After accompanying Audrey Hepburn for a beautiful and simple three days, Downing returned to Kogura with Grunov and told Higashino to take good care of Grunov, and Downing returned to the United States, because the socialist forces led by the Soviet Union were becoming stronger and stronger, especially the establishment of Red China, which caused great hatred and panic in the United States.

Truman once publicly stated that "the development of events in China has multiplied the importance of Japan." In his address to Congress, Dr. Dodge also said, "The past year, and especially the recent developments in the region, have demonstrated the need for us to strengthen our position in Japan." The development of our policy in the Far East in the future will require that Japan be used as a springboard and supply base for future aid expansion to the Far East. ”

In this environment, the call for lifting the economic blockade against Japan, vigorously supporting the Japanese economy, and even the withdrawal of Allied forces from Japan and the return of sovereignty to the Japanese government became louder and louder, and Downing felt that the time had come to fight for the independence of the Ryukyus.

Fortunately, Downing had always had a close relationship with staunch anti-Japanese figures such as Weidemeyer and Chennault, and it was not at all abrupt to return to the United States to join their camp at this time, and his idea of limited support for Japan was also approved by Weidemeyer, and he formally submitted a message to the Congress, calling for limited support for Japan and support for Ryukyu independence to deter Japan. (There must be a standardized process for this kind of message, but I'm really not familiar with it, so I won't write it in detail so as not to show timidity.) ）

The Japanese government was also very active at this time, after all, no one wanted to give up the opportunity to be independent, so Japanese officials and scholars were vigorously active in the United States, and they tried every means to carry out public relations with every parliamentarian who might have a role.

It is a pity that at this time, there was an extremely unchained incident in Japan, that is, the assassination of the newly appointed US Ambassador to Japan, Dr. Edwin Reischauer, at the US Embassy in Akasaka, Tokyo!

Edwin Reischauer was born in Tokyo, Japan, to a Presbyterian missionary father who lived in Japan until the age of 16 and is very familiar with Japanese culture. He is recognized by the United States as an expert on Japan. Moreover, Reischauer was not only born in Japan, but also married the granddaughter of Masayoshi Matsukata, the prime minister of Japan's Meiji period, so the Japanese generally have a good impression of him. Since the United States was considering changing its policy toward Japan at this time, it appointed Reischauer, who was more acceptable to the Japanese people and was relatively mild-mannered, as its ambassador.

But such a gentle dude. Actually assassinated in Tokyo, Japan! (This is the real thing, it happened in 1961, and it was advanced here for the sake of the plot.) ）

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that the minister of the Imperial Mission. Although Reischauer is not MacArthur, as the US ambassador to Japan, it is not an exaggeration to say that his position in Japan is a minister, especially now at a critical moment when the United States is considering changing its attitude toward Japan, and the new US ambassador to Japan, the real Lord Shangguo, was assassinated in front of the emperor's house, which naturally caused an uproar in the whole country, and the Japanese officials who bowed and bowed in the United States and their waists were about to break in their hearts and scolded their colleagues at home, even if they don't help, don't make trouble!

And the assassination of this ambassador is quite strange. On that day, Ambassador Reischauer had a meeting to attend. When he returned and was about to get out of the car to enter the embassy, he was suddenly assassinated at the door. A young man dressed like a repairman, who had been hiding in the shadow of the porch, suddenly bypassed the guards, rushed at Dr. Reischauer, and stabbed him with a sharp knife 16 centimeters long, hitting him in the upper right thigh, and immediately bleeding profusely. The young man who was then assassinated was immediately captured by the embassy secretary and the Marine Corps guards. A secretary hastily untied his tie and wrapped it around the doctor's thigh to stop the bleeding, and rushed him to the best nearby Humen Mutual Aid Hospital. Upon examination, the wound on Ambassador Reischauer's leg was 2.8 centimeters wide and 10 centimeters deep. Because of the puncture of the large artery, the amount of bleeding reached 3,000 ml, and the doctor had to be urgently transfused during the rescue. The operation, performed jointly by doctors from the hospital and the Yokosuka U.S. Military General Hospital, lasted four hours.

In fact, according to what is now being revealed. At that time, the situation was even worse, the assassin not only took down Dr. Reischauer with a knife, but also immediately knocked over the driver who came to the rescue, and rushed out of the embassy with two embassy staff members with a knife.

What's even weirder. After exiting the embassy, the Assassin threw away the hostages, turned around and rushed into the nearby Akasaka Police Station, where he surrendered cleanly. And the results of the interrogation came out quickly, but the results were ridiculous, in fact, there was no interrogation, and some smart police officers had already guessed what was going on. An officer from the Akasaka Police Station described to reporters the interrogation of the assassin - the murderer had straight eyes and roared in his mouth, claiming that he had bad eyes and could not find a job, which was the responsibility of the Americans!

At that time, the United States did encourage myopia correction in Japan, but what this man said really made the police unlogical. After investigation, the murderer of the assassination came from Numazu City, Japan, was only 19 years old, and was a schizophrenic patient (through medical records, it was found that this person was diagnosed by a doctor as mentally ill since he was in high school, and it is certain that he was not mentally ill after the crime), and several times he was asked to explain the motive for the assassination was incoherent and logically confused.

It was found that the crime was committed by a mentally ill person, and the whole country of Japan breathed a sigh of relief (or maybe there were people who were afraid that the world would not be chaotic sighed, secretly hating why it was not their competitors who made a stupid move). The assassination of the US ambassador caused panic in all walks of life in Japan, and they were deeply afraid that they would annoy the US monarch and cause a bloodbath in Tokyo. Even if it is not bloodbathed, if it affects the US policy toward Japan, causes economic support to be lost, and continues to suppress and weaken the economy, it will be enough for everyone.

Objectively speaking, the occurrence of this case is of some positive significance to both the United States and Japan. For example, this person confessed that he had sneaked into the U.S. Embassy twice before committing the crime, carefully determining the process and modus operandi of the crime (this is something that a psychopathic can do?). Perhaps, the mentally ill in Japan are different from those in other countries? And tried to set fires, as if they were in a no-man's land. Later, it was discovered that the embassy guards had guns but no bullets, and they were powerless to fight back in the face of knife-wielding gangsters. As a result, the security of U.S. embassies around the world has been questioned and improved. Considering that American embassies around the world were often attacked in all kinds in the fifties and sixties, how many Americans were prevented from being blown up, stabbed to death, and what were the deaths, the merits cannot be calculated. (To be continued.) )