(The second chapter is released, everyone has a lot of support, thank you)

July 3, 1937

When the police station in Tianjin was still having a headache about the floating corpse case, another big case made the 29th Army feel that something really was going to happen.

On this afternoon, two plainclothes policemen were drinking tea in the teahouse, listening to the Tianjin Allegro, talking and laughing so uncomfortable, suddenly a policeman with a keen ear heard the word "lurking", this policeman turned out to be the platoon commander of the 29th Army Special Service Battalion, and the whole person became alert when he heard this word, and secretly observed, and found that it was a table in the corner next to him whispering something, and the policeman suddenly found that although one of them deliberately covered up, the eyes that peeked from time to time were obviously ghosts in his heart.

The policeman did not move, but went out with a smile and said that he had drunk too much tea and wanted to release the water, and as soon as he went out, he immediately found the brothers who were patrolling the street and asked them to outflank them, and then he walked back to the teahouse and glanced at his companions.

The companion immediately became aware of it, and when the man who poured the tea approached, one got up and poured a pot of tea on the table. The people at that table were all screaming hotly, and the policeman and his companions hurriedly stepped forward to apologize, and then the policemen who heard the sound rushed in, and the man saw that the policeman was like a way to escape, but was grabbed by the policeman and was all arrested on the spot.

Zhang Zizhong has been looking at the time of July these days, fidgeting every day, the Red Party's intelligence is believed to be true and afraid is true, when he learned that the spy was caught, he immediately personally led people to interrogate overnight, Tianjin was originally close to Beiping, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's ten torture methods also have a few heirs here, after several servings, the person confessed on the spot, it turned out that these people actually came to Tianjin to recruit and train spy agents, and confessed that the transportation between Rehe and Chabei Huade has been extremely busy recently, and there are heavy guards, I don't know what I'm shipping.

Zhang Zizhong immediately understood that this was the logistics preparation before the war, and when he was about to telegraph to Beiping, he suddenly heard bursts of cannons.

Zhang Zizhong asked, "What's the situation?" Where**? ”

The chief of staff immediately called to inquire, and after a while, he reported back: "Division commander, the Japanese army is suddenly exercising in the Duliu area of Tianjin. It's not good. ”

July 5, 1937

The Japanese army began military exercises outside Tianjin

-- Beiping

Song Zheyuan looked at the information that kept flying, and then looked up at the military map on the wall, his forehead was constantly sweating, although he declared at the meeting that his 29th Army could stand still even in the face of the siege of 50,000 Japanese troops, but he knew his own affairs, the 29th Army has increased a lot after several expansions, and there is no problem with light weapons. However, the most important heavy firepower is extremely lacking, and if it really starts, it will be okay for a short time, but once the time drags on, the 29th Army's family will not be able to spend long.

Zhang Yueting sighed beside him, "The Japanese are going to do it, you see, our Beiping is surrounded by Japanese troops, and the passage with Tianjin will be cut off at any time, once Fengtai has an accident, our main artery Pinghan Railway is also in danger." ”

Song Zheyuan threw the telegram into the sky and said, "Fight, fight, Feng Zhi'an, you are ready, once they dare to come, we will dare to fight, this Beiping belongs to our 29th Army, and no one can snatch it away." ”

Feng Zhi'an thought for a while and said, "Fight and fight, but if it really starts, we will be very dangerous here, military seat, you and the chief of staff will go to Baoding first, and leave it to us here." ”

Qin Dechun was also the mayor of Beiping City at this time, and also said, "Yes, if you are not afraid of 10,000, you are afraid of just in case, you take a group of people to leave, otherwise we will be easily served in one pot." ”

Song Zheyuan stood up and walked around twice and said, "It's okay, I'll go to Baoding to command, Qin Dechun is in charge of the government, Tong Linge is in charge of the military, once the Japanese do it, they will beat his mother." ”

July 6, 1937

The Shimizu Setsuro squadron of the Japanese army stationed in Fengtai, heavily armed, asked to conduct exercises through the county town of Wanping to the Changxindian area. The garrison of the 37th Division of Wanping was not allowed, and they held each other for more than ten hours. In the end, the two sides retreated from each other.

July 7, 1937

The Japanese army in Tangshan, Hebei Province exercised the battle along the Beining Road.

Since then, the Japanese army has mobilized heavy troops to surround Beijing and Tianjin under the pretext of using the exercise as an excuse. The situation is on the verge of eruption.

-- Fengtai, Beiping

The exercise in Fengtai had been going on for a long time since 7 p.m., and Ji Xingwen, commander of the 219th Regiment of the 110th Brigade of the 37th Division of the 29th Army, and He Jifeng, the brigade commander of the 29th Army, in Wanping City on the opposite side, looked at the scene of artillery fire not far away, and frowned in the fortifications that had been repaired recently. Everyone is a soldier, and it is clear who the target of the military exercise on the opposite side is, I heard that deserters have begun to appear in the army recently, if this is to really fight, can it really be won?

He Jifeng said to Ji Xingwen, "Brother Xingwen, the situation is not good, I heard that Tianjin is the same as us, there are cannons lined up at the entrance, you are guarding the Lugou Bridge, you have to be more careful." ”

Ji Xingwen is a young soldier who is less than 30 years old, he raised his helmet indifferently and said, "My uncle Ji Hongchang died because of the anti-Japanese resistance, will I be a nephew and disgrace my uncle?" Don't worry, I'm Ji Shaowu won't die, and Lugou Bridge won't be lost. ”

He Jifeng sighed, "Don't say unlucky things, there is already news above that the devil will do it in the next few days, let the brothers be careful, especially at night, the devil liked to attack at night when he was on the Great Wall, and the injury on my shoulder still hurts when it rains." ”

Ji Xingwen smiled, "Don't worry, my group was the first in the last competition." ”

He Jifeng nodded and said, "I don't have to worry about your group, once there is anything, notify me immediately." ”

At this time, a group of Japanese military vehicles suddenly came from outside Wanping City and came to Lugou Bridge along the road.

The person who came was the Japanese squadron leader Setsuro Shimizu, he got out of the car, walked towards the Lugou Bridge with his head held high, and the guards gritted their teeth and shouted, "The front is the defense area of the Chinese army, please exercise restraint and leave as soon as possible." ”

At this time, the Lugou Bridge was already in a semi-blockaded state, and the defenders basically sealed the bridge with a large number of mud and sandbags, leaving only a one-person-sized vacancy.

Setsuro Shimizu said with a smile in broken Chinese, "Our army suddenly discovered a soldier missing during the military exercise, we think it is very likely that he is now in Wanping City, and our Imperial Japanese Army requires your army to immediately let us enter Wanping City for inspection, I hope your army can understand." ”

The soldiers guarding immediately called Ji Xingwen at the regiment headquarters, and Ji Xingwen couldn't help but laugh when he heard it, "Are there any soldiers with hundreds of loaded guns and ammunition coming to find someone?" Even the heavy machine gun was brought, I was afraid that it would be fake to find someone and it would be true to earn the city, so I told the battalion commander Jin Zhenzhong to give me a stern refusal, if there were really Japanese soldiers scattered and entered Wanping City, we would send them back. ”

Setsuro Shimizu didn't get angry when he heard the return, but smiled lightly and said, "Very good!" After saying that, he returned with his troops the same way.

Jin Zhenzhong looked at the Japanese soldiers who actually went back honestly, felt an ominous aura, and immediately ordered all the troops to enter the combat state, and he also went to the battalion headquarters of the Dawang Temple to sit at the door and rest with his eyes closed, and he didn't know what was waiting for.

-- The Headquarters of the Japanese Forces in China

This was because the instructions given by the Japanese General Staff Headquarters to the Chinese garrison in Beiping were that in the event of an incident that would damage the prestige of the imperial army, the Chinese garrison should resolutely punish them, act quickly and swiftly, strike at them in the shortest possible time, and solve the problem on the spot with the minimum requirements. The units of the Kwantung Army continued to prepare for war against the Soviet Union.

Therefore, after receiving the report of the 8th Squadron, Tashiro Wanichiro received the news, he thought that this was a good opportunity to use this opportunity to force the 29th Army to make further concessions on the autonomy of North China, because at this time the brigade commander Kawabe Shozo was reviewing the troops in Qinhuangdao, although the commander of the garrison army, Tashiro Wanichiro, urgently ordered him to return to Beiping, but the whip commander could not reach it, so he temporarily asked the wing commander Mutaguchi to mobilize troops in order to put more pressure on the 29th Army. At the same time, let the Matsui organs use the negotiations to confuse the judgment of the 29th Army.

-- Fengtai

Mutaguchi also wore a military uniform and kowtowed to the portrait of the emperor, and a group of Japanese officers knelt behind and also worshiped the portrait of the emperor.

He stood up and said, "Gentlemen, in recent years, China has been attacking our expatriates, we have repeatedly tolerated them for the glory of the yellow race, and this year we have continued to put forward friendly proposals to them, and even a lot of artillery has been given to the 29th Army, what is the result?" Our soldiers were shot and disappeared in Wanping City, and they didn't let our people go in to search and rescue, and if we didn't act, His Majesty the Emperor's heroic soldiers would die in Wanping in such a daze. I command. ”

All the Japanese officers stood en masse.

Mutaguchi Ryoya's eyes lit up, as if he had seen something, and said, "The third brigade has entered the battle state, rushed to Wanping City, and is ready to fight at any time. The 1st and 2nd Brigades were urgently assembled at any time. ”

In order to cover and the time required for the deployment of troops, Matsui Taikuro, the head of the Japanese special service in Beiping, called the mayor of Beiping City, Qin Dechun, at around 24 o'clock on July 7.

Matsui Taikuro said: "Our Imperial Japanese Army was exercising on the outskirts of Lugou Bridge yesterday, and suddenly someone opened fire on the attack, we immediately closed the team and found that there was a lack of soldiers, we suspected that the person who fired the gun was the Chinese army stationed in Lugou Bridge, and thought that the missing soldiers and the soldiers who fired the guns had entered Wanping City, and we asked to enter the city immediately to search. ”

As soon as Qin Dechun heard it, he knew that this was the Japanese army's false plan to destroy the enemy, so he said, "It's late at night now, if your army enters the city at this time, it is really inappropriate, and our army has already gone to bed at this time, why don't you talk about it tomorrow tomorrow?" ”

Matsui Taikuro hung up the phone after saying that he would communicate with the military.

Qin Dechun thought about it, and suddenly didn't know how to judge the situation.

Just when Qin Dechun was hesitating, Matsui came to call again and said, "The army is already in a hurry. If you still do not allow it, the Japanese army will forcibly enter the city and search by force. ”

Qin Dechun wanted to say something, but Matsui hung up the phone again.

At this time, Qin Dechun suddenly received a report from the Chinese defenders of Lugou Bridge, saying that the Japanese army had formed an encirclement and attack posture against Wanping City.

Qin Dechun was in a hurry, and immediately called Matsui Taijiulang, and after discussing for a long time, the two finally agreed to cooperate and send personnel to Lugou Bridge to investigate.

At this time, the Japanese claimed "missing" soldier Kikujiro Shimura miraculously returned to the team, it turned out that this Shimura Kikujiro was a recruit who had just enlisted in the army, and this time he just fell behind because he went to the toilet.

Setsuro Shimizu looked at Kikujiro Shimura in front of him, his face was cloudy, and at this time, the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Wing of the Chinese Garrison Army, which had been ordered to come for reinforcements, had already arrived. Leading the team was Co-Captain Ryoya Mutaguchi.

Mutaguchi Ren also shook his head and said, "Ichagi-kun, what do you think? ”

Kiyoshi Ichiki originally wanted to use this opportunity to gain great achievements, but now it has become a farce. This is his own army again, to be known by everyone, he will definitely become the laughing stock of the imperial army, think about it, Yimu said straightforwardly, "We must not stop like this, Your Excellency Wing Commander, think about the recent situation in North China, once we retreat like this, how will the people of China promote us?" I would definitely say that as long as we dare to deal with our imperial army with real guns, we can let the imperial army in the exercise escape. If this is the case, it will be a pity and a shame for Japan. Therefore, my idea is that we must first occupy Yiwen Mountain (the Chinese position between Lugou Bridge and Beiping, which the Chinese call is Shagang) and then negotiate."

Mutaguchi Ryoya laughed and said, "The hero sees the same thing, the Shina people are like a donkey, or a strong donkey, only by beating them hard with a whip, can the Shina know what to do." Let's be the whip of the Imperial Army of Japan. ”

(PS: As an aside, in fact, the 77 Incident was not the original intention of the Japanese government, the Japanese government at that time was not ready for battle, but was making preparations for the invasion of China.