Chapter 43: The Conference to Decide the Fate of Japan

Itsukushima Shrine, Hiroshima Prefecture, Western Japan, Spring 1946

The tall vermilion torii gate stands in the middle of the surging waves; The bells under the eaves of the five-fold pagoda make a pleasant light sound in the sea breeze. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The gorgeous shrine with red pillars and white walls, reflecting the green forest and the blue sea, seems to tell an ancient ballad.

Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima Prefecture is a religious shrine with a long history, founded around 593 A.D., during the reign of Emperor Suiko, dedicated to the three goddesses of the sea (the three goddesses of the sun) in ancient Japanese legends.

By the end of the Heian period, Itsukushima Shrine was revered and donated by the powerful Taira clan, and it quickly flourished. Later, in order to expand the ocean trade, Taira Kiyomori, the originator of the Japanese samurai regime, officially selected Itsukushima Shrine, which is dedicated to the god of the sea, as the place of worship for the Taira clan, and funded the construction of many magnificent buildings for the shrine, so that the fame of Itsukushima Shrine spread throughout Japan, and the incense was extremely prosperous. Later, in the Warring States Period, in order to compete for the hegemony of the Western Kingdom, the Maori family and the Ouchi family also broke out here in the Itsukushima War, which is known as one of the "Three Great Surprise Attacks of Japan's Warring States".

Itsukushima Shrine is the only wooden structure in Japan designed using the principle of high tide and low tide in order to highlight the characteristics of the sea, and it is the only wooden structure in Japan that is designed using the principle of high tide and low tide in order to highlight the characteristics of the sea. When the tide rises, Itsukushima Shrine is covered in the sea, as if it were a giant ship floating on the sea, or a miniature water city of Venice.

In the spring of that year, a major meeting was taking place at the ancient and beautiful Itsukushima Shrine to decide the fate of Japan.

In other words, the preparatory meeting for the founding of Red Japan!

The fate of this eastern island country has once again come to a historic critical moment!

-- At present, the city of Hiroshima, the Kure Port Town Guard Office, and the Etajima Naval Academy have been repeatedly bombed by US planes, and there is rubble and ruins everywhere, and there is no place to find a decent enough venue. The representatives of the army, on the other hand, resolutely refused to hold a meeting on the warships of the navy, lest they be inferior. So the two sides had to compromise for a while, and finally chose Itsukushima Shrine, which is far away from the city, has not been bombed, and has a quiet environment, and has beautiful scenery.

The warm spring sunlight shines diagonally through the carved window lattices into the shrine courtyard, sprinkling bright golden rays on the ground. The gentle breeze with the fragrance of plants and trees and the salty smell of the sea quietly poured into the tall and magnificent ancient halls, and the winding and deep corridors, the faint fragrance of flowers or incense wafted in the air, the swirling and dancing of messy petals and fallen leaves, and the delicate shrine maidens in red and white dresses, everything was as delicate and wonderful as a gorgeous ukiyo-e...... Only the heavily armed and heavily guarded soldiers of the Japanese Navy and Army inside and outside the shrine, as well as the anti-aircraft gun bunkers erected around the shrine, have given this historical and religious shrine of the goddess of the Japanese sea a few wisps of iron and blood.

At this moment, in a large Japanese-style room at Itsukushima Shrine, a group of stern-faced men are kneeling cross-legged on a straw-scented tatami mat and discussing the important topic of how to build a new revolutionary government and how to restore the country.

The members of the army include Umezu Mijiro, former commander of the Kwantung Army, Okamura Ninji, commander of the North China Front, Koiso Kuniaki, governor of Korea, Kuribayashi Tadamichi, commander of the "Hokkaido Soviet Republic", and the soul figures of the imperial faction who were forced to retire due to the 226 Mutiny. The Navy members include Narumi Inoue, the current commander of the Combined Fleet, Kamishigetoku, chief of staff of the Combined Fleet, Keno Kurita, president of the Etajima Naval Academy, Jizaburo Ozawa, president of the Naval University, and Horiyokichi Hori, chairman of Nanyang Heavy Industries...... Compared with the earthy yellow military uniforms of the army generals, the pure white military uniforms of the admirals are particularly dazzling.

If the representatives of the Navy and Army are clearly distinguished, then the representatives of the Japanese Communist Party sitting below them are even more scattered and full of factions: among them are the "local grassroots faction" led by the founder of the founding of the party, the "local academic faction" led by the Japanese red ideological theorist and professor Kawagami Hajime, the "international faction" who went into exile in the Soviet Union to avoid arrest, and the "anti-war alliance" faction developed by Nosaka Sanzo in the Japanese prisoner of war camp in Yan'an, China; Nakanishi and Ozaki Hidemi were the "Nanyang faction" developed by the navy (ship mother, to be precise) in the southern occupation zone...... In addition, there were liaison officers on the Soviet side, and several small and scattered groups that were not affiliated with each other, and even party representatives from Taiwan, also sent representatives to attend the meeting.

The reason for this situation is that the Japanese Communist Party was destroyed by the government shortly after its establishment, and the founder, Tokuda Kuichi, was in prison for more than 20 years. The central organs ceased to exist all of a sudden, and the party organizations were shattered from then on, and they could no longer be pieced together, so they could only find foreign aid to pull small groups to develop offline, and in the end they became a bunch of small parties, and so far they have not straightened out the organizational relations, and they are in a hurry to build the country!

In other words, today's Japanese Communist Party is not a unified political party at all, but only a small group alliance with scattered votes, and there are several party chairmen who have appointed themselves or been crowned by China and the Soviet Union, and the degree of organization is probably equivalent to that of the reformers at the end of the Japanese Edo period......

However, now they are not empty mouths with no money and no soldiers, but have seized some local power, established all kinds of Soviet power and local Red Guards, otherwise they would not be qualified to come to this place to hold a meeting to discuss the great plan of building the country.

In addition to the participants, there were also leaders of "dynamic patriotic social organizations," governors of more than a dozen prefectures in the Kansai region, presidents of certain companies and enterprises, and a number of well-known non-governmental figures...... Finally, there was the Miyaji of Itsukushima Shrine, who was also able to attend the meeting as the host.

All in all, it is a hodgepodge of various resistance forces across the country, and there is little common ground to be found except for "anti-US aggression."

- If "White Japan" is indeed white enough, then this "Red Japan" is clearly not red enough......

Although the identities of these people and the forces they represent are already confusing enough. However, this is not the most chaotic, even more chaotic is the moderator of this preparatory meeting for the founding of the country: the former Prime Minister of the Empire of Japan sitting on the main seat, the current Prime Minister of the Provisional Government of the State of Japan in Yokohama, Duke Fumima Konoe!

This messy feeling in the wind is almost like Chairman Chiang attending the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on Tiananmen Square!

You are a feudal nobleman, a universally recognized civilian fascist, a descendant of one of the five major regency families of the Fujiwara clan, or the supreme leader of a puppet reactionary government supported by the US military. This brain hole is inevitably too big!

But Duke Konoe said that he was really his own and that he had been associated with Marxist thought from a very early age......

- No way, this thing was really a famous Marxist! He is also a protégé of Hajime Kawagami, an expert on Japanese Marxist theory and a professor of economics at Kyoto University...... Although strictly speaking, it is just a Marxist cannon of Ye Gong Haolong...... Still self-appointed.

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- Anyone who has played the Sengoku game in Japan probably has some impression of a Sekihaku named Konoe Maehisa (the highest position among the ministers, similar to the prime minister). Among the public ministers of Japan's Sengoku period, this Sekihaku-sama basically has the highest appearance rate: from Uesugi Kenshin's Kanto Raiders, to Oda Nobunaga's war with Honganji, and then the Honnoji Incident that burned Oda Nobunaga (Honnoji is next door to his house)...... And Konoe Bunma is a direct descendant of this Konoe Maejiu, belonging to a famous family, and his mother is a descendant of the Maeda family, and the family is also noble.

However, although Konoe Bunma's family was noble, his fate was quite bumpy, and he lost his father as early as the age of twelve. Then I inexplicably found that I had a lot of debts on my head, and for three days, people I didn't know came to my house to move things as collateral......

The sudden fall of the family road made the young Konoe Fumiro feel the heat and coldness of the world, and began to gradually become a little cynical. Then, he came across Professor Kawagami's Marxist writings at school, and was immediately fascinated, and even transferred to Kyoto University to seek advice from Kawagami, and at the same time publicly disseminated a lot of radical remarks, and for a time became a celebrity, which also caused a headache for the government, which was severely suppressing the red elements at the time: a person of noble blood like Konoe Fumiro could not be caught unless he actually committed something rebellious...... In the end, he can only let his mouth be free.

However, although Konoe Funma said a lot of words praising Marxism, in fact, he did not really join any party organization, and he felt that Ye Gong was a good dragon. Moreover, he is not so much ideologically in favor of Marxism as he hates the world hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon nation in the United States and Britain...... So, at first, Fumima Konoe called himself a Marxist; When Hitler came to power and Nazi Germany was born, he gradually became a supporter of fascist ideas; At the same time, in the midst of Japan's domestic political struggles, he leaned towards the imperial faction, vowing to speak for the people at the bottom and wring up with the chaebol......

All in all, in Japanese politics before World War II, Konoe Funma was basically the equivalent of a modern public knowledge V, representing the "conscience of society" all day long and making all kinds of radical remarks...... But in the final analysis, it's just a mouthpiece, and if you ask him what to do, you're going to be blind......

To say that he is a Marxist is not worthy of the name, and to say that he is a fascist is not quite correct, in short, it is a famous mouth cannon.

After the 226 Mutiny, the War Department completely purged the Imperial Sect and monopolized power, and Emperor Showa decided to let Konoe Fumima of the Imperial Sect form a new cabinet in order to balance the forces. A month before the 77 Incident, Konoe Funma ascended to the prime minister's throne with great ambition, and then found that he had simply jumped into a big fire pit, the army did not obey his command at all, and the cabinet members always lied to him as the prime minister, he didn't want to say that he was running the country, and even the cabinet members played with him all day long. In most military operations, he, as prime minister, was kept in the dark, and he even had to learn the latest developments on the front line from the newspapers, and he was so angry that he lamented all day long: "Even if there is an order from the emperor, there is no one in the army who can discuss policy." ”

During the entire course of the Sino-Japanese war, the army or navy first started talking to themselves, and then reported to him, the prime minister, afterwards, and asked him to fully cooperate. In the face of tremendous international pressure, he swore several times to promise peace with the United States and Britain, and then tried to negotiate with Chairman Chiang, but he was screwed up by the rampaging army, making him a different person inside and out...... Next, at the request of the army, in order to confront the Soviet Union, he single-handedly presided over the conclusion of the Japan, Germany, and Italy Axis Alliance, wanting to advance east and west and attack the Soviet Union. Unexpectedly, he was tricked by Hitler, and he turned around and signed the "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact", roasting Japan on the fire, and the blame was pushed on his head. In the end, he offered favorable conditions in an attempt to lure Wang Jingwei into defecting and breaking the will to fight of the Nationalist Government. As a result, before Wang Jingwei switched over, Konoe Wenma had already been ousted from power by the overthrow, and all his previous promises were naturally frustrated.

Anyway, after a few years, Konoe Bunma's public image has changed from a mouth cannon to a fool, and the whole world knows that Konoe Bunma is a person who no one listens, does things unreliable, guarantees that it doesn't work, and is played by people all day long, in fact, it's just a vase at all, but he doesn't have the consciousness of being a vase...... From the emperor to the chaebol to the army and the people, they were all disappointed in Fumima Konoe, deriding him as "the stupidest prime minister in Japanese history......

Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, Konoe Fumima had been forced to go into the wilderness and live in seclusion in a country house in Karuizawa, but because of his identity and blood relationship, he would be summoned by the emperor from time to time to ask for some advice as a reference. Then, under the influence of Hidemi Ozaki, a famous leader of the Japanese Communist Party, who once served as his secretary, he re-approached Marxism ideologically, and then saw the power of Miss Ship's mother, and he even worshiped it wholeheartedly, and then even hooked up with the Soviet spy Sorge - Originally, Sorge's secret service team would be cracked in wartime, but in this time and space, with the power of Miss Sophie, the ship's mother, naturally would not let this happen, and even let the entire Imperial Navy cover for them......

And the reason why he was elected prime minister by the "Provisional Government of Japan" that advocated surrender to the United States was actually purely accidental - at that time, the heads of several major Japanese chaebols held a secret party in Kyoto, and the emperor actually faintly heard a little rumor, although he thought that this was not a big deal, but he didn't want to be treated as a fool who didn't know anything, so he ordered his attendants to make a phone call, signaling Konoe Fumima, a Shimonono idler, to come over and join in the fun, so as to knock these chaebols, Let them not think that they can run out of Tokyo and talk lawlessly......

As a result, as soon as Fumima Konoe drove his car to Kyoto and broke into the meeting of the chaebols uninvited, Tokyo, the emperor, and the government were bombed into the sky...... Then, before Konoe Fumima recovered from his ignorance, the "non-nationals" in Kyoto set up a "Provisional Government of Japan" to preside over the surrender of the Allied forces. Because this matter must be infamous for eternity, a group of chaebol bigwigs, you push me, I push you, and finally dumped the pot to Konoe Fumima, an outsider who used to be the prime minister, ready to let this goods serve as the prime minister and sign the surrender document.

Under the pressure of a katana and a pistol, Konoe Fumima, who unfortunately threw himself into the tiger's den, had no choice but to lament that "this time I jumped into the fire pit again", and at the same time took office as the prime minister of the provisional government and read out the proclamation of surrender to the United States...... Then, within a few days, Konoe Fumima took advantage of the opportunity of the gang to relax their defense, found a gap and slipped away alone, absconding all the way to Hiroshima, and connected with the organization.

As a result, when the days flickered to the Itsukushima Conference, there was a great dispute between the parties at the preparatory meeting - if someone from the army was asked to preside over the meeting, the navy would not agree; Let the navy men preside over the meeting, and the army will not agree; If the Japanese Communist Party was asked to preside over the meeting, the Navy and Army would not agree, and the Japanese Communist Party itself was in a mess, and it had not yet decided who the real party chairman would be, and was waiting to settle it at this meeting!

As for those cats and dogs, they are completely out of the table. There was also a suggestion that the host of the venue, the Miyaji of Itsukushima Shrine, should preside over the meeting, but no one objected, but the poor priest didn't know what to say......

In the end, Fumima Konoe, who was of noble birth, once served as the prime minister of the empire, and shared a little incense with Japan, was elected as the host of the meeting, and as for his other identity as the "supreme leader of white Japan", everyone had to turn a blind eye intentionally or unintentionally.

In short, although in the eyes of Wang Qiu, who served as a clerk with a voice recorder, the meeting was so messy from the venue to the participants to the host, no matter how embarrassing the above things were, the Itsukushima Conference, which decided the fate of Japan, was successfully held.

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At the beginning of the meeting, as the moderator, Konoe Fumima first reported on the current grim situation on the domestic battlefield - before, because the Japanese archipelago entered winter, the weather was freezing everywhere and the roads were covered with snow, which was not conducive to the mobility of the army. In addition, the US troops had yet to be gradually transferred across the Pacific Ocean to Japan, and the front-line troops were stretched thin for a while, so the Red Guards and resistance forces in various parts of Japan successfully blocked the continued offensive of the US troops with a relatively weak force, so that after the Battle of Nagoya, there was a stalemate in the Japanese battlefield for nearly three months.

However, as we enter March, spring is already blooming in the Japanese archipelago, and the snow and ice are melting. After this period of all-out rush transportation, the US military has also gathered about 400,000 to 500,000 troops in Japan, and has hoarded enough ammunition and materials to launch a new round of attack.

As a result, after entering March, the U.S. Army under the command of Patton launched a new all-out offensive on the Japanese battlefield again, first annihilating the local Red Guards at Gifu Castle in central Japan, and completely sweeping the entire Nobi Plain; Then it made a major landing on Shikoku Island, controlling the southern half of Shikoku Island facing the Pacific Ocean; At the same time, in the Battle of Utsunomiya, he defeated the regular army of the old empire under the command of Tadamichi Kuribayashi, forcing it to retreat north to Aizu, relying on the Abu Kuma Mountains to continue to hold on, while also worrying about the threat posed by the U.S. Marines in Sendai Port from the flank.

At present, the US paratroopers are parachuting in Kofu on a large scale, cooperating with the frontal offensive of the Anzac Mountain Troops, and it seems that Kai, the birthplace of Takeda Shingen, is about to be included in the bag...... If it weren't for the rugged terrain of the Japanese archipelago that was not suitable for tanks, the complacent General Patton would probably have been planning how to drive straight to the base camp in Hiroshima.

Then, at sea, the Japanese side was also at a significant disadvantage. Although the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, led by Admiral Halsey, had returned to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii for recuperation, Kent Brown. The main force of the US Atlantic Fleet led by Admiral Hewitt was transferred to the western Pacific theater through the Panama Canal last month, effectively filling the vacancy left by the Halsey Fleet after its return to division, making it difficult for the Combined Fleet to take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack.

At this point, the United States has pressed almost all of its maritime forces to the front line against Japan, and the total tonnage of combat ships deployed by the US military in the Pacific theater has reached more than 10 million tons.

What was even more disadvantageous for the Japanese resistance was that with the blossoming of Soviet power everywhere, although it succeeded in mobilizing the people at the bottom to engage in the war of resistance. But it also prompted many traditional gatekeepers who owned a lot of land to throw themselves on the side of the US military out of class interests.

The earliest family history that can be passed down from the Heian period not only has a deep-rooted influence on the old imperial government, but also has a strong control over the people. Even in today's situation of betraying the nation, it is still possible to mobilize a lot of forces to join the enemy. They succeeded in setting off many counter-revolutionary uprisings on the islands of Shikoku, Kyushu, Kansai, and Hokuriku, which seriously hampered defensive operations at the front.

Therefore, in order to more effectively suppress the traitorous reactionary forces and cope with the brutal war of national salvation, it is necessary for all the resistance forces to unify their thinking, sort out their organization, coordinate and unify them, and continue the war as a normal country rather than a scattered mess.

Finally, Fumima Konoe concludes, "...... If we take the situation of the Warring States period as an analogy, then the territory of the Oda family, the Takeda family, the Imagawa family, the Hojo family, the Date family, and the Nagamune Ibe family has now become enemy territory. If we fail to unite and continue to fight separately, we will only be crushed one by one. That's why you are here to discuss the future of the country......"

Next, there is the real drama - since a new regime is to be established, how should the state system be determined, and how should power be distributed?