Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 64: The Great Wall War
The white horse of time passed 1932 and arrived in 1933 in a blink of an eye.

"Big knife, chop the devil's head!"

"Big knife, chop the devil's head!"

Throughout Penang, whether in the streets or alleys, there are Chinese people singing the Big Knife Song everywhere.

Whether it is an ignorant child, a white-haired old man, or even a prostitute selling sex to solicit customers, they can hum these two lines.

On New Year's Day 1933, the Japanese army bombarded Shanhaiguan, marking the beginning of the Great Wall War of Resistance.

By March, the war had reached a fever pitch, with all-out fighting breaking out at famous passes on the Great Wall, including Gubeikou, Nantianmen, Xifengkou, Luowenyu, Lengkou, Jielingkou, and Yiyuankou.

This city wall that has stood for thousands of years has once again become the defense line of the country and the nation. The 29th Army, the Northeast Army, the Central Army, and two hundred thousand passionate men are playing a generous and heroic tragic song.

Historically, the Broadsword March was originally a song from 1937, but it was released earlier because of Zheng Yi. As a result, Zheng Yi even became a composer. In addition to being a scientist and entrepreneur, he sometimes even guest-stars on the radio.

Although Nanyang and the Great Wall are separated by mountains and seas, how could one dare to stay isolated from the world? Started by overseas Chinese in Vietnam, the whole of Nanyang launched a food-saving movement under the call. All shops and households had to save 20% of their food expenses and transfer the money to the anti-Japanese and national salvation funds and donate it to General Song Zheyuan.

As the leading overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, the Malayan Chinese naturally could not stay out of it.

Historically, Mr. Tan Kah Kee took the lead in raising funds for this battle and purchased 13 aircraft for the defenders at the Toronto Air Expo.

In this time and space, these overseas Chinese tycoons naturally would no longer take their money to Toronto to make money for foreigners. In less than two months, more than one million US dollars were delivered to Zheng Yi.

Tan Kah Kee, Xu Shengli, Yi Guangyan and others would come to Penang every now and then to ask him about the weapons production situation, just like he was overseeing the production.

There is even domestic money in this.

The most important thing is that the people of Southeast Asia not only contributed money but also manpower in this war. Overseas Chinese from all over the country spontaneously formed the first "Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese Army" and marched north. They joined the 19th Route Army under the command of Guangdong-born General Weng Zhao and fought a bloody battle with the Japanese invaders.

As for Zheng Yi, although he did not donate a penny and did not go north with the others, he was still really troubled.

It’s too fast!

His arsenal had just been established in Penang and was completely in the adjustment period. The engineers from the Northeast could neither understand Cantonese nor Hokkien, and even daily communication with the local workers became a problem.

The blast furnace that had just been brought in was rusted due to long-term idleness, and he didn't have time to repair it.

Before the trial production was even completed, more than one million US dollars was poured in, and all the Nanyang Chinese people paid close attention.

The eyes of all Penang residents also turned to look over.

Even the old man taking a walk, the housewife with children, and the workers in the arsenal would be asked, "Can you produce cannons?"

At the most tense moment, Zheng Yi felt like he was going crazy. He saw double and his mind seemed a little abnormal.

But he didn't dare to rest at all.

If he can't produce anything, people will ask, "What have you produced with over a million dollars?"

He had just bought a house in Kuala Lumpur, a three-story villa, second-hand. The previous owner was a British man, and it even came with an old car for transportation.

He should have renovated the house thoroughly, but after buying it, he didn't even have time to live in it for a single day. He was stuck in Penang and couldn't go back to Kuala Lumpur at all.

All business matters were temporarily put aside and handed over to Li Xiaoshi and Qian Qiwen to handle.

In fact, the role he could really play in Penang was quite limited. All the work of organizing production was done by Xu Shengli. To be honest, he was not familiar with Penang itself and didn't even know many people there.

Whether he is there or not actually has little impact on production in Penang.

His strengths lie in scientific research and design.

To be honest, he is probably just average when it comes to organizing production.

But the situation was special. Even though he knew his presence was of no use, he still had to be there all the time. In fact, there was nothing for him to do personally, but he kept busy all the time. He was really busy inside and outside.

The workers were almost going crazy. The pressure was too great. They had to force many things and ignored safety hazards. In three months, they had six fingers cut off.

To get the furnace running, Zheng Yi did develop a rust-removing oil. However, the furnace was so large that much of the rust was internal. Before he could think of a good solution, a few of the workers, feeling brave enough, rushed in with the rust-removing oil, leaving Zheng Yi stunned.

As a result, out of eight people who got in, only six came out. Two of them got in but couldn't get out, and they got stuck inside and killed themselves.

Every Chinese, even those of the second, third, or even fourth generation who cannot speak Mandarin, unexpectedly showed a jaw-dropping unity at this time.

It makes my blood boil.

The British did not allow Zheng Yi to sell weapons for domestic use, but he could not care less at this time. In fact, he had no intention of complying with this rule when it was first established.

He even guessed that the leaders of the Colonial Office had no intention of asking them to comply.

Gambling?

This one is actually intended for the Japanese to see to a large extent.

The middle and lower classes of the British looked down on the Japanese and believed that they would collapse at any moment, but their upper class knew that they could not defeat the Japanese, and the face of the British Empire could not be lost.

They also knew very well that the Japanese people, even the middle and upper classes, still had fear and awe of them, the white people.

So the British foreign policy towards Japan, especially in the Far East, can be summed up in one sentence: try not to provoke it, but still scare it.

In particular, we must show the people and the colonized people in Southeast Asia: I am awesome, I am not afraid of Japan at all, it is Japan that is afraid of me.

This has led to particularly twitchy diplomacy between Britain and Japan, with a lot of talk but no real action. On the one hand, they acknowledge Japan's increasing encroachment in China, and on the other hand, they engage in strategic provocations against Japan from time to time.

Just like a psychopath.

Therefore, for the British, the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Chinese in Southeast Asia was actually a bargaining chip in their game with the Japanese.

To put it bluntly, but to be frank, the patriotic Chinese in Southeast Asia were actually in the same situation as a dog on a leash in the hands of the British Colonial Office.

The British Colonial Office played a game with the Japanese by holding the dog on a leash. When necessary, they would loosen their grip and let the dog bark a few times to scare the Japanese. After scaring the Japanese, they would tighten the leash or slap the dog twice.

Whenever the Japanese show off to him, he will loosen the dog chain a little and send them out to cheer them up.

In any case, he definitely didn't dare to let go completely and let the dog really bite the Japanese.

Because if the opponent gets angry, he really can't beat him even if he and his dog are put together.

As for the game, in Zheng Yi's view, the treaty that the British forced him to agree to, which stipulated not to sell weapons to his country, was a dog leash.

When the British needed them to bark at the Japanese, they actually turned a blind eye.

In this way, with the arduous journey and hard work of starting a business, even Zheng Yi felt that it was a bit of a burden to endure humiliation.

All the people in Penang gave them the greatest support. The factory workers were given a 50% discount when they ate out at restaurants, and water and electricity were all provided.

Although more than one million US dollars is not a particularly large amount, to be honest, this is all that the Nanyang Chinese can come up with in a short period of time. Everyone has been spending a lot of money recently, and they just donated once in 31 years.

During the economic crisis, everyone was bleeding, tightening their belts and gritting their teeth to persevere.

The workers eat and live in the factory, and there is no such thing as shift work. Whoever is tired goes to sleep and continues working when they wake up. As overseas Chinese, their patriotic enthusiasm is quite impressive.

Over the past few months, several people have died suddenly.

Thanks to their unremitting efforts, and even the British people from British Electric working overtime with them, the blast furnace of the steel plant finally started to move. The moment the molten iron flowed out, the whole of Penang was boiling.

then.

Just when all the people in the factory and the whole city were united and working day and night, batches of weapons and equipment were finally produced and things were getting on track.

Nanjing signed the Tanggu Agreement with Japan.

I won’t fight you anymore.

(End of this chapter)