Episode 195 On the day of the return of the edict, I and Mr. untie their robes

October 3, 1936, D-1, .

From 8:00 a.m., mass radio silence began over a vast area 50 kilometers south of the Yangtze defense line. At the same time, a mass arrest began.

After eight o'clock sharp, all radio units in this long and vast area were no longer allowed to send signals to the outside world, and could only receive them passively. The radio stations were no longer broadcasting, and the telegraph office ceased all operations. All communications are by telephone, wire, and herald.

The entire long strip area forms a huge "blind spot", almost isolated from the outside world.

At the same time, several hundred radio listening vehicles began to patrol. Only a small percentage of these listening vehicles are "original", and most of them are temporarily modified from other vehicles. These patrol cars rotate the receiving antennas on the roof of their vehicles and drive slowly in all cities, counties, towns, villages, as well as highway and railway areas along the river. Behind each radio listening vehicle, there is also a military truck. Once a radio signal is detected, it will identify the direction in the fastest way, and then quickly approach and lock on. Immediately afterwards, the gendarmes on the military vehicle behind jumped down and rushed into the suspect building to arrest people.

Large-scale radio silence makes this kind of listening and discernment several times easier. They don't need to discern which signals are normal and which are not, as they used to do. Now, as long as a signal is found, it must be "abnormal", that is, the Northern Qing spies are sending a report, just look for it.

On the streets of Nanjing, one by one roared through the streets, filled with heavily armed soldiers of the People's Guard.

The citizens of Nanjing on the street looked at the military vehicles in front of them for a while, and quickly felt the unusual atmosphere. Some of them stopped to watch, speculate, some asked each other, and some went to buy newspapers. Those who were close to home immediately returned home to listen to the radio, but soon discovered something even stranger.

On the radio, none of the clear medium-wave programs were now missing, only the sizzling noise, as if someone had done a magic trick to make them all gone. Many people suspected that the radio was broken, and switched to the shortwave channel again, but everything worked fine with the shortwave channel. There are Japanese programs, Indian programs, Singaporean programs, Siamese programs, Malayan programs, Philippine programs, and East India programs from far away...... It is accompanied by a squeaky wow wow murmur characteristic of short waves. Everything worked fine, the radio didn't break.

But the strange thing is that in these shortwave radio stations, there are no domestic programs in Daming.

……

In the streets and alleys, an even more stunned scene soon appeared. The military vehicles stopped coldly in front of an apartment or a unit, and then a dozen soldiers with submachine guns jumped out of the cars, and without saying a word, rushed straight to the door. After a while, a person will be escorted out.

Sometimes the arrests were not so peaceful, and after the soldiers rushed in, gunshots would be fired inside, and there would be a short shootout. However, in the end, either someone walked out with their hands raised, or they came out with a corpse in their hands.

The citizens of Nanjing quit. Although the situation between the two sides of the strait is often tense, when have they endured this unbridled "white terror"?

Throughout the morning, various units and departments of the Nanjing military and government departments kept receiving telephone calls from citizens, asking, questioning, or shouting: Why can't I hear the radio when I wake up early in the morning? Why do the military vehicles on the street never end? Why was my neighbor arrested? What the hell is going on? Is anyone responsible for all this? Can anyone explain it to me?

But after all, only a small number of citizens call at home, and more citizens go directly to the door to ask. Military units were not allowed to enter at will, so places such as the city hall, the city hall, the police station, and the residence of the Prime Minister were full of citizens who came to "ask for explanations."

More than the citizens, are the journalists. The reporters of Nanjing's major newspapers and tabloids, from the biggest famous reporters to the most indiscriminate paparazzi, are all exerting their magical powers and are seamless. Everyone used the contacts they had accumulated in their daily lives, and they called their "news informants" in various military and political departments, or asked them to come out for lunch. But this time, the journalists were disappointed overall. Officials who can be "informants" for reporters are not of sufficient rank, so naturally they don't know what to ask or ask three questions. You ask me? I'd like to ask you about it.

City halls, police stations, and the residence of the first assistant were each assigned a dozen junior staff to be responsible for receiving citizens. The working ladies poured water on the citizens with smiles, and then explained in a unified voice according to the above: The security department has cracked a huge Beiqing spy network, and is now arresting Beiqing spies. Radio silence is to prevent messages from leaking.

This is also in line with the facts. But there are more reasons that even these working ladies don't know. The citizens came one by one, and soon left one by one. Everyone is quite satisfied and more at ease.

……

But the "peace of mind" of the citizens did not last long. Soon, a scene that made them tremble appeared.

By ten o'clock in the morning, all the Northern Qing spies on the list had been arrested, and the military vehicles of the People's Guard had disappeared from the streets.

However, there are long queues of heavy trucks carrying sandbags into the city. Soon, next to many buildings in Nanjing, a group of workers were removing sandbags from their trucks and sticking to the walls to build them.

At intersections, in the open fields of squares, workers piled up something even more terrible—circular fortifications.

The citizens of Nanjing are no strangers to this kind of circular fortification, which was still everywhere on the streets of Nanjing a few months ago. Anti-aircraft guns were mounted in the middle.

Not only Nanjing, but also eight cities along the Yangtze River defense line in the Southern Ming Dynasty also had the same scene.

Just before the panic began to permeate, the pre-recorded speech of the Prime Minister was played on loudspeakers on the streets of eight cities. In the recorded speech, Shen Rongxuan asked everyone not to panic, saying that this was just a necessary precaution against a possible southern invasion of the Qing captives. He said that although it is uncertain at present, according to various intelligence analyses, the possibility of the Qing captives to invade the south again after this exercise still exists. If you have a private bomb shelter at home, please check it in advance to make sure it is normal. In addition, tomorrow, that is, at 4 o'clock in the morning on Sunday, there will be an air defense drill in cities along the river, please set the alarm clock, and when the air defense siren sounds, go out of your house in an orderly manner and enter the nearest air raid shelter according to the guidance of the police.

Despite this, a certain amount of tension pervades the cities along the river. Many citizens had no intention of going to work, so they took leave to go home to pack up their bags, and packed cash, securities, jewelry, biscuits, water, first-aid medicines, etc., and prepared to take them into the air-raid shelter when the time came. After the last Ming and Qing wars, the citizens along the river are very experienced.

At the gates of primary and secondary schools, parents lined up to pick up their children. Although it is only in the morning and school is out in the afternoon, many sensitive parents have smelled something. In addition, Aiko is anxious, so he squeezed into the school to pick up the child in advance.

At first, the school teachers did not agree, and they were all persuading parents: this is not right, this is not good...... But then, the nervousness of the parents infected the teachers as well. Their hearts were pounding as they listened to the "Speech of the First Auxiliary Minister" constantly being broadcast on the loudspeakers on the street outside. The last time such an uninterrupted radio speech was on the eve of the Ming and Qing wars, when the whole country was mobilized.

The fear of war, occupied everyone's mind. More and more parents are forcibly picking up their children.

Seeing this situation, many private primary and secondary schools have simply closed for temporary holidays. The mayors of two of the eight cities along the Yangtze River have also decided to temporarily suspend primary and secondary schools in the city.

At 11 o'clock in the afternoon, the Ministry of Education held an emergency meeting to discuss that instead of this, it would be better to simply suspend the primary and secondary schools in the towns along the river on temporary vacation, so that parents could feel at ease. But another view is: Doesn't that make it all the more apparent that something is going to happen? When parents see that the school is closed, they will think more about the need for war.

In the entire Ministry of Education, only the minister knows about the battle against the Qing Dynasty in the early hours of tomorrow morning. He thought about it and said:

"We can't think that as long as we turn a blind eye to the public's panic, the public won't panic. That would be self-defeating, and the public would only panic more. Obviously, there is still the possibility of the invasion of the north and the south. At this juncture, we need to return the children to their parents. Parents know better than schools how to protect their children. ”

After speaking, the Minister of Education grabbed the phone and asked Shen Rongxuan for instructions.

Five minutes later, an urgent notice was sent by telephone to all cities and towns on the south side of the Yangtze River defense line, saying that "state primary and secondary schools in cities and towns along the Yangtze River are allowed to temporarily take a holiday."

By about half past twelve in the afternoon, the primary and secondary schools in several cities were empty.

……

Radio silence, 50 kilometers south of the line, has been going on for more than four hours. Since Nanjing had wiped out almost all the spies from the very beginning, during this period, not a single telegraph signal was sent outside the "blockade zone" in Nanjing. In other riverside cities, a handful of telegraph signals continued to be sent inland for several hours. But on every main road, there are radio listening vehicles. These signals were only sent in the first few sentences, and they were broken into the door by the military police, and even the people and machines were destroyed.

As for the field troops stationed between cities and along the river, they have become the best places to keep secrets. It's either a wilderness or just a village. There were no transmitters in the village, and there were no spies from the Northern Qing Dynasty. Despite this, the villages were also guarded by the gendarmerie and the villagers were told not to leave the village for the time being.

In this case, villagers in the countryside are more "well-informed" than citizens in the cities. They vaguely guessed some clues from the endless tents and piles of materials around them, especially the piles of life jackets, boat and bridge equipment, and other materials.

Not only that, but both the tents and the supplies were covered with branches and leaves of trees and shrubs, and those cars, artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles were covered with a strange net, and the nets were full of branches and leaves.

If the villagers knew, they would know that this kind of net is called a "camouflage net" and is used to prevent aerial reconnaissance.

They quietly asked the gendarmes guarding the entrance of the village if they wanted to cross the river and beat the captives on the north bank.

Naturally, the gendarmes were tight-lipped about it. But they don't have much to defend against. So far, they know as much as the villagers. The only difference is that they are able to make some more expert guesses from a military point of view than the villagers.

Many officers, including soldiers, were thinking that according to the current way of our garrison, it was so dense and so close to the Yangtze River, and it was completely within the range of the artillery of the Qing prisoners on the other side......

It's not a defensive position!

If the Qing captives want to attack us, so many troops will almost be reimbursed for a cannon meal. Could it be that it is really like what those villagers guessed, we have to cross the river to beat the Qingqing for a while?

But that's not right! It's easy for us to beat the Qingyu, but what if the Qingyu directly invades the south? Have we been able to beat the Qing captives? Probably or defense?

It wasn't until after lunch, when a large team of trailers came to each camp, that the speculation about "offense or defense" came to an end.

The officers and men watched as the large trailer drove into the camp, and then a few gendarmes went over to remove the canvas from it, revealing assault boats piled up as high as a mountain.

There was a "boom" in the barracks, and everyone no longer doubted it. All the arguments stopped. It's clear, we're going to the north shore to teach the captives a lesson.

…… But how big is it? What purpose? Is it just to "teach a lesson"? We can afford to provoke us, but at least we can fight?

The more the assault boats were unloaded, the first thing the gendarmes did was to pile up branches on them to camouflage. Then a few people carried one and distributed it.

The officers and soldiers were muttering in their hearts, beating drums, and had all kinds of ideas.

……

At the same time, the General Administration of the Sticky Pole Department in Beijing is also busy. Telephones in various departments rang one after another. In the palace, Guangwu looked at a report suspiciously. This report shows that in the past four and a half hours, a long strip of 50 kilometers south of Nanming's Yangtze River defense line has actually "disappeared"! There was no radio signal left, and none of the intelligence officers in Nanking sent back a telegram! The intelligence officers in several other cities sent back a few words sporadically, but they were all interrupted. Even these few sentences sent back have no substance, and they are all things that the Qing Dynasty also knows: the radio is silent, and the radio in Nanming cannot be received when you get up in the morning...... And so on and so forth.

But why? Cause! Cause!

No one could tell Emperor Guangwu.

However, he couldn't make any decisions. Radio silence is not a big thing, but it is not a small thing. If the other side is silent on the radio during the war, it means that an offensive may be being prepared. But now, to say that the meaning of Nanming's radio silence this time is "preparing to launch an offensive", Guangwu is the first to disbelieve it. It's incredible.

It was clear that Nanming was trying to cover up something.

However, most of the reconnaissance planes sent over were shot down as soon as they flew over. Now that the air power of Nanming is powerful, even if you send fighter jets to reconnoitre, it is useless, and other fighter jets are patrolling intensively in the sky, and several fighters will fight you. Neither in terms of quantity nor level, it is no match for others.

What's more, the reconnaissance planes that were lucky enough to return intact did not bring back anything useful.

The airport reported that there was nothing unusual in the washed out photos. In an area of 10-20 kilometers south of the Yangtze River defense line, there was a large build-up of Nanming defensive troops. But within 10 kilometers south of the line of defense, there were no large-scale troops.

Guangwu touched his chin and fell into deep thought. Judging from the position of the Nanming army, it doesn't look like it's going to attack. At least not for a short time. …… In fact, judging by common sense, it is impossible for a long time.

He didn't know if he was overly nervous. But I always feel that it is a matter in my heart, and I want to put it but I can't let it go. He could only send an order and order the subordinates to step up the investigation and quickly find out what was going on.

……

In the headquarters of the People's Guard, the telephone rang one after another. Everyone was busy, but everyone's hearts were jumping out with excitement. In the headquarters of the People's Guard, basically all the officers knew about the attack in the early hours of tomorrow. Everyone couldn't hold back their excitement, and even walked as if they were flying. When talking to an outside unit on the phone, if the other party is not on the information list, it is necessary to make great efforts to suppress the excitement in the heart and try to keep the tone normal.

"Okay," Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at his watch and said to Xiuxiu, "It's two o'clock in the afternoon, according to the plan, it's time to send a notice to the mobile team!" Xiuxiu, help me connect with Your Majesty. ”

The Forbidden City is connected.

"Stand out!"

Eager, caring, excited.

Zhu Yourong's familiar voice appeared in the earpiece. Even her voice changed.

"Your Majesty," Xiang Xiaoqiang whispered, "Finally, we're about to get started." ”

"yes...... It's going to start, hehe......"

"Huh...... Say something? ”

Zhu Yourong was silent for a long time.

But after a few moments, her soft chanting came from the other end of the phone:

"The general is bold in the northern expedition, and his waist is crossed.

The wind blows the drums, the mountains and rivers move, the lightning flashes, the flag is high, the sun and the moon are high.

The unicorn in the sky is originally seeded, and the ants in the burrow can not escape.

The day of the return of the edict is peaceful...... Return Day ......"

Zhu Yourong chanted here, his voice became lower, and after a while, he finally chanted the last sentence:

"Peace awaits the day of the edict's return, I ...... I...... I untied my robes with my husband. ”