Great time travel

Chapter 8. Worlds in Conflict: Brotherhood
China, Wuhan

In the modern history of China, this provincial capital of Hubei, which is known as the "thoroughfare of nine provinces", is an important town in central China, and it has been continuously burned by raging wars.

From the Wuchang Uprising that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, to the repeated vicious battles in the Northern Expedition, to the Battle of Wuhan in the Anti-Japanese War...

Today, although the Japanese invaders have retreated from Wuhan, the anti-Japanese national united front no longer exists.Out of deep-rooted hatred and hostility between each other, as well as irreconcilable class conflicts, the KMT and the Communist Party fought again, and the city was once again involved in the flames of war.

At dusk, standing on the Yellow Crane Tower on the top of Snake Mountain in Wuchang on the south bank of the Yangtze River, looking at the raging fire in Hanyang on the opposite bank, listening to the faint rumble of cannons, the Chief of Staff of the Allied China Theater in casual clothes Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell couldn't help closing his eyes in pain.

His Excellency "Vinegar Joe", who is known for his unruly and arrogant nature, is in an extremely bad mood at this time.

Everything is over, all my work and efforts have failed again.

Frustration, disappointment, pain, powerlessness, all kinds of negative emotions flooded Lieutenant General Stilwell's heart like a tide.

From the outbreak of the Pacific War four years ago to the present, he, who was once proud, has always played the role of the defeated general.For Stilwell, there is nothing more cruel than being a defeated general, but he has been kicked out of the battlefield by fate before the war is over.

Recalling the early days of the war, I led tens of thousands of Chinese expeditionary forces from Yunnan to Burma, how high-spirited I was!Even though the whole army was defeated in the Burmese battlefield and the soldiers were in desperate situation, the tenacious Stilwell did not give up. Instead, he took the last more than 100 people around him, forced to cross the vast mountains and forests, escaped from the siege and interception of the Japanese army, and successfully headed west. Withdrew to India, thinking about when to regroup and make a comeback.

But... hell!Japan, an enemy recognized by the Americans as a clown before the war, was actually so difficult to deal with.

Although the country has been frantically building ships locally regardless of blood, the Pacific Fleet has been broken again and again.The performance of the army was not better than that of the navy. MacArthur retreated from Manila to the Bataan Peninsula, left the army and fled to Australia from the Philippines with a small group of people, and then continued to retreat southward in Australia. Now he has retreated to the last place in Australia Melbourne at the southern end, if you want to continue to retreat, you have to jump into the sea.

So far, almost all the efforts of Western countries to resist Japanese aggression have all failed, and the best situation is just a tie.According to Stilwell, who has been in the East for many years, the root of this problem should be the deep-rooted sense of superiority of white people over people of color.Intellectually, they know that the Japanese are difficult to deal with, but emotionally, they refuse to believe that the yellow-faced Japanese can defeat Western powers.

——Although in the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of the century, these island country dwarfs had already succeeded once.

Therefore, the Japanese samurai used their cruelty, cunning and toughness to teach those racists who insisted on white supremacy a lesson, let them experience enough embarrassment and humiliation, and also combined the majesty of the United States of America with the British Empire. Afterglow, they all stepped under their clogs.

As a professional soldier of the United States of America and on the front line against Japan, Stilwell certainly thought he should do something.

However, he couldn't do anything.

Since the failure of the expedition to Burma and the embarrassment of fleeing to India, he has not had a single soldier in his hands.Although it was difficult to open up the "hump route" from the air over the Himalayas and return to Chongqing, China, the subsequent Japanese navy entered the Indian Ocean in a large scale, and the Indian anti-British uprising that broke out later made Stilwell use India as an example. As a base, the plan to train Chinese soldiers to counterattack Burma was completely declared bankrupt.

——As a typical American who was educated to "hate the British" since he was a child, Stilwell can understand Indians' hatred of the British colonists to a certain extent, but it has to be said that the timing of the outbreak of this hatred is truly amazing. It's embarrassing, and the person who set it off is really bad...

After the Indian subcontinent became a battleground, the Hump route was soon out of cargo and came to a complete standstill.And this was the last line of international communication between China and the outside world during the war.Without it, China's blood vessels will be suffocated, and no bullet or drop of gasoline can be transported to Chongqing...

Well, strictly speaking, there is also an international traffic line connecting the Soviet Union in the north, but that has nothing to do with Stilwell, the American lieutenant general.

Stilwell, who could not get aid materials and lost value, was kicked away by Chairman Jiang and sat on the bench in Chongqing.

Afterwards, as the Japanese army shifted their attack focus to Southeast Asia and Australia, they continued to draw troops from the Chinese battlefield, retreated step by step, and voluntarily gave up the occupied areas of large inland provinces. The attitude is getting more and more negative.

When MacArthur was at a loss on the right and left in the Australian battlefield, Stilwell once relied on President Roosevelt's call to urge Generalissimo Jiang not to be satisfied with accepting the part of the territory that the Japanese voluntarily gave up, but to cooperate with other battlefields to initiate containment Sexual counterattack:
"...with all the horses on the battlefield in Asia at a standstill, if China can seize the opportunity to counterattack bravely and initiate a large-scale attack on the retreating Japanese aggressor army, in order to successfully contain the Japanese army from going south, and even if conditions permit, Recovering our own capital, Nanjing, as soon as possible, will definitely give great encouragement to the anti-fascist people in the world..."

If it was before, Baldy Jiang could still hear a few words when dealing with Stilwell, who had the power to distribute US aid supplies.However, after the U.S. aid supplies on the Hump route were cut off, the snobbish Generalissimo Jiang expressed great dissatisfaction and anger towards him, as well as full of complaints:
"...how does China carry out its own anti-aggression war, and what does it have to do with others? So far, the allies have suffered a crushing defeat in the war against Japan! All the battlefields are retreating, and only China is standing strong and regaining a large area of ​​land! Even if the allies fulfill their A little bit of his promise, giving us a little bit of practical support, or cooperating with our country to fight even once, can be regarded as reflecting the value of the alliance! Now even the fuel for the Chennault Flying Tigers composed of Americans cannot be guaranteed! On the contrary, we must Are we going to contain the Japanese army going south? Imperialism and racism have always sacrificed China's interests!"

Although the words were beautiful, Stilwell was speechless for a while.However, the Generalissimo Jiang's approach is really not flattering - he gave all the troops withdrawn from Burma, as well as the last batch of US aid equipment obtained through the Hump route, to Hu Zongnan in Xi'an. They are actively engaged in friction with the Yan'an Eighth Route Army, but they have no interest in fighting the Japanese. They just wait for the allies to defeat Japan, and then go to pick the fruit themselves.

What use are such so-called "allies" who only take things and do nothing to the United States?Does Washington owe you something?

For such a stubborn "peanut", Lieutenant General Stilwell felt extremely frustrated and angry, but he was helpless.

Fortunately, after a period of silence, Stilwell finally found something to do, so he didn’t have to be idle anymore—the US Pacific Fleet, which had repeatedly failed, proposed the idea of ​​“shuttle bombing” in order to save face and take revenge on the enemy. The concept is to let the long-range strategic bombers take off from Midway Island, fly directly to mainland China after bombing Japan, refuel and reload in China, then fly east over Japan to carry out the second bombing, and finally return to Midway Island.In this way, the problem of insufficient range of the aircraft can be avoided, and the Japanese can be hit twice, but for this, it is necessary to find a suitable base along the coast of China.

Therefore, Stilwell, who was too idle in Chongqing, devoted himself to surveying the terrain and investigating the location of the airport with great enthusiasm.

Unfortunately, just at the beginning of this work, the unlucky General Stilwell was hit in the head again-the second civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out!
As we all know, after the so-called "honeymoon period" in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the relationship between Chongqing and Yan'an has long been ostensibly close, and various conflicts and frictions, large and small, have never stopped, such as the most serious "Southern Anhui Incident" .When the Pacific War broke out and the main force of the Japanese army gradually withdrew from the battlefield in China, the Chongqing side was even more passive in resisting the Japanese and actively "suppressing bandits"... However, the Japanese army's strides and active retreat not only allowed Chongqing to take advantage of it, but also allowed the Eighth Route Army to fight against the Japanese. The power of the north expanded rapidly.In addition, with the closure of the Hump route, the government has completely lost the US aid, and is losing blood and weakening day by day, while the "Soviet aid" in Yan'an is still unimpeded. With the ebb and flow, the prospect seems very dire.

Therefore, Jiang in Chongqing saw that the Japanese army in China had temporarily lost its threat, so he prepared to take advantage of his military strength on paper to launch a "preventive war" against Yan'an, and to fight as much as possible. Destroy the opponent's rising momentum and kill it in the bud!
It is a pity that Chairman Jiang obviously seriously overestimated his own strength, but he forgot that his territory is now isolated from the world, the channels for arms imports have been completely cut off, and the national government's own military production is amazing , During the war against Japan, there would be embarrassing incidents where the arsenal went bankrupt... In other words, his army could not support itself with ammunition, and there was nowhere to import it.
Therefore, the actual situation and long-term combat capability of the troops under the Nationalist Government were even worse than before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. Quite a number of miscellaneous troops did not even have enough rifles, and could only fight with spears and machetes.Even for direct line troops, the ammunition reserves are usually only enough to fight one or two battles, and then the supplies will run out.The planes and tanks that were finally preserved had neither gasoline nor spare parts. In fact, they had already been laid down.Therefore, in terms of weapons and equipment, the Chongqing government army actually has no advantage at all compared with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and its morale and fighting spirit are far inferior.

However, the great famine in the Central Plains and the excessive expropriation by Tang Enbo's troops caused the local people to rebel and welcome the Eighth Route Army to liberate.

As a result, in the all-out civil war that lasted for a year, Hu Zongnan's Northwest Corps, Generalissimo Jiang's most loyal descendant, won first and then lost, and was forced to abandon Xi'an and flee to Hanzhong in desperation.The Tang Enbo Corps in the Central Plains was defeated again and again. They hardly made effective resistance and were devastated. They fled from Luoyang, Nanyang, and Xiangyang all the way to Wuhan before they could barely gain a foothold. to twenty thousand.

And when the front line collapsed, Generalissimo Chiang’s backyard also caught fire. Guangxi Guangxi Army and Yunnan Dian Army successively energized to withdraw from the civil war, declaring that they would resist Japan and Chiang Kai-shek... For a while, the Chongqing Nationalist Government was in turmoil, as if it was already besieged on all sides. Sound up.Fortunately, the puppet national government in Nanjing was in chaos after Wang Jingwei's death. Otherwise, even if the Japanese army didn't do anything, those puppet troops would have come to kill the tiger together.

Such a series of earth-shattering blows finally calmed Jiang's "peanut". In order to stabilize his opponent, he played the peace card again and organized representatives of all parties to hold a peaceful armistice meeting in Wuhan.And Lieutenant General Stilwell also participated in this mediation as a representative of the United States, and he sincerely and urgently hoped that the various forces in China could stop the civil war as soon as possible, and make a concerted effort to contain part of the power of the Japanese Empire for the United States as much as possible. In this way, it relieved the pressure on the counter-offensive operations of the U.S. Navy and Army in the Pacific Theater, and also allowed him to get a little credit.

Unexpectedly, with the successive collapse of the fascist regimes in Nazi Germany and Italy, and the fighting between the British and Soviet troops in Western Europe, the anti-fascist alliance was on the verge of breaking down in the spring and summer of this year. At any time, it seems that they may turn against each other at any time.

In order to hold back the hands and feet of the Americans, the Kremlin needs to find a way to temporarily decompress Japan so that the Americans can shed more blood in the Pacific Ocean.Therefore, in April, a special envoy was sent to visit Yan'an, China, instructing Yan'an to never compromise with the "class enemy" under the current favorable situation, but to seize state power first, and then try to counter Japanese aggression, just like the Soviet Union in the October Revolution Do the same steps before and after.In exchange, the Soviet Union can provide Yan'an with a large amount of arms and material assistance, and it can also improve their status in the Communist International.

As a result, under the soft and hard measures of the Soviet Union, the new round of KMT-CPC armistice negotiations finally failed, and the Wuhan peace talks were completely aborted.In August, Yan’an resumed the title of Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, and launched a full-scale offensive against the Nationalist Government again. On the western front, 20 Red Army troops crossed the Qinling Mountains, defeated Hu Zongnan again, and won the Battle of Hanzhong. Red Army guerrillas have appeared in the Sichuan Basin; On the Eastern Front, one hundred thousand Red Army rushed down the Dabie Mountains, easily defeating the frightened Tang Enbo Corps. At present, the vanguard has just entered Hanyang, and fierce street fighting is in progress...

——The U.S. failed to mediate, the civil war resumed, and the Japanese army had nothing to worry about in the rear. For a while, Lieutenant General Stilwell felt that all hope was lost.

The Pentagon and the White House are still sending out instructions, ordering Lieutenant General Stilwell to try to help China's legitimate government resist the "rebels" and never allow the Chinese Bolsheviks to overthrow the Chongqing regime.However, now that all international lines of communication have been cut off, he has absolutely no way of getting a bullet, a barrel of gasoline, or an American soldier to the Generalissimo Chiang in Chongqing... except to use these telegrams as table-legs , what else can he do?
Looking back, I found that in this largest human war in history, the role I played was not only a loser, but also a loser...

What's even more frightening is that, according to gossip, the desperate Generalissimo Jiang seems to have plans to seek refuge in Japan in order to survive... If it comes true, he, the American lieutenant general, may have to fight for the future. Go to the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp for a walk...

Looking across the Yangtze River at the city of Hanyang under heavy artillery fire in the twilight, Lieutenant General Stilwell couldn't help but become more and more dejected.

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Shanghai, China

In modern history, the most flashy city in China in the first half of the [-]th century was called "Oriental Paris" or "Adventurer's Paradise" by Westerners. Its unique oriental heritage is mixed with imported Western temperament. , Attracting countless people to be fascinated and flock to it.

As soon as it is mentioned, it will remind people of majestic high-rise buildings and gorgeous Western-style buildings; streets piled up with plane trees, rickshaws shuttling in the streets and alleys; women's low hair and long cheongsam; Advertising pictorials; the luxurious Paramount and the big world, echoing the tired and beautiful singing of the dancers... Shanghai in this era is the most fashionable place in China and an important window for China's foreign exchanges.Western medicine, automobiles, electrical appliances, hardware and other foreign industrial products, as well as all kinds of foreign visitors, all poured into the inland from Shanghai, and agricultural products such as tea, silk, and minerals were exported from the inland to foreign countries along the Yangtze River. , Railway all the way to Shanghai, and then shipped from here to the rest of the world.

However, in [-], Shanghai Bund lost its glamorous splendor in the flames of war, and became withered and dull.Even the flamboyant world of Shiliyangchang is no longer the extravagant atmosphere of feasting, singing and dancing in the past.

——With the full-scale outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, especially after the Pacific War, the Japanese army forcibly took over the entire Shanghai Concession, which completely cut off this modern metropolis from the capitalist world market. cut off.Since then, no foreign oil, foreign noodles, and various foreign goods have been shipped from the distant western world, and Shanghai's position as a trade and financial center has quickly come to a halt.And the only Japanese empire that can maintain a "trade" relationship with Shanghai, the consistent attitude towards the Chinese people is to squeeze and plunder.

As a result, in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation period, all horses were silent, and all industries were in depression.Large and small factories went bankrupt one after another, and foreign trade companies closed down one after another.Most daily necessities such as cigarettes, sugar, oil, briquettes, and soap have been rationed, and the portion is very small and the quality is also very poor.White rice, a staple food, has almost disappeared from the market, or is only available to Japanese people.Citizens can only satisfy their hunger with cornmeal, potatoes, and yams.The "affordable grain" that the Wang puppet government occasionally rationed was brown rice and broken rice at first, but by four or five years, most of it had become ground from bean cake residue mixed with sand, spoiled military horse feed, and rotten miscellaneous grains. Mixed noodles are not only difficult to swallow, but also have the danger of poisoning after eating.

If anyone really lives according to the food rations rationed by the Japanese and puppet colonial authorities, then it can be concluded that there is no difference from slow suicide.

All of a sudden, the peddlers selling cigarettes and pear syrup disappeared from the streets, and there were few goods in the shops. The blond-haired and blue-eyed foreigners were imprisoned in concentration camps for aliens from enemy countries.The jingling trams stopped running, and the street lights were no longer on at night... The charm of Shanghai, the city that never sleeps, suddenly faded most of it.Like a haggard, poor and sickly beauty, tormented by a rough fate for a long time, she no longer has the peerless beauty of the past.

But even so, when the merchant ship carrying the Fourth Osaka Division of the Japanese Army sailed slowly into the Huangpu River and docked at the Pier [-] Pier, these Japanese soldiers who were darkened by the tropical sun still looked at it curiously. The high-rise buildings on the Bund let out bursts of excited cheers.

Although Shanghai is no longer prosperous at this time, for these soldiers in Osaka, at least it is much better than that ghost place on Ceylon Island-I have to admit that although the navy’s curry rice is really delicious , but the origin of curry is not very suitable for the Japanese to survive.After being stationed in Ceylon Island for several years, all the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division exude the smell of curry and always complain that Indian rice tastes unappetizing. Many people also suffer from dengue fever, malaria, itchy skin and other tropical diseases. The troubles of epidemic diseases... really miserable.

Relatively speaking, the water and soil in Shanghai are much similar to their hometown in Japan, which gave them a comfortable feeling of returning home.

Accompanied by the whistling whistle, the ship docked at the pier, and groups of soldiers from the Fourth Division boarded the shore on the springboard, stretched their legs and feet a little, and then devoted themselves to the unloading work in full swing—— Dried coconuts and coconut oil from Nanyang, black tea from Ceylon, curry spices from India, and rice from Thailand... These are all private goods that the Fourth Division tried their best to collect along the way. Take advantage of this opportunity to change defenses in Shanghai, sell them at high prices in the Shanghai market, and make a fortune!Because I am worried that the coolies at the pier will hide it privately, I would rather work hard to unload the cargo by myself...

——The most unusual "Trader Division" in the Imperial Japanese Army's sequence, its reputation in business is indeed well-deserved.

At the same time, teams of yellow, emaciated, and ragged Chinese laborers were also called to the pier, waiting to board the ship and go to sea.At this moment, I am drooling, looking enviously at these well-nourished Japanese soldiers with black and red faces, and all kinds of good things they brought out from the cabin... It seems that the Nanyang place we are going to this time is really rich, Even if the good things have to be given to the Japanese prince first, he should be able to make a full stomach anyway, right?

And in an office next to the pier, Zhou Fohai, the mayor of Shanghai appointed by Wang Jingwei's Nanjing puppet government, was entertaining Mr. Nakanishi Gong who came to handle labor transfer matters with a smile on his face.I saw that he first complimented Mr. Zhong Xigong for his youth and promise, and then complained about the hard work of recruiting these laborers from the nearby countryside, and the current livelihood difficulties of the Shanghai Municipal Government—even Wang The civil servants of the pseudo-government only have a ration of [-] grams of brown rice per day, plus half a bag of flour per month. Not to mention being pampered, it is difficult to even eat enough.

So, for the sake of us working so hard this time, can the Japanese Taijun leak more benefits from his fingers?
But on the other side, Zhong Xigong secretly looked at the mayor of Shanghai and one of the founders of the Chinese Bolsheviks with a rather playful look... Obviously, the guy opposite Zhou Fohai didn't know himself Otherwise, this scene is really weird enough.

One is a Japanese military officer who became an official member of the Chinese Communist Party, and the other is the founder of the Communist Party of China who defected to the Japanese Empire.

To be honest, ever since he came into contact with red ideas in Dongya Tongwen Academy in Shanghai and secretly joined the party more than ten years ago, Gong Xigong never imagined that he would actually use such a strange way of thinking in such a delicate situation. Even though he is a founder who has completely degenerated and betrayed the idea of ​​​​founding the party...Of course, as an underground worker who has been lurking in the heart of the enemy for many years, Zhongxi Gong will not because of This little entanglement, and making any inappropriate actions, is suspicious.

Mr. Nakanishi smiled and praised the hard work of Mayor Zhou Fohai and all the staff of the Shanghai Municipal Government, and praised them for their great contributions to the "Great East Asia Jihad" cause of Japan's allies and the emperor, and then agreed to allocate a small amount to the Shanghai Municipal Government. A batch of sugar and rice from Nanyang, and finally let the entourage send a bundle of naval military tickets printed with pictures of various Yamato-class battleships, which immediately made Mayor Zhou Fohai and his entourage smile with satisfaction.

——Although it is also a military ticket, the military ticket of the Japanese Army has basically been reduced to waste paper at the moment, while the military ticket of the Navy is relatively strong. You can find a way to buy some Nanyang or Australian specialties from the special store of the Navy. , and industrial products imported from the USSR...

And seeing them so satisfied and flattering him in every possible way, Zhongxi Gong couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart.

In the eyes of those who don’t know the inside story, the current situation of the Japanese empire seems to be quite good-good news is coming frequently, the country’s fortune is prosperous, the Yamato nation roars proudly to the world, and the famous generals of various empires shine through history... But in fact, Japan’s national strength It has been seriously overdrawn, the people's life is becoming more and more difficult, the war weariness is increasing, and the general fighting spirit is declining.It's just that it is difficult to reach a compromise on the outside, and the military department on the inside is stubborn, so they have to bite the bullet and fight on.

According to the directive spirit of the Communist International, today's Japanese Empire is like the German Empire at the end of the last World War. Although it is arrogant, it is actually a doomed defeat, and it is not the real enemy of the proletarian revolutionaries.And the United States, which is blessed by the two oceans, the base camp of capitalism, is the ultimate enemy that hinders the cause of the Communist International to liberate all mankind!Therefore, in order for the red flags to be planted all over the world, it is necessary for the Bolsheviks all over the world to use and strengthen the power of the Japanese Empire, hold back the hands and feet of the Americans on the Pacific battlefield, and let them bleed as hard as possible.Only in this way can we buy time for the global proletarian revolutionary organization and make the Americans unable to interfere in the real world revolution in the future...

And Zhongxigong also understands and agrees with this point. Thinking of this, he couldn't help turning his head and looking at the southeast sky... When he set off, the Nanyang front had already had information about the change of the US fleet, and when he arrived Now, maybe the third Nouméa naval battle has already started?
This time the U.S. fleet should be larger than last time. I wonder if Marshal Yamamoto 56 can make another success?

However, he forgot that even a dog would know to take a detour after being beaten several times in the same place, let alone a human?
So, will the Americans really follow the old path and crash into the iron wall that the United Fleet has been preparing for a long time?