PS: There was a bug in the last chapter, although Zhang Yuexia is indeed Bogu's wife, yes, they won't get married until 1940......

Well, but, anyway, it's a trick with no drama, and it's probably not going to appear in the future, so please don't worry about it, readers.

Originally, I wanted to write about Bo Gu's frustration when he lost power at the Zunyi Conference, and was surprised to hear that his wife made a big disturbance in Shanghai.

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On the evening of December 23, 1934, Shanghai Tang, Public Concession, Shili Yangchang

There is a city in modern China, where the Eastern, Western, trendy, old-fashioned, beautiful, and ugly are most vividly manifested in this city. And the city is – Shanghai.

At this moment, the afterglow of the setting sun turns the turbid water of Suzhou Creek into a golden green, with a hint of the unique laziness of the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, gently, quietly, flowing westward. However, the sunset tide of the Huangpu River is diametrically opposed to the gradually lowering night, and gradually rises. Now, all kinds of boats along the banks of the Suzhou Creek have floated up, and even the deck has been exposed.

The warm breeze blows the music of foreign devils from all over the world in the Bund Park, and the brass drums with the smell of heavy metal are the wildest and most exciting, and there is clearly the urge to rock and roll. The twilight mist shrouded the towering steel frame of the Waibaidu Bridge, and the tram lines hung horizontally under the steel frame as the tram clanged past here. From time to time, a few thrilling turquoise electric sparks will erupt. On the trains, which are constantly moving in the crowd, words and images about "medicines", "drinks", "cosmetics", and "cigarettes" are pasted.

Looking east from the bridge, you can see that Pudong has some modern prototype dock area. The stacks made of steel and concrete, like huge monsters, crouched in the twilight of the night, and the dim thousands of illuminated incandescent lamps seemed to shine with thousands of small eyes. Looking to the west, there are unusually large neon tube advertisements high on the roofs of bungalows, shooting out flame-like red light and green flames: Light, Heat. Power！

The domestic billboards of Chinese local manufacturers such as "Rendan", "Wuzhou Guben Soap", "Guanshengyuan Candy Biscuits", "Sanhe Pickles" and "Sincere Cosmetics" also occupy both sides of the bustling streets, and these street signs are not deliberately decorated. Instead, it uses two or three words that look quite eye-catching and concise, but its text achieves the effect of being a thousand words and a glance.

The sun slowly sets over the eternal horizon. The soft breeze blowing slowly blows on people's faces one after another, and it seems to have the itchy and crispy atmosphere of the extravagant foreign market in Shanghai. The night had gradually shrouded the earth like a black net. Slowly descending to Shanghai Beach. Looming is a dreamlike mood. When night falls, it is also the time when many people start to get excited. That's the charm of Shanghai Tang.

In the darkening night, a small black car drove like lightning across the Waibaidu Bridge and headed straight for the Ministry of Public Concession Bureau.

Sitting in the back seat of the Citroen car, the face of Yu Qiaqing, a tycoon in the financial speculation industry in the Republic of China era, a tycoon in the concession, the president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese director of the Ministry of Industry Bureau of the Public Concession, and the famous "Maritime Scholar". All the time with a touch of worry and sadness.

This sorrow came from his heart, just today at noon. At a time when the vast majority of Shanghai citizens at this moment are still ignorant of the drastic changes in the world around them, Yu Qiaqing, who is well-informed and well-informed, has already found out an earth-shattering and terrifying news from the Shanghai Railway Station -- the 10th Red Bandit Regiment, which has been crisscrossing the southeast and shaking Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the past month, has reached Suzhou today!

At the beginning, Yu Qiaqing couldn't believe this seemingly absurd rumor, thinking that it was some kind of rumor deliberately concocted by someone with ill intentions - in the turbulent Republic of China era, this kind of exaggerated and sensational rumor often occurs in many cities, such as Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province during the Long March, because of a rumor that "the Red Army is about to attack the city" and the market shook, and even frightened the municipal authorities to mobilize all the middle school students in the city to dig trenches in the suburbs, but the main force of the Red Army at that time was actually far away from thousands of rivers and mountains. And until Zuihou did not move to Kunming......

However, as more and more fugitives arrived from Suzhou, especially a battalion of the Tax Police Corps stationed at the Suzhou Railway Station, after repelling the first attack of the Red Bandits, they were busy asking for help...... Yu Qiaqing had to painfully admit this worst reality: those lawless and mud-legged red bandits who claimed to bring down all capitalists had indeed arrived in Suzhou!

And the series of movements they made in northern Zhejiang, as well as the deliberate momentum of going straight to Nanjing, are just a trick to mobilize government troops. The real killer move was to come back and forth, cross the Taihu Lake by boat, and suddenly enter the city of Suzhou, which was empty in defense!

Alas, I really don't know how they managed to collect so many boats from the shores of Taihu Lake...... But it's already here, and it's too late to track it down.

As for the next move of this red bandit, it is already self-evident: it must be to kill the ten-mile ocean field of Shanghai under his feet!

-- Shanghai in the Republic of China was the largest commercial port in China, with a dense population, developed industry and commerce, and considerable fiscal and tax revenues. From the Xinhai Revolution, the Second Revolution, the Beiyang Warlord Scuffle, to several major infighting in the Nanjing Nationalist Government, this splendid and drunken Far Eastern metropolis is the focus of the country's military and political efforts. Any warlord marshal covets Shanghai, a cornucopia of money.

As for the Red Bandits, who studied under Soviet Russia, they never forgot to carry out riots in the "central city" so as to lead the national revolution, and dreamed of turning Shanghai, a "paradise for adventurers," into a "Shanghai Commune" for the toiling masses...... This is also the fact that the Central Bureau and the top leaders of the Red Bandits have long left the relatively safe Soviet areas behind, but have instead withstood the terrifying white terror of the Kuomintang authorities. The root cause of the several years of detention in the white district of Shanghai.

Therefore, after confirming the hostile situation in Suzhou, Sun Liren, who originally wanted to see the diorama in Shanghai for a few more days. had to urgently collect a group of patchwork reinforcements, and even many subordinates who asked for leave to go out did not have time to recall, so they rushed to Suzhou to meet the battle in a hurry.

Although from the perspective of class background and personal standpoint, Yu Qiaqing very much hopes that Sun Liren, a top student of the United States Military Academy at West Point, will be able to win the victory - the blood stains of the "April 12" counter-revolutionary coup d'état seven years ago have not dried up, and almost everyone of them, the Shanghai Tang tycoons, has the blood debt of the Shanghai workers' pickets on their hands, who knows after the Red Bandits entered Shanghai. How will it take revenge, and how much bloody rain will be set off - but a series of miserable defeats of the elite division of the national government in Changhua, Anji, Changxing and other places in northern Zhejiang made Yu Qiaqing really unable to raise confidence in Sun Liren, who only brought 1,200 miscellaneous troops.

If it was just a small group of red bandit guerrillas sneaking up on Suzhou. Then this little force can probably be dealt with. But if it was the main force of the 10th Red Bandit Army, there was also the legendary "Comintern Column" equipped with airplanes, ironclad cars, and big iron men...... I'm afraid I'm going to beat the dog with meat buns, and there is no return!

Alas, what the hell did the Soviets go crazy. How much support was given to these red bandits. Let them run rampant like this?!

However, no matter how well Suzhou plays, Shanghai will always have to negotiate some countermeasures......

Looking at the gradually approaching Ministry of Industry Bureau building in the car window, Yu Qiaqing sighed and thought depressedly.

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Until the lights of Shiliyangchang were already dark, a lengthy meeting was still being held in the luxurious conference room of the Public Concession Ministry Bureau.

Under the ornate crystal chandeliers, each director has exquisite European plates and teacups at his or her fingertips. Inside are a couple of different flavored cream petit fours and a cup of milk tea. The taste of each cake is very sweet and soft, and the milk tea has both the fragrance of tea and the sweetness of milk. Such a beautiful refreshment. Shanghai Tang is definitely worth a lot of money today, but it's a pity that all the distraught directors have no intention of enjoying it at the moment.

In the face of the sudden arrival of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, not only was the Kuomintang Shanghai Special City Government in disarray, but also the directors of the Shanghai Special City Government, as the governing body of the Shanghai Public Concession and the de facto supreme authority in Shanghai, were also meeting to discuss how to deal with the attack of the Red Army.

To be honest, this is difficult, because although the Liliang "International Business Regiment", which is directly under the Ministry of Industry Bureau, is well-equipped, it is very small and difficult to cope with a fierce war of attrition. Moreover, the Ministry of Industry has never been monolithic, and everyone is playing their own small calculations.

What's even worse is that even though the Red Army has descended to Suzhou, many people still don't think they have the courage to attack Shanghai and offend the majesty of the imperialist powers - Shanghai has not experienced war before, but whether it is the Xinhai Revolution and the Second Revolution, or the Jiangsu-Zhejiang War between the Anhui warlords and the direct warlords, as well as the Northern Expedition in the era of the Great Revolution and the Sino-Japanese exchanges in the 128 Incident, no one dared to burn the flames of war into the concession, at most it temporarily cut off Shanghai's external communications. And it just smashed the Chinese world into a pile of rubble.

For example, two Japanese directors of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, Takae Bube and Takeo Yamamoto, were surprised to learn that the Red Bandits were approaching Shanghai, and repeatedly instigated the Bureau to ask the Japanese Marines stationed in Shanghai for "assistance" so that the Japanese Shili could penetrate further into the rest of the public concession south of Suzhou Creek.

This excessive demand was naturally resisted unanimously by the Chinese directors and the American and British directors—the Japanese had previously sent troops to land at Hongkou in 1925 under the pretext of suppressing the May Day Movement; Later, he took advantage of the "128 Shanghai Incident" and the latest armed deterrence to successfully capture the eastern and northern districts of the public concession. Now he is still not greedy enough to further get involved in the remaining half of the public concession?!

If these two dwarves are really allowed to succeed, then there will be no public concession in Shanghai in the future - it would be better to simply change it to a Japanese concession!

“…… Ahem, Mr. Yamamoto and Mr. Bube, while I appreciate your kind help, let me point out one fact. ”

The general director of the board of directors of the Ministry of Industry Bureau, Anold, coughed dryly, "...... The total number of troops currently stationed in Shanghai by your country. There were only 2,800 marines in all, but they were responsible for defending the North and East Districts, which accounted for half of the total area of the Public Concession. In the remaining South and West Districts, there were 1,000 American troops, 1,000 British troops, and 2,000 'Merchants of All Nations' stationed there—measured by the density of troops. It seems that Japan should ask us for help! ”

In the face of the remarks of the general director of Arnold, the Chinese directors and the directors of the United States and Britain could not help but laugh, and the two Japanese directors Takae and Takeo Yamamoto did not dare to be angry with the directors of the United States and Britain, so they had to glare at Yu Qiaqing and other Chinese directors, and then proudly declared: The brave and invincible army of the Great Japanese Empire, even if there are only less than 3,000 people, can easily destroy this bold and reckless "Shina mob".

Such words. Obviously, it is tantamount to slapping the face of Yu Qiaqing and other Chinese directors - in just the past month, if you count the security regiment, more than 100,000 Kuomintang troops have been defeated and wiped out by this red bandit. It's last week. Even the capital city of Nanjing was shaken to the point that the whole city was under martial law, and it was so frightened that it was going to fight the "capital defense war...... In this way, isn't the hundreds of thousands of troops in the national government far from being able to equal the 2,800 marines of the Great Japanese Empire? The fighting spirit of the people of China is weak and their quality is inferior. This can be seen from this......

However. As the saying goes, "striking iron requires its own hardness", seeing that the performance of the Kuomintang government army was so clumsy, Yu Qiaqing really did not have the capital to refute the arrogant words of the Japanese...... However, this did not prevent the Chinese directors from saying some sour words at the meeting and playing with the breadth and profundity of the Chinese language......

Although this is of little practical significance, it can at least make the Chinese directors feel more comfortable and feel that they have earned back a little face.

And the arrogant and reserved American and British directors, as well as the Russians and Italians, who have always existed as embellishments. and the Jews, who have independent shili, are like appreciating cockfights. Watch with relish: Japanese and Chinese directors exchange words with relish—of course, as noble Caucasians, they will only watch the play from the sidelines, and will not get involved in the "biting between two waves of yellow monkeys".

All in all, after several hours of arguing, bargaining, haggling, blowing beards and glaring, and repeatedly calling the consulates in Shanghai, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Public Concession finally made its own decision on the invasion of Suzhou by the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

First of all, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry issued a general mobilization order to its armed Liliang "International Chamber of Commerce", ordering this "irregular army" with a total strength of 2,000 men to enter a state of readiness for war, and to prepare to cooperate with the American and British garrisons under the command of the American consul and the British consul to guard all important traffic intersections, government offices, bank vaults, and wealthy villa areas in the public concession -- not mainly to guard against the attack of the Red Army, but to worry that someone would take advantage of the opportunity to rob and cause chaos.

As for the defense and security of the French Concession next door, it is the responsibility of the French consul, and the Ministry of Industry only needs to make a "friendly report".

At the same time, the fleets of various countries on the Huangpu River needed to raise the alert level to prevent the Red Army from entering the Huangpu River by boat.

Second, after some bargaining, although the Japanese marines were still not allowed to cross the Suzhou Creek and enter the southern and western districts of the public concession, they received the tacit approval of "freedom operations" in the Zhabei Chinese Boundary - of course, whether this acquiescence of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau will be fulfilled depends on the latest war report: if the Kuomintang army successfully expelled the Red Bandits from Suzhou, then this acquiescence will automatically fail.

Well, it's not good or bad in itself. The only problem is that before this decision was made, neither the American nor the British, the Japanese, or the Chinese seemed to have forgotten to speak to the owner of the Zhabei land, the Kuomintang Shanghai Special Municipal Government......

Zuihou, now that the coping strategy has been made, the next thing is to wait for news - in any case, Shanghai Beach is still a place for Chinese after all, and the ability to find out the news is still the most well-informed among several Chinese directors.

Therefore, even the Japanese directors who did not agree with them had to stay in the conference room of the Ministry of Industry and Bureau, waiting for the latest first-hand information.

Next, the clock ticked and ticked round and round, and the milk tea and coffee in the conference room were also cold and hot, hot and cold. Several elderly and frail Chinese directors could no longer hold on, so they had to confess and leave the conference room to find a place to rest. Among the directors of the United States and Britain, there are also a few people who have gone out to take a nap. The Jews, Russians, and Italians, who had nothing to do with themselves, were long gone.

However, Yu Qiaqing and the two Japanese directors were still gritting their teeth and insisting, because the war situation in Suzhou had a huge relationship with their vital interests...... So, in the early morning, they finally waited for the messenger who came to report the news, a certain Qinggang gangster who specialized in making inquiries in Shanghai.

Then, judging from the pale face of this green gangster, the battle situation in the direction of Suzhou was obviously quite bad.

“…… Ladies and gentlemen, Suzhou has been lost! The 10th Army of the Red Bandits invested a large number of troops, and the firepower was also unprecedentedly fierce, Sun Liren's troops had just been defeated and surrendered at the Suzhou Railway Station, and there was also a vanguard of the Red Bandits that even bypassed Yangcheng Lake and broke into the county seat of Kunshan......"

After this guy entered the door, he took a few breaths, then shook his head at Yu Qiaqing and said, "...... In two or three days at most, they will be able to hit Shanghai! (To be continued......)