Disarmament

General Stilwell was once widely quoted as saying that the Nationalist Army had first-class soldiers, second-class generals, and third-class supreme commanders. *** Just as the high command of the 29th Army was vacillating between war and peace, at the very moment the farce at the railway station was unfolding, the 1st Independent Brigade under the 132nd Division launched an assault from west of the Yongding River. In coordination with Feng Zhian's 37th Division pushing out from the railway bridge, they recaptured Longwangmiao in a single stroke. From a military standpoint, the situation on the battlefield appeared to have turned for the better. Battalion Commander Oshima, who had rallied his men for another try, suffered yet another defeat. Having lost Longwangmiao and failed to take Wanping, he felt utterly disgraced and unworthy to face Regimental Commander Ozawa, whom he deeply respected. Despondent, he slowly drew his military saber in a wasteland northeast of Wanping... He turned toward Japan, glaring toward the boundless horizon. His expression suddenly contorted into a snarl, and with a roar, he reversed the blade! He plunged it downward with all his might! "Battalion Commander!" The surrounding Japanese soldiers rushed forward in panic, crying out in alarm. But as they drew close, they saw that Oshima's blade was buried deep in the North China soil. His face was flushed bright red, and seeing the men gathering around him, he bellowed, "Our Oshima Battalion will definitely return!" "Hai!" the men hastily echoed. Fortunately, no one dared to ask whether Oshima had truly intended to stab that damp earth or if he had genuinely meant to plunge the blade into his abdomen to apologize to the Emperor. But Oshima had already prepared a convenient excuse. If anyone ever asked, he would retort: "You baka! Seppuku requires a short sword! This is a long sword!" In truth, if one really wanted to slit open one's belly, it mattered little whether the blade was long or short; even a bayonet or a kitchen knife could disembowel a man... That day, Oshima retreated to his pre-war garrison. The Watanabe Unit attacking along the Fengtai line was also brought to a standstill. The Ozawa Regiment's plan to encircle and annihilate the 37th Division had essentially collapsed. With the 132nd Division arriving to bolster the frontline, the balance of power on the battlefield was restored. Inside Beiping, the stolen artifact case came to a temporary close. In reality, the transport of the cultural relics out of the city was overseen by the Young Marshal's former guards, and according to the plan formulated by the Beiping municipal government and the Palace Museum, the items would be shipped out in batches over the coming days. After lunch, Zhu Shiqing strolled through the streets. Today, there were noticeably more armed soldiers on patrol throughout Beiping. Usually, public security and guard duty within the city were handled by the police and the Peace Preservation Corps. Seeing regular troops patrolling in person, Zhu Shiqing realized that the 29th Army was investigating the "enemy spies" he had mentioned the night before. He had not expected Lin Hongwen's tactic of crying thief to catch a thief to indirectly put him in such an awkward spot. This clash had truly been a case of killing a thousand enemies at the cost of a thousand of one's own men. Still, enemy spies certainly existed. Even if Zhu Shiqing hadn't said a word, in a place like North China, the Japanese secret service had long infiltrated the region until it was like their own backyard. The high command of the 29th Army was naturally well aware of this. Walking along Beiping's streets, he suddenly noticed a large number of students today. Not knowing what was happening, Zhu Shiqing asked the passersby around him and learned that students from several local universities in Beiping were spontaneously organizing parades to advocate resisting Japan to the end. "Just a bunch of kids," Fang Wenjian said rather bluntly, watching the column brush past. "Waving flags and yelling their heads off all day. They'd be better off packing their bags and running south at the first opportunity, so when the fighting starts, we won't have to pull men away just to protect them." This was not because he looked down on the power of students, but because in his eyes, to the high officials governing Beiping, the shouts of students carried far less weight than a fart from the Japanese. Zhu Shiqing, however, found the commotion rather interesting. Since they could not return to Nanjing right away anyway, the two of them followed the student procession through many of the city's streets and alleys until the crowd finally halted before Chongwenmen. And to the west of Chongwenmen Street lay Beiping's renowned Dongjiaominxiang. Inside Dongjiaominxiang stood the legations and barracks of various Western nations, along with a wide variety of Western architecture: a German hospital, a French bakery, and the British-led Grand Hôtel des Wagons-Lits. It could be called the most heterogeneous quarter in all of Beiping, home to an assortment of gangsters, secret agents, traitors, the Red Party, brothels, and singing girls. By staging their demonstration on Chongwenmen Street right beside the legations, the students were sending a clear message, declaring to both the authorities and the international community the resolve of China's youth to resist to the bitter end. The garrison troops from army headquarters were stationed nearby as well—not to suppress the students, but because enemy agents were most likely using the quarter as a base of operations. Yet Chinese forces had no right to enter the legation grounds and could only stand watch outside. The scene in the street was both chaotic and laced with irony. Zhu Shiqing thought he could see French soldiers stationed in the high observation post beside the French legation gazing down in alarm at the uproar below. Before long, news of victory from the direction of Wanping reached Beiping. Learning that the frontline had recaptured the lost territory, the students grew even more impassioned, and the civilians lining the street caught the infectious spirit, donating money and provisions to support the resistance. "Propaganda work really is quite important after all," Zhu Shiqing murmured, standing at the back of the crowd as he took in the spectacle. Amid the excitement, several jeeps drove slowly out from beneath the Chongwenmen gate tower, causing the gathered crowd to part. But soon, someone recognized that the man seated in the lead vehicle was Deputy Army Commander Qin Dechun. A burst of cheers instantly erupted from the crowd, the civilians roaring the designation of the 29th Army while the students shouted, "Fight to the end!" The jeeps drove past Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian as well: Qin Dechun in the first vehicle... Tong Linge in the second, followed by a third and a fourth. "The commanders don't look too happy," Fang Wenjian remarked with a sarcastic edge. "For a military conference to end like this, I doubt the outcome is any different from what we saw with Regiment Commander Sun. They probably still won't allow the Central Army into Hebei. No wonder Chief Ming told us to head back to Nanjing. Give it a little more time, and some of these people might even team up with the Japanese to fight us!" "Keep your mouth shut if you don't have anything sensible to say," Zhu Shiqing retorted curtly. "Still, Army Commander Song really isn't in any of those vehicles." At that moment, Song Zheyuan was in Tianjin negotiating with Katsuki Kiyoshi, the newly appointed commander of the Japanese China Garrison Army. Bolstered by the arguments of the peace faction, the 29th Army had decided to seek a peaceful armistice with the Japanese. Yet in negotiations, the weaker party never had equality. Katsuki Kiyoshi made exorbitant demands of the 29th Army right from the start, laying out seven or eight key terms. What exhausted and devastated Song Zheyuan most was the demand that no Chinese troops be permitted to garrison Beiping. No Chinese troops permitted to garrison the city... This was virtually no different from handing Beiping over on a silver platter. Beyond that, the Japanese demanded the complete suppression of all anti-Japanese activities and organizations in Beiping, along with the dissolution and expulsion of all relevant anti-Japanese agencies affiliated with the central government. Not long after Tong Linge returned to the 29th Army headquarters, Chief of Staff Zhang Boting brought in a telegraphed order from Tianjin. The order instructed the detachment of the 37th Division stationed inside Beiping, along with the Special Service Brigade, to withdraw from the city and redeploy to Beiyuan and Nanyuan. Upon receiving the order, Tong Linge tore the sheet of paper to shreds on the spot. Without uttering another word, he walked out of headquarters and returned to his residence. Evidently, the 29th Army had already yielded to the harsh Japanese demands.