Early June 1939.
The mountain city gradually looked like summer, and the temperature gradually increased. People changed out of their thick winter clothes and put on breathable clothes made of cotton and linen.
Although the harsh winter has passed, the sorrow on people's faces has not gone away. These past few months have been an unforgettable and painful memory for people in mountain cities.
At 1 o'clock in the afternoon on May 3, more than 40 Japanese bombers suddenly attacked and continuously bombed the central area of the mountain city with dense population and prosperous business.
From Chaotianmen to Central Park, about two kilometers of the busiest streets in the city were turned into a sea of flames, and 19 of the 27 main streets were turned into ruins.
At 6 pm on May 4, 27 Japanese planes attacked again, dropping 78 aerial bombs and 48 incendiary bombs. More than 10 fires broke out in the city, and the fire lasted for 2 days.
More than 10 bustling markets including Duyou Street were burned down, and the Min'an Cinema, which was showing a movie, was bombed, killing more than 200 spectators on the spot.
14 of the city's 37 banks were destroyed, and the ancient Luohan Temple and Chang'an Temple were also devoured by fire. People who took refuge in the temples suffered heavy casualties.
Also bombed were foreign churches and the British, French and other foreign embassies in the Republic of China. Even the German embassy, which was flying a certain flag, was not spared.
The streets of mountain cities can be seen everywhere with bloody corpses, children who have lost their parents, and old people who have lost their children wandering the streets looking for the remains of their family members.
In a private house opposite Junweihui.
Zuo Zhong stood on the side of the window with the word "rice" taped on it, looking at the remaining miserable images outside the window and sighed, his eyes filled with anger, and his hands clenching his fists tightly.
According to military statistics, during the two days of bombing, Japanese planes killed nearly 4,000 people, injured 2,000 others, damaged 5,000 buildings, and made about 200,000 people homeless.
This air raid was the earliest strategic bombing in world history. The Japanese hoped to destroy the will of the government to resist by massacring Pingping people.
After fighting for almost two years, the Japanese, who could no longer hold on anymore, tried to defeat the Republic of China through intimidation. It must be said that this was a sign of exhaustion.
At this time, Wu Chunyang on the side connected the phone line, turned the handle, picked up the phone and listened, then turned to Zuo Zhong and whispered.
"Deputy, the field line has been connected. You can contact the garrison headquarters and the bureau headquarters at any time. There are also dedicated people at the camp to relay the information and will not leak the information."
"kindness."
Zuo Zhong gave a gentle greeting and turned his gaze to a group of Guojun soldiers on the street who were wearing anti-aircraft armbands and showing off their power. His originally gloomy expression became even more ugly.
Although this tragedy was caused by the Japanese, the corruption at the top and bottom of the party, or the inaction of the mountain city air defense forces, exacerbated the disaster for the people in the mountain city.
If I had to give an example among this group of insects, then a certain pig general who served as the mountain city garrison commander and air defense commander would be the representative figure among them.
As soon as the other party took office, they used the importance of mountain city air defense as an excuse to request the establishment of a special air defense force to deal with the increasingly rampant Japanese air raids.
The air defense force is under the jurisdiction of the communication team, protection team, stretcher battalion, engineering team, bicycle platoon, alarm station, air liaison post, intelligence transmission post and other units, and is directly under the air defense command.
It sounds wonderful, but most of these so-called air defense units are replaced by subordinates of pig generals. For example, the communication team is replaced by the communication company, and the roster is faked to receive double military pay.
In order to win over his subordinates, General Zhu boldly stipulated that the communications company commander could receive an additional 50 yuan in office expenses, and each officer and soldier working in the Air Defense Command would receive a monthly service allowance of 4 yuan.
For another example, the stretcher battalion is composed of a battalion from the Labor Corps of the Garrison Headquarters. The so-called Labor Corps is a labor camp similar to the Red Russian one, with a mixed bag of good and bad people inside.
In the name of reforming gangsters and thieves, Zhu will capture some thieves and singers from the mountain city society and tie them with iron chains for forced labor.
Their labor income is shared among the middle and lower-level officers, while the pig generals embezzle the funds of the Labor Corps and half of the military rations. This is very fair, and everyone makes money.
Of course, those who were locked up and working were all peaceful prisoners, and there were even some prisoners of the underground party. I don’t know where Mr. Zhujiang got the courage.
As for the real pickpockets and thieves, they were released privately to the streets to continue stealing. All the stolen things and money were handed over to the officers of the corps to divide the spoils.
Also, when the fire broke out, many dignitaries directly called the Air Defense Command to send firetrucks to protect them first, so the fire quickly spread throughout the city.
After the fire, a large number of residents fled, and many unburned properties were looted by air defense forces. Even the remaining wood was accumulated and sold as firewood.
What's more, some people even slightly repaired the burned-out house and then took it for their own use. Afterwards, they even demanded a high price from the owner to redeem it.
The pig general should not be called a pig general, but a vampire. Even if the famous Dracula walked under him, he would probably have to draw several kilograms of blood as tolls.
Not only that, this bunch of crazy poor bastards also came up with innovative new ways of doing business and focused on air defense intelligence.
The mountain city has a specialized air defense intelligence system, with communication equipment specifically designed to provide early warning to various agencies and dignitaries in their air raid shelters, and to report on enemy aircraft.
The pig general and his men took a fancy to this new blue ocean, and used the government's equipment and lines to set up a private communication network to serve the wealthy businessmen and landowners.
Most of these people have private air-raid shelters in mountain cities. If the other party sends the air defense troops a sum of money every month, they can know the movements of enemy planes in advance.
In this way, the air defense force had a fixed additional income. They used the money to join businessmen and participate in some commercial activities and speculation.
Over the past few months, everyone from pig generals to low-level officers have made a lot of money. Most of them have bought houses in mountain cities and lived a luxurious life.
As for the issue of air defense intelligence in public air raid shelters, no one cares about it. There are only 10 telephones in more than 800 public air raid shelters, which is of no use.
After the bombing, the repair team always repaired the communication lines first for the powerful and wealthy people, and finally repaired the telephone lines in the public air-raid shelters.
For help calls, the switchboard will also give priority to calls from rich people. Ordinary people can queue up and the calls will be answered when the bombing stops.
It is not that no one wants to change this situation. Some schools such as Central University have called for the establishment of wireless broadcasts in mountain towns for communicating air raid situations.
This was originally a good measure, and the people in the mountain city were happy to hear it. However, it has been several months since it was proposed, and it has not been completed.
Because all agencies are vying for the right to handle wireless broadcasting, this is a big project with a lot of money, and no one is willing to let go, leading to delays.
In the end, this "business" was won by the Pig General and the Air Defense Command. The first phase of funding was US$140,000. Someone was finally generous.
As a result, the Air Defense Command did not do anything with the money immediately after receiving it, but used it to run businesses. They went to Wanxian County to buy tobacco leaves and sold them to Shancheng Tobacco Factory.
They continued to delay the project on the pretext that they had to solve technical and equipment problems first, and suspended the construction a few days ago on the grounds that the rugged area could not solve the problem of communication.
In fact, the Ministry of Transport already has the corresponding technical strength and equipment, but because the funds for building wireless broadcasts are not at their disposal, they refuse to use them.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Natural Resources Council also have equipment to manufacture corresponding equipment. For the same reason, they do not agree to manufacture equipment for wireless broadcasting.
This just gave Zhujiang a reason to stop work. It can be said that the entire air defense system of the mountain city was completely rotten and did not play its due role at all.
Compared with the miserable situation of the common people, the officials were full of food. To put it bluntly, some people probably wished that the Japanese would bomb them every day.
Logically speaking, the military commander should report this matter to someone, but Dai Chunfeng suppressed the matter and did not report even a word to the attendant room.
The reason is very simple. This is not a "business" of one person. There are countless people at the top and bottom who are making profits from this. The military commander cannot be the leader.
This is not only due to official rules. Intelligence work cannot be carried out without the assistance of various agencies. If too many people are offended, much work cannot be carried out.
There is a saying that makes it very clear, when turbidity becomes a normal state, innocence becomes a sin... It is so rotten that if the party does not die, it will not be tolerated by heaven!
Zuo Zhong silently turned away from the window, went to the table in the middle of the room, picked up a personnel file marked top secret from it, and read it carefully.
"Yan Shaoyi, male, 39 years old, from Jinmen, married, with a son and a daughter at home, graduated from the Engineering Department of Beiyang University in Jinmen, and joined the Fruit Party in 1924.
The current lieutenant colonel of the First Division of the Military Command Department is responsible for the review of all combat plans and deployments of the Guo Army. He has a good relationship with the director of the First Division.
His true identity is a lurk member of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Special Higher Education Course in Shanghai. His real name is Yumi Akimoto, codenamed "Matsuko". In 1913, he sneaked into the Republic of China to perform a mission.
Directly under the command of the Special Higher Education Section of the Consulate in Shanghai, he owns a small spy radio station. After the defeat of Jinling, he followed the army and retreated westward. He now lives at No. 57 Xinglong Street, Mountain City. "
This file records in detail the life and photos of Yan Shaoyi, or Yumi Akimoto, and even his affiliations and equipment are recorded.
We have such detailed information, of course, thanks to the loyal ministers and martyrs of the Japanese Empire, the intelligence experts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the trustworthy friends of the Japanese army stationed in Shanghai, the boss of Akizono Yumi, the head of the Hase Agency, and the people who are special to China. Committee Left Officer
——His Excellency Ryosuke Hase.
Wu Chunyang looked at the file in Zuo Zhong's hand and said with some confusion: "Vice-in-Chief, isn't this the spy we were monitoring when we were in Jinling? Why did you remember to monitor him?
There are brothers around this guy who are always watching, and even the code book given to him by Shanghai has been replaced by us. He thought he was in contact with the Special High School, but in fact he sent it to the Telecommunications Office. "
That information is now stored in an old drawer of the Second Division, and the orders given to him by the Japanese are also screened and forwarded by the Telecommunications Division. For such a small role, it makes no sense for us to monitor him. "
As a participant in the Liuguo Hotel operation and Zuo Zhong's confidant, Wu Chunyang naturally knew Hase Ryosuke, and he was also responsible for the surveillance work of the other party's group of moles.
This kind of spy information that has been exposed is of little value. At best, it can be used as bait to see how many big fish it can attract. In addition to gathering information, Akizono Yumi has been tirelessly looking for targets to incite rebellion.
In the past few years, two or three traitors have been persuaded by him. All of this was done under the "command" of the military commander. The intelligence agency also needs KPIs, which can be used at any time when needed.
When Zuo Zhong heard Wu Chunyang's words, he shook his head slightly and said nothing. The mirage plan was top secret. Monitoring Qiu Yuan Yumi was only part of the plan. Now was not the time to make it public.
At this moment, a man in casual clothes walked out of the gate of Junweihui. It was Yumi Akizono. The man stood at the door and looked around for a moment, then called a mountain sedan and disappeared in the lively street.
