Want to Go Back? No Way Back!

Return to Nanjing? At a time like this? A flood of doubts instantly rushed into Zhu Shiqing's mind. Hadn't he and Fang Wenjian come to Beiping-Tianjin precisely because war was about to break out here? The fighting had been going on for barely two days—strictly speaking, only a dozen or so hours—and they were already supposed to leave this battlefield? Had their presence truly been intended only to observe the 29th Army during its standoff with the Japanese? Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian exchanged a glance, neither able to fathom what Nanjing was planning. "That won't do." Sun Yi was the first to object. Springing up from his chair, he draped an arm around each of them, pulling them both in close. "Division Commander, I'm not letting these two go." Feng Zhian leaned back in his chair and spread his hands. "What good is refusing to let them go? You're defying the central government, you know that?" "I don't care, I'm not letting them go! Army Commander Song won't let the Central Army into Hebei—isn't that defying the central government too?!" Sun Yi's face darkened at once, and he brazenly dug in his heels. "Besides, the 29th Army has never really listened to the central government anyway!" "That's not the same thing..." Feng Zhian sighed helplessly. Zhu Shiqing had no desire to leave. If his superior at the General Staff had been some useless incompetent, he certainly would have disobeyed the order and fought on at the front. But his superior was Ming Quan, which made Zhu Shiqing wonder whether Ming Quan had other plans in mind. Sun Yi knew full well that he was throwing a tantrum. After kicking up a brief fuss, he dropped his arms and muttered, "Then again, it's not like this place is safe. If you ended up losing your lives here, it'd be my fault as your elder brother." In the span of barely a month, Sun Yi had come to regard them as brothers of his own flesh and blood. Partings between men were often marked by silence. Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian stepped to the side and saluted with deep feeling, then turned toward Feng Zhian. Feng Zhian rose, returned the salute, and added: "Gentlemen, my advice is to leave as early as possible. The Beiping-Tianjin region is completely fractured right now, and any area could fall at any moment. As of now, Lugou Bridge has been cut off by the Japanese, but the railway bridge is still in our hands. Tomorrow morning, you can make for Beiping first, take a train along the Ping-Han Railway to Baoding, and then find another way south." "Yes, sir!" *** Early the next morning, to avoid unnecessary trouble and blend in, the two men changed into sleeveless vests and coarse cloth shirts, draped white towels over their shoulders, put on small palm-fiber hats, and headed toward the east gate of Wanping. Having besieged Wanping for a day to no effect, the Japanese shifted the direction of their offensive. Using Lugou Bridge as a base, they struck west across the Yongding River, seizing three or four villages in quick succession. Their vanguard clashed head-on with Zhao Dengyu's 132nd Division, which was preparing to cross east to reinforce the area. At Shagang, Zheng Dazhang's 2nd Cavalry Regiment was locked in fierce combat with the Watanabe Battalion, neither side able to advance or retreat. At the same time, the Japanese dispatched an engineer company to rush repairs on the Fengtai spur line to restore their transport routes. Ever since Wanping was besieged, the county seat's civilians had lived in terrified panic. They wanted to flee, but had no idea which way to go; to ordinary people, devils seemed to surround them on all sides! Leaving Wanping, the two walked side by side down a narrow trail that offered glimpses of the Pinghan Railway tracks through the low scrub. "I just heard a few old men saying Division Commander Zhao's troops could retake Lugou Bridge today," Fang Wenjian said, curling his lip. "Then why are we leaving? Going through all this trouble just to take a huge detour—I couldn't care less about going to Beiping." His mind was still filled with the image of Song Zheyuan's frosty reception that day. Zhu Shiqing rolled his eyes. The big lug beside him certainly had a sharp mind, but his mouth had no filter. Since Fang stood half a head taller than him, Zhu Shiqing threw a punch into his back. "Loosen your shoulders! You look way too damn much like a soldier. Watch out—if we run into devils and they spot it, they'll come after us with guns drawn!" Ever since stepping outside the city, Zhu Shiqing had mentally braced himself for an encounter with the enemy. Traveling through this territory unhindered was truly an uphill battle. Fang Wenjian showed no sign of slouching; instead, he puffed his chest out even further and quipped, "Brother, I've stood like this since I was a kid. How am I supposed to fake it?" They traded idle remarks back and forth until the conversation died. After a stretch of silence, one of them tossed out another trivial topic, only for quiet to fall between them once more... What neither put into words was the regret that weighed on them from this land. Sporadic gunfire still crackled from the southwest; the battle at Shagang was ongoing. Finally, Fang Wenjian hung his head and sighed. "Before coming here, I honestly never expected the Japanese to be this tough. And now, none of this has anything to do with us anymore." "How could it have nothing to do with us? This war concerns every single Chinese person." As they spoke, Tiangezhuang came into view. Tiangezhuang was a peculiar village. Situated right against the Ping-Han Railway on its north side, it had originally been the garrison post of the Beiping Garrison Peace Preservation Regiment, facing the Watanabe Battalion to the south across the water. North of the village lay several scattered outposts of the puppet Mongolian Army. Now, however, with war breaking out around Beiping, the Beiping garrison units had pulled back to defend Beiyuan, and the Watanabe Battalion had advanced toward Fengtai, leaving this area completely deserted. "Once we pass through Tiangezhuang and follow the road to the end, we'll be in Beiping. I just hope I can get a good night's sleep when we get back to Nanjing." Fang Wenjian yawned, swinging his arms as he walked and glancing around. Amid a land consumed by the flames of war, this place seemed remarkably serene. Suddenly, he spotted an old man sitting on a boulder at the entrance to the village, puffing on a pipe. Seeing two robust young men heading his way with rucksacks on their backs, the old man straightened up, tucked his pipe behind his back, and hunched forward, shuffling toward them. He said nothing, staring wide-eyed at the pair. Puzzled, Zhu Shiqing asked, "Uncle, is this Tiangezhuang?" The old man eyed the two from head to toe. Instead of answering the question, he asked, "Not from around here?" Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian exchanged a look; evidently, the accent gave them away completely. Zhu Shiqing answered truthfully, "Uncle, we're from the south. We just came from Wanping and want to find someone in Beiping." "Beiping?" The old man frowned, bringing the hand holding his pipe out from behind him and waving it earnestly. "You can't get through. You'd best head back to Wanping. It's not safe around here." "Uncle, what do you mean?" The old man turned his back and mumbled something, but his voice was raspy and laced with a thick local dialect. Zhu Shiqing hurried forward a few paces before he could catch what was being said. "There are devils all over Beiping. The outside of Guang'anmen has been blockaded by them too. If you go through here, you're liable to run right into them. Go on back to Wanping. Plenty of folks are trying to flee south right now and can't even get out." "Even Guang'anmen is surrounded?" Fang Wenjian was genuinely surprised. Zhu Shiqing was stunned as well. No wonder they hadn't seen a single train pass along the railway during their walk. He had expected they might run into Japanese troops along the way, which hadn't worried him too much. But... after all that, their destination itself was cut off! What were they supposed to do now? Zhu Shiqing felt utterly helpless; it made their journey toward Beiping today look completely foolish... Then again, there was no other way out of North China now. Regardless, they still had to reach Beiping first. Even if they traveled on foot, they would have to pass through Beiping, exit via Xizhimen, and take the route through Dahuichang and Mentougou to reach Baoding... Zhu Shiqing sighed. How ironic—now that he was truly prepared to return to Nanjing, getting back there had become nearly impossible...