When Okamura returned to Tokyo, the snow had stopped. In the large open spaces cleared after the earthquake, no construction had begun, making Tokyo appear unprecedentedly spacious. This made Okamura feel that Tokyo had become unfamiliar; if not for the restored Tokyo Tower and other landmarks reminding Okamura that this was indeed Tokyo, he would have even felt he had arrived in a strange city.

There weren't many people on the streets of the vast Tokyo; the city center was no different from the suburbs, completely lacking the prosperity a Japanese capital should have. There were no shops outside the few government buildings, and apart from military personnel coming and going, no people could be seen at all. Okamura suddenly had an illusion: had the people here all suddenly disappeared?

The car stopped in front of the General Staff Headquarters. Okamura got out, stopped, and looked around again. The area outside the tall General Staff building was still empty. The sunlight shone down from the sky, actually giving a cold feeling.

Seeing the situation had come to this, Okamura walked quickly into the General Staff building, finally feeling some human presence inside. Arriving at the office of the Vice Chief of the General Staff, the guard opened the door. The trusted Vice Chief, Nagata, was standing by the table, holding the telephone receiver in one hand. Seeing Okamura outside the door, he waved to him, signaling Okamura to come in.

Okamura went to Nagata's side and watched as Nagata listened to the person on the other end of the line with a solemn expression, without saying a word. After a moment, Nagata just said, "I'll trouble you then," and hung up the phone.

Okamura felt something must have happened and couldn't help guessing. Nagata sat back in his seat and said in a gloomy tone, "Professor Taira Toyomori, as well as scholars from several universities like Tokyo Imperial University, actually don't want to meet with me."

Okamura also felt things were very wrong and probed, "Isn't Professor Taira Toyomori under house arrest?"

Nagata answered coldly, "But Ishiwara went to meet several scholars from Tokyo University, Waseda, and Keio. I heard the scholars talked with Ishiwara for over an hour."

Hearing this, Okamura didn't voice the suggestion of 'whether to arrest people'. With the situation as it was, they could no longer arrest people. Even overseas, Okamura had heard that several rounds of arrests had already been carried out domestically. Those who hadn't been arrested by now either had too hard a background, like Taira Toyomori, or were truly not leaders of the disturbances. If they continued arresting, the current government would be making enemies of the entire Japanese academic community.

Nagata had always attached great importance to the academic community. In the Japanese national polity envisioned by Nagata, scholars were a very important component. Now that this group of scholars had chosen Ishiwara's philosophy, or rather, the scholars had chosen the 'Taira Toyomori-Ishiwara' core, Nagata felt extremely disappointed.

Besides the scholars, the chaos among the people also made Nagata feel despair. After the assassination attempt on Nagata previously, the Tokkō had already arrested several rounds of Ronin. After severe interrogation, the answer given by the Tokkō alarmed even Nagata: 'Those Ronin acted entirely out of spontaneity. They said the Imperial State's economic depression is the responsibility of the powerful elites. In order to revitalize the Imperial State, they launched Heaven's Punishment.'

There were very many Ronin arrested for violent acts. They all believed that 'national traitors' must be responsible for Japan's current situation, but the 'national traitors' in the eyes of different Ronin groups were vastly different. The Chōshū and Satsuma cliques, Genrō like Saionji, the military, university professors, and fanatic students—every type of person was viewed by certain Ronin as a national traitor who should be held responsible for the country. If this bunch of Ronin were locked up together, they would probably kill each other first because of their opposing philosophies, likely ending in mutual destruction.

Hearing Ishiwara recount the status quo, Okamura's heart almost sank into the abyss. He asked with grief and indignation, "Nagata-kun, what else can we do now?"

"We absolutely cannot let Ishiwara and the academic community cause trouble," Nagata gave the answer.

Okamura was speechless. Knowing the core that would cause trouble in the future, yet being unable to move against them—had the situation really reached such a desperate point?

A thought flashed through Okamura's mind: should they get rid of Ishiwara and the others? But Okamura extinguished this impulse a moment later. It wasn't Ishiwara and Taira Toyomori who spawned the current situation, but the current situation that spawned people like Ishiwara and Taira Toyomori. Killing Taira Toyomori and Ishiwara wouldn't solve the problem; instead, it would intensify the conflicts. Those unreliable factors would suddenly erupt because of this stimulation.

From the perspective of staff operations, what the government should prioritize solving now were the 'unreliable factors', that group of leaders who might cause trouble at any time. Taira Toyomori and Ishiwara were conversely controllable. If the situation didn't keep getting worse but improved somewhat, the government would actually need rebel leaders like Taira Toyomori and Ishiwara to come forward and calm the impulses of those opponents.

Okamura could fully understand this, so he continued to ask, "Nagata-kun, have Ishiwara and the others fully publicized their philosophy now?"

Nagata didn't answer this question but took out a booklet from the drawer and handed it to Okamura. "Sit down and read."

Okamura took the booklet and saw written on the cover in Kanji: "Outline for Japan's Future Construction".

In another timeline, Japan's comprehensive de-Sinicization began after the US occupation following World War II. Even so, the proportion of Kanji used in Japan's upper echelons and government documents remained very large. For example, when Japanese television mentioned the US upper echelons, subtitles like 'US President xxx' (using Kanji) would appear on the screen.

In the Japan of 1927, "Outline for Japan's Future Construction" was a line of complete Kanji. Opening the pages, the proportion of Kanji inside was about 70%. As an outstanding staff officer in the Japanese Army, Okamura read very fast.

Taira Toyomori had long been a top figure in the Japanese academic community, especially the Mount Tai and Big Dipper of Japanese geopolitics. Okamura had carefully studied Taira Toyomori's articles on Japan's future. Upon looking at this "Outline for Japan's Future Construction", he read the various viewpoints Taira Toyomori had begun proposing early on.

To be fair, if the current Japanese political system and the Japanese upper class were not the price, Okamura felt that this "Outline for Japan's Future Construction" should be Japan's future.

The convergence of Ishiwara and Taira Toyomori already indicated the political philosophy of Japan's current revolutionary faction and the support of a part of the army. Okamura only felt apprehension in his heart; the previous impulse to assassinate the two had vanished.

The union of these two people intuitively seemed to be a union of academia and the military. In areas invisible to ordinary people, there were shadows of financial groups behind Taira Toyomori, while behind Ishiwara were He Rui and shadows of the Japanese business community. He Rui would absolutely not support Ishiwara because of his personal friendship with him, but previously some people, for the purpose of smearing, had exaggerated the personal friendship between Ishiwara and He Rui, attempting to label Ishiwara as colluding with foreign powers. In the current chaos of public sentiment, this instead added more chips to Ishiwara's side.

From Okamura's perspective, personal relationships were nonsense. In the face of national interests, any personal relationship was worthless. But the public didn't see it that way. Ordinary Japanese people would think that if a revolution broke out domestically, many worried China would take advantage of the void. The relationship between Ishiwara and He Rui was very intimate; in traditional Japanese thinking, it was entirely possible for Ishiwara to persuade the He Rui government not to intervene in a Japanese civil war.

As long as China didn't intervene in the Japanese situation and the Ishiwara faction was in power, it might make China change its policy and restore Sino-Japanese trade. Once Sino-Japanese trade was restored, Japanese exports would immediately recover, and those Japanese enterprises would be saved.

Previous actions had caused the opposite effect; they really had lifted a stone only to drop it on their own feet.

Okamura closed the "Outline for Japan's Future Construction". "Nagata-kun, have you invited Ishiwara-kun for a meeting?"

Nagata shook his head. "No need. If Ishiwara-kun wanted to serve as Prime Minister, do you think I wouldn't do my utmost to help?"

Okamura was speechless, only feeling that Nagata's words were somewhat piercing. After the war between the Northeast Government and Japan ended, Nagata and Ishiwara were called the Twin Jades of the Empire. Okamura had considerable merit in the war, but because he didn't show leadership talent, he wasn't included in the list.

But a part of the officers who also lacked leadership talent were unconvinced, so the term 'Three Crows' emerged. Nagata, Ishiwara, and Okamura were called the 'Three Crows'.

Now even Nagata had to express willingness to support Ishiwara serving as Japanese Prime Minister, which showed just how great Ishiwara's influence was now. And for Nagata to dare say this meant Nagata had actually discussed this matter with quite a few of the Japanese upper class. Okamura had mixed feelings; to confirm his thoughts, he asked, "What does Excellency Saionji think?"

"Excellency Saionji and Excellency Takahashi Korekiyo have both indicated they would not oppose such a recommendation. Even Terauchi Hisaichi and Excellency Tanaka Giichi have indicated that if Ishiwara-kun intends to serve as Prime Minister, they are willing to meet with Ishiwara-kun."

...Okamura already understood why Nagata insisted on 'keeping an eye on Ishiwara and Taira Toyomori'. If these two were willing to come forward to shoulder Japan's political situation now, it wasn't hopeless for them to serve in positions including Prime Minister. Even if Ishiwara couldn't do it yet, Taira Toyomori had hope of doing it. But the fact that these two were completely uninvolved in this matter meant they already had their own views.

But Okamura still wouldn't give up; he continued to press, "Does Ishiwara-kun feel someone will hinder him? Or does he feel someone he wants to promote will be rejected?"

If one looked at the Japanese Prime Minister from a political perspective, the Japanese Prime Minister seemed to have an extremely high status, but was actually a candidate negotiated by various forces. So the elected Prime Minister was a candidate serving various forces, not someone holding great power who ordered various forces to do things. If Ishiwara wanted to display his skills to the fullest, he naturally needed more 'authorization'. Okamura felt Ishiwara might not be coming out because his foundation was still shallow.

After all, no one hoped to be constrained everywhere when administering governance. This feeling was completely understandable, which was also the reason why Japanese military cadets had taken He Rui as an idol in recent years. The government He Rui had was established by He Rui single-handedly. In the eyes of Japanese military cadets, what He Rui possessed was a kind of unlimited power, the power to truly rule over the world.

Nagata shook his head again. "No, if Ishiwara-kun was worried about these things, he should have come forward more actively. But I have never heard of Ishiwara-kun making such efforts. So I have to think that Ishiwara-kun wants to take another path."

Hearing this, Okamura no longer harbored any illusions. At this moment, a thought suddenly popped up: should he go see Ishiwara privately?