11. Nomonhan Incident
In late 1938, I saw Yoshiko Kawashima again in Shanghai. She was now the head of the intelligence agency of the occupying forces in China, but she still occasionally sneaked into the concessions to seek pleasure. I saw Yoshiko Kawashima again at the French Club, the same place I had met ten years earlier. Back then, Annie was still around, and we were all in our early twenties, in the prime of our youth. Now the place was the same, but everything had changed, and we were both thirty-one years old! The difference was that she was now a commander, while I was still just a Lieutenant.
(Figure 4-11-1) Paul Draken and Yoshiko Kawashima unexpectedly meet again at the French Club.
After we finished dancing and returned to our seats, Yoshiko Kawashima lit a cigarette and said, "Empress Wanrong gave birth to a daughter four years ago!"
"Congratulations to her, what does that have to do with me?" I said.
"You are the father of her daughter!" Kawashima said.
"What?" I recalled the time Puyi spent with Wanrong in the palace on the night of his ascension to the throne in 1933.
"She's so cute, but she looks like a foreigner no matter how you look at her!" Kawashima said. "The emperor originally wanted to admit it himself to avoid public criticism, but her appearance just couldn't be right!"
"Then? How is she now?" I actually have a daughter? This is truly amazing.
"How is she? Oh! Your daughter?" Kawashima asked knowingly. "How could such a child be kept in the palace? She was thrown into the furnace to be burned as soon as she was born!"
I ran out of the dance hall onto the balcony and started vomiting.
I have never married or had children in my life, yet I somehow had a daughter with Empress Wanrong? And this is how she ended up? I remembered Master Chiu's words: "...The princess and the queen will both meet a bad end in the capital. The empress disappeared in the chaos of war, and the princess died a violent death early on..." I had a bad feeling.
Later I heard that they found a guard to take the blame, but they didn't punish him. Instead, they sent him to Japan to study at a military academy. Isn't that strange?
Yoshiko Kawashima followed me to the balcony and said, "I was really disappointed last time in Lop Nur!"
"What are you upset about?" I asked. "It's not like it belonged to you!"
"How could it not be? It was stolen from the mouth of the Empress Dowager of my Great Ch'ing Dynasty. It's a matter of national and personal hatred, I must snatch the luminous pearl back!" Kawashima said through gritted teeth.
I never doubted Yoshiko Kawashima's determination. Sure enough, she went to her lover, Kenkichi Ueda, the commander of the Kanton Army, and whispered in his ear. Of course, she wouldn't mention the luminous pearl. Instead, she argued that with the war raging in Europe, Western countries had no time to look eastward. At this time, sending troops to Outer Mongolia would not only bypass the Chungking government and cut off Soviet aid, but could even go through Central Asia to Europe to join forces with Germany and conquer the world together.
The clueless Ueda failed to see that Kawashima's true purpose was to use the Kanton Army to excavate the luminous pearl in Lop Nur. At that time, Sinkiang was already within the Soviet sphere of influence, and without the support of the Kanton Army, Yoshiko Kawashima could not have openly dug for treasure under the noses of the Soviets.
Ueda agreed to send troops for another reason: like many Japanese soldiers, his impression of the Russian army was still based on the Russo-Japanese War era. He thought they were a motley crew that was easily defeated, ignoring the fact that the Red Army was now a fully mechanized, steel-like force equipped with airplanes, tanks, and artillery. In comparison, the Japanese army was far behind in equipment and still relied mainly on manpower and animal power.
In the summer of 1939, the Japanese Kanton Army mobilized the entire 23rd Division, part of the 7th Division, two tank regiments, and several heavy artillery regiments to form the 6th Army. In addition, hundreds of aircraft were mobilized and set off from the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia. The Outer Mongolian government immediately requested assistance from the Soviet Union. The Japanese army was defeated and surrounded by the Red Army led by General Zhukov on the Mongolian steppe, which was still far from Sinkiang.
(Figure 4-11-2) During the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, the Japanese army's initial contempt turned into fear after seeing a large number of Soviet tanks appear on the horizon. Tokyo was shocked by the incident. Kawashima Yoshiko's old flame, Ueda Kenkichi, the commander of the Kanton Army, was transferred back to Japan and relegated to the reserves for dereliction of duty. Before leaving, he entrusted Kawashima with the treasures he had looted in China, including the Chianlong sword he had obtained during the looting of the Eastern Tombs in 1928. This sword is said to have disappeared in 1946 when it crashed with Tai Li's plane. It has many legendary stories, which will not be discussed here. As a result of this battle, Yoshiko Kawashima fell out of favor within the Japanese military intelligence system. She then focused on dealing with her Anguo Army. Throughout the Pacific War, she could only act as a figurehead in front of the Chinese, extorting money and resources. She was completely unable to participate in the Japanese military's intelligence work. General Zhukov rose to fame in this battle. When the German army invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin appointed him as commander-in-chief. At the most critical moment, he finally turned the tide, not only driving the German army out of the country, but also leading the army to liberate Berlin and destroy the Third Reich. This not only promoted Zhukov to marshal and made him a world-renowned hero of World War II, but also brought the whole of Eastern Europe into the communist bloc led by the Soviet Union, making the Soviet Union the world's second largest power after the United States after the war. Another impact of this battle was that it made Japan take the Soviet Red Army's fighting power seriously, even to the point of fear. From then on, Japan never dared to provoke the Soviet Union in the Far East again. Even when the German invasion of the Soviet Union was at its most critical, the Japanese army did not dare to take advantage of the situation. This allowed the Soviet Union to transfer all of its elite troops in the Far East to the western front to reinforce it, thereby reversing the disadvantage and changing the history of the West. I always wonder, how would history have unfolded if Yoshiko Kawashima hadn't staged this Nomonhan farce?
"Second Master Wang? Excuse me... are you Chinese?" I was a little puzzled when I saw the business card he handed me read "Wang Chiaheng". Although he was dressed in a long robe and looked exactly like a Peiking merchant, my professional intuition told me that he was definitely not Chinese. I was just curious, but Wang readily admitted, "Hehe! Mr. Draken, you have a good eye! That's right, my father is Japanese, my mother is American, and my real name is Yamaga Toru. Please enlighten me!" I quickly discovered that Yamaga Toru was a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy and had been Kawashima Yoshiko's lover when he was the flag bearer of the Matsumoto Regiment. They broke up after Kawashima Yoshiko married the Mongolian Prince De. Years later, he reappeared as an intelligence officer sent by the Japanese army to Peiping. One of his tasks was to monitor Kawashima Yoshiko and find an opportunity to eliminate her, because she had lost her usefulness and often caused trouble. In front of "Second Master Wang," Kawashima was like a young girl experiencing her first love, completely different from her usual self, utterly unaware of the task assigned to her by Yamaga Toru. But the dashing and wealthy Yamaga Toru was always surrounded by beautiful women in Peiping. Once, he brought a petite, big-eyed beauty in a cheongsam to introduce me: "This is Li Hsianglan! The leading lady of the Manchurian Film Company." "Ah! I've seen you before. Aren't you the girl who sang before His Majesty Emperor Kangde?" "Yes! That was several years ago," Li Hsianglan said. "It's rare that you still remember." "How is Mr. Amakasu Masahiko doing?" When I mentioned Mr. Amakasu, the mysterious man who always seemed to hide behind Puyi, Li Hsianglan paused for a moment, but quickly regained her composure: "You know Mr. Amakasu too? He's the president of our Manchukuo Film Association now!" Yoshiko Kawashima always believed that Toru Yamaga was having an affair with Li Hsianglan. In fact, Toru Yamaga was dating another Manchukuo film star, Pai Kuang. Li Hsianglan was just a smokescreen. However, because Kawashima often got jealous and came to confront Toru Yamaga, Li Hsianglan suffered as a result. I had no choice but to play the role of protector, which led to my friendship with Li Hsianglan lasting for sixty years.
(Figure 4-11-3) Li Hsianglan, whose original name was Yamaguchi Yoshiko.
Li Hsianglan's life was truly legendary. She was actually Japanese, originally named Yamaguchi Yoshiko, but took the Chinese name Li Hsianglan after being adopted as the goddaughter of General Li Tsichun. Li studied vocal music under a Russian teacher and became a singer. Later, under the name Li Hsianglan, she entered the film industry, starring in many famous movies. Her films and the songs in them were household names in that era, such as "Night Fragrance," "When Will You Return," "Suzhou Nocturne," and "China Night." Because she often appeared in films wearing cheongsams and speaking with a Peiking accent, everyone assumed she was Chinese. They wondered why a Chinese girl would act in those pro-Japanese films that glorified Japanese men, which almost led to her being killed.
In 1945, after Japan's defeat, Li Hsianglanwas arrested on charges of treason. She sought my help, and the truth came to light. Actually, I never thought Li Hsianglan looked Chinese; I just didn't want to ask her directly. After I helped her obtain Japanese immigrant identification, she was finally released without charge and repatriated to Japan in 1946. Conversely, Kim Bihui, who had always identified herself as the Japanese Kawashima Yoshiko, was arrested and executed on charges of treason because her adoptive father, Kawashima Naniwa, refused to provide identification.
As for Pai Kuang, she had just broken up with Taiwanese musician Kiang Wenye when I met her. After that, she met Yamaga Toru, who was amazed by her beauty. He invested in her to make movies and introduced her to Tai Li. However, she was tricked into revealing information, which led to a leak. In addition, he violated the military's secret order to eliminate Kawashima Yoshiko, which resulted in Yamaga Toru being recalled to Japan in 1943 to undergo a military trial and having all his property confiscated. Penniless, he and his newlywed wife hanged themselves in the mountains, and their bodies were eaten by wild dogs.
Interestingly, all my American colleagues at the Allied Headquarters in Tokyo after the war were fans of Li Hsianglan's films. These intelligence officers stationed in Japan had used her movies as teaching materials when learning Japanese, so they remembered every line. After learning of my acquaintance with Li Hsianglan, they kept pestering me to take them to visit her. I was quite bothered, so one day I actually brought a group of intelligence officers to Li Hsianglan's Tokyo apartment and knocked on her door, giving her a big fright. She thought she was about to be arrested again. Looking back, I feel a little presumptuous. However, Li Hsianglan later told me privately that those American intelligence officers, despite being men, spoke Japanese using entirely feminine language, making her chuckle but not daring to point it out. That's when I realized that in formal Japanese, male and female language are completely different. Since those Americans learned Japanese by watching Li Hsianglan's movies, they naturally learned feminine language.
After the war, Li Hsianglan continued her singing and film careers and entered the television news media. In 1958, she married diplomat Hiroshi Otaka and changed her name to Yoshiko Otaka. I met her in Switzerland and New York, and we had very pleasant conversations. In 1974, she was elected to the Japanese House of Councillors, serving three consecutive terms and becoming the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee, becoming an important figure in Japanese politics. She had unparalleled expertise in high-level diplomatic relations with East Asian countries, as all the leaders of these countries knew her and had heard her songs. This played a crucial role in the normalization of relations between Japan and its neighbors, including the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Japan and relations with North Korea. Even Kim Il-sung, the North Korean leader who was known for his difficult nature, was a fan of hers. Therefore, whenever the Japanese government faced diplomatic difficulties, she was the first person they thought of.
Li Hsianglan's diplomatic skills may have been partly related to me. Strangely, when we were together, we rarely talked about romance; we mostly discussed politics, diplomacy, and the international situation. She once asked me why, since Japan's colonial policies were modeled after Britain's, the people in the colonies welcomed British rule but rejected the Japanese.
This is truly a profound question, but fortunately, my father and I had discussed it before. The key point was to respect history and culture, and not to try to replace local traditions that had lasted for thousands of years with imperialization. I also suggested that she pursue a career in culture, which she did later. She is Japanese but was born and raised in China, and in her early years she acted in Manchukuo films, understanding the power of cultural transmission. This unique background gave her experience that others did not have, which was the condition for her success.
(Figure 4-11-4) Paul Draken meets with "Second Master Wang" Yamaga Toru, and Edmund Backhouse in Peiping.
Once, I met Yamaga Toru in a coffee shop in Peiping. He brought an old man with a long white beard and wearing a long robe. The two looked like a Chinese father and son, but the old man's features were more like those of a Westerner. "Second Master Wang" noticed my confusion and introduced him, saying, "This is Sir Backhouse, an Englishman who lives in Peiking."
"Backhouse?" The name sounds familiar. I vaguely remember my father mentioning that classmate who had been swindling people in China for many years.
"I am Edmund Backhouse, a friend of Mr. Wang. Nice to meet you." The old man spoke with a strong Peiking accent and used very authentic vocabulary. If you didn't see him in person and hear him introduce himself, you would definitely think he was a native Peikinger.
"Sir Backhouse said he could introduce me to the British government. It just so happens that you are also British, so I brought him along. Please forgive any intrusion, Mr.Draken."
"Mr. Draken? May I ask who you are?" Backhouse asked.
"I am Paul Draken. My father, James Draken, was your classmate, and he mentioned you to me before." I introduced myself briefly, noticing a hint of unease in Backhouse's eyes. After a few more pleasantries, he excused himself and left.
I later learned from Yamagata that Backhouse told him he was very familiar with the British Foreign Office and could introduce him to cooperate with British intelligence. Yamagata was an intelligence officer of the Japanese Army stationed in Peiping at the time, and he was worried about lacking decent achievements. Hearing what Backhouse said, he was overjoyed and felt that this was a great opportunity. However, when Backhouse heard my father's name, he became nervous and made an excuse to run away, leaving Yamagata completely confused.
Yamagata Toru came from a good family, but he was really bad at intelligence work. He was always full of wild ideas and was not only fooled by a conman like Backhouse, but also sent Pai Kuang to get close to Tai Li, which caused a leak. He was also entangled with the useless and troublesome Kawashima Yoshiko. One stupid thing after another, he was eventually arrested by the military, sent back to Japan, sentenced and dismissed from his post. It was not unjust at all.
Backhouse died in Peiping in January 1944, before the end of the war, leaving behind the manuscript of *Décadence Mandchoue: the China Memoirs of Edmund Trelawny Backhouse*. Due to its bizarre and absurd content, it was never published. Many scholars at the time criticized it as a forgery by Backhouse, but no one had direct contact with him and could only speculate. Oxford University, knowing of my connection to him, specifically showed me the manuscript and asked for my opinion. I said, "Just consider it an erotic novel!"
I met Hiroshi Oshima in 1936 when I accompanied Lieutenant General Isoroku Yamamoto on a visit to Germany. I knew that his greatest passion was to promote an alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan and to introduce German militarism into Japan. The traditional pro-British and pro-American Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Navy opposed this, and Yamamoto Isoroku became the target of assassination attempts by fanatics because he publicly expressed his opposition. At the time, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, Togo, disagreed with Hiroshi Oshima on this matter, especially hating him for engaging in secret diplomacy outside the system. So he submitted a report to Tokyo against Oshima. However, in the end, it was the ambassador himself who was replaced by Oshima, which was very rare in the diplomatic world. Obviously, this was the result of a struggle between the military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although Japan and Germany signed the "Anti-Communist Pact" as early as the end of 1936, due to the inability to reconcile internal opinions, the German-Italian-Japanese alliance could not be signed smoothly until the second half of 1939. At this time, Germany was already preparing to invade Poland. Because of concerns about the Soviet Union's attitude, Ribbentrop secretly visited Stalin on Hitler's orders. The two sides agreed to partition Poland in exchange for the Soviet Union's non-aggression pact. Germany had initially hesitated about whether such an exchange was worthwhile. However, in the summer of 1939, the Japanese army suffered a crushing defeat at Khalkhin Gol, and the Red Army's fighting strength surprised Hitler. On August 23, Germany immediately signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. Hiroshi Oshima was kept in the dark from beginning to end. When the signing of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was exposed, the Japanese felt betrayed. Oshima could no longer serve as ambassador and returned to Japan in disgrace at the end of 1939, having served for only one year. In September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and the Soviet Union simultaneously intervened, leading to the rapid partition of Poland and the outbreak of another major war in Europe. In 1940, Japan decided to go to war with Britain and the United States, and the Axis Powers alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan was finally signed—on the very day of my 32nd birthday! I later learned that the signing of the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union relied on intelligence from Dr. Sorge. In fact, Sorge was the highest-ranking KGB agent stationed in Japan, and under the cover of being an advisor to the German embassy, no one suspected him. In his intelligence to Germany, he exaggerated the fighting capabilities of the Soviet army, making Hitler hesitant to invade Poland and willing to share half of the spoils with Stalin in exchange for Soviet cooperation. However, Stalin's disregard for Sorge's intelligence regarding the impending German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1940 led to a major defeat for the Red Army, further demonstrating the undeniable value of Sorge's intelligence.
(Figure 4-11-5) Sorge was followed and monitored by Japanese agents in Tokyo.
Sorge also created a misconception in Japan, preventing them from launching an attack in the Far East during the most critical years of the Great Soviet Union campaign. He also secretly informed Stalin of Japan's decision, allowing Stalin to boldly transfer all of his elite troops from Siberia to the west. This not only stabilized the situation but also enabled him to launch a counter-offensive from the Eastern Front to Berlin, dismantle Hitler's Third Reich, and ultimately trap the entire Eastern Europe under the Iron Curtain.
Sorge was arrested in Tokyo in November 1941 after his plot failed. The Japanese originally wanted to use him as a bargaining chip to curry favor with the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union refused to acknowledge Sorge as one of their own because Stalin feared that this would cause tension between Japan and the Soviet Union, preventing him from transferring troops from Siberia to reinforce the front lines against the Germans.
But the Japanese were not giving up. They imprisoned Sorge for three whole years, repeatedly offering to return him to Stalin in exchange for a non-aggression pact, hoping to secure their rear and focus on the war in Southeast Asia. However, Stalin knew Manchuria was already in his grasp and was unwilling to back down in exchange for Sorge. Ultimately, the Japanese were caught in a bind and had no choice but to send him to the gallows in November 1944. Sorge died in his favorite paradise, and he never understood why Stalin had turned his back on him.
To reiterate, no matter how much Sorge exaggerated the strength of the Soviet Red Army, it was unconvincing without the Nomonhan Incident as evidence. Fortunately, Yoshiko Kawashima staged this farce at the right time, otherwise history would have been completely rewritten!
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