Iron Cross

Early on the morning of December 30, Takeda Gong personally led 12 Sherman tanks to protect the imperial sedan of the Interior Minister and went to the Military Headquarters to "****". He was not worried at all about this errand. If Horitiyoshi wanted to fight They had already fought, so the effect of using more tanks or less tanks was the same. The officers of the Marine Brigade laughed when they saw it - these 12 Shermans were just given to Takeda Attack two days ago. , there is no ammunition at all, and now the Army is just on the road with such arrogance.

The atmosphere of the meeting was cordial and friendly. Horikichi, who had been waiting at the door for a long time, bowed three times respectfully in the direction of the palace as usual, and asked: "Holy bow?"

"Hello! And greet the Marshal and the Admiral."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Hirohito's health was "good" and he would come to participate in tomorrow's military parade, so they didn't have to "work hard" to find a replacement.

The two then had an "in-depth, friendly, and frank" conversation. Takeda, who was bored, greeted everyone warmly, and everyone ran around whether they knew him or not. Even Kondo Nobutake, who had always been serious about his words, was amused by him and laughed loudly. He smiled and scolded the people around him: "This boy is truly an Osaka merchant!"

After seeing off the Minister of Internal Affairs, looking at Horikichi's smiling eyes, everyone knew that the important task was basically completed, and bowed deeply: "I'll congratulate you, sir!"

Horikichi also bowed as usual and returned the gift: "Thank you for your support. After the military parade tomorrow night, I will stay drunk with you all..."

While he was talking, the roar of aircraft sounded in the sky, indicating that an aircraft was approaching. Judging from the logo, it was undoubtedly the Navy.

Tsukahara and Tsunoda were stunned for a moment: "That's not right. Although the carrier-based aircraft have taken off for patrol, they have not been allowed to come to the city."

Xixuan Wuzilang also shook his head: "This is definitely not the plane on the Dafeng."

Everyone's expressions changed slightly, but Horikichi was very calm: "Instruct the carrier-based aircraft to intercept, and do not fire until you have distinguished the enemy from friend. Let's go out and have a look..."

"Instructor, have you arrived in Tokyo..."

"Let me look, oh, it's Tokyo, I see Miyagi!"

"Instructor, no, there is a plane coming to intercept us."

Akamatsu Sadaki squinted his eyes and recognized it as a naval aircraft, and said: "You follow my command, don't move around, let alone fire first."

There were a total of 48 planes following Akamatsu Sadaki and others, all of them aircraft from Tsuchiura and Kasumigaura aviation schools. After hearing that Commander Horikichi was revolting against rebellion, the daring Akamatsu Sadaki secretly contacted the joint fleet pilot instructors from the two aviation schools. , preparing to go to Tokyo to support. Somehow a group of students found out about it, and they all clamored to come. The original small group of 6-7 people turned into a large formation of 48 people. Early this morning, they led the team to set off, first gathered in the air and then rushed towards Tokyo together. Although the novice pilots were in a hurry, they still completed various actions under the guidance of their instructors. However, the order and rhythm of the formation were still a bit chaotic and could not be compared with the neatly organized combined fleet.

"I see Nishizawa Hiroki..." Several planes quickly passed by in the sky, each trying to identify whether the other was friend or foe - now both sides had the same model, the same markings, and the response codes between friend and foe were indistinguishable. We couldn't get it together in a short time, so we could only rely on the most primitive and traditional visual recognition.

"Are they friends or foes?" Saburo Sakai muttered.

"Sakai, let's do the moves together."

"Action? Which action?" He was confused by Akamatsu Sadaki.

"The Sweeping Trio, the one we all played on Socotra."

"good!"

"Okay!" Several instructors responded loudly and immediately formed a dense formation.

The people watching below widened their eyes. They saw several planes swooping down from high altitude. Then they rolled in three small radii first, then continued to dive to 1,500 meters, and then performed three somersaults again. The movements were uniform and rhythmic. It's like dancing in the air.

"Cleaning trio!" The students exclaimed, "Ah! I saw it! I saw it! The instructors showed it!"

"Haha, it's actually a cleaning trio. It seems that they are one of our own." Mizuo Fuchida, who was conducting in the air, laughed, "Shigeru Itani, Hiroki Nishizawa, Tetsuzo Iwamoto, and Toshio Ohta, you should also show it off."

"I'll go too!" This was Jiang Cao Longfan's voice.

"What a mess, why are you joining in the fun by driving a Comet?"

"You can change Comet!" Jiang Caolongfan said in reply, and then rushed over.

"Okay, okay, let him go." Murata Shigeharu advised him on the radio, "He has been holding it in for the past two days. If you don't let him vent it out, be careful he will ask you for a drink tomorrow night!"

"Uh, okay." Mitsuo Fuchida couldn't drink enough and fell down as soon as he drank.

"Yeah, there's also a cleaning trio on the opposite side!"

"Ah, ah! It's so spectacular! It's a combined fleet after all!" The trainees watching the battle saw the scene in the sky and saw Yamato and Musashi parked at the dock. They were filled with envy. "I really want to be a part of it."

"Train hard and you will have a chance!"

The radio station finally made contact, and Mizuo Fuchida asked right away: "Akamatsu Sadaki? Is that you?"

"yes."

"Why are you here?"

"Are you allowed to come but not me?"

"Okay, okay, you're welcome. There's a military parade tomorrow. You can participate together."

"yes!"

"Now you follow Itaya Shigeru to land. There is an airport there that cannot be accommodated on the aircraft carrier."

"clear."

In the afternoon, the official attitude was clear:

… In December of the 18th year of the Showa era, Fushimi Hirokyo rebelled and started a rebellion.

This thief first colluded with the former Prime Minister and then Army Military Police Commander Tojo Hideki to frame Military Councilor, Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, and Admiral Hori Teikichi for accepting unfounded political donations, dismissed Hori from his fleet post and rejected his request to go abroad, and then purged the backbone of the fleet and appointed private people to various positions; the emperor was not aware of it for a while and was deceived by them.

The two thieves were still afraid that General Hori's reputation was too high, so they put him under house arrest in disguise, assisted by military police surveillance and secretly poisoning him, slowly harming him, and accelerating the usurpation of power.

On December 26, this thief colluded with former Army Chief of Staff, Army General Sugiyama Hajime and the Emperor's Chief of Staff, Navy Admiral Momotake Gengo, and forged an imperial edict to order the Army Guards 1st Division and the main force of the Combined Fleet to enter the capital, and coerced and bribed Prince Kan'in Yasuhito to conceal it.

The 2nd Air Fleet of the Combined Fleet Mobile Fleet and the 1st Navy Brigade discovered the conspiracy and took the lead in launching an expedition to suppress it. The "anti-rebel army" advanced rapidly overnight, controlled the imperial capital and rescued General Hori, who was the commander-in-chief of the anti-rebel army and called for "respecting the emperor and fighting the thieves". The soldiers and the people responded in anger and the public was excited!

The next day, the Army Chief of Staff, Army General Higashikuni Prince Toshihiko, saw through the treachery and led the army's senior officials to control the situation, maintain the situation in Tokyo, achieve coordination between the army and the sea, and strive to calm the situation. He also rebuked the Guards Division and ordered it not to open fire. The commander of the infantry brigade of the division, Major General Shirakawa, was an insider who deliberately started a conflict and attacked civilian institutions such as news agencies and radio stations in an attempt to fish in troubled waters. Fortunately, Vice Admiral Shibasaki Keiji responded well and led the Marine Brigade to repel the enemy's attack. Except for hundreds of casualties, there was no difference and the atmosphere in the imperial capital was stable.

On the 28th, Major General Takeda Osamu, commander of the tank brigade of the 1st Imperial Guard Division, learned the truth about the ****'s troop deployment and resolutely led his officers and soldiers to the palace to protect the emperor and thwart the enemy's attempt to hold the emperor hostage. The palace was stabilized. The Fushimi bandit saw that the situation was hopeless and fled in a hurry. He was intercepted by patriotic officers and soldiers and wrote a confession, admitting to embezzling the pensions of the fallen soldiers, but he was vague about the rebellion. Later, he took advantage of the unpreparedness and fled. Because the car was too fast, it hit a moving heavy tank midway, and the car was destroyed and the people died.

On the 29th, the members of the Combined Fleet, led by Admiral Kondo Nobutake, the Second Fleet Commander, and Vice Admiral Ugaki Matome, the Chief of Staff, rebelled and arrested Koshiro Ikawa, who committed suicide out of fear of punishment. That night, the Combined Fleet arrived in Beijing, and various places responded. The anti-Japanese group collapsed like hot soup poured on snow, and the imperial capital saw the light of day again.

The empire is fortunate, and the ancestors are fortunate...

Fushimi Hiroyoshi, the main culprit of the **** group, has died in a car accident and has been deprived of all honors, graces, and medals;

Hyakutake Gengo, an accomplice of the **** group, committed suicide after the incident was exposed, and was deprived of all honors, graces, and medals;

Sugiyama Moto, an accomplice of the **** group, committed suicide after the incident was exposed, and was deprived of all honors, graces, and medals;

Tojo Hideki, an accomplice of the **** group, committed suicide after the incident was exposed, and was deprived of all honors, graces, and medals;

Oikawa Koshiro, was deceived by the ****, had no real guilt and committed suicide, and was buried according to the etiquette of the admiral of the navy;

Prince Kan'in Yasuhito, He was deceived by the Communist Party and had no real crime. He was ordered to study at home and not to interfere in politics.

Tanaka Shinichi was deceived by the Communist Party first, but then he came to his senses and had no real crime. He was put into the reserve service.

Shirakawa Tsuneo was an insider of the Communist Party group. He attacked civilian institutions and caused hundreds of casualties. He was executed and deprived of all honors, graces, and medals.

Hyakutake Haruyoshi was implicated by his brother and often complained and held a grudge. Although he did not respond in substance, he still needed to be reprimanded and put into the reserve service.

…

Hyakutake Haruyoshi was unlucky enough. Because of Hyakutake Gengo's involvement, the old account of disobeying orders on Guadalcanal was dug up and settled again, and he ended up in the reserve service. The funniest one was Tojo Hideki. After the handling opinions were released, the palace left enough time for him to commit seppuku. The formal seppuku should be bathed, changed clothes, put on clean kimono, eat some side dishes, and then spread a blanket on the ground (the reason for spreading a blanket is to prevent the internal organs from flowing to the ground and looking ugly). Finally, he took the knife and cut his stomach from left to right, then from top to bottom, making a "cross". Most of the time, someone would come to help relieve the pain.

But Tojo Hideki dragged it out from 12 noon to 4 pm. Not only did he not commit seppuku, he even trembled and dared not shoot himself. Finally, even the people in the palace couldn't stand it anymore and urged him to ask: "Please hurry up, everyone else is fine, only you are left, His Majesty is still waiting..."

In the end, there was no other way, so his son came forward to help him hold the gun to his temple, put Tojo's finger on the trigger and pulled it hard, and finally "committed suicide" successfully.

His wife sighed: "Husband, if you are so afraid of death, why do you still do this?"