Chapter 62 "Brother" First Encounter
The great war of the fleet, the igniter was unexpectedly not Tan Xiao's arrangement, but a Japanese!
After the gun battle in Nanshi, the Allied forces quickly dispatched reinforcements from the International Settlement and French Concession to surround the Japanese naval landing party. As a result, more and more warships appeared on the river surface. These warships even jostled for position on the river to gain a more advantageous position to support the army.
These incoming warships were not large in tonnage, and their armor was not very thick. The distance between the two sides had reached a point where even a three-inch cannon could penetrate the main armor of the opponent at this distance. In this situation, the naval guns pointed at each other horizontally, making everyone extremely tense! Because the Japanese command center was close to the riverbank, every time the Allied fleet passed by, the gunners would intentionally or unintentionally set their shooting coordinates for it. Over the years, they had become very familiar with its striking coordinates; A British old-style light cruiser with a larger tonnage and equipped with eight-inch guns probably felt that dealing with the small guys on the river was a bit of an overkill, so it set the shooting coordinates of its eight-inch main gun to the Japanese command center!
The Japanese troops on the shore had no heavy weapons and were at a disadvantage, already surrounded. Should they be supported? This was the dilemma of many Japanese naval personnel on board their ships; similarly, the Allied fleet was also hesitant: if the Japanese ships fired on the Allied forces on the shore, should they return fire?
Just as everyone was equally tense and even mentally suppressed to the extreme, the Japanese troops on the shore did something: a low-ranking commander, who didn't know whether he really wanted to call for artillery support or just show off, actually used smoke bombs to indicate the direction of the artillery fire towards the Allied army's position! He was afraid that the ships couldn't see clearly, so he concentrated several mortars and fired a salvo!
As everyone was neighbors in Shanghai for many years, the Allied forces were also clear about the instructions and signals of the Japanese army. A young captain on a US light cruiser had probably been unable to bear this suffocating tension. When he saw the cannon firing instruction signal sent by the Japanese army, he gave the order decisively: Fire!
In an instant, a Japanese destroyer less than 100 meters away from that light cruiser was blown up by a full salvo of American naval gunfire that set a new record!
This is getting out of hand! All the tense nerves on the river suddenly turned into springs that were compressed and then released: "Fire!" "Salvo!"...... The captains of each ship gave orders one after another! All the naval guns suddenly roared to life, and shells flew back and forth across the Huangpu River, it was too wild! On the Pudong side of the riverbank, many peasants had gathered early on to point and watch at so many warships and cannons pointing at each other. Now they all cheered with gestures! It just so happened that because the two sides were too close this time, almost all the salvoes reached their targets, not a single shell hit the shore!
The British Navy, those daring John Bulls who chased German battleships with cruisers, had a very glorious and brave tradition: in order to quickly replenish ammunition, they liked to fill the transportation channels of the gun towers with a lot of ammunition! Their excellent naval students, the Japanese who were known for not being afraid of death, also inherited this glorious tradition! After this round of crazy salvoes, the consequence of this fine tradition was that large numbers of British and Japanese warship ammunition depots were rapidly detonated!
"Boom!" A warship was blown up by the exploding ammunition, shooting high into the air before crashing heavily into the river water. "Boom!" Another warship disintegrated on the spot. "Boom!" Yet another one broke in half... No matter how many naval battles the old generals had fought, they had never seen so many warships sink in such a short time, at such close intervals!
What a magnificent sight! The endless river surface was dyed red by the raging fire, thick smoke billowed into the sky, and water columns rose from the explosions, while the mist was even illuminated with a rainbow by the flames! The hurricane-force gusts triggered by the blasts even knocked over several Chinese peasants watching from Pudong! However, those peasants were not scared away; they crouched under the embankment, poking their heads out to witness this unprecedented naval battle in human history!
On the embankment 500 meters away from this group of farmers, there were a few "special" farmers: they were scouts under Wang Hongbiao, originally intended to investigate and inform Wang Hongbiao's troops to disguise themselves as Japanese soldiers and cause trouble at any time. Now they felt it was unnecessary, chaotic enough!
Less than ten minutes later, nearly fifty warships from both sides were left with only four American ships and one each from France and Britain! The rest were either sunk or barely afloat with just their smokestacks visible above the water. The four American ships owed their survival to standard operating procedure, while the French ship was extremely lucky - not a single Japanese ship had fired on it! The British warship had only been hit by two stray shells. After regaining their composure, these warships found an outlet for their anger: they all adjusted their firing coordinates to target the Japanese command center!
The combatants on the shore were also completely stunned by this brief and intense naval battle! They stared at the various floating objects and corpses that filled the river, unsure of what to do! However, the resumption of firing from the warships called them back to their senses: they too were in the battlefield!
Soon, the Allied warships discovered the exchange of fire on the shore. Two warships were detached to shell the Japanese troops on the shore, while the other four with larger caliber guns sailed north along the river, heading straight for the Japanese command headquarters!
The Japanese army, which was already being suppressed by the Allied forces, collapsed and raised a white flag after being swept away by machine guns from two warships. The Allied soldiers, who had been killing for so long that they had lost all sense of reason, rushed forward and started slaughtering without any regard for international conventions! Any soldier would be stimulated to the most primitive killing instinct after witnessing the scene on the riverbank just now!
Some quick-reacting Japanese troops rushed into the exchange and in desperation started slaughtering those merchants still trapped inside!
Kill! Kill! Kill!...... The entire southern city's Fung's Wharf and Wang's Wharf had become a slaughterhouse! Half an hour later, there wasn't a single living Japanese person left, nearly two hundred trapped merchants and exchange staff were also killed, one quarter of them!
"Advance in the direction of the cannon fire!" Cadet Noven's order was given, and this group of bloodthirsty Allied troops, who had not yet formed a line, began to march north, their footprints staining a long stretch of road crimson with the sticky blood.
Shanghai police were nervously directing cleaning workers to clean up the bloodstains on the ground, while ambulances from various hospitals, churches and other volunteers gathered in Nanshi; amidst the hustle and bustle, two young men in suits calmly disappeared into the crowd without a sound. History would not remember them, only the secret files of the Wild One Military Special Forces would record: Zheng Xiaosheng and Ma Gang fired the first shot on June 3rd, 1935, in Nanshi, Shanghai...
The situation is completely out of control! After receiving the news of the bloody battle on the Huangpu River, both the Gongbuju and the Gondangju were frightened! Japan is too close to Shanghai, what if they really launch a large-scale invasion like 1.2.8? Surrender unconditionally? Absolutely impossible! The only option is to fight! Therefore, all countries are hastily sending back their latest reports to their home countries and requesting reinforcements for Shanghai!
Reinforcements! Japan is shaken! The troops of the great powers have surrounded and launched a comprehensive attack on the Japanese army for the sake of Chinese people's transactions, annihilating an entire Japanese marine brigade! Sinking 22 Japanese warships!! Bombarding the Japanese command center, killing Admiral Hasegawa Kiyoshi, commander of the Third Fleet and Shanghai Garrison, as well as Prince Yasuhito Chichibu!!!
The Japanese command was hit by the first shell, and everyone rushed to lie down on the ground, but there was no second round of shelling; after waiting patiently for more than ten minutes, they all thought it was a stray bullet, and while sending a telegram to the fleet to ask about the situation, they arranged for Prince Gong to go to a safer place when suddenly the second round of shells came; not one, but dozens!
The first salvo of the six warships directly destroyed the Japanese command headquarters! All personnel in the command center, including Hasegawa Kiyoshi and Prince Yi Wang, were killed in this round of shelling.
Disasters always come one after another, the Allied fleet approached and fired, those large-caliber naval guns almost flattened the entire Japanese military command and buildings within two kilometers! The barracks, living quarters, training grounds, family quarters, hospitals... the entire Japanese command system was destroyed in an instant, the core of the concession has now become a hell on earth!
Because the Japanese fleet was annihilated in the engagement, they did not have time to report the heavy warships outside the harbor, while the Allied fleet passed on the message - this directly led to another great victory for the Allies in the gun battle of the heavy warships in the outer harbor!
The cunning British naval commander realized that the Japanese were not aware of the fleet's situation in the river, so they continued to confront each other unfriendly while sending submarines to approach, and finally under their initiative, they sank all four old-fashioned cruisers with large tonnage of the Japanese!
What is happening in Shanghai now is no longer a conflict, it's war!
Westerners have always had a sense of superiority in the Far East, and they are extremely dissatisfied with the increasingly overbearing Japanese in Shanghai. However, due to mutual constraints, various countries have never put too much pressure on Japan. This time, they were unexpectedly united by sudden events, and now that they have won all battles, they began to attack the Japanese Concession! On one hand, their sense of superiority is at play; on the other hand, they are also aware that if the Japanese military increases its troops in Shanghai, the Japanese military in the concession will become a hidden danger, and they are determined to eliminate this hidden danger.
There are now less than 4,000 Japanese troops in the concession, and more than 5,000 Japanese residents in the concession have been temporarily recruited to join the army, which is not at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. As the Allied forces' offensive began, the brutal battle for the defense of the concession unfolded.
It is very similar to the Battle of Shanghai in the original timeline, where more than half of one side's troops had not received regular training and were also bombarded by the other side's naval heavy artillery; only this time it was the Japanese!
The battle began at night, with the Japanese fighting fiercely, using various buildings to fight house-to-house against the Allies, and often having exhausted soldiers launch suicidal attacks on the Allies with their last hand grenades. One night, the Allies launched twelve assaults, losing over a thousand men, but only managed to take out the outermost positions!
The sky had already brightened, and in the rear of the Allied forces, Zhang Xiang's special warfare team, who had changed out of their Japanese military uniforms and had circled around the concession from the northwest before the battle began, were seriously observing the actual combat with artillery observation mirrors from a distance.
"How stupid! These British and American guys are all idiots! Haven't they ever trained for urban warfare?! Zhang Xiang had been watching for a whole night, he really couldn't understand why the coalition forces didn't use even a little bit of basic tactics like breaching and infiltration breakthroughs that were so suitable for this kind of battle situation!"
"Really! They can still surround and attack the Japanese like this, I think these Japanese are nothing special! How did they even occupy the Northeast?!" Many people couldn't understand, these elite soldiers of the Wild One Army who had been indoctrinated with super modern tactics now looked down on other armies through actual combat observation.
Soldiers are talking about battles, while businessmen have already started discussing business. The merchants of the great powers are now holding a meeting, demanding that the exchange resume trading!
The powers, or can be interpreted as the strong thieves! They unanimously passed a request for the exchange administrators to start trading in that bloody place today, and continue based on yesterday's limit-down board.
"I think it's inappropriate to open the market under the circumstances of war!" Yu Kaiqing was very clear, if they started trading like this, what about after the war? Would the Japanese push their losses onto the Chinese people?
Yu Zhiying's worried concern is exactly what Shao Xun hopes for. He now hopes to start trading immediately and make peace with the Japanese on the condition that they drop their claims against China. Because yesterday the Allied forces failed to occupy the Japanese concession, and the Japanese will definitely send more troops to Shanghai; his assets are almost all in Shanghai! Just like at first he was strongly advocating for war, now he has become a pacifist; of course, there is also a desire for revenge against Tan Xiao.
"I absolutely will not agree to open the market!" Yu Qiaqing finally lost his temper: "If you must open, then it's not a transaction record recognized by the two major exchanges in Shanghai! ...Unless we receive instructions from the Nanjing government, we cannot resume trading under wartime conditions!"
Ku Meng-yu and Jung Tsung-ching also strongly opposed, which made Sassoon extremely angry but powerless! Although the Bank of China and HSBC have settlement rights now, the trading order and standards are still set by Chinese people. Without the nod of the major shareholders and managers of these exchanges, they would be helpless. These national capitalists firmly resisted the pressure from the powers at a critical moment for the benefit of the nation!
"Maybe Miss Rong can persuade those old guys!" After Sha Xun hit a wall with Yu Qiaojin and others, he wanted to find Rong Hui to smooth things over. After all, Rong Hui is Chinese, and she has a certain relationship with Yu Qiaojin. More importantly, she has Tan Xiao behind her, and Tan Xiao is someone who can influence the Nanjing government's decision-making!
"I'll try, but you know how stubborn old people can be... I'm not sure..." Rong Hui wasn't the kind of person who would easily push someone away; besides, she had just received a telegram from Tan Xiao and was going to meet Yu Kuaiqing.
Rong Hui met Lao Gan in Yu Kui's home, where there were only Chinese people. Gu Xuan and Rong Zongjing were also present.
After listening to the three people express their concerns, Rong Hui couldn't help but think: If they have this country in their hearts, why not him? These businessmen who are usually considered to be full of greed, the reason for not opening the market is actually because of this!
"The three of you have made a truly admirable decision! I, a humble woman, will convey your thoughts to the central government. If necessary, the central government can announce a temporary takeover of the exchange... Let's make it so that those foreign devils and evil merchants won't be able to find anyone to exert pressure on!" If Shasong were to hear Ronghui's words, he might just get heart disease from anger - Ronghui must have come here as a mediator!
The three of them were shocked and delighted after hearing this. They knew that Rong Hui was a very mysterious figure, and that she and Song Ailing were the masterminds behind China's side in this financial war. But they had not expected her to have such direct influence over the central government, and it even seemed as though she could decide on certain strategies for them!
After discussion, they decided to send Gu Xianyi and Rong Zongjing to Nanjing by train on the same day to ask for instructions, while Rong Hui would represent the foreign businessmen including Sha Shenyi to "petition" Chiang Kai-shek. Yu Qiaqing stayed in Shanghai as a "hostage", which was a trick to fool the foreign businessmen, leaving behind the respected Yu Qiaqing on the surface, but actually the two masters of the two exchanges had left, let's see who you can coerce!
After lunch, the three of them took a train to Nanjing. Coincidentally, Soong Mei-ling, the wife of Kong Xiangxi, was also on the same train! It's amazing how things work out - Tan Xiao and his arch-nemesis Kong Xiangxi had just fought side by side in Lingling, while their wives were traveling together on this end.
Tan Xiang's telegram to Rong Hui was to ask her to find a way to keep the powers and Japan in Shanghai in a state of balanced confrontation for as long as possible.
It's time to solve the problem of Guangdong and Guangxi ahead of schedule! Tan Xiao looked at the current German military aid and various industrial equipment, which are no longer coming one by one but are now pouring in continuously. Now we need a southern port for import and export urgently!
To deal with the warlords of Guangdong and Guangxi, military strength is already sufficient. Now another secret weapon - the original video recording and signed documents of the meeting between Yayama Kazuya and Chen Jitang, Liu Shiyong have been retrieved! The 14 nails sent back by ourselves have also set off; in addition, the troops wearing Eastern spectacles snake guard team from Qinzhou Bay work team have also arrived; more importantly, Chen Chong has already won over the internal response within the Guangdong Army Air Force! It's time to take action.
He thought for a moment and decided to go find Goodrian, because this time's Ping Liang Guang plan needed many tanks. Now he had only a few dozen on hand, and the only other usable ones were those German training tanks of Goodrian's.
Today's German delegation seems a bit strange, with many more sentries than usual. Didn't Rommel leave? Did Guderian turn his tank troops into guards or did he mobilize those officers who arrived one after another? But is it necessary to have such tight defense at the First Army's headquarters in the wilderness?
Tan Xiao arrived at the gate, very unexpectedly, someone asked! Fortunately, the original sentry came over immediately, he said a few words to the unfamiliar German face, and let him pass.
Just arrived at Goodrian's office, Goodrian had already warmly welcomed him out. Behind him, a German lieutenant with a small mustache appeared in the doorway, his eagle-like eyes sizing up Tan Xiao.
In an instant, Tan Xiao regained his "Oriental Hitler" tone: "My brother, you know I've been very busy lately! ...... But do you know what I'm busy with? I'm busy kicking the British in the butt! ...... You can't guess, right? Shanghai! I'm talking about Shanghai! Everything that happened there was directed by me! ...... Yes, now the Japanese are going to return to the Pacific soon!"
"What!" Goodrian knew that Shanghai was in chaos now, and he also knew that Tan Xiao had a hand in it, but he really didn't know that the entire plan was designed by Tan Xiao, let alone that the spark that set it off was also courtesy of the Brandon Training Camp.
Due to the presence of this little mustache, Tan Xiao changed his mind. He didn't go to discuss tanks with Goodrian, but instead continued to introduce Shanghai's situation in a Hitler-esque fervor, exaggerating how much hatred this would bring between Japan, Britain, France, and America. Then he shifted his tone to the Jews.
"Brother, you know that our country lacks knowledgeable workers, which will greatly slow down our construction speed. I just thought of a solution!" Tan smiled kindly at the not very talkative colonel: "In Germany, there is such a group of people, they are lazy and do not engage in production, but they cunningly take away the labor fruits of hardworking Aryans! ... Hehe, you guessed it! That's right! I'm talking about Jews!"
Tan Xiao slammed his fist and said: "Why don't you strip them naked, leave only their underwear, and throw them to China to be laborers?... Right! I think that's what should be done to those parasites! You can first deprive them of their citizenship, build a batch of concentration camps and lock them up! You know, this will make the Jewish devils feel terrified, they will want to leave......" Tan Xiao found that his audience's eyes were shining with excitement, he continued: "But you can think of it, no country would accept so many refugees, enough to form a nation of refugees!... However, China can!"
Tan Xiao put on a cold and ruthless expression: "When they are afraid, you can reveal some information to them, let them hand over a large sum of money, and in exchange for a ticket to come to China. Finally, strip them naked and throw them onto the ship! ... In this way, Germany's soil will no longer have to provide food for those parasites, and China will have a large group of educated slaves! ... But be sure to strip them clean before throwing them over, I don't want to see those Jewish swindlers here again!"
Tan Xiao's audience was emotionally stirred up, especially that lieutenant colonel!
Although he had introduced himself when they met, Tan Xiao knew his true identity as soon as he saw him: Adolf Hitler!
(The author: Maybe everyone thinks the protagonist is too much against the Jews... actually, if everyone really has a lot of contact with Jews, they will find that there are many despicable places, so I set up the protagonist in this book to use but not worship the Jews... does everyone think that sea battle was excessive? Actually, it's nothing, and later plot will have supplements...)
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