Ch.266Sunset (2)

# Tokyo Imperial General Headquarters, Empire of Japan

Support for Renya Mutaguchi had grown considerably. In fact, most of western Japan had already fallen under his control.

“We can’t continue anymore. Let’s surrender.”

“Western Japan is already in Renya’s hands.”

“Even His Majesty the Emperor has called for surrender.”

But surrender was easier said than done.

Defeat in this war meant certain death for everyone in Hideki Tojo’s cabinet.

And the hardliners were still insisting that everyone should fight to the death.

While the surrender faction and hardliners continued their internal struggle, the unfortunate reality was that America had no intention of accepting surrender. Even if they surrendered to Russia, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t hand the headquarters over to America, making surrender pointless.

And then…

After the nuclear bombing of Kyoto, most surviving citizens lost their will to fight, and only then was surrender discussed again.

“The China Expeditionary Force in Nanjing has been completely annihilated by Russian nuclear weapons.”

“There’s no guarantee they won’t drop one on Tokyo next.”

“We must fight! Even if all imperial subjects die! We must show the foreigners the Empire’s resolve!”

“We’re out of food because of all the refugees.”

Of course, with their necks on the line, Tojo Hideki’s faction continued to protest against surrender.

Eventually, they belatedly offered to surrender on the condition of preserving the imperial system—

But America, having already declared they would turn the Japanese archipelago into a hell on earth, responded with the Tokyo firebombing led by LeMay.

Four hundred B-29 bombers relentlessly bombed Tokyo, delivering their “gift” of 100% incendiary bombs to the city.

The Japanese archipelago was being pounded ceaselessly, and the Tokyo air raids began just as the Imperial Headquarters was discussing surrender. The reason was simple.

With Operation Downfall underway, the US First and Eighth Armies had begun invading the Kanto region while bombing all of Japan, causing refugees to flee to Tokyo, exponentially increasing the refugee population there.

The Tokyo air raids began precisely at this moment—specifically to maximize human casualties.

“P-please save me,” “Kyaaaaa!” “M-my house!”

Even Tojo Hideki had no answers anymore.

They had lost Southern Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula, and half of Japan, and now the capital was too damaged to function as a city.

The city center had been reduced to wasteland, and as if to prove “this place is a hell of fire,” the entire city of Tokyo was engulfed in rings of flame even at night.

Only then did the Imperial Headquarters desperately attempt to communicate their unconditional surrender to America.

“What’s happening? Why isn’t America responding?”

“They’re refusing to accept our surrender!”

But again, as mentioned before.

America had no intention of accepting surrender. From the moment large American forces landed in Kanto, Tokyo’s fate had been sealed.

They weren’t even free to surrender on their own terms.

With Tokyo having lost the will to fight, American forces that had finally landed in Kanto through Operation Downfall began entering the city. There were no troops left to stop them—all that greeted the Americans were blackened corpses and the skeletal remains of burned wooden buildings.

Thus, on September 9, 1944, Japan ended the war with America without even being able to surrender, as the entire Imperial Headquarters was either captured by American forces or committed seppuku.

A war that ended not with conditional surrender or demands for unconditional surrender, but with American forces directly occupying Tokyo.

Unlike the original history, there was no Imperial broadcast, a war that ended without even a surrender.

Naturally, Japan’s greatest general, Renya Mutaguchi, who had been intoxicated with his heroic delusions, fell to his knees and wailed upon hearing news of the surrender, the devastation of Kyoto, and Tokyo’s occupation.

“Ugh! Even heaven is heartless. So this is my limit! Those incompetent Imperial Headquarters bastards have brought the Empire to ruin! I should have raised my army earlier!”

“Governor-General!” “Huhuhuh.” “To think the Empire would fall like this!” “It’s not Your Excellency’s fault!”

Renya Mutaguchi’s great lamentation in front of Kyoto became so famous that it was featured in newspapers by war correspondents.

In truth, he had delayed advancing on Kyoto out of concern for battle with American forces, citing Kyoto’s status as a spiritual capital, and had simply stumbled and fallen because he was still drunk from the previous evening.

Nevertheless, on the surface, it appeared as though the shogun had exhausted his strength and failed to achieve his goals.

Thus, he received much sympathy from the Japanese people as a general who couldn’t restore the country due to the incompetent Imperial Headquarters. This would greatly influence Renya Mutaguchi’s eventual rise to power.

***

Warlords began breaking away from Soong Mei-ling’s Nationalist government.

They probably can’t bear to fight against us with our nuclear weapons.

By this point, shouldn’t they be questioning who actually killed Chiang Kai-shek?

Perhaps Soong Mei-ling suspects it, but all she can do is tremble.

Either way, having submitted like this, Soong Mei-ling has lost both legitimacy and justification for forming a unified government.

With adultery rumors already spreading and her submission to the Tsar, more warlords will break away.

All Soong Mei-ling can do now is try to maintain what little government her husband left behind.

This concludes the China issue for now.

The federal government of Qing and our bastard Mao Zedong is our territory even with federal autonomy, and while the rest has entered federal autonomy, all we can really do is recognize the governments of individual warlords.

“This brings the China issue to a conclusion.”

“Should we continue supplying materials?”

Of course we should.

Since the government has split, we can justify helping each government separately.

“Let’s recognize each warlord’s autonomous government separately. We should provide supplies to each one individually. The Nationalist government should also be treated separately.”

Soong Mei-ling won’t be able to protest this.

See, people should just listen well.

These Sinocentric bastards need to be kept down right now.

That’s their weakness. Once divided, they’ll inevitably fight each other for unification of the realm.

And if this division solidifies, it will become difficult to unify in the future, like North and South Korea.

“Indeed, if we treat them all equally, none can gain the upper hand.”

Look at future Korea.

Unification is good, but immediate unification would mean accepting over 20 million destitute people—could South Korea handle that?

A divided China will develop separately, with gaps in national power emerging.

The era of unification through conflict, as in ancient times, will be far in the future, making unification increasingly difficult.

“But we must consider the possibility that the Nationalist government might beg America for help.”

That’s likely. Judging from the Soong Mei-ling of original history, she might seek American aid to survive.

But so what?

Could America really interfere? Absolutely not.

America will become a superpower like us, but they’re not in a position to challenge us yet.

America’s missile technology is still far behind ours.

Probably like in the original history, where America was amazed by German missile technology after World War II.

Moreover, in this world, America didn’t even have Goddard, so they’re importing technology from us. Would America accept a valueless China in the current situation?

“We should monitor that variable, but I doubt America would use a weak government like the Chinese Nationalist government to check us.”

Besides, America has Canada above them.

They could instead tighten their grip on Latin America.

In many ways, compared to the original history, America’s influence is limited.

The title of the only great power opposing the Rome Treaty.

Hmm, isn’t that impressive?

They might target Vietnam or Southeast Asia freed from colonization, but that’s about it. There are limits.

Moreover, this America unified to avenge Japan.

Having finally captured Japan, MacArthur’s influence will grow and their unity will last longer, but still.

And not long after, we finally received the news we’d been waiting for.

News that America had occupied Tokyo and captured Japan’s leadership.

“So the US-Japan War has ended.”

With the end of the US-Japan War, the war between the Rome Treaty and Japan also ended.

The Rome Treaty had essentially completed its objectives after annihilating the Combined Fleet, repelling the China Expeditionary Force, and reclaiming the Korean Peninsula. With Tokyo’s occupation by American forces, our war naturally concluded as well.

It was quite surprising that Tokyo was occupied rather than surrendering.

This America is truly united by vengeance against Japan.

And the surprising element was Renya Mutaguchi.

“Does the position make the man?”

Looking at the newspaper showing Renya Mutaguchi kneeling and wailing in the ruins of Kyoto was quite perplexing.

From my perspective, he seems intoxicated with his own heroism, but this will greatly help Renya consolidate power in western Japan.

Many Japanese were following Mutaguchi at this point, so his display would naturally elicit much sympathy.

Additionally, western Japan would be seething with anti-American sentiment after the burning of Kyoto, their spiritual capital.

Unlike eastern Japan, this region had been bombed earlier, and with soldiers and refugees flocking to Mutaguchi’s advance, it was in relatively better condition than eastern Japan.

“Renya’s volunteer army barely managed to enter Nagoya. But the American forces blocked any further advance.”

“They’re telling him to stay within his boundaries.”

If the Americans had continued demanding surrender, Renya might have advanced further into eastern Japan. That’s somewhat regrettable.

What’s even more amusing is that Mutaguchi Renya’s army that advanced to Nagoya was substantial enough to put up a decent fight.

With the China Expeditionary Force that surrendered to Renya and those who voluntarily joined his volunteer army within Japan, their numbers were considerable.

I wonder what would have happened if they had fought the American forces.

Though Japan was the bully of East Asia, they couldn’t have defeated the American forces.

If we had supported them, it would inevitably have escalated into a war between the Rome Treaty and America.

This is about the right point to wrap things up, with America giving us money and us giving America money.

But in this case, will there be a surrender signing ceremony?

With Tokyo falling like this, it seems odd. If I had known, I should have sent the Okhrana to capture the Emperor.

But that might have made them more wary of us.

It might have looked like we were trying to claim more than necessary in Japan.

“When will the surrender signing ceremony take place?”

“The American military command wants the Treaty to send representatives to Tokyo for the surrender.”

They want to hold a formal surrender ceremony.

So, will the surrender be like in the original history?

Looking at the photos of the surrender news, I couldn’t help but laugh.

It was a Tokyo Bay photo, similar to the original history.

“Will they sign on the USS Missouri, an Iowa-class battleship anchored in Tokyo Bay?”

Or will it be different since Tokyo has been occupied?

Perhaps the entire Tojo cabinet will be dragged out like dogs and forced to sign the surrender document.

The one fortunate aspect is that Tokyo was occupied before American forces could search every corner of eastern Japan, but it’s hard to predict how the angry American forces will conduct the surrender ceremony.

“Yes, Your Majesty. You knew about that too.”

“Then send him. General Grigory Semyonov should go as the Far Eastern Army representative.”

As in the original history, representatives from various countries would participate in the signing ceremony.

The American representative was Chester Nimitz, the Chinese Federal Autonomy representative was Zhou Enlai, and the Nationalist government sent Xu Yongchang.

The Allied representatives were similar to the original history: Rome Treaty-British representative Bruce Fraser, Rome Treaty-Australian representative Thomas Blamey, Rome Treaty-Canadian representative Lawrence Moore Cosgrave, Rome Treaty-French representative Philippe Leclerc, and so on, but with “Rome Treaty-” prefixed to each.

Additionally, Kim Gu was sent as the representative of the Balhae Republic, recognized as a belligerent force.

The Japanese Empire representatives included Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Yoshijiro Umezu, similar to the original history, but importantly, they were essentially dragged there.

Looking at the statistics, Japan had already fallen to the level of the poorest countries.

In the original history, they also fell to extreme poverty, but now they had plummeted to the point where almost no cities were functioning.

Western Japan was somewhat functional thanks to Renya Mutaguchi, but it was essentially ruined with orphans and famine overflowing.

I wonder how the surrender signing will proceed.

“Your Majesty, General MacArthur of the American forces wants to discuss how to divide the world going forward. He asked to set a date.”

America wants to divide the globe through our foreign ministry.

Hmm, I see. They want to accept the surrender first, and since Japan is essentially American territory now, they want to sort out the territorial arrangements later.

Shouldn’t that be done with our Prime Minister—

Then again, since America has Huey Long separately, perhaps it makes sense for me to handle it.

“It seems it’s finally my turn.”

In that case, I should quickly pretend to save western Japan.

Of course, I’ll need to address Korean affairs and colonial matters at that meeting.

This meeting will essentially determine which areas belong to whom.