In August 1933, Captain Ando could not truly believe that he had escaped the battlefield until he walked off the transport ship. Even though the familiar Tokyo port and familiar crowds were before his eyes. He raised his hand and bit down hard on the back of it; the stinging pain reminded Captain Ando that all this was real. His reason accepted this, but his emotions were strongly rejecting this fact. Rushing through Captain Ando's neurons was an indescribable excitement—a strong impression left by the battlefield, so strong that even though his body had left the battlefield, his soul seemed to still be wandering there.

More than half of the men in Captain Ando's battalion came back to Japan alive on the ship. The others were contained in ash boxes wrapped in white cloth. The two opposite corners of the white cloth were tied together, and the ash boxes in the cloth slings hung around the necks of the surviving comrades. Captain Ando, who had seen with his own eyes the cremation of Japanese corpses, knew very well that the Japanese army in their panicked retreat had no time to cremate bodies properly. Corpses were piled high on wood stacks and burned together. The ashes were just handfuls grabbed randomly and put into the boxes. There was no guarantee that the box with a fallen soldier's name on it actually contained his ashes.

These things, which should have been very important, Captain Ando felt were completely unimportant at this moment. The battlefield of iron and blood was deeply branded into Captain Ando's soul, burning his soul like an inextinguishable karmic fire. That was a battlefield that truly burned. The attacks by the Chinese Air Force during Japanese military marches had once made the Japanese army feel unbearable, but compared to the later engagements, that was simply a gentle breeze and mild rain.

After formally engaging the Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army's ground forces, giant iron canisters fell from the sky and exploded violently upon hitting the ground. The damage caused by flying shrapnel was nothing; what blasted out of the iron canisters was gasoline and things that couldn't be clearly described. Under the effect of searing high temperatures, the gasoline burned fiercely in the air. Everywhere it splashed instantly became rising flames. There were also sticky substances splashing in the air together with it. Once they stuck to the bodies of Japanese soldiers, they could not be extinguished no matter how much they were beaten. The Japanese offensive positions turned into a sea of fire in an instant. The Japanese soldiers who had just started their attack turned into burning men one by one, and amidst screams, they were mowed down in swathes by the storm-like bullet rain from the Chinese army opposite them.

Captain Ando saw through his binoculars that soldiers in the distance had their outer clothes ignited by gasoline. A soldier tried to roll to extinguish the flames, but the brief rolling only temporarily suppressed the flames beneath him. However, the fuel stained during the roll started burning on other parts of the soldier's body. As soon as the temporarily extinguished flames left the ground, they quickly reignited. The soldier was turned into a human torch, screaming miserably on the battlefield as he was burned alive.

There were also soldiers who took off their uniforms but had that splashing sticky substance fall on their bodies. The soldier tried to wipe it off with his hand, but his palm caught fire instead. To pull off the burning flames on his body, the soldier clawed at himself until he was scarred and bloody, but it had no effect. The skin near the burning points could be seen turning charred black.

Some soldiers, completely engulfed in flames and unable to extinguish them, simply stood up, threw down their equally scorching hot rifles, and stumbled towards the Chinese positions, only to be killed by bullets. This was the best way for them to seek release.

The Japanese army had to withdraw from the offensive positions; no one was willing to wait for death in that fiery hell anymore. And what greeted the retreating Japanese army was the God of Death from the sky. The shadows of giant planes shrouded the Japanese army. It was unknown how many machine guns were mounted on those planes, but every plane, from its commanding height, had countless muzzles spraying ceaseless flames in all directions.

Some Japanese soldiers tried to fight back with their weapons. For every bullet fired from a Type 38 rifle, the machine guns on the planes fired ten or twenty rounds back. One soldier had extremely good luck and fired four or five shots in a row, only to be focused on by a machine gun sweep. This soldier had all the bones and muscles from his waist up broken by the continuous stream of bullets. He was cut in two; his lower body fell to the ground, while his upper body tumbled and fell several meters behind.

But more Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded in the dense strafing from above after firing only one or two shots. These planes passed over the retreating Japanese army, creating a sea of blood in the literal sense.

Captain Ando was very smart. Seeing the forward positions blasted into a sea of fire, he immediately commanded his troops to retreat. When the Chinese planes carried out their large-scale strafing attacks, his troops had already retreated to a nearby area with cover. The Captain himself did not hide but stood in place commanding his subordinates to take cover quickly.

At this moment, someone suddenly pounced on Captain Ando, knocking him to the ground. Then a string of bullets grazed Captain Ando's head and shot into the soft earth beside him. This was a subordinate of Captain Ando. He used his own life to save Captain Ando, who was saving the Ando Battalion. As long as Captain Ando closed his eyes, he could hear the weeping of that subordinate who was hit by the machine gun as he died, "Captain, we have all been deceived!"

The subordinate's dying words were not referring to the Chinese opposite them. The two sides in war were there to kill each other; there was nothing strange about the Chinese actions. Captain Ando knew that the "deceived" his savior spoke of meant deceived by the Army Ministry. The Chinese army that the Army Ministry described to the Japanese army was a completely different matter from the Chinese army before their eyes. Either the Army Ministry knew the combat power of the Chinese army and deliberately didn't tell the troops committed to battle, or the Army Ministry simply didn't know what kind of combat capabilities the opposing Chinese army had, and then made up some intelligence to tell the troops committed to battle.

Regardless of which situation it was, the Japanese soldiers fighting on the front lines had been deceived by the Army Ministry. They wouldn't even admit that they didn't know what weapons and tactics the Chinese army actually used, using lies about the Chinese army's equipment being similar to the Japanese army to deceive the Japanese troops.

Even after encountering the Chinese army's automatic weapons and air raids on the road, they not only didn't correct their rhetoric but sent more people to specifically emphasize to the Japanese troops that the automatic weapons in the hands of the Chinese army opposite them and the planes in the sky were very, very few, and were purely the Chinese army trying to scare the Japanese army and blow their morale. As long as the Japanese army could display the Bushido spirit, they could engage the Chinese army, whose weapons and equipment were about the same.

Fortunately, many senior Japanese officers were killed under the demon-like strafing of the Chinese army's machine guns and planes. Finally, the Japanese Taipei Command had to order the frontline Japanese troops to "temporarily" retreat. On the retreat road, Captain Ando experienced terrible days and nights.

The Chinese army's planes, artillery, and automatic weapons made the Japanese army pay a painful price for every step of their retreat. Originally, more than 80% of the troops withdrew, but by the time they retreated to Taiwan, only less than 60% remained. In particular, the Chinese army cleverly set up an encirclement net using the mountainous terrain. The Ando Battalion managed to find a small path that was only mined because the Chinese army had insufficient troops. Captain Ando did not foolishly turn around to look for other roads; his troops paid the price of 10% of their strength to clear the path with human lives. Coupled with two consecutive days of rain which prevented the Chinese Air Force from sorting, a considerable number of Japanese troops found a way to escape.

Of the more than 40,000 men, less than 15,000 returned to Taipei. Two-thirds of the troops were left in Taiwan. Those days and nights of blood and fire occupied Captain Ando's mind like a nightmare, impossible to drive away no matter what.

Theoretically, Captain Ando should now be called Major Ando. After he found and opened up the retreat channel regardless of casualties, the Division Commander who withdrew through this channel personally ordered the promotion of Captain Ando to Major. But Captain Ando quickly forgot about this matter completely.

When the Division Commander, with a face as pale as a ghost but still pretending to have the solemn look of a superior officer, promoted Captain Ando in front of a group of defeated soldiers, Captain Ando barely held back from asking, "Why did the Army Ministry deceive us?"

Back in Tokyo, the troops returned to the barracks first. The scene of fighting for pensions was staged again. Families engaged in open strife and veiled struggles completely devoid of any familial affection in order to fight for the remains of the fallen soldiers. Major Ando had seen this kind of situation before and was no longer shocked. At this moment, Major Ando was filled with sorrow; the ash boxes with the names of the fallen soldiers written on them might not contain the fallen soldiers themselves.

Because it was a defeat, of course, there was no way to hold any celebrations. However, troop management was also very lax. Major Ando was also a hero who saved the Japanese army, so he would not face any difficulties if he wanted to leave the barracks. Major Ando went home first and saw his parents. His parents spoke many good words about Kita Ikki to Ando. As ordinary small business owners, the new policies advocated by Kita Ikki were quite beneficial to small producers. Every small enterprise, as long as it paid a certain amount of money, could be linked with relevant scientific research institutions and obtain improved technology.

Ando Teruzo knew that Kita Ikki had a far grander goal, which was the "Japan National Laboratory" covering all of Japan. If this plan could be implemented, the technological upgrading of small enterprises would have a more reliable guarantee. Ando Teruzo also knew that big business owners were more speculative in technology; they completely opposed such a National Laboratory plan serving small enterprises. It was only with the strong help of Takahashi Korekiyo that Kita Ikki barely managed to achieve this step.

After bidding farewell to his parents, Ando Teruzo went to visit Kita Ikki. Seeing Ando return, Kita Ikki couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After stepping forward to shake hands with Ando, Kita Ikki said as if relieved of a heavy burden, "It is good that you are back."

"Mr. Kita! The Army Ministry deceived us! You were right, apart from deception, they simply have no other means now!" Harboring strong depression, Ando Teruzo shouted these words. Then, as if dry tear ducts suddenly recovered, Ando Teruzo sat there and cried aloud.

So many comrades and subordinates did not die in battle, but were unilaterally slaughtered on the battlefield. Even if the Army Ministry knew nothing about China's intelligence, if they had not continued to act willfully after encountering the Chinese's completely different weapons and air raids, but instead adopted corresponding countermeasures, the result would have been vastly different! So many Japanese officers and soldiers died completely worthlessly!

Kita Ikki didn't even want to comfort Ando Teruzo. The People's Party's social science research attached great importance to emotional release. Blocking emotional release is unscientific; only after venting can one regain calm as soon as possible. Only after regaining calm can one consider problems more rationally. So after Major Ando cried for a good while and finally stopped, Kita Ikki handed a towel to Major Ando.

"I said long ago, this is not about some bad people intentionally doing bad things. It is that there is a problem with this system. If the system is not changed, when these people encounter problems they cannot solve, or enemies they cannot defeat, and are at their wits' end, they can only do this. If they don't do this, they themselves will be held accountable by this problematic system. If they do this, this problematic system will not pursue their responsibility," Kita Ikki replied.

"Then what should we do?" The eyes of Major Ando, red from crying, flashed with the light of hatred.

"Gather comrades, mobilize the masses!" Kita Ikki replied, "Now is not yet the time to overthrow this system. If we rely only on the army now, then even if we get rid of those people at the top, it will just be replacing them with some relatively open-minded guys. It's just old wine in new bottles. If we want to launch a revolution without letting the fruits of the revolution be stolen, we can only let more comrades understand what kind of revolution is to be carried out! And we must get the support of the masses! If we can't do that, the revolution might only move forward a tiny step. Or not even move a step, but just be used by careerists to go in another direction."

Major Ando heard that big things had happened while he was away from Japan, so he hurriedly asked Kita Ikki what exactly had happened. Kita Ikki told Ando Teruzo about the recent movements of the Toseiha. After introducing the situation, Kita Ikki said: "Even if a revolution is launched, if comrades see some people they consider to be the chief culprits being killed, they might think the revolution has succeeded. But this is wrong. If we cannot gather the strength to shake the entire Japan, a military coup alone simply cannot achieve the goal of revolution, not to mention that the power in the hands of the Toseiha is now greater than ours. If the coup succeeds, the Toseiha might very well still get the support of the Emperor. At that time, the situation of the revolutionary faction will be even more passive!"

This was the matter repeatedly warned about in the secret letters sent by Kuroshima Jin and others. The biggest reason for the success of the People's Party's revolution was that it always persisted in striking hard at the most stubborn conservatives while uniting the people to the greatest extent. In terms of striking at stubborn conservatives, the People's Party was never soft-hearted. Nor was there any pause. After one most stubborn conservative was destroyed, the People's Party immediately began to strike at the next most stubborn conservative. Even if a second ago this conservative was standing in the same trench as the People's Party.

The theft of revolutionary fruits was the norm for past Chinese peasant uprisings. After the insurgent army shook the foundation of the old system, it failed and degenerated because it could not establish a new system. Chairman Mao had long clearly pointed out the reasons for these failures, and history also told Chen Ke how those former revolutionaries in Chinese history suddenly revealed their true counter-revolutionary colors. In this regard, Chen Ke never had any "benevolence" to speak of.

The reason Chen Ke was not very optimistic about the Japanese revolution was that the reactionary forces in Japan were too strong. If one could not recognize the true face of the reactionaries and could not truly mobilize the Japanese people to wage the most thorough struggle against the reactionaries... The Sekihotai of the Meiji Restoration was a lesson from the past.

Seeing that Ando Teruzo's emotions had truly recovered, Kita Ikki began to discuss his deductions and plans for the Japanese revolution with Ando Teruzo.