Chapter 48: The Japanese Guest

Time flowed like water. Another month of 1925 passed in the blink of an eye, and it was now March. As the scale of the Reichswehr grew day by day, Akado had recently been worrying about how to secretly support such enormous military expenditures.

Because of the existence of the Allied Military Control Commission, the German government could not spend too much money on the Reichswehr. Although the defense budget allocated for a 100,000-man army was enough to support a regular army of more than 200,000, because the actual number was close to 320,000, the Reichswehr’s funds were still stretched thin.

The merchant group within Akado’s Greater Germany Party had already donated tens of millions of German Marks for the revival of the German Reichswehr. Akado’s private companies and enterprises had also provided nearly 1,000 motor vehicles and 3,000 motorcycles to the Reichswehr free of charge. But this equipment was still just a drop in the bucket when distributed among 300,000 soldiers.

Recently, because Chiang Kai-shek was leading the Whampoa Military Academy’s cadet regiment to organize the First Eastern Expedition, he had ordered 200 million rifle and pistol rounds from Germany, and an additional purchase of 30,000 M25 steel helmets for future army expansion. The German military industry once again received funds, and a portion of the payment for this batch of equipment was to be settled by the Chinese side with rubber and brass, which were scarce in Germany.

In a China ravaged by constant warfare, purchasing arms by relying on loans from countries like the United States and Great Britain had reached a dead end. China’s credit with the banks of these countries had been exhausted. In most cases, out of long-term considerations by the US and British governments, the funds loaned to China were no longer as large as before.

And the German Reichswehr, the biggest supporter of the Chinese Kuomintang group, had no extra money to provide to the distant China due to its own development needs. After all, Germany’s own finances were very tight, with long-overdue war reparations to France and Britain, and even overdue travel expense reimbursements for its own civil servants.

So, China’s Chiang Kai-shek and Germany’s Akado communicated via private telegram, mutually understanding each other’s difficulties. This led to this barter-style arms trade, using rubber and brass to purchase German arms.

At this critical juncture when the old resources were exhausted and the new had yet to arrive, Akado received a special guest: a diplomat who had come all the way from the Japanese Empire, Yamashita Konosuke.

“Hello, Mr. Yamashita Konosuke.” Akado chose one of Krupp’s private apartments in Berlin as the meeting place, because this meeting was to be confidential and unofficial in nature.

“General Akado, hello.” As one of the Japanese Foreign Minister’s most capable assistants, Yamashita was naturally very outstanding to have been chosen to come to Germany for secret negotiations. His German was first-rate, and his manners were impeccable. The moment they met, he bowed ninety degrees to Akado, making a very favorable impression.

“Mr. Yamashita, we in Germany don’t have this custom of bowing. You can use a handshake next time we meet,” Akado said with a smile to Yamashita Konosuke. The Japanese would never bow to a Chinese person; they would only raise their butcher knives against them. In contrast, the Japanese bow to Germans—one must be strong!

“A handshake is a polite gesture in a relationship of equals. But this time, I have come to ask a favor of you, so I dare not use such a gesture,” Yamashita Konosuke said with his head lowered.

Akado smiled, then waved his hand. “No, Mr. Yamashita. At least we can be friends in private, can’t we? You Japanese just love to create a whole bunch of empty formalities. I’m not used to it.”

“Etiquette is etiquette. How can there be such a strange saying as ’empty formality’?” Yamashita Konosuke asked, looking at Akado.

Akado burst out laughing. “My friend, to be honest, if I had no strength, then you wouldn’t respect me even if you bowed to me. On the contrary, if I had the strength to make you fearful, then even if you didn’t shake my hand, you would tremble when you spoke to me, right?”

“General Akado is truly an interesting person. You seem to understand us Japanese very well. If it weren’t for your handsome Western face, I would even suspect you were one of us,” Yamashita Konosuke said with a nod of agreement.

Fuck you! You’re the Japanese one! Your whole family is Japanese! Akado cursed angrily in his heart. After cursing, he realized that wasn’t right; Yamashita was Japanese. So Akado cursed again in his heart: You XXX, you big XXX! Your whole family is big XXX!

Although he was thinking this in his heart, Akado still had a smile on his face. “We Germans don’t like to beat around the bush. May I ask, Mr. Yamashita, what is the purpose of your visit to Germany this time?”

The Korean peninsula is under Japanese rule right now. Don’t tell me they brought back the habit of claiming things as their own? Akado sneered inwardly. I know why you’re here. If you don’t say it, I won’t say it. Let’s see who can keep their composure.

“To be frank, I have come to Germany this time for the sake of the situation in the Far East and your country’s trade with Shina (China),” Yamashita Konosuke said, lowering his head to Akado once again.

So deferential when asking for a favor, but so steady, precise, and ruthless when stabbing you in the back. Akado raised an eyebrow, then after a brief moment of thought, he spoke, “The Chinese market is very large and tempting. I believe the enterprises of any country would love to do business with the generous Chinese merchants. We in Germany are no exception.”

“With all due respect, General Akado, your country and China are currently engaged in the arms trade. We recently received intelligence that a German Hercules-class transport ship fully loaded with ammunition unloaded its cargo in Guangzhou. This has impacted the strategy of our Great Japanese Empire in the Shina region,” Yamashita Konosuke said with some indignation.

“Where did this news come from? We have indeed sold a good amount of arms to China, but I’m not too clear about recent arms sales to China. Are you sure your information is accurate?” Akado asked, feigning ignorance as he looked at Yamashita Konosuke.

Yamashita nodded. “We have our intelligence channels in Shina. This information is very accurate. We even know that the Kuomintang troops of Sun Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek actually possess over 900 cannons, not the 100 claimed by the outside world. Furthermore, they have sold nearly 500 cannons to various warlords.”

Yamashita glanced at Akado, then said, “And most of these cannons are advanced howitzers produced by the German Krupp company. Chiang Kai-shek has also secretly hidden dozens of aircraft and is secretly building an airfield near Guangzhou. Do I need to continue, General Akado?”

Those traitors and quislings should really be hanged, Akado thought hatefully. The Japanese can obtain any intelligence they want in China, and the accuracy is astonishing. The Japanese already know the total number of cannons and even aircraft that Germany has sold to China.

What on earth are Chiang Kai-shek’s counter-espionage departments doing? They are like a naked woman before the Japanese, with no secrets to speak of. Akado felt that he might as well just open up the list of secret arms deals with China and read it out loud in front of the Japanese. It would save the Japanese from imagining China’s strength to be greater than it was.

“Mr. Yamashita, as I’ve said, Germany has indeed sold some weapons to China. Your country has no right to interfere with our merchants’ foreign trade. This trade includes the arms business,” Akado said, somewhat displeased. “Even the Allied Military Control Commission cannot stop our country’s arms dealers from making a profit.”

“Japan can cooperate with Germany, including in many aspects. We can buy far more arms and supplies than China,” Yamashita said, playing the biggest chip he had brought this time.

“We can earn much more if we continue to sell weapons to China, and you will also buy our weapons to suppress China. That’s two sources of income, isn’t it?” Akado said with a smile.

“How do you know we will buy your weapons? The Great Japanese Empire can produce its own weapons!” Yamashita retorted excitedly.

Akado sneered. “You? Your weapons are no good. Our German weapons are the best in the world.”

Damn, that feels good! Just like in my past life when I’d say Japanese cars were bad, it always sounded a bit sour. But now, saying Japanese cars and weapons are bad comes with an air of absolute justification! Great! So great!

“If the Great Japanese Imperial Navy strengthens its patrols of the southeastern coast of Shina, seizes suspicious smuggling ships, and happens to seize some of your country’s transport ships, what then?” Yamashita threatened.

He glanced at Akado and said with a sneer, “After checking, the Krupp company might have never produced this batch of German arms that we’ve seized. Then the Allied Military Control Commission can get involved in this matter.”

“Hahahahaha. Then why don’t you go and try? What are you doing here with me?” Akado said after laughing for a while. “I can have a car send you there. It’s not far from here, only about a twenty-minute drive.”

If I could, I would have gone long ago! Yamashita Konosuke was so angry he was grinding his teeth, but he couldn’t say it out loud. The Japanese intelligence department, by following the trail of the German arms smuggling to China, knew that Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union were all tied to Germany’s chain of interests. If Japan exposed this matter, it would be cutting off the financial lifeline of Germany, Britain, America, China, the Soviet Union, and even the Netherlands—how was that any different from seeking death?

“Then, may I ask, General Akado, what would it take for Germany to stop its arms exports to China?” Yamashita’s butt, which had left the sofa, finally settled back down. He looked at Akado helplessly and asked.

“Don’t always be thinking about the China problem. Japan actually has its own friends in the distant West, doesn’t it?” Akado said with a smile, a false smile on his face.

“Yes! General Akado, you are the Great Japanese Empire’s loyal friend far away in the Western world,” Yamashita said, nearly making himself sick with the words. Fortunately, he was a diplomat, a qualified diplomat.

“Then, there is nothing that cannot be discussed between friends, is there?” Akado continued to ask.

“Yes! Absolutely correct, General Akado, sir,” Yamashita said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“Then next, let’s have a good, long talk about the issue of Chinese weapons,” Akado said with a smile, extending his hand.

Yamashita Konosuke was helpless. He had no choice but to extend his own hand as well, and grasp the hand extended towards him tightly.