Volume 3 Hello, Eri Chapter 296: The Reincarnation of the Royal Blood (Part 2)
"Ever tried to leave here? Or can't escape?" said Angé.
"I did consider going to look for my mother, but I can't leave. If you covet a life of wealth and unknown, you will always have to pay a price." Uesugi Yue sighed, "My subordinates found out that I didn't like living in a shrine, so they built a European-style palace for me. I lived no worse than the real Japanese emperor. In this way, I began to fulfill my responsibilities as the Shadow Emperor and began to meet with outstanding young talents in the family. I don't want to mention their names. Anyway, they were all designated as Class A war criminals after the war. But I didn't think these people were warmongers at the time. They told me that history had reached an important moment, that powerful countries were eager to try, and that Japan also needed to break the shackles of an island country and go out. I thought what they said made sense, so I just nodded and said some nice words to encourage them, saying that the family would give them strong support, and there was little I could do, so it was up to you all."
"World War II soon broke out. The Eight Snake Clan was a staunch advocate of war because the family wanted to gain benefits from it and also wanted to take the opportunity to suppress the mixed-bloods in Europe. As the current Shadow Emperor, I also became one of the promoters of this war. Many elite members of the family were sent to various battlefields. Some of them were generals and staff officers, while others directly participated in the front-line combat, the so-called sharpshooters and ace pilots. In fact, thinking back now, this war was doomed to fail from the beginning. There was no unity within the family . Some people supported going north to attack the Soviet Union, while others supported going south. How could an army that could not even unify its opinions have a chance to win?"
Uesugi Yue took the ramen out of the pot, skillfully placed it on a plate and put sliced braised eggs on it, then pushed it in front of each person. Once he got into the mood, he was no longer so resistant to these past events. He was able to talk and recall the past, and he also hated his past regrets and ignorance.
"But I was too young at the time to think about these things. When the war just started, I was doing well. There were reports of victory everywhere. My subordinates praised my wise decisions, and I was complacent about it. I thought I could be on par with Bismarck. It was not until the little mustache suddenly attacked France without notifying us and quickly wiped out France that I woke up from my dream and remembered that my mother was still in France. We had no contact for five years because of the war."
"I wanted to rush to Europe like crazy, but my subordinates stopped me and said that the army was about to go to war with the Americans, and transportation would be difficult at that time. I might not be able to come back if I went. In order to comfort me, my subordinates contacted the German army and tried to ensure my mother's safety. The German army did send people to the church where my mother worked. The priest who stayed behind said that my mother left France a few years ago and no one knew where she went. This made me feel more at ease."
Uesugi Yue took out another bottle of wine from the counter. "Then the war took a sharp turn for the worse. We were losing ground in the Pacific battlefield, and you, the half-bloods of the secret party, also joined the war. But the war hawks in the family were still very determined, just like a gathering in a mental hospital, everyone was determined to die, and they would say things like "die with honor" or "seppuku" that sounded awesome. I was also infected by them and felt that I should do something for this country, but before I could do that, the emperor announced an unconditional surrender, and the U.S. warships drove straight into Tokyo Bay, carrying a man named Ange."
"So you decided to assassinate me." Angé said that was the first time he met Uesugi Yue, and they were in completely opposing positions at that time.
"Yes, we lost on the battlefield, but the half-bloods did not. I heard that you are the leader of the European secret party. If we can get rid of you, we can cheer up again after losing miserably on the front line. I am confident that I can win. I am the emperor, and the most powerful thing is my bloodline. But Time Zero is really a spirit of words that can easily turn the tide of the battle. You whipped me like a top, but I couldn't even hit you back. I could only roar that everyone in the war is guilty, and you are not good people either. We are all for the benefit of the country, so don't make yourself sound so superior." Uesugi Yue said.
"Your words really irritated me." Ange bit his boiled egg slowly. "I could see that you were just a young man, so I didn't kill you. If it was a Japanese general who talked to me like this, his head would fall to the ground. I beat you up and threw you into the car with your butt facing outward. I asked someone to send you back, along with some files. They were testimonies from the Tokyo Trial. I think you need to learn something and clean your eyes."
"Yes, I finished reading so many things that day without a break. At first I thought you were shameless, putting all the blame on us. Which war doesn't kill people? But then I gradually saw Lushun... and then Nanjing... I couldn't believe that this was what we did. War will hurt civilians, but deliberately slaughtering soldiers and civilians who have laid down their arms is not what people who hold high the banner of justice should do? This is completely inhumane and insane. I feel like I'm petrified bit by bit, and my fingers feel as heavy as a mountain when I look through the information."
Uesugi Yue said, "There is one passage that impressed me the most. At that time, there were many Western expatriates in Nanjing, and they were powerful testimonies. They said that there was a Catholic church at that time, which was jointly built by Catholics from Germany and France. The priests and nuns in the church could not stand the atrocities of the Japanese army, so they secretly accepted some fleeing Chinese civilians. They were discovered by the Japanese army and surrounded the church."
"These soldiers did not dare to attack the church because the Germans inside were their allies. Although the French were enemies of the Germans, harming them would also incur hostility from the French. At this time, an officer stood up and personally called an artillery company. In front of everyone, he fired the first shell and overturned the roof of the church. He said that he did not need timid soldiers. Whether Germans or French, anyone who opposed the Japanese army should be killed. If you are so afraid of retaliation later, why don't you kill everyone who knows about this together? Then who can blame you?"
"What a bastard." Yuan Zhinv growled.
"The officer's words excited the soldiers who had already killed countless people. They were already blood-thirsty and didn't care about killing a few more people. The artillery took positions and bombarded the church one after another. The soldiers gave up using guns and blocked the outside of the church with samurai swords, which symbolized their status, and killed everyone who tried to escape. The last person to be killed was a nun. She killed several soldiers with a revolver and was then shot. Before she died, she said that God would punish sinners like you with lightning and fire..."
"Her name is Charlotte Chen, and that church was opened by her and her fellow church members." Uesugi Yue slowly raised his eyelids, with a cold dark gold color rippling in his pupils.
Gen Chisei suddenly woke up, his dragon blood was surging violently, completely out of control. The bloodline reaction caused by Uesugi Yue's emotional fluctuations could actually directly affect his body.
"After reading the information, I sat under the candlelight for a whole night. The next day, after I got up, I sent a conscription order to the family, and asked a group of people to come to the shrine to see me. I hid the ancient swords on the shelf under the table in advance, and sat there waiting for everyone to arrive. Many of them were surprised when they came to the shrine, because with their level, they might never see me in their lifetime. I looked up the number of the artillery team. Their officer's name was Uesugi, and he was from the inner three families. I have met him. He is an absolute war advocate. All his troops are guys with dragon blood in the family, and their bloodline is not very high. They organized such an elite team belonging to the family in the army. At the trial, the family protected these people. None of them were tried by the military court. They were even praised as heroes and promoted in the family's status. Now all of them who are still alive are in front of me."
Uesugi Yue took a sip of wine and exhaled lightly: "The leading officer greeted me. I smiled and asked him to come forward and said I had something important to give him. Then I drew the sword from under the table and stabbed him in the throat. He didn't know why I wanted to kill him until he died. He just covered his throat and stared at me. I rushed into the crowd below without asking right or wrong. Every blow was fatal. The blood splashed everywhere dyed the screen red. Some people tried to resist me, but they were no match for me. No one could escape. They all had to die. I was still furious after killing them all. I asked myself who else was responsible for this. The answer was those old guys. They took me away from my mother, put the crown of sin on me, and made me start an evil war with my own hands and kill my own mother!"
"So I took a knife and visited their residences in the shrine one by one. These people were too old. Even though some of them were experienced sword masters, I was the young Shadow King. They could not resist me. I vented all my anger on their corpses. It was not enough to kill them with one blow. I had to cut their bodies into pieces. People in the family noticed something was wrong and tried to stop me. They thought I had gone crazy because of my bloodline, but I was sober. Ordinary people could not get close to me, so the family only sent the elites of the three inner families. These people used to be my friends and my masters, but now they are my enemies. No one can calm my anger."
"I don't know how many people I killed that day. Every time I stabbed the shrine, I felt a great sense of relief. All my guilt and anger were released. The shrine was littered with corpses and blood flowed like a river. I stole valuable antiques from the shrine as my living expenses in the future. When I left, I set a fire, intending to burn the shrine down. Unfortunately, I heard later that the fire was put out by the fire department without success. The family regarded this as a shocking betrayal and kept it secret from the outside world. They regarded me as a great enemy. But I know that they can't take revenge on me. They can't beat me because I killed all the well-known inner three families that day, and I myself am the last of the inner three families. This is a cursed bloodline. My father and I did not have a good end. The royal bloodline should be completely cut off."
The long story finally came to an end, and the ramen in the bowl had long gone cold. When the story was halfway through, everyone had realized the evil in it, and no one would keep a good appetite for jokes in the face of such a bloody ending. Everyone was silent, for Uesugi Yue's mother, for the innocent people who died, and for Uesugi Yue himself. The rain was crackling outside the trolley, and the cigarette in Uesugi Yue's hand slowly burned out, leaving his hands full of dust.
"I can never wash away the sins of this life, but I can never bow to my family. The only person I feel really sorry for is my mother. The Eight Snake Qi Clan is just my enemy, my sworn enemy. I have cut off their roots. There will no longer be a true inner three families among the Eight Snake Qi Clan, let alone such a thing as royal blood." Uesugi Yue said, "I still don't have any children. I don't want my descendants to suffer the same fate as me."
"The higher the position, the easier it is to be deceived." Yuan Zhisheng said softly, "Because in that position, you can only access limited things and cannot see the real bottom. It is easy to think that what you see is the truth. When you really wake up, the feeling of powerlessness and guilt is really hard to accept."
He was talking about Uesugi Yue, and also about himself. As a former emperor, Uesugi Yue was high above everyone else, and was praised too highly by those fanatical war elements to the point of losing himself. He, Minamoto Chisei, was also the current emperor, being manipulated by Tachibana Masamune, and believed that what he did was justice. In fact, they were all the same emperors, and the same people, bearing the curse of the emperor's blood.
"It sounds like these things happened in the 1940s and 1950s, which is 60 years ago, two generations ago. If the family did not lie to my brother, then where did his Yuan family bloodline come from? Are you sure you really killed all the three inner families at that time?" Yuan Zhinv felt that the truth of the matter had not yet been revealed.
"I'm sure." Uesugi Yue shook his hands to wipe off the dust, threw the cigarette butt into the trash can, and scooped new hot soup into everyone's bowl. "The number of the inner three families is too small. Everyone has a name, including that bastard. I have seen the people of the inner three families with my own eyes, and even had the honor of participating in the birth of some children. At that time, Tokyo was full of ruins, with a lot of sewage and filth that no one dealt with. The people of the inner three families were very precious, so naturally they were concentrated by the family to live in the shrine. There were only about twenty people in total, so it was easy to recognize them. I can even remember everyone's name, from children to the elderly. At that time, every time I killed someone, I would make a check in the little notebook in my heart to sever the bloodline they wanted most. This was my most malicious revenge on the family."
