Chapter 12 Chapter 11 A Hero Is Born

After Zhang Haipeng's puppet army was defeated, the Kwantung Army fought in person.Ma Zhanshan was ordered to take into account the overall situation of Jiangxi Province.Known as the Northeast general who most resembles Zhang Zuolin in history, what achievements and talents does Ma Zhanshan have? Although Zhang Haipeng was driven away, Chief of Staff Xie Ke's nerves were still very tense. Only he knows that the reason for the success of today's battle is largely due to Zhang Bu's carelessness, apart from the superiority of weapons. Zhang Haipeng already had a special military train sent by the Japanese. If there was a gap in his own defense, the opponent could drive over directly, and the consequences would be disastrous.

The more he thought about it, the more worried he became. In order to ensure safety, he resolutely chose a compromise plan, that is, sent engineering troops to blow up the three-hole bridge without destroying the structure of the entire bridge. To Xie Ke's surprise, this act of necessity turned out to be a reason for the Japanese army to aggressively attack Jiangqiao in the future. On October 19, the 20th year of the Republic of China (1931), in the middle of the night, Ma Zhanshan, acting chairman of the Heilongjiang Provincial Government and military commander, got off at Qishi Station with his guards.

Only the deputy commander Xie Ke and a few military and political officials greeted Ma Zhanshan. Because others had already fled to Harbin. As an original Northeast native, Ma Zhanshan was born thin and small, which is far from the traditional image of a Northeast man in our minds. Let me tell you a little secret. If you meet a classmate from Northeast China on campus and find that he has nothing to do with a "big man", then you can check his family tree to see if his ancestors were from a hundred years ago. Passed through the Guandong. Because we have tried and tested. This is true of Zhang Zuolin in the front, and the same is true of Ma Zhanshan in the rear.

Ma Zhanshan's grandfather fled from Hebei and came to the Northeast to settle down. Those who break through the Guandong are heroes, and their descendants will not be far behind. When Ma Zhanshan was a child, he grazed the Mongolians and practiced equestrian skills. Later, he joined the Fengjun Army and practiced marksmanship, which is recorded in history as "fine riding and shooting". "Riding" has become an art when it comes to Ma Mouren. There is an unforgettable scene in "Burning the Old Summer Palace", that is the scene where Seng Gelinqin's horse team attacks the foreign gun team.

Seeing the brother on the horse get off the horse like a leaf being swept away by the autumn wind, I feel anxious and depressed. Suddenly, a cavalryman who seemed to be "dead" rushed towards the foreign soldiers, but seeing him holding the stirrups, his head hanging under the horse's head, and his body hanging on the side of the horse's belly, the foreign soldiers were shocked. Lost aim and angle. Sooner or later, the horses had galloped into place, the cavalry jumped up, raised their knives and fell, and the arrogant foreign soldiers fell down in response. The audience applauded.Happy.

It was only later that I learned that this is the "hide in the pedal" in equestrianism.Let alone ordinary people, there are very few cavalry who can do this. Ma Zhanshan is even better than this. He can hide under the belly of a horse running at high speed to call the enemy, and use a gun with a hundred shots. He is not only highly skilled and bold, but also extremely loyal, known as "chivalrous and courageous".The most commonly said sentence is: If others only extend a helping hand when they ask you, then you are not called friends. It is worth mentioning that he and the "old thief" Zhang Haipeng were both appreciated and supported by Wu Datong.

Every time I think about this, I can't help but sigh with emotion, how can I be regarded as a senior brother, how can there be such a big gap between people? At this time, Qiqihar, the capital of Jiangxi Province, was sinking into the darkness of night. It may still be wondering whether this "little man" who has just arrived in the Northeast can really turn the tide and unravel the Northeast? As soon as Ma Zhanshan arrived in Qishi, the primary difficulty he faced was not preparing for the war, but panic. The original leaders all took the lead in fleeing, and everyone had reasons and excuses to escape.

Facts have proved that there is a difference between being courageous and not being courageous. Ma Zhanshan immediately picked up Dad Wan's chicken feather, and sent a command arrow to his son who had fled to Harbin. Absconding." Of course, such a telegram will not scare that high-ranking boy back. But that's not what it's meant to be. At the inauguration ceremony the next day, Ma Zhanshan reiterated the order again, and all the civil servants, military generals, and civil servants who stayed behind were stunned at once—even Wan Guobin was punished, so what else is there to say?

So, those who wanted to escape had to hold their feet. Then, he reappointed the provincial secretary general.Three punches and two kicks finally stabilized the chaotic social order in the city. The coolest thing is the "Declaration of Resistance" issued by him as the acting chairman of Jiang Province. The full text is as follows: "When this country is in trouble, two of the three provinces have perished. Anyone with a little heart will try their best to save the peril. Although I am in a corner of Heilongjiang, it is still called a pure land. Afterwards, anyone who invades our Jiang province will swear It must be a fight to the death."

Fight to the death! Even Zhang Xueliang didn't dare to say such words before. Compared with "not resisting orders", this "Declaration of Resistance" is really cool and exciting. After the "September 18th", there were finally "dead soldiers" who dared to "fight to the death" in the Northeast. To deal with Zhang Haipeng, Ma Zhanshan has his own tricks. He came with a big reward, and there must be a brave man. The province posted a notice saying: Whoever can twist the head of old thief Zhang to use it as a chamber pot, the soldier will be promoted two ranks in a row, and the reward will be 10,000 for the ocean. Double (difficulty and requirements are higher), and the reward is 20,000 in the ocean.

He also said that I had nothing to do all day, so I just kept the money and waited for everyone to come and collect it ("saving money to wait").This is a great thing to be famous and profitable.What are you waiting for, let's do it. To be honest, no matter how much the bounty is, the pockmarked head is not so easy to get.But the wonderful thing about this reward order is that it can't kill people, but it can scare people to death. Zhang Mazi was really scared to death. He tossed and turned all day long, fidgeting, and in a trance, he always saw a group of people outside scrambling to come and exchange his head for a bounty. I can't live this day, it's too insecure. As soon as the old man was timid, he immediately became dizzy. He sent a telegram to Zhang Xueliang, saying that the Japanese were calling, and he had no choice but to come to the provincial capital to hide for a while (“planning to go to Jiang Province for temporary shelter”). He also said aggrievedly that his trip to Qi City this time was personally approved by you, Young Marshal Zhang, but unexpectedly he was ambushed unexpectedly. Finally, he said pitifully: Now I am on standby with the whole team, waiting for your instructions.Wherever you want my troops to be stationed, I will be stationed there. Now, no matter how weeping and complaining, Zhang Xueliang will not believe this old boy's words.So talking is tantamount to talking in vain. But this telegram had another effect, which was to make Teacher Duomen so angry that he wanted to swear. Dare I feed so many guns and ammunition to a white-eyed wolf, you are still currying favor with your old master. The rebels are so useless that Domen has lost confidence in "peaceful evolution".He asked the Kwantung Army Command for instructions on the next step. At this time, the Kwantung Army had received information that after Zhang Haipeng's puppet army retreated, the defense forces of Jiang Province destroyed the Nenjiang Railway Bridge. Kwantung Army Staff Officer Cangzhong Captain (Lu Da 40 issue) slapped the table: The division is famous! He suggested that the Kwantung Army should focus on repairing the Jiangqiao—if the bridge has not been repaired, maintaining the Tao'ang line, repairing and protecting Japanese overseas Chinese is an excellent reason to send troops. And once the bridge is repaired, it can help Zhang Haipeng transport troops, and take advantage of the situation to push the puppet army to attack Qi City. This is indeed a poisonous plan that kills two birds with one stone. Sakagaki and Ishihara immediately said that they had a good idea and reported to Honjo Shigeru, commander of the Kwantung Army. Shigeru Benzhuang agreed to implement this plan. He sent a telegram to the General Staff Headquarters, claiming that at the request of the Manchurian Railway, he decided to guard the railway with armed forces. Then, without waiting for a response from the staff headquarters, he ordered the attacking troops to advance to the front line of Jiangqiao. The original intention of the Kwantung Army was to be afraid of "interference from above", but in fact they were too worried.Chief of Staff Jin Gu didn't want to take Beiman. He was just worried that the Soviet Union would interfere. As long as the latter didn't move, he was more eager to take Beiman than the Kwantung Army.As early as when Zhang Haipeng's puppet army attacked Jiangqiao, the staff headquarters discussed and discussed the issue of marching to North Manchuria, and finally decided to send someone to reconnaissance. Playing the role of "scout" is Major Endo Saburo, the combat staff officer (Lu Da 34th issue).This buddy pretended to be an ordinary person and went around Harbin and Qiqihar for a few times. He didn't see any Soviets along the way. After returning, he happily reported to Jingu: "At this time, the timing is very good for attacking." Therefore, Jin Gu chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb after receiving the telegram, which was tantamount to acquiescing to the opinion of the Kwantung Army. Only the Ruomu cabinet panicked after receiving the news that the Kwantung Army wanted to "protect the Nen River Iron Bridge". Knowing that this group of crazy people is not easy to save fuel, maybe they want to cause trouble in Beiman again. Foreign Minister Coin Yuan was sweating anxiously.In front of the representatives of various countries, he can make strong arguments, thinking that the draft resolution of the League of Nations calling for the withdrawal of the Japanese army is not legally binding, but the facts are clearly there. If the Japanese army does not withdraw before the scheduled November 16, the mother-in-law of the League of Nations will not let it go. of. At that time, there must be discussions, condemnations, and resolutions again. Japan, which has long lost the support of various countries, may lose all face internationally this time. Biyuan actually wanted to take care of it.But as in the past, the actions of the soldiers, even the prime minister can't do anything about it, let alone a foreign minister.What he can do, besides fantasizing at home that the Kwantung Army is really carrying out a peaceful mission, is to send local consuls to conduct so-called coordination. According to Yuan Yuan's request, Shimizu, the Japanese Consul in Qiqihar, formally lodged representations with the Jiang Provincial Government. In fact, not long after Ma Zhanshan took office, he has keenly discovered this loophole that may be exploited by the Japanese. While dispatching troops and generals to strengthen the defense, he ordered the Tao'ang Railway Bureau to cooperate with the engineering battalion to rush to repair the river bridge. But repairing a railway bridge must take time, and it cannot be completed in a day or two. What Shimizu means is that this damaged railway bridge is extremely important to Japan's interests in the Northeast, and Manchuria Railway must be responsible for repairing it as soon as possible. He also cited a data, saying that because it is the season for special products in Northeast China, many special products cannot be shipped out after the railway cannot run normally. Shimizu boldly used his Japanese imagination to analyze how much money Japan could make if these specialties could be shipped out.According to this theory that the chicken lays the egg and the egg regenerates the chicken, it is only a blink of an eye for Japan to lose millions of yen every day due to the unreachable railway. Ma Zhanshan's answer was neither humble nor overbearing: China has already started to repair it, and there is no need for Manchuria to intervene. After touching his nose, Qing Shui had no choice but to find Lin Yixiu, chief of the Qiqihar Secret Service, and the two went to meet Ma Zhanshan together. This time they brought an ultimatum from the Kwantung Army: It is not impossible for you Chinese to repair the bridge, but within a week, you must repair it for me!If the time is exceeded, we will repair it with full iron, and at the same time we will send troops to protect it. Ma Zhanshan understood that the Japanese came here to find fault. Everyone knows that it will take at least two weeks to repair this railway bridge, even if Manchuria Railway, which claims to be highly skilled, is in charge of repairing it. The battle with the Japanese seems inevitable. At the emergency military meeting before the war, the scene that Xie Ke encountered back then reappeared. At the meeting, after learning that the Japanese army might directly intervene, the participating civilian officials and gentry immediately panicked.Someone even took Zhang Xueliang's telegram requesting to avoid direct conflict with the Japanese army, and asked Ma Zhanshan to give way to Zhang Haipeng, so as to avoid "accidental clashes" with the Japanese army. Ma Zhanshan is not Xie Ke, he was killed by licking blood on the edge of a knife in the bandits. My buddy has never seen anything, so let me play tricks. He got up suddenly, and angrily fought back at this person: Ma was ordered by the central government to be the chairman of a province, and he was responsible for guarding the soil, "he cannot be a surrendered general."As for the acting chairman of Heilongjiang Province, he was appointed by the central authority.I am an official of the central government, and it is a sacred duty to defend the territorial integrity of the country. The meaning couldn't be clearer, even if Zhang Xueliang himself came, it wouldn't hinder my resistance. Xu Baozhen, the head of the guard regiment, didn't have the patience to be so polite.A pure warrior has the way of a pure warrior. He drew his pistol and said: Whoever dares to surrender, I will treat him to peanuts ("Everyone here, whoever dares to surrender, please die")! This sentence is still the most useful, no one dares to clamor for surrender anymore. The entire Jiangqiao position immediately entered a tense state of preparation, because the officers and soldiers had no way out. Husband war, courage also. The so-called one-week period, everyone on earth knows that this is an excuse for the Japanese army to send troops to North Manchuria. On the morning of November 3rd, it expired. The Kwantung Army drove two trains of armored vehicles towards Jiangqiao.In addition to the Manchurian railway workers, there were also armed Japanese soldiers on board. In addition to those who run underground, there are also those who fly in the sky.The planes dispatched by the Sendai Division hovered over the sky to cover up the scandal of forcibly repairing the Jiangqiao. Behind them, the 16th Regiment of the Sendai Division (Hamamoto Regiment) has already gathered on the south bank of the Nen River, ready to attack the opposite bank at any time. Colonel Kisaburo Hamamoto was in a very relaxed mood at this time. I did not find the name of Kisaburo Hamamoto in the roster of the University of China.However, this does not seem to hinder the determination of the Hamamoto brothers to make history. He brags to his classmates (don't know which school they are from), saying that the only purpose of coming to Jiangqiao is to prove that he is the best commander in Japan. Before arriving at Jiangqiao, Binben had already heard about the fiasco of Zhang Haipeng's puppet army.But this incident is actually of no reference value in his view. He believes that Zhang Haipeng's puppet army is just a bunch of rotten people, how can it be compared with the "imperial army". Before the "September 18th" Incident, Japan was so terrified by the economic crisis that it had to save some money for the army, so some standing divisions were downsized.The Sendai Division is actually this kind of downsized division. After "weight loss", its strength is only half of the original.The same is true for the Hamamoto United, the infantry brigade has changed from 3 to 2. In addition to bringing in engineers to carry out temporary repairs on the Jiangqiao to facilitate the passage of troops, Binben mainly used the 2nd Infantry Battalion (Xiaoyuan Battalion) for combat at the beginning, and the 2nd Field Artillery Battalion (Zhijiu Artillery Battalion) ) for artillery cover. Hamamoto had two infantry brigades, but this time he only brought one, because he thought it was a waste to bring two brigades. Why do we need so many people? We didn't come to the market, one is enough! Yes, there are those who lay bridges, those who cover, and those who fight. The division of labor is clear, and it seems that there are indeed too many. Obviously, Hamamoto didn't know what kind of person his future opponent would be. The latter had been a bandit. Only bandits have ever bullied others, and few others can bully bandits. And fighting a war sometimes requires a little understanding.It just so happened that Ma Zhanshan belonged to the kind of person with a little savvy. He had never been to a formal military academy, and he probably didn't even know where the Japanese NCO Academy and the Army University were located when he was in the green forest.But he went to a social military academy. Fighting and killing all day, guns come and go, if you can survive by luck, and your brain is not too stupid, you will definitely be able to figure out something. For example, the famous Whampoa Military Academy mainly teaches one thing: the spirit of Whampoa, and the class hours are very short.However, this school has taught a group of extraordinary students, and in the end even the teacher can't beat them. The reason is that most of the classrooms are held on the battlefield, and soldiers learn war in war. Ma Zhanshan is very similar to a person - Zhang Zuolin, the commander of the Northeast, his brain is very good. In other words, he is a clever bandit who can eat with his brain. When it came to Jiangqiao's war of resistance, he naturally didn't need to play "hide inside" on his horse, but he cleverly used this trick in tactical command. There is a way to defend a bridge, that is, like Zhang Fei and Zhang Yide, when he roared at the head of Dangyang Bridge, millions of Cao soldiers retreated in a hurry. However, this is just a historical romance.The myth that fighting basically depends on roaring is difficult to encounter in real life. With few soldiers and few generals, Ma Zhanshan gave up the practice of defending the river bank, gathered the defensive troops early, and withdrew into the fortifications that could really be defended. He set up a front enemy command post at Daxing Station, 18 miles away from Jiangqiao. During the negotiations, Shimizu and Lin Yixiu made a request that when the Manchuria Railway repaired the iron bridge, the Chinese army must retreat 15 miles away, and Daxing Station is nearly 18 miles away from the bridge, which exceeded the Japanese request. I'll do as you say, but don't blame me for being rude if you cross the line. Prior to this, after Xie Ke and Ma Zhanshan took turns to operate, with Daxing Station as the center, a relatively strong fortress position had been built. Ma Zhanshan scattered 2,000 troops who could be used in combat among these serpentine fortifications, forming a strategic depth with distinct layers: taking the railway as the baseline, Daxing first, Sanjianfang and Angangxi later. However, before the Jiangqiao Anti-Japanese War, whether it was Zhang Xueliang's telegram, the results of the Sino-Japanese war since the incident, or the assessment of the strength of both sides, Ma Zhanshan did not dare to make mistakes easily. After all, Zhang Haipeng's puppet army and the Kwantung Army are two different things.No matter what, the puppet army was also transformed from the Northeast Army. Everyone knows the basics and is easy to fight.The Kwantung Army was different, especially after the "September 18th", the two provinces of Jilin and Liaoning were occupied within a few days. At this time, China had already received the support of the League of Nations. Lao Jiang and Zhang Xueliang had confidence in winning this international lawsuit, and their expectations were high. Under such circumstances, Zhang Xueliang's instructions to Ma Zhanshan were without exception the same sentence: "Avoid direct conflict." Of course, how binding this instruction is on Ma Zhanshan is another matter. As a truly capable general, it is not simply the commander's will that influences his thinking, but the ever-changing battlefield situation. The general will be outside, and the king's life will not be accepted. But he could ignore Zhang Xueliang's telegram, but he had to face up to the fact that the Northeast Army had been defeated all along. Ma Zhanshan is not just a patriotic and angry youth, he is responsible for fighting the battle and picking the responsibility.He couldn't pretend that he didn't know who had the thicker arms on the offensive and defensive sides. What's more, the difficulties he himself faced were indeed not small. Successive promotions to serve as the acting chairman of Heilongjiang Province were, after all, only an extraordinary move in an extraordinary period. The prestige of the leader did not coincide with this appointment. The word "on behalf" can explain the problem. Once fighting with the Japanese, it will be a great test whether the following defensive troops can obey his orders and dispatch. The Northeast Army of Jiang Province was originally relatively powerful among the Northeast Army of the three provinces, but in the Sino-Soviet War, it took the lead in sacrificing two main brigades. At the forefront is the Guard Regiment. The other troops are temporarily transferred from the border. It is unknown whether they can cooperate well and obey the command and dispatch.In addition, some of the newly drafted troops are cavalry, which are majestic, but speed is their strength.You want them to jump off the horse and run into the fortifications to help defend, which is not only too wasteful, but also a standard weakness. The last point that cannot be ignored is that war is not a child's play, it has to spend money. Ma Zhanshan has a good understanding of this point, and asked Xie Ke as soon as he came to the provincial capital, how much silver was left in the inventory. Xie Ke held out two fingers to him. Guess how many there are? Not 20 million, not 2 million, not even 200,000. Only 20,000. For the sake of being the head of the family, the Wan family father and son are really good enough. With this amount of money, it is not enough to pay these people in the provincial capital, let alone food. Ma Zhanshan was forced to do nothing, so he had no choice but to lose his face and seek alms everywhere, so that he was able to eke out a living. The leader's lack of support, his strength being too weak, and his pockets too shy, all of these factors determined that it was impossible for Ma Zhanshan to become the party that took the initiative to provoke. In Ma Zhanshan's words, it is called "Chasai's lone army, no rescue later, and the military is defeated." His situation is not bad, but quite bad. Although he has prepared and has a stubborn attitude, as a relatively weak person, if he is not forced to nowhere, no one wants to really try to show up. But everything is beyond his control.Because the Kwantung Army on the opposite side is a veritable hob meat, just trying to force you to nowhere.