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

The following morning, at the Longhua Road Garrison Command.

Early spring sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, dappling the large, heavy mahogany desk. Chen Zijun nestled in the soft leather chair, picked up a steaming cup of coffee, and took a small sip. The rich bitterness spread across his tongue, keeping his mind perfectly clear in the early morning.

His gaze did not linger on the mountain of military and political documents on the table, but instead he slightly raised his head and summoned the system panel, which emitted a faint blue light and could only be seen by him.

[Host: Chen Zijun]

Current Rank: General (Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces of the Five Southeast Provinces)

[Unlimited spending system in operation... Current money acquisition speed: 1.5 pounds/second (with bonus from the Ma'anshan Heavy Industrial Base ignition)]

Current available funds: £3,645,800

[Recent large inflows: £128 million in cash and gold seized from the Sassoon family, £200 million in proceeds from the smuggling of specialty drugs from Europe, and £100 million in frozen bounty funds, etc.]

The staggering figure of £3.56 million brought a disdainful smile to Chen Zijun's lips.

If you've never seen tens of millions of pounds in liquid funds, then so be it.

The amount of money they have now may seem astonishing to others, but to Chen Zijun, it's nothing special!

If we include the thirty-seven Far East core land deeds that Ye Yingxue confiscated from Sassoon yesterday afternoon, as well as the dozens of foreign firm warehouses, underground banks, and all the opium networks in Shanghai that Mo Huixin and her men forcibly took over, the total assets of the Chen family army have now reached an astronomical figure that most warlords would never dare to dream of.

so what?

With money and territory in hand, he has now brutally broken the backbone of the foreign powers in Shanghai.

But there was no satisfaction in Chen Zijun's eyes. He knew very well that this was far from enough.

The Japanese were only temporarily hurt by the heavy firepower at Wusongkou, but the island nation's war machine was by no means destroyed. To completely crush those greedy island dwarfs in the future war of national destiny, he needs an even larger heavy industry, an overwhelming torrent of steel, aircraft carriers, and fighter jets.

"Young Marshal..."

A gentle knock sounded on the heavy oak door of the office, and Shen Li strode in. This chief of staff, who was usually as cold and unyielding on the battlefield, now had his brows furrowed into a deep frown.

Following him were several Shanghai municipal officials, their faces ashen, their official robes soaked with cold sweat. Their legs trembled violently, as if the sky had fallen.

"What's going on? Why are you looking like you've lost your parents so early in the morning?" Chen Zijun put down his coffee cup and glanced at them coldly.

"Commander..."

The city hall director, Zhang, who was leading the group, suddenly knelt heavily on the Persian carpet with a thud, his voice trembling with undisguised sobs, "A terrible mess has happened! A truly catastrophic mess!"

"Speak properly. Stand up and speak." Chen Zijun frowned slightly and tapped his fingers impatiently on the table.

Director Zhang dared not stand up. He lay prostrate on the ground, trembling as he reported, "Commander-in-Chief, yesterday you swept through the city like a whirlwind, sealing off all of Sassoon & Co.'s docks and warehouses, and turning upside down all the opium dens and underground casinos in several major cities in the five southeastern provinces. This is a great service to the people, a truly gratifying event! But... but those low-level laborers who used to make a living by carrying loads at the docks, working as thugs in opium dens, and doing hard labor have all lost their jobs overnight!"

Another portly official, ignoring the cold sweat pouring down his forehead, hurriedly added, "Yes, sir! According to our city hall and police department's overnight investigation and statistics in various shantytowns, at least 100,000 homeless and starving refugees have suddenly appeared in the vicinity of the International Settlement and the South City area alone! These 100,000 people ran out of food yesterday and are now wandering the streets aimlessly. If they go hungry for another two days, and these 100,000 starving young men were to riot, they would loot the entire Shanghai! In the past, during several small riots in the International Settlement, a few thousand people burned down several streets; this is a full 100,000 people!"

"One hundred thousand refugees had no food to eat and no work to do."

Shen Li added with an extremely solemn expression, "Young Master, this is indeed a fatal hidden danger. If 100,000 people mutini to save their lives, we may have no choice but to deploy the regular army to suppress them by force. But firing on laborers and civilians on our own territory would damage your reputation and our foundation in Jiangnan."

The officials below were so frightened that they kowtowed repeatedly, their foreheads pounding against the wooden floor: "Commander-in-Chief, please, please have the Finance Department allocate some emergency relief funds immediately! Even setting up sheds and distributing porridge on the streets would be fine; we need to at least give these people some porridge to eat!"

After listening to these reports, which sounded like a major crisis and the end of the world, Chen Zijun suddenly laughed.

His laughter sounded particularly jarring in the oppressive, suffocating office. Not only the municipal officials, but even Shen Li was stunned.

"Relief funds? Porridge distribution?"

Chen Zijun sneered, abruptly standing up, his military boots slamming heavily on the floor. He walked to the French windows, hands behind his back, looking down at the vast and bustling city. "You bunch of fools who only know how to treat the symptoms, not the root cause. Treating these 100,000 strong, healthy men like beggars? What a waste!"

"Sir... what do you mean?" Director Zhang was completely dumbfounded, looking up blankly at Chen Zijun's tall back.

"Shen Li." Chen Zijun turned around abruptly, his eyes flashing with a chillingly fanatical light. "Send a car immediately and bring Feng Yong here!"

"Yes!" Shen Li didn't ask any more questions, immediately stood at attention, saluted, and strode out of the office.

Less than twenty minutes later, Feng Yong, the director of the Workers' Movement Bureau, ran into the headquarters, panting and sweating profusely.

This former head of the Green Gang wharf in the southern part of the Shiliupu area, since being recruited into the regular army by Chen Zijun, now wears a crisp black Zhongshan suit. But the Zhongshan suit cannot conceal the ruggedness and rough-and-tumble spirit in his bones. As soon as he entered the door, he immediately stood at attention and saluted, his movements still somewhat stiff and awkward, but his attitude was absolutely respectful.

"Young Marshal! Feng Yong from the Workers' Movement Bureau is reporting to you!"

"Old Feng, you've heard about what's going on outside, right?" Chen Zijun didn't waste any words and went straight around the desk to Feng Yong.

"I've heard!" Feng Yong wiped the sweat from his face, his expression as bitter as if he'd eaten a bitter herb. "Young Marshal, I haven't slept a wink all night worrying about this. My four thousand brothers are doing better now that they're with you. But those hundred thousand-plus laborers outside are all starving. Many of them were old acquaintances, poor neighbors, and now they're all swarming around the entrance of the Workers' Movement Bureau, kneeling on the ground begging me for a way to survive. I'm as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, I don't know what to do!"

"What's the rush?" Chen Zijun patted his broad, sturdy shoulder, a domineering smile curving his lips. "Just 100,000 men. Today, I'm not only giving them a way to survive, but also a future! I told those four thousand brothers before, 'Follow me well, and you'll have a future!' From now on, they'll automatically be promoted. Following their original quasi-military management style, each of the four thousand will lead twenty-five men, meaning each of them will automatically be promoted to a partially-staffed engineering platoon leader. How about that? What do you think of their future?"

Feng Yong suddenly raised his head and looked at Chen Zijun in disbelief.

"Pass on my orders." Chen Zijun's voice was as firm as clashing steel, brooking no argument, each word ringing with conviction. "Effective immediately, your Labor Movement Bureau, in conjunction with the Tax Police Corps as military police overseeing the operation, will implement a comprehensive quasi-military organization over these 100,000 refugees!"

"Military formation?" Feng Yong's eyes widened like copper bells.

"That's right. I won't give these 100,000 people a single penny of relief; I'll recruit them!" Chen Zijun held up one finger. "Go over the loudspeaker and tell them that as long as they're willing to work hard and obey orders, the Chen family army will provide them with three meals a day! Plenty of white rice, and meat every day! Besides meals, as long as they don't slack off, they'll also receive three silver dollars a month in military pay!"

hiss--

Another collective gasp filled the office. Several municipal officials exchanged bewildered glances, their eyes practically bulging out of their sockets.

Meals provided and silver dollars given out? This isn't disaster relief; this treatment is ten or a hundred times better than being treated like slaves at the foreign docks! How much real money must have been spent on this!

"But young marshal..."

Feng Yong swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. "If we recruit all 100,000 people, what kind of work would we have to support them? Where would we find so many docks to provide them with labor?"

"What work are we doing?" Chen Zijun sneered, the mad blaze of an industrial empire burning brightly in his eyes. "I've been worried about who's doing the work! These 100,000 men, divide them into three groups!"

"First, select 30,000 of the strongest and most hardworking men and send them all to the Ma'anshan heavy industrial base! The blast furnaces there need to be expanded tenfold, and the railway needs to be built day and night. I want to see Ma'anshan's railway tracks covering the entire mining area within three months, transporting out a continuous stream of special steel!"

"Secondly, dispatch 40,000 men to the Jiangnan Shipyard immediately! Tell Liu Zhenliang that he has full command of these 40,000 men. Hasn't he been complaining to me about not having enough manpower to build destroyers? Make him work day and night, in three shifts, and dig out that promised '10,000-ton-class large dry dock' for me, even with shovels and pickaxes!"

"The remaining 30,000 men will first be relocated from the Shanghai arsenal, and then all of them will be deployed to the area between Lukou, Bowang, and Lishui near Jiangning to build a new Jiangnan Arsenal! I want more than a dozen large, standardized factory buildings to spring up there within six months, ready to take over the latest automated machinery that will be shipped from Germany soon!"

Chen Zijun's words resounded like thunder in the office.

The municipal officials who had been trembling with fear were now completely dumbfounded. What they saw as a crisis of 100,000 rioters that could destroy the entire city of Shanghai had, in the hands of this young warlord, transformed into a mighty force propelling his massive industrial machine forward with just a few words!

What others see as a social cancer and a burden, Chen Zijun sees as a priceless infrastructure army that can turn waste into treasure!

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Chen Zijun's cold gaze swept over the dumbfounded Feng Yong.

"No...no problem!"

Feng Yong suddenly snapped out of his daze, trembling with excitement, his rough eyes even turning bloodshot. This was his chance! This 100,000-strong engineering corps was built with his 4,000 Green Gang brothers as its backbone. Now, he had gone from an unknown nobody in the Chen family army to a hot commodity.

All of this was given to us by the young marshal!

He suddenly knelt on one knee, his voice hoarse and excited as he roared, "Young Marshal! You've given 100,000 brothers a way out! I kowtow to you on behalf of these 100,000 worthless lives! Rest assured, if anyone dares to slack off or cheat in your construction battalion, without you even saying a word, I, Feng Yong, will personally chop them down with an axe!"

"Go and do it. Within half a month, I want to see not a single idle man on the streets of Shanghai."

Chen Zijun waved his hand coldly.