On July 5, when the Japanese Imperial Government still refused to come forward, the Japanese Kwantung Army Command responded for the first time to the Shanghai Soviet Government's request for peace talks—but instead of the Red Army leaders and traversers expecting to show weakness and negotiate negotiations, it unceremoniously put forward a series of questions and demands: demanding that the Red Army prove the authenticity of "heavy nuclear fission" and "chain reaction"; The Red Army was asked to prove that the rockets they fired were indeed capable of flying to Osaka...... Zuihou even asked the Red Army to send a sample of a nuclear weapon to Lushun for the Japanese military to check the authenticity.

Only when all of the above demands are met will the Japanese Empire consider at its discretion whether to negotiate a ceasefire with the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army!

Such an arrogant, absurd, and outrageous negotiating premise completely angered the Red Army leaders and traversers in Shanghai, and also put a fourth nuclear strike on Japan on the agenda at a rapid pace—and deliberately chose the one with the largest explosive yield among the nuclear bombs currently available.

Late on the night of July 7, the Red Fifth Front Army in Shanghai fired its fourth nuclear bomb at Hiroshima, an important city in western Japan. The 10-million-ton TNT hydrogen bomb not only razed the entire city of Hiroshima and many satellite towns around it, but also burned millions of acres of land to glass in the flames of the Yellow Spring...... It also destroyed the neighboring Kure Port Naval Town Guard Mansion and the Etajima Naval School, burying a little of the Zuihou of the Imperial Japanese Navy; By the way, Itsukushima Shrine, which has a history of more than 1,300 years and is known as a cultural heritage of Shijie, was reduced to ashes.

In addition to this, the shock wave of this hydrogen bomb also created huge waves in the narrow Seto Inland Sea. It broke the embankment, flooded the farmland and the port town, and swept through the Kansai region of Japan in one fell swoop...... All of a sudden. Rail, road, and sea traffic in western Japan was completely disrupted, and communications and the functions of government were crumbled. And the overwhelming radioactive dust caused an ominous black wave in the Seto Inland Sea......

Since the center of the nuclear explosion is a densely populated industrial and commercial center, and the scope of nuclear contamination covers a small part of Japan, the Hiroshima hydrogen bomb caused nearly one million casualties in the first place, and the final death toll is likely to increase to 3 million or even 5 million!

Faced with such a monstrous catastrophe that happened on their own land. The arrogant Japanese imperial government finally did not dare to continue to put on a show, but it still couldn't make peace with a group of "rebel bandits", so it hinted that the Kwantung Army Command would continue to come forward. To test the terms of the peace talks of the "Communist Army" - specifically, it was very irresponsible to say the classic Japanese metaphor to the Kwantung Army: "I don't know what you have done." ”

As a result, the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Minamijiro, scolded the military department and the government on the one hand. I am worried that I will become a scapegoat in the future. However, on the other hand, they could only bite the bullet and try their best to arrange negotiations with the "Communist Army of China."

On July 12, Yoshiko Kawashima, as a secret envoy of the Japanese army, returned to Shanghai with a strange expression and met with Vice Chairman Jinchina.

Not to mention what kind of mood these two Gege of the Aixin Jueluo family had in the secret room, and what exactly did they talk about...... Anyway, it was half past eight that night. An urgent telegram recording the negotiating demands of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was finally sent to the Kwantung Army headquarters in Changchun.

On this day, he kept watch outside the door of the telegraph room from morning to night. Toroshiro Kawabe, a staff officer of the intelligence chief, who was already impatient, immediately grabbed the telegram and hurried to the commander's office. When he rushed into the floor of Admiral Minamijiro's office, all eyes were immediately focused on the telegram in his hand. Senior General Minamijiro, who had also been anxious for a day, stepped forward and snatched the telegram and rushed into the office, and the other officers followed suit, regardless of etiquette...... A few minutes later, the terrifying roar that came from the room from General Minamijiro was almost able to shatter the glass of every window of the headquarters, and the generals and colonels of the Kwantung Army who had read the contents of this article were all so angry that they almost overturned the table.

-- The terms of the armistice and peace talks with Japan put forward by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army mainly include the following points:

1. Abolish all of Japan's unequal treaties with China, return all Japanese leased territories, and revoke all of Japan's privileges in China;

2. Abolish the puppet governments of Manchukuo and North China, and the Japanese army should hand over the traitorous traitors who served in these puppet governments;

3. To return to China all the lands seized since the First Sino-Japanese War, including Manchuria, Mongolia, North China, the Liaodong Peninsula, and Taiwan;

4. Let Korea and the Ryukyus restore their independence, but the Pacific islands that Japan had previously plundered from Germany can continue to be retained;

5. To pay 500 tons of gold, or the equivalent of jade, precious stones, and silver, plus 500,000 tons of merchant ships, to the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army as war reparations;

6. When the Japanese Empire withdraws its troops, it shall not destroy the industrial facilities and water conservancy projects in Manchukuo, Korea, Ryukyu and Taiwan.

……

All these conditions mentioned above are the basic requirements formed by the traversers after repeated consultations with the Party Central Committee in Guiyang after telegraphic exchanges.

In the eyes of the traversers, for the sake of China's rejuvenation and rise, these conditions were simply taken for granted to the Japanese, and they could even be called very lenient - it was just the most conventional land reparation, which did not require the Japanese army to surrender, but allowed them to return to China on their own, nor did they ask for the trial of war criminals, let alone the stationing of troops on the four islands of the Japanese mainland. After the defeat of the war, Japan was still an independent and normal country, and if it had to expand its territory, it also retained the aggressive direction of the Pacific islands for the Japanese......

But for the Japanese militarists, who have inscribed the idea of aggression in their bones, such a clause is simply to bury all their dreams since the Meiji Restoration! Not to mention, this also means that the "civilized and noble" Japanese will bow down to the "inferior people of China"!

The most important thing is that even though Tokyo and Osaka have been reduced to scorched earth and the Combined Fleet has become scrap metal, the Japanese still do not admit that they are losers!

So, after a lot of chickens, dogs, jumps and verbal criticism. The "radicals" and "moderates" in Japan finally came to an agreement, claiming to ignore these "crazy" clauses on the one hand, and saying that they could make the following "maximum concessions" to the "Communist Army" in China:

1. The Japanese army could withdraw from North China, Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan and other places. Retreating into the territory of the puppet state of Manchukuo north of the Great Wall, the confrontation between China and Japan was basically restored to the status quo before January 1935, but according to the Treaty of Xincho, the troops stationed in Tianjin were not included in the retreat.

2. The Japanese concessions in Shanghai and Hangzhou and other places could be abandoned, but the "Communist Army of China" had to pay 10 billion US dollars in war reparations to Japan.

3. The "Communist Army of China" must disclose the manufacturing process of atomic weapons to the whole Shijie and promise to never use them again.

4. The "Communist Army of China" must follow international practice and recognize all previous Sino-Japanese diplomatic agreements, including the Gengzi indemnity.

……

Meanwhile. Under the headline "Blackmail by the Red Bandits," the Japanese newspapers vigorously denounced the "criminal attempts" of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and won the unanimous "sympathy" and praise of many traitor newspapers and periodicals in China, as well as Britain, France, and the United States...... Of course. It's just sympathy and praise.

After Wang Qiu and other traversers were stunned to hear the news, as a reply to the mad whispers of the Japanese Empire, they had to sigh "This nuclear bomb really can't be stopped" while heading about 50 kilometers from Kyoto. Maizuru Castle on the edge of the Sea of Japan. The fifth nuclear bomb of the year was launched - through a nuclear explosion with a 500,000-ton TNT explosive yield, completely leveling a major base of the Imperial Japanese Navy in Zuihou, the mainland of Japan!

So, Mr. Sorge, a Soviet spy who had moved to Kyoto with the German Embassy, "admired" a mushroom cloud rising from the northwestern sky for the second time on the afternoon of July 17, following the nuclear explosion in Osaka, southwest of Kyoto, which occurred half a month ago......

At this point, in the face of a devastating catastrophe that could not be resisted by manpower, Japan fell into a great panic.

Nevertheless. The Japanese Empire, which had fallen into complete madness, still did not give in, but was intensively planning a Jedi counterattack......

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※

7.4 degrees north latitude. Western Pacific, Caroline Islands, Truk Atoll

- A beautiful and tranquil lagoon, like a pool of the purest emerald, surrounded by a string of coral reef islands.

Truk Island, a volcanic island surrounded by coral reefs, is located in the middle of the Caroline Islands in the western Pacific Ocean, in an irregular triangle, 64 kilometers long on each side, with a lagoon 30 to 40 nautical miles in diameter in the middle. In the center of the lagoon stand twelve volcanic islands, which, although only 300 to 500 meters high, are steep and tall. It makes people feel very imposing, so it is also called "the mountain in the clouds".

All in all, it is an ideal natural mooring ground for navigators, as it can accommodate a large number of large ships and six shipping lanes for ships to enter and exit. No matter how strong the wind and waves are outside, the lagoon of the "Mountain in the Clouds" is still calm. Even better, due to its special geographical environment, the foreign invading enemy could not carry out naval artillery attacks on Truk at all. Because the main islands of the atoll are located in the middle of the reef, it is a mountain system that sinks into a coral circle, and it can only be attacked from the air - it is a natural naval fortress!

In addition, Truk Island is also the core of the Caroline Islands, located in the western part of the Pacific Ocean, and its strategic position is very important - as long as it can hold Truk with a fleet, it can suppress Gilbert and the Marshall Islands in the east, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the south, protect the line from Palau to the Philippine Islands in the west, and become a barrier to the Ogasawara Islands, the Mariana Islands and even the Japanese archipelago in the north.

As an annex island of the Philippine archipelago, the Caroline Islands were originally part of the Spanish Philippine colony. However, because Spain lost the Philippines in the Spanish-American War, its national power was so weakened that it could no longer rule a few remote islands thousands of miles away, so it had to sell these islands to the Germans in the early 20th century. After the outbreak of the First Shijie War, Truk Atoll ushered in a new owner: the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Since then, Truk Atoll has become the main anchorage of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the South Pacific, and the Japanese Combined Fleet has spent huge sums of money on large-scale port construction on Truk to make it completely fortified. And boasted of it as "Gibraltar in the Pacific".

At the desperate moment when all the four major naval towns in the country were destroyed by a nuclear explosion, and the British red-brick "red tile" building of the Tokyo Navy Ministry was also covered in radiation dust, the Truk Atoll Detachment was located in the tropical equatorial waters. It became the hope of Zuihou who survived the Japanese Navy.

- Battleship Yamashiro, aircraft carrier Hosho, heavy cruiser Myoko, light cruiser Yubari, twelve destroyers, one seaplane carrier, and several auxiliary transport vessels. The total tonnage is less than 200,000 tons, and most of the warships are old ships...... However, at present, except for a small number of light ships scattered in Hokkaido, Lushun, Korea, Taiwan and other places, the Imperial Japanese Navy is almost all left with this little bit of home!

It is really embarrassing to recall that just three months ago, the Japanese Combined Fleet was full of masts and flags for hunting.

On this breezy tropical summer night, the Southern Cross stands out brightly in the sky.

On a waterfront square surrounded by coconut trees at Truk Naval Base. The officers and men of the Japanese Navy's Truk Squadron were attending a grand open-air banquet — a buffet-style banquet with a band playing light jazz and flirtatious prostitutes. The feast was filled with fresh lobster and tuna, as well as sweet tropical fruits, fragrant steaks and pork chops, and a variety of exquisite Japanese and Western sweets, as well as unlimited sugar cane liquor, whiskey, beer, and sake...... Even the most serious and rigid people in their usual lives. At this time, they all unfastened their collars. Indulge in wandering, drinking, singing, and having fun......

Because, this is Zuihou's farewell drink before the whole fleet strikes - in the laughter, there is endless pathos hidden.

Regardless of the success or failure of this operation, this Zuihou mobile fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy will never return to the Truk anchorage.

“…… Come, officers and men of the Imperial Navy, cheers! I would like to congratulate you all in advance. Next time, I will celebrate on the banks of the Huangpu River! ”

Masanobu Tsuji, who had been sent by the army to make contact, raised his glass and looked around at the naval officers and men. Hahadaxiao, drink it all. “…… The liver and gallbladder are fierce, and the righteous battle is bloody in Shanghai. If you don't succeed in this battle, you will become a beneficiary! Ladies and gentlemen! Let's meet again under the cherry blossom trees at the Yasukuni Shrine! ”

After a brief silence, there was a burst of cheers...... In the contagious fanatic rhetoric of Masanobu Tsuji, the long-standing estrangement between the navy and the army seems to have been largely bridged.

- Also, when half of Japan has been reduced to purgatory, what can this little battle of will between the navy and the army be counted?

The supreme commander of the Truk detachment, Rear Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi, who had just been promoted in the line of fire, also raised his glass and greeted everyone: "...... This operation is an important juncture that will determine the survival of the empire, and the navy and army must cooperate sincerely and go all out, and there must be no mistakes! The officers and men of the Navy should give full play to the spirit of sacrificing themselves to attack, and as a fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy, they should not disappoint the expectations of all the people! ”

-- According to the latest order of the Ministry of the Navy, Rear Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi is about to lead all the ocean-going ships stationed in the Truk Atoll to anchor and rush north to Keelung, Taiwan, where they will join up with the few remaining destroyers and light cruisers in China, and then carry all the army units that can be looted at the moment to Shanghai...... No matter how much sacrifice and price you pay, destroy the nest of sin that is constantly firing nuclear weapons on the Imperial Territory!

- Fortunately in the midst of misfortune, even in the present situation, the Japanese Empire still holds the control of the sea off the coast of China.

Although this operation can almost be called a hasty battle, and it is full of dangers, Major General Nagumo Tadaichi also understands the hardships at home. He knew what appalling terms of peace talks had been made to the empire by the communist armies, and he also knew what fate Japan would face if the war was lost. I also know that everything that the Imperial Japanese Navy painstakingly built, from the Etajima Naval School to the Four Great Castle Guards, and the red-brick naval building in Tokyo, has been completely destroyed...... In this case, what if Weishenme does not bet on Zuihou's mobile fleet, and then bet on the outcome of the battle?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh and gently hummed a ballad that every Japanese naval officer was familiar with:

“…… We are the cherry blossoms of the same period, open at the Naval Academy.

Even the most brilliant cherry blossoms are going to fade soon......"

The next day, a bright morning sun rose among the mountains of Truk Island, staining the deck of the battleship with a golden glow. The sailors of the ships began to work in an orderly manner, locking up the watertight compartments and fireproof compartments, and everything that was dispensable was dismantled and hurriedly sent to the shore.

The crew then returned to their respective cabins to tidy up their housekeeping. The sailors changed into new clothes, shaved their heads, cut their nails, wrapped their hair and nails in a suicide note, and sandwiched a page of navy-stamped haode uniform-format letterhead. Above: "...... When I was alive, I wanted to go home and see my father. Now that the fathers and elders see my hair and fingernails, they should see me in person. "Some people even put some money in the suicide note.

And those officers and soldiers whose family members had already died in the bombing, in accordance with the samurai's tradition of loving prostitutes, gave all their savings to the geisha, the beautiful hostesses, or the proprietress of the various bars on the shore," ...... Anyway, I'm afraid this yen will soon become waste paper, so you can spend it as soon as possible! ”

When everything was ready, Major Admiral Nagumo Tadaichi finally put on the most gorgeous military dress and boarded the bridge of the flagship "Yamashiro". He first glanced nostalgically at the scenery of the "mountain in the clouds" Truk, and then issued an order: "...... Target, Shanghai! Sortie! (To be continued......)