Chapter four hundred and twentieth eight false friends
However, something unexpected happened to the Japanese. The international situation suddenly changed. France's rapid defeat on the European battlefield left Japan unprepared.
When facing the German army, the French army suffered a series of disastrous defeats. Before the Japanese could figure out what happened, the German army was already parading on the streets of Paris.
Now France seems to have been controlled by Germany, and Pétain's Vichy French government also signed a so-called contract with Germany and became a puppet government of Germany.
The French army failed too miserably and too quickly, which led to a series of misjudgments by the Japanese government.
They suddenly realized that their previous plan seemed too cautious.
France's strength is simply an illusion. This country is actually a foreign power.
Therefore, the Japanese government immediately decided to change its attitude towards the French colonies and use all available means to obtain their due benefits in South Asia.
The Japanese government not only sent a tough military and diplomatic negotiation team to France, but also deployed the armed forces of the Fifth Division to station on the Sino-Vietnamese border.
Japan's move was not only to cut off the flow of supplies between China and Vietnam, but also to show its force against the French.
At this time, they were trying to exert pressure on the French Pétain government from both military and diplomatic aspects at the same time, forcing the French colonial authorities to submit and agree to the illegal conditions they proposed.
Japan even asked France to open airports in northern Vietnam and allow Japanese troops to station and pass through French Indochina territory.
But obviously, the Japanese acted too hastily, and they ignored the existence of Germany.
You must know that after accepting the surrender of France, although Germany disbanded its local army and air force and occupied a large amount of land in northern France, Reinhardt naturally had his own plans for its overseas colonies. Otherwise, he would have
We will not give away the big free gift of Algerian oil fields to deliberately give the French hope of revival.
The Japanese government now seems to be imposing conditions on the French government, but in fact, they are also imposing conditions on the French protectorate in disguise, that is, on the German government.
Of course, the Vichy government will not make any clear response to the government diplomatic document sent by the Japanese Foreign Minister to the French Ambassador in Japan.
After all, the domestic political situation is far from stable, and agreeing to cede territory at this time is obviously unacceptable to the Vichy government, which is not yet stable.
The Vichy government only asked the French ambassador to Japan at the time to do everything in his power to negotiate with Japan, and at the same time, it reported the Japanese government's request to the German head of state, Reinhardt.
Pétain's attitude was actually to deal with the Japanese, delaying them as long as he could.
After all, France at that time had just come out of the German-French War and was waiting for things to be done. How could it have the spare energy to take care of the shit that Japan had caused in Southeast Asia?
But Germany is different. They attach great importance to the French colonies in Southeast Asia. The reason, of course, goes without saying.
Even if he didn't take it seriously, Reinhard would not let Japan bully the Vichy regime, which was already comparable to Germany's younger brother.
After learning about Japan's actions in Southeast Asia, he took immediate action.
First of all, Reinhard put pressure on Japan through diplomatic means and expressed his willingness to compensate Japan in other ways.
However, Japan only agreed to Germany's request on the surface. In fact, they were still secretly arranging a strategic attack on the French colonies.
After all, Japan has always dreamed of the Japanese Empire dominating Asia, and they will never stop what they have planned for a long time just because of Reinhardt's pressure.
A crazy country like Japan will dare to provoke any country for its own interests, even if this country is a superpower, they are not afraid!
But the Japanese government will not completely ignore Germany's warning. After all, they have always hoped to further cooperate with Germany, which defeated the "world's best army", and learn the powerful secrets of the Germans.
Moreover, the Panzerfaust rocket launcher sold to them by the Germans during the Battle of Nomonkan did give the Ogisu Rippei a lot of sweetness at that time.
Although they lost in the end, the Japanese Kwantung Army always believed that there was absolutely no problem with the German weapons, and they were superb when used!
On the one hand, they asked their foreign affairs department to negotiate with the German government and made every effort to make up for the unhappiness between both parties caused by this matter.
On the other hand, the Japanese army also stepped up its deployment of troops in southern China and prepared to launch an attack on Vietnam.
The reason why this two-faced approach is adopted to deal with Germany is because the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that at least at the moment when they are eager to cooperate further with the Germans, it is not appropriate to provoke the Germans for the time being.
If the French colonies were touched at this time, it might give the Germans the impression that Japan was trying to seize German spoils.
This will obviously deepen the misunderstanding between the two countries.
However, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also agreed that its strategic deployment in Southeast Asia must not be interrupted, so it adopted this method to contain Germany.
Reinhard is not stupid either. He certainly knows the cleverness of the Japanese.
After all, this kind of small means of negotiating while preparing for war was not uncommon in the history of the Chinese army during the 14-year War of Resistance.
Therefore, on the one hand, Reinhardt used the drawings of German Panther tanks as bait to attract Japan. On the other hand, he vaguely revealed that Japan might join the German-Italian Steel Alliance, giving them the illusion that they might be able to form an alliance with Germany.
After all, the Japanese army saw the importance of large tanks as early as the Battle of Nomenkan.
Their "Doudin" tanks were obviously inadequate when facing the Soviet T-26, and thus lost the initiative on the battlefield.
So this time Reinhardt used the Panther tank as bait. In fact, he completely captured the weakness of the Japanese army and talked about what they were itching about.
As for forming an alliance, Japan naturally doesn't mind having an ally that can provide all kinds of advanced weapons. Once an alliance is formed, wouldn't it ask for all kinds of weapons?
Therefore, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately instructed the ambassador to Germany, Hiroshi Oshima, to negotiate with Reinhardt.
"Welcome, my old friend Mr. Hiro Oshima." Reinhardt stepped forward with a smile and gave Hiro Oshima a warm hug: "We haven't seen each other for many years since we parted ways. You see,
I was just a little general at the beginning, but now I have become the head of state."
Although Reinhard doesn't like the Japanese, he knows that now is not the time to break up with Germany. After all, Japan still has huge use value.
Oshima Hiro smiled. This head of state was even better at acting than when the two first met. They had only met once more than ten years ago, so they were considered old friends.
However, face must still be taken care of.
"No, when I first met you, I felt that you had an extraordinary temperament and that you would definitely become a great person in the future." Hiroya Oshima said without hesitation in his praise.
You can pull it!
Even Reinhard himself didn't believe Oshima Hiro's nonsense.
He knows best what he was like back then.
What is it about his extraordinary temperament?
Was it shameless to bring a gun into the negotiation? Or was it cool to shoot Umikawa Kuko without saying anything?
Sometimes Reinhard himself thinks that if Sickert hadn't gone to great lengths to protect him, he might have died countless times.
Otherwise, with his once-death-seeking character, how could he survive to this day?
Amidst the mutual false compliments, the smile on Reinhard's face became even brighter: "Mr. Hiro Oshima is famous for not visiting anyone's house for any reason. Why did you come to see me this time?"
"You can say that we are all old friends, and Germany and Japan have always maintained good relations. As long as I can help, I will definitely help!"