Newborn 1927

On May 3rd, early in the morning, gunfire shattered the tranquility of Jinan. Without Yang Jiefang's orders, Chu Shiwu immediately sent men out to investigate. The men returned quickly, reporting, "The Japanese soldiers have started killing again. An elderly farmer who came into town to sell vegetables was shot dead on the spot, and some citizens who went out to buy vegetables were also attacked."

Although he had a premonition, Yang Jiefang was still furious. He ordered his men to continue monitoring the situation and sent someone to contact Yan Donglai, asking him to try to gather information from within the enemy ranks. Yang Jiefang sensed that the Japanese were about to make a bigger move. Yan Donglai sent someone to report first; Yang Jiefang had just dispatched his men when Yan Donglai's men arrived. The Volunteer Corps had received orders from the headquarters of the Japanese Sixth Division to mobilize and strengthen the protection of overseas Chinese. This meant allowing the Volunteer Corps to continue its misdeeds. It was clearly impossible for Yan Donglai to completely control those Japanese ronin and prevent them from committing atrocities. Yan Donglai's idea was to simply eliminate those ronin. After much consideration, Yang Jiefang instructed Yan Donglai to record all the crimes committed by those men and to leave them alone for the time being.

At 9:00 AM, the Japanese army launched a surprise attack on the Northern Expeditionary Army, which was caught completely off guard and suffered heavy casualties. ... (omitted)

At this point, sending people out to gather intelligence was too risky, and any information obtained would only be superficial. Yang Jiefang decided to go out himself, posing as Ogasawara, to the Japanese headquarters. The Japanese headquarters was in a flurry of activity; Division Commander Fukuda Hikosuke and Chief of Staff Kuroda, among others, had no time to receive him, but they didn't stop him from entering either. Once inside, Yang Jiefang spoke with several seemingly less busy staff officers to gather information. He learned that the Japanese offensive was not going well, and there had been some casualties. Fortunately, the Northern Expeditionary Army was relatively restrained, only defending and not attacking; if they had launched a full-scale attack, wiping out the Japanese would have been no problem.

As noon approached, the Japanese army dared not continue fighting. Unwilling to retreat in such a half-hearted manner, they decided to send Sasaki as a special envoy to negotiate with the Northern Expeditionary Army. Upon hearing this, Yang Jiefang requested to go along, and was granted permission.

…(omitted)

On the way back to the Japanese headquarters with Sasaki, Yang Jiefang witnessed Japanese soldiers rampaging through the area, indiscriminately shooting Chinese people in their path. Some soldiers even stormed into civilian houses, killing the men and raping the women. Then, they looted the houses and left. Yang Jiefang suppressed his rage and secretly vowed to annihilate this beastly division.

On this day, five thousand Japanese soldiers indiscriminately massacred Chinese people in Jinan. Fifty thousand Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers inside and outside the city were ordered not to resist, and could only watch or wait to be killed. Yang Jiefang stayed at the Japanese headquarters, where he could learn more information. It wasn't until 9 pm that the bustling city of Jinan gradually returned to silence. Only then did Yang Jiefang leave the Japanese headquarters, preparing to return to his general store. As he walked, a sudden burst of gunfire caught his attention. He clearly remembered that the gunfire came from the Northern Expeditionary Army's negotiation office. A bad premonition welled up in his heart, and Yang Jiefang rushed over. He pushed open the door and looked inside, and was stunned.

A squad of over fifty Japanese soldiers had already killed all of the dozen or so staff members of the Foreign Affairs Office. These staff members had their hands tied behind their backs, four to a row. They were clearly shot without any resistance. Since ancient times, it has been customary not to kill envoys in war, yet the Japanese soldiers were shooting unarmed diplomats. Yang Jiefang couldn't help but shout, "Baka! They were just diplomats! Why did you do this?"

The leading officer had met Yang Jiefang at headquarters and knew he was of high status, so he quickly came over to explain, "We are acting on orders from the division commander." He then showed a massacre order signed by Fukuda Hikosuke.

Yang Jiefang only had a small special forces squad with him, while the opposing side had more than fifty people. In a head-on battle, he really wasn't confident he could annihilate them all in one fell swoop. Yang Jiefang took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and said, "If this gets out, it will bring shame to the Imperial Army. You all leave immediately. Leave this to the Volunteer Corps. If anyone asks about it later, just say that the Volunteer Corps acted without authorization and that it has nothing to do with the Imperial Army."

The officer hesitated for a moment, then quickly agreed, saying, "Then I'll leave it to you!" He then led the soldiers away swiftly.

The special forces soldiers carefully examined the area and quickly spotted a survivor. The man hadn't been shot and was pinned beneath his comrade's body. The soldiers quickly untied him. Yang Jiefang approached and asked, "I'm Chinese, tell me what happened?"

Upon hearing that he spoke Chinese, the man replied, "I am Zhang Hanru, an officer from the Negotiation Department. These Japanese soldiers searched this place under the pretext of searching for weapons and ammunition. We are a diplomatic mission; where would we get weapons? They are clearly here to find a reason to kill us. Director Cai understands Japanese and has translated their words for us."

Through Zhang Hanru's account, Yang Jiefang understood what had happened. The Japanese used various pretexts to harass the diplomats, but Cai Gongshi argued forcefully, preventing them from finding an excuse. However, a robber determined to kill will not stop simply because there is no pretext. In the end, the true nature of the executioner was revealed. Cai Gongshi heard a Japanese officer read Fukuda Hikosuke's order and knew that the Japanese had long harbored murderous intent. Having come this far, he was helpless and asked everyone to uphold their principles and die for their country.

The Japanese soldiers first struck Cai Gongshi with rifle butts, then cut off his ears and forced him to kneel. Cai Gongshi refused to kneel, so the Japanese soldiers smashed his knees with rifle butts. Cai Gongshi stubbornly refused to kneel, loudly denouncing the Japanese soldiers for their beastly behavior that disregarded diplomatic protocol. The Japanese soldiers then plunged bayonets into Cai Gongshi's mouth, ripping off his tongue. Cai Gongshi still refused to submit, and his nose was cut off, his eyes gouged out, before he was finally killed by bayonets.

Zhang Linshu, the general affairs officer of the negotiation office, and Wang Bingtan, the secretary, were deeply grieved by the brutal murder of Cai Gongshi and cursed the Japanese army. Enraged, the Japanese soldiers cut off their noses and ears, severed their hands, and finally killed them with bayonets. Then, the Japanese opened fire with machine guns. Zhang Hanru fell to the ground upon hearing the gunfire and was pinned down by his comrades, becoming the sole survivor. It was this final gunshot that drew Yang Jiefang's attention.

Yang Jiefang immediately said, "Go to the city defense headquarters right away and make sure the news is made public! Leave this to us." Zhang Hanru agreed and fled under cover of darkness.

Then, Yang Jiefang instructed everyone to bury the deceased separately in the courtyard, and to carefully record each person's characteristics and burial location so that the bodies could be retrieved and reburied later.

Back at the grocery store, Yang Jiefang immediately drafted several telegrams and sent them to various units. He was deeply disappointed with the performance of the Northern Expeditionary Army; to eliminate this beastly force, he had to rely on himself. Regardless of whether it would provoke a full-scale war with Japan, this battle had to be fought.

Yang Jiefang first ordered the First Division to be ready to enter the city and fight at any time. However, it wasn't easy for the First Division to enter the city. They had recently fought a battle with the Northern Expeditionary Army, and were surrounded by enemies, with no allies. If no other troops were to hold them back, the First Division, with its fighting strength, could easily annihilate the more than 5,000 Japanese soldiers. Therefore, they needed to wait for a suitable opportunity.

In Yantai, the Japanese army only had one understrength regiment, which Shi Zhongcheng could easily handle.

The Japanese army in Qingdao numbered five or six thousand, a force not to be underestimated. The Second Division under Bai Lang was originally missing a regiment, but Yang Jiefang ordered the Iron Hammer Unit of the Fourth Regiment to return to Qingdao and brought the artillery regiment with him. Adding to this the two battalions led by Gao Huilan, as well as the security brigade and marines she had persuaded to defect, they held a decisive numerical advantage.

The First Fleet of the Beiyang Navy was also stationed in Qingdao, commanded by Shen Honglie and deputy commander Ling Xiao, both of whom had studied in Japan. Although they were also Chinese soldiers, they could not be relied upon. On the contrary, one had to be wary of them stabbing one in the back. Yang Jiefang then telegraphed Guo Shousheng, ordering him to secretly lead four S-class destroyers to Qingdao. This would provide fire support to Bailang and also deter the First Fleet of the Beiyang Navy.

After issuing the order, Yang Jiefang wrote an article detailing Cai Gongshi's assassination and telegraphed it to Xu Yuezhi, the director of the political department, instructing him to publicize it to the world through radio and newspapers. Having done all this, it was nearly dawn, and Yang Jiefang finally managed to take a short nap.

…(omitted)

On May 6th, the Northern Expeditionary Army had largely withdrawn from Jinan. The withdrawal was not smooth, as they were relentlessly pursued by the Japanese army, suffering heavy losses. A large number of Northern Expeditionary Army soldiers were captured. Taking advantage of this, Yang Jiefang had Yan Donglai request the task of guarding prisoners of war. He also sent Gui Liqiu with the remaining special forces members to infiltrate the volunteer corps. Yan Donglai organized them into a separate unit, avoiding contact with actual Japanese ronin. He assigned them the task of guarding prisoners of war and arming themselves with captured weapons. The chaos in the city provided them with an opportunity, preventing them from arousing the suspicion of the Japanese army.

On May 7th, the Northern Expeditionary Army forces around Jinan also withdrew one after another. Yang Jiefang knew it was his turn to step in. He immediately ordered the 1st Division to advance towards Jinan. He had already drafted the battle plan in the past two days. The division's artillery battalion would provide fire support, the 1st and 2nd Regiments would be deployed in two separate routes to be escorted by special forces and secretly enter the city to fight, the 3rd Regiment would remain outside the city as a reserve, and the cavalry regiment would be responsible for perimeter security. Yantai and Qingdao also mobilized simultaneously, requiring all units to reach their designated positions and be ready for battle by the evening of May 7th.

At 5:03 AM on May 8th, Yang Jiefang issued the general attack order, and the People's Liberation Army launched surprise attacks on the Japanese army in Jinan, Qingdao, and Yantai. Following Yang Jiefang's instructions, Xu Yuezhi issued a nationwide telegram after the battle began: The People's Liberation Army vows to defend Shandong to the death and resolutely annihilate the invading Japanese invaders.

A PLA regiment typically has between 2300 and 2500 men. The combined strength of the two main PLA regiments was roughly equivalent to the number of Japanese troops in Jinan. However, in terms of firepower, the PLA's two main regiments possessed a superior number of artillery pieces compared to the Japanese. Furthermore, with the added firepower of the divisional artillery battalions, they held an absolute advantage in firepower.

The Japanese army never dreamed that Chinese troops would dare to launch a preemptive attack, and they were completely stunned. It must be admitted that the Japanese army's combat skills were quite high; after the sudden attack, they only experienced a brief period of chaos before quickly switching to a defensive posture. However, in terms of tactical proficiency, the People's Liberation Army, under the rigorous training of Yang Jiefang, the time traveler, was superior.

Yang Jiefang had already taught them how to wage urban warfare. Last year, in the battle against Fang Yongchang, Zhao Changming's regiment easily captured Yidu County, which was defended by a brigade. The People's Liberation Army relied on its superior firepower and tactics.

Yang Jiefang hadn't been idle these past few days; he had thoroughly analyzed the Japanese army's firepower configuration. The first wave of fire would prioritize destroying their artillery positions. Both sides were using Type 38 rifles, making them evenly matched in terms of light weapons. After destroying the enemy's artillery, relying on their artillery advantage, the next step was to destroy their fortifications and advance step by step.