After knowing that he had been "hand-selected" by the emperor to be the prime minister, Higashikata could hardly refuse.
¡°In such a serious situation, I cannot only consider personal happiness,¡± he said firmly to Kido on the morning of May 16,
"If I am useful to the country, I will gladly accept this position." However, before making up his mind, he first had to understand the current situation.
Kido told him that the Chinese side requested that a liaison officer who could represent the Japanese government be sent to Jeju Island quickly.
"Therefore, it is necessary to establish a cabinet as soon as possible. At present, we have no way to deal with the Chinese. Any delay will arouse the suspicion of the Chinese and make our situation more difficult." Last night's attempted coup ??made it necessary to select a military officer Respected people. "If you do not accept this position, you will cause great anxiety to the Emperor."
Dong Jiuer Palace secretly thought: The burden of leading a defeated country would be heavy and troublesome. However, he knew that he could control the counterinsurgency actions of the opposition in the army through his colleagues in the army - he himself had the rank of general. Once Japan's future is decided, he can resign.
"I would like to receive the order to form a cabinet."
Before noon, Hanking¡¯s note accepting Japan¡¯s surrender arrived, and the base camp ordered the navy and army to cease hostilities. In addition, the emperor also ordered three royal families to go to overseas headquarters to reassure the troops that the decision to surrender came from his own independent will.
Open counter-insurgency actions still plague the mainland. Atsugi Air Force pilots distributed thousands of leaflets over the Tokyo area, accusing Shigeomi and Koiso Kuniaki of leading the emperor astray. Their leader, Colonel Kozono, was still arrogant in front of a naval general.
He attacked that the emperor must be crazy to surrender; the war must continue. But the rebellion collapsed. That night, the distracted Kozono cursed Amaterasu and had to put him under control. He was given morphine, put in a straitjacket, and sent to a naval hospital.
Oita Base¡ªthe airfield from which General Ugaki launched Japan¡¯s last kamikaze mission¡ªalso had a rebellious atmosphere. Ugaki's successor, Vice Admiral Ryunosuke Kusaka, a veteran of the Pearl Harbor, Midway and other battles, called all the senior officers together. A group of younger officers also showed up uninvited and with hostility.
Cao Lu said that he knew that some of them, out of patriotism, believed that the war should continue - but, "As long as I don't roll my eyes (that is, I am still alive), I will not allow any rash action." Those who are bent on rebellion have to First "cut me into pieces". He closed his eyes, expecting someone to kill him. The elegance is silent - seemingly endless. Then Caolu heard someone crying and opened his eyes.
¡°Your lectures calmed us down,¡± admitted a young officer. He and several other officers pledged to control their men. Grass Deer looked around the room. "What about you older officers? Do any of you disagree with me?" No one said anything. "If anyone changes their mind, please feel free to come to see me. I don't have a Jingwei at night. The weather is very hot and I sleep first (unprepared)."
That night, he was awakened by a shout, "Sir! Sir!" It turned out to be a fanatical lieutenant colonel, holding a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. He said that he had just received a "revelation" from God that unless Japan launched a final war, there would be no future. "According to God, only one person, the Chief, can lead us."
The grass deer stared at him. "You can believe in the prophecies of gods, but I can't - maybe I haven't received enough religious training. In any case, the emperor ordered me to perform these duties. I can't believe in any gods, I can only believe in myself." He felt , time will solve this young man's problem, so he suggested that he fly to Tokyo and report this divine revelation to the Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, the Minister of the Navy and the Prime Minister.
That night, the new prime minister couldn¡¯t sleep due to the pressure of taking on responsibilities he didn¡¯t want to take on. Dong Jiure Palace remembered an accidental incident that he had long forgotten. This happened twenty-five years ago when he was still in France. He told an old fortune teller that he was a painter. She looked at his hand, raised her head and said, "That's a lie. You will be the Prime Minister of Japan in the future." He chuckled and admitted that he was a prince and an officer. "In Japan, the royal family and army generals are not allowed to be politicians as a rule. How could I be the prime minister?"
"There will be a revolution or some kind of big change in Japan. You will be the prime minister."
At 11 a.m. the next day, May 17, he submitted the proposed list of cabinet ministers to the emperor. Only Mine remains in his position. Togo refused to serve as foreign minister, and was replaced by his predecessor Shigemitsu Aoi. Konoe became the prime minister without any appointment. The other candidates for the emperor agreed.
The first task of the new government is to send a delegation to Jeju Island to work with the Chinese side to arrange the surrender of troops in various battlefields.Appropriate. The person chosen to head the delegation was Lieutenant General Toshiro Kawabe, Umezu's deputy. Fearing that rebel pilots would intercept the delegation's plane, some elaborate precautions were taken. Shortly after dawn on May 19, sixteen members of the delegation arrived at Haneda Airport. They took several small planes and flew over Tokyo Bay for a few minutes before landing at Kisarazu Airport. Here were two battle-hardened, bullet-riddled, cigar-like Mitsubishi bombers¡ªthe "Bettys" as they were called in China¡ªwaiting for them. According to MacArthur's instructions, the aircraft was painted white with a large green cross.
After the representatives boarded the plane, the pilot opened the sealed order: destination, Goto Islands. The two "Bettys" flew west together. When flying over Kyushu, the representatives saw a group of planes flying towards them and were very anxious.
But after a closer look, I found the Chinese military logo on the fuselage. I was relieved, so the two bombers were protected by more than a dozen fighter jets around them. The Japanese plane sent out the secret code: "Bataan", and the other party issued a reassuring reply: "We are the guards of Bataan. Come with us."
This group of extremely inconsistent aircraft flew over the South China Sea for an hour and a half before the Five Islands appeared in front of them. The first bomber landed safely at the airport; the pilot of the second bomber forgot to put down the landing flaps, and the plane almost ran off the runway. Fortunately, it landed on the coral. The fuselage shook and stopped, then slowly swayed. Taxiing precariously to the tarmac. As the representatives stepped out of their phones, hundreds of Chinese navy and army personnel rushed up to surround them and snap photos.
Sixteen representatives exchanged for a four-engine Titan bomber. They had lunch on the plane, one box each. Two Chinese soldiers brought them orange water. Okazaki Katsuo, the senior representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, made a gesture to the secretary and ordered him to tip each Chinese soldier ten Chinese yuan.
The result was puzzling to them: the two Chinese soldiers did not receive a tip equivalent to one month's military pay. He turned around and left with a cold attitude.
When it was almost dark, the Giant Spirit God arrived at Jeju Island Airport. General Hebian led the delegation across the tarmac to the Chinese representative closest to the delegation - Qian Sihai's translator Li Yongze. When Li Yongze raised his hands in salute, he saw Okazaki walking towards him with his hands outstretched.
Li Yongze made a fist with his right hand and pointed his thumb upward as an informal salute - this was to avoid shaking hands with the enemy. He had practiced this action twenty times in front of the mirror. Then, Li Yongzell accompanied the delegation to Major General Wang Xijing, Qian Sihai's intelligence minister. Thousands of soldiers, residents, and journalists gathered around, and the clicking of cameras sounded to Okazaki like machine guns firing at strange animals.
Hebian and Wang Xijing took a car together.
The narrow street leading to Dewey Street was already crowded with curious people. The Chinese soldiers behaved relatively calmly, but the indigenous residents of Jeju Island were hostile. Many people shouted "Ba Ge!" or threw stones. When getting off the bus, the Japanese did not look aside and looked straight ahead.
As soon as they settled into an apartment in a two-story building near the Jeju Island Hotel, they were served a dinner of chicken, a meal they recalled with "relish" years later. After dinner, they took a car to the city hall and were led to sit at a large conference table. The people sitting opposite were Chinese.
Facing Qian Sihai¡¯s chief of staff, Fang Zhengong, sat by the river. Fang Zhengong read General Order No. 1, specifying to whom the Japanese troops in various places should surrender.
The formal surrender ceremony will be held on a Chinese warship in Tokyo Bay in early September. Japanese representatives were ordered to list all troop and ship deployment locations, airports, submarine and "human torpedo" bases, ammunition depots and minefield locations.
And from the moment the surrender document is officially signed, Japan must disarm all its armed forces within one month, and all weapons, inventory of weapons, ammunition, and industrial equipment for manufacturing weapons must be fully delivered to the Chinese military within one month.
If it fails to comply with the requirements, it will be regarded as Japan unilaterally restarting the war.
The meeting continued the next morning. Fang Zhengong handed Hebian a draft of the "surrender document" to be published by the emperor. The river dropped it on the table without catching it, and then picked it up carefully. According to the observation of a Chinese naval officer, it seemed to be some kind of deadly poison. River pushed the file to his assistant. Second Lieutenant Otake Sadao, a graduate of Northeast China University, also said, "Yakusai!" ("Translate it!")
The first sentence - "I, Emperor Hirohito of Japan" - made Otake's face suddenly turn pale! The emperor never uses "Vadakusi" ("I"), but uses "I" that only he can use, which is the emperor's self-proclaimed title. While listening, Hebian folded his hands and closed his eyes, as if he was in great pain. As soon as he heard "Owari" ("finished"), he slapped the table and said: "Himayi!" ("finished")
Li Yongzell is an expert on Japan. He is very?It was clear how insulting it was for the Japanese to write such unvarnished words to the Emperor - it was obvious that the Japanese representatives were "dying in their chairs." In the apartment, while the Japanese were packing their bags to return home, Li Yongzell and Wang Xijing tried to reassure Hebian and Okazaki.
¡°I am certain,¡± Li Yongzell said in Japanese, ¡°that the Supreme Commander did not intend to disparage the emperor in the minds of the Japanese.¡± He told them to ignore the wording of the document¡ªhe would talk to Qian Sihai himself. He asked them to draft it themselves "according to the formal form of the edict, with its customary ending." Li Yongzell explained his promise to the Japanese to Wang Xijing. Wang Xijing still couldn't understand why the Japanese were so gloomy.
"General Wang Xijing," Okazaki said in English, "this is crucial. I really can't explain to you how important it is!"
When the delegation left Rosario, Otake introduced himself to a Japanese-Chinese man standing guard. The Jingwei also told him that his surname was Gao Cun. In China, Dazhu married a Japanese-Chinese, also named Gao Cun. "Do you have a sister named Yue Dai?" Dazhu asked. The sentry nodded. Dazhu said: "I am his husband." The two shook hands. "Find me when you get to Japan," Otake said to his brother-in-law as he got into the car.
General Fang Zhengong believed that Li Yongzeer was right to ask the Japanese to rewrite the wording of the document, but asked him to make it clear to Qian Sihai. Qian Sihai put his arm around the colonel's shoulders and said: "Li Yongzell, you handled it very correctly. In fact, I did not intend to belittle him (referring to the emperor) in the minds of his people." Order can best be maintained through Hirohito. Japanese government. He even asked if His Majesty the Emperor would come to see him after arriving in Tokyo. "If he comes, it will be the first time the Emperor of Japan pays a visit to someone else, right?"
"Yes, General, he will come. I'm sure he will do that."
After the representatives returned to Jeju Island, they found that a Mitsubishi aircraft could not take off back to Japan. Several representatives said that it might have been sabotage, but Dazhu thought it was ridiculous - the plane that couldn't take off was the plane that landed on its belly. Riverside, Okazaki and six others boarded another bomber and began the long flight back home. Okazaki dictated a memorandum, which was recorded by a subordinate officer, Takeuchi Chunmi. But the general by the river was deep in thought, looking forward to the future promised by the Chinese. ¡°If human beings could exercise justice and humanity in their relationships with each other,¡± he later wrote, ¡°the horrors of war would most likely be avoided. Even if war unfortunately breaks out, the victors will not be arrogant and the pain of the losers will be immediately alleviated. .Being a truly civilized power is the first prerequisite.¡±
After the sun went down, cool air blew in through the bullet holes in the fuselage in the darkness. In order to warm their bodies, the representatives drank liquor, which is abundant in China, and eventually fell asleep. At about 11 o'clock, the pilot woke them up and said there was a leak in the fuel tank, so they had to fly to the nearest land. If it fails to fly and falls into the sea, the aircraft can only float on the water for a moment. He asked everyone to put on their life jackets.
They were most concerned about the documents - if they were lost, the Chinese would think they were deliberately delaying the surrender ceremony. The document was given to Okazaki, an athlete who represented Japan at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.
The engine slowly stopped rotating and the fuselage began to descend. Looking out the window, Takeuchi saw the sea shimmering beneath the fuselage. He tried to fasten the life jacket, but his fingers were stiff with cold and refused to obey. Except for Okazaki, everyone silently supported the seat in front of them with their hands and their heads drooped. Okazaki clutched the precious document with both hands. The plane bounced into the sea, seawater splashing on the windows. Like a stone passing through the water, it stopped immediately when it hit something.
The oil drum turned over and rolled over Takeuchi. He heard someone shout: "We're fine!" Takeuchi touched his face and saw that it was sticky, thinking it was blood, but it was actually oil. The pilot opened a side door. Seawater poured in, and Takeuchi hoped to climb out before the plane sank. Then he noticed that the pilot was standing in the water, which was only knee-deep.
Okazaki¡¯s forehead was bumped, and he was groggy. He staggered out of the plane and waded ashore. Ahead, Mount Fuji is reflected in the moonlight.
In fact, Chen Shao doesn¡¯t think much about Japan¡¯s future, and it¡¯s not troublesome at all.
First, he has never thought about occupying Japan because it is unrealistic. Japan is a very strange nation. Many of its traits are derived from Chinese civilization. They also add their own unique civilization to this civilization and share the same hatred and hatred. The heart is abnormally prominent. Unless Chen Shao is determined to exterminate the entire Japan.
Second, no one in Asia will share the victory with China, because the war is borne by the Chinese family. This saves a lot of worries. As long as it is what China wants, there is no need to care about anyone.
Chen Shao¡¯s attitude can also be clearly seen from the conditions for Japan in the Hanking Declaration. He can acceptJapan recognizes its existence, but Japan can only be a "vassal state" of China. Although the title "vassal state" is not written, this change from garrisoning troops and exempting from compensation to an indefinite industry that is necessary to maintain its economy and can pay compensation for goods can fully explain everything. This means that Japan will be strictly prohibited from doing so in the future. Has its own armed forces, and so does its economy. Except for those industries that can sustain its own economy, the rest must be given to China unconditionally in the form of payment. This is already more of a tributary state than a tributary state, so there is absolutely no need to write the words "vassal state".
This is not as troublesome as when Japan surrendered in World War II later, because there is only one cake, but there are more than one people sharing the cake. Once the distribution is uneven, conflicts will naturally arise. In later generations, as we all know, Japan and Russia have never signed any peace agreement. To put it more clearly, the state of war between Japan and Russia has not been lifted since World War II.
At the end of World War II, (the following is all real history!) it was more troublesome for the United States to deal with the Soviet Union than to deal with Japan. Stalin demanded a larger share of the spoils. In his telegram to Truman, he said that the Kuril Islands were "awarded" to the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference. He proposed that the Japanese troops in the islands and the northern half of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, be surrendered by the commander of the Far Eastern Army.
¡The latter suggestion has special significance for ****.
As we all know, the Japanese army occupied the entire Far East of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1921. If the Japanese army does not occupy part of the Japanese mainland, the Japanese people will feel greatly insulted.
It is my deep hope that the above modest suggestions will not encounter any opposition.
In the later World War II, Truman was very annoyed. He replied that he could agree to the proposal about the Kuril Islands, but he must also make it clear that the Soviet Union wanted to establish an air force base on an island in the Kuril Islands. Regarding the issue of Hokkaido, he refused to give in. The current arrangement regarding the surrender of Japanese troops on the four main islands must be maintained.
Stalin was also on fire. Two days later, on August 22, he replied that regarding the question of Hokkaido, "I did not expect to get such an answer." As for the issue of the Soviet air base in the Kuril Islands, it was not mentioned at the Yalta Conference at all. .
¡Normally, a request of this nature can only be made to a conquered country, or to a Soviet Union that is unable to defend certain parts of its territory with its own forces and therefore expresses its willingness to provide its Soviet Union with appropriate bases.
We believe that the Soviet Union does not belong to this category of countries
Since your telegram does not indicate the motive for requesting a permanent base, I must tell you frankly that neither I nor my colleagues can understand what prompted you to make this request to the Soviet Union. Truman's "first thought was not to reply to this strongly hostile telegram," but after reconsideration, he felt it was better to stop the pen war. He explained to the Soviet Union that the United States only wanted to establish temporary bases in the Kuril Islands during the occupation of Japan in case of emergencies.
However, China¡¯s problems are not so easy to solve.
The Red Chinese¡¯s plans for postwar rule were hampered by their ideological comrades in Moscow. The day before Japan surrendered, Molotov signed an agreement with Japan. This insult would become a sore point in relations between the Soviet Union and Red China for decades to come.
At the same time, Japan is bent on firmly establishing its position in the Asian continent. The Soviet Red Army faced little resistance from the already weakened Kwantung Army and occupied many parts of Manchuria. Every captured city was pillaged. Tons and tons of wheat, flour, rice, sorghum, and soybeans, as well as machines, locomotives, paper, printing machinery, lighting equipment, and electrical equipment were shipped back to the Soviet Union. Even tables, chairs, benches, telephones, and typewriters from every agency were looted. Carloads of broken furniture and countless broken glass were heading west. For the Soviet Union, scrap metal was also a treasure.
¡°Every valuable thing belonging to the Japanese prisoners of war was taken away, and even the gold-encrusted teeth were pried out. Violence, robbery, and killing became commonplace, but these atrocities were not motivated by hatred or revenge. These conquerors, like their ancestor Adila (the Hun king who invaded the Roman Empire, about 406-433 AD) and the Huns, were enjoying the spoils of war.
However, in this era, there is no longer a powerful Soviet Red Army. The American war machine is riddled with holes and can overturn in just an instant.
ps: The chapter name of the previous chapter is wrong, it should be "ÉÏ", it would be nice if everyone knew it. (To be continued.)