Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 508 Continuous Operations, Guangzhou's Hidden Treasure

The battle on the Beijiang River lasted only one day, but it caused a huge sensation.

This story begins with the Nationalist Army fleet.

Their pain remains at Sixian Cellar, where a warship was sunk.

Now that they had captured Sixianjiao and even reached the other side of the Beijiang River, Commander Huang of the river defense fleet couldn't wait to contact Fang Wen by telegram, wanting to send this great news back to Zhaoqing.

Fang Wen did not stop him from doing so.

This counter-offensive was launched under circumstances of Japanese command failure, aiming to catch the enemy off guard. If the Japanese command system were to resume operation, the battle on the opposite bank of the Beijiang River would not be so easy, and there was even a possibility of retreat.

Using this victory for publicity would be a good choice.

Soon after, on the afternoon of December 30, news of the great victory reached Zhaoqing.

People from all sides stranded in Zhaoqing, as well as the local military and government, were greatly shocked.

Immediately afterwards, a group of people who were there to offer condolences and conduct on-site interviews boarded another gunboat of the river defense fleet and headed to Sixianjiao.

December 30th, 12 PM.

On the surface of the Sixianjiao River, a gunboat flying the flag of the Republic of China slowly sailed through the channel.

The deck was crowded with reporters carrying cameras, patriotic students and teachers, church doctors and nurses carrying medical kits, and several Nationalist government officials wearing round-framed glasses.

"Look! That's the Japanese artillery position that was destroyed!" A young representative from Zhaoqing, dressed in a school uniform, shouted, pointing to the charred fortifications on the east bank, prompting everyone to take out their binoculars to look.

The smoke from the gun emplacement had not yet completely dissipated, and the ruins of the two coastal defense guns showed everyone the intensity of the battle.

The gunboat sailed past Sixianjiao and entered the Beijiang River, docking at the pier on the opposite bank.

As soon as the gangplank was set up, several ladies from the Zhaoqing Women's Salvation Association rushed off the boat with bamboo baskets. The baskets contained steaming hot glutinous rice chicken and Cantonese mooncakes wrapped in red paper—these were obviously not made on the spot, but bought from a restaurant. The restaurant owner, upon hearing this, happily provided all the food for free.

Mrs. Chen, who was leading the group, had a trendy perm, and her pearl earrings shone slightly in the morning light where the smoke of battle had not yet dissipated.

"Soldier, have a mooncake for good luck!" She stopped a soldier from Sichuan in the 3rd Company, 3rd Battalion of the Independent Regiment, whose face was covered in soot, and stuffed the oil paper package into his arms without saying a word.

The young soldier stood at attention, saluting awkwardly, his face flushed.

This caused the wives of the officials to cover their mouths and laugh, completely unaware that this young soldier, not yet 20, had been fighting for a year and had personally killed two Japanese soldiers on the battlefield.

A reporter from the Central Daily News, dressed in a dark blue uniform, took the opportunity to take pictures with a Leica camera worth the price of a small yellow croaker. The flash went off, startling the egrets in the reeds on the shore.

After taking photos of the delegation and soldiers together, the reporters interviewed the soldiers.

The soldiers interviewed came from different branches of the military, including the navy and the army, but notably absent were the air force personnel who were resting in Yangjiang.

But that was enough. The soldiers vividly described what they saw, which was carefully recorded by the reporters.

Several female students wearing indigo cheongsams took the opportunity to present the soldiers with a banner embroidered with "Return My Rivers and Mountains," and took the opportunity to take another round of photos.

But some reporters felt that this was not enough.

"Please tell us about the sinking of the enemy ship!" A reporter from the Shen Bao newspaper stationed in Guangzhou, with a slicked-back hairstyle, stopped Commander Huang, his fountain pen scribbling furiously in his notebook.

"I'm sorry, I don't give interviews." Commander Huang declined the interview.

The reporters, unwilling to give up, then approached the sailor.

The sailors of the river defense fleet were surrounded. A gunner with thick eyebrows and large eyes was pressed for details. He stammered out, "The planes of the Taishan Independent Regiment were like thunderbolts descending to earth," which drew laughter from the crowd. He scratched his head anxiously, "You didn't see it. The Japanese warships were huge, and their armor was ridiculously thick, but it was useless. The Independent Regiment's planes tore the decks to shreds. The Japanese gunners couldn't fire at all. We took the opportunity to get closer."

He wanted to say more, but his superior stopped him. He was told that such propaganda-style interviews should be kept to a minimum and that too much information should not be revealed during wartime.

Among this group were medical personnel who had volunteered to come to the front lines. They were taken to a temporary medical shed, where church nurses wearing swallowtail caps took over the work of the Independent Regiment's medics and changed the dressings for the wounded.

When the gauze was lifted, the wound on the young soldier's leg caused the female students watching to cover their mouths in shock. The old nurse, however, remained calm, took out sulfanilamide powder from her nickel-plated medical kit, and applied it to the soldier's wound for dressing changes.

Suddenly someone pointed to the sky and exclaimed in surprise; it turned out that a gunboat had flown by.

The gunboat landed on the river, and Fang Wen's disembarkation caused a sensation among the visitors and interviewers, who flocked to him, eager to get up close to this legendary pilot.

As soon as Fang Wen stepped off the plane and landed, he received a warm welcome.

Applause, cheers, and the constant clicking of camera shutters filled the air.

Gong Xiuneng, along with soldiers from the regimental headquarters' guard platoon who had arrived on the same flight, blocked the reporters and members of the visiting delegation.

A reporter shouted, "Commander Fang, can you give an interview?"

Fang Wen stopped and said, "Sorry, we don't give interviews during wartime. You can take more photos of other things. By the way, go take pictures of the sunken ship on the river. It still has its mast sticking out of the water, which is quite unique."

Upon hearing Fang Wen's words, the reporters all looked in the direction he was pointing.

On the surface of the Beijiang River, a section of the mast of the sunken Ataka ship was still visible above the water.

Unexpectedly, the strange upright mast of the Ataka came in handy at this moment.

As the reporters swarmed to change direction, Fang Wen also headed to the temporary command post on the other side of the dock.

There, Commander Huang of the River Defense Fleet and William, the ground commander, were waiting for Fang Wen.

Fang Wen entered the room and had the communications soldier bring out the homemade military telegraph machine from Taishan, preparing for a wartime multi-party meeting.

The communications soldier adjusted the frequency and sent a message.

After a while, he replied, "The 62nd Army has sent a telegram saying that Chini Town has been completely recaptured, and the meeting can begin."

Fang Wen then spoke up: "In today's battle, we recaptured Sixianjiao and the Japanese positions on the opposite bank of the Beijiang River. The 62nd Army marched from Qingyuan and captured an important Japanese military stronghold in Huaxian. Now, the question we face is how to proceed."

As he spoke, he got up and walked to the military map, pointing to a small river on the map that connected the Beijiang River and the city of Guangzhou.

"This is Quhe. The next plan is for the 62nd Army to send a division to Quhe to join our troops, and then launch a flanking attack on the Japanese garrison west of Guangzhou, making sure to disrupt all of the Japanese deployments here."

This is the true purpose of Fang Wen's plan.

He looked at the communications officer and said, “Send a telegram to the 62nd Army and tell them that with your current strength, you are simply unable to recapture Guangzhou. However, the battle cannot be avoided. Therefore, take advantage of the collapse of the Japanese command system to launch targeted attacks on the Japanese troops stationed at various points west of Guangzhou. This will effectively dampen the arrogance of the Japanese army. But the requirement is that this division must accept my command and cannot disobey orders.”

This is the true purpose of Fang Wen's plan.

The 12th Army Group was of little use; it could be brave for a moment, but it was unable to defeat the more than 30,000 troops of three Japanese divisions.

Therefore, Fang Wen had already planned that the main purpose of this battle was to boost morale and weaken the enemy.

Upon learning the full details of Fang Wen's plan, Commander Huang asked, "Then what about our navy?"

"We'll need your help to hold this position for a while. If the Japanese mobilize their troops to surround and kill us, we might have to retreat. We'll need your cooperation then," Fang Wen explained.

To give Commander Huang more confidence, Fang Wen added, "I just scouted the area. There is only one heavy inland gunboat on the Beijiang River, which we have already sunk. If we want to send other inland gunboats over, they will have to come from the Yangtze River. We have plenty of time to complete the operation."

Commander Huang nodded, which was considered as his agreement to the plan.

The delegation departed at 8 p.m.

They returned to Zhaoqing, and most of them dispersed to go home and rest.

The reporters, meanwhile, excitedly sent their interview reports back to their respective newspapers.

Such good news naturally deserved to be widely publicized, and the Nationalist government's radio stations broadcast it urgently.

"Breaking news: During the war in the western Japanese war zone of Guangzhou, our army has now recovered some lost territory, sank a Japanese heavy river warship, and shot down 8 Japanese warplanes."

This broadcast was simultaneously aired at both the North and South stations, including the Hong Kong station. However, the news report did not specify which military unit was responsible.

While others were wondering why the military unit number wasn't mentioned, people in Hong Kong learned the whole story through other reporters.

Many of those who fled to Hong Kong were running newspapers, and they immediately set aside their front pages to report the good news.

The British Broadcasting Corporation in Hong Kong even broadcast a report overnight, revealing details of the Taishan Independent Regiment's involvement in the battle.

The broadcast gave hope to those who had fled to Hong Kong; every victory was something they longed for.

Among them, there was a group of people who were particularly concerned about the Taishan Independent Regiment.

Those were the families of Guangzhou merchants who flew from Yangjiang to Hong Kong.

Kadoorie Hill, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

Kadoorie Hill, located in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, was already one of Hong Kong's most prestigious residential areas in the 1930s.

Kadoorie Road and Blackie Street are the two main roads of Kadoorie Hill, both named in 1936.

Kadoorie Road is mostly lined with detached houses, surrounded by walls and gates, offering tight security and a high degree of privacy; while the mansions on Blackpool Street are mainly three-story detached houses, surrounded by trees.

Many wealthy people from Guangzhou own property here, and they are staying here after fleeing to Hong Kong.

In one of the mansions located on Kadoorie Avenue, the owners of various companies in the Guangzhou Gold Industry Alliance gathered.

As soon as they arrived, they started talking about the Taishan Independent Regiment.

"Mr. Fang is truly an extraordinary person. The 12th Army Group becomes so fierce when it cooperates with him."

"Bah, if they had been half as brave as they are now in October, they wouldn't have abandoned Guangzhou and fled."

"Yes, we also listened to them, which caused everyone to suffer heavy losses."

"It's not too bad. At least we hid the gold and silver in secret places, and the Japanese army definitely wouldn't be able to find them."

"Not necessarily. The Japanese recruited a large number of traitors to form a puppet regime, including some local thugs. They are very shrewd and greedy. Who knows when they might find our hidden gold?"

"You know what, that's actually quite possible. I've received word that the maintenance committee has already started searching all over Guangzhou, probably with that in mind."

At this point in the conversation, someone revealed, "They have already gone to Pantang, and more than once. It's likely that someone leaked the information."

"So, the traitorous dog knows we hid the gold in Pantang, but doesn't know the exact location!"

"That's probably the case; that batch of gold is likely to be stolen."

"If that's the case, it would be better to use it as military supplies to fight against Japan."

"What's the point of saying all this? There's no going back in life."

The gold shop owners sighed and complained, and finally the house owner spoke up.

“I think we should just give up on this batch of gold. We’ll contact Mr. Fang now and tell him where the gold is hidden. If he can take it, that would be a good thing.”

“Yes, yes, that’s excellent,” one of the shop owners agreed.

They were quite familiar with Fang Wen. Two years ago, when they were trying to stop the international silver price, they used Fang Wen's idea to cause Japan to suffer a huge loss.

Not to mention, Fang Wen's father-in-law is also a member of the Gold Industry Alliance, so it's even more reassuring to give him gold to fight against the Japanese.

But how do we contact Fang Wen?
The homeowner then spoke up, "I have a solution. As long as everyone agrees, I'll go find someone."

Finally, the owners of the Gold Industry Alliance reached a consensus and decided to inform Fang Wen about the gold hoarding in Guangzhou.

August 12th at 31 am.

200 soldiers from the Independent Regiment and another 600 soldiers from the Combined Forces set off, leaving 1000 men to defend the shore.

With warships and a 1000-strong force, holding the position shouldn't be a problem.

Fang Wenze commanded from the air aboard the Qinyuan.

As for the 10 gunboats, they remained in Yangjiang on standby.

Under his mechanically perceptive eagle eye, the movements of the nearby Japanese troops were clearly visible.

They all remained holed up in their respective strongholds, showing no intention of launching any offensive.

This suggests that the Japanese command system has not yet been restored, greatly increasing the chances of success in this operation.

Two and a half hours later, the team arrived at the Quhe River, 24 kilometers away.

On the other side of the river was a division of the 62nd Army.

After the two sides communicated across the river and made their arrangements, the 62nd Army crossed the river via the nearby stone bridge.

It was already 6:30 a.m.

Fang Wen's first combat order was to bring together the troops and charge towards the designated stronghold.

This time, without the need for gunboats or aircraft, the troops easily eliminated the first target and then quickly moved on to the next one.

The Japanese army had more than a dozen strongholds on the Quhe River west of Guangzhou. These strongholds drew on the experience in the north and attempted to control the key roads in the suburbs.

In theory, these strongholds can support each other, so if one is attacked, support can be provided from all sides.

But now, they have become fixed targets, which are being defeated one by one by the army under Fang Wen's command.

To conserve ammunition, individual rocket launchers were not used; instead, 20mm anti-aircraft guns towed by military vehicles were used as the assault force.

The dual-purpose anti-aircraft gun was finally used at a horizontal firing angle. The anti-aircraft gun, equipped with armor-piercing shells, could easily penetrate Japanese strongholds and buildings. Generally, four to five shots were enough to destroy a wall.

Under the sharp attack of anti-aircraft guns, the stronghold's defenses collapsed, and the troops immediately stormed in.

One by one, the strongholds were destroyed, and Fang Wen's plan was gradually eliminating the Japanese army's tactics deployed in western Guangzhou.

It will take at least another two months to recover.

And what about the Japanese reinforcements?
From the direction of Guangzhou, a troop arrived late, heading towards the attacked stronghold.

This is a complete infantry regiment with more than 3000 men, equipped with various weapons, infantry guns towed by military vehicles, and 10 tanks.

Before they arrived, Fang Wen had already issued a transfer order.

"Attention ground troops, 3000 Japanese troops are on their way. Cease the attack and immediately move to the riverside area."

The troops retreated south and stood ready for battle on the riverbank.

Three warships on the riverbank had their cannons pointed at the shore.

We were just waiting for the Japanese army to come and fight.

Instead of coming over, the Japanese troops stationed themselves near Quhe, resulting in a stalemate.

At this time, Fang Wen also received a telegram from the Yangjiang garrison.

[Someone has come from Yangjiang city. They say they received a call from Hong Kong and there's something important that needs to be discussed with you.]

Just then, Fang Wen needed to go back to resupply and repair his ship, so he piloted the Qinyuan back to port.

(End of this chapter)