Chapter 527 Wave of National Independence

Osaka, Japan.

When Shunji Ito, a veteran reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, emerged from his underground bunker and returned to the surface, he saw a cloud of smoky ruins, and the industrial city that was once the pride of all Osaka people was long gone, with either collapsed ruins or piles of rubble as far as the eye could see.

There were also countless civilians who died in the fire, and Ito Shunji casually rummaged through a few piles of rubble, and found more than a dozen corpses that had been completely charred, including old people, children, and more women, and it is not difficult to know from their twisted limbs and straining open mouths what kind of pain they endured before they died.

Ito pressed the shutter of the camera four times in succession, and froze the tragic scenes on the film.

The next day, huge photographs of the victims appeared on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun, and then the Asahi Shimbun was presented to the desks of Hideki Tojo, Yukichi Anami, and Emperor Hirohito, who immediately convened a meeting of Tojo, Anami, and others.

Prince Zaihito, who is already 80 years old, also attended the meeting on crutches.

The bombing of Japan by the Chinese Air Force has been going on for two whole weeks, and in the past two weeks, major cities such as Tokyo, Nagoya, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Yokohama, and Sendai have been bombed, and yesterday, Osaka was also bombed on a large scale.

The use of napalm caused a large number of houses to be burned and a large number of civilians burned to death in Japan's major cities, while the heavy industry that supported the war did not suffer any substantial damage, and the Chinese seem to be more interested in killing and injuring Japanese civilians in large numbers than destroying Japan's heavy industrial system.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as of yesterday, the bombing of the Chinese Air Force has caused more than 2 million civilian deaths, more than 10 million homeless refugees, and direct economic losses of more than 5 billion US dollars!

Such heavy casualties and economic losses have exceeded the psychological tolerance limit of the old devil Hirohito.

Especially after the last major city, Osaka, was also bombed on a large scale, Emperor Hirohito finally couldn't wait to convene a meeting of military and political dignitaries such as Hideki Tojo, Yukiji Anan, and the old devil of Kanin Palace.

"Gentlemen, is it necessary for the Empire to continue to hold on?" Emperor Hirohito looked at Tojo, Anan, and the old devil Zaihito of the Kanin Palace one by one with a pleading eye, and then said in an extremely sad tone, "For this holy war, the people of Yamato have shed too much blood, and if the blood continues to be shed, the entire Yamato nation is afraid that it will be doomed." ”

Hideki Tojo, Yuki Anan, and Miyajiren of the Idle Courtyard just bowed their heads and said nothing, and no one had the intention of speaking.

Of course, Tojo and the others know Hirohito's thoughts, His Majesty the Emperor wants to surrender, anyway, he is the emperor of Japan, his status is transcendent, even if Japan announces its surrender, most of the Chinese will not hold him accountable for the stability of post-war Japan, but these Japanese soldiers will definitely be sent to the gallows by the Chinese as war criminals!

For every Japanese officer who ever set foot on Chinese soil, such as Hideki Tojo, Yukiki Anami, Toshiichi Terauchi, and Mijiro Umezu, the consequences of Japan's surrender were unbearable, because it meant that they would pay with their lives! Ordinary little devils can end their lives without hesitation under the instigation of the spirit of bushido, but these high-powered elite old devils are extremely greedy for their lives, and they will never give up until the last moment.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, the empire has not yet reached the end of the mountain!" Under the expression of Hideki Tojo's eyes, Anan Yuji finally stiffened his head and said, "On the mainland, we have just formed two strategic general armies and twenty front armies, in Nanyang, we still have a fully formed Southern Army, and in the North Manchurian and Mengsui regions, the empire still has more than one million elite troops!" We have every strength to continue this war, and although the Chinese have achieved a certain advantage, it is delusional to defeat the empire! ”

"Your Majesty the Emperor, I also think that the Empire should continue to resist." Hideki Tojo's words were much more fierce than those of Anan Yuki, and as he spoke, he waved his arms vigorously to strengthen his momentum, "The people of Shina tried to destroy the will of resistance of the Yamato nation by killing and injuring a large number of innocent civilians, but it was wishful thinking, and the proud Yamato nation would never be intimidated!" ”

Saying this, Hideki Tojo said: "What's more, the bombardment of the Shina people did not cause much damage to the heavy industrial system of the empire, our factories continue to produce weapons and ammunition, our army is still constantly expanding its armament, and it is never possible for the Shina army to land on the empire itself!" ”

Emperor Hirohito was silent, and after a long time, his eyes turned to the old devil Zaihito.

The old devil Zairen still squinted his eyes and didn't speak, until he couldn't push it anymore, he finally opened his cloudy eyes, and said weakly: "Your Majesty, I'm old, my brain is not good, these military affairs, but I can't see it accurately, you should discuss the big idea with Tojo-kun and Anan-kun." ”

The Imperial Palace, Zaihito, did not express his opinion, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and Chief of the Army General Staff Anan Yuji resolutely opposed surrender, and Emperor Hirohito could only dispel the idea of surrendering.

…………

Qingdao, Siye General Headquarters.

General Zuo was reporting to Yue Weihan on the operational plan for landing on Jeju Island and the Ryukyu Islands that the General Staff had just drawn up.

If we want to land in Tokyo and send troops from the coast of the mainland or Taiwan, the distance is too far, and if the supply line is too long, it will have a very unfavorable impact on the war situation, and a careless mistake may cause irreparable losses, and too far away will be a particularly serious constraint on the air force, and the fighters taking off from Qingdao, Taiwan, and other places can only cover most of the island of Honshu.

Therefore, before landing in Tokyo, Shino must first seize the Ryukyu Islands and Jeju Island as an advance base, of which Jeju Island will be mainly used as an air base, and Okinawa Island in the Ryukyu Islands will become an army and naval base.

After giving a detailed account of the arrangements for the entire campaign, Mr. Zuo asked for instructions: "General, in the battle to seize Jeju Island and the Ryukyu Islands, is it appropriate for the General Staff to plan that the 7th Army will take the lead in the main attack?" ”

"That's the 7th Army." Yue Weihan naturally didn't have any opinions.

Speaking of which, Mr. Xu's 7th Group Army was formed at the same time as Mr. Su's 8th Group Army, and now the 8th Group Army has become the first-class trump card main force of Siye and even the whole due to the Jinzhou Campaign, and the 8 main divisions have also been reequipped from light motorized infantry divisions to heavy motorized infantry divisions, but Mr. Xu's 7th Group Army has not yet caught any major battles, and this time it is time to take turns.

At that moment, Yue Weihan signed his name on the battle plan, and returned the folder to Mr. Zuo.

When Mr. Zuo was about to turn around and leave, Yue Weihan said again: "Also, during the capture of Jeju Island and the Ryukyu Islands, the bombing campaign against the Japanese mainland cannot be stopped. ”

"Yes." Mr. Zuo stood upright and immediately took the order.

As soon as Mr. Zuo left, Ma Zhankui, the director of operations, suddenly flashed in like a ghost.

After Siye's large-scale expedition, Ma Zhankui stayed in Burma, but this time he flew to Qingdao to report to Yue Weihan in person with urgent matters.

After Siye's victory at Jinzhou Bay, not only the people of the whole country but also overseas Chinese were as happy as a festival, and even the indigenous people of Southeast Asia were also greatly encouraged, and resistance forces or independence movements in the three Indochinese countries, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and even Singapore, Siam, Burma, and India also sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

Although the Japanese Southern Army was overwhelmed by the resistance forces of the Indochinese Powers, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines, the British garrisons in India and the Chinese garrisons in Burma, Siam, and Singapore were also quite passive, and overnight, a vigorous wave of national independence broke out in the entire Southeast Asia and even the South Asian subcontinent.

This serious situation immediately aroused a high degree of vigilance on the part of Yue Weihan and the top level of the Chinese Communist Party.

Today's China can no longer be reduced to the third world as it has in history, and naturally it is no longer possible to support the national independence movement of the third world. This has nothing to do with justice, and China's only starting point for considering the issue is whether it is in its own interests.

Needless to say, if Burma, Siam and Singapore are really allowed to become independent, it will naturally be a great disadvantage to China!

Starting from his expedition to Burma, Yue Weihan delineated a political roadmap for Southeast Asian countries to be a sovereign and independent country dominated by Chinese, to put it bluntly, you Burma, Siam, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia can be independent, but the head of government and the political leaders of various key departments must be all local Chinese and overseas Chinese.

Britain also could not tolerate the independence of Southeast Asian countries, and in order to suppress the independence movement of indigenous peoples in India, the British could no longer care about troubleshooting the Chinese.

Admiral Alexander, commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, even sent a secret telegram to Yue Weihan, asking Burma to urgently provide a large number of military supplies to the British army in India, and Alexander even hinted that Yue Weihan could completely give up some of its interests in Burma and Singapore in order to keep India, the jewel in the crown of the British Queen.

This is already very rare for the British who have always watched people through the cracks in the door.

Even the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Southern Army, Terauchi Shouichi, sent a secret telegram to General Ye Ting, the commander-in-chief of Nino, trying to reach a tacit agreement with Nino in order to transfer troops from the front line back to the rear and suppress the resistance in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia by force.