Chapter 472

  "Hahaha!" Jinada Masane burst out laughing, "No wonder Ishihara insisted on mobilizing our powerful Imperial Navy! It was to give Zhang Xueliang a boost of confidence! While defeating the Chinese, not only did he give Zhang Xueliang a boost of confidence, but also gave the Nanjing government a warning shot! And then use Zhang's hand to get rid of Li Bin! Truly a mastermind! I admire, I admire!"

  Kajimura Tatsujirō asked with a hint of puzzlement, "Will that Zhang Xueliang obediently listen to us and get rid of this Li Bin? You know, the current Li Bin is a hero to the Chinese people. If Zhang Xueliang kills him now, I'm afraid his own future days will be even more difficult!"

  Ishihara Kanji sneered and explained: "Of course, Zhang Xueliang would not dare to kill him now, but he will be killed soon! My plan is this, when we send the fleet to Liaodong Bay, we first inform Zhang Xueliang in advance, let him feel afraid, then he will withdraw his command power and take him to Beiping.

  "After we use our powerful navy to win the Jinzhou War, Zhang Xueliang will feel afraid and will get rid of this person according to our requirements!"

  "Haha! This plan is excellent!" Tsuchihashi Genji laughed, "It's truly a perfect plan to kill with a borrowed knife!"

  "Right! Let's go and make arrangements!" ordered Ben Zhuang Fan.

  The Japanese army was defeated again in the Battle of Dalin River, and the Righteous and Brave Army and the Northeastern Army, which had stayed behind to continue resisting Japan, killed more than 5,000 Japanese soldiers. With this victory, combined with the Battle of Goubangzi and the Battle of Jinzhou, they had already killed over 10,000 Japanese invaders, a remarkable achievement! Li Bin, who was brave in resisting Japan and had a good military mind, immediately became famous throughout the country. Lin Sen, the acting chairman of the Nationalist Party, Wang Jingwei, the vice-chairman of the National Government, Hu Hanmin, an elder statesman of the Nationalist Party, and others all praised Li Bin unanimously. Even Bai Chongxi and Li Zongren from Guangxi sent congratulatory telegrams to Li Bin.

  Wang Jingwei ordered: "In view of Li Bin's great contributions in resisting the Japanese invaders, he is hereby awarded the rank of Colonel in the National Revolutionary Army!"

  However, shortly afterwards, Japan sent a telegram to Zhang Xueliang through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which stated: "In view of the fact that there are no Chinese troops stationed in Manchuria, our Kwantung Army replaced your country's bandit-suppressing mission, but was attacked by your armored train. We, the Japanese government, express outrage at your provocative actions! In order to severely punish those bandits who harm your people, we have decided to dispatch the largest fleet in history to Liaodong Bay to assist in the war! At the same time, we, Japan, deeply regret what happened to your military and have decided to suspend all meetings between our countries. We also hope that you will severely punish the officers who disobeyed orders and give a satisfactory explanation to the Japanese government!"

  This telegram scared Zhang Xueliang pale, and he hastily sent a telegram to Jinzhou, ordering the armored train commander Liu Hanshan to quickly lead the train back to the Pass with all due haste, in order to avoid contact with the Japanese.

  However, after Zhang Xueliang's telegram was sent out, it was like a mud cow entering the sea, and no reply was received at all.

  Liu Hanshan on the armored train received a telegram, he turned to the telegraph operator and said: "Remove one component from the telegraph machine, then have someone ride a horse to Jinzhou to report that the telegraph machine is damaged, only a few words were received."

  Just as Zhang Xueliang was waiting anxiously for a response, the deputy officer at the door came in to report: "Young Marshal, Liu Hanshan's car team vice captain Zhang Dayong rushed back overnight and said he had an urgent matter to report!"

  "Ah! Why isn't he on the train! Hurry up and let him in!" Zhang Xueliang hastily ordered his aide.

  After Zhang Dajun went in, he immediately reported the incident at the Da Ling River to Zhang Xueliang.

  Zhang Xueliang flew into a rage, saying: "This Li Bin actually dared to have my trusted aide detained! This is unbearable! Now he has provoked the Japanese! Originally I had hoped to use the League of Nations' mediation to recover the Three Eastern Provinces! It seems now that there's no hope!"

  "That's right! We should bring back Li Bin and that Liu Hanshan to be executed on the spot! Otherwise, who will listen to your orders in the future, General?" Zhang Dayout shouted from the side.

  But no matter how angry Zhang Xueliang was, his mind was still relatively rational. In fact, this person was also overly cautious and would have given the order not to resist. He said to Zhang Dajun: "These two must not be killed! Now they are anti-Japanese heroes, if I kill them, what's the difference between me and those traitors!"

  "So they disobeyed military orders and won't be punished at all?" Zhang Dayout hated Li Bin to death and wished that Zhang Xueliang would give the order to kill him.

  "Punishment is definitely necessary! I'll just have them called back now!" Zhang Xueliang said.

  Zhang Xueliang sent Zhao Zhenfan to summon Li Bin and Liu Hanshan back to Beiping. He planned to let him stay by his side temporarily after Li Bin arrived in Beiping, so as not to stir up more trouble.

  Of course, Zhang Xueliang could not say that it was because Li Bin disobeyed military orders and offended the Japanese that he was recalled. Instead, he told Zhao Zhenfang: "I have two things to discuss with you this time. The first is to award Li Bin the rank of senior colonel. The second thing is that this man is an anti-Japanese hero. I didn't know we had such a person in our Northeastern Army, so I asked you to bring him to Beiping. I want to see what kind of person he really is."

  Zhao Zhenfan received the order and took the train to Jinzhou. After meeting Huang Xiansheng, he proposed: "The young marshal wants to meet that young and promising military officer. Now that the devils have been repelled, they are temporarily unable to launch an attack. We should invite Colonel Li to go to Beiping for a two-day rest."

  "Isn't it because Li Bin disobeyed General Shao's orders, and General Shao wants to punish him?" Huang Xiansheng asked, "In fact, he disobeyed the order for the country and the people! This person has no private motives at all."

  This Zhao Zhenfan was also a straightforward man, and he replied: "It's impossible. Now Li Bin is a national hero, how can the Young Marshal possibly punish a national hero? Besides, now that Chiang Kai-shek has stepped down, even if Chiang wanted to punish Li Bin, it would be impossible."

  After Zhao Zhenfan arrived at the Daling River defense line with his orders, he saw that the dog's teeth were interlocking, the trenches were crisscrossing, and various communication trenches were closely connected. The underground tunnels were as dense as a spider web. He couldn't help but exclaim repeatedly: "Awesome! This man is indeed a talented person who excels at defensive warfare! With him here, I'm afraid even more devils can't get in!"

  After meeting Li Bin, Zhao Zhenfan first announced the granting of a title, and he personally awarded Li Bin the rank of senior colonel.

  He was given a rank by a senior general of the Northeast Army, who later became a famous general in the Burma campaign. Li felt honored and hastily said: "General Zhao gave me a rank personally, I'm truly honored!"

  "Modesty aside! Compared to General Li, I'm just a humble and unworthy person!" Zhao Zhenfan continued to persuade, "The Young Marshal has heard that there's a heroic young man like General Li in the Northeast Army, he'd very much like to meet him. Anyway, those devils have been scared off for now, they won't dare to attack again, so why not take the opportunity to go to Beiping with me?"

  Li Bin pushed it away: "The country is in trouble, I am a soldier guarding Jinzhou, how dare I leave my post to go to Beiping?"

  "Li Canzuo, aren't you making things difficult for me? If you don't go, how can I explain it to General Shao when I get back?" Zhao Zhenfan almost begged.

  When he saw such a celebrity, Li Bin thought to himself: Anyway, now whether it's Wang Jingwei or Lin Sen, whether it's Bai Chongxi or Li Zongren, or Feng Yuxiang, which one is not protecting himself? Even if he disobeyed Zhang Xueliang's order, what could he do? Why not go see this big celebrity then. Although he was a non-resistant general, he still had a guilty conscience and collaborated with Yang Hucheng to plan the Xi'an Incident, which also made up for his past mistakes. Of course, now is not the time, can only wait until the Jinzhou Battle ends in a few days before going.

  Li Bin said to Zhao Zhenfan, "I promised General Shao that I can go to Beiping for a trip, but not now. I estimate that the Jinzhou campaign will end in a few days, and I'll go then. How many days are you staying in Jinzhou, General Zhao?"

  Zhao Zhenfan had no choice but to agree with what Li Bin said, anyway, as long as he could bring Li Bin back to Beiping, he would have fulfilled the task entrusted to him by Shao Shuai.

  The request from the Kantō Army and the Chosen Army was sent to the Army Ministry, which agreed to send naval forces to China.

  However, Japanese Navy Commander-in-Chief Kato Tomosaburo and Vice-Commander Mineo Osumi were laughing at the Army.

  On board the battleship Nagato in Yokosuka Naval Base, Vice Admiral Mineichi Koga of the Imperial Japanese Navy burst out laughing upon hearing the news: "Those useless things! At a critical moment like this, they still have to rely on us naval forces! They are simply wasting the nation's food!"

  "Haha! That's right!" Takashi also laughed. "Are we going to help them? Is the credit for taking down Jinzhou theirs or ours?"

  Just as the high-ranking naval officers were discussing, a guard suddenly came in to report: "Report, former Navy Commander-in-Chief, Imperial Marshal Togo Heihachiro has arrived on board Nagato!"

  All the generals and admirals stood up, waiting for the aged Tōgō Heihachirō to board the Nagato. When he finally appeared, everyone saluted this elder statesman of the Japanese Navy.

  The cunning and crafty Tōshirō Hizen entered the meeting room, sat down, and glanced at these generals. From their eyes, which they could not hide, he saw that they were dissatisfied with the army.

  "Gentlemen, Imperial warriors! The army is sometimes incompetent! But can our navy take the land by landing? Whether it's the navy or the army, they are all elites of our empire! I think now that you should strike immediately! If we capture Manchuria from China, our navy will become even stronger with resources!" said Togo Heihachiro.

  Not long after Higashi-ichizō left the Nagato, Captain Tarao Hara ordered departure. The 33,800-ton battleship slowly left Yokosuka Port with two cruisers and four destroyers in attendance, and arrived at the Yellow Sea a day later, where it would join the Musashi, Kongō, Hiei, Akagi, Kaga, and Shōkaku aircraft carriers, as well as eight light cruisers and 24 destroyers to form a massive fleet.

  In the Japanese fleet, there were more than a dozen transport ships loaded with devils of the Eighth Division of the Japanese Army, which was preparing to land from the sea while launching an attack from the surface.

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