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

Four o'clock in the morning.

Longhua Road Garrison Command.

The lights in the underground operations room were always a stark white.

Chen Zijun sat in the main seat in front of the sand table. To his left was Shen Li, and to his right was Mo Lanzhi. Zang Keping, Yang Yanzhao, and He Maofeng sat on either side of the long table.

There was another person standing at the door.

Lin Chengzhang.

The Rongchou had just docked at the Shiliupu Wharf half an hour ago. The ship still had two bullet holes in its hull. But Lin Chengzhang didn't have time to repair the ship and rushed over covered in gunpowder.

He stood at the door, looking somewhat uneasy.

The murderous aura emanating from everyone present was something he had never witnessed in his entire life in the Beiyang Navy.

"Commander Lin." Chen Zijun raised his hand. "Sit."

One word was enough to define his identity.

They're not guests. They're family.

Lin Chengzhang took a deep breath, walked over, and sat down at the end of the table.

"You all know what happened tonight." Chen Zijun stood up and walked to the sand table. "The flagship of Japan's First Fleet in the Far East, the Hiei, has sunk. Twenty-six troop transports have been sunk. Only a few have escaped. Shirakawa Yoshinori and the two divisions he brought are basically wiped out in the East China Sea."

He paused for a moment.

"But that's not the point tonight."

Shen Li adjusted his glasses. He knew what the young marshal was going to say.

"That's the key point."

Moranzhi stood up and placed a stack of telegrams on the glass surface of the sand table.

"Three days ago, we intercepted a secret telegram from Guangzhou to Tang Mengxiao, the commander of the Eighth Army of the Tang faction in Hunan. The telegram invited him to lead his troops on a northern expedition, first to take Wuchang, then down the Yangtze River to Nanjing."

She then drew a second one.

"On the same day, Guangzhou also contacted the remnants of the Gan clique in Jiangxi and some former generals of the Zhili clique in Anhui. The intention was clear—to encircle Jiangsu and Zhejiang, unify the Jiangnan region, and then head north to take Beijing."

There was a two-second silence in the operations room.

Zang Keping was the first to slam his fist on the table.

"Bullshit! I just wiped out 100,000 Fengtian troops on the Taihu Plain and sank the Japanese flagship at Wusongkou. Now they want to reap the rewards?"

He Maofeng frowned as well. "Young Marshal, the Southern National Army is said to have ten armies, plus Tang Mengxiao's Eighth Army, their strength is no less than 150,000. If they really do encircle us from Hunan, Jiangxi, and Anhui..."

"So what?" Chen Zijun interrupted him.

His tone was very soft.

It was so light it was like saying the weather was nice today.

"Gentlemen, don't rush into battle. Think it over first."

He picked up a baton from the sand table and pointed it to the location of Nanjing.

"Nanjing. They want Nanjing, right? Give it to them."

The room erupted in uproar.

Zang Keping's eyes widened. "Young Marshal! Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province! It's our..."

"It's just an empty shell we snatched from Qi Yingcai." Chen Zijun's command baton moved from Nanjing to Shanghai. "What does Nanjing have? A few dilapidated government offices, a few stinking ditches, and a bunch of old, slick bureaucrats left behind by Qi Yingcai. Is it valuable? No, it's worthless."

"Besides, is this information even possible?"

"It's true that the Guangzhou Nationalist Government wanted to launch a Northern Expedition, and it's also true that they contacted the warlords in Hunan and Jiangxi. But why would they encircle Zhejiang and Shanghai at this time and then march north on a Northern Expedition?"

"Don't forget, just a few months ago we were allies against the Three Gorges Rebellion. Now, we're allies with the Southern National Revolutionary Army. They want to attack Nanjing, why should we take the fall for them?"

"They've captured Nanjing, are now facing the Fengtian clique in the north, and have Sun Yuanfeng lurking in their midst. They're the ones who should be having a headache!"

He then turned his attention to Shanghai.

"Shanghai is our lifeline. Factories, ports, shipyards, sulfonamide pharmaceutical plants, foreign exchange settlement centers... Where does our money come from? It comes from here. Nanjing? I've stationed a division there, not for Nanjing, but for our Ma'anshan coal and steel complex!"

Shen Li nodded. "The young marshal means... to voluntarily relinquish Nanjing and shrink the defensive line?"

"It's not shrinking. It's fishing."

Chen Zijun turned around and looked at everyone.

"Think about it, if the Southern National Revolutionary Army really did capture Nanjing, who would be the most anxious next?"

Shen Li's eyes lit up. "Sun Yuanfeng."

"That's right." Chen Zijun's lips curved slightly. "Sun Yuanfeng, the military governor of Fujian Province, is a close subordinate of Wu Peifu of the Beiyang Army. His territory covers parts of Fujian and Jiangxi. If the National Army occupies Nanjing, he will be the next target."

He pointed his baton at Fujian.

"He has over 100,000 men under his command. They are fierce fighters and have a considerable force. Moreover, he is more afraid of the Southern National Revolutionary Army than we are because he is closer to Guangzhou."

Yang Yanzhao clicked his tongue. "Does the young marshal mean to let Sun Yuanfeng take the fall for us?"

"It's not about taking the fall for him. It's about making him the vanguard." Chen Zijun slammed his baton on the table. "We only need to do one thing—pass on a message to him. Tell him that the National Revolutionary Army's target isn't me, Chen Zijun, but Sun Yuanfeng. Let him worry about it himself."

"As for us..."

He walked back to the head of the table and sat down, leaning back in his chair.

"Defend Shanghai. Defend Wusongkou. Defend the steel mills and military factories in Ma'anshan. Let my father keep an eye on Zhejiang. As for the rest, let them fight it out themselves. Whoever wins, then we'll talk."

Zang Keping opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

He had to admit that the young marshal's move was far more ruthless than any actual battle.

Without losing a single soldier, let the two dogs bite each other.

"Alright." Chen Zijun patted the table. "Let's get down to business."

He glanced at the system panel.

£41.4 million.

"From the Army perspective. Zang Keping."

"arrive!"

"Your armored brigade will be expanded into an armored division. I'll allocate an additional £1.5 million to increase your tank count from thirty to sixty. Plus two mechanized infantry regiments. Complete the reorganization and training within three months."

Zang Keping's eyes immediately reddened. "Young Marshal!"

"Uncle Yang."

"exist!"

"You continue to manage the Wusongkou Fortress Complex. I will also allocate another two million to build another outpost fortress at the eastern end of Chongming Island. The Yangtze River estuary must be locked down. At the same time, we plan the Jiangyin Fortress Complex and the Jinshan Fortress Complex in Hangzhou Bay."

Yang Yanzhao nodded emphatically.

"Uncle He Maofeng".

"arrive!"

"Your Sixth Independent Mixed Brigade will be expanded to two full-strength brigades. A heavy mortar battalion and an engineer company will be added. Additionally, five thousand men will be selected from the POW camps to form a garrison brigade. You will be responsible for defending Nanjing—but listen carefully, it's defense, not a death stand. If the National Revolutionary Army really comes, you must retreat safely to Ma'anshan to defend our foundation."

"clear!"

Chen Zijun glanced around.

Then his gaze fell on Lin Chengzhang at the end of the table.

"Commander Lin."

Lin Chengzhang stood up abruptly.

"I'll pay for the refurbishment of the Rongchou and your other ships later. But those pieces of junk are not the navy I need."

Lin Chengzhang's heart leaped into his throat.

"This is what I want."

Chen Zijun took a piece of paper out of his pocket, unfolded it, and placed it on the table.

It was a hand-drawn diagram of a naval formation. It showed six destroyers, four torpedo boats, and two gunboats, arranged in a standard coastal patrol formation.

"The first phase of the construction of a coastal green-water navy..."

Lin Chengzhang's hands were trembling.

"Young Marshal...where did these ships come from?"

"Commander Lin only needs to know one thing."

Chen Zijun looked at him. "In this world, as long as you have money, there's nothing you can't buy."

He held up one finger.

"But I won't put all my eggs in one basket. Outsourcing is outsourcing, and manufacturing is manufacturing."

He turned to Shen Li.

"Lizi, help me arrange a meeting with someone."

"Who?"

"The current director of Jiangnan Shipyard is Mr. Liu Zhenliang."

Shen Li was taken aback. "A shipyard? The young marshal wants..."

"Jiangnan Shipyard is the largest shipbuilding base in the country. The equipment is old and the talent has scattered, but the framework is still there. I will provide the funding, and they will provide the personnel. We will start by building small gunboats and torpedo boats. Ships built by ourselves are the real lifeline."

He looked at Lin Chengzhang.

"Commander Lin, you get the six hundred men organized first. Leave the ship to me."

Lin Chengzhang's Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

He stood up and bowed deeply to Chen Zijun.

"Young Marshal, this is the only thing I've ever been waiting to hear in my life."

Chen Zijun did not respond.

He simply nodded slightly.

"Meeting adjourned. Go back and prepare."

The chairs creaked, and the generals filed out.

Chen Zijun was the last to stand up. He walked to the sand table and glanced down at the location of the Yangtze River estuary.

Wusongkou.

Before he traveled back in time, this name was just a small line of text in a history textbook.

Now, it is his life.

……

Guangzhou.

The Grand Marshal's Mansion.

At the same moment, two thousand kilometers away in the south, dawn was breaking.

Sun Yun stood by the study window, his hands behind his back. He wore a gray Zhongshan suit, his face was thin, his eyes were deep-set, but his gaze was still sharp.

On the table lay an urgent telegram sent from Shanghai early this morning.

"The Hiei... sank?"

He murmured it to himself.

Sitting next to him was his eldest son, Sun Zhang, the mayor of Guangzhou, dressed in a well-tailored suit, with his legs crossed and a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Father, not only did the Hiei sink. It is said that more than twenty of the Japanese troop transport ships were also sunk. The entire force of two divisions was almost wiped out."

Sun Yun turned around.

Have you met Chen Zijun?

"Yes, I've met you. We bumped into each other once last year when I was in Shanghai."

Sun Zhang put down his coffee cup and thought for a moment. "This person... it's hard to say. He's very young, a few years younger than me. But there's something in his eyes that makes you uncomfortable."

"What is it?"

"murderous look."

Sun Zhang paused. "That wasn't the killing intent cultivated on the battlefield. It was more like... a cold indifference born from seeing through something."

Sun Yun remained silent.

He walked back to his desk and picked up another document.

"Take a look at this."

Sun Zhang took it.

It's a confidential report from the military intelligence department. The date is yesterday.

The content is very short.

"At dawn on October 28, a male corpse was found in a Western-style building in southern Guangzhou. The deceased, Zhao Lixing, was wearing a pass from the Shanghai Garrison Command's Attendant's Office and held the position of Attendant Guard Staff Officer. The preliminary cause of death was determined to be a sharp weapon piercing his chest. His purpose in coming to Guangzhou is unknown. The documents he was carrying had been removed."

Sun Zhang frowned.

"Chen Zijun's aide-de-camp...died in Guangzhou?"

"Yes." Sun Yun sat back in his chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table. "What's a Shanghai warlord's personal advisor doing all the way to Guangzhou? Coming for tourism?"

Sun Zhang shook his head. "Impossible. The aide-de-camp is a core confidential personnel. There's only one possibility for him coming to Guangzhou—to carry out a secret mission."

"So what is his mission?"

"I don't know. The files were deleted."

"Who killed him?"

"I don't know either."

Sun Yun stopped tapping.

The study remained quiet for a long time.

Outside the window, the sky over Guangzhou began to lighten. In the distance, the faint sound of ship horns from the Pearl River drifted through the thin mist.

"Ah Zhang," Sun Yun suddenly spoke.

"exist."

"I have a feeling."

Sun Yun raised his head and looked out the window. His eyes were complex. There was worry, vigilance, and a hint of unease that he himself couldn't quite explain...

"This Chen Zijun is far more dangerous than we imagined. His influence has already spread to Guangzhou. And someone wants us to know that he has begun to extend his reach into Guangdong."

He turned his head and stared at Sun Zhang.

"Investigate. Investigate at all costs. Who did Zhao Lixing meet in Guangzhou, what did he take, and who killed him?"

"Yes." Sun Zhang stood up.

He walked to the door, then suddenly stopped.

"Father."

"Um?"

"You mean... he was really just a warlord?"

Sun Yun did not answer.

He turned back to the window.

The fog hadn't lifted; in fact, it seemed to have gotten even thicker...