1928: The rise of giant merchants

"Yes!" Hu Ruoyu took the order and left.

Since the beginning of this year, the Kwantung Army has been causing trouble in the north, and Zhang Hanqing has long been numb to it.

The Wanbaoshan Incident and the Nakamura Incident happened one after another, and the Japanese invaders took advantage of this to make a big fuss and to create public opinion among the Japanese people and fan the flames.

In order to deal with these things, the principal specially transferred Jiang Zuobin back as the minister to Japan, hoping to solve the crisis in the north through diplomatic means.

Jiang Zuobin had extremely strong diplomatic skills. He quickly reached a consensus with the Japanese diplomatic department and put pressure on the War Department through the Japanese cabinet. All conflicts seemed to disappear.

Because of this, Zhang Hanqing and the principal agreed that although the situation in the north is deteriorating, as long as the Japanese cabinet helps, no major dispute will break out.

Not long ago, the Kwantung Army conducted military exercises in Fengtian, with continuous artillery fire and bombings everywhere, but they did not do anything extreme.

That night, around half past ten.

Zhang Hanqing was about to go to bed when his adjutant Hu Ruoyu rushed in and reported: "Commander, the Kwantung Army blew up the Liutiao Lake section of the railway! Beidaying requested instructions."

The Liutiao Lake section of the South-Manchuria Railway is very close to the Northern Army's Beida Camp, about 800 meters away. The Kwantung Army is equivalent to causing trouble under the nose of the Northern Army.

Zhang Hanqing suddenly woke up and remembered Ye Luo's special warning not long ago. He took a deep breath and immediately said: "Order the soldiers of the Beida Battalion to strictly guard the barracks and never have a head-on conflict with the Kwantung Army."

Hu Ruoyu quickly returned to the telegraph room. Before he could let the telegraph operator pass the order, the telegraph operator was suddenly stunned.

He looked at Hu Ruoyu and said in surprise: "The Japanese army set up a fake scene on the bombed section of the road, and placed three corpses wearing Chinese soldier uniforms, falsely accusing us of destroying the railway."

"The Second Brigade of the Japanese Independent Guards has launched an attack on the North Camp. The Seventh Brigade is unprepared and was caught off guard. Please ask for instructions from the commander!"

Hearing this, Hu Ruoyu didn't even bother to get the telex and newspaper, turned around and ran back to Zhang Hanqing's residence.

"Commander, commander, Beida Camp was attacked by the Japanese!"

Zhang Hanqing was thinking about whether to inform the principal about the bombing of the railway and ask him to come forward to negotiate with the Japanese cabinet. When he suddenly heard Hu Ruoyu's shouting, he felt like he was struck by lightning.

The Kwantung Army actually ignored the conspiracy and launched an invasion plan in advance!

His expression changed, and after thinking for a few seconds, he said: "Order all units in the Beida Battalion not to resist, and to retreat and move."

At about 4 o'clock in the morning the next day, the fifth brigade of the Japanese independent garrison arrived at Beida Camp from Tieling to join the battle.

At 5:30, the 7th Brigade of the Northern Army retreated to Dongshanzuizi, Fengtian, and the Japanese army occupied Beida Camp.

During the battle, the Northern Army suffered more than 300 casualties and the Japanese suffered 24 casualties.

The Beida Camp, which was obviously garrisoned by the elite of the eight thousand Northern Army elites, was inexplicably captured by the Kwantung Army.

That night, Zhang Hanqing couldn't sit still at all. He ran to the telegraph room in person and ordered: "Cable the Jinling National Government, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy in Japan to inform them that the Kwantung Army has launched a war without authorization and has no reason to invade Fengtian North Camp."

Jinling, Qilu.

The principal was woken up from his sleep. His first reaction after waking up was the same as Zhang Hanqing's. He quickly sent a message to Zhang, asking him not to resist and try to avoid the situation from getting worse.

At the same time, he ordered the Minister to Japan Jiang Zuobin to immediately question the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and send a message to the Japanese Cabinet to properly resolve the matter.

The Japanese cabinet also reacted very quickly. It rebuked the Army Department angrily and ordered the Kwantung Army to withdraw its troops immediately. Japanese politicians and soldiers quarreled.

At the time of the domestic quarrel in Japan, on September 19, the Kwantung Army launched attacks on Fengtian, Yingkou, Phoenix City and other places. By 10 a.m., the Japanese army had captured eighteen towns, including Fengtian.

This attack was so fast that neither the principal nor Zhang Hanqing could react.

They wanted to use non-resistance in exchange for the support of the Japanese cabinet and Britain, France, the United States and other countries.

But in just half a day, the Northern Army's hometown was lost, and Japanese politicians and soldiers were still quarreling.

The defenders of Chuncheng fought back on their own, but the combat effectiveness of the garrison was low. After a hard battle day and night, Chuncheng was still captured by the Kwantung Army.

What's even more outrageous is the deputy commander of the border army, Xiqia. This guy's real name is Aixinjueluo. He directly surrendered to the enemy and became a traitor. The Kwantung Army easily took over Ji Province.

Zhang Hanqing was stunned when he heard that Xiqia had surrendered to the enemy. This would not only cost Ji Province, but also tens of thousands of garrison troops and land reclamation troops!

In just two or three days, the Kwantung Army was overwhelmingly in power in the three northern provinces, attacking cities and plundering territory.

In addition to Zhang Hanqing's non-resistance policy, it was also because the elite Northern Army was in North China, and the local garrison simply could not hold it.

Moreover, there are traitors who surrender to the enemy to lead the way, and the situation in the north is deteriorating at an unimaginable speed.

Seeing this situation, the principal also reacted. The Japanese cabinet was completely unreliable, and he quickly sent a secret message to Zhang Hanqing to fight back quickly.

However, the situation was completely out of control. Countless traitors emerged among the Northern Army generals, and the elite Northern Army troops urgently transferred from North China were too late to rush to the aid of the three northern provinces.

In other words, the three northern provinces are currently not under Zhang Hanqing's control at all. Only a few patriotic soldiers are left to fight bravely. It will be a matter of time before they fall.

In early October, Japan's young military officers launched a coup. Although the coup failed, it marked the Japanese cabinet's complete loss of control over the military.

The prime minister, who had always opposed armed invasion, also began to compromise with the military.

His will was obviously not as firm as Hamaguchi Yuki, and Hamaguchi Yuki, the only one who could prevent the situation from spreading, had been buried for more than a month.

Zhang Hanqing, who had been waiting for the Japanese cabinet to solve the problem, finally got a bad result.

The Japanese cabinet began to turn a blind eye to the matter and let the Kwantung Army act on its own.

By mid-October, the Kwantung Army had basically occupied two provinces and began to concentrate its forces to attack Liaoxi.

Not only that, Japan also sent local troops and divisions to reinforce, and Jinzhou, which Zhang Hanqing personally guarded, was surrounded.

Zhang Hanqing wanted to resist at this time, but he was already powerless to resist.

He thought that even if the strategy of compromise and tolerance failed, he could organize an army to fight against the Kwantung Army, but he never expected that the situation would soon get out of control.

In just 20 days, the three northern provinces were almost all occupied.

If Zhang Hanqing listened to Ye Luo and transferred the elite back earlier, the Kwantung Army's offensive would not be so smooth.

It would also give him and the principal time to react, and maybe it wouldn't have come to this.

If there was no Yan Xishan, no traitors, and no Jiangcheng National Government of Mr. Wang.

Unfortunately, there are not so many ifs.

After this, in history, Zhang Hanqing actually held on to Jinzhou for three months, but in the face of the attack of the Japanese invaders, the principal's orders, and the dissuasion of Gu Weijun and others, he finally gave up Jinzhou.

Originally, if they held on to Jinzhou, they could also hold on to the last gateway of the three northern provinces, preventing them from completely occupying the entire north.

But looking at the increasingly aggressive Japanese invaders, Zhang Hanqing, who realized that he could no longer win, finally chose to preserve his strength and leave the entire north to the Japanese!

This militarist machine in the early stages of World War II has already started violently.

Not only the north, they also targeted the city of Tianjin guarded by Zhang Xueming, and the principal's Shanghai! (End of this chapter)