In July 1937, there was a shortage of rain in various parts of China, especially in Shaanxi Province, which was an unprecedented year of drought.

From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, there was hardly a drop of rain in Shaanxi Province, and there was no harvest of crops in the province, even though Li Tie had already transported a lot of grain from abroad to support Shaanxi, but the unprecedented drought still took the lives of many Shaanxi people.

If Li Tie had not told the Shaanxi Provincial Government in advance to do a good job in fighting drought and providing disaster relief, and at the same time actively campaigned throughout the country to raise materials for drought relief work, the people of Shaanxi would not have survived this year of drought safely.

In this year, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party had stopped the civil war and reached a preliminary agreement on a unified war of resistance, but now there are only slight differences over the name of the Red Army and the management of the base areas.

Although Li Tie had informed Commander Chiang in advance that the Japanese might continue to expand their occupation of China this summer, and Li Tie received information from Japan that the Japanese army would be the first to attack the Pingjin area in early July.

It's a pity that history once again played a joke on Li Tie, and Commander Jiang not only did not listen to Li Tie's reminder, but instead transferred Li Tie to Shaanxi for disaster relief.

Fortunately, Li Tiecai was generous, and he worked hard to dredge up and down the Nanjing government, so that he was able to keep his errand in Shanghai. But he no longer dared to casually tell Commander Chiang the original history in advance.

While the Chinese were still busy with drought relief work, in the Japanese Consulate in Beiping, the newly appointed commander of the Chinese Garrison Army, Lieutenant General Tashiro Wanichiro, Lieutenant General Kiyoji Kazuki, Major General Kawabe Shozo, commander of the Chinese Garrison Brigade, and Lieutenant General Tohihara, chief of the General Staff of the Northeast Kwantung Army, were secretly discussing the plan for the imminent invasion of China with the consul.

"According to the latest news obtained by our intelligence department, the combat effectiveness of Song Zheyuan's soldiers of the 29th Army is still good, but after the Xi'an Incident, their 29th Army has just received some soldiers of the Northwest Army of the former 17th Route Army.

Therefore, their 29th Army has expanded from the original two divisions to four infantry divisions and one cavalry division, with more than 50,000 troops. Japan's Beiping secret service director Matsui Taikuro Osa introduced.

"And what about their equipment and morale?" Lieutenant General Wanichiro Tashiro, commander of the Chinese garrison in tun, asked.

"Report to the commander, whether it is the Feng Zhi'an Division of the 37th Division of the 29th Army stationed in Beiping, or the 38th Division Zhang Zizhong stationed in Tianjin, the equipment of their two divisions and the other three divisions is about the same.

Although they are also the Central Army, their equipment is very backward, and they have not been paid in full for several months, so the morale of their soldiers is not high.

Moreover, the 29th Army had not yet been reequipped by the Nationalist Government, and they had no other heavy weapons except some old light weapons and dozens of mortars.

In addition, their anti-aircraft fire was zero, and their light and heavy machine guns were also short of ammunition, and even more so there was a lack of grenades, and even the shells were many duds that could not be fired.

According to the reports of our agents lurking in various military camps, the soldiers of the 29th Army even have very few training ammunition for normal training.

Therefore, if we really want to launch an attack on the Chinese garrison in the Pingjin area, to deal with such a group of people called Hanako, as long as we have one brigade of soldiers, it is enough. Major General Kawabe Shozo, commander of the Chinese Garrison Brigade, said unashamedly.

"Hebianjun don't underestimate the enemy, the Northwest Army's equipment is notoriously poor, but their title of Northwest Wolf is not for nothing. I think that when the Great Wall resisted the war, it was their Northwest Army that caused the greatest losses to our Kwantung Army. Said a major general of the Kwantung Army.

"Major General Suzuki is right, thinking that their Northwest Army didn't even have a decent rifle back then, but they hacked to death hundreds of our Imperial warriors with only the broadsword in their hands.

Later, Li Tie did not support them with weapons, so that we suffered such a big loss in the Great Wall War of Resistance. I hope Li Tie won't come to join in the fun again this time.

However, the news from Shanghai said that Li Tie had not gone north in Shanghai. But Li Tie's whereabouts have always been elusive, and no one is sure that he did not sneak to Beiping secretly.

If Song Zheyuan receives Li Tie's arms assistance again in the Battle of Beiping, then our hope of taking Pingjin within ten days will be in vain. Kenji Dohihara, who was already a lieutenant general, warned the generals of the Chinese garrison army present.

"Generals, this time we are gathered at the consulate not to talk about Li Tie, but to discuss unity and cooperation in the future attack on the Pingjin area.

Please don't raise the morale of others and destroy your own prestige, our Minister of War, Mr. Hideki Tojo, has managed to win this task for us to attack the Pingjin area. So we can't let the Secretary of War down.

No matter how difficult the Northwest Army in front of him is to fight, and how cunning Li Tie is, I believe that all conspiracies and tricks will be in vain in the face of absolute strength.

This time, we were surrounded on all sides, with the support of the Eastern Army in the east, the help of the Chahar Dispatch Army in the north, the assistance of the Mongolian reclamation army in the west, and the assistance of tens of thousands of imperial troops.

Although our Chinese garrison is only 10,000 people in the south, we have hundreds of tanks, dozens of planes, and hundreds of artillery pieces.

All our troops combined were 100,000 men, but the 29th Army had only 50,000 old and weak soldiers with backward equipment. Could it be that so many of our well-trained Imperial warriors, with the help of so many planes and artillery, could not defeat the mere 29th Army?

So I don't think we need to waste too much time here, the Empire's plan to prepare a full-scale attack on China has received the full support of the Minister of War, and has received some approval from both the military department and the imperial family.

Now we are just waiting for us to set an example, as long as we take the Pingjin region in a short time, China will be equivalent to one-third of China's land falling into our hands.

In time, the total occupation of China will no longer be a distant dream. Ladies and gentlemen, the arrow has to be sent on the string, and I order that the Pingjin strategy be implemented immediately. "As the initiator of this meeting, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese garrison army, Lieutenant General Wanichiro Tashiro, gave the final combat order.

"Starting from 7 July, the garrison brigade led by General Kawabe Shozo will go all out to carry out the offensive."

"Hey!" Major General Shozo Kawabe immediately agreed loudly.

The conspiracy meeting in the Japanese consulate in Peiping was in full swing, and it was also in the city of Beiping, separated by a district, in the headquarters of Song Zheyuan of the 29th Army in Beiping, a young man took a gift slip and presented it to Commander Song Zheyuan.

Song Zheyuan looked at the several division commanders around him, and then at the young man in front of him, his brows were deeply locked: "Brother Li Tie, I know that your Huaxing Company is wealthy, but now is not the war period.

And we are now also the army of the Nationalist Government, although the military salary has been insufficient in the past few months, but you suddenly sent so many arms at the Tianjin dock, which makes it difficult for my brother to do it? ”

"Oh, what is Commander Song afraid of? Are you afraid that my arms will be hot, or are you afraid that the quality of the arms I send will not be good? Li Tie said with a smile.

"Brother Li Tie is too good at joking, Huaxing Company's arms are notoriously good. It's just that so many arms are being sent by you with such fanfare.

If this is known to the people of the military commander and then reported to Commander Chiang, then the brothers will not have a good time in the future. Song Zheyuan said cautiously.

"Are you afraid that others will say that I have bought you?" Li Tie asked slightly, seeing that Song Zheyuan didn't reply, he knew that he had guessed correctly.

"Commander Song don't be afraid, I donated these arms to you, and before I came here, I had already telegraphed Director Dai Li of the Military Command Bureau, and he would explain it to Commander Jiang for us.

The reason why I am sending you arms is because now Beiping has been surrounded by Japanese troops on the east, west, and north sides. Since the fall of Northeast China in 31 years, the Japanese army has continued to increase troops in the Pingjin area for various reasons in recent years.

You are a person who has led troops for many years, judging from the current situation of friend and foe, if the Japanese army attacks from these three sides at the same time, can you stop the ferocious Japanese army? Li Tie talked eloquently.

"Of course not, but as soldiers, we must resist with all our strength until the last drop of blood is shed, so if the Japanese army really attack us, we will never sit idly by.

Once the Sino-Japanese war resumes, even without Commander Chiang's order, our 29th Army will definitely resist with all its might, and even if the whole army is annihilated because of this, I will not stop. Song Zheyuan said with a cut of iron.

Li Tie couldn't help but applaud Song Zheyuan a few times for his fearlessness, and then he deliberately said contemptuously: "The soldiers of the 29th Army are really unlucky.

Obviously, they can let their brothers die less and destroy more enemies, but because they have a military commander who only admits death, they are finally reduced to holding a big blade to fight the well-equipped Japanese army.

Does Commander Song know that if you don't accept this batch of arms from me, how will your 29th Army resist once China and Japan start fighting in the Pingjin area?

Do you know how many brothers in the 29th Army will be killed because you are afraid that Commander Chiang will suspect you and me of colluding and not accept my arms? They have followed you from birth to death for so many years, can they only end up with a tragic death under the guns of the Japanese army? ”

"Brother Li Tie, I know that you think about my 29th Army, and I know that you are a patriotic businessman, and I think that when the Great Wall resisted Japanese Aggression, our 29th Army also received military assistance from you.

But today is really different, at that time we were still the Northwest Army, and we didn't listen to the announcement, so at that time, accepting your assistance was to enhance our strength, of course, there was no problem.

But now, no, our 29th Army is also a regular national army, and we cannot accept military assistance from any group or individual.

If you want to donate weapons, you can donate them to the national government first, and then the national government will issue them to us. Song Zheyuan still insisted on not accepting Li Tie's military assistance, and what he said was cut off.

Li Tie crooked his face and deliberately pretended to look at Song Zheyuan with contempt, although Song Zheyuan was the commander of the first army, he was also deeply jealous of Li Tie's name in the Republic of China.