Chapter 15, Absurdity in October (II)

On October 28, 1945, at Xiaguan Wharf in Nanjing, China, a river ship full of colorful flags slowly approached the trestle bridge. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

There was a crowd of people on the shore, and as the river ship docked, drums and music were played for a while, and salutes were fired.

At this time, in the city of Nanjing, there are lights everywhere, flags are displayed, and there is a festive scene. Banners of the blue sky and white sun were displayed in the wind, and all kinds of plaques and banners reading "Greeting the return of the national capital to Nanjing" and "All walks of life in the capital celebrate the triumph of the national government" were all over the streets. In the loudspeakers temporarily erected on the streets, Chairman Jiang's speech with a strong Zhejiang accent was repeatedly played: "...... The Nationalist Government moved to Chongqing in November 26 for the protracted War of Resistance. Over the past eight years, I have been fortunate to be loyal and brave soldiers, one after another, and tenacious struggle. With the countries of the alliance with the husband, the sea and air marched together, fought side by side, and made the enemy subdue, and made great achievements. Although the task of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is over, the responsibility of building the country is heavier, and the government hereby triumphs over Nanjing to comfort the public's expectations. Only after the war, the people's livelihood is difficult, the national strength is withering, it is urgent to rest with the people, recover their vitality, work hard to build, maintain the results of the war, and hope that the military and the people of the whole country will live up to the original intention of the founding of the country in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and realize the mission of the Three People's Principles...... This Government pledges to continue to do its utmost to build the country and purge the Red Party in order to save our compatriots from the scourge of Bolshevik terror forever and to preserve the integrity and unity of the country......"

Standing next to the side of the river steamer, looking at the bustling scene that appeared in front of him, the expression of Lieutenant General Stilwell, chief of staff of the Allied China Theater of Operations, was really strange, and there was always a sense of unreality and absurdity in his heart.

Just last month today, the theoretical legal capital of the Republic of China was still occupied by the Japanese invaders, and it was ruled by puppets under the bayonets of the Japanese army. However, the Chongqing Nationalist Government under Chairman Chiang Kai-shek was being crushed by the Red Army because of the new round of civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party that it hastily provoked, and the remnants of the army ran out of ammunition and food, defected or mutinied one after another, and the long-awaited US aid could never be sent in.

For this reason, Chairman Chiang, who was desperate, even opened his mind in a desperate situation, acted in a double reed play with He Yingqin, directed and staged a "bloodless coup" in Chongqing, and pretended to go into the wilderness, so that He Yingqin could go to Japan on the stage, so as to ask for some Japanese aid to survive.

Unexpectedly, less than 48 hours after the Chongqing Nationalist Government's statement on surrender to Japan was issued, Tokyo was bombed to the top by a nuclear bomb: Japan has perished!

This thunderbolt on a sunny day really thundered the Chongqing National Government. So instead of He Yingqin and pretending to be under house arrest, Chairman Chiang returned to power and raised the banner of resistance against Japan. However, the existential crisis of the Chongqing Nationalist Government has not yet been resolved -- there is no hope for Japanese aid, and it seems that US aid will not be able to be sent in for a while: Who made Chairman Chiang lose all the major seaports of the country in the first place? However, the Red Army in the north is still advancing step by step, and has even rushed into the Sichuan Basin to defeat Chengdu, and the morale of the army on the Chongqing side is also weak, and it is really unknown whether it can hold until next month.

Fortunately, just when Chairman Chiang was jumping to his feet in a hurry, Zhou Fohai, the mayor of Shanghai of Nanjing's puppet regime, suddenly sent him a gift package from heaven: The entire Nanjing Nationalist Government welcomed him to Nanjing to take office! The only request is to ask for an amnesty, regardless of their previous guilt for defecting to the Japanese!

It turns out that it is not only the Chongqing Nationalist Government but also the Nanjing Nationalist Government that is currently experiencing an existential crisis: as everyone knows, the regime team that Wang Jingwei raised during his lifetime is simply a puppet of the Japanese. Now that even the Japanese Empire has been bombed by two atomic bombs, it is natural that the members of the Wang puppet regime will find a way out and change their fathers, so as not to accompany His Majesty the Emperor to the funeral...... Originally, this kind of conspiracy to defect could not be concealed from the Japanese "Chinese Dispatch Army" stationed in Nanjing. However, the Japanese troops currently stationed near Nanjing are mainly capitulators, and they are even more urgent for the "great cause of armistice and peace" than the Wang puppet regime. Therefore, the Japanese and puppet sides first conspired, and then they took the line of the Americans, and finally informed Chairman Chiang of the good news, asking Jiang Gong to follow the example of the past when he and Wang Jingwei "converged with Ninghan", and quickly returned to the "Ning-Chongqing confluence" to peacefully receive the inheritance of Wang Jingwei and the Japanese army invading China, and then continued to persist in fighting against the "red peril" that ravaged China with the support of the American godfather......

As a result, after Chairman Chiang wrote down a warrant and swore an oath, and the US ambassador to China pledged that he would not be held accountable for any past responsibility, Chen Gongbo, the puppet chairman of the Nanjing Nationalist Government, immediately resigned and went to the opposition, preparing to go to the United States for inspection after the shipping route was opened, and would never return to China without permission unless Chairman Chiang agreed. Then, the members of the puppet Nanjing Nationalist Government also packed up the gold and silver they had looted over the years, and each announced their resignation and seclusion, and since then they have withdrawn from politics and left Nanjing, so as to make room for the placement of Jiang Gong's descendants.

Next, the hundreds of thousands of puppet troops entrenched in the Jiangnan area, except for a few high-level generals who were forced to retire in order to make room for the Jiang Gongyan lineage, the rest directly became the National Revolutionary Army, and some of the Japanese officers and soldiers who were willing to continue fighting became Chairman Chiang's "foreign mercenaries", and the remaining Japanese officers and soldiers who were tired of the war received a severance pay of no more and no less, and took off their military uniforms and became "friendly expatriates...... What made Stilwell feel even more unacceptable was that all these jaw-dropping "skin-changing magic" had all been understood and agreed by the White House in advance!

Because, after defeating the old adversary of the Japanese Empire and winning the final victory in the Pacific theater, the priority of the United States of America has changed from winning the so-called "worldwide anti-fascist war" to resisting the frantic expansion of Bolshevik power as soon as possible.

In the face of the ironclad torrent of the Soviet Red Army, the free world has basically lost Europe, and now it must not lose Asia again.

In order to counter the rapid expansion of the red forces in China and prevent the post-war world hegemony from falling, the White House has reached the level of unscrupulous means.

Thinking of this, Lieutenant General Stilwell could only sigh helplessly, no matter how ridiculous his inner feelings were, after all, he did not have the courage or ability to resist the domestic instructions, although this made all his previous plans and efforts to attack the Japanese seem to have become a joke.

In any case, with the success of the "Ning-Chongqing Confluence" and the surrender of the Japanese governor in Taiwan, the sea channel for the United States to send American aid to China has been opened. With the ordnance and materials aided by the United States, as well as the legacy of the Japanese army invading China, Chairman Chiang's government should be able to survive, right?

Seeing Chairman Chiang walking onto the dock with great vigour, as if he had triumphed, Lieutenant General Stilwell smiled bitterly and comforted himself.

At the same time, the citizens of Nanjing, who had been forcibly driven to "welcome the chairman" on the shore, watched Chairman Chiang, who was wearing the uniform of a special general and wearing five medals on his chest, walk up to the wharf in good spirits and wave around in an open-top car, and the absurd feeling in their hearts was even more indescribable.

-- On the first day of October, because of the "great news" that the Nationalist Government of Chongqing had surrendered to Japan, newspapers in the entire Japanese-occupied area were celebrating with the headline "The Surrender of the Chinese Dragon" and reverie that "the Great East Asian Holy War is about to move from one victory to the next more brilliant victory." Unexpectedly, the next day, some ominous gossip appeared on the market, and the expressions of many Japanese people changed from arrogant to disbelief, and then to mourning. Then, on the third day, a bold newspaper finally reported the death of the Imperial Japanese Empire with the headline "The Falling Sun", announcing the news of the atomic bombing of Tokyo and the death of the emperor. And in the radio stations run by Japanese expatriates, there is a group of wailing and mourning like a lost dog......

In a short period of 48 hours, the Japanese devils and their followers fell from the peak of unexpected victory to the bottom of the valley of the country in a thunderbolt from the blue, and such a rapid and fierce upheaval is probably the first time in the history of mankind -- many Japanese devils with bad hearts collapsed and died suddenly on the spot, and some Japanese could not stand such stimulation and chose to commit suicide by seppuku. When all these guys with poor psychological tolerance are dead, the rest of the people are slowly sobering up and starting to think about the next way out...... According to the thinking of the Chinese people, since Japan has perished, then all the Japanese devils on the ground in China should get out, and those traitors who fight for the tiger should also be judged, right?

As a result, Chairman Chiang and the Central Committee soon returned, but none of the traitors were tried, but they all became "heroes of recovery". Then the puppet army became the government army, the Japanese army became a friendly army, and the Japanese ronin became a "friendly expatriate...... After such a group of demons dancing around, it seems that everyone has become a good person! No one has done anything wrong! But in this case, what was the previous eight-year War of Resistance fought for? Did the 300,000 compatriots in Nanjing die in vain? Anyway, the people in Jiangnan basically feel that their thinking is a little collapsed, and they can't figure out the truth at all.

However, the "receiving officials" who came to Nanjing with Chairman Chiang were not interested in paying attention to what the common people wanted to figure out at all, and their red eyes were staring at the gold, silver, women, cars, and tickets in the splendid world of Jiangnan: After surviving for so long in a poor place like Sichuan, most of the little money that they had saved was now confiscated by the Red Army.

The only fly in the ointment was that Chairman Chiang and all the receiving officials were still staggering at the banquet of the celebration, and the "good news" of "accompanying the peaceful liberation of Chongqing" was transmitted from the radio station in Yan'an, so as to "warmly celebrate" Chairman Chiang's "return to Nanjing......

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Japan, Tokyo Bay, the first coastal defense point of the imperial capital of Tokyo, and the Yokosuka Imperial Navy Guard

Ninety-two years ago, in 1853, Commodore Matthew of the United States Navy. Carl Blaisse. Commander Perry, who once arrived here with four warships flying the Stars and Stripes, triggered the "Black Ship Sailing" incident and dragged this self-contained nation into the international arena of the jungle.

The artillery fire of Perry's black ship opened the door to Japan, and also caused confusion and thinking in Japan. In the confused eyes of the Japanese, the outside world shows its glory and also reveals its ugliness: no one sympathizes with the weak, and the victory of the superior and the inferior is the most basic law of nature. If Japan can't become strong, Westerners will inevitably on the heads of the Japanese. The British fleet burned Kagoshima, and the batteries in Choshu were razed by the Western powers...... The lessons of blood and fire taught Japan a full understanding of the cruel nature of the world - and then the bloody storms of the troubled times at the end of the Edo period, and the sweeping changes of the Meiji Restoration: from the large-scale construction of raw silk factories to the export of "Nanyang sister" to Southeast Asia. The Japanese gritted their teeth and learned from Europe and the United States, accumulating foreign exchange bit by cent, changing machines, technology, and guns. In a few tatami cardboard rooms, he dreamed of empire and shouted slogans of a rich country and a strong army.

After completing the initial preparations, the chariots of the Japanese Empire began to rumble, following in the footsteps of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, crossing the Tsushima Strait and rushing towards Korea; Then cross the Yalu River and invade China. In the end, he turned around and rushed to the vast Pacific Ocean, taking the white teachers of Europe and the United States to open his knife, wanting to show his skills in a broader world, and wanting to find his own dream of Yamato on the ruins of the old colonial empire in the West.

Today, however, all the rhapsodies are over. Japan's imperial dreams come and go as fast as cherry blossoms bloom and fall.

-- Ninety-two years later, another even larger and more majestic American fleet brazenly intruded into the heart of the Japanese Empire, and then, under the frightened and bewildered eyes of the Japanese civilians, once again planted the Stars and Stripes on this land.

Standing in Kurihama in Yokosuka City, the landing site of Admiral Perry's "Black Ship" in those years, and looking at the "Monument to Admiral Perry of the United States of America Naval Division Landing Monument" written by former Japanese Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito, Admiral Halsey, the current commander of the US Pacific Fleet, could not help but be in a trance for a while.

The victory came so quickly, so violently, so suddenly, so dreamlike that it seemed unreal.

-- Just over a month ago, he was still drinking sullen wine at the headquarters at Pearl Harbor, mourning his comrades-in-arms who had died in the blue sea, and cursing the hateful Japanese devils. But at this moment, he stood outside the gate of the imperial capital Tokyo as a conqueror, stepping on the heart of the Imperial Japanese Navy. And the enemy general Yamamoto Isoroku, who was cursed and faintly feared by him, had already been turned to ashes in the mushroom cloud of the atomic bomb.

To be honest, when the situation is not yet very clear, to take the risk of leading the Grand Fleet to break into the Gulf of Tonkin is simply to gamble with the lives of the entire army, and there was even more opposition in the Fleet Staff Headquarters beforehand. But Admiral Halsey gave full play to his "brute" nature and insisted on this order...... The result was uneventful, and the Japanese on the shores of Gulf of Tonkin did not put up any resistance in the face of the menacing US Pacific Fleet.

Just like the four "black ships" of General Perry ninety-two years ago, the Halsey fleet docked unscathed at the docks in Yokosuka.

At this, the American officers and men of the entire fleet were jubilant, but Admiral Halsey only felt a sense of dullness.

How so? It felt like a revenge operation that had been prepared for a long time, but the end result was a punch and nothing to do......

It's ridiculous, I obviously haven't had enough! The enemy is already gone?! Where are you going to vent this depression in your chest?

However, this melancholy, mixed with loss and hesitation, did not linger in Admiral Halsey's chest for long.

Because, Admiral Halsey soon discovered that the remaining Japanese devils had not been completely defeated, and the war that belonged to him was not over.

-- A few days before the U.S. Pacific Fleet entered the Gulf of Tonkin, the Japanese naval members of the Yokosuka Garrison had already fled ahead of time and disappeared without a trace, and had taken away all the submarines, cruisers, destroyers, coastal defense ships, converted aircraft carriers, gunboats, torpedo boats, and transport ships that could still move, and flew away all the Naval Air Force planes, and had taken away the funds, ordnance, and ammunition of the entire Castle Garrison, and had even distributed coal and food to the citizens, and had put the remaining fuel oil into the sea, except for the empty houses. Nothing was left for the US military. The only thing left on the entire Yokosuka coast is the immobile battleship Mikasa: the ship of Admiral Heihachiro Togo, the flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War forty years ago, which has been disarmed and retired for many years, and is now preserved in Yokosuka's seaside park in the form of a maritime memorial.

So, the next question is, where did these Japanese Navy ships and planes that escaped from Yokosuka Shofu go?

After rounding the shore to make sure that there should be no fighting in the area, Commander Halsey first ordered the foolish act of some boring sailors trying to scuttle the battleship Mikasa, and then, on his flagship aircraft carrier, the Enterprise, met with representatives of the "Provisional Government of Japan" in Yokohama, and ordered these "Japanese collaborators" to provide the latest movements of the Japanese naval fleet as soon as possible.

After another day of waiting, Admiral Halsey, who was staying at the port of Yokosuka Town, finally received a vague report on the enemy situation.

-- Since the atomic bombing of Tokyo and the destruction of the empire, in the face of the massive attack by the U.S. Halsey Fleet and the confusion caused by the surrender announcement of the "Provisional Government of Japan," the ships of the Home Fleet, which had previously been scattered throughout eastern Japan, have basically dropped anchor and fled west one after another.

Most of the Japanese naval vessels originally deployed in Hokkaido fled through the Tsugaru Strait or the Soya Strait (before the Soviet troops moved south) to various ports in the Sea of Japan on the other side of the archipelago, and even to various ports in the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula.

A small number of advanced ships with ocean-going capabilities are said to have gone to the Truk anchorage in the South Seas to join the main force of the Combined Fleet.

Most of the ships escaped to the Etajima Naval Academy, the cradle of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in Hiroshima Prefecture. These captains and captains had a series of conversations before they set off, and it seemed that they thought that when the Cabinet, the Ministry of the Navy, and the Military Command Department no longer existed, they should go to their alma mater to consult with teachers and principals about countermeasures. The naval aviation and army aviation of the mainland flew everywhere, and many of them simply flew home.

At the same time, the various Japanese armies stationed in North China, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula were constantly crossing the Tsushima Strait and massing toward Hiroshima and Matsue in western Japan.

The Etajima Naval Academy and Kure Port Town, home to Japan's most advanced shipyard, are also located in Hiroshima Prefecture. Today, Hiroshima Prefecture is home to a large number of naval and army forces, and the most combat-ready units of the Japanese Empire and the most stubborn fighters are constantly gathering in that area. During the war, the large amount of ammunition and supplies that the base camp originally stored in several huge caves there were enough to support a long-term battle.

“…… It turns out that these Japanese navies have returned to their alma mater! Etajima ...... Cradle of the Japanese Navy......"

Looking down at the map of Japan on the table, Admiral Halsey's eyes burned with aggressive flames again, "...... It just so happened that the second batch of reinforcement fleets and supply ships that had arrived from China had also arrived off Tokyo. In that case, let the Air Force use the airfields in Tokyo and Sendai to prepare for a strategic bombing of the Japanese Navy and Army in the Hiroshima area! Well, you can use all the remaining gas bombs! ”

He pinned a dagger to the location of Etajima Island on the map, "...... Strangled these demonic cubs directly in the cradle! ”

Talking about the foolish behavior of the sailors who wanted to scuttle the battleship Mikasa, he then met with representatives of the "Provisional Government of Japan" in Yokohama on his flagship aircraft carrier, the "Enterprise," and ordered these "Japanese collaborators" to provide the latest information on the movements of the Japanese naval fleet as soon as possible.

After another day of waiting, Admiral Halsey, who was staying at the port of Yokosuka Town, finally received a vague report on the enemy situation.

-- Since the atomic bombing of Tokyo and the destruction of the empire, in the face of the massive attack by the U.S. Halsey Fleet and the confusion caused by the surrender announcement of the "Provisional Government of Japan," the ships of the Home Fleet, which had previously been scattered throughout eastern Japan, have basically dropped anchor and fled west one after another.

Most of the Japanese naval vessels originally deployed in Hokkaido fled through the Tsugaru Strait or the Soya Strait (before the Soviet troops moved south) to various ports in the Sea of Japan on the other side of the archipelago, and even to various ports in the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula.

A small number of advanced ships with ocean-going capabilities are said to have gone to the Truk anchorage in the South Seas to join the main force of the Combined Fleet.

Most of the ships escaped to the Etajima Naval Academy, the cradle of the Imperial Japanese Navy, in Hiroshima Prefecture. These captains and captains had a series of conversations before they set off, and it seemed that they thought that when the Cabinet, the Ministry of the Navy, and the Military Command Department no longer existed, they should go to their alma mater to consult with teachers and principals about countermeasures. The naval aviation and army aviation of the mainland flew everywhere, and many of them simply flew home.

At the same time, the various Japanese armies stationed in North China, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula were constantly crossing the Tsushima Strait and massing toward Hiroshima and Matsue in western Japan.

The Etajima Naval Academy and Kure Port Town, home to Japan's most advanced shipyard, are also located in Hiroshima Prefecture. Today, Hiroshima Prefecture is home to a large number of naval and army forces, and the most combat-ready units of the Japanese Empire and the most stubborn fighters are constantly gathering in that area. During the war, the large amount of ammunition and supplies that the base camp originally stored in several huge caves there were enough to support a long-term battle.

“…… It turns out that these Japanese navies have returned to their alma mater! Etajima ...... Cradle of the Japanese Navy......"

Looking down at the map of Japan on the table, Admiral Halsey's eyes burned with aggressive flames again, "...... It just so happened that the second batch of reinforcement fleets and supply ships that had arrived from China had also arrived off Tokyo. In that case, let the Air Force use the airfields in Tokyo and Sendai to prepare for a strategic bombing of the Japanese Navy and Army in the Hiroshima area! Well, you can use all the remaining gas bombs! ”

He pinned a dagger to the location of Etajima Island on the map, "...... Strangled these demonic cubs directly in the cradle! ”