At 7:30 p.m. that day, Song Zheyuan, the commander of the 29th Army, who had arrived in Baoding not long ago, received bad news: the military headquarters of the 29th Army in Nanyuan was lost, the deputy commander Tong Linge was killed in battle, and the commander of the 183rd Division, Zhao Dengyu, was missing. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Commander Song's face turned pale, and he couldn't help but burst into tears.

His health at this time was not good, and the blows of the past few days had exhausted this veteran soldier all his life, and he looked more and more old. His wife wanted to come and comfort him, and he waved his hand and motioned for himself to be alone.

Soon his adjutant sent him a telegram from the Military Commission, asking him to report on the situation in Beiping. Song Zheyuan was in a bad mood, was silent for a while, and said, "Report it truthfully." ”

The Supreme Military Council of Nanjing.

Chairman Chiang received a telegram from Song Zheyuan, which read: The main force of the 29th Army has reached the front line of Baoding, and the troops have suffered serious losses, and the attrition has exceeded 50,000 people. Deputy Army Commander Tong Linge was martyred, and Zhao Dengyu, commander of the 132nd Division, was missing and is estimated to have been killed. Zhang Zizhong and the troops of the two brigades were stranded in Beiping and had fallen into a heavy siege.

The main force of the 29th Army is now deployed along the Xushui line to prevent the Japanese army from continuing to move south.

Due to the hasty withdrawal of the troops, the loss of weapons, ammunition and other materials was serious, and it was hoped that the Military Commission would replenish it. Otherwise, it would be difficult to prevent the Japanese army from continuing to move south.

Chairman Chiang was also extremely depressed, because the Japanese army was very strong in combat, and he knew this very well when he had studied in Japan, which was one of the reasons why he tried his best to avoid war with Japan. However, the 29th Army, which was known as the anti-Japanese iron army with 100,000 troops, suffered such serious losses in just a few days, which made him deeply worried.

This afternoon, the commander of the 78th Wing, Kobayashi Yokoichi, reported that he had surrounded Zhao Dengyu, commander of the 183rd Division of the 29th Army, and that the battle would soon be over. As a result, hours passed, and there was still no result, and there was no reply to contact by radio.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the news came, the second brigade of the 78th Wing and the attached tank squadron were almost completely annihilated, the wing commander Kobayashi Yokoichi was martyred, and only 11 soldiers escaped.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo was taken aback, this was a loss that the 20th Division had never had. He immediately ordered that the returning soldiers be brought, and he personally interrogated. The soldiers' answer made him ****, they said that the other party was not from the 29th Army, he was driving a car, and the fire was very fierce, and they didn't know what the specific situation was. One soldier who was close to him said that the men had faces painted with oil paint and could not see their faces clearly, and that they had automatic weapons in their hands. There were also very powerful weapons on the cars, and the armored vehicles were blown up.

Kawagishi Bunzaburo was depressed, but he didn't report to the higher authorities immediately, he couldn't tell the same as those soldiers, and the superiors asked him, and it was not clear. Therefore, he ordered the Espionage Division of the Divisional Headquarters to investigate the matter.

Now, the worst mood is not the turn of the first three. The most depressed was Zhang Zizhong, the commander of the 29th Division of the 38th Army.

At 8 o'clock in the morning of the next day, Zhang Zizhong, commander of the 38th Division, who had just been appointed by Song Zheyuan, commander of the 29th Army, as acting chairman of the Jicha Political Committee, director of the Jicha Pacification Office, and mayor of Beiping, was also in an extremely heavy mood. Yesterday afternoon, Song Zheyuan, commander of the 29th Army, held a military meeting, and on the orders of Chairman Chiang, he led the main force of the 29th Army to Baoding to garrison it. He temporarily appointed Zhang Zizhong to stay in Beiping to cover the transfer of the main force. Later evacuate at the camera.

Zhang Zizhong was a loyal and righteous man, and for the safe transfer of the 29th Army and the safety of the people of Beiping, he obeyed the order.

The Japanese army came too quickly, the main force of the 29th Army was in danger of getting out after a fierce battle, and Zhang Zizhong, who stayed in Beiping, did not have time to make any deployments, and Beiping was already surrounded by Japanese regiments.

Zhang Zizhong decided to deal with the Japanese army and strive for a safe transition in Beiping, and he led his troops to break through.

His adjutant came over and asked him if he was going to leave now, and the car was already parked downstairs.

Zhang Zizhong was very reluctant, he said: "I have a headache today, so I won't go in the morning, and I'll talk about it in the afternoon." ”

On the afternoon of July 29, Zhang Zizhong successively took up his post in the Jicha Political Committee and the Beiping Municipal Government. He also convened a meeting to study the public security, finance, and food issues in Peiping. During his stay in Beiping, Zhang Zizhong arranged for the wounded in the Pingjin battle to be treated, buried the dead, and sent personnel to help the families of the 29 officers and soldiers who had not had time to evacuate, or distributed travel expenses to let them leave Beiping and return to their hometowns.

The news spread very quickly, and on the same day, Zhang Zizhong, who stayed in Beiping, became the target of public criticism. The newspapers called him "Zhang Reverse and Self-loyal", "Self-Righteous and Loyal", "After Zhang Bangchang", and even called him "a traitor with a special name in North China".

On the streets of Nanjing, cartoons of Zhang Zizhong hugging a Japanese woman were also posted, attacking and insulting Zhang Zizhong. In Beiping, Zhang Zizhong's proclamation written by himself, "Everyone is safe and healthy, don't disturb each other" has also become the object of anger. As soon as the people saw the poster with Zhang Zizhong's name, they tore it.

The 29 officers and soldiers who stayed in Beiping also had a misunderstanding of Zhang Zizhong, and they called to question Zhang Zizhong. Zhang Zizhong was speechless.

That night, Zhang Zizhong had just fallen asleep when the adjutant reported that General Zhao Dengyu had arrived.

Zhang Zizhong hurriedly got dressed and came out.

As soon as he entered the living room, Zhang Zizhong saw Zhao Dengyu wearing a Japanese military uniform, and there was a young man next to him who was also wearing a Japanese military uniform.

Zhang Zizhong stepped forward to shake hands with Zhao Dengyu and said, "Shuncheng (Zhao Dengyu's character), didn't you go to Nanyuan, why did you come here?" Come, sit down. ”

Zhang Zizhong ignored Xia Chao, thinking that he was Zhao Dengyu's entourage.

Zhao Dengyu did not sit down, but introduced them,

He said: "Xun Chen, this is Major Xia Chao, the captain of the Demon Special Combat Team of the Central Military Academy, I can see you this time, thanks to them." Then he told Zhang Zizhong how he was surrounded and how he was rescued.

Zhang Zizhong is a good man, he respects the heroes and heroes in the army the most, he heard that the special combat team of the Xia Dynasty is so powerful, and said: "Brother Xia, how did your troops train and fight so strongly?" ”

Xia Chao smiled and said modestly: "I'm ashamed, the little brother just won the battle by luck by relying on good equipment, strong firepower, and the cooperation of General Zhao." Nothing. ”

Zhang Zizhong would not underestimate him because he was modest, he said: "Brother Xia is modest, he is young, he is a major, and he is really different. ”

Subsequently, Zhang Zizhong asked, "What is the purpose of your visit this time?" ”