Riding the sea breeze, the Far East's largest and most luxurious giant cruise ship, the Hikawa Maru, is heading for the island nation that boasts sunrise, the Queen of the Pacific, built by the Yokohama shipyard under the name of Mitsubishi Zaibatsu, gracefully plows a snow-white wave on the surface of the East China Sea. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

It was evening, and the concession city that welcomed the colonists and sent the adventurers was already in full bloom. If you look down from the sky, you can see that the entire continent of East Asia is immersed in a frustrating and helpless darkness, reminiscent of nights when ghosts and spirits haunt and eat bones.

And a metropolis like Shanghai, where the lights flicker all night long, are like candles on a cake, which will soon be blown out of the air and then covered in the dark.

But before the candlelight was extinguished, he dutifully threw his golden glow into the silver-white waves ploughed by the glacier pill.

The Glacier Maru's short voyage started from Shanghai, so most of the first- and second-class guests were imperial officers, diplomats, and businessmen stationed in China.

Takashi Sakai, the head of the Shina Division of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters, was one of them.

As a well-known China expert in the General Staff Headquarters, this officer from a peasant family does not look like the type with a steep cliff. He wore the monk's hairstyle characteristic of the Army, with a round face and a pair of black-rimmed round glasses, which looked like a gentle middle school teacher, and the first impression made it difficult to associate him with a senior army officer.

However, it was this Sakai Takashi who, when he was the military attache of the Japanese Consulate in Jinan, dared to write to the military headquarters in the name of "the entry of the Northern Expeditionary Army into Shandong, which has led to chaos and the empire must protect the safety of overseas Chinese in China", requesting that the Sixth Division enter China. Then, in front of the "perfect man through the ages" President Jiang, he surrendered the weapons of the Northern Expeditionary Army and personally staged a massacre demonstration, not only did the soldiers and civilians of Jinan suffer more than 10,000 casualties, but even diplomats with diplomatic immunity were not spared!

But this seemingly gentle, but actually crazy man, was very valued by the military bosses, not only protected him from the military court, but also directly promoted him to Zhongzuo and entered the staff headquarters of the base camp.

Just as the Hanlin Academy is regarded as the prime minister, in the army's promotion chart sequence, the staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters are the future general reserves, and only the staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters are eligible to be promoted to the Minister of the Army.

As the culprit of the Jinan tragedy, Takashi Sakai also liked this kind of solo action that provoked a war without authorization.

can get mixed up with the military exploits, can take the initiative to take charge of the army, and if something goes wrong afterwards, there are also the bigwigs of the military department to help cover up, and the cabinet has to pinch its nose to deal with the aftermath. As a soldier, in which country can you get this kind of treatment?

You must know that as a graduate of the Land University and becoming a staff officer of the General Staff Headquarters, it is equivalent to embarking on the Golden Avenue of the Army, which will definitely obtain the rank of general in the future and possibly become the Minister of the Army. So within the army, these staff officers are equivalent to the elite of the elite, whether they are military commanders or military bigwigs, they have more connivance with such elite staff officers, like Takashi Sakai in the Jinan tragedy, first falsified intelligence to the military department, and then snatched the command of the Sixth Division, and in any country with a normal system, it is not an exaggeration to shoot ten times, but when it comes to the Japanese Army, it becomes a small problem that only needs to be written and checked.

What's more, Takashi Sakai has now sat in the position of the head of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters, except for those veterans of the army who participated in the Russo-Japanese War, he is already qualified not to look at anyone's face.

is such a complacent army elite, but his expression at the moment is extremely dignified.

In the past few days, elite staff officers like him, under the orders of the base camp, are responsible for recalling the staff officers stationed abroad one by one to the headquarters.

In Takashi Sakai's view, this order is simply out-and-out chaos. Regardless of whether it is the Kwantung Army or the Tianjin Army, if there are no staff officers, how can the structure of the army be maintained? And how can the combat effectiveness of the garrison be ensured?

But this order could not help but disobey him.

The Imperial Army was an army, but it was also a huge bureaucratic organization, so whoever it was had to respect the traditions and rules of the system. Specifically, in this case, the Minister of War Sadao Araki played His Majesty the Emperor, passed the Imperial Council of the Military Council, and issued the Emperor's Edict, as well as the countersignatures of the three giants of the Army, which means that this is a matter that the old people in charge of the military department have agreed on.

Then even the promising Chief of Staff Takashi Sakai, he can only obey respectfully.

This time, the staff officer he was responsible for recalling was Ryoya Mutaguchi, who was born in Saga Prefecture, and was also his junior at Lu University.

When he was in the Army University, this Mutaguchi Lian was also a notoriously unruly weirdo, but in front of Takashi Sakai, who was one year higher than him, Mutaguchi Lian could only maintain his deferential attitude as a junior. This kind of army tradition of respecting and inferiority based on seniority is also the consistent internal ecology of the military department, and those bigwigs almost understood this, so they sent Takashi Sakai to carry out this mission.

Mutaguchi Ryoya was also wearing a casual dress without military rank, and was greeting his senior Takashi Sakai: "Your Excellency Sakai, no, Senior Sakai, why did the base camp issue such an edict? As a senior, do you have any reliable information?"

Facing this junior who likes to play on the spot, looking at his pair of rolling eyes, Takashi Sakai just replied with a calm face: "No comment!"

However, Mutaguchi Ryoya was not overwhelmed by the low pressure around Takashi Sakai, but lowered his voice and said, "But I heard that there is a monk in the Imperial Palace......"

Without allowing him to finish speaking, Takashi Sakai shouted in a low voice: "Mutaguchi, remember your identity, don't discuss Your Majesty's affairs!"

In the face of Takashi Sakai's scolding, even Mutaguchi Lianya had to straighten his back and bow his head suddenly: "Yes!"

Thinking of the disturbing events in Tokyo, even a seemingly gentle executioner like Takashi Sakai felt a little confused. But in front of his junior brother and subordinate, he would never show this weakness, but just nodded at the other party: "Let's go to the bar, the whiskey on the glacier maru can't be missed." ”

Saying such seemingly kind words, Takashi Sakai's heart was as cold as a blade, what kind of problem had gone wrong with the center of the Imperial State? Why have those European and American politicians been so active recently, while the military department is obviously shrinking......

Thinking about this, someone spoke Japanese with a thick accent and came to his ears.

"Sweet soy sauce with baked rice cakes? In such a hot weather, I can thank you for this kind of indigestible sweets, just bring me a cup of licorice sour plum soup." ”

The frivolous and disruptive man did not care about the bored gaze of the passengers around him, occupying the most conspicuous and elaborate corner of the wine room, while the girl in white sitting with him was holding a cypress fan, smiling like a cat that had stolen a small dried fish.

The girl standing beside her leaned down, took out a clear icefish with scales from the small lacquer bucket decorated with silver plum blossoms, and threw it into the celadon cup, and a thin layer of mist and dew immediately floated on the soft and jade-like plum green glaze.

The man who is so extravagant has a short beard on his chin, but he does not have a mustache, and his gestures are full of heavy Western style, and he seems to be a son of a wealthy family who has stayed abroad. However, the man, who looked very young, was wearing a long, black coat with large sleeves. If the man was wearing a monk's robe, but he was not seen wearing a robe, but instead looked like a mountain robe on a touring spiritual mountain, with long hair in a shawl.

No, no, it's no longer the Taisho era when kimonos and dresses are mixed and matched, and everyone is chasing European and American styles, and at a time when imitation military uniforms are gradually becoming popular in the upper class, even those rural wealthy families will not dress up so weird and retro. I don't know why, Takashi Sakai always thinks that men are dressed like this, more like those idle and unrestrained characters in those ancient paintings of Shina.

It's just an appearance, and the loud and laughing appearance of the extravagant men and girls is full of the barbaric style of Europeans and Americans, and it doesn't look like a good family at all. At best, it is probably a wealthy family in the countryside who has been rich for less than three generations, or a young master of a nouveau riche family who made a lot of money in the Taisho era.

However, his perception could not be conveyed to the strange duo who laughed loudly almost without anyone in their eyes.

And under the cover of seemingly ordinary daily conversations, there are quite tasteless complaints and complaints going on in a certain spiritual communication band that outsiders can't detect at all:

"I remember that the coordinates of the Astral Portal Scroll that my lovely bell brought were located in Nagasaki, why did we appear in front of a detective agency at 221B Baker Street, London?

"I'm going to ask what happened to the multiverse delivery system at the Astral Gate, don't come and ask me, uncle!"

"East Asia in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century was a place of anger, and your uncle and I looked at the people who were poor and weak, suffering from plague and famine, and my chest ached. ”

"Because of some indescribable and indescribable reasons, for certain characters and certain events at certain points in time and space, it is better for you not to meddle in your affairs, uncle. Speaking of which, uncle, what did you want to do when you brought me here? Could it be that you fancy me as a golden essence and clear shape, whether it is the Yoshino or the Red Cannon, you can 'crunchy and beefy'?"

"Forgive me, the kind of red-coat cannon is an antique thing from three hundred years ago from this time and space, and the new favorite of arms in this era should be the Katyusha who will appear in the Soviet-German war. ”

"Rhyme, I'm here to rhyme! Uncle, do you know what the beauty of rhyme is?"

"I want to know more, if I want to send you back to Gan Wantang's side, how much time is left to reconnect with the astral gate. ”

"The next time the Astral Gate will be opened is in three days. ”

"At the first time we have explored, the gate to connect the astral plane must rely on the specific trajectory of the astrology, which is really an unpleasant rule. ”

"Compared to the poor fellows who slept in the depths of the Pacific Ocean in a prehistoric city waiting for the astrological return once in thousands of years, we are treated well enough. ”

"Don't mention the prehistoric ancient city in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, dealing with that kind of evil god is already a very serious spiritual pollution!"

"Ahh

Exchanging questionable conversations, the mustachioed man took a sip of the sour plum soup with the ice fish floating on it. His gaze casually swept over the officer beside him, feeling the hostility that seemed to be there, and the strong smell of blood on the man's body in the air, and only smiled slightly.

The ship is about to enter the port

(End of chapter)