Dominate the Country

In recent days, Tokugawa Iemochi has been in a very good mood. Everything has been settled. The shogunate has also successfully issued 500 million yuan of national debt in China, which is directly backed by China's central bank. The sales in the market are very good.

Tokugawa Iemochi, who landed at Shimonoseki Wharf ten days ago, has been very comfortable these days. He is the most important vassal leader who came to the ceremony. It can be said that he has high-level banquet invitations every day. Tokugawa Iemochi has never returned to the State Guesthouse before midnight every day. Therefore, he always sleeps until dawn these days. It can be said that he sleeps lazily until he wakes up naturally.

Tokugawa Iemochi still got up from bed at 8:30 today. After having breakfast with his wife who arrived in China together, it was almost nine o'clock. This is just like usual. Tokugawa Iemochi's figure cannot be seen in the front yard of his residence before nine o'clock in the morning.

Chen Han's state guesthouse is not a high-rise luxury hotel outside. The luxurious villas with their own doors and courtyards, and the mansions of various countries are like beauties, quietly sitting by the Xuanwu Lake.

The guards and attendants of the shogunate are waiting freely in the front yard. These days, not only Tokugawa Iemochi is comfortable, but they are also very comfortable.

The chief attendant Ando Tadamisu was sitting in the front hall reading a newspaper, but saw Sakai Tadashi running over with sweat on his head.

"Where is the general? Where is the general?"

Sakai Tadashi asked Ando Tadashi anxiously, and looked around in the courtyard.

"The general may still be eating. Mr. Sakai, you are so anxious to come here, is there anyone protesting again?"

Since Japan officially announced that it would attack the Merina Kingdom on the island of Madagascar, the Japanese government has always received letters of protest from Europeans, whether it is Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, or Spain, all claiming that Japan's move has damaged their interests on the island of Madagascar.

"Protest? That's not the case, but the special envoy sent by His Majesty the Emperor has arrived at the embassy and will come to see the general soon. Now that the general has not appeared, the people who come may have to wait."

Sakai Tadashi said with a wry smile. He knew very well what the general thought of the Chrysanthemum Family. If the general did not care about the protests from Britain, France and other countries and had no respect, then he could be said to have ignored the Chrysanthemum Family. So yesterday he reminded Tokugawa Iemochi that the special envoy of the Chrysanthemum Family would come today, hoping that Tokugawa Iemochi would not forget this matter.

Although the Kikuka family does not have any power in Japan, and even if its reputation has fallen a lot in recent years, the Kikuka family is still nominally a symbol of Japan, and the emperor above the shogun. Sakai Tadashibu does not have any respect for the Kikuka family, but just hopes that Tokugawa Iemochi will not go too far.

Today, the special envoy sent by the emperor has arrived. It is the head of the Konoe family, Konoe Motozen-no-kō. Although the Konoe family's territory is only a small 3,000 koku, which is not as good as that of a daimyō family elder, its status in the court is indeed very high. From generation to generation, there have been high-ranking officials of the first, second, and second ranks, although these high-ranking officials have no real power.

Konoe Motozen-no-kō's father died early, but his wife is Kotohime, the adopted daughter of Tokugawa Munemichi, the lord of Owari Domain.

In a sense, this identity is more important than his current status as the emperor's special envoy.

At that time, it was already past half past eight, and Sakai Tadashibu saw that Tokugawa Iemochi had not appeared yet, and he felt something was wrong. He arranged for Konoe Motozen to rest first, and then he got on the carriage and ran to Tokugawa Iemochi's state guesthouse. Sure enough, the general was still enjoying his breakfast in this small courtyard.

Sakai Tadashi was a diplomatic official, and the most important thing about diplomatic affairs was this etiquette.

Now the general was clearly trying to neglect the special envoy of the Chrysanthemum Family, and Sakai Tadashi had to come over in person to take a look and ask, so that the general could end this "little action" as soon as possible, because he felt that this matter embarrassed him and it would be embarrassing if outsiders knew about it.

Now there are so many vassal states and foreign envoys in Nanjing City, and now the embarrassment will be directly thrown to the whole world.

After all, as the head horse of China, Japan's weight and status are still very important, and no country inside or outside can completely ignore Japan.

Sakai Tadashi wanted to go into the backyard, but Ando Tadamisu didn't let him in. When the two were doing Tai Chi, they heard the general's shouting from the yard.

"Tadamitsu, call Sakai over, just in time to give me some advice."

Both Ando Tadamisu and Sakai Tadatsune have very close relationships with Tokugawa Iemochi, and Tokugawa Iemochi speaks very casually.

After entering the wing room, Sakai Tadatsune found that the general had finished his meal. There was a thick newspaper on the tatami in front of him. This was a manor with very Japanese characteristics. Tokugawa Iemochi called him "staff officer" and he really meant "staff officer".

This morning, some newspapers in Nanjing City have published news about the special envoy of the Chrysanthemum family.

Sakai Tadatsune sighed, this is at least a serious matter. The general's wife has made room. She is also very busy. She came to Nanjing from Edo, and many places are waiting for her to visit. She is not without acquaintances in Nanjing. Let's not talk about China, just talk about Japan. There are not as many Japanese businessmen in Nanjing as in Shanghai and Ningbo, but there are still many, and their net worth is generally high, which is very rare for the general's wife.

Tokugawa Iemo was lazy in the mansion until half past nine before leaving. As he walked, he said disapprovingly to the anxious Sakai Tadushin: "Given the current situation, is it possible for the shogunate and the Chrysanthemum family to coexist peacefully?"

Tokugawa Iemo's question was so rude that Sakai Tadushin choked.

"There is a fundamental conflict of interest between the shogunate and the Juhua family. There is an old saying in China that there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests. As long as the conflict of interests between the shogunate and the Juhua family continues, it will be impossible for both sides to make peace." Previous article For two hundred years, the Tokugawa shogunate and the Juhua family had a harmonious relationship. The nominal Tokugawa shogunate also gave the Juhua family a lot of salary, so that the Juhua family finally had something to eat and some new clothes to wear.

But since the Tokugawa shogunate changed its attitude towards China and began to secretly peek at the throne, the contradiction between the two sides became irreconcilable.

"Master General Junjian! There are many envoys inside and outside the capital. If someone finds out about this, it will probably not look good on your face."

Tadashi Sakai would only think about the merger of public and military affairs when his balls hurt. With the support of China, the military family could swallow them all up. All he wants is a face-saving job. Japan is seeking to become a world-class power. If even domestic politics is messed up, the international impact will be really bad.

This is like the envoys of the Holy See and the envoys of France coming together. No matter how dissatisfied the Holy See is with France, for the sake of face, both parties will definitely not be 'disgraced'.

Tadashi Sakai analyzed it carefully, but his answer did not satisfy Tokugawa Iemo.

…

The midday sun shines on the black Ukrainian soil. The fertile black soil seems to have a layer of grease after reflecting the sunlight.

Chernomyrdin bent down, grabbed a handful of dirt from under the barbed wire fence support, put it to his nose and smelled it. This is the taste of hometown. The outcome of this war is still unknown, and he really doesn't know if he can still smell this smell in the future.

The cold current from the south of the Arctic Ocean shrouded the northern part of Eurasia in a world of ice and snow, but as prisoners of war, Chernomyrdin and the others had to work hard despite the severe cold.

They were building a roadbed, and the area between the two barbed wire fences on the left and right was the road surface. Although the work efficiency is not high, the project is always progressing bit by bit. Chernomyrdin and the others would be exhausted every day, and naturally they would have no time or energy to resort to counterattacks. This is also one of the management strategies of Chen Han Prisoner of War Camp.

It had just snowed a few days ago, and the soil was as hard as pig iron, but after peeling off the outer layer, the black soil underneath still exuded a faint earthy smell. Although he is not a farmer, Chernomyrdin can tell that the soil is extremely fertile. If you cultivate this black land, you will get something as long as you are willing to work hard and sweat. His family has lived on this land for hundreds of years, and those lowly serfs have produced food, timber, livestock, dairy products and other wealth for their family year after year. At this point, it makes no difference whether this land is ruled by Russia or the Chinese.

Chernomyrdin was a very trendy person. He did not value land, but was very interested in new factories and new industries. If he had been the head of the family, Chernomyrdin would have sold all the land and used the money to open a machinery factory in St. Petersburg. But he is not the head of the family, and he is not even his father's eldest son, so he can only watch his grandfather, father, and other elders holding on to the land without searching. Chernomyrdin was once very disgusted with the land, but now he is not disgusted at all. He loves this land to death.

The Chinese fought westward from Rostov and launched an offensive along the north coast of the Sea of ​​Azov. They captured Taganrog, and their footsteps stopped at Taganrog. Chernomyrdin's hometown is Taganrog. He was captured on the battlefield. The only thing he was fortunate about was that his relatives had already left Taganrog when Rostov fell for the first time.

Why do I always have tears in my eyes?

Because I love this land deeply...

Chernomyrdin did not know that Ai Qing existed more than a hundred years later, nor did he know about "I Love This Land", otherwise he would have made Ai Qing his confidant.

However, the fertile black soil of Ukraine is really jealous of the top officials of the Chen Han government. This is simply another Northeast. After these years of development, the amount of food, raw materials, and various metals that the Northeast can produce each year is an astronomical figure.

And Ukraine is also a black land. This kind of land can really produce oil. As long as you work hard, you can use this black land to feed hundreds of millions of people. It's a pity that Chen Han really doesn't have the ability to win the entire Ukraine now. Otherwise, this issue would have been discussed heatedly in China long ago, even if Ukraine belongs to Russia’s ‘inviolable’ interests.

Who makes land too precious in the eyes of the Chinese people? Moreover, if you don't get such a good piece of land, it will be an advantage to the enemy.

With complicated thoughts, Chernomyrdin sat down with his back against the barbed wire support, rubbing the handful of soil with his hands until all the soil turned into fine particles. He clapped his hands and looked back.

Taganrog, his hometown, a city on the Azov Sea, is also the bridgehead used by the Chinese to attack Donetsk.

Yes, winter is coming, and large-scale fighting has stopped. In the past, the Chinese offensive against Donetsk did not yield successful results. They put more energy into stabilizing the empty North Caucasus.

Rostov is on the west side of the North Caucasus. Only when the rear is well taken care of can the Chinese fight boldly in Ukraine.

As a Russian army officer, Chernomyrdin knew that the Chinese had not given up on Donetsk, or they had not given up on the Donbass coalfield.

The Donbass coalfield should now be called the Donbass Industrial Zone, where guns and ammunition are provided to the Russian Empire every minute and every second.

After the Siberian and Ural Mountain ironmaking bases were destroyed by the Chinese, Donetsk was one of Russia's newly built military industrial zones. It is an ideal heavy industrial zone because it has the richest coal resources in the entire Northeast Europe. There is no shortage of iron ore, which is a completely unique place.

In today's Russian Empire, Donetsk is its most important coal metallurgical base and one of the major military production bases.

The Chinese certainly hope to destroy this area, while Russia and the entire coalition are determined to defend it.

It can be predicted that next year, this area will be in flames and corpses will be everywhere.

Chernomyrdin is not worried about the war next year, as he will leave here soon. The roadbed here has basically been repaired, and Chernomyrdin and his team need to move to the next construction site.

Thinking of this, Chernomyrdin couldn't help but turn his head and look to the right. It was a prisoner-of-war camp, which was also his current "home".

This prisoner-of-war camp was located in the southwest of Taganrog, not far from the city of Taganrog, but quite far from the front-line positions. Their "special cars" have arrived. In the past few days, dozens of large carts have been dispatched one after another, pulled by four draft horses, and each car can hold dozens of people.

And the prisoner-of-war camp where he was was just one of many prisoner-of-war camps. There were only a thousand prisoners of war in total, which was really something that could be handled by thirty or forty carriages.

Although this prisoner-of-war camp looks small, its facilities are very complete. Not only are there trenches, watchtowers and barbed wire, but there are also special wells and reservoirs. The wooden cells are also very solidly built. If the prisoners of war were transported elsewhere, this place could at least be slightly tidied up and become a standard camp.

It can be seen that the Chinese invested a lot in this war. It is expensive to build such camps one by one.