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On the early morning of October 6th, atop the city walls of Changchun, Zhang Zuolin, wearing a tragic expression, used his binoculars to watch the Japanese army approaching in the distance. After fleeing to Changchun, Zhang Zuolin surprisingly still had four or five thousand men with him. The garrison troops numbered over three thousand. Cobbling together these seven or eight thousand men, they had at least managed to gain a foothold in Changchun.

The temperature was already quite low. Zhang Zuolin breathed out a puff of white mist and looked up at the clear sky. If only it would snow heavily now. The heavy snows of the Northeast could pile up to waist height; in that case, Japan would have no way to attack Changchun.

Looking back at his subordinates on the city wall, most were defeated soldiers from Fengtian. Along the way, Zhang Zuolin had his personal guard gather these guys who were fleeing like stray dogs as best they could. Although there were quite a few of them, not many carried guns. Even though they had followed Zhang Zuolin to Changchun in their desperation, Changchun didn't have many weapons in stock either. Zhang Zuolin didn't dare issue precious rifles to these defeated soldiers. Aside from the subordinates of Wang Yongjiang's garrison command who carried rifles, many others on the city wall were empty-handed.

Zhang Zuolin saw that many men, even before the Japanese army reached the city walls, were already pale with fright and trembling all over. At the slightest disturbance, they would likely dare to run away. In fact, Zhang Zuolin was just as terrified in his heart. When he was young, he had secretly killed some Japanese, but that was done secretly. It absolutely could not be known by the Japanese. If the Japanese knew, they would seek revenge for those killed. This was also the fundamental reason why Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian Army did not dare to go to war with Japan. Japan would absolutely show no mercy to those who stood as their enemies. The Russo-Japanese War proved this point. To conquer the Lushun Fortress, the Japanese army paid a huge price, yet they eventually conquered the Lushun Fortress. And Zhang Zuolin and his Fengtian Army simply did not have the courage to stand out as Japan's enemies. As long as it was possible to flee, they would definitely choose to flee.

But Zhang Zuolin now didn't even have the courage to flee. He had gone through untold hardships to climb to the position of Military Governor of Fengtian and become the "King of the Northeast." To make him run back to Western Liaoning to be a bandit again—Zhang Zuolin would rather die.

"Marshal! Open fire and bombard them!" Wang Yongjiang, standing beside Zhang Zuolin, said in a low voice.

"This... wait a little longer!" Zhang Zuolin feigned calm. Opening fire on the Japanese meant officially declaring war on the Japanese, meant Zhang Zuolin publicly taking the stance of an enemy of the Japanese. Precisely because he knew the Japanese devils' attitude of resting only when the enemy was dead, Zhang Zuolin absolutely dared not be Japan's enemy.

"Marshal! We can't wait any longer!" Wang Yongjiang's voice contained a threat amidst the anxiety. "If we don't open fire now, it will really be too late!"

Zhang Zuolin was fighting a fierce battle in his heart. Hearing the tone of reprimand in Wang Yongjiang's voice, Zhang Zuolin flew into a rage out of humiliation and couldn't help but curse, "Motherfucker! What the hell does a scholar like you know!"

Wang Yongjiang's face immediately turned ugly. He was indeed a rare scholar among Zhang Zuolin's subordinates. In his youth, Wang Yongjiang was well-read and exceedingly talented. He had a quick mind and was also skilled in medicine. During his service in the Liaoyang police administration, he was deeply appreciated by Yuan Jinkai. In the early years of the Republic, when Wang Yongjiang served as the director of the Fengtian Provincial Tax Bureau, he met Zhang Zuolin for the first time. Because Zhang came from a rough background and had only studied in a private school for three years, he didn't pay much attention to Wang Yongjiang. The self-righteous Wang Yongjiang was unhappy but couldn't flare up. Later, because during the early period of Zhang Zuolin's administration, the Northeast's finance was in chaos and revenue was tight, and the Japanese used gold notes and banknotes to compete for the market with Fengtian notes, plus the source of Fengtian Army soldiers was complex, military discipline was lax, and many came from the greenwoods (bandits), acting lawlessly. Zhang Zuolin was very anxious and began to recruit worthy men, saying to his subordinates: "Whoever among us is a capable man who can govern the country and bring peace, I will employ him with a high salary!" Yuan Jinkai took the opportunity to recommend Wang Yongjiang. Zhang Zuolin resented his arrogance and didn't want to employ him. Yuan Jinkai said: "Minyuan stood out when he was young, praised by the people of Jinzhou as one of the 'Two Lus and Two Dings.' Even Viceroy Xi Liang praised him as 'the number one man in Fengtian police administration.' This man can be entrusted with heavy responsibility!"

Wang Yongjiang took up the post of senior advisor to the Fengtian Military Governor's Office, and soon became the director of the Provincial Police Department and the director of the Fengtian Police Agency, finally gaining Zhang Zuolin's trust.

In this Japanese attack on Fengtian, Wang Yongjiang was the only Fengtian Army commander capable of organizing troops to counterattack. During the escort of Zhang Zuolin's escape, Wang Yongjiang's subordinates were also the only ones to maintain their formation. Now seeing the Japanese pressing in step by step, while Zhang Zuolin, who claimed to have built his career on fighting, didn't even dare to shell them, Wang Yongjiang's disappointment was unparalleled. He suddenly understood that he had truly chosen the wrong object of loyalty.

However, Zhang Zuolin was Zhang Zuolin after all. After a momentary loss of composure, he also understood that Wang Yongjiang was not wrong. The Fengtian Army officers and soldiers around them were nervous to death. Not only did Zhang Zuolin know that the Japanese absolutely beat their enemies to death when taking revenge, but these Fengtian Army soldiers naturally knew it too. If the Japanese were allowed to press up to the city wall, without even firing a few shots, this bunch of Fengtian Army soldiers would dare to scatter and flee just like those Fengtian Army soldiers who guarded Fengtian.

"Fire a shot to the front of the city," Zhang Zuolin shouted. After shouting, he added a sentence, "Don't shoot too far!"

Wang Yongjiang was so angry in his heart! Trying to scare the Japanese yet afraid to hurt the Japanese—what exactly did Zhang Zuolin want to do?

After a while, the artillery position inside the city finally fired a lonely shot. The shell flew over the top of the city wall and exploded a small pit on the ground fifty-odd meters outside the city.

However, the distant Japanese army seemed to be frightened by this shot. Their speed of action slowed down noticeably. After another while, the Japanese army actually stopped first, and not long after, the Japanese army surprisingly began to retreat.

The Fengtian Army on the Changchun city wall watched the Japanese army's changes dumbfounded. "What are the Japanese doing?" Such whispers spread constantly among the Fengtian Army.

"Are the Japanese preparing some new trick?" A considerable number of people thought the Japanese were about to pull some ruthless move.

Until the Japanese army completely disappeared from the vision of the Fengtian Army on the Changchun city wall, completely disappeared from the vision of the binoculars, the Changchun city wall remained very quiet. No one dared to believe what had happened before their eyes. Until someone suddenly shouted loudly, "Marshal Zhang scared away the Japanese with one shot!" Then, thunderous cheers immediately erupted up and down the city wall!

"Marshal Zhang scared away the Japanese with one shot!" "Marshal Zhang scared away the Japanese with one shot!!"

"Long live Marshal Zhang!" "Long live Marshal Zhang!!"

All kinds of excited shouts revealed the heartfelt thoughts of the Fengtian Army from top to bottom—finally, they didn't have to fight the Japanese!

Zhang Zuolin was also excited, laughing continuously. Hearing the various flattery that began to become somewhat absurd, Zhang Zuolin laughed even more happily. Actually, he didn't really believe this bullshit. Being able to not publicly be the Japanese's enemy was the thing that made Zhang Zuolin happiest.

Wang Yongjiang stared outside the city without saying a word. He naturally couldn't believe such absurd bullshit as "Marshal Zhang scared away the Japanese with one shot." He had even less intention of participating in this incredibly foolish celebration of "surviving a disaster."

"What exactly happened that made the Japanese have to retreat so hastily?" Wang Yongjiang was very puzzled by this.

"Marshal, let's hurry and send someone to inquire about the news," Wang Yongjiang whispered to Zhang Zuolin.

Zhang Zuolin nodded repeatedly while laughing, "Hehe, good, good, send someone to inquire immediately!"

The one attacking Changchun was the 19th Division of the Japanese Chosen Army. They didn't think Changchun could stop the Japanese army's pace at all. After stabilizing the situation in Fengtian, the 19th Division set off for Changchun. But just as the attack preparations were about to begin, a messenger officer from Fengtian brought the headquarters' order, demanding the 19th Division return to Fengtian immediately. The 19th Division Commander was greatly puzzled. Seeing that he was about to attack Changchun, and Zhang Zuolin was so scared he only dared to fire a demonstrative shot, yet at this very moment, he was ordered to ignore Changchun and return to Fengtian immediately.

"What happened?!" the 19th Division Commander asked sternly.

The messenger officer didn't dare to speak loudly. He leaned in front of the 19th Division Commander and whispered, "The 20th Division has been completely wiped out. Fengtian is now completely empty."

"You're not joking, are you?" The 19th Division Commander stared at the messenger officer and asked. This news sounded only ridiculous to the Division Commander. The Fengtian Army collapsed at the first touch before the Japanese army. The People's Party were also Chinese; how could it be possible that a Japanese division was completely annihilated by the People's Party?

But the seal and signature on the official document brought by the messenger officer had no problems. The headquarters ordered the 19th Division to leave Changchun immediately and rush back to Fengtian. This was definitely not a joke by someone trying to tease the Division Commander.

Staring viciously for a good while at Changchun, which was almost in hand, the 19th Division Commander issued the retreat order with extreme indignation.

This was not a joke. The Japanese 20th Division received news that its own regiment was under siege and immediately set off to rescue. Since the Japanese Regimental Commander stated in the request for help that he had prepared a defense system of five trench lines and was confident of holding out for two days, the 20th Division thought this was a good opportunity to attack from inside and outside to inflict heavy damage on the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army.

Since both sides were in field warfare, there was no possibility of carrying large-caliber artillery. Five trench lines of a regiment were enough to withstand the siege of several times the enemy. Although the annihilation of a division had occurred in Shandong, the Japanese side believed that was because the Japanese army rashly entered the People's Party's controlled area and underestimated the enemy. However, the Northeast was almost half a home field for Japan. The 20th Division did not believe that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, as a guest army, could have the same combat capability as in Shandong.

So the 20th Division was pincered by two divisions of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. The battle lasted only one day from start to finish. The Division Commander was shot to death by the attacking Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in the division headquarters. He didn't even have time to burn the division's military flag before he died.

Although the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army didn't have a plan to "besiege a point to strike the reinforcements," they unexpectedly achieved the result of "besieging a point to strike the reinforcements."

"Commander Mu, what do we do next? Attack Shenyang?" the Chief of Staff said excitedly. Before the reorganization, he felt deeply worried about what level the combat effectiveness could be maintained at. Now the Chief of Staff had full confidence in the troops' combat effectiveness.

"What if we take Shenyang?" Mu Husan asked back calmly.

"If we take Shenyang, we blockade the China-Korea border!" Faced with Mu Husan's question, the Chief of Staff subconsciously recited the initial operational plan.

"That won't do. The basis of that plan was that Japan was not prepared to march into the Northeast. Now the situation has changed," Mu Husan replied.

"If the plan changes, what do we do next?" the Chief of Staff asked.

"Commander Pu once told us something. When the Military Commission discussed the plan to march into the Northeast, Chairman Chen Ke said that if we catch members of Japan's Mantetsu and shoot one, there will definitely be one or two who are wronged. If we shoot every other one, the half that wasn't shot are definitely all fish that escaped the net. Now Mantetsu is Japan's eyes and ears in the Northeast. Since the Japanese have already entered the Northeast, it is necessary for us to dig out their eyes and ears," Mu Husan's tone sounded relaxed, but there was an indescribable grim killing intent.