Even when the homeland was threatened, millions of Japanese troops still guarded large swaths of the Japanese Empire, which was on the verge of collapse. The Pacific islands, which have long been left behind, are still intact and large areas of the rivers and mountains still occupied by large numbers of Japanese troops in Australia.

However, Japan lost all its soldiers on the islands that served as a springboard in Burma, the Philippines, and the Pacific. There are only a handful of people who can return to their homeland. Those who did not seppuku or did not die in the suicidal charge were abandoned on the island, sick and hungry, struggling day by day with the desire to survive.

Chief Kiyo Wu, a former teacher, is one of them. Since he fled Leyte in a small boat, he has escaped capture and death more than a dozen times. By March, he had reached Negro, the largest island west of Cebu, but before he could get back on the Freedom Trail, he was taken over by a Japanese army unit and forced to take part in the defense against the newly landed Chinese army.

However, Miko did not lose his dream of going to Rabaul to seek a new life. He persuaded six other people to desert with him. He promoted himself to the rank of military cao.

On 30 March, he led six of his men into the deep mountains and old forests and walked towards the southwest bank. They crossed the mountains and mountains, and for a month they had not eaten a single bite of food except for snails and crabs to satisfy their hunger, and they were bitten by poisonous insects, and they could only urinate to reduce their swelling. After falling asleep, the leech crawled up to the eyelids again to suck blood. They stung their eyelids until they had sucked up the blood and their bodies were round and large as marbles. They ate them again, and nothing could be wasted in the deep mountains and old forests.

The thought of foraging haunts them. They remembered an incident in which the cooks of a certain unit had made soup from the meat of executed Filipinos for the soldiers to drink. "The thought of eating human flesh makes me sick."

One of them said. "However, as long as you don't know it's human flesh, it still tastes good."

"When a man is really hungry," said a native soldier named Yabuki, "he eats everything." ”

"Has Yabuki ever eaten human flesh?"

"No, I haven't eaten it. I worked at a crematorium in Hokkaido. Working there, you quickly forget that you're fiddling with the dead. If you're disgusting, you can't do cremation. A common man sneaked up to me to find my burned human brain. ”

"Why?"

"I've heard that it cures all diseases."

This conversation surprised Miko secretly. He was afraid that Yabuki would have the idea of eating Mayama. Mayama is a soldier who suffers from tuberculosis. As thin as a whipping post. Even the leggings fell straight down. One night, Miko heard Yabuki whispering, "He's dying anyway." ”

When Miko wakes up, he finds that the "beds" made of leaves by Yabuki and Mayama are empty. Miko found them by the stream. Mayama was wiping his body after taking a bath, and he was as thin as a skeleton. Yabuki stooped down behind a rock. He had a bright knife in his hand. Like a hungry tiger staring at food, he stared at the mountain.

Miko shouted. Other people also rushed to hear the noise. Yabuki's eyes glowed with a strange light, and he flicked his knife. "Please forgive me," he shouted. Miko beat him so hard that he didn't stop until his hand broke. Yabuki obediently accepted the sanctions, and eventually he collapsed, his face covered in blood.

As they continued on their way, Yabuki was still excusing his actions. He defended himself by saying that he was suffering from tuberculosis and was dying, and that he could not commit suicide.

"If I kill him, it's not murder, I can only help him die earlier." Then, he added, "There's no point in letting his body rot in vain." Knowing that his body has been used to save his starving comrades, the spirit of the mountain in the sky will also be happy. ”

That night, Miko had a dream. He dreamed that he was attending a funeral. It was spring, the wind was mild, and the larks were flying in the sky.

"Are you going to bury him or cremate him?" A young man in mourning clothes asked. This man was a palle-faced, poet-like soldier.

"If it's cremation, then let me do it," said a man in overalls — it was Yabuki.

"If we cremate the enemy, we will find out," said the village chief—the man was another of them, Nakao.

A middle-aged woman with a few girls next to her said, "Let's cook now." ”

They made a soup that tasted like shredded meat miso soup. "It's delicious!"

The woman said, "Of course." One girl said, "That's the meat of a mountain." ”

"Really? Is it the meat of the mountains?" The other girl asked, and laughed happily, "How fresh! ”

The dream was so joyful, so natural, that the next morning Miko felt that he had never been so happy since he had come ashore in Negro. He didn't know why, and he didn't find the answer until he vaguely remembered this happy dream he had. Even when he realized that he had dreamed of Mt. Eatma, he still felt happy.

He didn't feel sick, and he didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt or guilt. On the rest of the march, he found himself muttering involuntarily, "I'm going to eat the mountains." I'm going to eat Mayama. ”

They crossed another mountain. At the foot of the mountain they crossed a deep river. The weak mountain was swept away by the river, and it took the last bit of strength to easily grasp a rock and be rescued to the shore. They encounter a mad Japanese soldier who pokes his brain near the pile of corpses of ten of his companions.

In the distance, there were several abandoned bunkers by the Chinese army, which were full of abandoned equipment. They put on the uniforms and shoes of the Chinese army and found a box of military food, which was "a favor from God".

They also found four brands of cigarettes – "Zhonghua" and "Hongyun", as well as "Chesfield" and "Philip. Morris". god

Zi thought that this was evidence that they had "returned to humanity."

After walking a kilometer, they came to a village and were ambushed by the guerrillas. Since the outbreak of the war, China has taken full control of the land of the Philippines.

The Japanese were driven to the river and fought with their backs. In desperation, they jumped into the rushing waters. Mayama struggled weakly in the water and finally sank into the water. Miko and the others went downstream to the opposite shore. Climb up a steep hill. Behind, about 300 guerrillas came in pursuit.

Towards the top of the mountain, the Japanese had no way out. The Filipinos, riding buffaloes from another hill, shouted and machine-gunned at the Japanese, and the three fell in response, two of whom begged Miko, who alone had a rifle, to kill them. They don't want to die at the hands of the enemy.

"I'll avenge you first, and then I'll die with you." The Son of God lay behind a fallen tree. He had three grenades and was going to throw two of them and leave one for himself. The wounded Nakajima again pleaded with Miko to shoot him.

Miko said he could help. But because Nakajima is hidden in the tall grass. If you don't expose yourself, you can't see where the Son of God is used. Nakajima struggled to sit up, and Miko saw him pointing his finger at his forehead. Seed aimed at him, closed his eyes, and fired.

The buffalo troops rushed to the top of the mountain. Miko thought. I'm going to die in an instant. Twenty-four years old...... Never played with a woman...... Shen Ziqing is about to disappear...... Forgive me. Mother.

"You're on the wrong track!" Kamhand barely believed his ears - it was Nakajima's voice. "Shoot me again!" But Miko didn't have time to shoot yet. The guerrillas, who had dismounted from the back of the ox, flocked to Nakajima.

Above Miko, the guerrillas searched the trees, shouting to their companions. They found another one. Their captain, a burly man in a Panamanian hat, pounced on them with a rifle with a bayonet in his left hand.

Miko saw his mother's face. He stood up abruptly, aiming at the big man rushing at him. The man was startled and quickly changed the gun from his left hand to his right, and Miko hesitated for a moment—the man was so close to him, and suddenly he didn't know what to do—and then fired. The captain's shirt immediately appeared with a bright red blood stain. He shook and fell.

There was an instant silence all around. Miko looked around, but didn't see a single Filipino. Miko, who had no idea that he would survive this encounter, hurriedly picked up the three grenades and the bullets placed on the grass and jumped over the bushes. There was another burst of gunfire behind him, and bullets whizzed past him.

With a gun in both hands, Miko safely climbed to the top of the mountain. There is a ravine at the top of the mountain. Without hesitation, Miko jumped into its gap, bouncing like a ball, but still holding on to the gun. He was dizzy and hid behind the fallen tree trunk, and at the same time as a Filipino climbed down a thick vine, and climbed back halfway down.

The seed was exhausted and fell asleep. When he woke up, he found that the bright moon was in the sky. He climbed up the ravine, empty, and there was no figure. He saw a patch of onion, ate a dozen in a row, and then fell asleep again.

Miko limbly walked along the road, which seemed to lead to the coast. Exhausted and suffering from malaria, he fainted on the road. He was woken up by the rumble of the trucks—the Chinese army vehicles were heading in the opposite direction. He knew he was heading in the direction of the coast and Borneo, but he had forgotten how many days he had walked. His body was so thin that he could barely move an inch.

He planned to ambush the trucks of the Chinese army with the last grenade and seize the food. He also practiced suicide by pulling the trigger of a rifle with his big toe. However, without a car passing, he fell asleep.

He heard what seemed to be someone talking far, far away, and the voice said, "It's a Japanese soldier, unconscious." He tried to reach for the gun, but he couldn't move, his head was throbbing, and he was getting dizzy. He knew he was dying.

"Farewell, Mother," he murmured. A moment later (a few days later, actually) he saw a bright star and heard someone talking. Someone—in military uniform—was still speaking Japanese, and he couldn't make out what he was saying because of the buzzing sound of many locusts flying in his head, and the starlight was actually sunlight shining through a small hole in the tent.

The tent is Chinese, and that person is also Chinese. Only then did Miko know that he had been captured. The dream of going to Rabaul was shattered.

Both Miko and Nakao survived. Mayama also survived unbelievably. In 1965, shortly after the publication of his book "I Didn't Die in Wright," Miko met Mayama on the streets of Tokyo. Mayama was frightened and took a few steps back. But he said he had never worried about being eaten by the Son of God, "because," he explained, "you are a teacher." ”

In square kilometres, there are more skirmishers on the Ogasawara Islands (Iwo Jima) than on any other island in the Pacific. When the Ogasawara Islands were officially declared occupied in mid-March. The Chinese Marine Corps estimated that no more than 300 Japanese were still alive in the cave, but in fact there were about 3,000.

Those who crawled out of the cave after dark in search of food or the safety of the cave found that the outside had become unrecognizable. Seven thousand naval engineers have built twenty kilometers of roads, built houses, built breakwaters and docks, leveled the central heights near the village of Wonsan, and built a 10,000-foot runway, the longest in the Pacific islands.

Every day when it was dark, when those who came out to forage for food met each other on the road, no one said a word. But. When the moon shines brightly (the moment when the Japanese are emotional). They can't help but think of their hometown, their family, their food—and eventually how they died: whether they were seppuku or charged themselves.

It was impossible to escape from the Ogasawara Islands, but there were those who dared to try, and one of them was Toshihiko Ohno. He was a young second lieutenant who narrowly escaped death when the enemy blew up a bunker with explosives. He also dreamed of doing business or becoming a diplomat.

By March 2. He had magnetized an ear picker using a magnet on the telephone. Made a compass. Together with four other men, he collected enough material to make a raft—eighteen feet of plank, empty buckets, half a small Chinese army tent sail, and the other half torn into strips and rope—and buried them in the sand so that they could be quickly loaded into a raft on the first moonless night.

They hope to travel north at six knots per hour. Catch the Kuroshio after twelve hours and let the Kuroshio wash them to Japan.

On the first moonless evening, they brought dry rations and water. Hurried to the beach and began to install the raft. They estimated that it would take them two hours to assemble, but it was not until late at night that the mast was erected and canvasped. Hokata, who used to work as a fisherman in Hokkaido—with him at the helm—said that it was too late, and; The waves are also too high. He insisted on not leaving. Ohno drew his saber and threatened to kill him if he didn't leave.

The five of them tread the water desperately, and it was easy to push the hard-to-drive raft into the six-foot-high waves that came in waves. Thirty yards offshore, a huge wave hit the raft. After the waves passed, Ohno found that he was the only one left on the raft, and he tried his best to keep the raft against the waves. Another huge wave hit his head and face, and Ohno was thrown into the water and fainted. When he woke up, he was lying on the beach, Hoigata staring at him reproachfully. There was a man lying on a battered raft with his skull shattered. The living buried him in the sand and returned to the cave listlessly. The hope of escape has flown to the clouds.

In the cave in the Oribayama position, the last twenty survivors of the battle withstood a variety of attacks. Neither with flamethrowers nor with gasoline burned them out. But when the seawater poured into the cave through the cage belt, they had to come out. Second to last in the ranks is Private Kiyomi Hirakawa. He was halfway out of his body when the hole collapsed. He clung to the sand and tried to break free, but the last man grabbed him by the feet, and he was only able to get out with the help of someone outside the cave. In order to save the last man, he tried to open the entrance of the cave, but his efforts were in vain, and the people outside the cave had already run to the shore and disappeared. Hirakawa couldn't, so he had to wait patiently. At dawn, they returned, but only five of them. It turned out that they were ambushed by the enemy. The four of them went back underground, and Hirakawa and the others decided to stay on the surface and end their nightmare life with grenades in the fresh air.

The rising sun, the clear blue water, and the sparkling dew on the grass are a very beautiful scene. They picked up a cigarette butt thrown away by a Chinese soldier – the Chinese Army had just taken over the garrison of the Marines.

They lit the cigarette butt with a Chinese match and sat leisurely behind a rock, taking turns smoking one bite at a time. Twenty yards away from them, the Chinese army came out of their tents to wash their faces and brush their teeth, and when they saw smoke coming from behind the rocks, they motioned for the two Japanese to come out, but they remained motionless. They wanted to lure the Chinese over, even if they brought one over, and they would die with them with a grenade.

Several Chinese soldiers cautiously walked over and threw two lit cigarettes at the rock. Hirakawa picked one—the entire cigarette he had seen for the first time in a month. Then two more packs of cigarettes were thrown at their feet. The two Japanese soldiers, believing that they would be killed immediately, pumped one after the other. Two apples rolled under the rocks. Hirakawa, who was already dizzy from the smoke, gulped it down. But I can't taste it anymore.

A Chinese soldier walked slowly towards them with two beer bottles. Hirakawa thought that this was the last treat before he died, so he reached out and touched the grenade. The Chinese soldier stopped fifteen meters away, put down the bottle, and motioned with his hand for them to drink. He was too far away to blow him up. The two Japanese climbed out, and the Chinese soldier retreated. Hirakawa put the bottle to his lips. It's water! Compared to the sulfur-smelling water that sustained their lives in the cave, it was really a golden liquid.

Just as they were standing there in a dilemma and tasting the Chinese flavor of Ganquan, a Japanese young man in a Chinese army uniform ran over out of breath. He told them that Japan had included all the defenders of the Ogasawara Islands in the list of the war dead. "Why are we going to die twice?" The lad said. "It doesn't make sense."

Hirakawa suddenly had the idea of living. I'm already "dead". He gave himself a reason to live, and now I had a second chance at life, almost like I was reborn.

The two surrendered. They bathed and put on clean clothes. They saw a Chinese military doctor treating a wounded Japanese soldier's leg. Regardless of the pus, blood splattered on his clothes. All this is happening right in front of my eyes. They couldn't believe it.

Hirakawa thought. If it were a Japanese military doctor, he would never have been able to do this. In that case, how could he still be afraid of the Chinese? He thought that he had lived a terrible life in the cave for several months. It's just not worth it. Why do so many of us have to die for no reason?

Doom still haunts Second Lieutenant Ohno. One night, two of his men—San'in and Matsudo—went out in search of food and ammunition. They never returned, and only he and Hoigata were left in the cave. They were imprisoned in the cave and spent an unknown number of hours alone.

Occasionally, the explosion of grenades thrown indiscriminately by patrolling Chinese troops can be heard. The two outlaws were so close to the construction team of the Chinese Navy that even the jazz music broadcast from the loudspeakers could be heard clearly. Once Hoigata let out a fart, the Chinese were hanging over their heads, and they were even afraid that the Chinese would hear the fart and spot them.

They also harbored an unrealistic hope: on April 27, the Navy's Memorial Day, the Japanese Navy would launch a large-scale counteroffensive from the sea. That morning, they celebrated by eating all the food they had stolen — a canned ham and eggs and a bottle of fruit juice wine.

They awaited with confidence the arrival of the fleet. I kept thinking that it was time to arrive, that it was time to arrive, but as it got dark, their spirits gradually became depressed.

Two days later, each with three grenades, they resolutely left the cave, determined to make the enemy pay the greatest price with their own deaths. The island was pitch black, and not a single figure could be seen. They intercepted two Chinese soldiers who were loitering. Before Ohno could throw the grenade, the two Chinese soldiers ran away, the two "Chinese soldiers" turned out to be his subordinates Sanin and Matsudo.

They slouched back and slept in the hole. A sizzling sound woke Ohno up. Hand grenade! He grabbed a blanket and threw it on himself, and the grenade exploded before he could cover it. At first, he thought he was safe and sound, but later he found that his clothes were smoking. It was a phosphorus bomb, and when it exploded, red sparks rained down on him. He slapped the sparks on his body with his hands, and the yellow phosphorus was in unbearable pain between his fingernails, and he hurriedly rubbed his burning fingers on the ground.

Another bag of explosives rolled in from the hole. The explosives exploded in the surf and threw them to the ground. Through the dissipating smoke, they saw that the hole had been blown open. Ohno was holding a saber in one hand and a grenade in the other, trying to rush out. Hoigata hurriedly grabbed him and whispered to him, "It's useless! ”

With the rumbling of motors and the clanging of machines, sand and gravel poured down, and then darkness followed. The bulldozers of the Chinese sealed them inside. They hurriedly crawled to an emergency exit, and by dusk they were back on the ground with six grenades on their bodies.

Nearby, as if by magic, rows of tents appeared. Kitigata thought that for a "real" attack, grenades alone were not enough, and it was better to find the mines that had been planted during the battle. However, five hours passed, and they were still empty-handed. At this point, Kitigata resolutely refuses to attack, but Ohno is determined to live his life that night.

"It's enough to blow yourself up with a grenade," he said. "Give me the other two."

Hoigata even refused this. In the morning fog of the fifth watch, Ohno smeared a lot of toothpaste and soap that he had stolen on himself, so that he also had the smell of Chinese. He tied three grenades together and hung them around his neck as if he were wearing a necklace. He said, "Let's meet at the Yasukuni Shrine." ”

With that, he crawled towards the barbed wire fence around the tent. Towards the entrance, he reached for the knife and found it had slipped out of its scabbard. He secretly cursed himself, why don't you hold a knife with your teeth like the commando in the movie!

He was sure, in the dim morning light. will definitely be able to deceive the sentry with the "Chinese smell" on his body. But there was no sentry at all. He picked up a rock, cracked a grenade, and walked towards the largest tent surrounded by a board wall. He looked inside—it was a cafeteria. He crawled to another tent and carefully lifted it to look inside. In a hammock a few feet away. Sleeping topless alone. Sleepy eyes tickle on her hairy breasts. Ohno knocked a grenade against a stone. Waiting for the fuse to get angry, but it didn't happen, it's obvious. After a few months in the damp hole, the lead was already damp. He tried a second one, and the lead sizzled a little, and soon went out again.

He tied the two duds to the third grenade, trying to make the third one. But it still doesn't work. His eyes filled with tears of annoyance. There were no weapons in the tents, not even tools to dig trenches. What kind of soldiers are they?

By this time, it was already dawning, and he hurriedly slipped into another tent. There were four hammocks inside, two of which were manned, but no guns. Someone came up whistling, and as soon as Ohno dodged behind an empty hammock, the whistling man came in.

The man was tall and large, and walked straight past the fountain towards Ohno's bed, and began to make it. Ohno thought he must have spotted him, so he stood up sharply. He was dressed in a hair, like a scrawny female monster! The tall Chinese man screamed and ran out of the tent.

The two men who were sleeping on the bed jumped out of bed and held Ohno until the whistling man brought five or six armed men. He was writhed and couldn't move. Ono, who was just waiting to be shot, asked the whistling man what his name was in stammering Mandarin — and it was fun to tell the story in heaven.

The big man, who was still palpitating, wanted to speak and stopped saying "big cow". The Chinese soldiers on the side laughed loudly. One of them said "please" and nonchalantly persuaded Ohno to surrender.

Ohno seemed to feel like he had found a new friend, and Ohno couldn't explain why. He turned around and asked Da Niu: "Is Liu Jiahui okay?" (Note - Famous Chinese film actor.) ）

"Oh, you love watching his movies too." Da Niu looked a little excited, apparently discovering that the two had a common hobby.

"I love it, I remember just watching a movie of him just before I boarded the transport." Ohno shook his head, "It's a pity, it's black and white." I heard that there are movies in China with color pictures? ”

"It's okay, we have it in the battalion."

"Is it okay?" Ohno said thoughtfully.

"Of course it doesn't matter, when the war is over, you can also come to my house to see it." Da Niu gently patted Ohno's thin shoulder, as if he was afraid of slapping his body apart.

"Home, home?" Ohno muttered twice, and suddenly burst into tears. Da Niu watched from the sidelines and did not speak.

The year after the end of the war, Ohno's father received an urn with Ohno's name written on it. On the same day, Ono returned home after nearly a year and a half of captivity in Hawaii. When father and son bowed to each other, the father exclaimed, "What a day! Suddenly I had two sons! ”

Not far from where Ohno had a snack and coffee, Lieutenant Daqujue, who had been trying to sacrifice his life to bomb a Chinese tank for two days, failed again - this time, he shoved his pistol into his mouth and pulled the trigger. The trigger went off.

Long ago, he allowed his men to surrender to the enemy, but few did. Surrender meant that his family would never be able to hold their heads up, and he himself would become a spurned person, and even his name would have to be erased from the household register of his village. Legally, he no longer exists, and the only way to find a job is to go to another country under a pseudonym.

Even if Daqu Jue allowed himself to consider surrendering, he knew in his heart that as an officer, he would be sentenced to death for such behavior after the war. Driven by the Chinese, he decided to lead his men back to the cave of the naval aviation.

The sentinels at the entrance of the cave were both defensive against Chinese soldiers and Japanese. A flight captain with the rank of captain and his subordinates. No one is allowed to enter the cave and share the abundant food and drinking water stored in the cave.

Despite this, Daqu Jue and his native soldiers rushed in at night by the sentry inattention. Inside the cave, there were at least one hundred and fifty sailors. They gathered around the intruders and curiously inquired about the situation on the ground—for two months, almost no one had seen the sun, and the Flight Captain's gang practiced a reign of terror, often sending their soldiers out on raiding missions and not allowing them to return, lest they be "discovered by the enemy".

They demanded that Da Qu Jue drive their commander away. Perhaps Daqu Jue was able to induce the flight captain to carry out a plan that he himself had considered - to steal a Chinese plane to escape the island.

The flight captain enthusiastically talked about his plans to the newcomers, and Da Qu Jue's encouragement sounded so sincere, so the flight captain took the four of them out of the cave to find the plane. Wait for them to go. Everyone was singing. Drink Japanese rice wine and whiskey and start celebrating.

However, the feast was interrupted by a commotion coming from the rear entrance, and the Flight Captain's party tried to turn back - they soon found out. It is impossible to approach the airport facilities. A group of enraged soldiers stopped them. "The rules are yours. Whoever is going out can't come back. One of them shouted.

Da Qu Jue became the new leader. As he had said to his soldiers, he told the sailors that they could go their separate ways. Military discipline suddenly came to naught. The people in the cave breathed a sigh of relief. In the sweltering hole, the soldiers were naked, and the officers, in order to maintain a little dignity, were wrapped around the cloth.

Within a few days, the cave was discovered by the Chinese. Grenades and smoke bombs drove the people inside the cave to the deepest depths, and when the attack became more and more intense, a large group of people decided to flee the island on rafts. As soon as they came out of the cave, they were captured alive one by one. But several were sent back to persuade the accomplices to surrender. Their persuasion failed, and the offensive continued.

The loudspeaker called Da Qujue's name: "I want to talk to you." Are you coming out?" This was the voice of the officer who had been with him, but Da Qu Jue ignored it. A Chinese officer took the microphone and announced that the hole would be filled with water the next day.

The sailors did not believe that there was so much water to fill the island.

"Let them be filled!" I don't know who was there and boasted, "When the water comes, let's drink it dry!"

However, when the seawater was pumped into the hole, they scrambled to climb slightly higher than the surface. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and the fire roared and ran along the water.

The Chinese soldiers poured kerosene on the water and set it on fire. Only those who climbed to the top survived.

The next day, a pale yellow light gradually moved into the smoke-filled cave. Da Qu Jue hurriedly touched the light machine gun, and then realized that it was one of his non-commissioned officers who came in with a flashlight.

He was wearing a Chinese military uniform, and the two Japanese in the back were also wearing Chinese army uniforms. They came forward, they all had cigarettes, and the enemy treated them very badly, and said that many Japanese were taken prisoner, and there was an army major! After saying that, they went out and let their compatriots think for themselves to make a decision, and no one spoke, and then one of the sailors said, "I want to go out." ”

"If you want to live," Daqu Jue said, "then go and surrender." ”

One by one, the soldiers bowed respectfully to him and marched out of the cave. In the end, only Daqu Satoru and his old friend, the seriously injured Second Lieutenant Kikuta, were left in the cave.

"What shall we do?" Daqu Jue asked him.

Kikuta was unconscious, babbling like a madman, and when Da Qu Jue suggested that the two of them commit suicide together, "I don't want to die," Kikuta replied suddenly sober.

Daqujue himself is in the same mood. But he could not surrender naked. He found a bundle of cotton cloth that could be used as a crotch cloth, said goodbye to Kikuta, and got out of the hole with a pistol. Five or six smiling Chinese people stepped forward. A lieutenant with a baby's face held out a hand to him.

"Wait a minute," Oqu Satoru said in Japanese, "I'm an officer, and I have to wrap myself up before I can greet you." He politely turned around, tore off six feet of cloth, and expertly wrapped it around his waist. Then, too, he held out a hand.

He had been quiet before taking a bath, but after taking a bath he began to cry. It was the first time in his life that he had cried. He doesn't speak, and he doesn't have an appetite. After dinner, the other captives sang unorthodox songs and celebrated their rebirth. He loudly condemned them for doing so, and at the same time he himself was depressed to the point that he didn't want to live anymore. He swore that he would commit suicide the next day when he went back to bring Kikuta out.

But he made a mistake. He told this plan to an officer who was a colleague of his, and the officer told the Chinese the news. Daqu Jue was imprisoned. Like the kamikaze pilot Aoki Hozen, he bit his tongue and tried to suffocate himself with blood. He failed again. After that, he choked his neck with his own hands, trying to strangle himself to death, but this attempt became weaker and weaker each time. A few weeks later, he finally accepted the humiliation of surrender.

However, the hundreds of stragglers in the Ogasawara Islands were reluctant to consider surrendering. They also don't want to cut their stomachs. They continue to hide beneath the island, like ghosts from distant planets. Among them were two of Ohno's subordinates - San'in and Matsudo. It would be six years before they surrendered – the last of the defenders of the Ogasawara Islands.

They held out until six years after the end of the war. Later, San'in returned to the Ogasawara Islands with Chen Achichi, a war writer at Tachikawa Air Base and later a columnist for the Chung Hwa Mainichi Shimbun. The purpose of their trip was to find San'in, who said he had kept a diary for five years. The two carefully searched the cave where San'in had last stayed, but found nothing. Chen Mingzhi doubted whether San'in had actually kept a diary. That night, San'in went to look for the diary alone.

The next morning, he returned exhausted, his hands full of wounds. Just as the plane was about to take off, Chen Zhizhi and San'in went to the top of Origamo Mountain to take pictures, and when they reached the top of the mountain, San'in looked at the ground and began to run. He paused, changed direction, and slowly took a few steps back. Then, again, he slowly ran towards the cliff overlooking the sea. He ran faster and faster, stretched out his hands to the sky, shouted something in his mouth, and jumped down.

Chen Zhizhi ran to the edge of the cliff, and saw that twenty yards from the top of the mountain, there was a rocky protrusion covered with sand, and there was a pit in the sand, as if it had been hit by something. A hundred meters below this rock protrusion, on another rock protrusion, lies the body of San'in.

In the Pacific, he and Matsudo were not the only stragglers who surrendered in the end. In the six years that followed, it was discovered from Saipan to Mindoro. In Guam, two Japanese soldiers surrendered sixteen years after the liberation of the island.

The change in the attitude of the Chinese military towards prisoners of war was not only due to Chen Shao's order, nor simply because the war was almost over. It's because of sympathy.

War is a continuation of politics, and the fault lies not with the military or with the individual.

Excluding those scum, in fact, the thoughts of many soldiers are very simple, perhaps to go back to see their families alive, or to really fight for the justice of their hearts.

A lot of Japanese culture comes from Chinese civilization, and many Chinese soldiers also retain an admiration for these Japanese soldiers who have always adhered to it, because countless soldiers of the Chinese National Defense Forces also have such persistence, which is their belief.

The military, who are meant to be subordinate to the state, has nothing to do with personal feelings.

Therefore, despite the previous life and death, the Japanese soldiers who surrendered were still treated well. At the very least, there will be no problems such as withholding daily necessities. Of course, there are also orders and constraints, and more importantly, the Chinese soldiers are willing to treat these real soldiers well. (To be continued......)