“…… Alas, this world is really eventful! ”

Listening to the chit-chat of the tea guests, Dean Liu Yun of the Suzhou Provincial Institute couldn't help but sigh.

He is not one of those illiterate fools and fools on the street, unless a gun hits his nose, he is still ignorant of the world.

As the manager of a political prison prison and the middle-level cadres in the Blue Coat Society system, coupled with the fact that he usually travels extensively and is still well-informed, Liu Yun's understanding of the current domestic situation is naturally more thorough than that of these tea customers.

It's just that these major national events are still a little too far away for a person of his status -- the red bandits and the Japanese invaders are coming, and the high-ranking officials and officials of his own state government have to worry about it, and he, a lowly and powerful warden, still thinks about how to make a little extra money from the families of prisoners.

-- Unlike the political prison prisons in Nanjing and Shanghai, the Suzhou Provincial Prison is basically a "garbage collection station," and most of the political prisoners who are stuffed here are either unlucky people who have been falsely accused or wrongly arrested, or relatives of underground party members who have been "sat together," or poor people who have been found to have been repaired because of some trivial matters, some red bandits who have basically no intelligence value, and some hot potatoes who are respected in society, who do not confess to death, and who have people behind them...... Therefore, it is almost impossible to expect to unravel any important information here and make great contributions to the party and the state -- such a valuable criminal would not have been sent to the "cold stove" of the Suzhou Provincial Reflection Institute from the beginning.

The most common prisoners received by the Suzhou Provincial Examination Yuan were mainly "patriotic and indignant youths" who were transferred from Shanghai. That is, young students who took to the streets to distribute leaflets or write anti-Japanese articles...... For this group of students who are full of tendons, Liu Yun is simply not interested in torture.

- If you torture them to death, what can you ask? Don't make up a confession! The Introspection House does not have the power to arrest people. When the time comes, you will get into trouble by arresting people indiscriminately. Others will definitely push you, the dean of introspection who provides false information, out of the top bag.

Since he saw that there was no hope of meritorious service, it was no wonder that Dean Liu Yun was bent on getting into the eyes of money, thinking about how to get oil from the family members of the prison visitors all day long.

Thinking of this, he relieved his muscles and bones, patted his buttocks and stood up, and shouted to the shopkeeper of the teahouse: "...... Shopkeeper, tea money accounting! ”

The chubby shopkeeper immediately poked his head out from behind the counter when he heard the sound. He replied with a smile: "...... Great! Master Liu, you go slowly, and come often in the future! ”

However, Liu Yun took two retinues with him. As soon as I stepped out of the teahouse, and before I could think about where to go for a stroll, I heard pedestrians on the bank of the Shantang River in the distance suddenly shouting and frowning and listening carefully. Only then did I hear the shouting "...... Run! The Red Bandits are coming!! ”

- What?! Red Bandits...... Actually hit Suzhou? How is this possible?!

This is unbelievable news. Suddenly, like nine days of rolling thunder, it rumbled and exploded in Liu Yun's ears, shaking him for a while.

But the pedestrians and vendors on the street quickly reacted, and suddenly let out a burst of shouts in unison, and all those who carried burdens, carts, and children ran around in a desperate manner. Men, women, old and young, all shouting and screaming, wolves rushing to the pigs. Chickens and dogs jump ...... This scene is really panicked and messy beyond description. It is not only like a devil entering the village a few years later, but also like a city management sweeping the streets a few decades later......

A Kuomintang patrol officer saw the pedestrians on the street, and quickly raised his gun and fired a "bang" into the air, temporarily deterring some people...... What are you yelling about? This is so clear, where did the red bandits come from?! It's clear that you're scaring yourself! ”

He shouted as he grabbed the collar of one of the vendors who ran the fastest, yelling the hardest, "...... Give me a moment of silence! No nonsense! Otherwise, beware of being charged with a crime of disturbing the market! Send you to the bureau for a few days in prison! ”

Although the peddler was strangled by the neck, he still struggled to defend himself, and stretched out his hand to point behind him, "...... Ahem, sir, please loosen your hands. I didn't talk nonsense just now, it was really the red bandits who killed them from the river! Lo and behold, they have all arrived! ”

Dean Liu Yun, who was originally standing next to watch the show, was suddenly taken aback, and hurriedly ran to a nearby high place, put his hand on the pergola, and looked in the direction of the peddler's fingers, only to see a noisy engine roar suddenly sounding on the river in the distance...... The pedestrians on the street, who had just calmed down, saw this scene with their own eyes, and after a moment of stunnedness, they immediately cried and screamed again, and immediately fled to the city again.

Obviously, in the face of the Red Army commandos who "descended from heaven," the Kuomintang authorities in Suzhou did not have time to react at all, and only heard a few gunshots on the canal.

The other black-clad policemen were relatively conscientious, although their legs trembled like chaff, and they were staggered by the fleeing crowd, they still shouted that Zhang Luo would close the city gates and water gates everywhere and prevent the red bandits from entering.

But this gate facing the river wharf really can't be closed - well, this door can also be closed, but unfortunately in 1934, that is, this year, the gate that was originally a classical Chinese city tower was converted into a Romanesque triumphal arch by the Kuomintang authorities who pursued foreign style......

-- What is the Arc de Triomphe, as you all know, it is basically a purely decorative gatehouse, although the appearance is very gorgeous, but the door hole is empty, not even a door. In a moment's urgency, how can you close it?

“…… You rice buckets! Find some sacks and carts to block the door! Hurry! Be quick! ”

Seeing those policemen standing stupidly under the triumphal arch in a daze, Dean Liu Yun, who was covered with cold sweat, could no longer care about any overstepping, and rushed up and shouted loudly. Relying on his own uniform, he gave them orders, "...... If the Red Bandits come in. We're all going to be finished! ”

The policemen, who had not been in war for many years, suddenly realized when they heard the sound, and hurriedly drove away the crowd while looking for all kinds of goods that could block the door, but unfortunately it was too late - those small motorboats with red flags had already docked on the dock one after another, and jumped out of a group of fierce men wearing red star steel helmets.

Look far away. The clothes of the gang were colorful, as if they were made of rags and patchwork...... But even if you don't know that this is called a camouflage uniform, you only need to see the black and ghostly barrels in their hands. There is no courage to laugh at this "beggar's suit".

Immediately afterwards, accompanied by a burst of gunshots, Dean Liu Yun, who was in a hurry, saw a blood flower burst out of the chest of one of the attendants beside him, and then felt a pain in his arm. Suddenly, it was as if he had been slammed by a giant hammer. Collapsed with weakness......

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When the first Red Army soldiers stepped on the trestle and the gangplank, they saw that all the people on the shore were rushing towards the city gate, and the Kuomintang armed men guarding the gate seemed to want to block the city gate while rushing to drive them away.

A Red Army squad leader who walked in the front made a quick decision, raised the five or six submachine guns in his hand, and swept a shuttle suddenly, and then saw a great chaos at the city gate, whether it was the people rushing into the city. The enemies who were still defending the city all fled.

Waited a little longer. There was no one near the city gate, and on the most prosperous Shantang Street in Suzhou, all kinds of shoes, goods, chickens and dogs were thrown to the ground, and there was no half of a figure on the city wall, only a few children who were squeezed by the crowd shrunk in the corner of the wall and cried. And the Red Army soldiers on dozens of assault boats behind have already gone ashore one after another......

As a result, these experienced veterans soon began to divide and cooperate, and some of them stayed on the spot to control the docks and ensure the back road; The other part climbed the empty city wall of Suzhou, opened the water gate, and allowed several assault boats to break directly into the city's waterways; Zuihou's large force, carrying mortars, RPGs and machine guns, rushed through the open gate and advanced rapidly towards various key points in the city of Suzhou.

Ten minutes after the red flag had been planted at the gate, General Su Yu, dressed in a handsome white military uniform, arrived too late, because his assault boat was entangled in water and weeds very close to Suzhou, so he had to abandon the ship and land and run all the way from the shore, so he was much slower.

Therefore, before he had even entered the city, he saw several young warriors who were very excited, and brought a prisoner with a bleeding shoulder to ask for merit.

“…… Report to the Chief of Staff, we have captured a prisoner next to the city gates! Look at this cloth like a big official! ”

“…… Why haven't you guys entered the city yet? There are enough people left behind! Seeing this, General Su Yu only waved his hand impatiently and scolded, "...... We must race against time to take Suzhou City before the enemy reacts, and we have no time to interrogate the prisoners......"

- Su Yu's original intention was to let them tie up the captives and throw them on the side of the road, and then come back to cook when they have time...... But when he heard that Dean Liu Yun, who was a little delirious because of a large amount of blood loss, he thought that this big leader of the red bandits was going to kill the prisoners, and he was immediately frightened and howled:

“…… Don't kill me, sir! Don't kill me! I am the dean of Suzhou Reflection! I know where your comrades are being held! ”

-- Not long after, in the face of two black mortars and the dean's own call, a white flag was finally hung on the wall of the Suzhou Reflection Institute.

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On the whole, the "Suzhou Blitzkrieg" commanded by Su Yu was basically quite successful -- due to the surprise of the assault boat assault team, the Kuomintang authorities in Suzhou basically did not have time to react, and the Red Army attacked the city from both land and water at the same time, and came to a center to blossom...... In addition, there were almost no regular Kuomintang troops stationed in the urban area of Suzhou, so after one o'clock in the afternoon, the government building, the tax bureau, the police station, the security corps station, and other key organs had already changed hands one after another, and only a small number of stragglers were still taking advantage of the narrow streets and alleys of the ancient city of Suzhou and relying on the assistance of a number of wealthy families in the city to carry out "urban guerrilla warfare" against the newly arrived Red Army, causing certain casualties to the Red Tenth Army......

However, this slight resistance, which resembles a terrorist attack, may be a source of anxiety for American GIs in the twenty-first century. However, in the era of the Republic of China, when human life was as cheap as grass and death was commonplace, it could not shake the Red Army's occupation and control of Suzhou.

In the Battle of Suzhou, the only fierce resistance encountered by the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was the Red Army. It was at the railway station in the north of the city - no one expected that there was a battalion of the tax police corps waiting for wagons. Therefore, Su Yu initially sent only one company of the Red Army to rush forward, but he was almost completely annihilated......

-- The Kuomintang's Tax Police Corps was a private armed force established by Chiang Kai-shek in order to seize military power during Soong Tzu-wen's tenure as finance minister in the thirties of the 20 th century, using the surplus of the salt tax that was amortized annually to repay the loans of the banks of the eight countries. The total number of troops is as high as more than 30,000.

As the name suggests, it seems that the Tax Police Corps should be an irregular force used to collect taxes from smuggling. But under the vigorous management of Song Ziwen, with strong financial resources. It has become an elite force that cannot be compared with even the regular army of the Kuomintang A: at a time when most of China's army did not know what armored vehicles and tanks were, the Tax Police Corps was already equipped with the "Cardenroyd" ultralight tank, Vickers amphibious combat vehicles, and Oligen anti-aircraft cannons. The rifles of the Tax Police Corps are mainly German-made 1924 standard Mauser series guns or Belgian FN1924/30 rifle guns, light machine guns are mostly ZB26 imported from the Czech Republic, and heavy machine guns are mostly Maxim 24 water-cooled heavy machine guns. The pistol is the famous 7.63mm Mauser M1932...... All in all. The Tax Police Corps was one of the most modern units in China at that time, and the quality of officers and men and weapons and equipment were second to none.

Half of this "special force," which was more elite than the regular army, was originally stationed in Haizhou, the largest salt producing area under the Nanjing Nationalist Government, and the other half was stationed in Shanghai, the country's main logistics center, and had a good performance in the "128" incident in 1932.

After the Songhu Armistice Agreement, Shanghai became a demilitarized zone, and the tax police corps was forced to withdraw to Haizhou. Next. Song Ziwen first fell out with Chiang Kai-shek over the issue of military spending, and then fought with the pro-Japanese Wang Jingwei on the diplomatic line. In the end, he was forced to resign and go into the wilderness. The elite private armed tax police corps he painstakingly built was also annexed by Chiang Kai-shek in 1934, with Huang Jie, a general in his lineage, as the head of the regiment.

Although the combat effectiveness of this unit has been weakened due to high-level personnel changes, the foundation is still there after all. Chiang Kai-shek, who was camping in Nanchang, immediately thought of this elite force, and ordered Huang Jie to send a regiment to reinforce Nanjing, and the commander of the fourth regiment that was ordered to come to the aid was the future famous general of the Anti-Japanese War, a top student of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Sun Liren.

Due to the lack of capacity of the Tianjin-Pudong railway, the support army took the sea route to dock in Shanghai, and then rushed to Nanjing by train. As a result, when the whole regiment was dispersed to the Beijing-Shanghai railway line, and when it was just halfway through, it was cut in two by the Red Tenth Army in Suzhou...... On both sides are high-spirited brave and elite divisions, Su Yu and Sun Liren are also amazing military wizards, and a dragon battle suddenly broke out.

Since the Red Tenth Army was attacking the city of Suzhou from the northwest, it only had time to cut off the railway and telegraph lines between Suzhou and Nanjing, while the railway and road traffic from Shanghai to Suzhou remained unimpeded for a short time. Therefore, after the attack of this battalion of the tax police regiment, it built a defensive position on the spot at the railway station, and piled together all the things that could be used in the vicinity, such as trolleys, door panels, tables, wooden boxes, sacks, etc., and built a simple bunker fortification; While calling for emergency support to Kunshan, Shanghai and other places behind him.

As a result, when Su Yu completed the suppression of the entire city of Suzhou, regrouped his forces at dusk, and launched another attack on the railway station. Sun Liren had already arrived at the Suzhou Railway Station by railway with the headquarters of the Fourth Regiment in Zuihou, plus the support troops sent by the Shanghai Security Corps and the Shanghai Police Corps, totaling about 1,200 people, and was ready to compete with "these bold red bandits......

As a result, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, which had each supplemented their new forces, launched an unprecedentedly fierce offensive and defensive battle on the narrow battlefield near the Suzhou Railway Station. Although the Red Army has an absolute superiority in strength and firepower, the Kuomintang army still relies on the terrain and fortifications to fight to the death, so that Fang Zhimin, who came to supervise the battle, couldn't help but shake his head and sigh: "It seems that the fat has been eaten up, and from now on you have to gnaw hard bones!" ”

In the end, under the continuous covering shelling of dozens of 107 rocket launchers, the Suzhou railway station was bombarded into a burning rubble, and even the railroad tracks were bent and deformed by the high temperature...... After two failed breakouts and the roads and railways leading to Shanghai were also cut off by the Red Army, Sun Liren finally had to put up the white flag, lay down his arms and surrender.

In the early morning of December 24, the Battle of Suzhou was declared over, and the Red Tenth Army occupied Suzhou and looked at Shanghai, causing a southeast shock for a time......

At the same time, Wang Qiu sat in the office of the dean of the Suzhou Provincial Institute, looking at the long list of prisoners, and was deeply shocked for a while. (To be continued......)