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Page 255
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and tapped the table in front of his chest with his fingertips pointing towards the generals and officials present.
“I believe my dear sister is a person with lofty ambitions, and I also believe that such a person will definitely need assistance, just like the ‘outstanding people’ in Chinese history books.”
"Alright then, they are all generals I trust. They will assist you in the war operations in District 45, and also help manage the people of District 45. You must have missed a lot of arrangements in District 45 because you were busy with the concert in Tucson, right? Go back soon, okay?"
……
After driving away from the Forbidden City in the capital and boarding a special plane bound for Area 11, Elizabeth remained silent the entire way, simply watching the crowds of commoners outside the window heading to the conscription office and the settler registration point.
She ignored the ill-intentioned questions from the officials and generals, leaving only a few key words that touched her heart and were etched into her mind.
“Last night I overheard Prince Schneizel having a private meeting with someone. It seems someone in Area 11 has found someone who looks just like Prince Lelouch.”
"Good heavens, it's said that Prince Clovis, who died in office earlier, and Princess Euphemia, who was later plastered with countless filthy insults, both came for him?"
"Princess Nanali? She's Lelouch's younger sister... Damn it, could she be next...?"
"Fortunately, nothing like this has happened in the capital... Speaking of which, do you remember General Bartley? He was captured by the border bergerremia and taken to Prince Schneizel while protecting Prince Clovis..."
"I know him. Wasn't he supposed to be sent to the Chinese Federation on some mission? By the way, it seems he discovered traces of Princess Cornelia, who has been missing for several days?!"
……
When we returned to the city hall in the Tokyo Concession and walked along the avenue leading to the parade ground and the main portal, the streets were already bustling with noise.
On the left are over one million German civilians who have just been relocated from the outskirts of Berlin in the 45th district to the 11th district. On the one hand, they need to make room for the large-scale settlement of settlers in the future; on the other hand, they need to undergo a lengthy and necessary identity verification process on the island of the continent before they will be added to the hundreds of thousands of German civilians in the 11th district, expanding the new labor force.
On the right stretched a long line of arrogant, bewildered "new recruits." This was their first time setting foot on the soil of District 45, facing a new world that they had longed for but which Elizabeth found full of perilous challenges.
The civilians looked at her with fear, the soldiers offered flattering greetings, and the generals and officers behind her whispered among themselves—she did not stop to look around; she knew that continuing forward was the only way for her to truly move forward.
"elder sister!"
"Your Highness!"
Looking ahead, she saw Grafria and Iska, who had already returned to the area with her, sandwiched between two lines of people. They were with Kelly and the generals who had just arrived from Berlin. They looked in the direction the princess had come from and at the uneasy, wealthy faces behind her, and bowed deeply.
Above the sky, a fleet of neatly arranged skyships sped past at high speed. At that moment, a feather drifted down from the sky and landed on her lapel—it was a feather belonging to a white dove, usually paired with the color of an olive branch.
She turned her head, a slight upturn on her lips, and blew a feather to the sound of those who were staring intently at her back.
"It's not about proving anything. As a commander, I have to shoulder an inescapable responsibility, and I also possess boundless power—when I realize that my mind and body are already inextricably linked with these millions of vibrant lives, from marshals and generals to ordinary soldiers."
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Volume 6, The South Wind of Jutland, Completed
Section 451, the final chapter: The sea is wide enough for fish to leap, the sky is high enough for me to fly.
Back in Berlin, I expected a large number of dignitaries who had come early to do "money business" after learning about the 45th district to fawn over me. However, it wasn't until I arrived at the Brandenburg Gate that a few old men who looked like heads of conglomerates casually bowed to me.
"This performance could mean either he was kicked out of the command center, or Louis XIV said something bad about him, or maybe both, ha." Elizabeth went into the Capitol without looking back and found the Duke of Sassler.
“As you expected, Your Highness.” The Duke handed her back the hair clip with the royal insignia and recounted what had happened a few days ago. “I just saw those people bowing to you at the window. They were trying to break in for a visit.”
Elizabeth gave this order primarily to prevent high-ranking officials from interfering with normal military operations, though there were other reasons as well.
In the early days when Berlin was besieged by the US and the Soviet Union in the 45th district, she was still young and watched her troops being routed day and night. She almost drew her sword and attacked the "artifacts" in the Reichstag building—those walls covered with Russian writing.
At the time, they didn't know much about the history of the 45th district, but when they learned that the Reichstag building they were in was the place where the Soviet army raised the red flag to capture Berlin a few months earlier, they were determined to repaint the Reichstag inside and out. However, the most dangerous month of 1946 for Berlin arrived, and military matters had to be put on hold.
When everyone was about to paint over the shameful graffiti, Elizabeth changed her mind as if she had a sudden realization—the graffiti walls were eventually painted over, but some of the graffiti with the names of Soviet soldiers were copied onto some stone slabs and engraved according to the original handwriting.
Without the bloodshed and turmoil of District 45 that tempered her heart, she certainly wouldn't have known how to patiently endure the hardships and use these Russian inscriptions carved in stone as a metaphor for perseverance and revenge. That's why she didn't agree to make these stone tablets public, but instead kept them in the heavily guarded basement of the Reichstag building.
Indeed, while hypocritical villains are still speculating about the "Princess's Treasure," Elizabeth has returned here today.
As she walked in, she saw only simple lighting and roughly laid floor tiles and walls. On either side of the door frame was an oil painting of several soldiers and a completed stone slab with the inscription "Sergeant Pavel Larin was here."
The entire basement was indeed a treasure trove, a treasure trove of the spiritual wealth belonging to her and the expeditionary force.
"Oh, Your Highness!" The soldiers were ready for battle, and the sculptors and painters spent their days in this carefree paradise.
They were initially the same kind of people as the Marquis of Louisse who had ties with Schneizel. They were originally sent to "spy" on military intelligence for the outside world and the empire itself. However, once they stepped out of the mortal world, which was originally bound by officialdom and interests, they felt more and more that they could not leave this place. Naturally, they also became interested in Her Highness Elizabeth and every soldier of the expeditionary force.
Young men and women in art schools should be able to empathize. Can you imagine spending countless days and nights in a cold and quiet studio, racking their brains for a breakthrough in their work, only to step outside and suddenly feel a sense of enlightenment?
The painters prepared a special gift for the siblings: a huge oil painting depicting their full-body portraits and the appearance of the expeditionary force. They had been quietly preparing for this for several months.
"Hmm? Wasn't it said that this was a stone slab that would be used for a great purpose in the future?" But Elizabeth, who was surprised, was overjoyed when the unveiling took place.
Under the bright sunshine, fully armed infantry and KMFs stood in formation on one side, while assault guns and infantry fighting vehicles stood ready on the other. In the background, between the Reichstag building and the Brandenburg Gate where the Britannian flag was raised, stood a huge statue of the Emperor.
His Majesty the Emperor stretched out a hand and lifted it up to the blue sky, supporting the soaring Britannian silver wings—flocks of Britannian fighter planes and sky fleets were sweeping menacingly across the heavens.
Without any flashy or extravagant displays, the main subject of the oil painting is given to those nameless, ordinary people.
“Yes, this is exactly what I wanted.” Elizabeth looked on with great interest. “I love the beauty that these ordinary colors leave on the canvas, like every soldier who returns from the hail of bullets, receiving his medal with unhealed wounds and a confident smile. His medals are more dazzling than any flashy family crest.”
“Ahem, Your Highness…” a painter interrupted abruptly, “We would like to know, what do you think of our portrait of you?”
Elizabeth then noticed that she and Kelly were quietly placed on the far left of the picture. The two siblings, dressed in military uniforms and wearing black and white cloaks, swayed slightly in the breeze.
"Sigh..." Seeing the princess's displeasure, the others became somewhat uneasy. "Why did you only show Kelly half of her back?"
“Your Highness…” one of the painters said tremblingly, “We are following Your Highness’s instructions to ‘leave what we see and hear on the painting and on the stone tablet.’… Our thinking is that Your Highness has always been a calm and composed commander in front of everyone, while Prince Kelly, apart from having a slightly more childish impulsiveness than you, has also lived in your shadow for a long time.”
"Oh, so this is your impression of Kelly, right..."
"So, should we change it?"
“No need.” Elizabeth waved her hand slightly. “If he were truly my younger brother, he would surely have faced his own shortcomings, which are already clearly evident on paper, and tried to overcome them.”
Section 452 Chapter 354 Who Lives Matter
“根据45区行政总管路易塞斯侯爵所提供的数据，三天前转移到本州岛来的45区平民确切总数为103万零650人，这些生理上合格的劳动力是从145万人当中分拣出来的。”
“目前这103万人被统一安置在东京租界西边300公里的石川县，以加贺市为中心。女性比例高出男性约12%，年龄层面有60%以上大于35岁，还可以确定全体男性当中至少26%有长期使用热兵器的经历。”
As Governor Nunnally's advisor, Suzaku Kururugi has been extremely busy with the officials these past few days. In contrast to his inexplicably serious demeanor, his fellow Knights of the Round Table, Gino and Anya, have gone to Ashford Academy to "experience" student life, indulging in this unproductive pastime.
Although they are indeed high school or even middle school students compared to Suzaku, who is already 18, their motivation to "experience life" is too outrageous—especially Gino, who even wants Lelouch, the vice president of the student council, to take him to the black market to be a chess player, the kind who gambles for money.
So, are Lelouch and Rolo truly unaware of Lelouch's identity as Zero, his long-lost imperial prince, and his fake younger brother Rolo, or are they pretending not to know?
I think Suzaku wouldn't have the energy to think about how to integrate so many people into Japanese society; that alone would be enough to make his head spin.
First of all, the entire internment camp area held far more than just these 103 million people. It also included over 100,000 of the hundreds of thousands of Germans who had arrived earlier but failed to meet the standards or refused to cooperate. All of them were confined within the Kaga "city," a complex of concrete walls, barbed wire, and architectural ruins. During this period, in addition to investing more effort than ever before in winning over the people of District 45, even more effort was needed to manage the food, water, and sanitation of such a large population.
Simply put, they used more leaflets and announcements, along with more good food and drink, to coax these 1.2 to 300,000 civilians into applying to become undocumented residents and join the workforce in District 11.
The difficulty and costs involved are considerable. Unfortunately, while the German population already integrated into Area 11 society is large, very few of them actually speak highly of Britannia or apply to become honorary Britannians. Aside from the controversial Aryan Special Forces, there are hardly any loyal followers; how much help can they offer in "deceiving" the public?
……
But the key point is that, as time goes by, these issues actually become minor problems.
What Suzaku and Nunnally worried about most was how millions of Japanese people would get along with the people of District 45.
From the resurgence of the Black Knights to the failed attempt to smuggle tens of thousands of civilians out of Japan during the establishment ceremony of a special zone, followed by the Kofu massacre, the aftermath of ZERO's impact has made street arguments with Germans a common occurrence during this period.
When the Germans followed suit and called on the Governor-General's Office to establish a "German Special District" to oppose them, large-scale armed clashes between the two sides broke out one after another. In particular, after the bombshell news that "ten Japanese men attempted to assault a drunken Soviet female soldier but were beaten to the ground" appeared, the Germans not only gained an advantage in the fight against the Japanese, but also more and more Britannian citizens became acquainted with them.
Whether the Germans truly want a legitimate special district to rival them is another matter. The fact that "a group of outsiders are doing better and being more popular in Japan than the Japanese" is enough to keep the angry young people in Japan constantly upset and causing trouble.
"Germans are easy to appease, and Japanese are easy to appease as well, but when Japanese and Germans are put together, they become incredibly difficult to appease." Suzaku and Nanali are practically infested with lice from spending all their time in the meeting room with the officials, yet they still can't come up with a suitable solution.
He kept thinking about preventing any accidents, and then disaster struck.
……
On the streets of the Tokyo Concession, sirens blared in chaos. Terrified civilians on the sidewalks watched as Davis, gripping the steering wheel, led a group of soldiers in a police car, frantically weaving through traffic like mad dogs.
They stopped in front of a commercial street already heavily guarded by fire trucks, KMF officers, and military police. At the center of the arc-shaped police cordon was a bank; behind its glass doors, riddled with bullet holes and bloodstains, lay an adult covered in bullet holes lying in a pool of blood.
Besides the military police, Stasevich and his infantry fighting vehicle had been waiting for some time at the adjacent parking lot. When Davis arrived, they removed the twin autocannons from the roof of the vehicle with the help of a police KMF.
“Tell me about the situation, Davari…” Davis almost blurted out a sentence in Russian, “Guys?”
“About ten Japanese men broke into the bank.” Similarly, Stasevich’s spoken English was visibly becoming more and more fluent. “They came with pistols and submachine guns, but no heavy weapons. They probably just robbed us.”
"Where are the hostages? Have they started killing them?" Davis, a former police officer, pressed. He had privately watched many documentaries about kidnapping cases in Area 11.
“There was a German who escaped. He said he came to the bank today with seven coworkers to open a deposit account.” Stasevich sighed, looking at the flashing police lights in the distance. “The deceased was one of his coworkers. In addition, eight or nine bank employees and four or five civilians were also taken hostage.”
"Then it's not that simple. Have you spoken to the higher-ups? Do you have any plans?"
"Prepare for a full-scale assault, that's it." While the soldier and the Russian were chatting, several policemen ran over and asked them who was good at climbing walls.
Davis immediately pushed Garcia forward, and the police threw him a shotgun without saying a word, telling Garcia to climb up the drainpipe to the ventilation duct connecting to the bank and keep watch.
"Huh?" The soldiers looked puzzled. "Why didn't you use shotguns earlier?"
“Ha,” the policeman replied, “Ever since we got KMF, these things have been gathering dust every day.”
……
The bank was still dimly lit enough to make out what was happening inside—the lobby had been emptied, which meant the robbers had taken the hostages to the counters.
"Please be patient!" the sheriff shouted through a megaphone. "The vehicles you requested will be there immediately! Do not harm the hostages! Do not act rashly!"
"Tell all your police cars to back up 50 meters!" The kidnapper leader was a young man with a Japanese flag tied around his neck. He was hiding behind a vending machine behind the bank's main entrance, with only half his face showing.
"No problem! Could you please move the deceased's body out?"
"Fine! But I have another request! We demand to speak with Governor Nunnally and Knight Suzaku Kururugi of the Round Table! This isn't just my request; I'm negotiating on behalf of all Japanese people in Japan!"
"We hate these scumbag outsiders!" The kidnapper leader waved his arms, the submachine gun in his hand gleaming faintly. "These undocumented residents aren't even numbered, so what right do they have to come here and steal our jobs and wealth! They're all the same kind of thieves as you Britannia!"
"Tell the Governor's Office that we want to discuss the treatment of the Japanese with Nanali in person, and at the same time, we want to personally punish the traitor Suzaku Kururugi! If we don't see them both within half an hour, we will kill everyone in the bank!"
The military and police on the scene had probably already heard how indignant the audience in front of the television broadcast was—further negotiations would be futile, so they had no choice but to launch a full-scale attack.
The police started their cars and KMFs and retreated in a chaotic formation, all to distract the criminals. Meanwhile, Stasevich and his men had already restarted the infantry fighting vehicles, which had had their machine guns removed.
“The bank lobby has limited ceiling height, comrade.” Stasevich pointed to the bank’s side wall and, head bowed, instructed the American soldiers who had just picked up rocket launchers, “I can’t guarantee that the rear hatch of the infantry fighting vehicle will be easy to open after it’s driven in.”
Before the robbers knew what was happening, they heard a loud commotion outside the brick wall. Two rockets blasted a large hole in the bank's wall, and the sunlight that shone through hadn't lasted long before the infantry fighting vehicle painted with a red star and a skull revved up and crashed in.
A large hole was torn in the wall, and the rolling wheels crushed flower pots and chairs to the side. The scattered bricks and stones and the flying sand panicked the kidnappers in the bank. American and Soviet soldiers had already rushed in through the gap, and the police at the main entrance had also begun their raid.
The kidnappers holding the hostages behind the counter hadn't even realized what was happening—the infantry fighting vehicle, which had already stopped, was embedded in the security window and the counter—when they saw two figures holding riot shields step onto the counter like bulls, smash through the glass, and plunge into the crowd, engaging in a fierce fight.
Gunshots rang out both inside and outside the counter. When the police rushed in, they were stunned, shouting, "Where's the hostage? Where's the hostage?"
The soldiers then came to their senses. The counter was filled with smoke, and in the chaos, they had already smashed the butts of their rifles on the foreheads of several civilians—the remaining three young Japanese men, still panting, had been so frightened that they dropped their guns and huddled together with the hostages.
That was all good. After looking around for a while, they found several human legs under the infantry fighting vehicle, which Stasevich pulled out. "Alive! Alive!" He slapped the hostage's face with both hands like bear paws to wake him up, and then sent him away covered in dust.
"Looks like one or two escaped?" Davis looked at the ventilation duct opening that had been bent open above his head. "Garcia!"
Before the words were finished, several gunshots and the sound of a shotgun being pulled came from the ventilation duct. Soon after, a shattered arm, along with bright red blood, fell onto the floor tiles scattered with banknotes.
"Hey! I gave you the gun so you could take prisoners alive!"
“They didn’t even have a chance to leave their bodies intact, sir,” Garcia said coldly. “We’re more concerned about how to clean these ventilation ducts.”
Chapter 355, Section 453: Everyone's Fate is Fate
"Let's continue our follow-up report on the bank robbery that occurred yesterday on Hopkins Avenue in the Tokyo Concession. Among the 22 hostages in this incident, there were 9 bank employees and 13 civilians. One unregistered resident was killed by the kidnappers during the incident, and 7 others were injured to varying degrees during the military and police rescue operation, none of whom are in life-threatening condition."
"The 10 robbers who robbed the bank were all Japanese nationals. Seven of them were shot dead by the military and police at the scene, and the remaining three have been taken into custody."
"According to the interrogation records provided by the police, the motive of the 10 criminals was that the large influx of undocumented residents into Ward 11 in recent months had 'taken away' their jobs. After overhearing about this group of undocumented residents depositing money at the bank yesterday, they immediately conceived the idea of robbing and killing them."
"However, since they had never had any experience with firearms and had not conducted any reconnaissance of the bank, they intended to rob the money and escape quickly, but were blocked by the military and police who arrived at the scene. So they chose to kill one of the unregistered residents and take the rest hostage to resist in the bank."
"According to the surviving criminals' confessions, their request to meet with Governor-General Nunnally and Suzaku Kururugi during the negotiations with the police was based on the fact that the two high-ranking officials were very kind to the Japanese. In their desperate situation, they pleaded with them to let them go, so they fabricated the excuse of 'negotiating on behalf of all Japanese people.' Political demands were not their core idea..."