novelAbuy Chapter 2096 Japan Surrenders!
Chapter 2096 Japan Surrenders!
Chapter 2096 Japan Surrenders!
Lafayette Road, Cheng Mansion.
study.
Cheng Qianfan drank with Lu Dazhang and Lao Huang.
All three of them had drunk a bit too much.
The Japanese have surrendered!
After the initial excitement subsided, the three of them suddenly fell silent.
Cheng Qianfan picked up the wine bottle and filled Lao Huang and Lu Dazhang's hands with wine. He then took out an empty glass and filled it with wine as well.
He raised his glass.
“Comrade Mai,” Cheng Qianfan said.
"Comrade Kang Erniu," Lu Dazhang said.
“Comrade Qin Di,” Old Huang said.
"Comrade Dazhuang!"
"Comrade Fei Ming!"
"Comrade Guan Ling!"
"Comrade Fang Jinghua."
One by one, the names were read out from their mouths.
The three men raised their glasses, their eyes red-rimmed.
"Comrades, the War of Resistance Against Japan has been won."
……
Umesumi Sagami is dead.
Araki Harima also died.
He died in an army hospital.
When the news of Emperor Taizu of Japan announcing the "Imperial Rescript on the Termination of the War" and Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers spread, Shanghai was thrown into chaos, including the army hospital.
Some wounded soldiers, unable to accept Japan's surrender, went mad in the hospital, firing indiscriminately; others committed suicide in despair.
Some Japanese doctors even took advantage of the chaos to steal medicines and surgical instruments for sale, seizing the last opportunity to raise money. Clearly, they knew that if Japan was defeated, they would not have a good ending either, and only by having money in hand could they survive the crisis.
The hospital was in chaos. Some wounded soldiers, in a fit of rage, wanted to "die for their country," firing guns in their wards and even throwing grenades. Doctors and nurses were terrified and scattered. Neither Umezumi Sagami nor Araki Harima survived; they died in their hospital beds.
……
Cheng Qianfan stood at the window. Although two days had passed since Japan announced its unconditional surrender, the cheers and celebrations on the street were still going on, and the sound of firecrackers was still going on.
The whole city seemed to have exploded.
The people had been suppressing their emotions for eight long years, and all of that energy just exploded out at once.
The streets and alleys were packed with people. Some were setting off firecrackers, others were banging drums and gongs, and many people were laughing with strangers, only to burst into tears. No one knew how many people had lost their loved ones in the past few years.
On the table beside him lay a newspaper, its front page headlines strikingly prominent:
Japan has surrendered!
"Has Boss Dai's telegram arrived yet?" Cheng Qianfan asked Li Hao.
At this very moment, he was at the Shanghai branch of the Third Bureau of the Political Security Bureau, located at No. 21, Terrace Road.
Not only him, but Bai Ruolan with her two children and Xiaobao, and Zhou Ru with her child were also on Telasto Road.
The street in front of the bureau was barricaded with barbed wire, wooden stakes and sandbags. On both sides of the road in front of the bureau, there was even a Japanese miniature tank lying there, with military trucks behind the tanks and light machine guns mounted on the trucks.
Agents also climbed up the gate and set up machine guns.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there was a guard every three or five steps along the entire Delta Road.
"Not yet," Li Hao said. "Zhou Ru is watching the radio."
"Send it immediately upon receiving a telegram," Cheng Qianfan said in a deep voice.
The Japanese announced their unconditional surrender, which, for him, was actually the most dangerous moment.
As a notorious traitor and spy chief in Shanghai, countless people hated him to the bone and wished they could grind him to dust.
Moreover, putting everything else aside, Cheng Qianfan is a well-known wealthy man in Shanghai, and many people think that this traitor is going to be in trouble, and there are also many people who covet his family fortune.
Therefore, before the National Revolutionary Army officially took over Shanghai, he was in great danger.
……
“It will take at least half a month,” Lu Jiufan said to Cheng Qianfan. “At the very least, it will take the Nationalist army half a month to reach Shanghai.”
Cheng Qianfan nodded.
Yes, although the Japanese had announced their unconditional surrender, the Nationalist government still had to wait to liberate Shanghai.
This is where things get stuck at the crucial point of "time" and "distance".
The Nationalist government offices are now located in Chongqing, the wartime capital.
The main forces of the National Revolutionary Army were also mainly located in the southwest and northwest, such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.
During the strategic shift in the War of Resistance, all the elite forces were stationed there.
Shanghai is in the east, and Chongqing is in the west; the distance between them is vast.
Even if we used airplanes, it wouldn't be fast enough, not to mention that air transport capacity is insufficient.
In Shanghai, the Japanese have been ordered to stay in their barracks and are not allowed to leave.
The regime of traitors was also in a state of chaos and turmoil.
It can be said that Shanghai is now in a power vacuum where no one is in charge.
“They must be having a headache in Chongqing right now,” Mao Xuanyi said.
The Japanese have surrendered, and he can now be active again.
“The most critical thing is that right around Shanghai, the New Fourth Army, led by the Red Party, has already established its base right on our doorstep.” He said to Cheng Qianfan, “Logically speaking, whoever conquers the territory should take over it, so it is only natural for the New Fourth Army to enter Shanghai.”
"Bullshit!" Cheng Qianfan's expression changed, his eyes turning cold. "Those Red bandits and rebels, with their peasant backgrounds, they think they can get their hands on Shanghai? Keep dreaming."
“What kind of place is Shanghai? It is the money bag and economic lifeline of the whole of China, and the largest metropolis in the Far East,” Cheng Qianfan said. “It has countless factories, mountains of wealth, and the most important sea outlet in the country. Such an economic, political, and military strategic location must not be allowed to be touched by the Red Party.”
Just then, Zhou Ru knocked on the door and came in.
"Chief, it's an urgent telegram from Boss Dai," Zhou Ru said, saluting Cheng Qianfan.
Cheng Qianfan took the telegram, stared at it intently, and felt a surge of anger, but his expression remained unusually calm. He passed the telegram to his subordinates, saying, "Take a look, everyone."
“This…” Lu Jiufan took the telegram, looked at it, and showed a surprised expression.
The telegram was a secret telegram personally drafted by Dai Chunfeng, informing the Shanghai Special Intelligence Bureau of the Chairman's arrangements.
"Commander-in-Chief of the Shanghai Action Team of the Kuomintang Military Commission." Mao Xuanyi was also stunned when he saw the appointment given to Zhou Liang by Chairman Shi in the telegram.
Zhou Liang, the Premier of the Executive Yuan of the Wang Jingwei regime, President of the Central Reserve Bank, and Mayor of Shanghai, was one of the two biggest traitors in the Wang Jingwei regime after Wang Tianhai's death. After the Japanese surrender, he transformed himself into the commander-in-chief of the Shanghai Action Team of the Kuomintang Military Commission, personally appointed by Chiang Kai-shek!
"The principal's strategy is brilliant! This is a stroke of genius!" Cheng Qianfan exclaimed.
Chiang Kai-shek went to great lengths to prevent the Red Army's New Fourth Army from liberating Shanghai.
Chiang Kai-shek chose Zhou Liang because Zhou Liang had resources.
Zhou Liang had always kept a well-equipped puppet army unit, the "Tax Police Corps," in his hands.
Moreover, there were still more than 100,000 Japanese soldiers in the city who had not yet laid down their weapons.
According to the telegram, the 'leader' gave Zhou Liang a very straightforward task:
Use the puppet troops under his command, or even mobilize the Japanese troops you can control, to "keep an eye" on Shanghai for me.
The Red Party and the New Fourth Army are not allowed to enter the city.
As long as Zhou Liang holds off the New Fourth Army, he will be considered to have "made a contribution" once the main force of the National Revolutionary Army arrives.
In his telegram, Dai Chunfeng also ordered Xiao Mian and his troops to make direct contact with Zhou Liang, assist Zhou Liang in stabilizing the situation in Shanghai, and to stop the Red Party's New Fourth Army from entering Shanghai at all costs.
"Ninth Brother, you and Haozai, take a team and come with me to meet this Captain Zhou," Cheng Qianfan said in a deep voice.
"Yes!"
"Haozi, Shunjia, you and Zhengze, keep a close watch on this place for me." Cheng Qianfan then said to Li Hao, Wu Shunjia, and Mao Xuanyi, "Anyone who tries to break in without my permission will be killed on sight."
"clear."
Cheng Qianfan then looked at Li Hao, "Where's Jiang Mule? When will the special operations team arrive?"
"The young Taoist priest called; he's on a forced march and should arrive by tomorrow morning," Li Hao said.
Cheng Qianfan nodded slightly, "Hurry up, we need to be quick, we have to race against the Red Bandits!"
He said with a serious expression, "The Japanese have surrendered, gentlemen. Our enemy now is the Red Army. Remember, the war is not over. A new war has begun!"
Cheng Qianfan's expression was more serious than ever before. "Everyone, please remember this!"
……
In August 1945, a jaw-dropping scene unfolded in Shanghai:
The War of Resistance against Japan was won, but in the vast city of Shanghai, the people who maintained order and suppressed the market were still the same puppet troops, spies, and police.
Even the Japanese soldiers who hid in their barracks after Japan announced its unconditional surrender, and who had disappeared for only three days, reappeared.
These Japanese soldiers, armed with Type 38 rifles, stood guard at some intersections, set up roadblocks, and strictly checked pedestrians.
The only difference from before was that these Japanese soldiers no longer hung the Japanese flag on the muzzle of their guns; instead, the Chongqing flag was prominently displayed on the flagpoles at some intersections.
Meanwhile, the New Fourth Army of the Red Party, which had been fighting bloody battles in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai base area for eight years, was blocked outside Shanghai by these "puppet troops, traitors" and "Japanese troops".
Zhou Liang was overjoyed to receive this assignment personally entrusted to him by Chiang Kai-shek.
He immediately perked up and, in the name of the "Shanghai Action Team," issued a direct threat to the New Fourth Army outside the city.
Zhou Liang publicly declared:
There are over 100,000 Japanese and puppet troops in Shanghai, who are "on high alert".
If the New Fourth Army dared to force their way into the city, he would order his troops to open fire, not hesitating to turn the entire city of Shanghai into ruins and bring misfortune upon all its inhabitants.
At that time, the accusation of disrupting peace and harming the people will be that of the Red Party and the New Fourth Army.
At this time, the underground Communist Party in Shanghai planned the Shanghai Uprising to welcome the New Fourth Army to liberate Shanghai. More than 2,000 workers stormed into the Shanghai Xinyi Machinery Factory, successfully occupied the factory, and prepared to attack the puppet police station next.
At this very moment, the Shanghai local party organization received an order from the Yanzhou headquarters to abandon the Shanghai Uprising, and the uprising workers orderly withdrew from Shanghai.
"The headquarters originally planned to capture major cities to implement the Southeast Development Strategy. However, based on the latest situation, the headquarters has ordered the New Fourth Army to abandon the occupation of major cities in Jiangnan and instead focus on capturing vast rural areas and small and medium-sized county towns," Cheng Qianfan said to Zhao Shuli and others.
"What a pity," Lu Dazhang sighed. "What a golden opportunity to liberate Shanghai."
“That day will come,” Cheng Qianfan said in a deep voice. “Sooner or later, the red flag will fly high over the Huangpu River.”
"Commander Tang's troops have already arrived in Shanghai," Old Huang said.
“Yes.” Cheng Qianfan nodded. “The Americans are helping Chongqing transport troops to Shanghai by ship and air. Tang Enbo’s troops are in Henan, which is the closest to here, so they are being transported here first.”
"Shanghai has been thrown into chaos by Zhou Liang's men and the Japanese, and the people are suffering. Hopefully, the arrival of these Kuomintang troops will calm things down, and the people will have a few days of peace," Zhao Shuli said, frowning.
In order to prevent the New Fourth Army from liberating Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the notorious traitor Zhou Liang to lead the puppet army and the Japanese army to continue to exercise power and take over Shanghai.
What are all these things?
Japanese troops, puppet troops, traitors, spies, hooligans, and opportunists.
These people aren't fools; they know perfectly well that these are just "temporary workers."
They were temporary personnel used by Chongqing to block the Red Party's New Fourth Army. Once the main force of the Kuomintang arrived in Shanghai, not to mention whether they would be retained, most of them would likely still be purged.
Everyone understood that they should seize this last opportunity to make a quick buck!
From the time the Japanese announced their unconditional surrender to the time the Kuomintang troops were transported to Shanghai in early September, there was a "power vacuum" of more than half a month.
Zhou Liang and his puppet troops, traitors, spies, and the Japanese soldiers who had not yet surrendered staged a final frenzy in Shanghai.
"Chongqing is shameless, giving the Japanese their last chance to plunder!" Old Huang cursed.
During the eight years that the Japanese occupied Shanghai, they amassed countless riches. Japan's sudden announcement of unconditional surrender left the Japanese army, including in Shanghai, with no opportunity to transfer their wealth.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's telegram temporarily granted the Japanese the power to maintain order in Shanghai.
Gold bars in bank vaults, supplies in dock warehouses, cultural relics in museums... these are things the Japanese originally couldn't take with them.
Japanese troops, puppet troops, traitors, and spies had the opportunity to "legally" transfer.
Large quantities of valuable cultural relics, gold, and jewelry were smuggled out of the city through various shady channels, with the aim of transporting them to mainland Japan.
As for the Japanese and puppet troops frantically selling off their assets, there's no need to elaborate further.
In addition, the Japanese and puppet regimes took advantage of this two-week power vacuum to frantically destroy evidence, and many enemy and puppet agencies in Shanghai were filled with smoke every day.
This involves burning all evidence, including ledgers and experimental records.
Gunfire erupted incessantly. Anti-Japanese elements imprisoned in Japanese puppet regime prisons were released from Chongqing, while underground members of the Red Party and those who had become close to the Red Party were secretly executed in batches in the name of the Japanese.
Then pour gasoline on it and burn it to the ground, leaving no evidence.
All evidence of their arrests was destroyed, as if they had never existed.
“Fortunately, the Third Political Security Bureau and the Special Police Department are your territory,” Zhao Shuli said. “Otherwise, our losses would have been even greater.”
Thanks to the secret arrangements made by Cheng Qianfan, Cao Yu, and Zhao Shuli, at least 130 underground party members and patriots who had been arrested were secretly rescued and did not fall at the last moment before dawn.
"Tang Enbo's troops have arrived in Shanghai," Cheng Qianfan said, flicking his cigarette ash. "However, don't have any expectations for these people. This Commander Tang's troops have ravaged Henan. Now that they've arrived in Shanghai, given their temperaments, the lives of the people of Shanghai will only become more miserable."
Just then, the telephone on the table suddenly rang.
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