Devil's Army

Afterwards, when the squadron leader reported to Gray Wolf, he was severely criticized by Gray Wolf.

Gray Wolf arranged for the squadron leader and his men to stay in Beijing in order to help the 37th Division of the th Army during the July Incident. Now, in order to vent his anger, he had to hide in Tianjin.

The squadron leader promised Gray Wolf that he would return to Wanping City, Beijing in early July to assist the 110th Brigade in maintaining public order in Beijing.

On June 29, the Second Brigade of the First Northeast Anti-Japanese Army, led by five guerrillas brought back from Qinhuangdao by Gray Wolf, set out from Shanhaiguan and Qinhuangdao to Beijing by land, preparing to reinforce the th Army in the July Incident.

At that time, the Northeast Anti-Japanese First Army's navy, army and air force had reached more than 150,000 people. A brigade of the army was equivalent to a division of other troops, especially the eight brigades formed in the early stage, each brigade had more than 10,000 people.

Two days later, the camouflaged Huludao and Chaoyang, carrying the 2nd Brigade's heavy weapons and equipment and two squadrons of special forces, also sailed towards Tianjin Port.

The two arsenals began to produce ammunition day and night, and the Air Force continued to strengthen training and study day and night.

The entire Oroqen tribe was filled with the atmosphere of war.

On June 22, the Second Brigade had quietly arrived at a village thirty miles outside Wanping City.

Wu Lang and two guards sneaked into Wanping City and met with General Song to discuss matters related to the Second Brigade's entry into Peking to fight against Japan.

In order not to provoke the Japanese army, General Song rejected Wu Lang's suggestion. He believed that the First Brigade of the Japanese Garrison Army in China outside Peking only had more than 14,000 people, and he had more than 70,000 people on hand, which was enough to deal with it.

Wu Lang told General Song: "At present, the First Brigade of the Japanese Chinese Garrison Army outside Peking is just the vanguard, and his North China Front Army will continue to send more troops later."

"Your Second Brigade is outside the city of Peking and can support me at any time. Besides, the Sino-Japanese War may not break out."

General Song still holds out hope for peace. No wonder, he maneuvers between the bald leader and the Japanese army, and develops from a remnant of 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers living under the protection of others to a powerful army of 100,000 soldiers now, sitting on the richest city in North China, and he certainly doesn't want to lose it.

Wu Lang's persuasion was hopeless, so he had to go back and rearrange his troops. His troops would change from fighting the Japanese in the front to supporting the 29th Army from behind.

On June 110, the special operations squadron of the squadron leader sneaked back to Beijing from the outskirts of Tianjin Machang with the convoy transporting the heavy equipment of the nd Brigade. They did not tell General Song about their return this time. The commander of the th Brigade, He, had taken advantage of the Japanese last time, so he turned a blind eye this time.

The person who was most happy about the squadron captain and his men's return was Commander Ji of the 110th Regiment of the 219th Brigade, because they had fought side by side before.

As July approached, the Japanese military exercises became more frequent and more provocative.

Under the strict order of Army Commander Song, the officers and soldiers of the 29th Army turned a blind eye and endured it in silence.

On July 219, it was raining heavily beside the Marco Polo Bridge. The third battalion commander of the th Regiment, Jin Zhenzhong, disguised himself as an old farmer and braved the rain to hoe the land outside the city while watching the Japanese soldiers practicing siege warfare.

The squadron leader once told him that the Japanese would launch the invasion of Beijing at Lugou Bridge on July 7.

Tomorrow is July 7th. Battalion Commander Jin looked at the Japanese who were practicing siege in the rain, believed the squadron leader's judgment, and went back to make arrangements immediately.

At 10:40 p.m. on July , a sharp gunshot was heard outside Wanping City. Then the Japanese shouted outside Wanping City:

"Open the door, open the door. There was a gunshot just now. One of our soldiers is missing. We need to go into the city to search."

"The gunshots came from outside the city. It has nothing to do with us. The city gates will not be opened at night. We can talk about it during the day." The soldiers of the third battalion in Wanping City refused righteously.

The Japanese shouted to open the gate but to no avail, so they raised their hands and fired at the defenders in the city, firing the first shot of the July 7 Incident.

The soldiers of the three battalions in the city refused to give in, refused to open the city gates, and persisted in resistance. The Japanese began to bombard Wanping City and successively sent troops to surround Wanping City.

The squadron leader at the 219th Regiment heard the gunfire from Wanping City and immediately sent a telegram to inform the Second Brigade Commander Wu Lang.

Wu Lang knew that the Japanese soldiers on the Marco Polo Bridge were the first to open fire in history, and the platoon leader Shen Zhongming of the 7th Company became the first Chinese soldier to die in the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. He hinted to the squadron leader that if possible, he should lead people to rescue the platoon leader Shen Zhongming. He led his troops to prepare to counter-encircle the Japanese soldiers outside Wanping City.

In order to prevent the situation from escalating, Qin Dechun, deputy commander of the 29th Army, sent people to negotiate with the Japanese army. However, the Japanese army shamelessly demanded that all Chinese defenders withdraw from Wanping City. The perpetrator of this incident, the commander of the third battalion, Jin Zhenzhong, was severely punished.

Wanping County Magistrate Wang Lengzhai argued with reason and sternly rejected the Japanese' unreasonable demands.

The Japanese turned away and continued to bombard Wanping City.

The soldiers of the third battalion fought back against the Japanese from the Wanping city wall.

However, the Japanese artillery fire was very fierce, and the Wanping city wall was riddled with holes.

The 219rd Battalion of the 1400th Regiment was a reinforced battalion with more than soldiers, deployed in the area around Wanping City and Lugou Bridge.

When the soldiers heard that their superiors allowed them to fight back, they were moved to tears. In the years they had been in the army, they had been repeatedly asked to give in, give in, and give in again in the face of the provocations of the Japanese. They had long been frustrated.

At this moment, all the grievances turned into bullets and shot at the Japanese.