Chapter 138: The End of the East Asian War
China was in a desperate situation, but Japan was slightly better off.
However, they could not stop the decisive factors, such as the Earth Fleet or the Combat Walker units, from wreaking havoc in Japan.
The war could only end by annihilating the enemy’s main force, and in that regard, the Japanese army did its best to destroy the Combat Walker units.
It was because there was a strong demand from all sectors to deal with those robots first.
―Even if we let the Earth Fleet go, we can’t tolerate those robots roaming around!
―Russia declared that they would not intervene in this war! We must mobilize the armored divisions of the Northern Command and finish them off!
Thus, the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division, which were stationed in Hokkaido, moved.
They had a significantly lower scale and armament than the Korean 7th Army Corps, but they were still the strongest armored units in Japan.
Japan had adopted a strategy of denying access to its coastlines, so it naturally did not invest much in armored forces.
Recently, a large budget was allocated as the defense budget was increased, but it would take years for it to take effect.
Still, the Japanese people had high expectations when they heard that the legendary 7th Armored Division was mobilized.
―Those Combat Walkers are just heavy infantry, right? They can’t escape from being crushed by tanks.
―We can win if we coordinate with attack helicopters. We can’t let Japan be humiliated by 100 tin robots.
And so, the counterattack began with the 7th Armored Division and their air force as the main force.
To be precise, they were trying to start a counterattack.
The units stationed in Hokkaido had to come down to Honshu to fight the Combat Walkers.
They had to move through the Seikan Tunnel, which required a tremendous administrative procedure for the 7th Armored Division’s tanks and armored vehicles.
Above all, they had to disassemble all the modules of the Type 10 tanks to load them on a transport train.
So, the Japanese army had to do the absurd task of dismantling their own tanks and loading them on a train while fighting with bureaucrats to fight the Combat Walkers.
A reporter who went to the Seikan Tunnel to cover this story shook his head repeatedly.
“It’s been three days of all-nighters, but they haven’t completed even 50% of the tanks in the division. When will they be able to fight?”
“I can’t guarantee it.”
“I heard that the Korean 7th Army Corps flew 200km using ion thrusters.”
“I don’t know anything about that.”
There was a growing doubt in the Japanese army whether they could fight the Combat Walkers like this.
―We don’t have a prime minister, and we only follow the orders of the Unified Command. Is this how we wage war?
―The Combat Walker units are running wild in Honshu with their incredible mobility. We can’t stop them with slow tanks.
―We should join forces with the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division later and deploy our air force first to push them back.
However, there was no information on how much combat power the Combat Walkers had.
They had only been beaten one-sidedly since the Tokyo air raid.
All Japan knew about the Combat Walkers was that they were robots that moved with their own AI, that they were resistant to EMP shockwaves, and that they showed tremendous firepower and mobility.
There was no information on their durability and power source.
They had to fight them to find out, but they were no match for them as alert troops, and it was not easy to capture them even with large units like the Central Response Force.
―They moved 580km in an hour. How can they be so fast without being a raccoon dog monster?
―It is impossible to respond properly with ground forces. Aerial bombing is also difficult because of civilian casualties. The only answer is attack helicopters.
The problem was that Japan did not have many attack helicopters.
About 100 OH-1 Ninjas and Apaches were scattered in Hokkaido and Honshu, so it took a lot of time to gather them.
And when the Combat Walker units noticed their information, they ambushed one division and destroyed their air force.
―They transform their bodies into howitzers and fire high-explosive shells!
―How do they get their firing coordinates?
It was a mystery how they attacked without having any observation teams.
As such, as the Combat Walker units ran amok in Honshu, the air force stepped up and said they would solve it.
They planned to sweep them away with aerial bombing.
Reconnaissance planes from the air force were mobilized to track their movements, and J-2 fighters were deployed immediately to pour all kinds of missiles on them.
But just before the missiles hit, the Combat Walker units transformed their shapes into cubes.
The black metal cubes stood firm even as the ground turned into a sea of fire from the bombing.
It was an unbelievable durability.
The Unified Command grabbed their necks at this report.
―Ordinary missiles won’t work. We need aerial bombs, but they will notice and avoid them.
―We have to attack them with black metal bullets. We can fight them when the 7th Armored Division arrives.
The 7th Armored Division was treated as Japan’s hope.
And soon after, the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division came down to Honshu.
They received information on the location of the Combat Walker units from the Unified Command and began searching with the Type 16 Maneuver Combat Vehicles at the forefront.
The price of the Type 16 was about 900 million yen, which was comparable to a decent main battle tank.
When added to the 1.1 billion yen of the Type 10 tank, it became a miracle of 2 billion yen.
On the other hand, the acquisition price of the Combat Walker was about 250 million won.
Of course, this did not include various modules, but anyway, there was a huge gap in price between the two.
The Japanese media reported that they could produce 80 Combat Walkers with the miracle duo, but they had to take it down after receiving fierce protests from the right-wingers.
―Now that the miracle duo will smash those Combat Walkers, what are you doing?
―It must be an article written by receiving a lobby from Korea.
―The Type 16 and Type 10 are Japan’s hope. They can’t lose.
And so, the two units met in a mountain range near Miyagi.
It was such a rugged terrain that finding each other’s location was a priority, but somehow the Combat Walker units knew and went into howitzer mode to launch a preemptive attack.
Bang, bang!
The high-explosive shells fired by this unit made a cute sound because of their small caliber, but they had a fierce power because their warheads were hafnium-2.
With one shot, the ground flipped over and a Type 10 tank was smashed.
The two divisions were startled by the monstrous power and quickly scattered, but some Combat Walkers took advantage of the confusion and attacked them.
A melee broke out at a short distance of less than 200m, and the miracle duo had to take railgun shots mercilessly.
They were not trained for night combat at all.
Tanks and maneuver combat vehicles fired their main guns everywhere, but there was not a single slow Combat Walker to hit them.
The surprise attack by the Combat Walkers, which started at 11 p.m., ended exactly at midnight.
And in the mountains of Miyagi, only the gruesome remains of the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division and the cries of the wounded soldiers were left.
It was a complete defeat.
The Combat Walker units left for the coast to resupply, and the public security and reporters who arrived late witnessed this horrific scene in disbelief.
“I thought they would at least put up a fight, but they were utterly destroyed like this…”
“Can we even call this a war?”
There was no one who could answer that.
***
The Earth Fleet on the sea, the Combat Walkers on the land.
These two units ran wild in Japan as if it was their own home.
The frustrating thing for Japan was that they could not stop them.
The Earth Fleet hid like submarines and attacked only when they saw their prey, the Japanese navy, while the Combat Walkers openly wandered around Japan’s land.
The Japanese people hoped that the 7th Armored Division and the 2nd Division, which they called the miracle duo, would wash away their shame, but the Combat Walkers also crushed them mercilessly.
The facilities and equipment that the Combat Walker units had destroyed so far amounted to more than Japan’s annual budget.
There was no longer any power left in the Japanese army to face this unit.
The word surrender appeared in the Unified Command at this time.
―China’s nuclear attack was also futile. They might surrender soon. Shouldn’t we prepare ourselves too?
―This war was not meant to be a total war. We should have ended it at sea.
There were also strong objections.
―We can’t surrender without a proper fight.
―Look. The Earth Fleet is only running away, right? Our navy will soon catch them and finish them off.
Those who argued this were the right-wingers who supported the Yushinkai, and they ordered to end the Earth Fleet in a final naval battle.
The Unified Command, which was chasing the Earth Fleet, found this argument ridiculous.
―The reason why the Earth Fleet is running away is not because they are weak, but because they are buying time.
―Even while running away, they are resupplying the Combat Walker units and attacking fuel tanks.
―We are running out of fuel for our fleet. This is serious.
Ships are originally things that consume a lot of oil.
The Japanese navy had consumed a lot of oil to chase the Earth Fleet, and that was becoming a burden now.
The fleet ran out of fuel right away.
It was difficult to mobilize civilian reserves, because one of the things that the Combat Walker units did while roaming around was destroying fuel tanks.
Japan was running out of oil all over the country.
The government, which had lost its prime minister, was in a state of confusion.
As a result, the fleet that was chasing the Earth Fleet had to enter one port after another due to lack of oil.
―We have no oil! Damn it, what is the government doing?
―We have to import it quickly, even if we have to pay a high price! If we leave it like this, Japan’s sea will be empty!
―Maybe Korea is aiming for…
It was then.
The Earth Fleet revealed itself and attacked the Japanese fleet.
They proved why they had been running away until now by smashing the Japanese navy’s prideful escort fleet from the front.
They fired hypersonic anti-ship missiles from nearby bases, but they were powerless against the air defense network that blocked even ballistic missiles.
The Earth Fleet destroyed the escort fleet and then chased after the fleeing submarine squadron.
The Maritime Security Agency rushed to rescue them.
The staff felt that the end of the war was approaching when they saw only debris left from two fleets floating on the water.
But the right-wingers did not admit Japan’s defeat until the end.
―We still have half of our army and our air force is intact. How can we lose?
―We have to conserve our strength for the final battle on our homeland. Japan can win.
The right-wingers did not really want a final battle on their homeland.
They just felt ashamed to declare surrender to Korea.
In fact, although the Combat Walker units roamed around Japan’s land, there were very few battles that could be called battles.
In such a situation, they did not feel like they had lost at all.
To drive home their defeat, they ordered a landing operation.
“Use all landing ships and transport ships to cross the Korea Strait. Russia will help you, and Humanity United will provide escort and supply.”
To get Japan’s surrender, it would be faster to pour antitrons and hafnium-2 warheads on them.
But they wanted an image of Japan surrendering to Korea more than a thorough destruction by Humanity United forces
That was nothing but having Korean troops enter Tokyo, Japan’s capital city.
“They say that wars start with air force and navy, but end with army, right? Prepare for landing.”
The Joint Chiefs of Staff assembled the elite landing force and put them on standby.
It was an augmented corps-sized landing force composed of two mechanized divisions, a marine division, two air brigades, and support units.
It was beyond Korea’s capacity to carry such a large force, but Russia’s Pacific Fleet’s landing ships and Humanity United’s cargo ships were added.
And as a landing operation, the Earth Fleet and the Walker units were mobilized to devastate the landing site.
The pride of Japan, the submarine squadron, had been hunted so much that they ran out of steam, and the escort fleet could not even sail out because of lack of oil.
That’s how the Korean army crossed the East Sea and arrived in Ishikawa Prefecture.
There was some sporadic resistance from the Japanese army, but they disappeared without a trace under the railgun fired from Daimado.
The cargo ships unloaded their supplies on the coast and transformed into docking facilities to help unload the troops.
From here to Tokyo, it was only 300km, which was a distance that the landing force could move in a day with their mobility.
The Japanese Unified Command issued a general mobilization order to the army.
―Stop them! Stop them at all costs! We can’t let the Korean army enter Tokyo!
―This is the final battle! Gather all forces in Tokyo!
If they combined Japan’s remaining forces at this point, they would clearly overwhelm the landing force.
But many air force bases’ runways were destroyed and there was no command system, so the scattered forces could not gather.
Above all, their attention was diverted by the Combat Walker units that were destroying things around.
These robots found and destroyed any bases or forces that could threaten the landing force.
As a result, the landing force did not face much resistance as they moved to Tokyo.
The soldiers of the Korean mechanized division who took the national highway to Tokyo wondered if they could call this a war.
“We’re just going to plant a flag…”
“As long as I don’t die, that’s all that matters. I thought I was going to die when I was drafted.”
That’s what the landing force said as they entered Hachioji, and the citizens looked at the Korean army with bewilderment.
Why are they here? They wondered with their faces full of questions.
***
The bunker of the Unified Command was filled with groans when they heard the news that the Korean army had finally landed.
“How could they unload a corps-sized equipment and supplies in less than a few hours…”
“They are almost in Tokyo now. The public opinion for surrender will grow stronger if the Korean army enters Tokyo.”
“Is there any way to stop them?”
Osamu, the unified commander, asked, but there was no proper answer.
The Unified Command’s judgment was that resistance was meaningless at this point.
How could they drive out a ground force of corps size, escorted by the Combat Walker units and the Earth Fleet?
The Japanese army was in a terrible state, and the air force was busy repairing the runways.
The media prepared helicopters to interview the landing force.
They would be lucky if they were not shot down by the iron beam.
Osamu, the unified commander, contacted the government after looking at the landing force advancing to Tokyo.
The second-in-command of the government, who was Akagi Kenji, the minister of administration, had a reputation for being more sensible than the prime minister.
He asked Osamu if he could drive them out as soon as he connected with him.
“I’m afraid it’s difficult to say.”
“Some argue that we should gather our forces and fight a final battle. Is that possible?”
“It will only increase our casualties.”
“…”
There was silence for a while.
Akagi, the minister of administration, finally asked how the surrender procedure would be.
They could not afford any more damage.
Especially since the Combat Walker units did not even touch the nuclear power plants.
If they decided to continue fighting, they knew what would happen to the nuclear power plants.
And just then, they heard that China had surrendered.
When they turned on the TV, Wang Xian Shang was reading a statement of surrender with a pale face.
“…We hereby declare unconditional surrender to Korea. From now on, there will be no more hostile actions, and we promise to entrust all our disposal to Korea.”
China surrendered unconditionally, and Japan had no other way.
Akagi, the minister of administration, looked at the landing force marching to Tokyo and thought it was time to end the war.
“Contact… Korea. Tell them we surrender.”
The Japanese government contacted the United States first, but surprisingly Korea did not accept it.
It was a gesture that they would not allow U.S. intervention.
As a result, an administrative official had to go to the landing force with a white flag and deliver a surrender document.
And in a few hours, a surrender document arrived at the Joint Chiefs of Staff bunker.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff handed over the document and said in an emotional tone.
“Japan has surrendered.”
“That’s good.”
Yu Ji-ha’s expression was grim.
He looked like he had done what he had to do, so the generals who were about to cheer felt awkward.
He briefly read the document and threw it on the table.
“Good. Let’s end it here.”
As soon as the order came down, the Earth Fleet withdrew the Combat Walker units and submerged.
The only thing left was the landing force in Tokyo, but Japan did not dare to touch them.
Rather, they provided them with necessities and places to stay while they were staying there.
Yu Ji-ha held a press conference and declared that the war was over.
He had obtained unconditional surrender from China and Japan in just three weeks.
At least the United States and Russia seemed to have expected this outcome and congratulated him on ending the war, but other countries were different.
Especially Britain and France, who had been at odds with Korea, were shocked.
―How could they subdue both countries in just three weeks? I can’t believe it.
―It was effective to launch a surprise attack and capture their capitals.
―What made it possible was Yu Ji-ha’s strategy. It is hard to say that even America can control him now.
Various reactions came out while a signing ceremony was held between the three countries for official surrender documents.
Yu Ji-ha attended this ceremony himself, and there was a map of East Asia on the wall.
He drew lines on East Asia with a black marker.
The expressions of China and Japan, as well as U.S. officials in attendance hardened.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦