Bright Sword: The Flowers of War

Chapter 362 Finale
August 16, 1945.

The summer heat of the Taihang Mountains had not yet completely dissipated, and sunlight pierced through the sparse clouds, shining into the courtyard of the Wutai County militia headquarters.

The news of Japan's surrender had been circulating for less than a day, and a strange calm, a mixture of ecstasy and bewilderment, still permeated the air.

Beside the stone table in the courtyard, Brigade Commander Chen, dressed in a cloth military uniform but with the marks of time on his brows, held an enamel mug containing tea that had gone cold.

He looked at Su Yaoyang, who was also dressed in military uniform but exuded the air of a powerful figure, his Adam's apple bobbed, and he finally asked the question.

"Brother Su, are you really leaving?" His voice was a little hoarse, with a hint of barely perceptible regret.

Su Yaoyang nodded calmly, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary. "Of course, isn't this something we already agreed on?"

"Hey... I say, Brother Su!" Li Yunlong, standing nearby, slapped his thigh and stood up abruptly, his weathered face filled with confusion and anxiety. "Stay here! Stay here and build the new China with us! The Japanese devils have surrendered, and good days are just around the corner. It's such a pity that you want to leave at this crucial moment!"

Su Yaoyang did not answer immediately; he turned his head and looked behind him.

Standing behind him was Song Mei, dressed in an elegant cheongsam that perfectly accentuated her voluptuous figure. She held a beautiful baby girl in her arms, who was quietly sucking her fingers.

After noticing her husband's gaze, she gave him a gentle yet firm smile.

On the other side, Xiao Lu was dressed in a well-fitting blue cloth shirt, her figure still slender, and she was also holding a sleeping baby boy in her arms.

She just stood there quietly, her eyes filled with dependence on her man.

A little boy, about four or five years old, held Su Yaoyang's big hand tightly and looked at the two unfamiliar "uncles" in front of him with curiosity.

Su Yaoyang withdrew his gaze, smiled faintly, and looked back at Brigade Commander Chen and Li Yunlong.

"Brigade Commander Chen, Regiment Commander Li."

He said, "I'm used to being free and easy. I'm good at fighting, but I'm not good at dealing with those complicated things."

Rather than staying here and potentially being restricted in every way, it's better to go out and be a free spirit, living a carefree life as a local warlord.

He paused, then changed the subject, a shrewd glint in his eyes.

"Besides, I've already made arrangements with the Americans and the people in Chongqing."

According to the Potsdam Declaration, our country has the right to station troops in Japan.

This time, I was also acting on orders from the central government, leading tens of thousands of brothers from the Shanxi militia to be stationed in those places in Ryukyu, so that we Chinese can keep an eye on these beasts. If they dare to pull any more tricks in the future, being close by will make it easy for us to go directly and teach them a lesson, right?

"This……"

Li Yunlong was speechless after hearing these words. He scratched the back of his head, wanting to refute, but found that Su Yaoyang's words were watertight and he had no way to refute them.

Commander Chen remained silent for a long time, his fingers slowly tracing the rough rim of the enamel mug. He looked at Su Yaoyang, then at the large family behind him, and finally let out a long sigh.

"That's true." He nodded helplessly, his eyes filled with complex emotions. "The world is bound to change eventually. Since you've made up your mind, I won't stop you anymore. I wish you... a safe journey."

Two months later, the autumn sea breeze, carrying a cool and damp air, swept over Naha Port in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa).

On the sea, a massive, breathtaking fleet broke through the azure waves and slowly sailed into the harbor.

Hundreds of huge transport ships, with waterlines almost touching the surface of the water, had their sides densely packed with people.

Around these cumbersome transport ships, seven or eight Nationalist destroyers and cruisers flying the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag patrolled like loyal hounds, their cannons, though covered with canvas, still exuding a chilling deterrent force.

When the anchor of the first transport ship crashed into the sea with a loud crash, an eerie silence fell over the entire Naha Port.

On the dock, a few scattered American military police whistled as they lazily maintained order, while further away, local residents who had survived the war peered out from behind the windows of their dilapidated houses and around the corners of alleyways, their eyes filled with a complex mix of fear, numbness, and curiosity as they watched the massive contingent from China.

The heavy iron gangway was lowered with a loud crash, slamming heavily onto the concrete surface of the dock.

The first group to step down was a team of fully armed soldiers.

They wore brand-new, dark green military uniforms personally designed by Su Yaoyang, with "Chinese Garrison in Japan" badges on their chests, shiny military boots on their feet, and gripped identical American M1 Garand rifles in their hands.

Their steps were perfectly synchronized, their eyes sharp and alert, and they exuded a murderous aura honed from countless battles, instantly causing the lazy American soldiers on the dock to straighten up involuntarily.

Following closely behind was a torrent of soldiers surging down like a tide.

They were no longer just soldiers of the Shanxi militia; they were now the victors, the occupying forces.

Behind this torrent of steel came an even larger group of family members.

The women carried packs on their backs, leading older children by the hand and carrying younger ones in their arms. The children curiously observed this unfamiliar world. Their cries and the women's hushed conversations mingled with the dull footsteps of the soldiers, proclaiming that this was not a temporary military presence, but a complete colonization and migration under the guise of "garrisoning."

Tens of thousands of soldiers and their families, like a giant swarm of ants, began to pour out of the ship's hull in an orderly fashion, quickly occupying and taking over the designated area near the dock.

Su Yaoyang stood on the bridge of a cruiser, coldly observing everything through binoculars.

Beside him, Chief of Staff Pi Ruoyu pointed excitedly at the dock and said to him:
"Sir, after the first batch of personnel and supplies are unloaded in Okinawa, the fleet will not stay."

According to the plan, Cheng Rufeng's air force will be stationed directly at Kadena Air Base, the main force of the navy will go to Sasebo, and another marine will head north to Aomori Prefecture.

Once these four places are firmly secured, it will be as if we have driven wedges into Japan's neck, heart, and limbs.

"From now on, if they make any trouble, we can make them taste the pain of being beaten again!"

Su Yaoyang put down the binoculars, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

“Very good… Tell the brothers that this is not Shanxi, but our new home. Let them open their eyes wide and stand tall. From today onwards, we are the ones who call the shots on this land.”

"understand!"

Just as Su Yaoyang was giving Pi Ruoyu his instructions, several inconspicuous modified transport ships were mixed in with the massive fleet.

There was no noisy chatter from family members or the grim atmosphere of a regular army on the ship; only a complex emotion, suppressed for too long, about to burst forth.

These ships carried all the members of the "Loyal Alliance." After five years of development, this group, which initially consisted of more than a thousand prisoners of war, has now quietly expanded to a size of more than five thousand.

Their composition was diverse, including soldiers captured in formation on the battlefield, as well as officers, doctors, nurses, and even technicians who voluntarily joined them at the end of the war, when the empire was on the verge of collapse, in order to survive and for their future.

For them, Japan's defeat was not the end, but the beginning of another high-stakes gamble.

When the familiar, emerald-green outline of the Ryukyu Islands appeared on the horizon, the deck erupted in chaos. Long-suppressed homesickness, like a flood bursting its banks, violently shattered the masks of composure worn by many.

“We’re back…we’re finally back!” An old soldier with a missing left arm knelt on the deck, pounding the rusty iron plate with his remaining right hand, hot tears streaming down his weathered face as he let out a hoarse wail.

"Yes...it smells like home..."

Another, younger soldier greedily inhaled the salty sea breeze, as if it carried the fragrance of cherry blossoms from his hometown.

He was trembling all over, tears and snot streaming down his face, but he didn't care.

For a moment, the deck was filled with a mixture of crying, laughter, and shouts.

They returned, in a way they themselves had never imagined, as servants of the conquerors, to the land they had sworn to defend to the death.

However, in this sea of ​​emotions, a few figures stood still like reefs.

Katsuhiko Nakata stood on the ship's railing, letting the sea breeze tousle his hair.

He looked coldly at his distraught subordinates, neither crying nor laughing.

For him, sentimentality was the most useless thing in the world.

He turned around and said in a deep voice to the few trusted officers behind him, "Pass on my order: all officers above the rank of platoon leader are to have a meeting in the lower cargo hold in ten minutes."

Soon, in a narrow, stuffy cargo hold at the very bottom of the transport ship, filled with the mixed smells of rust and sweat, dozens of core members of the "Loyal Alliance" sat in a circle. Under the dim light, each person's face was still flushed with excitement, but the atmosphere was unusually heavy.

Katsuhiko Nakata stood in the center, his gaze sweeping across everyone's face like a knife.

"I know that many of you are very excited and happy right now."

His voice clearly reached everyone's ears, "But I need you to immediately wipe away those useless tears and use your brains to think carefully about who we are now!"

He paused, then emphasized, “We are not heroes returning home in glory. In the eyes of those people here, we are ‘traitors’! We are ‘non-citizens’! We are a disgrace who have betrayed the Emperor and the country! They will curse us with the most vicious words, look at us with the most contemptuous eyes! They might even throw stones at us!”

The air in the cargo hold seemed to freeze. The officers, who had just been immersed in the joy of returning home, turned deathly pale in an instant.

“We know exactly what Your Excellency needs us to do.”

Katsuhiko Nakata continued, his voice growing increasingly cold, "We are his daggers, the blades he uses to stab his enemies."

All the dirty, inconvenient, and provocative things that he and his Chinese army couldn't do, things that would provoke fierce resistance from the locals, we will do! Suppressing riots, gathering intelligence, eliminating dissidents… we will become the most hated executioners in the eyes of all Japanese!

"but!"

He abruptly changed the subject, his eyes gleaming with fervor, "This is also our opportunity! An opportunity to completely control our own destiny, and even the future of this country."

If we perform well and satisfy His Excellency the General, we will gain power, land, and wealth! Everything that the victors could obtain!
Those fools still dreaming of 'one hundred million dying for their country' will only sink to the bottom of the sea along with this corrupt nation!

He spread his arms wide, like a madman preaching.

"So, put away your weakness! From this moment on, forget that you are Japanese! We have only one identity... bayonets belonging exclusively to the General!"

Now, do you know who you are?

The crowd around them chorused, "We know...we are the General's dogs...a sharp dagger ready to pierce the enemy at any moment!"

"Yoshi..."

Katsuhiko Nakata nodded in satisfaction, his eyes sharp and cold.

"Just remember this: never think of surrendering to those corrupt tycoons and bureaucrats. In their eyes, we are nothing but a bunch of shameful traitors. They will never forgive us betrayers. Anyone who surrenders to them will only have one fate: to be hanged from a tree. Understand?"

"Hai!"

Time flies, 80 years later.

An elderly man with white hair stood at the highest point of Naha Port, gazing at the sea to the west in silence for a long time.

Behind him stood several middle-aged men and more than a dozen young men.

Seeing the white-haired old man remain motionless for a long time, a young man whispered to the person next to him, "Twelfth Brother, our great-grandfather came here every year to look across the sea. Why doesn't he go back to visit?"

"What do you know?" the twelfth brother next to him said in a low voice, "My great-grandfather had his reasons for doing this. Besides, he is already a hundred years old. How could he endure the hardships of traveling at such an advanced age?"

Moreover, ever since his second great-grandmother passed away ten years ago, his great-grandfather had been depressed and insisted on living alone in that old house. His uncles had tried to persuade him many times, but to no avail. Every time he came here and looked across the street, he was reminiscing about the happy times he had with his two great-grandmothers.

"Oh...I see."

"Of course," said Twelfth Brother proudly. "When I was little, my great-grandmother loved me the most. She often told me about my great-grandfather's glorious achievements in fighting the Japanese invaders over there."

Don't you think about it? My great-grandfather was able to rise from a down-on-his-luck rich kid to become the behind-the-scenes leader of the second largest political party in Japan after more than half a century of development. He was no ordinary person.

But now that my great-grandfather is old, I don't know... sigh..."

Hearing this, everyone felt a pang of sadness.

Su Yaoyang stood at the front, listening silently to the discussions of his great-grandchildren behind him.

He touched the necklace around his neck, recalling the various scenes when he first arrived in Nanjing. He couldn't help but smile, then gently closed his eyes, and his whole body began to sink into darkness.

"Grandpa... Great-grandfather..."

(End of this chapter)