Courtyard House: Home Alone

After listening, Lin Yifan slowly took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly, "Chairman, 'Ghost' has no other intentions than to bring peace to China as soon as possible. It would be best if the country could be peacefully established after the Japanese surrender."

If anyone, for their own selfish gain, disregards the lives of ordinary people and brazenly instigates a civil war, then don't blame 'Ghost' for being ruthless. These are 'Ghost's' exact words to me.

Furthermore, since the Japanese are going to surrender, "Ghost's" opinion is: first, return all our territory, including the Ryukyu Islands, and all the islands to the south and west of the Ryukyu Islands.

At the same time, we request compensation for the losses suffered by China over the years and for the casualties caused by the island nation's aggression. We hope you will compile the specific data and announce it to all Chinese people.

Furthermore, the perpetrators of the war must be severely punished, and war criminals must be tried. No one, whether the emperor of an island nation or a commoner, can escape justice.

These are the three most basic points. If anyone obstructs or betrays China's interests for personal gain, "Ghost" has already clearly pointed out the punishment methods in the last public telegram.

At that time, 'Ghost's' subordinates will carry out the orders without fail.

The bald man's smile froze instantly. He had thought that with such generous terms, Lin Yifan would surely be tempted. He hadn't expected the other party to lay everything bare, leaving no room for negotiation, and even bringing up what he had said in the previous ghost telegram, which made his heart tighten.

The military and political officials sitting to the side also held their breath, no one dared to speak. Everyone knew the elusive power in Ghost's hands, and if things really got out of hand, no one could withstand it.

The bald man coughed twice and waved his hand to smooth things over: "Young Master Lin is right. These are all things we should do. We've fought the War of Resistance for so many years, and our China has made such great sacrifices. We should get what we deserve. It's just that the Ryukyu Islands are now occupied by the Americans. If we bring this up, it might be difficult to resolve."

Lin Yifan looked up at him, his tone calm but carrying an undeniable force: "Ryukyu has been a vassal state of China since ancient times. It was forcibly occupied by the island nation. Now that we have defeated the island nation, it is only natural that we should return it to its rightful owner."

The Americans occupying the land is their business; what is rightfully ours, not a single inch, shall be taken away. If anyone tries to obstruct us, the Ghost will find a way to resolve it; there's no need for the Chairman to worry.

However, you can tell the Americans that if whoever occupies it owns it, then "Ghost" wouldn't mind taking over Hawaii and Guam.

The bald man was speechless, and could only nod awkwardly, then changed the subject to the surrender arrangements, discussing them back and forth.

The final decision was made on the regions to accept the surrender. The Red Party won the right to accept the surrender in most areas. When the meeting adjourned, Baldy kept trying to persuade Lin Yifan to stay for dinner. Lin Yifan declined a couple of times, but eventually stayed.

At the dinner table, a group of high-ranking officials took turns toasting him, all trying to get closer to him. Lin Yifan accepted all the toasts but didn't say a single unnecessary word. After the meal, he excused himself, saying he needed to rest, and went straight back to the Red Party's Wudu office.

Not long after he sat down, the comrade in charge of the office handed him a telegram from headquarters, saying that the Japanese in the Shanghai direction had received the Emperor's surrender order and refused to surrender to Li Yunlong and his men. They were even thinking of surrendering to the National Revolutionary Army. The vanguard of the National Revolutionary Army was almost at Shanghai. He asked Lin Yifan what to do next.

After reading the telegram, Lin Yifan got up and walked towards the door, saying with a smile, "Reply to your headquarters: Since the Japanese refuse to surrender, that's for the best. We'll take it ourselves."

"If the Nationalist army tries to intervene, then make them disarm as well." After saying that, he went straight out the door, found a secluded spot, and teleported away from Chongqing, heading towards Shanghai.

At this time, Li Yunlong's troops had already cleared out all the Japanese strongholds on the outskirts of Shanghai and were just waiting for Lin Yifan to return and give the order for a general offensive. Upon receiving Lin Yifan's message, Li Yunlong was happy to immediately set the time for the general offensive for the early morning of the next day.

When Lin Yifan arrived at the front line, Li Yunlong was looking at the city of Shanghai through binoculars. Upon seeing him return, he immediately handed him the binoculars: "You're finally back. The Japanese devils, relying on the connections from Wudu, stubbornly refused to open the gates and surrender, just waiting for the National Army to come and take over. I've been itching to do this for days."

Lin Yifan took the binoculars, scanned the area, and then put them down, saying directly, "Then there's no need to wait. We'll make our move tonight. I'll take out the Japanese command first, and you guys rush in at midnight. Don't give the Japanese and the Nationalists any time to react. Before the Nationalist vanguard arrives, take over the entire city of Shanghai."

Li Yunlong had been waiting impatiently for a long time. Upon hearing Lin Yifan's words, he immediately snapped to attention, saluted, and turned to arrange the attack.

After nightfall, Lin Yifan used the same trick again, sneaking into the city of Shanghai. In less than an hour, he took care of all the high-ranking Japanese commanders and stored all the ammunition and fuel from the Japanese warehouses and warships into his spatial storage. By the time he returned to his position outside the city, the signal flare for the attack had just been launched into the sky.

The soldiers rushed in through the gap that had been opened earlier. Without command and ammunition, the Japanese could not put up any decent resistance. Before dawn, the area north of the Suzhou River was completely under control.

As the sun rose, the vanguard of the National Revolutionary Army finally arrived at the southern suburbs of Shanghai. Looking up, they saw that the flag of the Communist Party was already flying high in Shanghai. They could only stop outside the city and send people to negotiate, demanding that Li Yunlong cede the city and let them accept his surrender.

Li Yunlong directly passed the matter on to Lin Yifan, who had just entered the city. Lin Yifan only said one sentence to the representative: "We only took the city because the Japanese refused to surrender to us. Now the city is in our hands."

"If you want the city, send your commander over with the surrender documents. If you're not satisfied, feel free to bring your troops in and try; we'll take them."

The representative was humiliated and could only slink back to report. The bald man was furious upon receiving the news, cursing and swearing. Jiangnan was his stronghold! However, because he was wary of the Ghost's power, he dared not actually order a war and could only temporarily endure it, acknowledging the fact that the Red Party had surrendered to Shanghai.

Once Shanghai was captured, the remaining 100,000 or so Japanese soldiers along the river had no way to retreat. They were surrounded by various troops and surrendered within half a month. Not a single one of them was able to retreat back to the island nation.

A week later, the Emperor officially announced the unconditional surrender. The fourteen-year War of Resistance against Japan finally came to an end with a complete victory for China. The whole of China was in a state of jubilation, and everyone looked forward to a peaceful life after the war.

Back in Beiping, Lin Yifan kept a close eye on the distribution of postwar interests. The United States, Britain and other Western countries saw the Chinese representatives as more assertive than ever before. Coupled with the clear-text telegram from "Ghost," they had no choice but to make concessions and basically agreed to China's demands for territory, reparations and severe punishment of war criminals.

The island nation's royal family pardoned only one emperor, while other princes and other war criminals received just trials.