Intriguingly, the political axe at the disposal of the Tokyo military was limited to the formulation of a strategic plan for the "first phase of operations," which set out only a timetable for the conquest of Southeast Asia. This goal has been achieved very quickly, and the speed and scale of the victory have fostered complacency and overconfidence among the leaders of this country. This sentiment came to be known as the "Victory Disease"; Its symptoms soon became apparent when strategic objectives were identified, which were far from being met by the military, industrial and administrative capabilities of the country.

The Imperial Staff Headquarters faced two fundamental problems: first, how to hold firmly on their extremely scattered empire in the face of the coming massive attack by the Chinese. Second, how to pacify and administer the territories they have conquered, so that they can strengthen their military power with the available manpower and raw materials. "The fruits of victory will soon fall into our mouths." Emperor Hirohito said to his Cabinet Minister, Marquis Kido, on June 9, 1942. 48 hours before that, the last Allied troops on the island of Java surrendered.

Defending a new decentralized empire, and at the same time proceeding to develop it in order to digest the economic "fruits of victory," has become a major strategic and administrative concern for him. However, Tokyo lacked the colonial experience and administrative capacity of the European powers that it had taken away, and its consequences would be revealed in the future.

Just as the short-sighted bureaucracy and the stubborn military were not up to the task of effectively managing Southeast Asia, so did the military leaders fail to solve the strategic dilemma of how to defend the new empire's long Pacific ring line.

Since the beginning of January, there has been a heated debate in the Imperial General Staff Headquarters on the question of what strategy should be adopted in the "second operational phase". The General Staff Headquarters of the Army hoped to stop further attacks on the US mainland and go all out to fight against China, so that the Soviet Union would enter the war as soon as possible and completely defeat China. Encouraged by the succession of victories, the planners of the Naval Command Department strongly advocated maintaining the momentum of the offensive against the United States until the United States begged for mercy and peace, and at the same time attacked the Chinese coast with all its might, forcing the Chinese navy to fight a decisive battle. Both of these approaches will lead to a strategic dead end, and it will be impossible to find a lasting military solution. Because if the army adopts a policy of attacking Chinese mainland, it will certainly give the United States time and opportunity to mobilize its powerful industrial forces and launch a large-scale offensive across the Pacific. The Navy still hopes to seek a decisive battle with the Chinese Navy before the Americans can rebuild their fleet. Therefore, with the admirals on one side and the army generals on the other, there was a fierce strategic debate full of differences.

Severely infected by the "victory disease", the Imperial Naval Staff initially proposed an ambitious plan for the second phase of operations, which called for the occupation of Taiwan, the Chinese coast, and New Guinea as a springboard for the eventual invasion of Chinese mainland and Australia. The General Staff of the Army, before even winning the war against China, was of course surprised at the scale of such a Napoleon I-like operation. They rejected the plan on the grounds that they did not have ready-made 200 divisions and did not have sea vehicles to support such a large-scale landing operation. So the Navy Staff revised their ambitious plan enough for the Army to support the first phase of their grand strategy - the occupation of the Chinese coast.

No sooner had the Navy Staff won the support of the Army General Staff Headquarters for an attack on China than it came under increasing pressure from Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku and his Combined Fleet Staff to adopt a more aggressive strategy in the central Pacific. Yamamoto's views carried considerable weight at the Battle Conference in Tokyo, as his victory at Pearl Harbor made him a national hero. The idea of Rear Admiral Ugaki, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, reflected Yamamoto's strategic views, and Ugaki believed: "Time will be unfavorable to Yamamoto, because the resources of the United States and China have a huge advantage." Therefore, unless the offensive resumes quickly—as soon as possible—it will ultimately achieve nothing, and will have to wait for the Mizhi two [***] teams to launch a counterattack. Therefore, Ugaki was ordered to put forward an operational plan for "capturing Truk and destroying the forces of the Chinese South Pacific Fleet", which was approved.

After China declared war on Yuben, the aircraft carrier task force of China's South Pacific Fleet stationed in Truk attacked the Yueben Navy attacking the Philippines, and the aircraft carriers of the two sides made their first contact, in which China lost two old aircraft carriers and one light aircraft carrier was sunk. The attack of the Chinese Navy has greatly hindered the movement of the Philippine army, forcing the Philippine Navy to divide its forces to guard against a sneak attack by Chinese aircraft carriers. After the end of the military operation in the Philippines, the army and navy generals agreed that the most important thing now was to eliminate the Chinese navy already stationed in the South Pacific. However, on June 28, the attack of the Chinese aircraft carrier task force on the mainland of the city interrupted the first stage of the advance into the Central Pacific.

The port of Nagasaki has always been an important military port in Yuben and the main advance base for the Yue army to attack Chinese mainland. The attack by Chinese planes destroyed 28 "Galaxy" bombers at the airfield, which the army had needed to provide cover for the invading forces that were being assembled. Two weeks later, when the postponed operation resumed and the convoy set sail, American intelligence issued a warning to China. The aircraft carrier "Gonggong" of the Chinese Navy was ordered to join the "Xingtian" aircraft carrier task force that left Truk Harbor and carried out long-range air strikes against the Chinese army with carrier-based aircraft. While only two of Vice Admiral Inoue's 18 troop carriers were sunk, 13 were damaged, forcing them to return for repairs. The sudden appearance of a large number of Chinese aircraft made the naval staff in Tokyo worry that the Chinese Navy had pre-assembled a powerful naval force in the South Pacific. They are even more determined to end the Chinese Navy's freedom of movement in the Pacific.

Tokyo has done its best to complete the work of drawing up an offensive plan and is ready to devote all the manpower and material resources of the Combined Fleet, and Yamamoto now hopes to immediately enter the South Pacific and capture Truk, which is expected to lure the main force of China's South Pacific Fleet out for a decisive battle.

Yamamoto's confidant Watanabe Nakasa defended the strategy of attacking Truk with an equally powerful statement. "We believe that by implementing the proposed plan of action to attack Truk Island, we can succeed in drawing out the enemy's aircraft carrier force and then annihilate it in a decisive battle," he said in a resolute tone. "On the other hand, if the enemy evades our challenge, we will still have important gains by expanding our circular defense line to Truk Island and the western Solomon Islands." In order to involve Admiral Yamamoto himself in the debate, Watanabe made a clever trick by calling the flagship of the Combined Fleet. He answered the staff's argument that only an offensive to the south would cut off the United States, China, and Australia. He reiterated Yamamoto's opposing thesis that the plan for a showdown in the middle of the Pacific would also "destroy the enemy's aircraft carrier forces, without which the supply lines would not be possible to maintain in any case." "The Army General Staff supports the strategy of attacking the Chinese naval base in Truk, as it only requires them to provide a small number of garrison troops.

Port Truk, the base of the South Pacific Fleet of the Chinese Navy.

Mr. Yang's office is on the second floor of the base's main building. The room was spacious, bright and warm like spring, and there were a few pots of his favorite moon flowers on the windowsill.

I remember when I was a child, there were always big pots of moon flowers in my parents' room.

Somehow, Yang Yunxiong felt a little vague about his father's appearance.

Although in newspapers and magazines, there is no shortage of fathers.

Since the time of Xu Shichang, his father has been the Minister of Finance, and now, the president has changed several terms, but his position as Minister of Finance has never changed.

What Yang Yunxiong remembers most clearly now is that every time he threw himself into his father's arms, those big powerful hands would lift him up with great force, and the usually high ceiling would be so within reach. Whenever that happens, the room is always filled with laughter. Own, mother's, father's.

To this day, he still remembers the piano music of Mozart that his mother Fu Zhuoyao always loved to play to his father. Serenity, serenity, full of peace and hope.

As a child, he used to go to his father's office to play, and under the glass top of his father's desk, a map of the world was always pressed. Every time he gazed at the map, he felt the smallness of the world and his own majesty.

Now under the glass plate of his desk, there is also such a map of the world.

At this moment, Yang Yunxiong was slowly writing four letters on the glass with a brush.

The first letter is a capital "D", which stands for Dutch, an old colonial power that once had a strong influence in the East Indies of Asia, but that influence has now disappeared entirely.

The second letter is "B", which stands for Britain (British), and although the aging Empire was beaten by Germany and Ben, it was still one of the world's most important maritime powers, although it was defeated by Germany and Ben.

The third letter is the "C", which stands for China, which is now the smallest country in Asia and is gradually dragging the invincible book into the quagmire of war. China's 400 million population, huge territory, and strong industrial production capacity are the most powerful weapons against Japan.

Finally, he wrote the last letter "A". The United States, the most powerful industrial country in the world today, has the most powerful fleet in the world, an outstanding political system, a strong national and unlimited war potential.

And now, it is said that Ben is actually waging war against so many countries at the same time!

He sneered and threw the brush on the table.

Accustomed to empathy, he has discussed with his colleagues many times that the "ABCD" encirclement is a common understanding of everyone, and if he wants to make their empire "long-lasting" and become the hegemon in the true sense of Asia, he must break this huge and terrifying encirclement, and now, he has dragged himself into an even greater abyss.

Yang Yunxiong himself does not even doubt the "final battle theory" of the current Prime Minister Ishihara Wan'er. The cultural differences and colonial contradictions between the East and the West meant that sooner or later there would be a war between Ben and the United States. It is only for the nascent imperialists that the later the war begins, the better. Going to challenge the United States, the symbol of the West, so early, is it true that I am ready for everything?

Perhaps it was all predestined from the start.

It is said that the oil produced by itself can only meet 10 percent of its own needs, and more than 80 percent of it must be imported from the United States. And earlier than that. After oil negotiations with the Netherlands ran aground, Ben's war oil reserves could only last for two or three years. An attack on the South Seas would inevitably lead to a conflict with the United States, so from then on, war against the United States had become the only countermeasure in his eyes.

He said that he was making a big gamble, betting on their century-old national fortunes. And as a bystander, a Chinese, Yang Yunxiong saw that this was a gamble with no end. And at such a casino, even the best gambler cannot win.

Yang Yunxiong got up and came to the window, he raised his head and took a deep breath of the fresh air in the rain. The sky was still gray and lifeless. Dense rain threads weave between heaven and earth, like a gray curtain.

At about 6 a.m., he was called by the phone to say that there had been a bloody incident on a warship, and that a military doctor had been killed along with a sick officer. Two simple sentences made his hazy sleepiness disappear. He had eaten breakfast and came to the office early.

How could such a thing happen at the Truk Naval Base, which was heavily defended like an iron barrel?

Yang Yunxiong turned around and came to the safe, turned the code, opened the cabinet door with the key, and took out a small black suitcase inside.

He opened the box, checked it, and made sure nothing was missing, then closed the safe, carried it downstairs, got into his jeep, and drove to the docks.

When he came to the pier, he saw a traffic boat waiting there, "Sir, we have been waiting for you for a long time. A sergeant in a green camouflage uniform greeted him.

Yang Yunxiong smiled and nodded. Without saying anything, he looked up at the majestic figure of the battleship "Republic" moored in the distance, and jumped into the transport boat.

The transport boat soon headed for the battleship "Republic".

Coming to the battleship "Republic", Yang Yunxiong saw an officer waiting for him. He recognized the other party as Li Shicheng, director of the Judge Advocate General's Office.

"How's it going?" Yang Yunxiong asked.

"We're new to the city, so we don't know much about it. However, the investigation did not go well, the rain washed away all the traces, and there were no valuable clues left at the scene. ”

Yang Yunxiong nodded, and walked forward with him in silence.

The rain was heavy, and the icy rain flowed down the collar, and Yang Yunxiong couldn't help but shiver. Li Shicheng hurriedly asked the officer on the side for an umbrella and handed it over. The rain hits the umbrella in a slight and dense harmony that seems to tell something. Fujiki's fingers tapped gently on his legs with the rain, echoing the mysterious nature.

"When did the murder happen?" Yang Yunxiong thought for a moment and asked.

"...... at midnight last night" Li Shicheng glanced at an officer beside him, who was busy telling the story of last night.

"In this way, the murderer infiltrated the ship in advance, killed Dr. Zhang Ning, and then waited for Captain Liu Xingyang to enter the ship."

"This is also what we don't understand, at that time, the ship arranged for Captain Liu to see a doctor, it was completely improvised, how could the murderer know in advance? Unless he's an immortal, he can pinch ......," the officer said.

"What do you mean?" Yang Yunxiong asked unhurriedly.

"I guess that the murderer may have killed Dr. Zhang, and after the killing, he didn't have time to leave, and Captain Liu happened to come to the door to ask for a consultation, so the murderer didn't do anything, and even killed him." The officer made a downward cut gesture.

"What about Director Li? What do you think? Yang Yunxiong asked Li Shicheng with a smile again.

"If the murderer's purpose was really to kill Dr. Zhang, how could he not leave quickly after the killing, but instead changed into Dr. Zhang's costume and brought a mask to open the door. Judging from the time of day, the clinic was closed, and even if no one answered the door, it was not surprising that the murderer did not need to take such a big risk. Li Shicheng was obviously prepared, and said carefully: "The only explanation is that from the beginning, his target was Captain Liu!" ”

Yang Yunxiong nodded: "Very good reasoning, worthy of being a high-talent student who once studied in Germany, the logic is very clear." ”

Li Shicheng smiled slightly awkwardly.

"Have you experienced the corpse?"

"After the examination, Dr. Zhang was killed with a sharp weapon. Judging from the wound, it seems to be a dagger-like murder weapon. The officer who spoke just now introduced.

"Where's Captain Liu?" Fujiki asked again.

"He was strangled to death, in a hospital bed in the clinic."

The trio walked along the deck. On the way, Yang Yunxiong kept his head down, as if he was finding the murderer's footprints. The light rain as thin as green silk wet the entire armor steel plate, and there was a slight splash of water on it, and it was impossible to find any traces at all, but Yang Yunxiong did not seem to be discouraged, although this section of the road was not long, it took him twice as long as ordinary people to finish.

When he arrived at the scene of the crime, Yang Yunxiong, a middle-aged man in a blue military uniform, collapsed in the corridor outside the room, his chest was red, and his dead fish-like eyes looked lonely at the blue and white sky.

Yang Yunxiong squatted down in front of the corpse, clasped his hands together, and mourned for a moment.

"I once met Dr. Zhang at a social gathering with the army, and he used to sing a song at that time, and the past is like smoke......" He sighed, and frowned again: "Dr. Zhang once won the fourth place in the free fighting competition held by the fleet, and his skills are excellent. Yang Yunxiong looked at the door of the room and said. On the partition door, there was a long knife mark, "Do you see something?" ”

(To be continued)