Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 201 The British don’t want Singapore, but we Chinese do
"Mr. Zheng, the Japanese army has withdrawn troops from our country."

"Hmm? Which troops have been mobilized?"

"The 56th Division that attacked Yunnan, the 38th Division (from Vietnam), the 33rd Division in Central China, the 55th Division in South China, and the 15th Division in North China, a total of five divisions, all came to reinforce Nanyang."

Zheng Yi paused for a moment before saying, "Two divisions have been dispatched from Yunnan alone... Okay, I understand. Let's have a meeting later so we can discuss this together."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi also sighed deeply and took out the map of Southeast Asia that had been drawn in a rather messy way and began to look at it.

As the saying goes, if you read 300 Tang poems, you will be able to recite them even if you can't write poems.

Although he still doesn't dare to say that he can fight, and still considers himself a military layman, he is indeed getting better and better at reading maps.

"At this point, I'm afraid the Japanese army must have hated me to the core, right?"

In a blink of an eye, more than five months have passed since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, almost half a year. According to the original history, Marshal MacArthur would have already fled to Australia at this time.

Now, the Bataan Peninsula has not been taken, and the bomber formation in Penang has been fully integrated and is growing stronger day by day. There are more and more Chinese from Penang among the pilots who can fly bombers.

Basically every day, they would go out to find an oil well or mining area that they liked in the Dutch East Indies and blow it up. Sometimes they would throw incendiary bombs. Once the bomb hit the target accurately, the oil well fire that had been extinguished with great difficulty would burn again.

After such a long time, about one-third of the oil in the Dutch East Indies is still on fire and has not been extinguished. The overall oil production is less than one-tenth of the pre-war level.

According to the intelligence obtained by Lin Shaoliang, within a year, the Japanese army could at most restore Indonesia's oil production to about 30%-40%.

What's more, even if the Japanese army could restore some of its oil production, its refining would still be a problem.

Because now almost 100% of the oil from Nanyang is sent to Penang for refining, and Zheng Yi has such a good relationship with Shell Oil, the entire oil refining companies in the Dutch East Indies, the entire industry, all the equipment that can be dismantled has been dismantled and sent to Zheng Yi.

Several refineries in Penang used large amounts of oil from the Dutch East Indies.

The oil wells seized by the Japanese army were still burning and damaged. They only needed to put out the fire and repair the oil wells, and they could continue to be mined. At most, the output would be lower.

But in the refinery, all the valuable, technically difficult, and easy-to-transport parts were long gone.

Japan does not have the relevant industrial accumulation, so if he wants to buy it now, he definitely cannot, and can only figure it out on his own.

In other words, the Japanese army's oil supply was still very tight, and even replenishment could not make up for the consumption.

In general, a wave of sudden raids directly crippled the original US Pacific Fleet, almost drove Britain out of the entire Southeast Asia, and completely wiped out the Dutch in Asia, which was in line with expectations.

But the momentum of this wave of surprise attack has finally come to an end. The next step will not be a surprise attack anymore. They will inevitably adopt the tactic of adding fuel to the fire, or even a full-scale attack and multi-line encirclement.

A large-scale positional war and a war of attrition broke out with Zheng Yi's forces, the only remaining ones in the entire Nanyang, and the US military, which was still struggling to survive.

"Next, I'm afraid the war will truly begin. These five divisions are probably just the beginning."

It is understood that Japan has begun a new round of large-scale mobilization. In any case, there are no proper job opportunities in the country. If nothing unexpected happens, the domestic battlefield will only maintain a stalemate, and those elite troops will be transferred here one after another and replaced by those newly recruited recruits.

At present, in the entire Nanyang battlefield, the Japanese army has mobilized less than ten army divisions in total, and there are only three main attacking forces on the Malayan side. Now five more have been transferred here at once, and Zheng Yi has a vague premonition that these five divisions must be here to deal with him.

The existence of Penang was too much for the Japanese army, and Zheng Yi himself knew that he must be a thorn in the eyes and flesh of the Japanese.

In the Philippines, with Zheng Yi's support, the Bataan Peninsula could not be captured at all, and unless there was a large-scale reinforcement of troops, it would basically be impossible to fight.

The US-Philippines coalition forces originally had 80,000 troops. With the support of Penang, not only were their guns and ammunition replenished, but they also had countless rocket launchers, grenade launchers, flat-fire cannons and other mountain weapons that the US military had never equipped before, which were almost endless.

In addition to supplies, a large number of former Chinese Filipinos were also sent by Zheng Yi to the Bataan Peninsula to help. The injured American soldiers could also be flown to Penang for recuperation. Even those who were not injured could be taken to Penang or Alor Setar every now and then to rest for a while before returning.

The speed at which the United States produced aircraft was as fast as making dumplings. In the first two months, transport planes had to avoid Japanese planes when transporting supplies.

In less than two months, the P51, which had been trained quite maturely, had already begun to actively engage in air battles with the Japanese while escorting transport planes.

The baggage transports became more frequent, more flagrant, and larger in quantity.

At the beginning, the main transportation was ammunition, and the priority was to avoid being killed by the Japanese army. Now, they have begun to transport "useless" things such as beautiful women's impurities, condoms, Penang's specialty foods, pajamas and sleeping bags.

In the past half month, the pressure on Marshal Mai has been getting less and less. Although the Japanese army has begun to increase its troops, the morale of his troops has become higher and higher, and various mountain weapons have become more and more abundant.

The most important thing is that a large number of Filipino guerrillas have now begun to appear on Luzon Island.

The guerrillas, mainly composed of Chinese Filipinos such as Wang Hanjie, grew like a balloon within a month.

Even with the introduction of the US military, Wang Hanjie himself made a special trip to Penang to meet with Zheng Yi and seek support from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

In the end, they took away more than 20,000 guns and more than 100 rocket launchers of various types from Zheng Yi. This was just the first batch. Whenever they needed them, they could ask Zheng Yi for them at any time, and Zheng Yi would give them to them by plane.

Although the cost of transportation by transport plane is quite high, the money is not paid by Zheng Yi, but by the Americans, so Zheng Yi does not feel sorry at all.

I heard that recently, not only the Chinese in the Philippines, but even the natives of the Philippines have begun to form guerrilla forces to fight the Japanese. There is even a legendary woman among them, Nevis Fernandez.

He led a group of women and used machetes to kill Japanese soldiers in the woods, and he actually killed more than 200 of them.

Because Wang Hanjie had Zheng Yi's aircraft transportation and controlled the ammunition supply, most of these Filipino guerrillas became his subordinates, turning the entire Luzon Island upside down and rapidly becoming like North China.

No, it's worse than in North China. After all, the guerrillas in North China don't have such luxurious weapons support. To be honest, if it weren't for the wealthy United States supporting him, Zheng Yi felt that even the richest man in the world would go bankrupt with such a move.

At this point, the Japanese occupation of the Philippines had basically failed.

The Filipinos actually have a lot of martial virtue, and what is most worrying is that the Americans of this period were really quite human among the imperialist powers.

As early as the time when Spain colonized the Philippines, the Filipinos dared to fight the Spaniards with primitive weapons such as sickles and stones.

The Spaniards felt they could no longer bear it, so they chose to sell the Philippines to the Americans, and then these Filipinos fought against the Americans.

Although the rebellion itself was suppressed, the more crucial thing was that these Filipinos felt that these Americans were pretty good and much better than the previous Spaniards, and that the Americans actually did not exploit the Philippines much.

To be honest, I dare not say that. The strong martial spirit of the Filipino natives also left a deep impression on Americans.

You should know that before the US-Philippines War, the per capita GDP of the Philippines reached US$1033, while Japan at that time was only US$1135, and the base was similar.
Although 200,000 Filipino natives were killed in the Philippine-American War and the war was lost, the revolutionary spirit of the Filipinos really scared the Americans.

Moreover, although the Philippines was also a colony, it was semi-autonomous. At least it was able to use force to drive away the Spanish colonists and provoke the United States, the country's surly father.

After the Philippine-American War, the Americans were purely conciliatory towards the Philippines and paid compensation, for fear of accidentally provoking the local indigenous people. They allowed them to hold democratic elections and supported basic industries. Before the arrival of the Japanese, all aspects of the Philippines' politics, economy, social livelihood, etc. were decided by the Filipinos themselves.

The Philippines' sugar and cigarette industries can even export their products to the United States and compete with American goods!
This is actually the main reason why the United States during this period was called the light of civilization and why the United States had no interest in colonizing: British and French colonization was plunder, while American colonization was really a waste of money.

The US Congress could not stand it anymore. In the 30s, it completely ignored the government's opposition and voted to declare that the Philippines was no longer a colony but a dominion, requiring them to become independent within ten years.

But this time it's the Filipinos themselves who don't really want independence.

A little-known fact is that General MacArthur’s identity in the Philippines is not just an American general, he is also the Grand Marshal of the Philippines.

He was the Grand Marshal appointed by the Philippine government on his own initiative. He had no choice but to do his job. He clung to the Americans and refused to let go. In essence, he was holding on to American gold coins with all his might before independence.

"I don't care, I don't care. You colonized us for thirty years and killed two hundred thousand of us. Now you just want to give up? No, you have to be responsible for us. You, Marshal Mai, have to be our generalissimo and protect us until we have fully established our own army." It was something like this.

So when Marshal MacArthur retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, lacking food and clothing, until he ran out of ammunition and food, the Filipinos never turned against the British like the Indians under the British or the Javanese under the Dutch, but fought with the Americans to the end.

After the Japanese invasion, the local Philippine clans actually took a wait-and-see attitude at first.

They want to see what Japan, an Asian industrial country that has always been shouting about Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Belt, is like.

After all, the Americans’ gold coins had been almost depleted by them, so much so that the U.S. Congress completely ignored the government’s attitude and refused to take back their colony no matter what.

The Philippines, which has already tasted the sweetness of being a colony, was even thinking about trying to get some gold coins from the Japanese.

Although when the Japanese first arrived, the local powerful people did not put up much resistance.

However, the Filipinos soon realized what kind of people these Asian compatriots who shouted "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" were.

These bastards are even more cruel than the Spanish!
Is the American dad still resisting?

We are the loyal lackeys of American dads! Damn him!

Mr. Zheng Yi, we are also fighting against the Japanese. Please give us weapons.

At this point, the offense and defense on the Philippine battlefield changed.

If the Japanese army fails to increase its troops, even on a large scale, I'm afraid Marshal Mai will be about to counterattack. The next time Zheng Yi meets Marshal Mai, it may be in Manila.

The worst-case scenario that Zheng Yi had previously envisioned, that the Japanese army would completely block Penang's sea transportation, did not happen.

Because the Battle of Ceylon, which also ended with the victory of the Japanese army in history, did not happen.

The Japanese army suffered setbacks in Alor Setar and the Bataan Peninsula, which may have prevented them from trying to advance to the Indian Ocean.

In fact, the Battle of Ceylon in history was originally the product of the Japanese army's complacency, because they really did not expect that the battle in the south would be so successful and the speed would be so incredible.

As a result, after taking over the entire South Seas, both the army and the navy were somewhat unsatisfied and had lost a sense of strategic purpose.

That's why they tried to attack Ceylon. Some people in the military also proposed the arrogant idea of ​​blockading the Indian Ocean and even turning India into a colony of the Japanese Empire.

A single move can affect the entire body. Once the nail in Penang is hammered in, with the help of the Americans, it will be as uncomfortable for the Japanese as if a fishbone is stuck in their throat.

They even failed to completely take over Singapore.

………………

"Mr. Zheng, Mr. Tan Lark Sye is looking for you."

"Invite him in."

"Yes."

After a while, Chen Liushi, who walked with great agility, came in, pulled out a chair and sat in front of Zheng Yi. He picked up the half bottle of foreign wine that was left on the table without any hesitation and started drinking it directly from the bottle.

Zheng Yi: "Slow down, slow down, Sixth Master, what's wrong with you? You're so fucking angry."

Tan Lark Sye: "I just received news that the Japanese have started killing people."

Zheng Yi: "There was never a day when the Japanese didn't kill people. Was it in the Dutch East Indies? Or the French East Indies? Or even in Malaya?"

Tan Lark Sye: "It was in Singapore, they were massacring civilians. The Japanese wanted to turn Singapore into another Nanjing!"

As he said this, Chen Liushi angrily punched the table with his fist.

Zheng Yi heaved a long sigh upon hearing this: "This could be... Hey~, it's still that Chrysanthemum Army, right?"

Chen Liushi nodded.

"Nanjing is one, Singapore is one. Don't worry, this blood debt will be settled with them sooner or later. After victory, every single person in this legion must be fucking killed!"

Animals are also divided into different levels.

Although most of the Japanese army's soldiers are beasts, those like the Kiku Corps are so beastly that they seem particularly beastly even among the Japanese army which is full of beasts.

Nanjing, Singapore, and actually one more in history, Bataan. These were the three most inhumane massacres targeting civilians in the entire Second World War, and they were all mainly committed by these beasts.

Of course Zheng Yi could understand Chen Liushi's anger. After all, he was a time traveler and was well prepared for these things. Even so, he couldn't help but feel his palms sweating when he suddenly heard such news.

What's more, what about Chen Liushi?

He has spent most of his life in Singapore and can actually be said to be a true Singaporean.

I wanted to persuade Chen Liushi. After all, they were not completely unprepared for these things.

There is no need to say much about the Japanese devils' hatred for the Chinese in Southeast Asia.

After this incident, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation will only become more determined to resist Japan. Penang is okay, but Yangon and Alor Setar are not cities with a predominantly Chinese population.

This incident can actually shock the Malays in Alor Setar, the Burmese and Indians in Yangon.

To be honest, the United States, which has always been relatively peaceful and anti-war, was denounced as a warmongerer and executioner for just a slight expansion of its military after World War I. Such a country was mobilized to make the entire nation screw up, not even a single private car was allowed to be produced, and all were switched to producing airplanes. They would fight to the death even if they had no way to survive.

The abstract actions of the Japanese Army bear at least half of the responsibility.

Apart from making enemies and making opponents united in hatred of the enemy, Zheng Yi really couldn't think of what the point of torturing prisoners and massacring civilians was.

Look, Chen Liushi, who had originally put on a suit and lived like a gentleman, was also provoked to become a gangster again.

"Mr. Zheng, give me some guns and that rocket launcher. I heard that thing is very useful. I want to go back."

Zheng Yi: "Where are you going back to? Singapore?"

Tan Lark Sye: "Yes, it's Singapore! I want to join the Singapore Volunteer Army and take Singapore back. Damn it! The British don't want Singapore anymore, but we Xiamen people do!"

"Is this what you mean or what your uncle means?"

"Originally, my uncle was going to go back himself, but I knew he was busy with work in Penang and couldn't leave, so I went back in his place. It won't be too late for him to go back when I die."

"Going back to fight urban guerrilla warfare? It's a life-or-death struggle."

"Fuck, before you, Mr. Zheng, came here, all of us Chinese in Nanyang were in dire straits. We wouldn't have left Nanyang back then if we were afraid of death. Aren't the Singapore guerrillas still fighting? I'm from Singapore too, and I want to go back too."

(End of this chapter)