Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 290 North China
At first, no one paid attention to the news from North China.

North China was so far away, and Shanghai newspapers were subject to media censorship, so the Japanese avoided broadcasting any good news about the enemy.

But the fight escalated too much.

The war correspondents immediately broke the news that the Communist army in North China had mobilized all its forces to counter the Japanese army's encirclement and suppression campaign, and that the Japanese army had dismantled the Zhengtai Railway, which was considered the lifeline of North China.

The Japanese army used this route to transport coal from the Jingxing Coal Mine in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, to Northeast China and mainland Japan. With this dismantling, the Japanese not only could not transport the coal they urgently needed to produce.

Moreover, the Japanese army's attempt to divide the anti-Japanese base areas in North China by using the Zhengtai Railway as a "pillar," highways as a "chain," and bunkers as a "lock" was thwarted.

Without railways and supplies, the Japanese army lost even its ability to move quickly.

It was precisely because of the dismantling of the railway that the Japanese and Communists clashed, and the telegrams sent to headquarters for help were completely ineffective.

By the time the Japanese reinforcements arrived in trucks and motorcycles, the Japanese troops at the bunker stronghold had already been slaughtered.

They didn't even know how many people the other side had.

While they were still completely confused, battles broke out on other enemy sides.

The radio station at the Japanese headquarters was like the lid of a boiling pot, constantly and restlessly vibrating.

Dozens, even hundreds, of calls and telegrams for help were received, and the command headquarters was in complete chaos. In an instant, the high-ranking staff officers at the command headquarters had no idea what was happening.

Feeling lost isn't the problem; the problem is feeling some fear.

this is too scary!

Why is there fighting everywhere?

Where did all these Communists come from?
The Japanese blockade line against the Communists in North China was ruthlessly torn apart.

The Communists acted swiftly and ruthlessly, destroying everything that could be destroyed, including railways, highways, and bridges. The tanks, artillery, and trucks that the Japanese army was so proud of were all turned into scrap metal.

Compared to the Eighth Route Army, which had been operating in North China for many years and was familiar with all sorts of strange terrains, the Japanese troops on foot suffered various ambushes and their losses far exceeded expectations.

In response, American newspapers gave extensive coverage to the Communist Party's surprise attack in North China, their writings conveying a sense of excitement and exhilaration.

So much so that Gu Yansheng, after reading the newspaper, wondered if this guy was a member of the American Communist Party.

It was their backer, the American arms dealer, who demanded that they write it this way.

This is to dampen China's recent sentiment regarding peace talks with Japan.

If you make peace, how will the arms dealers make money?

Once the news recorded by American war correspondents was published, newspapers in other countries followed suit with their own reports.

The Japanese forces could no longer be suppressed, and the public saw the news on a large scale. In teahouses, the voices of the anti-peace faction rose again.

"What peace are we talking about?"

"Who says you can't fight the Japanese? The Eighth Route Army is doing just fine, isn't they?"

"Why can't we fight?"

"The generals of the Nationalist government are afraid of death, and the upper echelons of the Nationalist government are greedy beyond measure. They are negotiating peace with the Japanese because they are afraid that if the fighting continues, they will lose their wealth and honor!"
Why did the Japanese choose to station troops in North China, and not in Nanjing or Shanghai? Who were they trying to keep out? Today you should understand: the Japanese were keeping out the Eighth Route Army!

They were afraid of the Eighth Route Army, not the Nationalist Army!
Chiang Kai-shek was single-mindedly focused on the civil war and wanted to slaughter the Eighth Route Army. I think Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese were in cahoots!

"That's right. I heard a few days ago that a New Fourth Army unit crossed the river to northern Jiangsu, and when the Nationalist army there found out, they came and shot them a few times."

Damn it, there are so many Japanese in northern Jiangsu, and they don't go to kill the Japanese. But when the New Fourth Army goes, they suddenly become brave. What a bunch of idiots! Bah!"

Zhou Mansion.

Gu Yansheng was called over, and Chen Gongbo was also there.

"Where did the Communist Party get so many soldiers? The newspapers say there are over 100,000 troops involved in the war." Minister Zhou frowned as he looked at the newspaper, deeply puzzled.

Chen Gongbo said, "As far as I know, Chiang Kai-shek approved a force of 4.5 for the Eighth Route Army, which consisted of three divisions, with each division having a quota of 1.5 men."

Later, because the Eighth Route Army had 80,000 men, the remaining 35,000 were kept as reserves.

However, these people do not receive a salary.

Although Chiang Kai-shek had been embezzling the Eighth Route Army's pay, these 35,000 men had never received any pay to begin with, and the original 45,000 were even shortchanged. So the Eighth Route Army couldn't afford to support its troops, hence the nickname "local Eighth Route Army."

If you say that North China had hundreds of thousands of troops, I think that's impossible; they simply didn't have that kind of financial resources.

If you say that there were over 100,000 people who participated in the war in North China, then now there are their people in Fujian, Shanghai, Zhejiang and other surrounding areas. In addition, they always have to send people to protect Yan'an. Wouldn't that be 200,000 to 300,000 people? Where did the money come from?

How is that possible?
I tend to think there's a lot of exaggeration involved. The Communist Party probably learned that Chongqing was negotiating with the Japanese and was essentially selling them out, and they panicked, so they wanted to create some noise to gain public support.

“What you said makes sense.” Minister Zhou nodded, looking at Gu Yansheng. “Do you think there are that many?”

This was a bit of a sore point. He and Chen Gongbo both came from the Communist Party, and it was hard for them to suddenly hear that the Communist Party had become so powerful.

The Wang Jingwei regime wasn't this powerful yet, but the Communist Party is already this powerful.

If they hadn't left, these troops would all be their soldiers.

“Possibly,” Gu Yansheng agreed. “I’ve heard that besides the official newspapers, there are people distributing leaflets printed by underground printing plants to promote resistance against Japan. It seems like the work of the Communist Party.”

What does the flyer say?

"They said they would fight the Japanese to the end, not negotiate with the invaders, that China would be peacefully reunified, and that we would achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, etc. Basically, they said they would continue to fight."

“It must be the Communists,” Chen Gongbo said confidently. “Tell No. 76 to have Li Shiqun investigate and arrest them.”

"Hey," Minister Zhou interrupted, "Why are you arresting them?"

"Aren't we going to arrest them? Printing such things is not good for us to control people's thoughts, and we are in a period of peace talks now." Chen Gongbo said, puzzled.

Minister Zhou chuckled, “Gongbo, once this happens, unless the Communist Party is wiped out, what peace talks are there?”
In the past, when it came to peace talks, if the Nationalist government said it wanted to make peace, and the people felt that they really couldn't win, then they would have to accept the peace talks, even if they had to swallow their pride.

Even if a Japanese man slept with his mother, he would still have to admit it.

But now the Communist Party has jumped out, fighting and doing propaganda, clearly telling the world that if the Nationalist government won't fight, they will; and if there's any talk of peace, forget it.

At a time like this, would the public still support the Nationalist government's peace talks?

At this point, if the Nationalist government dared to forcefully push for peace talks, believe it or not, plenty of people would join the Communist Party and turn around and take down both the Japanese and Chiang Kai-shek.

His mother was slept with; this is a blood feud!
If there were even the slightest possibility, who would let him off the hook?

Chen Gongbo pondered deeply, "It is indeed possible. Chiang Kai-shek is now in a difficult position. Moreover, if the situation continues to develop, Chiang Kai-shek will want to talk, but the Communists will not. In that case, the Japanese will sit on the sidelines and watch the two sides fight until they are both exhausted before making their move. Given Chiang Kai-shek's personality, he probably won't be able to sleep at night."

Should we keep them around to continue their propaganda?
Since peace talks are hopeless anyway, why not cause some trouble for Chiang Kai-shek?

"Hahahaha." Minister Zhou laughed loudly, "That's exactly right, we can't let Chiang Kai-shek's faction dominate."

"Understood." Chen Gongbo nodded in agreement.

"However, this incident has given me a wake-up call." Minister Zhou's smile faded. "No matter how much trouble the Communists cause in North China, it's none of our business. With the Japanese army in North China supporting us, even if the Communists turn the world upside down, they won't be able to get to us."

However, we still need to obtain intelligence.

We have no idea what's happening in North China right now.

More importantly, we knew nothing about the situation within the Communist Party in North China.

This won't do; it's like being blind.

“It’s not working well. We need to get the intelligence system up and running as soon as possible. It’s too slow.” Chen Gongbo said with dissatisfaction, “In principle, such war reports should be sent by telegram that same night, or at the very least, they should be on our desks the next day.”

But so far, No. 76 hasn't uttered a single word.

What is Li Shiqun up to?

“There’s no money. He told me that North China is vast and sparsely populated, and it would take a lot of money to establish an intelligence network. Where would we get that money now? So the 76th Division’s outposts are currently only located in the big cities of North China. Of course, we don’t know anything about the outside world.”

"In the city? This doesn't look like they're going to set up an intelligence station; it looks more like they're going to enjoy themselves," Chen Gongbo complained.

Minister Zhou frowned, feeling utterly deaf. It was so frustrating. But no money meant no money, and even a god couldn't help it. Fortunately, this matter wasn't urgent for the time being. As long as it was a war in North China, there was no rush.

Ding-ling-ling. Ding-ling-ling.

"Hello? Okay, I understand." Minister Zhou put down the phone and said to them, "Yingzuo is here."

"What is he here for?"

"Let's give an update on the situation."

After chatting for half an hour, Kageyama Yoshiaki's car drove in.

"Dean Chen and Minister Gu are here too?" Yingzuo Zhenzhao greeted them. "Then we can chat together."

I entered the living room and sat down.

"Is it about North China?" Chen Gongbo asked directly.

Kageyama nodded. "You've all heard about it. Let me tell you the details. This surprise attack by the Communist army in North China was unexpected."

They've actually developed so many army corps in North China, and they even launched a surprise attack. The General Staff analyzes that this is related to the recent peace talks.

"Does the Communist army really have over 100,000 troops?" Chen Gongbo still didn't believe it.

But Yingzu nodded, "It's possible, but nobody knows the exact number right now. Communication there is still disrupted, and the war is ongoing."

But don't worry, the North China Army will handle this matter.

"Are there really that many?" Chen Gongbo exclaimed in astonishment, his heart pounding with shock.

Minister Zhou also had a solemn expression.

Gu Yansheng randomly cloned their expressions.

Kagesa glanced around and decided to boost morale. The imperial prestige of the Great Japanese Empire must not be lost. "The number of people doesn't matter. The Communists chose to launch a surprise attack because they know they can't defeat us on the front lines. That's why they're so eager to cut off the railway lines and try to hinder our movement."

After the chaos of the surprise attack, all order will be restored, and once the railway is repaired, the Communist army will be utterly destroyed.

In addition, the General Headquarters decided to transfer the experienced Okamura Yasuji to North China to suppress the Communist army.

The three men nodded; it did indeed sound like they had quite a few tricks up their sleeves.

But everyone present was shrewd. In his eagerness to explain, Kagesa inadvertently revealed that Okamura Yasuji had been transferred to North China, which proved that the Japanese military was dissatisfied with the original North China Army.

The reason for the dissatisfaction was simple: the Japanese army suffered heavy losses and achieved very little in North China.

The imbalance between the two factors led the Japanese military to remove Tada Shun, who had only taken office as the commander of the North China Army the previous year.

Kagesa continued, "Besides reporting the situation, I've come here on behalf of the Expeditionary Army Command to request mission assistance from you, Mr. Zhou."

"which aspect?"

"Regarding public security, intelligence agencies have detected that recent remarks in Shanghai, Nanjing, and other places have included attacks on Japan and attempts to sabotage peace talks. Furthermore, anti-Japanese rhetoric has been continuously emerging, which has greatly damaged the foundation of our friendly relations with the Wang Jingwei government. This must be eliminated."

Minister Zhou, who was frowning, thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I'll have someone take care of it."

“Yes, there’s one more thing I need Mr. Zhou’s help with.” Yingzu nodded. “Because of the expansion of the war in North China, coal from several coal mines cannot be transported, so we need to requisition coal from North China to transport to Manchuria and other places.”

In addition, a batch of grain needs to be requisitioned for the war effort.

Minister Zhou frowned even more deeply. "A portion of the coal supply is already allocated to your military needs. Are you saying you're going to take our share too? What are we supposed to use then?"

Kagesa said in a deep voice, "That's true, but it's necessary for the war. There's no other way. I will try my best to coordinate and leave some for you to ensure the normal operation of important units. As for the civilian sales portion, we can only reduce it accordingly."

"What about grain? Haven't they been requisitioning it all along?"

"That's not enough. The General Staff suspects that the Communist army in North China may be planning to seize grain during the autumn harvest season by starting the war at this time. Even if they don't seize it, the continuation of the war will make it difficult to collect grain locally."

Therefore, grain needs to be transferred.

Minister Zhou looked at Gu Yansheng and said, "I remember you told me that the food shortage is already very serious?"

“Yes.” Gu Yansheng nodded. “The price of grain had increased six to eight times by last October. Ordinary people could no longer afford to eat. A rickshaw driver in the concession earned a month’s salary, which was far from enough to buy rice.”

If you're a rickshaw driver in the Chinese-controlled area, you have to work at least two jobs a day just to earn enough to barely fill your stomach. Of course, you don't eat rice; at least half of it is scraps.

Like dockworkers, they only get one meal a day; their wages are fixed, and they don't get an extra meal.

Minister Zhou looked at Yingzuo and said, "Look, things are already so difficult. How can we collect grain? If we continue collecting it like this, it will cause a huge mess."

Yingzu nodded. "I understand, but the situation in North China is also important, Mr. Zhou. I would appreciate your help with this matter."

"We can't help." Minister Zhou was firm when he needed to be, and spoke the truth. "Given the current situation, people are already on the verge of an emotional outburst. If we requisition grain again, they will break down, society will be in turmoil, and what will become of the economies of prosperous areas like Shanghai and Nanjing?"

This is putting the cart before the horse and losing the horse for the sake of small gains.

Kagesa, you need to think this over carefully. I can give you some coal, but not any food. Rebellions throughout history have always been caused by starvation.

You want me to control their thoughts, but you don't feed them. How can they listen to you?
Actually, you should do the opposite and tell them that the Imperial Army has shown mercy and given them rations; they would then follow you.

Yingzuo thought for a moment and sighed, "What you said makes sense. We can only ask Wang Kemin to think of another way to save the autumn harvest in North China."

"I'll leave the coal matter to you. I won't bother you any longer. You two talk, I'll be going now."

As soon as the man left, Minister Zhou started cursing, "I knew it was that old bastard Wang Kemin who came up with the idea. Since there's no grain in North China, Wang Kemin can't complete his mission, so he thought of asking us for grain. He's really good at scheming."

"You saw through Wang Kemin's tricks at a glance, Minister. It's fortunate that you rejected Yingzuo's request, otherwise this would have been a real disaster." Gu Yansheng's flattery was quite direct.

Minister Zhou smiled and said, "We can't just listen to the Japanese in everything. Our reasons are valid, and we should refuse when necessary."

"Gongbo, you should handle the thought control matters. You're suitable for that in the Legislative Yuan. Yansheng has some messy banking issues to deal with, so he really doesn't have time for that right now."

“Okay.” Chen Gongbo agreed readily. “I’m just a free man, I can do whatever I want.”

"What's there to be idle about? Those who are capable should do more work." Minister Zhou said with a smile as he saw the person off.

Leaving Gu Yansheng behind, he smiled and remarked, "I never imagined the Communist Party would actually have so many people now."

Gu Yansheng didn't understand what he meant. "That's because Wang Kemin is a nuisance and can't come here."

Minister Zhou shook his head and looked at Gu Yansheng, saying, "The Communist Party started with only 80,000 people, but now there are hundreds of thousands emerging on the North China battlefield. This is right under the noses of Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese."

I've been thinking about something lately: our army either comes from other countries or was brought in from Chongqing.

In terms of ability, they are average; in terms of loyalty, their orders are probably more effective than ours.

If this were an order from the Japanese, it would be like a royal decree to them.

"Yansheng, the new government still needs its own army; that's what makes us truly one of our own."

Gu Yansheng interjected, "Let's establish a military academy, like the Whampoa Military Academy in Chongqing, to cultivate our own elite forces from scratch. Would you be the principal?"

Minister Zhou laughed and said, "Mr. Wang should be the principal. What would it look like if I were to take the position? I can just be a part-time director."

“Find a place and recruit people.” Gu Yansheng nodded. “These are not major problems. We can also find some talent for instructors. As for funding, that will cost a lot of money.”

Everything costs money. Minister Zhou hissed and thought for a moment before saying, "Let's get started. Once the school is built and the staff is recruited, our bank should be established by then. The approval should come in time. If not, we can advance the funds first."

“Okay, Shanghai, right? Then I’ll find a place first, and then find an experienced person to come up with a systematic charter for running a school.”

Speaking of learning from the Whampoa Military Academy, Gu Yansheng remembered that both parties had many professional talents. He wondered if either side still had any interest in becoming teachers.

"Why would I need to find someone? I was a director at Huangpu." Minister Zhou laughed. "I'll provide the rules and regulations; you just need to take care of getting everything else in order."

(End of this chapter)