155 Great Change (14)

Chang Kaishen was also someone who had once been a minister. In the short-lived Beiyang government formed after Japan invaded the Northeast, he had served as the Minister of War. Of course, there were plenty of ministers back then; practically everyone who managed to squeeze into that government was a minister. By the time the Tongmenghui retreated to Japan along with the defeated Japanese army, Chang Kaishen had no choice but to return to the status of a commoner.

The People's Party's influence was growing ever larger, and the Chinese in Southeast Asia naturally chose the People's Party. The Tongmenghui, having set itself against the People's Party, vanished like smoke and dispersed like clouds. In China, the People's Party had no good attitude toward these "former revolutionary intent ones," especially after the large-scale execution of a host of "revolutionary founding fathers," including Cai Yuanpei. The Tongmenghui dared not make a move. At that time, Chang Kaishen truly felt that despite the vastness of the world, there was no place for him to hide.

Fortunately, conflicts abounded between China and Japan. In order to lay some groundwork, Britain provided a fixed sum of funding to certain well-known anti-China figures. This money allowed Chang Kaishen to scrape by. Plus, Japan had a stock market, and Chang Kaishen managed to make a little money there. After marrying a Japanese wife, his life was passable.

After the Japanese revolution, this money from Japan cut off. But the British, being the "rotten ship that still has three pounds of nails," could still manage to provide living expenses. What Chang Kaishen hadn't expected was that in his fifties, he would actually be noticed by a great power again. They actually entrusted him with assassination work.

For such an important mission, Chang Kaishen accepted it with great joy. In terms of planning and organizing manpower, with British money and the support of some rather capable Japanese fellows, Chang Kaishen completed the preparations quite impressively.

This assassination operation involved a rather wide scope. Former high officials in Japan were extremely dissatisfied with the current state of Japan. The Kita Ikki government's mandatory land reform had finally been completed under the weight of China's Renminbi, the radical youth of Japan, and the bayonets of the Japanese army. Like other political actions, land reform had indeed dug out the roots of the old land system in the Japanese countryside, and it had also greatly offended a group of people.

The losers understood that they likely had no possibility of a comeback. A mere fifty percent grain tax was enough to make the Japanese countryside grateful to the Japanese government, not to mention the tangible benefits the Japanese populace received from technological updates including chemical fertilizers and large-scale animal husbandry. These people were despairing inside; at this moment, they had to produce a desperate resistance.

Of course, at this moment, they couldn't just act blindly. These people still hoped to make the sky "change" in Japan. If the Emperor could come out and speak afterwards... they were dreaming such autumn dreams.

Because the number of people involved in this matter was small, Chang Kaishen finally obtained news concerning the Emperor that these assassination plotters talked about.

"Could it be that His Majesty the Emperor is also joining this matter?" Chang Kaishen asked with some agitation.

"Although we haven't made contact yet, it's not far off. As soon as we make contact, and His Majesty the Emperor speaks, then all of Japan can return to normal!" the Japanese person in charge said excitedly.

After discussing for a while longer, Chang Kaishen had understood their progress, and he left the meeting place with peace of mind.

At the chain fried chicken shop where he often drank, Chang Kaishen sat down in a corner alone. It wasn't peak hours, and there was only one customer in the shop. The owner hid away without a trace after serving the fried chicken. Chang Kaishen whispered the latest developments to the person opposite him. At this moment, Chang Kaishen no longer had the calm and composed appearance he had when participating in the operation; his whole person seemed somewhat nervous.

After listening to the introduction of the latest intelligence, that person nodded slightly. "Mr. Chang, we have done what we promised you earlier. The People's Party says the statute of limitations for murder is permanent. There is no issue of the prosecution period expiring. However, they also stated that as long as you do not return to China, they will not issue a document requesting your extradition. Since your performance this time is not bad, we will also honor our promise and will not take any action against you. You can live in Japan with peace of mind."

Chang Kaishen let out a huge sigh of relief. It wasn't that he didn't miss his hometown. But the People's Party wouldn't even let Cai Yuanpei go, so it was even more impossible for them to let Chang Kaishen go. To be able to get a tacit guarantee from everyone was already not easy. From the moment he received contact from the British and the Japanese, Chang Kaishen had quickly made a decision. The deep hatred he displayed toward the People's Party was just a show; if he didn't show it, how could he get paid every month? But at this moment, Chang Kaishen understood that he had better chips in his hand, chips that could be traded with the current Japanese government.

After finding the personnel from the Japanese side and refreshingly selling out his "teammates," Chang Kaishen said to the rather excited personnel from the Japanese intelligence department: "I personally feel that now is not the time to arrest them all. Since we already know their actions, we might as well cast a long line to catch a big fish, fish all these people out, and solve them together."

This rather bold suggestion was ultimately approved. The Kita Ikki government also hoped to catch all those Japanese extremists in one net. So after passing the test, Chang Kaishen transformed into a collaborator with the new Japanese government.

After various verifications, the new government believed in Chang Kaishen's sincerity and finally decided to close the net. However, the matter of the Japanese fellows trying to contact the Emperor of Japan made the new government's intelligence department want to observe a bit longer. This line meant they could catch the fellows within the Japanese high command. Eradicating the reactionaries in the Japanese high command root and branch had always been the desire of the Kita Ikki new government and the Japanese Socialist Liberal Democratic Party.

The Japanese intelligence department finally decided to wait a little longer.

Kita Ikki's feeling about someone attempting to assassinate Chen Ke in Japan was firstly anger, but another part of his feelings was some joy. If Japan wanted to get more orders and more economic inclination from China, the best method was to participate in the war. Participating in the war required a very good reason, at least a reason that the Japanese people could accept and that Korea could also accept. As long as they dug out this line and proved that the British had planned the assassination of Chen Ke in Japan, Japan could legitimately declare war on Britain. This reason was already sufficient.

So after the Japanese side notified Chen Ke of the assassination news and received the reply that Chen Ke was still willing to continue his visit to Japan, Kita Ikki was quite happy. The plan they designed included a process where Chen Ke would ride in a car to accept the cheers of the Japanese populace. Sure enough, the assassins knew they couldn't sneak into other heavily guarded areas, so they placed the direction of the assassination on the parade.

In fact, all the reception news released by the Kita Ikki government was fake. Even if someone wanted to play a trap within a trap, there was no way. What Japan needed now was an excuse to declare war. After investigation, and after the new government's intelligence agency cooperated with the Chinese side, they had already obtained a solid chain of evidence proving that the British government had participated in this murder incident. Before closing the net, they hadn't expected to "beat the grass and startle the rabbit"—to actually have the chance to dig out the potential dark line beside the Emperor. The excitement of the Japanese intelligence department could be imagined.

Unexpectedly, two days after Chang Kaishen sold out his teammates, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito also sold out his teammates. Of course, he couldn't say it directly, but he ordered people from the Imperial Household Ministry to provide some intelligence to the intelligence department. Thus, after Chen Ke's special plane landed not in Tokyo as originally scheduled but in Kyoto, Japan, the intelligence department immediately closed the net, arresting everyone involved in this matter.

The Japanese Emperor and Prime Minister went to Kyoto to welcome Chen Ke. The Heian-kyo capital was founded in Kyoto in 794 AD. For more than 1,000 years until the move to Tokyo in 1868 during the Meiji Restoration, Kyoto had always been Japan's capital. Since the city's founding, Kyoto had been Japan's economic and cultural center, and its citizens inherited its elegant traditions. Kyoto has hundreds of famous shrines, divine pavilions, and ancient temples, possessing more than twenty percent of Japan's national treasures. The ancient capital nurtured by twelve hundred years of history lets people feel an infinite charm.

Kyoto is also a city with extremely deep "Sinicization." The names of most shops on the streets are in Chinese characters. In Kyoto, a considerable portion of ancient classics are simply written in Chinese characters, which Chinese people can read and understand without any effort. By receiving Chen Ke in this city, the Japanese side undoubtedly wanted to express to Chen Ke that Japan's future direction was returning from "leaving Asia and entering Europe" back to old Asian traditions.

The thousand-year-old city indeed had great charm. The Japanese side arranged for Chen Ke to stay at Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion). With the precedent of the assassination attempt, the defense was extremely strict. The Mirror Lake Pond in front of the Golden Pavilion was not stocked with fish; in the weather of late November, Chinese and Japanese security personnel were first sent down wearing diving suits to search it carefully.

This beautiful temple integrated the "Hossui-in" in the style of the Fujiwara period, the "Choon-do" of the Kamakura period, and the "Kukkyo-cho" in the style of the Chinese Tang Dynasty. Three different styles from different eras were perfectly harmonized in one building. This was already known as a Japanese national treasure and was a masterpiece of architecture.

When Hirohito and Kita Ikki received Chen Ke, they naturally had to lead Chen Ke to visit this Japanese national treasure. According to tradition, the divination in the temple was also in Chinese.

Japan's new constitution had already begun revision. Everything else was fine, but the issue of the Japanese Emperor's status had been resolved with great difficulty. Hirohito didn't advocate for full personal rule in the first place; as long as the Emperor system wasn't abolished and the Emperor still had a certain influence on state affairs, he wasn't prepared to continue resisting.

The new government led by Kita Ikki learned from China and also engaged in policy transparency, making public the content of government affairs that had no need for black-box operations. After reading government document copies for a week, Hirohito realized one thing: the Emperor had not received systematic education in handling government affairs. If he spoke recklessly and didn't do a good job, he would immediately turn from a "living god" into a "living joke." The new government had struck a blow to Japan's feudal system to a large extent, but conversely, it was now quite similar to the modern constitutional monarchy Hirohito had seen in Britain back then. More importantly, Hirohito understood very well that what he needed to do at this time was to "behave well" rather than "issue orders."

Although in his heart Hirohito really hoped that a few gunmen would jump out now and shoot Chen Ke dead, he was also very clear that he was the person in Japan who most needed to prevent this kind of thing from happening. After receiving Chen Ke courteously and fulfilling the duties of a host, Hirohito handed over the more concrete talk to Kita Ikki.

"Chairman Chen, we want to declare war on Britain." After Kita Ikki first apologized for the disturbance Chen Ke had suffered, he immediately raised Japan's intention.

Chen Ke suddenly felt it was very comical. Compared to history, Japan's declaration of war this time was full of righteousness, at least a legitimacy that couldn't be completely denied even in the 21st century. History had finally reached this step, making Chen Ke unable to resist wanting to laugh.

Kita Ikki obviously misunderstood Chen Ke's smile; he hurriedly explained: "We do not intend to use this war to seize territory from Britain; please rest assured on this point."

Chen Ke had wanted to stop him for a moment, but on second thought, Japan's declaration of war itself had considerable positive significance. At any rate, Japan could also use this declaration of war to completely break with the old era of colonialism. Presumably, Kita Ikki would absolutely not participate in this war under the banner of old-era reasons. If the Japanese people could be made to think that colonialism was wrong and something that needed to be overthrown, it would also be a good thing for the cleansing of Japan's national ideology.

"Since you want to declare war, the facts must be clear. You can't let people feel that Japan is looting a burning house," Chen Ke replied.

"Please rest assured, we are investigating carefully and will absolutely not let the British escape this matter," Kita Ikki replied seriously.