Under one person: I, Zhang Zhiwei, the arrogant Zhang.

"kill him!"

"kill him!"

With an angry roar, all the guards raised their rifles, the dark muzzles instantly pointing at the black sedan!

"Bang bang bang...!"

Enraged bullets rained down like a storm, shattering the car windows and leaving several holes in the body.

But the car didn't stop; instead, amidst the gunfire, it sped into Beifang Road on the east side of the airport.

Inuyama leaned out of the car window and fired wildly at the soldiers behind him, the bullets hitting the ground and sending up a string of sparks.

"Kill them!"

"Kill them!"

The soldiers behind them roared and pulled the triggers, and a dense barrage of gunfire immediately crisscrossed the room.

After a fierce battle, a bullet pierced the car's windshield, and a bloody flower bloomed on Inuyama Isao's shoulder, while the driver next to him continued to press the accelerator and rush forward.

But the airport soldiers' shooting became increasingly accurate, and with a "bang," the bullet struck the tire.

The car with its tires blown out crashed out of control into a roadside tree, its body shaking violently. Immediately afterward, another burst of gunfire erupted from both sides.

Moments later, the gunfire stopped.

The soldiers went over to check and saw Inuyama Isao slumped in the driver's seat, blood gushing from a bullet hole in his forehead, his eyes glazed over. His driver had also been shot several times and was lying motionless on the steering wheel.

The setting sun, like blood, illuminated the car riddled with bullet holes and the scattered shell casings, while the air was filled with the pungent smell of saltpeter mixed with blood.

The guards, panting heavily, pulled two bodies from the riddled-with-screws car. They looked at the ranks on the bodies' uniforms, then at their squad leader lying in a pool of blood, and their eyes turned red.

They knew they were in trouble, but they didn't regret it; they were just fulfilling their duty as soldiers.

Not long after, the officer arrived, looking at the lifeless car, then at the soldiers' pale faces, and patted him heavily on the shoulder, his voice hoarse but firm:
"Well done! We are soldiers of China!"

That being said, no one cheered, no one celebrated. Everyone understood that this shot might not have just killed an arrogant provocateur; it was a spark, a spark that had landed on dry tinder already soaked in gasoline.

In fact, they all knew that this place had become a powder keg, and it could ignite at any time. They were not afraid, because if they were, they wouldn't have stayed here.

They just didn't expect that this spark would originate from their own hands.

Even if they knew that this was a deliberate provocation by the Japanese pirates, and that the Japanese pirates fired the first shot, and that they were only retaliating passively, they could still stand their ground from any perspective.

But the enormous upheaval that was about to sweep across the entire land was actually initiated by these ordinary soldiers at the very bottom, leaving them feeling dazed and unreal. The heavy weight of history still weighed on them, making it difficult for them to calm down for a long time.

Night fell, like spilled ink, and quickly enveloped the city.

Although the gunfire at the airport seemed insignificant, the chain reaction it triggered was enormous, like a silent earthquake spreading rapidly in all directions.

Less than half an hour after the incident, cars from various factions arrived at the scene. The Municipal Council of the Concession and consuls from various countries rushed to the scene. They looked at the three corpses and the car riddled with bullet holes, and talked in hushed tones. Their expressions were not good. They were not stupid and could naturally see that this was by no means a simple accidental shooting.

Such an event occurring at such a sensitive time and in such a sensitive place carries a meaning that is enough to send chills down the spines of every respectable person present.

Meanwhile, inside the Japanese pirate headquarters, chaos had already broken out.

"Baka yarou! What did you say?! Captain Inuyama and a soldier were killed at the airport?!"

A Japanese naval rear admiral, upon hearing his subordinate's report, angrily slammed the teacup in his hand onto the ground.

The officer who came to report had his head down and his voice was trembling: "According to the information from the scene, Inuyama was involved in a conflict when he tried to drive into the airport, and was subsequently... shot dead on the spot!"

"Outrageous! Absolutely outrageous!" The major general's eyes gleamed with madness. "At this critical juncture, they dare to attack us! This is blatant provocation! We must take immediate action and make them pay in blood!!"

He abruptly stopped and ordered his adjutant, "Immediately! In the name of my headquarters, issue the strongest protest to the Shanghai Municipal Council of the International Settlement and the Chinese authorities! Demand that they immediately withdraw all security personnel from the airport, dismantle all fortifications, and severely punish the perpetrators. Otherwise, they will bear all the consequences!"

"Hai!"

In an instant, countless urgent telegrams, like snowflakes, were sent from Shanghai to various places.

Immediately afterwards, the Japanese pirates showed no remorse or apology, but instead turned the tables, using newspapers and radio stations under their control to spread the message that the other side had provoked them first, and using this as an excuse to begin a large-scale troop increase.

Transport ships, laden with soldiers and weapons, began to assemble.

The actions of the Japanese pirates terrified all the forces within the concession, and the telephones in the consulate rang incessantly.

"What?! They're mobilizing the army?!"

One shocking piece of news after another left the foreigners involved in the project in a state of panic.

They quickly sent representatives to try to negotiate with the Japanese pirates and hope to quell the situation. As the beneficiaries of this region, they naturally did not want a war to break out here.

However, they received a tough and arrogant response from the Japanese pirates.

1. Immediately withdraw all security forces from this area. 2. Immediately dismantle all fortifications. 3. Severely punish the perpetrators, and have the highest-ranking official in the area personally apologize.

This is not negotiation; it is clearly forcing the other party to give up all resistance while humiliating them severely.

When the news reached the Chairman's ears, he angrily slammed the telephone receiver heavily on the table.

"Damn it, this is outrageous!"

"Damn it, do they really think we're fish on a chopping board, to be slaughtered at their mercy?!"

"Give me a firm refusal, and at the same time order the elite of Zhang's three divisions in the central route to immediately advance at full speed towards Shanghai. The original plan will be executed immediately! All troops will launch a full-scale attack, and tell the soldiers at the front that this time, we will not retreat! Not a single step!"

"Damn it all! I'll show these arrogant Japanese pirates that this is our land! They want war, so I'll give them war!!"

The moment the order was given, the gears of war began to turn wildly and relentlessly. After everyone had left, the Chairman sat in the chair at his desk, took out his diary, and began to write.

He turned the pages one by one; the diary was very thick, and each page recorded his psychological journey over the years.

He turned to the diary entry for May 3rd, 1928.

That day, he marched north all the way to Quancheng.

The Japanese pirates, under the pretext of protecting their citizens, marched their troops to Jinan. Not wanting a conflict, they sent a negotiation office to negotiate, but the Japanese pirates cut off the negotiators' ears and noses, and then shot all the personnel of the negotiation office they had sent to kill.

It is said that when two countries are at war, envoys should not be killed. However, the Japanese pirates not only killed them, but also cut off their ears and noses.

That day, he cursed the Japanese pirates as beasts who did not know manners and were inhuman. His subordinates all wanted to fight the Japanese pirates to the death, but he held back. For the sake of the great cause, he suppressed his anger, fled Jinan in a hurry, and wrote a letter to humbly beg for peace.

But the Japanese pirates ignored his letter and instead carried out a massacre of the city, killing any men they saw and raping any women they encountered, resulting in a sudden loss of more than 17,000 people.

Upon learning of this incident, he angrily wrote the words "avenge the shame" in his diary.

In the subsequent Northeast Incident and the Shanghai Incident, he inscribed the words "avenging the shame" in his diary.

Shame followed him relentlessly.

"A gentleman's revenge is never too late!"

He muttered those words to himself. After ten years of retirement, he was finally going to get back on his feet.

He turned to the latest page and wrote the following in his diary for today.

"Zhang Juzheng was willing to sacrifice himself for the country, allowing people to sleep and urinate on his body, his intention being solely to sacrifice for the country, disregarding everything else. Is this the situation I am in today?"

After finishing writing, he sighed heavily. At that moment, he felt like Zhang Juzheng, who had shouldered the responsibility for the rise and fall of the nation and endured all the slander and criticism from the world.

Despite the nationwide enthusiasm for his declaration of resistance against Japanese aggression, the internal support was insufficient, far from being a united front.

It could even be said that internally, the question of whether to make peace or fight against the Japanese pirates was still fiercely debated.

Although he, as the CEO, had already made the decision, there were still some hurdles he wouldn't be able to overcome. After all, he had a vice president under him who still had considerable influence and was constantly trying to trip him up.

Even after he issued a telegram to resist the Japanese pirates, he repeatedly made outrageous remarks, advocating for negotiations and peace with the Japanese pirates, contradicting them at every turn. This was not only the case for this vice president, but also for some "rationalists" who felt that the country was not strong enough and should temporarily avoid confrontation.

In fact, after climbing the mountain in his pajamas that day, he asked his foreign advisor how long the Japanese pirates could hold out if they went to war.

The advisors said that once war broke out, they would lose all their navy within a week, all their air force within a month, and their army could only hold out for a maximum of six months.

Because China is still an agricultural country with no industry, it has to buy everything. At present, its military logistics capabilities and weapons reserves are only enough to last for six months.

He was speechless, because it was the truth. In such a vast land as China, apart from those broken guns made in Hanyang, not a single machine gun could be manufactured.

However, he wasn't without friends!

He continued writing in his diary, in which he wrote that the international community supported him. He said that the Bund was not like Beijing; it was the largest concession, and the foreign powers had huge interests here. This was both a disgrace and a protective shield.

Those major powers certainly won't let the Japanese pirates run rampant here. They will definitely intervene, just like five years ago. Didn't the Japanese pirates come in with great force five years ago? In the end, didn't they retreat under the intervention of other countries?
Moreover, the Russians also support him. They have signed an agreement that Russian support will arrive as soon as the fighting begins. As long as he can withstand the Japanese offensive, with Russian aid and sanctions from other countries against the Japanese, the balance of power will shift, and he will surely win.

Subsequently, he, who prided himself on being a master of strategy, tactics, and micro-management, began to record this strategy in his diary.

The best strategy is to lure the Japanese pirates here, trick them into launching a feigned attack upstream along the Yangtze River, and then use the vast geographical advantage to wage a protracted war, trading space for time to wear down the pirates' strength. Ideally, we should emulate the Battle of Verdun, using a scorched-earth approach, gathering the strength of both national and local factions to stage a Verdun-like battle in the Yangtze River Delta, driving the pirates back into the river and causing them to lose both face and substance.

As a master of both strategy and tactics, how could he only have one strategy? In addition to the best strategy, he also devised a middle strategy.

That is to wait for mediation, so that even if he loses, he can "with dignity" withdraw from the battlefield and end the battle.

As for the worst option...

He paused, then crossed out the words "worst option".

Damn it, there's no other way!
The worst-case scenario is that if this battle fails and there is no international mediation, he will be unable to back down and will only suffer defeat after defeat. Nanjing might even be in danger, or he might have to move the capital.

Five years ago, when he was confronting the Japanese pirates in Shanghai, he moved the capital to Shanghai for refuge. But he didn't actually want to go there. He only went there in a hurry because he had no other choice.

Although Shen Du was the capital of thirteen dynasties, the northeast had been lost, and that area was now under the control of the Japanese pirates' mechanized forces.

His favorite place is still Chongqing in Sichuan. He didn't go to Chongqing last time because he couldn't go there; going there would be like walking into a trap.

However, at a meeting some time ago, Liu Mang raised the banner of resisting the Japanese pirates and proposed to send 30 troops, supply 500 million able-bodied men, and supply tens of thousands of shi of grain. He firmly believed that the final victory against the Japanese pirates would belong to China. He also said that if things changed, he was willing to move to Chengdu and give him Chongqing, which he had been building for many years.

"Damn it, this last resort is definitely not going to work!"

He ruled out the worst option, refusing to believe he would end up in such a state.

…………

…………

On the other side, at Longhu Mountain.

Zhang Zhiwei also learned about everything that happened at the airport and the decision made by Nanjing authorities immediately.

He stood atop Tianmen Peak, gazing at the southeastern sky, where the bustling metropolis he had recently left was about to be swallowed up by the merciless flames of war.

Zhang Zhiwei held a black sheet of paper in his hand, with lines of white text rapidly appearing.

The above is a message Wang Ai sent him. The Tiantong Church is making its move. Lu Yusheng, one of the three tycoons, has used his past influence in the Caoqing Gang to raise a force of 10,000 men, which is already armed.

They also used the glitz and glamour of Shanghai to recruit a large number of dancers, musicians, and others, and established an intelligence system.

Meanwhile, supplies and medicines he had allocated from various places were being sent there, and all of these supplies were being stored in the Tiantong Cathedral. (End of Chapter)