Chapter 160: Launch The Attack
Kedipo Central Daily Shanxi Branch
In the cave dwelling, the dim yellow oil lamp cast flickering shadows on the earthen walls. The tips of the brushes of more than a dozen editors rustled across the rough paper. The blue smoke rising from the tobacco pipe intertwined with the ink fragrance from the inkstone. In the corner, two middle-aged men were arguing in low voices.
Suddenly, the coarse cloth door curtain was flung aside with a clatter. A fat man in a gray cloth long robe rushed in with a gust of cold wind, his round face flushed with excitement.
He held a telegram high in his right hand and adjusted his round-framed glasses that had slipped to the tip of his nose with his left hand. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down with his rapid breathing.
“War has broken out, war has broken out!”
His voice trembled, and the telegram paper quivered slightly at his fingertips.
The old editor at his desk suddenly looked up, the tip of his brush blotting a smudge of ink on the paper. The two arguing men fell silent at the same time, the tobacco pipe suspended in mid-air.
For a moment, all eyes were fixed on that trembling piece of paper. The only sound in the entire cave dwelling was the crackling of the oil lamp wick.
The young editor in the blue cloth jacket suddenly stood up. The stool scraped harshly on the dirt floor as he blurted out, “Brother Zimei, where has the war broken out?”
“Shanxi Militia, it’s the Shanxi Militia.”
The fat man said loudly: “Just yesterday afternoon, the Shanxi Militia suddenly launched attacks on Xiangding County and Xincounty. As of this morning, Xiangding County has been recaptured by our army, and the battle in Xincounty has also begun!”
“What… there’s such a thing?”
As soon as the fat man’s voice fell, everyone exclaimed in surprise, and many showed expressions of disbelief.
Ever since most places in Shanxi fell last year, the War of Resistance in the entire Shanxi had entered a low tide, and some defeatist and pessimistic remarks about surrender had become rampant.
As editors of the Central Daily’s branch in Shanxi, they felt it the most deeply.
Newspapers controlled by the Japanese and puppets such as《 Shanxi Xinmin Bao》 and《 Mengjiang Daily》 were rampant, proclaiming theories of national extinction and surrender all day long, making people grind their teeth in anger.
Although they wanted very much to refute this view, the National Army was not up to par. Even if they wanted to counterattack, they had no facts or evidence. Although the Taierzhuang victory a few months ago had briefly boosted the morale of the Chinese people, Xuzhou was soon lost.
Now the Battle of Wuhan was raging intensely, and the attention of the entire nation’s people was focused on Wuhan. Unexpectedly, Shanxi, where they were located, suddenly released a bombshell. There was actually a force daring to proactively launch an offensive against the Japanese to recapture lost territory.
Leaving aside other things, this courage alone was unique among the National Army generals today.
The old editor said nothing, just snatched the telegram from the fat man’s hand and skimmed it at a glance. Then he slapped the table: “Good… make this news tomorrow’s front-page headline right away.
In addition, I think we must send one or two reporters to Xiangding County to obtain first-hand information. Which of you are willing to go?”
“Me!”
“I’ll go… I’ll go!”
As soon as the editor-in-chief’s words fell, everyone in the room raised their hands in unison.
Media people of this era still had some hot blood. Upon hearing they were to go to the front lines for interviews, they instantly became excited. Setting aside patriotic sentiments, the chance to become famous alone was enough to make many take risks.
What these editors did not know was that, besides them, many other newspapers had also received this news, and more than a dozen media outlets were making the same plan.
All these media people had received the news, and Yan Xishan, as the commander-in-chief of the Second Theater, had received it even earlier.
………..
“This Su Mingxi is really too lawless. He actually dares to proactively provoke the Japanese. Doesn’t he know the consequences?”
Yan Xishan in the cave dwelling was flying into a thunderous rage, his mustache on his lip trembling.
Just now, he had received a report that the 108th Division stationed in the Xifen and Tianqu areas was assembling troops and showing signs of attacking Kedipo.
This intelligence instantly scared Old Yan Xishan. Just as he was summoning his generals to discuss countermeasures and planning to send someone to contact the Japanese, the news of Su Yaoyang’s sudden attack on the Japanese army also arrived here.
Yes, everyone heard right. Even at this point, Old Yan Xishan was still maintaining contact with the Japanese. His reputation for being slick and manipulative was not exaggerated.
When Yan Xishan saw that Su Yaoyang had actually proactively launched an attack on the Japanese army, he was nearly angered to death.
“This brat, even if you’re seeking your own death, why do you have to drag us into it?”
Looking at Yan Xishan who was jumping with rage, several senior Jin-Sui Army generals in the office also frowned tightly but unusually did not echo Yan Xishan’s words.
The light in the cave dwelling cast Yan Xishan’s distorted shadow on the mottled earthen wall.
His fingers clutching the telegram were tightly clenched together, and the two wisps of mustache on his lip trembled violently with his heavy breathing, like two sharp blades about to pierce the air.
“This good-for-nothing（ meaning ‘useless’ or ‘good-for-nothing’） has ruined me!”
With that, he smashed the teacup to the ground. In the crisp sound, the brownish-yellow tea splashed onto his cloth shoes covered in yellow soil.
Perhaps after smashing the teacup, his anger was somewhat vented. He then turned to Yang Aiyuan, the deputy commander of the Second Theater standing beside him—a burly man with a mustache on his upper lip—and said: “Xingru, what do you think? What should we do about this?”
“Commander, why get angry?” Yang Aiyuan smiled slightly: “In my view, the Japanese are just bluffing. They can barely handle their own affairs now, so how dare they start a war with us?”
“That’s not certain.” Yan Xishan shook his head repeatedly: “The Japanese have always been cunning. They’ve done plenty of feigning east to strike west or borrowing a passage to attack another state. We must guard against it.”
“But I don’t see it that way?” Yang Aiyuan stuck to his view.
“The premise of borrowing a passage to attack another state is having sufficient strength. Now the First Army’s most elite 20th Division has been firmly pinned down by the Shanxi Militia in the Xiangding and Xincounty areas.
The remaining 108th and 109th Divisions have to garrison key cities like Datong, Taiyuan, and Yangquan respectively. The Second, Third, and Fourth Independent Mixed Brigades also have to guard various strongholds. Where do they get the troops to start a war with us?
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army is no pushover. That supreme commander is the best at taking advantage of fire and looting.
If the Japanese really make a move on us, you can contact him and ask them to come out from their base areas to cause trouble for the Japanese. I believe they would be delighted.”
“Hmm… that’s true.” Yan Xishan pondered for a moment and found Yang Aiyuan’s words quite reasonable. The worry in his heart gradually dissipated.
But he still felt a bit uneasy and then said: “Alright then… Xingru, go to Wutaixian County on my behalf and ask what Su Yaoyang is really up to. Why didn’t he report such a big matter to the Second Theater?”
“Yes.”
