the world is at stake

The Wehrmacht still had not enough trucks after all.After the rapid detachment rushed across the battlefield, the foot soldiers were a little out of touch, but they just followed up to catch the prisoners.

Wang Xin moved the headquarters two kilometers forward from Baohua Mountain, and also moved it to the railway line.After walking a few steps, he saw more than 100 meters of railroad tracks that had been dismantled voluntarily to prevent the Japanese army from directly hitting Zhenjiang with trains.

A Wehrmacht truck was upside down beside the railroad track. Its front was hit by two or three 37mm shells.

Fortunately, the power of the shells was small, and the casualties of the people on board were not large.

Walking a hundred meters further, Wang Xin saw the small Japanese cannon that hit the truck.Looking at the inscription, it is a one-pounder gun on a British warship, which is specially used to deal with floating mines or small boats.

The expatriate volunteer team organized by the British is equipped with a lot of these small cannons, which are provided by Shanghai Jardine Matheson.This thing is easy to operate and light in weight, and its threat to the Wehrmacht is second only to the six [-]-type heavy artillery on the train.

A staff officer of the National Defense Forces ran over, "Regimental Commander, the truck unit has taken down the enemy's train guns parked on the railroad tracks. There is no organized resistance on the battlefield, and most companies are capturing prisoners."

Wang Xin made a 'hmm' sound, indicating that he knew.

After the triplane joined the battlefield, it caused confusion in the enemy's command, so it would not be a complete defeat.But when the truck unit collided with the third brother's defense line and made a detour, Little Japan couldn't bear it.

The vanguard troops still captured the prisoners at first, but then they simply stepped on the gas pedal and rushed straight forward, completely breaking through the enemy's entire line of defense, and headed towards Nanjing.

The matter of capturing the prisoners was left to the infantry who followed.

Wang Xin's headquarters continued to move forward and stopped near the train artillery discarded by the Japanese army.

Colonel Nakamura's headquarters is also nearby, densely covered with shallow shell craters. The grenade of the 75mm mountain cannon is too powerful, and it can only overturn a little bit of ground when it is blown on the ground.

The Japanese soldiers of the two companies fought to the end here, and many corpses who died of bayonet stabbing could be seen at the scene.The Japanese soldiers ate well, trained well, and shot accurately, and the National Defense Forces also suffered from stabbing.

The capture of this place depends entirely on bombardment, otherwise many people will die.

Nakamura, in the uniform of the Colonel, fell behind a dirt slope. The guy opened his belly and seemed to want to have a laparotomy, but he died in the end from a shrapnel from a grenade.

Beside the corpse was a Japanese general saber, which was very sharp when it was pulled out.

"Oh, there are exhibits in the military museum."

Wang Xin smiled and continued to move forward.The six [-]-type heavy guns are considered the most important spoils of this battle, and the National Defense Forces do not have artillery of this caliber at all.

However, its weight of more than two tons is obviously beyond the carrying capacity of current trucks, and using a pack horse is contrary to the army-building thinking of the National Defense Forces, which is really tasteless.

Behind it is the 76mm naval gun of the British army, which weighs more than two tons, and has a good range and power.But this thing is even more tasteless, it is a naval gun, and it needs to be used on the ground with wheels.

"We still have to develop our own military industry and equipment system, and we can't rely on seizure."

Wang Xin shook his head, knowing that the Ministry of National Defense can do it when it needs to do it, but he will never treat the scrap metal in front of him as a treasure, and look down on it at all.

On the flatbed carriage of the train, several soldiers of the National Defense Forces were guarding their guns. Hundreds of prisoners staggered past them in line, gathering the guns and ammunition in their hands in one place, waiting to be disposed of.

Most of the prisoners were Zhang Xun's men, and the [-] soldiers in his patrol battalion had no combat effectiveness at all. The whole battle was used as cannon fodder, and nearly [-] people were killed or injured.

Few of the more than 3000 Japanese soldiers were captured. Occasionally, some were stunned by shells, or they pretended to be dead and waited for the National Defense Forces to approach before fighting desperately.These guys are extremely stubborn, and there are many similar situations.

"The troops who can be trained to play 'pig sudden' have really different brains." Wang Xin has already ordered that those who see Japanese military uniforms must be careful.

If it is a corpse, shoot first; if it is a living person, let him take off his clothes first.

It doesn't matter if Little Japan doesn't surrender, these guys are really thieves.Realizing that the situation was not right, they scattered and retreated, fled into the countryside around Nanjing to continue to resist, and even massacred civilians to vent their anger.

The National Defense Forces have organized companies one by one to pursue and eliminate these beasts as quickly as possible.Zhou Qingfeng took Martha to handle this matter personally, ignoring other things.

In addition to the patrol battalion and the Japanese army, the largest number of prisoners was Indian Asan.They surrendered quite quickly, but they also asked a lot-they were hungry, their flesh was hurt, and they wanted to go home.

For these South Asian foreigners wearing turbans, the National Defense Forces soldiers also treated them as Westerners.Later, Wang Xin said-don't listen to these third brothers' bullying, use the butt of the gun to touch their faces hard, and if you don't obey, you will use the bayonet.

Among the captives was a special one, Zhang Xun himself.When he was captured, he didn't wear a military uniform at all, he wore a melon cap and a cotton jacket, and he was accompanied by seven or eight relatives, and he refused to hand over his gun.

The national defense soldiers who captured Zhang Xun were bluffed by his title of "distinguished commander", and sent them to Wang Xin respectfully.

Wang Xin also had a fiery temper. When he found out that the idiots under his command had brought over the prisoners who hadn't handed in their guns, he became furious on the spot and ordered the guard company to disarm the prisoners immediately.

Zhang Xun held his neck and refused to accept it. When he learned that Wang Xin was just the head of the regiment, he looked down on him very much. When they met, he said, "Let you Zhou Tianwang come, and Zhang is willing to electrify and go down."

"Damn you big-headed ghost!" Wang Xin, who was two meters tall, with a palm like a fan, called out a melon seed with big ears.His strength far surpassed that of ordinary people, and he spun Zhang Xun's fan and fell to the ground with a snap.

"You are a fucking war criminal who split the country. The Chinese nation was almost torn apart by you. Wait for the court-martial to be tried. You and Yuan Shikai behind you will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history, and will be stigmatized for thousands of years! "

Zhang Xun's head was buzzing, half of his face was swollen, his mouth was full of blood, and he spit out a few back molars.He shouted dissatisfied: "You don't obey the rules, I want to see Zhou Qingfeng."

"You have to be thankful that Mr. Zhou went after the remnants of the Japanese soldiers. Otherwise, if you lure the Japanese soldiers to Nanjing, he would like to roast you as a traitor on skewers."

The 'Sacred Light' team can tolerate anything, and can talk about normalizing relations with Britain and Japan after the war, but they can't tolerate Zhang Xun. If they are caught, they must be punished by public trial.

Zhou Qingfeng was leading a team to tear devils with his hands, and when he learned from the radio that Zhang Xun had been captured, he said indifferently: "Hurry up and send him to the imperial capital, don't let me see him. I'm afraid I won't be able to resist breaking him into pieces. "

On the night of the 27th, the Ministry of National Defense of the Imperial Capital announced to the outside world that the anti-insurgency troops had wiped out Zhang Xun's treasonous troops and the foreign forces behind him.

During the battle, our National Defense Forces sank and damaged one British-made reconnaissance cruiser, four British-made torpedo destroyers, and five Japanese-made torpedo destroyers, and wiped out 1000 stubborn enemies, including [-] British-Japanese mixed troops organized by foreign forces.

Our army suffered less than five hundred casualties.

The news spread rapidly through telegrams and newspapers, shocking the whole world.

On the 26th, it was reported that the Chinese National Defense Forces had taken action against British and Japanese warships, and everyone expressed great doubts about the results of the battle-what kind of aircraft can kill nearly [-] tons of warships in one day?

The British Navy is now only more than 270 million tons. If it faces the National Defense Forces, wouldn't it be all over if it can't hold it for a year?

On the 27th, it was reported that the treasonous interference forces at home and abroad, including [-] Japanese troops, had been wiped out.

The whole country was amazed, and the local snakes in all provinces didn't know what to say?It was as if he had seen a ghost in the daytime, only to realize that his own army is so powerful, if it says to put down chaos, it will put down chaos, if it says to fight foreigners, it will fight foreigners.

And he did what he said, and he won.

Is there any fake in this?

On the 28th, the National Defense Forces held a military parade in Nanjing. The troops of the Third Division marched neatly in the city, with more than a dozen self-propelled artillery and machine gun trucks taking the lead, showing themselves majestically.

Behind the parading team were about a thousand listless prisoners of war. They paraded through the streets in their respective military uniforms, surprising and delighting the common people in Nanjing.

The prisoners of the patrol battalion were nothing to look at.

There were dozens of Japanese prisoners, and not many of them were soldiers. On the contrary, many Japanese sailors were picked up from the destroyer sunk and damaged on the 26th.They were about the same as Chinese in appearance, and now they were wearing crumpled navy and army uniforms, looking sluggish.

The most eye-catching ones are obviously the hundreds of high-nosed and deep-eyed foreign captives, which are very rare in the past century.

Today's Shanghai is known as the Oriental Adventure Park.Half of the foreign captives were mercenaries bought by the British from Shanghai, and there were bad people of all nationalities, including British naval officers and soldiers.

But the third brother has the largest number.

In order to improve the austerity of these Indian assams, Man Lu Zuo prohibited them from wearing the iconic turbans of the Sikhs, and all of them wore British military uniforms, pretending to be British devils.

Where do ordinary people know so much?Just look at the large groups of dejected soldiers of the great powers among the captives parading the streets. They were so happy that they ran around telling each other.

In order to watch the captives parade through the streets, the whole of Nanjing was empty for thousands of people, and they all ran out to watch the excitement—China has been bullied by foreign powers for more than half a century, and today we have won the war?

Or a quick fix.

Some people opened the windows on the side of the street and cheered loudly; some people brought out gongs and drums and beat them along the street;

The merchants in the city were originally worried about the coming of war, thinking that it must be a disaster, no matter who wins, it will cause chaos.If the defeated soldiers enter the city, they will naturally burn, kill and loot.

However, the National Defense Forces entered the city on the night of the 27th and strictly guarded the streets and intersections; Zhou Qingfeng led a team to the countryside to catch the Japanese routs and ensure that no major disturbances occurred.

By the 28th, the shops found that the market was calm, at most some quartermasters came to purchase, and the prices were very generous.There are also gendarmes to maintain law and order, prohibiting merchants from hoarding and disturbing the market.

The common people were overjoyed.

The ferry at Xiaguan Wharf blew its whistle and screamed non-stop; young students grabbed mimeographed numbers, sweating profusely, and handed them out along the street.

The joy is contagious, even if it is a farmer and fisherman who doesn't care about current affairs, or a coolie laborer, people jump and shout for joy.

People on the street flowed round and round, running back and forth behind the captive team.Everyone, whether they knew each other or not, celebrated and congratulated each other like crazy.

The news spread, and the people couldn't sit still.

Some people come to Nanjing by ferry from Yangzhou, while others come to Nanjing by 'Shanghai-Nanjing Railway' from Shanghai.There are also people as far away as Wuhan or even Chongqing, who took a boat down the river and spent several days just to see the National Defense Forces defeat the foreign devils.

This is the beginning of a great change unseen in a century...

Zhou Qingfeng simply ordered the prisoners to be divided into three parts, one part was sent to the imperial capital for exhibition along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal;

Propaganda is also seized weapons and ammunition, such as Type [-] heavy artillery.Even the damaged British and Japanese destroyers were towed as exhibits for people all over the country to boost morale.

As for the biggest "Adventure" ship, it has become the most popular tourist exhibit in Nanjing.Thousands of people ran to Xiaguan Wharf just to take a photo with this British cruiser that had a big hole in it, as a souvenir.

The most important exhibits are five big red triplanes.They fly along the Yangtze River every day, first to warn Britain and Japan to use their naval superiority to continue to expand the war, and second to demonstrate the country's military strength and warn opponents.

The common people along the river love to watch it and never get tired of watching it every day.

Chapter 38 Shanghai

October 3th, Shanghai.

The rickshaw driver was running around the Bund, his lean body sweating profusely.Military policemen of the National Defense Forces stood guard on the street with armbands, staring intently at the street.

More than a dozen students held banners and slogans and shouted along the street.Their voices are not very neat, and they seem to be laughing, but they are undoubtedly happy.

The foreign bosses and employees working in foreign firms on the Bund changed their usual high-spirited postures and dodged in the streets, as if they were afraid of being seen.

The docks on the Bund are still busy, and there are many ships with masts on the river, but the usual foreign warships are missing.The coolies were still busy making a living, carrying wood, food, livestock, etc., and didn't pay much attention to the slogans of the students.

Several newly appointed city officials are trying to talk to the coolies on the docks, trying to get them to join the newly formed union in an official way.But they obviously haven't mastered the method yet. Not only are they ignored, but they are annoying.

Foreigners in rickshaws are passing quickly through the streets of the Bund.He glanced at the city officials who were getting more and more irritable on the pier, and confirmed that those people were the Chinese policemen who used to work for the British, and now they had changed their skins.

The new government came to power and temporarily took over many old bureaucrats in order to maintain stability.These people obviously don't know how to implement the New Deal, and they are forced to do a lot of work that must be done, and the old management methods are used bluntly.

"This is obviously not a really beneficial change, maybe it will be worse." Hastorf sat still, not knowing whether to be optimistic or pessimistic, because Shanghai has changed.

On the 28th of last month, the Third Division of the National Defense Forces quickly suppressed the rebellion and solved Zhang Xun's headquarters and foreign armed forces entrenched in Nanjing.This is like a shot in the arm, giving this ancient country a bit of excitement and confidence.

Likewise, the great powers in China suffered major setbacks.

After solving the enemy in Nanjing, Wang Xin acted as the commander of the third division and quickly went south to Guangzhou.

Man Luzuo commanded the Sixth Division of the National Defense Forces from the imperial capital to attack Shanghai along the "Shanghai-Nanjing Railway" in Zhenjiang, and rushed into the public concessions and French concessions occupied by European and American countries.

Before the great powers had time to digest the Nanjing War, they found that their fundamental interests in China were about to be touched.

The British Minister Zhu Erdian in the imperial capital also issued an ultimatum to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding that military operations that harm the interests of the United Kingdom be stopped immediately, otherwise the British Navy will not sit idly by.

Foreign Minister Wang responded indifferently, "Now the army is speaking, and any diplomatic words are useless. If your country wants to expand the war, we can first break off diplomatic relations, and then accompany us to the end."

Zhu Erdian has been engaged in diplomatic work in China for 34 years, and has never seen a Chinese diplomat so tough—anger, helplessness, and compromise are the norm.

Feeling the great humiliation, he could only leave in a daze full of anger. At the same time, he sent a long telegram to London, demanding to continue to put pressure on China and force the Chinese government to return to the normal track.

Otherwise, the diplomatic work of the British Empire in China would be impossible.

However, the London side has yet to respond specifically, only saying that it is preparing to put pressure on China, but requires diplomatic personnel stationed in China to exercise maximum restraint and not to interrupt diplomatic relations with China.

The British did not respond, but the Chinese responded quickly.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced to the outside world that the "Xin Chou Treaty" signed by the Eight-Power Allied Forces was invalidated, the lost diplomatic power and concessions were taken back, and the "Boxer Indemnity" was stopped.

European and American countries continued to express 'shock' and uproar, and they all looked at how the UK would respond.After all, Britain is now the most powerful country on Earth.

The recovery of concessions in Tianjin, Hankou, Chongqing and other places is relatively simple.Only the concession in Shanghai was in trouble.

The British and French consulates in the concession organized a group of British and French sailors and concession police to stop them. They also sent people to find Feng Guozhang who had arrived in Shanghai, asking him to protect the safety and interests of overseas Chinese and promising to support him.

Feng Guozhang has only been in Shanghai for a month, and he will command the Ninth Division of the Army in name, but he only has one regiment in his hand.

The warlord leader did not expect that the fighting power of the six divisions of the National Defense Forces after the reorganization would soar, and they would overthrow Zhang Xun in half a month, and even wiped out the thousands of "overseas volunteers".

Right now, the country's righteous reputation has increased by a hundredfold, and Zhang Xun was captured and sent to the imperial capital for trial. It seems that he will end up with Qin Hui.The authority of the central government has suddenly increased, who dares to stand on the side of the big powers and come out to bully them?

The British consul came to the door to express his support. Feng Guozhang was so frightened that he quickly sent a telegram to express his support for the central government's decision, and he never had any contact with the foreign powers.If there is an order from the central government, he is willing to retire from the military and return to the field.

Xiao Jinlang didn't make a fuss about Feng Guozhang, but comforted him.After all, there are only six divisions in the Central Committee, so we can't really believe the nonsense of these warlord leaders.

The Sixth Division arrived in Shanghai, rushed into the concession with a murderous look, and used machine guns to teach the British and French sailors and the police in the concession how to behave.Man Lu Zuo unceremoniously demanded that the foreign warships and troops entrenched in Shanghai get out immediately.

The concession was abolished, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry was put under military control, and Jardine Matheson was seized.The British and Japanese consulates in Shanghai were forcibly closed, and all Japanese personnel in Shanghai were under centralized management.

Half a month ago, on the Bund, Indian policemen on tall horses could be seen patrolling the streets.Now only Wehrmacht soldiers stand guard in the streets.

The vigorous and resolute measures are like a torrential downpour, washing away the whole Shanghai, refreshing the people of the country.

A large number of European and American officials, businessmen, and residents fled Shanghai by boat.All of its housing properties were confiscated unconditionally by the National Defense Forces and used for public use by the new city government.

Cai Xuebin, the former Minister of Civil Affairs, resigned from his original post and has brought a team of more than 300 people to Shanghai to take up the post of mayor, striving to stabilize this Oriental Pearl, the most important industrial city in China.

The "Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing General Administration" in Shanghai alone is the essence of China's industry at present. It has factories for smelting, shipbuilding, firearms, artillery, explosives, bullets, etc.

Zhou Qingfeng brought his own 'farming' skills, which greatly improved China's industrial level in 1910.This improvement is embodied in factories in Tianjin, Hankou, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places.

Originally, China's steel output was only tens of thousands of tons, and the quality was poor.It was abruptly raised to 80 tons by Uncle Zhou.It is several times more than Japan's 16 tons.

Most of the soaring steel production falls on the Hanyang Iron and Steel Works, and a lot of it falls on the ironworks of the Jiangnan Machinery Manufacturing Bureau.

At present, Shanghai is as important to China as the heart of the human body.Without its blood supply, the country's industrial development speed will be compromised by more than half.So 15.00% of the manpower of the 'Holy Light' team was pushed to this city.