In fact, after the armistice, Britain began to plan and promote Japan and Russia to join forces to fight against the East China government, and also brought France to help.

Japan and Russia are now aware that the independent fight against the East China government is indeed unable to revive, so the opponent has not refused to join forces. However, the two countries have their own ulterior motives in the negotiations. After all, they just fought to the death and had structural contradictions. So how can they be said to be united?

First, the location of the negotiation was determined. Japan and Russia began to compete. Japan demanded that it was located in the UK, while Russia chose to be in France. The two sides argued and almost collapsed without even discussing the negotiations. Later, Britain did Japan's work to ensure that even if it was negotiated in France, Japan would ensure that Japan's interests would be guaranteed, which made Japan compromise. The two sides, represented their respective ambassadors to France, launched negotiations in France.

Before the talk, Japan was full of anger. Moreover, Japan believed that although it retreated to the Korean Peninsula, it was still outside the battlefield. The Russian army was in Shenyang and the People's Army was fighting with the People's Army. The war was about to break out. Therefore, the situation facing Russia is actually far more sinister than itself. If so, Japan naturally would not give up the opportunity to blackmail Russia. So Japan put forward the conditions to Russia: the two sides want to jointly fight against the East China government, Russia needs to recognize Japan's special interests in the Korean Peninsula and completely give up its power in the Korean Peninsula. After the war, Russia must withdraw its troops from Northeast China, and the opportunities of both sides in Northeast China are equal; the Middle East Railway is demilitarized, among which the South Manchuria railway and its subordinate rights belong to Japan; the Russian Far East Navy military strength is restricted; Japan will share the Russian territorial waters and territorial waters fishing rights, etc.

Such conditions are naturally unacceptable to Russia. You must know that Russia is the one who takes advantage of his life and does not suffer any losses. It is a blessing to prevent Russia from taking advantage of it. It also wants to take advantage of Russia? Moreover, Russia believes that Japan has been expelled from the Liaodong battlefield and has lost the qualification to continue playing games. If it wants to return to the card table, it must rely on Russia's help. Now Japan is still speaking out. Therefore, Russia not only overturned Japan's demands, but also put forward Russia's demands: Japan recognizes that the Northeast China belongs to Russia and cannot interfere in any Russian actions in Northeast China; both sides have equal power, and both sides have equal opening of territorial waters to catch fish.

So the negotiations fell into a stalemate again, and Britain and France, as mediators, were helpless. After all, it was not good to favor one side, so they could only continue to argue in such a meaningless manner and only put forward one condition, that is, neither side could withdraw from the negotiations and had to continue.

After listening to the Secretary of State's report, everyone else found it very funny. Fairbanks said: "It seems that two rock sheep are still discussing the ownership of a certain piece of grass when facing an attack from a mountain lion."

Roosevelt was silent for a moment and said, "But I don't think this stalemate will last too long, because both the United States and Germany agreed to increase the issuance of East China government bonds, which is definitely a strong stimulus for Japan and Russia, and Britain and France will not allow them to continue such meaningless quarrels. And my question is, if Japan and Russia unite, can they win this war?" As he said, Roosevelt looked at the Chief of Staff of the Army Adena Chafe.

The United States has not yet established a Department of Defense, and the highest military organization is composed of the Department of War and the Navy. Therefore, the Department of War is actually equivalent to the Department of Army, and the highest chief is the Secretary of War and the Chief of Staff of the Army. Now the Department of Navy only has a minister, and there is no Secretary of Operations. Therefore, at this meeting, two people came to the Army, while only one person came to the Navy.

Chafe said: "Mr. President, according to the military chess exercise conducted by the Army General Staff, even if Japan and Russia unite, they are not a rival to the East China government."

Roosevelt was stunned and said, "Is the military strength of the East China government really that strong? Even Japan and Russia can hardly defeat them when they unite. If so, we need to re-evaluate the East China government."

Taft said: "That's not the case, because Japan and Russia fought for 16 months before this. The long-term war consumed most of the war power of the two countries. We conducted 4 military chess exercises in total, considering various factors, but the result was that the East China government won without exception. The best result was to fight until Changchun, and the worst result also captured Chenyang."

Roosevelt nodded, took out the Chinese region from the table, and while drawing on it, he said: "This is indeed an important factor. However, even if Japan and Russia consumed a huge amount of money in the previous war, the overall strength of any country alone is above the East China government. Since it still has huge potential for war in Russia, it is difficult to unite the two countries, isn't they still the opponent of the East China government?"

Taft said: "According to the analysis of the General Staff, although Russia does have huge potential for war, its current battlefield is too far from Russia's main body. Moreover, Russia's center of gravity is on the European side, and it is impossible to invest a large amount of resources in the Far East. In addition, the domestic political crisis in Russia caused by the early war has not completely ended. These factors have limited Russia to invest more power in the Far East battlefield. Japan is an island country, and its national strength is already very weak. The early war has almost exhausted Japan's national strength. Moreover, Japan and the war are not directly connected on land, and they rely entirely on sea transportation to support the war. However, after their fleet was completely wiped out by the East China government, they are no longer able to support the war through sea transportation."

Chafe continued: "In addition, Russia and Japan have been separated by the East China government and cannot work together to fight together. Moreover, Japan has actually been driven to the battlefield in Liaodong and retreated to the Korean Peninsula. There is a river blocking it, and this river has become the natural defensive position of the East China government. The East China government only uses the deployment of defense lines along the river and builds fortifications to block the Japanese army's attack with a small amount of troops and concentrates most of its forces to deal with Russia."

Roosevelt's vision was off the map and said: "According to the calculations of the General Staff, the East China government can only push the front to Changchun at most?"

Taft said: "Yes, the overall strength of the East China government is limited. Although the military power is strong, the logistics supply is difficult to maintain. Moreover, after a long period of lengthening, the difficulty of logistics supply will increase. In addition, offensive operations will always consume more than defensive wars. Therefore, pushing the front to Changchun is already the limit of the East China government. After the East China government reaches Changchun, the battle situation will enter a stalemate again. We expect this process to take about 4-5 months."

Roosevelt drew a red circle in Changchun and fell into deep thought. If it was really like the result of the staff partial strife, although the East China government achieved greater achievements than Japan, it did not achieve a complete defeat of Russia and completely expelled Russia's power from Northeast China, and ultimately it would have to resolve the problem at the negotiating table. And then it was the best time for the United States to mediate the war, so the United States still had the opportunity to take the opportunity to expand its influence in the Far East. Therefore, Roosevelt smiled on his face and said, "It seems that this war will take some time. We can see what other performances will be done by these three parties." After a pause, Roosevelt said, "Are our military observation group ready?"

Taft said: "It's ready and will set out in these few days."

Roosevelt said: "I hope their trip to the Far East will gain valuable results."

―――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Kentaro Kaneko did not immediately pass the content of his talks with Roosevelt back to Japan, but instead briefly told Hirobuki Ito first.

In fact, Hirobuki Ito agreed with Roosevelt's suggestion very much, because Japan is now unlikely to withdraw from the war with a decent amount, so he should negotiate with the East China government as soon as possible to end the war at a smaller price, so that Japan can protect its interests on the Korean Peninsula. The later it is, the more unfavorable it will be for Japan. If the East China government completely defeats Russia, then Japan will pay a serious price. By Roosevelt's proposal, he can deal with limiting Japan's compensation to 100 million yen, Hirobuki Ito believes that this is also within the scope that Japan can bear.

But Hirofumi Ito also understands that the current domestic atmosphere and the attitude of the military cannot allow the result of compensation. If he wants to forcibly promote the compensation negotiations, it will not only not succeed, but will also be ruined. However, it is the US president who has made this suggestion now, because the United States has provided a lot of funds for Japan, so it cannot be offended easily. Hirofumi Ito believes that it can take this opportunity to discuss it to test the domestic attitude towards compensation. If he can use the pressure from the United States to convince the military, it will be a good result.

So Hirofumi Ito immediately replied to Kentaro Kaneko, asking him to truthfully pass the content of his talks with Roosevelt back to Japan through formal channels, and then submitted it to the cabinet by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and took the opportunity to hold a cabinet meeting to discuss.

However, at the beginning of the cabinet meeting, Roosevelt's suggestion was fiercely opposed by the military. Teraunuchi Masato said angrily: "Does the United States think we are not opponents of overseas Chinese? It is absolutely not allowed to ask us to surrender to overseas Chinese. Not only us, but even 40 million Japanese citizens will not agree. Whoever agrees to surrender to overseas Chinese will be the sinner of Japan."

Komura Sutaro said: "The US President only suggested that we negotiate with overseas Chinese and make some concessions appropriately, not to make us surrender to overseas Chinese..."
Chapter completed!