Akita, Japan.

Looking at the slowly rising sun on the sea level, Hirohito had an indescribable feeling in his heart. The mountains here, the sea here, and the morning sun here are all so beautiful, but a few days ago, I couldn't even stand here calmly. I am the most honorable person in this country, and the most helpless person in this country—the people hope in me, but who do I hope in?

The blue sky is full of dark clouds, but has the smoke of war completely dissipated?

For three days, the evil German bombers did not reappear like birds wintering south. Everyone in Japan was relieved by this, except for a very small number of people, who were not all war maniacs, but who had a deeper understanding of the situation.

There is no such thing as a free lunch, and the end of the war is conditional!

However, at this moment, Hirohito secretly made up his mind to free the country from the clouds of war no matter what. For his empire, this is not a simple war at all, but a catastrophe!

The horrific chemical weapons have claimed the lives of more than 4 million Japanese civilians in just two years, and some 10 million others have suffered a severe deterioration in their living conditions, many of whom will die in the coming months if left untreated.

In the face of the naval blockade and aerial bombardment of the Allied forces, Hirohito and his key officials had to hide like rats and change shelters every once in a while. Deserted towns and cities are everywhere, both coastal and inland, and most of the citizens have moved to the countryside.

Every Japanese citizen is accustomed to the sound of air raid sirens, and they are accustomed to sleeping in air raid bunkers during the day and going out at night. Because many of the crops that have been contaminated by the chemical have not grown or have no grass at all, they have to reclaim the wasteland and make the most of every healthy piece of land to grow rice and vegetables.

The transportation system throughout Japan has returned to the level of a hundred years ago, with railways barely passable and dirt roads remaining open, but the country no longer has excess gasoline for cars. Bicycles, horse-drawn carts, and ox carts became the most common means of transportation.

The Japanese Army still has more than 5 million regular soldiers, their equipment level is even worse than before the war, guns and ammunition are scarce, they eat only two meals a day, a porridge in the morning, and only a bowl of rice mixed with sweet potatoes or pumpkin fields in the evening, they sleep during the day and conduct military training for one to two hours at night. Then he went to work in the fields with civilians. Despite the difficult conditions, very few deserters were recruited.

It was not a victory, but the Japanese people felt a gleaw from the bottom of their hearts that they were alive and had a chance to start over. However, when the Germans proposed ending the war on the premise of abolishing the emperor's system, the Japanese people were outraged, preferring to continue fighting until their death rather than abandon the "living gods" they regarded as spiritual masters.

Although there were long threats to end the war and save Japan by assassinating the emperor. Some have even put it into action. However, most Japanese nationals believed that the defeat was due to the strength of the enemy and the failure of some generals to command, rather than to the emperor system itself.

Whenever I think of this, Hirohito feels relieved from the bottom of my heart. There is no monarch in the world who has a citizen so loyal and fanatical as he can even describe it.

However, loyalty and fanaticism were powerless to change the tide of battle. In Shikoku and Honshu, people rushed to tell each other every German plane that the air defense forces had shot, but more than 20,000 bombers of all kinds still entered Japan's airspace every month and dropped nearly 100,000 tons of bombs of various kinds on Japanese territory. In Kyushu and Hokkaido, old men, women, and even children were actively preparing for war, determined to wipe out any German soldiers who dared to land with their shotguns, kitchen knives, and bamboo guns, but anyone with a modicum of military knowledge understood. All they could do was make the Germans pay a little more, and the ultimate loser was the Japanese Empire.

In 1931, the fourth year of the war, Germany and Japan finally sat down at the negotiating table under the mediation of Italy. The German delegation was led by Chancellor Gustav Noske and Admiral Bohr, while the Japanese delegation was headed by Prince Fushiminomiya and Prime Minister Takeshi Inukai, and diplomats from Italy and North Korea were sent as third parties.

From ancient times to the present, the "wars" of verbal swords at the negotiating table are often as fierce as the real battlefields. The dominant side always tries to obtain more benefits for its own country, while the inferior side uses all means to reduce its own losses, and as long as it can achieve its own goals, the negotiating parties are always unscrupulous.

"Abolish the emperor system and establish a democratic government!"

From the outset, the German delegates pointed the finger at the foundation of the Japanese Empire, the emperor system, for the simple reason that the emperor's series of decisions were the root cause of the outbreak of the war, and that only by abolishing the old system, which had been in use for thousands of years, could Germany be willing to live in peace with Japan.

After a long silence, Fushimi Miyahiro took the lead in getting up and leaving, and the other representatives of the Japanese side also joined them, because of shame, they bowed their heads one by one with gloomy expressions, but the pace of departure was very resolute, although their country did not have any capital to fight at all, but this condition was obviously beyond their bottom line.

The Germans were not alarmed or uneasy by the departure of the Japanese delegation, and the armistice talks were not aborted. After active coordination by the Italians, only the next day, the representatives of both sides sat down again at the long negotiating table.

"The equivalent war reparations of 200 billion European marks, or the abolition of the emperor system, this is the most basic prerequisite for the continuation of peace talks!"

The German representative gave a multiple-choice question, and it was obvious that the Japanese delegation was more willing to accept the huge war reparations than the abolition of the emperor system. However, the expressions on the faces of the Japanese delegates were still very bad, and even in the best pre-war fiscal year, Japan's annual fiscal revenue was only 11 billion yen, equivalent to only 1.5 billion euromarks, according to which the Japanese government would need to repay this huge war reparations with its fiscal revenue for the next 100 years. Of course, although the Japanese government fell into financial collapse in 1931, most of the wealth they had plundered from Korea, China, and Southeast Asia over the previous four decades remained in their coffers, and according to conservative estimates, the total value of this wealth was more than 50 billion yen, and the actual value of many priceless treasures was simply immeasurable!

After deliberations, the Japanese representatives agreed in principle to accept the German side's demand for reparations, but they believed that the amount of 200 billion European marks was simply unachievable. This time, the German side took an extremely resolute attitude and said that the indemnity of 1 mark should not be less, but it does not have to be cashed in full, and a part of it can be paid in 30 to 50 years every year, and all kinds of treasures and cultural relics in the hands of the Japanese government can also be compensated at a discount with precious metals, agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery products, timber, etc.

Because of this disagreement, the talks between the two sides were postponed by one day.

After making urgent contact with the country, the Japanese representatives proposed that they could only bear the war reparations of 50 billion European marks, otherwise the Japanese empire would fall into a state of collapse, and a large-scale riot would not only destroy the country's administrative system, but even affect the security of neighboring countries.

It was at this time that the German representative suddenly made a splash:

"War reparations of 200 billion euromarks, nothing else!"

Yes, there is no need to cede land, no disarmament, and no need to cede military ports and bases located on the mainland, as long as the indemnity of 200 billion European marks is converted into 20 billion ounces of gold (1 ounce is about 30 grams). 600,000 tons of gold could be exchanged for an armistice treaty without restrictions, and the Japanese representatives could not help but be amazed, and they quickly reported the information back to China, and even Hirohito himself could not believe his ears!

But when the finance officials handed over the overnight statistics to Hirohito, he was completely less relaxed than before, and according to this data, all the wealth of the whole of Japan could now only pay a quarter of the indemnity! To make matters worse, the Japanese government is currently unable to make ends meet, and even in the best-case scenario, it will take 20 to 30 years for the country's economy to return to pre-war levels, which means that it will not be possible for the Japanese government to pay off this reparations in 70 or 80 years!

The venerable Emperor was suddenly in a long period of thought, although the Germans did not intend to establish military bases and garrison troops in Japan, the surrounding situation was still very unfavorable to the recovery and development of their own country—the pro-German Korean government to the west, the impregnable Kuye Island or the puppet government supported by Germany to the south, the impregnable island of Kuye and the terrible Soviet Russia to the north, and Hawaii under German control to the east.

In other words, the Japanese Empire was already under siege, and there were very few countries that were friendly to them, the United States was barely one, but the Pacific hinterland was no longer their sphere of influence, and there was Italy, which was even more distant!

Hirohito's hesitation delayed the negotiations in Pusan again, but the Germans showed unusual patience, but in response to the positive conciliation of the Italians, they still said the same thing: "The reparations are not too much for one mark, and nothing else, unless the Japanese Empire chooses to abolish the emperor system!" ”

At this point, no more cunning diplomat can find room for manoeuvre. Two days later, the Japanese delegation received important instructions from Akita: to sign this peace agreement with the Germans!

The war, which lasted for three years, finally ended in a way that no one expected at first, but the grievances between Germany and Japan did not come to an end, the Japanese were secretly determined to return to the world powers, and the Germans had their own plans, but in any case, the East finally calmed down temporarily.