Yes, Prime Minister of Japan

"Immediately! Once the high-quality Australian ore arrives, we can lower our prices by another 10%! And we guarantee the quality of the steel."

Amidst everyone's skepticism, the alloy steel for the new ship was gradually brought into the dock.

At this time, the military high command, unaware of the engineers' armed conflict, gladly flew through the air and landed in Hiroshima. The shipyards there were all fully loaded.

Regardless, with the massive annual expenditure of 10 trillion yen, coupled with the stimulus of low interest rates and subsidies, Japan's increasingly shrinking shipbuilding industry has finally shown signs of recovery. Large civilian aircraft carriers form the backbone, with light aircraft carriers, missile destroyers, supply ships, and transport ships springing up everywhere.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff Koji Yagi is deeply worried:

"By 2031, we need to ensure that the Yamato and Musashi aircraft carriers are launched quickly. Each aircraft carrier costs 800 billion yen to build. With the completely new Type 1 Super Battle Dragon Sakura and F-35 fighter jets, the total cost of a single aircraft carrier will be about 2 trillion yen. Two carriers would cost 4 trillion yen."

On the contrary, the coalition leadership gave an optimistic response:

"What's so special about that? The USS Kennedy cost $150 billion to complete, and the USS Enterprise cost nearly $200 billion. Those two are enough to cover our military budget for more than half a year. Our current annual military budget is $10 trillion for regular use plus $5 trillion for special supplementary use, which is more than enough to support the operation of five aircraft carriers."

In fact, it's not just 15 trillion yen. The combined military spending of South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore is approaching 1300 billion US dollars. Even though military spending will gradually decrease after the war, it is enough for Lee Sung-ha to raise nearly 40 trillion yen in military spending every year through military orders from overseas protected areas, and to spend huge sums of money on procurement.

In dollar terms, the coalition's military spending is approaching two-thirds of the PLA's, but in terms of purchasing power, it's less than half, or about 40%. The advantage lies in Japan's long post-war naval history, meaning its naval construction doesn't need to start from scratch.

To put it more simply, the entrance to Etajima Island was filled with graduates of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force who didn't have boats.

"Look, that's the keel of the Musashi."

Aircraft carriers, battleships, missile destroyers, and fighter jets are entering the production line one after another, being thrown into the water like dumplings being dropped into a pot. This is the daily routine of an industrialized country with the world's most advanced shipbuilding industry and fighter jet production lines, and military spending totaling more than 200 billion US dollars (before devaluation).

Unlike Japan in the past, which spent over $30 billion annually on the US military industry, with the remainder mostly wasted on various forms of inefficient corruption within the military.

As a pool of manpower for the Combined Forces, and an older navy that predates the People's Liberation Army by having established its own "Eight-Eight Fleet" in the 90s, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) shouldn't have much trouble squeezing out commanders for several carrier strike groups. The only problem lies in the political vetting process. Last time, the Air Self-Defense Force and JMSDF executed hundreds of people to secure command positions on their first domestically built aircraft carrier. It's unclear what will happen this time.

Looking down at the keel base of the Musashi, the JMSDF officers were very pleased with themselves:

"In the next few years, the Shokaku, Zuikaku, Soryu, and Hiryu ships must be built as quickly as possible. We will not follow the example of the Chinese People's Liberation Army and start from scratch. We will use civilian technology to quickly produce ships like dumplings. First, we will expand the production capacity of ships and fighter jets."

A negative example of using civilian technology to build warships is Britain. Lacking a shipbuilding industry, Britain, instead of uniting with the United Kingdom, produced two crippled and incomplete F-35B-class amphibious light aircraft carriers, which was a huge embarrassment.

However, a positive example is the current Allied Forces. Japan has the capability and efficiency to build warships, so it uses civilian technology to build large aircraft carriers. With conventional power and conventional steam catapults, and radar kits imported from China, there are no technological limitations, and the speed is really fast. The main body can be launched in a year and a half.

The only problem is how to prevent it from being launched into the sea by a hypersonic ballistic missile. Fortunately, none of the coalition's enemies currently possess hypersonic missiles.

Fleet radicals proposed:

"We must ensure that in the coming years, there will be one carrier strike group operating in rotation in the waters around Japan, the South China Sea, and the waters around Australia and New Zealand. Our goal is to have nine aircraft carriers and nine aircraft carrier battle groups, so that in each theater of operations, there is one aircraft carrier deployed, one undergoing maintenance, and one conducting training. Aircraft carrier battle groups have a better availability rate than aircraft carriers and can maintain a scale of two ships on duty and engaged in strikes in a single sea area."

99 Fleet?

If the 99th Fleet represents the radical faction, then there's also the "Raging Advance" faction, indulging in wild fantasies:

"And then there's the Indian Ocean. Don't forget Myanmar and India, those are two huge cesspools. We're like the cesspool trucks, cleaning up all sorts of cesspools for the East Asian Alliance, and we'll get involved sooner or later. I predict there will be twelve—twelfth fleets, rotating duty in four sea areas at the same time."

The radicals were taken aback:

"Isn't this too militaristic? If we continue to expand like this, the annual cost of maintaining the navy's ships alone will exceed 5 trillion yen. And that doesn't even take into account the expenses for bases and air squadrons."

Including naval bases, air force, and army, the daily maintenance cost of the military alone exceeds 10 trillion.

So, if they talk about having twelve to twelve fleets, we should be grateful if they actually have nine to nine fleets.

"This is called a battle for supremacy in the raging seas!"

The radicals and the zealots started arguing.

It was Ogasawara Takuto who inquired:

"What does the boss think?"

Lin Youzi said with emotion:

"I heard she was drained dry by a woman last night and is still fast asleep in bed. Otherwise, why do you think it was Queen Shang Qiujia who came out to give her New Year's greetings?"

Sigh, everyone here makes countless grand pronouncements, but when it comes to Li Xinghe, the whole thing just falls apart.

Forget about the 99th Fleet, let's figure out a way to dismantle Malaysia and Indonesia, which are jumping up and getting beaten up.

Chapter 893: Cabinet Special Prosecution Department, Indonesia Declare War (4700 words)

January.

The University of Tokyo reopened and announced the expulsion of two students: one an extreme anti-Yi communist and the other an extreme anti-Yi far-right.

After resting for several months, Ai Azuma, escorted by Kana Yamato and Makabe Kokubun, arrived at the University of Tokyo with Kay Trump to attend classes.

After putting the two girls inside, Kokubun Makabe held Yamato Kana's hand:

"Are you cool?"

"what?"

"Are you happy?"

"Screw you!"

Yamato Keiko is quite shy. Compared to the other women, she's mainly a second-tier, defensive role.

This pair of seemingly cold but actually wicked aloof young ladies, and seemingly cute but actually lewd and seemingly drawing erotic pictures but actually pure-hearted short young ladies, arrived at the gate of Tokyo University and got into a private car to leave.

"The economic crisis has already begun. Remember to remind your father not to have any more illusions about the US dollar. If he angers Xinghe, he might get dismissed."

Kokubun Makabe said, pulling Yamato Kana along.

The new year has just passed, and the world has already played a cruel joke on all inhabitants of the earth.

The economy did not improve; instead, it went downhill.

With the global flooding of dollar liquidity and its global expansion, on the first day of 2031, many countries decided to begin avoiding the dollar, forming regional trade self-protection alliances and launching exclusive electronic currencies similar to West African stablecoins and Euro stablecoins, while also seeking to bypass the dollar for global settlements.

The large amount of dollars had nowhere to go, leading to another sharp depreciation of the dollar exchange rate.

These hastily concluded regional trade alliances quickly suffered from large-scale economic turmoil due to a lack of liquidity in trade settlement funds and an inability to effectively utilize high-tech cross-border electronic settlements. Consequently, large-scale chaos and downturns occurred in Africa, West Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

This second wave of events was called the "global tsunami".

After the tsunami began, many countries, whose finances were practically bankrupt, began to imitate Trump by raising tariffs and various non-tariff barriers to prevent the influx of dollars and increase fiscal revenue.

"These walls are really high," Kokubun Makabe remarked.

Those familiar with this scene will be reminded of the Great Depression of 1929.

It feels so familiar.

Whether it's the US over-issuing currency, an overheated economy, or the ever-increasing economic barriers and anti-globalization, these are all issues.

When he got home, Kokubun Makabe saw his older sister hesitating in the study, and quietly went over and grabbed her waist:

"Sister, why do you look like you're sexually frustrated, desperately needing your love's touch, but unable to express it? Do you need my help?"

Kokubun Tsukisawa exclaimed in surprise, then pleaded with her younger sister with a pained expression to stop making a fuss:

"Chiyo's mother told me that she was going to take over as the head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau and wanted me to stay and serve as an independent prosecutor in the East District Public Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Department."

The Eastern District Public Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Department appears powerful, but in reality, it faces numerous restrictions. As a small prefecture-level unit, its deployments often reflect the attitudes of various political factions after they have already eliminated each other, leaving them to clean up the mess. Unless a scandal like the Kakuei Tanaka bribery case breaks out, the Eastern District Public Prosecutors Office's daily operations are generally uneventful.

Kokubun Makabe immediately waved his little fist in support:

"Go for it! Sister, you can't always be so shy. Take your office to the Imperial Palace Cabinet Office, and share a room with Mizuo Katayama. Turn the Eastern District Public Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Department into the Cabinet Prosecutors Office Special Investigation Department, ready to strike hard across the country at any time!"

"That way, Xinghe will cherish you even more."

Kokubun Tsukiya hesitated for a moment, then quickly said:

"We need to submit an application to the mothers..."

"What are you applying for, you idiot? Let's just go to the cabinet and tell Xinghe."

Hmph, silly sister.

Kokubun Makabe pushed Kokubun Tsukiya along, making her fill out the application form.

……

At this time, Li Xinghe was unaware of the change in the nature of the Special Investigation Department of the Eastern District Prosecutors Office.

He was attending a meeting at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Ichigaya Town.

Li Xinghe and Lin Youzi arrived at the General Staff Headquarters.

The Nagumo sisters and Tawara Chiki stood to the side distributing various classified materials, while the chiefs of staff and division commanders sat in rows, reviewing the military and political details.

Zhang Xiaoqian returned from the Southern Command with his staff team, ready to launch the first phase of the Southeast Asian strike plan.

“First, there’s the economic situation…” Asuka Nagumo said, pointing to the whiteboard.

As tariff and non-tariff barriers were erected, not only did the world economy experience significant fluctuations, but the CPP/TPP organization also underwent tremendous changes.

Vietnam, having been soundly defeated, remained silent, but Malaysia announced the suspension of the CPTPP agreement and began withdrawing from the economic sphere organized by Lee Hsin Ha.

The reason is rather political: several political parties in Malaysia have begun to accuse Lee Sing Ho of occupying Singapore as a major act of aggression against Southeast Asian countries. So, despite the economic downturn and the general feeling of distress, they hope that Malaysians will tighten their belts and continue to resist Lee Sing Ho.

"These Malaysians can't manage the economy well themselves, and now they're blaming me for it," Li Xinghe commented, referring to it as a blame-shifting contest.

Everyone knows the economy is bad and that it's out of control, so Malaysian political parties simply try to shift the blame, and Lee Sing Hee takes on the responsibility of bearing the original sin that caused the economic downturn.

What about the Philippines?

"The price of Filipino domestic helpers has been reduced by half, and we have received 150 million applications for Filipino domestic helpers this year."

"There's not enough food waste left over."

Everyone knows. People are already starving to death in the slums of the Philippines.

That's a very hungry monkey.

Anyone familiar with Southeast Asian politics knows that the politics in this strange place are extremely bizarre and unpredictable.

The Philippines is a country with a feudal system of seppuku (sectarian politics) in dozens of regions. High-ranking seppuku families, such as the Aquino, Marcos, and Duterte families, are engaged in a three-way power struggle, constantly betraying each other and resorting to violence. In contrast, Malaysia is a chaotic three-party war, with the left-wing Pakatan Harapan coalition and the right-wing National Front, alongside the far-right Islamic National Alliance. The infighting between these three parties and four ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, Indian, and indigenous) appears both comical and bizarre, with outrageous coups and betrayals occurring from time to time.

The following is a political introduction:

"Malaysia is currently experiencing a power struggle between two factions and fighting among four ethnic groups, making its political situation very unstable. However, compared to Indonesia, Malaysia is already quite normal."

When Indonesia is mentioned, everyone shakes their heads.

Indonesia is perhaps even more bizarre. It is well known that Indonesia established authoritarian rule during the Suharto military government, which used machine guns and massacres against all indigenous peoples, ethnic groups, the Indonesian Communist Party, and anything that might challenge its rule. In this long-term massacre and anti-communist repression, far exceeding even that of the tyrannical Syngman Rhee, the loss of over 10,000 ethnic Chinese who were shot twice was only considered to have suffered minor injuries; those truly hit by bullets were either exterminated or severely weakened. Tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, were often massacred by the military government. In total, hundreds of thousands died in Indonesia, with the Aceh and East Timorese populations losing more than a third of their populations. Suharto killed one million and imprisoned another million; with the support of the CIA, his efficiency in the anti-communist and anti-people massacres was not much less than that of Chiang Kai-shek.

Throughout Southeast Asia, during that turbulent period, countries like Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia were masters of large-scale purges.

This utterly incompetent military junta leader, due to his advanced age, was besieged by three democratization movements. During the 98 crisis, his chosen successor, his son-in-law Prabowo Subiyanto, suddenly launched the Sibi Sibi Kuttha campaign, returning to Jakarta with the army to force Suharto to step down. However, Prabowo's incompetence proved disastrous; he wasted time and crippled himself, allowing the seemingly assured fruits of the coup to be snatched away by Indonesia's democratization left. He became one of the few fools whose coup gains were stolen by the democrats.

Prabowo only ascended to the presidency in 2024 with the help of the son of a former left-wing president. However, the following year he betrayed the left-wing forces of the democratization movement and, together with the military, expanded his own power. To exclude Indonesia's left-wing parties and democratic forces, the Indonesian military revived Suharto's old policies of limiting and opposing communism (accusing the left of treason by colluding with communism). This put Prabowo in a precarious position, forcing him to frequently travel to Beijing while simultaneously maintaining a fence-sitting, opportunistic stance.

The Nagumo sisters continued:

"Naturally, under such despicable policies, Prabovo should have resigned in 2029 and been fired. But..."

"He launched the Kudetta, froze Indonesia's parliament, forcibly extended his own term of office, and, together with the generals of the military government, arbitrarily divided up Indonesia's state-owned enterprises, energy, transportation, forestry, and oil... In fact, Indonesia's economy has been in a continuous and sharp decline, and civil unrest is extremely serious. Prabowo has no control over the Indonesian military, and the military leaders who have always been anti-communist are restless, showing a tendency to establish a long-term anti-communist military government once again."

After reading about Prabowo's bizarre history, Li Xinghe had to cover his face and contemplate life.

This man was known in his early years for his anecdotes about special operations, including one involving the massacre of 20 people during East Timor's independence—a truly dark history. His first coup, the Kudetta, was launched against his father-in-law and powerful patron, and he even handed the spoils of the coup to the democrats. The 98 anti-Chinese riots were directly related to his indulgence of subordinates' attempts to force him to resign—another dark chapter in his history. His second Kudetta coincided with a global economic downturn, and his military government lacked the ruthless capacity for massacres. This fully demonstrates the typical level of a passing warlord in a power struggle.

If he were placed in the East Asian region, he would probably have been strangled when he first rebelled and tried to force his father-in-law to abdicate.

Whether based on nationalism, political hatred, or vulnerability, Indonesia, teetering on the brink of collapse under military rule, is the first unstable bomb that needs to be defused.

Therefore, Zhang Xiaoqian stood up and introduced:

"Our first target is Prabowo. The Southern Command decided to use the Prabowo military government, which was filled with public resentment, alienated from its own people, and unable to control its army, as a practice target for our enemy."

Then, he introduced his battle strategy.

It's nothing more than using genetic nationalism as a precursor to awaken the self-identity of millions of Chinese, then using aircraft carriers to divide the islands of Southeast Asia, and using air battleships as a shield to launch surprise attacks on the Riau Islands, Natuna Islands, and Bangka Belitung Islands, first controlling the smaller islands with larger Chinese populations. Then, it would divide Indonesia's more than 10,000 islands, preventing them from supporting each other, thereby urging the islands to become independent.

After thinking it over, Li Xinghe crossed out the plan to land in Borneo and Java and establish servant communities, saying:

"I agree to the plan in principle. But I want to emphasize again that there should be no large-scale landing, no massacres under the guise of the coalition forces, and no excessive penetration. Our military budget is tight, and we only have a little over 100,000 personnel. We should make the most of our absolute sea control advantage."

The established direction is to break Indonesia into an island of nations, each with its own ethnic group, island, and country.

However, Li Xinghe did not want the coalition forces to launch a large-scale landing and war, as this would make the international community think that Li was being unreasonable, and that it would be meaningless to commit a large number of elite troops to counterinsurgency warfare.

As for governing Indonesia? Forget about it. Li Xinghe isn't there to help the poor. It's already an act of mercy from Li Xinghe that he didn't crush the major Chinese business groups in Indonesia and let them amass wealth.

After receiving Li Xinghe's promise, Zhang Xiaoqian immediately boarded a plane and flew back to the Singapore Special Economic Zone.

Then, he took many of his subordinates and went to the east side of Indonesia.

"Southern Command, prepare to assemble."