Lushan, Guling.

Four days ago, the first phase of the Lushan Summer Training Corps began its training of trainees, with Chiang Kai-shek as the head of the training regiment, Chen Cheng as the chief of education, Sun Lianzhong as the deputy of the regiment and the chief of the first column, Huang Shao as the chief of the second column, and Xue Yue, Wu Qiwei, Hu Zongnan, Wan Yaohuang, Zhu Huaibing, Liu Maoen, Feng Zhi'an, Li Fuying, and Luo Zhuoying-jew as the captains.

Prior to this, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei jointly issued an invitation to more than 380 university professors and officials at and above the level of local government and county magistrates to attend the Lushan Talks, which will begin in Guling on 15 July.

The meeting was originally planned to be divided into seven groups, each group of talks lasted about two weeks, and Chen Cheng, Lei Zhen, and He Lian were responsible for receiving them.

On 4 July, the ministries of the Executive Yuan jointly held a commemorative week for the prime minister in Lushan, and Chiang Kai-shek delivered a speech entitled "Education to Save the Country." Subsequently, various central ministries and commissions began to work in Lushan, and members of the Military Committee were also stationed in Lushan one after another to deal with the affairs of the national army.

On the evening of 8 July, Chiang Kai-shek, who had finished a one-day meeting with the bigwigs of the Kuomintang Central Committee, returned to the official residence of Chairman Meilu in a rage, followed by more than a dozen summoned generals of the Military Committee and the General Staff Headquarters, and at this time everyone's face was full of gloom.

Since June, the Japanese military exercises stationed in Fengtai have gradually increased to once every three to five days, initially firing with false bullets, then with live ammunition, at first during the day, and later at night, and on several occasions the troops were asked to pass through the county town of Wanping.

Around 15 June, the Japanese army greatly increased its troops in China, increasing the number of Japanese marines in Shanghai by 1,000 and sending more than 900 troops to North China and South China.

In July, the Japanese army's exercises became more and more frequent; four divisions of the Kwantung Army advanced to the line of the Great Wall; 16 Japanese special trains drove to Tianjin; dozens of warships of the Japanese Navy blocked the coast from Qinhuangdao to Qingdao; and at the same time, a large number of Japanese fighters flew from Changchun, Shenyang, and other places to Chengde.

In order to cope with the increasingly grim situation, the Ministry of Industry of the Executive Yuan suggested to the industrial and commercial circles in North China that all factories and enterprises should be relocated to the west to prevent machinery and equipment from falling into the hands of the Japanese invaders.

Just last night, as the intelligence said, the Japanese army deliberately provoked a war at the Lugou Bridge, and then thought of Wu Ming's prediction of the Sino-Japanese war, Chiang Kai-shek, who received the urgent report, was anxious, so he summoned Wang Jingwei, Zhang Renjie, Xu Chongzhi, Li Liejun, Tang Shengzhi, Chen Bijun, Gu Mengyu, Chen Gongbo, Wang Luyi, and other senior members of the Central Political Council to a meeting early this morning.

As a last resort, Chiang Kai-shek, in his capacity as chairman of the Military Affairs Committee, telegraphed to the Jicha authorities to "hold on to Wanping and wait for help," ordered Song Zheyuan to quickly command the military from Beiping to Baoding, and at the same time ordered He Yingqin, the minister of military affairs who was reorganizing the Sichuan army in Sichuan, to return to Nanjing as soon as possible to preside over the work related to the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and ordered the Lushan summer training group to participate in the training! The general went down the mountain to return to the team and stood by, and instructed Song Zheyuan: 1. No treaty should be signed; 2. Don't take a step back; 3. Prepare for sacrifice. He also said that "Wanping City should be held and not retreated, and all the people must be mobilized in case the situation expands", and asked Song Zheyuan to focus on the overall situation and resolutely resist.

The small conference room in Meilu, like all the conference rooms of the Kuomintang military and political institutions, hangs the portrait of the former prime minister above the chairman's seat, the national flag and the party flag on both sides of the portrait, and the walls and pillars are decorated with finely framed text panels are Mr. Zhongshan's famous words, and the whole environment looks solemn and solemn.

"As of 5 p.m., Brigade Commander He Jifeng of the 37th Division of the 29th Army personally led the main force to launch a comprehensive counterattack, gradually recovering the lost positions, and annihilating the Japanese troops who had invaded the Lugouqiao Railway Station......"

Chiang Kai-shek listened carefully to Dai Li's latest briefing, and the more than a dozen generals sitting around the long conference table were silent and worried, and at this moment, Chen Bui hurriedly walked in and handed Chiang Kai-shek a telegram. Chiang Kai-shek was furious after reading the telegram, Huo Ran stood up, slammed his palm on the table, and loudly reprimanded in front of his generals:

"Song Mingxuan, what did he think? Yes? What did he want? The knife was all on his neck, and instead of quickly organizing the troops to build fortifications, and not obeying the orders of the Central Military Commission, so that the whole army was ready to fight to the death, he instead dragged a group of pro-Japanese politicians with no bones to Tianjin for negotiations. ”

"Previously, in view of the critical situation, I ordered Sun Lianzhong, commander-in-chief of the 26th Route Army, to send two divisions to concentrate in Baoding or Shijiazhuang, and at the same time ordered Pang Bingxun's 40th Army and Gao Guizi's headquarters to also concentrate in the Shijiazhuang area.

Bai Chongxi, who rushed from Nanning, Guangxi, to Lushan to take up the post of deputy chief of general staff after the Lushan summer training group opened the camp, sat in the first position on Chiang Kai-shek's left hand, shook his head, sighed secretly, picked up a pen and wrote a line of words on the white paper, and quietly pushed it onto the table in front of Chiang Kai-shek.

Chiang Kai-shek glanced down, swallowed the anger in his belly, waved his hand, and said: "That's it, that's it, Song Mingxuan still holds the hope that you will not let the situation expand, make some concessions to the Japanese, and solve the problem locally, and see how to deal with it."

The generals talked in low voices, and the discussion was extremely enthusiastic.

Bai Chongxi waited for Chiang Kai-shek to sit down, leaned over gently, and whispered comfort: "Commission, now I can only repeatedly explain to Song Mingxuan the powerful relationship, the Japanese army has made all preparations, let him think about it, just with his 29th Army, is it possible to repel the attack of a comparable number of Japanese troops?" ”

"Okay"

Chiang Kai-shek pondered for a long time, finally nodded, and said to Chen Bui: "Tell Song Mingxuan that if the Pingjin area falls into the hands of the Japanese because of his stubbornness, he will be mainly responsible, and how it will be written in the history books in the future, let him weigh it himself, and call me after thinking about it clearly." ”

After Chen Bui left, Chiang Kai-shek asked Dai Li: "Yunong, is there any change in the Japanese army in other directions?"

"This morning, the Japanese Marines in Shanghai, composed of armed motorized bicycles, tanks, and military vehicles, demonstrated at Wusong Road and North Sichuan Road. At 10 a.m., the Japanese Kwantung Army issued a statement declaring that "the Kwantung Army should maintain great concern and firm determination and pay serious attention to the development of the incident, and at the same time the Japanese Army in Korea has sent a telegram to the 20th Division, which is ready to be dispatched at any time with a part of the 20th Division, and demanded that this incident be used to carry out the heroic road of governing China." ”

When Dai Li said this, he added: "The Chinese communists issued a telegram calling on the whole nation to carry out the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression as our way out, and that all Chinese compatriots, the government and the army, should unite to build a strong Great Wall of the national united front to resist the aggression of the Japanese invaders, and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party should cooperate closely to resist the new attack of the Japanese invaders."

Chiang Kai-shek said with a wry smile: "I know this, I received a joint call from the generals of the Red Party at noon today, imploring me to strictly order the 29th Army to fight bravely and carry out a national general mobilization to defend Pingjin and North China, and I have already called back to appease ......."

At this time, Wang Shihe walked in with a telegram, Chiang Kai-shek thought it was a call from North China, and took it angrily...... It's a headache for this kid again."

Chen Cheng, Bai Chongxi, Qian Dajun, Yang Jie, Lin Wei, Liu Guang, Chen Tiaoyuan, Cao Haosen, Xiong Bin, Gong Hao, and other senior members of the Military Committee heard Chiang Kai-shek's scolding words, and they looked at each other one by one, feeling puzzled.

Qian Dajun couldn't help but ask: "Commission, is there any movement of the Japanese army in Beiping?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek glanced at him, handed the telegram in his hand to Chen Cheng, who was sitting first on the right hand, and explained to the doubtful generals:

"Wu Ming, commander of the new Second Division, once told me that Japan would inevitably take the initiative to provoke us in July and August this year, and the slightest inadvertent war would spread throughout the country. I always thought it was nonsense, but I never thought it would be unfortunate for him to say it...... Just after Jianfeng called, the new 2nd Division has carried out pre-war mobilization, and at the same time, the Quzhou Administration is also preparing to carry out war mobilization."

Chiang Kai-shek's words seemed to hit Qian Dajun, Cao Haosen and other so-called "Japan experts" in the face, although most of the generals of the Military Committee believed that there would be a war between China and Japan, but the start time of the war was very different from Wu Ming's prediction. And now the facts have proved that Wu Ming's judgment is correct, which makes many people in the venue look very ugly.

Chiang Kai-shek continued: "Jianfeng is now serving as the colonel's deputy director of the staff office of the new Second Division, and Wu Ming still insists on his opinion, the Lugou Bridge Incident is the beginning of a full-scale war between China and Japan, and with the deployment of troops by the Japanese army, the war will sweep across the north and south of the river. Jianfeng suggested to me that it was better for the whole country to enter a state of emergency now, to build reserve forces following the experience of the great powers, and to transfer factories, enterprises, and schools in the coastal areas as soon as possible. ”

Qian Dajun questioned: "Now that Britain, France, the United States and other countries have not responded to the actions of the Japanese army, and the Japanese government and military department have not expressed their position on this, is it necessary for us to declare a national emergency now?" According to the instructions of the commission, Dong Zhaoning, section chief of the Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has gone to the Japanese Embassy in China to lodge a protest, and Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui has already set off from Lushan and rushed back to Nanjing to lodge a protest with the Japanese Embassy.

Chen Cheng, who read the telegram, took the initiative to suggest:

"Now the top priority is to hold Pingjin, if the Lugou Bridge can be oppressed and occupied, then our century-old ancient capital, the northern political, economic and cultural center and military town of Beiping, will become the second in Shenyang, and today's Jicha will also become the four eastern provinces in the past. If Beiping can become Shenyang, why can't Nanjing become Beiping? Therefore, the deduction of the Lugou Bridge incident is an issue that has a bearing on the entire Chinese state, and we must be very cautious."

Chiang Kai-shek was about to speak, when Wang Shihe came in again to report that Wang Jingwei had returned to Beijing and was preparing to convene the Chinese and foreign media and the masses in the capital to give an anti-Japanese speech at the Nanjing National Stadium at noon tomorrow.

Chiang Kai-shek was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then shook his head: "Coax you to sing and let me appear, it seems that as soon as this little devil comes, some people want to move again......"