Chapter 40: Xu Zhongyi’s Allegiance

October 20, 1938, Office of the 2nd Provisional Division, Jiangcheng.

"Division Commander, are we really going to accept this shipment of barium nitrate?" Xu Zhongyi looked at his commander with a sense of disbelief. Honestly, he had come to report the matter hoping that Wang Yue would reject the deal he had impulsively agreed to. When he first learned that explosives raw materials were being sold, he had wanted to snap them up immediately, only to discover later that this batch of barium nitrate had been ordered by the late Commander Liu. The factory in Shancheng had since been taken over by the Ordnance Department, which, after adjusting its production line, had removed barium nitrate from its list of required materials. Consequently, the final payment remained unpaid for months. Had they not been desperate, that American trading firm would never have offloaded the stock to Xu at fifty percent of the market price.

"Zhongyi, remember this: your reputation is the reputation of the 2nd Provisional Division, and it is the reputation of the Northeast Army. Forget about half-price—even at full price, we must secure these three hundred tons of barium nitrate!" Wang Yue spoke with deep sincerity. The Ordnance Department looked down on barium nitrate because they deemed it unnecessary, but it had one distinct advantage: it could be added directly to black powder to increase its explosive power. In times of severe raw material shortages, anything was usable. Wang Yue wondered if it was mere incompetence or deliberate sabotage by the bureaucrats; he leaned toward the latter.

"Commander, you really aren't angry with me?" Xu Zhongyi felt like crying but held back. Three hundred tons of barium nitrate, even at half price, was a fortune. He had "wasted" so much money, yet his commander showed no sign of reproach.

"Angry? Why? I gave you and Milong the order to acquire military industrial materials. You two have already accomplished a great deal. It is strange, though—the Americans and the Japanese have such good relations; why would they be afraid of the Japanese?" Wang Yue smiled. After the great victory at Wanjialing, the situation seemed promising, yet the government’s westward evacuation continued without pause.

The Japanese had suffered a crushing defeat and would certainly not let it rest. They were currently gathering their final strength to divert supplies and troops to the Jiangcheng front, even deploying transport squadrons they had previously been reluctant to use. Given the Japanese character—an inability to accept defeat—they would stop at nothing, even if it meant having their teeth kicked in.

"Thank you for your understanding, Commander. I will go through fire and water for you from now on!" Xu Zhongyi declared solemnly. It was hard enough to get promoted for doing a good job, but even harder to be forgiven for a mistake. In the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, he had seen many people ruined over the smallest errors; that was why everyone was always talking about "achieving benevolence if success is not attained."

"Have your family members been sent away?" Wang Yue continued. He had only learned recently that Xu’s hometown was Jiangcheng, where his extended family of a dozen people lived off a small grocery store. To win Xu’s loyalty, Wang had provided him with the funds to relocate them to the deep rear.

"They have all been sent away. Just as you instructed, they opened the Xu Family Grocery in Shancheng and even dug an air-raid shelter at home. They should be safe now," Xu said, filled with gratitude. While mass evacuations from Jiangcheng were indeed underway, it was not easy to abandon one’s home and livelihood. Most people only evacuated to the nearby countryside, where they would eventually still end up as subjects of a conquered nation. Being sent directly to the deep rear had resolved his greatest worry.

"What about the other military families? Have they been taken care of?" Wang Yue was surprised that Xu was so moved by this small act. In truth, the families of all the new recruits were to be transferred to the deep rear. Though they had only recruited fewer than two thousand soldiers, many were without families, but there were over eight thousand registered military dependents, five thousand of whom needed to be relocated to Shancheng. If conditions had allowed, Wang would have sent them abroad.

"They have all been persuaded to leave. Per your orders, we are helping them move to the rear and have provided one year’s salary in advance as a relocation allowance; that should be enough for them to live on. Milong even rounded up a few dozen wounded veterans who are still fit for duty. We issued them twenty-five Nambu Type 14 pistols, fourteen Mauser C96s, and twenty-five Type 38 cavalry rifles produced by Li Fugui’s workshop. They can handle most risks. Our military families are quite united," Xu reported quickly. If he hadn't stopped him, Milong would have wanted to equip the families with light and heavy machine guns and mortars, as if they were heading to the front lines.

"The firepower is a bit thin. There are twenty 8mm Chauchat light machine guns in the office warehouse, though ammunition is scarce. Have Milong send them to the rear. We don't go looking for trouble, but we certainly don't fear it. If some local thug tries to bully us, hit them back directly!" Wang Yue had heard of how chaotic Shancheng was during the war; without hard steel in one's hands, it was impossible to survive.

"I will arrange it shortly. Don't worry, Commander. The Bureau of Investigation and Statistics promised to look after our families, and the Military Commission is quite pleased that we are evacuating them to Shancheng; they have even set aside a plot of land for us to build houses," Xu said with a smile. Given the Military Commission’s attitude toward the 2nd Provisional Division, obtaining these weapons would be no problem.

"Did you avoid the areas I circled for you?" Hearing the Military Commission's "goodwill," Wang Yue felt a pang of worry rather than relief. In the coming years, the Japanese would bomb Shancheng incessantly. If the location was poor, they could be hit at any time, which was why Wang had marked out several restricted zones for Xu.

"We avoided them. It's a piece of hilly land in the suburbs; it used to be Commander Liu’s private property." Xu left the rest unsaid, but the implication was clear: this was another piece of land seized by the Military Commission.

"Don't build anything too elaborate—just enough to keep out the wind and rain. Don't build too densely, either. As for fire prevention, make sure to include air-raid shelters, and once they're settled, hold regular air-raid drills." Wang Yue felt a little better, though he remained uneasy. If the Air Force hadn't been so short on transport capacity, he would have taken everyone to Qifeng County. At the very least, the Japanese lacked the ability to conduct large-scale bombing raids deep in the Taihang Mountains.

From Wang Yue’s perspective, the Japanese strategy of bombing Shancheng was technically sound, but they had overestimated their payload capacity and ammunition production. Strategic bombing was something the Japanese simply could not afford at present.

People often said the Japanese lacked strategy, but looking at the combatants of the Second World War, which one truly won through strategy alone? It was always a contest of military mobilization and industrial production, stacking up victories through the sheer expenditure of human lives and ammunition. Don't listen to the talk about how few people the Americans lost—they lost few only because others died in their place. If industrial capacity were balanced, the Japanese would undoubtedly crush the Americans; that is a fact, not open to debate. As for the claim of insufficient manpower—that never existed. Did people really think the Japanese organized puppet armies just to deal with the Chinese resistance?