Chapter 9, World of Conflict: Winter is Coming
United States, Southwest Alaska, Aleutian Islands
It stretches thousands of kilometers from the Alaska Peninsula to the southwest, echoing the Kamchatka Peninsula in Asia.
This is the Aleutian Islands, known as the “Stepping Stone to Alaska.”
Before the Stars and Stripes were planted on this desolate land, the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula originally belonged to Tsarist Russia. Generations of Russian explorers marched eastward with amazing perseverance, opening up this land for their motherland thousands of miles away. New world. However, the long distance makes it difficult for Moscow to project power here, and it cannot withstand the Anglo-Saxon nation, which is determined to become the sole master of North America.
Therefore, in 1867, the Aleutian Islands and Alaska were packaged and sold to the United States for $7.2 million. In the eyes of the Tsar at the time, the Aleutian Islands had frequent volcanoes and earthquakes, and the islands were barren and barren, making them almost unsuitable for immigration and colonization. Therefore, for Russia, which had just lost the Crimean War and whose national strength was exhausted, it was not a bad idea. A good deal to get rid of the hot potato. However, if Tsar Alexander II knew underground, he would have learned that there are huge gold mines buried underground in Alaska, and that the Aleutian Sea is a world-class fishery treasure house, especially the Bering Sea in the north, which is known as the world's number one fishing ground, and If it has important military and strategic value, you will probably regret it, right?
——The Aleutian Islands are volcanic islands, consisting of five groups of islands: Fox, Andreanov, Four Mountains, Lat and Neil. There are 159 large and small islands in total, with a total area of about 18,000 square kilometers. The archipelago lies across the North Pacific Ocean and is the natural dividing line between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean, guarding the exit of the Bering Sea. At the same time, it is the closest territorial distance between the United States and Russia, and it is also a shortcut from Japan to North America and Northern Europe.
However, despite such unique geographical conditions, it is still located in the frigid sea at high latitudes, surrounded by frozen wilderness far away from the civilized world. The land on the island is not only barren, but also has frequent volcanoes and earthquakes. Therefore, the population of the Aleutian Islands, which is plagued by ice and fire, has always been small. Even Dutch Harbor, the capital of the archipelago, has only more than 3,000 residents, and most of them The islands are simply not inhabited at all.
In the early days of the Pacific War, the Japanese briefly invaded the Aleutian Islands and occupied the deserted Attu and Kiska islands. But they soon fell into a dilemma because they could not maintain such a long supply line. The U.S. military then launched a counterattack in the summer of 1943 and recaptured Attu Island under the cover of battleship gunfire. The Japanese troops on Kiska fled in panic, and the war in the Aleutian Islands ended.
This small battle that took place in the remote cold sea did not attract anyone's attention at the time. In the next two years, this sea area has remained calm and far away from the war. The entire grand picture of the Pacific War seems to be slowly unfolding among the coral reefs of the South Pacific, with blood and fire burning in that sunny tropical ocean. The Aleutian Islands, located at the northernmost tip of the Pacific Ocean, have become a forgotten corner of the world.
But in fact, on this forgotten cold island, the US military has been carrying out construction projects in the past two years. It has not hesitated to abandon huge amounts of capital and built large airports and secret oil depots and ammunition depots on various islands. and material supply warehouses, forming an astonishingly large logistics base.
Now, it's time for this archipelago to come into play!
When the Japanese Navy detected the news that the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet was sailing out of Hawaii in large numbers and was missing, and was hurriedly shrinking its forces everywhere in preparation for the next decisive battle in the South Pacific, the fleet quietly arrived at the northernmost point of the Pacific Ocean. Aleutian Islands.
——The next major counterattack of the United States of America is about to shoot an arrow of revenge against the Japanese Empire from here!
At this moment, in this cold sea surrounded by clouds and fog all year round, densely packed warships of various types are like an overwhelming swarm of locusts, covering the ocean outside Dutch Harbor, the capital of the Aleutian Islands, as far as the eye can see. Each mast is like a forest on the sea, and the bright Stars and Stripes are fluttering in the humid sea breeze - six Essex-class aircraft carriers, three Independence-class light aircraft carriers, twenty escort aircraft carriers converted from merchant ships, and two Alaska-class aircraft carriers. Battlecruiser, three Mongolian ships Dana-class battleships, four Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, twelve Cleveland-class light cruisers, and more than a hundred destroyers of various types... When such a huge fleet sails across the sea, the water in the Pacific Ocean may be Get stirred up!
In this massive "battleship sea", the most conspicuous object is the unprecedented 100,000-ton super-giant battleship, the first ship of the "Hawaii" class battleship, which was just launched ten months ago. Number!
——Spurred by the astonishing performance of Japan’s Yamato-class battleships, during the Pacific War, the Americans almost took a life-threatening attitude to build large ships and huge guns: think about it, the one they have always despised should be The stupid and clumsy Japanese monkeys actually built such a super battleship that can block gods and kill Buddhas. The entire Pacific Fleet was actually beaten to pieces by it. Where should I put the face of this most powerful industrial country on earth? ah? We must build a bigger and better battleship to boost the morale of the frontline soldiers!
Although some naval professionals, based on examples such as the Pearl Harbor attack and the Taranto air raid, preached the theory of air victory everywhere, saying that big ships and big guns are the tears of the times, and only aircraft carriers are the key to the future of dominating the sea. However, those legislators and people who do not understand professional knowledge still intuitively believe based on traditional experience that only battleships with large enough tonnage, thick enough caliber, and thick enough armor are the invincible winners in naval battles!
Moreover, the horrific performance of the Japanese battleship Yamato in the South Pacific also slapped supporters of the "battleships are useless" theory one after another.
Besides, building battleships doesn’t mean we won’t build aircraft carriers. Since we think aircraft carriers are important, let’s go build them together!
As a result, the entire United States of America went crazy for construction activities. The 50,000-ton Iowa-class battleship couldn't defeat the Yamato, so it went to the 70,000-ton Montana-class. When it was discovered that the 70,000-ton Montana-class was also If you can't beat it, then you have this one The "Hawaii" class "Super Yamato" battleship was born: a standard displacement of 105,000 tons, a top speed of 30 knots, a 20-inch-caliber main gun, and the ability to fire super-heavy bombs of more than 6,000 pounds...
Since the tonnage of the "Hawaii" class battleship has far exceeded the maximum passage capacity of the Panama Canal in this era, it cannot pass through the Panama Canal. So after launching the water, he detoured through the Drake Strait in South America, rushed all the way to the Pacific battlefield, and then rested for a while at the Pearl Harbor anchorage in Hawaii before continuing north to gather and prepare for this vigorous counterattack against Japan. among.
However, although this 100,000-ton cutting-edge super battleship stands out among the steel battleships flying the Stars and Stripes, it does not serve as the overall flagship in this unprecedented counterattack... This honor The mission belongs to another legendary ship...
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Accompanied by the long blast of the whistle, the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" flying the admiral's flag slowly sailed into the anchorage near Dutch Harbor, the capital of the Aleutian Islands. The ships parked nearby all rushed to it. Raise a flag or fire a cannon in salute.
In the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which has suffered repeated defeats, the "Enterprise" aircraft carrier has become a spiritual symbol. If the battleship Yamato symbolizes the confidence and arrogance of the Japanese Combined Fleet, then the aircraft carrier Enterprise symbolizes the tenacity and unyieldingness of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
As early as the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, it was chased by the battleship Yamato and forced to run aground. However, because the keel was not damaged, it was fortunately able to be repaired quickly. Then, in a series of engagements in the South Pacific, Enterprise took part in nearly every major naval battle. Although the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet was wiped out almost three times, and everyone from fleet commanders to ordinary sailors, and even the ships were replaced at least once, the Enterprise was always able to survive almost every time, so it is known as the "lucky star" The nickname is well-known in the military, and sailors feel lucky to be able to serve on the Enterprise.
At this moment, the current commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., nicknamed "The Bull", stood on the "Enterprise", the ship that had accompanied him through four years of war. On the legendary ship, he looked at the Alaskan scenery that gradually unfolded on the horizon.
——Only when you truly come to this land will you understand that the impression you had of Alaska in your past is not correct. Alaska is not entirely a purgatory of ice and snow covered by glaciers and permafrost, but is also a green world full of life. Behind the mist-shrouded coastline, there are lush forests and grasslands everywhere. The doors and windows of local wooden houses are also filled with flower pots with blooming flowers, which are colorful and delicate.
However, such a vibrant and beautiful summer time has come to an end in Alaska today. Whether it is the longer and longer nights or the Arctic wind that is getting colder every day, it indicates that the harsh winter is coming... But for Halsey, it is a wonderful thing—— In the North Pacific at the end of September, the seasonal good weather suitable for aerial reconnaissance has basically come to an end. Today, the North Pacific, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Bering Sea are gradually filled with all kinds of violent winds, waves, and heavy fog. Just as the United States did not discover the Japanese navy's sneak attack fleet from the North Pacific before the Pearl Harbor incident, it was almost impossible for the Japanese to discover the main force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet assembled in the Aleutian Islands.
After a while, when the Japanese Navy mistakenly concentrated their forces on the old battlefield in the South Pacific and guarded the empty sea, the Halsey Fleet, which had achieved its strategic deception goal, would avoid the truth and hide the truth. The cold wind from the Arctic goes south from here and hits the Japanese archipelago!
By then, the ownership and competition for this vast ocean will have been settled.
If Eastern civilization originated from the Yellow River, Ganges, Tigris and Euphrates rivers, then the cradle of Western civilization is the blue ocean.
War and bloodshed have always followed the footsteps of human civilization, and with the development of navigation, fire and swords have also descended on the ocean.
The trinity of naval battles, warships, and naval generals formed the trident of Poseidon, the god of the sea. Most of the naval admirals in the early Age of Discovery were daring adventurer captains; the naval warfare stars of the age of sail artillery, such as Drake and Nelson, were only tacticians who were brave enough to defeat the entire army; only Tire after entering the industrial age Pitts and Fisher began to put their thoughts on the strategic stage.
Now, two more great countries will use the vast Pacific as the stage to play a legendary epic full of blood and fire.
In the past few years, "The Bull" Halsey has witnessed too many failures, as well as the deaths of a series of acquaintances and friends - Nimitz died, Fletcher died, Silent Sp Ruanes died, and so did Kincaid, who led the army to regain the Aleutian Islands in 1943.
The mighty Japanese combined fleet on the opposite side, the Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku who seemed destined to live in his destiny, and those nightmare-like Yamato-class battleships, annihilated the U.S. Pacific Fleet time and time again, forcing The Americans have almost rebuilt their navy from scratch time and time again, but every time they have just half lifted themselves out of the quagmire, they are immediately beaten hard and forced into the mud again.
Opposite Yamamoto Isoroku, it was as if in the Second Punic War, the ever-victorious Carthaginian war god Hannibal led a fleet that should be at a disadvantage in terms of quantity and quality. The U.S. Pacific Fleet was frightened by the fight and suffered a complete defeat.
But just as Hannibal underestimated the resilience and war potential of the Romans, Isoroku Yamamoto may have underestimated the resilience of the U.S. Navy. After every time he defeated the U.S. Pacific Fleet, a new, more powerful fleet would be reborn from the ashes...
No amount of defeats could defeat General Halsey's tenacity. No matter what difficulties he faced, even if he had to risk his own life, he was determined to realize his will and slogan, which was: "Kill." Japanese! Kill more Japanese!”
However, the four-year Pacific War did cause heavy losses to the U.S. Navy. The key is not the issue of warships. For a superpower like the United States, which is rich in natural resources and has the largest industrial scale in the world, once it enters a wartime system, it is only a matter of time before a "sea of warships" breaks out.
The real key problem is the lack of a sufficient number of qualified sailors - after such a series of major defeats, almost all of the elite naval officers and soldiers serving on each capital ship have died. The navy is a very complex technical branch. Although the major naval academies in the United States have repeatedly expanded their enrollment in order to cope with the war, those rookies who have just graduated cannot do anything well at all. At most, they can operate a destroyer, which is easy. Auxiliary ships such as cruisers. If you want to operate a huge capital ship of tens of thousands of tons with ease, you must have several years of practical training.
In order to rush for time, the U.S. Navy can only recruit people from the merchant fleet, and even recruit sailors from Britain, France, and a bunch of exiled countries in Western Europe, and replenish them after a period of emergency training. Compared with the sailors before the war, their quality has deteriorated a lot. Fortunately, although the United States is facing many difficulties, Japan is even more miserable. The loss of pilots could hardly be replaced, and the newly recruited crew members were also a bunch of rookies.
After all, a general war between the United States, which has a large business, and Japan, which has limited industrial strength, is like a millionaire versus a poor man burning money. Even if they burn dollars and the Japanese burn yen, Japan can go bankrupt... It's a pity that there are still The Soviet Union was giving Japan blood transfusions to survive, so that it could never fall.
Thinking of this, Halsey was itching with hatred - according to the latest intelligence, the ports from Vladivostok in the Soviet Union to the Sea of Japan ports in the northwest of the Japanese archipelago have become the busiest in the Far East. trade routes. Oil, steel, machine tools, spare parts, heavy machinery, chemicals, flour, potatoes, salted fish, and canned food exported from the Soviet Union are being continuously shipped to Japan, barely maintaining the operation of the Japanese war machine and ensuring the minimum survival of the Japanese people. life needs. Just like those arrogant British guys on the other side of the Atlantic are chewing on American Spam luncheon meat, the Japanese who were used to eating rice are now chewing on Russian black ribs with a frown...
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In order to pay for these things, the Japanese also spent all their money. Not only did they organize gold donation campaigns again and again in the country, taking away the last gold ring from the hands of ordinary people, but they also plundered various occupied areas: from The tea and silk plundered by China, the spices, cocoa, palm oil, coffee, sugar, tobacco, rubber and tropical fruit preserves obtained from Southeast Asia, and the rabbit skins and wool obtained from Australia were all used as debt repayments, one ship at a time. Shipping to the Soviet Union. In order to allow the Japanese to have ships to transport goods, the Soviet Union even exported a large number of entire merchant ships to Japan!
Alas, the United States of America is really unlucky for eight lifetimes to have such an "anti-fascist ally".
As a result, during this world war, the living standards of ordinary Soviet people, far from seriously declining, actually got better in some aspects. The rations of staple foods such as bread are not much different from those before the war, and the supply of various non-staple foods is even better than before the war! Now, residents of Moscow and other Soviet big cities no longer need tickets to buy spices, tea and sugar, and long-lost tropical specialties such as palm oil, cocoa, coffee and pepper have also appeared on the shelves. There are also all kinds of canned tropical fruits and fish that you have never heard of before. Women happily bought all kinds of gorgeous silks, and the cigarettes smoked by soldiers and workers were also of a much higher quality... It was almost like Hitler, the Führer, after winning the Battle of France, frantically collected all kinds of luxury goods in the Paris market and shipped them back to Germany. , used to please the Germanic people back home who had had enough of artificial coffee and margarine.
However, the effect of this approach was immediate. The Soviets' enthusiasm for supporting the war was unprecedentedly high, and so far there was no obvious atmosphere of war weariness.
On the other side, the common people in various areas occupied by the Japanese army suffered great misfortune, but this account can only be recorded on the Japanese. Equally unlucky are the United States and the United Kingdom. The former has made endless sacrifices and bloodshed in the Pacific, while the latter has been unable to get back its lost colonies year after year.
Obviously, if the Soviet Union's blood transfusion to Japan cannot be cut off, the price of destroying the Japanese imperial war machine will be unimaginably high.
But how can we make the Soviet Union stop blood transfusions to Japan, or even declare war on Japan, so as to end this Pacific War that has dragged the United States to the bone as soon as possible? Neither the White House nor the Pentagon can come up with a solution. Military threat? Not only did the Soviets have atomic bombs, they also dared to drop them at will! Benefit exchange? The whole of Europe is about to be swallowed up by the Soviet Union. Where can the United States and Britain have any decent bargaining chips to exchange? With red flags like this threatening to be planted all over the world, the Soviets are probably eager for the United States, the "last bastion of capitalism," to drain its blood on the Pacific Ocean!
Therefore, in order to break this dilemma and end this damn war as quickly as possible, the U.S. Navy once again used its imagination and decided to avoid reality and move its troops northward in a large scale, formulating this operation codenamed "Winter" Take action and get ready to hit the Japanese Empire on the back of the head with a hammer!
——In the past three years or so, the main force of the Japanese Combined Fleet has always been stationed in Nanyang. It is the oil base and transportation lifeline that maintains the operation of the Japanese Empire. It is also the private kingdom that Marshal Isoroku Yamamoto painstakingly manages. Once this resource-rich land is lost, the once arrogant Japanese naval combined fleet will become water without a source and a tree without roots, and the stalling of the Japanese imperial war machine will be just around the corner.
Therefore, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese Empire continued to invest the best of its navy and army into this land thousands of miles away. In the past three years, the U.S. Pacific Fleet has launched counterattacks here again and again. Unfortunately, all attempts ended in failure.
After repeatedly hitting the wall, the U.S. Navy finally considered the possibility of attacking the Japanese archipelago from Alaska in the north. In order to withstand the overwhelming and powerful counterattack of the U.S. Army, almost all of the elite navy and army of the Japanese Empire have been mobilized to Southeast Asia-Australia. On the front line, some of the remaining troops are also stranded on the battlefield in mainland China, or assisting the insurgents in India. The military strength on the islands is already quite empty.
Especially the Japanese Navy, except for a few old coastal defense ships left over from the Russo-Japanese War, there is not even a single capital ship in the mainland. Even if the Japanese discover this problem, they will not have the extra power to make up for the loopholes in the northern defense line of the mainland. In this case, if the U.S. Navy can break out of the strange circle of thinking inertia and no longer stick to defeating the main force of the combined fleet of Isoroku Yamamoto head-on, then it can launch a large-scale attack from the North Pacific and stab the junction of Japan and the Soviet Union. Win the war in the home of these little dwarfs!
According to the instructions of the Chief of the U.S. Navy, Ernest Joseph King, the goals of this "Winter" operational plan mainly include the following points:
First, it pulls Japan's maritime defense line, causing it to focus on one thing and lose another. Once the combined fleet moves north to rescue the mainland, the U.S. military will turn to Southeast Asia.
Second, enter the "Emperor Hirohito's Pond" in the Sea of Japan and cut off the Soviet Union's supply of blood vessels to the Japanese imperial war machine.
Third, it shakes the Japanese Empire's determination to fight and creates an opportunity for the peace-minded political forces in Japan to seize power.
Fourth, on the basis of achieving the above three goals, provide appropriate assistance to China’s government forces to prevent it from becoming another red country.
For General Halsey, who was on the front line, this plan reminded him of the Second Punic War in the epic: Yamamoto Isoroku, who was in Nanyang, was the invincible Cameroon who moved to the Italian Peninsula. Hannibal, the military god of Taichi; and he, Halsey, was the famous Roman general Scipio who was about to attack the home base of the "contemporary Hannibal", forcing him to withdraw his troops and return home, and was ultimately defeated in the Battle of Zama. !
Since I can't beat you on the battlefield in the South Pacific, let's try another battlefield!
Alas, I wonder where in the Japanese archipelago my own "Battle of Zama" will take place?
General Halsey touched his chin and looked at the map of Japan on the chart table, thoughtfully...
Of course, it seems too early to think about this issue now. Before that, the first thing he, a "barbaric bull", has to do is to lead the fleet along the Kuril Islands and head straight to the Sea of Japan from the north to kill Japan. people! Kill the Japanese! Kill more Japanese!
"...Autumn has arrived, and the following winter should not be too far away...The scorching sun of the Japanese Empire has been shining over the Pacific for too long. Now it is time for those hateful yellow-skinned dwarfs to feel the coming from the Pacific Ocean. The cold winter wind in the Arctic! ”
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Central Pacific, Midway Island, the forefront base of the US military's war against Japan
As a seaplane landed gracefully, Navy Chief Ernest Joseph King, who was inspecting the front line, arrived at the island.
At this time, the main force of the Pacific Fleet led by Halsey had already assembled in the Aleutian Islands in the north and was undergoing final rest and supplies before the attack. Another small feint fleet responsible for deceiving the enemy has also weighed anchor and rushed to New Zealand.
However, even Admiral Halsey did not know that the real trump card of this decisive battle against Japan was actually deployed here.
——At the largest military airport on Midway Island, more than two hundred B-29 four-engine "Super Fortress" strategic bombers have all landed and are undergoing final maintenance work. In the open space next to it, ground crews were transporting boxes of "special aerial bombs" with skull patterns on them into the warehouse. In addition, there was a large group of experts in white coats surrounding the two huge special aerial bombs, instructing the ground crew on how to maintain and install them.
This is the real trump card of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in this "Cold Winter" operation: a large number of sarin gas bombs urgently produced based on technology obtained from escapees from Nazi Germany; and the entire existing nuclear arsenal of the United States, code-named " Two atomic bombs from "Fat Man" and "Little Boy"!
Although Admiral Halsey regarded the decisive battle between him and Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku as an epic showdown between "contemporary Scipio" and "contemporary Hannibal". However, Navy Commander Ernest King knew very well that this was not the whole plan.
The Japanese Empire's northern defense line is certainly empty, but if we continue to fight for one island after another, even if we win them all, a lot of time will be wasted. Once Yamamoto Isoroku leads the main force of the combined fleet to the north for rescue, then with the advantage of relying on local operations and considering the outstanding performance of the Japanese Navy in a series of previous battles, the Halsey Fleet may not have a great chance of winning.
Indeed, by taking advantage of the opportunity of the combined fleet being transferred out of Nanyang, the United States can take the opportunity to launch an offensive on the southern front, reverse the defeat in the Australian battlefield, and even take away the Japanese oil fields and strategic resource bases in Nanyang, causing this fleet to lose its lasting combat capability. , gradually turned into an iron coffin with no fuel to burn... But the Japanese Empire still has millions of tons of crude oil reserves in its homeland. If it wants to exhaust its opponents, it will take at least a year or two!
And this is still under the most ideal situation - don't forget that there is still a Soviet Union that will give Japan blood transfusions so that it can continue to drag the US military down.
However, the United States is now in a desperate situation and has no time to continue fighting with the Japanese! In order to free up its hands as soon as possible and work with its British allies to curb the excessive expansion of Soviet Bolshevik power in Europe, the United States must end the Pacific War this year!
As long as this goal can be achieved, the White House is ready to admit it even if it costs some reputation and image.
Therefore, Navy Commander Ernest King personally rushed to Midway Island to preside over this "special bombing" of Tokyo, Japan - first dispatching an unprecedented large-scale B-29 four-shot "Super Flying Fortress" strategic bomber group. A large number of sarin gas bombs were dropped from high altitude into urban Tokyo. In addition to killing thousands of Japanese, they also forced the remaining people into basements or bunkers, afraid to escape at will. Next, two atomic bombs would be dropped on Nagata Town Imperial Palace and Akasaka Palace in an effort to kill the Emperor of Japan in one fell swoop, or at least paralyze the entire wartime headquarters of the Japanese Empire.
In this way, facing the Japanese Empire with its command center paralyzed, the Halsey fleet only needs to defeat some insignificant sporadic resistance, and can easily rush into the heart of the empire, repeating the situation when General Perry led four "black ships" Ship" forced Japan to found a country.
Japan's domestic peace faction forces, which have long been in contact with the United States of America, will also take the opportunity to start an internal uprising, establish a new pro-American regime, disintegrate the local Japanese army's will to resist, cooperate with the US military to take over the Samurai Island, and even use the legacy of the Japanese Empire. , to assist the US military in dealing with the red forces of the Soviet Union and China... By then, no matter how capable Yamamoto Isoroku is in Nanyang, he will have no choice but to surrender and surrender.
Of course, after doing this, the reputation of the United States will probably be almost the same as that of Hitler who massacred the Jews... However, in order to curb the spread of red forces, since Churchill can decide to shake hands with the German Nazis, then why can't the United States learn from the university? What about the means of massacre?
What's more, this is just killing a group of Japanese devils who deserved to die! Only dead Japanese are good Japanese!
Looking at the two atomic bombs that were about to cause unprecedented catastrophe, Navy Commander Ernest King convinced himself...
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Japan, Kyoto
Falling leaves fall in Kyoto in autumn. In the historic ancestral estate of the Mitsui family in Kyoto, a secret internal meeting of great importance was being held. Several old men in kimonos or suits were arguing fiercely, but they could never come to a conclusion.
——Seventy-seven years after the success of the Meiji Restoration, Japan's largest chaebol ushered in another important moment that determined the fate of the family.
The last time this kind of decision had to be made, it was on the eve of the Fushimi-Toba Battle that determined the survival of the Tokugawa family...
——As a wealthy merchant family with a long history, as early as the Tokugawa Shogunate era, the Mitsui family had already begun to engage in the gold and silver currency exchange industry, as well as financial businesses such as pawns and loans, and later took over the tax exchange of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Business, thus rising from an ordinary wealthy businessman to a top chaebol. Later, through long-term close cooperation with the shogunate, the Tokugawa shogunate's trust in the Mitsui Zaibatsu reached an unprecedented level.
Especially after the "Black Ship Arrival" and the Western powers opened Japan's door, the shogunate actually stipulated that all local business of foreign banks must go through the Mitsui family, which prevented foreign banks from having direct contact with Japanese businessmen. The Mitsui family played the role of the Thirteenth Bank of Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty. The family monopolized all Japan's trade and financial interfaces with foreign countries, making the Mitsui family's financial and commercial network the largest in Japan.
However, even though the Tokugawa shogunate loved the Mitsui Zaibatsu so much, the Mitsui Zaibatsu was like a hungry wolf that couldn't get enough to eat. During the chaotic times at the end of the Tokugawa period, they resolutely gave the Tokugawa shogunate a fatal blow from behind: just at the moment when the world was decided. On the eve of the Fushimi-Toba Battle, the richest man in Japan, Saburosuke Mitsui, the head of the Mitsui Zaibatsu, ordered all bets to be placed on the rebel faction, and he spent all his family funds to support the reform government of Emperor Meiji, and openly broke with the Tokugawa Shogunate!
As a result, the new government army, which was originally empty and about to collapse without a fight, suddenly had ample military expenditures. It purchased more than 500 artillery pieces and supporting ammunition in one go, and started fighting with the shogunate army, which was three times as powerful as itself. decisive battle. However, the Tokugawa family, which seemed to have a deep foundation, immediately fell into financial collapse and financial chaos, and its combat effectiveness plummeted by several levels. Next, the shogunate army not only fought an anticlimactic and inexplicable defeat in the Fushimi-Toba Battle, but then completely collapsed and could hardly organize any resistance, so they surrendered at Edo Kaicheng.
Since then, the Mitsui Zaibatsu has made a magnificent transformation from a remnant of the shogunate to an imperial father. It was appointed by Emperor Meiji as the new fiscal agent of the Japanese Empire. Mitsui Bank has almost become Japan's national central bank, monopolizing coinage, printing banknotes, and issuing public bonds. and many powerful powers, and occupied huge interests in many mines, ports, and factories, forming a super economic empire from finance to industry, with unparalleled wealth and power.
Even the other major chaebols such as Mitsubishi and Sumitomo are just juniors looking up to the Mitsui Zaibatsu in Japan.
The New York Times once described it this way: There has never been such an organization in Western civilization. The Rothschild family, which is only engaged in the financial industry, is very average compared to the Mitsui Zaibatsu. Mitsui was the richest conglomerate in the Eastern world, controlling mines, banks, railways, shipping, factories and trading companies. "As rich as Mitsui" means endless wealth to the Japanese, just like Americans dream of "as rich as Rockefeller."
The various chaebols headed by the Mitsui family not only control the economic lifeline of Japan, but also collude with elders, bureaucrats, and warlords to manipulate political parties, influence the political power, and constantly support their agents in the political circles, so that the tanks of the Japanese Empire have to constantly fight for Serving the interests of the chaebol.
However, when the chariot was gradually heading towards the cliff and was in danger of overturning and disintegrating, the plutocrats couldn't help but want to jump out of the chariot and change horses...
——Although the current situation of the Japanese Empire still seems to be in full swing and extremely prosperous, the leaders of the major chaebols know very well that the strength of the empire has actually been stretched to the limit, and they are only fighting for their last breath to fight with the United States. Evenly matched. Moreover, with the successive destruction of Germany and Italy, only Japan is left among the three major axis powers. Faced with the coming global siege, Japan simply cannot withstand it.
At present, what keeps the Japanese imperial war machine barely running is the blood transfusions obtained from the Soviet Union, in addition to the crushing of the people and occupied areas, but this comes at a heavy price. The red ideology that poured into the Japanese Empire along with Soviet supplies, especially after corresponding signs appeared in the army and government, set off alarm bells in the minds of these extremely reactionary plutocrats - for them, that was I would really rather turn Japan into a colony and then serve an American master than see Japan become a country like the Soviet Union.
In fact, as early as when Nazi Germany was on the verge of collapse and the European battlefield was coming to an end, Japan's major chaebols had already communicated with the United States and Britain through their own channels to explore the possibility of withdrawing Japan from the war and achieving a decent ending.
However, the conditions offered by the allies are far from the lowest bottom line that Japan's base camp can accept during wartime. If such a peace treaty is signed, I am afraid that the army will soon mutiny and engage in divine punishment - as long as there is If the military is stuck in the middle, peace will be impossible.
However, in Japan in the era of militarism, no one could suppress the military. The all-out war that lasted for many years had already expanded the power of the military to the point where it was impossible to lose. The factories, banks and merchant ships under the names of these chaebols had all been destroyed. They had to accept the wartime control and supervision of the base camp, and their actual control was greatly weakened. The current extremely harsh wartime system has also seriously restricted the means by which they, the chaebols, can make trouble.
Just like the businessmen in the shogunate era could not defeat the samurai and control the national government by themselves, it is impossible for the current Japanese chaebols to suppress the Japanese army.
In addition, even within the various chaebols, there are a lot of discussions and disagreements on the issue of bypassing the military to seek peace with the allies. Of course, they know that this crazy war against the world can no longer be fought, and they are even more resentful that the military is fighting Under the banner of "wartime control", they wantonly intervene in and control the industries under their own name. They are also very worried that Japan will undergo drastic changes under internal and external difficulties and repeat the mistakes of Tsarist Russia at the end of World War I, causing them to lose everything.
However, many people also lack trust and are very hesitant about American lobbyists waving olive branches: after the end of World War I, they still vividly remember the past of how the Allies dismantled factories and machinery from Germany and distributed huge compensation payments. If the United States What should I do if Japan does the same thing?
In any case, the current situation of the Japanese Empire does not seem to have reached the end of the road yet. Why must a decision be made so quickly?
Moreover, he is still making a deceptive decision to "collude with foreign barbarians" behind the government's back, which is likely to make him infamous in history.
However, even though they had not yet made up their minds to jump from the chariot of the Japanese Empire to the American bowl, they still followed the advice of their liaison and left Tokyo temporarily... After all, Tokyo is the imperial capital, filled with many people. Even if he has reached a tacit understanding with the top management beforehand, it will still be troublesome if he is exposed by the stupid Qing below. If you want to do something secretly, it's really better to go somewhere else.
——Until this moment, they still don’t know how devastating and earth-shattering what will happen next will be. However, while the cold winter current from Alaska and the nuclear flames from Midway Island were still gathering momentum thousands of kilometers away from the Japanese archipelago, another northern cold wind sweeping across Europe had already Countless people are trembling under its lustful power...