Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

Chapter 1079 Let's see who has the last laugh

At that time, the strategic logic of the aristocratic class was clear and firm.

The future of the empire lies in the blue ocean, not in the seemingly boundless, but actually quagmire-filled land of Eurasia.

A stronger navy meant control of key sea routes, direct access to the rich strategic resources of Southeast Asia such as oil, rubber, and tin, and the ability to use the fleet's powerful cannons to open the doors to more colonial markets, thus establishing a "maritime economic sphere" centered on Japan.

In this concept, the army should play a supporting role.

Responsible for homeland defense, limited overseas strongholds such as Taiwan, security in North Korean-occupied territories, and, once the navy has gained an advantage, to conduct a symbolic, cost-effective demonstration of land presence.

This is a typical example of the "sea-owning, land-serving" mentality, which profoundly reflects the aristocratic class's understanding and acceptance of modernization, globalization, and commercial capitalism.

Guided by this ideology, the nobility spared no effort in investing in the navy.

Economically, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' predecessors, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding and Kawasaki Shipbuilding, became major naval shipbuilders.

Mitsui & Co., Ltd. and others controlled the trade of strategic materials needed by the navy, such as high-quality coal, steel, and oil.

Politically, the House of Nobles became the staunchest supporter of the naval budget. Whenever the budget was deliberated in Parliament, the noble members would speak passionately, emphasizing the decisive significance of developing the navy for protecting the lifeline of the "Imperial Empire" and expanding the southern territories.

On a cultural and social level, naval officers are seen as elegant, international, and technically skilled elites, in stark contrast to the "rustic" and "rough" army officers.

Graduates of naval academies were considered the cream of the crop, and the rate of marriage between them and noblemen was far higher than that of those in the army.

A close-knit elite circle has also formed within the Navy, centered around the "Naval Academy".

The rise of most naval commanders was inseparable from the strong support of aristocratic political forces and financial giants.

The combination of the navy and the aristocratic zaibatsu formed a complete "maritime Japan" ideology and community of interests.

The nobility provided political asylum and capital, the financial magnates were responsible for technological implementation and profit extraction, and the navy provided military force and means of expansion, with the ultimate goal of establishing a colonial commercial empire with the navy as its backbone.

However, the course of history mercilessly mocked the nobles' "perfect investment" based on "rationality" and "modernity."

Entering the Showa era, especially after the "September 18 Incident" in 1931, the army, influenced by the radical ideology of the "Imperial Way Faction" and deeply immersed in the dream of continental expansion, expanded rapidly like a beast breaking free of its chains.

The army successfully hijacked national policy through a series of military adventures involving insubordination and political assassinations.

The February 26 Incident of 1936 was a decisive turning point.

Although the uprising of the Imperial Way Faction officers was suppressed, the Control Faction took the opportunity to eliminate their political enemies, completely control the army, and force the government to accept the demand for a massive expansion of the army and an intensification of aggression against China.

The Hirota Koki Cabinet, established after the incident, had in fact become a puppet of the army, marking the complete bankruptcy of the principle of "civilian control".

This all-out war, centered on the "continental policy," was entirely contrary to the "maritime strategy" meticulously designed by the nobility and the navy.

The focus of the war irrevocably shifted to the vast, profound, and seemingly all-consuming battlefield of China.

What's needed here are millions of ground troops, a near-bottomless pit of logistical support, brutal suppression and resource plunder of the people in the occupied territories, and a matching, highly centralized and costly controlled economic system.

This is precisely the area that the army and the emerging "new bureaucrats" and "military capital" behind it, who both compete with and collude with the old tycoons, excel at and desire, rather than the navy-dominated fleet battles that rely on precision technology, international trade, and sea control.

The nobles watched helplessly and painfully as the navy, which they had poured more than half a century of their efforts into and regarded as the future of the empire, quickly became an awkward force once the war machine was set in motion.

In the early stages of the full-scale invasion of China, apart from limited naval bombardment and air support along the Yangtze River and the coast, the navy's main task was to escort the transport of massive army troops and supplies.

As the war reached a stalemate, the navy's giant warships and expensive aircraft carriers often became "super transport fleets for the continental battlefield."

Their dream of seizing the "Southern Resource Circle" from the US, Britain, and the Netherlands was repeatedly postponed in the face of the Army's priority of the "China Incident".

The power of discourse quickly shifted towards the army.

Army generals such as Sugiyama Gen, Terauchi Hisaichi, Ueda Kenkichi, and Matsui Iwane not only controlled battlefield command, but also extended their reach into every corner of the country's politics, economy, and ideology through institutions such as the cabinet and the military.

The army's fanatical slogans, "Everything for holy war" and "Completing the China Incident is the most important task at present," became the overriding political correctness.

The interests of the aristocratic class, whether it was the desire to prioritize trade relations with Europe and America, especially Britain, or the concern that the endless expansion of the army would exhaust the country's strength and trigger a full-scale war with powerful alliances, were often dismissed as "weak," "lacking patriotism," or even "traitorous" and were ignored or suppressed in the face of these slogans.

What pained the nobles even more was that the army-led war economy was beginning to erode their traditional economic foundation.

In order to cope with the protracted war, the country implemented strict control over supplies and prices.

Although the old financial tycoons still participate and profit from it, their operational autonomy is greatly restricted by "military control" and "national mobilization".

Emerging "military supply conglomerates" with close ties to the army, such as Nissan and Nippon Steel, have risen rapidly, taking a slice of the pie that originally belonged to the old conglomerates.

The aristocracy's control over the economic lifeline through their financial magnates began to falter in the face of the monster of "total war."

This was seen by the clear-headed core of the aristocracy as the biggest strategic miscalculation in recent decades.

They sadly realized that their carefully cultivated navy, this "sharp sword," was finding itself with no place to use its talents in the "quagmire" stirred up by the army.

Their capital power not only failed to dominate national policy, but also risked being swept up by the tide of war, or even backfiring.

The great ship of the empire is being steered by a group of officers they see as short-sighted, fanatical, and ignorant of modern economics and politics, heading toward unknown reefs.

This is also the fundamental reason why the aristocratic class systematically transferred assets overseas to seek a way out after the start of this national war.

If our interests aren't guaranteed, then let's all go crazy and see who has the last laugh.