Chapter Thirty-Six: Qi Qi

  July 7th, 1937, night.

  My wedding anniversary with Yunyan. Although Yunyan's body is not convenient, my siblings and I still gathered at the North Pole Pavilion, but my second sister didn't come to Nanjing; The two sisters-in-law surrounded Yunyan, who was still lively, and scolded her non-stop. As I looked at everyone laughing and chatting, I started counting down silently in my heart.

  Big brother obviously understood my mood, sighed and said: "Zi An, how much time is left?"

  "If Big Brother says all-out war, there's about a month or a month and a half left; if he says an outbreak of conflict, it should be in the next few days."

  "Hehe, enjoy life while you can! After all, what's done is done. Take me for example, within a year I borrowed 'high-interest loans' from France and other places, exchanged them for nearly 20 million US dollars and several hundred million pounds, now it's all debt, hehe!"

  "Don't worry! As long as your loan agreement specifies repayment in Francs, this money is almost like getting it for free; your brother-in-law will thank you later!"

  "What are you worried about then? What should be done has been done, and what shouldn't be done, you've also done quite a bit; whether or not to fight is not up to us to decide, and peace is still far away. Let's just happily pass the last month!"

  "What a few months? Yunyan is just over five months old!" The elder sister-in-law chimed in as she passed by.

  "Hahaha!"

  Indeed, it was not long after the party ended that I fell asleep with Yunyan in my arms, even though I knew that if history had not been altered by this inexplicable human-shaped butterfly effect of mine, the war would have already begun.

  At this time, the 1st Battalion of the Chinese Garrison Army's 3rd Regiment's 8th Company was conducting a night march exercise from Longwang Temple to Lugou Bridge under the command of Captain Qing Shui. Around 23:00, during the march, there were sudden gunshots nearby, and in the chaos, one soldier went missing. After searching without success, Captain Qing changed direction and rushed towards the city of Wanping, demanding that the garrison (29th Army's 37th Division's 110th Brigade's 219th Regiment) open the city gates to allow his troops to search for the missing soldier. When Colonel Ji Xingwen refused, at 23:40, Captain Qing launched an attack, and Colonel Ji ordered a counterattack. The two sides began exchanging fire on the city walls.

  Although the Japanese were outnumbered, they relied on their accurate marksmanship to hit many of the Chinese soldiers who were shooting from prone positions. However, soon after, the Chinese light and heavy machine guns opened fire, and with a burst of gunfire, many Japanese soldiers without cover were mowed down. The Japanese inferior light machine guns were quickly suppressed and could only retreat.

  When the Japanese began firing their grenade launchers (50mm Type 89 grenade launchers), the defenders were at a disadvantage. After several Chinese machine gun positions were destroyed, the remaining machine guns could only retreat. The two sides resumed exchanging rifle fire.

  Just as the Japanese were enjoying their advantage with the grenade launchers, there was a loud explosion, and one of the Japanese grenade launcher teams was blown up, along with several nearby soldiers. Realizing that the defenders had mortars, Captain Qing ordered his main force to retreat, dragging their dead and wounded with them, and retreating several hundred meters, leaving only a few snipers behind to continue harassing the Chinese.

  Colonel Ji also ordered his main force to withdraw after seeing the Japanese retreat, and the two sides were left with only sporadic rifle fire.

  At this time, diplomatic negotiations between the two sides are underway.

  Today, a unit of the Imperial Army was conducting maneuvers near Lugou Bridge. During the assembly, shots were suddenly fired by troops of the 29th Army stationed nearby, resulting in one soldier going missing and being forced to enter Wanping City. The Imperial Army demands that the officer lead his men into the city for inspection.

  The Deputy Commander of the 29th Army and Mayor of Beiping, Qin Dechun, replied directly: "The Lugou Bridge is Chinese territory. The Japanese army did not obtain our consent to conduct exercises there beforehand, which has already violated international law, infringed upon our sovereignty, and lost soldiers we cannot be responsible for. Moreover, the Japanese side is not allowed to enter the city for inspection, lest it cause misunderstandings. However, considering the friendship between the two countries, we can wait until dawn and have the local military police search for them. If any Japanese soldiers are found, they will be returned immediately."

  On July 8 at 1:00, the Nanjing Foreign Ministry received a similar protest from Japan and strongly protested Qin Dechun's response, demanding that troops be sent to inspect the city, otherwise Japanese troops would surround the city.

  At 2 o'clock, the headquarters of the 29th Army in Nanyuan received a message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Qin Dechun and Feng Zhi'an (commander of the 37th Division), who had just arrived, immediately ordered the Ji Xingwen Brigade to enter combat readiness and sent out search detachments to reconnoiter Fangtai.

  At 3 o'clock, the reconnaissance team reported: "The Japanese army is about one battalion, with a machine gun and mountain artillery each, advancing from Fengtai to Lugou Bridge." Soon after, Ji Xingwen reported that the whole regiment was ready.

  At 5 o'clock, the Japanese army had deployed along the northeast to southeast line of Wanping City. At dawn, the Japanese army sent a military envoy again to request entry into the city, but was refused by Ji Xingwen and Wang Lengzai (Administrative Supervisor). From this point on, the Japanese invaders' tactics of threatening with force were exhausted, and they began to shell Wanping City, firing hundreds of shells that filled the air with smoke. After bombarding the city gate area, they used infantry to advance under cover. By this time, it was already daylight, and the top of Wanping City was covered in rubble and broken bricks. The sandbags used as cover were repeatedly bombed by mountain guns, howitzers, and grenade launchers, splitting them into pieces. Fortunately, Ji Xingwen had arranged for only a small number of troops to be stationed on the city wall, so the main force was able to take cover behind the wall and avoid being hit. When the Japanese infantry approached, soldiers from each company quickly climbed up onto the city wall, braving the hail of bullets from the Japanese grenade launchers and machine guns, and rapidly opened fire on the Japanese troops 300-400 meters away. Both sides suffered heavy casualties as they exchanged volleys of gunfire, with both sides' howitzers (the Japanese also had infantry cannons and grenade launchers) firing at each other. In an instant, hundreds of soldiers from both sides fell to the ground. Although the Japanese army's losses were smaller, such heavy casualties were clearly unbearable for them as well. The Japanese army immediately withdrew from combat, only continuing to fire sporadically with mountain guns before stopping altogether soon after. Both sides then shifted back to diplomatic maneuvering.

  It's great to sleep in and wake up late! At around 10 o'clock, after reading the various rumors sent by my brother and sister-in-law, I kissed Yuyan who was still hiding under the quilt, and set off. Once again, we rushed into the government office, walked into the conference room, and just heard Qian Daquan read: "At the same time, another group of Japanese troops attacked Lugou Bridge. At first, they defeated the defending troops in one go, occupied the south side of the bridge, but then the reinforcements from Changxin Village arrived, and with a pincer movement, they broke through the Japanese army. The Japanese invaders left behind dozens of bodies and fled, several Japanese soldiers were trapped in the middle of the bridge, kneeling on the ground begging for mercy, becoming the first batch of Japanese prisoners of war in the resistance war. The so-called dignity of the Imperial Army has been completely lost!"

  Then came Old Chiang's excited "Good! Good!" voice, really no taste at all! I secretly despised him in my heart.

  "Order the Hebei-Chahar authorities to hold on to Wanping city and not retreat, and they must mobilize all forces in preparation for an escalation of events." Old Chiang paused for a moment, "Tell the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare, using the excuse that the Japanese army provoked an incident at Lugou Bridge, to lodge a protest with the Japanese embassy in China."

  Chiang Kai-shek finished speaking and swept his eyes around, "Zi An has arrived, is this what you call the beginning? Will it escalate into a full-scale war?"

  "Mr. Chairman, it is the beginning, but a full-scale war will not break out yet. I believe that soon we will hear statements from the Japanese government about localizing the incident. However, the Japanese military will quickly mobilize large troops to reinforce North China, and a big war will erupt in about 3-4 weeks; if we resist, it will be a full-scale war; on the other hand, if we give up resistance and cede Pingjin, it will still be a local incident."

  "How could this be! The Japanese have cheated me too much!"

  "Director, is this just Zi An's speculation! The Japanese have always been reasonable and orderly, they certainly wouldn't do such a thing."

  Which dog is it? I took a look, and it turned out to be He Yingqin. How could he possibly be active around Old Chiang again? (During the Xi'an Incident, He was in Nanjing advocating for the punishment of Zhang and Yang, attempting to harm Old Chiang and replace him, almost leading to the outbreak of civil war, which made Old Chiang and others deeply resentful.)

  Anyway, I've lost face already, so be it! "Minister He, are you willing or not to make a bet with me?"

  He hadn't even seen He Yingqin counterattack, when Old Chiang interrupted, "Zi'an, don't be childish! If it's as you've calculated, how should we respond?"

  "Under the assumption that the Japanese army will necessarily restart negotiations, if our side makes concessions it would be best, if not making concessions or making too few concessions, then use this period to assemble troops along the Pingjin line. It is estimated that within three weeks, about one and a half to two divisions of troops can be transported by sea and from the Northeast, and launched an attack at the end of this month or early next month. The 29th Army will surely not be able to withstand it. After the Japanese army captures Pingjin and northern Hebei, they should again adopt a policy of localizing, that is, long-term nibbling away at China, and legitimize the occupied areas."

  "Hmm, although it's not certain, we can't be too careful! I order..."

  "He Yingqin added, 'Mr. Chairman, we have an agreement with Japan that no troops can be stationed in Tianjin except for the 29th Army.'"

  "How can this be! We cannot increase our troops, but Japan can? Is this still Chinese territory?"

  I smiled secretly, without your decision, Old Chiang, could that agreement take effect? "Chairman, although according to the agreement signed by Minister He we cannot reinforce Pingjin, we can pre-deploy reinforcement troops along the Great Wall northwest of Beiping and in the Baoding area south of Beiping. Once a real battle starts, they can be sent in for reinforcement, and the distance is not far either. The 29th Army has more than a million soldiers, even if facing 3-4 Japanese divisions, it won't last just a few days."

  "Right! Mu Yin records. I order the formation of the Pingxi Road East Segment Combat Army, Junru (Wei Lihuang) in charge, commanding Li Mian'an (14th Army), Tang Enbo (13th Army), and Gao Guizhi (17th Army) three armies, and also call on Bai Chuan to send a few brigades to cooperate.

  Chiang looked around again, "I order the formation of the Pinghan Road North Segment Combat Army, Jing Fu (Liu Zhi) in charge, commanding Sun Lianzhong (30th and 42nd Armies), Zeng Wanzhong (3rd Army), Guan Linzheng (52nd Army), Feng Jizhai (7th Army, don't be surprised, at this time the two Guangs were still confronting the Central Government, and the 7th Army was indeed under Feng Jizhai's command), Shang Zhen (32nd Army), and Wan Fulin (53rd Army) a total of seven armies. With these ten armies as reinforcements, can't the Japanese army's four divisions hold on?"

  I forced a smile, the military strength is enough, but with Liu Zhen in command? ?? ?