Six days after the Yanhuang surrender ceremony, Qian Sihai came to Tokyo. On 8 June, he walked to the balcony of the Chinese Embassy, where an honor guard of the 1st Cavalry Division was tying a historic national flag to the halyard of the flagpole. "General Wang Xijing," Qian Sihai said in a loud voice, "unfurl the flag of our country, and let it fly in glory in the Tokyo sun as a symbol of hope for the oppressed, as a harbinger of the triumph of justice." ”

If the arrival of the conqueror Qian Sihai, coupled with the insulting fluttering of the Chinese flag under the noses of the Imperial Palace, could not be tolerated defeat for the soldiers who were directly responsible for failing to stop the foreign enemy, if the Japanese people could not fully understand the full meaning of this reality. In addition, many of them are already looking forward to trial. Three days after Qian Sihai's arrival, he ordered the arrest of the first batch of 40 indicted war criminals.

There is a name on the list that everyone knows - Hideki Tojo. Almost at the same time, Tojo's modest apartment in Setagaya was surrounded by journalists and photojournalists. They crowded around the stone wall in front of the house. Tojo was sitting at a large desk in his office at this time, writing. On the front of the room hangs a full-length portrait of the former prime minister in a military uniform. On the other wall hangs a tiger skin given by a Malayan worshipper.

More and more people outside, and reporters poured into the garden. By around three o'clock in the afternoon, the people were so loud that they could barely get through. Tojo told his wife to leave the house immediately with his daughter—the children had already moved to Kyushu. Mrs. Tojo was reluctant to leave. "Take care of yourself," she said, fearing he would kill himself. "Please take care of yourself." She said it again and bowed. He only vaguely agreed.

She went out the back door with her daughter, bypassed the fence, went up the street, and walked towards the car lane. The front was a mess packed with cars and people, preventing her from seeing her home. So, she went into the garden of a house across the street. The house is on an elevated hill and is the home of Dr. Suzuki. Earlier, Dr. Suzuki had used charcoal to draw the location of Tojo's heart on his chest. She looked over the fence and saw that the Chinese soldiers, the new Japanese military police, had surrounded her home.

An officer shouted, "Tell this cub we've waited long enough." Bring him out!" Suddenly. She heard a dull gunshot. The soldiers began to rush into the house. Even if you're on the other side of the street. She could also hear the cracking of the planks. It was 4:17 p.m.

When the Chinese soldiers burst into Tojo's office, Tojo stood uncluttered and staggered to an easy chair, blood soaking through his shirt. He also held a .32 caliber Colt automatic pistol in his right hand. The muzzle of the gun was pointed at the man who rushed in.

"Don't shoot!" The platoon commander who led the team shouted.

Tojo didn't indicate that he heard the shouting. But the pistol fell to the floor with a thud. Tojo collapsed into his chair involuntarily. He motioned to a Japanese police officer who had followed him for water. He drank all the glass of water in a few sips, and he still had to drink it.

In the garden across the street, Mrs. Tojo knelt down. He muttered Buddhist scriptures. She imagined his pain and tried to control herself, ready to see the Chinese carry the body out. However, it was an ambulance that appeared. A Japanese doctor rushed into the house.

At 4:29, Tojo's lips moved. Two Japanese translators who accompanied the reporter began to record Tojo's words. "I'm sorry it took so long to die," he whispered. His face twitched in pain, but the Chinese soldiers looked at him without sympathy.

"The Greater East Asia War is justified and just," he said, "and I am sorry for my country and all the nations of the countries of Greater East Asia." I do not want to be tried in the court of the conquerors. I await the fair verdict of history. "His voice was a little louder, but his words weren't entirely clear." I want to kill myself, but sometimes I fail. "The bullet went in almost flawlessly from the spot marked on his chest, but it just didn't hit the heart.

When the medics lifted Tojo to a couch, he whispered, "I didn't shoot me in the head because I wanted people to recognize my face and know that I was dead." He was taken to a field hospital on the outskirts. In the evening, Wang Xijing came to his bedside. Tojo opened his eyes and wanted to bow and salute. "I'm dying," he said, "I'm sorry I've caused you so much trouble. ”

"Do you mean tonight or the last few years?"

"Tonight. I hope that this Chinese general will accept my new saber. ”

Tojo survived and was tried as an important war criminal, and the trial was held at the War Department, the base camp in Ichigaya Highlands.

At the end of a lengthy interrogation procedure. Tojo and Kodama Yushio were in the courtyard of Sugamo Prison when they saw two Chinese planes in the sky. "Kodama," said Tojo, "if there were no more wars, this trial would be meaningful." As you can see in the sky, they are training, ready to take on the last Americans. By the end of the trial, the United States may have raised its hands! If there is still going to be a war, there is really no point in trying war criminals like this. ”

Three months later, Tojo was hanged on live television.

On the morning of Tojo's capture, Marshal Sugiyama's marksmanship was more accurate than his. He shot himself in the heart with a gun in his office. When his wife heard the news of his death, she followed the example of General Nogi Noshinori and knelt down in front of the Buddha statue in her room, drank a little cyanide, and fell down on the dagger. Nogi was the commander of the Japanese Army in the Russo-Japanese War, and later committed suicide to apologize to his fallen subordinates.

For the Japanese leaders, it is extremely odious to have the victors manipulate the trial. It was a great shame for a nobleman with a strong sense of self-esteem, the Duke of Konoe. He would rather die than be insulted like this. He jokingly told a friend, "I'm a lazy bone, and prison life can be carefree and easy for me." For thirty years, he had never carried a purse with him, and he had never wrung a wet hand towel in the shower. ”

The night before Konoe was imprisoned, his second son, Dotaka, carefully checked his father's room for weapons or poisons, and although he found nothing, he was still reassured. Before going to bed, he went back to his father's bedroom. They talked at length about the Sino-Japanese incident, the state of negotiations with China, and the great responsibility that Konoe felt owed to the emperor and the people. Doron thought that his father should write down these personal thoughts. Konoe wrote with a pencil - no brush at hand - for some time, and then gave what he had written to his son. "The words may be inappropriate," he said, "but they express my feelings at this time." ”

Daolong felt that this might be the last time we got together. "For a long time, I have only caused trouble to you, and I have failed to do my filial piety to you. I'm sorry. ”

Konoe disagreed. "What does it mean to 'do filial piety'?" He asked rhetorically, turning his face away. They sat there in silence. Finally, Daolong said. "It's getting late. Please go to bed!" He hesitated. "Are you leaving tomorrow?"

Konoshi didn't answer, but Doryaka still looked at him with a pleading look, and Konoe looked at him, and Doryaka felt as if he was talking. "Why are you still asking me such a question? I thought you understood everything. "Daolong had never seen the expression on his father's face" is so strange. So bored". For the first time, he saw that his father wanted to die.

"If you need anything at night, call me," said Daolong. "I'm next door."

It was easy for Daolong to fall asleep at dawn, but he was soon awakened by his mother's grief-stricken voice. He wanted to get up, but couldn't move for a moment. He sat there, trembling all over. He finally stood up and walked into his father's bedroom. The guard lay upright on the bed, calm and serene, as if asleep, without a trace of pain on his noble countenance. He was dead, and there was an empty brown pill bottle next to his pillow.

The Chinese believe that the emperor, Japan's nominal leader, bears the greatest responsibility for the war, as does Tojo and others. Now, some liberated journalists in Japan have even scolded the emperor, calling him not only a warmonger but also a womanizer.

There were also demonstrations in front of Qian Sihai's headquarters, advocating his deposition. The Supreme Commander ignored these demands. The trial of the emperor would cause guerrilla warfare throughout Japan and perpetuate the military junta.

Qian Sihai was even more determined to treat the emperor with courtesy, regardless of the opinions of his own subordinates. Some of his men demanded that the Emperor be forcibly summoned to the Allied Headquarters and given him a little color. "Doing so," Mr. Qian said, "will greatly hurt the feelings of the Japanese people and make him a martyr in the eyes of the Japanese." No, I should have waited. He will come to me automatically. In this matter, the impatience of the Japanese is more conducive to our purposes. ”

The correctness of Qian Sihai's intuition was confirmed. Two weeks after Tojo's suicide attempt, Hirohito himself requested a meeting. He wore a tuxedo, striped pants, button-down shoes, and a top hat, and rode to the Chinese embassy with his attendant Nagajita. As soon as he was carried out of the old-fashioned limousine, Li Yongze saluted him out of etiquette. As soon as Li Yongze's hand was lowered, the emperor grabbed his hand. The young Japanese interpreter said that His Majesty the Emperor was glad to see the general.

"I feel honored to meet you," replied General Li Yongze, "please come inside to meet General Qian Sihai." Hirohito asked Li Yongze to lead him into the embassy, and was slowly pushed up the wide staircase to Qian Sihai's office on the second floor.

In order to make Hirohito not feel restrained, Qian Sihai took the lead and said: "China and Japan have been facing each other across the sea since ancient times, and they should have been repaired from generation to generation. Since the last century, the Western powers have coveted the land and wealth of the Far East. Although the world situation has changed dramatically, in order not to repeat the humble status of a century. I believe that peace between China and Japan can make Yellow Skin the true master of the world. ”

Qian Sihai took out a box of Chinese cigarettes as he spoke, and took out one for the other party, Hirohito took it very respectfully, and said thank you. When Qian Sihai lit a cigarette for him, Hirohito's hands were shaking.

When Hirohito set out for the Chinese embassy, Kido's last piece of advice was to remind him not to take any responsibility for the war, but now he is saying the opposite. "General Qian Sihai, I have come to you to express my acceptance of the judgment of China represented by the general. In the course of this war, I am fully responsible for the actions taken by my people and for every political and military decision made. ”

The latter laughed, got up and poured two glasses of wine into the wine cabinet, handed Hirohito a glass, and said: "In the future, the political line of the two countries will be exactly the same, and our Majesty has explained that you are welcome to visit China as the emperor at any time." ”

Hirohito, who took the wine glass tremblingly, had already prepared the next "verdict", but Qian Sihai's words made him completely stunned.

Qian Sihai did not make any response to Hirohito's words, because it was completely meaningless at this time. When Chen Shao decided to keep Hirohito, everything was already doomed, not that he Hirohito would do what he wanted, as long as China said that Hirohito was innocent, then he was innocent, there was no why, this is the right of the victor.

For three hours, Qian Sihai and Hirohito met secretly in the office for three hours. During this period, no one went in. No one else knows what is being said. Even a hundred years later, there is no record of today's conversation. (To be continued......)