Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 146 International Public Opinion Can Also Be Guided

In the ward.

After more than an hour of "first aid", Zheng Yi's injuries have healed.

Because Zheng Yi really didn't suffer any serious injuries, the most serious injury was a broken rib.

There's no cure for injuries like ribs. Zheng Yi is only about 30 years old, and he's not an old man with poor physical functions. Just bandage it and fix it. It should heal on its own after a few months of rest.

The rest of the injuries were just bruises, which could be cured by applying some medicine. Street thugs often suffered more serious injuries in fights.

I can't believe this guy was shot eight times.

Bulletproof vest? It's amazing.

"Mr. Zheng, according to our investigation, the assassin who assassinated you was disguised as a Chinese journalist.
He had a press card from your own Chinese media, and we searched these reporters before they interviewed you, but we didn't find any guns on them.
I'm truly sorry that such a mistake happened. Don't worry, we will investigate this matter thoroughly."

"It's okay. I'm fine. Since this is an internal problem, I'll have our government conduct a thorough internal investigation."

"Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Zheng. Please take a rest first. We will not disturb you."

"Ok."

After these few simple words, the Royal Guards withdrew and stood guard outside the ward.

No one is a fool. When they found out that the assassin was actually a Chinese journalist, the Swedish side naturally became suspicious.

Chinese and Japanese look exactly the same and it is difficult to tell them apart. It doesn't mean that just because you shout "Long live the Emperor" in Japanese, you are Japanese.

He fired eight shots at close range, but they were all blocked by a newly developed bulletproof vest. The winter in Stockholm is already cold, and Zheng Yi and his men are all from Southeast Asia.
People from the tropics are afraid of the cold when they travel to the cold zone, so they wear a little more clothes and put on a bulletproof vest underneath, and no one notices.

It seems that there is no problem at all and it is very logical.

But since he fired eight shots at close range, why didn't he shoot at the head?

Of course, it is also possible that the Japanese learned Chinese, infiltrated a Chinese newspaper, and eventually succeeded in becoming an expatriate on this trip to Sweden.

Without evidence, Sweden can't say anything and can only wait for China to correct itself and conduct self-inspection. They have to bear the loss in silence.

Zheng Yi has a good relationship with Sweden and many companies. There is no need for them to make a big fuss about this matter. They can just let Wang, the political arena, and the Nobel Prize Committee condemn Japan in unison and be done with it.

On the stage of international politics, the truth itself is not important; what matters is what people believe.

Soon, the agents arranged by Sweden also retreated. Only Zheng Yi and his relatives and friends, that is, the entire Li family and his wife's family, were left in the ward.

"Ayi, the battle has begun in Shanghai. Our army has already entered Hongkou, and the initial battle seems to be going smoothly. According to your plan, the British and French Concessions have also been bombed. You plan to falsely accuse the Japanese of this."

"Ah."

Zheng Yi nodded and asked Li Jiazhi to take a soft pillow to lean on behind him. He frowned and sat up on the bed.

"Strike first and you'll be defeated; strike later and you'll be defeated. I hope this battle will be successful. If we can really drive the Japanese out of Shanghai, this war will be much easier to win."

Li Jiazhi grumbled in dissatisfaction, "I don't know how those useless Military Control Commission members get things done. Didn't they agree to reduce the amount of gunpowder in the bullets beforehand? How did they still break a bone? They can't even do such a small thing."

Zheng Yi: "Don't say that, it's just a rib. I'm in such good health, it will heal in three or four months at most.

They are real death warriors, carrying out a mission that means they must die. Besides, that gun was clearly prepared by us for them."

Naturally, this assassination was completely directed and performed by Zheng Yi and the National Government. First, a Military Intelligence Bureau agent disguised himself as a reporter and mixed into the crowd. Although the Royal Guards searched the reporters, they did not search Zheng Yi and others.

When Zheng Yi came out, all the reporters rushed over, including the assassin.
Li Xiaoshi stepped forward under the pretense of maintaining order, and when he reached out to help Zheng Yi block the reporters, he stuffed the gun directly into his hand.

That person's task was to shout a few slogans in Japanese while firing.

Then die.

"Let's find that man's family and give them $100,000 as a token of my appreciation. He was a heroic man who was ready to face death. Jiazhi, don't talk about him like that. It's just a broken bone, not a big deal."

"Broken bones, isn't that a big deal? Is it worth it just to fight this one battle?"

Zheng Yi smiled and said, "It's worth it."

Even if we don't consider that he still has Chinese nationality, and don't consider the so-called patriotism, even if we simply look at the interests of Penang and Nanyang, this rib is worth breaking.

The more Japan is depleted in China, the easier it will be to defeat them in Southeast Asia. Even if they are not Chinese, isn't Japanese militarism always their common enemy?

In general, Zheng Yi believed that the idea of ​​the Battle of Shanghai was actually correct in terms of strategy. It replaced defense with offense, and strategically disrupted the rhythm of the Japanese army's invasion of China.
Even if it failed historically, it was still a successful battle strategically despite the tactical failure.

To put it bluntly, Japan actually had two ideas about invading China. One was to slowly nibble away at China through the army, swallowing up piece by piece, digesting it slowly, and governing it slowly.

North China is such a great land. If we advance, we can conquer the Central Plains to the south, or we can attack Shandong and the Korean Peninsula across the sea. Someone in the Japanese General Staff even proposed a large encirclement plan.

That is, leaving China's eastern coastal areas and the heartland of the Central Plains untouched, he would first attack Shanxi, then Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou, making a large circle, first nibbling away at China's western regions, and then slowly nibbling away at the remaining eastern and Central Plains regions. This is called starting with the easy and then the difficult, first cutting off the Chinese people's retreat from the war of resistance, and making full use of China's internal contradictions at the time. After all, if he really fought like this, it would be hard to say whether Nanjing would still be determined to fight a scorched earth war.

Moreover, by fighting far away from the wealthy coastal areas, the possibility of British and American intervention will be greatly reduced. After all, the interests of British and American powers in China are also in East China.

If we can really take over the West first and then attack the East, when we finally achieve our goal in one fell swoop, Britain and the United States may not be able to react.

In short, the army's idea is to fight for a piece, eat a piece, and manage a piece. If Japan can advance slowly and manage North China like the Northeast, then it can take over another piece of land.

In the Battle of Shanghai, we took the initiative and chose to ignore the Japanese army and instead attack their navy. You fight yours, I fight mine. You occupy my Peking, and I will occupy your Shanghai.

Of course, we failed to occupy Shanghai and instead let the enemy push us away, and also lost the non-concession areas, but this is a case of not winning the battle, and we cannot say that this strategy was wrong.

From a military perspective, this move intensified the conflict between the Japanese army and navy, forcing the Japanese army to fight on two fronts, each fighting its own battles. Although it always won tactically, it actually lost at the strategic level.

At the end of eight years, the Japanese army still could not effectively rule North China, and the management of the base area was a mess. It had to be admitted that this was related to the fact that they did not take steady steps from the beginning, the strategic confusion, and especially the lack of coordination between the army and navy.

Politically, not to mention the unity of compatriots, it was this battle that earned the reputation of Chinese soldiers.
In any case, Zheng Yi has always believed that China's true unification into a single entity and joint foreign war began during the Battle of Shanghai.

No matter how deep the hatred was during the previous civil war, no matter whether they were careful about their reputation in normal times, and whether the warlords obeyed orders and ignored announcements in Nanjing,
At least in this battle, there was no distinction between the Sichuan Army, the Guangxi Army and the Hunan Army. Everyone was a Chinese soldier, and no matter whether it was the central army or the local warlords, no one hid their reputation and everyone died.

This battle also had an international impact. To be honest, Chiang Kai-shek was very ruthless in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War. He blew up his own economic center in the first battle.

While disrupting the Japanese army's offensive rhythm, it was actually also a show for the British and American international community to see. After all, this war was fought in the north, and no matter how many Chinese died, the British and Americans might not bother to take a look.

Although it sounds humiliating, Shanghai was indeed not just Shanghai for the Chinese during this period.

The British Concession, the French Concession, and the International Settlement were all watched by many foreigners. Moreover, the interests of these European and American powers were all in Shanghai. If something was happening right under their noses, they would be forced to pretend not to see it.

He injures himself by 10,000 men just so that Britain and the United States can accompany him in losing 800 men. Only when Britain, the United States and other powers have lost these 800 men first, will he be able to ask for assistance later.

Of course, as I said before, it would be perfect if we could win this battle.

Although, due to a certain person's various micro-manipulations, the tactics can indeed be called rubbish, and the command is extremely chaotic. In one battle, the commander was changed at the last minute four times.

The previous commander was dismissed without even knowing it, and the soldiers on the front line had no idea who their commander was. The various orders were contradictory, completely exposing the problems at the Chinese military command system level.

But Zheng Yi still felt that this was understandable. After all, strictly speaking, this was the first battle fought by the Chinese army as a single country.
Everyone was independent of each other before, so if they could cooperate well during the first run-in, that would be a miracle.

No matter how much he complained about the tactics, it did not prevent him from recognizing the strategy of this battle.

Since the strategy is correct and the national army has made preparations for an all-out war of resistance, whether it is China or Japan, a three-year-old child knows that a war is inevitable between the two countries, so what are we waiting for?

Do we have to wait for Japan to take action first?

Just for this little bit of international recognition, just for the sake of being right?
If someone takes action first, doesn’t that mean they are ready?
Facts? Truth?
The truth reported by the media is the truth.

What the people believe is the fact.

It doesn't really matter who started it first.

Even if European and American journalists in Shanghai took the initiative to clarify the matter to the Japanese army afterwards, it would not matter. At most, it would only be considered a controversy about the matter and would not cause any uproar.

Let's take a step back and say that even if someone believes that China was the first to take action.

So what? Zheng Yi still holds Chinese citizenship after all.

You Japanese shot and killed the pride of us Chinese, our greatest scientist and entrepreneur in public. What's wrong with me hitting you?

What international reputation? No matter how impressive it is, compared with the assassination attempt on the Nobel Prize, what does it matter?
A rib was sacrificed to gain the initiative in the war and to give the national army the right to urinate and defecate at will on the moral high ground.

It’s worth it.

Why is it not worth it?
The so-called international public opinion can actually be guided.

Moreover, he really needs a painful tactic to impose gasoline sanctions on Japan, and he needs the understanding and support of his partners.

As we were talking, we suddenly heard a soft knock on the door. A sexy and beautiful nurse with blonde hair, blue eyes, a graceful figure, big blue eyes and skin as white as snow came in with a tray and wearing high heels.

"Mr. Zheng, let me check your brace and give you an anti-inflammatory shot."

"Ok."

After saying that, the beautiful nurse reached out to unbutton Zheng Yi's shirt, bent down to check the bandage, and deliberately exposed two large lumps of softness in front of Zheng Yi's eyes. Her hands were not very honest when no one was paying attention.

"Mr. Zheng, when we change the bandages, should we let the family members go out first?"

Zheng Yi: "Are you here simply to seduce me, or are you a Soviet spy? If you are here to seduce me, then there's no need. My ribs are broken, and I'm not interested in doing that kind of thing. It's also inconvenient for me to move. I don't like being passive.

If you are a Soviet spy, you can just say whatever you want to say. There is no need to betray them. These are my most trusted family members."

(End of this chapter)