Chapter 33 Divided opinions among Japanese

Before Jingyuan could reach a consensus, Vice Consul Goto of the Japanese Consulate General in Tianjin approached the door the next day.They knew everything about my going to the Japanese barracks.The Consulate General stated that they fully understand my mood and situation, but I had better proceed with caution and not leave Tianjin now; they have the duty of protection, so they have to give this advice. From that day on, the Vice Consul Goto either came to see me directly, or approached Chen Baochen's uncle and nephew or Zheng Xiaoxu and his son to dissuade me.On the other hand, Yoshida, the interpreter of the Japanese military garrison, repeatedly told me that the Japanese military was determined to support me in taking office, and that I had better leave immediately.

At this time, I had a new view on Japan's military and political parties, and my views differed from those of Chen Baochen and his group.Chen Baochen has always believed that it is only right and proper for literati to govern, so he is only willing to contact Minister Yoshizawa of Japan, and his nephew is only willing to communicate with the consulate and the politicians in Tokyo.At this time, he insisted that if the Tokyo side did not express, do not listen to the soldiers.I take a different view. I believe that it is not Japanese politicians but soldiers who can determine my fate now.I don't have any profound insights and intelligence, I can see it from the facts at present.I saw that the Japanese declared diplomatically that they were ready to resolve the Sino-Japanese dispute with the Nanjing government through peaceful means, while the Kwantung Army continued to advance all the way, attacking the retreating Chinese army.Although I didn't quite understand at the time that this and Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei were clamoring to resist while ceding the country to the enemy, they were originally two-faced tactics used to deceive the world, but I could see that it was the Japanese soldiers who decided the problem.Chen Baochen pointed out that the ambiguous attitude of the international powers can be considered, which is also different from my feeling.Not many days after I visited the Japanese barracks, Brigadier General Niu Zhande, the commander of the British Army stationed in Tianjin, suddenly came to Jingyuan for a visit.He expressed his personal congratulations on the opportunity brought about by the September 18th Incident, and said: If Your Majesty can regain the throne in the great Manchuria, Niu Zhande, His Majesty's servant, is willing to serve as a soldier under the Dragon Banner.These words made me believe even more in Zheng Xiaoxu's news that the British side favored Japan.After Niu Zhande’s visit, Johnston also reunited with me suddenly after a long absence. According to him, this time he was representing the British Foreign Office to handle the remaining issues of the Geng payment and the return of Weihaiwei, and he came to visit me by the way.He expressed his happiness for my future, and asked me to write a preface for his book "Twilight in the Forbidden City". He said that he would add a chapter at the end of the book called Dragon Return to Hometown.

The news that Liu Xiangye and Tong Jixu successively brought from the Northeast is also an encouragement to me.Tong Jixu came back first and said that he met Yuan Jinkai, the widow in Shenyang, and others, and they all thought that the time had come, so there was no need to hesitate.Then Liu Xiangye also came. Although it was a bit disappointing that he didn't get to meet Yasuya Uchida and Shigeru Honjo, he saw Itagaki and Jin Liang, which confirmed that Luo Zhenyu and Kamikaku Riichi were not lying.Jin Liang was particularly optimistic about him: everything in Fengtian is complete, only waiting for Chengyu to come to luck.He has also been to Jilin and confirmed that what Luo Zhenyu said is true, the Japanese army has controlled the entire province, and Xiqia and others are ready to respond to restoration at any time.

In addition to these, some rumors that appeared at the time also made me hasten to leave.At that time, the news in the Tianjin press was very well-informed. The news of my going to the Japanese barracks quickly spread to the society. Some newspapers even reported that I had arrived in the Northeast by boat.At the same time, rumors came out of nowhere that the Chinese were going to do something against me.Therefore, I feel that I cannot stay in Tianjin any longer. I sent Zheng Chui to call on the Japanese Consul General Kuwashima, and said that since the time did not come, I would not necessarily go to Fengtian all the time, but I might as well live in Lushun temporarily, which is safer than Tianjin.Sang Dao immediately said that there was no need to go to Lushun.He asked Zheng Chui to tell me that Uchida Yasuya, the president of the Manchurian Railway, also disagreed with my departure now. Uchida is a senior in the Japanese political circle, and the Japanese military department respects him, so it is better to proceed cautiously. As for safety, he is willing to take responsibility. full responsibility.Finally, he said that he wanted to exchange opinions with the commander of the garrison army, Xiangshii.The next day, the vice-consul came to Zheng Chui and said that Sang Dao and Xiangshii had discussed it, and they agreed that I should leave Tianjin now.

I was so bewildered by the news that I had to call in the interpreter from the headquarters in order to ascertain the truth.Unexpectedly, Yoshida's answer was that the so-called consultation between the consul general and the commander was not the case at all. Commander Kashii suggested that I immediately follow Kashikori.He gave me an idea that I would write a letter to the headquarters in my own hand and tell him my determination to leave.I wrote this letter in a daze.But somehow, the Japanese Consul General found out again, and quickly came to Chen Baochen and Zheng Xiaoxu to find out if there was such a thing. Is the letter real or fake?

I am very angry at this kind of friction between the Japanese military and political circles, but I have nothing to do.At this time, Liu Xiangye, who went to the Northeast for the second time, sent a letter, saying that he had found out the true meaning of the Kwantung Army Commander Benzhuang: Now the three provinces in the Northeast have not yet been fully controlled.Now that the supreme authority that decides fate has made such an indication, I can only obey and wait. Since then, I have somewhat understood that not only were there differences of opinion between the consulate in Tianjin and the garrison army, but even the internal pace of the Kwantung Army was not in sync.I couldn’t help but worry about certain phenomena: the former Prince Gong Puwei offered sacrifices to Shenyang Beiling under the protection of the Japanese; the Northeast Local Maintenance Association appeared in Liaoning Province; News of the whereabouts of Duan Qirui, the former ruler of the Republic of China, appeared in the newspapers again, and it was rumored that the Japanese would use him to organize the northern regime.If I knew at that time that the Japanese once wanted to use Duan Qirui, another time to use the empty shelf of the Northeast Administrative Committee, and another time to use Pu Wei to build the Mingguang Empire (this will be known soon), and other terrible ideas , I feel even more uncomfortable.

After I gave Luo Zhenyu and Shang Jiaoli a reply that they would not be traveling for the time being, I spent days like years waiting for news.While waiting, I issued decrees in succession, asking my nephews Xianyuan and Xianji, who had just graduated from the Japanese military academy, to go to the Northeast to appease certain Mongolian princes, and to reward Zhang Haipeng, Guifu and others who first defected to the Japanese occupation army with beautiful jade.According to the request of the Japanese military officer Mori, I wrote to Ma Zhanshan, who was fighting against Zhang Haipeng, and other Mongolian princes with national integrity, urging them to surrender.I named Zhang Haipeng the commander of the Manchurian and Mongolian Independence Army, Ma Zhanshan the commander-in-chief of the North Road, Guifu the commander-in-chief of the West Road, and bestowed the ranks of Dazuo on Xianyuan and Xianji.I have prepared a large number of blank official edicts with various official titles written on them, ready to fill in the names at any time

One thing that should be mentioned in particular is that according to Zheng Xiaoxu's opinion, I directly sent people to Japan to carry out activities.Since Luo Zhenyu was rejected by me and left quickly, Zheng Xiaoxu changed his superficially cautious attitude, from advocating wait-and-see to opposing wait-and-see, advocating active action.At this time, he thought that the time to talk with Suzuki, Nanjiro and the Black Dragon Society in Japan had come, and it was time to make a request. At the same time, he probably saw that someone was competing with me, so he suggested sending people to Tokyo. go to activities.I am not only not surprised by this sudden change, but very happy.Behind Chen Baochen's back, I adopted Zheng Xiaoxu's opinion and sent the Japanese Toyama Takeo to Japan to contact Lu Xiang Nanjiro who had just come to power and the leader of the Black Dragon Society Toyama Mitsuru.According to Zheng Xiaoxu's draft, I wrote a letter to each of these two great figures with my own handwriting on yellow silk.Later, at the Tokyo International Tribunal in 1946, Nanjiro presented the letter to his lawyer as evidence in his defense.Because I was afraid that I would be judged if I returned to my motherland in the future, I denied the letter, which caused an uproar.It is a pity that the original text of this letter is not available, so I have to temporarily translate it from Japanese books as follows:

In this incident in the Eastern Province, the government of the Republic of China mishandled and provoked allied nations, causing people to lose their lives.I hereby send the royal family tutor Yuanshan Mengxiong to Japan to express condolences to the Minister of War, General Nan, and convey my wishes.I can't bear to see the suffering of the people, and I handed over the power to the Han people, and it became more and more chaotic. This is not the original intention of my dynasty.Today's effort to strengthen East Asia depends on the cooperation of China and Japan, otherwise it will not be possible.If the obstacles to the future are not thoroughly resolved, there will be troubles everywhere, and there will never be a peaceful day, and the Red Party will run rampant, and the disaster will be endless.

Xinwei September 1st (October 11th) Xuantong Imperial Seal Zheng Xiaoxu (signature) I just waited and moved.After more than three weeks after this letter was taken away by the fierce hero Yuanshan, I finally had the day that Zheng Xiaoxu wrote in his diary: September Xinyou 23rd (November 2nd).Yixing is here.call right.Shangyun: Shang Yanying came to see him, and said that Fengtian, Jilin and Lin are all looking forward to speedy luck; Yoshida came to say that Doihara came to Jin, and he was secretly doing business with the headquarters, so it is advisable to go quickly.Confrontation: Tu Fei was originally the staff officer of the village and an important person in the Kwantung Army. If you come to welcome you, it should not be too late.Report to the consulate tomorrow.Night summons soil and fertilizer.