LRAB Chapter 112 The Thunderous Smoking Ban in Five Southeastern Provinces
Chapter 112 The Thunderous Smoking Ban in Five Southeastern Provinces
1925 years.
March 15th.
It was 5:30 a.m.
Shanghai. Longhua Garrison Command.
It was still dark.
But the entire garrison's parade ground was already packed with people.
Two thousand six hundred people.
All the officers of the First and Second Divisions of the Chen Family Army, along with the directly subordinate guard regiment and the field personnel of the Military Intelligence Bureau, stood solemnly in the morning mist, forming a dense, dark square formation.
No one speaks.
No one coughed.
Only the cold morning wind blew in from the direction of the Huangpu River, carrying a salty, fishy smell.
5:45.
A black Studebaker drove onto the playground.
The car door opened.
Chen Zijun stepped down from the carriage, his gleaming riding boots gleaming.
He was wearing a full German military uniform today.
He wore a gray-green military overcoat with gleaming brass buttons, and his ever-present Mauser pistol was tucked into his belt.
His military cap was pulled low, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.
He strode onto the reviewing stand.
Behind him followed Ye Yingxue, his ever-present personal bodyguard and staff officer. This bodyguard, who had won first place in numerous military competitions across the entire army, including mixed martial arts, shooting, infiltration, and reconnaissance, was also dressed in a full German-style military uniform. However, it was her striking beauty that drew more attention.
Twenty-six thousand pairs of eyes turned to Chen Zijun.
Chen Zijun did not bring a prepared speech.
His voice, amplified through the loudspeaker, cut through the morning silence like a knife.
"Brothers."
"Mr. Sun passed away in Beiping three days ago."
A very slight commotion arose on the playground.
"The South is in chaos. The North is in chaos. All of China is in chaos."
"But my Chen family army's territory will not be in chaos."
His gaze swept over the rows of straight figures.
"I have gathered you here today not to fight."
"It's to do something more important than fighting a war."
He paused.
No smoking.
"We did it in Shanghai before, and it worked very well. Back then, we only had Shanghai. But things are different now. I have the power over the five southeastern provinces. Am I just going to watch the people of those five provinces continue to suffer like this?"
These two words were like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.
"How many of you have a family member who died from opium addiction?"
Silence fell over the playground.
But that silence itself is the answer.
"Let me tell you some figures," Chen Zijun's voice turned icy. "The opium flowing into the five southeastern provinces every year is worth fifty million pounds. Fifty million! That's enough for me to build thirty destroyers, enough for me to support ten German-equipped divisions, enough for me to turn the entire southeast into an impregnable fortress."
"But all this money went into the pockets of foreigners, into the pockets of compradors, and into the bellies of those parasites who suck the blood of us Chinese."
"And what about our ordinary people?"
He slammed his hand on the railing of the reviewing stand.
"Lying in the opium den! Skin and bones! Sunken eyes! He's traded all the land, houses, wives, and children left by his ancestors for that one puff of black smoke!"
"This isn't just smoking! This is taking the lives of Chinese people!"
The 26,000 people on the playground were completely silent.
Chen Zijun's voice suddenly rose.
"Starting today! A strict smoking ban will be enforced throughout the five southeastern provinces!"
"All opium dens are to be closed within one month!"
"All opium warehouses must be sealed off!"
"Cut off all smuggling routes!"
"Anyone who dares to obstruct, harbor, or resist law enforcement officers—"
His eyes were like two knives.
"Kill without mercy."
When those four words came out of the loudspeaker, the air in the entire playground seemed to freeze.
"Zang Keping!"
"arrive!"
In the front row of the formation, a burly officer stepped forward, stood at attention, and saluted.
"You will lead the First Division, responsible for Shanghai and Suzhou. Within a month, I want all the opium dens in these two cities reduced to ruins."
"yes!"
"Feng Yong!"
"arrive!"
Another lean man in casual clothes walked out from the side.
"Your Labor Movement Bureau, in cooperation with the Military Intelligence Bureau, is responsible for intelligence gathering and warehouse location. I need the exact location of each opium warehouse, the number of guards, and the routes in and out, down to the house number."
"It's already underway, young marshal," Feng Yong said calmly. "Starting last night, we've deployed 120 spies in the docks and warehouse areas of the four cities of Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Fuzhou. We've already confirmed the locations of 37 large opium warehouses."
"Okay." Chen Zijun nodded. "The Second Division will be in charge of the operations in Hangzhou and Nanjing. As for Fuzhou and Xiamen, I will have the troops stationed in Fujian carry them out on the spot."
He took one last look at the dark mass of people on the playground.
"Brothers!"
"Banning smoking is a tougher issue than fighting the Japanese. Because you're not facing an external enemy, but internal parasites. Some of these parasites wear silk jackets, some wear foreign brands, and some are even related to our own people."
"But I only acknowledge one thing—"
"Anything that poisons the Chinese people, no matter what it's disguised as, I will uproot it completely."
"Set off!"
"yes!!!"
More than two thousand officers, representing the passion of twenty to thirty thousand soldiers, responded in a manner that resembled the roar of tens of thousands of people.
The roar surged skyward, startling a flock of crows from the sycamore trees beside the playground.
……
The next day, at 8:00 AM.
Jiangning City.
Three gray-green Sd.Kfz.222 light armored vehicles rumbled toward the city center.
Twelve trucks, fully loaded with German-equipped infantry, followed behind.
Each soldier wore an M35 steel helmet, carried a 98K rifle, and had four M24 stick grenades hanging from their waist.
Zang Keping stood atop the first armored vehicle, holding a walkie-talkie, coldly surveying the buildings on either side.
"A blockade was formed over all major entrances and exits to Jiangning City."
"The Second Regiment set up checkpoints at various roads and bridges."
"The three regiments advanced directly into the Japanese-populated areas and took control of the Japanese territory."
"The workers' movement bureau will lead the way. Any shops or warehouses confirmed to contain opium will be broken down and searched. Anyone who resists will be shot first and reported later."
The tracks of the armored vehicles rolled over the asphalt roads of Jiangning City, making a screeching metallic scraping sound.
Pedestrians on both sides of the road stared in disbelief as the fully armed army drove past.
People were whispering to each other by the roadside.
"Who is Commander Chen going to attack this time?"
"It wasn't about hitting anyone, I heard it was because of the smoking ban!"
"A smoking ban? That's cutting off so many people's livelihoods..."
"Cut off their livelihood? Do you know how many lives that stuff they sell has taken? My second uncle died from smoking that stuff!"
at the same time.
Hangcheng.
Liu Zhenning, deputy commander of the Second Division, personally led two regiments and began the operation at four o'clock in the morning.
Six armored vehicles blocked the main entrances of the three largest opium dens on the shore of West Lake in Hangzhou.
When the soldiers broke down the door, the smokers inside were still in a daze and had no idea what was happening.
"Everyone! Hands behind your heads! Crouch down!"
"Where's the opium den owner? Come out!"
A middle-aged man in a silk robe tried to escape through the back door, but was pinned to the ground by two soldiers.
"Sir, spare my life! I'm just a small-time merchant!"
"A small business owner?" Liu Zhenning walked over and kicked over the hidden door behind the counter.
Behind the hidden door was an underground warehouse of about 200 square meters.
Inside, thousands of boxes of opium were neatly stacked.
Each box weighs fifty jin (approximately 25 kg).
Liu Zhenning glanced at it, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
"Small business? Your small business is enough to poison the entire city of Hangzhou."
"take away."
Suzhou. Nanjing. Fuzhou. Xiamen.
At the same time, similar scenes were playing out simultaneously in every major city in the five southeastern provinces.
Armored vehicles rolled over the bluestone road.
German-equipped infantrymen kicked open door after door.
The opium den's signboard was torn down piece by piece and thrown into the fire to burn to ashes.
Crates of opium were carried out of warehouses and piled up in city squares, awaiting public burning.
This day was later referred to by the opium merchants of the five southeastern provinces as—
Black Saturday.
……
10:00 AM.
Shanghai. Western District of the International Settlement.
Intersection of Gordon Road and Edward Road.
Yang Yanzhao's armored vehicle was parked in the middle of the intersection, with the 20mm machine gun on the turret pointing directly into the depths of the concession.
He held in his hand the intelligence list that Feng Yong had just delivered.
"Old Feng, are you sure?"
Feng Yong nodded and pointed to an address circled in red on the list.
"Sassoon & Co. Warehouse No. 3. It's deep inside Hart Road. Our men have been watching it since last night. At three in the morning, six horse-drawn carriages were loaded through the back door of the warehouse, attempting to transfer opium to the dock for loading onto ships. Our spies followed and photographed the entire process."
He pulled a stack of photos out of his pocket.
"This was taken on site. The wagons were full of opium boxes, with the Sassoon & Co. eagle head logo printed on them. They originally planned to use the 'blind spot' tactic to smuggle the goods out of the province through the waterways inside the concession while we were blocking the outside."
Yang Yanzhao glanced at the photo, his eyes turning cold.
"Great. I was thinking of trying to be polite first, then resorting to force. Now we don't even need to bother with the 'politeness'."
Just then.
A black Rolls-Royce sedan drove from the direction of the concession.
The car door opened, and a British man with a high nose bridge, wearing a gray suit, stepped out of the car.
British Consul Bardon.
He was followed by two uniformed police officers and three consulate staff carrying briefcases.
Bardon strode to the cordon, his face flushed, and roared at Zang Keping.
"Officer! What are you doing?! The International Settlement was established under the Treaty of Nanjing and the Treaty of Humen, and enjoys extraterritorial rights! You have no right to deploy military forces on the boundaries of the Settlement!"
He speaks fluent Chinese, but his voice is trembling noticeably.
Yang Yanzhao leaned against the armored vehicle, not even standing up straight.
He slowly took a cigarette out of his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a match.
I took a deep breath.
Then he lifted his eyelids and glanced at Baldun.
"Mr. Baldon."
His voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.
"I've heard of those treaties you mentioned."
"But our commander-in-chief also said something."
"What did you say?" Baldun stared wide-eyed.
Yang Yanzhao took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked off the ash.
"The commander-in-chief said—"
He suddenly straightened up, his gaze sharp as a knife.
"Those who cross the line will be treated as traitors."
Baldon's expression changed instantly.
"You—you're threatening a diplomat of the British Empire?!"
Yang Yanzhao turned around and patted the turret of the armored vehicle.
"Mr. Baldon, look at the caliber of this cannon. 20 millimeters. It can fire twelve rounds per second. How many rounds do you think those policemen behind you can withstand?"
Baldon's lips trembled a few times.
He glanced at the rows of German-equipped infantrymen behind Yang Yanzhao, who were holding rifles and had expressionless faces.
Then I looked at the slowly rotating gun barrel on the armored vehicle's turret.
He thought of the Japanese warships that had been reduced to scrap metal off the coast of Wusongkou.
He recalled the fate of the Izumo.
That's a 12,000-ton armored cruiser.
If Chen's army dared to fight even that kind of thing, what about a few of his patrolmen?
Baldon took a deep breath.
"I will report this to London."
He turned and left.
They walked very fast.
It was almost a jog.
Zang Keping watched his retreating figure and gave a cold smile.
"Go ahead and report. By the time your letter reaches London, our business will be finished."
……
3 PM.
Feng Yong personally went to Yang Yanzhao's command vehicle.
"Commander Yang, there's new information."
"explain."
"Sassoon & Co. Warehouse No. 3. Our spies have discovered that the amount of opium stored inside is at least three times more than we previously estimated. A rough estimate is no less than 50,000 chests."
Yang Yanzhao's brow twitched.
"Fifty thousand boxes?"
"Yes. And..." Feng Yong lowered his voice, "a large number of armed personnel have gathered around the warehouse. There are about 1,200 to 1,500 of them. They are all thugs gathered by various gangs, and they have miscellaneous rifles, pistols, and even a few light machine guns."
"Are they planning to hold out to the death?"
"It's not just about holding out to the death." Feng Yong pulled out another intelligence report from his pocket. "According to our informant, Sassoon gave each of these men five hundred silver dollars as 'life-saving money.' He claimed that if they could hold out for three days, the diplomatic pressure from the foreigners would force Chen's army to retreat."
Yang Yanzhao stood up and walked to the map.
He stared at the location of Sassoon Warehouse No. 3 for a long time.
Then I picked up the walkie-talkie.
"Young Marshal."
Chen Zijun's voice came through the walkie-talkie, very calm.
"explain."
"Sassoon Warehouse No. 3. Inside there are 50,000 chests of opium, and outside there are more than a thousand armed gangsters."
"They claimed they would hold out for three days until the foreigners came to their rescue."
There was a two-second silence on the walkie-talkie.
Then Chen Zijun's voice came through.
It remains calm.
"Uncle Yang."
"arrive!"
Tell them—
"I've even fought Japanese battleships. Do they think a few broken walls and a few shattered machine guns can stop my armored vehicles?"
"Young Marshal, please give your instructions! Should we employ artillery for a strong attack?"
A soft laugh came from the other end of the walkie-talkie.
"4 a.m. tomorrow."
"I want the warehouse door to open like it's made of paper."
"yes!"
Yang Yanzhao put down the walkie-talkie.
A slow smile crept onto his lips.
There was not a trace of warmth in that smile.
Sassoon Warehouse No. 3.
1,200 armed thugs.
50,000 boxes of opium.
Tomorrow morning at four o'clock.
The prey's last night has begun its countdown.