Yue Zhenchuan didn't brag at all. The journey from Suzhou was smooth.
In these occupied areas, the control power of the Japanese army was very weak, mainly handed over to the puppet soldiers and police, and most of these people were just hanging around.
Especially in the Jiangnan area, life is relatively comfortable. Some are forced to serve as puppet soldiers, and some are just making a living.
For example, the leader of Wuxi's "Self-Defense Group" was Yuan Bowang, who had been in the army in his early years. Later, when the Japanese army occupied Wuxi, he was forced to become the commander-in-chief of the Wuxi Self-Defense Group.
This commander-in-chief is also suffering. Counting Wuxi County, Meicun, etc., he claims to have 2,000 troops. In fact, he is assigned according to the number of people in each village and is fooled on the roster.
Usually the most important role is to collect security fees.
All the weapons were obsolete by the Japanese army. There was a machine gun that could not be fired due to lack of parts, and 38 old rifles, most of which had no rifling. There are 103 fire guns, and the rest are broadswords and spears.
What's more, they don't even have swords or spears.
During the Songhu Anti-Japanese War, the Sichuan Army was poorly equipped, but compared with these self-defense groups, the Sichuan Army was simply an elite division.
Yuan Bowang, the commander-in-chief of the Wuxi Self-Defense Regiment, does not look like a "commander-in-chief" at all when he sees someone he knows, but more like a submissive little daughter-in-law, who bows to everyone he meets:
"They are all from the countryside. You also know who I am. There is really no way I can be forced. I don't really want to be a traitor. If the anti-traitor team finds me in the future, you must help me testify."
Such "puppet armies" can be found all over the country.
The Japanese's "grand plan" is to establish a self-defense group in every village, but no weapons are distributed. In fact, all men in the village aged 15-45 are counted as members of the self-defense group, and they are equipped with their own weapons.
How can you make such a commander and such a unit willing to sacrifice their lives for the Japanese?
Guerrilla commanders behind enemy lines such as Yue Zhenchuan would usually meet with these puppet troops and use threats and inducements to force them to cooperate with the guerrillas.
Chief among them are threats.
Most of the puppet soldiers are local people, and their families are here. You are willing to be a traitor and are not afraid of death. Are your family members not afraid of death too?
When your wife is in trouble and your children are crying, even if you really are a dog, you can only swallow your anger and act like a dog that doesn't bark.
Wuxi and Taizhou on this route are mostly like this.
In particular, the commander of the Second Self-Defense Battalion of the Taizhou Self-Defense Regiment, following the orders of their commander-in-chief, respectfully sent Meng Shaoyuan and his party to Nantong.
The situation in Nantong is a little different.
"The puppet army in Nantong is not called the Self-Defense Group, but is called the teaching team. The captain is called Weng Chuan. He is a hardcore traitor." Yue Zhenchuan, who escorted them all the way to Nantong, introduced: "Our guerrillas sent people to contact him, but this He is very arrogant, saying that he is a Japanese dog in life and will be a loyal Japanese dog in death. He will never betray the Japanese.
Last month, one of our deputy detachment leaders fell into his hands. Do you know what this guy did? First, all the clothes on the person were stripped off, the arms were flattened, and large iron nails as thick as fingers were used to penetrate the palms of the hands and nail them to the city wall. The two legs were tied up with iron wire and nailed to the city wall; the two collarbones were pierced with iron wire and twisted into buckles and hung on the city wall; four large ropes were tied to the inner sides of the two thighs and under the armpits. When the candle was lit, it burned so hard that oil dripped from the person's body. In the end, the person was burned alive. "
Meng Shaoyuan's face began to look ugly.
"This man is not only cruel, but he also executes the things told by the Japanese to the letter." Yue Zhenchuan sneered a few times: "He goes to the village every two days to collect various fees. Those who cannot pay the money and food are directly He arrested people and set fire to houses. The people nicknamed him 'Papi Weng', and he caused harm to all the villages near Nantong."
Meng Shaoyuan frowned: "Where are our people?"
"We have a brigade in Nantong with sixty-three people. The brigade leader Qin Dongcheng is nominally under the jurisdiction of the 8th Nantong Security Brigade of the **."
"Why are there so few people?"
"Nantong is the most difficult area for us to carry out work behind enemy lines. At its peak, there were nearly 500 people. On March 17, Nantong fell. The brigade fought a battle with the Japanese army in Xingang and suffered heavy losses. Withdrew. At that time, there were four hundred people including the wounded, but...just..."
"Say." Meng Shaoyuan's tone was a little less polite.
"Yes." Yue Zhenchuan said hurriedly: "Unlike Su, Xichang and other places, the Japanese army still has a certain strength in Nantong. From March 17 to this month, the Japanese army continued to conduct raids around Nantong. On the 4th of this month, the Japanese army used incendiary After that, the fire started from the nursery near Yuzhi Port in the east of Tangzha River and burned to Maoer Bridge in the suburbs of Nantong. For more than ten miles along the Tongyang Canal, more than 300 families and more than 4,000 houses were reduced to ashes. 16 babies and 16 babies in the nursery were burned. Two sick girls were burned alive.
On May 8, the Japanese army set out from Yijiaqiao, Nantong City and went to the countryside to "mopping up" the village. They went to Ma Xiazi Village, burned every house they saw, and killed every person they met. The Ma Xiazi Village, which housed more than 10 families, was burned to the ground.
Later, he went to the Ge family's old garden and killed 25 people. The elderly, women, and children nearby who had no time to escape were forced to hide in the reeds by the Maoertan River in Sichuan. After the Japanese troops fired at the reeds with machine guns, they frantically stabbed the pile of corpses with bayonets, fearing that they might still be alive. past. In this way, 108 people were brutally slaughtered, and the river beach was stained red with blood. "
Speaking of this, Yue Zhenchuan's eyes turned red: "Qin Dongcheng is a tough man, but he is also a reckless man. He always likes to fight to the death with the Japanese. On May 4th and 8th, he had encounters with the Japanese army and suffered losses. There are more than 50 people. But this is not the reason for his rapid attrition. The key is that the situation in Nantong is too complicated.
There are more than 30,000 local armed and miscellaneous troops in various parts of Nantong. They are all disobedient and busy grabbing people and territory. Most of Qin Dongcheng's people were dragged over by them. As I said, Qin Dongcheng is a reckless man, and he is unambiguous in his command of the war, but it is difficult for him to lead the troops well and expand their strength. "
"Is this Qin Dongcheng one of ours?"
"It is not under the jurisdiction of the special office, otherwise I would have suggested that you change someone." Yue Zhenchuan muttered: "When you got married in Shanghai, Zhu Yanni and Wei Yunzhe and I also discussed whether to enter Nantong, but the situation in Nantong is so complicated. And I heard that even the Fourth Route Army had set up an advance detachment and had transferred two battalions of the Guard Regiment, so we decided not to get involved."
Are the advancing detachment of the Fourth Route Army and the two battalions of the Guard Regiment the precursors of the future "Resistance Alliance"?
Meng Shaoyuan thought there for a long time: "So we have to pass through Nantong, are there any difficulties?"
"How else would I escort you all the way here?"
"Are there any troops that can cooperate?"
"Yes, a battalion of the Eighth Security Brigade is nearby."
"Who is the commander and what are his combat capabilities?"
"The battalion commander's name is Wei Yong. When it comes to fighting, we will definitely not be able to defeat the Japanese, but we are more than enough to defeat the puppet troops. Wei Yong fought with the Fourth Brigade of the Puppet Army Training Team. There were more than 100 puppet soldiers in the Fourth Brigade. As soon as the four Japs fired their guns, the puppet army was all in chaos. The Japs couldn't scream no matter how hard they screamed. As a result, all four Japs were killed in that battle. None of the puppet soldiers escaped and they were all captured. Wei As for Yong, he took off all the clothes of the puppet soldiers and drove them back home."
Meng Shaoyuan finally showed a smile on his face: "This Wei Yong is a bit interesting."
"He is actually a member of the military."
"Oh?" Meng Shaoyuan didn't expect this.
"In February, he went to Suzhou and asked me to borrow a batch of bullets." Yue Zhenchuan smiled and said: "The security brigade is seriously underpaid, and there is a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition. I thought that everyone was resisting the Japanese. I agreed to him and invited him to have a drink. He told me himself that he is a member of the military commander and is under the direct command of Yancheng Station."
"That's it, you can find a way to help me make an appointment with him. The sooner we meet, the better."
"Yes, I'll go now."
The situation in Nantong was something Meng Shao had never thought of before.
This is equivalent to planting a nail in the traffic artery of southern Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu.
Unless this nail is pulled out, the communication line cannot be said to be truly opened.
The key to pulling out this nail is the Wengchuan family!
Let’s fight in Nantong!
Meng Shaoyuan made this decision almost instantly.
The Japanese are not a big deal for the time being, but based on the combat effectiveness of the puppet army, they can still fight this battle.
"Director Meng, Old Jiuchang Chizhou is back!"
Just as he was thinking about it, Chang Chizhou, who was sent out to contact "Hengjiang One-stop" Xiao Fugen, appeared in front of him: "Boss Meng, I'm back."
"Well, stop using the polite words and report the situation!"
"Yes, I got in touch with Xiao Fugen. As soon as he heard that the young master was coming to northern Jiangsu, he immediately said that he would come to greet you. I said that we should go to war as the target was too big and would easily attract the attention of the Japanese, so we passed Nantong and arrived at Yancheng. See you later. Xiao Fugen agreed after hearing this. He is already making preparations in Yancheng and is waiting for the young master to pass."
"Okay!" Meng Shaoyuan nodded: "I'm just going to do something in Nantong."
"One more thing." Chang Chizhou said immediately: "When I was about to leave, a political commissar from the Fourth Route Army also found Xiao Fugen."
"Oh, what are you doing?" Meng Shaoyuan suddenly regained his attention.
Chang Chizhou didn't understand why the young master was so nervous: "It seems that they have a group of people who want to pass through northern Jiangsu and Nantong to reach southern Jiangsu. So they asked Xiao Fugen to find a way."
"how many people?"
"Fifty-five."
Meng Shaoyuan found that his head hurt again: "What does Xiao Fugen mean?"
"Xiao Fugen is going to send someone to send them out of Yancheng. I dare to ask the young master to meet them in Nantong."
"Bold?"
Meng Shaoyuan didn't want to say anything.
Many things in this world are like this:
The more you are afraid of something, the more likely it will be!
