Sun Chuanfang, the "Nanking Warlord"
EDIT: I had the wrong picture...this one is correct
Wu Peifu, the "Jade Marshal"
A nondescript tea house
Shanghai, Republic of China
May 12th, 1941
1:27 PM
SUN Chuanfang, nominally a General in the National Army, was walking down the familiar path. The path of a warlord, meeting an old acquaintance, who might prove to be very helpful to the Northwestern armies. Unusually, it was not Sun who had reached out first.
That the Chinese forces saw their greatest successes under the command of Sun and his mentor, Wu Peifu, in the Northwest was no secret. The Japanese, and their allies in Manchukuo and Mengjiang were getting pushed farther back towards their borders, and if progress continued, they would soon cross their frontiers. However, just as Wu and Sun's troops became more effective, so too did the Japanese, and their puppet armies. They no longer faced frightened hordes barely better than mercenaries, or exhausted soldiers stretched too thin- they were now Japanese trained and equipped professional soldiers. Pujie, the Prince Regent of Manchukuo, inspired far more confidence than his brother, and that made a difference to morale on their side; and Prince De, the head of state in Mengjiang, presented himself as a modern-day Genghis Khan.
It was also no secret that Chiang fell deeper and deeper into the thrall of his German advisors, seemingly by the day. He also kept the best trained and best equipped soldiers for himself, garrisoned in and around Nanking, Shanghai and Guangzhou. That was bad enough, but the flow of needed supplies trickled. Sun hoped that Chiang wasn't planning something utterly mad, like a frontal assault on the heavily-fortified city of Tsingtao, but one could never be sure with Chiang anymore. He grew bolder and more bellicose by the day.
Sun traveled by a small plane, on "official business" to Shanghai. He remembered meetings such as these quite well, from when he was the warlord that controlled Nanking and Shanghai until Chiang's Northern Expedition expelled both himself, and Wu's forces to the northwest. Sun wore a simple, khaki, civilian suit and carried a brown leather briefcase.
Today's meeting was in a private room of a dingy, nondescript tea house in Shanghai. That wasn't important. What was important was the person he was meeting with, and what he could do. It was none other than the Chinese-American businessman, Bao "Jimmy B." Jinping. Bao, according to some sources, was born in San Francisco to a Chinese father and Chinese-American mother, and split his childhood between northern California and Shanghai. He had powerful connections- as high as the Secretary of State- which varied depending on who you asked. Bao had officially made his fortune as a dealer in scrap metals, coal and building aggregates, and unofficially as a dealer in just about anything, especially favours and weapons.
Bao was not a flamboyant man, unlike what one might expect. His suits were universally cheap grey flannel with natural shoulders, his collars small, his neckties subdued. He kept his head shaved and goatee trimmed, although his shoes were usually beat up and dirty. He lived in a modest apartment- not a hole or a dump, but certainly not fancy, and drove a Plymouth. You'd never notice him unless you were looking. He was highly intelligent in both book smarts and street smarts. He was fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and English, plus enough French, German and Korean to carry on a conversation.
Bao breezed into the small room, slightly late, as he was known to do and sat down. Bao, although he was not known for his punctuality, also hated wasting time.
"Well, Mr. Sun, we meet again" said Bao, opening the conversation. "It's been a while since we did business together"
"Indeed it has" said Sun. "But this time, Bao, it was you who sought me out. I wasn't aware that I still owed you any debts. Or, is it you now looking to call on me for a favour?"
"Nothing like that" said Bao, nonchalantly. "Well, the debts at least. Sun, what is the situation in the Northwest?"
"Why does that interest you? Are you... offering?" asked Sun, an eyebrow raised
"So, you're asking?" countered Bao, his face betraying no emotion.
"I'm asking why you're asking" said Sun insistently
Bao smiled. "Sun, if there wasn't a reason for you to ask, you wouldn't be asking if I was asking. Come now, you've known me a long time, and you know where to find me anyway. Have I ever given you reason to doubt me before? You know damn well that gangster Du isn't good for anyone's business but his friends' and especially his own. If I knew your situation better- I obviously only have an outsider's perspective, but it might be different than what the rags are pumping out. Nobody would know what I am about to know, or who led me to know it. It isn't good. Only a fool would think otherwise"
"And how" replied Sun. "That Du is a bad influence on Chiang. Those ears are like blinders on him. He wants a quick end to this whole affair so he can get back to business as usual. So does Wang Jingwei, but he does not advocate such blindly aggressive methods as Du."
"Go on"
"The German advisors are a bad influence too. Not Falkenhausen; he is an asset, well-versed in military training and a capable diplomat. It's the new breed. That Eichmann character. Why a man of such low rank commands so much fear and awe, I do not know, but he clearly has powerful friends in Germany. I have not seen it with my eyes, as I am kept away, but I have heard he as his own batch of recruits trained outside the usual Army structure, and indoctrinated in ideological matters in addition to military training. But, this ideological indoctrination is foreign to China, and nonsensical."
"China?" asked Bao. "Do you mean the Kuomintang? You know as well as I do there is more to China than the Party:
"I do mean China" replied Sun. "It is an odious ideology that they are attempting to impart, this 'SS' cadre. It resembles the fanaticism that nearly took hold in Japan some years ago, but worse. I spent years as a monk, and have cleared much rubbish from my mind. I have learned much of the art of peace, as well as war. They forget that we are five races under one nation, and that it isn't one China, but a union of
all Chinas that will lead us to success. Fanaticism, and a failure to tap the strength of the many and common purpose will lead to nothing but heaps of bodies under the Japanese guns at Tsingtao."
Bao's interest was clearly piqued. "I can tell you something about the guns of Tsingtao. There are more of them. The Japanese are shipping over old battleship guns on railway mountings that their French allies helped them make. They have huge rangefinders and directors in towers. They have British radar- they can see planes coming from any direction, in any weather. Invading the city from the south would be a bloodbath. They have hundreds of thousands of fresh troops in Japan too."
Sun was stunned. "Does Chiang not realize that this would be suicide?" he asked, clearly shocked.
"If he does" replied Bao "He doesn't seem to care. He is doing anything he can to build up numbers. Du's gangs are even rounding up people that owe them money- and some even say people on the streets and press-ganging them into the Army. I have heard from some prominent and well-connected individuals in the business community that Chiang even wants sanctions on Britain and France to make them rein the Japanese in. Naturally, they won't be bullied like that, and Chiang would just make himself more enemies. He won't be appearing on the cover of
Life magazine again any time soon, I can tell you that much. He's even trying to solicit- unofficially, mind,- American support for his cause, and has talked about closing off concessions if he doesn't get it"
"Such a move would be disastrous! Idiotic!" said Sun, his voice hushed, and his face red with anger. "I speak for Wu and the Northwestern Armies as well when I say we will never support such a move, and that we will vehemently oppose it in any way we can!"
"Do you speak for anyone else?" asked Bao calmly, an understanding having been reached.
"I-we- can also count on the support of the Hui soldiers of the former Ma cliques, and I am sure there are many in Shanghai and Nanking who remember old times, and are not so keen on this... new model of leadership. That it might not be such a coincidence that these German advisors were brought in right after we were deposed. Is it Chiang using them as a strongarm against any who might oppose him, while they use him for their own aims? Some might say that"
"But what do you say?" asked Bao.
"I have no opinion on that; I care only for China's wellbeing" said Sun
"That's a politician's answer if I ever heard one" said a bemused Bao. "But if you're looking to place a...
hardware order... the time is now, as there may be some unscheduled distribution difficulties in the near future."
"On the old account?" asked Sun.
"For anyone else?" said Bao, the smile unfading "I would refuse, but for you and Wu? You need only ask. Best you just tell me, you know I have a habit of losing pieces of paper"