Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 605
"Hideki Tojo has an audience with His Majesty the Emperor." Tojo stood at attention and called inside.

After a while, the emperor came out. His clothes were still neat and his hair was combed meticulously, but his legs were trembling, so he had to be supported by his attendants to move forward.Behind him, followed by a large group of members of the royal family, each with pale faces and dusty clothes, leaning on the wall of the air-raid shelter, slowly moving outward.

"Hideki Tojo's inability to protect the emperor surprised you." Hideki Tojo didn't even dare to raise his head, but kept pleading guilty.

Hirohito suddenly pushed away the attendant, and shouted with red eyes: "Ineffective protection? Prime Minister Tojo, you are too light. You should have thought that such a day would come when the Chinese navy sailed to Tokyo. This I don’t need to ask how many people died in Tokyo in one attack, and how much damage was suffered, you know it best in your heart.”

"Hideki Tojo is guilty, Your Majesty the Emperor."

"Can a sentence of guilt make everything disappear? At the beginning, I handed over the military and political power of the entire Great Empire to you. I hoped that you could lead the people of the Great Empire, defeat the Chinese, and revive the glory of the Empire. However, the battle has already been fought. It has been more than two months, and the result? The Korean peninsula lost the most elite Kwantung Army of the empire, Okinawa and other islands lost contact with the country, and the navy was completely wiped out. As for the air force, will our empire have an air force? You just trained a A batch of idiots who can’t fly a plane and can’t use their brains will only engage in suicide attacks at critical moments. As a result, our pilots and planes lost a lot, and in exchange for the Chinese’s frenzied attacks.”

Hideki Tojo's face became paler and paler. He could tell that the Emperor was extremely dissatisfied with him. Fortunately, the Congress was bombed, and members of the Congress suffered heavy casualties. Otherwise, he might directly propose a resolution to remove himself from Congress .If that's the case, the only thing waiting for me is the end of the body and head.He quickly kowtowed and said: "Please rest assured, the emperor, I will live up to the emperor's expectations and lead the people to victory in this war."

The emperor shook his head wearily: "No, do you think our great empire is capable of confronting the Chinese now? If we continue to fight like this, it will be good if we don't perish. Your Excellency, Prime Minister, I ask you, oh, no , I beg you, go to peace talks with the Chinese. As long as you can keep the state system of the great empire and the status of our royal family, you can talk about anything. You can agree to whatever conditions the Chinese want. Now is the right time for peace talks. If Wait a few more months, and when we have to surrender, the archipelago may no longer exist."

Hideki Tojo raised his head and said: "Please rest assured, the emperor, I will immediately find a way to contact the Chinese, and strive to find a way to end the war decently, which can not only preserve the status of the emperor, but also preserve the resurgence of our Yamato nation. Chance."

The emperor calmed down a little. If the prime minister was dismissed in a hurry now, there would be no one in his hands. Now those Yuansu people in the political arena would have long been hiding out of sight. Hideki Tojo is still the most powerful man in the political arena. A powerful person scolded him enough just now, but at the critical moment, he should pay equal attention to kindness and power, so he helped Hideki Tojo up with his own hands, and sighed heavily: "Your Excellency, I have always admired you , So, I hand over all the military and political power to you. China is not the Manchu Qing Dynasty 30 years ago. We don’t need to confront them head-on. Sometimes, taking a step back is to advance dozens of steps in the future. You go , have a good talk with the Chinese, and I will find a few influential members of Congress to give unconditional support for your proposal."

After finishing speaking, the emperor raised his head, looked at the palace that was not dilapidated, and said sadly: "It's a pity that such an artistic palace has been destroyed like this. Oh, yes, how is it?"

Hisao Tani, who was standing behind Hideo Tojo's plane, hurried forward a few steps, and said in a trembling voice: "The Emperor Qiqi has been completely blown up, and all the spiritual seats enshrined in it have also been blown up. Taking extreme measures, they dropped at least hundreds of heavy artillery shells and thousands of kilograms of incendiary bombs. There, except for hundreds of large pits, nothing was found there, and all the wooden spiritual seats were burned down. gone."

The emperor's face darkened again.After a while, he said to Hideki Tojo: "Your Excellency, in terms of Tokyo's current defense capabilities, there is no need for me to stay in Tokyo."

Hideki Tojo heard the meaning of the emperor's words, and quickly said: "Yes, His Majesty, the subordinates are incompetent, and cannot guarantee the safety of His Majesty. Kyoto is also a big city. Once the Chinese attack, they will not let it go." If you are in a local area, please ask the emperor to move to Gassan area in the northern part of Honshu. The climate there is pleasant, and there are several summer resorts exclusively for the royal family. There are all kinds of things in it, so living is not a problem. Otherwise, His Majesty the Emperor can also go to Hokkaido , Seeing that winter is coming, the hot springs in Hokkaido are also very suitable for His Majesty to live in."

Hirohito nodded and said: "I think I should go to Hokkaido, the farther away from the Chinese the better. Tokyo will be handed over to you. I hope you can return a complete Tokyo to me when I come back."

"sure."

In the early morning of January 1, Washington.

At this time in Washington, the weather is still extremely cold, the sky is not yet bright, the streets are deserted, occasionally a few pedestrians pass by, and sometimes one or two guys can be seen holding wine bottles, drinking and walking around. with.Outside the embassy, ​​a luxury car has been parked since around four o'clock. The Minister to the United States, Shigeru Yoshida, is sitting in the car. His eyes are full of bloodshot eyes, and he knows that last night was all night. I didn't sleep, but now I don't feel sleepy at all.On the surface, Shigeru Yoshida was very calm, but his hands were tightly clenched, and he raised his left hand to look at his watch every few minutes. It could be seen that he was very anxious inside.

Shigeru Yoshida looked up at the street that was gradually lighting up, with a wry smile on his face. After some calculation, he had been outside the US diplomatic service for about seven hours, but he hadn't seen Secretary of State James Bryan yet. one side.The annoying Americans at the door just refused to inform themselves, and they even chuckled at themselves, with contemptuous expressions on their faces.However, Shigeru Yoshida knows that now is not the time to save his own face, and more importantly, to win the support of the United States and preserve the dignity of the great empire.

He looked down at his watch again, and the hour hand had pointed to seven o'clock.Shigeru Yoshida felt a burst of nervous excitement. It was almost time to work, and it was time for the Secretary of State to appear.He pouted at the secretary next to him, and the secretary immediately pushed open the car door, walking towards the American soldiers guarding the gate for the nth time.Soon, the secretary came back with a disappointed face and told Shigeru Yoshida that the Secretary of State was having breakfast.Shigeru Yoshida could only hold back his breath, and subconsciously touched his shriveled stomach, only now did he realize that he was a little hungry.

At 7:30, in a window on the second floor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brian, who had just finished breakfast, was smoking a cigarette while looking at Shigeru Yoshida, who was restless by the roadside.After smoking, Brian turned his head and asked his secretary, "How long have you been waiting?"

"It's been a night."

Bryan snorted, of course he knew the purpose of people looking for him, and of course he knew more about the United States' position on the Sino-Japanese War, and now he was too lazy to talk to Shigeru Yoshida, picked up a copy of the "Washington Post" that was just printed today, After a cursory glance, he said to the secretary, "The situation seems to be getting worse."

"It is true. I just received news from the other side that last night, that is, in the early morning of January 1, the Chinese fleet attacked Kitakyushu, a large city on Kyushu Island. Razed to the ground. At the same time, the Chinese naval fleet attacked the most important industrial cities Osaka and Kobe, and continued to bomb Tokyo every three days. People's industrial production capacity has begun to decline sharply. If this continues, within half a year, It will return to the primitive era. I think people must be anxious to negotiate a truce with China, so they hope to use Uncle Sam as a mediator, or even as a backing for people, so that Shigeru Yoshida is so eager to see you, even Yu put down his dignity and waited outside until now. In fact, he had already come last night, but we kept pleading that you were going to the State Council for a meeting, so you might be free today.

It's not dawn yet, and he's waiting there.Now we can procrastinate, but people cannot afford it. "Bryan shook his head: "No, it can't be delayed, but their Prime Minister Hideki Tojo doesn't think so. The Pentagon has received information that it is preparing to fight a protracted war of attrition with China, which has been dragging China to exhaustion. until.Now that the international situation is changing, in a sense, Tojo's trick will still work.But the Chinese will not give him such an opportunity. Even if we, the United States, mediate, will China cease the war?Totally impossible!People think too naively, Uncle Sam will never get involved in this senseless war.Alright, you go get ready and ask Shigeru Yoshida to come in around 08:30.At the same time, I want to serve this poor man with coffee today. You told me to make the coffee as strong as possible, so that our guests can wake up. "

The secretary smiled slightly: "Your Excellency, I've been waiting outside for several hours, and I'm probably very hungry. Treating him to coffee at this time will definitely impress him."

"That's what it means. There's no way. Sometimes we have to use some tricks. The White House has repeatedly instructed in advance to find ways to get people to nail a few nails. Anyway, Uncle Sam will definitely not show up. It is said that this Yoshida Shigeru He is a cunning diplomat who will use any means to achieve his goals, and he has never been ashamed. Seeing his determination to accomplish this matter, it is not so easy to get him to quit. Therefore, we can only use some It's a small trick."

"Okay, Your Excellency Secretary of State, I will prepare right away."

(End of this chapter)