cicada

Chapter 1527 The Longest Day

"You have 30 seconds to tell me the location of the fault, otherwise I will kill one person every 10 seconds. Start the timer now."

Kenji Tanaka glanced at his watch, then issued an ultimatum to the broadcasting company staff, before drawing his sidearm.

The pistol in the south reflected a faint, cold light in the moonlight. The employees looked at each other, whispering questions, trying to find the culprit who had damaged the equipment, but no one confessed.

Thirty seconds passed in the blink of an eye. When the second hand ticked to the last tick, Kenji Tanaka decisively pulled the trigger. With a bang, a female employee fell to the ground.

Upon seeing their colleague beaten to death, the crowd erupted in commotion; some knelt on the ground begging for mercy, while others shouted explanations.

Ten seconds later, Tanaka fired again without hesitation, killing the second employee.

Blood flowed slowly down the slope of the ground to the feet of a rebel soldier. The soldier looked disgusted, moved two steps to the side, and wiped the soles of his shoes on the ground.

The second hand ticked rapidly, and with 10 seconds about to pass, an officer from the rebel army approached Kenji Tanaka and whispered words of advice in his ear.

"Major, the broadcasting needs these guys. No one knows the situation of the Broadcasting Association better than them. We can order them to check the equipment and fix the malfunction as soon as possible."

Kenji Tanaka frowned, but ultimately did not fire again. He put his sidearm back in its holster and gave the employees a chilling smile.

"Hehe, I was rude just now. Now I'm giving you all a chance. Find the faulty equipment and fix it, and you can live. If you can't, you'll all be killed. Understand?"

As he made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand, the employees nodded vigorously. Their so-called loyalty and dedication were worthless in the face of death.

Rebel soldiers, bayonets at their feet, escorted the staff into the Broadcasting Association building. Gunfire continued outside, piercing sirens echoed over Tokyo, and fiery clouds could be seen on the horizon.

Inside an inconspicuous house in the downtown area, Hayashi Fuichiro cautiously looked out the window, afraid of being discovered, because an execution was taking place across the street.

A group of rebels dragged several pro-peace officials out of their residences. No matter how the officials explained, the rebels ignored them, tied them up by the roadside, and raised their guns to aim at their backs.

"Ready!" the rebel leader shouted, raising his right hand high and then slamming it down: "Fire!"

"bang bang bang"

Gunfire erupted in the night, and one by one, the pro-peace officials fell face down. After the rebels fired more shots, they marched to another building, leaving behind only the heartbroken families of the officials who threw themselves on the corpses and wept bitterly.

Lin Fuyi swallowed hard, then slowly turned around and gestured for everyone in the Suzuki family to be quiet. Everyone, including Suzuki Kantarō, held their breath.

Fortunately, the rebels may have had accurate intelligence, so they did not search every house, and the sound of military boots hitting the ground gradually faded away.

Whew~ Lin Fuyilang let out a long breath, raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, and the others also breathed a sigh of relief.

Suzuki Kantarō quickly regained his composure; after all, he was an old fox who had served several dynasties. He exchanged a glance with Hayashi Fuichirō's father before speaking.

"Ichiro, come with me and Earl Lin Fu to the study. We have something to ask you."

"Hay."

Lin Fuyilang bowed his head and responded, then followed the two into the study. The three of them stood in the dimly lit room without turning on the lights.

"Ichiro." Earl Lin Fu's voice was somewhat hesitant, but he still asked the question that had been bothering him: "Did you already know about the rebellion?"

He asked this question because his son's preparations were too thorough. The safe house he had arranged in advance, along with enough drinking water and food for dozens of people to live in for a week, did not seem like a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Kantarō Suzuki also stared intently at his grandson-in-law, his sharp gaze seemingly piercing through the darkness, trying to see what was truly on the other's mind.

Lin Fuyilang was silent for a moment, and finally replied in a low voice: "Yes, Father. Before the incident, I received news that someone in the army was planning to rebel. I did not expect things to develop to this point."

Upon hearing this, Earl Lin Fu's expression turned solemn, and he questioned sharply, "Why did you conceal this matter? Now is the time of the empire's survival. Do you know that doing this will endanger His Majesty the Heavenly Locust?"

Faced with his father's questioning, Lin Fuyilang replied coldly, "Father, I must consider the future of Lin Fuyilang and the Suzuki family."

"A few months ago, Tokyo was attacked by US incendiary bombs. In order to shirk responsibility, the cabinet nominated Mr. Suzuki as prime minister. Mr. Suzuki resigned on the grounds of being too old and hard of hearing. What did Mr. Suzuki do at that time?"

Lin Fuyilang sneered as he spoke, his smile filled with dissatisfaction and mockery, and his tone unconsciously rose a few decibels.

"Our Emperor Tianhuang says it doesn't matter that he can't hear, and insists that Lord Suzuki form a cabinet so he can continue his research on marine life. Is there any need to be loyal to such a monarch?!"

"Baka yarou!!!"

Count Lin Fu's expression changed drastically, and he raised his hand to slap his son, but Suzuki Kantarō stopped him. Then, the chief attendant of the Heavenly Locust said something to Lin Fu Ichirō.

“Ichiro, continue. Speak your mind.” Lin Fu Ichiro was not afraid at all. He bowed slightly and spoke his mind: “Lord Suzuki, Father, the Empire is about to fall. It is inevitable that the homeland will be occupied by the American army. We must consider the future.”

"Instead of reminding Tianhuang to suppress the rebellion, we should use the rebels to get rid of those old guys. At that time, as the only remaining elder, Mr. Suzuki, the Americans will definitely take you seriously."

His two sentences were half true and half false. After hearing them, Earl Lin Fu's eyes flickered, and he slowly lowered his raised hand.

In fact, the more imperial elders died, the greater the benefits the Lin Fu family received. Compared to ephemeral loyalty, the rise and fall of the family was more important.

Kantarō Suzuki's reaction was somewhat slow. He remained silent for a while before letting out a long sigh: "Ah, Ichiro, congratulations, you've finally become a qualified politician."

Politicians and politicians are different. The former have a bottom line, while the latter will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, but they usually live longer.

Lin Fuyilang smiled slightly, knowing that Suzuki had already tacitly accepted his actions, which was within his expectations. No one in this world can escape the pursuit of profit.

Meanwhile, gunfire outside intensified as countless high-ranking officials and nobles were purged by the rebels, including many who were hawkish.

The rebels were in a bloodthirsty frenzy, and they didn't care whether their targets were pro-war or pro-peace factions. Even some big businessmen were implicated, and the whole of Tokyo was stained with blood.

On the morning of August 14, 1945, the rebels not only did not disperse, but their numbers increased, with more and more Japanese soldiers joining the "military remonstrance".

After all, watching others profit from the rebellion while he was left stuck in the camp was a truly unpleasant feeling, even more so than eating a lemon.

Driven by the mentality that "the law will not punish the masses," a large number of low-ranking soldiers stormed into Tokyo, burning, killing, and looting. These unruly soldiers had no military discipline and killed anyone they saw, looting luxury residences, resulting in the massacre of several wealthy families.

Seeing the situation getting increasingly chaotic, Army Minister Anami Korechika, who had remained silent until now, stopped watching the drama unfold and issued orders to his trusted troops, requesting that the army enter the city to quell the rebellion.

But once the flames of rebellion are ignited, it is no easy task to extinguish them. The troops sent to quell the rebellion tried to put out fires everywhere, but the situation did not improve at all.

The rebels firmly occupied key institutions such as the Imperial Palace, the Ministry of the Army, and the Ministry of the Navy. Several attacks by the counter-rebellion forces were repelled, not because they did not want to fight, but because they could not win.

Even before the mutiny, the rebels had prepared for a counterattack, carrying not only heavy machine guns but also infantry guns and anti-tank guns.

Around noon, the area outside the Broadcasting Association was littered with corpses. Hiding behind sandbags, Kenji Tanaka asked his subordinates if the broadcasting equipment had been repaired.

"Major, no." The subordinate's tone was dejected, his face covered in smoke and dust from the explosion.

Tanaka Kenji clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the sandbag, his face full of frustration. He was about to order the execution of all the association's staff when a soldier suddenly ran up from behind.

The other side reported another piece of bad news to Tanaka: the rebels had searched the Imperial Palace from top to bottom but had not found the recording.

In the distance, officers of the counterinsurgency army used iron megaphones to shout that as long as the rebels surrendered, the cabinet and headquarters would not hold anyone accountable.

The rebels' morale began to waver. Tanaka Kenji's eyes narrowed, and he fired several shots in the direction of the officer who had spoken, managing to stabilize his troops. But this was only temporary.

He knew that as time dragged on, the pacification army would eventually break through the defenses, and no matter how much he tried to persuade them, the rebellion would fail.

Kenji Tanaka was right. Just when the situation was at a stalemate, a force that could decide the outcome entered the game.

Off the coast of Tokyo, the Xuefeng patrolled the sea. Ozawa, who was on the bridge, looked at the secret telegram from the Ministry of the Navy in his hand, looked up and tapped the first mate twice: "Prepare for shelling!"

"Hai!~"

Following Ozawa's order, the few remaining small and medium-sized warships of the Japanese Combined Fleet pointed their guns at their capital, and shells and propellant barrels were loaded into the gun chambers.

A dozen seconds later, dozens of dazzling tongues of fire shot out from the cannon muzzle, the sound of the cannon was deafening, and the air pressure generated by the shells pushed the sea surface into layers of white waves.

Inside the broadcasting association, Tanaka Kenji heard the sound of cannon fire and suddenly turned around, his eyes blank, before rushing into a small alley.

The navy's involvement in suppressing the rebellion completely disrupted the balance between the two sides. At 10 p.m. that night, military trucks equipped with loudspeakers continuously broadcast messages throughout the city, announcing that the rebellion had been successfully suppressed.

Afterwards, Tianhuang contacted cabinet members by phone, and the result he received left him speechless.

Apart from Suzuki Kantarō, only three elders escaped the assassination attempt by the rebels; the rest were likely to perish.

The rebels seemed to have obtained the addresses of all the ministers, and the subsequent rebel forces, guided by the mysterious figure, massacred the ministers. As a result, only one in ten of the Japanese high-ranking officials survived.

On the outskirts of Tokyo, Kenji Tanaka plunged a short blade into his abdomen. In the moment of his death, his gaze turned to the northwest.

Not only Tanaka Kenji, but many rebel leaders committed seppuku in despair. Although Army Minister Anami Korechika did not participate in the rebellion, he also committed seppuku the following day.

The longest day has finally passed, and an old era has come to an end.