Consulate General of Japan, Principality of Montenegro.
Lu Mingzheng was having a secret conversation with Prime Minister Ashikaga, and they were the only two people in the reception room.
Prime Minister Ashikaga had a vague misunderstanding. The queen's fiancé, said to be called Lu Jun, was the brother of Prince Montenegro. He was clearly the prince of Montenegro. Even regardless of the tone of his words, His Highness did not hide anything.
However, it is clear that Prince Heishanbao has been touring Shengjing, Heishan Region and some capitals of the Montenegrin Principality and the Autonomous Territory in the past few days, enjoying themselves with the people and celebrating the New Year.
You can't ask or mention these things. Everyone just plays their role through the window paper.
The day after tomorrow is the Queen's wedding day.
The man in front of him, no matter who his true identity is, will officially become the regent of Japan. Now, he is proposing the rights and obligations of the regent.
Prime Minister Ashikaga just listened. According to the future regent, his authority was more symbolic.
But whether he becomes the commander-in-chief of Japan's three armed forces, or has the final veto power on various cabinet matters, parliamentary meetings, etc., if he really exercises power, he is the real leader of Japan's southern government.
"As for me, my first goal is to promote the establishment of the North-South coalition government. Yamamoto Xiong still recognizes the queen as the head of the Kingdom of Japan. I hope that he can also accept the legitimacy of my regency."
Prime Minister Ashikaga felt a little relieved. It would be difficult for Yamamoto Xiong to recognize the regent as the supreme commander of his army and have the final decision-making power on various state affairs, even in name only.
Moreover, from the perspective of radical organizations in the Kansai region, they believe that the queen's marriage to the younger brother of Prince Montenegro was coerced and was a great shame for all Japanese people. Recently, the Security Committee has uncovered several cases of people who wanted to sabotage weddings or even assassinate the regent. Conspiracies, these are spontaneous actions of radical organizations, not planned by Yamamoto.
Yamamoto Xiong has not expressed his position on this matter, and he does not know what big event he is planning.
"Old Prime Minister, nowadays, I think what the Japanese people need is peaceful development. I hope we can all put aside our prejudices and look towards the future." Lu Ming said with a smile.
Prime Minister Ashikaga nodded: "Yes, but I'm afraid Yamamoto doesn't think so."
Lu Ming smiled and said, "You are right. He has been frequently communicating with the Sonia people through secret messages recently. He is probably planning to find an opportunity to stab us in the back. Therefore, we must also be prepared for war."
…
The extremely quiet tea room of All Saints Palace, with swaying green pines and cypresses outside and dripping water from the bamboo tubes, is full of Zen feeling.
Tomorrow is the wedding ceremony. Lu Ming was sipping tea and thinking about something.
Nowadays, the Sonia people are accelerating the armorization of the army. If their senior leaders want to attack the West Montenegro Fort, they must have achieved the goal of equipping more armored troops.
The military police regiment he leads will also become one of the armored regiments in the Western Region.
Judging from the process, it probably takes about half a year of training for these armored units to truly form mature combat effectiveness.
During this period, Yamamoto Xiong should not provoke any provocation, but once the Sonia and the Principality of Montenegro go to war, he will definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble.
As the situation develops, now Japan's North-South balance strategy also needs to be changed.
Truly turning Japan into a slave state, where in the event of a world-class war, slave troops can be mobilized to assist our own operations, is a goal that I hope to achieve within a few years.
Then, if Yamamoto Yu refuses to submit, he will be completely defeated, and during this period, it is urgent to develop and strengthen the pro-Montenegro forces in Japan's political and military circles.
Of course, it would be best if Yamamoto agreed to form a coalition government and accept the reorganization of his army, but there is little hope.
Thinking about it, Lu Ming looked at Yuezhao, who was sitting quietly on her knees opposite the tea seat. She was wearing a pink kimono, and the queen's solemn elegance was a little more delicate.
The ceremony will begin early tomorrow morning, so Lu Ming will stay here tonight.
"I am ready to completely defeat the Yamamoto Group, what do you think?" Lu Ming suddenly asked.
Yuezhao nodded gently: "Army
Yuezhao doesn't understand national affairs, but her husband makes the decision. "
Lu Ming smiled, "It's still far from dark, I'm going for a walk, will you come?"
"Leaving the palace?" Yuezhao was slightly startled and whispered: "Yuezhao has never left the All Saints Palace since she was a baby."
Lu Ming nodded: "There will be opportunities in the future, but today, well, you can rest. The wedding is tomorrow, and it is not good for us to appear in front of the public together today."
"Yes." Yuezhao agreed softly.
…
The future regent, who was to get married tomorrow, suddenly appeared in teahouses, soup houses, etc. near the Palace of All Saints, which immediately caused a sensation.
The regent is very approachable. Unlike the royal family, which is always mysterious and noble, the regent is very close to the people, asking about people's sufferings and promising to help people solve problems of concern.
When preparing to take the bus, the Prince Regent was already surrounded by enthusiastic citizens on three levels outside.
In the end, for the sake of the Prince Regent's safety, the guards of the Prince Regent had to stop the Prince Regent's plan to take the bus to experience it.
The regent left after delivering a speech to the people. The regent's Japanese was very proficient, which aroused warm applause from the people.
The Prince Regent promised in his speech that he would live like an ordinary citizen in the future, often visiting the vegetable market, and often using public transportation facilities to go to public places. Only in this way can he know what kind of life our citizens need. During his regency, he will Efforts to improve the national economy and people's livelihood, etc.
The citizens present cheered with excitement.
Of course, the queen is a god, and it is good to be aloof, but the regent will undoubtedly satisfy a lot of the people's emotional sustenance and become the liaison between gods and civilians. This future situation is exciting to think about.
…
In the evening, at a restaurant near the Palace of All Saints, guards stood guard outside.
Lu Ming hosted a banquet for the commanders of various front armies of the southern government.
They are all here to attend the Queen's wedding ceremony tomorrow.
Although the future regent will not officially become the commander-in-chief of the three armed forces until after tomorrow's ceremony, the Japanese generals have already called the future regent "His Royal Highness the Regent", or "His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief", and of course, "His Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief" This title is probably limited to tonight only. It is a way for several generals to express their support and recognize that His Royal Highness the Regent is their supreme commander from now on.
After the wedding tomorrow, there will be no need to use such strange names.
The younger brother of the Prince of Montenegro and the number two figure in the Principality of Montenegro, this status is actually higher than that of the regent in terms of authority and controllable power.
There are twenty-eight territories in Japan. Currently, the Southern Government occupies fourteen territories, but the three most important territories of Gyeonggi, Gyeongzuo, and Gyeongright are controlled by the South. Therefore, the total population of the Southern Government has reached more than 60 million, accounting for 10% of the population of Japan. Two thirds.
The Northern Yamamoto Group occupies fourteen territories, but the twelve territories belong to the Kansai region with barren land and a total population of about 30 million.
The military strength of both sides is almost the same. Yamamoto Xiong's group has fifteen divisions and nearly 300,000 troops.
Although the southern government has twice the population of the north and occupies most of the wealthy areas, it still has fifteen divisions and about 300,000 troops.
If this development continues, the Kansai Group may soon be financially stretched. However, the Kansai people are hardworking and probably accustomed to a militaristic life.
The queen's wedding, the division commanders of the fifteen divisions in the south were all invited, fourteen of them came, and now they are all sitting in this restaurant.
On both sides of the long table, seven Japanese generals were kneeling on each side.
The first one from the left is Lu Ming's old friend Kawamoto Shigeyoshi, who is now the commander of the First Division and the lord of the Oyue Autonomous Territory.
The grievances and resentments between the Principality of Montenegro and the Aoyue people are mixed.
But if the Oyue Division had not received help from the Principality of Montenegro, it would have completely perished in a foreign country.
However, what His Royal Highness the Regent just said caused the generals present to fall silent.
"Right now, I'm not the commander-in-chief. I'm just your old friend. I'm here to serve as the commander-in-chief.
At the time of the incident, I was in contact with all of you, so we chatted without any taboos. What I said definitely did not represent my advice as the commander-in-chief, so I didn’t think too hard. I’m sorry if I was wrong. Lu Ming said with a smile.
Lu Ming was talking about the current ills of Japan. The autonomous territories are independent, including the military. Therefore, the society has been in a state of fragmentation without a strong unified government. If this continues, it is obviously not suitable for the social development of the new era.
"Local autonomy is the traditional political model of our empire, and it also promotes freedom of thought and the development of science and technology. However, the local ownership of the army has also caused the current division of the empire."
Looking at the expressions of the generals, Lu Ming smiled and said: "Of course, don't worry, everyone, I have always been a supporter of local autonomy. Based on the Japanese tradition, I have no interest in unifying the order of the army and completely abolishing local military forces. It is not that Completely reduce the military power in your hands."
His Highness the Regent's words were very straightforward, but they also made all the generals feel a little relieved.
"However, Prime Minister Ashikaga and I have also discussed that in order to truly defeat Yamamoto Yu, we still need to organize the Central Defense Force and expand it into five main divisions based on the current two main divisions, with about 100,000 troops. Montenegro Congress appointed a military advisory group to the Central Military Commission."
Listening to Lu Ming's words, the generals had different expressions.
Kawamoto Shigeyoshi nodded: "His Royal Highness the Regent is indeed far-sighted. In fact, from our point of view, it seems that we are all commanders-in-chief and have our own private armed forces. But in fact, as technology updates and weapons iterate, we do not have a strong central army. Everyone is not safe. Every civil war triggered by a conflict will be very costly. It is different from the past. In previous wars, we usually did not have the strength and determination to conquer the other side, but it is different now, so we retain our own arms. , It’s all about drinking poison to quench thirst, because the defeat of the war is not just a matter of negotiating peace and paying some price, but it may lead to the tragedy of genocide.”
Kawamoto Shigeyoshi glanced at everyone, "Therefore, I firmly support His Highness the Regent's idea of expanding the Central Army. Our elite troops can be recruited by the Prince into the Central Army for reorganization. After that, our division will be reduced to about 10,000 people. , in fact, we can only retain the security force of a few thousand people, but everything should be done slowly and step by step."
Lu Ming smiled and said nothing, but looked at the generals present.
With Shigeyoshi Kawamoto taking the lead, His Royal Highness the Regent was obviously waiting for a statement, and several other division commanders spoke in support.
But the remaining seven or eight local division commanders remained silent. Moreover, among these people, many division commanders were not lords, but close associates and relatives of the lord. They could not make the decision on such a major event.
[In view of the general environment,
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Okay, that's what I think. Come on, drink. Tomorrow is a big event in my life. Let's not discuss such serious issues."
The atmosphere in the hall relaxed, blessings continued, and laughter gradually made the atmosphere more lively.
