Chapter 82 Shi Yousan
On April 1, 1941, a businessman with a strange look on his face walked into the New First Army Headquarters in Mengzhuang, southeast of Guangzong, Hebei.
For some unexplainable reason, Shi Yousan, then commander of the New First Army, did not come out to greet this mysterious guest, and even rudely detained him in a woodshed in a corner of the military headquarters.
It was not until the next afternoon that Shi Yousan, who had just woken up from a nap, calmly met the messenger who had been hungry for a day and a night.
The envoy, who was tormented by Shi Yousan and wanted to die, accused him bluntly as soon as they met: "General Shi, is this your attitude towards the imperial army's special envoy? Or have you decided to continue to be the enemy of the imperial army?"
"Major Sato, don't you think your attitude is problematic?"
Shi Yousan said calmly to the chief of the Baoding Secret Service Agency in front of him.
"You are asking me for something now, so it's better to be polite."
"Do you have a request for me, Your Excellency? General Shi is too confident."
Major Sato Ryutaro sneered.
"Do you think that since the main force of the Imperial Army is tied up on the Henan front, there is nothing you can do to the New First Army ?"
Chief Sato shook his head.
"Your Excellency the General is too arrogant. With the strength of the New First Army, the Imperial Army only needs to send out one battalion to completely destroy it."
Sato looked directly at Ishi Yousan.
"General Shi, no matter how short the Imperial Army's manpower is, we can still mobilize a battalion."
After hearing the Japanese threat, Shi Yousan's face twitched subconsciously.
That's right, the New First Army was called an "army" but was actually just a refugee armed force behind enemy lines. Although it was divided into 11 columns and 2 independent battalions, its total strength was no more than 7,000 people, which was not even as strong as the Sichuan Army Division with the smallest average number of troops in the Northwest system, not to mention being equipped with any artillery. It could only rely on dozens of light and heavy machine guns to serve as the supporting firepower for the entire army.
As for rifles, although there was no shortage of them, there were more than a dozen models, ranging from the twelve-line water-jet rifle to the old Hanyang-made sleeve, which was extremely complicated. Fortunately, ammunition and food supplies could be obtained from the Shandong Provincial Government from time to time, otherwise the army would have collapsed without the Japanese having to take action.
Although the facts were embarrassing, Shi Yousan was not going to admit defeat verbally: "A battalion, you really think highly of me, Shi. Okay, then please ask Chief Sato to go back and mobilize the troops. Come on, send Major Sato out !"
Shi Yousan had reason to say this. Unlike in another time and space, the main force of the Japanese army in North China was firmly attracted by China in the direction of Henan, so that the rear of the Japanese army in North China was extremely empty.
Under such circumstances, the level of activity of the Chinese armed forces behind enemy lines was unattainable in another time and space. Not only did it make it impossible for the Japanese army to support the war by fighting, it also threatened the Japanese army's transportation lines. Therefore, although the Japanese army planned two large-scale mopping-up operations, they were ultimately unable to achieve their full success due to insufficient troops.
As the saying goes, if you don't cut the grass at its roots, it will grow again when the spring breeze blows. Faced with the resurgence of anti-Japanese forces behind enemy lines, the Japanese army had to adopt the tactic of inducing surrender, using money, beauty and power to lure those weak-willed national scum.
"General Shi, I heard that you were only one step away from becoming the King of Hebei."
As expected, when Sato Ryutaro heard that Shi Yousan wanted to thank the visitor, his expression changed.
"You have been upset about this for several years. Now the opportunity has been placed in front of you again. Do you want to miss it again?"
Shi Yousan waved his hand to let the guards back off, but he stared coldly at Sato for a long time. He finally spoke, but there was no warmth in his tone: "King of Hebei? This price is not low, but what about the North China Political Affairs Committee? I have one mother-in-law, the Japanese, above me. I don't want another one to give me orders."
The North China Political Affairs Committee was originally the Provisional Government of the Republic of China, and was the first traitorous regime established by the invading Japanese army. However, after Wang Jingwei surrendered to Japan, in order to make the Nanjing Wang Puppet National Government look like an independent regime, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Beijing, which had less appeal than the Wang Puppet Government, had to be downgraded.
However, since the interests of the North China Front Army were not completely consistent with those of Nanjing, this secondary regime, which was nominally the Wang Puppet Regime, actually had autonomy in Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Beijing, Tianjin, and Qingdao. Except for diplomatic rights, it did not accept instructions from Nanjing.
"Please rest assured, General Shi, if General Shi becomes the chairman of Hebei Province, he can only accept orders from the North China Front Army."
After hearing this, Shi Yousan simply asked, "Is the power to appoint the governors, mayors, and county governors in the hands of the provincial government?"
Major Sato promised: "The power to appoint provincial governors, mayors, and county governors originally belonged to the North China Political Affairs Committee. After General Shi became the chairman of Hebei Province, it will naturally be transferred to General Shi. However, the front army has the final say. But please rest assured, General Shi, this is not to limit your power, but to prevent anti-Japanese elements from confusing it."
The Japanese were full of praise, but Shi Yousan remained calm: "If I become the chairman of Hebei Province, what will happen to the New First Army? These old brothers have suffered with me for many years, but now that they are not rich, they have turned against me."
Sato hesitated for a moment and promised again: "Although the North China Pacification Army has established a complete system, if General Shi is willing to give up the dark and join the light, the Imperial Army can make an exception and organize the general's troops into four groups (note: equivalent to a two-regiment brigade) and one independent regiment, still led by the general, just to strengthen the combat effectiveness. We also hope that the general will send capable personnel to the North China Army Officer School for training."
The so-called North China Army Officers School was a school established by the traitor Qi Xieyuan, who was then the Chief of the North China Security Department, to train officers for the puppet army.
Since the Japanese army recognized Qi Xieyuan's proposal of training cadres and officers first and then the army, as early as May 1938, puppet army training units including the North China Army Officers School, the North China Army Military Police School, the North China Army Sergeant Training Corps, the North China Army Officers Corps, the North China Army Manager Training Class, the Military Medical Training Class, the Translation Training Class, and the Warrant Officer Training Class were successively launched. Their relatively high treatment attracted a large number of high school students, normal school students, and even college students who had forgotten their roots to participate.
Since the Japanese army provided enough military instructors, the teaching quality was quite high, and the quality of the graduating second lieutenants was obviously better than that of the Kuomintang's military academies in Kunming and Guiyang. So in a sense, Sato's statement about enhancing the combat effectiveness of Ishito Mitsukoshi's unit was not a lie.
Of course, if someone is sent to the military academy, they will be brainwashed by the Japanese army. Those who come out may not be loyal to Shi Yousan. Therefore, Shi, who knows the situation well, pondered for a while and nodded slowly: "Since the Japanese side is so eager, I think it's okay. However, our equipment is very poor. Can the Japanese side provide some improvements?"
The Japanese themselves were short of heavy weapons, but in order to win over Shi Yousan and induce a frenzy of surrender in the occupied areas, Sato still expressed his position: "As long as General Shi sends a telegram to join the North China Political Affairs Committee, I can guarantee that I will soon provide a batch of arms to your department, and in the future all of them will be replaced with Japanese equipment."
This price is really not low. You must know that now only the puppet Manchukuo army is equipped with Japanese equipment, while others such as the Imperial Army and the Peace and National Salvation Army in the South are still equipped with miscellaneous equipment.
Therefore, Shi Yousan was very moved. However, Shi Yousan was an old hand, and he would not release the equipment until he saw the rabbit. "How long is soon? How long is the future? As long as Major Sato doesn't remember it by then, it's better to bring a batch of equipment now."
"General Shi, what you said is wrong."
As an expert on China, Sato certainly knew Shi Yousan's character, so he shook his head for fear of losing everything.
"The Imperial Army has always been trustworthy, but you have always had a bad reputation, so how can I believe that you will not burn your bridges after getting the weapons ?"
"I slapped you and you turned your back on me, but you're also afraid that I'll destroy the bridge after crossing it. We're afraid of both ends."
Shi Yousan thought about it for a while and made a suggestion.
"How about this, I'll make a pledge of allegiance first?"
Sato knew what a pledge of allegiance was, so he asked with great interest, "Who is the target?"
"Haven't you always thought that the North China Hui Volunteer Corps was a nuisance?"
Shi Yousan said, pointing to the large map hanging in the atrium.
"I've always hated this group of Hui people. How about I take care of them for you first?"
The North China Hui Muslim Volunteer Corps has been active recently near Xinhe, which is geographically very close to Guangzong. If they are taken advantage of, even if the Japanese ultimately deny their responsibility, Shi Yousan can use the excuse that the friction was caused by a fight for territory.
"North China Hui Muslim Volunteer Corps?"
Sato's eyes lit up. As the chief of the secret service in Baoding, he certainly knew more inside information than Shi Yousan, who was confined to his own corner. In particular, the Japanese intelligence department judged that someone using the alias Ma Zhongying was the King of Central Asia who had turned the Red Russians upside down. Such a target was extremely valuable to the Japanese.
"Very good. As long as General Shi can destroy this army, I will keep my promise and provide the general with a regiment of ammunition first."
"As soon as I received the arms you provided, I immediately sent a telegram to join the peace cause."
Shi Yousan also responded with a smile on his face.
"When the time comes, I'll have to ask Major Sato to take care of it."
Sato Ryutaro bowed deeply to Ishiyou Sanyi and said, "General, I hope this is settled."
Sato left, but Shi Yousan was still pacing back and forth in the room. To be honest, if he took this step he would be cursed by everyone as a traitor to his country. With the Northwest's intolerant attitude, he would face an extremely grim situation and he had no choice but to weigh the pros and cons. However, selfishness prevailed in the end, so he made the decision in the end.
"Someone, go and ask Commander Sun to come over for a chat."
Soon, Sun Liangcheng, who had sneaked into North China to recruit old subordinates under the order of Guiyang, appeared in front of Shi. Facing this old superior, Shi Yousan asked directly.
"If I surrender to the Japanese army, how will Guiyang treat me?"
At this time, Sun Liangcheng, who had no soldiers or generals, was frightened, but the situation was pressing, so he said nonsense without any words: "The chairman may issue an order to attack, but rest assured, Guiyang knows your good intentions."
Shi Yousan was extremely happy: "That's good. Please ask the old commander to explain the whole story for me in Guiyang."
Sun Liangcheng knew that he could escape from danger in a moment, so he said, "Okay, I'll call Guiyang as soon as I get back."
"Someone, bring 10 gold bars."
The adjutant brought the gold and Shi Yousan handed it to Sun Liangcheng, who was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"I'll leave everything to you, old boss."
