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

A few hours later, at the Shiliupu Grand Square in Shanghai.

The refugees, a dark mass, thronged the area like a surging tide. The early spring wind still carried a chill, and many, dressed in thin, tattered cotton-padded coats, shivered with cold. Many of them hadn't eaten a proper meal for two whole days, and were dizzy with hunger. The initial hope in their eyes gradually turned into despair, and even a hint of wild, uncontrollable resentment shone through.

Just as the atmosphere was about to reach a breaking point, a few starving thugs were about to incite everyone to rob the rice shop next door.

Rumbling--

A heavy, synchronized roar of engines filled the air. Dozens of military trucks, fully loaded with goods, drove forcefully into the square, led by armored vehicles.

The tarpaulin covering the carriage was suddenly ripped off, and a rich, intoxicating aroma of steamed white flour buns and the savory scent of salted meat instantly filled the entire square.

Huge military loudspeakers were erected on the rooftops of the surrounding high-rise buildings. Feng Yong's rough and bold voice echoed like thunder throughout the square.

"Brothers! The Young Marshal has given the order! The Chen family army does not support idlers, but it will never let any Chinese civilian willing to work starve!"

"Now begin registering and grouping by district! Anyone willing to work on the construction site, sign and put your fingerprint on this document, and each person will receive two large white steamed buns to tide you over! From now on, on the construction site, you'll have unlimited white rice for three meals a day, and you'll even get meat every day! You'll also receive a monthly military salary of three silver dollars!"

"No looting, no disturbances, line up and register! Anyone who dares to cause trouble will be executed on the spot according to military law!"

As the broadcast continued to play over the loudspeaker, the refugees who were starving to the point of madness froze on the spot, stunned.

A gaunt, middle-aged man rubbed his ears in disbelief, staring intently at the steaming buns on the truck, swallowing hard: "All you can eat? And there's meat too? And three silver dollars a month?"

"Good heavens! I worked for those foreign devils at Sassoon & Co. for three years, carrying heavy loads until I developed tuberculosis, and I didn't even get this kind of treatment!"

After a brief silence, the entire square erupted in deafening cheers, like a tsunami.

"The young marshal is truly benevolent!"

"We're willing to work! We'd give our lives for a bite to eat!"

"Long live the Chen family army! Long live the young marshal!"

Countless ragged laborers immediately knelt on the ground, desperately kowtowing towards the direction of the Longhua Road headquarters. The stagnant water of despair was instantly ignited, transforming into an endless, fanatical force. These 100,000 people, in the face of several cartloads of steaming buns and three insignificant silver dollars, completely sold their lives to Chen Zijun.

Under the guidance of the workers' movement bureau personnel, they were quickly organized into teams of hundreds and thousands of people. Escorted by heavily armed tax police corps soldiers, they marched in a grand and spirited manner towards their respective destinations.

A massive social crisis that would have given any warlord a headache was thus abruptly resolved and swallowed up by an unprecedented infrastructure boom.

……

However, the massive migration of 100,000 people and the large-scale infrastructure construction brought more than just astonishing project progress.

Hygiene and disease have become a deadly threat hanging over everyone's heads.

Just two days after the 100,000-strong army had been dispatched to the three major construction sites and started working in full swing, dozens of cases of severe diarrhea and high fever appeared in the makeshift camp of 40,000 people at the Jiangnan Shipyard.

Construction site conditions in this era were extremely rudimentary, with tens of thousands of people eating, drinking, and relieving themselves together. If an infectious plague such as cholera or dysentery broke out, the death toll would be massive, potentially leading to non-combat casualties for the entire army.

Inside the headquarters study, Chen Zijun looked at the medical report on the table, his brows furrowing slightly.

Just then, the door was pushed open.

Wearing a pristine white lab coat, Cao Qingdi, whose elegant and aloof demeanor was still undeniable, walked in. She held a detailed medical and epidemic prevention plan in her hand, her eyes gleaming with professionalism and determination.

"Zijun, I've heard about what happened at the construction site. You can leave this to me." Cao Qingdi walked to her desk, her tone firm and leaving no room for negotiation.

"You're going?" Chen Zijun looked up at his fiancée. "The construction site is awful, filthy, and stinks. You, a medical doctor who studied abroad and is in charge of one of China's top medical and pharmaceutical companies, are you really going to go to a construction site yourself?"

"If a large-scale epidemic breaks out among these 100,000 people, your infrastructure project will come to a complete standstill. Those laborers who have just seen a glimmer of hope for survival will die in droves in the mud." Cao Qingdi looked directly at Chen Zijun with clear eyes, without the slightest hesitation. "Not only am I going, but I'm also taking the latest batch of sulfonamide drugs produced by our joint pharmaceutical factory with me."

"I want to establish mandatory medical and health stations at the three major construction sites. Workers must drink boiled water and undergo centralized lime disinfection. Those workers with fever and infections will serve as a good opportunity to verify the clinical efficacy of our sulfonamide drugs in a large population."

"These all require your authorization. Only if I go can I guarantee that things won't go astray!"

Looking at the woman before him, who was both gentle and extremely decisive, a deep sense of admiration flashed in Chen Zijun's eyes.

This is the woman who deserves Chen Zijun, not some delicate vase raised in a greenhouse who only knows romance and poetry, but a comrade-in-arms who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him in the face of adversity.

"Sister Cao, doing this is very dangerous, you know that?"

Cao Qingdi simply smiled gently, and said softly, just like when they were children, "Little brother, didn't you think about how dangerous it would be when you went to war with the Japanese?"

"Whatever your requests, just say them. You know, I'm not talking about work."

Chen Zijun spoke decisively, without dwelling on matters of the heart, asking directly as if he were asking Cao Qingdi to give her final instructions.

Cao Qingdi thought for a moment before saying, "Last year, during the Zhili-Fengtian War, the Zhili clique was defeated, and my father was detained by General Feng. Now, half a year has passed, and I would like to ask you to help me bring my father to Shanghai so that he can live out his remaining years in peace!"

Former President Cao Yu is indeed being held captive by General Feng, who comes from the Northwest Army, but if he were to rashly demand his release, things would certainly be...

But a moment later, Chen Zijun made a decision.

"it is good."

Chen Zijun nodded decisively, without any hesitation, "I'll have Shen Li personally go to Beiping to bring my father-in-law to Shanghai. It's time for me, Chen Zijun, to get married. How can my father-in-law not be present?"

"Furthermore, I've ordered Ye Yingxue to lead a platoon of bodyguards to protect you at all times. On the construction site, anyone who dares to disobey your medical orders—no need to report to me, just have Ye Yingxue shoot them!"

"Understood." Cao Qingdi turned and left decisively, the hem of her white dress drawing a clean arc in the air.

Over the next three days.

Cao Qingdi led her medical team to establish the strictest sanitary defense line on the construction site, which was full of mud and the smell of sweat.

Those boxes of sulfonamides, a "miracle drug" that fetches exorbitant prices on the European black market and is in high demand even among the wealthy and powerful, were used without hesitation on these lowest-level laborers.

Several critically ill patients who were on the verge of death due to severe infection and ulceration of their wounds miraculously recovered from their fevers after only two days of taking sulfonamides. They were even able to struggle to stand up and drink porridge.

This scene completely shocked the tens of thousands of workers on the construction site.

"Heavens above! The young marshal not only provides us with food, but also gives us miraculous medicine that foreigners can't even buy for hundreds of silver dollars!"

"That was Mrs. Chen herself coming to treat us filthy beggars! She didn't show us the slightest bit of disdain!"

"Brothers, this life belongs to the young marshal! Anyone who dares to slack off again, I'll be the first to chop them up! Go! Dig them up as hard as you can!"

Under the combined influence of food and miraculous medicine, this army of 100,000 men unleashed a terrifyingly frenzied productivity.

The railway tracks in Ma'anshan were extending at a frenzied pace, advancing three kilometers every day; the massive dock at Jiangnan Shipyard, capable of handling tens of thousands of tons, was excavated in just five days, with 40,000 people digging day and night with shovels and picks, revealing its astonishingly large outline.

The entire Yangtze River Delta region has been completely transformed into a terrifying industrial behemoth spewing billowing black smoke and sweltering sweat.

……

However, just as Chen Zijun's infrastructure boom was in full swing, an unseen battle was quietly approaching the heart of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

late at night.

The headquarters building of the Military Intelligence Bureau on Longhua Road was still brightly lit.

Wearing a black fitted trench coat and high heels, Mo Lanzhi hurried into Chen Zijun's study. Her usually cold and calm face now showed a rare look of seriousness.

"Young Master."

Moranzhi walked to the table and handed over a confidential telegram that had just been deciphered.

"This is a top-secret telegram from Japan that Su Guiying's eavesdropping network just intercepted. The sender used extremely complex commercial ciphers, but the transmission level was very high, directly reaching the Japanese cabinet."

Chen Zijun took the telegram, his eyes quickly scanning its contents. His eyes narrowed, revealing a dangerous aura.

"Although the Japanese military has temporarily chosen to lie low after the disastrous defeat at Wusongkou and the sinking of its warships," Mo Lanzhi reported quickly, taking a deep breath, "Young Master, the major Japanese business groups—Mitsui, Mitsubishi, and other large conglomerates—are joining forces. They are carrying an extremely large sum of money and are secretly infiltrating the Jiangnan region."

"What are they doing?" Chen Zijun asked in a cold voice, tapping his fingers lightly on the table.

"They're frantically buying up all the raw silk, cotton, and grain on the market at exorbitant prices!" Mo Lanzhi said in a deep voice, enunciating each word clearly. "Young Master, they're waging an economic war! They're trying to completely drain the light industrial raw materials and daily necessities that our Jiangzhe region depends on for survival. Once these supplies disappear from the market, prices will skyrocket. They want to use this bloodless method to directly destroy our economic lifeline and tax base!"

After listening to Mo Lanzhi's report, Chen Zijun looked at the telegram in his hand. Instead of panicking, a cold and sarcastic smile appeared on his lips.

"Economic war? Trying to play the monopoly game with me by raising prices?"

He casually tossed the telegram onto the table like trash. In the air behind him, on the system panel visible only to him, a staggering balance of over three million pounds sterling glowed with an eerie blue light. And deeper within, the fluctuating monetary figures seemed like a countdown to death.

"Fine. Fighting a financial war on my turf." Chen Zijun sneered, his eyes filled with a superior kind of contempt. "Let's see if their Japanese merchant corps has more money, or mine!"