Before the Lugou Bridge Incident, it was already a crazy country where militarism was rampant.

The so-called "militarism" is explained in China's Ci Hai as follows: "Completely putting the country under military control, all militaristic thoughts and actions for the sake of aggression and expansion." The "Guang Ci Yuan" explains it this way: "The country's political, economic, legal, educational, and other policies and organizations are prepared for war, and the way of thinking that attaches importance to the development of military forces to the outside world and uses war to exalt the country's prestige."

Although the wording is a little different, the basic meaning is the same. That is, the army is lawless, the political axe cannot manage the army, the army can manage the political axe, and everything is for the sake of aggression and expansion.

It is said that the originator of this militarism is Yamashita Youtomo.

The origins of the modern army can be traced back to 1871 after the Meiji Restoration. In that year, the three feudal domains of Satsuma, Choshu, and Tosa presented 6,300 "imperial soldiers" to the emperor, and the Meiji Emperor carried out the reform of "abolishing feudal domains and establishing prefectures" based on this strength. These "Imperial Soldiers" were later renamed "Guards".

In 1877 (the 10th year of the Meiji era), Takamori Saigo, the main hero of the Meiji Restoration, who had been ousted by internal strife, launched a large-scale rebellion known as the "Southwest War", marching north from Kagoshima and Kyushu and besieging Kumamoto. Saigo Takamori's banner of rebellion is unclear, and it turned out to be "something to say to the political axe", and he also released a word, saying that he would go to Osaka and Tokyo to wander around.

Meiji Masatake sent a civil official named Prince Chihito to be the governor of the conquest, and found two military generals, Lieutenant General Yama Prefecture Aritomo and Vice Admiral Kawamura Junyoshi, to help join the army and begin to suppress the rebellion. There were not enough troops, so the police of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (called "patrol" at the time) were also sent to the front line to play with their lives.

After seven months of fighting, the rebellion was finally suppressed. Afterwards, we summed up the lessons and made three things, one was that the civilian officials were in charge, the other was that the military generals asked for instructions on everything to delay the fighters, and the other was that there were no good staff officers. After these three lessons were summed up, they played a key role in the development of the military in the future.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the lesson was summed up here, there was a Takebashi Mutiny over there, and more than 200 artillerymen turned against his mother because of issues such as military salaries and merit evaluations.

This incident provided an opportunity for Youpeng in Shanxian County to establish a militarist system in Yuben.

In order to maintain military power, he took the command of the army from the political axe and the parliament and handed it directly to the emperor under the pretext of not letting domestic politics control the army. This is the unique "reading power of the commander". In the Meiji Constitution formulated by Ito Hirobumi, the Constitution of the Daikomoto Empire, it is stated that the emperor is in command of the army and navy, rather than the emperor being the commander of the army and navy. This has provided a legal basis for the formation of a dual system of military structure, in which military administration and military orders are separated. From today's point of view, the dual system of military and political and military orders is actually a deviation from political strategy and military strategy, which will inevitably lead to political and military disunity, and is the biggest hidden danger of a country. But at that time, I didn't think so, and Ito Hirobumi never imagined until his death that this loophole in the constitution he formulated would eventually become a black hole to bury the empire he and many others had built.

The symbol of the dual system of military administration and military orders was the establishment of the General Staff Headquarters on December 5, 1878. Originally, in the Southwest War, the problems of poor military orders, poor command, and ineffective staff officers were exposed, and it was really necessary to strengthen the strength of the Army Provincial Staff Bureau. However, Yamashita Aritomo took out the General Staff Bureau of the Army Ministry, established the General Staff Headquarters, and became the first Chief of Staff, directly under the leadership of the Emperor, and was directly in charge of the army, so that the Army Ministry and the Navy Ministry of the Political Axe became the military and political departments, and the General Staff Headquarters became the military order department. In this way, the political axe is only responsible for recruiting and raising troops, and as for what the recruited soldiers do, it becomes a matter for the staff headquarters. If the political axe is interrogated, it is an infringement of the right of the commander-in-chief.

The law is in place, the system is in place, and the General Staff Headquarters, the main command organ for the implementation of militarism, has also been established, but there is a lack of urgent vanguard. So a group of war maniacs, later known as "Showa warlords" after the world, graduated from the Army University appeared.

Yamashita Youtomo's gang began to decide that the purpose of opening the Army University was to train staff officers, and of course, these staff officers later became the commanders of the army, and those who did not become commanders were also trying to become officers.

The instructor I invited to the Army University was Major Merkel, a German, and the trainees recruited were infantry and cavalry ensignants under the age of 28 who had graduated from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School and had served for more than two years, and artillery and engineer lieutenants under the age of 30. There are three hidden dangers in this enrollment method and system: First, Mekel is only a tactician and he himself cannot read Clausewitz's "On War", although his tactical course is very successful, from maps to sand tables to the field, all are remarkable. However, that only trained a group of regimental-level commanders, resulting in the fact that the army could fight a single battle beautifully, and it would definitely lose a national-level war. Second, the students recruited are all students who have been admitted all the way from the army primary school, army middle school, and army non-commissioned officer school, and only they can win in the 10% acceptance rate of the army university. However, these students have grown up in the military environment since they were young, and they do not understand society or politics, and they are learning to fight wars, and they are also able to fight. Third, the Army University did not have heavy subjects, and this led to the evil result of later generations saying that the army did not pay attention to logistics and heavy baggage, and military discipline was corrupted.

The Army University was founded in 1882, began to recruit students in 1883, and began to have graduates in 1885. At first, there were only about 10 students in each session, but by the beginning of the 13th session in 1899 (the school was suspended for two years due to the Sino-Japanese War), it stabilized to about 40 students per session, and by the beginning of the 21st session in 1909, it increased to about 50 students. It was not until the 54th class in 1941 that the number of graduates began to increase, reaching 120 in the 60th class of the last class in 1945, compared to 199 in the 59th class. In other words, there are only about 3,000 graduates in 60 years, and only about 50 people can serve as staff officers on average every year. In addition, the army also stipulates that only those who have graduated from the University of the Army can become staff officers, and this has formed a unique phenomenon that all the central leaders of the army are from staff officers, because only staff officers can climb up.

In the eyes of foreigners, the army belongs to the leadership of the political axe, and the staff officers of the army are only the staff of the chief officer. The so-called staff officers don't have a commander, and farts are not fragrant. Even if it's long, what can it do? But it is said that it is different from others, the army commands the political axe, the staff officer commands the commander-in-chief, and the young Zhuang soldiers are used to going down. These staff officers, who graduated from the Army University, regarded the land of China as a happy land for them to make meritorious contributions, and acted recklessly, setting off bursts of bloody storms.

At this time, the Cabinet of the Axe of the Present had a Ministry of War and a Ministry of the Navy, and the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy were commonly known as the Minister of Land and the Minister of the Navy, and both of them were represented by generals with the surnames of the active army and navy. If the political axe's decision does not conform to the interests of the military, as soon as these two people resign, as long as the military does not send new candidates to serve as land and sea ministers, the cabinet will naturally collapse. Therefore, the Cabinet of the Axe is said to be the most likely to collapse in the world.

It is said that the originator of militarism and the source of this aggression and expansion, Yama Prefecture Youtomo, is following the path of Chief of Staff, Secretary of the Interior, Chief of Staff, Prime Minister, Minister of Justice, Speaker of the Privy Council, Prime Minister, and finally integrating the powers of the government, military, police, and officials.

After the establishment of the militarist system, Yamashita Aritomo put forward the goal of becoming a "hegemon of the East".

Yama Youpeng died in 1922, in addition to being a military bureaucrat during his lifetime, he also served as the third and ninth prime ministers, and concocted and promulgated the infamous "Public Security Police Law", which did bad things. His greatest contribution to Yuben in his life was his death. In the words of Ishibashi Chenshan, a friend of the second-generation president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and former prime minister Zhou Gongenlai, "the death of Yamayama is a contribution to society."

After the death of Yamashita Youtomo, the militarism of Yuben had already taken shape, and his disciples and grandchildren further perfected Yumoto's mainland policy, and achieved the goal of occupying Korea and seizing Manchu and Mongolia one by one. At this time, the book had fallen into the madness and confusion of external expansion and punishment of China. Not to mention the fanatical militarists in the military department, but most of the ordinary people are also crazy, and they expect the emperor, the military department, and the imperial army warriors to expand their aggression and bring them greater benefits. If there is still someone who remains sober, then he will definitely become a stumbling block in his eyes.

Now, his eyes are like hungry wolves, and he is firmly fixed on North China.

What should come is always coming.

After provoking the North China Incident, the army did not stop, on the one hand, it added to the division of Song Zheyuan and Ji Cha political axe, and on the other hand, it actively prepared for war. The protagonist of the preparation for war is the North China garrison army.

In 1936, the young officers of the Yue Army launched the "226 Incident", although it was quickly suppressed, but the consequences were very serious, and it was a milestone in the modern history of the Yue Army. This incident first triggered the "anti-army" movement of the Japanese army, and second, led to the cabinet of Hirota Takeshi to come to power. Hirota Takeshi did two things: First, under the coercion of the military department, he restored the abolished system of military ministers on active duty, and second, he signed the "German-Saying Mutual Defense Agreement with Germany." Although it is said that this agreement was made by Major General Hiroshi Oshima, the military attache stationed in Germany, with a political axe on his back, more than half a year has passed since the Ministry of Foreign Affairs learned about it. Historically, the reason why Takeshi Hirota, who was a civilian official after the war, was listed as a Class A war criminal and hanged was because the consequence of these two things he did was war. Beginning with the "226 Incident," party politics completely withdrew from the political arena, and the political axe became a tool of the military department. The military headquarters led Yuben to rush to the point of no return in the war of aggression with all his might.

The North China Garrison Army, originally called the "Qing State Garrison Army", because the headquarters was located in Tianjin Haiguang Temple, also known as the Tianjin Garrison Army, was said to be the garrison in China after the Boxer Uprising in accordance with the "Xinchou Treaty". The barracks were set up in Haiguang Temple and Dongjiaomin Lane in Beiping, and the troops were deployed in Yanjing, Tianjin, Tanggu, Qinhuangdao, Shanhaiguan and other places. This unit has done many bad things in the Pingjin area, such as the Jinan Massacre and the North China Incident.

On April 17, 1936, the Cabinet brazenly decided to increase the number of troops in North China, increasing the original 1,700 troops stationed in North China to more than 5,700. According to a survey conducted by Shanghai's "Declaration," the actual number of troops increased by more than 14,000. Emperor Hirohito personally appointed Lieutenant General Wanichiro Tashiro, former commander of the 1st Division, Major General Hashimoto Group as Chief of Staff, and Major General Shozo Kawabe as the commander of the newly established infantry brigade of the garrison army.

After Mutaguchi Ryoya Osaku took office, there was a "Second Fengtai Incident", which was on September 8, 1936, and coerced Song Zheyuan to hand over Fengtai. Having tasted the sweetness, Mutaguchi Ryoya and his superiors are uncontrollable, ready to plan greater incidents and grab greater benefits.

In November 1936, Tanaka Takayoshi, a staff officer of the Kwantung Army, colluded with King De in an attempt to plan the establishment of Inner Mongolia, but the puppet army of King De, who was served as an adviser by the special agent of Yuben, was defeated by General Fu Zuoyi at the Bailing Temple in Suiyuan. This incident made those guys who deliberately provoked the incident realize that not all Chinese generals are Zhang Xueliang, and it is not enough to support puppets alone. In addition, with the KMT-CPC negotiations and the settlement of the Liangguang incident, there is a possibility that China will unite to resist the Japanese, which he absolutely does not want to see. The devils of the North China garrison army involuntarily quickened the pace of action.

Therefore, after the summer of 1937, the army often conducted exercises in the Pingjin area in an attempt to provoke incidents. The Pingjin area is already a pile of dry firewood poured with oil, and a little spark can ignite a skyrocketing fire.

The commander of the North China Garrison Army, Tashiro Wanichiro, has been in poor health recently, and his heart disease has tormented him so much that he can hardly work normally.

Knowing that the commander was sick, Mutaguchi Lian also saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart. Of course, Mutaguchi Lian is also anxious not about Tashiro Wanichiro's illness, but when he will be able to make contributions. At the beginning, Ishihara, Tohihara, and Itagaki planned the 918 Incident, and they immediately became stars in the army, with positions, ranks, and titles. That's a name in history! How can we be like Ishihara, Tohihara, and Itagaki to make a splash and soar into the sky?

Mutaguchi's eyes looked at the map again. Judging from the map, the current Beiping has been surrounded on three sides, as long as Wanping City is taken, the road from Beiping to the Central Plains will be cut off, and Beiping will become a dead city. The center of gravity of this branch is in North China, and the center of gravity of North China is in Pingjin. When the time comes, with the manpower and material resources of North China and Manchuria, China will be taken as if it were a bag. Taking a step back, even if the military department did not allow the expansion of the scale of the war, it was also a great merit to unite North China and Manchuria. Besides, doesn't the military department want to expand the scale of the war if it doesn't want to? That's up to them, and I, Mutaguchi, have the final say.

Mutaguchi Ryoya seemed to have seen the emperor's smiling face, and when he saw the emperor awarding him a medal, he couldn't help but pick up the sake on the table and take a big sip, and hummed "Kimi-no-yo" in his mouth.

After humming for a while, Mutaguchi Lian also considered how to get this credit. The way he knew it was to create a fait accompli. The question is who will take this first shot and cause this given fact?

Thinking about it, Mu Taguchi Lian also thought of the head of the Tianjin secret service, Shigekawa Hide, and Shaozuo.

Mogawa Hidekazu is the senior foot of Kenji Dohihara, graduated from the non-commissioned officer school, served in the second section of the staff headquarters, and went to Manchuria with Kenji Dohihara to kidnap Puyi, and was sent to Tianjin by Kenji Dohihara to serve as the head of the agency. He has been doing the work of wooing the soldiers of China for the past two years, with the aim of establishing North China. This guy is going crazy if he wants to make meritorious contributions, so it's naturally no problem to find him.

As for others, Mutaguchi Lian doesn't want to look for it anymore. Commander Tashiro Wanichiro is ill, and Chief of Staff Itamoto is an old man, and he does not know what close ties he has with the top echelons of the military department. Now he is constantly urging the drills to take place. On such a hot day, the exercise was made so tight, and the intentions were clearly revealed, didn't he want to let himself inadvertently wipe the fire and have an exchange of fire with the Chinese army, so he and the guys in the military department could sit back and enjoy the results?

It is estimated that these guys in the military department are afraid of the reunification within China, but they say that their emotions are rising, and it will be impossible to occupy all of China in the future. It seems that the theory proposed by the Ishihara guy to consolidate Manchuria, Mongolia, and North China, and then fight a protracted war with China has not prevailed, and the radical theory of quick battle and quick victory has won. Now no matter what they are, no matter what theory they have, they have to do it first! It is necessary to plan carefully and start before the internal reunification of China. What the empire needs is a divided, weak, and slaughtered China, but it doesn't need a united and resisting China!

Mutaguchi Lian, who had thought about it, also laughed cruelly, and asked him to call the head of the Tianjin secret service, Mogawa Hidekazu, and asked him to come to Fengtai immediately to discuss something.

After Hidewa Mokawa came, Mutaguchi Ryoya invited him to a restaurant called this restaurant, and the two of them hugged Yiji, drank sake, and had a good time.

Mutaguchi Ryoya's plan was very simple, that is, to let Shigekawa Hidewa find a few spies to empty his guns when the army was conducting exercises to provide an excuse for the army.

Maochuan Xiuhe wished that the North China Garrison Army and the 29th Army would fight, and it was best to fight and occupy all of North China. As for whether the military department will pursue it in the future, no one of the two ambitious bastards thought about it. Jokes, the military department will pursue them? Unless the sun comes out of the west. Even if someone investigates, as long as it is determined that it was the 29th Army's gun. If it doesn't work, let's just say that it is the students who were instigated by [***] and shot because of their hatred of the Imperial Army. Anyway, you can say anything!

Lugou Bridge is located on the Yongding River about 15 kilometers southwest of Beiping City, Yongding River is also known as Lugou, so this bridge is called Lugou Bridge.

Lugou Bridge is not only the key to the south, but also the throat of Yanjing, and has been an important transportation hub and cargo distribution center since ancient times. According to historical records, since the beginning of the Jin Dynasty, the hinterland of the Central Plains has to stop at Lugou Bridge when entering Beijing, which is the only way for Beijing to enter and exit the hinterland of the Central Plains. Wanping City was built in 1640 as a military fortress to defend Yanjing City. At this time, it is the hub of the three major railways, and it is a place for soldiers to fight. The Lugou Bridge occupies a very important position geographically, once the army occupies the Lugou Bridge, the traffic between Pinghan and Han will be blocked, and Beiping will lose its footing, and North China will be in danger of death.

On July 7, 1937, the 8th Squadron of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Wing of the Infantry Brigade of the North China Garrison Army stationed in Fengtai, led by squadron leader Setsuro Shimizu, carried artillery to the vicinity of Longwang Temple in the northwest of Lugou Bridge to hold a night exercise. The content of the exercise was "to advance to the enemy's main position from the vicinity of the Ryuwangsa Temple to the east of the Great Tile Kiln, to approach the enemy by taking advantage of the darkness, and then to make a surprise attack at dawn."

The Dragon King Temple is in the northwest of Wanping City, the big tile kiln is in the northeast of Wanping City, and there are only kilometers between the three places, and there are soldiers of the 29th Army stationed in the Dragon King Temple. The reason why the military is holding exercises here is to provoke and create an incident of misfire.

It was very hot every day, and there was no chill at night. At 7:30 p.m., Setsuro Shimizu ordered the exercise to begin.

On a sweltering night, there was not a hint of wind, and the night sky was full of stars, but there was no moon, and the soldiers moved in battle formation to the east of the imaginary enemy. Shimizu Setsuro looked at the outline of the city wall of Wanping County in the distance, and then looked at the figure of his soldier movement, grinning.

At 10:40, Maochuan Xiuhe, who had been hiding near the military camp in the northeast of Wanping County, looked at his watch, a hideous smile appeared on his face, took out the Wang Ba box, and fired a shot in the direction of the military camp. This shot was the first shot of the Lugou Bridge Incident. Immediately, the spies brought by Hidekazu Mogawa opened fire, crackling, and a total of eighteen shots were fired.

After the fight, Hidewa Mokawa led the spies to withdraw, he knew that the mission was completed, and now it was time to hurry back and sleep with his assistant Miss Yoko.

At this time, stationed in Wanping was the 3rd Battalion of the 219th Regiment of the 110th Brigade of He Jifeng of the 29th Army Feng Zhi'an Division, and the battalion commander Jin Zhenzhong.

On this day, Jin Zhenzhong had already seen that the army had bad intentions, and after reporting to the regiment commander, he also put on makeup and went to reconnoitre.

Hearing the gunshots, Jin Zhenzhong immediately knew that the army was going to make trouble, so he hurried to take precautions.

When the gunshots rang out, Setsuro Shimizu had already finished the exercise, and when he checked the number of people, there was one soldier missing. Setsuro Shimizu immediately reported the loss of a soldier to Kiyoshi Ichiki, the leader of the 3rd Brigade.

This Kiyoshi didn't even verify it, so he reported it to Mutaguchi Ryoya. At this time, the brigade commander Kawabe Shozo was not in Beiping, and Mutaguchi Lian also wanted this opportunity, and directly ordered Ichiki Kiyoshi to lead the third brigade to Lugou Bridge and command the battle. Ordered Setsuro Shimizu to send soldiers to negotiate with the Wanping defenders and ask to enter the city to search.

Setsuro Shimizu immediately sent a few soldiers to Wanping City, claiming that he had lost a soldier and wanted to enter the city to search. Naturally, it was rejected. Setsuro Shimizu immediately ordered the troops to surround the county seat of Wanping and opened fire on the demonstration.

About twenty minutes after the soldier was found missing, the soldier walked back on his own. It turned out that the soldier's name was Kikujiro Nachimura, a private, who had diarrhea because he had a bad stomach.

At this time, Setsuro Shimizu was too lazy to report to the captain and the wing leader that the lost soldiers had returned. He and Mutaguchi Lian also thought about it and wanted to fight.

At 11:40 p.m., Qin Dechun, deputy commander of the 29th Army, received a telephone call from Wei Zonghan, director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Jicha Political Affairs Committee, reporting that Matsui, the head of the special service in Beiping, said that a squadron of the 29th Army stationed at the Lugou Bridge was conducting exercises near the Lugou Bridge. As a result, a soldier was lost, and seeing that the soldier was forced to enter Wanping County, the officer asked to lead a team into the city to search for the missing soldier.

Qin Dechun immediately realized that this was a provocation by the army, and immediately replied: "The Lugou Bridge is Chinese territory, and the exercise of this army in this place without our consent in advance has violated public international law and damaged our sovereignty. Remembering the friendship between the two countries, you can wait for the dawn to ask the military and police in the place to search for it, and if it is found that there are indeed soldiers, they will be returned. ”

At 2 o'clock in the evening, Wei Zonghan called again, saying that the side was not satisfied with the reply and insisted that a team should be sent to inspect it, otherwise the army would surround the city. Qin Dechun thought that this incident might be a pretext created by the army, and it was likely to cause a catastrophe, so he immediately informed the commander of Feng Zhi'an Division and the head of Ji Xingwen stationed at Lugou Bridge by phone that they should be on strict guard and prepare for battle. At the same time, he ordered the head of the regiment to send people to reconnoiter the movements of the enemy on the Fengtai side.

At half past three o'clock in the morning, Ji Xingwen, commander of the 219th Regiment, reported to Qin Dechun: "There is about a battalion of infantry of the Yue Army, with four mountain guns and a machine gun, and is advancing from Fengtai to Lugou Bridge. We have set up the city defenses. ”

Qin Dechun, who has been on the battlefield for a long time and suffered humiliation in front of him, how could he not know that the devil was going to do it? Blood and anger surged, and he immediately ordered: "It is a soldier's duty to defend the territory, and foreign wars are the honor of my soldiers." That is, to tell the officers and soldiers of the whole regiment to sacrifice and struggle, stick to the position, that is, to take Wanping City and Lugou Bridge as the graves of our army, one foot and one inch of the country, not to be easily let people! ”

After issuing the order, Qin Dechun immediately notified Feng Zhi'an of this disposition, and ordered the staff of the military headquarters to quickly report to Commander Song Zheyuan.

In order to consider the matter more thoroughly, Qin Dechun ordered Wang Lengzhai, the magistrate of Wanping County, to quickly find out the matter of the "disappearance" of the soldiers of the Yue Army so that he could deal with it. Wang Lengzhai informed Jin Zhenzhong, the commander of the garrison battalion in Wanping City, to earnestly inquire about the defenders. It was found that our army did not shoot any guns, nor did we find any trace of the so-called missing soldiers.

At 4:50 p.m., Mutaguchi Lian also rushed to the Lugou Bridge, and he did not ask if the lost soldiers had been recovered. Although Setsuro Shimizu deliberately concealed it, by this time, the captain of the brigade, Kiyoshi Ichiki, already knew the news of the return of the lost soldiers, and no one cared about the truth of this group of aggressive bastards, because they didn't need the truth, they just needed to make excuses.

After Mutaguchi Ryoya arrived, without saying a word, he immediately ordered the artillery to prepare and carry out an artillery bombardment on Wanping Castle.

The artillery fire reflected the night sky, and the Lugou Bridge Incident, which shocked China and the rest of the world, began. Since then, the Chinese people have begun the years of the all-people war of resistance. However, to the surprise of Mutaguchi Ryoya and the military headquarters, the emperor, and other militarists behind him, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression did not end with the swift victory of the invaders, as they had thought, but created the phoenix nirvana of the great Chinese nation. It was through the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression that the Chinese nation was completely awakened and entered modern civilization. Under the leadership of China, a brand-new China, like a squirting of the sun, has stood in the east of the world since then.

(To be continued)