Chapter 37: The Chaotic World of the Collapse of the Empire (II)

As a classmate of the former commander of the Combined Fleet, Isoroku Yamamoto, the chief of the graduates of the Naval University in the same period, and Admiral Horikiyoshi, who participated in the Battle of Tsushima on the Mikasa, the general flagship of the Combined Fleet, when he joined the army, his life can be said to have been quite tribulous. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info not only participated in the Battle of Tsushima and witnessed the destruction of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, but also served as a French battlefield observer on the Western Front in World War I, and served as a representative of the League of Nations Navy, but he also had the grievance of being involved in political struggles when he was in the prime of life, because the new-minded Hori Yoshiyoshi advocated the theory of aviation victory, demanded more aircraft carriers, and opposed the construction of battleships, and was kicked away by the old-fashioned naval minister, and was forced to retire and go home to become the chairman.

(In the early thirties of the twentieth century, in view of the turbulent situation around the world, there were two completely different views on the naval armaments treaty within the Japanese Navy, and some people believed that the treaty should not be abolished and were called the "treaty faction", the main members of which were Horiyoshi Yoshichi, Sakin Shozo, and Terashima Ken, and other important members of the navy ministry, while the fleet faction, which advocated the abolition of the treaty and the construction of battleships.) After a power struggle, by 1934, the fleet faction led by the Minister of the Navy Okaku Zen carried out a large-scale purge of the senior officers of the treaty faction, most of them were dismissed from military duties and transferred to the reserve, and Yamamoto Isoroku, who was a marginal figure of the treaty faction, escaped under the cover of the bigwigs, and on December 29 of the same year, Japan withdrew from the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty. Unexpectedly, feng shui took turns, and when Japan and the United States really went to war, it was actually Yamamoto 56 of the treaty faction who was in the limelight. ）

It wasn't until after the outbreak of the Pacific War that Horikichi was able to make a comeback with the help of his old classmate and old friend, Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku. But the problem is that his qualifications are too high to find a suitable position in the Combined Fleet (if he hadn't been retired, the commander of the Combined Fleet at the time of the war between Japan and the United States should have been Horikichi). In the end, Horiyoshi had to continue to serve as chairman of the newly established "Nanyang Heavy Industries" using the resources of the occupied areas, and in Japan, he was called the "director" and was responsible for the production of various military materials on the Pacific front.

-- The so-called "Nanyang Heavy Industry" is actually a series of automated factories established by Sophie, the ship's mother, using the power of faith and Nanyang resources, in New Guinea, Australia, and the islands of the western Pacific. Since everything from the plant to the machinery was created out of nothing, the labor force could be forcibly recruited from the occupied areas or the prisoners of war were used, the skilled workers were directly drawn from the army, and the mines were also trophies, which did not cost anything, and the army escorted them, so the development was extremely rapid. In just a few years, a new giant chaebol was formed, and the link between the navy and the army on the South Pacific front was formed.

Although the navy and army of the Japanese Empire have not been able to pee in a pot, to put it bluntly, it is mainly because of the competition for military expenses, in fact, everyone likes money the same. Therefore, when the Combined Fleet threw out the proposal to "get rich together", a considerable part of the land forces on the Pacific front were also involved. Then, the generals of the Tokyo base camp had to acquiesce to this, after receiving certain benefits.

In other words, in the eyes of the generals of the navy and army in the wartime base camp, this "Nanyang Heavy Industry" is actually the army's own small treasury, and after the battle, everyone will be shareholders according to their seniority and military exploits. Since most of the machinery and equipment are secretly provided by the navy's shipwive, and the transportation of materials between the islands also needs to be escorted by the navy, this Nanyang heavy industry can only be led by the navy, and at the same time, the army will install some manpower and dividends.

As for the leader of this economic group, Admiral Horiyoshi, who has deep seniority and extensive connections in the navy, and has "been in business for a few years", is naturally the first choice of the first choice. And the generals of the Combined Fleet are also very happy to have one less great god to compete for a seat with them.

Obviously, for the old chaebols such as Sumitomo, Mitsui, and Mitsubishi, who had long regarded post-war dividends as their pockets, the army's practice of enclosing land at the front was tantamount to digging into their corners. However, at this time, Japan had already entered a wartime system, and even the factories, mines, and fleets of these zaibatsu had to be controlled by the wartime base camps, otherwise they were "non-nationals" who were not protected by the law. Even the political party activities of the National Assembly were abolished, all legitimate avenues of opposition were closed, and under the protection of the army, as long as the war did not end, they could not do anything with Nanyang Heavy Industries. Even many skilled workers and engineers in local factories were requisitioned by the military department to Nanyang, and then transferred to engineering troops on the spot to join Nanyang Heavy Industry.

As a result, relying on the frenzied plundering and requisition of labor by the Japanese Navy and Army, the abundant natural resources of the South Pacific region, and more importantly, the superpowers of the ship's mother, Miss Sophie, conjured up factories and ships out of thin air, the scale of Nanyang Heavy Industries expanded rapidly like a snowball, and soon it was no longer limited to heavy industry, but expanded into a super-giant comprehensive consortium spanning various industries such as industry, agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery. However, this consortium is not centered on finance as in the West, but implements a Soviet-style planned economic system, where workers wear uniforms like soldiers, live in dormitories, eat rations, and the products are uniformly distributed by the army's logistics departments...... But this is more in line with the preferences of the army: this is what wartime society should look like!

As a result, by the time of the Tokyo nuclear bombing in October 1945, Nanyang Heavy Industries had actually performed government functions in most of the Japanese occupation areas south of the equator and a considerable part of the occupation areas north of the equator...... If it weren't for the fact that he hadn't fought for more than ten years, everyone was a little worried about his command ability, otherwise he would have been the new commander of the Combined Fleet.

The combined fleet's large-scale northward march involved not only the military tasks of operations and evacuation, but also the complex political work of negotiating with various resistance forces in the country and the alliance.

At present, the domestic war situation in Japan has reached a stalemate for the time being, but it is still not optimistic. Generally speaking, after the end of the Battle of Nagoya, the Allied forces, which suffered heavy losses in soldiers and even the commanders were unfortunately captured, were forced to basically stop attacking on the battlefield of the Japanese archipelago and instead set about consolidating the occupied areas and clearing out the guerrillas in the rear, while continuing to maintain high-intensity air raids and bombings in an attempt to "soften" the strength of Japan's various red base areas and stubborn main battle factions.

In addition, under the personal supervision of Secretary Hull, the Allies and the Provisional Government of Japan intensified their efforts to induce political surrenders, and achieved a lot of success: just as after the October Revolution in Russia, the old Tsarist aristocratic officers rebelled against the White Guards. With the overexpansion and civilianization of the old Japanese army, after getting rid of the control of the government and the emperor, it quickly "turned to the left", and the children of the gate lords and magnates in the Japanese army also became dissenting.

However, the current situation in Japan is different from that in Russia after the October Revolution. It was not the people at the bottom who rebelled and overthrew the government and the royal family, but the two atomic bombs of the US military that lifted the entire capital into the sky. Therefore, instead of calling on the people to overthrow the government and the king, the Japanese Red Army could openly shout the slogan of "avenge the emperor." Next, the U.S. troops who landed on Japanese soil killed at least seven million people in just a few months! If an officer from Japan's upper class still wants to defect to the "Provisional Government of Japan" supported by the US military under such circumstances, then it is tantamount to betraying the army, the country, the nation, the king, the faith, and bushido at the same time...... The degree of psychological obstacle of such a six-fold betrayal is at least equivalent to the collective conversion of the Knights Templar to the Green Church during the Crusades, or the defection of European Jews to Hitler, which is absolutely hellish difficulty: at this time, the Japanese who were deeply educated by militarism and the ideology of respecting the emperor were not Chinese who were accustomed to changing the banner of the king at the head of the city, in fact, since the birth of Japanese civilization, there has never been a precedent for accepting foreign rule!

Therefore, even if they do not like the 110,000 Bolsheviks who have turned over, in the face of the righteousness of "avenging the king" and "destroying the country and saving the country", if those stubborn militarists still have a little shame, even if they do not actively participate in it and conform to the trend of the times, at most they choose to abandon their posts and abscond, and hang up their crowns: His Majesty the Emperor and almost the entire imperial family died at the hands of the US military, and they have no ability to avenge His Majesty, so how can they still help the abuse? Defecting to the Bolsheviks is certainly a class betraying oneself, but defecting to the American army is simply unworthy of the Japanese!

However, even so, there were still many people who did not have the slightest sense of shame, or who no longer wanted to be Japanese, and threw themselves on the side of the enemy by virtue of their instinct to obey and follow the strong -- for example, just last week, when the iron cage escorting Marshal MacArthur's "traveling exhibition" was transported to the streets of Hiroshima to boost morale, a mutiny broke out at the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, which had just moved from the mainland. A few of the back-of-the-back guys were seduced by lobbyists sent by the Provisional Government, first forged official documents to rescue MacArthur, and then attempted to kidnap Commander Umezu Mijiro and coerce the entire headquarters to surrender to the American army...... Although the conspiracy ultimately failed, MacArthur was rescued from the chaos.

At the same time, after the establishment of various Soviet powers, the islands of Kyushu and Hokkaido, which were the rear of the Japanese resistance forces, various counterrevolutionary rebellions by local gentry and wealthy families in collusion with the US military also emerged one after another. It is also difficult to distinguish between truth and falsity in the information in the wireless telegraph -- after the Tokyo nuclear bombing, the establishment of the provisional government of Japan, and the surrender of the Japanese army, the Japanese Navy's telegraph code was no longer reliable, and it was full of all kinds of false information issued by the US military spy agencies. It is even difficult for the main force of the Combined Fleet stationed in Okinawa to know exactly which ports in the country are under the control of their own people.

In the face of such a kaleidoscopic chaos, although he knew that it was pointless to continue to stay in Okinawa, Horikichi did not dare to rush north.

-- The essence of the entire Combined Fleet and most of Japan's maritime capacity are concentrated here, and if something goes wrong, there is no hope for Japan.

Therefore, Horikichi needs a reliable guide who understands the real situation in the country.

And this leader, or the main commander of the Combined Fleet, had already arrived by plane from the Wugang Town Guard Mansion at this time to converge.

“…… Report! Commander Inoue's landline is about to arrive! Please give the order to clear the runway! Launch flares! ”

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-- As a supership with a displacement of 300,000 tons, the "Ocean Oasis" is 420 meters long and 85 meters wide, and its top deck is about the size of four or five football fields, which is much larger than any aircraft carrier in the world.

If it is a luxury cruise ship, the designer's first reaction is to build an outdoor swimming pool or a sea golf course, but as a military transport ship, the first reaction is to get a hangar and runway, even if only one or two reconnaissance planes can be parked: with the performance of most small and medium-sized propeller aircraft in this era, with the hull length of 420 meters, even without catapults and arresting cables, it is enough to take off and land safely on this ship.

In short, under the instructions of the signal flag and radio, the plane of the commander of the Combined Fleet, Narumi Inoue, landed steadily on the top deck of the "Ocean Oasis". Admiral Horiyoshi immediately greeted him, and without caring about the courtesy greetings, he asked about the situation in the homeland.

“…… The situation in the country...... It can only be described as a mess. At present, our army has retreated westward to the Kobe line, and the ancient capitals of Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara have all fallen, and Awaji Island and half of Shikoku Island have also fallen into the hands of the enemy. Even on the remaining turf of our army, civilian communications and transport have almost collapsed, and the vast majority of factories have either been blown up or forced to shut down because of the lack of electricity and raw materials. Under the bombing and looting of the US military, many cities can no longer maintain even the minimum food rations, and thousands of citizens are starved to death or fled to the countryside every day...... Whether it's on our side or in the places occupied by the U.S. military, it's all the same......"

Admiral Inoue Narumi found a pine bench to sit on the side of the ship, and said with a sad face, "...... You've heard about the Hiroshima Mutiny a few days ago, right? Alas, Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo have all fallen, and the rear has been unstable, and now even the Seto Inland Sea is no longer safe! Kurita and I tossed around Etajima for more than a month, and finally we roughly organized the remaining home fleet, and all the large ships of more than destroyer tonnage were transferred north to the Sea of Japan to avoid bombing, and then relied on submarines, destroyers, and torpedo boats to block the route and prevent the enemy from using the port of Osaka for supplies. In general, it was quite successful, sinking more than 20 free ships of the American army before and after, but the losses were not light, and the stocks and materials were getting tighter and tighter, and they couldn't even eat...... Due to the sudden arrival of more than 100,000 Kwantung troops, food consumption increased dramatically, and the ration of Hiroshima citizens was forced to be reduced to two in three spoonfuls of brown rice per person per day, which is equivalent to four taels and six yuan. Inside and outside the city were starving people who were starving, and the living people were all yellow and thin. I don't know what will happen when the stock is depleted......"

“…… Is your food supply already tight to this extent? Two in three scoops per day...... This ration is indeed deadly! ”

General Horiyokichi, who had just eaten a full meal of lobster fried rice and fried fish steak, couldn't help but be taken aback, and then noticed that Inoue Narumi's appearance seemed to be much thinner, "...... Inoue-kun, can't you collect some more food from the countryside or North Korea to help the emergency? ”

“…… The native countryside is already starving! Hori-kun! The country's main grain-producing regions, the Nobi Plain, the Kanto Plain, and the Plain, have all fallen into the hands of the enemy. At present, those places in the western country that our army can still control are barren land, full of lofty mountains and mountains, and there are not a few flat lands to cultivate, and grain has not been self-sufficient since ancient times. Then, in the years since the outbreak of the Pacific War, young and middle-aged people in rural areas have been conscripted into the army or immigrated to Nanyang and Australia in response to the call of the country......

Inoue Narumi sighed, took out the dried wild vegetables, grasshoppers, cicadas, rat meat and other things from her briefcase one by one and put them on the table, "...... Even the peasants in the western part of the country have to go to the mountains and fields to find these things to satisfy their hunger. City dwellers have no way at all, and some of the people with a little family are flocking to the countryside to exchange expensive jewelry for food, and one or two gold can only be exchanged for a bag of radishes or twenty liters of rice! The army's food standards can only be lowered again and again.

As for North Korea...... Although there is still some grain in stock, hundreds of thousands of expatriates, officials, and troops are piled up in the port of Busan, and it is already thankful that we can help without us. Fortunately, because the port of Vladivostok was frozen in winter, the two million expatriates of the 'Manchurian Pioneer Mission' who had retreated according to the agreement were still stranded in the Soviet refugee camp to nibble on Russian black bread, otherwise if they all poured in at once, they would have eaten us in an instant!

But even so, with the existing food reserves, it will probably only be able to last for another two months, and it will not survive the summer. I wonder if you brought more food from the south this time? Hori-kun! The Etajima Naval Academy is now out of supply of sugar! ”

“…… In addition to supplies for the officers and men of the navy, I brought 20,000 tons of wheat and rice, plus some potato flour, sago, salted fish, dried coconut, and canned whale meat...... Obviously this amount is not enough, I didn't expect the situation to be so bad! Horikichi said with a frown.

“…… There's worse news! Inoue Narumi smiled bitterly, "...... When I just rushed back to the mainland, the oil depots in Hiroshima and Kure Port were almost blown up, and the oil reserves in Sasebo and Nagasaki were only 100,000 tons...... The naval arsenal in Kure Harbor was also blown to pieces, the ammunition hoarded was all blown up, and there was no electricity available, so it had to stop working, so even the artillery shells and torpedoes could not replenish the combined fleet......"

“…… What a hell! There is no food, there is no fuel, and the naval arsenal has also stopped, how should this battle be fought? ”

“…… Didn't the decision be made at the meeting before we set off from the Truk anchorage? The battlefield of the Combined Fleet is in the South Seas! There is no fuel in the country, there is a lack of metal and electricity, and there is no raw material for military production, and there is not even enough food to eat! There's no way to keep fighting here! ”

Inoue Narumi shrugged, "...... Anyway, the fact that the Combined Fleet can successfully come back is a big incentive for the morale of the people. As for the rest of the things and troubles, we can only talk about it slowly. Anyway, Halsey didn't plan to intercept you, but instead shrunk the fleet into Tokyo Bay......"

He explained, and then issued the order resolutely, "...... There is no trace of any enemy in the East China Sea. Now, the combined fleet should go north! From the day the Americans landed, people throughout Japan wondered, where is their combined fleet ?! ”