Chapter 844 843 [The First Bombing of Chongqing]

On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Liu Xiang's body was transported back to Sichuan.

On the sixth day of the lunar month, important military and political officials from the central government and Sichuan held a public memorial ceremony for Liu Xiang in Chengdu.

Zhou Hexuan also took his wife there and presented a handwritten elegiac couplet to express his deep condolences to Liu Xiang's family.

The atmosphere of the public memorial ceremony was solemn and sad. Especially the Sichuan military and political personnel all cried bitterly. Wang Zanxu, who had a deep conflict with Liu Xiang, also shed a few tears. When these Sichuan officials returned home, they immediately began to discuss in private, and rumors about the mystery of Liu Xiang's death spread everywhere.

The content of the rumor is roughly as follows: Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use the resistance against Japan to weaken the Sichuan army and eliminate local forces in Sichuan. Liu Xiang felt bad, so he conspired with Han Fuqu to rebel against Chiang. When Han Fuju was trapped by Chiang Kai-shek, Liu Xiang was horrified and planned to fake his own death to return to Sichuan, but Chiang Kai-shek found out. On the pretext of expressing solemn condolences, Chiang ordered the coffin to be repainted and suffocated Liu Xiang to death in the coffin.

After this word spread among the people, various versions were immediately derived. Even the details of Chiang Kai-shek suffocating Liu Xiang to death were completed by good people. That is: Liu Xiang took Western medicine and faked his death and was buried in the coffin. Chiang Kai-shek pretended to be confused and went to pay his respects with a sad look on his face. Seeing that there was still a gap in the coffin for breathing, Lao Jiang immediately threw himself on the coffin and cried bitterly, blocking the gap tightly. After crying for two hours, Lao Jiang finally suffocated Liu Xiang to death.

Not only that, the rumors have become more diverse. For example, Liu Xiang was not sick at all, but pretended to be sick and wanted to return to Sichuan. Chiang Kai-shek sent Dai Li to bribe the nurse and replace the life-saving medicine with poison, causing Liu Xiang to be poisoned to death in a daze.

Anyway, the core of these rumors is: Chiang Kai-shek killed Liu Xiang!

Sichuan people believe these rumors nine times out of ten. After all, there is always a market for conspiracy theories. Chiang Kai-shek was so passive that he specifically called Wang Lingji, the general of the Sichuan Army, saying that "the traitor took advantage of the opportunity to create rumors and confuse the facts." He hoped that Wang Lingji could help explain and dispel the Sichuan Army's misunderstanding of the Central Committee.

Whether Liu Xiang was killed or not is a mystery and no one can tell.

Judging from the secret documents released by later generations, Chang Kaishen and Dai Li did conspire. The original text of Dai Li's telegram is as follows: "I will immediately go to Secretary Mao of the Nanjing Military Commission (head of the old Chiang Kai-shek's Office) and Brother Qingxiang to personally translate it. Please forward it to Chairman Jun Jian. I came to Han from Changsha yesterday to wait for Yang Mou (Yang Hucheng) ). It is reported that Liu Xiang will arrive in Han Dynasty today to return to Sichuan due to illness. If Liu returns to Sichuan, it will not be conducive to the central government's long-term resistance war in the future. What should be done to Liu? I beg for immediate telegram... Please telegram from Hankou Transferred by Director Jian of the Inspection Division of the Security Command."

This telegram was sent by Dai Li to Mao Qingxiang, leader of the fourth group of Chang Kaishen's attendant's office. He said that when he was waiting in Changsha to transfer Yang Hucheng, he received news that Liu Xiang wanted to return to Sichuan on the pretext of illness. Liu Xiang's return to Sichuan would not be conducive to the war of resistance. , please give Chang Kaishen early instructions.

On the third day after the telegram was sent, Chang Kaishen convened a staff discussion and decided on a strategy to solve the problem of Liu Xiang and Sichuan. The specifics of the strategy remained a mystery and were not announced decades later.

Therefore, it is possible that Chang Kaishen killed Liu Xiang.

But Liu Xiang was indeed seriously ill and vomited blood at that time. According to Liu Xiang's confidant Liu Hangchen, Liu Xiang already had "stomach troubles and severe vomiting of blood" when he was in Nanjing. Therefore, Liu Xiang himself was very likely to die of illness.

Regardless of the cause of Liu Xiang's death, he must be suspicious in the eyes of the Sichuan warlords so that they have an excuse to resist the central government's control of Sichuan affairs.

Even these guys came to see Zhou Hexuan, such as Chongqing Mayor Li Hongkun...

When Li Hongkun met, he said: "Mr. Zhou, Commander Liu died unjustly! You and Commander Liu are old friends. You have to stand up and speak for him. You cannot let Commander Liu die in an unknown manner... Please also ask Mr. Zhou to write This article seeks justice for Commander Liu!"

Zhou Hexuan could only shake his head and smile bitterly, and said some perfunctory words to send Li Hongkun away.

Chang Kaishen still had a way, and he blocked the mouths of the Sichuan warlords with various official appointments and wishes. For example, Li Hongkun was appointed chief of staff of the 21st Army by Chiang Kai-shek. He was actually promoted and was equivalent to the third-ranking figure in the main force of the Sichuan Army.

The Sichuan warlords softened their complaints against Chiang Kai-shek and began to target Wang Zanxu, the acting provincial chairman, allowing Chiang Kai-shek to reap the benefits in vain.

As for our head of state, Chairman Lin, since he visited Zhou Hexuan that day, he has been visiting Zhou's residence every now and then. He liked Zhoufu's tea very much, and he also liked Blind Abing's erhu. In the afternoon, he would sit under the tree, drink tea and listen to the piano. Lin Sen enjoyed this kind of life very much.

Of course, Lin Sen often visited Zhou Hexuan's private collection room. The "Han Xizai Night Banquet", which was identified as an authentic work from the early Northern Song Dynasty, was turned over and over by Lin Sen to appreciate it. The little old man couldn't wait to take the painting home.

The sun was shining brightly on this day, sweeping away the humidity brought by the continuous spring rain.

Lin Sen volunteered to be a coolie and helped bring Zhou Hexuan's collection to the courtyard to dry. He carefully spread out the calligraphy and paintings, and admired them while drying them. He suddenly said in shock: "Mingcheng, you actually have Su Dongpo's "Han Shi Tie"!"

"It's just a copy from the Ming Dynasty, the real thing is in Japan." Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said.

Su Dongpo's "Han Shi Tie", together with Wang Xizhi's "Lanting Preface" and Yan Zhenqing's "Nephew Memorial Manuscript", are known as "the three major running scripts in the world". Hearing that the authentic "Han Shi Tie" was actually in Japan, Lin Sen suddenly said depressedly: "How could it fall into the hands of the Japanese invaders?"

Zhou Hexuan knew this very well and said: "When the Old Summer Palace burned down, "Han Shi Tie" was lost among the people and was acquired by Feng Zhanyun. Later, it changed to three collectors."

Lin Sen nodded and said, "I know about this. In the sixth year of the Republic of China, "Han Shi Tie" was exhibited at a calligraphy and painting exhibition. How could it have traveled across the ocean to Japan?"

Zhou Hexuan sarcastically said: "Because the Japanese paid high prices, Yan Yunbo sold "Han Shi Tie" to the Japanese."

"Yan is so confused!" Lin Sen lamented this.

Zhou Hexuan didn't care. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, "Han Shi Tie" would be bought back by the Chinese people and eventually be treasured in the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

Lin Sen admired the antiques, sat down and asked, "Mingcheng, you are leaving tomorrow. How confident are you that you are going to the United States to seek loans?"

Zhou Hexuan shook his head and said: "If I go to the United States, I will get nothing. If I go to the Soviet Union, I will be 100% sure to get funds for the Anti-Japanese War."

"Then you go to the Soviet Union!" Lin Sen said happily.

"It's the same no matter who goes to the Soviet Union. I don't need to worry about it." Zhou Hexuan refused.

In fact, in the early days of China's Anti-Japanese War, the Soviet Union not only sent volunteers to participate in the war, but also successively provided large amounts of financial support. A few days after the July 7th Incident broke out, the Soviet Union provided China with a loan of 50 million U.S. dollars. In the following three years, it provided two large loans, and the cumulative total of loans to China reached 250 million U.S. dollars.

The Soviet Union's move had only one purpose, which was to let China hold back Japan so that Japan would have no energy to attack the Soviet Union.

Lin Sen nodded and said with emotion: "Ten years ago, I thought the Soviet Union was China's number one enemy and strongly opposed the first cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. Who would have thought that now the Soviet Union has become China's number one ally? Things are unpredictable and ever-changing. !”

"It's just profit." Zhou Hexuan said.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

As soon as Zhou Hexuan finished speaking, he heard a series of explosions suddenly coming from the north.

Lin Sen stood up suddenly and exclaimed: "It's like a plane bomb!"

Zhou Hexuan added: "In the direction of Jiangbei County (later Yubei District)."

"What's wrong, the Japanese are blowing up the factory!"

Lin Sen was very anxious and said to Zhou Hexuan: "Mingcheng, I'm going to take my leave now. Please send a ship to take me to Chongqing to camp."

This was the first bombing of Chongqing by the Japanese invaders. They not only bombed the factories in Jiangbei County, but also bombed the airport in Guangyangba. It's just that Guangyang Dam is too far away from Zhou's mansion and the sound can no longer be heard. I didn't find out until I read the newspaper the next day.

There were not many casualties in this bombing, but the losses were huge. Guangyangba Airport was bombed into a mess.

As early as a month ago, Zhou Hexuan had told Li Gengu to beware of bombings, with the airport being the top priority. But Li Gengu was busy with the political struggle after Liu Xiang's death and did not implement it seriously at all. As a result, more than half of the Sichuan Army's planes have been blown up.

Well, it doesn't really matter, those planes are just outdated junk...

It is a pity that there are two factories in Jiangbei, both of which produce civilian supplies. They have been bombed into ruins by the Japanese invaders.

For the time being, Japanese planes will not bomb the main urban area of ​​Chongqing - after all, the flight range is too far and it is not cost-effective to drop bombs on the heads of civilians.