"Gentlemen, Mount Fuji is so vast, why is no one farming on the mountain?" Kita Ikki asked.

The passengers were baffled by this inexplicable question and didn't know how to answer. While they were still stunned, Kita Ikki continued, "Gentlemen, Japan has seized Korea. Now, with so many poor people starving to death on the streets of Japan, why not migrate these people to Korea? Not only do the poor not go to Korea, but I haven't heard of any rich people going to Korea either."

"...Sigh... indeed." Some people resonated with this point. So many Japanese were in a miserable state in the homeland, almost starving to death. If they were migrated to Korea, surely there would be a way to survive?

With the economy currently suffering a severe setback, those who could afford to take the train were not the poor. Even for the Japanese middle-income class, these people still lacked the ability to engage in effective independent thinking. Kita Ikki knew the level of these people from his revolutionary propaganda work, so he gave his own answer: "Because one cannot obtain the resources to survive by going to Korea..."

After all, they were the Japanese middle-income class, so they had at least some thinking ability. Listening to Kita Ikki's explanation, they gradually sobered up. At present, let alone supporting more Japanese, Korea couldn't even support its own people, which led to the situation where a large number of Koreans came to Japan. For China, occupying Korea offered no economic benefit either.

As for why China attacked Burma instead of Korea, Kita Ikki also explained it very clearly. In the First Sino-Japanese War, after Japan occupied Korea, why did it continue to chase and fight the Qing army? If Japan and the Qing Dynasty hadn't signed the *Treaty of Shimonoseki* at that time, and if Japan hadn't obtained a large amount of indemnity, all of Japan's previous efforts would have yielded no return.

Japanese newspapers had made similar assessments after the outbreak of the Sino-British War, and some of the passengers had read them. Kita Ikki, however, explained profound things in simple terms, especially clarifying that 'China will absolutely not actively attack Korea before solving the British problem, in order to avoid side issues.' The passengers suddenly saw the light.

After the war between the Northeast Government and Japan, Japan no longer believed that Korea was safe. Learning that China was merely not attacking *now*, but the future was uncertain, actually seemed to the Japanese passengers like the most reasonable explanation.

The middle-aged man in the suit, Iguchi, became quite respectful towards Kita Ikki. "Mr. Kono, I deeply admire your knowledge. I have one more matter to ask about. I wonder what your view is on the current *Outline for National Reconstruction*? Can this outline save Japan?"

Hearing Iguchi, the middle-aged man in the suit, directly ask the question 'Can it save Japan', and seeing the others around looking at him with expectant gazes, Kita Ikki felt that these people likely shared the same thought. Even these middle-income Japanese felt that Japan must be 'saved'. The intensity of the domestic demand for revolution in Japan indeed allowed Kita Ikki to see the hope of victory.

Such a revolutionary situation did not make Kita Ikki feel happy, because what fueled the soaring demand for revolution among the Japanese populace was not revolutionary parties like Kita Ikki's, but Japan's completely withered economy. Even the middle-income class had to consider whether the economic program proposed by the revolutionaries was feasible, let alone what kind of terrible lives the lower class were living, and how many were starving to death on the streets every day.

At this moment, the fellow passengers had unknowingly gathered around Kita Ikki, wanting to get more views from this 'Mr. Kono' who was obviously a learned man.

Kita Ikki explained, "If every peasant household in Japan now had their own land, and the grain grown on this land was enough for them to eat; and if the minimum daily income of every worker was enough for them to buy three boxes of rice—do you gentlemen think such a Japan would have stepped out of the current predicament?"

The passengers all nodded, and Mr. Iguchi answered loudly, "If it could really be so, the Imperial State would be a Paradise of the Imperial Way!"

Kita Ikki didn't want to mention the Emperor. By now, he clearly understood that as long as the Emperor was on the throne, such a life could absolutely never be realized. But Kita Ikki did not express any anti-Emperor remarks. Instead, he continued to explain matter-of-factly, "What is discussed in the *Outline for National Reconstruction* is precisely how to achieve such a situation. If you gentlemen have time to read the *Outline for National Reconstruction*, look along two lines. One is rural Japan: through land redemption and land nationalization, ensuring the tiller has his field. The other is urban industry: through ensuring a minimum wage, enabling the urban population to support themselves. Gentlemen, just look along these two lines. As for other arguments, they can all be put aside."

Mr. Iguchi was somewhat puzzled. "Why shouldn't we look at other arguments? Are they wrong?"

"It has nothing to do with right or wrong," Kita Ikki explained. "Other arguments express *their* views, rather than addressing the *Outline for National Reconstruction*. If you gentlemen insist on reading them, you might as well look at those comments. As long as they don't discuss whether the remaining grain is enough for the peasant households to eat after paying taxes, and as long as they don't discuss whether the daily minimum wage is enough for workers to buy three boxes of rice, then the discussion is not directed at the *Outline for National Reconstruction*..."

The train traveled on, and the originally boring journey became relaxed due to the heated discussion. This train departing from Tokyo stopped at the fourth station, and immediately many people in uniform boarded. As they began to walk through the carriage, the passengers felt great pressure and all stopped their discussions, quietly watching these uniformed men fiercely checking passengers one by one.

These people searched all the carriages once. The person they were looking for was not in the carriage, but there was someone in the toilet. The men in uniform surrounded the toilet and began to bang on the door. A moment later, the person inside opened the door. In the narrow toilet that could only accommodate one person, there was only Mr. Iguchi in his suit. Seeing that Mr. Iguchi was not the Kita Ikki they were looking for, the uniformed group dragged him out, carefully searched the toilet, and then checked the window. They found no signs that anyone had escaped from there.

The captain in charge of the arrest determined that Kita Ikki was not on the train, so he took out an enlarged photo for the people on the train to identify. "Has anyone seen this person?"

Mr. Iguchi looked at the photo and couldn't help but widen his eyes. The uniformed group immediately asked in a stern tone, "You've seen him?"

Under such intimidation, Mr. Iguchi couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva and answered, "Isn't this Mr. Kono?"

Hearing this, the uniformed group hurriedly asked, "Where is he?"

"He already got off at the previous station," Mr. Iguchi answered.

The uniformed group hurriedly questioned the other passengers and received the same answer. Hearing this, the leading captain punched the train seat hatefully. "He actually got away! Send a telegram to the previous station immediately, tell them to search and arrest!"

Mr. Iguchi and other passengers who had an impression of Kita Ikki were immediately taken off the train and experienced a very terrible day in the security room of the train station. While being interrogated, Mr. Iguchi and the other unlucky passengers learned that this 'Mr. Kono' was Kita Ikki, and 'Kono' was the alias he used during his escape.

Middle-income Japanese all had their own social circles. Within less than a day, these arrested passengers were all released. If the arrested had been poor, they would inevitably have undergone more interrogation. From the perspective of deterrence by powerful institutions, releasing captured people immediately was a very inadvisable choice.

Mr. Iguchi returned home, first thanked his father-in-law who had rescued him, and then comforted his wife and children. When he was finally able to reflect on the matter alone, he found that he was actually interested in the remarks of Kita Ikki, who had caused this fright. This did not mean there was no resentment, but Kita Ikki's clear and penetrating explanation made Mr. Iguchi feel that the door to his own thinking had been opened.

There were newspapers at home, so Mr. Iguchi turned on the electric light and began to flip through them. During this time, his wife urged Mr. Iguchi to rest several times, but the answer she got was, "You sleep first, I'll read a while longer."

It was late at night when Mr. Iguchi returned to the bedroom, incredibly exhausted. It was already two in the morning, and his wife was sound asleep. Mr. Iguchi lay in bed, wanting to sleep but unable to. What Kita Ikki said turned out to be true; the newspapers that genuinely introduced the *Outline for National Reconstruction* were all talking about the construction of rural and urban Japan.

As long as the news was not centered on these two things, most of it was just muddying the waters. It could be seen that many right-wing newspapers were deliberately distorting the original intention of the *Outline for National Reconstruction*.

What surprised Mr. Iguchi even more was that he only now discovered that the *Outline for National Reconstruction* was actually modeled on the domestic revolutionary policies of Chairman He Rui of the Republic of China, and based on China's policy practices. In this regard, the newspapers supporting the *Outline for National Reconstruction* made no attempt to hide it, clearly explaining this point to the readers with a distinct banner.

Learning from China? Mr. Iguchi was very surprised. But at some point, Mr. Iguchi had fallen asleep. Attempting to understand knowledge concerning Japan's future had greatly consumed Mr. Iguchi's brainpower, so much so that he was actually very tired.

For the next few days, Mr. Iguchi kept wanting to see updated evaluations in the newspapers. However, overnight, all content regarding the *Outline for National Reconstruction* disappeared. The newspapers didn't even recount the progress of the Sino-British War anymore. All content was about what projects the Japanese government had continued to start, what activities the upper class had attended, as well as various anecdotes and domestic trivialities.

If one only looked at the newspapers, one would feel that Japan at this time was in a state of relaxation and peace. However, as soon as one went out on the street, there was a clearly increased number of uniformed patrols, and various suspicious-looking fellows wandering the streets. From time to time, people were questioned.

A few days later, Mr. Iguchi saw his younger brother rushing over early in the morning. "Brother, I received a notice to return to the unit immediately."

"Is there going to be a war?" Mr. Iguchi asked uneasily. He saw his brother shake his head. "It just said that all leave for the troops is cancelled."

In the days after his brother returned to the unit, Mr. Iguchi felt even more uneasy. As if verifying this unease, Mr. Iguchi's father-in-law suddenly arrived at Mr. Iguchi's home. "Ichirō, can you pass a message to your brother and ask him to help ask what exactly happened to your uncle?"

This uncle was not Mr. Iguchi's own uncle, but his wife's uncle. Hearing that it wasn't his own family in trouble, Mr. Iguchi's tense mood improved slightly. Inviting his father-in-law to sit, Iguchi then asked what had happened.

It turned out that after the soldiers returned to their units recently, the Kenpeitai in the units suddenly began arresting people. The reason for the arrests made Mr. Iguchi's father-in-law extremely afraid: 'Purging personnel who endanger the state!'