It was Li Junqing and Zhao Jiayong who came, the two of them were on their way to the Summer Palace for a banquet, don't look at the joy outside the city all day long, these old Beijing really didn't take it seriously, they still listened to the drama and drank, calmly, with leisure and self-confidence, this is the pie of the Beiping masters.

"Brother Chen." Li Junqing sat in the car and shouted, he was wearing a white silk robe and holding a folding fan, Yushu was the focus of attention wherever he went, but this time everyone was listening to the students' speeches, and there was a burst of warm applause, which overshadowed his voice, Chen Zikun didn't hear it, nor did he look this way, he took Lin Wenjing into the car and walked away.

"You read that right." Zhao Jiayong said.

"It's definitely him, you can't be wrong." Li Junqing shook off the fan and quickly fanned it a few times, "No, I have to find him, I haven't met him a few times in Beiping, and the brothers are estranged." ”

Zhao Jiayong said: "Lao Li, forget it today, there is still a bureau, and I will go to Brother Kun again after tomorrow."

Li Junqing glanced at the car that had left in the dust, and said, "Okay, then I'll go again tomorrow." ”

……

Chen Zikun really didn't see Li Junqing, his mind was on that group of students, in the car, he asked Lin Wenjing: "How is Wenlong's studies?" It seems that he is more interested in politics. ”

Lin Wenjing said: "The country is in danger, which hot-blooded young people don't care about politics, not to mention that Wenlong went to school at Peking University, which has the tradition of May Fourth, don't underestimate these young students, the 129 Movement was organized by them." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Wenlong also has a share? ”

Lin Wenjing said: "Wenlong participated, as well as Xiao Yao and Xiao Huang, all of whom were activists. ”

"So, they're all ***!" Chan was vigilant.

Lin Wenjing glanced at him: "What's the matter, now that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party are cooperating and unanimously resisting Japan, not to mention that they are not ***." ”

Chen Zikun didn't want to dwell on this issue, he only cared about how to evacuate his family from the dangerous Pingjin as soon as possible, and when he was about to drive to the door of the house, Lin Wenjing suddenly mentioned: "You just arrived, it's still early for dinner, so it's better to go to the depot to have a look." ”

"Okay." Chan readily agreed.

Came to the door of the purple light depot, the two red doors have been mottled and faded, the stone steps in front of the door are also polished to a very smooth surface, Baoqing is unloading in the yard, he used a foreign car to pull a few bags of flour back, in the summer, a bald head is extremely shiny, hard-working men like to shave their heads, neat, cool.

Chen Zikun's arrival made Baoqing very happy, let the apricots pour tea and cut melons, the apricots have been getting old in recent years, their backs are slightly hunched, their son is twelve years old, born strong and cute, but he doesn't like to learn.

"Like my son, he doesn't like to read." Chen Zikun smiled, took a bite of watermelon, and asked Baoqing: "What are you buying so much flour for?" ”

"Beiping is not very peaceful, sooner or later you have to fight, according to my experience, at most three months, you can't prepare some food or anything, really fight, and then find a big vat, install bricks and tiles to block the gate, and your heart will be steady."

Baoqing was from a driving factory, and he had a relatively comprehensive observation of the situation outside, and he had a premonition that there would be a war, which was evident from the tense situation in Beiping.

"Da Kunzi, do you think you can really fight? Beiping won't be occupied by the Japanese, right? Xing'er poured him tea and water, and asked worriedly.

"Silly girl, what are you talking nonsense, we have the 29th Army in Beiping, how can we let Little Japan occupy it, the 29th Army's big knife team is really amazing, and the Japanese are so scared that they get an iron scarf to wear." Baoqing talked about these stories circulating in the streets and alleys, his eyebrows flew and danced very excitedly, and at the end he asked Chen Zikun: "Da Kunzi, you are a general, you can tell me, who is better between our 29th Army and the Japanese." ”

Chen Zikun said without hesitation: "Of course, we Chinese are powerful, now that the civil war has stopped, the country is unanimous with the outside world, and little Japan dares to provoke, so he will not return." ”

Baoqing grinned: "Xing'er, do you hear, Da Kunzi said so, I'll just say, we have a population of 40,000 in China, and we are still afraid of little Japan." ”

Suddenly, the big bolt ran over with a big knife made of wood chips: "The big knife cut off the heads of the devils...... Kill~~~"

"This kid." Bao Qing happily slapped his son's buttocks, and suddenly remembered something: "Da Kunzi, how many days will you stay this time?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "I can't live for a few days, isn't this about a summer vacation, take Lin Wenjing's sister and brother back." ”

Baoqing said regretfully: "Why don't you stay for a few more days, let's talk well, I haven't seen each other for a while." ”

Xing'er said: "**Kunzi is a big official of the central government, how can you be like you, you have nothing to do when you are full all day long, and you go around listening to people bragging." ”

Baoqing was annoyed and threw the melon peel to the ground: "What are you talking about?" ”

Xing'er was not stunned at all: "What about you, Da Kunzi, don't pay attention to him, Ya Ting's temper is getting bigger and bigger, and she dares to argue with me." ”

The two are not really quarrelling, but daily bickering, remembering the past of Baoqing's honest and stocky unrequited love for Xing'er many years ago, and then look at the present, it really makes people feel that the years are like a shuttle, Chen Zikun looked at his watch, got up and said: "It's not early, I have to go." ”

Xing'er said: "Let's go after eating, shoot a cucumber, cut a pig's head, it's very fast, you two drink two cups." ”

Chen Zikun said: "No, there is still a bureau at night, Qin Dechun wants to pick me up." ”

As soon as she heard that it was the mayor of Beiping who was entertaining, Xing'er didn't force him to stay, sent him out of the gate, and the two of them went in again.

Back at the Lin Mansion, Wen Long hadn't entered the house yet, Lin Wenjing asked worriedly: "Is what you just said true, can we win against Japan in China?" ”

Chen Zikun said: "Let me tell you a set of data, which is the top secret information of the Military Commission, and ordinary people don't know it." ”

Lin Wenjing listened attentively.

Chen Zikun said: "Japan has about 4.5 million troops, including 2 million in active duty, 17 army standing divisions, 1.9 million tons of naval vessels, and 3,000 aircraft, while China has 1.7 million troops, 110,000 tons of ships, and 600 aircraft. Japan's steel output is 5 million tons, China's steel output is less than 40,000 tons, Japan's oil output is 1.6 million tons, China's is only 10,000 tons, Japan can produce aircraft carriers, tanks, airplanes, and artillery, China's heavy weapons are all imported, and the steel used in the manufacture of light weapons also depends on imports; More importantly, Japan is united, China is divided, the three eastern provinces rich in resources are occupied by Japan, Xinjiang is controlled by Soviet Russia, Yungui in Sichuan is still rampant with warlords, the army is mostly empty salary, the quality of soldiers is low, malnutrition, officers are uneven, and their qualifications are very poor. ”

Lin Wenjing was silent for a long time, her eyebrows were furrowed, hot-blooded students and ordinary people like Baoqing naturally couldn't come into contact with such data, let alone make analysis and judgment.

After a long time, Lin Wenjing said: "The disparity in strength between China and Japan is huge, but it is not impossible to fight, when the United States became independent, the gap in strength compared to Britain was even greater, and it could still be won." ”

Chen Zikun said: "You are right, although China is weak, it is still a behemoth, otherwise Japan would have been eager to take a bite, the suppression of the Communist Party has stopped, the anti-Japanese united front has been established, and the whole country is united, and it is also possible to fight, but I still do not approve of college students going to the battlefield, and the outstanding talents are all gone, how to rebuild the country in the future." ”

Lin Wenjing said: "You can rest assured that Pingjin University has a plan to build school buildings in the southwest and other places, and when the war starts, our faculty and staff will move over without delaying students' classes." ”

While chatting, Qin Dechun sent an adjutant to invite, saying that he had prepared a banquet for General Chen, and it seemed that this meal could not be avoided, so Chen Zikun took Lin Wenjing to the banquet together. The most talked about at the table was the situation, because Chen Zikun was a central official, and Qin Dechun wanted to inquire about the meaning of the Nanjing government.

"Resolutely resist Japan and be uncompromising." Chan replied to him.

"How so?" Fu Sinian, who was present, asked, he is also an old acquaintance of Chen Zikun, he was still a handsome young man when he organized the May Fourth Movement, but now he has become a big fat man with a bloated body.

Chen Zikun said: "Of course, I am not talking in the vernacular, the teaching materials used in the Lushan Officer Training Corps run by the commission no longer have the tactics of suppressing the communists, but have been replaced with anti-Japanese propaganda, I think this is enough to explain the problem." ”

Fu Sinian, Qin Dechun and the others all nodded with satisfaction.

……

The next day, Yao Qizhen and his wife, who had received the telegram, arrived from Tianjin by Beijing-Tianjin Express, and as soon as they saw Chen Zikun's face, they talked about what they had seen on the train: "The Japanese were exercising along the railway line, and the vicinity of the culvert bridge was full of soldiers, and there were many guns and bayonets, which was really scary. ”

Yao Yilei's aunt's family did not come, and her uncle-in-law is a senior employee of Japan's Zhengjin Bank, so she is not afraid of the Japanese calling.

Chen Zikun had a hunch that the Pingjin area was like a huge powder keg that could explode at any time, so he asked Lin Wenlong and Yao Yilai again, and both young men said that they wanted to participate in the summer military training regiment of the 29th Army, and they fought to the end with the Japanese, and Lin Wenjing's persuasion was useless.

In desperation, Chen Zikun had no choice but to take Yao Qizhen and Lin Wenjing out of Beiping first.

On this day, just after the summer vacation, the date was July 5, 1937.

Two days later, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and the Japanese army refused to search Wanping County under the pretext that a soldier was missing, and launched an attack on the Lugou Bridge, which was fiercely returned by the 219th Regiment of the 37th Division of the 29th Army.

The 29th Army of Pingjin is surrounded on three sides, Wanping is the only gateway to Beiping, once Wanping is lost, the Pinghan line is cut off, Beiping becomes a lonely city, and the Lugou Bridge is the bolt on this portal, the Lugou Bridge is to hold the passage between Beiping and the Central Plains, both China and Japan attach importance to the gains and losses of the Lugou Bridge, the battle is not fierce, the well-trained Japanese army only suffered more than 30 casualties, and the Chinese army lost more than 100 people.

When the news reached Lushan, Chiang Kai-shek telegraphed Song Zheyuan to hold on to Wanping and not retreat, and to mobilize all of them in case the situation expanded, and then ordered Sun Lianzhong's 26th Route Army to assemble in Shijiazhuang.

On the morning of 8 July, in the large barracks of the Haihui Temple in Lushan, 6,000 students quickly gathered under the flagpole, and after raising the blue sky and white sun flag, Chen Cheng, the chief of education, announced to everyone: The war has begun.