The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 713 Japan’s Rise and Ambition
The end of the battle to defend the Sihang Warehouse basically marked the end of the Battle of Songhu.

Xia Yuan cooked a pot of wild vegetable soup. There were only the last cans left of the cans he had seized from the Japanese. He used branches as chopsticks to scrape the last bit of the salty soup in the cans, mixed with fish meat, into the torn half. In the pottery pot, there is hot water to rinse the pot again.

He put down the jar, sat down on the threshold, and stared into the distance again in trance.

"When will we set off?" Wang Sangou asked Xia Yuan this question more than once, and Xia Yuan would always say wait, wait.

This time it was still a normal inquiry. He stirred the soup in the pot with chopsticks and asked again, but in fact he had no hope.

"I'll leave later." Xia Yuan sat on the threshold and said without looking back.

"Oh what, you're leaving later?" Wang Sangou thought he heard wrongly, put down the stick in his hand, and walked to Xia Yuan's side.

"Well, the war is almost over."

Xia Yuan had received the news that the mission was completed, and he thought he would be able to return. Unexpectedly, this mission turned out to be a series of missions. After the mission prompt was completed, there was an additional mission.

[Mission: Jinling Massacre! 】

[This is an additional task. The host can choose to accept/reject. If rejected, he will return within 24 hours. 】

Xia Yuan did not refuse additional tasks. The Jinling Massacre had only been seen in historical documents and records. If you opened a page at random, it might be the life of a group of people. The cold numbers had some texture, but they did not feel any life.

When life becomes a number, then the preciousness of life cannot be truly appreciated.

How much is more than 30? I only see a string of zeros, but it is the population of a city.

Xia Yuan wanted to experience it, see it, and observe it with his eyes.

In modern society, Japan is trying its best to erase all evidence of the Jinling Massacre. They deny history and the past, and can even tamper with what is recorded in history textbooks.

They are waiting.

Waiting for the wheel of history to roll over, crush, and crush these bloody histories until, in the past hundred years, those who survived the Jinling Massacre no longer exist. The comfort women who suffered atrocities by the Japanese army have waited their entire lives. , unable to wait for an apology, eventually turned into a lonely grave.

Wait until everyone in Japan has completed the ideological input of the textbooks that have tampered with history.

Maybe by that time, not to mention the Jinling Massacre, maybe the war of aggression against China will no longer exist, or even be recognized.

Maybe many people have a very vague concept of digital calculation of life. If all the victims of the Jinling Massacre stood together hand in hand, this team could stretch from Nanjing to Hangzhou, a total distance of 322 kilometers, and the blood on their bodies would be Weighing up to 1200 tons, their remains could fill 2500 train cars.

This comparison can be said to be quite terrifying.

Having experienced the war, Xia Yuan could not forgive imperialism, especially the Japanese devils who had caused so much harm and trauma to the Chinese people.

I will never forgive them in this life.

The vegetable soup is mixed with the saltiness of the canned food, and the fish meat in the canned food is minced, with some fish bones. When you eat it, it tastes a little salty, but it tastes pretty good.

Xia Yuan held the can and sipped the hot vegetable soup, thinking heavily in his heart.

He must find a way to save as many lives as possible.

There was a German in Jinling, Rabe, who single-handedly saved the lives of more than 20 Chinese people. Without him, even more people might have died.

This period of history cannot be touched, and we can just let it continue on its established development trajectory.

Xia Yuan's first thought was to avoid the Jinling Massacre. It was almost impossible to avoid the Jinling Massacre, regardless of the Japanese army's offensive decision-making or the national army's defense. Secondly, Even from the perspective of evacuating people, this massacre cannot be avoided.

Evacuate people?The mass evacuation of more than 50 people, not to mention how difficult the process was, for now, Jinling still belongs to the capital of the National Government. Evacuating people from the capital is a joke in itself.

Even if he appeared as the God of War, Baldhead would not agree.

The significance of protecting Jinling is not only to protect the capital, but also to protect the people.

If all the people leave, where will Jinling remain?What is the significance of protecting the capital?

Xia Yuan thought about it over and over again, but couldn't find a good solution.

If the citizens of Jinling cannot be allowed to evacuate, do they have to work hard to protect the defenders of Jinling?

This is obviously impossible.

In the Battle of Songhu, the Japanese army's attack was fierce and the momentum was at its peak. They were bound to capture Jinling. As for the so-called covenant under the city, the Japanese had no intention of playing the game of covenant under the city with the Chinese. What they wanted was not compensation. , it can be satisfied by signing some non-unequal treaties.

The ambition of the Japanese devils is the whole of China.

"Pack up your things and get ready to go." After finishing the vegetable soup in the pot, Xia Yuan pursed his lips, checked his weapons and equipment, and threw twenty rounds of rifle bullets to Wang Sangou: "We need to change back into military uniforms."

"Why? It's easy to be regarded as a deserter if you change back to military uniform."

When Wang Sangou saw the bullet, his face showed joy, but when he heard Xia Yuan's words, he frowned again.

"The battle on the front line is basically over, and all the troops are retreating. Therefore, there is no problem for you to retreat while wearing a military uniform." Xia Yuan took off his clothes, pulled off the military uniform hanging on the rack, and put it on The air felt a little cold on his body. He seemed not to notice it and continued: "You will be regarded as a deserter only if you take off your military uniform and wear civilian clothes. When the time comes, you will be unable to defend yourself."

Wang Sangou thought carefully and felt that what Xia Yuan said made sense, so he put on a worn-out military uniform again.

The military uniform has become scarred, covered with cold weapons and flesh and blood fighting, which is the glory witnessed by the war.

The next journey was relatively safe. There were many defeated troops who retreated from the Songhu battlefield. Most of them were dispersed by the Japanese and lost all traces of the main force. Many of them retreated from Erzaobang and Dachang. a lot of.

Wang Sangou and Xia Yuan were both unfamiliar with roads and could only find a general direction. Most of the villages they encountered along the way were deserted.

What's left in the village are some old men over fifty, whose bodies are like bamboo poles and dressed in rags. They stay in the village sporadically. Apart from that, everyone else has fled.

Staying in a village for a rest, Xia Yuan and Wang Sangou did not disturb these old people. The main reason was the language barrier. In the era when Mandarin was not popular, these old people spoke local dialects. They had talked to an old man for a while before, and they became gibberish. For a long time, I didn't understand what it meant.

Giving up the idea of ​​communicating with them, Xia Yuan went to the east of the village, and Wang Sangou went to the west of the village to see if they could find some food.

Almost all the cans seized from the Japanese were eaten, and they needed to prepare some food.

It is a hundred kilometers from Dachang to Jinling. Walking on two legs would take at least ten days and a half, or even longer.

There is very little food in the village and it is almost impossible to find it. Thinking about this special era, no one will leave the food at home while running for their lives.

After searching for a while, Xia Yuan and Wang Sangou came back empty-handed.

"The old people in the village seem to be afraid of us." Wang Sangou said something unclear.

"Having been oppressed by warlords, it's normal to be afraid. What's more, we are holding guns and are worried about what we will do." Xia Yuan sat on the ground, resting his arms on his knees, stretching his hands and thinking about the front, with his palms hanging down. go.

"How about us." Wang Sangou seemed to want to say something. The cold muzzle of the gun was pressed against his head, and his neck seemed to be clamped by an iron vise, unable to move.

"You are a human being, not an animal." Xia Yuan let go of Wang Sangou and said in a cold tone: "If you can't keep your bottom line, what's the difference between you and an animal? What's more, you are wearing a military uniform."

Wang Sangou lowered his head and seemed to realize that he had said the wrong thing. "Don't insult the military uniform you are wearing and the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country!"

Silent all night.

Early the next morning, the two set out again.

They collected a lot of wild vegetables along the way, packed them in a worn-out basket, and were carried by Wang Sangou. Xia Yuan omitted the guns on his body, buried them on the spot, put a rifle and two pistols on his shoes, and set off. , This time when I went to Jinling, I didn’t know what dangers were waiting for me.

I don’t know what I will see or experience.

At this time, the Japanese army, after occupying Shanghai, temporarily stopped their offensive and began to stabilize the rear, replenish supplies, and so on.

But everyone is quite clear that the Japanese are not satisfied with this.

The ambitions of the Japanese devils are not even satisfied with China.

At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, under the notice of the Tokugawa family, Japan implemented a closed country to avoid foreign influence. As a result, like the Qing government, Japanese society was completely disconnected from Europe where the Industrial Revolution was taking place, and new technologies could not be introduced, thus threatening National Security.

For 250 years, Japanese military technology remained at the level of bows, arrows, swords, and muskets.

In 1852, the then President of the United States, Miller Deffield, was not secretive about Japan's refusal to open treaty ports. In addition, he viewed society with a "white responsibility theory" mentality, so he sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan. After studying it, Perry decided to use force to frighten Japan.

In July 1853, the Japanese saw steam power for the first time.

Subsequently, in the following period, Japan signed a series of unequal jumps with the United States, which also opened the door to trade with Japan for countries such as Britain, Russia, France, and Germany.

This humiliation left a strong resentment in Japan's arrogant national psyche.

Some people advocate declaring war on the Western powers immediately, while others advocate proceeding cautiously and letting the leadership appease the invaders, learn from the barbarians, develop revenge plans, and even formulate detailed plans.

"In terms of machinery manufacturing, we are not yet able to compete with foreigners, so we should maintain exchanges with foreign countries and learn their military training methods and tactics. When our vassal countries are united, we can go out and divide foreign lands. Sew them to soldiers with outstanding military exploits; in this way, the soldiers will rush to show their bravery and courage, and then it will not be too late for us to declare war."

This view has not been made public, but it foreshadows the strategy Japan will pursue. It also describes another long-standing view of the Japanese, that is, life belongs to the country, not to individuals.

However, this kind of swallowing one's anger was despised by many people. In 1868, the Overthrow Alliance won in the name of the emperor and started a series of vigorous revolutions.The most significant thing is that the Bushido spirit has become the moral code of all citizens. The threat from abroad further promoted the spiritual purification of the Japanese archipelago by the Bushido spirit.

This is the 'Meiji Restoration'.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan's national power became strong, especially its military power. It was eager to show off its power and began to test it on its Asian neighbors.

In 1876, the Meiji government sent a naval fleet consisting of two gunboats and three transport ships to North Korea to force the North Korean government to sign a trade treaty.

It was exactly the same as when Commodore Perry of the US Navy forced Japan to open a treaty port.

Then the Sino-Japanese War broke out with the Qing government, forcing the Qing government to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki. If not for the intervention of Western powers, the Liaodong Peninsula would have become Japan's spoils of war.

In 1904, the Japanese army doubled in size and became self-sufficient in arms manufacturing.

The spoils of war obtained through the war soared the confidence of the Japanese, and they even threatened to defeat Russia if they could defeat the Qing government.

As a result, the Russo-Japanese War broke out in 1905, and successfully captured Port Arthur in the Liaodong Peninsula, half of Sakhalin Island, and commercial advantages in the three eastern provinces.

This victory is exciting for a country that has been humiliated by Western powers for the past 50 years and has endured hardships while being proud of itself.

The early 20th century was Japan's golden years.

Modern warfare not only won Japan military prestige, but also brought it unprecedented prosperity. Especially during World War I, Japan's foreign exports reached their peak, including steel, textiles, and other supplies. Until the end of the war, The golden age came to an end, and many military factories closed down, resulting in the unemployment of tens of millions of people.

In 1929, the Great Depression in the United States further paralyzed Japan's raw silk export trade.

Equally important, Japan was the victorious Allied power, yet many international merchants and consumers deliberately avoided buying Japanese goods in the decade that followed.

The main reason is that Westerners planned Japan's aggression against China in the early decades of the 20th century, so Western financiers chose to inject more funds into China.Then, the Treaty of Versailles stipulated that Germany's rights and interests in Shandong Peninsula would be transferred to Japan, which aroused the excitement of the Chinese people and led to a widespread boycott of Japanese goods.

This act further damaged Japan's interests and prompted the Japanese to generally believe that they had become the victim of an international conspiracy.

A combination of various reasons has led Japan to take an extreme path.

During the Meiji Restoration, Japan's population was only 3000 million.

The number soared to nearly 1930 million in 6500. In addition, Japan's domestic system was different and it was not a large agricultural country. This made it increasingly difficult for Japan to feed its entire population. Japanese farmers believed in hard work and worked hard to increase food production to the limit. By the 20th century In the 20s, Japan's agricultural production came to a standstill, and its ever-increasing population caused Japan to rely heavily on food imports every year, and Japan's rice imports tripled.

In the 20s, a large number of radicals appeared in the Japanese army. Among them, in "To Young People", Army junior and senior officer Hashimoto Kingoro wrote:

'In order to get rid of the pressure of overpopulation, Japan has only three options before it - emigration, opening up international markets and territorial expansion.Due to the policies of other countries that discriminate against Japanese immigrants, the first mountain gate, that is, outward immigration, has been closed to us.The second door is also closing due to the abolition of tariff barriers and trade jumps.When two of the three doors have been closed to us, where should Japan go? '

In addition, some Japanese writers mentioned that other countries have vast territories and Japan only has a small territory. This is unfair, especially since these countries have not made the best use of the land, and have not even reached the level of food achieved by Japanese migrant workers. Yield per acre.

They not only covet China's vast land resources, but also covet Western countries.

Japanese military propagandist Sadao Araki once questioned: Japan supports 142270 million people with 6000 square miles of land, while countries like Australia and Canada, with more than 300 million square miles of land, only need to feed 650 million people. Population, why does Japan want to meet this status quo?

Colonial expansion has become inevitable.

Japan's first war was the war of aggression against China.

Japan, with its wolfish ambitions, is not satisfied with the war of aggression against China. They have even greater ambitions.

As for China, it is completely a stepping stone, a stepping stone for Japan to lead to Western countries.

Extreme militarism has destined Japan to be quite cruel in its methods of external expansion.

The turmoils and massacres that have been caused on the land of China have been extremely bloody and cruel, and every time they have caused anger among people and gods.

But the Japanese army still didn't take it seriously.

The Jinling Massacre occurred partly because of the Battle of Songhu.

In the 20s, Japanese military leaders made wild claims and firmly believed that Japan would conquer China within three months.

However, the war in just one city in China dragged on from summer to autumn, and then from autumn to winter, which completely shattered Japan's dream of an easy victory.

China, a country with a simple nation, despite lacking military scientific knowledge and not receiving much military training, stubbornly controlled the powerful Japanese army.

When Shanghai finally fell in November, the angry Japanese mentality became increasingly evil. It is said that when they marched towards Jinling, many people had the fire of revenge burning in their hearts.

The Japanese army's strategy for occupying Jinling was also quite simple. On the one hand, Jinling was the capital of China, and occupying Jinling might be able to break the Chinese people's will to resist.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Government is the government on the surface of China, and the bond of unity is tied to the Nationalist Government. They want to conquer Nanjing, and they also want to completely disintegrate the Nationalist Government.

I just didn't expect that Baldhead would directly move the capital.

(End of this chapter)