Just when Zhou Hexuan handed over the sulfa drugs to Du Yuesheng, the elite 87th and 88th Divisions of the National Army's German Armament Division had secretly arrived near Shanghai. At the same time, the elite troops stationed in Suzhou put on security regiment uniforms and secretly stationed at Hongqiao Airport and other places.
Strategic location.
It is obvious that although the national defense conference has not yet ended, Chang Kaishen is already planning to start a war in Shanghai.
In fact, until this moment, the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters had never thought of attacking East China and South China. According to the "National Defense National Policy Outline" formulated by Ishihara Kanji, Japan did not regard China as an enemy at all. Their imaginary enemies were the United States and
Soviet Union.
In terms of specific strategies, Japan wants to "strive to maintain friendly relations with the United States" and to curry favor with capitalist countries such as Britain and the United States by occupying Northeast China and North China to curb the Soviet Union's southward march of communism. At the same time, Japan plans to expand its armaments crazily.
Use force as the backing to negotiate with the Soviet Union to "force the Soviet Union to give up its plan to attack the Far East."
This is the international grand strategy formulated by the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters. Under this international grand strategy, the small strategy of dialogue war is carried out.
Some people may not believe it, but the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters is opposed to expanding the war. Their short-term strategic goal is to stabilize the Northeast and occupy North China, and then provoke a civil war in the Northwest. The long-term goal is to gradually penetrate into the South China Sea and gain access to Southeast Asia.
of rubber and oil, and then squeeze out the British and strive to eat the East Indies. This can ensure the supply of strategic resources such as oil and rubber.
After conquering Southeast Asia and digesting the territory of Northeast and North China, they can take the opportunity to invade the Northwest and East China and swallow up the entire China. By that time, Japan will no longer need to rely on the import of American resources and can start the "final war" with the United States.
". Defeating the United States, Japan can become the hegemon of the Far East and the Pacific, and then take advantage of the situation to eat up the Soviet Union's territory in the Far East.
A very whimsical yet reasonable strategy, which shows that the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters still has people who understand.
If this plan is followed, many forces in the country may see that the south and northwest are safe, and civil war may break out again, which will make the Japanese army who occupied North China laugh and watch the show. Moreover, as the Japanese army digests North China and Northeast China, and Southeast Asia
With the penetration, Japan's strategic resource reserves will be more abundant, the attack on Pearl Harbor will most likely be postponed, and the United States will have no excuse to join the war so quickly.
However, the Japanese Navy couldn't wait any longer...
If the steps in the "National Defense National Policy Outline" are strictly followed, at least within ten years, the Japanese Navy will have no battles to fight. If there are no battles to fight, there will be no military merit. Without military merit, you will not be promoted, and the Japanese Navy will have no reason to ask for
More military spending.
Ever since, seeing that the Army was fighting smoothly in North China, and that the General Staff Headquarters was planning to negotiate peace with China (a real peace negotiation, it just wanted to occupy North China), the Navy finally couldn't help but take action in Shanghai.
On August 9, Japanese Navy Lieutenant Oyama Isamu and Saito Saito Kazo first class drove a military vehicle into the Hongqiao Military Airport. After being blocked by Chinese soldiers, they shot and killed a Chinese soldier and were immediately killed by the airport guard on the spot.
.
The Japanese Navy finally stirred up trouble, and the war in Shanghai had to be fought. However, some officers and generals of the Army Department were not willing to just occupy North China, and they cooperated very cooperatively to help the Navy stir up trouble, forcing the General Staff Headquarters to expand their war intentions.
The original plan to occupy only North China was changed to occupy the entire China.
The Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters was still very sober at first, but when they saw the army easily conquering Pingjin, they also felt that China was a super soft persimmon, so they followed suit and declared that China would be destroyed within three months.
Ever since the Japanese Marine Corps started provoking trouble at Hongqiao Airport, the direction of the entire war has been out of the control of the Japanese military and government. It's like holding a few vicious dogs in your hand, and those vicious dogs are running forward crazily, leading
The person holding the rope couldn't hold it at all, so he could only be led forward by the vicious dog.
On August 13, the fifth day after Zhou Hexuan left Shanghai, Hasegawa, commander of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet, ordered air strikes on Nanjing, Guangde, and Nanchang, and a raid on Shanghai Hongqiao Airport. In the following two days, the Japanese army
Sixteen warships and several marines were dispatched to Songhu. The Japanese cabinet also decided to send army reinforcements to Shanghai.
Known in history as the August 13th Incident.
On the Chinese side, the Nanjing National Government issued a "Declaration of Self-Defense and Anti-Japanese War", appointing Zhang Zhizhong as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ninth Army and Zhang Fakui as the Commander-in-Chief of the Eighth Army to resolutely resist and attack the Japanese landing forces.
Capitalist countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and France stood by and watched the Sino-Japanese war, and the United States continued to sell strategic materials to Japan. Germany outwardly favored Japan, but continued to secretly sell large amounts of arms to China.
Regardless of international friendship and morality, what the United States and Germany do is just to make money.
Only the Soviet Union stood on China's side and soon signed the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty. Under the special circumstances at that time, when all major powers took a neutral stance, the Soviet Union separately declared that it would not be an enemy of China in the Sino-Japanese War.
, in fact, it is supporting China and identifying Japan as a potential hostile target.
The Soviet Union's approach also has nothing to do with international friendship and morality. It belongs to the category of geopolitics.
No matter what, the signing of the "Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Treaty" brought great encouragement to China at the critical moment. Both the Nanjing government and people from all walks of life were extremely excited about the signing of the treaty.
When the news of the August 13th Incident came, Zhou Hexuan had already arrived in Nanjing and asked someone to find a gentleman named Xu Chuanyin.
"Why did Mr. Zhou come all the way to visit me?" Xu Chuanyin felt a little puzzled. Although he was an official in Nanjing, his official position was not high, and it was impossible for him to fall into Zhou Hexuan's eyes.
Why did Zhou Hexuan look for Xu Chuanyin?
Because he took the initiative to stay during the war, served as the vice president of the International Red Swastika Society, presided over the refugee housing arrangements in the international safe zone, and became the only Chinese member of the International Relief Committee.
Under the chairmanship of Dr. Xu Chuanyin, a total of 25 refugee camps were built in Nanjing, housing approximately 200,000 to 300,000 refugees. He also provided two of his bungalows for the refugees to live in.
As the only non-traitor Chinese allowed to move freely within the city of Nanjing, Dr. Xu Chuanyin witnessed the entire atrocities committed by the Japanese army. He later became an important witness in the Tokyo Trial Court against the Japanese army for the Nanjing Massacre.
Zhou Hexuan asked: "Dr. Xu, if the Japanese invaders capture Nanjing, will you leave with your family?"
Xu Chuanyin shook his head and said, "I probably won't leave. I'm not in good health and my family business is also in Nanjing. I have to stay here to preserve my family property. Mr. Zhou thinks the Japanese invaders will attack Nanjing?"
"It's hard to say," Zhou Hexuan sighed, "Judging from the military strength of China and Japan, I'm afraid Nanjing cannot be saved. And as the capital of China, once the Japanese invaders capture Nanjing, it may be like what happened to Lushun in the past."
"Massacre?" Xu Chuanyin stood up in confusion.
"Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst," Zhou Hexuan said, taking out a money order of 200,000 yuan. "No matter what, when the war breaks out, the people will suffer. I also ask Dr. Xu to accept the 200,000 yuan and hire some oxcarts and horse-drawn carriages."
, to help orphans, widows, mothers, the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled who are living in difficulty to evacuate.”
Xu Chuanyin felt dizzy. He was just a small bureaucrat and capitalist. Zhou Hexuan found him out of nowhere, gave him 200,000 yuan out of nowhere, and said a bunch of inexplicable words.
It wasn't until a few months later that Xu Chuanyin truly understood Zhou Hexuan's intentions.
In fact, the Nationalist Government has been organizing the evacuation of Nanjing citizens in a planned way since November this year. For refugees who have moved in, the government has set up refugee centers in cities and counties along the way, issued refugee certificates and a small amount of travel expenses free of charge, and also contacted the Red Cross.
Charitable organizations will provide support.
Before the war broke out, Nanjing's permanent population was 1.015 million, but by the time Nanjing fell, there were only 500,000 left, and those who could leave had already left early.
Those Nanjing citizens who are unwilling to leave can be roughly divided into five categories:
One is those who were ordered to stay. For example, the police assigned to the international security zone, such as the Kuomintang and Communist Party spies, and the left-behind employees in schools, hospitals and government agencies.
The second is those who stayed voluntarily. For example, Dr. Xu Chuanyin, the vice-president of the World Red Swastika Society, and Ms. Cheng Ruifang, who co-managed the Jinling Women's University refugee camp, all voluntarily stayed to help the refugees.
The third is that it is difficult to leave their homeland. No one expected that Japan would engage in a massacre. Many ordinary people worked hard for half their lives and finally managed to build some family properties, such as stores, real estate, and land. Let them leave these properties and leave their hometowns to move towards Japan.
Moving forward into the unknown distance, it is difficult for them to make up their minds.
The fourth is that it is difficult to make the trip. These people live relatively poor lives. During the evacuation, fares are expensive and transportation is difficult to find. They can only move forward by walking. It is too hard and their lives are not guaranteed, so they are unwilling to leave.
The fifth is the pro-Japanese faction. These people relied on their connections with the Japanese, or had business dealings, or directly became traitors, and thought that they would be promoted and rich when the Japanese invaders came. As a result, many of them died in the massacre without knowing anything.
Historically, the Nanjing military police went from house to house to mobilize and evacuate. They exhausted all their words and words, but could not persuade those citizens to leave.
What can Zhou Hexuan do?
Even if it is propagated everywhere that the Japanese invaders are going to carry out a massacre, someone still has to believe it!
The only thing Zhou Hexuan can do is to leave a donation to a reliable person to provide help to refugees who are living in difficulty, so that those who want to leave but are unable to leave can save their lives. In this case, the military police will not leave no matter how much they persuade them.
A widow of a family pointed to her bedridden mother-in-law and several children and asked the military police: How do you want me to move?
With Zhou Hexuan's support, at least those orphans and widows can leave.
Zhou Hexuan bowed and saluted: "Dr. Xu, please help me, please!"
This trick is very effective. Most people really can't bear Zhou Hexuan's gift. Xu Chuanyin quickly supported him and said: "I will accept the money and I will give you a receipt. If you don't use it, I will return it to you later. That's it."
How is it?"
"Thank you!" Zhou Hexuan said, clasping his fists.
After sending Zhou Hexuan away, Xu Chuanyin stood on the balcony and said to himself: "What is this mess?"
Before the Nanjing Massacre, Xu Chuanyin was just an ordinary person, and he had not yet achieved the sublimation of his soul and personality.
Of course, since he agreed to Zhou Hexuan's help, a good and responsible person like Xu Chuanyin would definitely try his best to provide assistance to those in need, and count as many as he could save.
After leaving Nanjing, Zhou Hexuan made a special trip to Hankou to inspect the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge under construction.
It's summer and flood news is coming.
The water level of the Yangtze River in the three towns of Wuhan has risen significantly. It is estimated that in half a month, the construction of the bridge will be temporarily suspended again, because the annual floods are coming soon.
Zhou Hexuan inquired about the progress, and the answer he received was that the bridge would not be completed until at least next spring. If there were any problems, it might be delayed until the summer or autumn when the Battle of Wuhan was being fought.
Zhou Hexuan decided to follow Mao Yisheng's example and ask the construction team to reserve holes for explosives on the bridge piers so that they could blow up the bridge when the Japanese army came.
This bridge is very important in transportation between the north and the south. If completed a day earlier, it would have facilitated the transportation of wartime supplies and soldiers, and would also have facilitated the crossing of the river by refugees fleeing from the north.
I hope it can be built as soon as possible and blown up smoothly.