By October 11, 1892, the Lu army had occupied Omiya, Kawagoe and Yamali Prefecture, forming an encirclement of Tokyo, and the Lu army, which had suffered heavy losses in the "Battle of Kanto", had resumed its attack on Tokyo again after repairing for several months, and for hundreds of thousands of Lu troops from all directions, every Japanese understood the fall of Tokyo!

Or rather, the demise of Japan is inevitable!

The rumbling sound of cannons and explosions echoed in the night sky, and the distant horizon was constantly lit up with explosions, although it seemed to be far away from the battlefield, but in fact the war was close at hand, Urawa, this city would be the last city on the way to Tokyo by the Lu country and the army, as soon as they crossed Urawa, they would enter Tokyo and enter the heart of the Japanese Empire. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In the face of the attack of the Lu country and the army, despite the lack of guns and ammunition, the resistance of the Japanese army was extremely tenacious, although they knew that there was no point in resisting, although there were more and more deserters, but there were still people fighting tenaciously, for them, what they hoped was only through their own resistance, so that in the future occupation, the Lu people would not despise the Japanese.

In other words, for them, what they hope for is no longer the survival of Japan, and the only thing they hope for is to let the Lu people see the courage of the Japanese through their bravery, so that they can face them squarely and respect them, and not treat them as slaves as the British regard the Indians, which seems to have become the hope of the Japanese now, at least some of the Japanese soldiers.

The cold autumn rain fell on the trenches, only making the soldiers in the trenches shiver with cold, and they wore clothes of different styles and colors. This will already be drenched in the autumn rains. Only a few soldiers huddled in the trenches. Use a rag or blanket as a canopy to shelter from the cold autumn rain.

But despite this, they still waited, staring vigilantly into the night, looking ready to fight off the invaders of the Lu Country. Although they knew the outcome of the war, they were willing to fight, perhaps as the brigade commanders and wing commanders said, "with our stubborn resistance to prove to the people of Luguo that the Yamato nation is by no means an inferior nation." but a people who deserve the same rights as them".

Even though we know this is just a fantasy, when will people of color be able to enjoy the same rights as white people? When did white people respect people of color? But sometimes for some visitors, it is better to have a glimmer of hope than to lose hope, and hope is often the only motivation for people to persevere.

The trenches were filled with soldiers huddled in the icy mud, and the few bunkers near the trenches shone with a sparse glow of the officers' bunkers and ammunition depots. A short, sturdy officer, walking through the muddy trenches, stood for a moment at the door of an officer's mud house, hurriedly unbuttoning his raincoat and shaking off the drops of water from it. He quickly wiped his boots on the rotten grass before pushing the door open. Stoop down and walk into the earthen house.

The yellow light of the small oil lamp shone on the faces of the visitors. An open officer in a white shirt rose from the plank bed, touched the top of his bare head with one hand, and yawned.

"It's raining?"

Akiyama took a look at Hirasawa, who had just come in, and looked at the rain on his raincoat, it seemed that the rain was not small.

"It's down there, and it's not small!"

Hirasawa replied, then hung his rain-soaked military cap on a nail by the door.

"The soldiers in the trenches are going to suffer now, the weather is getting colder, but they don't even have ...... uniforms"

Akiyama said with some sympathy, although he expressed deep sympathy for the soldiers, but he did not express anything, in his opinion, too much sympathy was extremely inappropriate for the officers and Fang.

But these soldiers are indeed very pitiful, they are not fighting for victory, but fighting knowing that there is no victory, and their country not only cannot give them weapons, but also a military uniform. Not to mention a raincoat to keep out the wind and rain.

"Even if you want to heat your fire, you can't do it, but the water is gushing out of the ground. Yaga, now even the rain in Japan is going to drive us away...... Yes? What do you think, Akiyama. At the current rate, by tomorrow at the latest, the people of the Lu Kingdom will hit us, and when the time comes, it will be really choking......"

Pyeongzawa rubbed his hands, bent down, and squatted next to the small pottery stove, where the charcoal stove was boiling tea, because of the high humidity in the bunker, this small stove could remove some moisture, but it was not easy to find charcoal on the battlefield. But as an officer, he always enjoyed a little privilege - as for Akiyama, as the brigade commander, he was given a little charcoal for making tea.

The reason why Hirazawa, as the chief of staff of the 68th Brigade, asked this question may be because of his pessimism about the war situation, in fact, the current war situation is difficult to make people optimistic, and even any officer with a little military knowledge knows that the current war situation is doomed, and Japan has no possibility of winning the war at all. There is not even a possibility of a draw.

"What else? There is no hope at all! ”

The unwavering Akiyama Yoshiko said casually, but the look in his eyes was extremely resolute, which contrasted sharply with his pessimistic tone.

"It is precisely because there is no hope that we must fight hard, otherwise, in the future Lucia, the Japanese will be completely enslaved by the Lucians, just like the Turks of Central Asia......

"As soon as you open your mouth, you are enslaved, really, there is nothing else to say?"

After pondering for a moment, Akiyama looked at the sullen Hirasawa in front of him and comforted.

"Yes, no one can accept the fact that Japan is going to perish, but now it is no longer a question of whether we accept it or not, but how we can fight for more power for Japan in the future, and the reason why we are fighting now is no longer to fight for the survival of Japan, but to fight for the status of the future Yamato clan in Lucia!"

Studying in France made Akiyama very aware of the West's attitude towards the occupied territories, and he also knew that for Russia, there had never been a colony, and perhaps the only thing that was comforting. This means that Japan will be incorporated into Russia as part of Russia, and the Japanese will also be part of the "Russians".

In that ethnically complex Russia. There are Russians. There are Poles. There are Finns, there are Ukrainians, there are Caucasians, there are Tatars and Turks who are considered inferior peoples, and what kind of status will Japan gain when it joins the "big family" of Russia in the future?

The place of the Yamato nation in the Russian family in the future will be determined by today's resistance! It is only through the heroic sacrifice of the servicemen that the Russians can realize that the Japanese are also a good race. At least a people better than the Tatars and Turks, thus gaining a certain status and not being placed in the position of servitude.

"Perhaps, we should be glad that it was Lucia who was about to occupy Japan, and not the British, and if it were the latter, perhaps the British would have been more civilized, but the British would have turned Japan into a colony like India, and the Japanese would have been reduced to the most humble slaves. But Lucia, they were never in the habit of conquering colonies. For them, the purpose of occupying an area is to expand, so Japan will not become a colony of Lu, but will become their land, and the Yamato will also become one of the hundreds of Lucia peoples, and what are we fighting for? ”

After a pause, Akiyama smiled helplessly.

"What we want to win is the respect of the Lu people, not the Mongols in Siberia, and not the Turks of Central Asia......

When he raised his head and looked at the flickering oil lamp, there was a trace of sadness in Akiyama's words.

"A true samurai always has a pity!"

Whether it is due to hypocrisy, but as a soldier, Akiyama, like many officers, praised the bravery of Lu Guo and the army, and used this to set off their own "tragedy"; In the same way, the Lu people were deeply impressed by the Japanese meat bullets and the bravery of the Japanese. Even at this time when Japan was being scorned as a "monkey", in the place of Japan's imminent demise, the Russian generals, who were enemies, did not hide their affection for the Japanese "bushido" when answering questions from foreign journalists.

It is precisely because of this that when Japan was about to fall, Akiyama Yoshiko hoped to exchange the future status of Japan through the heroism of the army, so that the people of Lu Guo would remember that the Japanese were not inferior to them, so as to fight for the future "the right to speak in the Lucia family", of course, this even had some selfish motives - perhaps, in the future, he could serve in the Lu country and the army as a member of the Lu army, which is just another manifestation of national status.

Perhaps, this is the difference between him and his younger brother, although he also loves Japan, but he has made another choice, maybe his remarks will provoke ridicule from others, but for him, maybe this is Japan's last choice, and even unlike his younger brother, in the face of the full occupation and annexation of the Lu State, even if it relies on the Qing State, it will be difficult for Japan to win independence again in the future. To be more precise, he didn't believe that the Qing State could defeat the Lu State, maybe the Qing State was very big, but the only thing that the huge and weakened empire could do was to rely on its own huge and maneuver among the great powers to maintain the survival of the country, how could such a country defeat Lucia as a Western power?

Even Akiyama Kokoto was pessimistic that after Lucia occupied Japan, they would definitely focus on the Qing Kingdom in the future, and the fate of the Qing Kingdom in the future would not necessarily be better than Japan.

"So, what I'm most worried about right now is not death, not fighting, but ......"

After a slight pause, Akiyama's face was full of pain.

"What worries me most is that Tokyo will order disarmament! If that's the case, it's all over! ”

It's all over!

Although the Japanese army performed extremely bravely in the "Kanto Campaign", Akiyama Yoshiko, who knew the Westerners, knew very well that it was not yet time to surrender, or disarm, and at least they should work hard again for the national capital of Japan, and through their sacrifices, those proud Luguo people would understand the dignity of the Japanese people, and then respect the dignity of the Japanese.

Only in this way will the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of soldiers in this inevitable war be worthwhile. But will Tokyo continue to fight, as he thinks? Because of this, in the past period of time, he was depressed because he could not see hope, and the only thing he could do was to teach the Lu people a lesson in his own battle.

"Akiyama, it's a pity that you are a brigade commander......"

Hirasawa sighed and looked at Akiyama in front of him, his bare head reflected a little light, it was when he was studying at the Army University, he was reluctant to spend money on treatment for typhoid fever in order to buy books, and his hair fell out, and he still hasn't grown hair until now. This man is just a brigade commander, a small person.

Even if it weren't for the urgent expansion of the army, it would have been impossible for a small person like him and Akiyama to command a brigade now, and this would probably be the swan song of their military career. And the overall situation of the country is not something that small people like them can control, so what's the point of worrying about the same little people?

In this world, no one cares about little people like them.

The two of them were completely silent at this time, and the two of them quietly looked at the copper kettle on the small stove, looking at the steam spewing from the pot, and the rumbling sound of cannons came from time to time outside the door.

"Listen to the cannon!"

Akiyama raised his head as he broke the silence in the bunker, glanced at the thin wooden door full of gaps, and said softly.

"The sound of the cannon is closer, it seems that the people of Lu Guo should be able to make a breakthrough tonight!"

The distant cannon sound seemed to be closer, listening to the cannon sound that was much closer than before, both of them knew very well that maybe they didn't need to wait until tomorrow, soon, Lu Guo and the army would be able to see Tokyo!

When the people of Lu Kuni fight Tokyo, will Tokyo continue to fight?

Thinking of this, Akiyama only felt an inexplicable worry rising in his heart, he was not worried about the battle situation tomorrow, and even he was ready to sacrifice everything, but if Tokyo gave up...... As a small man, his only choice is probably to obey orders, and at that time, who will respect a soldier like him who has laid down his arms?

"Akiyama, is there really no hope for Japan?"

Listening to the rumbling cannonball, although the battle line was still far from here, Pyeongtaek felt as if the battle line had advanced in front of his eyes, and although he knew the result, he still had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

"Hope?"

After a moment of silence, Akiyama looked in the direction of the mainland, wasn't what his younger brother was pursuing was that almost impossible hope? But what's the point of that hope?

"Pyeongtaek, now...... Is hope really important to Japan? (To be continued.) )