Chapter 44 Six disillusionment

Since Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in early 1933, it has carried out military expansion and preparations for war more recklessly, especially intensifying its deployment for a full-scale invasion of China and preparations for the rear.Before the July 7th Incident, Japan continued to use force and create incidents in North China. The Kuomintang Nanjing government succumbed step by step and signed the He (Yingqin) Mei (Jin) Agreement to transfer the control of North China, Qin (Dechun) Tu (Fehara) ) agreements and other secret agreements, allowing the existence and activities of pseudo-organizations such as the Eastern Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Military Government, and repeatedly confessing to Japan that not only did they have no anti-Japanese actions and thoughts, nor did they have any necessary reasons for anti-Japanese, and that The people of the country issued an order to emulate neighbors, reiterating the prohibition that those who resist the Japanese will be severely punished.In this way, Japan's influence in the customs has been greatly strengthened, and everyone can see that as soon as the time comes, the five provinces will completely change their colors.As I said before, this is the time when fans of restoration inside and outside the customs are eager to try, and it is also the time when I get carried away before and after my third ascension to the throne.However, at the same time that Japan is showing its teeth and claws in the pass, it is also taking steps to step up measures in Manchuria, and these measures have finally come to me, the emperor.

In the process of complete colonization of the Northeast, it is fair to say that the traitors got a lot of cheap.For example, changing the imperial system, this measure not only gave restoration fans a certain degree of psychological satisfaction, but also became an opportunity to make a fortune. The big traitors from Zheng Xiaoxu and below all received a sum of money for the founding of the country ranging from 50,000 to 600,000. A total of 8.6 million yuan (in the future, every time there is a large-scale plunder, such as grain shipments, donations to serve the country, etc., there must be a bonus distributed from the prime minister down to the chief minister of Baojia).I don't want to give a comprehensive account of the various measures in Japan now, but only my disillusionment with the idea of ​​​​restoring my ancestors and my deep fear.

Logically speaking, the Japanese Kwantung Army officially told me that it was not to restore the Qing Dynasty when it decided on the imperial system, that I was not allowed to wear a dragon robe when it ascended the throne, and that it ignored my opinions when deciding on the candidates for the prime minister. I should have understood my dignity. Falseness, but I was so intoxicated that I didn't wake up because of it.It was the Lingsheng incident that made me feel disillusioned. Ling Sheng was the son of Guifu, the capital of Mongolia in the late Qing Dynasty. He was originally an advisor to Zhang Zuolin's security headquarters in the three eastern provinces and the Mongolian Xuanfu Envoy.He was one of the petition representatives in Lushun, so he was included in the founding fathers.He was the governor of the Puppet Manchukuo Xing'an Province when the incident happened.In the spring of 1936, he was suddenly arrested by the Kwantung Army.The reason for the arrest, according to Yoshioka Anzhi, who was sent by the Kwantung Army, was that he had anti-Manchurian anti-Japanese activities, but according to the news Tong Jixu heard, it was that he complained at the latest joint meeting of provincial governors, which angered the Japanese.It is said that at this meeting, he complained that the Japanese Kwantung Army's words and deeds were inconsistent. He said that he had heard Itagaki say that Japan would recognize Manchukuo as an independent country when he was in Lushun. The province has no power or position, and everything is decided by the Japanese.After this meeting, he was arrested when he returned to the province.I was very disturbed to hear this news, because I had just married him half a year ago, and my fourth sister was engaged to his son.When I was hesitating whether to intercede with the Kwantung Army, Kenkichi Ueda, the new commander and fourth ambassador to Manchuria, came to me first.

A case was solved a few days ago, the criminal was recognized by His Majesty the Emperor, Ling Sheng, Governor of Xing'an Province.He colluded with foreign countries to conspire against Japan.The military court has verified his anti-Manchurian anti-Japanese crimes and sentenced him to death. death penalty?I was taken aback. death penalty.He nodded to his translator and repeated, meaning to make it clear to me.Then he said to me: This is to make an example to others, Your Majesty, it is necessary to make an example to others! After he left, Kwantung Army Admiral Yoshioka Anzhi informed me that he should break off the engagement with Ling Sheng's son immediately.I hastened to do so.

When Ling Sheng was executed, he was executed by beheading.Several of his relatives were also tortured together.This is the first prominent official I know to be killed by the Japanese, and he was just married to me.From the behavior of Ling Sheng and my marriage, I firmly believe that he is the person who admires me the most and is the most loyal to me, but the only criterion for the Kwantung Army to measure everyone is their attitude towards Japan.Needless to say, this unified standard is also used to treat me.Thinking of this, I feel more and more eerie and terrifying about Ueda's words of "killing one person to make an example."

This reminds me of an incident not long ago.At the end of 1935, some people traveled inside and outside the pass in an attempt to restore the Qing Dynasty, such as Kang Youwei's apprentice Ren Zu'an, my former military officer Wu Tianpei, etc., which attracted the attention of the Kwantung Army.The Kwantung Army once investigated me about this.The Lingsheng incident reminded me that the Japanese don't like such things, so we should be more careful. What do Japanese people like?I naturally think of a person whose fate is completely different from Ling Sheng's, and that is Zhang Jinghui.These are really two examples that the Japanese intend to show our group.One blessing and one misfortune, the contrast is stark.The reason why Zhang Jinghui was able to win the favor of the Japanese and replaced Zheng Xiaoxu was due to his own kung fu.The character of this bearded Prime Minister and his appreciation by the Japanese can be known from the epigrams that the Japanese recited about him.Once, at a state affairs meeting, the head of the General Affairs Department talked about the superstitious principle of Japan's single-mindedness and one-heartedness as the moral basis for Japan's plundering of industrial and mining raw materials. At the end of the day, I would like to ask the Prime Minister to say a few words.Zhang Jinghui said: We are illiterate and vulgar, so let's say something vulgar: Japan and Manchuria are two ants (dragonflies) tied to a rope.These two ants and one rope were recited by the Japanese for a while, and became aphorisms to teach Manchu officials a lesson.When Japan implemented the colonization and immigration policy in the Northeast, a bill was to be passed at the state affairs meeting, stipulating that the farmland in the Northeast should be purchased at a price of one-fourth or one-fifth of the land price. He owns a lot of land and doesn't want to suffer, so he expressed his opposition.At this time, Zhang Jinghui came out to speak: Manchuria has a lot of land, and the Manchurians are rough and ignorant. It is cheap for the Japanese to open up wasteland and teach new technologies.The proposal was passed.The phrase "both ends are cheap" is often quoted by the Japanese.Later, the implementation of grain export was stepped up, and the farmers in the Northeast were expropriated every season. Some ministers clamored for an increase in the purchase price at the state council because the purchase price was too low, which directly harmed their interests.The Japanese naturally refused to do it, so Zhang Jinghui said to everyone: The Japanese imperial army worked hard, and our Manchuria produced food, which is nothing.Those who are suffering from famine tighten their belts and pass.Belt tightening has become a favorite saying of the Japanese, of course, not to themselves.The commander of the Kwantung Army kept praising Zhang Jinghui to me as a good prime minister and a person who practiced the friendship between Japan and Manchuria.At that time, I seldom thought of what this meant to me. Now that I have Ling Sheng's example, I can understand it by comparing the two.

The Lingsheng incident has passed, and my meeting with King De caused me even greater uneasiness. King De is Demchukdongrup, who was manipulated by Japan to establish the puppet organization of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Military Government.He was originally a Mongolian prince.When I was in Tianjin, he gave me money, gave Pu Jie a fine-bred Mongolian horse, and expressed his loyalty to me in many ways.This time he was looking for the Kwantung Army on business, and took the opportunity to obtain permission from the commander of the Kwantung Army to come to visit me.He talked to me about his experience in the past few years and the establishment of the autonomous military government, and he complained unconsciously, complaining that the Japanese in his place were too domineering, saying that the Kwantung Army had made many wishes to him first, but in the end it was the same. Not realized.What troubled him above all was that he could not decide everything.His words aroused my complaints, and I couldn't help feeling sorry for him, and comforted him.Unexpectedly, the next day, the staff officer sent by the Kwantung Army to me as a full-time liaison, that is, the emperor's royal servant Yoshioka Yasao I will talk about in the future, came to me with a straight face and asked me:

What did His Majesty talk to King De yesterday? I felt something was wrong, so I presumed it was just a small talk. He didn't let me go, and asked: Did you express dissatisfaction with the Japanese in yesterday's conversation? My heart jumped up.I knew that the only way was to refuse to admit it, and the better way was to advance as a retreat, so I said: That must be some kind of falsehood intentionally made up by King De, right? Although Yoshioka didn't pursue him any further, I was terrified and full of doubts for several days.I think there are only two possibilities for this matter, either the Japanese installed some eavesdropping machine in my house, or De Wang told the truth in front of the Japanese.In order to solve this mystery, I spent a lot of time looking for the possible machine in the house.I didn't find any machines, and I suspected that De Wang deliberately betrayed me, but there was no basis for it.Neither of these two possibilities can be determined or denied, so both have become my new demonic obstacle.

After this incident happened, I learned more than what the Lingsheng incident told me.I will never tell the truth to any outsider, I am wary of every guest.In fact, since I returned from my visit to Japan to give a speech, the number of people who came to see me has gradually decreased, and after the meeting with King De, it was even closer to extinction.In 1937, the Kwantung Army even came up with a new rule, that is, whenever I received outsiders, I had to be served by the imperial court. Entering 1937, I became more and more nervous every day. In the six months before the July 7th Incident, Japan stepped up preparations.In order to consolidate the rule of its rear base, it carried out a comprehensive suppression of the anti-Japanese and patriotic activities of the people in the Northeast.On January 4th, the Criminal Law of the Manchurian Empire was promulgated by the Emperor of Manchuria, and then began a large-scale prosecution and a large-scale crusade.Japan dispatched a large number of troops this time, and used about 20 Japanese divisions to deal with the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces with more than 45,000 people.At the same time, members of the Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress were hunted and arrested all over the country, and all those who were considered unstable.The results of this large-scale prosecution and large-scale crusade were not satisfactory. Less than a year after the commander of the Kwantung Army boasted to me of the power of the imperial army and the impressive results of the battle, he dispatched troops on a larger scale (it turned out to be 700,000 Japanese troops later) and 300,000 puppet troops), a new crusade was launched. At the same time, according to my confidant, Tong Jixu, the head of the security department, people often disappeared in various places.

I have never heard any real news from the conversations of the commander of the Kwantung Army and the routine reports of the Prime Minister. Only Tong Jixu can tell me something.He once told me that the Kwantung Army commander's news about the victory of the crusade to me was not necessarily reliable, and it was hard to say who the bandits eliminated were.He said that he had a relative who was arrested as a laborer and participated in the construction of a secret project. According to this relative, after the completion of the project, almost all the laborers were killed, and only he and a few people survived. escaped.In his opinion, when the newspaper once boasted how many bandits had been wiped out in a certain place, it was about those laborers.

Not long after Tong Jixu’s story was told, Wu Hangye, who had been my English translator, disappeared.One day Pu Jie came to tell me that Wu was arrested because he had contacts with Americans when he was in the embassy in Tokyo, and now he has died in the gendarmerie.He also said that before Wu died, he asked the guard to bring him a letter, begging him to transfer me to intercede, but he did not dare to tell me at that time.I listened and told him to stop talking. During this period of time, the policies and decrees I have approved include many measures for Japan to step up its preparations for war and strengthen its control over this colony. Whether it is a major reorganization of government agencies to further control the needs, or the regulation of Japanese as the national language, nothing excites me more than Pu Jie's marriage. After Pu Jie graduated from the Japanese Institute of Learning, he transferred to the Non-commissioned Officer Academy to study the army.In the winter of 1935, he returned to Changchun from Japan and became a lieutenant in the Imperial Guard. From then on, acquaintances in the Kwantung Army often talked to him about marriage issues, why a man must be served by a woman, and what Japanese women are in the world. The most ideal wife, keep pouring into his ears.At first, when I heard him mention these things, I just laughed it off and didn't take it seriously.Unexpectedly, Yasuo Yoshioka, who was sent to me by the Kwantung Army, really revealed to me what the Kwantung Army meant, saying that in order to promote goodwill between Japan and Manchuria, he hoped that Pu Jie could marry a Japanese woman.I didn't comment at the time, but I was very disturbed, so I hurriedly consulted with my second sister to discuss countermeasures.We agreed that this must be a conspiracy, the Japanese wanted to win over Pu Jie, and wanted a child of Japanese descent to replace me if necessary.In order to dispel the idea of ​​the Kwantung Army, we decided to act as soon as possible and marry Pu Jie first.I found Pu Jie, gave him some lectures, and warned him that if he had a Japanese wife at home, he would be completely under the supervision of the Japanese, which would cause endless troubles, and then told him that I must find him a wife. Good wife, he should listen to me and not think about Japanese women.Pu Jie respectfully agreed, and I sent someone to Beijing to propose marriage to him.Later, people from my father-in-law's family found a partner in Beijing, and Pu Jie expressed his satisfaction, but Yoshioka suddenly approached Pu Jie and intervened, saying that the Kwantung Army wanted him to marry a Japanese woman in order to enhance the friendship between Japan and Manchuria. Brother, you should set an example of goodwill. This is the intention of the military. General Shigeru Honjo will be a matchmaker for him in Tokyo, so he can no longer accept the marriage in Beijing, and should wait for news from Tokyo.As a result, Pu Jie had to obey the Kwantung Army. On April 3, 1937, Pu Jie married Saga Hao, the daughter of Marquis Saga Katsuki in Tokyo.Less than a month later, at the behest of the Kwantung Army, the State Council passed a law on the succession of the throne, which clearly stipulated that after the death of the emperor, his sons would succeed him; if he had no sons, his grandchildren would succeed him; If there is no younger brother, the son of the younger brother will succeed him. After Pu Jie and his wife returned to the Northeast, I made up my mind: I would not say anything from my heart in front of Pu Jie, and I would not eat a bite of the food Pu Jie's wife brought me.If Pu Jie and I eat together, and there are dishes made by his wife on the table, I must wait for him to put down the chopsticks first before moving a little. Later, when Pu Jie was about to become a father, I worried about my own future, and I even worried about my younger brother.I believe that in the law of succession to the throne, the first few items are not reliable, and the only reliable thing is the sentence that the disciple's son succeeds.What the Kwantung Army wants is an emperor of Japanese descent, so both of us brothers may be sacrificed.I was relieved to hear that he had a daughter later. At that time, I thought, if I had a son myself, would it be safe?The result of my thinking is that even if I really have a son, it may not be of any benefit to me, because the Kwantung Army asked me to write down a written statement: If a prince is born, he must be sent to Japan when he is five years old, and the Kwantung Army will send him to Japan. upbringing. The horror didn't end there.On June 28, nine days before the July 7th Incident, another incident involving the guards occurred. The so-called guard army is a team that I pay for myself. It is different from the Imperial Guard organized by the Ministry of Military Affairs.I established it not only to protect myself, but also for the same reason I sent Pu Jie and the others to Japan to study the army. I wanted to use this to cultivate my own military backbone and prepare for the establishment of an army under my own control.My team of 300 people are all trained according to the standards of officers.Tong Jixu, who was in charge of the guards, told me long ago that the Kwantung Army didn't like this team.I have never understood Tong Jixu's premonition in the past, until something happened.On June 28, some of the guards went to the park to play, and had a quarrel with several Japanese in plain clothes because they rented a yacht.At this time, a group of Japanese swarmed up, without any explanation, they raised their hands and beat them.They were cornered, and they resorted to martial arts to resist.Seeing that they couldn't do anything about them, the Japanese released wolf dogs to bite them.They kicked the wolfhound to death, rushed out of the siege, and fled back to the team.They didn't expect that this would lead to disaster.Not long after, some Japanese military police came outside the palace and asked Tong Jixu to hand over all the guards who went to the park today.Tong Jixu was terrified, and hurriedly handed over the guards to the Japanese military police and took them away.The Japanese military police forced them to admit that they had anti-Manchurian anti-Japanese activities, but the guards refused to admit it, so they were tortured and ill-treated.Only then did the guards understand that this incident was deliberately created by the Kwantung Army: the Japanese in plain clothes were originally sent by the Kwantung Army, and two Kwantung Army staff officers were injured in the fight between the two sides, and they were kicked to death. Shepherd dogs are military dogs of the Kwantung Army.When I heard that the guards were arrested, I thought they had caused trouble unintentionally, so I hurriedly asked Yoshioka Anzhi to intercede with the Kwantung Army on his behalf.Yoshioka went there and brought in the three conditions of Hideki Tojo, Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, namely: 1. Tong Jixu, who was in charge of the guard, apologized to the injured Kwantung Army staff officer; 2. Deport the guard who caused the accident; 3. , Guarantee that similar incidents will never occur in the future.I complied with Tojo’s conditions｜After I complied, the Kwantung Army then forced me to dismiss Tong Jixu, the chief of the security department, and replaced him with the Japanese Nagao Yoshigoro. In the past, in order to build up my own strength, I sent several groups of young people to Japan to study the army. I didn’t want these people to come back, including Pu Jie, who were sent by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs and were not under my control at all.Now that the guards trained as the backbone are completely in the hands of the Japanese, I no longer have such ridiculous dreams. After the July 7th Incident broke out and the Japanese army occupied Beijing, some princes in Beijing.The old man was eager to try and wait for the old crown to be restored, but at this time I knew that this was absolutely impossible.My only thought at this time was how to keep safe in front of the Japanese, and how to deal with the incarnation of the Kwantung Army, the emperor's royal servant, Yoshioka Yasunao.