A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

These days, Song Hongfei stares at the map whenever he has nothing to do, seemingly lost in thought and preoccupied.

Gui Shuaizhen couldn't help but be very curious. He knew that Song Hongfei had a habit of staring at military maps and sand tables whenever he had nothing to do. People who knew him well had seen this so often that they were used to it.

Gui Shuaizhen wasn't curious about Song Hongfei's occupational habit of staring at the map again; what puzzled him was that Song Hongfei had always given the impression of being a calm, composed, and steady general. He had never seen Song Hongfei so distracted before.

Gui Shuaizhen couldn't help but ask Song Hongfei if he had encountered any difficulties.

Song Hongfei hesitated for a moment. After all, if this matter were to be revealed, it would be too shocking. People would probably think of him as a prophet who could predict the future.

Song Hongfei considered his words carefully before saying, “Our cooperation with European countries is progressing smoothly. Although the arms purchase from Germany is disguised as a business transaction, it certainly cannot be hidden from the island nation’s intelligence agencies. They certainly will not sit idly by and watch us grow stronger. However, apart from protesting, the Japanese have not taken any other excessive countermeasures, which is very inconsistent with their narrow-minded and vindictive nature.”

Gui Shuaizhen pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "Continue with your line of thought."

Song Hongfei drew on the map, marking the situation in North China, and said: "Since spring and summer, the Japanese garrison in North China has frequently used military exercises as a pretext to provoke and probe in the Fengtai and Wanping areas. This is their usual trick. We must never forget the lessons of the September 18 Incident."

While at West Point, Song Hongfei conducted in-depth research on the Japanese army's actions during the September 18 Incident. Under his leadership, every officer in the training corps of the Training Corps conducted detailed analysis and research on the September 18 Incident and carried out numerous sand table exercises simulating offensive and defensive transitions, enabling each officer to understand and master the Japanese army's combat characteristics.

Gui Shuaizhen's expression turned serious; he knew that what Song Hongfei said was true.

In recent years, the situation in North China has been turbulent. The Japanese garrison has been continuously expanding its troop strength, infiltrating the region for a long time, and constantly making offensive moves. Before the delegation departed, the Japanese garrison had already made frequent moves, and every senior general was naturally aware of this intelligence.

By this time, the Japanese army had occupied Fengtai, and since spring and summer, they had been conducting continuous targeted offensive exercises against the Chinese garrison in the Wanping City and Lugou Bridge areas, displaying rampant provocation and sinister intentions. In addition to probing our defenses, they also intended to seize opportunities to nibble away at our defense zones, posing a serious threat to the 29th Army of the Chinese garrison.

The Japanese army repeated its old tricks, deliberately creating incidents, just like its tactics during the September 18th Incident. The 29th Army, having learned from the Northeast Army's experience, remained highly vigilant, taking necessary precautions and implementing strict defenses. Tensions were high, and conflict seemed inevitable.

"What are you two studying now?"

At this moment, Deputy Special Envoy and Minister of the Navy Chen Houfu saw the two men staring at a Chinese military map and discussing the current situation, so he came over.

Upon learning the details, he immediately felt the tension. As a senior general, how could Chen Houfu not know about the Japanese island nation's schemes and the Japanese army's practices? The painful humiliation of the "September 18th Incident" was etched into the hearts of every Chinese soldier.

"Will the Japanese take advantage of my incomplete preparations and risk everything?" This was a heavy thought that weighed on my mind.

Song Hongfei said solemnly, “The Japanese army is generally characterized by arrogance, conceit, brutality and extremism. The success of the September 18 Incident has fueled their reckless madness. These people have become obsessed and may go astray at any time.”

"The situation in North China is deteriorating day by day, and we must take this as a warning." Chen Houfu said thoughtfully, "Time waits for no one, so we should follow the strategy set by Minister Kong before his departure. As long as we have the goods in stock, we don't need to wait for the arsenal to produce new ones. We can just draw them from the equipment that the German troops have already been equipped with. The focus of our work going forward is to urge the German side to deliver and ship the goods as soon as possible."

Gui Shuaizhen and Song Hongfei both nodded in agreement. The situation was critical, and every second counted, lest things change and something went wrong.

Kong Yongzhi’s special envoy had already gone to the United States to meet with Roosevelt and discuss loan assistance and cooperation with the United States. Before leaving, the delegation members discussed and unanimously agreed that the German side should deliver the goods and start shipping as soon as possible.

"They'd rather die than live in comfort! They'll find a way to catch you off guard! First, they'll lure you into cooking, then suddenly they'll attack. They've been using this underhanded tactic all the way from Northeast China to North China!"

Song Hongfei stared at the map, his eyes seemingly blatant with fury: "On our own soil, we allow the enemy to blatantly provoke and deliberately cause trouble, yet we cannot strike first. We can only endure humiliation and passively respond, watching them gradually erode our territory, waiting for them to make the first move. This is a disgrace to the military!"

Gui Shuaizhen was taken aback. Although what Song Hongfei said was true and, from a military perspective, was indeed the best course of action, his words also implied that he was making irresponsible remarks about his superiors and national policies. Gui Shuaizhen felt that if these words were to spread, it would have a bad influence, and he was about to remind Song Hongfei.

Navy Minister and First-Class Admiral Chen Houfu sighed and said, "For a century, we have been poor and weak, beset by internal and external troubles. When a country is weak, it is bullied and has to rely on others. If we make the slightest mistake, we will fall into a dilemma."

He was particularly acutely aware of the pain of a weak navy, and was deeply saddened, saying: "Our navy is weak. Even if our naval officers and soldiers have the will to fight to the death for our country, they are not capable of fighting against it. I am ashamed to be the leader of the navy and feel deeply ashamed of being powerless to fight! The only way is to maintain the situation with sacrifice and courage. The later the military conflict, the better, so as to strengthen our own strength as soon as possible."

General Chen's words were true. Faced with a dilemma both internally and externally, the top leadership instructed the frontline troops not to provoke trouble, not to be afraid of trouble, to respond to challenges, but not to seek war.

Song Hongfei remained silent, but his heart was filled with indignation.

"Remember your grief and indignation today!" Chen Houfu said to Song Hongfei with emotion. "Responsibility and mission lie on the shoulders of us soldiers. We can only strive to improve ourselves. That day will come, and we will surely avenge our humiliation!"

Song Hongfei declared emphatically: "Never forget national humiliation! Always remember our mission!"

In the days that followed, members of the delegation worked separately to urge the German side to expedite the delivery.

In particular, Weng Yongni, the Secretary-General of the Mission, Minister of Economic Affairs, and Secretary-General of the Military Commission's Resources Committee, was extremely busy. In recent years, the Chinese government had been planning the construction of modern industry and transportation, and deeply felt the pain of being completely dependent on imported "foreign oil" due to the shortage of oil. In order to solve the urgent problem, it decided to develop the Yumen Oilfield in the Northwest on a large scale.

The Resources Committee purchased four advanced 1200-meter percussion drilling rigs and a batch of oil refining equipment. Dr. Weng Yongni, an outstanding geologist, devoted himself tirelessly to the inspection and shipment of the equipment. Due to the preciousness of ocean shipping capacity, Dr. Weng Yongni strongly requested that the equipment be transported as soon as possible.

It was these valuable pieces of equipment that enabled the development of the Yumen Oilfield, alleviating the oil shortage to some extent and making an indelible contribution to China's mechanized forces and future war victories.

The military team focused on urging the German side to draw active-duty equipment from troops in various regions as much as possible, and to load it directly onto ships after it passed inspection.

Before dawn, a secretary from the delegation hurried along, looking anxious, holding a briefing from the Chinese Embassy in Germany. He delivered a startling message: "Last night, the Japanese made their move! The 29th Army has already engaged them at Wanping and Lugou Bridge!"

The briefing, though brief, was like a powerful bombshell, stirring up outrage among the delegation members: On the night of July 7, the Japanese troops stationed in Fengtai, under the pretext of a night exercise, deliberately provoked us by claiming to be searching for lost soldiers and launched a brazen attack on our Wanping City and Lugouqiao defense areas. Our 37th Division of the 29th Army fought back fiercely and resisted stubbornly.

Someone quickly found a map to see where Wanping was, but was shocked to find that the map had been marked with a situation diagram. They were stunned. It was the masterpiece that Song Hongfei and Gui Shuaizhen had made when they discussed the situation a few days ago.

The incident shocked the world.

The Chinese government formulated a strategy to deal with the incident: not to yield, not to escalate, not to seek war, but to respond to war if necessary, and to strive for international intervention and mediation.

The Chinese delegation issued a statement condemning the Japanese invasion and lodged a protest with the German side, demanding that Germany intervene to mediate and stop the Japanese aggression.

The German high command was in an uproar. The commander with the mustache cursed the short-legged Japanese devils for being short-sighted and selfish. He said that their actions would push China into the arms of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union, and that his strategy of winning over China and Japan to contain the Soviet Union was going to fail.

The mustachioed commander is in a dilemma.

The commander's plan was to avoid offending either side and benefit from both. On the one hand, he still needed to obtain scarce strategic resources from China. On the other hand, he did not want the island nation to continue its aggression in China, damaging German interests there, nor did he want the island nation to become bogged down in war and suffer a significant loss of strength, thus losing its ability to contain the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union in the Far East.

After much deliberation, the head of state decided to step in and act as a mediator.

The head of state telegraphed the ambassador to China, Trautmann, and the ambassador to Japan, Dixon, to convey to the governments of both countries that Germany was willing to mediate for a ceasefire and the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two countries.

Japan and China held three "on-site negotiations" on July 9, 11 and 19.

However, the fanatical Japanese had no sincerity in negotiating. On the surface, they wanted to negotiate, but in reality, they were using the negotiations to buy more time and wait for reinforcements.

The two sides are locked in a stalemate on the front lines, with intermittent peace talks proving fruitless.

The Nationalist government sent an urgent telegram instructing Deputy Special Envoy and Navy Minister Chen Houfu to return to China immediately to oversee naval preparations for war.

Admiral Chen Houfu declared with righteous indignation: "As a soldier, it is my duty to defend the country. I have been holding back for a long time, and it is time to avenge this humiliation!"

Song Hongfei, who was well-versed in history, naturally knew that the situation was critical, the Yangtze River blockade had been put on the agenda by the National Government, and the tragic and heroic Battle of Jiangyin would eventually be recorded in history.

Everyone understood that a full-scale war was imminent.