Great time travel

Chapter 9, Worlds in Conflict: Winter is Coming
United States, Southwest Alaska, Aleutian Islands

Stretching thousands of kilometers from the Alaska Peninsula to the southwest, it echoes the Kamchatka Peninsula in Asia.

This is the Aleutian Islands, known as the "Stepping Stones of Alaska".

Before this desolate land was planted with the Stars and Stripes, the Aleutian Islands and the Alaska Peninsula belonged to the Tsarist Russia. Generations of Russian explorers marched eastward with amazing perseverance and opened up this land for the motherland thousands of miles away. Xintiandi.However, the long distance makes it difficult for Moscow to put power here, and it cannot support the Anglo-Saxon nation, which is determined to become the sole master of North America.

So, in 1867, the Aleutian Islands, together with Alaska, were packaged and sold to the United States for $720 million.In the eyes of the tsar at the time, the Aleutian Islands had frequent volcanic and seismic activities, and the islands were barren and barren, making them almost unsuitable for colonization. Therefore, for Russia, which had just lost the Crimean War at that time and was exhausted in its national strength, it was a good example. A good deal to get rid of the hot potato.However, if Tsar Alexander II knew that there were huge gold mines buried underground in Alaska, the Aleutian sea area 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 definitely regret it, right?
——The Aleutian Islands are volcanic islands, composed of five groups of islands: Fox, Andreyanov, Sishan, Rat and Neil. There are 159 large and small islands in total, with a total area of ​​about 18000 square kilometers.The archipelago straddles the North Pacific Ocean and is the natural boundary between the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean, guarding the outlet of the Bering Sea.At the same time, it is also the place with the closest territorial distance between the United States and Russia, and it is also a shortcut for Japan to North America and Northern Europe.

However, despite having such a unique geographical condition, it is still located in a high-latitude frigid sea area, surrounded by permafrost wilderness far away from the civilized world.The island is not only barren, but also has frequent volcanic 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, only has more than 3000 residents, and most of them The islands are simply not inhabited at all.

In the early days of the Pacific War, the Japanese army briefly invaded the Aleutian Islands, occupying the deserted islands of Attu and Kiska.But soon because it could not maintain such a long supply line, it fell into a dilemma.The U.S. launched a counter-offensive in the summer of 1943 and recaptured Attu Island under the cover of battleship gunfire. The Japanese army on Kiska Island fled in a hurry, and the war in the Aleutian Islands came to an end.

This small battle that took place in the remote frigid waters did not attract anyone's attention at the time.In the next two years, this sea area has also remained calm away from the flames of war.The magnificent picture of the entire Pacific War seems to be slowly unfolding among the coral reefs in the South Pacific, and blood and fire are burning in that sunny tropical sea.The Aleutian Islands, located at the northernmost tip of the Pacific Ocean, have become a corner forgotten by the world.

But in fact, on this forgotten cold island, the U.S. military has been building large-scale construction projects for the past two years. It spared no expense to build large airports, secret oil depots, and ammunition depots on various islands. And material supply warehouses, forming a logistics base of astonishing scale.

Now is the time for this archipelago to play a role!

When the Japanese navy detected the news that the main force of the US Pacific Fleet was going out to sea from Hawaii and its whereabouts were unknown, and it was frantically shrinking its forces everywhere to prepare for the next decisive battle in the South Pacific. Aleutian Islands.

——The United States of America's next big counterattack is about to shoot an arrow of revenge at the Japanese Empire from here!
At this moment, in this cold and cloudy sea that is haunted all year round, there are densely packed warships of various types, like a swarm of locusts, covering the ocean outside Dutch Harbor, the capital of the Aleutian Islands, beyond sight.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, 100 escort carriers converted from merchant ships, and two Alaska-class aircraft carriers. Battlecruisers, three Montana-class battleships, four Baltimore-class heavy cruisers, twelve Cleveland-class light cruisers, and more than [-] destroyers of various types... When such a huge fleet sails across the sea, The sea water in the Pacific Ocean is probably about to be stirred up to boil!

In this large-scale "sea of ​​battleships", the most conspicuous object is the unprecedented [-]-ton super-giant battleship, the lead ship of the "Hawaii" class battleship "Hawaii", which was launched just ten months ago. Number!

——Stimulated by the astonishing performance of the Japanese Yamato-class battleships, during the Pacific War, the Americans almost frantically built giant cannons of large ships: Think about it, what I have always been extremely despised by myself should be The stupid and clumsy Japanese monkey actually built such a super battleship that can block and kill gods and Buddhas. The entire Pacific Fleet was beaten to pieces by it. Where should the face of being the strongest industrial country on earth be put? 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 attack on Pearl Harbor and the air attack on Taranto, preached the theory of victory in the air everywhere, saying that large ships and cannons are the tears of the times, and only aircraft carriers are the key to the future of dominating the sea.However, those parliamentarians and people who do not have professional knowledge still believe intuition based on traditional experience that only battleships with a large enough tonnage, a large enough caliber, and thick enough armor are the invincible winners in naval battles!
Moreover, the terrible performance of the Japanese battleship Yamato in the South Pacific also slapped supporters of the "battleship theory of uselessness" one after another.

Besides, after building battleships, it doesn't mean that aircraft carriers will not be built. Since aircraft carriers are considered important, let's play Dajian together!

As a result, the entire United States of America frantically engaged in large-scale construction activities. The [-]-ton Iowa-class battleship could not beat the Yamato, so it went to the [-]-ton Montana class. When it was discovered that the [-]-ton Montana class was also However, this "Super Yamato" battleship of the "Hawaii" class was born: a standard displacement of [-] tons, a top speed of [-] knots, a [-]-inch main gun, and six A super-heavy bomb of more than a thousand pounds...

Since the tonnage of the "Hawaii" class battleship has far exceeded the maximum allowable passage of the Panama Canal in this era, it cannot pass through the Panama Canal.So after launching, they detoured through the Drake Passage in South America, rushed all the way to the Pacific battlefield, and then took a short rest at the anchorage of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and then continued to gather northward, preparing for this vigorous counterattack against Japan. among.

However, although this [-]-ton cutting-edge super battleship stands out among the steel warships flying the Stars and Stripes, it has not played the role of the general flagship in today's unprecedented large-scale counterattack... This honor The mission belongs to another legendary ship...

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Accompanied by the long sound of the siren, the "USS Enterprise" aircraft carrier flying the admiral's flag slowly sailed into the anchorage near Dutch Harbor, the capital of the Aleutian Islands, and all the ships moored nearby all rushed to it Raise the flag or fire a cannon.

In the U.S. Pacific Fleet, which has suffered repeated defeats, the "USS 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 indomitability of the US Pacific Fleet.

As early as when the Japanese army raided Pearl Harbor, it was chased by the battleship Yamato and forced to run aground on the beach, but it was lucky to be repaired quickly because the keel was not injured.Then, in a series of encounters in the South Pacific, the Enterprise took part in nearly every major naval battle.Although the entire U.S. Pacific Fleet was wiped out almost three times, from the fleet commander to ordinary sailors, and even the ship was changed at least once, but the Enterprise always managed to survive every time, so the "Lucky Star" The nickname is well-known in the army, and the sailors are lucky to be able to serve on the Enterprise.

At this moment, the current commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., nicknamed "The Bull", is standing on the ship "Enterprise", which has accompanied him through four years of war. On the legendary ship, I looked at the scenery of Alaska gradually unfolding on the horizon.

——Only after actually coming to this land, will I realize that the impression of Alaska in my mind in the past is not correct.Alaska is not exactly an ice and snow purgatory covered by glaciers and frozen soil, but also a green world full of life.Behind the cloud-shrouded coastline, there are lush forests and grasslands everywhere, and the doors and windows of the local wooden houses are also covered with flower pots in full bloom, colorful and delicate.

However, such a vibrant and beautiful summer time has come to an end in today's Alaska.Whether it is the longer and longer nights or the colder arctic wind day by day, it indicates that the harsh winter is coming... But for Halsey, it is a wonderful good thing—— In the North Pacific at the end of September, the seasonal fine weather suitable for aerial reconnaissance has basically come to an end.Today's North Pacific Ocean, 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 sneak attack fleet of the Japanese navy sneaking from the North Pacific before the Pearl Harbor incident, it is almost impossible for the Japanese to detect the main force of the US Pacific Fleet assembled in the Aleutian Islands.

After a period of time, when the Japanese navy mistakenly gathered their forces to the old battlefield in the South Pacific and guarded the open sea, the Halsey Fleet, which achieved the goal of strategic deception, would avoid reality and coerce The cold wind from the North Pole goes south from here to the Japanese archipelago!
At that time, the ownership and competition of this vast ocean will be settled.

If Eastern civilization originated from the Yellow River, Ganges, Tigris and Euphrates, then the cradle of Western civilization is the blue ocean.

War and bloodshed always follow the footsteps of human civilization, and with the development of navigation, fire and sword have also descended on the ocean.

The trinity of naval battles, warships, and admirals formed the trident of Poseidon, the god of the sea.Admirals in the early days of the Great Navigation Age were mostly daring adventurer captains; Drake, Nelson and other naval battle stars in the age of sail and artillery were just tacticians who won the whole army; only Tyre after entering the industrial age Pitts and Fisher began to put their thoughts on the strategic stage.

Now, two great countries are about to use the vast Pacific Ocean as a stage to play a legendary epic full of blood and fire.

In the past few years, Halsey "Bull" has seen too many failures, and a series of deaths of acquaintances and friends-Nimitz is dead, Fletcher is dead, silent Sp Loones was dead, and Kincaid, who led the army to recover the Aleutian Islands in [-], was also dead.

The sturdy Japanese Combined Fleet on the opposite side, the 56th Admiral Yamamoto who seemed to be destined, and the nightmare-like Yamato-class battleships wiped out the US Pacific Fleet time and time again, forcing the Americans Almost time and time again, the navy was rebuilt from scratch, but each time it had just lifted half of its body from the mud, and was immediately beaten hard, and was pressed into the mud again.

Yamamoto 56 on the opposite side is like the second Punic War. Hannibal, the ever-victorious Carthaginian god of war, insisted on leading a fleet that should be at a disadvantage in terms of quantity and quality, and sent the United States to the Pacific Ocean. The fleet was frightened and defeated.

But just as Hannibal underestimated the resilience and war potential of the Romans, Yamamoto probably underestimated the resilience of the US Navy.Every time he defeated the U.S. Pacific Fleet, a new, more powerful fleet would be reborn from the ashes...

And no amount of failures can break General Halsey's tenacious fighting spirit. No matter what difficulties he faces, even if his own life is at stake, he is determined to realize his will and slogan, which is: "Kill Japanese! 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 whose industrial scale dominates the world, once it enters a wartime system, it is only a matter of time before the "sea of ​​warships" explodes.

The real key problem is the lack of a sufficient number of qualified sailors-after such a series of major defeats, the elite naval officers and soldiers serving on the capital ships have almost died.And the navy is a fairly complicated technical arm. Although the major naval academies in the United States have repeatedly expanded their enrollment in order to deal with the war, those rookies who have just graduated are not good at doing things at all. At most, they can operate destroyers. Auxiliary ships such as cruisers.If you want to operate a huge capital ship of tens of thousands of tons handy, you must have several years of practical training.

In order to hurry up, the current U.S. Navy can only draw people from the merchant fleet, and even recruit crew members 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, the quality has deteriorated a lot.Fortunately, although there are many difficulties on the American side, the Japanese side is even more bleak.The loss of pilots can hardly be made up, and the newly recruited crew is also a bunch of rookies.

After all, the United States, which has a big family and a big business, is fighting a general war with Japan, which has limited industrial strength. A Soviet Union is giving blood transfusions to Japan to hang its life, so that it will never fall.

Thinking of this, Halsey hated his teeth. According to the latest intelligence, from Vladivostok in the Soviet Union to the ports in the Sea of ​​Japan in the northwest of the Japanese archipelago, it has become the busiest port in the Far East. trade routes.Petroleum, 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 guaranteeing the Japanese minimum life needs.Just like those arrogant Britons on the other side of the Atlantic are gnawing on American spam luncheon meat, the Japanese who used to eat rice are now frowning and chewing on Russian black leba...

In order to pay for these things, the Japanese also exhausted their family resources, not only organized donation campaigns again and again in the country, and took away the last gold ring from the hands of ordinary people, but also searched 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-paying items. Shipping to the USSR.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 can have such an "anti-fascist ally", it is really bad luck for eight lifetimes.

Thus, far from seriously declining the standard of living of ordinary Soviets during the world war, they actually got better in some ways.The rations of bread and other staple foods 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 major Soviet 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.In addition, there are all kinds of canned tropical fruits and canned fish that you have never heard of.The women happily bought all kinds of gorgeous silks, and the cigarettes smoked by the soldiers and workers were also of a higher grade... It was like Hitler, after winning the French battle, frantically collecting all kinds of luxury goods in the Paris market and shipping them back to Germany , used to please those Germanic people who have had enough artificial coffee and margarine in the country.

However, the effect of this approach is also immediate. The enthusiasm of the Soviets to support the war is unprecedentedly high, and so far there is no obvious war-weary atmosphere.

On the other hand, the common people in various areas occupied by the Japanese army suffered great misfortune, but this account can only be credited to the Japanese.Equally unlucky were the United States, whose endless bloodshed in the Pacific, and the United Kingdom, whose lost colonies could not be regained year after year.

Obviously, if the blood transfusion from the Soviet Union to Japan cannot be cut off, the cost of destroying the Japanese imperial war machine will be unimaginably high.

But how can the Soviet Union cut off blood transfusions to Japan, and 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 could come up with a solution.Military threat?The Soviets not only had atomic bombs, but also dared to throw atomic bombs casually!Benefit exchange?The whole of Europe is about to be swallowed up by the Soviet Union. How can the United States and Britain have any decent bargaining chips to exchange?With the red flags about to be planted all over the world, the Soviets may wish the United States, the "last bastion of capitalism", to drain its blood dry in the Pacific Ocean!
Therefore, in order to break through this predicament and end this damn war as quickly as possible, the U.S. Navy once again opened its brains, decided to avoid reality and move its troops northward, and formulated this operation code-named "Winter" Action, prepare to strike a hammer on the back of the Japanese Empire!
——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, and it is also a private kingdom managed by Marshal Yamamoto 56 painstakingly.Once this resource-rich land is lost, the once invincible combined fleet of the Japanese Navy will become water without a source and a tree without roots, and the stop 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 essence of the navy and army into this land thousands of miles away.In the past three years, the U.S. Pacific Fleet has continued to launch counterattacks here again and again, but unfortunately all attempts have ended in failure.

After repeatedly hitting a 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 counterattack of the U.S. Army, almost all the elite navy and army of the Japanese Empire have been mobilized to Nanyang-Australia. On the front line, the remaining part of the troops are also stranded on the battlefield in mainland China, or assisting the insurgents in India. The military power of the archipelago is quite empty.

Especially the Japanese Navy, apart from a few old coastal defense ships left over from the Russo-Japanese War era, there is not even a capital ship in the mainland.Even if the Japanese discovered this problem, they would have no 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 jump out of the vicious circle of thinking inertia and no longer stick to defeating the main force of the Yamamoto 56 United Fleet head-on, then it can completely attack from the North Pacific and attack the junction of Japan and the Soviet Union. The little man's hometown wins the war!
According to the instructions of the US Navy Chief Ernest Joseph King, the objectives of this "Winter" combat plan mainly include the following points:

First, pull Japan's maritime defenses and make it lose sight of others.Once the United Fleet went north to rescue the mainland, the U.S. military turned to Nanyang.

Second, enter the Sea of ​​Japan, the "Emperor Hirohito's Pond", and cut off the Soviet Union's blood vessels supplying the Japanese Empire's war machine.

Third, shake the determination of the Japanese Empire to fight, and create an opportunity for the peace faction political forces in Japan to seize power.

Fourth, on the basis of achieving the above three goals, provide appropriate assistance to the Chinese 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 56, who was in Southeast Asia, was the invincible Carthage who moved to the Italian Peninsula Hannibal, the god of war; and Halsey, the famous Roman general Scipio who is about to go straight to the homeland of the "contemporary Hannibal" and force him to withdraw his troops to return home, and finally defeated in the Battle of Zama!
Since you can't beat you in the South Pacific battlefield, try another battlefield!
Alas, I don't know where my own "Battle of Zama" will start in the Japanese archipelago?

General Halsey rubbed his chin, looked at the map of Japan on the chart table, thoughtfully...

Of course, it seems too early to think about this question now. Before that, the first thing he, the "barbaric bull", should do is to lead the fleet to rush along the Thousand Islands, and go straight to the Sea of ​​Japan from the north to kill Japan. people!Kill the Japanese!Kill more Japanese!
"...Autumn has arrived, and the next winter should not be too far away... The scorching sun of the Japanese Empire has been shining over the Pacific Ocean for too long, and now it's time for those hateful little yellow-skinned dwarfs to feel what they came from. The cold winds of the Arctic winter!"

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Central Pacific Ocean, Midway Island, the forefront base of the US military against Japan
Accompanied by the graceful landing of a seaplane, Ernest Joseph King, the chief of the Navy who was patrolling the front line, came to the island.

At this time, the main force of the Pacific Fleet led by Halsey has assembled in the Aleutian Islands in the north, and is undergoing the final rest and replenishment before the attack.And another small feint fleet responsible for deceiving the enemy has also lifted 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 arranged here.

——At the largest military airport on Midway Island, more than 200 B-29 four-engine "Super Sky Fortress" strategic bombers have all landed and are undergoing final maintenance.In the open space next to it, ground crews were moving boxes of "special aerial bombs" with skull patterns into the warehouse.In addition, there is a large group of experts in white coats, surrounded by 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's "winter" operation: a large number of sarin gas bombs urgently produced by relying on technology obtained from Nazi German fugitives; and the entire existing nuclear arsenal of the United States, code-named "" The two atomic bombs of "Fat Man" and "Little Boy"!
Although Admiral Halsey regarded the decisive battle between him and Admiral Yamamoto 56 as an epic duel between "contemporary Scipio" and "contemporary Hannibal".However, Chief of the Navy Ernest King is very clear that this is not the whole plan.

The northern line of defense of the Japanese Empire is certainly empty, but if the battle continues island by island, even if they all win, it will take a lot of time to waste.Once Yamamoto 56 leads the main force of the United Fleet to the north to rescue, then under 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 necessarily have a great chance of winning.

Indeed, taking advantage of the opportunity of the United 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, making this fleet lose its long-lasting combat capability , Gradually turning 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, and it will take at least one or two years to exhaust its opponents!
And this is still in the most ideal situation-don't forget that there is another Soviet Union that will give Japan a blood transfusion so that it can continue to drag the US military down.

But today's America is already on fire, and there is no time to continue tearing up with the Japanese!In order to free up hands as soon as possible and work with British allies to curb the excessive expansion of Soviet Bolshevik forces in Europe, the United States must end the Pacific War this year!
As long as this goal can be achieved, even if some reputation and image losses are paid for it, the White House is ready to hold its nose and admit it.

Therefore, Commander Ernest King of the Navy personally rushed to Midway Island to preside over the "special bombing" of Tokyo, Japan. First, an unprecedented large-scale B-29 four-engine "Super Sky Fortress" strategic bomber fleet was dispatched. A large number of sarin gas bombs were dropped on the urban area of ​​Tokyo from high altitudes. While killing thousands of Japanese, the rest were forced into basements or bunkers, and they did not dare to escape at will.Next, two atomic bombs would be dropped on the Nagatacho Imperial Palace and the Akasaka Palace, in an effort to kill the Emperor of Japan in one fell swoop, or at least paralyze the entire wartime stronghold of the Japanese Empire.

In this way, in the face of the Japanese Empire with its command center paralyzed, the Halsey fleet only needs to defeat some insignificant and sporadic resistance, and can easily rush into the heart of the empire, repeating the four "black warships" led by General Perry back then. The scene where the "ship" forced Japan to found a country.

And the peace faction in Japan, which has long been in contact with the United States of America, will also take the opportunity to revolt internally, establish a new pro-American regime, disintegrate the will of the local Japanese army to resist, cooperate with the US military to take over this island of samurai, and even use the legacy of the Japanese Empire , to help the U.S. military deal with the red forces of the Soviet Union and China... At that time, no matter how capable Yamamoto 56 is in Nanyang, he will have no choice but to surrender and let it go.

Of course, after doing this, the reputation of the United States is estimated to be similar to that of Hitler who slaughtered the Jews... However, in order to curb the spread of red forces, since Churchill can decide to shake hands with the German Nazis, why can't the United States learn from the university? What about the method of massacre?

What's more, this is nothing more than killing a group of Japanese devils who deserve to die!Only dead Japanese are good Japanese!
Looking at the two atomic bombs that were about to cause unprecedented catastrophe, Commander Ernest King of the Navy convinced himself...

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Japan, Kyoto

In Kyoto in autumn, the fallen leaves are falling.In the long-established ancestral manor of the Mitsui family in Kyoto, a secret internal meeting of great importance is being held. Several old men in kimonos or suits are arguing fiercely, but they still cannot come up with a conclusion.

——After 77 years of the successful Meiji Restoration, the largest chaebol in Japan ushered in another important moment to determine the fate of the family.

And the last time I needed to make this kind of decision was on the eve of the Fushimi-Toba battle that decided the survival of the Tokugawa family...

——As a family of wealthy merchants with a long history, as early as the Tokugawa shogunate era, the Mitsui family had already started to engage in the gold and silver currency exchange industry, as well as financial businesses such as pawn and loan, and then undertook the tax exchange of the Tokugawa shogunate business, thus becoming a top chaebol from an ordinary wealthy businessman in one fell swoop.Later, through long-term close cooperation with the shogunate, the trust of the Tokugawa shogunate in the Mitsui Zaibatsu reached an unprecedented level.

Especially after the "black ships came to sail", after the western powers opened the door to Japan, the shogunate even stipulated that all local business of foreign banks must go through the Mitsui family, which prevented foreign banks from directly contacting Japanese businessmen.The Mitsui family played the role of the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou in the Qing Dynasty. One family monopolized all the trade and financial interfaces of Japan to foreign countries, so that the financial and business network of the Mitsui family was the only one in Japan.

However, despite the Tokugawa shogunate's love for the Mitsui Zaibatsu, the Mitsui Zaibatsu was like a hungry wolf who couldn't get enough to feed. -On the eve of the Battle of Toba, the richest man in Japan, Mitsui Saburosuke, the head of the Mitsui Zaibatsu, ordered all the bets to be placed on the Tobama faction, and he devoted all his family resources to assist the Restoration Government of Emperor Meiji, and openly broke with the Tokugawa Shogunate!
In this way, the new government army, which was empty-pocketed and about to go into chaos without a fight, immediately had ample military expenditures. It bought more than 500 artillery pieces and supporting ammunition in one go, and launched a decisive battle with the shogunate army with three times its strength. .However, the Tokugawa family, which seemed to have a deep foundation, immediately fell into financial collapse and financial chaos because of this, and its combat effectiveness plummeted several levels.Next, the shogunate army was not only anticlimactic and inexplicably defeated in the Fushimi-Toba battle, but also completely disintegrated after that, and could hardly organize any resistance, so they surrendered in Kaesong, Edo.

Since then, the Mitsui Zaibatsu has achieved a magnificent turn from the remnant of the shogunate to the hero of the empire, and was appointed by the Emperor Meiji as the new financial agent of the Japanese Empire. The Mitsui Bank has almost become the national central bank of Japan, monopolizing coinage, printing, and issuing public bonds. And many other powerful powers, and occupied the huge interests of many mines, ports, and factories, so that a super economic empire from finance to industry was formed, and its wealth and power were indistinguishable for a while.

Even Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and other major chaebols in Japan are just juniors who look up to the Mitsui chaebol.

The "New York Times" once described it like this: There has never been such an organization in Western civilization.The Rothschild family, which is only engaged in the financial industry, is very ordinary compared with the Mitsui Zaibatsu.Mitsui is the richest consortium in the Eastern world, controlling mines, banks, railways, shipping, factories and trading companies. "As rich as Mitsui" means endless wealth to the Japanese, just as Americans dream of "as rich as Rockefeller".

The chaebols headed by the Mitsui family not only control the lifeline of Japan's economy, but also collude with the elders, bureaucrats, and warlords to manipulate political parties and control the political power. Serving the interests of the chaebol.

However, when the chariot gradually drove towards the cliff and was in danger of overturning and collapsing, the chaebols couldn't help but want to jump out of the chariot and change their horses...

——Although the current situation in 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 already been overdrawn to the limit, and they are only fighting the United States with their last breath. Evenly matched.Moreover, with the successive destruction of Germany and Italy, Japan is the only one left among the three major Axis powers. In the face of the coming global siege, Japan cannot bear it at all.

At present, what keeps the war machine of the Japanese Empire barely running is the blood transfusion obtained from the Soviet Union, except for the crushing of the citizens and the occupied areas, which requires a heavy price.And the red thoughts that poured into the Japanese Empire together with Soviet materials, especially after corresponding signs appeared in the army and the government, made these extremely reactionary plutocrats feel alarmed-for them, that I really would rather turn Japan into a colony and then serve another American master than see Japan become a country like the Soviet Union.

In fact, as early as Nazi Germany was on the verge of destruction and the European battlefield was coming to an end, the major Japanese chaebols had communicated with the United States and the United Kingdom through their own channels to test the possibility of Japan's withdrawal from the war and a decent ending.

However, the conditions offered by the allies are far from the minimum acceptable to Japan's wartime base camp. If such a peace treaty is insisted on, the army will soon cause mutiny and heavenly punishment—as long as there is With the military stuck in the middle, peace is impossible.

However, in Japan in the era of militarism, no one could suppress the army—the all-out war that lasted for many years had already swelled the power of the military to the point where it could not be lost. Had to accept the wartime control and supervision of the base camp, and the actual control was greatly weakened.And the current extremely harsh wartime system has also severely constrained the means of these chaebols to make trouble.

Just as it was impossible for businessmen in the shogunate era to overthrow the samurai and control the state affairs by themselves, it is impossible for the current Japanese chaebol to suppress the Japanese army.

In addition, even within the various chaebols, there is a lot of discussion and disagreement on the issue of bypassing the army to seek peace with the allies-of course they know that this crazy war that singles out the world can no longer be fought, and they are even more resentful that the military has fought Under the banner of "wartime control", he wantonly intervened and controlled the industry under his name, and he was also very worried that Japan would undergo drastic changes under internal and external difficulties, repeating the mistakes of Tsarist Russia at the end of World War I, and let himself lose everything.

However, many people also lack trust in the American lobbyists who are swaying olive branches, and are very hesitant: after the end of World War I, how the Allied Powers dismantled factories and machines from Germany and apportioned huge indemnities, they still vividly remember the past, if the United States What should I do if I do the same in Japan?
In any case, the current situation of the Japanese Empire does not seem to have come to an end, so why make a decision so quickly?

What's more, it is a foolish decision to "collude with foreigners" behind the government's back, which is likely to make him notorious for thousands of years in history.

However, although they have not yet made up their minds to jump from the tank of the Japanese Empire to the bowl of the Americans, they still listen to the advice of the contact person and leave Tokyo for the time being... After all, Tokyo is the imperial capital, full of many Even if you have reached a tacit agreement with the higher-ups in advance, it will be troublesome if you are poked out by the stunned youth below.If you want to do something secretly, it is indeed better to go to another place.

——Until this time, they still don't know what is going to happen next, what kind of landslide and earth-shattering will happen.

However, when the cold winter current from Alaska and the nuclear flames from Midway Island were still thousands of kilometers away from the Japanese archipelago, another cold wind from the north that swept across Europe had already made Countless people are trembling under its lust...