@Nathan Madien & TemplarComander: Sgt. Schultz is correct, those smoke clouds are from the smoke countermeasures being fired by the Korean K1 main battle tank in the photo.
@Razgriz 2K9: Well, China is not going to be wiped off the map or anything like that, but the Chinese are going to exit this war with a lot of their country no longer in their control. Whats left of China meanwhile is not going to be very well off either, and will no doubt be racked with intense domestic dissent and political upheaval.
@History_Buff: Well, it would be rather easy to take a lot of my battle hardened forces from China and send them back to Southeastern Asia to crack some skulls, but instead I will not do so. I have some ideas to make southeast Asia more interesting post war, rather than just a big Thailand blob.
@MarkusH: Maybe later, but not now. I couldn't spare the forces for a massive campaign in Siberia, but perhaps in the future Japan will have the forces needed to launch such a campaign.
@Everyone else: thanks for the comments!
Japanese forces smash all opposition in their path as they march on Chongqing. One of the larger battles on the way to the city takes place in the north, where Japanese forces crush Chinese-Russian forces that could threaten the northern flank of the advance.
Finally, Japanese troops have reached the gates of the city of Chongqing. The Chinese call on all remaining reserves in the region to defend the city, knowing that a Japanese attack is imminent. Very quickly, Japanese forces organize and attack. Japanese generals hurl everything they have into the attack on the city, wanting to quickly overcome the Chinese defenses with overwhelming force. Japanese tanks and infantry fight their way together into the city streets, while Japanese helicopters drop infantry and special forces from the air into many locations across Chongqing. Chinese forces are everywhere in the city and fight ferociously to hold their ground, resulting in very heavy fighting with lots of casualties on both sides.
After several days of intense fighting, the Chinese defenses finally collapse. Japanese forces successfully capture all of their objectives as the remnants of the Chinese troops in the city flee towards the western mountains. The battle is won and the Rising Sun flag flies high and proud over Chongqing.
Whats left of China's political and military leadership flees to a bunker complex in Sichuan, to discuss their options. With Japanese armies unstoppable, China's leaders have been forced to accept the fact that they cannot win this war by conventional means. Japanese successes have brought China to its knees. The PLA is falling apart, and mass anti-war demonstrations are raging throughout parts of the country that are still under government control.
Faced with the bitter reality, Chinese leaders realize they only have one option left to salvage any kind of victory. That option being the nuclear one. Although China's nuclear weapons capabilities have been badly diminished due to the Japanese invasion, with many missile battalions being destroyed and many airbases being captured, China still has enough nukes left to cause extensive damage to Japan and its military forces in the field. Chinese leaders, gambling that the United States will not risk all out nuclear Armageddon just to save Japan, begin to prepare their remaining stockpiles of land based nuclear missiles for launch. Besides, Japan does not have its own arsenal of nuclear weapons, something that all of Japan's allies believe as well.....
However, they are all very wrong. When Japan had developed its own nuclear weapons arsenal, Japan took great pains to make sure that word or indeed superstition of its existence would not leak out. Thanks to highly vigilant work by Japan's intelligence and security services, Japan was successful in this endeavour, only a small number of trusted and fiercely loyal people in the entire country even know of the existence of Japan's nuclear weapon's arsenal. Now, with word arriving to Japanese leaders that China is preparing for a nuclear weapons launch, the time has come to end the veil of secrecy in the most dramatic way: a nuclear weapon surface detonation test. By making such a show of Japan's capabilities, it is hoped that Japan will be able to force its enemies to sue for peace.
A ballistic missile, loaded with a nuclear warhead, is prepared for launch at a remote military installation located on Hokkaido island. After confirmation from the highest levels of the Japanese government, including from Emperor Yoshiro, the missile is launched towards the remote waters east of the Kuril islands. Satellites and aircraft track the missile to its detonation point, before finally, live on Japanese and international television, the warhead detonates. Now, the entire world finally knows that Japan is a nuclear power.
Chinese leaders witness the event unfold in their hidden command bunker in Sichuan province. All eyes are glued in horror to their video screens, as they watch the mushroom cloud rise into the air. China has lost the only edge it had over Japan at this point in the war. Japan has proven that it not only has a nuclear weapons arsenal, but that it has the capability to use it. As the clock ticks towards possible armageddon, Japan sends an offer of ceasefire to the Chinese and their SCO allies, through a Swiss diplomatic envoy. With all hope for victory gone, China's leadership accepts the Japanese ceasefire agreement. Japan has won.