Chapter 625 National Humiliation

"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 this.

The Wanbaoshan Incident and the Nakamura Incident occurred one after another, and the Japanese invaders made a big fuss about it, and created public opinion and fanned the flames among the Japanese people.

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

Jiang Zuobin is a person with strong diplomatic ability. He quickly reached a consensus with the Japanese diplomatic department and put pressure on the Army Department through the Japanese cabinet. All contradictions seemed to disappear invisibly.

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, there will definitely be no major disputes.

A while ago, the Kwantung Army conducted military exercises in Fengtian, with artillery fire and bombing everywhere, but did not do anything radical.

That night, around 10:30.

Zhang Hanqing was about to go to sleep when his adjutant Hu Ruoyu rushed in to report: "Commander, the Kwantung Army blew up a small section of the Liutiaohu railway! Beidaying requests instructions."

The Liutiaohu section of the South Manchuria Railway is very close to the Beidaying of the Northern Army, about 800 meters. The Kwantung Army is making trouble right under the nose of the Northern Army.

Zhang Hanqing woke up immediately, remembering Ye Luo's warning not long ago. He took a deep breath and immediately said: "Order the soldiers of Beidaying to strictly guard the barracks and never have a direct conflict with the Kwantung Army."

Hu Ruoyu hurried back to the telegraph room, and before he had time to let the telegraph operator pass the order, the telegraph operator suddenly froze.

He said to Hu Ruoyu in surprise: "The Japanese army set up a fake scene in the bombed section, placed three corpses wearing Chinese soldiers' uniforms, and falsely accused us of destroying the railway."

"The Second Battalion of the Japanese Independent Guard has launched an attack on Beidaying. The Seventh Brigade was unprepared and was caught off guard. Please ask the commander for instructions!"

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

"Commander, Commander, Beidaying was attacked by the Japanese!"

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

The Kwantung Army actually launched the invasion plan ahead of time regardless of the conspiracy being exposed!

His face changed, and after thinking for a few seconds, he said: "Order all units in Beidaying not to resist and retreat and transfer."

At about 4 o'clock the next morning, the Fifth Battalion of the Japanese Independent Guard arrived at Beidaying from Tieling to join the battle.

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

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

Beidaying, which was clearly guarded by 8,000 elite troops of the Northern Army, was inexplicably captured by the Kwantung Army.

That night, Zhang Hanqing could not sit still at all, and ran to the telegraph room in person and ordered: "Send a telegram to the Nanjing National Government, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy in Japan, and inform them that the Kwantung Army launched a war without authorization and invaded the Beidaying in Fengtian without reason."

Jinling, Qielu.

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

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

The Japanese cabinet also reacted quickly, reprimanding the army department with great anger and ordering the Kwantung Army to withdraw immediately. Japanese politicians and soldiers quarreled.

Just as the quarrel was going on in Japan, on September 19, the Kwantung Army launched attacks on Fengtian, Yingkou, Fenghuangcheng and other places. By 10 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese army had successively captured 18 towns including Fengtian.

The attack speed was too fast, and the principal and Zhang Hanqing could not react.

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

But in just half a day, the home of the Northern Army was lost, and Japanese politicians and soldiers were still arguing.

The defenders of Chuncheng fought back by themselves, but the garrison troops had low combat effectiveness. After a hard battle for a day and a night, Chuncheng was still broken by the Kwantung Army.

Even more outrageous was Xi Qia, the deputy commander of the border defense army. This guy's original surname was Aisin-Gioro. He surrendered to the enemy and became a traitor. The Kwantung Army easily took over Jilin Province.

Zhang Hanqing was stunned when he heard about Xi Qia's surrender to the enemy. Not only Jilin Province was lost, but also tens of thousands of garrison troops and reclamation troops!

In just two or three days, the Kwantung Army was unstoppable in the three northern provinces, and they attacked and plundered cities.

In addition to Zhang Hanqing's non-resistance policy, it was also because the elite of the northern army were all in North China, and the local garrison troops could not bear it at all.

And there were traitors who surrendered to the enemy and led the way. The situation in the north was deteriorating at an unimaginable speed.

The principal also reacted to this situation. The Japanese cabinet was not reliable at all, and he quickly sent a secret telegram to Zhang Hanqing to fight back quickly.

But the situation was completely out of control. Countless traitors emerged among the generals of the northern army, and the elite of the northern army urgently transferred from North China did not have time 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. Only some patriotic soldiers are left to fight bravely. It is only a matter of time before they fall.

In early October, the young Japanese officers launched a coup. Although the coup failed, it marked that the Japanese cabinet had completely lost control of 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 Oyuki, and Hamaguchi Oyuki, 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 waited for 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 basically occupied two provinces and began to concentrate its forces to attack western Liaoning.

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)