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

The next day at noon, in Guangdong Province, thousands of miles away.

Guangzhou, the Grand Marshal's Mansion.

It was already late at night, but the study in the Marshal's Mansion was still brightly lit. Although Mr. Sun Yun, the President of the Guangdong National Revolutionary Government and the Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy, had gone north, the Northern Expedition, as the central hub of the entire Guangdong Province and even the National Revolutionary Government, had never ceased. This place remained the eye of the storm of power and turmoil.

As Mr. Sun's most trusted and capable military assistant, Chiang Kai-shek, dressed in an elegant woolen military uniform, sat upright in a mahogany armchair, sipping fine Da Hong Pao tea while reviewing a report on the military supplies for the recent Northern Expedition.

His expression was calm and confident, clearly pleased with the recent consolidation of power in the south. Just a few days earlier, his agents had attempted to infiltrate Shanghai to steal the sulfonamide formula; although they were captured by Chen Zijun, he still considered Chen Zijun nothing more than a nouveau riche warlord entrenched in a corner of the world.

"Knock knock knock!"

A sudden, extremely urgent knocking broke the silence of the night.

Before Chiang Kai-shek could speak, the study door was flung open. A senior intelligence officer, pale-faced and sweating profusely, rushed in, even tripping on the threshold in his panic and nearly falling.

"What kind of behavior is this, all this panic and commotion?!"

Chiang Kai-shek frowned, put down his teacup, and reprimanded him unhappily.

"Principal... Principal! Something terrible has happened!"

The intelligence officer scrambled to the desk, his hands trembling as he handed over a top-secret red telegram he had just intercepted. His voice was filled with barely concealed fear: "The intelligence station in Shanghai has just sent an urgent telegram!"

"A fierce naval battle took place in the East China Sea!"

The intelligence officer's voice trembled, as if he were witnessing the gates of hell: "The Japanese Third Fleet, en route south, was ambushed by Chen's army! In less than three minutes, two Japanese heavy cruisers and eight destroyers were mysteriously sunk. All sides speculate that it was the deep-sea submarine force that the world's major powers are now paying close attention to!"

"Naval battle? The Japanese finally couldn't hold back and attacked Chen's army?"

Chiang Kai-shek sneered, a calculating glint in his eyes: "Well done! Let those Japanese warships use their cannons to teach that arrogant Chen Zijun a lesson. Once they're both exhausted, we can sit back and reap the benefits in the south..."

As an ambitious young man who had studied in the Great Sakura Empire of Japan, how could he not know the power of the Japanese navy?

It's important to understand that the Washington Naval Arms Limitation Treaty was established precisely to curb the growth of the Japanese Empire's combined fleet. The fact that the great powers treated Japan this way speaks volumes about the strength of the Japanese navy.

Who is Chen Zijun?

He could only be considered a local warlord, occupying Shanghai and Zhejiang, and only had a little money.

If he had these places, let alone the Northern Expedition, the entire China could have been unified by the National Revolutionary Government!

Before he could finish speaking, his gaze swept over the contents of the telegram.

In an instant.

Chiang Kai-shek's sneer froze completely.

His pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints, his eyes fixed on the few lines of text on the telegram, as if struck by lightning, completely frozen in the armchair.

[Urgent! The Japanese Third Fleet, en route south, has been ambushed by a mysterious submarine force of the Chen family army, 200 nautical miles off the coast of Wusongkou!]

[The battle lasted only three minutes! Two heavy cruisers and eight destroyers from Japan were all sunk by mysterious, trackless torpedoes! The entire fleet was wiped out!]

[Only the battlecruiser Kongo, carrying Commander Yamaguchi Tamon, was hit by two torpedoes and fled in a sorry state, heavily damaged and on the verge of sinking!]

[The Chen family army did not deploy a single ground soldier; relying solely on deep-sea submarines, they completely ended the Japanese Third Fleet's maritime hegemony in the Far East!]

[The Japanese Navy Ministry, intimidated by the formidable underwater power of the Chen family army, sent a telegram through the British half an hour ago, and was forced to announce an indefinite ceasefire agreement with the Chen family army!]

From this battle onward, control of the East China Sea completely changed hands!

"Clatter".

The priceless Jingdezhen teacup in Chiang Kai-shek's hand slipped and fell to the ground without warning.

The scalding tea mixed with shards of porcelain splashed all over the floor, but he seemed completely oblivious.

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible..."

Chiang Kai-shek began to tremble violently and uncontrollably. He suddenly stood up from the armchair, so forcefully that he knocked the heavy armchair to the ground.

He gripped the thin telegram tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning pale from the excessive force.

"A submarine force? Where did Chen Zijun, a warlord of the army, get a submarine squadron from?! He doesn't even have a proper naval academy!"

"In less than three minutes... a task force with battlecruisers was almost completely annihilated? Forcing the Japanese high command to bow down and cease fire?"

"Is he trying to fly to the heavens?!"

Chiang Kai-shek roared hysterically, his eyes filled with undisguised extreme terror and deep apprehension.

Although Chen Zijun's German-equipped army and armored forces had previously posed a threat to him, they were still confined to land. He believed that the south, with its high mountains and long rivers, still offered him strategic depth to maneuver.

But now.

Chen Zijun is not only invincible on land, but he has even turned the vast ocean into the backyard of his Chen family army!

If Chen's army controls the sea, then the long southern coastline will become an undefended backyard for that ghostly fleet!

If Chen Zijun ever feels like it, he could just mount cannons from the sea right over Guangzhou...

The thought of this terrifying possibility sent a chill down Chiang Kai-shek's spine, making it incredibly difficult to breathe. He recalled the message brought back by Cheng Shaowen, whom he had sent to Shanghai, and the three high-ranking agents who had been captured by Chen's army just a few days earlier.

He finally realized that he was not dealing with a lucky nouveau riche at all.

"We can't let him continue to develop so recklessly..."

Chiang Kai-shek gritted his teeth, a chilling glint of malice flashing in his eyes: "Chen Zijun is no longer a tiger, but a monstrous dragon capable of devouring the world!"

"Pick up Dai Zhijian for me right now!"

Chiang Kai-shek abruptly turned his head and roared at the intelligence officer like a mad leopard: "Activate all our top-level covert agents in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai region! Use whatever means necessary—bribery, assassination, subversion!"

"I will mobilizing the entire intelligence agency to go all out, at all costs, to uncover the weaknesses within Chen's army!"

"I will dismember this wicked dragon from within!"

A more insidious and deadly dark storm targeting Chen Zijun quietly unfolded in this secluded study in the south.