There are many complaints about defeats, and there are many victories. Not at all.

Inoue Narumi dropped the pen and rose up. Let the historians of naval warfare summarize the Battle of Bijima. That's all he can think of.

He was thrown out of the whirlpool of war in his home. He stayed out of it. At first, Kiyooka Masasho introduced him to the circle of Konoe Fumiji and his group of important ministers. Konoe and Okada wanted to launch a campaign to "overthrow Tojo" and get rid of Hideki Tojo and negotiate a decent peace.

Unbeknownst to him, the Chinese army's timetable was too tight, and the "absolute national defense encirclement" advocated by Tojo was shattered, and the country's major cities and industrial areas, including Tokyo, were placed in the bombing circle of the Global Overlord. From before the start of the war, Tojo's strategy of sticking to the outer island chain as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" had collapsed. The "Absolute Defense Circle Plan" was also not mentioned. What Konoe Funma wanted to do but couldn't do, the Chinese did it for him.

Tojo made his last desperate struggle. He ran around trying to strengthen the cabinet and establish his absolute control before the Guards, but it was too late. Coalitions have been formed with various forces from Hirohito, the Imperial Family, important ministers, financial circles, bureaucrats, and various forces inside and outside the military.

Tojo ran into walls everywhere. Hirohito-Kidouchi's minister proposed that important ministers, including Konoe, be appointed to the cabinet and that a "unified cabinet of the whole country" be established as an absolute condition for the new cabinet. Then, the important ministers unanimously refused to enter the cabinet, and finally drove the tojo Hideki into a dead end.

The Tojo Cabinet announced its general resignation. Tojo himself was still dreaming that Hirohito would re-order him to form a cabinet, or at least keep the prime minister. Unexpectedly, Hirohito ignored him at all. The new chief of staff of the hardcore ruling faction, General Umezu Mijiro, the former commander of the Kwantung Army. Not only did he refuse to keep Tojo as Minister of Land, but he also put Tojo in the cold palace of non-military personnel in the name that "since he resigned as Prime Minister and Minister of Land, the stipulation that he enjoyed that he was included in active duty under Hirohito's special purpose would be meaningless, and Tojo should be included in the reserve".

The wall fell and everyone pushed him, and Hideki Tojo, who was the initiator of the Pacific War, has now become a common man, just waiting for him to be sent to the gallows after the victory of the Allies.

Tojo, who was supposed to stand on top of the sky, lost his power and status so quickly. There is no need for Kiyooka Masato and others to assassinate him, he is already politically dead.

After the resignation of the Tojo Cabinet. The initiators of the campaign to overthrow the cabinet believed that active military personnel such as Terauchi Shouichi and Shunroku Hata were the basis of the Tojo faction. Unfit to be prime minister. It was too early for Konoe and the others to come to the front of the stage - in essence, Konoe had no good solution to the war, he could neither control the military headquarters nor play the calculations of the Chinese - he could only choose a transitional cabinet.

Koiso Kuniaki, who had previously served as the governor of North Korea and had his hands stained with the blood of North Koreans, was recommended to form a cabinet. Koiso is good, too. Anyone else is fine. None of them can save the overall situation.

China's victory speaks for itself. The "Great Japanese Empire" has been expanding wildly for half a century since the Sino-Japanese War. Finally died. No class, any force, or one person could save the fate of Hirohito's militarism.

Only by waiting for the end of the war will everything start from scratch. Where did this "head" come from?

Political movements, military strategies. All of a sudden, it's all outside of the body, and it doesn't make sense. It was only a matter of time before Japan was defeated and "surrendered".

Coincidentally, there was also an anti-Roosevelt campaign in the United States, but unfortunately it failed, and a large group of high-ranking generals were hanged. Even if it does, will the United States avoid the fate of "unconditional surrender"? I'm afraid it won't work either. In any case, it is psychologically unacceptable that there is only one way to end the war.

Inoue Narumi realized this, but instead felt that time was slow, and couldn't help but get anxious.

He went to talk to the maid Yoriko.

Laizi is very young, with a goose egg face, a slender waist, a few freckles on his face, and he looks very delicate. Her husband was killed in the battle in northern Korea, and Yoriko was very sad. The beauty of her mourning has a unique charm.

Inoue Narumi used to pay attention to the grim political situation and war situation all day long, where did he have time to pay attention to an ordinary maid like Raiko, but now, his nerves relaxed, and he found that Raiko's style was not tacky.

"Laizi, where is your mother's house?"

"Yogo Town, Shiga Prefecture, Obanari Village, is where the ancient Omi Province was located."

"Is it near Lake Yuwu on the north shore of Pipa Lake? I still remember the legend of the celestial maiden feather coat about Yuwu Lake. ”

"Yes, has Inoue been there?"

"Been there. During the summer vacation of Lu University that year, a group of our classmates were happy and said, "Let's go to Lake Biwa to play." Later, we also swam to Yuwu Lake and climbed Tomb Valley Mountain and Anzang Mountain. ”

"I really didn't expect Childe to go to such a remote place in our hometown."

"yes. I didn't expect to go to the South Seas to fight, and the distance to Rabaul is a hundred times that of Lake Biwa. How is the situation in your hometown?"

Yoriko's face turned pale, and her freckles became more pronounced. She said: "In front of Childe, I dare not hide it. The situation in my hometown is very hard. All the men were drawn to serve as soldiers. There were originally few men in our place, and with the rise of the metropolis, they had long since left their hometowns, begged for wives in other places, and never even returned. Only women and the elderly are left in the farm. The girls couldn't find a man to marry, so they gritted their teeth and entered the city. Look, didn't I come to Tokyo too? ”

As for the violent turmoil caused by the rise of industry in rural Japan, Inoue Narumi heard a little. However, he has been living in the barracks, tense and busy, and who cares about the changes in the countryside? The Japanese countryside has become a microcosm of the entire Japanese archipelago. The essence of Japan was scattered to fight and colonize all parts of Asia, from North Korea to the Dutch East Indies, from Burma to Port Moresby. All that remains of the country is an empty shell, supported by old people and women.

Now, the Japanese overseas will die in the war, and this empty shell may be shattered by the war machine of the Allies. How sad it is that these women and old people will also become victims of the warlord war! The final situation in the Marshall Islands may be a microcosm of the future of the Japanese mainland.

Yoriko notices that the sunlight of Narumi Inoue falls on her. Usually, he never looked at her like that. Raiko's face flushed slightly. He lowered his head and wept softly.

Inoue Narumi stepped forward and grabbed her soft little hand with her left hand, and found that her hand was cold and bloodless. "What's wrong, Laizi?" The stern former Imperial soldiers have also become childlike.

Yoriko said, "You sit in the stacks of books all day, don't you know that Japan has reached a state of hunger and cold? Although there is no rice in my hometown, the villagers may have been blessed by misfortune, and they still have wild vegetables and leaves to satisfy their hunger. But the metropolis of Tokyo has nothing left.

A rationing system was implemented early on, and priority was given to local military agencies and munitions factories on a daily basis. Start with eight taels of brown rice per person per day. Later, it was reduced to five taels. Now it's only two taels. And. There was a long queue every day, and it was sold out after an hour. There was no supply for the past two days. You're a reader and you know a lot of things.

When I was in line, I listened to the housewives talk about Mr. Takeji Ishihara, the head of the Food and Grain Division of the Economic Bureau, who gave a speech a while ago. I heard that it was published in the Yomiuri Shimbun. ”

Inoue Narumi's thoughts suddenly pulled back to reality from the distant Philippines. He hurriedly asked, "What did Mr. Ishihara say?"

Yoriko was originally a high school student. I have studied for a few years, and I have worked in Inoue's beautiful family for another three years, and I have been exposed to it. Influenced by the scholarly family, he not only knows the writing and ink, but also knows the truth. She had long admired Inoue Narumi Gongmi, and compared to Childe's erudition, her dead husband was just a vulgar flower cloth clerk.

It's a pity that Childe devotes all his body and mind to political activities and military research, and doesn't pay any attention to her. She sighed to herself. I just tried my best to buy newspapers and magazines for Childe, and took care of Inoue Narumi in life. Now that Childe is suddenly interested in her, she can't help but burst into tears, remembering several love histories of the three princesses in "The Tale of Genji" (gorgeously read the beginning, and I was so disgusted that I wanted to vomit!). Feelings are not only Chinese TV dramas will poison people. ）。 It's a pity she doesn't have that guts.

Lai Zi cut his forehead and deliberately lowered his voice and said: "Mr. Ishihara said: 'As a food rationing countermeasure in an emergency period, rice and other staple foods, as well as non-staple foods such as monosodium glutamate, soy sauce, fish, green fruits, dairy products, moldy dried vegetables, pickled rai, salt, sugar, and canned food, will be distributed by a special rationing unit consisting of a unit price for the police. A small amount of the allotted balance will be retailed to residents. But staple foods and dairy products are never retailed. At present, the country is very short of all kinds of supplies, and we must be prepared to deal with extraordinary situations. As a resident of a metropolis, you should be able to calm down and reduce the pressure on the country. We have a rationing system in place to deal with the disaster of a major earthquake. Outside of the metropolis, staple foods must also be rationed in their entirety when air raid sirens and war alerts occur, with no exceptions. It is hoped that people from all walks of life will organize voluntary assistance, and that the families of understaffed military personnel and the families of fallen soldiers will not only be responsible for them, but also hope that residents in the neighborhood will provide them with help. ”

Inoue Narumi realized that her hands had been grabbing Yoriko's little hands, and those little hands gradually warmed up and became hot. Raiko didn't pull back, her body trembling slightly. "What's going on in the market now?"

"The market has long been empty. All the rice shops, fish shops, fruit shops and taverns were closed. You can't buy any good groceries. These two months are the sardine season, and I heard that the fishermen have caught a lot of sardines, but all of them have been assigned to the standing team. I went to the fish shop every day, and there was a long queue in front of the fish shop, and one of my cousins told me that there would be fish to sell in the evening. I went for two nights and finally grabbed two pounds. Who knew that when I got it to the moonlight, it was all rotten fish, and it stinked to death. I heard that because the munitions factory uses a lot of electricity, there is no extra electricity to make ice, and the fish caught by the fishermen stinks in two days. An old woman frowned and complained when she saw that I had taken the stinky fish, and came up to me and said, "Girl, you don't want this fish to me." When I got it back, I couldn't eat it at all, so I buried it under the redbud tree in the courtyard. ”

Lai said, and began to cry again. She couldn't serve the eldest young master she admired, and she was very aggrieved.

Inoue Narumi didn't know how to comfort her. His one-armed arm was inconvenient, and Laizi approached him with understanding. Gradually, Laizi snuggled into his arms.

Inoue Narumi has always lived a puritanical military career, although he has also been to Aoyagi and Akabei a few times, and met geisha, but his cold heart has not understood the delicate psychology of women. He was a little excited, and chanted an old song from "The Tale of Genji" to comfort Yoriko:

My life is impermanent,

Trimming is unknowable.

I wish that while I was alive,

Worry is frequent.

Although the autumn air is desolate, it is disgusting,

The sound of bellworms is always beautiful.

The image of the three princesses in Laizi's mind is unforgettable. The tragic love story and poetry of the three princesses and Genji have long been mastered, and they blurt out unconsciously.

Inoue Narumi was slightly startled, and suddenly felt that Laizi's heart was like an unfathomable deep pool, and he didn't know women at all! He borrowed the poem of General Xiwu:

The sky is full of sunset fog and gloom,

If you want to get out of the mountain home, you will get lost.

Laizi is really well-behaved, and she also learned from the fallen leaf princess and said:

The hut is deep in smoke,

Crazy children and laymen do not stay.

Inoue Narumi smiled and said, "I'm afraid I'm not a mad boy and a layman." He put one arm around Raiko. His cheeks rubbed against Laizi's ears and temples, and he felt the slight fragrance and heat on Laizi's body.

His mind was confused, and a lust that he had never experienced before made his blood rush. A world of tranquility and tenderness, a world that writers, poets, and artists have described. Emerge from the ethereal horizon to the eyes. And the bloody, filthy, murderous, and evil world in which he had indulged all his life was torn apart by an invisible hand, and faded away. In addition to war, there is also a good life.

Narumi Inoue's hand clumsily goes to untie Yoriko's kimono. Raiko's underwear is a blue-faced crimson lining. The purple silk undershirt covered with purple red and the pattern of the clothes are also unique and novel. Her hair was jet black and shiny. The comb is neat and generous. For the first time, he noticed all of this. Once upon a time, he seemed to be a passenger on a special express train. The only thing that cares about the destination of the trip and the schedule of the trip is in mind. If he feels that time and purpose don't matter, then he can take the slow train and enjoy the scenery and folklore along the way.

"Sir, you're so clumsy, you're still a novice, aren't you? Why don't you marry a wife?" Lai Zi grinned, his heart was very warm, and he didn't feel the spring rippling:

The sea is lonely and there is no mooring,

Why don't you come here?

She took Inoue's head in both hands and kissed him lightly on the forehead. And then. She neatly unbuttoned her clothes, revealing her snow-white and delicate skin. She said excitedly: "Inoue Narumi, how can you throw away your books today and come to me from the war you dreamed of day and night?"

Oh, yes! When one's energy is poured into one focus, the world around them temporarily fades. Once the focus disappears, he will feel that the world is big and beautiful, but this world is an ordinary and ordinary world.

Raiko was very gentle. Inoue Narumi is simply overjoyed......

The two of them had been in love for so long that they had forgotten the time, that the earth was still rigidly rotating and revolving, and that because of this rotation, the war machine of the Allies was resolutely turning its teeth and teeth and was slowly and mercilessly churning Japan into a flesh and blood paste. Whether it is a warlord, an old woman, or a lover, they will not be spared, because it was Japan that first started this machine.

There was a knock on the door outside the hospital. The old butler Igarashi went to open the door. The person who came talked to Igarashi for a long time, and his tone was very tough, because through a few walls, Narumi Inoue and Yoriko couldn't hear clearly.

The person who came was finally gone. Igarashi walked softly to the door, the old butler was very careful, and never rushed to push the door in. He is almost sixty years old, and he has been working as a housekeeper in the Inoue Narumi Mansion. He whispered, "Sir, sir," as he shoved a letter-like object under the door. Inoue Narumi heard Igarashi sigh long; Gradually went away.

Yoriko looked a little flustered. Although she was full of hope for the young master's actions, when it came to the end, she was confused. Inoue Narumi was a soldier after all, so he immediately put on his clothes, picked up the letter and looked at it, and couldn't help but be surprised, he handed the letter to Yoriko. Lai Zi glanced at it hastily, screamed in surprise, and hugged Inoue Narumi tightly:

"How could they do such a thing!"

The letter was jointly issued by the Kanda District Police Station and the Metropolitan Police Department, informing Inoue Narumi to report to work within two days. Because Chinese planes may strike Tokyo again in the near future, all reservists and civilians must join the volunteer fire brigade and emergency rescue team. The letter also informed that all families should dig air-raid shelters, and that all white buildings must be painted with camouflage, otherwise they will be punished for collaborating with the enemy.

Even he, a figure who was once a prominent figure in the Japanese Army, received this notice.

Even one-armed disabled soldiers have to join the fire brigade and rescue team, and it seems that Laizi's statement that the market is depressed and the harsh wartime rationing environment is real. Inoue Narumi returns to reality from the land of gentleness. However, this reality is different from the reality of the previous day, and he understands a deeper philosophy and the power of love, and this realization cannot be reversed. There was a sense of solidity in his heart.

He smiled bitterly and said to Laizi: "Since you let me go, I'll go and report for duty." Soldiers take obedience to orders as their duty, and I will go tomorrow, and I hope you will accompany me out for a walk. ”

"Ahh I have always regarded your words as my mission, so let's go together. I'm so blessed. ”

Early the next morning, Inoue Narumi got up. His psychological inertia still regards himself as a soldier. Wake up early, do exercises, practice swords, take cold baths, and read books. Ever since I had Laizi in my heart. It was as if a hormone had been injected into his blood. Extraordinarily spiritual.

Today is Friday, November 24th. He turned the page of the calendar, and there was a strange feeling. Does he love Yoriko? He couldn't tell. Yoriko loved him deeply. For many months, she served him unclothed. Think about it. Her words and deeds melted into her own feelings. The difference between their families is too great. Getting married is inconceivable. But does love have to lead to marriage? Isn't Laizi's beloved third princess also shaved her hair as a nun with a ruined love? Perhaps one day, Japan will have a European-American constitution. There is the freedom of love and marriage that has existed in the West since the Renaissance, and the two of them can walk the streets openly and throw happy smiles at passers-by. They vaguely felt that this stiff empire of gods had been wrapped in corpse cloth and lying in a coffin!

Yoriko tried her best to dress up. She wore a smock of begonia flowers, which was given to her by Count Inoue Narumi as a reward, and the color of her underwear was wisteria flowers. As soon as she dressed up, she showed a lot of beauty. The two of them were walking down the street, and some passers-by were looking sideways at Laizi. The sun is shining, the weather is fine, and Laizi looks like a summer daffodil in the sunny day.

In the police station sat a retired old officer, blind in one eye, wearing the uniform of the Imperial Army under his police uniform. He immediately recognized Inoue Narumi: "Ah, Inoue Daisa, you haven't seen you all these days, do you still know me?" I'm Miyoshi Sadayoshi Osaku of the former 38th Division. ”

Again the old personnel of the Seventeenth Army. Although the 17th Army was all trapped and killed in the Solomon Islands and Rabaul, there were still many crippled soldiers in the country. The sad fate connects them, and Miyoshi Daisa is finally an acquaintance.

Miyoshi quickly helped Inoue Narumi complete the registration procedures. He said, "Inoue-kun, I was also taken aback when I saw you from the roster. There are not many survivors of the 17th Army, so let's take care of each other in the future. He suddenly whispered: "If you have difficulties, it's okay if you can't come with air raids and training, and I'll give my boss a sloppy look and pass." Take care, ah, is this too big for you? It's so beautiful!"

Inoue Narumi answered vaguely, and then walked out into the street with Yoriko. Miyoshi Sadayoshi sent him a long way and gave him a booklet on how to fight a fire. "Be careful, Inoue-kun, the Globemaster of the Shina people has attacked Tokyo several times. Although they haven't dropped bombs again, I guess they're proofreading aerial maps and taking pictures, and the real air raids are coming. Kanda is a downtown area, so if your air-raid shelter hasn't been dug yet, I'll call a few people to help. ”

In the end, it's the same person of the Seventeenth Army, it's just different. Inoue Narumi was hot in her heart. He saw that Miyoshi was not very dexterous in his legs, so he persuaded him to go back, and said many words of thanks.

Lai Zi was happy in his heart, and his face bloomed with happiness. She began to talk about the Globemaster she had seen with her own eyes. Nowadays, people always mention it when they see it, and it is really an ominous evil bird.

"Inoue Nami, I really can't imagine that there is such a big plane!" Yoriko deliberately caught his attention. "Wednesday, November 1st. I went out into the street with a basket to buy groceries. Actually, the store was out of stock except for a few brushes and basins, and the candles I wanted to buy were out of stock for months. Call, Inoue Chengmei Gongzi, aren't you very familiar with that Mr. Miyoshi Sadayoshi? He might be able to get something he was short of. Of course, my lord has many friends who will help us, but I don't want to trouble him. ”

"Oh, where are we going? At about four o'clock in the afternoon, I walked near Nihonbashi and suddenly heard the sound of air raid sirens, which was terrifying. Although there have been frequent air raid sirens for several months, the tone of the sound is not the same as this time. I heard so many women screaming that I almost screamed.

I hear the sound of the engine. Ever since the first Chinese bombers came, I've learned from you to distinguish the types of Japanese planes that are called. I could tell that our fighter was taking off, and after a while, two large planes flew in from the direction of Kisarazu. They're huge! Flying to the top of its ranks, the Japanese fighter was like a red bean at that height. And Globemaster is like a big silver black. I have never seen an airplane so big, as big as ten Japanese bombers. All the people did nothing, and they craned their necks to look at the sky. There are two Globemasters in total. Our anti-aircraft guns opened fire because they flew too high for the shells to reach it. Our fighters attacked them with a lot of effort, and they didn't get the next one. The Globemaster flies leisurely, as if watching the view of Mt. Fuji and Tokyo from the sky. An elderly man who looked like a teacher next to me said, "Globemaster is like a walk over Tokyo!"

Inoue Narumi thought for a while and said, "They should come from mainland China, and this bomber can take off from any airport in mainland China." Come bomb us. It's been almost a year. These demons are still haunted. ”

Laizi said, "Yes! It's been more than a year, and life has recovered a little in the last few months, and there wasn't even a living person on the ground before. ”

"The terrible time hasn't come yet." Inoue Narumi has a serious face. He knew what it was like to be bombed in Rabaul. New Britain is just a desert island. Tokyo, on the other hand, is the political, economic, cultural, financial, and industrial center of Japan.

Back home, it was getting late. His father, Count Inoue Narumi Yasunari, was personally waiting for him at the door. End of November. It's late autumn on the outskirts of Tokyo. My father stood for a long time in the autumn breeze in his thin clothes. With the tenderness of a beloved son, it is sour. When I saw Inoue Narumi and Yoriko returning, I was overjoyed. Greetings, and happily welcomed them into the door.

As soon as she entered the courtyard, Inoue Narumi was taken aback. The beautiful and delicate Japanese garden has been completely transformed: precious flowers and trees have been uprooted and discarded at will, and rockeries have been torn down, revealing half of their heads in the large pile of new soil that has been turned up. Several old men in their fifties and sixties were struggling to pluck out the earth from the trench with shovels, and the elderly Igarashi carried lanterns to light them. The upper part of the lantern is covered with a black cloth, with only a faint glow shining from the bottom. Boxes of antiques were scattered along the path, and the lid was not even nailed. Inoue Narumi smiled bitterly and said to Yoriko,

"It's like you're on the front line in Rabaul! The Chinese brought the war to their doorstep. ”

The moonlit night was as bright as day, and there were no air raid sirens. It's still too late.

Yoriko helped Igarashi and they were busy digging pits and burying valuables. Inoue Narumi sat alone in an empty house, which was a mess like a garbage heap. The old books in the family collection that have not been moved for many years are stacked on the floor in a pile, and the rare books and calligraphy and paintings that my father is usually not allowed to move are opened, and the panic of the owner can be imagined.

It stands to reason that Uchihiro, the only son, should help the earl sort out the classics and pack them into the soil. There are many special books on antiques and calligraphy and paintings alone, and it is necessary to rot in such a hurry. The family was in chaos, and Uchihiro's mother died of tuberculosis for two years. All the real estate and land will be inherited by him alone. He didn't put in the intense transfer work, and was alone, meditating and introspecting, trying to realize what the truth was. Perhaps this is the essence of Zen Buddhism.

Inoue Narumi has a pair of bronze duos in front of her. The bronze duo is forty centimeters high, and the patterns of birds, animals, and domestic animals are faintly visible under the green patina. The bronze statue is the most precious cultural relic in Japan, and its rarity lies in the fact that it is a unique cultural relic in Japan, while China, the origin of ancient Japanese culture, does not have such a bronze vessel like a chime. The bronze priest of the Inoue Narumi family was excavated from Shizuoka and is said to have been used as a tea set by a tribal alliance in the ancient Yamatai Kingdom in the second century AD. Because the bronze is unique to Japan, European and American museums are vying to collect them. In the face of this pair of rare national treasures, Inoue Narumi has a lot of thoughts.

Although Emperor Jimmu laid the foundation of the history of the Japanese nation 600 years ago, it was only after the 8th century that there was a real chronicle. Before Emperor Motosho completed the history book "Nihon Shoki" in the fourth year of his retirement (720 AD), the hundreds of tribes of the Japanese archipelago were in what historians call the "Daiwaku Chronicle Era".

A large group of barbaric island tribes that live by fishing and hunting are culturally two thousand years behind China. While China had made extensive use of iron tools and had a complete political, economic, and military organization and philosophical ideas, the Japanese did not even have written language.

The Japanese are truly ashamed to see the splendid, long, exquisite, and profound civilization of ancient China and other ancient civilizations. Inoue Narumi looked at a famous painting "Xiaoxiang Picture" by Dong Yuan of the Song Dynasty in China, which was collected by her father, even though it was an imitation, but it was hazy, lofty, lonely, quiet, and majestic. The indifferent and popular charm is simply convincing.

But what does it matter? Just get up and learn. Just take it. From writing, religion, political rule, aesthetics, Confucian philosophy, to various smelting, textile technology and taxation systems, all brains were moved from China. This large-scale cultural introduction is also unprecedented in the world. The Japanese spirit of learning is truly something to be proud of. Cultural innovation has injected boiling blood into the Japanese nation. Then, the Japanese became complacent, felt less naked, and even thought that the teacher was just that, and in the time of Hideyoshi in Chechnya, they raised troops to fight the teacher.

In the mid-16th century, the brave and greedy Portuguese captains brought Christianity and guns to Japan, but they failed to impress Japanese culture. Japan still needs time to absorb Chinese culture. Develop it to perfection on your own foundations.

As a result, Japanese culture emerged in an introspective environment during the Tokugawa period. developed. Music, art, literature, handicrafts, philosophy, and religion were all Japaneseized. The Japanese nation became a smart, assertive big child. Able to withstand another, larger cultural and technological shock.

The West is also beginning to rise up. Since the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, after a thousand years of feudal night in Europe, the once impressive ancient nations have fallen asleep and recuperated their national spirit exhausted in the years of conquest at the end of the Roman Empire.

Inoue Narumi looked at her father's collection of a Dutch painter Rasdal's "Sunrise in the Clouds" — a fake, of course — and couldn't help but feel a sense of passion. After the West, which had fallen behind in the Middle Ages, had grown its strength. Soaring. Pioneer the course of civilization with the passion of volcanic magma. Painting, poetry, literature, technology, science, economics, and great humanism are like a spring breeze. Overnight, green branches and green leaves appeared.

The West is desperately discovering, inventing. Exploitation, development, and the transformation of mad resorts, capitalism has exhausted every corner of human desire, and has also extended its bloody "civilization" to every corner of the world, as well as to self-righteous Japan.

In 1853, Commodore Perry led a fleet of four American warships to force the Japanese government to sign an alliance at Edo Bay. The Japanese suddenly discovered that a new civilization typhoon, which is generally strong, has risen in the West, and is blowing more and more vigorously. The handful of "Rangaku" scholars (the first to learn from the Dutch) who were regarded as "shameless" by the Japanese aristocracy originally represented the direction of the times.

The whole world is turned upside down. Japan has also learned from the West with even greater fanaticism. A thousand years ago, everything was "the good of China", but now everything is "the good of the West". This kind of earnestness of study will be amazed even by Peter the Great, who is known for his imitation of Western Europe. Emperor Meiji, the emperor of the East, completely mobilized his island nation to completely Europeanize and reform the law in the political, economic, cultural, and military aspects.

It didn't take long for Japan to become complacent again, thinking that it had grown up, and had succeeded in grafting Western civilization to its roots. It has long since stopped taking China in its eyes and shook it vigorously. Sure enough, it was rotten. It started the idea of beating the foreign teacher again, and taught Russia a lesson first, which is really not a big deal.

Then I fought China, Britain, and the Netherlands, only to find that my quality was far from being as good as my self-consciousness, and the West was far from being as weak as I imagined. This time, he was finally beaten with a blue nose and swollen face, and it is unknown whether he will die in the country and extinct the species.

Will Japan really perish?

Inoue Narumi pondered hard. Since Emperor Jimmu, foreign invaders have never conquered the Japanese archipelago, and there is no historical precedent to draw on. He was deeply distressed.

In the 76 years since the Meiji era, the Japanese invaded Asia, captured cities, killed people and plundered, and formed a deep blood feud with Asian countries, and even the Chinese shouted for "the most severe revenge". Will the whole of Japan turn into a huge fortress? At least that's what the warlords think. "100 million national jade shatters". They included people from the former colonies.

As long as the Japanese nation is still there, there is always hope. The Japanese did not live on a group of lucky islands, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, and typhoons hit the Japanese frequently, and they all survived. Then, the disasters in the world will also be overcome. Great nations do not die.

And is Japan a great nation? Haven't many of the illustrious nations in history who professed to be "great" have died out one after another?

Inoue Narumi stared at the bronze duo in the corners and on the floor, various precious northern celadons, a dragon incense burner, the precious lithographed Kojiki, Ise Monogatari and Taketori Monogatari, ukiyo-e by famous masters, landscapes by Hokusai and Kano, Sodatsu's hand-painted screens, Ren Sheng's kyogen mask, classical instruments that can play Yaraku, and a vase of chrysanthemums in Yoriko's hand stood on a rosewood carved flower stand...... This seemingly scattered and marginal thing suddenly constituted a belief, which made Inoue Narumi suddenly realize the truth:

They represent the unique culture and art of Japan, and a nation with splendid culture and art is bound to be immortal, and then it is also a great nation. All nations have risen and fallen, other nations have been annexed and invaded by other nations, various cultures have influenced each other, and they have been constantly assimilated and innovated, and the real national culture is by no means something that can be erased or replaced by wars waged by a few warlords, and regimentalism is a temporary phenomenon. And culture and art are the soul of the nation. With this soul, the nation has life.

Inoue stood up and walked over to the pair of bronze duos, carefully brushing the dust off them, wrapping them in a large brocade box like a sleeping baby. Raiko made him understand life, and artwork gave him spiritual support. He is going to try to do the work that is useful and must be done quickly.

The most brutal phase of the war is approaching, and Globemaster has sent the signal. He's going to hurry, hurry!

Japan will be reborn from the ashes like an immortal bird. But the fire makes it wail, it makes it miserable, it makes it weep, it makes it despair.

"Let the fire burn faster!" Inoue Narumi's heart let out a mournful call. (To be continued......)