The Anti-Japanese War Begins with the Northeast Army

"Master, Master!"

"The firepower of the Japanese is too strong. Brothers can't stand it!"

Just behind the temporary position set up on the street corner, an officer was yelling into the walkie-talkie.

From the other end of the receiver, there were only bursts of voices mixed with the sound of electricity. However, because they were under fire, the officers could not hear clearly what instructions their superiors were giving.

He didn't know whether his call for help had been responded to... He couldn't even figure out whether the situation on his position had been conveyed.

"This is not good..."

Just as he was secretly saying that something was wrong, the officer suddenly felt something was wrong: the area around the position seemed to suddenly become quiet.

Clearly, half a minute ago, the Japanese were using all kinds of individual weapons to desperately attack their positions. How come they haven't made any progress yet, and now...

"Brothers, retreat, retreat——"

Suddenly realizing what might happen next, the officer only had time to order his brothers to retreat, and everyone heard the strange whistling of artillery shells across the sky...

In the blink of an eye, the shell had landed, and then the entire alley became a blazing hell... The brothers engulfed by the flames were obviously beyond saving, while the officer and several soldiers around him were lifted up by the air wave and flew in the opposite direction of the position...

His body was like a sack filled with cotton, floating lightly over the bombed streets, bungalows and fortifications made of sandbags.

Before he lost consciousness, his blood-filled vision was filled with corpses of civilians:
In front of the position, there was a corpse kneeling on the low wall, with both arms cut off at the shoulders by shrapnel, an unpulled grenade bitten in his teeth, and a half-broken samurai sword stuck in his back.

In the distance, a child with his lower half missing was lying in a pile of corpses, holding tightly in his hand a red-stained drum...

…………

The Marshal's Mansion in the capital.

This year's Spring Festival was dull due to the wars in various places, and the whole of China was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.

A large number of reports of failed battles continued to arrive, and Shanghai almost became a bloody place:
Not only did Japan's naval guns fire, armored vehicles and large numbers of infantry advanced... they also inhumanely sent out bombers.

As these fighter formations flew over the concession, the neon signs on Nanjing Road turned into a rain of fire in the explosion, and glass fragments from the windows of Wing On Department Store swept across the street like knife blades.

A pregnant woman was running away with her two children on her back when a 250-kg aerial bomb exploded behind her. After the smoke cleared, only half of the fetus's torso remained on the charred road surface, with the umbilical cord connected to the mother's shattered uterus, twitching slightly in a pool of blood.

The Japanese Marines rushed into the Zhabei alley and drove more than 30 civilians hiding in the cellar to the patio.

A primary school teacher surnamed Wang had his eyes gouged out for glaring at the Japanese soldiers. The Japanese soldiers used a bayonet to pick out his tongue and nailed it to the door panel, then poured kerosene on it and set it on fire. The charred human figure twisted and rolled in the fire until the sound of the spine bursting spread throughout the lane...

Things like this happen almost every day in this international concession.

"Shanghai is a place where every inch of land is worth a lot of money, and Zhabei is a densely populated area—"

Jiang Cheng's brows were almost completely twisted together: it was said that in Zhabei alone, tens of thousands of mutilated corpses were cleared out, and the broken limbs floating on the Suzhou River had to be salvaged with fishing nets.

Even in such a fierce battle, the 19th Route Army stationed in Shanghai did not retreat, proving with their flesh and blood that in the face of invaders armed to the teeth, the backbone of China would rather break than bend. However, in the face of the gap in weapons and in a place without defense, there was no possibility of winning.

Moreover, the Huangpu River is a shipping route, and the Japanese ships can advance straight into Shanghai after conquering Zhoushan - the triangular area of ​​Shanghai is almost in a situation of closing the door and beating the dog.

But the dog that was beaten this time was...

"Actually, they still refuse to unite. If they continue to fight like this, the Japanese will be able to turn Shanghai over."

With a heavy expression on his face, Jiang Cheng put aside the pile of bloody battle reports and looked at the staff on both sides of the long table.

On the right hand side are his own people, led by his Chief of General Staff Sun Zhengnan; and on the left hand side is Zhang Hanqing's Chief of General Staff Rong Zhen.

"Captain Jiang, Shanghai didn't ask for our help, isn't it because they are worried? As for what they are worried about, everyone knows it, right?"

Rong Zhen's tone was sarcastic, how could Jiang Cheng not understand it?
"Tsk tsk, Commander Rong, among all of us, the ones who are least qualified to laugh at the Shanghai garrison are you and Wang Yizhe, right?"

Before Jiang Cheng could say anything, Zhang Xuecheng, who was sitting next to Sun Zhengnan, sneered and said, "I haven't heard of this long-legged joke fighting a war."

This statement was clearly meant to mock these Northeastern officers for being worse than the police in the city in the face of the sudden attack by the Japanese invaders; they could only refuse to resist.

Rong Zhen's expression changed in an instant, but when facing Zhang Xuecheng, his expression and tone were relatively restrained whether he was speaking or doing things.

After all, he is the nephew of the old marshal, the cousin of the young marshal, the "Second Prince" outside the Great Wall. These officers of the Northeast Army did not dare to act rashly towards him.

But Wang Yizhe was dissatisfied with what he heard, and stared at Zhang Xuecheng and said: "I say, Zhu Qing, we are all in the battle sequence of the Northeast Army. Do you have to mock me, Wang Dingfang, like this?"

Seeing that the two sides were about to draw their swords, Jiang Cheng said calmly: "Instead of arguing, why not think about how to deal with the current situation?"

"Although the South is not our territory, the Japanese army slaughtered people in Shanghai, and all the victims were Chinese people... Whether it is the Northeast Army or the Shanghai garrison, which one is not our own national defense force? All the books I read in the Military Academy were in vain!?"

Having said that, except for Sun Zhengnan, Zhang Xuecheng and his subordinates, no one actually agrees with it.

That's true, but when they were invaded by the Japanese, did anyone in the South care? Not to mention caring... not even a single fair word was said for them. Everyone was playing dumb on the other side of the Yangtze River, clearly thinking that the Japanese would not care about them after swallowing up the Northeast.

"Master Jiang is right. At times like this, we should indeed stand with the South."

Rong Zhen was more flexible than Wang Yizhe. He said to Jiang Cheng with a fake smile, "But I want to remind you, Mr. Jiang, that Ting Shu had reported before that a Japanese submarine had been sunk in the Tumen River area—"

"Assuming the Japanese army suddenly attacks Northeast China, I think... Master Jiang, you have also made a foolproof plan, right?"

You are using this to stop me again.

Just as Jiang Cheng turned his gaze away, Li Shitou trotted in, stopped beside his immediate superior to salute, then bent down and whispered a few words in his ear.

"Really? When did it happen..."

Jiang Cheng turned his head away immediately... and after receiving the other party's affirmative expression, the acting chief stood up and said: "Xi'an, Huaqing Pool - something happened!" (End of this chapter)