A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

Commander Gui was happy to be a hands-off manager. The training of new recruits, the joint tactical training of infantry and armored troops were all complicated and the endless stream of situations kept Song Hongfei extremely busy.

In addition, Song Hongfei already held multiple positions, serving as an instructor or advisor for the Ministry of Military Affairs' Ordnance Department, the Central Military Academy, the Transportation and Logistics School, and the Army University. He also had to give lectures at various units from time to time. The Ordnance Department's research on new weapons and ballistics was inseparable from his participation, and his daily schedule was packed.

Song Hongfei didn't even go home to Shanghai for the Spring Festival. Firstly, the brigade's new recruit training continued during the holiday. Secondly, most of the regimental, battalion, and company-level officers of his age in the Third Regiment had families, and with their demanding training schedules, they rarely had time to reunite with their families. Many officers wanted to go home to spend the Spring Festival with their loved ones. Song Hongfei, considerate of his subordinates, tried his best to arrange for others to go home to visit their families, while he, as the unit's commanding officer, remained on duty.

The mother, Shen Jinying, was both disappointed and disheartened that her son was not coming home for the Spring Festival. She couldn't help but complain, "Now that he's become a regimental commander, he doesn't even have time to come back and see his parents."

“He said on the phone that the brigade was expanding and he was in charge of new recruit training, so he couldn’t leave.” Father Song Ziyu chuckled. “Besides, he only came back for half a year and became a regimental commander. It’s not good for him to be a hands-off manager. He has to do more for the army and let those with families go back to spend more time with their families. Hongfei has grown up and he is very thoughtful. You don’t need to worry too much.”

Shen Jinying complained, "The army, the army, they don't come home for New Year's Day, and they don't even come home for the Spring Festival, which is a rare day off. They can't just ignore their families."

However, when Song Ziyu brought up family matters, Shen Jinying, who was determined to marry off Song Hongfei, became very enthusiastic again.

She scolded playfully, "You only know that others have families, but don't you know that you don't have one either? We had already agreed with Mrs. Liang that we would arrange for him to meet the Liang family's daughter when he came back for the Spring Festival. Now that he's suddenly not coming back, I'm afraid people will misunderstand. How am I supposed to explain this to Mrs. Liang?"

Song Ziyu chuckled and said, "Mrs. Liang? Which Liang family?"

He truly let go of everything for his son, allowing him to make his own decisions, and never interfered in the matter.

Shen Jinying was furious and said, "I say, is this how a father should act? You never care about your son's marriage. I think you're the one who's just washing your hands of the matter!"

Song Ziyu seemed to suddenly realize something: "Oh, the Liang family. Hmm, the Liang family's daughter is quite nice, a good girl! Graceful, gentle, virtuous, and well-educated."

Seeing that Song Ziyu was quite satisfied with the Liang family's daughter, Shen Jinying was overjoyed and said, "Of course she's a good girl. I think they're a perfect match. We've already made arrangements with the Liang family, but since Hongfei isn't coming back, I was worried about how to bring it up with them."

Song Ziyu added, "But what does Hongfei think? Let him make his own decision."

Shen Jinying suddenly felt like kicking Song Ziyu to death.

After a while, Shen Jinying said, "If he doesn't want to come back, he doesn't have to. How about our whole family goes to Jinling for the Spring Festival?"

“During holidays, only sons come home to see their fathers. How can a father go to see his son?” Song Ziyu chuckled again. “Our family’s influence is different. If we go, the entire government will treat us differently, which will inevitably make things difficult for them. That wouldn’t be good for Hongfei either. He’s grown up. Let him explore more on his own. A man’s ambition lies in all directions. He should make the most of his talents.”

"Alright, alright, you've got it all figured out. How did my son end up with a father like you who only cares about shirking responsibility!" But after thinking about it, Shen Jinying felt that what Song Ziyu said seemed to make some sense, and said, "If you're not going, I'll go by myself, okay?"

Seeing her parents bickering for so long, Song Siqi, the younger sister, chuckled to herself. Hearing her mother say this, she came up and hugged her mother's arm, saying, "Mom, I'll go with you. I want to see my brother too."

Shen Jinying gently touched Song Siqi's pretty face and said happily, "Yes, that's my good daughter. Let's go together! Let your father spend the New Year here by himself."

Song Ziyu could only laugh silently.

Song Hongfei discovered that Yu Dawei, the director of the Ordnance Department, was also so busy that he wished he could be in two places at once.

Yu Dawei spared no effort in pushing the Ordnance Bureau to carry out a comprehensive overhaul of the national ordnance industry. Nearly 20 existing ordnance factories underwent large-scale renovation, expansion, and upgrading. The ordnance industry was booming, and its backward appearance was completely transformed.

The Ordnance Bureau established various ordnance research institutions, among which the Ballistics Research Institute, located in Langshan, Tangshan Town, on the eastern outskirts of Nanjing, devoted itself to the comprehensive research and testing of the internal and external ballistics, firing table compilation, and propellant of the new firearms designed by Song Hongfei and various artillery imported from Europe, America, Russia and other countries.

The Ordnance Department also built an artillery firing range in the Xiaba area of ​​Baguazhou on the opposite side of Mufu Mountain, taking advantage of local conditions. When the armored cavalry battalion of the Training Corps and various infantry units were stationed at the Yanziji training ground on Mufu Mountain, they often crossed the southern branch of the Yangtze River to conduct infantry-artillery coordination training with the Baguazhou artillery firing range.

One of the most confidential tasks of the Ballistics Research Institute was to calculate and verify the "intermediate power ammunition" and weapon family designed by Song Hongfei. This required a lot of mathematical calculations. At Song Hongfei's suggestion, the Ordnance Department made full use of Song Hongfei's computer research results at MIT and established a computer research and development team.

Following the "small steps, quick progress" approach, the Ordnance Department's computer retained the mechanical storage portion, while implementing the computation and control components using relays. It was a semi-mechanical, semi-relay electromechanical special-purpose computer, initially designed for calculus calculations and solving linear equations.

During that period, China and European and American countries had increasingly close exchanges and cooperation in science and technology, industry, and arms industry, which continued to develop well. China closely followed the international advanced level in the research of light weapons, ballistics, and computer technology.

Yu Dawei, the director of the Ordnance Department, made outstanding contributions to the modernization and armament of the Chinese army. He quickly became a thorn in the side of the Japanese intelligence agencies and was regarded as a key target that could not be ignored.

Since the January 28 Incident and the Great Wall Resistance, Japan has intensified its intelligence gathering efforts in the southeastern Shanghai-Nanjing-Hangzhou region of China for several years, dispatching a large number of intelligence agents to infiltrate and spy through various channels.

Although the establishment of the Ordnance Department's Ballistics Research Institute was extremely secretive, it had already been discovered by the infiltrated Japanese intelligence agencies.

The head of the Shanghai-based intelligence agency, Kageyama Yoshiaki, has been in a very bad mood lately. The intelligence department's intelligence gathering operations against the Training Corps and the Armored Corps have been thwarted recently, which has greatly angered the General Staff Headquarters, which has severely reprimanded the Shanghai-based intelligence agency.

To avoid unnecessary interference and conflict, all spies in this special operation were uniformly guided by the Shanghai-based intelligence agency under the Army. The General Staff felt they had been ridiculed by other intelligence systems, especially by the naval intelligence department also stationed in Shanghai, which had been openly and subtly mocking them. The Army and Navy had always been at odds with each other, and they couldn't swallow this humiliation.

Kagesa Yoshiaki was reprimanded by the General Staff Headquarters and felt he had lost face. It was one thing to be laughed at by other intelligence agencies—everyone makes mistakes sometimes—but it would be serious if his superiors lost faith in his work and abilities because of this.

Enraged, Kagesa Yoshiaki turned around and summoned Inukai Ken, the team leader, and berated him: "Inukai-kun, the previous phase of the operation yielded no useful results and instead resulted in heavy losses. It was a complete failure! The Second Bureau of the General Staff is extremely dissatisfied with this. As the team leader of this special operation, you are responsible for this."

"Hai!"

Kenjiro Inukai was given a thorough dressing-down by Yoshiaki Kagesa, but he still maintained a respectful demeanor on his face. In his heart, however, he was cursing Yoshiaki Kagesa inwardly: "That bastard! You were the one who devised the plan and instructions. We were just carrying it out. The operation failed and you got reprimanded by the military, so you're taking it out on me to balance things out!"

Kageyama Tadaaki said, "With the Imperial Holy War imminent, the General Staff wants to see the results of the Shanghai intelligence agencies' work. They have specially allowed us to take all necessary measures if we cannot break through, in order to demonstrate the military might of the Imperial Army!"

Kenjiro Inukai felt a chill run down his spine and took all necessary measures, which in fact meant physically eliminating the inhabitants.

Ken Inukai thought to himself, "Intelligence is a high-IQ game that is conducted covertly. Fighting and killing are already a bad strategy, and the other side will retaliate in kind, which would lead to bloodshed. Not to mention that in a non-war state between two countries, assassination will only be despised by all countries."

Kageyama Yoshiaki added, "Next, you need to come up with a practical and effective action plan. Operation codename: Purple Sun!"

"Hai!"

Military orders are absolute and leave no room for negotiation. Even if superiors take risks, soldiers have no choice but to obey unconditionally.

Kenjiro Inukai cursed inwardly, "What a cunning old fox. If he succeeds, he gets credit, but if he messes up, he'll probably make me the scapegoat."

Tangshan is surrounded by rolling hills, resembling a dragon in flight, with few villages and residents in the surrounding area.

Whenever Song Hongfei went to the Ballistics Research Institute to conduct research, give lectures, or use computers, the Ordnance Department would always send a special person and car to pick him up and drop him off.

One weekend, Song Hongfei came to the Langshan Ballistics Research Institute to conduct research on firearms and ballistics design.

Song Hongfei told Yu Dawei about the rampant enemy espionage activities during this period.

"Everyone knows that the Japanese pirates have the wolfish ambition to covet our country." Yu Dawei sighed inwardly. "I also learned about your multiple captures of spies in Mufu Mountain. The enemy's infiltration is severe, and we must be on guard! The Military Commission also attaches great importance to this and has instructed the Ballistics Institute to implement the strictest security and anti-spy measures. As you have seen, we have strengthened security both inside and outside. The Military Intelligence Bureau's Special Service Department has even sent inspectors for this purpose."

"That's good. Being prepared is the best policy," Song Hongfei mused.

Yu Dawei's expression also turned serious. He said, "The Military Commission has given special instructions that only a few people can access the core secrets, and I will personally control the most crucial parts."

In the afternoon, after finishing most of the day's work, Song Hongfei walked out of the ballistics research institute's office building and down the steps to his car parked in the small square.

Wei Dayong, the regimental guard staff officer who accompanied him in the car, said to him: "I went outside for a smoke this afternoon and took a nap in the car. I found two people with tools tinkering with several vehicles for a while. They were very surprised when they found me in this car. They claimed to be inspectors from the Special Service Station in Tangshan, and they left in a hurry without continuing the inspection. It's quite suspicious."

Duan Peng, the driver from the ballistics research institute who was in charge of picking up and dropping off Song Hongfei, muttered, "The inspectors from the Special Service Department are checking the vehicle? That's strange. Vehicle checks are always handled by designated personnel, and the security department and our driver team must be present."

The speaker is unintentional and the listener is interested.

Song Hongfei's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "When? Which car was moved?"

“About half an hour ago,” Wei Dayong pointed to a row of cars parked nearby, “just the two in the middle. They saw me and left.”

“That’s Director Yu’s car!” Duan Peng said.

Song Hongfei looked around and saw that the car in the middle was just enough to block the sentry's view.

"There's a problem. Why were only the two middle vehicles inspected? It's just a pretense, a cover-up! Report this to the station immediately!"

The ballistics research institute's security personnel and guards immediately conducted a thorough inspection of the vehicle. Everyone was shocked to discover that the vehicle's braking system had been tampered with!

Descending from the ballistics research institute halfway down Langshan Mountain, the mountain road is winding and steep, with several cliffs and deep ravines along the way. If you can't stop while going downhill, the consequences would be unimaginable!

Song Hongfei was very glad that his subordinates happened to be there and were very vigilant.

He said to Yu Dawei, "I've looked at the terrain. The enemy agents are taking advantage of the fact that the sentries' line of sight is blocked. I think it would be best if Commander Yu's car were parked in a designated spot where it's within the sentry's line of sight from now on."

Yu Dawei recalled the Military Commission's report about the Military Intelligence Bureau recently uncovering several moles lurking within its ranks, and nodded with a grim expression: "A fortress is most easily breached from within; no matter how much you guard against it, it's impossible to completely prevent it."

The highest levels of the Military Commission were furious. Boss Dai of the Special Service Department was severely reprimanded. Upon returning, Boss Dai took the reprimand he had just received back and used it on his subordinates, ordering a thorough investigation.

The Special Service quickly discovered that the two inspectors stationed at Langshan had been bribed by Japanese spies and were plotting to assassinate key figures who had made outstanding contributions to China's military buildup.

This was "Operation Purple Sun," a secret service operation based in Shanghai!