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Last time we spoke about the second phase of the One Hundred Regiment Offensive. During the second phase of the Hundred Regiments offensive, CCP forces emphasized strongpoint and transportation warfare across the Taihang/Jizhong area. Units were organized with wings containing Japanese positions while a central force struck deeper, as in the Renhe Dasu fighting in early October 1940. Night raids seized strongholds, while engineers and sabotage teams disrupted roads, bridges, and mobility, and ambushes targeted Japanese foraging and supply routes. Across these theaters, the strategy was consistent: make Japanese control porous by destroying or capturing local nodes and forcing constant repairs, re-routing, escorts, and slowed reinforcement, so occupation logistics and strongpoint networks could not function reliably. This approach supported wider offensives by isolating strongpoints, draining enemy strength, and giving Communist base areas room to endure and expand. #204 The One Hundred Regiment Offensive Phase Three Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. After the two large-scale offensives carried out over wide areas of North China, the Japanese army did what it always did when control started to slip: it tried to turn mobile pressure back into something it could "manage" again. The Eighth Route Army's continued fighting had shown that Japanese-occupied space was not secure, and that base areas could still resist, strike, and persist even while under counterpressure. That was dangerous for occupation. If the enemy could keep operations going, Japanese lines of movement stayed uncertain and "stabilization" became a temporary illusion. To prevent the situation from worsening and to re-stabilize the occupied areas as quickly as possible, the Japanese mobilized heavy forces and launched retaliatory counter–"mopping-up" operations against anti-Japanese base areas in North China beginning October 6. The Japanese attempt wasn't only to punish; it was designed to take advantage of an asymmetry: the Eighth Route Army was striking and fighting continuously, and it did not have the luxury of resting, replenishing, and re-cohering as neatly as a garrison army might. Japanese commanders hoped that if they struck hard enough in enough places, the Communist main forces could be isolated, destroyed, or at least forced into a defensive posture that would break their operational tempo. At Liaodong and Yulin, Japanese reinforcements also created a second political-military stake. After the Yuliao Campaign ended, the Eighth Route Army headquarters issued instructions on October 1 to major regions, warning that enemy reinforcements in Liaodong and Yulin might use the opening to "sweep" the Taibei region. In the Communist operational mind, this wasn't just one threat; it was a pattern. A "sweep" could come as a wave that pushed inward, burned villages, destroyed supplies, and tried to force Communist forces out of their protected networks. Even if the offensive couldn't win a conventional decisive battle, it could aim to strip the base areas of people, food, and mobility—things that make guerrilla and strongpoint warfare possible. By October 19, 1940, the Eighth Route Army headquarters issued a counter–"mopping-up" operation plan, and civilian and military authorities in various regions launched counter-"mopping-up" operations accordingly. This is important background: in these campaigns, "mopping-up" was not only an army activity. The Japanese were attempting to break the base system itself—its logistics, its local administration, and the relationship between armed units and civilians who hid, moved, fed, and replaced them. So the counter-operations had to be just as systemic. The Communists needed to keep people alive, keep movement possible, and keep the enemy from consolidating inside a cleared space. In southeastern Shanxi's Taihang and Taiyue regions, the Japanese 1st Army aimed to strike the main force of the 129th Division and destroy anti-Japanese base areas by running a series of mopping operations from October 6 to December 5. The plan had a typical occupation logic: push through strongholds gradually, clear pockets methodically, and rely on local superiority—especially in manpower, logistics, and the ability to reinforce by road. And because the Communist main force had been operating without meaningful rest after the earlier offensives, the Japanese believed they could catch formations while they were still "in between battles." On October 6, in the Taihang region, more than 800 enemy troops from Wu'an in western Hebei began a "mopping-up" operation in the Yangyi area. By October 11, the Japanese posture escalated. Part of the Japanese Independent Mixed 4th Brigade departed from Liaoxian and Wuxiang, while part of the 36th Division departed from Lucheng and Xiangyuan; together they totaled over 3,000 troops. Coordinating from north and south, they carried out operations to "mop up" both banks of the Zhuozhang River between Yulin, Liaoxian, and Wuxiang, encircling and clearing the south side of the Yulin–Liaoxian highway. This emphasis on riverbanks and highway corridors reveals the Japanese method: move along terrain that controls movement, then compress enemy options until the defenders have to fight inside a narrowing space. The counter to that method required more than bravery. The Eighth Route Army's 385th and 386th Brigades, along with the 1st Column of the Decisive Battle, fought on inner lines—where they could move more rapidly between known local positions and threaten the enemy's flanks or supply behavior. Meanwhile the New 10th Brigade fought on outer lines, where it could intercept, delay, and force the enemy to spend time reacting instead of clearing. By the morning of October 15, the New 10th Brigade delivered a concrete example of that interception strategy. Two regiments ambushed an enemy motor-transport convoy at Gongjiagou on the Heliao Highway, destroying more than 40 vehicles and annihilating more than 100 Japanese soldiers escorting the convoy. The meaning of a convoy ambush is strategic even when the numbers are modest: vehicles represent speed, logistics, and reinforcement. If the enemy loses vehicles repeatedly, "mopping" becomes slower, and slower clearing creates openings for the defenders to reorganize, disperse, or shift main effort. After that, on October 17, the enemy forces that had been mopping up the convoy withdrew in different directions. Withdrawal in multiple directions is a sign that the Japanese clearing operation, meant to compress a space, had instead been forced into a reactive mode. It also hints at a recurring pattern in these years: Japanese units could clear what was already weak, but when defenders hit their movement corridors, the occupiers had to spend time and combat power simply to recover mobility. The next major sweep began October 20, 1940, and it was much larger. Nearly 10,000 troops—from the 36th Division and Independent Mixed Brigade No. 4—set off from multiple locations, including Wu'an, Liaoxian, Wuxiang, and Lucheng, to sweep the area east and west of the Qingzhang River, focusing on land between Matian and Zuohui. Crucially, that was not random ground. The Japanese sought to strike the CCP Central Committee Northern Bureau, the Eighth Route Army headquarters, and the 129th Division headquarters, along with party and government organs of the Jin-Ji-Yu Border Region, located together with Shexian and Piancheng. In other words, the Japanese targeted not just armed units but the political-administrative heart that makes base areas function. Once in the attack area, the Japanese carried out "mopping-up" operations paired with burning and killing for several days. That brutality wasn't only cruelty; it served a purpose. Burning villages, destroying crops, and killing civilians could deny the base area food and shelter while making local cooperation more difficult. Then, on October 26, the Japanese began to withdraw and carried out mopping-up in different areas on the way back. The base area was "severely damaged and destroyed," indicating that even when the Japanese didn't annihilate the main Communist force, they could still achieve degradation—hurting the system they needed to keep operating. But the Communists were not simply absorbing damage. On October 29, a force of over 500 men from the 36th Division, plus over 400 supply and laborers, was mopping up Huangyandong and advanced through Zuohui to Guanjia'nao east of Panlong, preparing to return to Wuxiang. This is where counter-mopping becomes operationally dangerous for the occupier. Supply and labor detachments move differently from combat formations, and they represent an enemy's assumption that the base area is being "cleared." The Eighth Route Army headquarters ordered, at 1:00 p.m., for the 129th Division to concentrate its main force to annihilate the enemy. That night, the 129th Division—uniting the main forces of the 385th and 386th Brigades, parts of the New 10th Brigade, and the First Column of the Death Squad—surrounded the enemy at Guanjia'nao with a plan to launch a general offensive at 4:00 a.m. The besieged enemy, besides quickly building fortifications, seized Fengkengding high ground southwest of Guanjia'nao under cover of darkness. The two high points helped defenders support one another and resist stubbornly. The battle lasted until dawn on October 31, when most of the enemy had been annihilated, leaving only more than 60 men to hold positions. Then reinforcements arrived—over 1,500 from Huangyandong—supported by more than 10 aircraft. The 129th Division withdrew, and the remaining enemy fled toward the flood, leaving behind more than 280 corpses. By then, most Japanese troops had withdrawn from the central base area. The background stake is clear: "mopping-up" could damage and burn, but if defenders could convert the Japanese attempt into a trap—especially when enemy units had become separated from their core and committed to clearing—they could turn a destructive operation into a costly one for the occupier. In early November, the Japanese continued. In Licheng south of Taihang, Japanese forces invaded Nanweiquan and Beiweiquan and then Xijing. Elsewhere, Japanese forces in Xiangyuan invaded Panlong via Xiying, attempting to attack Dongtian and the area around Zhuanbi, where the Eighth Route Army headquarters was located. In that moment, the 386th Brigade was ordered to rush to the north–south line of Damocun, east of Panlong, block the invading enemy, and cover the transfer of the Eighth Route Army headquarters. At 9:00 a.m. on November 3, 1940, fierce fighting broke out as the troops finished deploying near Damocun. The Japanese launched continuous attacks and captured some positions. The 386th Brigade held until 4:00 a.m. on November 4, then withdrew after the headquarters successfully moved. The Japanese attempt to launch a pincer attack failed, and they retreated to the Baijin Line on November 5. Even when Japanese action couldn't be fully blocked, the counter's aim was not only tactical survival but prevention of strategic encirclement—protecting the central institutions and preserving the ability to fight again. In the northern Taihang region, more than 2,500 enemy troops from Heshun arrived in Yushe on November 3 via Hanwang Town and Changcheng Town, reinforcing Japanese forces in the Yu, Liao, and Wu areas. Then they carried out repeated mopping operations south of the Yuliao Highway, including Jiangtang, Lingshang, Songjiazhuang, Guojiao, and Dayouyi. Harassment and attacks by military and civilians forced Japanese troops back into their strongholds by the 13th. A "40-day" counter-mopping operation in Taihang came to an end. The term "40-day" isn't only calendar time; it suggests that these were not one-off battles but sustained campaigns of movement, dispersal, and repeated harassment meant to drain the enemy's capacity. Starting November 17, the Japanese launched a multi-pronged attack on Qinyuan and the area north of Guodao Town. The attack involved part of the 37th Division from Qin County and Nanguan Town, part of the Independent Mixed Brigade from Pingyao, Jiexiu, and Huo County, and a battalion of the 41st Division from Hongdong—more than 7,000 troops deployed to attack Qinyuan and the north area. But the Taiyue Military Region response shows how the Communist counter-mopping wasn't always to meet force with force. To avoid the enemy's "sharp edge," the Taiyue Military Region formed two detachments—Qin East and Qin West—with leadership and main force moving to both sides of the Qin River outside the Japanese attack zone, targeting scattered Japanese troops instead of being fixed into a single killing field. By November 23, due to harassment by local armed forces, the Japanese reached the attack zone and then carried out dispersed mopping operations. Qinyuan County was the most severely damaged, with more than 5,000 people killed (about one-tenth of its population), nearly 10,000 livestock killed and over 7,000 stolen, and 30,000 to 40,000 houses destroyed. Those details are brutal, but they explain why background stakes mattered: "mopping-up" was meant to break the social base. If civilians died or fled, the guerrilla system became harder to sustain. The response from the Dayue Military Region seized the opportunity created by Japanese dispersal. On November 23, the 42nd Regiment of the Qinxi Detachment annihilated more than 100 Japanese soldiers in Guantan. On November 27, parts of the 42nd and 59th Regiments killed or wounded more than 160 in Huhanping and Mabei. The Qindong Detachment's 17th and 57th Regiments inflicted serious damage in a series of places—Guang'ao, Chenjiagou, Longfosi, Wuyuanzhen, Nanweicun, Nanli, and more. The 17th Regiment's battle at Longfosi annihilated more than 100 Japanese. Additional heavy losses were inflicted by the 212th Brigade in Jiaokou. By December 5, the Japanese were forced to withdraw from the Taiyue area in separate routes. Strategically, dispersal punished the occupier because scattered units are harder to protect and easier to ambush. Across the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, anti-"mopping-up" operations unfolded gradually, beginning with the Pingxi area, the first target of the Japanese on the path toward the Japanese-held headquarters and rail lines. Pingxi mattered because it directly threatened the headquarters of the Japanese North China Area Army and Beiping—the puppet regime's center—and also threatened the Pinghan and Pingsui railways, North China's main transportation lines. So Pingxi became an operational priority: if the occupier couldn't keep the rail network secure, their ability to reinforce and supply their own strongpoints suffered. On October 13, 1940, more than 10,000 Japanese and puppet troops attacked Sanpo, the central area of the Pingxi base area, in 10 routes. This attack used a methodical, steady approach: advance gradually, rely on strongholds, and cover 5 to 10 kilometers each day. In response, the Pingxi Military Sub-district countered using timely maneuvers of its main forces and extensive guerrilla warfare. Over more than a week of fighting, the enemy was constantly harassed and attacked, wearing them down. Although Japanese troops penetrated deep, they failed to identify the main force's movements. By November 21, when the encirclement tightened further, the Pingxi main force jumped out from the Sanpo area and moved southwest. Encountering the enemy at Pengtou, it then moved to the Yegu and Datai line east of Bancheng. After the Japanese entered the Sanpo area, they conducted widespread burning and killing and looted grain. Starting from the 23rd, the Japanese retreated in different routes. By the end of October, the main force had withdrawn from Pingxi, but more than 2,000 troops remained in the Pingxi anti-Japanese base area to build strongholds and roads. Strongholds were added in places like Changping and Wanping—14 strongholds alone—and villages such as Dongzhaitang and Dujiazhuang came under their control. The base area began to shrink and shrink. That shrinkage is the other background stake: even when guerrilla forces avoid annihilation, the occupier may still carve away space through fortification. On October 19, 1940, the Eighth Route Army headquarters instructed that enemy attacks in Pingxi and Taihang might turn around and attack the Beiyue area. The Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region needed to prepare quickly to crush these "mopping-up" operations, coordinating Party, government, military, and civilians and conducting in-depth combat mobilization. The main force should assemble in appropriate positions and prepare to annihilate one or two enemy forces decisively. The headquarters also instructed the 129th and 120th Divisions to cooperate actively. By November 9, 1940, the Japanese struck again in a massive sweep. The 110th Division, along with other units and more than 14,000 puppet troops, launched a "mopping-up" operation in the jurisdiction of the 1st Military Sub-district. The Japanese and puppet troops moved in coordinated lines: along the line of Yi County, Dalonghua, Wang'an Town, Laiyuan, and Chajianling from north to south, while those in Baoding and Mancheng moved east to west. The intent was to squeeze Communist sub-district forces into a narrow area for a decisive battle. On November 10, the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region issued operational guidelines and deployments for countering "mopping-up" operations. By the 12th, in response to Japanese widespread burning and killing, it further instructed that without hindering mobility, the main force could disperse a portion of troops—no more than one-third—to strike resolutely at attempts to burn and kill. That instruction captures the balance commanders tried to strike: disperse too much and you lose power; disperse too little and you become trapped by the occupier's brutality. The Japanese then attempted to pressure multiple places. On November 9, more than 6,000 enemy troops from Laiyuan, Yixian, and Baoding attacked Guantou, Yinfang, Huangtuling, and Shenbei. On the 12th, their attack failed; they burned and killed people before retreating in different routes. At that time, the 1st Military Sub-district assembled the 1st and 25th Regiments to intercept them. One enemy force of more than 800 was intercepted on the 14th as it retreated from Wujiazhuang to Yuangang; some were killed or wounded. Even so, the enemy broke through under aircraft cover and retreated to Guantou. On the way, it was intercepted again by the 20th Regiment, suffering heavy casualties, and it fled back to Mancheng. Then on November 13, more than 2,700 Japanese and puppet troops attacked the 3rd Military Sub-district; on November 14, about 2,600 advanced from Dingxiang, Dongye, and Wutai toward Fuping and its southwest area in two routes. The Japanese attacked with east-west coordination, launching joint attacks on Taiyu north of Fuping. The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region headquarters and the command organs of the 3rd and 5th military sub-districts, along with the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th regiments and other troops, transferred to the outer line before the enemy encirclement formed. On the 16th, the Japanese launched a joint attack again on Taiyu and Zhangjiayu, and the guerrillas who failed to transfer fought hard. Commander Wang Pu and Deputy Director of the Political Department Hao Yuming were killed, and troops suffered more than 100 casualties. On November 18, the enemy from Taiyu quickly occupied Hanping City. By the 21st, enemy forces from Daying via Shentangbao and Wuwangkou, and from Wutai via Taihuai, Shizui, Longquanguan, and Xiaguan, also gathered in Fuping City. After occupying Fuping, the Japanese launched repeated attacks "sweeping" areas under the jurisdiction of the 3rd Military Sub-district from both inward and outward strongholds, conducting brutal burning and killing and destruction. On the night of November 21, the 2nd Regiment dispatched more than 30 men to raid Dangcheng and attack Japanese barracks with grenades. The Japanese panicked and fired guns and cannons all night. On the 26th, four plainclothes officers infiltrated Baoding and attacked a theater where the Japanese army was holding a meeting, causing panic among the Japanese. The enemy that had invaded the base area withdrew in different routes on the 25th. By December 3, 1940, most Japanese troops had withdrawn from the Beiyue area, but more than 1,000 remained along lines including Fuping, Wangkuai, Dangcheng, and Quyang to continue building points and roads in an attempt to occupy the area long-term. To force the enemy back, eliminate occupied points, and completely crush Japanese and puppet "mopping-up," the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region organized the Fuping–Wangkuai Campaign starting December 9, with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th regiments participating. At 21:00 on December 14, the 6th Regiment attacked enemy forces in Dongzhuang. The 1st Battalion captured three fortified positions on the north mountain of Dongzhuang and rushed into the village, only for Japanese counterattacks to recapture fortified positions and kill or wound more than 170 Japanese during the counterfight. The 4th Regiment attacked the enemy in Fuping; the 2nd Regiment and guerrilla forces entered Dangcheng and Lingshan. On the 21st, more than 130 enemy soldiers escorting more than 100 pack animals carrying military supplies reached Wangkuai and were completely annihilated when they reached Wanglinkou. By December 26, an ambush in the Xuancun area of the Pinghan Railway destroyed 14 Japanese trains and their vehicles as well as three heavy artillery pieces. On the 27th, more than 1,200 enemy troops advancing from Dongzhuang in Fuping were attacked in Luoyu and Tumen, suffering more than 140 casualties. The remaining Japanese withdrew from Fuping, Dongzhuang, and Wangkuai starting New Year's Day 1941. By January 4, the 55-day anti-"mopping-up" campaign had basically ended, with the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region killing and wounding more than 2,000 Japanese and puppet troops while suffering 1,382 casualties itself. These numbers and dates show why background and stakes matter: the counter-mopping effort wasn't short. It was sustained, operationally demanding, and required continued offensive action even while facing superior Japanese resources. The pressure didn't end there. From October 25 to early November, about 4,000 Japanese troops, including the 16th Independent Mixed Brigade, launched a mopping operation in the Miyu and Loufan areas of the 8th and 3rd military sub-districts in northwestern Shanxi, but they were attacked by local soldiers and civilians. In mid-December, Japanese forces transferred additional strength: parts of the 37th Division from southern Shanxi and the 41st Division from southeastern Shanxi, along with parts of the 3rd, 9th, and 16th Independent Mixed Brigades and the 26th Division from northwestern Shanxi—totaling more than 20,000 troops—to prepare for a full-scale mopping operation in northwestern Shanxi. After the second phase of the Hundred Regiments Offensive ended, the 120th Division anticipated retaliation and actively prepared for counter-mopping. On October 30, the division was ordered to establish the Jin-Northwest Military Region, and on November 7, the military region was established in Lijiawan, Xing County. The Jin-Northwest Military Region had direct military sub-districts and six military sub-districts: the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, and Yanbei. Then the occupier escalated. Starting December 14, 1940, the Japanese launched a full-scale mopping operation against the Jin-Northwest region. More than 5,000 enemy troops invaded the Mi-Yu Town area of the 8th Military Sub-district, more than 4,000 invaded Lin-Xian, and more than 6,000 attacked Xing-Xian and the area south of Bao-De from strongholds such as Lan-Xian and Qi-Lan. By December 23, Japanese forces had occupied all county towns, most market towns, and Yellow River crossings in the Jin-Northwest region except for Bao-De and He-Qu counties, and began to implement a systematic policy commonly described as the "Three Alls" policy. The "Three Alls" emphasis is the clearest expression of stakes turning lethal. Japanese troops and traitors disguised themselves as the Eighth Route Army to lure and kill masses. They sent out core detachments to attack and repeatedly sweep the area, seeking to annihilate party, government, and military leadership organs—focusing on destroying the rear organs and facilities that made Communist endurance possible. According to incomplete statistics, more than 5,000 people were brutally killed during these sweeps. In Xingxian County alone, 150,000 catties of grain were looted and burned; in the 4th Military Sub-district, more than 5,000 head of livestock were looted and killed; and more than 19,000 houses and cave dwellings were burned down. In the early stage of this anti-mopping campaign, the Jin-Sui Military Region mainly used a portion of its forces to cooperate with local troops and guerrillas in widespread guerrilla warfare. They harassed and contained the attacking enemy, disrupted enemy transportation, and covered the transfer of the masses. The main force avoided the enemy's sharp edge and moved to the outer line to seek opportunities to attack the Japanese army. This describes the classic guerrilla operational pattern: avoid being fixed into a single decisive trap, but create enough friction that enemy operations degrade into a struggle they can't sustain. repeated attacks and ambushes during the mopping period across Miyu Town and other areas—units striking repeatedly, destroying roads, cutting off enemy transportation, and attacking enemy strongholds north of Dawu. To thwart the Japanese army's plans to build roads and fortifications—plans that would make future sweeps easier—the Jin-Sui Military Region instructed, on December 27, all sub-districts to mobilize forces to disrupt Japanese road construction and fortification. The 358th Brigade attacked enemy road construction from Lanxian to Dashetou and from Puming to Chijianling; the Independent 1st Brigade sabotaged the Dawu–Linxian highway; and the 4th Column of the Death Squad sabotaged the Dawu–Fangshan highway. Part of the Independent 1st Brigade's 2nd Regiment organized over 2,000 civilians to sabotage the Dawu–Sanjiao highway twice, forcing the enemy in Linxian to detour through Fangshan to contact Lishi. The Lishi guerrillas led civilians in two sabotage attacks on the Lishi–Jundu highway, destroying over 30 "li" of road. Other units attacked strongholds along key highways and destroyed or disrupted the "maintenance committees" that surrounded newly built enemy strongholds. There were also direct raids—storming into Linxian County and capturing representatives of enemy maintenance organizations. Meanwhile, the Workers' and Patriots' Brigade carried out continuous sabotage on the Taifen Highway. As the enemy plans ran into persistent disruption, Japanese and puppet forces began to retreat in different routes starting January 2, 1941, and by January 24 they returned to their original strongholds. The Jin-Sui winter counter-mopping operation lasted 40 days, annihilated more than 2,500 enemy troops, destroyed 125 kilometers of roads and 23 bridges, and recovered all towns occupied by the enemy during the campaign. Here the stakes show through most clearly: the campaign was not merely about killing enemy troops. It was about preventing the occupier from building a durable, road-connected grid that would allow future sweeps to be faster, larger, and more decisive. At the wider campaign level, the Eighth Route Army also recorded its total effects from August 20 to December 5, covering roughly three and a half months. During that period, the Eighth Route Army fought 1,824 battles of varying sizes, killing or wounding 20,645 Japanese soldiers (including senior officers), killing or wounding 5,155 puppet troops, and capturing 281 Japanese soldiers and 18,407 puppet troops. 47 Japanese soldiers surrendered voluntarily, and 1,845 puppet troops defected, totaling 46,380 people. The Communists captured 5,942 guns and 53 artillery pieces, and destroyed extensive transportation infrastructure: 474 kilometers of railway, 1,502 kilometers of highway, 213 bridges, 37 railway stations, 11 tunnels, more than 217,000 rails, more than 1,549,000 sleepers, more than 109,000 telephone poles, and more than 424,000 kilograms of telephone wire. Five coal mines and 11 warehouses were destroyed. The narrative further adds that when including casualties of Japanese and puppet forces across related engagements—such as Fuwang and the anti–mopping operations in northwest Shanxi—the total number of casualties reached more than 50,880. Japanese statistics were also cited for damage assessment, noting destruction of track and bridges across key railways (Zhengtai, Tongpu, Pinghan), telegraph pole damage, power line cuts, and effects on coal production—such as the Jingxing New Mine being unable to produce coal for at least six months. These details underline a broader background stake: infrastructure damage was meant to weaken the occupier's ability to keep its occupation apparatus working, even after the direct battles ended. The price of that multi-month struggle was high for the Eighth Route Army as well. Over the three and a half months leading up to the Hundred Regiments Offensive, the Eighth Route Army suffered 17,000 casualties, and more than 20,000 were poisoned. During the Hundred Regiments Offensive itself, post-war statistics state that the 129th Division suffered 7,362 casualties and 450 missing persons, and the entire division suffered 7,812 casualties. When you connect these lines—offensive sabotage, counter-offensives, Japanese mopping-ups, and anti-mopping resistance—you see why this second wave of fighting mattered. It wasn't only about whether the Japanese could respond to the offensive. It was about whether both sides could sustain their operational logic: the Japanese trying to stabilize occupation through "mopping," and the Communists trying to preserve base systems through dispersal, harassment, and counter-moves that convert the occupier's clearing effort into something too costly to maintain. The background of the Hundred Regiments offensive, who authorized it, who planned it, and why, remains unclear. The Japanese response was so severe that, in retrospect, it appeared to some as if the offensive had been a mistake. Some leaders, especially Mao, may have wanted to disavow it. Indirect hints in Mao's writings in subsequent months and years suggest he may have viewed it critically or harbored misgivings from the start. It was not the kind of strategy Mao preferred. More than twenty years later, during the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards charged that Mao had not even known of the plan in advance because of Peng Dehuai's alleged duplicity, at the time, Peng was being denounced. While this seems unlikely, it may contain some substance. In his own defense against these charges, Peng stated that after the 8RA headquarters—located not in Yan'an but in Jin-Cha-Ji—planned the operation, it sent mobilization orders downward to each regional command and also notified the Central Military Affairs Commission headed by Mao. In the original plan, the action would begin in early September. But, Peng wrote, to prevent enemy discovery and to ensure simultaneous surprise assaults—thereby inflicting an even greater blow to the enemy and the puppets—they began about ten days earlier than scheduled, during the last week of August. "So we did not wait for approval from the Military Affairs Commission (this was wrong), but went right into combat earlier than planned." There is also the issue of the "spontaneous" participation of more than eighty regiments without authorization from the Eighth Route Army headquarters, and not from Yan'an as well. If Peng Dehuai's account is accepted (written in 1970, shortly before his death), then Mao and Party Central had no role in conceiving or planning the Hundred Regiments campaign. In that case, the "grand strategy" motivations for undertaking it largely vanish—except perhaps insofar as they were considered by Peng and his colleagues. One alleged motive was to counter any tendency toward capitulation by Chiang Kai-shek and the Chongqing regime: if the war heated up and the CCP threw itself into fighting, any accommodation between Chiang and Japan would look like cowardly surrender. A related consideration was the Communist leadership's sensitivity to the charge that they were simply exploiting the war to expand their influence—avoiding Japanese combat while letting KMT armies bear the real burden of fighting. The Nationalists gave major publicity to the accusation that CCP policy devoted 70 percent of effort to expansion, 20 percent to coping with the KMT, and only 10 percent to opposing Japan. A third suggested motive was to divert attention from the New Fourth Army's offensives against Nationalist forces in Central China, which were peaking around the same time. Peng Dehuai acknowledged the campaign was "too protracted," yet he defended its importance in maintaining the CCP's anti-Japanese image in the wake of anti-friction conflicts, in demonstrating the failure of the cage-and-silkworm policy, in returning at least twenty-six county seats to base control, and in keeping "wavering" elements in line. Even if these reasons mattered less than regional and tactical calculations in launching the campaign, they could always be used for propaganda afterward. Whatever misgivings Mao and Party Central may have had, the Party kept them to itself. Mao radioed congratulations to Peng after his victory, and in public statements the Hundred Regiments were turned into legend. Even if the Hundred Regiments campaign aimed to defeat Japanese pacification efforts, it did not succeed in a decisive way. Shocked and stung by the 8RA's action, the North China Area Army intensified its efforts to bring North China under tighter control. Under General Tada and then his successor, General Okamura Yasuji (July 1941–November 1944), the Japanese inflicted brutal, sustained violence against all North China bases. Between 1941 and 1944, about 150,000 Japanese troops were assigned full-time to pacification duty, supported by roughly 100,000 Chinese auxiliaries of widely varying description and effectiveness. The remainder of the NCAA (about 150,000–200,000 men) was assigned to other tasks such as garrisoning major cities and containing Nationalist forces. Communist regulars were estimated at around 250,000 within base areas and 40,000 in SKN. The Japanese and their Chinese auxiliaries invested even more heavily than before in constructing moats, ditches, palisades, and blockhouses. Japanese sources claimed that by 1942 their forces had built 11,860 kilometers of blockade line and 7,700 fortified posts, mostly in the Hebei plains and the foothills of the Taihang mountains. A massive trench ran for 500 kilometers along the western side of the Pinghan railway line, with a depopulated and constantly patrolled zone on either side. The 250 Japanese outposts established in southern Hebei by December 1940 were more than quadrupled by mid-1942. These became the key means of controlling plains areas; by the end of 1941, all Communist bases in such terrain had been reduced to guerrilla status. Many main force units—such as those under Liu Cheng'ao and Yang Xiufeng—were compelled to move westward into mountains to survive. What distinguished the new Tada–Okamura approach from earlier tactics was the much larger and more protracted search-and-destroy thrust into the core mountain-base areas. They also replaced selective repression with indiscriminate, generalized violence. These infamous "Three-All" mop-up campaigns meant: kill all, burn all, loot all. Unable to distinguish ordinary peasants from Communists, the Japanese waged war on everyone. After attempting to seal off major consolidated regions in the base areas, they sent in very large detachments to search for Communist forces, civilian cadres, and activists. They also tried to destroy base facilities and war material stockpiles; to disrupt agriculture by burning crops or interfering with planting and harvesting; and to seize grain stores. Entire villages were razed, and everything alive found there was killed. Unlike earlier mop-ups that swept through an area and then departed, these campaigns left troops in the targeted zones for extended periods, "combing" the area back and forth and building at least temporary strongpoints in more accessible parts of mountain bases. These mop-up operations took a heavy and painful toll on rural populations. No doubt the harsh tactics and atrocities frequently committed during these actions did cause many peasants, rich and poor alike, to harbor deep hatred of the Japanese and to commit more fully to the Communist side. But intra-party sources also portray cases in which repression worked even more effectively than earlier attempts to drive a wedge between party and peasantry. As one internal assessment put it: If we only stress concealment… we are bound to be divorced from the masses. The morale of the masses cannot be sustained for long either. On the other hand, if we only seek fleeting gratification in careless fighting, we may also invite still more cruel enemy suppression. That will also alienate the masses. Communist spokesmen acknowledged that, in North China base areas, the population under Party control fell from 44 million to 25 million, while the Eighth Route Army declined from 400,000 to 300,000. Local records present an even grimmer picture. By 1942, 90 percent of the plains bases had been reduced to guerrilla zones or outright enemy control. In the mountainous Taiyue district within the Jin-Cha-Lu-Yi base, one cadre admitted that "not a single county was kept intact and the government offices of all its twelve counties were exiled in Jin-yuan." All twenty-six county seats occupied following the Hundred Regiments fighting were lost. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Japan tried to regain control through retaliatory "mopping-up" operations starting in October 1940. In response, the Eighth Route Army and its commanders issued counter-measures: coordinate party, government, military, and civilians; keep mobility while dispersing forces when possible; and focus on annihilating incoming enemy units decisively. Counter-sweeps and anti-pacification actions continued through December, involving repeated ambushes and sabotage of roads, highways, and fortification efforts.
Jody Hojin Kimmel, Sensei – ZCNYC – 3/8/26 – From The Hidden Lamp, Case #1: The Old Woman of Mt. Wutai – What is this desire to have a defined path in life and might the pointing in this koan give some friction to ask the larger question of what is moving us? Hojin takes up this teaching to address the mind that leans forward — imagining fulfillment later, somewhere else.
Fluent Fiction - Mandarin Chinese: Finding Clarity: A Soulful Retreat at Wutai Mountain Find the full episode transcript, vocabulary words, and more:fluentfiction.com/zh/episode/2025-09-24-07-38-20-zh Story Transcript:Zh: 五台山，秋天的早晨，幽静的山林中弥漫着一层薄雾，橙黄的树叶在轻风中轻轻摇曳。En: Wutai Mountain, on an autumn morning, the serene mountain forest is enveloped in a thin mist, with orange-yellow leaves gently swaying in the breeze.Zh: 嘉浩和美琳正沿着通往古老寺庙的小径，踏上他们的灵修之旅。En: Jiahao and Meilin are walking along the path leading to the ancient temple, embarking on their spiritual retreat journey.Zh: 嘉浩是一位成功的企业家，却常感到内心空虚。En: Jiahao is a successful entrepreneur but often feels an inner emptiness.Zh: 他希望这次的五台山静修能够帮助他找到内心的宁静。En: He hopes that this retreat at Wutai Mountain will help him find peace within.Zh: 而美琳是一位感情丰富的教师，最近对城市生活感到失落，渴望找到指引她未来的方向。En: Meanwhile, Meilin, an emotionally rich teacher, has recently felt lost with city life and longs to find direction for her future.Zh: 恰逢中秋节，寺庙里挂满了灯笼，柔和的灯光笼罩着庭院。En: Coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival, the temple is adorned with lanterns, and the gentle light bathes the courtyard.Zh: 嘉浩望着四周，心中仍有一丝怀疑：这样一个地方真的能带来改变吗？En: Jiahao looks around, still harboring some doubt in his heart: Can such a place truly bring about change?Zh: 美琳则依然坚信，En: Meilin, however, remains convinced.Zh: 她微笑着对嘉浩说：“今晚月光冥想，我们一起去吧。”En: Smiling, she says to Jiahao, "Tonight, let's go for the moonlit meditation together."Zh: 嘉浩点头答应，心中开始期待。En: Jiahao nods in agreement, starting to look forward to it.Zh: 晚上，明亮的月亮挂在天上，像是对大地的温柔凝视。En: At night, a bright moon hangs in the sky, like a gentle gaze upon the earth.Zh: 在院中，伴着阵阵清风，嘉浩和美琳坐在蒲团上，闭上眼睛。En: In the courtyard, accompanied by a fresh breeze, Jiahao and Meilin sit on meditation cushions, closing their eyes.Zh: 他们聆听着风声，冥想着自己的心事。En: They listen to the wind, contemplating their thoughts.Zh: 嘉浩轻轻说出自己的烦恼：“我有很多，事业、家人，但感觉内心并不充实。”En: Jiahao softly voices his troubles, "I have many—work, family—but somehow my heart feels unfulfilled."Zh: 美琳静静地听着，然后分享自己的困惑：“我不知道教学是不是我真正的方向，时常对未来感到不安。”En: Meilin quietly listens and then shares her own confusion, "I'm not sure if teaching is my true path, and I often feel uncertain about the future."Zh: 两人继续交流，像是卸下了心中的重担。En: The two continue to converse, as if shedding the burdens from their hearts.Zh: 嘉浩惊讶地发现，美琳的话让他重新思考自己的生活，而美琳则从嘉浩的故事中感受到了共鸣与力量。En: Jiahao is surprised to find that Meilin's words lead him to re-evaluate his life, while Meilin resonates with Jiahao's stories and gains strength from them.Zh: 中秋之夜的清晨，嘉浩和美琳并肩站在寺庙的观景台上，霞光照耀。En: On the morning after the Mid-Autumn night, Jiahao and Meilin stand side by side on the temple's observation deck, bathed in the glow of the sunrise.Zh: 他们知道，这次静修给他们的远不止一次短暂的宁静，更是让他们看到了崭新的可能。En: They know that this retreat has given them more than a brief moment of peace; it has shown them new possibilities.Zh: 活动结束后，嘉浩不再仅仅追求工作上的成就，他开始探索生活的平衡。En: After the retreat, Jiahao no longer solely pursues career achievements; he starts to explore a balance in life.Zh: 而美琳则带着自信，准备迈出改变的第一步。En: Meanwhile, Meilin, with newfound confidence, is ready to take the first step towards change.Zh: 五台山的秋叶依旧在风中低语，古老的寺庙静静地守护着它们的秘密。En: The autumn leaves of Wutai Mountain continue to whisper in the wind, as the ancient temple quietly guards its secrets.Zh: 而嘉浩和美琳，带着新的希望，走向未来的旅程。En: And Jiahao and Meilin, with renewed hope, walk toward the journey of their future. Vocabulary Words:serene: 幽静enveloped: 弥漫entrepreneur: 企业家embarking: 踏上spiritual retreat: 灵修harboring: 怀疑doubt: 怀疑moonlit: 月光meditation: 冥想contemplating: 冥想unfulfilled: 不充实resonates: 共鸣shedding: 卸下burden: 重担observation deck: 观景台bathed: 照耀renowned: 著名的adorned: 挂满courtyard: 庭院glow: 霞光contemplating: 冥想着unfulfilled: 不充实confusion: 困惑possibilities: 可能pursues: 追求balance: 平衡whisper: 低语observation: 观景novelty: 革新directions: 方向
This talk explores the koan “The Old Woman of Mount Wutai,” a story that opens up questions about pilgrimage, practice, and how wisdom often appears in ordinary forms. We reflect on what it means to be a pilgrim rather than a wanderer, and how sacredness and devotion can show up in everyday life. Along the way, we meet Jizo Bodhisattva—the guardian of travelers—and consider what it means to go “straight ahead” even when the road curves. ★ Support this podcast ★
Greetings Friends,We began the Summer Read of The Hidden Lamp: 25 Centuries of Awakened Women with the first koan—The Old Woman of Wutai, a story about the spiritual path, pilgrimage and life direction that features crone wisdom. If you are interested in joining the summer read, more information and reading schedule can be found here.In this email I would like to share the koan and some reflections about life as pilgrimage. I would also love to create space for your own reflections and engagement. First the koan.Hidden Lamp Case 1: The Old Woman of WutaiAN OLD WOMAN lived on the road to Mount Wutai. A monk on pilgrimage asked her, “Which is the way to Mount Wutai?” The old woman said, “Right straight ahead.”The monk took a few steps, and she said, “He's a good monk, but off he goes, just like the others.” Monks came one after another; they'd ask the same question and receive the same answer.Later, a monk told Master Zhaozhou Congshen what had happened and Zhaozhou said, “I'll go and investigate that old woman myself.”Next day Zhaozhou went to the old woman and asked, “Which is the way to Mount Wutai?”“Right straight ahead,” she replied.Zhaozhou took a few steps.The old woman said, “He's a good monk, but off he goes, just like the others.”Zhaozhou returned to the monastery and told the monks, “I have checked out the old woman of Mount Wutai for you.”This story begins with a person on pilgrimage. Chozen Roshi defines pilgrimage in her book on Jizo Bodhisattva as, a long journey to a sacred place as an act of devotion.* Have you ever been on pilgrimage?* Where did you go? Who/what did you encounter?* What did you learn?The Practice of PilgrimageI find pilgrimage to be a very good metaphor for our life as spiritual practice, especially for those of us who don't live at a monastery or temple. In our daily lives we move around, we walk, we journey to different places whether mentally or physically. We encounter strange, wise, ordinary and mysterious beings. Our seemingly mundane travels to the grocery store, to the gym, to the park, to work could be seen as journeys to sacred places. What makes something sacred? I think this is an important question to ponder. What in your daily life is sacred? What defines an encounter with the sacred?In the Buddhist tradition people make pilgrimage to see the places in the buddha's life, where he taught, the bodhi tree where he was enlightened, where he was born and died. These travels of devotion can be inspiring and connect us to an ancient path of practice.So too, we are living buddhas. Where we walk, drive or bike is sacred land. When we are present, attentive, mindful, aware—we are actualizing a practice of devotion. In her book, Jizo Bodhisattva: Modern Healing & Traditional Buddhist Practice Chozen Roshi explores the relationship between pilgrimage and wandering, she says:There is a difference between a pilgrim and a wanderer. Buddhist teachings use “wanderer” to refer to someone who is lost in the rounds of suffering existence, transmigrating through the six worlds. As we move day by day, hour by hour, among states of ignorance and stupidity, irritation and anger, greediness, coveting and jealousy, pain and mental discomfort, we are like people wandering in a dense primal forest, unable to find a way out or even to climb above the trees to see if there is an edge to this tangling wilderness. We will do this until we realize, hear or are shown that there is a way out.What is the difference between a pilgrim and a wanderer? First, we must know that there is a path. If we get lost and can't find our way out, the only choice is despair and/or a grim determination just to survive. What transforms despair and resignation to hope and joy is knowing there is a path.She then goes on to talk about the practice of pilgrimage and what we need for the journey.A pilgrim carries only the essentials. Jizo has a robe and bowl, a staff, and the Dharma jewel. Nothing extra. What do we need to step out on the path of practice? Just the equipment we were born with. A body and a mind. Actually, a body that is breathing.Body, breath and mind. That's all that's needed. The beauty of this is that it means you can practice anywhere, anytime. In line for the bank, in a traffic jam, rocking your child to sleep. Just align body, breath and mind and there you are…Students ask, “How do you find time for practice?” There are two answers. First, my life makes me practice. I could not do what I do without practice. Second, I turn my awareness around. Instead of looking for time to practice and trying to expand it, I look for time I am not practicing and try to shrink it.Meeting the Old WomanOn this journey in the koan, we encounter an old woman.This old woman embodies crone wisdom and is also a Jizo-like figure, living at a crossroads—offering direction.In the commentary to this koan Nancy Brown imagines that perhaps this woman lived on a crossroads point to Wu Tai her entire life. And perhaps when she was a younger woman she would give the pilgrims physical directions, “yes, turn right here and then follow the path until you get to the larger oak tree…” but as she entered elder-hood her directions became more of a spiritual nature that she expressed as—go straight ahead! There is another koan in our lineage that invites: go straight on a mountain road with 99 curves.Crone wisdom like koan wisdom is about stepping out of logical, rational, either/or dualistic ways of being—and awakening to a more-than-rational awareness.The people we meet on our journeys can be teachers. Sometimes a line from a chant catches us when we are practicing chanting. Similarly in the pilgrimage of our lives, sometimes an encounter with a stranger at the grocery store, a scene from a show, words on our instagram feed can be teachings—touching our hearts before words.I was recently reading the fairly tale the Maiden King, in it the young hero has an encounter with Baba Yaga, the crone figure who lives in the depths of the forest. In the tale she asks the hero,Did you come here of your own free will, or by compulsion?This pilgrimage, this healing journey, this spiritual quest, this life path you are on—how did you get here?Are you wandering or are you a pilgrim?In the fairy tale the hero answers, I came mostly of my own free will, and twice as much by compulsion.Mostly I was following my aspiration, and twice as much my wanderings.This is the way of things, we meet our lives as best we can through our vows, our intention. So much of what happens is beyond our control. Sometimes we wander and find ourselves in strange, challenging, habitual or unfamiliar terrain.The Way of Not-Knowing, The Way of IntimacyOne of my teachers invited us to practice aimless wandering. We would consciously disrupt direction oriented walking with a touch of chaos, moving not from the head but from some other source of direction.The practice was an invitation to embrace uncertainty as a practice—as something that we can embrace or be in relationship with. It also turns the duality of wandering and pilgrim around. Perhaps wandering too is the way—is part of this mysterious path.There is another koan about pilgrimage, here a pilgrim is asked where they are going on pilgrimage, and they answer honestly—”I don't know.” The teacher responds: “Not-knowing is most intimate.”I find when working with koans, that the phrases or images offered can become practice reminders. Which phrases or images feel alive for you? Carry them around and see how they open.I am practicing with the old woman's phrase—right, straight ahead. To voice this phrase internally as I notice mind-wandering into garden plans or song lyrics or stories about the people in my life—I say, “Kisei, right straight ahead.” And usually it wakes me up to the mystery of this place—the sounds of my hands typing, tree limbs dancing in the summer breeze, openness-unconditioned, belly-breath, an abiding tenderness towards life itself.Nancy Brown in her commentary shares that her teacher Zen Master Seung Sahn would end every retreat and every letter with the phrase:Only go straight, don't know; try, try, try for ten-thousand years nonstop; soon get enlightenment and save all beings from suffering.She continues:How do we go “straight-ahead-don't-know”? This question—any sincere question in the moment of asking it—returns us to a mind that is before thinking. In this moment of asking we and this universe are not split apart. How is it just now? What is the job of this moment? What a simple and portable practice!The Hidden Lamp ends each case with a couple of questions. I leave them here for you to reflect on and digest. I would love to hear your reflections.* What is the point of spiritual seeking, and what do you hope to find there?* Have you ever overlooked the wise person right in front of you, clothed in a seemingly ordinary form?* What from the koan or commentary has stayed with you? How are you practicing with it?* Has a question ever led you to the mind before thinking?I'm Amy Kisei. I am a Zen Buddhist Teacher, Spiritual Counselor, Astrologer and Artist. I offer 1:1 Spiritual Counseling sessions using IFS and somatic mindfulness. I also offer astrology readings. Check out my website to learn more. I currently live in Columbus, OH and am a supporting teacher for the Mud Lotus Sangha.Weekly Online Meditation EventMonday Night Dharma — 6P PT / 9P ET Join weekly for drop-in meditation and dharma talk. This is where the Summer Read is happening if you want to join the discussion and practice live. Schedule here.Feel free to join anytime. Event lasts about 1.5 hours. ZOOM LINKZen Practice opportunities through ZCOGrasses, Trees and the Great Earth Sesshin—August 11 - 17, in-person at Great Vow Zen Monastery (this retreat is held outdoors, camping is encouraged but indoor dorm spaces are available)In-Person in Columbus, Ohio through Mud Lotus SanghaWeekly Meditations on Tuesday, Wednesday and ThursdayRetreats, Meditation instruction and other events can be found on our website. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amykisei.substack.com/subscribe
Wutai: centro de artes marciales con la chispa espaňola. Otro centro, ésta vez cultural, muy interesante es la Estación Žilina Záriečie.
There's no place like home! So when you head there you want to bring a friend, and this week Nick and Camille are joined by our resident Gameplay Guru, Chris Zaiser (@chriszaiser) to breakdown all of Cloud's hazy recollections. We also discuss how cool Vincent Valentine is, why the change in Roche and figure out what the deal is with this war between Shinra and Wutai. And we might have to set up a support group for those struggling with throwing boxes, it's not easy!Got thoughts? Join the AutoSave Discord to chat more about this mission, other games you're playing or what's coming out soon. Sick of hearing all the ads? Subscribe to Soda Premium on Apple Podcasts to get rid of them! Join the Patreon squad to support the show. Follow @autosavepodcast on X. While you are there say hello to @thisiscamco and @NickAndrade, or reach out to the show over email to say hey podcast@autosavepod.com If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store. You can also join us on twitch, because you never know when we will pop in for a live show. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate AutoSave 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.
YUFFIE QUEST! Nate & Tyler conclude their coverage of Final Fantasy VII Remake by playing through the downloadable extra mission featuring Yuffie's mission to infiltrate the Shinra building and steal its top secret materia. We also announce the game we will be covering next season. This episode begins and ends INTERmission chapter 1: Wutai's Finest.
It's Yuffie time! To conclude our FF7 Remake saga, Nick and Cam get into the DLC INTERmission (it would feel wrong to end any other way). Square Enix offers a look into what was going on elsewhere in Midgar while the main plot was unfolding. The defender of Wutai herself, Yuffie Kisaragi, infiltrates Midgar to steal materia. Seems simple, right? Got thoughts? Join the AutoSave Discord to chat more about this mission, other games you're playing or what's coming out soon. Sick of hearing all the ads? Subscribe to Soda Premium on Apple Podcasts to get rid of them! Join the Patreon squad to support the show. Follow @autosavepodcast on Twitter. While you are there say hello to @thisiscamco and @NickAndrade, or reach out to the show over email to say hey podcast@autosavepod.com If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store. You can also join us on twitch, because you never know when we will pop in for a live show. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate AutoSave 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.
Last time we spoke about the May fourth movement of 1919 . The Xinhai Revolution of 1911 sparked the May Fourth Movement marked by nationalism, anti-imperialism, and a quest for modernization. Disillusioned with traditional values and foreign encroachments, Chinese intellectuals, students, and workers embraced Western ideals, particularly Marxism, to reform Chinese society. The movement led to the emergence of the Chinese Communist Party and a broader alliance against warlordism and Japanese imperialism. Tensions arose between reformist liberalism and revolutionary Marxism, reflecting debates over China's path to progress. Despite setbacks, the May Fourth Movement's legacy persisted, shaping China's political landscape and laying the groundwork for future revolutionary action. Its an understatement to say it was a watershed moment in modern Chinese history. But underneath it lurked a new Era, one that was to be fought and ruled by warlords. #94 Meet the Northern Warlords Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. How to even begin. I am staring at roughly 10 tabs of books alongside numerous scripts I had written nearly a year ago about China's Warlord Era. I have already written an extensive series, that I also molded into a long form documentary about the Warlord Era, you can find it at the Pacific War Channel on Youtube or in audio form on all podcast platforms. However, I realize now, I really did not dig deep enough, specifically on….who exactly were the warlords? Its true, I covered their numerous battles, made jokes about them, but I did not really go deep into their backgrounds.To be honest their backgrounds are quite fascinating, they were all kooky characters. Thus I thought what better than to start off the Warlord Era by introducing some of the warlords and their cliques. But because there is literally so many warlords, I literally halfway through writing this one had to change it to just the Northern Warlords, next episode we cover the southern ones. After the death of Yuan Shikai China underwent a major shift from being a state-dominated civil bureaucracy overseen by a central authority to military dominated regions. These regions were dominated by the Warlords whom in the words of American political scientist Lucian Pye “were instinctively suspicious, quick to suspect that their interests might be threatened, hard-headed, devoted to the short run and impervious to idealistic abstractions". Most of the Warlords, came from military backgrounds, having gone through the new-style military colleges of the late 19th and early 20th century with foreign instructors. Most of the warlords were extremely brutal to not just their enemies, but civilians and their own troops. They killed without a second thought their own men if they suspected insubordination. They used horrible torture tactics like suspending a victim by the neck in bamboo or wooden cages, breaking knees, slicing limbs, branding and so forth. If railway workers tried to go on strike, a Warlord would often execute a few of them to get them back to work. A British diplomat in Sichuan province witnessed two mutineers being publicly hacked to death with their hearts and livers cut out; another two were burned to death; and others had slits cut into their bodies into which were inserted burning candles before they were hacked to pieces Warlords had to depend on subordinate officers, thus personal loyalty was of vital importance. Many Warlords would be betrayed by their officers who were often bribed by other Warlords. During the Warlord period, there was a balance of power. For those who don't know, the Balance of Power theory suggests states or in this case warlord regions, may secure their own survival by preventing any other state from gaining enough military power to dominate all others. So basically in Europe historically you see this with Britain, France and Spain. Two of the states would always join forces against the largest state to keep everyone in check. During the Warlord Era where there are numerous cliques with their own regional bases, the balance of power becomes quite complicated, but most books or even Youtube videos for that matter focus on 3 big ones, that we will get into soon. Now the Warlords entire power scheme relied on their military, thus it was a precious thing to conserve. Going to war with another Clique might increase ones sphere of influence, but it might also weaken ones military so much they become vulnerable to attacks from other Cliques. This is further complicated by all the intricacies of the 20th century, this is an age of industry, economic power, trade and so forth. Not all the Warlords held regions with the economic capacity or logistical strength to wage longterm wars, some needed decisive knockout blows. As you can imagine, theres thousands of variables at play, making it nearly impossible for any given Clique to dominate all of China. The Warlord Era played out during a time when railroads were the fastest and cheapest means of transporting troops, thus capturing railroads was of vital importance. This was also an age directly after WW1 where the armored train was king. An armored train full of artillery and machine guns could land troops and perform fire support for them in battle. Warlord armies consisted of common soldiers and more often than naught bandits. These grunt types had no loyalty to anyone, many joined Warlord armies as a means to an end, everyone has to eat as they say. Often a bandit became a soldier during times of war, then during times of peace they went back to banditry, it was a vicious cycle. Warlord armies were a plague upon the populations they came into contact with. They plundered, raped, took hostages for money, took women into sexual slavery, murder was rampant. Warlords often looted the countryside as a means to pay their troops. Peasants often joined a Warlord army, fought a battle, became captured by the enemy who simply enlisted them. Yes, Warlords often incorporated POW's into their armies, a system that would bite them in the ass often. Since I am the Pacific War Channel, I have to mention, a famous figure of the Pacific War, Vinegar Joseph Stilwell went to China as an attache in the 1920's and got to see Warlordism first hand. In 1926 he inspected a warlord unit and estimated 20% of the men were 4 foot 6, the average age was roughly 14 and many walked barefoot. Warlord armies were composed of infantry, cavalry, artillery, sometimes armor and even airforces for the lucky big guys. They were organized like any modern military with commanding officers over various units. They were composed of regular units, typically the core of a Warlords army. These were professionally trained soldiers, often equipped with modern firearms and artillery, the backbone of the army so to say. Then there were irregular militias, these were the local recruit types. They were less trained, less equipped, but like in any good army they provided numbers and numbers are a strength of its own. They could be used for garrison duties, patrolling, support roles, freeing up the regular army units. They were more prevalent in rural areas where manpower was always needed to keep control. Next there were foreign advisors and foreign mercenaries. Some Warlords hired foreign military advisors and mercenaries to bolster their strength. The advisors came from any of the great powers, but most especially Japan, Britain, France and Germany. The Russian civil war also added a ton of White Russians to the mix, some Warlords took advantage of this hiring full White Russian regiments like Zhang Zongchang. In 1916 China had roughly half a million soldiers, by 1922 this tripled, then it tripled again in 1924. Such manpower cost money, thus Warlords enacted large taxes to keep their armies going. One way of raising funds were specific taxes called lijin, it was a form of internal tariff, placed on the transit of goods being traded between provinces. One example of lijin was seen in Sichuan province were 27 different taxes were placed upon salt and paper going down the Yangtze river to Shanghai. It was taxes 11 different times by various warlords to the sum of 160% of its total value. Warlords also took enormous loans further complicated the economic order. Many Warlords got into the black market, stealing, cultivating and selling opium. Countless Warlords faced insane inflation situations seeing them continuously printing more and more money. As a Canadian under Justin Trudeau I have no idea what that is like, cough cough. Warlords were not all well educated, thus the illiterate Warlord of Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin when facing increasing prices obviously caused by inflation, he assumed it was the result of greedy merchants and began executing them. All of these money problems occurred because men and equipment were needed. Warlords bought their military arms typically from foreign nations. They purchased weapons from all sorts of nations like Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, thus there was a plethora of different weapons. For rifles, many used the domestic manufactured Hanyang 88 and Mauser, while also importing rifles like the German Mauser Gewehr 98, British Lee-Enfield, the French Chauchat rifle and Italian Carcano M1891. For handguns the most popular was the Mauser C96. For Submachine guns apparently the Bergman MP28 was a favorite, but of course the Thompson submachine gun and MP18 also were purchased. For machine guns its was the Maxim, Chauchat, Browning, Vickers, MG08, Lewis gun, Hotchkiss m1909, honestly there are too many to list. Bayonets were bought and forged en masse alongside a variety of swords and sabers, the Chinese preferred the Dao and Jian for cavalry and ceremonies. Armored cars and trucks were bought en masse, armored trains were employed by a few warlords like Zhang Zongchang. Zhang Zuolin managed to buy some Renault FT tanks in the later 1920s. All the big warlords scrambled to get their hands on WW1 tanks and aircraft, though few used these effectively in battle. In the case of aircraft they really served primarily as reconnaissance. Now lets talk about the Warlords and their Cliques. There were hundreds of warlords, I can't go through them all, but what I will do is name the larger guys, and throughout the series I am sure we will keep adding more. First, the origin of the warlords is of course the father of warlords, Yuan Shikai. Yuan Shikai built up the strongest army in China, the Beiyang Army that outlasted him. Many of Yuan Shikai's officers would become Warlords and their loyal followers made up cliques. Two officers very close to Yuan Shikai were Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang. Both men began their military careers in the Tientsin Military academy a school established by Li Hongzhang ack in 1885. Duan Qirui's grandfather had served in Li Hongzhangs army, thus he was very much a military son. Feng Guozhang came from a family of landowners who had fallen on hard times, he failed to obtain his second civil service degree dashing his hopes to gain a post in the civilian bureaucracy, so he turned to the military. Both Duan and Feng gained good reputations, prompting Yuan Shikai to bring them into his inner circle. Both served him faithfully during the Xinhai Revolution and were rewarded with high office positions in his new government. Duan received military governorship over Hunan and Hubei and Feng received military governorship over Jiangsu. When Yuan Shikai died, Li Yuanghong took the presidency, actually forced by Duan Qirui who became Premier and Feng Guozhang became Vice-President. The Beiyang government henceforth, basically served at the whim to whichever warlord held the strongest army and largest presence within Beijing at any given time. Now leaderless, the Beiyang Army broke apart, its regiments and divisions fell under the control of various warlords in northern China who claimed them for their private armies. The Warlords sought to increase their power by increasing the size of their armies. This also resulted in the creation of major factions, better known as “cliques”. Duan Qirui became the founder of the Anhui clique, it was called this because the majority of its most influential members came from Anhui, including Duan. This clique had close ties to Japan, in previous episodes I mentioned Duan Qirui's secret Nishihara loans, this was done to bolster the cliques army. The Anhui clique organized themselves very early on and were more politically sophisticated than their rivals. The clique had a political wing known as the Anfu Club meaning “peace and happiness club”. Basically this was a group of Beijing politicians who favored Duan and tried to mold the political order his way. There was also a financial wing known as “the new communications clique” led by Cao Rulin who was a rival to Liang Shiyi's “Old Communications clique” part of the Cantonese clique, yes this gets really confusing. The Anhui clique basically became the biggest clique at the offset and would be led by multiple figures over the years. There were many Beiyang officers who were not allowed into the Anhui clique. In the Beiyang Army as in any army, countless men had been overlooked for promotions by those like Duan Qirui and became bitter. These disgruntled officers who felt Duan Qirui had snubbed them gradually rallied behind Feng Guozhang forming the Zhili Clique. The Zhili Clique had its power base in Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Hubei. The Zhili clique was western oriented relying on western nations for funding and arms. Unlike the Anhui, early on the Zhili lacked strong bonds, thus they were more likely to abandon or betray another. They would be led by multiple figures, but no one would be as popular as Wu Peifu. Now as I very much know after creating my Warlord series on the Pacific War channel, I got a ton of comments about Wu Peifu, he is a fan favorite. Wu Peifu was born in Shandong and he received a traditional confucian education. Most would argue Wu Peifu was a Confucian scholar turned soldier in fact. It seems the Japanese victory over China in 1895 persuaded Wu to join the military. He enrolled in one of the new military academies at the time, the Baoding Military academy in Beijing and graduated in 1903 as a 2nd Lt in the beiyang army. Three years later he was assigned to Cao Kun's 3rd division and this sprang a 20 year relationship between the two men. Cao Kun took Wu under his wing and would become the leader of the Zhili clique after Feng Guozhang. However, Cao Kun was heavily invested in political matters. Because of this he relied heavily on Wu Peifu to manage military affairs and this paid off big time as Wu Peifu became one of modern China's greatest military strategists. Think Lelouche from Code Geass, if you get that reference you are a person of culture haha. Wu Peifu earned the epithet “the Jade Marshal” because of his military and intellectual prowess. He would won many battles and campaigns over rival warlords, often outmaneuvering or outwitting them. He also was very committed to maintaining integrity and order within his military. He emphasized professionalism and adhered to codes of conduct, earning a lot of respect amongst his men and China in general. To many he looked elegant and composed, resembling the qualities of Jade. He would brush shoulders with other famous Zhili clique warlords like Sun Chuanfang and Qi Xieyuan, but honestly the list is very large. Now if you read about the warlord Era, typically they display three large cliques in the north who influence most of the era, the Anhui clique, Zhili clique and of course the Fengtian clique. They basically form a balance of power in North China. I should also probably note, China is facing a North/South divide during the Warlord Era so you often hear the cliques called Northern faction cliques or SOuthern faction cliques. The Fengtian clique's sphere of influence was Manchuria and thus was heavily backed by Japan. Like Wu Peifu, the founder of the Fengtian clique is also a fan favorite, his name was Zhang Zuolin, the Tiger of Manchuria. Zhang Zuolin was born in Haicheng in southern Fengtian province, modern Liaoning to a poor family. He received very little formal education, but when old enough he ran a stable at an Inn. He was a slender, kind of frail man with a droopy mustache and a soft voice. He enlisted in the military during the first sino-Japanese war learning how to be a soldier and returned to Fengtian were some say he became a Honghuzi. There is a story, most likely made up by Zhang Zuolin mind you that he was on a hunting trip when he came across a wounded Honghuzi on horseback. He killed the man, stole his horse and took his Honghuzi identity for himself. He gradually organized a small militia force to defend the locality and this became the nucleus of his personal army. Scholars are unsure whether Zhang Zuolin was ever a Honghuzi. Some claim he led a honghuzi gang, others state he was accused of being honghuzi because his local militia was not a regular military unit. During the Boxer Rebellion his gang joined the imperial army and afterwards they worked as security escorts for traveling merchants. During the Russo-Japanese war his men worked as mercenaries for the IJA. After the war he reached an arrangement with the military governor of Fengtien to have his forces become a regiment in the regular Qing army. During the Xinhai revolution as many declared independence movements in Manchuria, the pro-Manchu governor used Zhang Zuolins regiment to set up a “Manchurian People's peacekeeping council”. This was simply done to intimidate and threaten the revolutionaries, but for Zhang Zuolin's role he was awarded the Vice Ministry of Military affairs. When Yuan Shikai was trying to seize the presidency from Dr Sun Yat-Sen, Zhang Zuolin supported him and received military provisions for doing so. Zhang Zuolin murdered a number of leading figures in Mukden and was promoted multiple times by the Ailing Qing dynasty. When it became obvious Yuan Shikai was going to takeover, Zhang Zuolin threw his lot in with him. After 1911 Zhang Zuolin helped quell the rebellion earning a rank of Lt-General. Then when Yuan Shikai declared himself emperor, Zhang Zuolin was one of the very few who supported him. For this Yuan Shikai promoted him to Military governor of Fengtian. In 1916 when Yuan Shikai had to put down rebellions in the southern provinces, Zhang Zuolin supported the effort, however when Duan Qirui sent a new military governor to replace him, Zhang Zuolin went to the Kwantung Army for help. With the Japanese help Zhang Zuolin got rid of the many and would retain his authority over Fengtian. When Yuan Shikai died, Zhang Zuolin was in the perfect position to become a warlord in his region. By 1919 he managed to gain the position of inspector general over all 3 provinces of Manchuria and appointed loyal subordinates all over Manchuria to make sure his control was absolute. By 1920 he was the de facto supreme leader of Manchuria and controlled the Fengtian Army. Zhang Zuolin would dominate the Fengtian Clique nearly its entire existence, only to be replaced by his son Zhang Xueliang after his death. The Fengtian clique produced many warlords, the most notorious being of course, the Dogmeat General Zhang Zongchang. I wont get into it here, but I honestly plan on doing an entire episode to cover Zhang Zongchang's life story, its too hilarious and horrifying not to. The next northern warlord clique was the Shanxi clique of Yan Xishan. Yan Xishan was born in the late 19th century in Wutai county of Xinzhou, Shanxi. His family were mostly bankers and merchants, he himself worked in his fathers bank and pursued a traditional Confucian education. However economic depression in his region, prompting Yan to join a military school in Taiyuan. There he was introduced to western sciences and in 1904 he went to Japan to study at the Tokyo Shimbu Gakko, a military preparatory academy. He enlisted in the Japanese army academy and graduated in 1909. Yan studied in Japan for 5 years and was impressed by Japan's modernization efforts. He observed much of what he could and would later use it to modernize Shanxi. Yan concluded Japan had successfully modernized largely because of its governments abilities to mobilize its populace in support of its policies and the close respectful relationship that existed in its military and civilian populations. In 1910 Yan wrote a pamphlet warning China that it was endanger of being overtaken by Japan unless it developed a form of Bushido. Before going to Japan, Yan had been disgusted with the wide scale corruption of Shanxi officials and believed the Qing dynasty's hostility towards modernization and industrialization led to its downfall. While in Japan Yan met with Dr Sun Yat-Sen and joined his Tongmenghui. When Yan came back to China he was assigned divisional command of the New Army in Shanxi. Despite his post, Yan actually covertly worked to overthrow the Qing. During the Xinhai revolution Yan led a local revolutionary force to drive out the Qing loyalist troops in the province and proclaimed its independence. Yan hoped to join forces with another prominent Shanxi revolutionary named Wu Luzhen, to resist Yuan Shikai's dominance over Northern China. However Wu Luzhen was assassinated just before Yan was elected military governor. Yan tried to resist, but Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Army overwhelmed Shanxi. Yan only survived by withdrawing further north forming alliances with the neighboring Shaanxi province. Yan managed to avoid a military confrontation with Yuan Shikai, thus preserving his own base of power. Although Yan was friends with Dr Sun Yat-Sen he did not support his 1913 Second Revolution and instead got closer to Yuan Shikai. Because of this Yuan Shikai allowed him to retake his post as military governor of Shanxi. Yan used this post to build a personal army and by the time of Yuan Shikai's death solidified his control over Shanxi. Now a little bit about Shanxi, it was one of the poorest provinces in China. Yan believed unless he modernized and revived its economy, Shanxi would simply succumb to rival warlords. As Yan watched from the sidelines in 1919, he saw his province simply could not compete with the bigger boys, thus he took up a policy of neutrality. While the warlord Era wars raged on he instead exclusively worked to modernize Shanxi, particularly developing its resource sector. Yan's governance of Shanxi led to him being dubbed the “model governor” by foreigners. In 1918 there was a bubonic plague outbreak in northern Shanxi taking the lives of nearly 3000 people in two months. Yan dealt with this by issuing instructions on modern germ theory and plague management to his provincial officials. He told his populace the plague was caused by germs that were breathed through lungs, that the disease was incurable and the only way to thwart it was social distancing. He ordered his officials to keep infected family and friends, even entire infected communities quarantined, by threat of police if necessary. Yan also sought foreign doctors to help suppress the epidemic. When Yan was in Japan he spent time in a hospital for 3 months where he saw X-rays, microscopes and other medical equipment for the first time and it seems this greatly impressed him. The epidemic prompted Yan to modernize Shanxi's medicine industry, funding the Research Society for advancement of Chinese Medicine in Taiyuan in 1921. The school promoted both western and chinese medicine, teaching courses in German, Japanese and English. While Yan would a isolationist for most of the warlord era, he had a large role in the end of it. The next northern clique is one I don't want to talk too much about because they only come into the scene later on. There is also the fact the leader of this faction happens to be the rival to Zhang Zongchang, and I think I might make the next or in a future episode a comparison of the two because it would be funny. What you should know is the Guominjun were basically a spin off of the Kuomintang. They were more or less a branch of the Kuomintang, but located in the north. The clique was formed by Feng Yuxiang, known as the “christian general”. Again I don't want to say too much, but this guy was funny, he used to check the fingernails of his troops before battle, no joke I've seen footage of it. Feng Yuxiang's Guominjun would end up being based in northwestern Hebei province. The next northern clique was known as the Ma Clique or the “Three Ma's of the northwest”. This clique goes back to our episode on the Dungan revolt. The Ma cliques traces back to the Qing General Dong Fuxiang, the same man who fought during the Dungan revolt and saved Empress Dowager Cixi during the Boxer Rebellion. He commanded Hui armies whose commanders went on to found the Ma Clique such as Ma Anliang and Ma Fuxiang. During the Xinhai revolution, Ma Anliang led 20 Hui battalions to defend the Qing dynasty by attacking Shaanxi where revolutionaries led by Zhang Fenghui sprang up. Ma Anliang failed to capture Shaanxi and when Puyi abdicated Ma agreed to join the new republic. Unlike Ma Anliang, Ma Fuxiang did not fight for the Qing, but rather the revolutionaries. Ma Fuxiang refused to join the invasion of Shaanxi and instead declared independence of Kansu from Qing control. Because of this Ma Fuxiang was rewarded military governor of Ningxia by Yuan Shikai. Ma Anliang was the founder of the Ma CLique, but died in 1918 leaving the mantle of de fact leader of Muslims in northwest China to fall to Ma Fuxiang. The Ma clique controlled Qinghai, Gangsu and Ningxia. Its three most prominent memers were Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin known as the Xibei San Ma “thee Ma of the northwest”. The clique would fight the Guominjun and later Xinjiang cliques during the warlord era wars. The next northern clique was the Xinjiang clique with their power base in Xinjiang. One thing that is unique to this clique was that some of their leaders were from outside the province. In 1907 Yunnanese Yang Zengxin was assigned governor over Xinjiang. He received support from Ma Yuanzhang, a Sufi Jahriyya Shaykh who enabled him to raise a massive Hui muslim army primarily from Jahriyya communities. Like Ma Anliang, Yang Zengxin was a manchu loyalist, neither trusted the revolutionaries. When the Xinhai revolution broke out, like Ma Anliang, Yang Zengxin fought for the Qing. After Puyi's abdication, Yang Zengxin supported Yuan Shikai becoming emperor, simply because he believed monarchy was the best system for China. Thus Yang Zengxin invited a bunch of anti-yuan leading officials to a banquet and decapitating them. Yuan Shikai rewarded him with a first rank of count during his brief tenure as emperor. After Yuan Shikai's death, Li Yuanhong assigned Fan Yaonan to observe Yang Zengxin to see if he could be replaced. Yang Zengxin was not a idiot, he made sure to recognize which ever faction at any given time controlled the Beiyang government to avoid any troubles. He kept his rule over Xinjiang relatively peaceful, at least in terms of Warlord Era China. When the Russian Civil War broke out he remained luke warm to the new Soviet Union, because the reality was, Xinjiang had always been economically dependent on Russia. Under his leadership Xinjiang formed a lot of deals with the Soviets independent of the Beiyang government. To complicate things, certain Ma's like Ma Fuxiang were also members of the Xinjiang clique and held military positions under Yang Zengxin. Yang Zengxin controlled his province with an iron first, relying heavily on Hui muslims forces to keep conflict at bay. He had absolute power and had a funny habit of keeping the radio station keys on him at all times and read every message that aired on it prior, making sure to get rid of any parts he did not approve of. Because of the geographical location of Xinjiang, the clique did not have as much influence on warlord era china vs others. The last northern clique, is honestly not one I really consider a real clique, but then again you could say the same thing about many others. This clique would be called the “Manchu Restorationists” kind of like a Qing white lotus in some ways. They were prominent figures who simply wanted to bring back the Qing dynasty after the Xinhai Revolution. I really don't want to tell the story just yet, because its a wild and rather comical one, but if anyone was the so-called leader of this clique it was Zhang Xun, the Pigtailed General. But I guess I have to leave you with a bit of a teaser, Zhang Xun technically overthrew the republic and ushered in a Manchu Restoration….for a few days. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. I think I covered roughly 60% of the Northern Warlords and their respective cliques. In the next episode I literally decided just now I will tell the tale of two northern warlords, one a angel and one a devil. I hope you are ready for some comedy and a bit of horror, for it will be the rivals Feng Yuxiang and Zhang Zongchang.
Je vous donne mon interprétation de la fin de FF7 Rebirth, avec ma théorie sur l"épisode 3. J'essaye de vous expliquer ce que j'ai compris. Full spoilers bien sur.▬ ▬ ▬ TU VEUX SOUTENIR LA CHAÎNE ? ▬ ▬ ▬
Seguimos contando historias, secretos y curiosidades de Final Fantasy VII y toda su compilación. Hoy partimos desde Corel hacia el otro lado del océano pasando por Gold Saucer, Nibelheim, Cañon Cosmo, Gongaga, Ciudad cohete y cruzar el oceano para fconocer las historias de Red XIII, Cid y Serah, Cait Sith, nuestro pueblo natal en la actualidad.... todo para empezar a conocer los secretos del planeta. La corriente vital, Seto, Gugenhagen, Wutai y la lucha contra Shinra.... Nos puedes ver de Lunes a Jueves en Twitch.tv/Rejugando Escucha el episodio completo en la app de iVoox, o descubre todo el catálogo de iVoox Originals
Who is the Bodisatffa associated with wisdom? What can we learn from a huge map painting of a sacred mountain in China? Let's find the answers in Cave 61.
Post Show Recaps: LIVE TV & Movie Podcasts with Rob Cesternino
In this eighth chapter of the journey, Zed and Adam go to Wutai (sorry Adam) and reach the end of disc one (SORRY ADAM). If you want to play along while you listen to the podcast journey, “Final Fantasy VII” is available on various platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, Steam and even the original PSX version, assuming you, like Zed, still have an old-school system. Coming up next week, we beat the summer heat with a trip to Icicle Inn and the Great Glacier. The post Final Fantasy 7 Again Part 8: End of Disc One appeared first on PostShowRecaps.com.
In this eighth chapter of the journey, Zed and Adam go to Wutai (sorry Adam) and reach the end of disc one (SORRY ADAM). If you want to play along while you listen to the podcast journey, “Final Fantasy VII” is available on various platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, Steam and even the original PSX version, assuming you, like Zed, still have an old-school system. Coming up next week, we beat the summer heat with a trip to Icicle Inn and the Great Glacier. The post Final Fantasy 7 Again Part 8: End of Disc One appeared first on PostShowRecaps.com.
Cloud and crew head back to Nibelheim and meet Vincent, then off to Rocket Town and an introduction to Cid. Then Yuffie steals our materia so we're off to the mystical land of Wutai.
In this episode, we begin by discussing our beefs with the Shinra Mansion. We hit Rocket Town, and talk about what an a**hole Cid is. We also wonder - are Cid and Shera husband and wife, or just work colleagues? The bumbling fool Palmer's booty-shaking exploits are chuckled at before we move on to Wutai, with yet more re-make talk from Sean. We go to The Gold Saucer and rehash our ‘dates', as well as wondering if Cait Sith the most annoying character of all time. We get Ancient in the Temple; which of the crew fared well in the puzzles? Finally, we finish disc one and let all our emotions out whilst remembering the saddest scene in video game history.
It's Yuffie time! To conclude our FF7 Remake saga, Nick and Cam get into the DLC INTERmission (it would feel wrong to end any other way). Square Enix offers a look into what was going on elsewhere in Midgar while the main plot was unfolding. The defender of Wutai herself, Yuffie Kisaragi, infiltrates Midgar to steal materia. Seems simple, right?Join the Patreon squad for bonus episodes, discord access, prizes and even more goodness: https://www.patreon.com/autosavepod Follow @autosavepodcast on Twitter! While you are there say hello to @thisiscamco and @nickandrade89, or reach out to the show over email to say hey: podcast@autosavepod.com If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store: https://bit.ly/atsmerch You can also join us on twitch, because you never know when we will pop in for a live show: https://www.twitch.tv/autosavepodIf you enjoyed this episode, please rate AutoSave 5-Stars on Apple Podcasts.
It's Yuffie time! To conclude our FF7 Remake saga, Nick and Cam get into the DLC INTERmission (it would feel wrong to end any other way). Square Enix offers a look into what was going on elsewhere in Midgar while the main plot was unfolding. The defender of Wutai herself, Yuffie Kisaragi, infiltrates Midgar to steal materia. Seems simple, right?Join the Patreon squad for bonus episodes, discord access, prizes and even more goodness: https://www.patreon.com/autosavepod Follow @autosavepodcast on Twitter! While you are there say hello to @thisiscamco and @nickandrade89, or reach out to the show over email to say hey: podcast@autosavepod.com If merch is your thing, be sure to check out the store: https://bit.ly/atsmerch You can also join us on twitch, because you never know when we will pop in for a live show: https://www.twitch.tv/autosavepod
Many people in Wutai are sad. Wutai is a small village in the mountains of Pingtung County. 霧台是屏東山區的小村落。 The people there are sad because a big cherry tree died. The tree was about 60-years-old. But why is this cherry tree so special? Well, a long time ago, this cherry tree was the only big cherry tree in Wutai. In the spring, the tree's cherry flowers were so pretty, people from many places would come to see the tree's flowers. 櫻花盛開時，人們會從四面八方來這裡欣賞。 Then, the people in Wutai had an idea! "Hey! Maybe we should plant more cherry trees! Then more people will visit!" 霧台居民得到靈感，開始種更多櫻花樹來吸引遊客。 It worked! Now, every spring, many, many people go to walk in the mountains and look at all the beautiful cherry trees and cherry flowers. The people in Wutai can make money from the visitors and that helps them. 遊客帶動經濟，改善霧台人的生活。 But, now the first old big cherry tree has died. So the people are going to have a special day to say "goodbye" to the tree. They want to say, "Thank you, old cherry tree! You gave us a good idea! You helped Wutai! Xie Xie ni!" 大家想紀念這棵最老的櫻花樹。 Aww… that's nice. Now I want to go to Wutai next spring and see the cherry flowers, too! ________________________________ Vocabulary 霧台的櫻花吸引很多觀光客，但是最老的櫻花樹已經凋零。 1. Spring 春天。 What flowers can we see in the spring? 我們春天時會看到什麼花？ Cherry and peach flowers and azaleas. 櫻花和桃花，還有杜鵑花。 Nice, I like spring! 真好，我喜歡春天！ 2. Special 特別的。 Yeah, spring is very special. 對，春天很特別。 It means winter is over, 它表示冬天結束了，and we will begin a new semester at school. 我們要開始新學期。 3. Sad 悲傷的。 What's the matter? You look sad. 怎麼了？你看起來很悲傷。 I am sad. 我是很難過。 There's no ice cream in the refrigerator! 冰箱裡沒有冰淇淋了！ 4. Pretty 美麗的。 I need a pretty dress for the party. 我需要一件漂亮洋裝參加派對。 Then let's go shopping tomorrow. 那我們明天去買吧。 今天的單字你能記住幾個？ spring 春天 special 特別的 sad 悲傷的 pretty 美麗的 ________________________________ Quiz 1. Where is the cherry tree in this story? A: In Yangminshan, Taipei B: In Wutai, Pingtung County C: In Chiayi City 2. Why is the cherry tree special? A: The tree helped the people think of a good idea B: The tree can talk and sing C: The tree doesn't have any flowers 3. Why do people visit Wutai in the springtime? A: To see the cherry trees and flowers B: Because Wutai has yummy chou dou fu C: To see the monkeys and elephants there Answers 1: B 2: A 3: A
This week on A Novel Console, Karradyne talks about a guy she went on a date with who's now in a TV commercial. Chris talks about Activision being terrible, Video Game Music at the Olympics, and a sexy edition of The Lord of the Rings Karradyne bought. Karradyne then understands loneliness when she reads All The Lonely People, and Chris fights a mega corporation when he plays Final Fantasy 7 Remake. They finish the episode with amazing hot dogs from Portillo's.You can contact us at:anovelconsole@gmail.comFacebook.com/anovelconsoleTwitter.com/anovelconsoleInstagram: @anovelconsolePatreon.com/anovelconsoleOther Streaming Platforms:anovelconsole.carrd.coOur art was done by:Instagram: @metamorphikei
Alexelcapo, uno de los grandes fans de la saga de Final Fantasy, nos acompaña para hablar de Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade nos trae a una Yuffie más ofensiva que nunca. Este DLC nos vuelve a llevar a Wutai, a Midgar y muchos más lugares donde podremos continuar la historia de Final Fantasy VII Remake, y luchar contra nuevos y sorprendentes jefes. Y quién mejor que Alexelcapo, uno de los grandes fans de la saga de Final Fantasy, para acompañarnos en este episodio en el que nos emocionamos con la nostalgia del original, y los tiempos de carga casi inexistentes de esta generación. El pasado y el futuro se mezclan en este nuevo Intergrade, que llega cargado de mejoras para el juego original, incluyendo un nuevo modo de dificultad “Normal (Clásica)”. ⚽ Os recordamos, por cierto, que os paséis por el reto del Summer of Football porque podéis ganar muchas cositas
Wie wird man eigentlich Synchronsprecherin? Welche Voraussetzungen muss man dafür mitbringen und wie schafft man es, dass die eigene Stimme nicht versagt? Im Interview mit Synchronsprecherin Eleni Möller sprechen wir über ihren Einstieg in die Branche sowie über ihre aktuelle Rolle als Yuffie Kisaragi in Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode Intermission. Wie lief das Casting für die verpeilte Ninja aus Wutai und welche Hürden gab es während den Aufnahmen des J-RPGs? Das und vieles mehr in der neuen Ausgabe von „Power On! - Der Gaming Podcast“. Viel Spaß! Timestamps 0:00 - Der Weg zur Synchronsprecherin 12:29 - Synchronsprecher und die sozialen Medien 16:52 - Die Rolle als Yuffie Kisaragi (Casting, Aufn ahmen & mehr) 43:30 - Wo bleibt die Synchronkartei für Games? 46:27 - Blitzfragerunde & Abschluss Folgt Eleni Möller in den sozialen Medien: Twitter: https://twitter.com/EleniMoller Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@eleni_moeller Seyon auf Youtube Webseite: https://www.elenimoeller.com/ Alle unsere Episoden auf Poweroncast.de| Folgt uns auf Twitter| Podcast Titelsong: „Jump 'n Fun“ Composed & Produced by: Timo Jäger | Podcast Logo by: Anita Wan |
REVENGERS, ASSEMBLE! On this episode, we discuss Yuffie the clumsiest ninja in Wutai, Shalua badassery, CID EFFIN HIGHWIND, Vincent & Lucretia's love, getting aboard the hype train and much more! Thanks for listening! Alright everyone, let's mosey! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-midgar-minute/support
NIBELHEIM AHOY! On this episode, we discuss Lizardmen, Vincent combat ideas in remake, consistent sewer design, Metal Gear Cait Sith, NERO THE SABLE, Lucrecia character development, Rosso's desires, the return of a certain Wutai ninja and much more! Thanks for listening! Alright everyone, let's mosey! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-midgar-minute/support
Auch in 2021 bleibt uns die SONY STATE OF PLAY, "das" PLAYSTATION SHOWCASE, der PS5 NEWS STREAM, eben Sonys hauseigene Sendung mit News und Infos rund um die eigenen Spieleentwicklungen erhalten! Nachdem in 2020 vor allem die PS5 - ihr Design, ihr Release usw. - das alles entscheidende Thema war, wird die STATE OF PLAY am 25.2.2021 nicht mehr diesen Trumpf spielen können. Stattdessen muss der japanische Spielekonsolen-Hersteller Spiele, Spiele und noch mehr Spiele für die PLAYSTATION 5 vorstellen. Dabei sind natürlich wieder allerhand Gerüchte aufgeploppt rund um diese SONY DIRECT/SONY PK. SILENT HILL wird mal wieder gehandelt, manche würden sich auch über News zu FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE freuen, wieder andere hoffen auf Lebenszeichen von FROMSOFTWAREs nächstem SOULSLIKE ELDEN RING und wieder andere wollen vor allem frische IPs sehen, um sich auf weiteres PS5 GAMEPLAY bzw. NEXT GEN GAMEPLAY zu freuen. Kann die SONY Präsentation das halten? Wird das ganze zum PS EVENT oder zur PLAYSTATION Enttäuschung? Viet Nguyen, Sandro Kreitlow und Gregor Kartsios schauen mit euch die SONY STATE OF PLAY äh den PS5 STREAM bzw. PLAYSTATION 5 STREAM! Kleiner Spoiler: Gerade zu FINAL FANTASY 7 gibt es Neuigkeiten. Der Teil 2 lässt leider weiter auf sich warten, allerdings gibt es eine kleine Zusatz-Episode zum ersten FF7R Hauptspiel. Zudem stoßen Yuffie & Sonon aus Wutai zum Game dazu.
BUT THAT'S JUST A THEORY! In this episode, we take some time to pontificate on a theory about Zack and Tifa. And is there any truth to the Wutai conspiracy? Tell us what you guys think! Thanks for listening! Alright everyone, let's mosey! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-midgar-minute/support
*This show contains spoilers!* Wutai Hosts Vince (Transformation Sequence) and Jessy (Naruto Reviewto) are long-time FF stans and are excited to share with you their thoughts on the story, art, music, themes and gameplay on this behemoth of a series. Season 1 is breaking down the epic 1997 RPG Final Fantasy VII. This episode features a short romp through Mount Nibel before we enjoy the pure chaotic energy of Rocket Town! Let us know what you think of the game on Twitter! @finalfanservice Looking for other ways to interact with us? Vince will be playing the chunks of the Final Fantasy game currently being reviewed on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons at 6pm EST (11pm GMT). Check it out! twitch.tv/sequencepod The opening music is a remix of Nobuo Uematsu's song Prelude, arranged by me, Vince Kenny. The ending music is Cry of the Planet by Mega Ran & Lost Perception, and is used with permission. Check out more of Ran's amazing tracks at megaran.com.
Our next few chapters finds us cleaning up the last sips of content here near the end of disc one, starting with our ninja friend Yuffie’s hometown of Wutai. As part of our SIDEQUEST EPISODES we talk about why “Magma Diver” is the worst Evangelion episode, how Erin is basically Roman from Party Down, and the tantalizing fantasy of a Platinum Games/Suda 51 collaboration adaptation of the classic 90’s cyberpunk novel Snow Crash. Also uh, Wutai. Intro: Cid’s Theme, cover by Andre Kane Outro: Wutai, cover by Andre Kane
In this Teisho, given the fourth day of Autumn Sesshin 2019, Rinzan Osho examines "The Old Woman of Mount Wutai" from The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women. In seeking true wakefulness, we have to go into what is unknown and unknowable. To do this, we must go straight on, facing each moment with curiosity and wonder.
No One Can Know About This: A Podcast Where We Play Every Final Fantasy
It’s time to do the pagoda in Wutai and learn about Yuffie’s relationship with her dad! Then we go to sleep, and Ryan wakes up sick. So we start searching underwater. Listen to Daniel K’s Let’s plays! https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/daniel-ks-lets-plays/id1247263511?mt=2 T-shirts and mugs: http://etsy.com/shop/nockat Email: NOCKATpodcast@gmail.com @NOCKATpodcast patreon.com/nockat
Joining us this week is Adam Payne from Knight of the Round and BIT X BIT drops in to talk Wutai! Yuffie's yoinked our Materia and someone else yoinked our Yuffie! Cait Sith is a feminist, Vincent is an incel. It's truly omnishambles.Follow Adam on Instagram: https://instagram.com/heyadampayneTheme Music: "Liberi Fatali (Remix)" by DJ Cutman - https://music.djcutman.com/Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack - https://spoti.fi/2XBKpwg
In this episode of Side Quests, Mr. Wesley Schantz and I discuss the Wutai side quest available at the end of Final Fantasy VII Disc 1. We discuss (a) one of the most pivotal scenes in all video game history, (b) the level of betrayal Cloud must feel and what a host of symbolic interpretations of the situation could be, and (c) how the game pokes at the player through the game; who is the real puppet,: Cloud or you? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/alexander-schmid9/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alexander-schmid9/support
In this episode of Side Quests, Mr. Wesley Schantz and I discuss the Wutai side quest available at the end of Final Fantasy VII Disc 1. We discuss (a) betrayal and loyalty between friends and enemies, (b) the liquid beauty of Wutai and the fusion of Eastern and Western mythologies and aesthetics, and (c) how the thief prefigures the hero and how one's investment/playing strategy evolves/progresses over time, just as one's attitude develops over one's real life. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/alexander-schmid9/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alexander-schmid9/support
Wherein Tj and Chris (at long last) welcome Cid's comeuppance vis-a-vis a certain assistant, confirm that you can't do the Wutai quest after the Return to Midgar, and trivialize the entire challenge on a couple different occasions. This week's beer: Rusty Gold Brewing Potential Energy Imperial IPA Music credits: OP: "How Many Heavens Are There?" [Tifa's Theme] by Wiesty & XPRTNovice ED: "The Shinra Shuffle" [Fight On!] by The Runaway Five
This week, the guys review The Lifestream's presentation of On the Way to a Smile: Case of Yuffie. We discuss the storyline present, which is thus far the most interesting in the On the Way to a Smile series, as it deals with the Geostigma. We see the disease unfold, and talk about Wutai doing the right thing with quarantining the individuals who are sick. We then reevaluate the scene under the Highwind at the end of Disc 2 of Final Fantasy VII. Enjoy the Grind!
Making-of Crisis Core began development as a PSP port of the FInal Fantasy VII Mobile Phone Japan-only game “Before Crisis”. Hajime Tabata, event Director for Monster Rancher 2, and the creator of “Before Crisis” was chosen as director of the port. It would also be produced by Hideki Imaizumi, the score by Takeharu Ishimoto, written by Kazushige Nojima, and art designed by Yoshihiro Imaizumi. Soon into production of the port, however, when it was decided that the port was going to center around the mythical character of Zack, they opted to create a brand-new game instead. They titled this new project “Before Crisis Core” and eventually shortened it to “Crisis Core”, and drew upon the artwork and back story left over from the development of Final Fantasy VII. Despite having plenty of backstory for FF7 filled in with this game, they initially wanted to include more, but were restricted by the size of the PSP’s UMD’s. Much of Cloud’s involvement was cut in order to focus the game on Zack. The game's antagonist, Genesis, was brought over from the development of Dirge of Cerberus, and made the main baddie, in an attempt to cohesively connect the games. That and the Rock Star voice actor, “Gackt”, wanted a bigger role, so Producer Hideki Imaizumi gave him one. The team behind Crisis Core had some hurdles to get over in development. With Zack as the main protagonist, the regular “RPG” style of gameplay wasn’t going to work, and so they opted for a more fluid Action style of gameplay, with little exploration. There was some fear that such a departure from traditional gameplay and leveling would alienate fans, as well as concern over retconning certain elements of Final Fantasy 7. Square, at this time, was receiving a lot of backlash over the Animated short film, Last Order, and were trying to make up for it. Too late into development, the team realized that the player’s inability to skip cutscenes was a huge oversight that they couldn’t fix, and the luck-based leveling, meant to keep gameplay from growing stale, had its problems as well. Despite all this, Crisis Core’s demo was released in 2006 at Jump festa, and in may of 2007 Tabata stated that the game was 90% complete (Tabata loves his percentages). In september of that year, Crisis Core was released to Japanese audiences, and in the spring of 2008 it made its way to western shores. Note that 2007 would have been the 10th anniversary for FF7, and a lot was made of Crisis Core and other projects of Square’s Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, the others being Before Crisis, the shooter Dirge of Cerberus (our next game), and the CGI movie Advent Children. Crisis Core would be released with a bang, well reviewed by most (metacritic has it at 83/100), it ended up being the 6th biggest selling PSP game ever, selling 3.1 million copies worldwide. It’s definitely one of the more successful FInal Fantasy Sequels/Prequels, praised for its focus on the Final Fantasy VII backstory, although faulted sometimes for it’s DMW or “randomized as hell limit break system” RAHLBS, it remains a beloved addition to the FFVII universe, and has been called one of the most tear-inducing game of all time. Story Crisis core takes place 7 years before the events of FFVII, and focuses the story around a Shinra Soldier named Zack Fair, as he explores the dark roots and experiments of Genetically modified Soldiers like himself. It begins with Zack and his mentor Angeal being dispatched to support the Shinra war against the nation of Wutai, during which Angeal disappeared. Later it’s “revealed” that Angeal and another soldier named Genesis, have somehow betrayed shinra, and Zack and Sephiroth are sent to kill him. At this point, Genesis and a dude named Dr. Hollander, throw a clone army Shinra’s way. Sephiroth attacks Genesis, and Zack goes off to find Hollander. Angeal, however, stops Zack from killing Hollander by knocking him into the abyss, as Hollander must be kept alive if they are to have any hope in finding a cure from being turned into a monster, something that happens when potential Soldiers are exposed to too much of Jenova’s genetic Material, an amount had by both Genesis and Angeal, as well as Sephiroth. Zack wakes up, having fallen into Aerith’s church, and they spend some quality time together while Zack heals. When Zack returns to the ever-being-attacked Shinra building, he is convinced to side with his friend Angeal, who has become disillusioned with Genesis. But once again, Angeal disappears, and Zack is ordered somewhere new, Modeoheim, where Genesis was last seen. On route he meets a young Cloud Strife, and their brief friendship begins. Zack does end up fighting Genesis, but Genesis throws himself into a Mako Reactor in the end. On that same trip, Zack finds Angeal is fusing with his own clones, being overtaken by the monster inside of him, and eventually Zack is forced to kill him, inheriting his mentor’s sword in the wake of his death. After all of this, despite the fact that Genesis’s clones still fight Shinra, Angeal’s have become some sort of protector for Zack and Aerith. Still in search of answers ;regarding Genesis’s whereabouts, Zack, Sephiroth, and shinra troops that include Cloud, go to investigate the Nibelheim Reactor. And it’s here that Sephiroth finds out about the experiments that created him, and he goes absolutely fucking nuts, destroys a town, and attempts to take Jenova’s body. Zack fails to stop him, and in a crazy feat of strength, after being stabbed by a huge fucking sword, Cloud throws Sephiroth into the lifestream below the reactor. Later, Zack finds himself and a very weakened Cloud in Hojo’s lab, as part of the Jenova experiments. So he freaks out, takes cloud, and gets the fuck out of there. This causes Shinra to pursue Zack and Cloud ruthlessly (Cloud, because he’s the last experiment to hold Sephiroth’s cells, who is the one who reacted with the most stability with Jenova’s cells). Hollander tries to get Cloud, but Zack makes quick work of him, and aligns himself with Dr. Lazard, who is turning into an Angeal Clone, and sends Zack to go to Banora to defeat Genesis. After a super-monstrous Genesis is killed, Zack returns to Cloud and finds a note from Aerith that revealed a 4 year gap that took place between the incidents at Nibelheim, and him waking in Hojo’s lab. With Shinra in hot pursuit, Zack attempts to flee with cloud, and ends up sacrificing himself for cloud in leigh of hundreds of attacking shinra troops. Shinra leaves without cleaning up the scene, and Zack shares his last moments with Cloud, and like Angeal once gave him the Buster sword, so to does Zack pass the sword to Cloud. REMIXES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMStv9pOc7o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj3W03XU-C8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQtRKaCNfOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-fhq2NNuw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs0unSjG1Fg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPllCemi--w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hwi3pGylwI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ2eU218U7M
This episode, we continue right where we left off last week. We discuss the design of the game, and important aspect considering the switch of character designer from Yoshitaka Amano to Tetsuya Nomura. We then discussed the amazing music composed by the legendary Nobou Uematsu, and also discussed doing optional quests in the game. Among these were getting knights of the round, defeating the weapons, the Wutai side quest etc. We ended the review segment with our final, overall thoughts on the game as a whole, and then moved on to our increasingly popular questions segment, where we answer anything you ask us! Enjoy!
We're back to the normal swing of things recording on time and everything. This time we discuss the intricate plot details of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 nothing is sacred we will crush any and all expectations for this episode. So expect the usual references that you have come to know and love.
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