At 2 o'clock in the afternoon of 5 March, the station in the eastern suburbs of Beiping was full of people, a large number of soldiers shivered in the cold wind, and a young man with a tall horse with a big face and big eyes, dressed in a light yellow tweed military uniform, stood in the cold wind, and his face was even more worried than the cold wind at this moment.

From time to time, an officer saluted the young man and reported that a triangular gold star on the collar of the young man's military uniform revealed his identity, Guan Linzheng, the commander of the 25th Division of the Republic of China Army, at this time, a young colonel with a thin face and only wearing a tweed military uniform came to Guan Linzheng with a coat and said: "Division! I have already sent someone to inform the Beiping Army Branch, Vice Chairman Zhang is not there, Minister He promised to be thinking of a way, Zhu Qinglan of the support association, I am going to go over in person, this icy and snowy soldiers in single clothes and straw shoes can not stand it, more than 300 people have been frostbitten along the way, and if it goes on like this, there is no need to say that I have a shot or a bullet, and our 25th Division will collapse! ”

Guan Zhenglin looked at the colonel and nodded helplessly: "Guangting, the two of us divide our troops into two ways, you go to find Zhu Qinglan of the support club, and I go to Zhang Hanqing, let's do both!" Let's find a way to get the troops to light a fire in a nearby warehouse to keep warm! ”

Looking at the officers and soldiers in single clothes and straw shoes forced to move to the nearby warehouse in the cold wind, Guan Linzheng's heart seemed to be pinched fiercely, the central government is in financial difficulties, even the central army can only guarantee one set of military uniforms for each officer and soldier every two years, and the officers have an extra shirt and a pair of leather boots every five years.

Guan Linzheng looked at the coat left by Du Yuming, and said to a major staff officer beside him: "Go and get it for the frostbitten brothers!" ”

The major staff officer was slightly stunned and said, "Division, this is deliberately given to you by Deputy Divisional Du!" You're also dressed in a single coat on such a cold day, and if you fall, what will we do? ”

Guan Linzheng glared at him and said: "The military stove has not set up a general to say that he is hungry, and the military well has not been dug will not say that he is thirsty, how can I not know the truth that the ancients knew?" ”

Knowing that the 25th Division had arrived in Beiping, Zhang Xueliang hurriedly rushed back to Beiping from the He Zhuguo Department of Miyun training, and just arrived and met Guan Linzheng with an eager face, Guan Linzheng is the old qualification of the first phase of Huangpu, Jiang Gong went to the field for the second time Guan Linzheng swore allegiance to the saddle before and after the horse, and was also purged by He Yingqin for the second time, but every time he was purged by He Yingqin, when Jiang Gong came back, Guan Linzheng was promoted to the knighthood, so that he was not purged and was one year older than him, and Du Yuming, who guarded the mausoleum for the former prime minister, could only be his deputy.

When Zhang Xuewu arrived at the main gate of the military branch, he found a thinly dressed major general standing in the cold wind, and more than a dozen officers on the side surrounded him and didn't know what to say.

As soon as Zhang Xueliang got out of the car, Guan Linzheng strode over and grabbed Zhang Xueliang's hand and said, "Brother Hanqing, my heart of anticipation is like a burning fire!" ”

Zhang Xueliang, my Guan Linzheng's cold big hand, hurriedly said: "Zhidao, hurry up and go in to warm up!" ”

Guan Linzheng shook his head and said: "Nearly 10,000 brothers are dressed in single clothes and wrapped in quilts to keep warm in the broken warehouse of the Eastern Suburbs Station, I am so anxious!" Please ask the vice chairman to allocate cotton clothes, cotton shoes, and tents for emergency needs! ”

Zhang Xueliang was slightly stunned, and then said: "There is still a part in the warehouse, I immediately ordered someone to open the warehouse, and let people buy a part of it immediately in Beiping, to ensure that the brothers have cotton clothes and cotton shoes!" Don't be in a hurry! ”

Guan Linzheng nodded and said, "Then I won't disturb the vice chairman, I can't rest assured on the side of the army, and I have to rush back to have a look!" ”

Zhang Xueliang nodded, took off his overcoat and put it on Guan Linzheng's shoulder, turned around and said, "Give all the coats of the gendarmerie guard battalion and the guard battalion to Senior Commander Guan and take them away immediately." ”

More than a dozen officers of the Northeast Army on the side hurriedly untied their coats and put them on Guan Linzheng's subordinates, Guan Linzheng was stunned for a moment, and was just about to resign, Zhang Xueliang pretended to be unhappy and said: "Zhidao went north to resist and said that it was my sin of Zhang Hanqing to let the brothers freeze, and I am not allowed to resign!" That's an order! ”

Guan Linzheng was slightly stunned, the eyes of this iron-clad man were slightly red, although it was the Central Army, but all the way to the north to coordinate the food and wages on the way to the car wagons had to come forward to solve the problem, Guan Linzheng tasted indifference and white eyes all the way, the place regarded them as locusts in general, and there was no hurry to dodge, and the assistance to raise food was even more foolish, no one could have thought that they were hungry and hungry and full of food to go north to resist, on the way many officers and soldiers complained and scolded their mothers, Guan Linzheng was very helpless, and finally gathered the whole division in Zhengzhou to speak: "The son is not ugly to the mother, Dogs don't think they're poor! In the poor, in the broken, no one to see, this is also our own land, our own homeland, in order to keep warm, in order to have a full meal, regardless of black and white etiquette, righteousness, shame and shame to recognize the thief as a father? That's a bastard of Han annihilation! ”

Today in Beiping, not only no one contacted, before the Ministry of Military Affairs issued a document that the so-called cotton clothes were not seen, Guan Linzheng's heart was suddenly cold as if a basin of ice water had been splashed, Zhang Xueliang's full support made Guan Linzheng slightly relieved, as long as there are cotton clothes that do not freeze to death, and there are bullets in the guns, they can perform the duty of soldiers to protect the territory and defend the people, and there is no way to retreat in the face of external humiliation, only to fight to the death!

Guan Linzheng's 25th Division was originally expanded from the Fourth Division's Reading Brigade which was originally taught by the Second Division and the Third Regiment, and it was formed in less than three months, and the weapons and equipment were not worth mentioning, and there was not a single mountain artillery in the whole division, and all of them had artillery firepower of only 29 mortars.

After Guan Linzheng left, Zhang Xueliang immediately went to the secret room, and he had been unable to make effective contact with Chengde before, so Zhang Xueliang ordered the air force to airdrop two new German high-power radios to Zhang Xuewu, at this moment he was eager to know the specific situation of the defensive battle in Chengde, and several pilots such as Gao Zhihang, who was attacked by the air force, were also waiting for him to report in person and observe the situation of Chengde.

Guan Linzheng, who was sitting in the car, finally warmed up with Zhang Xueliang's thick fur coat, but when he remembered that the brothers were still freezing, Guan Linzheng sighed for a long time, for this battle in fact, Guan Linzheng has his own tactical opinions, that is, to concentrate all the troops to defend the various passes of the Great Wall, after the army has been unable to attack for a long time, set up a pocket formation to open one or two passes and let the army drive straight in, using the superior strength of our army to encircle the army, to put it bluntly, he is also a human being, Guan Linzheng thinks that as long as he avoids their firepower advantage, Occupying favorable terrain, it is not impossible for the 25th Division to fight with Yue Kou, but giving up the terrain advantage of the pass to attack and engage in a field battle with the Yue army, Guan Linzheng is very worried, Huang Jie's second division headquarters can arrive the day after tomorrow at the latest, in addition to mobilizing heavy troops to defend the Great Wall Pass in North China to resist the enemy in danger, Guan Linzheng really can't think of any other way to retreat from the enemy?

Because the 10th and 14th Divisions were attacked by the Northeast Army Air Force, Muto Nobuyoshi was furious and threw all nine flying squadrons of the Kwantung Army Flying Corps into support for Rehe, and through Chief of Staff Koiso Kuniaaki, he asked the military headquarters to send army aviation units to support.

It can be said that although this unexpected air raid by the Northeast Air Force hurt Yue himself, it inadvertently gave Naoliang Matsuki and Shousuke Hirose, who were not in good coordination with the operational command, an excellent opportunity to cover up.

On the evening of 5 March, the old building of the garrison commander of the Northeast Frontier Army in Xitayuan, which was located in the headquarters of the Kwantung Army in Jinzhou, said that the Kwantung Army was located in Jinzhou, and after reading the battle reports of the 10th Division and the 14th Division of the fierce battle on the Chengde front, the commander of the Kwantung Army, Muto Nobuyoshi, who had a hideous face, could not suppress his anger, and slammed the cup in his hand on the map on the wall, and the hot tea splashed everywhere. Are the two guys Hirose Shousuke and Naoki Matsuki pigs? Is there any shame? These two bastards! ”

The anger of His Excellency the Commander made the staff officers of the former enemy headquarters look at each other? We all know that the Chengde forward attack is not going well, but no one knows how bad the situation is.

Muto Nobuyoshi, who looked very tired after the rage, took a deep breath and instructed the confidential staff officer Shimoda Shaosa: "Telegraph, the headquarters of the Sixth Division and the headquarters of the Eighth Division, as well as the headquarters of the 16th Division, the 14th Brigade of Reading Force, the 33rd Brigade of Reading Force, and the Heavy Artillery Brigade are all under the command of Deputy Chief of Staff Okamura Ninji, and after capturing Chengde, divide troops into three ways to attack the passes along Gubeikou, Lengkou, and Xifengkou, and must capture Chengde within two days, and completely annihilate the newly formed first division of the Central Army of Nanjing Political Axe, and do not let anyone go. In order to achieve the ultimate goal of shocking the enemy army, all press control was carried out at the same time, all the manuscripts and cameras of the reporters accompanying the army were confiscated, and all the reporters accompanying the army were sent back to Jinzhou under the pretext of safety considerations, and all the articles were uniformly distributed by the Propaganda and Political Department of the Kwantung Army. ”

After completing the record, Shimoda nodded and saluted, and hurriedly exited the war room with a depressed and solemn atmosphere, Shimoda looked at the original draft of the telegram in his hand and was slightly surprised, as far as he knew, the Chinese defenders in Chengde were only a division of soldiers? The 10th Division and the 14th Division were storming Chengde, although I heard that the offensive was not going well, and perhaps the forward commanders were slower to take into account the casualties of the troops, but there was no doubt that it was only a matter of time before Chengde was captured?

But now it seems that Shimoda is not so optimistic, and even the news of his own army reporters has been strictly controlled, and the command of the left and right flanks of the front line has been unified, and the forces of five divisions and two reading mixed brigades and heavy artillery brigades have been concentrated to attack Chengde, which is only one division of [***] defense? Also given a two-day time limit?