LRAB Chapter 51 The Japanese's Schemes
Chapter 51 The Japanese's Schemes
Chen Mansion, second floor study.
Chen Zijun sat in a mahogany armchair, with three items on the coffee table in front of him.
A cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea.
A list of prisoners of war sent by Zang Keping from Changzhou.
A stack of cash flow statements compiled by Mo Huixin.
He first picked up the Longjing tea and took a sip.
Then he picked up the list of prisoners of war.
"Twenty-one thousand seven hundred men." His gaze swept over the numbers. "Young and strong men aged twenty to thirty-five, with a literacy rate of thirty-two percent and eighty-seven percent having combat experience."
The Fengtian clique really knows how to train good soldiers! If we can get these people under our control, my army, Chen Zijun's army, will have taken shape.
He tossed the list onto the table, a slight smirk playing on his lips.
This group of people worked even better than he had anticipated.
Although the Fengtian Army was based on the old-style warlords, after Zhang Xinmin's defeat in the first Zhili-Fengtian War, the bandit had become obsessed with respecting intellectuals. He hired many capable people to train the troops, so their basic military skills were not bad. However, their weapons were bad, their tactics were stupid, and their commanders were only good at fighting with their backs to the river and were invulnerable to swords and spears.
In other words, this group of people is like a good steel billet.
All that's needed is for Chen Zijun to reforge it.
"Huixin" (慧心).
"Yes." Mo Huixin looked up from the small table next to her. A thick stack of account books was spread out in front of her, and she hadn't put down her pen yet.
"The full set of equipment for three fully equipped German-trained divisions, from head to toe—rifles, helmets, boots, belt buckles, canteens, first-aid kits, nothing missing—have you calculated how much that would cost?"
Mo Huixin hardly hesitated.
"According to the standards of the German Royal Army, the full set of infantry equipment for three full-strength divisions, including 36,000 Mauser 98K rifles, 480 MG34 general-purpose machine guns, 144 82mm mortars, 72 75mm mountain guns, and full coverage of helmets, ammunition, and clothing, plus the current price fluctuations in our army, is conservatively estimated at £2.47 million."
She paused for a moment.
I'll round it down.
Chen Zijun almost burst out laughing.
Two million four hundred and seventy thousand.
He has 50 million in his hands.
It's like a billionaire with a net worth of trillions going to the market and buying three baskets of cabbage.
"Approved." He picked up his teacup and took another sip. "Have Zang Keping begin reorganization immediately. Tell him that within a month, I want to see three divisions ready for battle."
"Yes."
"Also, what about the navy and air force..."
Chen Zijun narrowed his eyes slightly. "No rush. Let me take a good look at what's on the list."
He closed his eyes.
As consciousness settled, the system panel unfolded in his mind.
[Large-scale sea and air area template - Unlocked redemption list (partial)]
Type I submarine (basic model) ... Unit price: £32
S-type torpedo boat (improved version)... Unit price: £8
He-51 biplane fighter jet... Unit price: £4.5
Ju52 transport/bomber aircraft... Unit price: £12
280mm coastal defense gun ammunition refill pack (1000 rounds)... £28
……
Chen Zijun opened his eyes.
The curve of her lips deepened.
Submarines, fighter jets, torpedo boats... of course, none of them are particularly advanced equipment.
However, these things, placed in China in 1924, were nothing short of a game-changer.
But he didn't rush to place an order.
It's not because I'm worried about the money.
It was because he knew very well that the group of short guys in the east wouldn't give him much time to develop peacefully.
and……
He saw a red warning notification in the upper right corner of the system panel.
System Detection
The 6th and 11th Divisions of the Imperial Japanese Army and the 3rd Fleet of the Navy have been detected assembling.
Estimated completion time: within 25 days.
Target location: Shanghai.
Chen Zijun slowly put down his teacup.
Twenty-five days.
He has twenty-five days left.
"Huixin, the equipment allocation for the three divisions will be approved tonight. Have them pick up the first batch of goods from the warehouse on Longhua Road tomorrow morning."
"Yes."
"There's one more thing," Chen Zijun's tone suddenly turned cold. "What's been going on with the Japanese in Hongkou lately?"
Mo Huixin turned to a page of the intelligence briefing.
"Lanzhi reported this yesterday. Several Japanese-owned yarn factories in Hongkou are cutting wages, the worst being 'Neiwai Cotton' factory. Wages have been cut by 40%, working 14 hours a day, and female workers are not allowed to take leave, not even pregnant women. The workers protested several times, but they were all driven back by the ronin."
Chen Zijun remained silent.
He only glanced out the window.
Outside the window are sycamore trees in late autumn. The leaves have begun to turn yellow, and occasionally a leaf is blown down by the wind, swirling and drifting down.
It's very quiet.
It's too quiet.
He knew what this silence meant.
Three thousand kilometers away. Tokyo. General Staff Headquarters. Underground operations room.
General Yoshinori Shirakawa stood in front of a huge battle map.
His eye bags were deep, as if he hadn't slept for days. The medals on his uniform gleamed under the light, but his face was ashen, like a corpse.
Two top-secret reports were laid out on the table.
One report was a detailed investigation into the sinking of the Izumo. The conclusion was shocking: Chen Zijun's Wusongkou Fortress artillery group possessed a firepower density far exceeding the Empire's estimates, and the 280mm coastal defense guns it used had a range and accuracy that reached the top level in Europe.
Another report was a battlefield assessment of the annihilation battle on the Taihu Plain. The conclusion was even more chilling: Chen Zijun's army was equipped with some type of unidentified medium tanks and heavy machine guns, and its firepower projection capability had surpassed that of the Imperial Army's current equipment.
After reading the two reports, Yoshinori Shirakawa remained silent for a long time.
Then he spoke.
"We can't wait any longer for that 'Chen' in Shanghai."
The two staff officers standing behind him straightened up at the same time.
"What is the progress of the formation of the expeditionary force?"
"Reporting to the General. The 6th Division is completing its assembly in Hiroshima, and the 11th Division is assembling in Seontongsa. The transport fleet is expected to be assembled in three days, and the 1st Air Fleet has moved to its forward base on Jeju Island."
Yoshinori Shirakawa nodded.
"Too slow." His voice carried a chilling murderous intent. "Hurry them up. Not twenty-five days, they must set off within twenty days."
He paused.
"In addition, have the intelligence agency launch 'Operation Kikusui'."
The two staff officers exchanged a glance.
"General, once 'Operation Kikusui' is launched, the situation in Shanghai may..."
"What I want is chaos," Yoshinori Shirakawa interrupted them. "The more chaotic, the better. When Chen Zijun is exhausted from dealing with the foreigners and students in the concession, our division will arrive."
He held up his finger and drew a circle on the map.
"Tell the people in Shanghai to push those textile mill managers even harder. Ideally, they should force a major riot."
"At that time, our fleet will enter the Huangpu River under the pretext of 'protecting overseas Chinese,' in a dignified and aboveboard manner."
A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"International law, after all, must be based on legitimacy."
Late October of the thirteenth year of the Republic of China, Shanghai, Hongkou District, Neiwai Cotton Yarn Factory.
Gu Changqing is 32 years old, from Shandong, thin and dark-skinned.
He worked in this factory for six years, rising from the lowest level of machine operator to workshop foreman.
He doesn't know many words, but he can do accounting.
He meticulously calculated how his monthly wage had been reduced from twelve silver dollars to seven. He also remembered exactly how his overtime hours had increased from two to six hours a day.
Last month, a female worker in the next workshop, who was seven months pregnant, fainted next to a machine. The Japanese supervisor came over, glanced at her, kicked her, and said, "This Chinese pig can't even stand up. Deduct half a month's wages."
The female worker miscarried the next day.
Gu Changqing drank half a jin of baijiu that night and sat alone at the entrance of the workers' shed, crying all night.
Today, he mustered all his courage.
"Boss!" He stood at the factory gate, behind him more than three hundred emaciated workers. "We're not here to cause trouble! We only ask for three things! Restore our original wages! Cancel the unjustified fines! Allow pregnant women to take leave!"
A Japanese manager in a suit walked out from inside the gate.
Four ronin stood beside him. They had swords at their waists and carried sticks in their hands.
The eldest son pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and said a sentence in broken Chinese.
"Go back to work. Otherwise, you'll all be fired."
"Big Boss!" Gu Changqing took a step forward. "We are human beings! Not machines! Please..."
"Bang."
A gunshot rang out.
Crisp. Dry. Without any warning.
Gu Changqing looked down at his chest.
A black bullet hole.
Blood gushed from the bullet holes, staining his faded coarse cloth shirt red.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only spat out a mouthful of bloody foam.
Then his knees buckled and he knelt down.
Behind him, more than three hundred workers were stunned.
The Japanese boss tucked the smoking pistol back into his waistband, turned, and walked into the factory gate.
He didn't even look back.
Gu Changqing's body slowly collapsed onto the cement ground at the entrance of the textile factory. His eyes were open, staring at the gray sky.
Blood spread from beneath him, flowing along cracks in the ground and all the way to the outside of the iron gate.
Among the three hundred workers, some began to cry.
The crying quickly turned into a roar.
The roar echoed through the streets and alleys of Hongkou, reaching every construction shed, every school, and every newspaper office.
One day later.
Students from 21 universities in Shanghai poured out of their campuses at the same time.
Newsboys screamed at the top of their lungs in the street: "Extra! Extra! The Japanese are shooting Chinese workers in a textile factory!"
The march of more than 30,000 people surged toward Nanjing Road in the International Settlement.
Meanwhile, in his office on the second floor of the International Settlement Police Station, British Inspector General McGowan put down the phone.
There was no sympathy on his face.
"Pass on my orders," he said to his adjutant. "Double the arming on all sentries. If those Chinese dare to storm Nanjing Road..."
He paused.
"shot……"