Chapter 541

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Protagonist:

Lv Muzhi

As the atomic bomb fell on the Japanese mainland, the Soviet Army dispatched troops to the Northeast.

The Emperor soon issued the Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War — Japan surrendered!

As Commander-in-Chief of the Southeast Asia Theater, Lv Muzhi entered Singapore and accepted the surrender of General Terauchi Hisaichi.

In the Singapore City Hall, Terauchi Hisaichi removed his hat, bowed deeply, and presented his sheathed sword horizontally with both hands to Lv Muzhi.

"I, Terauchi Hisaichi, on behalf of the Southern Army Commander-in-Chief, surrender to Your Excellency Lv Muzhi!"

Lv Muzhi looked at Terauchi Hisaichi's waist bent at ninety degrees, and did not humiliate him; he merely accepted the exquisite General's Sword and completed the surrender procedures according to protocol.

The surrender documents were prepared in duplicate, signed, stamped, and exchanged...

After the Japanese troops in Xia Guo surrendered, in accordance with the agreement between Lv Muzhi and the Old Man, the Youth Army successively withdrew from North China, and the Central Army then received North China in sequence.

Qiu Qingquan and Liao Yaoxiang's Youth Army boarded ships in batches from Tianjin Port, bringing all their equipment, and headed for garrison duty in Japan as required by the Allied Headquarters.

The soldiers lined up on the wharf, carrying luggage and weapons up the gangways of the ocean liners.

Post-war Japan would be occupied in zones by the Allied Forces; the Americans would deploy six hundred thousand occupation troops to land in Japan, while Lv Muzhi secured one hundred thousand Youth Army troops to represent Xia Guo as occupation forces in Japan.

Qiu Qingquan and Liao Yaoxiang took one hundred thousand Youth Army troops away from North China, and the Old Man initially saw Lv Muzhi's sincerity.

After that, Lv Muzhi issued a final order to the entire army: the Xia Guo Youth Army designation is cancelled effective immediately. All units shall proceed according to the predetermined plan: some to garrison Japan, some to reorganize locally, some to demobilize and return home.

All circles in Xia Guo were greatly shaken; originally it was thought the Youth Army and Central Army would have a fierce struggle, but unexpectedly Lv Muzhi voluntarily let go and ended the dispute.

Upon hearing Lv Muzhi's announcement, the Old Man felt some shame.

He had originally thought Lv Muzhi intended to vie with him for supremacy, but never expected the man had not the slightest such intention.

Recalling his previous actions of suppressing the Youth Army at every turn, the Old Man was overwhelmed with shame, and immediately approved a promotion order:

Lv Weiyue has merit in the Resistance; specially promote Lv Muzhi to Army Level One General.

The Central newspapers published the news on the front page; unlike the previous propagation of the "Youth Army threat theory," the articles overflowed with praise, extolling the outstanding merits of Lv Muzhi and the Youth Army in the War of Resistance, and commending his timely withdrawal at the height of success.

However, this Army Level One General post lasted less than two hours before Lv Muzhi immediately announced his retirement.

Although all this had been discussed with the Old Man, the people still expressed no small regret.

People believed Lv Muzhi was in his ascending period, with great room for future advancement; retiring at this time was too unusual, and for a while rumors flew, pointing directly at persecution by someone in the Central Government.

Immediately after came something that shocked the Old Man.

One retirement declaration after another flew back from the Southeast Asia Theater.

Sun Liren, Xie Jinyuan, Zhang Fei... these generals who had followed Lv Muzhi all the way, all submitted retirement declarations!

They were retirement declarations, not applications, completely without seeking the consent of the Xia Guo Ministry of Military Administration.

The Old Man knew about Lv Muzhi's retirement, but did not expect hundreds of Youth Army regimental-level officers to issue retirement declarations.

He Yingqin rushed to the Old Man in a panic: "Not only do all the officers want to retire, but word has it the majority of the Youth Army are also staying put in the Southeast Asia Theater and not returning!"

"The Southeast Asia Theater originally had two hundred fifty thousand Youth Army; in the end only eighty thousand wish to return to Xia Guo."

"There are also Chu Yunfei and Zhou Weiguo, whom Lv Muzhi transferred to the Southwest ahead of time; those two took the fifty thousand men of the Youth Army Guerrilla Corps and headed straight for Zhongnan State!"

"Now a total of two hundred twenty thousand Youth Army are unwilling to return, and along with them their weaponry they also refuse to hand back to Xia Guo."

The Old Man was startled; only eighty thousand willing to return meant Sun Liren was keeping one hundred seventy thousand stranded outside, and Chu and Zhou had taken fifty thousand men and fled abroad directly — the nature of this was extremely serious.

"First intercept the fifty thousand who fled abroad; we cannot let them take their men and run out of the country!"

He Yingqin spread his hands: "With their equipment, who can stop them! Besides, they are already on Li Zongren's territory now."

The Old Man thought of Lv Muzhi and immediately sent a telegram to demand an explanation.

Since retiring from Xia Guo, Lv Muzhi had gone directly to Zhongnan State.

Since Lv Muzhi formally entered Zhongnan State at the end of 1940, the power of the Zhu Family, Xia Guo's Fifth Great Family, has now taken deep root here.

Here there is no suppression or competition from other Xia Guo great families, but rather the full support of the Youth Army and the Unity Party; the Zhu Family's capital has almost entirely poured into Zhongnan State.

Lv Muzhi's wife Zhu Sanxiang has even directly joined Zhongnan State, serving as Minister of Economy.

After arriving in Zhongnan State, Lv Muzhi took up a sinecure as Chief Economic Advisor, tagging along with his wife.

Lv Muzhi locks himself in an office all day; the room is full of paper, pens, rulers, and various drafting tools.

Usually he lives in seclusion and rarely goes out; no one knows what Lv Muzhi is doing, only Sun Liren has visited him and knows Lv Muzhi is designing architectural sketches.

The Old Man actually does not know exactly where Lv Muzhi is, so he could only send the telegram to Zhu Sanxiang, ordering her to relay it.

When Zhu Sanxiang found Lv Muzhi with the Old Man's telegram, Lv Muzhi's eyes were bloodshot; he was measuring and drawing on paper, and from time to time ran to the window to observe outside.

"You help me reply to the telegram — just say I've already retired, I can't command them, let the old man trouble himself to think of a way."

Lv Muzhi's reply was blunt; he did not want direct contact with the Old Man.

Zhu Sanxiang nodded, then produced a proposal and sighed: "This time we're really about to exhaust the family fortune; we've sold almost all our stocks in the United States, liquidated all our assets in Xia Guo, all for the sake of your brothers."

"The proposal has been submitted: Youth Army soldiers willing to stay in Zhongnan State will receive monthly pay at three times the original military pay standard, each allotted fifty mu of good farmland and one house, with ownership of land and house protected by Zhongnan State law."

"For those Youth Army stranded in Zhongnan State, we temporarily define them as Xia Guo refugee status, not treating them as Xia Guo troops, to avoid disputes."

Lv Muzhi replied with one sentence: "Understood."

Zhu Sanxiang continued: "Of your brothers, eighty thousand want to return home; I will give them travel expenses and demobilization pay."

"Per your request, those willing to stay in Zhongnan State may write letters to their families to bring them over to settle in peace, with the same preferential policies."

"I've also arranged contacts in Xia Guo, set up reception centers in Guangxi and Yunnan; when their families arrive there will be dedicated personnel to receive and send them to Zhongnan State, and arrangements for their settlement."

Lv Muzhi listened and said: "Let's do it this way then."

Afterward he gathered the stack of drawings on the table, picked up the case containing the theodolite at his feet, and walked out saying: "Minister, send a few men to help carry out the boxes in the corner — they contain theodolites, don't let them get damaged."

Zhu Sanxiang curled his lip and teased, "The once dignified Youth Army Commander, now you don't even have a personal aide!"

Lv Muzhi sighed: "Sigh, you're teasing me again......"

"It's all in the past, still the old place, by the Red River side, I want to build a big big house!"

——————

Lv Muzhi's behavior seemed to indicate he wanted to resume his civil engineering business in Zhongnan State.

He had expressed more than once that he wanted to find a department in charge of construction to serve in Zhongnan State.

But the situation changed very quickly; Zhongnan State's primary task was not building the country, but defending the country.

To restore the pre-war colonial order, the British dispatched troops to return to Burma, and the Malay Peninsula also suffered British Navy harassment and landings,

The French weren't idle either; they transferred troops to land directly in Saigon, with the goal of destroying Zhongnan State and rebuilding the French Indochina colony.

Even the Dutch dispatched a small number of troops to land in Indonesia, attempting to reclaim the Indonesian colony.

Constrained by United States opposition, the Unity Parties in Burma, Malaya, Indonesia and other places never merged with Zhongnan State, instead hoping for independence in each locality.

The three countries of Britain, France, and the Netherlands seized the opportunity and returned to Southeast Asia one after another to restore colonial order.

The United States got directly anxious this time; although it didn't want the Unity Party too powerful, it also didn't want Britain and France returning to Southeast Asia.

With United States tacit approval and support, Zhongnan State not only resisted the French invasion, but also sent troops to support Burma and Malaya, striking at the British.

As for Indonesia, because the Dutch were too weak, the local Unity Party relied on itself to beat them back into the sea with chaotic fists, not needing Zhongnan State support.

Zhongnan State had to resist the French invasion and also send troops to support Burma and Malaya, naturally it couldn't do without the Youth Army officers and soldiers who stayed locally.

The 220,000 Youth Army soldiers who stayed locally, due to not returning to the country for a long time, were directly labeled as Rebel Army by the Xia Guo Central Government; they simply gave up any thought of return, and the entire body of officers and soldiers directly transferred into the Zhongnan Army sequence.

The provisional designation remained Youth Army, but it was Zhongnan State Youth Army.

The Youth Army men were unwilling to accept command by Zhongnan State generals; everyone bought land and houses in Zhongnan State, spending Lv Muzhi's money, and unanimously demanded Lv Muzhi come out of retirement again.

The Zhongnan State side was also anxious; British and French large armies pressing close, it was precisely the time to employ people.

Anyway Lv Muzhi's wife had already joined Zhongnan State nationality, all wealth also brought along, Lv Muzhi and Zhongnan State were already bound dead tight together, there was nothing to be on guard against.

Plus the Yixin Society's strong maneuvering behind the scenes, Lv Muzhi could only put on military uniform again, and declared joining Zhongnan State nationality.

At this moment of national peril, Zhongnan State exceptionally granted the Marshal Rank.

Lv Muzhi thereby became Zhongnan State's first Army Marshal, once again leading the Youth Army to save Zhongnan State from fire and water.

The United States people likewise supported Lv Muzhi coming out of retirement, to stop Britain and France returning to Southeast Asia.

On the Navy aspect, although Britain and France were more powerful, only the Army could truly make a country submit.

Lv Muzhi had the capacity to block the British and French landed armies, forcing them to only wander near the coastline.

The United States people produced a huge quantity of weapons during World War II; now the war ended, these weapons had no use, instead becoming a burden on the United States Army.

Therefore, the United States people simply sold these weaponry to Zhongnan State at low prices, clearing inventory.

Large amounts of fighter planes, bombers, tanks, firearms were transported to Zhongnan State, to resist Britain and France.

Lv Muzhi led the Youth Army, once again preserved Zhongnan State, and once again won widespread recognition from Zhongnan State nationals.