Chapter 448: Southeast Asia Needs a New Sky

May 1942.

When Jiang Anguo left Myanmar, he dispatched three spies to the Sumatra region.

Nowadays Indonesia is suffused with anti‑Chinese sentiment.

Especially after the Japanese Army occupied all of Southeast Asia, it incited local ethnic feelings, particularly against Chinese; in Singapore it staged a massacre, with tens of thousands of Chinese falling under Japanese guns.

This also forces us to mention the British, who are truly useless.

Local Chinese had already formed armed units, ready to fight the Japanese to the death; if the British had the resolve to resist, they could at least make the Japanese pay a heavy price in Singapore.

However, just as in Myanmar, the British once again betrayed the Chinese, handing over their positions to the Japanese as they had done in Myanmar.

The British surrendered with a veneer of dignity, because the Japanese needed the British to publicize their achievements.

But they treated disarmed Chinese differently, rounding them up and killing them all.

They also killed Singaporean overseas Chinese under various pretexts.

At the same time, notices were posted ordering Singaporean Chinese aged 18 to 50 to report to five concentration points for "verification," in a ploy to capture Chen Jiageng. In just four days of this forced "verification," over 6,000 Chinese were shot by the Japanese invaders.

In merely a few weeks, at least 25,000 to 50,000 Chinese were collectively executed, buried alive, or thrown into the sea.

Such events did not occur only in Singapore; they also happened in the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia.

In Vietnam, the Japanese Army backed a puppet regime, stoked Viet ethnic nationalism, labeled Chinese shops as "economic parasites," and tolerated mobs to loot, smash, and burn.

Saigon's Chinatown turned to ruins overnight, with hundreds perishing in the flames.

In Indonesia, the situation was especially dire.

Although the Japanese Army claimed to "liberate the Dutch East Indies," it actually used Indonesia as a resource‑extraction zone while deliberately inflaming the century‑old tensions between natives and Chinese.

They spread rumors: "Chinese are the British and Dutch lapdogs, the capitalists exploiting you!"

In Java, Sumatra, Medan and elsewhere, the Japanese Army supported local radical groups, supplied weapons, and incited a "settlement of Chinese capital."

In spring 1942, Medan erupted in a large‑scale anti‑Chinese riot.

Rioters brandishing machetes and torches stormed Chinese neighborhoods, killing anyone they saw and burning any shop.

A Chinese merchant's entire family of seven was tied to a pillar and burned alive.

A female student who refused to convert to Islam had her tongue cut out and was thrown into a well.

Japanese military police stood aside, watching coldly, even photographing the "national awakening" spectacle.

Chinese throughout all Southeast Asian regions suffered Japanese persecution.

"Shanben, this Mr. Chen really knows how to pick a spot!" Xiaochuan Qingzhi inhaled the surrounding fresh scent, a faint aroma of rice.

Shanben Shiba nodded, "The location is indeed good, not easy to reach, which makes it easy for us to find."

The other man, named Gaoqiao Xinyi.

All three were Senior Spy exchanged by Jiang Anguo within the WarSystem; after defeating the Quinary 56th Division they obtained many Japanese officer credentials, so they were placed among the broken troops of the Quinary 56th Division.

They followed the Quinary 56th Division, retreating into Tonggu.

It was unclear through what connections the three Shanben men entered the Southern Bureau, which surprised Jiang Anguo.

Thus they now held official status within the Japanese Army, speaking with an authentic Tokyo dialect while also carrying a Huaxia tongue tinged with Japanese.

Of course, if they didn't intend to speak it, one couldn't tell.

That day they arrived at Marang, having concluded after extensive probing that Chen Jiageng was there.

A child playing with a rubber ball accidentally bumped into Shanben Shiba.

Xiaochuan Qingzhi, dressed at that moment like a Japanese merchant, shouted "Baka!"

Sure enough, Xiaochuan Qingzhi's curse terrified the colliding child, turning his face pale and causing him to wet himself.

Shanben Shiba blocked Xiaochuan Qingzhi with his hand, then patted the little boy's head, "Little friend, would you like some candy?"

But the boy's eyes held only fear; he dared not take it.

In the distance, a woman was buying fruit and vegetables, visibly tense, yet she dared not approach, knowing more important figures were at home; exposure would doom them all.

"Alright, go play; we're friendly!" Shanben squeezed the boy's head and shoved the candy into his hand.

The three turned and left without looking back.

The woman, seeing the three Japanese soldiers leave, rushed forward, "Xiaofei, are you okay?"

Lin Cuijin felt her son repeatedly, and after confirming he was unharmed, asked, "Xiaofei, were they Japanese?"

Guo Yifei, that is the little boy.

Now numb, the small head nodded, "Mother, he said 'Baka'!"

"Run, hurry!" Lin Cuijin, terrified, dragged her son toward the manor.

The two fled toward a manor outside Marang City, unaware that three pairs of eyes stared at them from behind.

"Xiaochuan, it seems we've found the target," Shanben Shiba said with a smile.

Xiaochuan Qingzhi shrugged helplessly, "I really didn't mean to scare that child."

"Hmm, we'll follow and watch, but don't get too close," Shanben said.

Outside Marang City, a manor that had belonged to the Dutch; when the Japanese advanced into Southeast Asia, the Dutch fled with their wealth to Australia.

Consequently the manor lay empty, its own management already poor.

Thus, after repeatedly evading Japanese searches, Chen Jiageng escaped Singapore, took a small steamer to Java Island—i. e., Sumatra—but the Japanese had issued a warrant; Chen Jiageng's bounty was one million.

With help from several friends, Chen Jiageng first reached Jakarta and finally arrived at Marang, a place of clear streams and fresh air.

To conceal their identities, Guo Yinglin and Lin Cuijin and their two young children, together with an Indonesian female worker, lived together, forming a temporary "family" to evade Japanese searches.

Yet their days were lived in constant dread.

Upon reaching Marang, Chen Jiageng had little to do but grow vegetables and write memoirs; the house even lacked a radio for fear of attracting Japanese spies.

Outside news came from Chen Jiageng's friends—Guo Yinglin, Huang Danji, and Zhuang Mingli—who obtained information via newspapers and radio and relayed it to Chen Jiageng.

When Chen Jiageng learned that the Expeditionary Force had dealt a crushing defeat to the Japanese in Tonggu and that Ren'ankiang had relieved the British, he was overjoyed, believing that soon the Expeditionary Force would retake Myanmar and regain the Dian-Mian Highway, the lifeline.

Chen Jiageng, as a Southeast Asian Chinese leader, is more than clear about this life‑or‑death line.

However, the successive defeats of the Expeditionary Force thereafter caused the old man to gradually let go of his expectations.

"Mr. Chen, it's not good—Little Japan may have discovered us here," Lin Cuijin entered the manor, immediately set down the basket, and saw Chen Jiageng tending the courtyard behind.