Chapter 17 Jehol's shame

The fall of Shanhaiguan marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion of the pass.However, the Japanese army did not plan to march all the way from Shanhaiguan to Pingjin, but planned to invade Rehe with the main force.The Rehe mountains are undulating, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is not only the barrier of Beiping, but also the base of the Northeast Volunteer Army. Therefore, the Japanese army is bound to win.The Japanese government openly declared Jehol to be a province of "Manchukuo", and the attack on Jehol was a police action of "Manchukuo", and China and the League of Nations had no right to intervene.

Since the "September 18th" Incident, the Northeast Army has not performed well in the anti-Japanese issue.Their pain is double. Not only has they lost their hometown and relatives, but they have also become objects of ridicule and humiliation.Pingjin and Hebei became their residences, and Zhang Xueliang was demoted from deputy commander-in-chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force to the director of the Beiping Army Branch.When the Japanese army started a new invasion in North China, Chiang Kai-shek was still in Nanchang, Jiangxi, commanding a large army to attack the Soviet area. He only sent Finance Minister Song Ziwen to Beiping, expressing that the Nanjing government would financially and militarily support the Northeast Army in the war against Jehol. Song Ziwen also jointly inspected Rehe Defense.

The crisis in Rehe attracted the attention of the people across the country. Du Chongyuan, a representative of the Northeast People's Anti-Japanese Salvation Association, and Huang Yanpei, a representative of the Shanghai Local Association, rushed to Beiping to represent the anti-Japanese groups in Northeast China and Shanghai and cooperate with the anti-Japanese groups in Beiping to organize the Northeast Rehe Support Association. , with Zhu Qinglan as the chairman.The association supported the Northeast Army's resistance against Japan in Rehe and agreed to hand over the volunteer army under the leadership of the association to the government.Zhang Xueliang, who was determined to wash away the shame of the "non-resistance general", attached great importance to the defense of Rehe. He organized the Northeast Army south of the Great Wall into two armies, and he was the commander-in-chief of the first army. Thousands of people entered Rehe to deploy defenses, and the remaining three legions guarded Beiping, Tianjin and Hebei.

Zhang Zuoxiang, a veteran of the Northeast Army, served as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army, and Tang Yulin served as the deputy commander-in-chief. He commanded a total of about 40,000 soldiers from the Northeast Army and Rehe Garrison.But after Zhang Zuoxiang hastily formed the headquarters, he soon discovered that his subordinates were doing their own thing, and no one could command them. Tang Yulin, the provincial chairman who has ruled Rehe for a long time, is a key figure influencing this battle.He is Zhang Zuolin's brother and also Zhang Xueliang's father, Zhang Xueliang is difficult to command him.This old warlord regarded Rehe as his own private property and extorted money for a long time. It has been 30 years since he received the pre-levied taxes from the common people.Most of the people can't paste the window paper in the middle of winter, and those who can't pay their taxes are afraid of being hanged and jailed, so they stick the land deed documents on the doors, windows or trees and flee in all directions.Tang Yulin's generals also took drugs and sold drugs, embezzled military pay, and did everything.Therefore, the people of Rehe resented Tang Yulin and his government deeply, and the officers and soldiers under him were also demoralized.

On February 21, the sixth and eighth divisions of the Japanese army attacked Jehol in three ways. The Japanese army was far outnumbered by the defenders, but under the cover of tanks, artillery and aircraft, they caused heavy casualties to the Chinese army, and the Japanese army quickly occupied the area. Key areas such as Kailu, Lingyuan, and Chaoyang were captured, and the defensive positions of Wan Fulin, Tang Yulin, and Sun Dianying were breached one after another.Tang Yulin's subordinates, such as brigade commander Cui Xingwu and regimental commander Shao Benliang, even led their troops to surrender to the Japanese army, and other troops also refused to obey Zhang Zuoxiang's dispatch because of their salary.In just a few days, hundreds of thousands of Rehe defenders completely lost their combat capabilities. Sun Dianying led his troops to retreat to the east of Chahar, and Wan Fulin's troops retreated to the entrances of the Great Wall. Zhang Zuoxiang, who was in command, was helpless and could only sit in the headquarters. Weep secretly.

Tang Yulin, who stayed in Chengde, the provincial capital, heard that the front-line operations were unfavorable. On March 1, he began to detain the military vehicles used by the front-line and rush to transport private property to the Tianjin Concession day and night. The morale of the front-line officers and soldiers was even lower. At dawn on the 4th, Tang Yulin abandoned Chengde.The Japanese army drove straight in, and the advance team of 128 members of the Eighth Division of the Japanese Army entered Chengde easily like an army. Rehe's terrain is dangerous, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops defending, but they were all lost within more than 10 days, which shocked the whole country.Yan Huiqing and Gu Weijun, Chinese representatives attending the League of Nations meeting, resigned angrily.People in Pingjin, who were close to the front line, were even more inexplicably horrified, and China's corruption and backwardness in the military and politics were once again exposed.Tianjin "Yishi Bao" commented: In Rehe, "the Chinese not only suffered a great defeat by force, but also suffered a great defeat spiritually for the 40 million people across the country."

All parties in the ruling and opposition parties demanded to punish the generals who lost their divisions and grounds. North China coach Zhang Xueliang once again became the target of public opinion. Chiang Kai-shek also felt the pressure of national public opinion. The Nationalist government ordered Tang Yulin to be dismissed and arrested.In order to stabilize the overall situation in the north, Chiang Kai-shek had to leave the front line of "communist suppression" and take the train north to Baoding.At the station, he met with Zhang Xueliang, who was called to come. He said: "Now the national public opinion is boiling, attacking the two of us. I am in the same boat with you. If you don't go down first, to calm the wave of national anger, it is inevitable that we will be destroyed together." Zhang Xueliang, who had lost his face, decided to take responsibility and resign, and handed over the Northeast Army to Yu Xuezhong, Wan Fulin and other commanders. After handing over his power, he left Shanghai on April 11 to travel overseas.