\\. QВ⑸。 CoМ/ The smell of autumn swept across the cold courtyard, and the withered yellow leaves were mixed with a few scraps of paper, which were the traces of refugees in the square outside

The lush cherry blossom trees are only bare branches, like feathered chickens, and the bare bark is like the skin of an old lady, dry and wrinkled

In Hirohito's eyes, the palace was surrounded by a scene of decay, although the bombs of the Chinese Air Force never fell into the palace, but the palace was also affected, a fire in late summer, burned to the edge of the palace, if it were not for the desperate efforts of the Praetorian Guard, the palace may have been reduced to ashes

Mars still drifted into the Imperial Palace, Meiji Jingu was partially damaged, the Imperial Dining Room was also partially burned, and the people in the palace were panicked, and it was rumored that the Imperial Palace was protected by Amaterasu, so none of the bombs fell on the Imperial Palace in all the air raids

Hirohito, of course, would not be as stupid as the people, but he also did not help to uncover the idea of the truth, and he also intentionally or unintentionally fueled such rumors, and he needed the blindness of the people

The shadow of defeat is getting thicker and thicker, the quarrels between the army and navy are becoming more and more frequent, the opinions between the civilian minister and the military generals are seriously divided, and the cabinet is about to collapse several times

After the loss of Manchuria, Okabe Naosaburo retreated to North Korea and finally stabilized his position, but in the Battle of Manchuria, the Kwantung Army lost about 80,000 troops, and the consumption of materials was innumerable

The state of the domestic army is also very lame, and the ambitious plan to call up 1.5 million troops is being carried out, but the weapons and equipment to equip these people are not

The bombing by the Chinese for more than half a year severely damaged the production of the empire, nearly 70% of the country's factories were burned, and the remaining factories were severely underopened; Manchuria was lost, an important raw material base was gained, and production fell sharply

In addition to production, the millions of refugees from the bombing, and the millions of refugees who fled from Northeast Korea, are scattered all over the country, and these refugees have nothing but to take care of their belongings, and these people can only sleep on the streets in the face of the approaching winter, and the government is helpless about it

It's going to be a tough winter, a winter full of corpses

Famine and bitter cold will take the lives of millions of Japanese

"Alas"

Kido looked at Hirohito with a solemn expression, recently he sighed more and more, the sound of the piano has long disappeared from the palace, the queen took the palace ladies to plant all kinds of vegetables in the open space, the flowers and plants that had been planted for decades in the back garden were cleared and planted with rice, the warehouse of the palace was piled up with freshly harvested rice, and now the whole garden is planted with young seedlings of potatoes just breaking the ground, and the young stems and leaves are trembling in the wind, adding some vitality to this bleak garden

"Your Majesty, victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and as long as the imperial system exists, Japan will flourish again," Kido comforted: "You see, this seedling, although small, is also vibrant, and there is a huge fruit hidden under its young branches and leaves."

"In the past, Emperor Meiji was able to turn poor Japan into a world-class power, and His Majesty was able to lead the Japanese people to rebuild from the ruins, ten years of recuperation, ten years of life, and twenty years later, Japan will become a world power again."

The Japanese elite already knew that defeat was inevitable, that the whole country was powerless to fight, that there were frequent reports of defeat on the battlefield, that the morale of the people was low, and that there was no longer that kind of exhilarating applause, but only a howl of despair

Urban residents in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and other places have fled to the countryside after a series of bombardments, and according to local police statistics, about 14 million people have fled the cities

In some cases, the remaining factories and residents living nearby have moved, and some would rather live in distant shacks than near the factories, because the factories may become the targets of Chinese bombing at some point

But now the Japanese realized that it was so difficult to stop the war, and the Swiss ambassador spoke, Dulles refused to meet, and the news from other sources indicated that the allies would only accept unconditional surrender

These news gave the military generals who advocated continuing to fight a reason, and firmly demanded that the war continue at the cabinet war and meeting, and the officers proposed a more radical strategy -- to withdraw troops from Jiangnan, at least 200,000 troops, and all these troops should be withdrawn to the country, so as to enhance the combat effectiveness of the domestic army

This strategy was strongly opposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which considered it too much of a weakening of Jiangnan's strength, but the cabinet meeting nevertheless approved the strategy, withdrawing 200,000 troops from Jiangnan, and after withdrawing troops, abandoning Nanking and retreating to Shanghai if necessary

The Chinese Dispatch Army Command did not protest, quietly accepted this order, and quickly adjusted its deployment and dispatched troops to assemble in Shanghai

The situation on the Chinese battlefield is irretrievable, and the Pacific theater is also eroding, and the aircraft carriers, the main striking force of the combined fleet, which is the main force in the Pacific theater, have become difficult to go to sea to fight due to the lack of aircraft and fuel

The base camp judged that the next move of the United States was the Philippines, and for this purpose the base camp formulated the No. 1 battle plan, according to which the combined fleet would be fully dispatched

What is unexpected is that the commander of the Combined Fleet, Jizaburo Ozawa, rejected this plan for the simple reason that the Combined Fleet did not have enough fuel, and the entire fleet could not drive to the Philippines at all; Secondly, in the Battle of the Marianas, the combined fleet lost a large number of aircraft, but it was not replenished, and now the entire fleet has only more than sixty combat aircraft

At the end of August, the Chinese Air Force bombed the oil depot and the fire caused the explosion of the oil depot, and all the 100,000 gallons of fuel stored were lost, and it has not been able to make up for it so far

So the question was thrown to Toyota, the Minister of Munitions in charge of production, and Toyota gave a vague guarantee that the refinery would be able to work overtime to produce enough oil within two months, as long as the navy could bring back the oil from the South Seas

After the end of the Battle of the Marianas, the sortie distance of US submarines was shortened by more than half, and the attacks on the sea transportation lines became more and more violent, and the sea transportation lines were almost paralyzed

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, US submarines based in Australia and Pearl Harbor frequently attacked sea transportation lines, while the Japanese army never learned to escort ships at sea, and the transport fleet suffered heavy losses

The question was stalemate, and at the end of the base camp operations meeting issued a vague operational order, the navy was still preparing the No. 1 battle plan, and the quartermaster was responsible for collecting oil throughout the country for the navy's combat needs

But where does Toyota go to collect fuel? No one knew that the country's oil was in the hands of Toyota, and if there was enough fuel, Toyota would have given it to the United Fleet a long time ago, which was the last barrier to defend Japan; If the Combined Fleet is annihilated, Japan will be like a woman naked on the street

In the past few months, Hirohito has not heard a single piece of good news, so that there is no even slightly more reassuring news, Kido's words are only comforting, "Brothers from all over the world," Hirohito muttered to his grandfather's haiku, and it was under this haiku seven years ago that the Japanese army crossed the Lugou Bridge and rushed into the Central Plains; It is also under this haiku that three years ago, the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor; Now, Hirohito has tasted the bitter fruits of war and sincerely hopes that all the worlds will be brothers

"Your Majesty, the Cabinet is almost here," Kido whispered

The issue of war and peace has never been more urgent than today, several meetings of the cabinet have been deadlocked, the military generals are in charge of war, and the ministers are in charge of peace, and at each meeting there is a lot of quarrel, Hirohito feels that he can no longer drag on like this, and he decides to convene an imperial council to deal with this issue

Hirohito nodded and turned around and walked towards the conference room, lamenting that the Chinese Air Force was going to rest today, and so far, the air raid sirens had not sounded, but for the sake of safety, the meeting was still held in the bomb shelter in the palace

The bomb shelter of the palace was built a long time ago, this is a huge underground project, the whole bomb shelter is divided into three areas, living area, work area, and material area

Each of the three districts has its own division of labor, and the living area is the area where the people in the palace live, which is also divided into three parts, the general staff area, the Praetorian Military Region, and the emperor's living area

The work area includes Hirohito's office, conference room, Miiteng's office, the office of the Miyagi Provincial staff, the Empress's office, the telegraph and telephone room, and much more

When Hirohito arrived in the conference room, the main leaders of the cabinet members' headquarters were already waiting outside the conference room, and Hirohito walked through the crowd and walked into the conference room first

Suzuki quietly bowed his head, and only after Hirohito entered did he look up at the closed door, and after a while, the door was pushed open again, and Kido stood by the door

"Your Majesty invites the ministers in"

Suzuki respectfully saluted, the first to walk into the conference room, the ministers followed behind the stream, this conference room is naturally not as luxurious and spacious as the conference room on the ground, after everyone entered, it seemed a little congested, there was a long table in the conference room, and the door of the whole team was a golden throne

Hirohito sat on a wide throne, his hands on his knees, his waist straight, and his eyes looking gently straight ahead

Suzuki saluted Hirohito first, and then walked to the seat in front, followed by Togo, Nishio Toshizo, Umezu Mijiro and others, and everyone entered the room to salute Hirohito before walking to their seats

I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, Suzuki Kantaro was on his side, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, and the Minister of Finance were all on his side, and the people sitting opposite were all soldiers, Nishio Shouzo, Umezu Mijiro, Toyota, and Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonechi all sat opposite him

After everyone was seated, Kido announced the beginning of the Imperial Council, and then he went to the Emperor's lower seat and sat down, and he usually sat in this position when the Imperial Council was held, and he was the Emperor's representative, and he said what the Emperor did not say

The latest full book: 、、、、、、、、、、