---

Chiang Kai-shek’s assassination and the disintegration of the National Government.

This incident was widely reported, and rumors spread everywhere.

As I personally mourned Chiang Kai-shek’s death, the news spread even faster. Naturally, it also reached the Japanese Army on the Chinese front.

The Japanese Army, eager to end things on the Chinese front, retaliated against China, leading to the easier collapse of the National Government. Dairi tried to manage the situation, but even that was a failure.

Fortunately, Soong Mei-ling, who represented her husband and unified the Nationalist warlords, took on the role of acting leader, but it was purely formal. The Nationalist Party, having lost Chiang Kai-shek, was in shambles.

Just like Hitler’s orders in Nazi Germany, the Japanese Army, under the command of “local defense,” fought with inadequate supplies against the Chinese army.

“Wow. Is Chiang Kai-shek really worth this much?”

Originally, my plan was as follows.

If the Imperial General Headquarters was still in China, I would drop a nuke and wipe it out entirely.

However, the situation changed as the Imperial General Headquarters shifted its focus to homeland defense.

The General Headquarters returned to Japan, excluding the Chinese expeditionary force, trying to hold out like in original history.

In effect, the Chinese expeditionary force was abandoned, fighting against everyone who hadn’t surrendered to us.

Here, I thought of something interesting.

The so-called Monkey Supply Operation.

To develop Mao Zedong’s autonomy, the National Government needed to be made incapable of maintaining the warlord coalition regime.

To do this, we should say:

“Oh no, we lost our supplies! What should we do?”

We handed over weapons through various routes to the remaining Chinese expeditionary forces, enabling the Japanese Army to attack them.

The choice for the Chinese expeditionary force was, of course, to deal with the much weaker Chinese army rather than the Treaty Army that had surrendered. Naturally, the National Government was pushed back again by the new counterattack from the Japanese.

Furthermore, as Japan’s crimes deepened, Renya Mutaguchi’s justification for his army became stronger, and with the help of the treaty fleet that had naval superiority, he succeeded in landing in Nagasaki.

“If Renya Mutaguchi has landed, then, hmm. I guess we should start the work of making Western Japan the new Japan.”

There are quite a few Japanese Anastasia enthusiasts raised in Russia.

Some returned to Japan and then came back. They probably want to somehow protect their homeland, which is clearly on the verge of defeat.

The Republic of Japanese Anastasia enthusiasts. Doesn’t sound too bad.

Or the Republic of Japanese Transformed Capitalism could also be fine.

However, the Japanese will surely still need a Divine Emperor. I wonder how that will play out.

Looking at the current situation, it seems the U.S. might kill the Emperor too.

In that case, it’s quite exciting to think about how Western Japan will turn out.

At that moment, news arrived from America.

“Your Majesty. We’ve received a request from the U.S. for the sale of new weapons.”

Given that Litvinov came all the way to my palace in Manchuria instead of sorting things out in the Duma, it seems urgent.

“New weapons?”

New weapons, what kind?

“They said they want to buy the weapon that erased that fly.”

A weapon that erased a fly. Are they asking for nuclear weapons?

From wanting to buy nuclear bombs now.

That’s strange. I did transfer nuclear technology to the U.S.

It was supposed to be about quickly producing them to help contain Russia, but why do they want to acquire them separately?

Do they want to wrap things up quickly as the war reaches its end?

“Didn’t we provide technical support?”

Is it that there are considerable costs in making them?

Or could it be a timing issue or something like that?

“However, wouldn’t they want to soak Japan further before that?”

Seems like MacArthur must be quite fed up. Other than that…

Maybe he’s gotten a taste of spending money.

He’s already received technology transfers; now he’s interested in spending money.

If it’s something that can be resolved with money, why bother making it? This could also be the case.

Or maybe he’s recognized that I’m a materialist who likes money and wants to settle everything with cash.

If I shove money into Tsarina’s mouth, a new weapon would come out. Something like that.

“Where are they planning to deploy it? If they want to buy our new weapons, they would have mentioned something about it, right?”

Rather than Nagasaki and Hiroshima, it could have changed. Let’s see the possibilities.

Could it be aimed at Kyoto?

Looking at what MacArthur is doing, that seems plausible.

“They said Kyoto and Kokura.”

Wasn’t Kokura originally the planned site for the third atomic bombing?

It has the largest army aircraft and aviation weapon production facility in Western Japan, and there was also a history of chemical weapon manufacturing.

Planning to bomb here is quite something.

Instead of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, could it be that in the future it will be Kyoto and Kokura?

If possible, I’d like to try throwing something from our side too.

“Looks like they’re going in strong from the start.”

“They say Nagasaki was originally planned, but it seems the plan changed when Renya Mutaguchi’s army landed there.”

Renya Mutaguchi’s landing.

Did the U.S. also learn of this and change their plans?

If they bomb Kyoto, it would be quite a spectacle.

Although Tokyo is the capital, in the end, Kyoto is the spiritual capital.

Bombing here would definitely shock Japan.

“Was there any backlash from the U.S. against Renya Mutaguchi’s landing?”

Even though we used Renya Mutaguchi to occupy Japan, the U.S. isn’t a fool. They’d know that Russia is helping with the landing, knowing I’m behind Mutaguchi.

“Yes. Since it involves colonial matters, the U.S. hasn’t requested anything other than limited intervention, so they might have mixed feelings about it. But still.”

“But still?”

Could it be that there’s something else going on?

“Unlike us, the U.S. military seems to be launching a more aggressive attack. They say they’re turning every city into ashes.”

Oh dear. It seems the heavenly nation has quite the thirst for revenge.

After all, they’ve been quite bothered by the U.S. all this time in the Pacific.

The U.S. must be even angrier than in original history.

Are they really planning a fall operation?

With Renya Mutaguchi landing in Japan, they want to smash Japan as much as possible before its surrender.

And we also proposed surrender to Japan, but they refuse to submit to traitors.

Are they fools? What betrayal? It seems they’ve forgotten the Russo-Japanese War.

In this case, we have more than enough justification to drop nukes.

“The General Headquarters also hasn’t accepted our surrender, so hmm. You need two, right?”

“Yes.”

What’s the plan then? Are we going to end this with nuclear power?

Looking at the current situation, it seems like they want to attack on a level close to ethnic cleansing. But we can’t do everything according to America’s wishes.

How many nukes do we have left?

As far as I know, about 2-3. The third bomb is for Grozny, and the others don’t really have names yet.

I turned to the White Army generals.

“We should drop one too, right? To shatter the Japanese’s will to resist, we need to show that our Russia can also drop nuclear bombs.”

“Where are you thinking of targeting?”

Since developing nuclear bombs costs a bit, it would be nice to drop it in a meaningful location.

We need to show the Japanese that there’s no hope left for them.

This time, we have to let them know that even Russia, which they trusted, dropped a nuke, making Japan the complete enemy of the world.

We only need to show our intent.

The bad-guy role can be filled by America, as they can drop nukes on valuable cities.

“We need to show we can drop nukes anytime. Hmm. Let the Americans take on the villain role while we target Sendai.”

Sendai has already been bombed quite a bit, so there should be pretty few civilians left.

It’s just right for showing our intent to drop a nuke.

“And the payment from the sale to America should be added to the ‘huge support’ fund. Let’s make it clear that we won’t mix this in.”

Kokura will become the territory of Renya Mutaguchi in Japan.

If it has to be destroyed, it can be done in Eastern Japan.

You could ask if we should leave anything left to plunder, but we need to make Renya Mutaguchi’s Japan wretched enough to have to rely on us.

By Japanese standards, just looking at the damage until now, it seems like the damage isn’t at the level of China compared to the original history.

With a bit of exaggeration, they’re saying planes from the U.S. fill the skies over Japan.

Most of the Japanese fighters disappeared against the Treaty Army on the Pacific and Chinese fronts.

That’s to be expected. No matter how good the plane’s performance, it wouldn’t be the same as ours.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

There’s also one more piece of good news.

The Balhae Army has finally reclaimed Seoul.

Our homeland’s independence.

In the world now, Korea is the nation of my heart, ruled by the Tsar of Russia. Although the name of the country might be fixed as Balhae due to the Balhae Provisional Government, at least the Koreans have reclaimed their country and restored their sovereignty.

Since the Korean Governor-General’s Office has surrendered, it shouldn’t be too hard for the Balhae Army to control the entire Korean Peninsula.

So, what’s next?

First of all, there’s no reason to keep the traitors alive.

In original history, they had to manage the country, so they spared the pro-Japanese intellectuals, but in this timeline, we’ve already established a proper government in Harbin with Russia’s sponsorship and trained talented individuals, so we just need to implant the government in the Korean Peninsula.

Thus, there’s no need to keep the traitors alive.

However, the Japanese remaining in Korea pose a bit of a problem.

“Hm. Should we just leave them be?”

In original history, the Japanese in the Korean Peninsula rooted themselves there by the fall, and their children, while still Japanese, considered the Korean Peninsula their home.

So even after the fall, they stayed in Korea, dedicated to the new Joseon, learning Korean at YMCA, and working hard, but I heard they were all sent back to the homeland by the U.S. military.

But in this place, leaving them behind doesn’t seem too bad.

As for the Governor-General’s Office, looking at the situation in Korea, perhaps due to the Imperial Way Faction’s policy of assimilation, the ratio of Japanese women marrying Korean men is surprisingly high. There is also some ratio of marriages between Japanese men and Korean women.

Rather than keeping them in a defeated Japan, how about keeping them in Korea, letting them be politically inept, and then using their wealth and skills for Korea?

The reverse of the surnames and identities they adopted wouldn’t be too bad either.

So, what will happen to Lee Seung-man? Is he still in America?

That guy shouldn’t come. First, a pro-Russian government has to be established in Korea.

If he comes, the U.S. will probably try to establish a pro-American government in the Korean Peninsula.

If Lee Seung-man tries to come to Korea, he should be held back.

“Your Majesty. What are we going to do about the National Government’s request for assistance?”

“We will help, but we can’t let it be known as support from the National Government. We’re acting on Mao Zedong’s autonomous government request.”

We need to bolster Mao Zedong’s power, who advocates for soft autonomy.

The warlords will check each other while trying to protect their own lands.

“You plan to increase Mao Zedong’s standing, then.”

“Yes. Well, we definitely need to be able to use our little bastard efficiently.”

Considering that in original history, Mao Zedong’s actions prevented unification, he is indeed a little bastard, but here he is our little bastard.

As there won’t be any division in Korea, we need to use him as much as possible until he’s useful.

“Well then, I guess it’s time for me to move as well.”

It’s about time for me to make my move. At least I should be able to go as far as Southern Manchuria.

I’m also curious about how Korea has changed around this time.

At the very least, I want to witness the place where the pro-Japanese elements are being purged. It’d be better to be nearby if I want to see it in person later.

Yeah. That’s what I was thinking.

On the way to Southern Manchuria, I couldn’t help but blush.

“What’s this?”

“That would be the Ataman of the Cossacks, as well as the Mongolian and Manchurian Khans, following you with their cavalry.”

Somehow, Cossack cavalry and the cavalry from Mongolia and the Eight Banners are escorting me.

Of course, they’re not just cavalry, but it’s prepared as a symbol for the traditional cavalry for the Ataman and the Khan.

Among them, the Eight Banners are newly operating as formal Eight Banners in a completely different way from the existing Qing’s Eight Banners.

Originally, when Russian armored divisions were formed, most of the Cossack forces shifted to armored units, and the Manchu troops were incorporated into the Far East armored division. Who would prepare something like this?

Honestly, it’s astonishing and groundbreaking.

“That’s quite impressive.”

“And it was prepared by General Semenov.”

“Yeah, I figured as much.”

I get that feeling. That odd guy lost in a fantasy.

Surely, Russia is currently an empire spanning both East and West, and as the founding country of the Rome Treaty Organization, it has enough stature to indulge in fantasy.

Still, though, this is a bit embarrassing.

Cossack cavalry and modernized Eight Banners. The Empress standing between them. It’s too mortifying.

If someone were to see this, they might think I prepared it. That’s why it feels a bit off.

 

---