One man's resistance against Japan, I mobilized a million people to aid Shanghai.

Fengtian, deep underground at the Kwantung Army Headquarters, a temporary imperial palace.

It's less like a royal palace and more like a giant converted air-raid shelter.

The Japanese flag and the banner that read "May your military fortune last forever" hanging on the wall appeared dim and lifeless under the pale gas lamp.

Emperor Hirohito, the supreme leader of the Japanese, was full of vigor just a day ago, but now he looks emaciated.

He sat listlessly on a simple chair covered with yellow silk, still wearing the slightly oversized uniform of a Grand Marshal of the Army, but his shoulders were slumped and his back was hunched.

In just one day, he seemed to have aged twenty years. His eyes were sunken, his lips were dry and cracked, and the knuckles of his fingers gripping the hilt of his military knife were white and trembling slightly.

On the ground in front of him lay a telegram that had been repeatedly crumpled and then flattened.

That was the last farewell telegram Terauchi Hisaichi sent from outside Jinzhou.

"...The battle situation has changed dramatically. The enemy has deployed a massive number of reinforcements using unknown means...Our army is surrounded...The time has come to serve His Majesty the Emperor..."

"The Kwantung Area Army... is on the verge of annihilation... Your Majesty the Emperor... Long live the Emperor..."

Every word was like a red-hot knife, repeatedly cutting into Hirohito's nerves.

"The emperor is shattered... The emperor is shattered... Five hundred thousand loyal and brave soldiers... The emperor is shattered..."

Hirohito muttered to himself, his voice hoarse like a broken bellows.

Suddenly, he felt a sweet taste in his throat, and with a "whoosh," he actually spat out a mouthful of dark red blood, which splattered onto the telegram and yellow silk in front of him, a shocking sight.

"His Majesty!"

The attendants, military officers, and physicians rushed forward in a panic.

Hirohito roughly shoved them away, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, but a sickly light shone in his eyes.

"Useless! All of you are useless! Terauchi Hisaichi! Ishii Shiro! You are all useless people who have betrayed my trust!"

He suddenly stood up, swaying slightly from weakness, but quickly regained his balance. His voice rose sharply, becoming shrill and piercing.

"Half a hundred thousand troops! And special ammunition!"

"They couldn't even take Jinzhou?! And they were even surrounded?!"

"Shattered jade?! How dare they shatter jade?!"

The underground conference room was deathly silent.

The few remaining high-ranking officials—Naval Minister Mitsumasa Yonai, Privy Council President Yoshimichi Hara, and several ashen-faced army generals—all bowed their heads, unable to meet the Emperor's frenzied gaze.

Mitsumasa Yonai felt a chill run through him.

As a relatively clear-headed naval commander, he was more aware than anyone of the current predicament.

The North China Offensive, considered the last hope and a gamble on the nation's fate, was unexpectedly reversed by Zhu Ganglie in an inconceivable way just as it was about to capture Jinzhou.

Is there still a way forward for the empire?

"Speak! Are you all mute?!"

Hirohito's gaze swept over everyone, finally settling on Yonai's face.

"Minister Minay! Where are the remnants of the naval fleet?!"

"Could we send reinforcements to Jinzhou from the sea? Or... launch a direct landing on the Chinese coast and attack Zhu Ganglie's rear?!"

Mitsumasa Yonai raised his head bitterly:

"The navy is too weak to be of any real use!"

"Baka..."

Hirohito took a step back and slumped back into his chair. The madness in his eyes subsided slightly, replaced by a deeper despair.

"Then...how many troops does the empire still have?"

"Mobilize! Full mobilization! All imperial subjects aged thirteen to eighty, arm yourselves!"

"I will personally lead the army! I will fight Zhu Ganglie to the death! Even if I shed my last drop of blood, I will make this demon pay the price!"

"Your Majesty! Please calm down!"

Yuan Jiadao hurriedly tried to dissuade him, saying, "Fengtian currently lacks sufficient troops. Although there are many overseas Chinese, most of them are elderly, weak, women, and children, and they are filled with fear and panic. They are simply unable to organize an effective resistance!"

"The most urgent matter is for Your Majesty to immediately proceed to..."

"Move to somewhere else? Where to?!"

Hirohito interrupted sharply, "Go to Xinjing? Zhu Ganglie's blade will be upon us at any moment!"

"Go to Sakhalin Island? Or go to Vladivostok and beg for mercy from the Russian bear?!"

He gave a bitter laugh. "No! I'm not going anywhere!"

"I am the emperor, a descendant of Emperor Jimmu!"

"Even if I die, I will die on this land of Manchuria! I will die before my soldiers!"

He stood up again, a kind of martyr's fanaticism appearing on his face:

"By imperial decree! All subjects of the Empire within Fengtian City, regardless of age or gender, are to be mobilized! Weapons will be distributed! A suicidal war will be waged!"

"Every house is a fortress! Every street is a graveyard!"

"I will make sure that Zhu Ganglie pays a bloody price for every step he takes forward!"

"An empire may perish, but its spirit will never yield!"

These words, if spoken a few months ago, might have elicited some enthusiastic responses.

But at this moment, faced with a series of crushing defeats and Zhu Ganglie's terrifying methods, there was only a suppressed silence and an unconcealable fear in the conference room.

Yonai Mitsumasa knew that the Emperor could not be allowed to continue like this.

He took a deep breath, knelt down, and touched the ground with his head: "Your Majesty! I implore Your Majesty, for the sake of the empire and the royal bloodline, to leave Fengtian immediately!"

He raised his head, his eyes filled with tears, but his tone was resolute:

"Fengtian has only a depleted division and a small number of overseas Chinese volunteers left. Facing Zhu Ganglie's ferocious army, they have no chance of survival!"

"So-called 'jade shattering' is nothing but a pointless sacrifice, which will only extinguish the last vestiges of the empire's dignity and hope!"

"Your Majesty! Please immediately take the important members of the royal family, under the protection of the Imperial Guard, and break through to the north or east!"

"Even if we temporarily live under someone else's roof, we can still preserve our lives and make connections with overseas forces, waiting for changes in the international situation. Perhaps there is... a glimmer of hope for restoring our kingdom, Your Majesty!"

"Restore the kingdom?"

Hirohito's eyes were vacant for a moment, then replaced by a deeper sense of shame and anger.

"You want me to run away like a stray dog? You want me to beg Stalin? No! I'd rather..."

He didn't finish his sentence.

"boom--!!!"

A deafening roar shook the entire city of Fengtian.