"What? The 42nd Army? Could it be that Qi Xieyuan had already betrayed the imperial army? Moritake Tanabe asked in surprise.

"No, probably not! It all seems like a conspiracy. Okamura Ninji said indifferently.

"Conspiracy?" Moritake Tanabe was puzzled.

"It seems that Qi Xieyuan and Zhang Mingyu have already reached some kind of tacit understanding, Qi Xieyuan's Imperial Alliance Army has long been mixed into the ranks of the 42nd Group Army, and the strength is at least one division. And the person who rescued Qi Xieyuan's wife and daughter in Tianjin should be the most elite special combat team under Zhang Mingyu. Okamura replied thoughtfully.

"Yaga! Qi Xiewon, this bastard! It is really hateful that you dare to betray my Imperial Army! After Tanabe Moritake knew the ins and outs of the matter, he gritted his teeth and said.

"Alright, Tanabe-kun, you and I should evacuate. Let's get ready for the plane right away. Order all wings on the front line to fight in pieces and fight to the end! Okamura Ninji stood up and said to Tanabe Moribu.

"General, I am willing to stay and live and die with the troops left behind! Even if I die, I will be His Majesty the Emperor, and I will shed the last drop of blood for the Imperial Holy War. Tanabe Moritake said with a solemn expression.

"Tanabe-kun, you are a rare talent in the empire, and you must not seek death easily! You should be left useful, the empire will need you in the future! So you have to evacuate with me. Okamura Ninji stood up and said in an undeniable tone.

"But! General, as the commander-in-chief, do we just abandon our subordinates and escape alone? It is suggested that I stay behind and lead the warriors of the Beiping Imperial Army to continue to retreat to Tianjin, preserving 50,000 fresh troops for the empire. Tanabe Moritake said unrelentingly.

"Tanabe-kun, what you said is very right, as senior generals of the empire, we really shouldn't abandon our subordinates and flee alone, but the base camp has repeatedly ordered that there must be a vigorous battle with the Chinese army in Beiping, in addition to the large-scale destruction of the Chinese army to consume their strength, there is also a must not leave an intact Beiping city for the Chinese people, all that the imperial army can take away will be taken away, and everything that cannot be taken away will be burned." Okamura Ninji said with a sad face.

In fact, he also did not approve of holding a jade crushing battle in Beiping, because the Chinese population is large and the territory is vast, and it is no different from the Chinese to fight this kind of war of attrition.

Even if there were one-to-one casualties on both sides, Yuben would definitely not be able to afford it, so the jade crushing battle with the Zhong[***] team should be in Tokyo, when Yuben was already cornered, not in Beiping, China.

"General, there is a suggestion from the lowly position, we immediately order all wings to set fire everywhere in Beiping City, and burn all the treasures and precious buildings that we can't take away! Then he was willing to take the troops and slowly retreat towards Tianjin. Tanabe Moritake said, with a hint of fierceness in his eyes.

"Burn down Beiping City?" Okamura Ninji carried his hands behind his back, paced back and forth, and after a while of silence, he said meaningfully to Tanabe Moritake: "Tanabe-kun, I agree to the request, but it must be clean and neat." ”

"Hay! Please rest assured, General! Tanabe Moritake bowed his head suddenly, and then turned around and strode away.

……

In Beiping City, in a courtyard in Wangfujing, at the Beiping Station of the Beiping Underground Party, a member of the underground party took the lead and said: "At present, General Zhang Mingyu has led the 42nd Group Army to the southern suburbs of Beiping and launched an attack on the positions of the Yue army, and the Yue army in the city has learned that Beiping will not be able to set fire to the city, and there are already more than ten ancient buildings in the city that are on fire, and we should immediately organize the masses of students to sabotage the burning of the city of the Yue army." ”

The words of this underground party member quickly resonated, and finally the head of the Beiping station issued an urgent mobilization order, and the underground party members who claimed to be in the city of Beiping immediately mobilized and called on the millions of people, students, and workers in Beiping to take action one after another to sabotage the burning and smashing action of the organization's army.

The Beiping Station of the Military Command Bureau also launched a mobilization order to its subordinates, and for a time the entire city of Beiping was suddenly boiling, and some armed personnel kept firing cold guns in the back, attacking the arsonists, and there were also hundreds of people beating up a lone person himself.

The whole of Beiping can be described as extremely chaotic, but this chaos made it impossible for the Yue army to effectively implement the plan to burn the city. Due to the arrival of Zhang Mingyu, the Chinese of this era are no longer so afraid of Yu himself, and the scene of one or two soldiers chasing hundreds of Chinese to flee for their lives will never appear again.

Once the current number of soldiers falls below the standard of the squad, it will immediately be overwhelmed by the flow of Chinese pouring out of the well-developed alleys.

In the southern suburbs of Beiping, with the First Division as the main force, more than a dozen puppet army divisions simultaneously launched an attack on the positions of the Yue Army on the outskirts of Beiping.

This led to a serious shortage of troops in the city, so it was unable to completely suppress the rebellion of the people in the city.

These people in the rivers and lakes have much stronger combat effectiveness than ordinary people, and in the sea of Wangyang Hutong in Beiping, the competition with the Yue army has never stopped, and there are devil soldiers who are injured or killed because of sneak attacks every moment.

On the second day, Zhang Mingyu arrived with the second wave of attack groups, and he immediately commanded the troops to launch an attack on the eastern and western suburbs at the same time.

The positions in the outer suburbs were lost one after another, and after giving the order to the troops to retreat to Tianjin under alternate cover, the two of them flew to Tianjin by plane from the western suburbs airfield.

At this time, the Fourth Division from Baoding had also broken through the blockade of the army and arrived, and for a time Zhang Mingyu's 42nd Group Army and Qi Xieyuan's Imperial Association Army gathered outside Beiping City, totaling more than 300,000 troops, and the 300,000 troops instantly surrounded the entire Beiping City.

Because Zhang Mingyu knew the historical value of Beiping City, he did not order the artillery and air force to bombard or shell the Yue army, but ordered the troops to get out of the way of the northeast direction, encircling three and missing one, and giving the devils in the city a chance to escape.

Zhang Mingyu even hoped that they would be pursued outside the city of Beiping, rather than inside the city, and the property and cultural losses caused to China would be extremely heavy.

Therefore, after Zhang Mingyu surrounded Beiping in three directions, he immediately ordered the troops to carry out a small-scale offensive to pressure the Yue army to abandon Beiping and flee towards Tianjin.

(To be continued)