Ch.262China Division Project (3)

* * *

In fact, from the Treaty Forces’ perspective, they had captured the main Japanese Expeditionary Force in China, liberated the Federalist Government, Qing, and the Korean Peninsula, effectively completing the Chinese campaign.

The remaining Japanese forces in the south fought valiantly against the Chinese army while trapped on both sides, but ultimately perished gloriously.

Considering that the North China and Central China Expeditionary Forces collapsed, and Yasujiro was almost the last to surrender the China Expeditionary Force, most of the China Expeditionary Force must be considered annihilated.

“The warlord leaders are all self-serving individuals. Of course, they claim they’re working hard, but in the end, they don’t want to abandon their territories and join a National Government without Chiang Kai-shek.”

Drozdovsky said this while sipping the tea served by the Forbidden City attendant.

That makes sense. They wouldn’t willingly follow Chiang Kai-shek’s wife.

They have big ambitions despite lacking the strength to unify anything.

That’s why they’re bound to be torn apart by the Treaty Forces.

“They lack the capacity to unify, yet they’re quite greedy.”

When there are people right in front of them trying to divide them up.

If they openly pursue their own interests in front of such people, well…

“Just as the Paris Commune moved museum artifacts to the back, these fellows are ultimately ‘Chinese’ who dream of unifying China.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

They are Chinese after all.

Because they are Chinese, when a great figure who could unify China dies, they will once again fight for hegemony among themselves.

Where there is no tiger, foxes act as masters.

They too would want to unify China in their own way.

Of course, we won’t leave them alone.

Soong Mei-ling will likely try to deal with those warlords somehow and bring them back under the National Government’s control.

“Soong Mei-ling is known as China’s Empress in China.”

China’s Anastasia?

“That’s unpleasant.”

Did she ever fight directly on the battlefield like me? Is she ageless like me, avoiding a woman’s greatest enemy—aging?

While she may be capable, she shouldn’t be compared to me if she’s never fought directly on the battlefield.

What other female leader in this era has fought on the battlefield besides me?

“Hmm, couldn’t we divide them?”

“Unfortunately, Soong Mei-ling seems to have moved first.”

Soong Mei-ling moved first? She really moves quickly.

“This has become difficult.”

She’ll probably gamble on subjugating the warlords before I make my move.

She might incite the warlords by claiming I’ll divide China, and thus bring them under her control.

If that happens, we might have to use force.

“Perhaps we should create a pretext for war in advance?”

“Hmm. Let me think about it. Soong Mei-ling will try to form a unified government, right?”

If she’s succeeding Chiang Kai-shek, that would be her approach.

She needs to maintain the National Government somehow.

Just as Mao Zedong needs to exercise power through federalism, Soong Mei-ling must have similar ambitions to maintain the National Government.

“Yes. She says she absolutely cannot allow division, following her husband’s will.”

Well then, what else is there but war?

In the current state of China’s National Government, they would struggle to even stop Qing’s army. Hmm, should we strike?

No. Using the same approach too many times would be… problematic.

“Who stands beside Soong Mei-ling?”

“Duan Qirui appears to be her second-in-command.”

Duan Qirui. He’s become troublesome.

Even though Chiang Kai-shek is dead, things could go wrong because of Soong Mei-ling and Duan Qirui.

Of course, not as much as with Chiang Kai-shek. That man knows his place.

But as long as he’s around, it won’t be easy to do anything with southern China.

“Duan Qirui is the problem.”

“Shall we deal with him?”

Lavrentiy Beria, who had been waiting for instructions, snickered. Yes, Beria has a point.

Certainly, killing Duan Qirui when possible would be one approach. But what would happen if we killed him now?

We would definitely be suspected.

“He would immediately realize if we tried to assassinate him.”

He’s in intelligence. If he were to die, he would have prepared something behind the scenes.

He might sacrifice himself to spite us and secure independence guarantees at minimum.

If so, there’s no reason to cross such a dangerous river.

It’s better to find an easier method.

Wasn’t killing Chiang Kai-shek itself a stroke of luck?

If things had gone poorly, the Okhrana agent who killed Chiang Kai-shek would have had to commit suicide on the spot.

We can’t afford to take unnecessary risks.

Assassination at this precise timing would be troublesome, so let’s take the easier path.

Surely the National Government is still receiving support, right?

I believe we’ve been providing quite a lot of supplies to help them fight the Japanese. But now there’s no reason to continue.

They’ve been surviving thanks to us.

If our support had ended earlier, the National Government probably couldn’t have held out against Japan.

So now we should cut it off.

The National Government probably expected to receive support for post-war reconstruction, but there’s no reason it should be them.

Let’s make it clear who’s in charge. I’m not providing free services like some saint.

“Since the China campaign is over, let’s terminate material support to the National Government.”

“The support?”

Now that we’ve defeated Japan, there’s no obligation to continue supporting them.

“It’s meaningless now anyway. We’ll withdraw citing support for North China devastated by Japan.”

This is the State Duma’s policy anyway, so complaining to me would be pointless.

If they act so rudely, we have our own methods. That’s it.

Who do the Chinese in the National Government think has helped them survive? It’s thanks to the Rome Treaty Organization.

Before that, it was thanks to British and French support.

Since those two are now part of the Rome Treaty Organization, what can they do?

Soong Mei-ling or whatever mushroom she is, she has her limits.

Seeing this situation, who knows how much they’ll defy us once they’ve built up some strength?

Even America, having lost Alaska and witnessed Russia’s potential, might support China.

That would be troublesome.

We need to resolve this while America is distracted with Japan.

To do that, we cut off supplies once and twice. We ensure China remains collapsed and show absolutely no mercy.

“That would certainly work.”

“Above all, I’m a symbolic figure. The core of the United States is the State Duma. Since the State Duma is acting for national interests, China can’t complain to me.”

Of course, they know I’m behind the State Duma, but that’s as far as it goes.

What can they do?

“If they’re the ‘legitimate government’ of China, they should handle things themselves. We can’t support those who are neither here nor there and only maintain their pride. And it seems the Korean Peninsula has suffered greatly due to large-scale Korean uprisings. We’ll make excuses, saying we don’t have the capacity to support them no matter what.”

Korea has gained independence, but we should still help properly establish the Balhae Republic government on the peninsula.

Fortunately, it seems the Balhae army has absorbed what Japan left behind.

For example, infrastructure like factories in the North Korean region.

This might later spark debates about colonial modernization theory, but there won’t be a Japanese government to argue with.

Instead of a Japan that succeeds the Japanese Empire, there will be Japan under the great general Renya Mutaguchi, a pro-Russian. What’s the problem?

First, Renya Mutaguchi’s Japan must be made into a government friendly to Korea.

“But with Renya Mutaguchi’s Japan, is there really a need to support Korea?”

“Renya Mutaguchi’s Japan will only be able to build an army. With the power of a halved Japan, they can’t simultaneously develop both army and navy. And with Japan’s division confirmed, there will be a pro-American puppet state Japan, and they’ll have to growl at each other, so they’ll only have an army.”

This is all part of my perfect plan.

A divided Japan, being pro-Russian and pro-American, is positioned to inevitably fight each other.

Proxy wars between Russia and America will likely occur in Japan.

Whether they’re of the same ethnicity or not doesn’t matter. Once fighting begins, hatred sprouts and they become enemies.

Then, like modern South and North Korea, they’ll maintain their positions in a way that makes unification quite delicate.

With Japan split in half, they can never again engage in imperialism.

In that case, Korea’s role can only grow.

“Then Korea is indeed the answer.”

“And Northern Manchuria is a place Koreans pioneered. Aren’t you curious to see how far they can elevate their homeland that was once a colony?”

“Indeed I am.”

Honestly, even if I weren’t a reincarnated Korean but truly Anastasia, I would have done this much.

Now, Renya Mutaguchi’s Western Japan will have to invest in its army to fight Eastern Japan. Korea will be safer than in the original world, so they won’t need to force even the disabled into military service through conscription in the name of duty. They can put that much into their navy.

“And there’s still something else. If we support Korea, won’t the National Government be upset at being treated worse than Korea, which was once a colony?”

“Indeed. That would be interesting.”

Soong Mei-ling, I wonder how distorted her face will become?

She should have listened to us when we were willing to give, and taken at least part of China. What a shame.

Even this is us being gentle.

We could push a bit harder and crush Soong Mei-ling’s China to create a new China.

People should live according to their station.

If Soong Mei-ling is tamed this time, we could accept her as part of the federalist autonomy, but if she resists to the end, then there’s nothing we can do.

Of course, I expect the latter.

Because for Soong Mei-ling to abandon her husband’s will would be to betray the principles of the National Government.

Just as Goebbels had no choice but to wage revolutionary war, Soong Mei-ling will have no choice but to rebel against us.

Or else choose submission.

This is a kind of test I’m giving to that woman.

* * *

After the collapse of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Japanese forces stationed in French Indochina, the Philippines, Dutch Indonesia, and British Malaya were isolated and defeated by Treaty Forces primarily consisting of French and Dutch troops.

And Louis Mountbatten of Britain, after the European campaign ended and the China campaign newly opened, was assigned the role of supplying the National Government.

Louis Mountbatten, following the instructions of the Rome Treaty Headquarters, notified the National Government of the termination of material support.

“What do you mean you’re stopping material supplies?”

Soong Mei-ling was shocked by Mountbatten’s words.

Shortly after the National Government had politely protested to the Tsar, this news arrived, driving her to the brink of madness.

The National Government’s territory had become the main battlefield, with more than half of it scorched and corpses filling the streets.

Even now, Japanese stragglers remained in Nanjing, continuing their resistance.

“It’s exactly as I said. Our Treaty Forces have defeated the last Japanese forces in China, and the remaining Japanese stragglers have surrendered to the Treaty Forces, so the war is over. Therefore, there’s no need to continue supplies.”

“B-but there are still stragglers left, and we’re allies.”

“No matter how far behind European armies the Chinese army might be, it should be capable of handling the remaining Japanese stragglers. The National Government is a friendly nation, but that’s all. It was only for the duration of the war, and supporting the National Government, which is a coalition of warlords, carries too much risk for us.”

“What does that mean?”

“As great as the Rome Treaty Organization may be, we just fought a large-scale war in Europe. We’re already overwhelmed with post-war reconstruction. We don’t have the capacity to continue supporting just a part of China when the war is over.”

It’s actually an excuse.

The Rome Treaty Organization had received massive funding from America through “Show Me the Money,” so post-war reconstruction wasn’t going badly.

They had enough food to spare and could even dump outdated weapons stored in warehouses onto China, but this was to discipline the National Government.

“A part? Then who are you supporting?”

“The Chinese Federalist Government, Qing, and the Balhae Republic.”

Mao Zedong who severely damaged China, Wang Jingwei’s puppet state Qing which was the National Government’s enemy, and even the small nation from the colonized peninsula!

“They are not legitimate governments. Mao Zedong of the Federalist Government is responsible for annihilating China’s main forces, creating this hell. Qing, though it helped at the end, is Japan’s puppet state, and Balhae is like Korea, a colony. Wouldn’t supporting us be better for the Rome Treaty’s activities in the Far East?”

“The Chinese Federalist Government reported Japan’s barbaric acts to the Russian Tsar, giving the Rome Treaty Organization, which had been unaware of Japan’s savagery, justification to punish Japan. Qing fought against Japanese forces, allowing the Rome Treaty Organization’s armies to attack Japan from behind. Without these two governments, could the National Government have won this war?”

“Fine. I understand that much. But Balhae, or rather Korea, is just a handful. What have they done?”

“They raised an army in Russia despite having no country, and finally recaptured the Korean Peninsula with their own strength. Thanks to their recapture of Southern Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, Japan lost its rear supply base and continental foothold. Balhae has fulfilled its role in the war and is judged to qualify as a sovereign state. We plan to help with national reconstruction as the Rome Treaty Organization’s Far East ally.”

“Then at least let us receive reparations from Japan.”

“That too is a difficult request.”

Unfortunately, that’s something they can’t give even if they wanted to.

Soong Mei-ling was furious to the top of her head at Louis Mountbatten’s unhesitating, firm answer.

This doesn’t work, that doesn’t work.

What on earth will these people allow?