Chapter 27 No News from the Enemy Is Good News

Lin Fan led his hundred and thirty-man team, along with over two hundred mules and horses, away from the cave that the special company used to store supplies.

They continued towards downtown Shanghai, moving at least several *li* away from that location.

Ji Wudi led everyone into a dense forest.

The entire company would rest here.

This was the task Lin Fan had given to Ji Wudi, to find a place where the entire company could rest during the day and wouldn't be easily discovered by the Japanese.

Lin Fan didn't plan to move during the day.

He knew that the loss of hundreds of planes and nearly two thousand personnel at a Japanese airfield would trigger a wave of frantic searches.

Even if the Japanese were stretched thin and unable to draw soldiers back from the front lines.

They would definitely send out a large number of planes to search.

This was easy to understand, as the saying goes, "The fox mourns the death of the rabbit."

Those survivors who were also pilots would intensify their search near Hongqiao Airport.

For concealment, Lin Fan ordered everyone not to shout loudly, move around casually, make fires, break bushes, or handle highly reflective objects (mirrors) after dawn.

Like yesterday, he sent the farthest sentries a thousand meters away, and also sent both overt and covert double sentries near the perimeter.

This day and night had exhausted all the soldiers.

First, there was the long-distance raid, and then acting as porters.

After a night of excitement, fatigue finally arrived.

Lin Fan was afraid that the soldiers would run around during the day.

He was obviously overthinking it; the soldiers fell asleep as soon as they lay down, and it was difficult to wake them up.

Let alone letting them move around or shout loudly.

Instead, the entire company was snoring loudly, which Lin Fan hadn't expected.

However, the soldiers' snoring wasn't enough to attract the attention of the Japanese reconnaissance planes flying high above.

Matsui Iwane, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Shanghai Expeditionary Force, never imagined that after resolving the Sihang Warehouse crisis, he wouldn't be able to relax.

Instead, he became even busier throughout the night.

First, the number of National Revolutionary Army soldiers stationed at the Sihang Warehouse was too small, which was a slap in the face to the Imperial soldiers.

He had to disarm them and prevent them from returning to the battlefield under any circumstances.

Then, Hongqiao Airport was attacked, and it was done by the Imperial Japanese Navy Land Forces.

Matsui Iwane knew that the Navy always looked down on the Army.

But he never imagined that those pig-headed Navy guys would dare to attack an Army airfield directly.

How could he tolerate this?

Finally, all five planes that flew from Songshan Airport in Taiwan to provide guidance disappeared.

Disappearance and crashing were different in name only, but essentially the same.

After so long, even if there was no danger, those warplanes would have run out of fuel and crashed back to earth.

Matsui Iwane sent a team to Hongqiao Airport overnight.

The sun had already risen, but there was still no news from the team that had been sent out.

The night of November 1st was truly an ominous night.

As he muttered this, news finally came from the team that had been sent out: the entire Hongqiao Airport was completely destroyed, all personnel at the airport were killed, and all planes inside the airport were destroyed.

Matsui Iwane couldn't accept such a result at all, and he ordered, "We must find the culprit!"

The Japanese Shanghai Navy Land Forces became the first to be investigated.

Tsuchiya Takuma never imagined that he had just suffered a defeat.

Someone actually impersonated his team to attack Hongqiao Airport?

Of course, he knew that someone was impersonating his team. After escaping from the Sihang Warehouse and returning to the garrison.

Tsuchiya Takuma had never left the garrison again, and none of the remaining two thousand Navy Land Forces soldiers had left the camp.

There was no other reason, just that he felt ashamed!

The more high-profile the statement was written back then, the more painful his face was today.

But this time, Chief of Staff Kokenshi Kentaro, who framed him, paid with his life.

Who could clear himself now?

The military police rushed into the Japanese Shanghai Navy Land Forces garrison, wanting to take Tsuchiya Takuma away.

The Navy's affairs! When was it the Army's turn to interfere?

The military police officers sent by Matsui Iwane almost couldn't leave the Navy Land Forces garrison alive.

Fortunately, Matsui Iwane didn't see a single report about Hongqiao Airport in the newspaper the next day.

It seemed that it wasn't done by the *Gongchan* (Communists)!

If they had done it, they would have made it known to the world at this time!

Who did it?

The sky around Hongqiao Airport was filled with Japanese Air Force reconnaissance planes all day long.

They carefully observed the slightest clue on the ground, trying to find the team that attacked the airport.

To be able to eliminate an airport guarded by a large squadron overnight, there should be at least three times as many troops.

It was almost a division of the National Revolutionary Army, and they had to find such a large force no matter what.

Searching aimlessly in the sky still yielded some discoveries: small teams of Japanese soldiers were discovered in different locations more than ten *li* away from the airport.

With a direction, the soldiers from the three Hongqiao Airport guard squadrons were finally found.

These three squads who were sent out to find the airport commander only found out at this time that Hongqiao Airport was finished.

The three squads of Japanese soldiers returned to the airport and not only learned that the attackers were the Navy Land Forces.

They also reported that before this, the airport's highest commander had led a company of Japanese soldiers out to search for a missing platoon of soldiers and had also disappeared.

The airport was severely damaged, and before this, Matsui Iwane didn't know that Colonel Iiyama Ryosuke had left his post long before the airport was attacked.

But this didn't help in identifying the culprit at all.

With this news, the reconnaissance planes in the sky had a more targeted search.

They finally discovered the differences near the nameless mountain peak.

Soon, teams of Japanese soldiers arrived at the nameless mountain peak, where they found the already stinking corpse of Colonel Iiyama Ryosuke.

A company of Japanese soldiers was completely wiped out on this narrow section of the nameless mountain peak.

The traces of battle left on the battlefield all showed how powerful the team that participated in the ambush was.

Such a team must be from the Empire!

At this point, the officers of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force Command remembered the once-powerful fighting strength of the Shanghai Navy Land Forces.

Before attacking the Sihang Warehouse, the Shanghai Navy Land Forces had resisted the successive attacks of two German-equipped divisions and more than 20,000 soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army alone.

Only such a team could prevent a company of Colonel Iiyama Ryosuke's troops from escaping, not even one person to report the news!

The case had been characterized!

It was just waiting for the ministers in the domestic headquarters to make a decision.

November 2, 1937,

This day was undoubtedly another easy day for the National Revolutionary Army soldiers who were defending in Huxi, Shanghai.

The Japanese army was completely stationary all day, not even firing a single shot at the National Revolutionary Army positions.

After such a long war, this behavior of the Japanese army was actually very suspicious.

But none of the frontline officers and soldiers cared; since withdrawing from downtown Shanghai, the intensity of the fighting had gradually decreased.

Giving the entire National Revolutionary Army, from top to bottom, the feeling that after more than two months of hard fighting, the Japanese army was also unable to bear it and dared not continue the attack.

All this calm was shattered by two consecutive open code telegrams in the evening.

The first telegram was a public announcement to the whole country, with few words but a lot of information: Our unit attacked the Japanese-occupied Hongqiao Airport in the early hours of November 2nd, destroying 121 enemy planes and eliminating nearly 2,000 Japanese troops stationed at the airport.

More than 20 enemy artillery pieces of various types were destroyed, the airport facilities were completely destroyed, the enemy airport oil depot was burned, and countless weapons and ammunition were seized.

The second telegram was also in the clear: Our unit has learned that the Japanese Tenth Army was formed on October 20th, under the command of: the Tenth Army Headquarters, the Japanese Sixth Division, the Eighteenth Division, the 114th Division, the Second Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment, the Sixth Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, the First and Second Reserve Infantry Regiments, and some other logistics support personnel.

In addition, the Okazaki Detachment, the Sixteenth Division, the communications team, and the logistics team were formed.

It is planned to land at Jinshanwei and Quan Gongting in Jinshan, Hangzhou on November 5th to open up a second line of operation!

The two telegrams were like heavy bombs thrown into a fish pond, instantly stirring up countless big fish.

Matsui Iwane was furious: Which unit is our unit? How could they get such top-secret information?

In any case, these two telegrams cleared the Shanghai Navy Land Forces.

Chiang Kai-shek held an emergency meeting in his presidential palace: Which unit is this our unit? Who is it under?

Everyone present looked at each other, no one knew who our unit was!

No one claimed it.

Should we ask the red army that specializes in guerrilla warfare?

Someone suggested!

No! They don't have any guerrilla units here!

Someone immediately objected.

This task can only be entrusted to President Chiang's sword, Mr. Dai, to investigate.

When they received these two open code telegrams, Mr. Dai's men were already analyzing the authenticity of the telegrams.

The two telegrams were sent continuously on the same frequency, with an interval of less than a minute in between.

Moreover, the methods of sending the two telegrams were the same, and experienced telegraph operators could hear the technique of each sender.

It was like the sound of people speaking, some spoke quickly, and some spoke slowly.

They judged that these two telegrams were sent by the same person.

The authenticity of the first telegram could be verified.

The incident had already passed a day, and in this day, there was no news of the Japanese airport being attacked.

It was difficult to tell the truth from the false!

Even so, as long as there was time, it could be verified.

As for the latter message, although it was said to be based on evidence, it was completely nonsense.

How secret the news of Japan forming the Tenth Army should be, how could it be known to outsiders.

When the long meeting ended, Chiang Kai-shek finally accepted: the Hangzhou Bay area was full of water networks and the water was extremely shallow, which was not suitable for landing.

More than one senior general of the National Revolutionary Army had gone to conduct on-the-spot investigations.

Since the First Battle of Shanghai in 1931, the National Revolutionary Army had done a lot of work in this regard to protect the capital and the entire Central China.

At that time, the National Revolutionary Army had a clear understanding of the next Battle of Shanghai, especially the coastal inspection.

Looking for a suitable location for the Japanese to land.

If the Japanese could land in Hangzhou Bay, it would indeed play a role in flanking the Shanghai defense line.

But that place was shallow and muddy, which was not suitable for heavy artillery, tanks to land and move.

The Japanese already had a complete landing site at the Whangpoo Dock and didn't need to take the risk of opening up a third landing site.

Moreover, the two landing sites that the Japanese had already opened up in Shanghai were now completely under their control, and they would never open up a third landing site that was not suitable for large troops and heavy equipment to land.

This was a trap designed by the Japanese: to divert the National Revolutionary Army, which was defending the positions in Huxi, and to disperse the National Revolutionary Army's strength and energy.

The meeting finally unified its thinking!

Therefore, there was no response to this telegram, but to show importance, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Tao Guang, who was now guarding Hangzhou Bay, to pay attention to the defense.

At this time, on the entire northern coast of Hangzhou Bay, from Quan Gongting to Zha Pu, tens of kilometers long coastline, there were only 2 infantry companies of Tao Guang's 62nd Division, 6 companies of the 2nd Regiment of the Artillery 2nd Brigade, and a small number of local armed forces.

The four divisions under Tao Guang's 28th Army, the Sixty-Second Division, the One Hundred and Ninety-Second Division, the Sixteenth Division, and the Sixty-Third Division, were originally guarding this coastline.

Because the Battle of Shanghai was tight, the four divisions were constantly being transferred to downtown Shanghai, and now there were less than one battalion of regular troops on the entire defense line.

The order was passed down layer by layer, all the way to the hands of the several company commanders who were still holding on to the coastal defense line.

Facing the dozens of kilometers long defense line, the four company commanders were powerless!

November 2nd was a sad day:

During this day, Regiment Commander Xie Jinyuan finally encountered the situation that Lin Fan had questioned him about.

At 9:00 a.m., White Russian mercenaries in the concession forcibly broke into the garrison and were warned with gunfire.

The concession immediately dispatched a large number of troops to prepare for a strong attack.

The concession was now not only stationed with White Russian mercenaries who originally maintained the security of the concession.

There were also Marine Corps and Army combat units from the United Kingdom and the United States stationed there.

These combat units had already driven their large tanks around the garrison of the First Battalion of the 542nd Regiment.

A battle was about to break out!

The concession was now making two preparations: a strong attack and persuasion to surrender!

There could only be one purpose: to disarm the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion of the 542nd Regiment!

After they were ready for a strong attack.

At the same time, the concession urgently summoned Zhang Boting, the chief of staff of the 88th Division, who lived in the concession, to order the entire First Battalion of the 542nd Regiment to surrender.

Facing the order from his immediate superior.

Xie Jinyuan thought of the dilemma between Lin Fan's constant emphasis on: never surrendering under any circumstances and the orders of his superiors.

In the end, Xie Jinyuan chose: It is a soldier's duty to obey orders!

He chose his duty!

All the weapons of the entire First Battalion of the 542nd Regiment were confiscated, and eight tanks were also driven away.

After the officers and soldiers of the First Battalion of the 542nd Regiment were disarmed, they were immediately transferred to a new location, this time they were isolated on Jiaozhou Road in the western Italian defense zone of the concession.

This was no longer a barracks but a refugee area full of garbage and flies.

Seeing this situation, Lei Xiong couldn't help but sigh: Lin Fan knew that this would happen!

We should have followed the special company.

At this time, they didn't know that the soldiers of the special company had already fought two major battles in a row, eliminating the achievement of two thousand Japanese troops.

The soldiers of the special company were resting well all morning.

The occasional reconnaissance planes passing overhead, and the huge roar, didn't wake up their sweet dreams.

Lin Fan carefully observed that an average of two planes flew over their heads every hour.

Of course, Lin Fan knew that these planes were dispatched to find their team.

But what he didn't know was that the Japanese reconnaissance planes were not looking for his team of more than a hundred people.

They were looking for a division-level force of at least six thousand or more than ten thousand.

In all the intelligence analyses of the Japanese, they had a common view on the team that could capture the airport: This was something that a division's strength could only do.

On this day, Japanese planes wandered around the sky over western Shanghai, but there were no bombings.

Making the entire National Revolutionary Army team deployed on the front lines of western Shanghai surprised: Were the Japanese crazy?

The planes kept flying in the area they controlled.

This abnormal situation was summarized and sent to the Central China Theater Command in Nanjing.

Combined with the first open code battle report issued by "our unit" yesterday.

Everyone believed: the Japanese Hongqiao Airport was probably really attacked.

As for the battle report written on that telegram: it was obviously bragging.

A unit of more than two thousand Japanese troops could not be taken down without a regular division.

Let alone the Japanese airport.

Wasn't the famous Battle of Pingxingguan also taken down by a division?

Gather their heavy troops, form a local strong advantage at one point, and use lightning speed.

Give the Japanese a heavy blow, and after succeeding, immediately flee thousands of miles away.

This was a very obvious guerrilla tactic.

The officers in the Central China Theater Command in Nanjing had always been disdainful of such tactics.

But since the Battle of Pingxingguan, they no longer dared to underestimate such tactics.

After all, whether it was a black cat or a white cat, the cat that caught the mouse was a good cat.

No matter what method was used, the tactic that killed the Japanese was a good tactic.

Several leaders in Yan'an were also discussing the open code battle report issued by "our unit".

This was obviously not a battle fought by the National Revolutionary Army troops, could it be done by our troops?

Our strength in Central China, especially in the Shanghai area, was very weak.

The Liaison Department of the Eighth Route Army had just been established.

And we didn't have any armed forces in Shanghai for the time being!

Several leading figures spoke one after another.

Enlai suddenly reminded: "In Shanghai, we have an armed force.

The person we discussed last time, he formed a special company.

Their company didn't enter the concession with the 542nd Regiment of the National Revolutionary Army."

The several people present were clear about this situation, and Li Xian's report had been passed on to the highest level.

"Their approach is correct! We must take our own path.

We cannot give up our initiative because of the heavy pressure from the outside!"

Li Desheng's Hubei accent was full of appreciation for the company commander of this special company.