Inoue Masao visits

  What Zhang Zhizhong said is correct, China and Japan will definitely have a life-and-death battle to fight, but it's not in the future, it's now. The Japanese originally thought that the 29th Army, which belonged to the original Northwest Army, would abandon resistance like the Northeastern Army, they thought that if they fired a few shells at Beiping City, Song Zheyuan would open the city gate and welcome them with a parade, but unexpectedly the 29th Army put up a desperate fight, and several divisions of the Zhongyuan Army had already set out for Beiping, so they felt a clear shortage of troops. Moreover, this time the Huabei Garrison's provocation was entirely their own idea, and did not receive the approval of the Japanese military authorities, so if this really became the spark that sets off a full-scale war between China and Japan, the responsibility would not be something that the small Huabei Garrison could bear alone. Therefore, the Japanese are not really willing to negotiate, but are waiting for time.

  This war excited the pro-war faction in Japan and the Kwantung Army in Northeast China, who had long been thinking of creating a pretext for an aggressive war against North China or even all of China like the Wanpaoshan Incident. Therefore, the military department quickly agreed to expand the Sino-Japanese War with this incident, and immediately mobilized 3 divisions from Korea and mainland Japan.

  By July 25, the Japanese military strength in the Beijing-Tianjin area reached 60,000 men. On July 28, the Japanese army demanded that the Chinese 29th Army withdraw from northern Beijing, but the Chinese army refused and resisted fiercely, leading to a large-scale battle. The deputy commander of the 29th Army, Tong Lin Ge, and the commander of the 132nd Division, Zhao Deng Yu, were killed in action one after another. On the night of July 28, the commander of the 29th Army, Song Zheyuan, retreated from Beijing, and on July 29, Beijing fell to the Japanese. On the same day, the deputy commander of the 38th Division, Li Wentian, led a fierce attack on the Tianjin railway station and other locations, but due to heavy casualties caused by Japanese air raids, he was ordered to retreat. On July 30, Tianjin also fell to the Japanese. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident ended with Japan occupying Beijing and Tianjin.

  The Japanese army's stop-and-go, hit-and-run tactics made many ordinary Chinese people in Beijing and Tianjin feel that this would not be a major battle. Although the government had already issued a notice advising civilians to evacuate, many people still stayed at home, paying attention to the development of events, including Zhao Chuanfu's family. However, when the city was breached and they wanted to evacuate again, it was too late. On the 29th, the Japanese army had already surrounded Beijing, and on the 30th, a grand entry ceremony was held. From then on, this historic ancient capital fell into enemy hands. Afterwards, in order to achieve the goal of "using war to feed war, using China to control China", Japan supported Han traitors such as Wang Kemin to establish the puppet "Provisional Government of the Republic of China", and changed the name of Beijing to Beiping.

  It has been a while since the Japanese occupied Beiping, and for the sake of livelihood, Zhao Chuanfu's antique shop also reopened. However, having learned from the lessons in Northeast China, he no longer dared to display valuable items on the counter. At that time, the discipline of the Japanese army was relatively better than it would be later, such as during the occupation of Nanjing when there were brutal massacres. There were no large-scale burnings, killings, and lootings, but individual Japanese soldiers or small units still could not conceal their beastly nature. This was mainly because: first, the Japanese army did not suffer significant losses in occupying Pingjin; second, at that time, Japan's logistics supplies could be transported continuously from Northeast China and Korea, which was better than the situation in southern China where Japanese military leaders connived or even encouraged their soldiers to loot extensively to make up for logistical deficiencies.

  No matter what, Leizheng Sheng said, "People still have to live on, and the days still have to go on." Leizheng Sheng is still doing his work at the Jingcha Bureau, but now his boss is no longer the same as before. This makes Zhao Zhibang very puzzled. When he first arrived, Leizheng Sheng told him that he would never betray himself, but now he has gone to work for the Japanese instead.

  "Zhi Bang is back,,,,,,," After Tianjin fell, Zhao Zhi Bang didn't go back again, but instead found a job at the Beiyang 'Jing' Concord Hospital, while Xing Zi stayed home all along.

  "What about the kids, and Ping?" Zhao Zhibang asked his mother after hanging up his coat and taking a sip of tea poured by Li Yu'e, looking around the room without seeing any sign of his son or Xingzi.

  "Oh, at noon you and Xingzi's senior, took them out to play!" Li Yu'e said while wiping the table. After 'Riben' entered the city, her life didn't seem to have changed much, still washing and cleaning every day at home. Several times she said "Riben' has entered, it seems there's nothing to be afraid of". Because of this, she was scolded by Zhao Chuanfu several times. When 'Nu'er' Zhao Yidian heard her say these words, she wouldn't speak to her for several days. But this can't be blamed on her, this ordinary Chinese woman who only read the Three Character Classic, like many Chinese people, didn't have a clear concept of country and nation in her heart. In their hearts, this home was everything.

  "Senior?"

  "Ah, yes, that's the one called Inoue something!" Li Yu-e couldn't recall Inoue Masao's name for a moment, and after thinking for a while, she still only remembered a few words.

  "Ah..." Zhao Zhibang only responded lightly and then sat down on the sofa in silence, after listening to his mother's words, he felt a sudden sense of unease in his heart. "Is it because of what happened before that I'm like this?" Zhao Zhibang thought to himself with a bitter smile. He knew about Inoue Masao liking Kyoko, although they didn't have much contact, but from what he heard from teacher Ishii Shirō and Kyoko, Inoue Masao seemed to be a decent person, and besides, he still trusted Kyoko.

  Just as Zhao Zhibang was still mocking himself for being overly cautious, the doorbell outside the door rang.

  "Dad!!!!!!" He opened the door and his son Zhao He Ping eagerly rushed into his arms, shouting.

  "Oh, it's Inoue-kun, come on in quickly." Zhao Zhibang said to Inoue Masao who was standing outside the door beside his car after putting down his son.

  "Zhibang Jun, thank you, next time, I still have things to deal with today, I'll come visit again another day!"

  "Oh, since Inoue-kun is busy, I won't keep you any longer. Next time you're free, please come visit my home and sit down for a bit."

  "Okay, okay......" After saying goodbye to Kyoko, he got into the car and left. Over the past few years in China, Inoue Masao's Chinese had become much more fluent.

  "Dad, today Uncle Jingshang took me to play at so many places!" Little Heping said, tugging on his father's sleeve as if he still couldn't bear to part with the memory.

  "Really? Then next time Daddy will take you out to have fun too!"

  "Zhì bāng"

  "Ah, yes..."

  "Inoue-kun is leaving for the Northeast tomorrow, so he came to see me before he leaves and asked if I had any messages for his uncle." said Anzi after closing the big door, speaking to Zhao Zhibang who was still teasing his son.

  "Oh, Teacher, you've also come to China?" Zhao Zhibang still wasn't used to calling Ishii Shirō "Uncle", and continued to call him "Teacher".

  "Ah, I heard from Inoue-kun that Uncle is also working as a military doctor in the Kwantung Army now!" By this point, Anzu's voice had become very low. Ever since Japan occupied Beijing, they had been trying to avoid talking about anything related to Japan and China, because it would be somewhat awkward.