The British plan was to escort the slow merchantman roughly 270 nautical miles to the Yangtze and onward toward Shanghai. The proposed clash that follows is explicitly conjectural. Japan's army is portrayed as emboldened by fighting in China, while its navy has a clearer sense of the Royal Navy, French Navy, and United States Navy it might face. A militant northern-sector army officer then accuses the naval commander of allowing dishonour and pressures him to pursue the convoy. Escalation depends on an interservice political choice rather than an automatic Japanese response.
Chapter · 51:03-53:47
The escort plan and Japan's army-navy divide
The slow escort to Shanghai becomes the setting for a conjectured clash between a more cautious Japanese Navy and army officers pressing it to avenge a perceived dishonour.