Chapter 37 Chapter 8 Lure the Enemy Deep (1)

1 In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the three towns of Wuhan shrouded in war clouds were not as dilapidated and lacking in supplies as people imagined. On the contrary, they showed a kind of deformed prosperity.When the capital Nanjing and major cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai fell one after another, Wuhan, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, became a refuge and a safety island for Chinese people to escape the war.The national government and foreign agencies in China temporarily moved to Wuhan, and exile armies composed of government agencies, party groups, factories, schools, and a large number of war refugees from the occupied areas of Northeast China, North China, and East China also gathered in Wuhan from all directions. This made this metropolis in central China, which was not very crowded, present a trend of overcrowding and explosion.Rich people with gold and silver treasures occupy the restaurants and hotels in the city, and many people are still snapping up villas and houses in the concession, and they still live a luxurious life of spending a lot of money and hordes of servants.At that time, the Japanese plane bombing had not yet caused substantial damage to the city, and the coastal areas of South China had not yet fallen, and all kinds of Western goods smuggled from Hong Kong and Macau were flooding the black market, so as long as you have money, no matter what luxury goods including the special perfume of the British royal family, you can buy it. buy.Hankou "Big World" nightclub is still brightly lit, and road advertisements of singers, dancers and porn stars are flying all over the sky.Only when the war was approaching, the city defense regiment with live ammunition built sandbags to build fortifications on the streets of Wuhan, reminded people that the days of peace were not long, and the footsteps of the Japanese invaders could be faintly heard.

The most pressing problem posed by population expansion is food. In 1938, there was a severe drought in the south, and the provinces in central China, which were originally called "rice granaries", were devastated for thousands of miles.If a disaster occurs in a peaceful age, governments at all levels should organize the people to fight the disaster and help themselves, or mobilize food from wealthy provinces to call for disaster relief, or appeal to the international community for rescue, etc.However, in this period of war and chaos, the Japanese invaders pressed forward step by step to try to destroy China. Food was needed for fighting in the front, and food was also needed for disaster relief in the rear. At that time, China's productivity was low and food was not rich even in good years. How could there be any surplus food to relieve the victims?Governments and businessmen in some provinces colluded to take the opportunity to stockpile food and drive up prices. On the one hand, the victims were starving and dying everywhere, and on the other hand, profiteers were hoarding and making money. As a result, food looting broke out in various places, and the army dispatched to suppress and shoot countless victims.

My father said that the day of the accident in Hankou was cloudy and rainy, the streets were full of water, pedestrians were holding oil-paper umbrellas and hurried on with their heads bowed, most of the people running on the road were rickshaws, and occasionally a car drove by quickly, heading towards both sides of the road. Splash dirty muddy water.When school was over, my father saw many people running from the direction of Jianghanguan, including men, women, old people and children. They were all shouting excitedly, making their hearts beat faster.After running along for a while, he realized that they all rushed to the "Hengchang Rice Store" to buy rice.

There were already crowds of people outside the "Hengchang Rice Store". It was reported that the rice store shipped several boats of rice from Sichuan at night, but the gate of the rice store was closed and there was no sign of opening for business.More and more people were buying rice, and some people became impatient and yelled and beat on the door, but there was still no movement in the store.As a result, some more manic young people began to smash the door, and even lifted a thick log, which actually knocked a thick door loose.At this moment, a baton-wielding police team came running to disperse the crowd. People were on fire and had physical confrontations with the police.As a result of the escalation of the situation, the enraged crowd not only disarmed the police, but also threw a policeman into the river.When people smashed open the rice store, they suddenly saw rice piled up in the warehouse, so the rice robbery happened naturally.

As soon as the news spread, more people came to join the ranks of the rice grabbers, and the rice grabbing wave affected many rice shops in Wuhan.Soon the heavily armed army came to suppress, and as soon as the gunshots rang out, the chaotic scene immediately exploded.Those hit by the bullets fell to the ground, their blood mixed with the drizzle of rain, and the terrified crowd trampled on each other as they ran for their lives, causing countless casualties. During the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, natural disasters and man-made disasters continued in China, and it is difficult to count the people who were killed by hunger and disease.Some scholars estimate that this number is close to the number of war deaths, while others think it is higher than the number of war deaths.A set of research figures that can be used as a reference shows that after the end of the Anti-Japanese War, China's population decreased by about 50 million compared with 1937 before the Anti-Japanese War. Adding the population that should have increased normally during the eight-year period, the sum of the two numbers should be around 100 million.

This astronomical blood debt must be recorded on the heads of the Japanese aggressors who have not yet pleaded guilty. 2 Chiang Kai-shek mobilized elite soldiers and strong generals, determined to destroy the Doihara Division sent to his door at any cost.He sent two chiefs of the general staff to the front line in Kaifeng. Chiang Kai-shek's warrant to Xue Yue was only six words: if you fail, you will be benevolent! In the eyes of outsiders, the Central Army should be all directly related to Chiang Kai-shek, and there is no distinction between distant relatives and internal and external differences, but it is not.The Central Army is not monolithic, and the KMT government is full of factions. "There are parties in the party, and there are factions in the factions." The Zhongtong faction, the CC faction, the He (Yingqin) faction, the Chen (Cheng) faction, the Song (Ziwen) tax police faction, the Kong (Xiangxi) faction, etc. Inextricably linked.Even the direct descendants of Huangpu who are also Chiang Kai-shek's confidantes are quite different. For example, the "Jiangsu-Zhejiang Gang" Chen Cheng is far more powerful than other generals, because most of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Gang come from Chiang Kai-shek's hometown, and many of them are related to the Chiang family. It is not surprising that his confidant, the core of the core, has soared all the way to the top.

At the beginning of the Battle of Eastern Henan, Commander Long Muhan of the 88th Division known as the "No. 1 Division in the World" suddenly received an order from Wuhan, asking him to "temporarily leave the 71st Army's organizational system and be assigned to the command of the 27th Army." ".In the eyes of those who don't know the inside story, this is just a temporary change in the command system, not to mention that the order comes from the base camp, and there is absolutely no room for bargaining.However, Master Long, who is well versed in the inside story of the officialdom, was secretly surprised. He knew the background of the two factions that were both the ace armies of the Kuomintang all too well. It belongs to the "Chen Cheng faction", and the "He" and "Chen" factions are fighting fiercely. Why did the headquarters assign the 88th Division to the old rival, the 27th Army, which has malicious intentions?Isn't it obvious that someone is behind the scenes?