"Your Excellency Hirohito, if Japan needs any material assistance, I can go back and contact the Chinese government now." The Chinese minister to Japan was the first of all the ministers to walk up to Hirohito and say loudly.

Okamura Ninji was already full of fear and even confusion in his consciousness, and in the panicked crowd, the young Chinese minister to Japan had a calm attitude, and although his breathing was also rapid, he had finally regained his composure. However, the crown prince of Hirohito remained silent, as if he could not hear anything, and looked at the sky in the distance.

Seeing that Hirohito did not react, the Chinese minister turned to Japanese Prime Minister Gonbei Yamamoto and repeated in a loud voice what Fang Cai meant, "Mr. Prime Minister, if Japan needs any assistance, please tell me directly." ”

Yamamoto Gonbei was also trembling, and in the face of the kindness shown by Japan's toughest enemy at the moment, he couldn't find a response for a while. However, the Minister of Finance, Takahashi, got up and walked up to the Chinese minister, "Thank you for the kindness of the Chinese side." We will prepare for this immediately. ”

After saying this, Takahashi Kiyoshi first looked at Hirohito, who was dazed, and then at Yamamoto Gonbei, who was speechless, and wanted to say something, but Takahashi Kiyoshi was still silent. At this time, if he, the Minister of Finance, took any action to dominate the situation, in addition to establishing senseless hostility for himself, all that remained was to expose the confusion and incompetence of the Japanese government to the ministers of various countries.

Fortunately, the officials of the Imperial Palace of Japan were not vegetarians, and at such a time, they immediately played a role, first "settled" the ministers of various countries to a safe place, and then began to clean up the furniture and other materials that had been messed up by the earthquake inside the Akasaka Imperial Palace. Of course, all stoves are extinguished except for the necessary fire.

As a member of the Army's Shosa, not the Praetorian Guard, Okamura Ninji was left unattended locally. Okamura Ninji was ready to leave the Akasaka Imperial Palace. Because of the aftershock, the palace personnel who came and went did not stand firmly, and accidentally touched Hirohito lightly, and then Hirohito suddenly turned his head as if he had woken up from a nightmare, and just happened to see Okamura Ninji, who was about to retreat, and he said in a trembling voice: "Okamura-kun, you stay first." ”

There were malicious eyes around him that immediately fell on Okamura Ningji, and those eyes seemed to be piercing like sharp needles Okamura Ningji's back felt uncomfortable for a while, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince already had a clear order, and Okamura Ningji naturally couldn't have any prevarication. In the following time, Okamura Ninji stood behind Hirohito, looking at the future emperor of Japan, who had a gloomy face and said nothing. At this time, the aftershocks continued, and Okamura Ninji could only focus all his attention on protecting Hirohito's safety. I didn't dare to advise Hirohito to give any disaster relief instructions immediately.

However, within an hour of the earthquake, even though the high walls of Akasaka Rikyu Shrine blocked the direct view, you could still see thick smoke rising over Tokyo. Of course, the debriefing soon arrived at the Akasaka Imperial Palace, and the reporter's throat seemed to be choked by an invisible hand, and his vocal cords seemed to freeze because of the horror, "Tokyo fire!" ”

September 1, 1923 was a Saturday, and the Tokyo area was bustling with people. Businessmen and office workers are still busy in the office building, and housewives are cooking on the fire. Because it's a Saturday, the station is full of people ready to go on vacation.

When the earthquake struck, many people's stoves were blazing, the stoves were overturned, the flames were splashing, and the sparks were flying. Tokyo is not only densely populated, but most of the houses are made of wood, and the earthquake destroyed the gas pipes, causing the gas to overflow and ignite in the event of a fire. The combination of several factors, such as the stoves that provide the fire source and the gas and wooden houses that are the best fuels, has turned Tokyo and other places into a sea of fire, and the sound of explosions and the cries for help from people in the fires are heard one after another.

A strong earthquake destroyed a water supply line under the ground in Tokyo, and Japan has a lot of experience in disaster relief. However, no matter how agile the firefighters are, they cannot rely on their own bodies to fight the fire. After the valve of the water pipe for firefighting was opened, there was no bubbling running water, but many cracks suddenly opened on the ground, and some firefighters could not avoid it and fell directly into the terrible gap. Then the gap suddenly merged like a demon's bloody mouth, and the streets of Japan, which were already filled with screams and screams, could not hear the deathbed screams of these firefighters. Next, the water in the underground ruptured water pipe gushed out from the cracks in the ground under the strong pressure of the ground, and the firefighters and other unfortunate people who unfortunately fell into the cracks were just squeezed into flesh by the powerful force of the earth, and these flesh and stumps were mixed with the underground water and washed out of the cracks, and the silvery and blood-red columns of water flew in the air with the broken limbs.

After the fire broke out, the fire quickly reached a point where it was difficult to control. The shock of the earthquake caused a huge wind in the area, and the area where the fire was caused immediately became a sea of fire, and the wind helped the fire to burn more and more fiercely. From the seashore to the city, the wind swept up everything it could, scattering debris that was still burning without an open flame into areas that were not yet on fire. Wherever the fire spreads, a sky-high fire ignites. Factories are burning, schools are burning, homes are burning......

The fire had scorched the air to a temperature above the ignition point of the paper in a very short time, and then there was no need for fire at all, and wherever the terrible wind blew, it began to burn! Paper is burning, wood is burning, houses are burning, the dead, the wounded, the living, and the unfortunate human beings who have been swallowed up by the scorching wind are also beginning to burn. First the hair, then the clothes, then the skin and the fat under the skin.

The dead were lucky, as it was impossible for them to die again. The humans who were alive and were caught up in the scorching wind couldn't even scream, and the moment they opened their mouths subconsciously, the terrible heat had already burned the soft throats and vocal cords of the humans, and the lungs of these poor humans had lost the ability to breathe. At the moment when their skin began to burn, these humans were not dead, and in addition to the burning pain of falling into hell felt on the surface of their bodies, the human beings also had to bear the terrible pain of suffocation in their bodies. The deceased under such double pain all grabbed their own throats with their own hands, and when their charred bodies were found, it was as if they had strangled themselves with their own hands.

Of course, it was a matter of luck whether their bodies would be found, as the whole of Tokyo was engulfed in flames, as if the sky was burning and the earth was burning. The burning houses collapsed on the bodies of the dead, and many of them were burned with the wood into indistinguishable charcoal.

One by one, the people who came to report rushed into the Akasaka Imperial Palace, and the first two hours were mainly reported on the fires in Tokyo, and in the non-stop aftershocks, there was a tsunami report from the third hour.

In order to escape the earthquake and fire, the people who were lucky enough to escape began to look for a place where the building could not be crushed after the collapse and the fire could not burn. The only places that can meet both requirements are beaches, ports and marinas. Frightened people flock to Tokyo's beaches, docks, and ports.

The Great Kanto Earthquake was located off the coast of Tokyo, and the earthquake caused huge damage not only on land. The enormous power unleashed by the earth's crust also caused monstrous tsunamis. In the harbors, docks, and beaches, those who had just escaped a single life from the earthquake and fire saw the sea retreat at a terrible rate, as if some behemoth was frantically swallowing the sea. Then, as far as the eye could see, a silver line suddenly appeared, and a moment later, the people who had taken refuge in the harbor, the docks, and the beach saw that the silver line was approaching the shore at an alarming speed. Soon, the huge waves more than ten meters high pushed over overwhelmingly. Some people were already frightened stupid, more than ten meters high, and the endless waves could not be seen left and right, as if it was a high blue wall with silver edges on the top, such a behemoth had never appeared even in the most terrible nightmare. Not to mention, the huge waves are not at all in line with the habits of Tokyoites who have seen the sea many times, and gradually decrease as they move.

Far from decreasing with the distance traveled, the tsunami grew higher as it got closer to the coast. This kind of change, which seemed to be completely contrary to human beings, made at least half of the people dumbfounded, and they didn't even think to turn around and escape in the direction of the burning Tokyo.

Those who tried to escape like ants in the face of the huge waves could not escape at all, and the huge waves crashed towards the shore at a speed of 750 kilometers per hour. In 1923, except for the fact that the shells could exceed the speed of the tsunami in a very short time, even the fastest planes could not fly so fast. Within the range that the tsunami could reach, the crowd and everything on the beach were instantly swallowed by the waves more than ten meters high, or swept into the depths of the ocean, or thrown into the air by the waves, and some were thrown far to the land like ants played by giant hands.

The air in Akasaka's palace seemed to be frozen, not only Hirohito, who had been silent, but also the terrible news that made everyone speechless, and the people with weak psychological tolerance listened to the frightened reports of the messengers, and their legs were weak and they fell to the ground and couldn't move. Others ignored the rules and began to sob silently. Of course, at this time, no one thought of reprimanding or punishing these people. Under such a terrible natural disaster, everyone's heart is full of fear and despair. They even gave birth to the feeling that these three thousand worlds were about to be destroyed.

Okamura Ninji once felt that Hirohito's "stunned" performance was too slow to react, but at this time his heart was in chaos, if there was a mirror at this time, Okamura Ninji might not even be able to recognize the guy in the mirror with a face as iron-blue as he was.

Tokyo has gathered the wealth of Edo for more than 200 years, gathered important industries in Japan, and gathered the largest number of ships in Japan. Not only did the earthquake and fire destroy the wealth on Tokyo's land, but the huge tsunami destroyed everything in the port of Tokyo from the sea. Since the Meiji Restoration, everything that has gathered in Tokyo has come to naught in an instant. Not long ago, Okamura Ninji and Nagata Tetsuyama talked about Japan's luck and national fortunes, and they also laughed at those "ridiculous views" that Japan's rise was only to stimulate China's rise. After such a disaster, Okamura Ninji could not think of anything else that Japan could do against China.

In this chaos, it was Hirohito who finally spoke, "Send someone to contact my father, and we must not let my father's safety go into trouble." In addition, a telegram ordered all troops stationed in Osaka to be transferred to the Tokyo area to be responsible for maintaining order. ”

With such clear instructions, Akasaka left the palace and immediately had a backbone to temporarily regain his vitality. Someone had already gotten up to pass the order.

"Okamura-kun, Okamura-kun!" The call made Okamura Ninji raise his head from a completely distracted state, but when he saw that it was Crown Prince Hirohito who called him, Okamura Ninji immediately forcibly retracted his mind and said in a rather formal tone: "What does Your Highness command?" ”

Even if Okamura Ninji's etiquette is a few points worse at this time, it won't attract the attention of others, and at this time, being able to have a relatively normal reaction is considered a pretty good performance. So Hirohito doesn't care about Okamura Ninji's gaffe at all, if he doesn't lose his temper at this time, it will be a completely different thing from ordinary people. "Okamura-kun, you personally take people to your father's place, and you must protect their safety!"

"Hey!" Okamura Ninji immediately bowed his head and replied, and when he raised his head again, Okamura Ninji asked, "Your Highness, do you want to bring some carrier pigeons?" After the earthquake, the telegraph network was afraid that it would no longer be used. ”

This clear idea reminded many people, Hirohito nodded, "Urgently deploy carrier pigeons, including the envoys who go to Osaka to mobilize troops, also bring carrier pigeons!" ”

While the top management of Japan's first earthquake-resistant building, Akasaka Imperial Palace, was working hard to solve the problem after the disaster, Kita Kazuki managed to rescue all the members of the social research group buried under the collapsed house. This is really a great luck, because the official start of school is about to start, all the members of the club gathered on Saturday, and they did not even come so together during the entire social survey period.

Another fortunate thing is that the venue where the club is located is an old school building, the space is limited, and the temperature drops a lot after September, so the club meeting is simply held in the open space outside the school building. Although the young people were scared enough by the earthquake, there was no fire on the flat ground, and there were no ground cracks, and most of the members were unharmed.

Even the few students who stayed in the school building to be in charge of their work, when the earthquake came, the clever ones had already run out of the school building, and the less agile or less athletic ones were buried in the school building. However, after all, this is an honest Japanese-style house, and the structure of the house inherited from actual experience is more suitable for earthquake-prone areas, and after more than an hour of hard work, the three young people buried in it were finally rescued. Two were seriously injured and one was lightly injured, and no life-threatening seriously injured person has been found to be serious for the time being.

Young people are not only saving people, but also people are running out to find out the news. The information brought back really frightened Kita Ichiki and the others, "Tokyo fire! Without much effort, the thick smoke and the crowd that had begun to flee into the school brought the news into the campus of the university. Some of the students, whose homes were in the site of the Tokyo fire, immediately ran home.

Kita Yihui shouted angrily, "No one is allowed to act without permission!" He had established a considerable degree of prestige these days, and the thunderous roar finally calmed the scene.

Striding in front of the students, Kita Yihui shouted: "Since I have summoned you, I have a responsibility to you!" Whether you like it or not, I can't watch you die! If your family is fine, they are likely to be coming to school right now! I can't find you at school, what are you going to do with your family? If something happens to your family, aren't you going to run back to the fire to die? Is that what your family wants to see? ”

It doesn't matter whether the words are good or not, at this time, Kita Yihui must first stabilize the students' hearts. Sure enough, after listening to the simple speculation of the matter, regardless of the expressions on the faces of the students, at least they no longer had the end of rushing out. Seeing that he was probably in control of the situation, Kita Yihui roared again, "Now everyone listens to the order and lines up to gather!" ”