There are many written recollections regarding the Great Kanto Earthquake, and in these memoirs, the weather in the Kanto disaster area is described as overcast. In reality, the Kanto region had beautiful sunny weather during those days. However, Tokyo was burning, Yokohama was burning; the fires ruthlessly swallowed one city block after another. Thick smoke obscured the sun, so the sky over Tokyo remained gloomy after dawn on September 2nd.

When Kita Ikki woke up, he had no idea what time it was. The gloomy sky held the lingering heat of an "Indian summer," along with the heat brought by the wind from nearby fires. Of course, the air was also filled with the stench of excrement from who knows how many refugees gathered near Takushoku University.

None of this mattered to Kita Ikki anymore. He stood up and saw an area covered by an unknown number of refugees. Such a multitude of people, centered on the Takushoku University playground and spreading out as if infinitely, gave Kita Ikki waves of lingering fear.

Last night, Kita Ikki had managed to think of mobilizing the masses. He and his students had dragged and pulled, shouting together to the refugees already staying at Takushoku University not to crowd, and he personally led people to hold torches to settle the refugees in place. Kita Ikki and his group were already exhausted, and the refugees, having gone through an afternoon of panic, were equally exhausted. So when they encountered a large group of people shouting that it was already full ahead and not to walk further, the refugees submissively obeyed the orders.

While Kita Ikki and his group stopped the refugees from wandering around, they also ordered the refugees already settled inside Takushoku University to find wood to start fires. The streetlights had long since been unusable, so piles of bonfires managed to illuminate the vicinity of Takushoku University. The refugees weren't fools; seeing clearly that there was indeed a sea of people ahead, they followed the arrangements of Kita Ikki's expanded team and halted in the farther surroundings.

They busied themselves until late at night, finally avoiding a large-scale stampede that might have been triggered by refugees running wildly in the dark. Kita Ikki's physical strength was almost completely exhausted. He had the students split into groups to maintain order, and originally wanted to sit down and rest, but his head simply tilted to the side and he fell asleep unknowingly.

Looking at the countless refugees under the dim sky now, Kita Ikki felt a wave of relief in his heart, followed by a sense of panic. In China, such a large gathering of people was not rare. The entire country of China had been undergoing large-scale construction in recent years, especially in water conservancy facility construction. "Ten-thousand-man water conservancy campaigns" and "hundred-thousand-man water conservancy campaigns" were not rare. Camps where tens of thousands or over a hundred thousand people rested temporarily together were similarly boundless.

But! Behind those camps were vast amounts of grain, as well as a powerful social management system. Before dawn in the camps, breakfast would definitely be ready, just waiting for everyone to eat immediately after getting up. In this temporary gathering place composed of Tokyo refugees, there was nothing. Some children had been woken by hunger early in the morning and started crying and fussing. Aftershocks still occurred from time to time; although the ground tremors frightened many, the aftershocks passed quickly. Since yesterday afternoon, Tokyo had been experiencing continuous aftershocks, and the refugees at this moment had already started to get used to it, so no disturbances were triggered.

Just as Kita Ikki didn't know what to do next, a small squad consisting of a mix of Japanese soldiers and police appeared on the "passage" spontaneously cleared by the crowd. It could hardly be called a passage; it was merely a few connected spots that refugees naturally avoided because they were truly unsuitable for human rest.

The target of these people seemed obvious. They headed straight for the center of this mass of refugees—that is, where Kita Ikki had ordered the three flags to be raised. Originally, these three flags were not close to each other; Kita Ikki had set them up to distinguish types of refugees. However, after a massive number of refugees gathered, these three flags had long lost their original function. If one looked from a great distance, one would see three flags standing stubbornly close together in the vast ocean of refugees. These three flags were so eye-catching, so high above, that it was impossible not to notice them.

From the refugees' perspective, those wearing military uniforms and police uniforms were also extremely eye-catching. They represented the power of the government. The organized appearance of these people meant that the Japanese government behind them had not collapsed. As this mixed force marched through the refugees, the Japanese refugees rose one after another to make way for them. After these soldiers passed, the Japanese refugees stood up one after another, waiting to see what the soldiers and police would actually say.

When this squad of soldiers finally arrived under the flags, Kita Ikki noticed that a large number of refugees had already stood up, looking at these soldiers with expectant eyes.

The soldiers walked with grim faces until they stopped under the Japanese national flag. Looking up at the national flag, their expressions became even grimmer. The Lieutenant Colonel leading them shouted, "Who is the officer here?"

Hearing this shout, the eyes of everyone near the Japanese national flag fell on Kita Ikki. There was no need for words anymore; the gazes of the soldiers and police also fell on Kita Ikki. The Lieutenant Colonel looked Kita Ikki up and down. From Kita Ikki's clothing, his identity couldn't be discerned at all. "Are you the officer here?" The Lieutenant Colonel's tone became slightly more polite.

"I am just temporarily responsible for the order at Takushoku University," Kita Ikki did not try to act important.

"Did you raise these flags here?" the Lieutenant Colonel asked.

This question was truly beyond everyone's expectations. However, the Lieutenant Colonel's questioning did not stop there. He continued to ask in a gloomy tone, "What are you preparing to do by raising the military flag?"

Kita Ikki was stunned. Yes, what was he preparing to do? In China, no matter what natural disaster was encountered, as long as China's Five-Star Red Flag and the August 1st Army Flag were raised, it could give the masses in the Chinese disaster area a sense of stability. So in his desperation, Kita Ikki had almost instinctively ordered men to raise the two flags. Kita Ikki now understood that he had indeed overstepped.

The Lieutenant Colonel didn't want to say much more. He first said to the people behind him, "Take those two flags down." Then he turned and said to Kita Ikki, "You come with us."

Soldiers quickly pushed down the "flagpoles" and removed the three flags. Police had already grabbed Kita Ikki by the arms on the left and right. This mixed unit of soldiers and police took Kita Ikki and began to leave.

The students looked at each other in dismay. They never expected the Japanese military to pull a move like this. Given what Kita Ikki and the students following him had done after the earthquake, even a public commendation would have been completely appropriate. How could the students have imagined they would be treated so unreasonably?

Regarding being taken away by soldiers and police, Kita Ikki had no thoughts of objection. From the perspective of the Japanese government, if someone suddenly hung up two such flags in a disaster area, nervousness was inevitable. China has the idiom "raise a bamboo pole as a standard" (meaning to start an uprising), and Japan also has a tradition of *ikki* (uprisings). In a disaster year, as long as a sufficient number gathered, and then a flag was raised, rebellion would be a logical next step. The army being so terrified of these flags couldn't be said to be making a fuss over nothing.

When the students came up to block the soldiers, Kita Ikki instead told the students to stand down. But before his voice had faded, the police had already come up and arrested the few leading students. "Take them all away!" the Lieutenant Colonel commanded.

The students had been conducting disaster relief all along and had no thought of resisting the Japanese government at all, not to mention that by this time, they hadn't eaten or drunk anything for most of the day. Facing the army's hardline tactics, the remaining students backed down. They watched helplessly as the soldiers and police took Kita Ikki and some students away.

On a global scale, there was absolutely nothing problematic about the Japanese army doing this; it couldn't even be called a moral issue. Not to mention in 1923, even in the 21st century, one of the primary jobs of armies in various countries, except for the Chinese army, was to suppress their own masses. Chen Ke had such confidence in the moral level of the People's Army that it was clearly pointed out in the cadre school's political education: "The army is the most violent unit within the state's violence apparatus. Therefore, as the People's Army, as the army led by the Party, the Chinese army must possess higher moral standards than the ordinary masses. We must achieve this because the socialist system itself is indeed superior to other systems. We have sufficient political vision and political ability to create a true People's Army."

Having learned this, Kita Ikki did not consider the rough treatment he received from the army to be a problem. When he was taken away by the police, a dark joy even arose in Kita Ikki's heart. If he hadn't been taken away, he would have had to face the subsequent arrangements for so many refugees. Where Kita Ikki was now was not China, but Japan. He did not have the ability to shoulder the heavy responsibilities that would follow. Simply from the perspective of Kita Ikki's interests, being taken away when he was at his wit's end, when he was helpless, and before he made any mistakes, was actually a great thing. Future accusations regarding Kita Ikki's abilities would lose their basis. What everyone saw was that Kita Ikki had done everything in his power for the refugees.

So Kita Ikki did not resist or confront them, and obediently went with the soldiers and police. Adopting such a method could also avoid a lot of unnecessary harm.

On the way to the nearby police station, Kita Ikki saw quite a few soldiers and police appearing on the streets. They began to interrogate people coming out of the ruins. Their ferocity was far rougher than the soldiers and police who had arrested Kita Ikki. Because Kita Ikki didn't resist or explain, the police simply monitored him after taking him out of the crowd of refugees to prevent him from running away privately, but they no longer held him by the arms.

As for the police and soldiers interrogating suspicious people on the street, once they found valuable items on a suspect, especially things like gold and silver jewelry, they would pick them up and smell them. If there was a strange odor, they would pin the suspect to the ground without any explanation and execute them on the spot. They were either shot dead or stabbed to death with bayonets. Some short-tempered soldiers directly used military sabers to chop off the heads of theft suspects. Japan's violent apparatus had already mobilized and was using high-pressure tactics to suppress any unrest in the Tokyo disaster area.

The students originally following behind Kita Ikki still attempted to explain, but after seeing this cruel scene of slaughter, they also obediently shut their mouths.

After the group was taken to the nearby police station, they saw that quite a few people had already been brought here. The leading Lieutenant Colonel looked at the people packed into the police station and asked sternly, "What is going on?"

"They are all arrested thieves," someone reported.

The Lieutenant Colonel flew into a rage. "Is there a need to lock these people up? Drag them all out and behead them. Hang up their heads and write slogans stating they are thieves."

Seeing his subordinates looking blank and at a loss, the Lieutenant Colonel went up and slapped the subordinate in front of him twice. Then he roared, "Baka! Go and dispose of these bastards right now!"

Seeing the cannibalistic expression in the Lieutenant Colonel's eyes, the subordinate immediately went to execute the order. The Lieutenant Colonel watched as his subordinates began to drag those thieves outside. Only after hearing gunshots ring out outside did he take Kita Ikki and the others into the police station, his anger still unappeased.

The execution speed was very fast. Within an hour, the police station's cells became empty. And the Lieutenant Colonel's interrogation of Kita Ikki and the others was also coming to an end.

Kita Ikki did not present himself as a hero who saved the people at all. He simply answered what he had done and why he had done it. No explanations, no questions. After the Lieutenant Colonel confirmed the statements of Kita Ikki and the other students, he said with a cold expression, "Aren't you afraid of an incident gathering so many people? The open ground at a clothing factory was about the same size as here. Tens of thousands fled in there, and they all burned to death inside. How do you have such guts?!"

Kita Ikki didn't understand after hearing this, but since the Lieutenant Colonel said so, it shouldn't be a joke. The Lieutenant Colonel was indeed not joking. Before he came to Kita Ikki, he had just returned from that military clothing factory. That military clothing factory had an open space about the size of a stadium. After the earthquake, it was packed with tens of thousands of evacuees. Fires hadn't started around there yet, so it was considered a safe zone for the time being. Before the crowd squeezing in there had time to rejoice at escaping the tiger's den, the fire quickly lunged there from all directions. The fire surrounded the clothing factory at maximum speed, and the encirclement became smaller and smaller. The refugees trapped in the encirclement were in chaos, crashing around like headless flies. Even if they weren't burned to death by the fire, they were trampled to death. All exits were sealed by the raging fire; people had nowhere to go. The fire began to devour every person's life. Thick smoke completely shrouded the place, and many died of suffocation from lack of oxygen. None of the 32,000 people sheltering there survived; the scene was too horrible to look at.

The Lieutenant Colonel had just come from there when he heard that tens of thousands had gathered near Takushoku University. He hurriedly rushed over. Seeing that nothing had happened, the lingering fear in the Lieutenant Colonel's heart triggered immense anger. That was why he arrested Kita Ikki and the others. This wasn't just because of anger; the Lieutenant Colonel wasn't a fool either. If the leaders weren't taken away, there would be no possibility of dispersing the refugees later.

Just as the interrogation was about to end, someone ran in from outside and whispered a few sentences in the Lieutenant Colonel's ear. The Lieutenant Colonel frowned deeply. He stood up and said, "Lock these people in the cells first." Then he strode away with his subordinates.

The empty cell was very quiet. Kita Ikki sat down on the straw mat on the floor, feeling a sense of peace in his heart. Whatever fate awaited him later could be dealt with later; at least now he finally had a government to "rely" on.

Kita Ikki could drop his burden and relax, but the Japanese government could not relax. The Japanese Cabinet was arguing fiercely as usual. Prime Minister Yamamoto Gonnohyōe asked Tanaka Giichi loudly, "Why does Tanaka-kun want to stop requesting aid from China?"

Tanaka Giichi answered with a cold face, "If we make a request for aid to China, China will definitely impose conditions on us."

In terms of Japan's current international relations, the one most "intimate" with Japan should be Britain. But now, the only one capable of supporting Japan at the national level was China. In terms of distance and national power, only China could support Japan. Moreover, the first to issue an aid statement to Japan was also the Chinese Minister to Japan.

However, given the current Sino-Japanese relations, what the Japanese side worried about most was that China would loot a burning house. Tokyo was burning fiercely, Yokohama was also burning fiercely, and the fire showed no signs of extinguishing at all. Japan's most important Kanto Plain was completely ruined. As more statistical data came in, the Cabinet fell deeper into despair. The ports of Tokyo and Yokohama gathered the most ships in Japan, and the tsunami had completely destroyed all ships in these two major ports. By rough estimation, at least over 5,000 ships were destroyed by the tsunami. Japan was extremely dependent on maritime transport, and now transporting supplies to Tokyo from other regions was a huge problem. The only thing worth celebrating was that because of the Lushun-Dalian issue, the Japanese Navy was not in the Tokyo area, but on the side of the Sea of Japan. If a large number of warships had been destroyed by the tsunami, the Japanese Cabinet would have absolutely no idea how to handle the subsequent problems.

Tanaka Giichi firmly opposed requesting aid from China. "Prime Minister Yamamoto, now we must make preparations to guard against China."

Before Yamamoto Gonnohyōe could speak, Minister of Finance Takahashi Korekiyo said, "We can make preparations, but what about after we finish making preparations?"

"Hmm?" Tanaka Giichi frowned and looked at Takahashi Korekiyo.

Takahashi Korekiyo did not flinch at all but stared intently at Tanaka Giichi. "Tanaka-kun, I'm asking you, what happens after we have finished making preparations to guard against China?"