Not only the Nationalist government, but also someone else visited Lu Xuan shortly after that man left. It seemed everyone had sensed that the Japanese army's fate was sealed.
After that day ended, Lu Xuan acted as if nothing had happened, continuing his cultivation journey as if the war outside had nothing to do with him.
However, some minor changes occurred on the battlefield. For example, the Chinese soldiers' offensive was more aggressive than in history. Towards the end of the war, large numbers of Japanese soldiers were captured and directly transported to the rear.
After the Kwantung Army in Northeast China was completely defeated, the Chinese government had hundreds of thousands of Japanese prisoners of war in its hands.
On August 6, 1945, the Americans finally completed their mission. They dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The entire world was stunned. Everyone realized that a completely new weapon, capable of significantly impacting the war effort, had emerged. A truly revolutionary weapon.
Lu Xuan, far away in Beijing, remained silent for a long time after hearing the news. He had actually considered sabotaging the Manhattan Project and preventing the creation of the atomic bomb. Because this thing was simply too hostile to cultivators.
He had already taken action. Leveraging his foresight, he had made preparations around key figures beforehand, infiltrating the entire operation even before the Manhattan Project began. But in the end, Lu Xuan relinquished control.
Several factors influenced his decision. One was his current level of cultivation, which was completely unrelated to nuclear weapons. Modern heavy weaponry was already sufficient to inflict fatal damage on him. Therefore, nuclear weapons were unnecessary for him.
Secondly, nuclear power represents a turning point in human history. If nothing unexpected happens, future human energy may well rely on nuclear power. While Lu Xuan cultivates immortality himself, it's impossible for everyone to cultivate immortality. Lu Xuan also doesn't want to hinder the progress of humankind.
Finally, there was one crucial reason hidden deep in his heart. That was that Lu Xuan disliked the idea of atomic bombing Japan disappearing from his mind. To be precise, he had been eagerly awaiting this news.
On August 15th, the Japanese Emperor announced Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and its unconditional surrender. The war was over.
That day, Lu Xuan finally stepped out of his house and onto the street, joining in the celebration of victory like an ordinary person.
As for Partridge Whistle and the others, they quietly disappeared into the darkness. They were carrying out the task that Lu Xuan had left them.
In this capital city, too many people have made far too many wrong choices. Lu Xuan is magnanimous; he won't make things difficult for the ordinary people who, to survive, became subjects of the Japanese. They can be forgiven for their struggle for survival. But the high-ranking officials cannot. Nor can those members of the imperial family who were supported and attempted to restore the monarchy.
In truth, Lu Xuan didn't harbor any particular animosity towards Puyi. He hadn't conquered the Qing Dynasty, nor had he ever truly held the throne. He had never genuinely ruled the Central Plains. From birth, his life was essentially a tragedy, both in his career and family. Few people in this world had suffered more than him.
Furthermore, during the Tokyo Trials, Puyi withstood pressure from all sides and vehemently betrayed the Japanese. This was a significant advantage for him. This also contributed to his being pardoned after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Lu Xuan also saw a video of him returning to the Forbidden City alone in his later years; he was just a frail old man.
This was a night of revelry, a night where death and celebration coexisted. Countless people passed out tonight. And countless others died tonight. Those packing their belongings to flee, those making connections to launder their money—not one escaped tonight's purge.
Lu Xuan couldn't care less about the others, but he had thoroughly cleaned up the area around his house. The next day, at daybreak, countless corpses were discovered. Many people knew who had done it, but no one dared to go and verify it.
After all, both sides' top officials had issued orders not to disturb Mr. Lu's life. A group of police officers could only silently come out to cover for him. But in reality, no one really wanted to pursue the matter. After all, in a sense, the deaths of these people were quite gratifying.
Besides those who died, a Chinese army quickly entered Beijing and took over the city's defenses, which had been under Japanese control for a long time. At the same time, they forcefully detained all the Japanese soldiers who had not yet been able to evacuate.
Such incidents occurred throughout the country. After Japan's surrender, almost all Japanese soldiers laid down their weapons. However, the Chinese army forcefully detained the majority of its soldiers, showing no intention of letting them return home.
The Chinese government responded quickly.
If the Japanese release all captured Chinese soldiers and civilians, then the Chinese side will naturally release the Japanese soldiers in return.
During the eight-year War of Resistance against Japan, a large number of soldiers and able-bodied civilians not only died, but some were also transported by the Japanese to China or even Southeast Asia to work as forced laborers. Even after the war ended, not all of them were released.
Of course, there's an even more important point. Since they started the war, they must pay the price. Lu Xuan knew all too well how much effort China expended at the Far East Tribunal after the war to execute only a handful of war criminals. The vast majority of war criminals did not receive adequate punishment.
China's excuse is perfectly reasonable. No one can argue against it. Despite the various excuses offered by Western media, nothing changes the established fact: Japan does indeed have a large number of Chinese prisoners of war that it has not released.
In reality, according to Lu Xuan's intentions, these people would never be able to go back. They would dedicate their final lives to rebuilding China, until their deaths. Simply put, all of them were sentenced to life imprisonment, forced labor until their deaths. He believed this arrangement was absolutely reasonable and legal. But...
The War of Resistance against Japan had ended, but war continued. Lu Xuan knew that another war was brewing. If possible, he truly wanted to stop it. But he also knew that the consequences of stopping this war would be far more severe than stopping the War of Resistance.
So he could only continue to hide, remaining silent and indifferent. He offered no assistance to either side of the war, nor did he pay any attention to it whatsoever. He simply hid, quietly waiting for the war to end.
This time, it was truly over. A completely new government, one he could truly engage with, had finally emerged. Lu Xuan finally stepped out of his courtyard house. For him, this marked the beginning of a new era.
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Chapter 224 The Plan Begins
The period that had left Lu Xuan feeling endlessly depressed was finally over. He had been living in self-imprisonment, holed up in the courtyard, and was nearly going mad.
With the founding of the People's Republic of China, everything settled down. Lu Xuan was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and get back to his work.
Lu Xuan did a lot during this war. During the war years, he secretly funded countless inheritors of classical Chinese arts. He did his best to preserve all kinds of folk crafts, local operas, and lost cultural relics—anything he knew of or encountered.
He always felt that the most painful aspect of war was its disruption of countless traditions. Culture, art, science, and humanities all inevitably suffer destruction in war. Lu Xuan couldn't change anything else, but he tried his best to preserve these traditions. In a sense, these things were the very essence of Chinese civilization. And Lu Xuan was the one who couldn't bear to see traditions extinguished.
Besides that, what Lu Xuan did most was to obtain a lot of technical data from European and American countries and hand it over to the country.
As early as twenty years ago, Lu Xuan began his planning. The entire Second World War was also an era of explosive growth in military technology. Relying on his foresight, the extraordinary abilities of a cultivator, and the triple boost of his financial resources, Lu Xuan placed his own people in various large-scale research and development projects.
We obtained detailed experimental data at the earliest opportunity. These are valuable resources that can help our country avoid many detours.
Europe. The war is over. But some things don't seem to be over.
France, the newly restored nation, suddenly discovered a strange problem: the legendary "artwork demon" seemed to have reappeared.
This inevitably brought back nightmares for the French. The Louvre was burned down, countless art treasures were destroyed and stolen. And the Paris police became a disgrace to the world overnight.
Many people were convinced back then that a demon existed that specifically targeted and destroyed works of art. However, even more believed it was some kind of conspiracy. It's just that the French police were too incompetent to find the real culprit.
But now, witnesses have emerged. Yes, real witnesses. More than one person has seen the figure of a demon hovering over Paris.
This was just the beginning. Soon, similar sightings occurred in Britain. A group of vampires reportedly attacked a homeless community. When the police arrived, only dozens of mummified corpses remained at the scene.
Next up is Germany. This one is the most explosive. A group of surviving remnants of the ** used black magic to summon some kind of dark creature. A monster that roams the sewers, abandoned castles, the depths of swamps, and all the dark, damp corners of the world.
Legend has it that it will extend its tentacles from anywhere, capturing passersby and adventurers, devouring their flesh and blood, and absorbing their souls.
When the German police's raid failed, the news suddenly became credible. Unfortunately, the group of wizards had already been devoured by the demons they had summoned, leaving no further clues.
The series of similar news reports has plunged Europe into a state of panic. Europe, which had just experienced the brilliance of war, has once again been gripped by an atmosphere of fear.