On the eve of the fall of Liaodong, he led his troops in a remonstrance against the young marshal.

"Since the First Sino-Japanese War, Japanese pirates have invaded our vassal states, killed our compatriots, and destroyed our land."

"During the Boxer Rebellion, Japanese troops entered Beijing, burned and looted the palaces, and plundered our treasures."

"In the fourth year of the Republic of China, the Japanese absurdly proposed the Twenty-One Demands, attempting to destroy China and enslave our people."

"In the Battle of Lushun, 20,000 compatriots were brutally slaughtered, their blood staining the Tomb of Ten Thousand Loyal Men, and their bones piled up like mountains."

"For thirty years, the national humiliation has not been avenged and the old hatred has not been quelled. The Japanese invaders have become even more aggressive and brazenly launched the September 18 Incident."

"The people and soldiers of Northeast China refused to be slaves and rose up in resistance. Since the September 18 Incident, volunteer armies have spread everywhere, the people have donated grain, students have abandoned their studies, and brave men have joined the army."

"Between the white mountains and black waters, smoke of war was everywhere; along the banks of the Liao River and the Songjiang River, the land was ablaze with the flames of war. With flesh and blood, we defended against the tigers and wolves, even if we died nine times, we would not regret it; even if we faced ten thousand calamities, we would not hesitate."

"I am but a soldier, and dare not express my ambitions. However, when the country is in peril, every man has a responsibility. Although I am not talented, I am willing to lead the soldiers of the Northeast Army with all my heart and blood to fight the Japanese invaders to the death."

"In the Battle of Lushun, our Northeast Army soldiers fought bravely and killed more than 12,000 enemy soldiers, and recovered the entire territory of Lushun to comfort the spirits of the 20,000 heroes in heaven."

"In the Battle of Fengcheng, our armored group and air force cooperated to annihilate the Japanese 19th and 20th Divisions, killing more than 80,000 enemy soldiers and capturing countless spoils. The elite Japanese army was wiped out, and the entire Yalu River area was now under our control."

"These two battles are unprecedented victories for China in a century!"

"In this battle, our Northeast Army fought back fiercely, achieving a victory against overwhelming odds and defeating the strong with the weak. This was not merely a battle for the Northeast, but avenging the tragic deaths of our fallen heroes and giving our 400 million compatriots across China a chance to vent their anger!"

"Mingjin hereby declares to all compatriots across the nation: The Northeast Army is not cowardly! The Chinese people are not the sick men of East Asia!"

"The myth of the invincibility of the Japanese pirates has been shattered by the cannon fire of Luofeng Slope!"

"Their Class A divisions were nothing but scrap metal in front of the Northeast Army's tanks! Their Bushido spirit was nothing but a mantis trying to stop a chariot in the face of the Northeast Army's iron torrent!"

"From this day forward, let the world know that the Japanese pirates are not invincible, and that China is not without warriors!"

"From this day forward, let the great powers know that though China's land is vast, not an inch is superfluous; though China's people are weak, not a single one can be looked down upon!"

"The Northeast Army is not the army of the Zhang family alone, but the army of the 30 million elders of the Northeast and the army of the 400 million compatriots of all China."

"Now, in my capacity as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Border Defense Army, I hereby proclaim to the world: For all those who are determined to resist foreign aggression and recover our lost territories, the Northeast Army's doors are wide open, and we await any position!"

"All patriotic sons and daughters of China, regardless of north or south, whether civil or military, are welcome to join us!"

"Those who study military science can lead troops to kill the enemy, those who study chemical engineering can manufacture bullets and medicines, those who study foreign languages ​​can translate enemy reports, and those who study medicine can save lives and heal the wounded."

"Even a frail scholar, too weak to even kill a chicken, can wield his pen as a weapon, advocating and calling for the great cause of resisting Japanese pirates!"

"Although the Japanese pirates have been defeated, their navy remains formidable, their homeland is undamaged, and the recovered territory still needs to be consolidated."

"The Northeast Army dares not presume to be certain of victory, but with a heart full of passion, we vow to fight the Japanese invaders to the very end. I can assure my compatriots across the country of this."

"As long as the Northeast Army has a single soldier left, it will never retreat a single step! As long as it has a single gun and a single bullet left, it will never cease its resistance! Until the Japanese pirates are completely driven out of Chinese territory and every inch of the lost land is recovered!"

"Our mountains and rivers remain, but our national humiliation remains unavenged. I urge all my fellow countrymen to strive together, to start anew, to rebuild our lost land, and to face the imperial court once more!"

"As Yue Fei once said, 'Let us march straight to the enemy's capital and drink heartily with you all.'"

"Today, I, Zhang Xueming, also share these words with all my compatriots: Let us rebuild our lost land and drink a celebratory toast together!"

Then, Zhang Xueming wrote his signature:

"Zhang Xueming, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Border Defense Army".

He signed his name, affixed the official seal of the Commander-in-Chief of the Northeast Army, and then handed the telegram to the communications officer.

"Broadcast the full text in plaintext so that the whole world can receive it."

The communications officer took the telegram, his hands trembling.

"Commander-in-Chief, this...this will be transmitted to the south, to Beiping, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, to every place with a shortwave radio station."

Zhang Xueming glanced at him and a slight smirk appeared on his lips.

"The goal is to ensure that everyone receives it."

Once the telegram was sent, every shortwave radio station along its route received the signal at the same moment, and every coder stared wide-eyed as they copied down the message.

Then they rushed out of the telegram room like madmen and shoved the telegrams into the hands of their respective superiors.

The news first reached Fengtian.

............

In Fengtian City, it was just beginning to get light.

When the telegram arrived in Fengtian, the first to receive the news were the adjutant who remained to defend the city.

After reading the telegram, he stood motionless in his office for a full thirty seconds.

Then he flung open the drawer, pulled out a Northeast Army flag, rushed to the window, stretched the flag out, and frantically waved it at the soldiers changing guard outside, shouting until his voice was hoarse.

"Great Victory at Lushun! Great Victory at Fengcheng! The Commander-in-Chief has annihilated three Japanese divisions! 120,000 enemy troops killed!!"

"The Kwantung Army has been annihilated!"

That shout was like a stone thrown into calm water.

The soldiers who were changing shifts were the first to react.

An old soldier, about forty years old, with deep wrinkles on his face, dropped his rifle with a thud after hearing those words.

"What did you say? What did you say? Say it again!"

"Great Victory at Lushun! Great Victory at Fengcheng! The Second Marshal annihilated 120,000 enemy troops!"

The old soldier stood there, mouth agape, and suddenly began to cry.

A veteran who had served for twenty years, who had been oppressed by the Japanese for half his life, who had suffered countless humiliations and swallowed countless tears and blood, now stood on the streets of Fengtian City, wailing like a child.

"Mother! Mother!"

He cried and shouted, "The Second Marshal has avenged you! Can you see it from heaven?!"

"When you were harmed by the Japanese devils, your son was useless and cowardly! Today, your second commander has avenged you!!"

The people around were initially stunned, then they started to erupt in excitement.

A middle-aged man carrying a load of tofu on a shoulder pole put the load down on the ground, ignoring the tofu that was scattered all over the ground, and rushed over to grab the old soldier by the shoulder, his eyes wide open:

"A great victory? You mean a great victory? Was it the Second Marshal?"

"It was the Second Marshal who fought! It was all the Second Marshal who fought! Thirty-eight thousand were annihilated at Lushun, and eighty thousand at Fengcheng! Two Japanese divisions and the Kwantung Army, not a single one escaped!!"

The tofu seller suddenly raised his head, looked up at the hazy clouds in the sky, and shouted with all his might:

"Long live the two heroes!!"

That shout was like igniting a powder keg.

The whole street was in an uproar.

The shop door was smashed open from the inside, and the shopkeeper, the shop assistant, and the accountant all rushed into the street, asking everyone they met what had happened.

Then they heard about the victories at Lushun and Fengcheng.

No one organized it, no one called for it, but everyone shouted the same thing at the same moment:

"Long live the Second Marshal! Long live the Northeast Army!"

Meanwhile, those righteous people who had traveled long distances from all over the country were also experiencing the most unforgettable day of their lives in Fengtian City.

They come from different places and have different backgrounds.

Some of them came from Beiping, wearing faded long gowns and round-framed glasses; they looked like scholars.

Some of them came from Tianjin, wearing Western-style jackets with pens in their pockets, and speaking with a Haihe accent.

Some of them came from Shanghai, dressed elegantly and behaving refinedly, clearly scions of well-educated families.

Others came from Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan...

People came from all over the country; some took trains, some hitchhiked, and some even walked all the way.

Most of them were students.

The students of this era are among the first to awaken, and also among the most suffering.

Because they are literate and can see the outside world, they are more aware than ordinary people of the extent to which the country has declined.

They had read the history of the First Sino-Japanese War, the records of the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, and the humiliating treaties of the Paris Peace Conference, so their pain was deeper than anyone else's.

Many of them shed tears while looking at their textbooks late at night, clenched their fists in class when they thought about the future of the country, and argued with their classmates in the dormitory until dawn about ways to save the country.

They are the conscience of this nation, but they are also a group of young people on the verge of being crushed by despair.

In this era, they are the most clear-headed, the most tormented, and the most desperate, because they cannot see any hope for the country.

Foreign powers invaded, the Japanese were eyeing the country covetously, warlords fought amongst themselves, the nation was deeply mired in problems, and the people suffered terribly.

The students knew how powerful and glorious this country had once been, but the more they knew, the more heartbroken they became, because they didn't know how to save the country.

But now, a glimmer of hope has finally appeared amidst the despair.

On the streets of Fengtian City, processions from all corners of the city converged, forming a surging river of people.

Leading the way were students from Northeastern University, who held aloft a huge red flag with four large black characters that read, "Long Live the Second Marshal."

Following behind were medical students, wearing white coats and holding banners that read "Expel the Japanese pirates and restore China."

Behind them were students from the College of Engineering, who worked through the night to make a huge wooden sign with a diagram of the Battle of Luofengpo.

The procession marched north along Zhongjie Street in a grand procession, with crowds of onlookers packed on both sides of the road. Some climbed onto walls, some climbed trees, and some carried their children on their shoulders.

Everyone craned their necks to look at the parade.

The students chanted slogans as they walked:

"A great victory in Northeast China, showcasing our national power!"

"With the two commanders victorious, China will surely prosper!"

"We will not return home until the Japanese pirates are defeated!"

The slogans were deafening, and the entire Zhongjie Street seemed to vibrate in rhythm.

A college student from Beiping stood in the parade and shouted until his voice was hoarse.

His name was Meng Yunzhang, a student in the Chinese Department of Yenching University. Two months ago, he gave up his studies and set off from Beiping with several classmates, traveling all the way to Northeast China, just to join Zhang Xueming's Northeast Army.

His face still carried the naivety of a scholar, but his eyes already held a firmness that his peers lacked.

Standing on the land of Northeast China, on the main street of Fengtian City, listening to the thunderous cheers all around him, he couldn't stop the tears from flowing down his face.

His classmate tugged at his sleeve and asked:

"Yunzhang, why are you crying?"

Meng Yunzhang wiped away his tears and said:

"Do you remember what our teacher said when we left Beiping?"

"The teacher said that there is no hope for the Northeast. They can't possibly be a match for the Japanese. There's no point in you going there. You might as well stay and finish your studies."

"But I say, what is the purpose of studying? It is to save the country! If the country is gone, what's the use of studying so many books?"

"Look at today, look at the people filling the streets, look at these cheering citizens, who said Northeast China is finished?"

"The Northeast is the hope of China. We made the right choice coming here. I must fight the Japanese devils alongside the Second Marshal. Even if I die on the battlefield, I will have no regrets!"

"If I cannot follow the Second Marshal in killing the Japanese devils in this life, I will have lived in vain!"

His classmate didn't answer because he was also crying.

Not far behind them walked a young girl wearing a gray cotton robe.

Her name is Shen Ruowei. She is a student in the Department of Foreign Languages ​​at Nanjing Jinling Women's University, majoring in Japanese and Russian.

Her father was a low-ranking civil servant in the Nanjing Nationalist government. Her family was well-off, and she could have comfortably finished university, found a respectable job, married into a good family, and lived a peaceful and stable life.

But she did not choose that path.

After hearing the news of Zhang Xueming's recapture of Lushun, she secretly bought a train ticket north without telling her family. She took a train for a day and a night to Tianjin, and then hitched a ride on a coal truck to Fengtian.

When she arrived in Fengtian, her clothes were completely blackened by coal dust, and her hair was full of coal ash, but her eyes were frighteningly bright.

Her reason for coming to Northeast China was very simple.

She saw in the newspaper that the Northeast Army urgently needed people who could speak Japanese to translate captured Japanese documents.

She felt that if she didn't put her Japanese skills to use after studying them for so many years, what would be the point of learning them?

In her dormitory at Jinling Women's University, her roommates advised her not to go to Northeast China, saying that the region was too dangerous due to war and chaos. They asked what would happen if something happened to a girl traveling so far away.

She said something that silenced her roommate completely.

"If everyone who speaks Japanese stays behind, who will translate the Japanese intelligence?"

Standing on the streets of Fengtian City, looking at the bustling crowds around her, she felt that all the hardships and struggles along the way had been worth it.