Chapter 1 The Morning of November 5th, 1937

It was the morning of November 5th, 1937.

Company Commander Bu Feipeng, as usual, got up and walked around the barracks to take a look.

Ever since he took on the important task of guarding the 30-kilometer coastline of Hangzhou Bay,

he had developed this habit of checking the camp first, then going to the front lines.

Now, the overall direction and policy for this 30-kilometer defense line were decided by those above.

Each actual task fell on him, the company commander.

The battalion commander rarely came to the site, and all the specific work was done by Bu Feipeng.

Just two days ago, the higher-ups ordered him and his men to closely monitor the sea and prevent the Japanese from landing in this area!

Wasn't that a joke?

Although the water was deep in this area, the silt on the tidal flats was also deep. Even if the Japanese landed,

their cannons and tanks wouldn't be able to move.

Company Commander Bu Feipeng believed that it was completely unnecessary to have two artillery companies and an infantry battalion stationed here.

He habitually raised his binoculars to look out at the sea.

Suddenly, he noticed a dense mass of gunboats, ships, and small wooden boats appearing on the surface.

This was a hallucination!

Company Commander Bu Feipeng lowered his binoculars, rubbed his eyes hard, and carefully wiped the lenses with a cloth.

Only then did he look again at the same spot: the gunboats, steamers, and wooden boats were still there on the sea.

He could already see shadowy figures on the boats, like ghosts.

At this moment, Company Commander Bu Feipeng would rather those boats were filled with ghosts than to see the Japanese soldiers on them.

But those were really Japanese soldiers!

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

Company Commander Bu Feipeng shouted as he ran towards his command post.

Hearing his shouts, the soldiers who had been lazily staying in their positions all looked towards the sea.

They could now see the scene with their naked eyes.

A dense mass of various ships, although they could not clearly see the ghostly figures on board,

it did not affect their judgment: the Japanese were storming the beach.

Some soldiers began to shout, "Open fire! Open fire!"

Right next to the shouting soldier, someone scolded, "Are you stupid!

There are only two artillery companies and less than a battalion of infantry on the entire defense line.

What are we going to shoot? What are we going to shoot?"

"But! We have to fight when the Japanese come!"

"How can we fight with so few men?"

Amid the arguing, the ships on the sea came closer, and they could already see the figures of the Japanese soldiers on board.

But that was not the most shocking thing for them. What shocked them was the sound of shells falling on their artillery positions.

Huge explosions rang out continuously.

The cannons on the Japanese warships in the distance began to bombard the coast, clearing the way for their soldiers to land.

The National Revolutionary Army soldiers guarding the coast had been stationed here for more than two months.

The strength guarding the entire coastline had also been reduced from the initial four reorganized divisions to less than two battalions.

Although they were guarding dozens of kilometers of coastline, they had never really thought about what to do if the Japanese landed.

Because since the start of the war, the strength stationed on the coastline had been constantly decreasing.

The more intense the fighting in Shanghai, the more troops were drawn from here.

However, after these troops were transferred, they were never sent back or replenished.

Even if the higher-ups received the coded telegram sent by "our department," they only glanced at the area on the map.

In fact, there was more than one channel through which the higher-ups received intelligence that the Japanese would land in Hangzhou Bay.

But they were already preconceived, believing that Hangzhou Bay was not suitable for the movement of modern heavy weapons and that the Japanese army would not land in this area.

Therefore, whether it was the intelligence sent by "our department" in plain code, or the intelligence sent by Lin Fan, "Dragon Head," entrusted to He Xiangning, they were only discussed in meetings and then ignored.

As for the intelligence sent from Shaanxi, Chiang Kai-shek simply ignored it. In his heart, he was always wary of this organization.

Chiang Kai-shek's desire to eliminate this organization had never been extinguished.

As for the intelligence that the Japanese army might land in Hangzhou Bay, it was only discussed in a meeting.

And then nothing.

Now the Japanese had really landed.

Company Commander Bu Feipeng remembered the task assigned by his superiors: close surveillance! He had now done it. He immediately rushed back to his command post

to report to the higher-ups that the Japanese were landing in Hangzhou Bay on a large scale.

The sound of Company Commander Bu Feipeng's report was accompanied by the sound of the Japanese naval guns firing shells.

When the company commander finished reporting and came out of the command post, he saw that the entire coastline was filled with smoke.

The peaceful scene of the past was gone. There were explosions everywhere, fire everywhere, and smoke everywhere.

But the soldiers were nowhere to be seen. They had all run away.

This army was originally a local warlord force with little combat effectiveness.

Its main force had been transferred away, leaving only the least capable troops.

It was originally the weakest of the miscellaneous troops; the elite had all been sent to the front lines.

It was obviously unrealistic to expect these soldiers to fight back.

What made these soldiers even more despairing was that there were simply too many Japanese soldiers landing.

It was impossible for just one company here to stop them.

Those who wanted to defend and those who didn't want to defend all ran away together.

It was really difficult to defend a coastline of more than ten kilometers with less than two battalions.

Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, commander of the Japanese Tenth Army, and Major General Tanabe Moritake, chief of staff, never expected

today's landing to be so smooth.

The Sixth Division, the Eighteenth Division, and the One Hundred Fourteenth Division under their command,

the three divisions landing in Hangzhou Bay, did not encounter even the slightest resistance.

They landed as easily as if they were on a tour.

The Japanese soldiers who landed immediately established beachheads, preparing to welcome the upcoming counterattack by the National Revolutionary Army.

A large number of small boats were constantly shuttling back and forth, transporting the Japanese soldiers from the warships to the shore.

What frustrated Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke was that Hangzhou Bay was indeed not a good place to land.

The first tank that attempted to land as an experiment was stuck in the mud at the seaside.

It was impossible to move.

Now, the heavy artillery, tanks, and motor vehicles of the three divisions could not land.

Only people and light weapons could land.

At this time, if the National Revolutionary Army really had four divisions of troops to use artillery against the Japanese light weapons,

this would be the darkest day for the newly formed Tenth Army, which had only been established for half a month.

But this did not happen.

Although the National Revolutionary Army high command received warnings from many channels,

in the end, they did not take it seriously because they believed that Hangzhou Bay was not suitable for the Japanese army to deploy mechanized equipment.

On the 5th, the National Revolutionary Army took no action!

None of the National Revolutionary Army units on the front lines that received the news that the Japanese Tenth Army had landed in Hangzhou Bay took any action.

At this time, Chiang Kai-shek was again cursing "Niang xi pi!" in his presidential palace.

It was unclear who he was cursing!

There was chaos in the entire Nanjing headquarters.

Everyone knew: the Japanese army had really landed in Hangzhou Bay.

If they could not quickly drive the Japanese army back into the sea, the National Revolutionary Army still holding out in western Shanghai would be attacked from both sides.

There was a risk of being completely annihilated.

This was unacceptable.

While the National Revolutionary Army was in a state of chaos, the landing forces of the Japanese Tenth Army had already divided into two routes: one route advanced from Quan Gongting towards Xin Cang, and the other route advanced from Caojing Town and Jin Si Niang Bridge towards Zhangyan Town.

Zhang Fakui, the commander of the right wing army in the Songhu battlefield, learned that the Japanese had landed in Hangzhou Bay within his defense area.

He immediately ordered Liu Ji's troops, who were originally responsible for defense, to return and plug the gap.

But it was already too late.

The combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was there. Even if they did not have heavy weapons or artillery support,

they could not be driven back into the sea by troops who only knew how to fight internal wars and collect taxes.

The Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force headquarters also did not expect that the Tenth Army would encounter the embarrassment of heavy firepower equipment being unable to land in Hangzhou Bay.

After an emergency discussion, they immediately changed their strategy: all heavy equipment would still land at the Wusongkou wharf.

All the infantry of the Tenth Army would continue to land, and they had to stab the National Revolutionary Army in the back no matter what.

At this time, Commander Matsui Iwane was excited. The Battle of Shanghai was about to end.

Another heavy stroke would be added to his resume.

The entire Songhu Campaign officially began on August 13th. Up until now, the Japanese mainland had not yet made preparations for a full-scale invasion.

They were still adhering to the plan of gradual encroachment, nibbling at this old empire bit by bit.

At this time, there was still a trace of sanity within the empire: they knew how vast the empire they were facing was, and it was not something that such an island nation could swallow all at once.

Too big a step would tear their balls off, and too big a mouth would not be able to swallow!

Matsui Iwane looked at the order issued by the Imperial General Headquarters: occupy the entire Shanghai!

Now he was working towards this goal!

November 5th was another strange day: the entire Songhu battlefield continued to remain silent: the Japanese army did not attack, and the National Revolutionary Army did not counterattack.

Both sides maintained the status quo.

It was just that behind the National Revolutionary Army, there was now the Japanese Tenth Army.

One of their divisions had already landed, and this division was rapidly advancing from Hangzhou Bay.

Advancing!

Lin Fan received this news while he was inspecting the cargo on his "Old Stubborn" freighter.

The news was received in the captain's cabin.

Upon hearing the news, Ji Wudi immediately dispatched his younger sister to report.

At this time, Lin Fan was looking at the hundreds of boxes listed on the manifest, but without detailed names.

He had just inspected less than a hundred boxes.

The items packed in these boxes were somewhat mixed: there were carved stones, steles, as well as paintings, calligraphy, and Buddha heads.

There were also many porcelain items.

The soldiers of the Special Operations Company did not know the value of these things.

Lin Fan didn't know either, but he knew that these were all cultural relics that the Japanese were looting everywhere.

Although they had already stepped halfway into mechanical civilization at this time,

their deep-rooted worship and awe of the old empire was deeply engraved in their souls.

Therefore, for these things inherited from the ancient civilization, things that were not theirs, things they did not possess,

they could now dig them out, snatch them, and transport them back

to become theirs.

They were not the first to do this. The Western powers before them had already set an example.

And they had a beautiful saying: Rescue protection!

Lin Fan and the soldiers of the Special Operations Company only recognized the gold and silver jewelry, which were valuable.

Gold bars and silver bars were also valuable.

However, gold bars and silver bars were packed in separate boxes.

Gold ornaments and silver ornaments were also packed in separate boxes.

The boxes were packed differently, but the Japanese who packed them were obviously knowledgeable: they categorized them and packed them very well.

Originally, the soldiers of the entire Special Operations Company were in a good mood after completing such a major task.

Suddenly hearing the news that the Japanese had landed in Hangzhou Bay, everyone's mood suddenly turned bad.

Lin Fan also suddenly lost the interest in continuing to inspect.

He stood on the cargo ship, watching the Yangtze River flowing endlessly eastward.

Thinking that despite his repeated reminders, he had still not been able to get the high command of the National Revolutionary Army to pay attention to the defense of Hangzhou Bay,

he always had an unspeakable feeling in his heart.

The four soldiers who had been following him, of course, did not understand why the company commander suddenly stopped looking at the treasures

and ran to the ship to look at the water!

Ji Wudi suddenly said, "We haven't changed our clothes yet!"

They had not yet passed through the dangerous waters.

Although there were not many warships encountered along the way, they were all Japanese warships.

However, they had not come aboard to inspect their freighter.

Perhaps it was because of the American flag hanging on the ship.

Lin Fan was receptive to suggestions and immediately ordered everyone to change their clothes.

They would soon enter the area controlled by the National Revolutionary Army.

If they did not change their clothes, it would cause a lot of trouble.

Lin Fan smiled: "Let everyone change into civilian clothes!"

Returning to the cabin, he turned on the radio and began to contact Director Pan.

Director Pan learned that the Special Operations Company had quietly seized the "Himaru" and

had already sailed into the area of the Yangtze River controlled by the National Revolutionary Army.

Director Pan's excitement was beyond words.

Finally, there was some good news.

Since Lin Fan and the others left last night, Director Pan had been worried all the time,

always concerned about this team.

Hearing that Lin Fan was preparing to disembark in the Jiangyin area and that the freighter would be completely handed over to Captain Luo,

Director Pan considered it: "Comrade Lin Fan! After the freighter arrives in Wuhan, we will have people to meet it.

You don't have to worry about this. Regarding the construction of the rear base that you proposed,

we are still considering it. This kind of thing cannot be decided with a snap of the fingers.

As for your team, do you want to rest in Jiangyin for a few days?

The comrades you applied for to replenish the team have already set off and will definitely be able to meet up in Jiangyin within three days."

This was good news!

Lin Fan finally felt a little better.

He immediately replied, "The Jiangyin Fortress is the most important place to resist the Japanese army's continued advance.

Moreover, the design of the Jiangyin Fortress is reasonable and the fortifications are strong.

If possible, the Special Operations Company will stay here for a period of time."

At the Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force headquarters, General Matsui Iwane was happy about the successful landing of the Tenth Army

and worried about a new piece of news he had just received: the Himaru, which sailed out of the Huishan Wharf this morning, was missing.

The radio, which was supposed to be contacted every hour, had not been contacted for three full hours.

A request had been made to send out aircraft to search along the route.

Such a request could not be refused.

Several Japanese Air Force reconnaissance planes took off from different places.

Their target was from the mouth of the Yangtze River, all the way towards the East China Sea,

searching for the Himaru!

An ordinary freighter would not attract the attention of Commander Matsui Iwane at all.

This Himaru was loaded with a large amount of raw materials that the Empire had looted from the Jiangnan Shipyard this time,

as well as many cultural relics, gold, and so on.

The Empire's economy had been bad in recent years.

The constant warfare was making the Empire's economy worse.

The wealth that the soldiers had been sent all over the place to plunder this time was to be sent back to make up for the Empire's economy.

Thinking of the wealth on this ship, he thought of the theft of the three bank vaults.

The good mood he had just had about the Tenth Army landing in Hangzhou Bay was completely ruined.

He hoped that Major Fujiwara would give him some good news!

Major Fujiwara Yuma led his special forces to a stop in front of the concession.

Although he could enter the concession alone with his identity, it was impossible to bring in a fully armed force of five hundred men.

The British, American, French, German, and Italian soldiers guarding the public concession insisted on the principle.

This was very infuriating: the team that attacked the Empire's two airfields must be hiding in the concession.

Faced with this stalemate, the concession was also helpless!

The current Japanese Empire was coming with the momentum of a great victory.

The big shots in the public concession were all well-informed people.

They also knew that the Japanese army had already landed in Hangzhou Bay, and that the National Revolutionary Army would withdraw from Shanghai was a foregone conclusion.

The powers in the public concession had to carefully consider the demands made by Major Fujiwara Yuma.

Rules were dead, but people were still alive.

There was also a saying: rules were made to be broken.

The concession finally proposed a plan: if Fujiwara's team wanted to enter the concession, all soldiers must not carry heavy weapons.

This was already a concession made by the concession authorities after learning that the Japanese Tenth Army had landed in Hangzhou Bay and that Shanghai would soon be taken over by the Japanese.

Fujiwara Yuma finally led a team of five hundred men, carrying rifles, into the concession. Whether he could catch anyone or not,

this was enough to make the entire Shanghai Expeditionary Force proud.

After entering the public concession, Major Fujiwara Yuma had no leads at all.

Combat! Major Fujiwara Yuma felt that his team was still good.

Gathering information in Shanghai was not his forte.

This still had to be done by Doihara Kenji.

Hearing from Fujiwara Yuma the clues about the team that specialized in targeting the Empire's aircraft,

Doihara Kenji, of course, had to find Zhang Xiaolin.

He guaranteed to Zhang Xiaolin that as long as he found the people, the Japanese would take action.

As a relative of the royal family, he was not flustered at all.

Here, he still had someone he could use: Doihara Kenji.

Doihara Kenji had been very busy these days. He shuttled through the wealthy officials, businessmen, and industrialists in Shanghai,

persuading them to stay and continue to contribute to the prosperity of Shanghai after the Japanese occupied it.

He could guarantee that these people would be able to enjoy even higher treatment than before.

The people Doihara Kenji was persuading, of course, included the three tycoons of Shanghai.

At the same time, Doihara Kenji was also nervously moving around, inquiring about the news of "our department."

Now, he had added the task of finding out who was behind the robbery of the three Japanese banks.

When he visited Du Yuesheng, he was turned away: the gatekeeper replied that Mr. Du had gone out.

Huang Jinrong greeted him warmly, but he resolutely refused to take any position in the government after the Japanese took over Shanghai.

It was at Zhang Xiaolin's place that Doihara Kenji received a clear response: he was willing to cooperate with the Japanese!

And Zhang Xiaolin also told him about the brutality of Dragon Head Lin Fan and the Dragon Group in the Great World.

This was an exchange of benefits that required reciprocity: I will help you Japanese, and you will help me destroy the Dragon Group.

In order to ensure that the Japanese would do their best to hunt down the Dragon Group, Zhang Xiaolin explicitly told Doihara Kenji: the Dragon Group was the one who robbed the three Japanese banks.

It was his enemy, Dragon Head Lin Fan.

It didn't matter whether Doihara Kenji believed it or not, as long as there was a clue.

It was like a drowning man suddenly grabbing a straw.

The Japanese took this clue very seriously.

They followed this clue and soon found Director Pan, who helped contact the purchase of the watches.

The clue ended there. Director Pan was a mysterious figure.

When he wanted to see you, you could find him quickly.

When he didn't want to see you, you couldn't find him no matter what.

Now, neither Zhang Xiaolin nor Doihara Kenji could find Director Pan.

This news soon reached Fujiwara Yuma's ears.

Zhang Xiaolin quickly found out all the news about Lin Fan and the others appearing near the warehouse.

However, all the news disappeared last night.

When he led a team of five hundred men to the warehouse where the Special Operations Company had been stationed,

all traces were gone.

All they saw was a normal business warehouse, with nothing unusual at all.

Zhang Xiaolin quickly found out all the news about Lin Fan and the others appearing near the warehouse.

However, all the news disappeared last night.

These people seemed to have suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Even the Shanghai tycoon could not find them, and Doihara Kenji was powerless.

This news made Major Fujiwara Yuma's full-powered fist suddenly have nowhere to vent.

He could only lead his five-hundred-man team out of the public concession and return to the Jiangwan Airport,

and begin training according to the methods he had learned in Germany.

Although Major Fujiwara Yuma's investigation had only progressed halfway, it stopped because he had completely lost the trail.

However, the work he had done in these two days had also been seen by Commander Matsui Iwane.

This young man who graduated from the Berlin Military Academy in Germany with all-A's was very capable!