At 10 o'clock in the morning on May 19th, the twenty-seventh year of the Republic of China (1938), General Hata Shunroku, the commander of the Central China Front of the Japanese Army who had just returned to Nanjing from the Xuzhou front, couldn't wait to hold a press conference at the headquarters and told the participating journalists from various countries.
Publicly claiming to have annihilated the main force of the Baoshan Brigade, Yue Weihan only led a small number of remnants to flee into the Weishan Lake area.
As soon as the news came out, the whole world was in an uproar. German journalists who were already obviously leaning towards Japan published articles in newspapers one after another, praising the Japanese army for their unprecedented victory, while the Chinese army suffered a major setback. The situation in China's war of resistance was so worrying. For a time, the whole country and a large number of people
The Chinese and overseas Chinese who do not know the truth are all very anxious.
What makes the Chinese people even more uneasy is that Zhao Xinyi's battlefield diary was suddenly interrupted.
This seems to verify the Japanese clamor from the side. Did something really happen to the Baoshan Brigade?
…
Wuhan camp, Chairman Chiang's official residence.
Chairman Chiang was pacing back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back anxiously.
At this moment, not only the people of the country and the vast number of overseas Chinese are in the dark, but in fact even Chairman Chiang and the senior officials of the National Army do not know what happened in Xuzhou, let alone what the Baoshan Brigade is now.
After breaking through, the Japanese army was basically wiped out as claimed.
Since ten o'clock last night, the radio station of Baoshan Brigade has been silent.
Amidst the rapid footsteps, General He, Chief of General Staff, General Li, Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Theater Region, and General Bai, Deputy Chief of General Staff, filed in. General He, who was at the front, said anxiously: "Commissioned.
, until five minutes ago, the radio station of Baoshan Brigade was always silent and could not be contacted."
Chairman Chiang suddenly turned around and asked Vice President Bai gloomily: "Jiansheng, what do you think?"
Deputy Commander Bai said: "Committee, the situation has become very obvious. Yue Weihan sent several urgent messages requesting to blow up the Yellow River embankment just to confuse the Japanese army and force the main force of the Japanese army to withdraw from Xuzhou in order to leave a gap for the Baoshan Brigade.
That’s all, now it seems that Yue Weihan’s goal has been achieved, and the Baoshan Brigade must have broken out of Xuzhou.”
Chairman Chiang said grimly: "You mean, the news released by the Japanese army is true?"
Deputy Commander Bai shook his head and said: "It is definitely true that the Baoshan Brigade has broken out from Xuzhou. As for whether it is as claimed by the Japanese army, the Baoshan Brigade has been basically wiped out. It is not necessarily true that Yue Weihan only led a small number of remnants to transfer to the Weishan Lake area.
As for the current situation of Baoshan Brigade, we can only wait for Yue Weihan himself to contact us."
Admiral He said with concern: "Commissioner, now the international community has said everything, but I am more worried about the reaction of the people across the country and the vast number of Chinese overseas Chinese after knowing the news. If this matter is not handled well, I am afraid it will
It will greatly dampen the determination and morale of the country's military and civilians to resist the war, and may also jeopardize the entire war situation."
"It's not just that." Chairman Chiang said angrily, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received a diplomatic note from the U.S. Embassy. The economic aid bill to China that was originally scheduled to be discussed this afternoon has been shelved again. This time the Baoshan Brigade ignored the nationality and nationality.
Da Yi, breaking out of Xuzhou without authorization has caused great damage to the entire country and the entire nation's war of resistance, and Yue Weihan must be held responsible for this!"
Admiral Li next to him suddenly curled his lips. As far as he knew, the reason why the Americans shelved the financial aid bill to China was not because of the Baoshan Brigade, but because the Nationalist government had been unable to reach an agreement with the U.S. government on many details.
, To put it bluntly, the U.S. government hopes that the money can be used to buy American goods, while the Nationalist government wants to use the money to buy German goods.
Admiral He said: "Commissioner, do you want to hold a press conference to clarify public opinion? In order to reverse the negative impact?"
"Clarify? How to clarify?" Chairman Chiang said coldly, "We don't know whether the Baoshan Brigade is alive or dead, and we don't know whether Yue Weihan is alive or dead. How do we clarify this matter? How do you clarify it to the people of the country?"
General He's face was full of bitterness. It's really hard to clarify this matter unless the Baoshan Brigade has definite news!
Otherwise, if you had just announced that the Baoshan Brigade had successfully broken through, but suddenly captured Yue Weihan over there, it would have been a huge joke, and the entire National Government would have been disgraced.
General Li suddenly suggested: "Commissioner, I think we might as well publicly admit in major media that the Baoshan Brigade has suffered heavy losses, but the main force still exists and is persisting in guerrilla warfare in Shandong, and calls on the soldiers and civilians in the occupied areas to learn from the Baoshan Brigade and persist in
In the war of resistance, in this case, we may be able to turn passivity into initiative and gain the upper hand!”
Chairman Chiang's expression suddenly changed slightly, and he said to General He: "Respect him, and do as the good neighbor said."
"Yes." General He snapped to attention and said, "I'm going to arrange a press conference right now."
…
That afternoon, General He held a press conference in the press conference hall of the Ministry of Military Affairs.
At the press conference, General He briefly introduced the whole story of the Xuzhou Defense War, and declared that the Baoshan Brigade had successfully completed its mission and had been ordered to break out of the Shandong Mountains. Although it suffered heavy casualties during the breakout,
The main force still exists and is currently persisting in the resistance war in the mountainous areas of southwestern Shandong.
As soon as the news came out, the anxiety in the hearts of people across the country suddenly disappeared.
Although the Japanese side fully hoped that the Baoshan Brigade incident would greatly damage the morale of the Chinese military and civilians, unfortunately it backfired. China responded quickly and used this opportunity to call on the military and civilians in the occupied areas to learn from the Baoshan Brigade and rise up to fight against the invaders behind enemy lines. Japan
It can be said that the invaders stole the chicken but lost a handful of rice.
…
Weishan Lakeside, Qingshanquan Town.
At this time, Yue Weihan did not know that the Baoshan Brigade's breakout had had a great impact on the entire Anti-Japanese War situation. The Chinese and Japanese governments even started a propaganda war because of it. The Nationalist Government, which had always paid little attention to propaganda, did so for the first time.
All media resources were used, and in the end, the Japanese government was slightly better in this propaganda war.
At this time, Yue Weihan was running to escape from the Japanese encirclement.
Qingshanquan is a little-known town in southwest Shandong. Before the Tianjin-Puzhou Railway was completed and opened to traffic, it was just a small village with three or five households. After the Jin-Puzhou Railway was opened to traffic, it gradually became a small town due to its proximity to Xuzhou.
The distribution centers for goods from the north and the south gradually became lively.
Yue Weihan brought Zhao Youting, Chu Zhongtian and Liu Tiezhu, and the four of them dressed up as Qing Gang disciples and entered Qingshan Town. The puppet soldiers at the town's checkpoint stopped them and wanted to ask for tolls, but Zhao Youting slapped them twice without explanation.
After another slanderous talk in the corridor, the puppet squad leader was so frightened that he peed his pants and immediately let him go.
After Yue Weihan and his four people had walked far away, the puppet soldier carrying old sleeves beside him asked in a low voice: "Squad leader, who are these people? They are so brutal!"
"They are members of the Anqing Daoyi Association." the puppet squad leader said solemnly.
"Anqing Daoyihui?" The puppet soldiers suddenly fell silent.
On the ground in Shandong, no matter how little-informed the peasants are, they have definitely heard of the recently established Anqing Daoist Association. The so-called Anqing Daoist Association is nominally a branch of the Qinggang, but in fact it is a traitor gang organization that assists the Japanese army in governing Shandong. Anqing Daoyihui
Qian Baoxiang, the president of the Qing Daoyi Association, is also the president of Jinan Maintenance Association.
On the street in front, Liu Tiezhu asked Zhao Youting curiously: "Youting, what did you say in such nonsense just now? Look, you scared those two bastards. They almost scared the shit out of you."
"Nothing." Zhao Youting said calmly, "I just said a few jargon to them."
"What is your Qinggang lingo?" Liu Tiezhu exclaimed, "Is the Qinggang so powerful in Shandong?"
Zhao Youting's expression suddenly became extremely embarrassing. A big boss of the Shandong Youth Gang has become the traitor maintenance president, and he is also Qian Baoxiang, his grandfather. How can you make him embarrassed to say this? There happened to be a fried bun shop in front of him. Inside the shop
There was a solid young man sitting on the street. Zhao Youting quickly said to Yue Weihan: "Boss, there is a way."
Yue Weihan nodded lightly, and Zhao Youting bent down and walked into the fried bun shop.
When the sturdy man sitting in the shop saw someone coming in, he picked up the teapot and filled the two tea bowls in front of him. Then he picked up one of the bowls with both hands, and then extended the three fingers of his right hand to Zhao Youting. This gesture is very particular.
, meaning to invite the three old and four young people in the gang to drink tea. If the person who comes is also a member of the gang, they will naturally understand this gesture.
Zhao Youting strode forward, picked up another tea bowl and drank it all in one gulp.
The sturdy man put down his tea bowl and asked, "Where do friends come from?"
Zhao Youting wiped his mouth and said calmly: "Come from Kengzhou."
The sturdy man asked again: "Where to go?"
Zhao Youting replied: "Go to Wutai."
The solid man asked again: "What's your surname, boss?"
Zhao Youting replied: "I take my father's surname at home and change my surname to Pan when I go out."
Dunshi man said again: "There is a cloud in the northwest world, and a lotus flower blooms in the basin."
Zhao Youting replied: "Hit the king from above, the people from below, but not Anqing's family."
Now the incisions are all right, because the predecessor of the Qing Gang was the Anqing Gang, and the founder's surname was Pan. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the Anqing Gang entered Shanghai in a big way, so it was renamed the Qing Gang. Now the two of them talked about their seniority, and that solid man
His surname is Zhang Mingqing, but he is a disciple of Wu Zi generation and a direct disciple of Chi Dianwen. In terms of seniority, he is still Zhao Youting's uncle.
Zhang Qing also invited Zhao Youting and Yue Weihan to his residence.
Through Zhang Qing, Yue Weihan learned that Chi Dianwen had now officially surrendered to the Japanese, and his armed force had become a water guard to maintain order on the Jining section of the canal and the water surface of Weishan Lake. Yue Weihan did not take it seriously, because he
I know that this Chi Dianwen is definitely not a traitor in the true sense.
Historically, Chi Dianwen even joined the Weishan Lake Guerrilla Detachment led by the Communist Party. The Communist Party also gave it the title "Jinjiyu Advance Detachment". During the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, the Jinjiyu Advance Detachment went to Weishan Lake to guerrilla
The team provided a lot of intelligence, provided a lot of supplies, and rescued many anti-Japanese comrades and cadres. It was a great contribution to the war of resistance.