Chapter 400: Under the City of Wanping on the 7th of July

Tang Qiuli was almost thundered, and he couldn't even see such a simple question, how did you get up to your official position? There are tens of thousands of horses under his hands, how can he lead troops to fight?

Observing it carefully, it seems that it is not so incompetent, and he suddenly realized that he has concluded that there will be a big battle in early July, and the generals have been thundered. Or is it so nòng Xuan Xuan Xuan and alarmist?

Tang Qiuli can only confirm his statement from various appearances, he can't say that Lao Tzu knew this ending after a few decades, it was not a god, but a demon.

He specifically analyzed that there was movement on three sides of Beiping, but the area of Wanping and Lugou Bridge in the southwest direction was unusually quiet, which was the only major passage from Beiping to the outside world, and the Japanese would ignore this? In the other three directions, the Japanese army has made tentative movements, with obvious intentions, one is to test the reality of our defenders, and the other is to divert our attention and attract our attention to other directions, and the latter is its main purpose.

That is, the brain-dead Japanese played this kind of suspicious tactic, attracting the attention of the defenders to other directions, ignoring key areas, and then sealing their throats with a sword, Wanping was their real goal, therefore, he also categorically vetoed the construction of a large-scale increase of troops in the other three directions.

It was already in this situation, it was necessary for him to inform the generals at all levels of the 29th Army of his strategic deployment, and when Tang Qiuli threw out the plan of abandoning the defense of Beiping, as expected, it caused an uproar, and the generals of the 29th Army were almost suspicious of their ears.

After fighting with the Japanese in Pingjin for several years, wasn't it just to keep Pingjin? But now it's good, the army commander said a word, Beiping is not defended, and it is given to the Japanese, doesn't this make the soldiers chill and the people poke the backbone?

Tang Qiuli didn't explain too much, he just told the generals at all levels of the 29th Army that Beiping City could not be destroyed in the war because of Tang Qiuli's order, and you will understand my good intentions in the future.

What the Japanese got was an empty city, and in this way, the Japanese army was not allowed to succeed easily, and he warned the generals that in a large-scale battle, the defenders on the periphery of Beiping, no matter how tight they were, and how huge the casualties were, they were not allowed to retreat to the city of Beiping, and the commander was executed on the spot.

When holding the defensive ground, all units should always maintain contact with the military headquarters and wait for the order to retreat at any time, and the military headquarters will give detailed retreat routes and assembly locations.

The officers at all levels of the 29th Army somewhat understood that the commander meant to fight with the Japanese outside the city, and the various units were not stubbornly defending, too, with the 50,000 men and horses of the 29th Army, how could they resist the 400,000 Japanese army.

Presumably, the army commander has an overall arrangement, so although he is still a little uncomfortable with giving up Beiping in his heart, and it is difficult to accept it emotionally, compared with the Yellow River Valley Theater, this little bit of the 29th Army is just a fraction, but because it is stationed in Pingjin, it is more important.

The army commander has strict orders, and the implementation is enough, this is the duty of a soldier, Tang Qiuli is really afraid of the war, the Japanese army oppressed the position of the 29th Army from all sides, the support of the troops was not there, and they withdrew to the city, and they held on to the danger, then his plan to protect Beiping City became a bubble, and all the charges and infamy were in vain.

In July, the Japanese army's frequent tentative actions tended to be still, and Beiping regained the delicate calm and balance that it had before, but Tang Qiuli understood very well that the Japanese were ready to start.

On 2 July, 11 infantry brigades, five artillery brigades, and five cavalry brigades of the independent division, totaling more than 216,000 troops, secretly set out from their respective garrison areas and covertly approached their respective combat targets in accordance with their prior arrangements.

Tang Qiuli's campaign deployment was as follows: With the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Independent Infantry Brigades, the 1st Artillery Brigade, and the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Brigades of the Independent Division, more than 63,000 troops, the Southwest Attack Corps was formed, and the combat object was the 3rd Division of the Japanese North China Garrison Army and the 5th Hún Brigade Regiment stationed in the direction of Changping in the west of Beiping, totaling more than 50,000 Japanese troops, and the commander of the attack corps was Feng Jiwu, deputy commander of the Independent Division.

With the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th Independent Infantry Brigades, the 2nd and 3rd Artillery Brigades, the 3rd and 4th Cavalry Brigades, and more than 85,000 troops, the Zhengnan Attack Corps was formed, and the combat targets were the 9th Division, the 12th Division, the Qiandao Detachment, and the Segu Detachment of the Japanese North China Garrison Army stationed in the Fangshan and Shijingshan areas, totaling more than 75,000 Japanese troops, and the commander of the corps was Tang Qiuli, commander of the Independent Division.

With more than 45,000 troops of the 8th, 9th, and 10th Independent Infantry Brigades, the 4th and 5th Artillery Brigades, and the 5th Cavalry Brigade, the Southeast Attack Corps was formed, and the combat targets were the 6th Division, the Hashimoto Wing, and the Songjiang Wing of the Japanese North China Garrison Army stationed in the vicinity of Daxing and Majuqiao, totaling more than 37,000 Japanese troops, and the commander of the corps was Li Honggang, chief of staff of the Independent Division.

The 11th Independent Brigade of the Independent Division served as a strategic reserve, alerting the Japanese reinforcements in the direction of Tianjin, and the detachments of the Special Operations Detachment of the Independent Division, in accordance with the operational deployment, lurked in the places where the Japanese army must pass, and provided the division headquarters with the latest movements of the Japanese army at any time.

Before the start of the campaign, all units must ensure the concealment of the campaign attempt, the sudden attack of the campaign, and the fierce fire strike, so as not to make the Japanese troops everywhere aware of the movements of our troops.

After the division commander gives the order to attack, each attacking corps must settle the battle within eight xiǎo hours, and if an unexpected situation occurs, the battle plan cannot be completed, and it must also withdraw from the battlefield, and no love for war is allowed.

The Tianjin Police Force and the eight urban combat teams paid close attention to the movements of the Japanese troops in the direction of Tianjin, and after receiving the order, they immediately went into battle, destroyed the port of Tianjin, and delayed the actions of the Japanese troops reinforced in the direction of Beiping.

The troops of the 29th Army stationed at Nanyuan Airport in Beiping immediately completely destroyed the runway and all airport facilities at Nanyuan Airport after receiving the order of the military headquarters, and immediately withdrew from Nanyuan Airport and withdrew to the direction of Baoding to stand by.

After receiving the order, the defending troops of the 29th Army quickly left the battlefield and withdrew to the direction of Baoding to assemble and stand by.

Tang Qiu was ruthless, he wanted to concentrate his superior forces and swallow all the Japanese troops in the southwest of Beiping in one bite, totaling more than 160,000 people, accounting for more than one-third of the total number of Japanese gatherings in North China.

The purpose of this battle was, first, to annihilate the living forces of the Japanese army, and second, to open a passage for the troops of the 29th Army to retreat southward, so as to attract the main force of the Japanese army to follow the troops into the Taihang Mountains.

This battle is ruthless enough, if it is smooth, the supreme commander of the Japanese army in North China is so distressed that he spits blood and turns his back on his back, and the attacking corps has an absolute advantage in terms of strength and firepower, and the key to this battle is to fight quickly and quickly, and cannot be entangled in the plain area by the main force of the Japanese army that is reinforced by the follow-up.

Tang Qiuli's 210,000 troops, like a tiger quietly dormant in the mountains and forests, put away their fangs and claws, their eyes staring at their opponents, as long as they got the order and pounced on them, they would tear the Japanese troops on the opposite side to pieces.

Tang Qiuli was waiting for the opportunity, he was waiting for a gunshot, the Japanese army in North China was also waiting, they were waiting for the opportunity to fire the first shot, the Japanese army and the independent division were waiting for the opportunity, but this opportunity, for Tang Qiuli, could let go of the big work, for the Japanese army, it was their unexpected severe pain, and a long period of fainting.

From 3 July to 6 July, the Japanese troops in various places on the outskirts of Beiping did not take any action, but the Japanese Binshan Brigade stationed in Tianjin left the Tianjin garrison on 5 July and headed north to the eastern highlands in the southern suburbs of Beiping, bringing the total strength of the Japanese troops here to more than 50,000.

The pressure on Li Honggang's corps, which was in charge of this direction of attack, had increased dramatically, and the strength of the Japanese army had already surpassed him, so Tang Qiuli adjusted its deployment and strengthened the 11th Independent Infantry Brigade as a strategic reserve to Li Honggang's corps, increasing the number of troops under his command to more than 60,000 troops.

Now, unless there is an absolutely unexpected situation, nothing else can shake Tang Qiuli's determination to cripple and hurt the Japanese army in North China in World War I, so that it will not be able to move south for a short time, and win time for himself to adjust the strategic deployment in North China.

On July 7, 1937, the land of North China is entering the scorching summer season, the sun has not yet risen, the horizon is like a burning flame, the green gauze tents all over the place, stretching endlessly, spreading in the thousands of miles of the North China Plain, this is an ordinary day, 365 days a year, a dull, ordinary day.

The early farmers, leading the slow ploughing oxen, stepping on the lù beads everywhere, looking at the green crops, calculating this year's harvest, wrinkled faces, lù smiling with satisfaction, simple hearts, calculating what farm tools can be purchased this year.

If there were no gunshots under Wanping City, this day would have disappeared into the long river of history like flowing water, and there would not have been a trace of bōlan, and a single gunshot, July 7, 1937, became the eternal pain of the Chinese nation, the beginning of eight years of suffering and struggle, and the first strongest note that sounded the clarion call for national independence.

On the afternoon of 7 July, the 8th Squadron of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Wing of the Riverside Brigade of the Japanese North China Garrison Army, led by Captain Setsuro Shimizu, loaded its guns and ammunition and drove to the area between Huilongmiao and Dayao, which was close to the garrison of the Chinese garrison at Lugou Bridge.

At 7:30 p.m., the Japanese army began to exercise, and at 20:40, gunshots were heard in the Japanese exercise area, and a soldier (Shimura Kikujiro) was "missing", and the Japanese side immediately asked to enter Wanping City, the garrison of the Chinese garrison, to search, but was sternly rejected by the 219th Regiment of the 110th Brigade of the 37th Division of the 29th Chinese Army, the regiment commander Ji Xingwen.

On the one hand, the Japanese army deployed the battle, and immediately transferred the rest of the troops of the third brigade to the direction of Wanping, under the city of Wanping, gathered more than 1,500 Japanese infantry and a squadron of artillery, and on the other hand, due to the "sound of gunfire" and the "disappearance" of soldiers, involving the Chinese side, during this period, the independent division lurking near the Japanese garrison reported in the detachment that the Japanese troops in other directions had a tendency to assemble in the direction of Wanping.

Tang Qiuli sent a telegram to Ji Xingwen, the commander of the 219th Regiment, to enter the fortifications and prepare for battle, and ordered the 1st Regiment of the 4th Independent Brigade and the Mortar Regiment of the 2nd Artillery Brigade to secretly move to Wanping City to form an encirclement of the Qingshui Brigade of the Japanese Army.

At 22:15 p.m., the Japanese Qingshui Brigade attacked Wanping City with infantry weapons.

The fuse of the first battle between China and Japan began to burst out under the city of Wanping in North China, and this battle was inevitable.

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