1928: The rise of giant merchants

The ceasefire between the two sides did not mean that they would not fight anymore, but that they were increasing their troops to prepare for a big attack.

Wang, who saw this, could not wait any longer. On the morning of the 30th, he personally called the principal and expressed his willingness to hand over the power to him. He only asked the principal to come back as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation and quickly send the soldiers he could not dispatch to Zhabei.

If Shanghai fell like Fengtian, then he, Wang, would be the second Zhang Hanqing.

How miserable is Zhang Hanqing now?

He is neither a man nor a man.

Wang would rather give up the power of the Nanjing National Government than become a drowned dog that everyone wants to beat.

The principal took this opportunity to raise many more requests and finally agreed to set off to return to Nanjing on the 30th.

On the afternoon of January 30, the principal, who had resigned due to the Fengtian Incident, sent a telegram to the whole country to announce his comeback. He was immediately appointed as a member of the Military Commission by the Central Conference of the Kuomintang (at the same time, Feng Yuxiang, Yan Xishan, and Zhang Hanqing were appointed as members), responsible for mobilizing troops and commanding the Shanghai War.

On the same day, the president rushed to Nanjing and immediately formulated the principles for dealing with Japan, namely "preparing for negotiations while actively resisting", and stipulated: "Negotiations must set a final line of defense and a maximum limit, which must at least not hinder administrative and territorial integrity, that is, not undermine the spirit of the Nine-Power Treaty and not lose national sovereignty. If this limit is exceeded and the defense line is retreated to an unbearable level, a decisive battle will be fought with them, even if it means defeat and death. Only with this determination and spirit can negotiations be discussed."

At the same time, the president also made a military deployment in the military field that "the 19th Route Army will do its utmost to defend the Zhabei defense line, and the front guard army (i.e. the 87th and 88th divisions) will do its utmost to defend Nanjing."

He was so tough this time because he saw Zhang Hanqing's fate and was unwilling to let "non-resistance" give people a reason to criticize him.

As long as he wins this battle, even if he loses miserably, he can justify it.

The principal wrote in his diary that day: "Will the Japanese invaders invade our southeast again? I have no choice but to fight them to the death!"

At 8 o'clock in the evening on January 30, the principal issued a telegram to the soldiers across the country: "Since the soldiers of the 19th Route Army have risen up to defend themselves bravely, all the revolutionary soldiers of our army should fight for the dignity of the country, seek survival for the nation, fulfill their responsibilities for the revolution, and be determined to die rather than live in disgrace, so as to deal with the violent Japan that destroys peace and despises faith."

He asked the soldiers across the country to "work hard, share the same hatred with the enemy, and be ready to fight to save the crisis", and said that he "would like to swear to live and die with the soldiers and fulfill my duty".

After the release of this telegram, it had a great impact. All walks of life responded and supported the principal. Under the leadership of Ye Luo, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce immediately sent a convoy to Zhabei to transport various materials to help the soldiers fight the enemy.

On the same day, Ye's Automobile announced that it would suspend all kinds of business during the war, even the most profitable taxi industry would stop working, and all idle cars would be sent to Zhabei to help transport injured soldiers and civilians.

His move also severely slapped the faces of the peace-loving businessmen.

Yu Qiaqing, who had followed Wang to do all kinds of things before, and Fu Xiaoan, who secretly returned to Shanghai and tried to make a comeback, suddenly became rats crossing the street that everyone wanted to beat.

War correspondents from Shenbao and Xinwenbao filmed and recorded various rescue activities of Ye's Automobile in Zhabei, as well as the Ye's Charity Foundation, which was the first to engage in charity work.

In contrast, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium headed by Yu Qiaqing became a turtle, without any sound.

Yu Qiaqing, who was sitting at home drinking tea, knew that the general situation was over. He did not stand firmly on the side of the principal. When the war was over, everyone in their Jiangsu and Zhejiang consortium would die and would definitely be liquidated.

Fu Xiaoan ran to the Japanese concession overnight to seek protection from the Japanese.

Soon after, the Nanjing National Government issued the "Declaration of Moving the Capital to Luoyang", stating that it would never surrender, and from that day on, the National Government departments were moved to Luoyang, but the Military Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remained in Nanjing, and at the same time, the front-line troops were ordered to be jointly commanded by the Minister of Military and Political Affairs He Yingqin and the Chief of Staff Zhu Peide.

The whole month of February was filled with war.

The Japanese army continued to reinforce, and Chen Mingshu was in urgent need of help. He had no choice but to ask Ye Luo for help many times. Ye Luo took the initiative to discuss with the principal by phone, and let the Tax Police Corps obtain a temporary number and rush to Zhabei to participate in the war in the form of reinforcements.

The principal always thought that the Tax Police Corps was a security team played by Ye Luo and Song Ziwen. Because the head of the group was Wen Yingxing, a direct descendant of the Song family, he had to agree to let this field force participate in the battle, just hoping that this battle would not break the toys of these two people, and then they would take the opportunity to ask him for money to reorganize the security team.

I never thought that the joining of the Tax Police Corps would actually improve the situation!

It was also the first time that the Japanese invaders encountered such well-equipped Chinese troops, which seemed to have endless ammunition and food.

These people were well-trained elites. With sufficient ammunition, they pressed from all directions and quickly crushed several Japanese invaders' troops.

After a day of fierce fighting, although the Wusong open-air artillery fort was destroyed by the enemy's bombardment, the Japanese army was still unable to land under the resistance of the Tax Police Corps.

The 88th Division, which was transferred to the command of the 4th Regiment of the 156th Brigade of the 19th Route Army at that time, also shot down a Japanese plane with anti-aircraft guns.

After the general offensive was crushed, Yukiichi Shiozawa was dismissed and transferred back to his country.

The defenders, who had taken a big breath, received new supplies from Ye's investment, and immediately recovered their vitality and continued to fight the Japanese invaders.

At 9:00 a.m. on February 5, 9 aircraft (5 bombers and 4 fighters) of the 6th and 7th squadrons of the Central Air Force, led by the second squadron leader Shi Bangfan, took off from the Jinling Ming Palace Airport and rushed to Shanghai to participate in the war.

When the fleet passed Kunshan, it had a brief air battle with the Japanese naval aviation team.

At 11:00, our fighters landed at Hongqiao Airport and were refueling and loading bombs to prepare to attack Japanese ships. Suddenly, Japanese planes attacked and our fighters immediately took off to fight.

During the battle, the deputy captain Huang Yuquan, who had just got married, crashed due to mechanical failure and died, becoming the first person in the domestic air force to die in the war against Japan.

After the news reached Ye Mansion, Ye Luo immediately called Shi Liangcai and Wu Liande, asking them to spare the front page of their respective newspapers to write about this first person who died in the air force.

In fact, the combat effectiveness of the national army at this time was not much worse than that of the Japanese army. With the combined strength of many warlords, they did fight back and forth with the Japanese invaders in Zhabei.

What they lacked more was morale and support.

The North fell, morale plummeted, and a great victory was needed to boost everyone's confidence.

The Southern Newspaper Industry had already fallen into Ye Luo's hands, and it played a powerful role at this time.

Not only newspapers, but also radio stations were under Ye Luo's control to broadcast the war situation 24 hours a day. People were paying close attention to the war situation when going to and from get off work, and many people ran to the city hall and were willing to rush to the front line to cooperate in the battle.

It can be said that Ye's investment pulled up the entire rear line and became the first medium for people to understand the front line at this time.

It was at this time that the principal called Ye Mansion for help. (End of this chapter)