Chapter 40 Yu Xu

Our story about the September 18th Incident fell on September 28, 1931.However, the footsteps of history did not stop there, and the incident and the political wrestling behind it continued. Since the occupation of Jilin City, then the provincial capital of Jilin Province, on September 23 without firing a single shot, the large-scale Japanese military operations in the Northeast have been temporarily suspended for more than a month.The Japanese army wanted to direct their troops to Harbin and spread the flames of war to North Manchuria.However, Harbin is the seat of the Chief Executive's Office of the Eastern Province jointly managed by China and the Soviet Union, and is the general hub of the North Manchuria Railway.Offending the powerful Soviet Union is no joke, and the Japanese Army Staff Headquarters is well aware of this.Therefore, the chief of staff, Kanaya Fan Sansan, played against Emperor Hirohito, and issued the "immediate order" to command and restrain the Kwantung Army to the General Staff Headquarters, so as to control the military operations of the Kwantung Army in the Northeast.No matter how courageous the Kwantung Army was, it would not dare to openly defy the emperor's "imminent order", so it had to suppress the murderous intention in its heart and find another strategy.This also shows from the negative side that if the Central Department of the Japanese Army really wants to do it, it can still restrain the Kwantung Army.

The Japanese played the old and well-known routine again - instigating traitors and using China to control China.This time the Japanese selected a man named Zhang Haipeng.This man was born in the green forest. He is a veteran warrior in the Northeast and a loyal and lonely minister of the Qing court. In his living room, he enshrines the portrait of the abdicated last emperor Pu Yi all the year round, and sometimes worships him.Under the instigation of the Japanese army, he declared independence from Zhang Xueliang, appointed himself the commander of border security, and invaded Heilongjiang Province.

It's a pity that although Zhang Haipeng wanted to use the power of the Japanese army to rebuild the Qing court, he couldn't fight the war.In the battle of Jiangqiao on October 16, he was defeated by Ma Zhanshan's tribe. Ma Zhanshan was born in the army and has rich combat experience in fighting bandits. He is thin, bald, with a black beard, often wearing a black jacket, and has no smile on his face.It was this little bald-headed Chinese who made the mighty Kwantung Army experience the loss of soldiers and generals for the first time in the Northeast. The Kwantung Army knew well that successive military victories were the greatest capital of all their military adventures, so they could not tolerate Ma Zhanshan's insult to the Japanese military prestige at Jiangqiao.They decided to send troops in person, openly challenging the requirements of the General Staff Headquarters.

The Kwantung Army's move to attack Ma Zhanshan's position shocked Tokyo.From November 5th, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters officially issued a "temporary appointment" in an attempt to stop the Kwantung Army's military operations.However, "Lin Shen Ming" did not achieve the effect of the military order like a mountain. The Kwantung Army still went its own way and brazenly launched the Jiangqiao Operation.Although the Ma Zhanshan Department fought bravely and dealt an unexpected blow to the Kwantung Army, but finally had to abandon the Jiangqiao position and retreat under the combined land and air offensive of the Japanese army.

The reason why the Kwantung Army even dared to violate the "Lin Shen Ming" was not only the domineering tradition, but also the support of the Ministry of Army.Lu Xiang Nanjiro is a political opportunist.When he saw that the cabinet of Wakarei Jiro, who was overwhelmed by the war launched rashly by the Kwantung Army, was already crumbling, Nanjiro even asked the cabinet to increase troops to support the Kwantung Army's attack on Heilongjiang.This is tantamount to announcing that the Ministry of the Army does not agree with the government's policies, and Prime Minister Lu can resign at any time, leading to the resignation of the cabinet. On December 11, if the cabinet finally resigned, Inukai Takeshi was ordered to form a cabinet, and General Sadao Araki, who advocated actively breaking the Washington system, was appointed as Prime Minister; on December 23, Marshal Prince Zain replaced the prudent General San Kanaya as a staff officer. Commander, the Central Division of the Japanese Army has become more aggressive.

Jiangqiao fell, and Japanese troops pointed at Qiqihar, then the capital of Heilongjiang Province.The "strong reaction" from the international community, especially the Soviet Union, to the Japanese invasion of North Manchuria that Tokyo feared did not happen. "All worries are superfluous." In the overjoyed good mood, Tokyo no longer mentioned any "imminent participation" and allowed the Kwantung Army to actively fight. Ma Zhanshan had to face the Japanese war of "one mind and one mind". It was impossible for the Nationalist Government to give him any substantive assistance except telegrams of condolences and orders of commendation. On December 18th and 19th, only two days after the Japanese offensive, Ma Zhanshan withdrew from Qiqihar, and the provincial capital of Heilongjiang fell.

During the Heilongjiang Anti-Japanese War with the Ma Zhanshan tribe as the main force, the Chinese army lost about 1,000 casualties, and the Japanese army also suffered 1,181 casualties, but most of them were frostbitten, and only 103 people died in battle. While using troops to the north, the Japanese army did not forget Jinzhou, which is located in western Liaoning. Jinzhou is located in the Corridor of West Liaoning, surrounded by mountains and facing the sea. The Beining railway line passes through it. It is an important throat controlling the internal and external customs.After the fall of Shenyang, Zhang Xueliang reported to the Nanjing National Government that on September 23, he temporarily set up the administrative office of the commander-in-chief of the Northeast Frontier Defense Force and the administrative office of the Liaoning Provincial Government in Jinzhou, saying that the Chinese government had not given up its sovereignty over the Northeast. The Kwantung Army, which intends to "occupy Manchuria", cannot tolerate it.But at that time, attacking Jinzhou was also a taboo, because the Beining Railway was operated by the British, and it was the British sphere of influence.So Japan weighed again and again and decided not to attack on the ground, but to dispatch the air force to bomb Jinzhou.The Japanese bombing began on October 8. At the same time, the so-called "Letter to the Citizens of Jinzhou" was also spread, which contained content such as "obey the grace and power of the Imperial Japanese Army and oppose Zhang Xueliang's government".

In mid-December, the Japanese cabinet changed, and the Army Central Department began to actively support the Kwantung Army's attack on Jinzhou.In order to avoid international attention, especially the displeasure of the British, the Kwantung Army formulated the "Strategy for Attacking Jinzhou" on December 12. The main content was to mobilize ground troops to attack Jinzhou in the name of "sweeping bandits".With the approval of the Emperor, the Japanese General Staff Headquarters sent a large number of troops to the Kwantung Army to increase the strength of the Kwantung Army.

The war was imminent, and troubles broke out again within the National Government.Chiang Kai-shek, who was under tremendous domestic pressure for pursuing the non-resistance policy, finally couldn't hold on to the challenge from Guangzhou, so he had to retreat and announced his resignation on December 5.Originally, there was also a secret communication between Guangzhou and Japan, but after entering the center, facing the pressure of domestic public opinion and the new Japanese government's clearer war stance, they had to become tougher.So on December 25, the central government sent a telegram to Zhang Xueliang with the requirement of "active resistance", and the policy took a 180-degree turn.

At this time, Zhang Xueliang was in a complicated mood.On the one hand, he has woken up from the fantasy that the Japanese government will restrain the Japanese army. The infamy of "non-resistance general" also makes him suffer and exhausted physically and mentally. Moreover, if Jinzhou is lost, the Japanese army will wipe out the Northeast Army How can I gain a foothold in the final base?On the other hand, he deeply feels that he has become a victim of wrong decision-making, and has become a scapegoat for "non-resistance" political crimes. Moreover, Guangzhou has already entered the central government, and they originally wanted to kill him and then quickly.Under the treacherous environment, Zhang Xueliang hesitated.He once considered resisting, but because he didn't know the bottom line of the central government, and the Jinzhou defenders alone would never be able to stop the Japanese army, so the main force that had not been exhausted should be withdrawn into the pass.But a few days later, he changed his mind and ordered the defenders not to retreat, and ordered the volunteers in Liaoning to disrupt the rear of the Japanese army, and asked Tang Yulin, chairman of Rehe Province, to send troops to reinforce Jinzhou.At the same time, the words sincerely expressed to the central government the determination to resist and the situation that the enemy is strong and we are weak, and asked for strong support.But the Nanking government could not dispatch a single soldier, nor give a penny, except for the empty text of the letter and the snake.

On December 28, the Japanese army launched a general attack on Jinzhou.In the face of the three-dimensional attack of the Japanese army, army and air force, Zhang Xueliang decided to withdraw his troops to the pass in order to preserve his military strength. At about 1 o'clock in the morning on the 30th, the vanguard of the Northeast Army that had withdrawn from Jinzhou passed through Shanhaiguan. At this time, for the Nationalist Government and the Northeast authorities, the Jinzhou War was not so much a military incident as a political issue—retreat meant another non-resistance, and the key was who would take responsibility for the new non-resistance.As a result, on the 31st, the newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nanjing Government, Chen Youren, stated that the central government was not responsible for the withdrawal of the Jinzhou defenders into the pass, and that Zhang Xueliang should bear the primary responsibility.In this regard, the officers of the Northeast Army and the Volunteer Army who participated in the defense of Jinzhou used telegrams to lament the fierceness of the frontline battles and counted the central government's inaction.When Zhang Xueliang explained why the Northeast Army did not implement the central government's order to defend Jinzhou, he criticized the central government, saying: The central government verbally asked the Northeast Army to defend Jinzhou, but in fact it did not give any support. It wanted the Northeast Army to exhaust its strength in the resistance against Japan. On January 3, 1932, in the war of words between the central government and the Northeast, the Japanese army occupied Jinzhou without much resistance.Previously, thanks to the overt and secret help of the traitor Zhang Jinghui, Harbin, which was named the Eastern Provincial Administrative Special Zone of the Nationalist Government, was actually under the control of the Japanese.So far, all the major cities in the Northeast have fallen into the hands of the Japanese. In stark contrast to the responses of the Nationalist Government and the Northeast authorities to the incident, there was the rising anti-Japanese voice of the Chinese people and the CCP’s firm proposition of the War of Resistance.Especially worth mentioning is the Manchuria Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, which is located in the black soil.When this terrifying conspiracy was still being planned, the Manchuria Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China was already on the alert.When the Wanbaoshan Incident happened, the Manchurian Provincial Party Committee clearly pointed out that "the Wanbaoshan Incident was a conspiracy prepared by the Japanese imperialists in advance to send troops to Manchuria as an excuse."After the incident, the Manchuria Provincial Party Committee held an emergency meeting to analyze the situation, discuss contingency measures, and issued the "Declaration for the Armed Occupation of Manchuria for Japanese Imperialism." Propaganda to the masses, calling for strikes, school strikes, and market strikes to oppose the occupation of Manchuria by Japanese imperialism, support and lead the Northeast Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army, and create a new type of anti-Japanese armed force directly led by the party—Anti-Japanese guerrillas, which effectively promoted the Northeast Anti-Japanese War The development of armed struggle. On the eve of the July 7th Incident broke out in 1937, there was a saying in a certain range of Japanese military and political circles: "On the night of the Qixi Festival, the same event as Liutiao Lake will happen in Beiping, China." This shows that Japan People regard the September 18th Incident directed by themselves as some kind of tried-and-tested and even quite successful model—a ploy made out of nothing with self-interest as the only appeal and power as the backing.At that time, there was a concept in Japan that as long as the military occupation was limited to the northeast of China, the war between China and Japan could be avoided.In the 1930s, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanjing government also expressed quite similar views, which is why they were so determined not to resist.But the fact later is that those who want to stop cannot be stopped, those who want to fight, and those who want to turn a blind eye are also impossible. Since the Japanese invaded and occupied Northeast China, an extremely destructive time bomb has been activated. A war of aggression and anti-aggression between countries has become inevitable.In this sense, the September 18th Incident became a watershed between war and non-war, or the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War.