In 1933, China seemed to be on the verge of collapse, the army's easy success in Rehe caused anger in all aspects of Chinese society, Yan Xishan, Song Zheyuan and others telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek to go north to preside over the military, Hu Shi even listed Zhang Xueliang's five major crimes, Yan Huiqing and Gu Weijun, the representatives of the National Political Axe in the League of Nations, resigned angrily, and seven members of the Nanjing Supervisory Yuan jointly impeached Zhang Xueliang and Tang Yupho for humiliating the country, Chiang Kai-shek was forced to take a car north from Nanchang in early March, and on the way he ordered the 25th Division, the 2nd Division, and the 25th Division of the Central Army, the 2nd Division, The 83rd Division quickly went north to Rehe for reinforcements, and at the same time urgently ordered the 29th Army and the Jin Army to take over the defense line of the Great Wall. At the beginning of March, the 29th Army was at Xifengkou, the 25th Division of Guan Linzheng, the Northeast Army Wang Yizhe was at Gubeikou, and the Jin Army Shangzhen Department was in Lengkou and the Yue Army fought a bloody battle along the Great Wall.

In Jiangxi, after the Red Army detected Chen Cheng's Nanfeng siege plan, it immediately planned to change the siege to a feint, and the main force secretly moved to the east bank of the Fuhe River, and encircled and annihilated the 52nd Division in Huangpi, the division commander Li Ming committed suicide, and then launched an attack on the nearby 59th Division, annihilating most of it, and the division commander Chen Shiji was captured; In mid-March, Chen Cheng adjusted his deployment to attack Guangchang with the tactics of a central breakthrough, and the Red Army used a small force as a bait to attract Chen Cheng's main force to the southwest of Guangchang, but his own main force made a detour to the enemy's flank and ambushed Chen Cheng's 11th Division at Caotaigang and Xuzhuang.

In Hubei, Henan, and Anhui, after the main force of the Fourth Front Army advanced westward, the Red Army led by Wu Huanxian and Xu Haidong to reorganize the Red 25th Army and stubbornly persisted in the encirclement and suppression of the 200,000-strong army.

Only the news from Sichuan is the best, Liu Xiang took advantage of the Red Army to go north, commanded Deng Xihou, Tian Songyao, Yang Sen and Liu Cunhou to launch a three-way siege on the left, middle and right, and the Tongnanba area was Tian Songyao's defense area, so he became the main force of the siege, and naturally his actions were the most active and resolute, in mid-February he took the lead in setting up the front enemy headquarters of the Central Route Army in Langzhong, concentrating 60,000 main forces in the department, and launching an attack on Nanjiang and Bazhong with three roads on the left, middle and right. The Red Army was defeated and retreated, and Tian Songyao successively recovered Bazhong and Nanjiang, forcing the Red Army to the north of Tongjiang.

In order not to let others interfere in his own territory, Tian Songyao tactfully hinted to Deng Xihou that he could solve the rest of the Red Army by himself, Deng Xihou was very "righteous" and immediately stopped advancing and brought the troops back to the west bank of the Jialing River, but Yang Sen on the right did not send a single soldier from beginning to end, Liu Cunhou reported to Liu Xiang anxiously that Xuanhan's eastern Sichuan guerrillas were suddenly active and frequent, and he could not send troops to participate in the attack on Tongjiang.

Among the chaotic news, there is another one that has not attracted the attention of most people: Han Yeping Company announced that it would sell its Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant to the American ZV Investment Group for 16 million yuan, and ZV Investment Group immediately announced the appointment of Li Wei, the former chief engineer of the Hanyang Iron and Steel Plant, as the general manager, and Yan Enqi as the chief engineer. This news did not attract more people's attention except for Weng Wenhao and others to high-five each other in the office.

In March of that year, a new bank in Shanghai was established, and Zhang Jingjiang became the chairman and general manager of the industrial and commercial bank of China, which had a registered capital of $20 million. It was also during this chaotic era that a large number of high school graduates from Beiping, Tianjin, Shanghai and Nanjing flocked to Wuhan to board a passenger ship to Chongqing.

Among those who went to Chongqing were some overseas Chinese who had returned from overseas, and they usually got off the ocean liner in Shanghai, then they were picked up by the Chase Steamship Company, and a few days later boarded another ship heading west.

Every day, dozens of hundreds of people disembark from the boat with suitcases at Chaotianmen Wharf, and when they go ashore and walk down the steps, they will see a huge banner: Teacher Recruitment Office. Under the banner, the staff was busy registering the candidates who gathered around, and then sending them to the ship at the base.

At the end of the winding stone steps, there is a three-storey gray building with a sun flag, and in front of the building hangs the sign of the Yucheng branch of the Qing Steamship Company.

"Ishida-kun, the imperial army broke through the cold today, and this army is about to end," a middle-aged man with a slightly bald head and a little fat on his head picked up the wine glass on the table and said to a lean and stout middle-aged man standing in front of the window: "This is my treasured sake, come, let's have a toast, for His Majesty the Emperor, the imperial army has a long military fortune, cheers!" ”

The stout middle-aged man did not answer, he silently looked at the dock by the river, a steamer was docking, and there was an endless stream of boats coming down, and several of them were obviously in student attire.

"It's so big," Ishida sighed.

"What's the matter, Ishida-kun," Kogura walked up to him with a wine glass, "This time the Imperial Army has taught the Shina people a hard lesson, and they will soon give in and surrender." ”

"I walked from Shanghai to Yucheng for a full twenty days, but this is only half of the branch, Ogura-kun, don't you think the branch is very big?" Ishida took the glass from Ogura's hand and asked calmly.

"It's big, but the Imperial Army will definitely conquer this place." A greedy look appeared on Ogura's face, and he made a toast to Shi Yi, who politely replied.

"Shi Yijun, today is a happy day, don't worry about those troubles, we went to Beidou to drink in the evening, I heard that they have a new Kabuki, from the original, I haven't seen the authentic song and dance for a long time." Ogura said happily, to be honest, he didn't know the origin of this Shi Yi, he only knew that he was sent by the headquarters, and he was nominally in charge of him, but in fact he couldn't control him at all, and from the perspective of his many years of business, he concluded that this person was definitely not a businessman.

"Okay, it's time to celebrate," Shi Yi said lightly, Beidou is a hotel opened by his own family, and the businessmen in Yucheng often gather there: "Kokura-kun, did you go to the ribbon-cutting of the machinery factory yesterday?" ”

"Go, there's nothing strange about it, it's not the same as our factory in Da Yuben." Ogura remembered the machine factory where the ribbon was cut yesterday, it was just a rudimentary factory, with only a few dozen lathes, a dozen planers, and hundreds of workers.

"How many factories are these?" Shi Yi's expression was still calm.

"Four," Ogura replied after silently calculating in his heart, "no, five, in January it is a cement factory, in February it is a repair factory and a garment factory, and this month it is a pharmaceutical factory and a machinery factory." ”

"Five factories have been built in just three months," Shi Yi sighed, "plus four highways, the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway, the Qijiang Iron Mine, the Pengzhou Copper Mine, the Weiyuan Iron Mine, the Coal Mine, and the Sichuan Development Company, which gathers all the forces of all parties in Sichuan, all this means something?" ”

"What's this, let them develop it," Ogura said with a smile: "When the imperial army hits Sichuan, these will be ours." ”

Shi Yi secretly scolded the waste in his heart, but before he could say anything, Xiao Cang continued: "If they develop, our business will be much better, if it weren't for Lu Zuofu's Minsheng Company, our business would be even better." ”

"Oh, really?" The corners of Shi Yi's mouth showed a hint of mockery, this Xiao Cang had been to the base several times, but he hadn't even been able to enter the gate of the base, not only him, but also any other businessman had not been able to step into the gate of the base.

"This Zhuang Jihua has a deep hostility towards our Great Empire," Ogura said hatefully: "He should be from the Blue Coat Society, they are the anti-Japanese faction in the Nanjing political axe, and these people should be resolutely attacked." ”

"That's nature." Shi Yi didn't want to be idle with Kogura anymore, and the Chinese political axe announced the development of the southwest with great fanfare, and the military department was very concerned about this, so he was sent to Yucheng to monitor the vicinity, and if possible, to develop an underground intelligence organization in Yucheng.

Although his boss said that this task was very important, Shi Yi always felt that he was being exiled, and that the empire's attention should be on North China and Nanjing, and at worst it should be a central city like Wuhan, not a barren land like Sichuan, and as long as the emperor [***] team conquered Nanjing, the Chinese political axe could only announce its surrender.

Filled with frustration and annoyance, Shi Yi arrived in Yucheng, but he was a seasoned spy, and he quickly figured out the complicated situation in Yucheng, where a series of recent policies and the recent construction of factories made him smell something unusual. This made him full of interest in the Southwest Development Team and Zhuang Jihua as a person.

After sending Ogura away, he dialed the Yucheng general charge d'affaires Jacques of the French Omtong Company, and asked him to go to the Yucheng Hotel to drink coffee together, Zhuang Jihua's resolute rejection of the businessman made his attempt to directly contact the base fail, and he had to start from the periphery, this Jacques had contacts with the officials of the municipal axe, the old equipment of the Yucheng Power Plant was imported from France, and the parts and components were still imported from France, and the channel was the Omtong Company.

"I really don't know how this battle was fought?" Du Yuming shook his head at the military situation map on the map: "Hundreds of thousands of people, let me enter the Great Wall so quickly." ”

"The 29th Army is still fighting well, but the Jin Army is a little weaker, now it's up to Huang Jie, if he can block the Yue Army, Guan Linzheng and the 29th Army can still withdraw from the front line of the Great Wall, otherwise they will be surrounded by devils." Having said that, Li Zhilong's face was also frustrated.

The war in the north affected their hearts, the defeat of the [***] team again and again, so that they were indignant, Du Yuming and Hong Junqi directly asked Chiang Kai-shek to go north to fight against the Japanese, Zhuang Jihua was very angry when he learned about it, and scolded them, and then he was going to send Hong Junqi to Weiyuan to supervise the construction of the iron mine.

However, Li Zhilong came forward to intercede for the two of them, thinking that they should not be treated so simply and rudely, but should be persuaded and educated, and at the same time reminded him that the war in the north would also affect the mood of the team members in the base, and these people were all activists of anti-Japanese propaganda in Beiping.

Li Zhilong's reminder was very timely, Zhuang Jihua immediately arranged a patriotic propaganda campaign, sent most of the team members to the countryside to carry out propaganda, and asked them to go deep into the countryside to publicize the anti-Japanese proposition, so that the villagers could understand the truth of the anti-Japanese propaganda, and finally according to the old rules, everyone had to write a report.

(To be continued)