Republic of China: German-equipped divisions massacred as warlords guarded the nation's borders

Chapter 93 Twenty Warships Pressing In! The Envoy's Coup and Chen Zijun's Maniacal Laughter

The news spread like a plague.

In less than half a day, the whole of Shanghai knew about it.

The Japanese have arrived.

Moreover, it wasn't the harassing formation of three to five destroyers that came before.

There were more than twenty main warships!

Two battleships, each over 30,000 tons, arrived at once!

There are four heavy armored cruisers weighing over 10,000 tons each!

There were four light cruisers and more than ten destroyers of various types.

This is a standard offensive fleet!

The foreign firms on the Bund were in an uproar. The stock exchange hit its daily limit down within ten minutes of opening, and long queues formed outside major banks as people rushed to withdraw their money. Foreigners in the French Concession and the International Settlement began flocking to the docks to buy tickets to Hong Kong.

Panic spread through the streets and alleys, and rumors traveled faster than the truth.

Some people say that the Japanese will use their naval guns to bombard Shanghai to the ground.

Some people say that Chen Zijun has already run away with his gold, silver and valuables.

Some even said that the great powers had reached an agreement to hand over Shanghai to Japan in exchange for peace in the Far East.

However, the scene at the Longhua Garrison Command was quite different.

……

It was exactly 2 PM.

Three diplomatic limousines bearing the flags of Britain, the United States, and France, escorted by twelve cavalrymen, drove into the headquarters gate.

British Consul General in Shanghai, Bardon, walked at the front, followed by American Consul Cunningham and French Consul Wright.

The three of them didn't look too good.

Especially Baldun.

This highest-ranking British diplomat in China had his brows furrowed into a deep frown, clutching a document with a gold-embossed cover, and his steps were so hurried it was as if his backside was on fire.

"General Chen!"

Barton strode into the drawing room, skipping all pleasantries, and slammed the gold-embossed document onto the coffee table.

"This is the Memorandum of Understanding on the East China Sea situation jointly drafted by the UK, France, and the US. It was approved simultaneously by London, Paris, and Washington just twenty minutes ago."

Chen Zijun sat on the sofa, holding a cup of coffee, without even lifting his eyelids.

Get to the point.

Baldon took a deep breath.

"The core content of the memorandum consists of only three points."

He held up three fingers.

"First, for the sake of peace in Shanghai, your side should immediately hand over the Wusongkou Forts and all coastal defense facilities to the international joint management committee composed of Britain, France and the United States."

"Second, your troops will withdraw to the south of the Songjiang line within 48 hours, establishing a 30-mile demilitarized buffer zone between Shanghai and Songjiang."

"Third, your side issued a public statement acknowledging that the previous sinking of the Japanese warship was a misjudgment, and formally apologized and compensated the Japanese side."

He paused, then lowered his voice.

"In exchange, Britain, France and the United States will mediate and demand that the Japanese fleet withdraw from the East China Sea."

The reception room was silent for a few seconds.

Shen Li stood behind Chen Zijun, the muscles on his face twitching slightly.

Cunningham and Weillard exchanged a glance, both seeing the unease in each other's eyes.

Chen Zijun finally raised his eyes.

His gaze slowly swept across Baldon's face before settling on the gold-embossed memo on the coffee table.

Then he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.

"Mr. Baldon," he said in a tone as indifferent as if discussing the weather, "I have a question for you."

"Speaking."

"Did you come up with this memorandum yourselves, or was it drafted for you by the Japanese?"

Baldon's expression changed.

"General Chen! This is the result of careful diplomatic consultations among the three major powers—"

"I didn't ask you about the process," Chen Zijun interrupted him. "What I'm asking is, are you mediators or just messengers?"

Baldon's lips twitched.

"General Chen, I understand your feelings. But please calmly assess the current situation." He pointed out the window. "The combined Japanese fleet of over twenty warships is already anchored less than fifty nautical miles off the Wusong estuary! The Hyuga and Yamashiro—those are battleships of over 30,000 tons each!"

"And what about you? What do you have? A few coastal defense guns? A few torpedo boats?"

His voice grew louder and louder.

"General Chen, you can't gamble with the lives of all four million people in Shanghai! Giving up Wusongkou and retreating thirty miles is not surrender, it's a strategic withdrawal!"

Cunningham chimed in from the side.

"General Chen, we are truly acting in your best interests. The strength of the Japanese navy is evident to the entire world. Their combined fleet is unmatched in the Far East. If we were to confront them head-on this time—"

That's enough.

Chen Zijun's voice wasn't loud, but all the sounds in the reception room vanished instantly.

He put down his coffee cup and stood up.

Then he picked up the memo with the gold-embossed cover from the coffee table, opened the first page, and looked at it for two seconds.

Then he did something that made everyone present widen their eyes.

He poured the half-cup of coffee he was holding directly onto the memo.

The brown liquid soaked through the gold-embossed paper, making the words "Joint Mediation by Britain, France and the United States" on it blurry.

Baldon's face turned bright red.

"you!"

Chen Zijun threw the wet memo in front of Balton, splashing coffee juice all over his face.

"Bardon".

Chen Zijun's voice suddenly dropped to a level that sent chills down one's spine.

"Do you know what your three requests mean in Chinese?"

He held up three fingers and broke them one by one.

"First, surrender the gun emplacements—that's called kneeling down."

"The second condition is to retreat thirty li—this is called ceding territory."

"The third point is to apologize to the Japanese—this is called reparations."

"Ceding territory and paying indemnities is a humiliating loss of national sovereignty."

Chen Zijun's gaze was like a knife, fixed intently on Baldun.

"Mr. Barton, what was the name of the last person who came to the Chinese with a treaty like this, trying to get them to sign it?"

"Oh, right, the Treaty of Nanjing."

"That was eighty-three years ago."

Baldon's back pressed against the sofa back, his hands trembling slightly.

But he still tried to make a final stand.

"General Chen, you can't—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

A cold, metallic object was pressed against his forehead.

Browning M1903.

Chen Zijun's sidearm.

The muzzle was pressed against Baldon's forehead, and a suffocating metallic chill emanated from the dark barrel.

Baldon froze.

His eyes were wide open like copper bells, and his lips trembled so much that he couldn't utter a single word.

Cunningham and Weillard jumped up from their chairs at the same time, their faces ashen.

"General Chen! Calm down..."

"I am very calm."

Chen Zijun's hands were as steady as if they were cast into the handle of a gun, without the slightest tremor.

"Bardon, listen carefully. I'll only say this once."

His voice was squeezed out, one word at a time, through his teeth.

"Wusongkou belongs to the Chinese people. Shanghai belongs to the Chinese people. Every inch of mud, every brick, and every blade of grass on this land belongs to us Chinese!"

"The Japanese want to come? Let them come!"

"Twenty ships? Two hundred? Two thousand, whatever!"

"I'll sink as many as they send!"

The gun barrel jabbed hard into Baldon's forehead.

"As for you."

Chen Zijun's gaze swept over Cunningham and Weill.

"Go back and tell your government that from today onwards, stop trying to disgust me with this bullshit mediation agreement!"

"There will be a next time—"

He put the gun away, took a step back, and his gaze was icy cold.

"We'll attack even your concessions!"

Bardon slumped onto the sofa, his undershirt soaked with cold sweat.

He stood up shakily, pulled Cunningham and Weld to his feet, and without even picking up the memo that had been soaked in coffee, staggered out of the drawing room.

Three cars with diplomatic license plates nearly crashed into the gatepost at the entrance of the headquarters, then sped out of the gate like madmen.

……

The door to the reception room was closed.

Shen Li let out a long breath; his back was already soaked with sweat.

"Young Marshal... that shot you just fired almost stopped my heart."

Chen Zijun tucked the Browning back into its holster, but the murderous intent on his face did not diminish in the slightest.

He strode to the wall and ripped off the curtain covering the large nautical chart.

East China Sea.

The sea outside Wusongkou.

The assembly point of the Japanese fleet was marked in red, and they were densely packed together like a swarm of locusts.

"Shen Li."

"arrive!"

"Relay my orders."

Chen Zijun picked up the red pencil on the table and drew an arc on the nautical chart that stretched from Longhua Naval Port straight into the belly of the Japanese fleet.

"First, the entire front is on high alert, at level one. All artillery positions in the Wusongkou Fortress complex are being loaded with live ammunition."

"Second, all 88mm gun positions of the air defense brigade are to be moved to wartime concealment. No Japanese reconnaissance aircraft will be allowed to fly back alive."

"third……"

He paused.

Then a slow smile curved his lips.

It was a smile that sent chills down Shen Li's spine.

"Give Heinrich and Hans a power source."

Shen Li's breathing suddenly became rapid.

Tell them—

Chen Zijun drew a large cross on the location of the Japanese troop transport fleet with a red pen.

"The wolf pack emerges from its den."

"Without waiting for them to get close, we will strike first. Given the right opportunity, we can sink every warship we can."

"Let the Japanese know that a pack of fearless deep-sea wolves lives beneath the waters of the East China Sea!"

Shen Li's pupils contracted sharply.

Take the initiative!

The newly formed submarine squadron launched a preemptive attack on a troop transport convoy escorted by more than twenty warships!

This...this is absolutely insane!

But when he saw the crazy yet cold light in Chen Zijun's eyes, he swallowed all his doubts.

"yes!"

Shen Li snapped to attention, gave a military salute, and then sprinted out of the reception room.

Chen Zijun stood alone in front of the nautical chart, staring at the blood-red cross.

"Yamaguchi Tamon".

He murmured softly.

"I've already nailed your coffin shut."