Chapter 1465 It’s Really Too Difficult!

After this battle, the Ji'nan Guard Brigade became famous in the battlefield of North China, and almost became an infantry brigade on par with the 683rd Brigade.

The old commander of the Second War Zone regarded the Guard Brigade as his own flesh and blood. Not only did he personally come to inspect the Guard Brigade's station in Zishan, but he also designated the Guard Brigade, which was originally a local armed force and had to raise its own military pay by the Ji'nan Administrative Office, as a direct unit of the Second War Zone Command.

However, even the old man from Shanxi Province did not send a brigade commander to the Guard Brigade to control this elite infantry brigade.

It's not that he didn't want to, but although the Four Lines and Tang Dao were suppressed, as long as Tang Dao was there, he knew that no matter how many officers he sent to the Guard Brigade, he could not actually control this elite force composed of almost all Tang Dao's direct subordinates.

This approach is actually more of a show of goodwill.

From June 21 to the end of June, 1941, the assassinations that took place in Jiangxia, which was controlled by the Japanese army, were all directed at the Military Control Commission, but that could only fool ordinary people. These bigwigs knew what happened in the Fifth War Zone that night.

And based on the old man from Shanxi Province's understanding of Tang Dao, Tang Dao had fought so many dangerous battles in the battlefield of North China and had never even scratched a piece of oil skin. How could he be seriously injured by a sneak attack by 200 little devils? Maybe it was just a trick of Tang Dao. Others thought he was still lying in bed, but he was hiding behind the scenes to do things.

If things go wrong, the cases of killing Japanese generals and puppet army officials in Jiangxia were all Tang Dao's own work!

When the old man from Shanxi Province thought that the Four-Line Group or Tang Dao could come and go in the heavily guarded Jiangxia City and take the heads of senior officials as easily as taking things out of a bag, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his back.

How strong are the combat effectiveness of Tang Dao and Si Xing Regiment? They can even defeat a Japanese division with one regiment. This is not scary for big guys like the old man from Shanxi Province.

What really scares them is that Tang Dao and Si Xing Regiment don't seem to take them, the so-called big guys, too seriously. They don't have much awe. It's okay not to provoke them. If they cross their bottom line, they are big guys when they are alive, but they are nothing when they die.

When the Si Xing Regiment was idled by the Fifth War Zone, the old man from Shanxi Province also made a special report to the Military and Political Department, requesting that the Si Xing Regiment be transferred back to the Second War Zone to avoid another crisis like the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain.

In the July battle, if the 80th Army had not put aside their past grudges and the elite of the Security Brigade had not been fully deployed, the Zhongtiao Mountain defense line would not only be finished, but the 200,000 troops stationed there would also be very likely to disappear. Thinking of this, the old man from Shanxi Province was covered in cold sweat.

Without Zhongtiao Mountain, his headquarters as the commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone had to be moved east of the Yellow River, and the little territory of Shanxi Province was gone. He was the commander-in-chief of the Second War Zone in name only.

But obviously, he was not big enough as the commander of the Second War Zone, and the Military and Political Department rejected him very straightforwardly, but in the end, they still gave him a little face and allowed Tang Dao, who had just recovered from serious injuries, to return to Taihang Mountain to recuperate and participate in the disaster relief operations for famine in some parts of Henan Province as the deputy commissioner of the Ji'nan Administrative Office during his recovery.

In the past, the Henan Province famine that shocked the world and killed 3 million victims broke out from July 1942 to the spring of 1943, but in fact, drought had already broken out in some parts of Henan Province since mid-1941, but the then chief executive of Henan Province chose to conceal the report, which led to the high-level officials of the Shancheng government misjudging the severity of the disaster and causing the disaster.

In 1941, because of the large number of Yellow River flooding areas formed after the explosion of Huayuankou in 1938, it was extremely difficult for Japanese infantry to march in the mud, not to mention tanks and artillery, so the Japanese army only occupied a small area in eastern and northern Henan, and most of Henan Province was still under the control of the Shancheng government.

But the Japanese bombing of cities in Henan Province never stopped. An American painter named Gram Baker happened to come to a bombed city in Henan Province. He wrote in his memoirs: Those bombers buzzed like a group of wasps above my head, and then the city was like an ant nest that suddenly moved the wooden board away, and the Chinese were greatly frightened.

Luoyang, this ancient city has long been devastated, but compared to the war that can destroy everything, perhaps the more terrible thing is the punishment from nature.

The fields have cracked, and Henan Province, which has not experienced rain for a long time, has become like an old man in his twilight years. In the thousands of villages, there were farmers who were so thin that they were just skin and bones. There were no weeds in the fields. The farmers were holding sickles and looking for something to eat.

While describing the war and drought, in one of the paintings of this American painter, a middle-aged man as thin as a skeleton was hugging a tree as thick as a bowl.

However, this Chinese man with a face full of suffering was not climbing a tree, but gnawing the bark with his teeth.

The bitter bark was the only energy that the middle-aged man could survive in the autumn of 1941.

Tang Dao, who had been preparing for this terrible drought and famine two years in advance, naturally could not let history repeat itself. The members of the intelligence system controlled by Gong Shaoxun had already arrived in Henan Province. They not only took a lot of photos, but also contacted the American painter through Rockefeller Company.

After arriving in Shancheng, the American painter's experience along the way in Henan Province and the painting he made on the spot shocked the high-level officials in Shancheng. This was completely different from what the Henan Provincial Government reported.

Since the secret investigation team arrived in Henan Province in September and returned to report to the mountain city government in November, they realized the seriousness of the problem. If they are not prepared in advance, if the drought continues or even expands next year, there will still be 60 counties with a population of more than 10 million. A terrible famine will break out in Henan Province.

However, disaster relief requires not only people but also materials. Now construction requires money, buying arms requires money, and military expenditures also require money. Money can be printed, but if you print too much, won't it become like waste paper?

Don't tell me, at this time, the domestic economic and financial order has not been completely destroyed, and he still wants to work hard to save it.

Because China's domestic inflation has begun to slide toward the abyss, and has not yet completely entered the stage of falling out of control.

Just like the French currency that has been in use since 1935, in 1937, 100 French currency could buy two big cows, but in 1938, you could only buy one, and in 1941, you could only buy one pig. I don’t know if it has depreciated. How many times.

But only the little butterflies from the future know that this level of inflation is really nothing. In the following years, the inflation rate climbed like a rocket. By 1948, 100 French currency could only buy 4 grains of rice. This also shows that This money is somewhat useful. By 1949, 100 French currency will only buy 2.50 millionths of a grain of rice.

The terrible inflation is ruthlessly devouring the wealth of ordinary Chinese people like a greedy beast. The only advantage may be that it also traps the Japanese who make counterfeit banknotes and impact China's financial order.

During Japan's all-out war of aggression against China, a major named Kenzo Yamamoto of the Japanese General Staff was transferred to the Army's Ninth Scientific Research Institute to take charge of a top-secret task code-named "Sugi Work." This task was to destroy counterfeit currency and The mountain city government's legal currency system disrupts China's domestic economy and destroys China's economic resistance.

Yamamoto Kenzo graduated from the 15th class of the Japanese Army Accounting School. He was very interested in currency circulation. When he was young, he had an incredible dream of counterfeiting currency, but he never found an opportunity. While he was in Manchukuo, he conducted detailed research on China's currency system. He also spent several years studying the currency circulation in mainland China, outside the customs, and Korea, and became a true "China expert."

Before Japan's full-scale invasion of China, he joined the Japanese Kwantung Army and went to Manchukuo in Northeast China to conduct military and geographical research. When observing the circulation of legal tender in Central China, I noticed that most of the legal tender on the market at that time was printed by the Central Bank of China and the Bank of Communications. The printing manufacturers were Denaro Company, Walder Company and American Banknote Company of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets.

The anti-counterfeiting measures of these banknotes are mainly watermarks and secret marks. Some rice banknotes have red and blue silk threads sandwiched in the portrait area. The process is not complicated and it is not difficult to forge. Moreover, China's domestic currency counterfeiting methods were backward at that time, and the general public's awareness of anti-counterfeiting banknotes was not It is very strong. If you forge a batch of counterfeit currency, there should be no problem in disrupting the Chinese economy. This will have a certain role in promoting Japan's invasion of China.

After many arguments and researches, Yamamoto Kenzo first selected the 5-yuan legal currency as the experimental object. He produced a printing plate for the 5-yuan legal currency in Japan. After printing more than 100,000 yuan of finished product, he quickly shipped it to China to arbitrage supplies. Unexpectedly, these counterfeit 5-yuan banknotes have long been invalidated and withdrawn from circulation in China, and people do not recognize them. The first plan to counterfeit legal currency failed, which he didn't expect. He was probably too excited and made the decision without market research. His work was in vain. At the same time, he was severely reprimanded by his boss.

Mission failed but still not giving up. In April 1940, Yamamoto Kenzo repeated his old tricks and forged batches of China Farmers Bank 1-yuan, 5-yuan, and 10-yuan denomination notes, totaling more than 5 million yuan. He also used a special process to turn them into old banknotes and secretly transported them China, and mixed them with real legal currency, and delivered them to the Japanese invasion agencies and "trading companies" and other institutions in occupied areas for use. These fake legal currencies were widely popular and became the Japanese invaders' rush to buy supplies, undermine China's financial order, and seek military expenses for the Japanese invaders. important means, causing damage to the Chinese economy.

Two years later, with the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army captured Hong Kong Island in December 1941. The Special High School Section seized the mint set up by the Shancheng Government on Hong Kong Island and the minting machines that had not been transported away in time. They also seized a batch of semi-finished products of 5-yuan denomination legal currency from China Bank of Communications, as well as banknote printing machines, legal currency codes, and dark ledgers. These, along with the above-mentioned proceeds, were secretly transported to the "Ninth Army Scientific Research Institute" in Kyoto. Sanbon Kenzo took the lead in selecting and dispatching special personnel to study and tackle the key problems.

At this point, Japan obtained all the secrets of printing legal currency and began to print legal currency frantically.

According to statistics, in the seven years from 1939 to 1945, the Japanese invaders produced a total of 4 billion yuan in counterfeit currency, making it the largest counterfeit currency manufacturer in the world.

However, no matter how good Japan's wishful thinking is, there are times when it makes mistakes. Due to the Japanese invasion and domestic turmoil, the flow of legal currency has changed. Before the Japanese invaders' counterfeit banknotes can further take effect, the Yamashiro government itself began a crazy currency campaign. swell.

Therefore, the tons and tons of counterfeit banknotes that cost a lot of manpower and material resources to produce, cost a sufficiently high transportation cost, and risk being discovered and spent in areas controlled by China are just a drop in the bucket in China, where inflation has reached a climax. Not worth a penny.

If you are more courageous and invest a little more, if you spend 400 billion, you might be able to buy a few hundred kilograms of rice and make rice balls for everyone to eat.

Yamamoto Kenzo's dream was shattered. He was puzzled and lamented: "China is really a daunting country."

In terms of counterfeiting and selling fakes, the Japanese want to make trouble in China, which is really like showing off their swords in front of Guan Gong - dead dead!

This is a bit far-fetched. In November 1941, the man and his think tanks looked at the people's livelihood in Henan Province, which was about to be corrupted, and were very worried about money.

Then, the old man from Shanxi Province was very "sensible" and brought him a pillow when he was sleepy.

The name of Tang Dao appeared in the man's vision again.

To be honest, the man didn't want to see this name at all. Since he took that position, there were many people who wanted to kill him in their hearts, but no one had ever said this sentence to his forehead.

Jiangxiacheng's amazing shot and the two consecutive assassinations of a Japanese army lieutenant general who came to strangle him to death were almost such a "declaration of war".

He was 100% sure to destroy the Four-Line Group, but he was not 100% sure that no one would escape, which was a huge hidden danger.

Therefore, it was the most appropriate arrangement to put it aside and not move it, and to deal with it after the Sino-Japanese War.

As a result, when the old man from Shanxi Province mentioned Tang Dao, the man had an idea and arranged a job for Tang Dao, and he could also use the relationship with the Rockefeller Foundation behind him, and also keep him away from the Four-Line Group, which would facilitate the division of the Four-Line Group.

There has never been absolute loyalty in this world. The Four-Line Group is now a solid block, but it does not mean that it will be in the future.

However, the man had this idea but did not take action, but let the old man from Shanxi Province use his relationship to run around, until Tang Dao himself sent a telegram to the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs hoping to let him return to Taihang Mountain to recuperate and visit his wife and children.

The Ministry of Military and Political Affairs issued a military order to agree to Tang Dao's request and assigned him the job of deputy commander-in-chief of disaster relief.

As for the commander-in-chief, of course, it was the commander surnamed Jiang who had just been transferred from the Tenth War Zone to the First War Zone not long ago.

However, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the commander of the First War Zone is just the commander-in-chief in name only, and the real work has to be done by Tang Dao, the deputy commander.

Because the Executive Yuan has allocated a total of 3 million French francs in money and grain!

At the current market price, 3 million French francs can only buy 600,000 catties of white flour. It sounds like a lot, but this is disaster relief. There are more than 3 million people in 20 counties in the controlled area of ​​Henan Province. 600,000 catties of food are enough for these 3 million people to eat for a day?

Many people think that this is a difficult problem for Tang Dao. Maybe before the New Year, Tang Dao will be charged with a crime of poor disaster relief and removed from his position as deputy commissioner of the Ji'nan Administrative Office.

Tang Dao was very calm. He set out from the Fifth War Zone with 30 guards and arrived at Shancheng by boat at Shipai Fortress. He had no intention of reporting to the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs at all. He arrived at Jiulongpo Airport directly under the escort of the armed escort team of Rockefeller Far East Branch.

The little foreign girl stopped pretending and personally escorted Tang Dao to Chang'an on a US transport plane escorted by 10 US wildcat fighters.

And when saying goodbye at the airport, she took the initiative to hug a certain regiment commander who still had a bandage on his head and touched his cheek with her lips.

Let's not talk about how awesome Tang Dao was, with a special plane and a fighter squadron escort. Just say that Laura's intimate behavior really shocked the high-level officials in Shancheng.

Yes, Westerners have a kiss that makes Orientals feel extremely uncomfortable, but touching cheeks with lips is either between elders and juniors, or between lovers.

Is Miss Laura going to announce it to the world? Tsk tsk! Captain Tang is really so lucky! At that moment, many dirty middle-aged greasy men didn't know how many unbearable pictures appeared in their minds.

Only some people who really understand the secret know that this means that Laura is using her own way to draw her bottom line to some people. The reason why Rockefeller Company is still here is because of the existence of Tang.

"Ahem! Mingyue, you know, Laura did this because she was worried that I would be assassinated again, at least to prevent threats from within." Tang Dao, who had returned to Taihang Mountain, explained to Tan Tai Mingyue, who had just coaxed Xiao Shanhe to sleep and lay beside him, in the dead of night.

"Well! Thank Miss Laura for her kindness for me!" Tan Tai Mingyue gently leaned her head on her husband's arms, and while she felt at ease, she felt a kind of sourness that could not be concealed.

No matter how generous she was, it would be difficult for her to accept that Western woman taking this opportunity to express her love to her husband!

At this moment, Tang Tuanzuo said that he was really embarrassed!

After a long time, there was a sharp pain in his ribs. It was the "Nine Yin White Bone Pinch" that his wife had not used for a long time. Tang Dao breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out his hand to hug his wife's body, which was much plumper than when she was a girl.

As the saying goes: A short separation is better than a new marriage! He had been away for more than half a year. What kind of short separation was that?

At that moment, the fire in Tang Tuanzuo's body was like an active volcano about to erupt. He thought of more moves than when he was fighting the enemy.

"Wow! Mom! I want Mom!" A loud cry sounded from the bed of the couple.

Sitting up from the small bed, Tang Shanhe looked at his father who was even more confused than him with tears in his eyes, crying loudly.

Tang Dao

The next morning, looking at Tang Tuanzuo who slept until the sun was high before going out, the guards grinned knowingly.

They probably didn't know that the poor Tuanzuo told his fat son the story of the big-headed father and the small-headed son in the middle of the night.

The story was so exciting that he even fell asleep by himself.

Really, coaxing a baby is much more tiring than fighting a war.