Chapter 472

  After annihilating the 29th Infantry Regiment, the warriors who retreated to each street block continued to use cold guns and hand grenades to kill and injure the enemy, making the devils pay a heavy price for every step forward.

  Especially the snipers and god gunmen who change places after one shot, have caused heavy psychological pressure on the devils.

  Every house is a fortress that shoots out deadly bullets, every alleyway is a graveyard for the devils! Even if the Japanese turn houses into ruins, it's all in vain. The warriors quickly utilize the ruins to construct new fortifications.

  During the day, the devils paid a heavy price to occupy the land, and at night, Li Bin led the special soldiers in a surprise attack under the cover of snipers, often retaking the land and annihilating a large number of devils.

  The fierce battle lasted for three days and nights, and Li Bin finally issued the order to "withdraw". He said to Hong Biao, Xiao Bo and Wu Congyu: "Brothers, we have no reinforcements, nor food supplies, Jinzhou will not be able to hold on! Rather than everyone dying here, it's better to take advantage of the opportunity that the devils have not yet occupied Xiaoling River, and withdraw from Jinzhou! We've eliminated so many devils, it was worth it!"

  "Take a seat! We don't want to withdraw from Jinzhou! We will fight the devils here!" The warriors were unwilling to leave.

  Li Bin said: "Brothers, we must not only seek gains and losses in one city or one place! As long as we preserve this anti-Japanese force, we will eventually have the opportunity to thoroughly defeat Japanese imperialism! To defeat the enemy, we must first save ourselves! As long as there are people, after we leave Jinzhou, we still have the opportunity to come back!"

  Li Bin knew that from now on, there would be no basis for them to exist, and they could only fight guerrilla warfare. Otherwise, they would have to retreat back to the pass and wait for an opportunity to come out again. But if they returned to the pass, could the National Government tolerate their existence?

  After a long consideration, Li Bin finally made an arrangement: "Brothers, after we withdraw from Jinzhou, you will head southwest and enter the mountainous area to consider further action. I'll return to Beiping to see Generalissimo first. Seven days later, we'll meet in the mountainous area between Ye Baoshou and Lingyuan! At that time, I'll make arrangements for the next step for all of you brothers!"

  Then Li Bin made arrangements: "Now everyone continues to attack the enemy in the city! After dark, disperse from the south of the city and gather at the Xiaolinghe Railway Bridge!"

  Hong Biao, Jin Da, Jin Hu, Wu Congyu, Huang Hua, Fang Juntian and Ma Liqiang led the team to leave, they continued to use their familiarity with the terrain in the city, shooting devils everywhere with cold guns.

  As the sky gradually darkened, the devils who were worried about being ambushed did not dare to launch a further attack, which gave Li Bin and his men an excellent opportunity to retreat.

  Starting from 7 o'clock in the evening, until 10 o'clock at night, the surviving warriors left Jinzhou City one after another and arrived at the Xiao Linghe Railway Bridge which was still under our army's control. After gathering there, they retreated to the southwest.

  The soldiers turned their heads again before leaving Jinzhou, looking deeply at this land they loved, where the white mountains and black waters were filled with the hot blood of the soldiers! As they looked at the flames rising to the sky in Jinzhou City, Li Bin and the soldiers all knelt down, with a drop of hot tears falling on the snowy ground.

  At this time, Li Bin was in extreme pain in his heart. He knew that the devils had suffered heavy casualties in Jinzhou and would definitely take revenge! The people inside the city who were unwilling to leave their hometown, as long as they were not traitors, would surely suffer a bloody massacre by the devils! However, this is also an unavoidable move! If we don't preserve our own strength, how can we drive the devils out of our country?

  The Japanese were already prepared to retreat before the attack on Jinzhou, and Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army was not enough to defend Jinzhou with just the volunteer army. The defeats at Goubangzi and Daling River had greatly dampened the Japanese military's morale, but Zhang Xueliang's main force still did not dare to launch a counterattack! In fact, long before the September 18th Incident, Zhang Xueliang already knew about Japan's plan to destroy China as outlined in the Tanaka Memorial, yet he was afraid of the Japanese and pinned his hopes on the League of Nations.

  The Ninth Brigade of He Zhuguo is guarding Shanhai Pass. The Japanese, who suffered heavy losses in Jinzhou, will not attack Shanhai Pass for the time being.

  After bidding farewell to his comrades, Li Bin went alone to Shanhai Pass, where he met Zhao Zhenfan and the two set off together for Beiping. Li Bin followed Zhao Zhenfan from Shanhai Pass by car southbound. Along the way, Li Bin sighed deeply, as he had been trying to change this course of history, and indeed succeeded in holding up the Japanese army in Jinzhou for over ten days, but history had come full circle and returned to its original state! Jinzhou was still lost, and the Japanese were able to free their hands to deal with Ma Zhanshan in Heilongjiang; even if he wanted to hold back the Japanese fleet, Li Bin failed, and the Japanese aircraft carrier went to Shanghai to coordinate with the January 28 Incident.

  The train stopped at the station, and the platform was crowded with large banners that read "Warm Welcome to Patriotic General Li Bin". Seeing such banners, Li Bin couldn't help but smile secretly: I'm just a colonel now, how did I become a general?

  This day was January 24, 1932. Japan had already begun to increase its troops towards Shanghai, and the January 28 Incident was not far away.

  As soon as the train arrived, Li Bin saw Wang Tielan and Yu Xuezong, famous generals of the Northeast Army, who came to greet him. Then a fleet of cars took Li Bin to Zhang Xueliang's residence.

  It is said that Li Bin, a Japanese commander who had been defeated by the Chinese in Jinzhou, came to visit. Zhang Xueliang personally went to the gate to welcome him. When the car stopped at the gate, Li Bin saw a young general surrounded by many officers, and he looked ordinary, with a clear brow and bright eyes. Upon seeing Generalissimo, Li Bin felt that he lacked the kind of murderous spirit that a military man should have, and it would be more fitting to call him a scholar rather than a general. Compared to Zhang Zuolin in the photos, who looked fierce and powerful, there was really a sense of tiger father and dog son!

  Li Bin thought silently: No wonder, General Shao is afraid of the Japanese and dares not to resist.

  However, General Shao personally came out to welcome him, which made Li Bin feel honored and surprised. He hastily gave General Shao a standard military salute.

  The young general enthusiastically stretched out his hand and grasped Li Bin's hand, then he made a gesture: "Come! Come in quickly and sit down!"

  After the host and guest took their seats, General Shao asked Li Bin about the art of war and tactics, as well as how different troops coordinated with each other in battle. Li Bin explained everything to General Shao one by one.

  "It's really a hero emerging from his youth!" General Xiao couldn't help but have some admiration for Li Bin. All the famous generals present were deeply impressed by Li Bin.

  However, General Zhang suddenly changed the subject and asked Li Bin: "Li advisor, do you think we can win if China formally goes to war with Japan?"

  Li Bin replied, "Japan is just a small island nation, while our China has far more land and population than Japan! The key is that Japan has a powerful navy and air force, with control of the seas in their hands. Since the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan has thoroughly controlled the waters off China's coast. Therefore, from the current situation, it can only be them attacking us, while we cannot take the initiative to attack them. Once the Japanese army enters our land, our army is no match for theirs in terms of heavy weapons and individual soldier training. So, if we are to fight Japan, we must seize their weaknesses - lack of resources and smaller population - and exhaust their living forces to the greatest extent possible, only then can we achieve ultimate victory!"

  "But as Li Bin said, Japan has control of the seas. Even if we win on land, their warships and planes can still harass us everywhere, and we will not be able to thoroughly defeat Japan!" said Shao Shuai.

  "This is going to take a long time, and maybe in the end it will still need the international community to step in to solve." Li Bin said, turning the topic around, "But now, Japan has occupied our three northeastern provinces, and the people of our northeastern provinces are suffering under the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders. Not to mention other things, just talking about the northeast is the old marshal's lifelong hard work that was won, and now it's being given away to the Japanese for nothing!" Li Bin lowered his voice and said to Xiao Shuai: "The National Government is just a group of people who are heartless in selling out their own country!"

  Actually, Li Bin also gave Shao Yu a step down here, he didn't say it was Zhang Xueliang's non-resistance, but instead put the blame on the National Government.

  When Li Bin mentioned the old marshal, Zhang Xueliang's eyes turned red. He turned his head away, not wanting Li Bin to see the pain in his heart. After a while, the young marshal turned back and waved his hand: "Let everyone on the side retreat first!"

  After everyone retreated, General Han said to Li Bin: "Li Bin, I know that your Righteous and Brave Army lacks weapons and ammunition. These are things that I can provide for you, I can allocate weapons and ammunition to you. However, I am really not convenient to personally come out and help you. The other day the Japanese threatened me, they even sent a fleet south to Shanghai, saying they want to put pressure on the National Government. You also know that now the Chairman has stepped down, He Yingzhen is in charge of affairs. He is pro-Japanese, he has always advocated for compromise and negotiation with Japan. I, Han, am really powerless."

  Li Bin knew that the He Jingzhi mentioned by Zhang Xueliang was actually He Yingqin, a pro-Japanese faction. During his studies in Japan, he was a junior of Okamura Yasuji. He had always advocated for peace talks. Not only did he sign the humiliating Tanggu Agreement and the He-Umezu Agreement after the September 18th Incident, but also later, when Japan surrendered, this man still showed "gratitude" to Japan by advocating for leniency towards Japanese war criminals.

  In the evening, after dinner, Zhang Xueliang called Li Bin to a small living room upstairs again. He took out the telegram that the Japanese had given him to pressure him and showed it to Li Bin: "Li Bin, take a look at this telegram. The Japanese originally wanted to use me to punish you. But I, Han Ying, am not a traitor! I will not be used by the Japanese! There is just one thing, when you return to the Righteous and Brave Army again, don't raise the flag of the Northeastern Army, or it will be difficult for me to handle things. After all, now I face pressure from both the Japanese and the National Government!"

  Li Bin read the telegram and was shocked in his heart. He knew that this must be a Japanese plot to kill with a borrowed knife! Fortunately, although Zhang Xueliang is weak, he is still a Chinese. Compared to He Yingqin, I don't know how many times stronger he is! After all, if he really betrayed the country, he would not have launched the Xi'an Incident later on.

  The attempt by Ishiwara Kanji to use Zhang Xueliang's hand to get rid of Li Jinhui was declared a failure. However, the Japanese wanted to take advantage of the January 28 Incident to show a warlike posture against the National Government on one hand, and on the other hand, they negotiated with the National Government through the Shanghai Consulate General in an attempt to use He Yingqin's hand to get rid of Li Jinhui.

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