Under One Person: The Sea Emperor Who Shattered Heaven and Earth

"Who will receive this money?" Yamaguchi changed the subject. Since he couldn't decide how many years it would take, he at least wanted to clarify the process. "Will it be transferred directly to the Chinese side?"

This question made Jiang Zhen silent for a moment.

He had considered transferring the compensation directly to his hometown. The Japanese owed his hometown a debt, so the compensation should naturally be returned there. But after careful consideration, he felt it wasn't a good idea. His hometown might not accept it, and some things are better handled indirectly.

After all, this attack on Japan was his personal act from beginning to end.

"No," Jiang Zhen said, his voice firm. "You will compensate me, and you will compensate the Cao Gang."

Yamaguchi lowered his head, his voice devoid of any strength to argue: "Understood. The reparations will be paid to you and your organization in the form of war reparations. The current and every future Japanese government will provide long-term compensation to you and your organization."

Three days later, a brief treaty was signed on the ruins of Shinjuku.

Jiang Zhen had Fifth Master Feng move a table that had been dragged out of the collapsed hotel and set it up on the open ground in front of the Capital Hall Square.

Yamaguchi signed on behalf of the Japanese government. His hand trembled violently, but the pen eventually landed on the paper, and he signed his name stroke by stroke, his handwriting crooked and messy, like a primary school student just learning to write.

After signing, he put the pen on the table, his fingers trembling. He didn't look at anyone, but just bowed his head and knelt before the paper.

Jiang Zhen readily signed his name on it.

There was no applause, no reporters, no handshakes or photos. Only ruins, the sea breeze, and a wisp of black smoke still rising in the distance.

The core provisions of the treaty consist of only a few:

First, Japan confirmed that it would pay war reparations to Jiang Zhen in its own name, with the total amount being an astronomical figure.

Second, the compensation will be paid in installments, with each year's repayment being no less than 10% of the total amount. Interest will be 30% of the remaining amount each year (compound interest). The down payment must be made within three months, with subsequent payments made annually.

Third, from this day forward, the candidate for Prime Minister of Japan must be approved by Jiang Zhen before assuming office. Anyone who assumes office without approval will be subject to all means of removal by the Canal Gang.

Fourth, the Grand Canal Gang has the right to interfere in all personnel appointments and removals in Japan. The Grand Canal Gang has the right to review, advise on, and veto the appointment and removal of personnel at all levels. Japan may not refuse or delay for any reason.

……

Seventeenth, if any of the above clauses is violated, whether directly or indirectly, whether actively violated or passively overlooked, Jiang Zhen has the right to take all necessary measures to pursue the matter.

As for what exactly "all necessary means" meant, the treaty didn't specify a word. But Yamaguchi knew better than anyone else. He knelt on the ground, looking at those words, his mind filled with images of Nagasaki's coastline flattened by the tsunami, the great earthquake in Tokyo, and the several smoking mass graves in Shinjuku Square.

After signing the treaty, Yamaguchi knelt before the table, as if all his strength had been drained away. He had no idea how he would be remembered in Japanese history after this treaty was signed.

But none of that matters anymore, because from this day forward he is the true Prime Minister of Japan, and he has earned the man's recognition.

As for how to calculate the compensation? He looked up at the endless ruins in the distance, and a thought flashed through his mind: what else can we do but make the Japanese people suffer a little more?

Jiang Zhen picked up the treaty, read it through, and handed it to Master Feng behind him.

"Keep it safe."

Master Feng accepted the treaty with both hands and carefully tucked it into his pocket. This was a first for him, and it was of great significance. He planned to lock it in a bulletproof safe when he got back.

Yamaguchi left. Standing beside Jiang Zhen, Fifth Master Feng looked at the gray sea in the distance and suddenly chuckled.

"Boss, that's brilliant!"

“If you slaughter them all at once, the meat will only last for one meal. If you cut them slowly, you'll have meat with every cut.” Old Master Feng got more and more excited as he spoke. “Let them pay for it for a lifetime, let their sons pay it, let their grandsons pay it. Generation after generation, they'll never be able to pay it back.”

Jiang Zhen did not deny it.

In his eyes, this island nation was a giant blood bag. One stab and the bag deflates, and there's nothing left to draw blood from. But by slowly draining it, keeping the bag alive, he could keep drawing blood indefinitely. He'd drain a little each year, until they felt pain but wouldn't die, until they got used to it, became numb, and forgot what pain felt like.

This is true profit maximization.

“But boss,” Master Feng suddenly thought of a problem, “what will happen to this money in the end…”

Jiang Zhen gazed into the distance, his eyes crossing the sea and landing on the unseen other side of the ocean.

“Go back,” Jiang Zhen said. “Go back to our hometown, and after deducting the portion that the canal gangs need, give it to whoever needs it and spend it wherever it needs to be spent.”

Master Feng understood and didn't ask any more questions.

Chapter 104 First Meeting with the United States

Yamaguchi found a reasonably good office in the Metropolitan Government Building, where a dilapidated desk stood before him.

A list lay on the table, a directory of Japanese officials still alive. The current list contains less than 30% of the original number of people. A new list of personnel has been submitted to the Canal Gang, but there has been no news yet.

He stared at the list for a long time. Just a week ago, he was waiting to die. He huddled in a pile of moldy rice sacks in an underground air-raid shelter, listening to the footsteps and gunshots overhead, digging his nails into his palms, too afraid to make a sound.

But now he is the Prime Minister of Japan, which is very important.

Designated by a foreign man, a nation with its treasury emptied was built on ruins where bones were still wet. It sounds like a joke, but Yamaguchi can't laugh. Because it's true.

He picked up his pen, and his first order after taking office was: the decree to levy the recovery tax.

Nagasaki and Tokyo have very few survivors after the tsunami and the earthquake.

People in other regions, though doing relatively well, have found that the world has changed.

Tianhuang is gone. The army is gone. The government is gone. In their place stands a man in black and his canal gang, and a compensation treaty that confuses everyone who sees it.

Yamaguchi's first order since taking power has reached the entire East Asia.

"According to the Prime Minister's Office order, the Recovery Tax will be levied starting today. Each household will pay according to the number of people, and the deadline for payment is thirty days."

A middle-aged Japanese man listened to the news: "Revival Tax? Revive what? Revive whom?"

The tax collector, expressionless, said: "Reviving the East."

"East?" The man laughed, a very ugly laugh. "There's still East? The Prime Minister has signed a confession, the army is gone, and you're talking to us about revival?"

……

The port in Tokyo Bay was one of the few places that hadn't been completely destroyed, and men from the canal gangs stood guard on the docks. Those men still carried the bloodlust of killing; just standing there, without saying a word, could make your legs go weak.

When Colonel Smith stepped off the destroyer, he was followed by two adjutants. When the American ship's small boat docked, the canal gang's sentries did not stop them, but just stared at them with their eyes, as if they were a flock of sheep that had come to their door.

"I am Colonel Smith, the liaison officer of the Seventh Fleet of the Nationalist Army," Smith said to the porters standing on the dock. "I request a meeting with Mr. Jiang Zhen."

The sentry glanced at him: "Wait."

Then one of them went to inform the head of the operation. Fifteen minutes later, another man came over. He seemed much easier to talk to than the menacing men on the dock.

"Colonel Smith?" Bai Fu looked him up and down.

“Yes.” Smith straightened up and saluted again. His two adjutants behind him also stood at attention: “Our fleet has remained neutral throughout your operations, and now we hope to communicate with Mr. Jiang regarding the post-disaster reconstruction of Japan.”

Bai Fu smiled and said, "Okay, come with me."

Jiang Zhen sat in the new office that the people from the mountain pass had worked overtime to set up.

"Boss, the person has been brought."

Jiang Zhen leaned back in his chair, put his legs up on the desk, and glanced at Smith.

Smith stood ramrod straight and gave a salute.

"Please sit down."

Smith sat down opposite Jiang Zhen, with two adjutants standing behind him.

"Go ahead and say it." Jiang Zhen picked up a bottle of wine, opened the cap with his thumb, and took a sip from the bottle.

“Mr. Jiang,” Smith began in English, with Bai Fu translating quietly beside him.

Jiang Zhen glanced at Bai Fu. He had been amazed when he heard Bai Fu speak fluent English earlier. How could he have learned English so quietly at his age?

"First of all, on behalf of General MacArthur, Commander of the Seventh Fleet, I would like to express our full respect for your achievements in the East. The United States has no intention of interfering with your dominant position in the East."

"and then?"

Smith adjusted his posture. Jiang Zhen's reaction was unexpected. Normally, when someone receives formal recognition from a major power, they should show some kind of response, even if it's just a nod or a slight twitch of the lips.

Jiang Zhen didn't say anything, but just took another sip of wine and waited for him to continue.

“Then,” Smith continued, “we hope to cooperate with you on the post-disaster reconstruction of Japan. Japan’s infrastructure is almost completely paralyzed, food is scarce, medical resources are lacking, and winter is approaching. If people’s livelihoods are not restored as soon as possible, a large-scale humanitarian crisis may occur.”

"So you want to help them rebuild?" Jiang Zhen put the wine bottle on the table.

“It’s to help your organization,” Smith emphasized.

"We can provide food, medicine, fuel, and engineering support. This aid comes without any conditions and is purely out of humanitarian considerations."

"So what is your purpose?" Jiang Zhen asked. "To contact me? To find out just how capable I really am?"

Smith was silent for two seconds.

“Since we’ve come this far,” Smith changed tactics, his tone becoming more relaxed from formal.

“Then I’ll be frank. Mr. Jiang, the tsunami you created in Nagasaki, the earthquake you unleashed in Tokyo, the power you displayed has exceeded all our previous understanding of superhumans. To be honest, our intelligence system still hasn’t fully figured out what you’ve done.”

He paused, his gaze fixed on Jiang Zhen. "We're here because we need to understand—to understand where your boundaries lie, what your intentions are, and what someone who wields this power plans to do next."

"If you figure this out, it'll be easier to deal with me?" Jiang Zhen took a sip of his drink.

Smith shook his head: "I need to figure this out before I can decide how to contact you." His frankness was somewhat unexpected.

"If all you want is Japan, we have no reason to antagonize a target whose threat cannot be assessed for the sake of an island that has already been destroyed. It is not in our interest, nor in anyone else's interest."

After Bai Fu finished translating, the smile on his face faded slightly. This American colonel spoke more directly than he had expected, without beating around the bush, without putting on airs, and even without minding admitting his fear in front of his opponent.

Jiang Zhen looked at Smith for a while, then spoke.

"Let's see how things go."

Smith's gaze lingered on Jiang Zhen's face for a long while.

"Understood. I will record these words in my report on this conversation."

Jiang Zhen did not reply. Smith did not wait either; he saluted Jiang Zhen and then led his two adjutants back the way they had come.

Bai Fu watched Smith's figure disappear into the end of the ruins, then turned to Jiang Zhen: "Boss, shouldn't we just play along with them for a bit?"

"There's no need," Jiang Zhen waved his hand.

"By the way, what about that place called Yamaguchi?"

Bai Fu grinned: "Boss, I almost forgot to mention it if you hadn't brought it up, this guy is weird."

"Something's not right."

"They work incredibly hard," Bai Fu said. "Even harder than us."

The story begins after Yamaguchi ordered the imposition of the reconstruction tax.

The entire East Asia was in an uproar the day the notice was posted.