Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Tokyo, Japan, Ministry of the Navy building.

The dull winter thunder rolled across the leaden sky.

In the underground bunker of the Combined Fleet's highest command hub, Admiral Soemu Toyoda, who had recently taken over as Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, stared intently at the aerial photographs on the table, which still reeked of the acrid smell of developing solution.

His body was trembling violently.

Not only his hands, but even the star on his shoulder was trembling uncontrollably.

In the photo, the No. 4 dry dock at Kurehabilitation Port has been completely transformed into a huge, charred meteorite crater.

The Yamato, a super battleship that symbolized the pinnacle of Japan's industrial achievements and had a displacement of 70,000 tons.

At this moment, it looked like a prehistoric beast that had been gutted, tragically broken in two, paralyzed in the mud mixed with blood and heavy oil.

The towering bridge tower had vanished.

Those three 460mm triple-mounted main guns, which were enough to make them the envy of the world, were twisted like broken matchsticks, hanging helplessly in the air.

"It's over."

Chief of the Naval General Staff, Osamu Nagano, slumped into his chair, as if all his life force had been drained away in an instant.

"The flagship of the First Mobile Fleet was turned into scrap metal in its home port before it could even fire a single main gun."

"The last bit of the Brother's Navy's resources were completely wiped out by the Chinese bombers."

boom!
The door to the underground bunker was violently kicked open.

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo stormed in like a mad dog whose tail had been stepped on, covered in snow.

"Toyota!"

"Nagano!"

Hideki Tojo grabbed Toyota Suemu by the collar and spat in his face.

"Where's the air defense net?!"

"What happened to the absolute air defense network that you so confidently promised His Majesty the Emperor?!"

Tojo's voice became shrill and distorted: "More than a hundred heavy bombers traversed the entire Kyushu and Shikoku!"

"We can calmly drop bombs over your heads."

Why didn't the offshore radar trigger an alarm?

"How were they able to pinpoint the shift changes at the Kure Port Shipyard with such precision when dropping bombs?!"

Toyota's deputy forcefully pushed away Tojo Hideki's hand, his old face filled with a bitter smile:
"Your Excellency the Prime Minister, Great Japan has not only lost in the visible war, but also in the invisible war."

As Toyota Soemu pointed to the photo of the ruins, tears welled up in his eyes: "The enemy's bombing routes and altitudes were meticulously designed to target the blind spots in Kure Harbor's air defenses."

"The Chinese intelligence network not only found out our rotation time, but they even knew exactly which part of the Yamato's deck armor had been removed!"

Hideki Tojo staggered back two steps, as if struck by lightning.

He knew, of course, that this was an exaggeration by Toyota's deputy weapon system.

However, this air raid exposed a major problem.

A deadly nail has been driven into the heart of the country, and they don't even know who drove it.

Moreover, at such a critical moment, they dealt a fatal blow to the Japanese Navy.

"The Yamato sank"

Hideki Tojo muttered those words nervously, then suddenly let out a chilling laugh.

In the eyes of these high-ranking Japanese officers, without this stabilizing force, the sea would be lost.

The so-called "fleet decisive battle" plan of the General Headquarters had already become a huge joke before it even died in the womb.

Their spirit and energy were completely extinguished.

The Combined Fleet is officially defunct from this day forward.

Without the protection of the navy, Japan's long coastline would be completely exposed to the Allied forces' ferocious naval and air firepower.

"This is a sign of the doom of our great Japan!"

Nagano Osamu closed his eyes, and two lines of tears slid down his cheeks.

The Locust King's Residence, the Imperial Library.

When the devastating news of the Yamato's destruction in the dock reached this place, the exquisite bonsai shears slipped from Hirohito's hand.

It fell to the marble floor with a clatter.

This aloof locust stared out the window at Tokyo for a full half hour without uttering a single word.

The navy's so-called "Yamato national totem" was thus humiliatingly destroyed by Chinese aerial bombs.

An extreme fear of national subjugation and annihilation truly gripped the throat of this island nation.

……

Washington, D.C., USA.

Inside the Pentagon's top-secret operations conference room, however, there was an extremely oppressive atmosphere of fervor.

Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Ernst King, held in his hands the air raid effect assessment diagrams (BDAs) that had been urgently transmitted from Pengcheng.

This usually arrogant naval commander now had undisguised shock in his blue eyes.

"My God!"

General Kim took a deep breath and slammed the photograph heavily in front of General Marshall.

"They really did it!"

"Not only the Yamato, but also the three large gantry cranes, two dry docks, and two heavy cruisers moored nearby at the Kure Naval Shipyard were completely destroyed!"

Major General Handy, Director of the Army Strategic Planning Office, pushed up his glasses, his voice trembling with an almost awe-inspiring tone: "General, based on the results of the high-altitude reconnaissance..."

"This was absolutely a textbook example of a surgical air raid!"

Handy pointed to the broken hull of the Yamato: "The two thousand pounds of delayed-action armor-piercing shells they dropped had a terrifyingly high hit rate."

General Marshall rested his hands on the table, his face devoid of any relaxed smile, his gaze fixed on the horrific bomb craters in the photograph.

"With the loss of the Yamato, the morale of the Japanese Navy must have been greatly affected."

"If our Pacific Fleet seizes the opportunity to annihilate Japan's newly formed mobile fleet, then the US Navy will have no rivals in the Asian waters from now on."

He raised his head and looked around at the senior officers present: "But, gentlemen, we should be more concerned about our allies than the sinking of the Yamato. Their air force is growing at a very rapid pace."

The atmosphere in the meeting room changed instantly.

What began as ecstasy gradually transformed into a complex, even chilling, sense of apprehension.

General Kim coldly took over the conversation, his tone revealing a deep sense of defensiveness.

"The Chinese people have shown us the strength that the Chinese Air Force now possesses in the most brutal and direct way."

"A mixed formation of more than 100 heavy bombers completed a nearly 2,000-kilometer cross-sea raid without getting lost at all."

"Even with the help of our navigators, this is a miracle in itself."

General Kim slammed his fingers on the table: "This requires not only extremely high flying skills, but also a terrifying intelligence network behind enemy lines!"

Major General Handy nodded in deep agreement.

"Stilwell said in the telegram that the Chinese had already penetrated the deepest part of the Japanese headquarters."

"Not only that."

Marshall picked up the photograph again, his eyes gleaming with the shrewdness unique to politicians: "Their heavy bombers could drop two thousand pounds of bombs into the docks of Wu Harbor today."

"Tomorrow, air power of this level will be able to form a strategic deterrent over any corner of the entire Asian continent!"

"China is evolving at an alarming rate from an agricultural country that needs constant financial support from us into a military monster capable of dominating the Far East."

General Kim snorted coldly: "Your Excellency the President also wants to support them to become one of the 'Four Policemen' to maintain postwar order in Asia."

"I fear that once this Eastern lion fully awakens, its first act will be to squeeze out all our influence in the Western Pacific!"

"Forget it, this is not an issue that needs to be discussed at this meeting. The current national policy is still cooperation, and cooperation remains the main theme for both sides."

Marshall concluded: "Immediately send a telegram to Chongqing and North China, on behalf of the United States government, to extend the highest level of congratulations on the resounding victory of this 'Cherry Blossom Cutting' operation!"

"At the same time, the Office of Naval Intelligence and the Office of Strategic Services were instructed to take action."

“Reassess the overall military potential of the Chinese joint command, especially to understand their intelligence capabilities.”

"The wreckage of the Yamato serves as a warning that this ally is far more dangerous than we imagined."

……

London, England.

The Prime Minister's wartime command center at 10 Downing Street.

Thick cigar smoke swirled in the cramped space.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill slumped in his leather armchair, his obese face twitching with extreme shock and anger.

Opposite him, Lord Alan Brooke, the Imperial Chief of Staff, looked utterly defeated.

"The Yamato was sunk."

Churchill's fingers, holding a cigar, trembled slightly: "In the heart of Wugang, the world's largest super battleship was sunk?"

He stared incredulously at the top-secret intelligence in his hand, then looked up at the map of Asia hanging on the wall: "How did they do that?"

"More than a hundred bombers, crossing the East China Sea?"

Lord Brooke swallowed hard.

"Your Excellency, the intelligence is accurate."

"It was carried out by the joint air forces of China and the United States, but the entire plan and core intelligence support came entirely from the Chinese side."

Brooke's voice carried an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

"The warlord who humiliated the British Empire to its face at the Cairo Conference was not lying."

"He not only cut the Japanese defenses to pieces."

"He even possesses the terrifying strike capability to turn the Japanese mainland into scorched earth at any time!"

Churchill took a deep drag on his cigar, then slammed the half-smoked cigar onto the carpet at his feet. He roared like an enraged old lion, "Damn it! This is a demonstration against the British Empire!"

He certainly knew what the bombing meant.

The Chinese are slapping the British Royal Navy and Air Force hard in the face with the towering flames of the sinking Yamato!

"How is the situation with our landing forces in Indonesia?!"

Churchill turned his head sharply and stared intently at Lord Brooke.

Brooke lowered his head, not daring to look the Prime Minister in the eye.

“Very bad.”

Brooke reported in a hoarse voice: "General Slim's Fourteenth Army encountered a frenzied, beast-like resistance from the Japanese in the jungles of Java. The Japanese completely abandoned the beachhead and led our troops into the miasma-filled rainforest."

"In just ten days, the landing force has suffered more than 15,000 casualties."

"Of these casualties, as many as 60% were due to non-combat casualties caused by tropical diseases!"

"madness!"

Churchill slammed his hand on the table: "Are they idiots?"

"We did not prepare a massive amount of supplies."

"Unfortunately, Your Excellency Prime Minister, our operational environment is far more challenging than that of Myanmar."

"Our armored forces can't even find a decent road."

Brooke sighed bitterly: "General Slim has sent a secret telegram."

"The Japanese tied themselves to trees to act as snipers, laid booby traps in the swamps, and even poisoned all the water sources."

Brooke looked up, her eyes filled with fear.

"General Slim even admitted in a telegram that their preparations for this battle were far from adequate, and that the fighting would inevitably become more difficult after the rainy season."

"Fortunately, the 'Tropical Rainforest Anti-Infantry Infiltration and Survival Tactics Manual' donated by the Chinese side provided them with tremendous help."

"The number of British soldiers killed or wounded was reduced by at least half as a result!"

These words were like a sharp knife, piercing Churchill's proud heart.

He stood there, stunned, his face turning from red to white, then from white to green.

Churchill scoffed at Chu Yunfei's so-called manual, even privately mocking it as nothing more than a piece of waste paper used by the army of an agricultural country to cover up its shame.

Surprisingly, Slim gave such a high evaluation.

Churchill had considerable trust in Slim himself.

But then again, they realized that China, which they had been condemning, had always been contributing its own strength to the Allies' victory over the Axis powers.

However, even today...

How could Churchill possibly admit that?

Churchill gritted his teeth, his eyes flashing with extreme malice: "This is a trap!"

"That Easterner had foreseen all of this!"

"He wanted to use the Japanese to weaken our strength."

Churchill stood up, leaning on his cane, and paced anxiously back and forth in the room.

If he had previously looked down on this poor and backward Eastern country, then...

Now, this contempt has completely transformed into a deep-seated, extreme fear and apprehension.

"With the Yamato gone, it means that the American Pacific Fleet will soon have a sea route to mainland China, and their transport efficiency will be further improved."

Churchill stopped, his eyes as cold as knives: "Before it was Toungoo, Siam, and Pearl City; in the future, it could be other places."

"The entire power map of the Far East will be reshuffled by this terrifying lion, and we must prepare in advance."

"Your Excellency, I believe the United States is also unwilling to see its allies rise so rapidly. Perhaps we should continue to compete, even confront each other, and perhaps we can get more help from our allies."

Churchill sighed silently, offering no response; no one knew what he was thinking.

……

Moscow, USSR.

Supreme Commander Stalin sat behind his large desk, expressionless as he looked at the intelligence report handed to him by Chief of the General Staff Antonov.

"The shipyard facilities were essentially destroyed, and the super battleship was sunk."

Stalin exhaled a thick cloud of pipe smoke, his voice echoing strangely in the empty office: "Comrade Antonov, this is not something that can be accomplished by luck."

General Antonov stood there ramrod straight, his expression unusually stern: "Yes, Comrade Stalin."

"Our intelligence personnel assessed that the Chinese joint air force not only possessed extremely high-precision dive bombing technology, but more importantly, their intelligence capability to obtain precise target coordinates was comparable to having planted their own confidants in the Japanese General Headquarters."

Stalin stood up and slowly walked to the huge strategic map of Asia on the wall.

His gaze swept northward from Kure Port in Japan, finally settling on Vladivostok and the Trans-Siberian Railway: "Heavy bombers, two-thousand-pound armor-piercing shells, and this ghostly intelligence network."

"Today they were able to drop bombs with pinpoint accuracy into the Yamato's dock."

"If we have a conflict in the Far East tomorrow, wouldn't this group of heavy bombers with a range of over 2,000 kilometers be able to easily fly over Outer Mongolia?"

Stalin turned his head, his icy eyes fixed on Antonov: "Drop bombs on our Siberian arsenals, or blow up our Far Eastern railway artery?"

Antonov's heart skipped a beat, and a cold sweat instantly broke out on his back: "Comrade Stalin, this is an extremely real strategic threat!"

"The aggressiveness and precision strike capabilities that the Chinese have demonstrated in the Far East have completely exceeded the scope of a defensive nation."

Stalin sneered: "That Eastern lion that has been sleeping for a hundred years has not only awakened, but has also grown fangs that can tear steel apart."

He returned to his seat and, with a heavy red pen, drew a question mark on the diplomatic memorandum concerning the construction of a cross-border railway with China.
"We must make thorough preparations in advance."

……

Inside the North China Joint Front Command Headquarters in Pengcheng, the atmosphere was electric!
The perfect battle report of Operation Cherry Blossom Slash has just been delivered to the entire army.

In the entire operations hall, even the most composed staff officers were hugging each other, their eyes red with tears.

That's the Yamato!
The once invincible flagship of the Japanese Navy was crushed to death in the harbor by the Chinese air force, like smashing a tortoise shell.

Fang Ligong stood in front of the sand table, pushed up his glasses, and behind the lenses shone an unprecedented fervor and pride.

"Your Excellency!"

Fang Ligong's voice trembled slightly with excitement: "The news has been broadcast throughout the country via radio!"

"The people of the mountain city even braved the heavy rain to take to the streets, banging drums and gongs to celebrate this unprecedented feat!"

"The Chairman even personally sent an urgent telegram of commendation!"

Fang Ligong picked up the victory report: "Not only was the Joint Air Force awarded the highest level of honor, but the morale of the entire North China Joint Command also reached its highest point since the outbreak of the War of Resistance!"

Chu Yunfei stood in front of the sand table, his hands behind his back. His face, as hard as granite, showed little elation.

He simply stared quietly at the Yangtze River defense line on the sand table, which seemed like an insurmountable barrier.

Chu Yunfei's voice was extremely calm, like a heavy hammer striking everyone's hearts: "This is a great victory, but our mission is not over yet."

"Brother Weiwen, please make a note of this."

With the destruction of the Yamato, the former flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet.

This ravaged world was in complete uproar.

Across the ocean, in New York, USA.

The New York Times reprinted a special edition three times, with the front page headline in bold black font occupying half the page:

[A Maritime Behemoth Falls at Its Home Port! The US and Chinese Eagles Join Forces to Completely Sever the Backbone of Japan's Maritime Power!]

Tens of thousands of Americans rushed into the rain in Times Square.

The Stars and Stripes were intertwined with the flag of the Republic of China, and people threw their top hats high into the air.

"The Pacific War is coming to an end!"

In the bar, countless American fathers, preparing to send their sons to the battlefield, raised their whiskeys and toasted their allies across the ocean with tears in their eyes.

London, England.

Although the front page of The Times carried a hint of bitterness from old-fashioned imperialism, it still had to bow to absolute force.

[The Far East's War God's Thunderous Strike Opens a New Chapter in World Naval Warfare History at Kure Port!]

In a London pub shrouded in mist.

Civilians cheered for the Allied victory.

But those businessmen who once owned colonial properties in Asia felt a deep sense of unease and awe as they read the newspaper articles.

Moscow, USSR.

At the very bottom of page two, Pravda published a very short and extremely restrained news item:
The Japanese Navy suffered a fatal blow, and the strategic balance in the Eastern Theater has been fundamentally reversed.

Although short, it describes the heavy industrial and arms factories east of the Ural Mountains.

Soviet veterans, who had just finished their shift, passed around this newspaper, which was only the size of a tofu block.

The cigarettes they were smoking were from this ally in the Far East.

They used to laugh at Easterners, saying they were only fit to sell them cigarettes, but now this ally is performing so brilliantly on the battlefield.

This greatly shocked them, and when they looked towards the Far East again, they no longer held their previous contempt for it.

The most intense reaction naturally came from the masses who were suffering during the war.

The *Ta Kung Pao* in Chongqing, the *Liberation Daily* in Yan'an, the *Changzhi Weekly*, *Guanghua News Agency*, *North China Daily*, and even the small newspapers scattered throughout the war zones all unanimously adopted the same heart-wrenching headline:

Blood debts must be repaid! The totem has sunk! The army drinks from the Yangtze River, the recapture of the capital is imminent!

On this day, whether in the misty streets of the mountain city or in front of the cave dwellings on the Loess Plateau.

Firecracker debris covered a thick layer.

The whole world seemed to hold its breath at that moment.

All eyes, whether of the Allies, the Fascists, or the ambivalent neutral nations, were fixed on the surging Yangtze River.

That formidable barrier, which once witnessed the endless bloodshed and humiliation of the Chinese nation, is about to face the most brutal final judgment against the invaders under the artillery and tracks of a million-strong army in North China. (End of Chapter)