In the early morning of December 25, 1934, when the rising sun showed its first rays of morning light, the fire in the Hongkou Japanese Concession in Shanghai was still not completely extinguished. The sky over most of the city has become smoky, and the choking smell of smoke has spread throughout the beach, and many people's roofs and windowsills have fallen a thick layer of dust, and even the sun can hardly penetrate the smoke and fall to the ground.

In fact, because of a light snowfall in the first half of the night on Christmas Eve, the buildings were generally still damp, and the surviving Japanese expatriates fought hard, the fire in the Hongkou Japanese Concession was initially brought under control, and the damage was not very serious.

But the problem is that the missiles that bombarded the Japanese Third Fleet not only turned this majestic fleet into metal waste in the Huangpu River, but also ignited the oil depot and coal dump near the dock...... That's a big problem!

-- As we all know, the burning of oil and coal is very difficult to extinguish directly in this era when firefighting conditions are backward. In addition, the Japanese Concession, which had been washed by missiles, was in chaos, many high-ranking officials were almost all killed, and the consulate and the headquarters of the Marine Corps, which symbolized the highest authority, were in ruins...... As a result of inaction on the fires in coal yards and oil depots, the fire spread to the wind, and street by street set fire to Japanese-style houses that were suitable for firewood......

As for the fire brigade in the Hongkou Concession? They were now either drafted into the "Volunteers" (Japanese expatriates) or evacuated to areas south of the Suzhou Creek (non-Japanese expatriates) under the de facto control of the United States and Britain. Unless ordered by the Ministry of Industry. Otherwise, no one would have gone to Hongkou to put out the fires -- and the directors of the Ministry of Industry were still in a serious state of mind because of the stimulation of leaflets and missiles, and they had not thought of exerting their humanitarian spirit at all.

Belch? And two Japanese directors? Unfortunately. At the time of the missiles, they were attending an emergency meeting at the Japanese consulate, which was the focus of the cruise missiles...... Now it is estimated that he has gone to meet their Amaterasu Okami in the form of humanoid charcoal.

In this way, thousands of Shanghai citizens spent this impressive Christmas Eve by watching the fire from the other side.

At dawn the next day, a few tabloid reporters who were stubborn and overly curious. Tempted by the special prize promised by the editor-in-chief, they mustered up the greatest courage and crossed the Waibaidu Bridge with their cameras on their shoulders. An attempt was made to investigate the facts of the disaster on the spot.

As a result, in order to prevent themselves from being smoked on the spot, they soon had to wrap a scarf around their noses and mouths to filter out the strong, unusually foul scorching smell that pervaded the air — what they described in their reports as "the smell of hell."

And those Japanese-style houses with paper and wood structures that are very prone to fire in the Hongkou Japanese Concession. It has indeed been burned to the ground.

-- Marine Corps Headquarters, Japanese Consulate, Gongdai Yarn Mill, Leadway Harbor, Navy Club, ...... All the main cantonments and standing positions of the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai. Almost no one was spared from the missile attacks at night, and Third Fleet Commander Kiyoshi Hasegawa and Marine Corps Commander Okawa Uchichichi were killed in the explosion. As for the sky-high flames on the Huishan Wharf, they did not burn until dawn.

At this very moment, the few remnants of the Japanese army and the Japanese expatriates who came spontaneously were dragging their tired bodies to clean up the charred corpses on the ground—a very difficult job, because they had been burning in the fire created by the cloudburst bomb for too long, except for the white eye sockets. His whole body was charred and blackened. With a light touch, the thoroughly charred muscle tissue will fall off. Revealing the same charred bones...... More corpses were simply charred skeletons, and some Japanese soldiers had been completely burned to ashes by the fire, and disappeared without a trace when the wind blew them. Even the corpses that were still intact were now unclaimed and unburied, and they could only be temporarily piled up in the streets, and the scene looked infinitely miserable.

-- Under the smoking of the flames and smoke, and smelling the disgusting smell of burnt human flesh, these Chinese and foreign reporters could not help but vomit heavily.

The most disgusting of all, however, were the wreckage left behind by the Japanese soldiers who jumped into the pools trying to escape the fire - unless they jumped into the Suzhou Creek or the Huangpu River to be accompanied by the sailors who had abandoned their ships and escaped, these small ponds would soon be too hot for the human body to handle, and they would be cooked alive like dumplings in a pot.

It can be seen that the journalists who witnessed this scene and left a psychological shadow may become vegetarians for a considerable period of time.

Of course, the tragic nature of those who have died, but the equally tragic of others who are still alive for the time being. Badly burned or injured in the fire, they are now either lying on the ground or huddled in the corner, covered in hot blood blisters, crying wolves in pain, but most of them are not treated; Obviously my throat was smoking, my stomach was cramping, but I couldn't eat at all, and it was hard to even drink a sip of water.

The Japanese Third Fleet on the Huangpu River, the so-called "Shina Dispatch Fleet", was also a pile of burning steel and garbage, and seriously blocked the docks and shipping lanes. In particular, the flagship "Izumo", which was hated by the Chinese, was broken into several twisted wreckage, and only a few or so sailors on the ship survived. On the banks of the Huangpu River after sunrise, you can see Japanese devil sailors who are soaked and frozen half to death everywhere.

All in all, after a night of intense fires, the "Japanese Style Street" in Hongkou was almost completely reduced to rubble, except for charred stone statues, crumbling concrete walls, iron fences, and sparse telephone poles. In some areas where the fires have been extinguished, all the houses and shops are gone, and only a few blackened wooden telephone poles are still emitting wisps of smoke......

In addition to the charred corpses and broken ruins everywhere, the Japanese expatriates who were lucky enough to survive the flames. Most of them had been burned to nothing by the fire, and now they could only wander and pick through the scorching ruins, trying to find something that could be used.

What's worse is that. The surrounding Chinese did not have the slightest sympathy for these Japanese refugees, but were full of infinite malice:

Don't forget, among these seemingly pitiful Japanese expatriates, a considerable number of them are retired soldiers arranged by the Japanese government for "armed colonization", as well as ronins arranged by the Black Dragon Society, who belong to the vanguard of the invasion strategy against China, and usually show off their might on the beach in Shanghai. Do all kinds of evil, all of them are full of blood debts. Not to mention that just three years ago, they were the ones who set fire to Shanghai and killed people. The "128 Incident" was provoked -- according to later statistics, the casualties of the Chinese military and civilians were left aside for the time being, and as a result, 4,204 businesses and 20,000 houses were destroyed in the Zhabei Huajie. The people of Shanghai have suffered heavy losses. Tongji University, Fudan University, and Shanghai Law School were all bombed. The famous Commercial Press was also burned down by the Japanese.

In the years that followed, these Japanese continued to cause countless bloodstained tragedies in Shanghai, which made the majority of the people dare not speak out...... Now that feng shui is turning, it is the turn of these little devils to be unlucky, what Chinese will not think about rubbing their fists, and the new hatred and old hatred will be counted together?

To add insult to injury, the Red Army Radio Station, which had moved to Anting Town, also released Christmas broadcasts again. It focuses on the Japanese during the Great Kanto Earthquake more than ten years ago, while reaching out and laughing at the relief materials donated by the Chinese. While taking the opportunity to massacre the despicable acts of overseas Chinese in Japan...... Therefore, he called on the citizens of Shanghai to keep their eyes open, remember the parable of the farmer and the snake, and never have any extra sympathy for the Japanese invaders.

-- So, when the Red Cross Society in Shanghai organized a medical team to go to Hongkou to rescue people, they were immediately stopped by angry Chinese citizens and beaten back with stones and sticks. Several Chinese nuns who suffered from fraternity disease were also paraded through the streets with the sign of traitors......

In order to make the fire more violent, the Chinese workers at the waterworks even deliberately caused an accident and cut off the tap water supply to Hongkou, forcing the Japanese expatriates to use snow water, sewage, or draw water from the Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek to fight the fire, thus greatly reducing their fire fighting efficiency.

Finally, when the fire was basically extinguished, the exhausted Japanese expatriates found themselves even more desperate to find that what they were waiting for after the overnight fire was not rescue and condolences, but a spontaneous attack by the masses who had beaten the water dogs with all their hearts -- with the axe gang of the "assassination king" Wang Yaqiao as the core, tens of thousands of "hot-blooded youths" armed with axes, kitchen knives, and sticks, shouting the slogans of "expel the Japanese invaders, repay our rivers and mountains," and "blood debts must be repaid with blood," and entered the Japanese concession with great momentum...... Then he couldn't wait to start robbing, burning, killing and looting while the fire was burning......

-- There is no way, Wang Yaqiao is basically the only "lumpenproletarian" that can be mobilized in Shanghai......

But on the other hand, if you want to find a slogan that can be highly recognized by all Chinese at that time, it is only anti-Japanese! From professors and students, peddlers and pawns to gentry and officials, all regard anti-Japanese resistance as the highest "political correctness", and all those who oppose anti-Japanese resistance are evil traitors!

Therefore, after Wang Yaqiao played the banner of "anti-Japanese", in the face of the excitement of the crowd, even his old opponents, Du Yuesheng and Huang Jinrong of the Green Gang, could not give the gang an order to "protect Japanese friends" -- not to mention, the Green Gang and the Japanese were not friends......

As a result, the fire in the Hongkou Japanese Concession had not yet been completely extinguished, and large-scale looting and vendetta incidents had already broken out. Angry Chinese citizens, staring at blood-red eyes, poured into the Japanese concession with great vigour, slashing and beating the exhausted Japanese expatriates to death, and throwing the dying Japanese wounded into the fire again. At the same time, every remaining shop, warehouse, and mansion was smashed open, and the valuables inside were looted...... There were even people who smirked and pushed a few Japanese girls who were grizzled but still beautiful into the corner, and then pushed down the queue and took turns to ......

A humanitarian tragedy full of blood and cruelty quickly unfolded among the ruins of the Hongkou Japanese Concession.

But this is also a helpless thing: the cycle of heavenly principles, the blood debt must be repaid with blood, and whoever sows hatred will eventually suffer himself - in the face of a powerful and brutal enemy, if there is no advanced ideology, organization, weapons, etc. to deal with, then there is only one way to come up with more brutal means, tooth for tooth, eye for eye, and slaughter to fight the slaughter. Fight destruction with destruction and see who scares who down first!

Originally, in the face of such a mass anti-Japanese incident. The general practice of the Japanese is to protest against the Kuomintang government, force them to bloody suppress the "anti-Japanese thugs," and give an explanation to the "Japanese friends" -- just as the so-called "common people are afraid of the government, the government is afraid of foreigners, and foreigners are afraid of the common people."

But the problem is that now Mayor Wu Tiecheng has already fled, and the city government and the police department have all gone to the empty building...... Who do you ask the Japanese to protest to?

And the attitude of the British, Americans and French. It's a cold bystander, and they don't know what to do - they are already anxious and anxious at the moment, where do they have any intention to carry forward the style? Send your own army to protect the Japanese? It's better to save it!

Unfortunately, although the Third Fleet was now completely wiped out and the Marine Corps barracks and headquarters were all blown up into the sky, some of the Japanese soldiers who were on duty and patrolling survived. After joining the sailors who escaped by swimming. Somewhat made up a little armed liliang.

In short, under the command of several lieutenants, these Zuihou Japanese soldiers mustered up their courage and assembled the whole team. With any weapon that can be pulled out of the rubble. Fight against the "Shina thugs...... After a messy fight, they finally temporarily withstood the "patriotic masses" led by Wang Yaqiao, and let them carry large bags and even ragged Japanese women, humming a minor tune and withdrawing from the even more disastrous Japanese concession.

-- Seeing that the Japanese who used to flaunt their might in the past have now fallen into such a situation, the petty bourgeois literati in Shanghai could not help but feel a little frightened and worried, and even looked forward to the Red Army coming to Shanghai as soon as possible to maintain order......

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It turns out. The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army entered Shanghai later than many expected.

Until the setting sun stained the sky red. The red flag with the sickle and hammer still does not appear in the streets of Shanghai.

And there are many reasons for this.

First of all, there is still a distance of 50 kilometers from Anting Town, the forefront of the Red Army on Christmas Eve, to downtown Shanghai on the banks of the Huangpu River, which is almost equivalent to a full day of forced march by ordinary infantry. As for the main forces of the Red Army, they were now even more distant from the city of Shanghai, having just advanced from Suzhou to Kunshan, and were already exhausted from the long journey, and began to feel a little unable to walk.

Secondly, the railway from Suzhou to Shanghai was damaged to a certain extent and could not be used by the Red Army for the time being. The Red Tenth Army has not yet been fully mechanized, and most of the soldiers still have to rely on two legs to get on the road - not because of the lack of trucks, the real problem is the lack of drivers: obviously few of the Red Army soldiers in this era can drive, and although at least a third of the 2,000 rabble under Wang Qiu can drive trucks, the problem is that some of the traverser mercenaries refuse to carry out tasks that are too dangerous, and they think that it is too dangerous to drive unprotected trucks for long-distance assaults in enemy-occupied areas. In case of ambushes and blockades, it will be troublesome -- these guys seem to have regarded Shanghai Tang during the Republican era as a battlefield in Iraq and Palestine with explosions -- and another group of people come from countries that drive on the left side of the street with the steering wheel on the right side of the car body, and are not used to Chinese vehicles with the steering wheel on the left. Only a few people are greedy for high prizes and are willing to give it a try......

As a result, the Red Army units that were able to advance quickly by car were only one or two thousand people. The assault boat troops led by Su Yu did not dare to advance alone because they were not familiar with the complex waterways around Shanghai. More importantly, although the Kuomintang troops had fled, and the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai had been crippled, the attitude of the British, French, and American garrisons was still ambiguous -- in order to avoid a situation similar to the first Chechen war, when the Russian army quickly advanced into the city of Grozny, but was dragged into a meat grinder by the defenders, you traversers are prepared to wait for the troops that are left behind.

Then, after some shock and panic that the world was shattering, the Nanjing government finally organized the first round of a slightly more decent counterattack -- four regiments of reinforcements from Changzhou, Wuxi, Jiangyin, and other places, and rushed to Suzhou by train to "expel the red bandits......

Due to the time required for the assembly and preparation of troops, coupled with the consistent procrastination of the Kuomintang, by the time this enemy army arrived at the outskirts of Suzhou, Fang Zhimin and Su Yu had already moved to Kunshan, and only Liu Chouxi and Le Shaohua, a pair of "failed combinations," remained in Suzhou, with about 2,000 additional rearguard troops...... Out of unease with these two men, the main force of the Red Army, which was attacking Shanghai, could not help but slow down its advance again.

Fortunately, facts have proved that Liu Chouxi, a veteran general on the battlefield, still has two brushes -- relying on the "broadsword" mines of directional blasting and the bombardment of rockets like drops, as well as the semi-automatic rifles or submachine guns that the Red Army soldiers have in their hands, the hastily marching Kuomintang reinforcements were ambushed by Liu Chouxi in Wangting Town, northwest of Suzhou, and were beaten to the point that the whole line collapsed, and at least for a short time, it could no longer pose a threat.

However, after such a toss, the entry of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army into Shanghai was postponed to the morning of December 26.

In the end, when the vanguard of the Red Army arrived at the Zhabei Railway Station in Shanghai, it was stopped by a group of arrogant foreigners from all over the world...... (To be continued......)