1928: The rise of giant merchants

At dawn on February 20, the Japanese army dispatched more than ten aircraft to conduct reconnaissance and bombing operations over the Miaohang position. Naval naval guns and army heavy artillery bombarded the Miaohang position fiercely.

At the same time, Japanese artillery fire violently bombarded the Yunzaobang position in an attempt to forcibly cross Yunzaobang in order to support the battle at the temple.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese army approached Xiaochang Temple to the front of the Maijiazhai position, and launched a fire search on the 19th Route Army position.

At noon, 3,000 Japanese troops launched an attack. The 527th Regiment defending the Maijiazhai and Zhuyuandun positions rose up to fight back, and the Battle of Miaohang began.

In this critical battle, the principal sat directly at the Jinling headquarters and used radio remote control to command. He asked Chen Mingshu and others to stand ready and never let the Japanese invaders cross Yunzaobang, otherwise Zhabei would be in danger.

In order to better resist the Japanese invasion, the tax police regiment was divided into three groups, supporting the soldiers of the 19th Route Army at various positions, using terrifying and powerful firepower to block the Japanese attack by land, sea and air.

After the head-on conflict broke out, the equipment superiority and strength of the soldiers of the Tax Police Corps were undoubtedly demonstrated. More than 50,000 people fought like a force of 100,000 tigers and wolves.

After three hours of fierce fighting, the Japanese troops suffered heavy casualties and were unable to fight any more, so they retreated to their original positions.

Subsequently, the Japanese army sent more than 2,000 people to attack the Xiaochangmiao and Jinjiatang positions. The 523rd Regiment took cover in the trenches and repelled the Japanese army again with the support of the Tax Police Corps.

After dusk, the Japanese infantry stopped attacking, but land and sea artillery fire continued to bombard our positions in an attempt to destroy our fortifications and effective forces in order to continue the attack the next day.

In any case, the successful defense on February 20 gave the National Army great confidence that the Japanese divisions were not invincible. They would be afraid and retreat if they died more.

Taking this opportunity, the principal immediately energized the entire army to encourage the soldiers, and quickly distributed materials donated by Ye Luo and other Shanghai businessmen to the front line to comfort the troops.

On February 21, Japanese artillery fire continued to bombard the positions of the 88th Division of the Fifth Army in Miaohang indiscriminately.

Subsequently, thousands of Japanese infantry launched an attack on the line between Yanjiazhai and Miaoxing Town.

After the Japanese army approached, the 523rd and 524th regiments fought back bravely and repelled the Japanese army.

Subsequently, a large number of enemy troops cooperated in depth and launched continuous all-out attacks on the line of Maijiazhai, Zhuyuandun, Xiaochangmiao and Yanjiazhai south of Miaohang. The 523rd, 524th and 527th regiments launched fierce battles with the enemy. Among them, Maijiazhai, The fighting on the front line of Zhuyuan Dun where Xu Xu was located was particularly fierce.

After another day of hard fighting, with the joint efforts of many parties, the National Army once again defeated the Japanese army. Their morale was greatly boosted and many parties celebrated.

Ye's investment also became famous with the assistance of the Tax Police Corps and large quantities of military supplies.

For the recent material aid, Ye Luo had people print the trademark and company name of Ye's Investment on the material packaging. Not only our soldiers could see it, but the enemy Japanese invaders also saw the terrifying financial resources of Ye's Investment.

On the evening of February 21st, Ye Luo divided the aid materials into subdivisions. For example, this batch was aided by Ye's Film Company, and this batch was donated by Ye's Clothing Company, which directly monopolized the advertising of military supplies.

On February 22, the Japanese Ninth Division mobilized in full force to attack the Miaoxing position of the 88th Division of the Fifth Army. Aircraft bombing continued all day long, and thousands of artillery shells bombarded the defending positions.

However, under Zhang Zhizhong's personal command and under attack from all sides by the Tax Police Corps, Sun Yuanliang's Brigade, Song Xilian's Brigade and the 61st Division of the 19th Route Army, the enemy suffered a disastrous defeat, and the temple's position finally turned the corner.

Among them, the First Battalion of the Tax Police Regiment led by Wen Yingxing took the initiative to attack the elites of the Japanese Ninth Division and the Kurume Mixed Brigade. Under the surprise attack, with its powerful firepower and the bravery of the soldiers, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties.

This is a "great victory in the temple tour"!

In the following days, although the Japanese troops continued to bombard and attack, they were all repelled by the defenders.

By the 25th, Ueda's general offensive plan also declared bankruptcy.

Seeing that the war situation had made a breakthrough, the principal was overjoyed and immediately called the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Jinling National Government and asked them to quickly contact Britain, France, the United States and other powers, hoping that these powers could organize a new round of collegial talks.

On the evening of February 28, Jinling diplomatic representative Gu Weijun, at the invitation of Commander Cayley of the British Fleet in China, and Chief of Staff of the 19th Route Army Huang Qiang went to the British ship "Kent" and met with Japanese Navy Commander Nomura and Japanese Prime Minister's personal representative Matsuoka Meeting with foreign right.

Under the mediation of Kelai, the two sides negotiated for three hours and reached an understanding on five items: "1. Both sides will retreat at the same time; 2. The issue of permanent removal of Wusong or Shizilin forts shall not be proposed; 3. The withdrawal of both sides will be decided by the China-Japan Commission in conjunction with the neutral country." The inspection team will monitor it; 4. The retreat area will still be managed by Jinling officials, and the Songhu Police Department will maintain security; 5. The Nationalist Army will retreat to Zhenru, and the Japanese Army will retreat to the public concession and cross-border road construction areas until the above-mentioned retreat by both parties is completed. , the Nationalist troops retreated to Nanxiang, and the Japanese troops returned to the ships (this last point will be discussed at a future meeting). It was also agreed that if both parties agree to this hypothetical understanding, the formal diplomatic and military representatives of both parties will hold another formal meeting. , to complete this measure.”

On the 29th, the Jinling National Government responded in agreement with the five items, but the Japanese side did not respond.

Seeing that there was going to be mediation, the 19th Route Army also began to recuperate and wait for good news.

Ye Luo, who is familiar with history, quickly called the principal and asked him not to relax his vigilance, and ordered the front line to continue to be vigilant against Japanese invaders.

These bastards never keep their word, and they will definitely attack suddenly during the cooperation talks and disrupt our rhythm.

Unfortunately, the principal's mind was full of negotiations, victories, and the subsequent division of interests. After replying to Ye Luo hastily, he did not inform the four officers of the 19th Route Army.

Ye Luo had no choice but to ask the staff of the Ye's convoy that transported materials to find a way to inform Wen Yingxing, at least the Tax Police Corps should not relax their vigilance to avoid heavy losses.

As Ye Luo expected.

In early March, the Japanese army attacked Liuhe and landed. The 19th Route Army and the supporting Xianbing Corps suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat to the second line of defense.

Only the Tax Police Corps led by Wen Yingxing gave early warning and fought back and forth with the Japanese army, but in the end, because the Allied forces retreated, they had to give up their positions and followed back to the second line of defense.

On March 2, the Japanese army occupied the county town and suburbs of Shanghai Beach.

On March 3, the Japanese army occupied Zhenru and Nanxiang and announced a ceasefire.

The sudden defeat put the principal on the stove again. Fortunately, this time, due to decisive resistance and the soldiers' bravery, the Japanese army suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

The emergence of this war situation caused the so-called international reputation of the arrogant Japanese army to plummet, and they had to accept international mediation in the end.

Before the war, the Japanese army had threatened to "occupy Zhabei in three hours" and "take Shanghai in twelve hours", and their arrogance was very arrogant.

They thought that this war would be like the Fengtian Incident, and the invasion of Shanghai would be successfully completed.

But this time they miscalculated, and the huge losses made the Japanese army retreat.

The principal's face was finally saved.

After the armistice, the Japanese army still stationed in the suburbs, county towns and Zhabei and other places until the armistice agreement was signed in May, and they would slowly withdraw their troops from April.

During this period, the Japanese invaders quietly burned, killed and looted these places occupied by the Japanese invaders. Although they did not do it so blatantly and excessively, they also took away hundreds of innocent lives and destroyed a large number of factories and Chinese companies.

Ye Luo remembered that they would not withdraw their troops until July.

At that time, these areas would return to their pre-war state.

As the armistice agreement was signed, the merchants in the concession realized how outrageous Ye Luo's decision to withdraw from Ye's investment in the concession was! (End of this chapter)