor agreed with the Prime Minister's statement: "In this case, the navy and the army must go all out to conquer Korea first, so that we can get out of the quagmire of war in time. If we compete with the Far Eastern Empire in terms of consumption, it will be greatly disadvantageous to our country."
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As the Japanese government changed its strategy, the war situation changed abruptly. First, the Far Eastern Empire's troops stationed in Korea felt great pressure, while conversely, the pressure on the navy suddenly decreased.
However, the Japanese Navy did not give up completely. It launched a wave of offensives in the winter and fought a fierce battle with the Far Eastern Empire Navy in the Yellow Sea. Although it did not destroy the Far Eastern Empire's Beiyang Fleet, it also suffered heavy damage.
This also made the Beiyang leader within the Far East Imperial Government feel extremely frightened. He ordered the Beiyang Navy to defend instead of attack and not to engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese Navy in order to preserve its strength.
After the Far Eastern Empire Navy retreated, the Japanese Navy did not continue to pursue the victory as it did in history. After all, the Far Eastern Empire Navy was still very powerful.
Japan then launched a full-scale attack on Korea from both land and sea. The Far Eastern Imperial Army suffered a series of defeats, and in September Japan advanced to the Pyongyang area by land.
Japan then fought a decisive battle with the Far Eastern Imperial Army here. On September 20, the Far Eastern Imperial Army was defeated and withdrew from Pyongyang.
In early October, Japan advanced to the "Two Rivers Basin" and both sides stopped their offensive because the "Two Rivers" was a red line set by the great powers before the war.
With the end of the war, the Far Eastern Empire completely withdrew from the Korean Peninsula. At this time, Japan and the Far Eastern Empire signed an armistice agreement in Pyongyang.
The reason for choosing Pyongyang was that the Japanese government was worried about interference from the great powers. After all, this war would be a "lose-lose" situation for both the Far Eastern Empire and Japan. Although there was a gain in Korea, it was far from meeting Japan's pre-war psychological expectations.
Finally, in early December, the armistice agreement officially came into effect, and the Far Eastern Empire paid 20 million taels of silver in compensation to the Japanese government, while recognizing Japan's de facto occupation of Korea.
Although, due to various reasons, the Far Eastern Empire still ended in failure in this war, it was much stronger than the same period in history.
As for Japan, in order to make up for the losses in the war, it could only rule Korea more cruelly than at the same time in history. After all, the benefits it gained from the Far Eastern Empire this time were too little and not enough to cover the military expenditures of the Japanese Navy.
The great powers only received the news after Japan negotiated peace with the Far Eastern Empire. East Africa was relatively satisfied with the result. After all, whether North Korea lived or died would not affect East Africa's interests in the Far East at all.
Although Britain and the United States were somewhat dissatisfied with the development of the war, they could barely accept it. After all, the main purpose of this war was to strike at the Far Eastern Imperial Government and prevent the expansion of Tsarist Russian forces in the Far Eastern Empire.
As for Tsarist Russia, it only hated Japan. After all, in its eyes, everything Japan ate up was its "share".
The outcome of the war between the Far Eastern Empire and Japan still had certain "positive" significance. The performance of the two countries' navies met their strength standards, at least better than that of some pretentious countries, and was above the passing line. This led to the great powers having to admit that the naval strength of the two countries met the standards of great powers, at least at the same level as Türkiye, Spain and other countries.
In fact, it may be a little stronger than the East African Navy, but the East African Navy has the record of a draw with the British Royal Navy. Even for the sake of its own face, Britain will not say that the East African Navy is too bad. After all, world public opinion is in the hands of Britain.
Another result of this Far Eastern War was that Japan half-stepped into the ranks of the great powers and replaced Spain as the goalkeeper of the great powers. After all, although the Far Eastern Empire had poor combat effectiveness, it had always been among the "great powers", and there were only a handful of countries in the world that could defeat the Far Eastern Empire.
The fact that Japan was able to defeat such a big country, although it was only a small victory, was enough to gain recognition from European and American countries.
The "corruption" within the Far Eastern Empire's army was further recognized by the great powers. If nothing unexpected happened, the external situation faced by the Far Eastern Empire in the future would only become more and more serious. However, only Ernst knew that the Far Eastern Empire's situation was much better than the same period in history.
(End of this chapter)
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