The theory of the scorched earth war of resistance was first put forward by Li Zongren in the War of Resistance against Japan, and he published the "Theory of the War of Resistance against Scorched Earth", formally putting forward this idea of completely resisting Japan, and then published a series of articles, clearly stating: "The whole country is unanimous, and it is determined to shed the last drop of blood, and even more so to turn the whole country into a scorched earth, so as to fight a desperate war with the invaders." ”

In fact, this kind of proposition has long existed in ancient China, and in ancient times, didn't wars also pay attention to strong walls and clear fields, so there is nothing to say. However, as the saying goes, a crooked monk recites the scriptures and recites the good scriptures. The burning of the city was originally a last resort to defend against the enemy. But the earth-shattering fire in Changsha in history burned inexplicably. At that time, the little devil was still hundreds of kilometers away from Changsha, and he had not crossed the defensive positions on the periphery of the national army at all, but somehow, the defenders of Changsha suddenly messed up and set fire to themselves in the early morning of November 13.

The most infuriating thing is that before the burning of the city, the residents of the city did not get the slightest warning, many people were still in their dreams, they were burned alive, others woke up from the dream, thinking that the Japanese army had entered the city, and was about to seize the road to flee for their lives, but the fire was already coming, and most of the streets and alleys had been blocked by fireworks.

People fleeing for their lives in the raging fires were trampled to death by the crowd, crushed to death by cars, and burned alive by the fire. An old lady in her 60s died tragically after being forced into a water tank by fire. A mother with her child took refuge in a water tank to avoid the fire and was both boiled alive. More than 30 employees of the Yu Taihua Gold took refuge in air-raid shelters and were all scorched to death. Terrible cries, terrifying screams, and explosions as the building burns, intertwine into a world of misery.

Because the telegraph code on the day of the fire was "Wen", and the fire broke out at night (i.e., the eve), the fire was also called "Wenxi Fire". Wenxi fire raged in Changsha City, burned for five days and five nights, after the statistics, the economic loss was about 1 billion yuan, more than 90% of the city's buildings were burned, Changsha since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period of cultural accumulation was destroyed in one fell swoop, the ground cultural relics were destroyed to almost zero, Changsha as one of the few ancient cities in China with more than 2,000 years of unchanged city sites, cultural inheritance is also interrupted here. And the number of people who died as a result of this fire is also a mystery, some say more than 3,000 people, some say more than 30,000 people, there is no consensus.

Changsha City was burned for no reason, and Zhang Zhizhong, as the chairman of a province, naturally has an unshirkable responsibility. Although it was not for nothing to count, and he was authorized by Chiang Kai-shek, the enemy was still hundreds of miles away, and he was in disarray, resulting in such a large loss, but it was also a great deservedness.

At that time, after Chiang Kai-shek heard the news, he was extremely angry, saying that all this was caused by his improper use of people, and said, "Wen Bai (Zhang Zhizhongzi) does not know the heavy responsibility, as if he is an ordinary sin, Shang Si shirks the responsibility, this means that the matter of incompetence and ignorance is small, but the matter of revolution and shame is great..." He also said to Chen Cheng and Zhang Zhizhong: "The burning of Changsha is a spiritual blow that is thousands of times more painful than the pain of defeat, which is shameful and pathetic. ”

And after the fire, little Japan also came to join in the fun, they used the plane to take pictures in the air, and airdropped the photos of the Changsha scene taken after the fire into Changsha, with the words "Please see who is killing people and setting fires" printed on them, in an attempt to shake the morale of the army.

Afterwards, in order to appease the people's anger, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Yu Jishi's 20th Army to come to Changsha, and set up a special military court at the military headquarters of the 20th Army, and sent He Guoguang as the chief judge to detain Changsha Garrison Commander Yu Yi, Changsha Police Chief Wen Chongfu, and Xu Kun, Commander of the Second Garrison Regiment, in the special service platoon of the Military Headquarters. Two days later, the results of the trial were released, and Xu, Wen, and Xu were sentenced to death and immediately shot, and the original "arson" was changed to "humiliation of duty and harming the people." Zhang Zhizhong was removed from his post and investigated, and later transferred to the Military Commission as director through mediation.

However, at this time, Zhang Zhizhong, as the chairman of Hunan Province, did not know that he was about to bear the biggest stain in his life. After receiving Chiang Kai-shek's secret telegram, Zhang Zhizhong immediately summoned the Changsha garrison commander Yan Yi and the police chief Wen Chongfu, assigned the tasks to the two of them, and ordered them to make all proper preparations.

After the two returned, they each gathered their men for a meeting to set up the arrangements, and on the same day they ordered the preparations to be carried out, and the men acted very quickly, and in a short time they had prepared all the materials for the fire, such as all kinds of grease and flammable materials, until the time of the fire.

After all preparations stopped, no news was revealed from the outside world, not to mention others, even Bai Fei forgot all about this fire that caused great losses to the Chinese nation because of a series of recent troubles. Historically, the Wenxi Fire made Changsha the worst-devastated city in World War II, along with Stalingrad, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is one of the three major tragedies in the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, along with the Huayuankou embankment burst and the Chongqing air-raid shelter tragedy.

On this day, Kong Lingwei came to the military camp again as usual to pester Bai Fei to travel, and Bai Fei had no choice but to go out with her to play all day, and it was not until evening that he returned to his residence, and then returned to the military camp.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to the barracks, Wang Weiguo greeted him and said, "If you don't come back, I plan to send someone to find you." ”

Bai Fei asked, "What happened?" ”

Wang Weiguo said: "The Changsha Garrison Command sent a message an hour ago, ordering us to withdraw from Changsha as soon as possible. ”

"Why is that?" Bai Fei was a little puzzled. At that time, when he led his troops to Changsha, Zhang Zhizhong, in order to show his welcome, deliberately placed them in a camp in the west of the city, so they have always been stationed in the city.

Wang Weiguo shook his head: "They didn't say the reason. He paused and said: "It is said that the Japanese have been attacking fiercely in the past few days, and now they have occupied the northern part of Hunan, and Changsha may soon become a battlefield." In addition, the brothers who went out to inquire about the news today found that there was something unusual about the military police in the city..."

Bai Fei attaches great importance to the importance of news, so whenever he goes to a place, he will arrange corresponding people to go out every day to inquire about all aspects of the news, and always be vigilant.

"Oh? What an anomaly, let's hear about it..."

Wang Weiguo said: "According to the brothers who inquired about the news, they found that the military and police in the city were searching for a large number of flammable materials, and they also secretly drained the water in the fire truck, which was originally used to fight the fire, and replaced it with gasoline. ”

Bai Fei frowned, thought for a moment, and then gasped, it turned out that he finally remembered the matter of the Wenxi fire.

"Oops!" Bai Fei exclaimed, "How did I remember..."

Wang Weiguo was also taken aback and asked, "What do you think of?" ”

Bai Fei didn't explain, but asked eagerly, "What time is it today?" ”

Wang Weiguo was stunned and said: "November 12th, what's wrong?" ”

Bai Fei slapped his thigh and said loudly: "They want to burn the city!" ”

"What?" Wang Weiguo was shocked: "No! Now there are still hundreds of thousands of people in the city, if the city is to be burned, why is there no news from the outside world, and the people are not notified to evacuate? ”

"I don't know what the top is thinking, anyway, you just believe me, otherwise how can you explain that they collected grease and flammable materials and told us to withdraw from the city?" Bai Fei said hurriedly.

When Wang Weiguo saw him say this, he also believed most of it in his heart, and his face changed color and said: "If you don't notify the people to evacuate, once the city is burned, won't it cause innocent casualties?" ”

Bai Feixin said that it was not just a death or injury, but a big death and injury. He took a few steps back and forth and said, "No, without further ado." I have to go to Zhang Zhizhong right away and stop them from doing such a stupid thing..."