World War: Battleship Arms Dealers

Yashiro Rokuro stood silently, his face expressionless. Only after Okaichinosuke finished shouting did he slowly speak:

"The Minister of the Army is right. The Navy bears an undeniable responsibility for this disastrous defeat. As the Minister of the Navy, I am prepared to resign and apologize."

"Resign?" Okaichi sneered. "Resigning can save four thousand lives? Can make four Kongo-class destroyers rise from the seabed? Minister Yatsushiro, aren't you oversimplifying things?"

"Then what does the Minister of the Army think we should do?" Yashiro Rokuro finally raised his head, his eyes behind his glasses looking directly at Okaichinosuke. "Should I commit seppuku now as an apology?"

"You..." Okaichi no Suke was speechless for a moment.

"Enough!" Ōkuma Shigenobu slammed his fist on the table. "This is not the time to argue! We are facing a national crisis! The Lanfang Fleet has appeared west of the Goto Islands and could threaten our homeland at any moment! What we need to do now is figure out how to respond, not point fingers at each other!"

The Prime Minister's imposing presence temporarily silenced the meeting room. But Okaichinosuke remained seated with a grim face, his anger undiminished.

Ōkuma Shigenobu took a deep breath and turned to Yashiro Rokuro: "As for the navy, how much combat power do they still have?"

Yashiro Rokuro looked at Shimada Shigetaro. The Chief of Naval Affairs quickly stood up and replied, "Your Excellency, currently, the main battleships that can be immediately deployed to combat on the mainland include the battleships Katori, Kashima, and Aki, as well as the six pre-dreadnought battleships Shikishima, Asahi, and Mikasa. However, these ships are all relatively old, with the largest main gun caliber being only 305 mm, slow speed, and armor..."

"So you mean, there isn't a single Bismarck-class destroyer that can directly confront Lanfang?" Shigenobu Okuma asked directly.

Shigetaro Shimada fell silent. The answer was obvious.

"What about the coastal defense artillery?" Army Chief of the General Staff Yoshimichi Hasegawa spoke up. The 65-year-old veteran's voice boomed, carrying the crispness characteristic of a soldier. "Tokyo Bay, Osaka Bay, the Seto Inland Sea—the Imperial Coastal Defense System, built up over decades, surely can't stop four enemy ships?"

"The maximum range of the coastal defense guns is only 18,000 meters," Shigetaro Shimada said in a low voice. "But according to the battle report, the main guns of the Lanfang battleship have a range of over 25,000 meters. They can bombard our port at will from a distance that we can't reach."

Hasegawa Yoshimichi frowned: "Then let them get closer before we attack! Or launch a night attack with torpedo boats! We used these tactics to defeat the Russians during the Russo-Japanese War!"

"Times have changed, Lord Hasegawa," Rokuro Yashiro finally spoke, his voice weary. "The Lanfang is equipped with an advanced radar system that can detect targets at night and in fog. Their secondary guns have an extremely high rate of fire, creating a dense barrage that makes it difficult for torpedo boats to get close. As for letting them into the range of our coastal defenses... what if they don't come in? What if they just bombard us from the outside, destroying our port facilities, shipyards, and warehouses? What will we do then?"

"Then let's attack! Send out all the remaining ships and fight them to the death!" Okaichinosuke interjected. "It's better than sitting and waiting to be killed!"

"And then squander the last bit of our resources?" Yashiro Rokuro looked at him coldly. "Minister of the Army, naval warships are not disposable items. Building a Kongo-class destroyer takes three years and costs tens of millions of yen. If we use up all the remaining ships now, the Empire will lose control of the seas for the next ten years. At that time, not only Lanfang, but even Korea and Taiwan might be lost!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?!" Okaichi roared. "Are we just going to stand by and watch the enemy swagger around on our doorstep like this? Do you know how much this will damage national morale?!"

"I know." Yashiro Rokuro's voice suddenly lowered. "That's why I said the Navy bears an inescapable responsibility. But precisely because of this, we cannot afford to lose the Empire's last bargaining chip because of momentary impulses."

He turned to Ōkuma Shigenobu: "Your Excellency, I suggest: First, immediately try to contact Lanfang through diplomatic channels to explore the possibility of a ceasefire; second, all remaining naval forces should retreat to the inland sea and rely on the coastal defense system to organize defenses, avoiding direct confrontation with the enemy's main force; third... initiate peace talks as soon as possible."

"Peace talks?!" This time, not only Okaichinosuke, but even Finance Minister Wakatsuki Reijiro was shocked and stood up. "Peace talks now? What about the more than four thousand men and dozen warships we lost?!"

"If we continue fighting, the losses will be even greater." Yashiro Rokuro's voice remained calm, but that calmness seemed particularly cruel at this moment. "Gentlemen, please wake up. We have already lost. We have lost the East China Sea, we have lost the Combined Fleet, and we have lost our right to compete with Lanfang in the Far East. Now, the issue is not how to save face, but how to minimize the damage."

He paused, then said, word by word, "How to preserve what the empire has left—Taiwan, Korea, and even...the security of the mainland."

"Absurd!" Okaichinosuke trembled with rage. "Yashiro Rokuro! You are shaking the foundations of the nation! Since the founding of the Empire, there has never been a precedent of surrendering before a battle! Even if the navy loses, the army is still there! We have seventeen standing divisions, five hundred thousand elite troops! If the Lanfang people dare to land, we will make sure they never return!"

"What if they don't land?" Yashiro Rokuro countered. "Then they'll use those four battleships to blockade our ports, bombard our cities, and destroy our economy. Minister of War, how long do you think the Empire can hold out? A month? Three months? Six months?"

He walked to the map on the wall and pointed to the Japanese archipelago: "We are an island nation. Eighty percent of our food and ninety percent of our industrial raw materials are imported. Once our sea routes are cut off, we will collapse on our own without any enemy attack."

"Enough!" Ōkuma Shigenobu slammed his fist on the table again, this time his face turning ashen. "Minister Yatsushiro, your remarks are far too pessimistic!"

"I am merely stating the facts, Your Excellency the Prime Minister." Yashiro Rokuro turned around and bowed deeply. "I apologize, but I must state my judgment. Continuing the war will only lead to a complete and irreversible defeat for the Empire. While we still have bargaining chips—we still have the army, and we still have an intact homeland—we must negotiate as soon as possible to secure relatively favorable terms."

"You mean we should cede territory and pay reparations?!" Foreign Minister Kato Takaaki's face darkened. "This is diplomatically unacceptable! What will the international community think of us?"

"It's better than losing the country." Yashiro Rokuro only said five words.

The meeting room was completely deadlocked. The conflict between the army and navy factions had become public and heated. One side insisted on fighting to the death, while the other advocated for immediate peace talks. Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma was caught in the middle, facing a dilemma.