Only upon seeing Sun Yi did Zhu Shiqing feel like he had found home.
The Military Training Corps was stationed at Yingtaoyuan near Guang'anmen. After two days of whipping them into shape, Sun Yi’s unique personal charisma had already won over these boy soldiers. When they were not drilling, they would crowd around him, asking about the time he had infiltrated enemy lines to cut off Japanese heads.
Sun Yi was hardly modest either, boasting that the number of Japanese killed by his own hand was well into triple digits.
When Zhu Shiqing showed up looking rather disheveled that evening, he gave Sun Yi quite a fright instead. Inside the barracks, Sun Yi’s eyes went wide as he stared at Zhu Shiqing, blurting out in disbelief, "I'll be damned—I thought you'd left!"
With that, he immediately summoned Xiang Chengyu, Tan Hai, and the others into the new regimental headquarters, boasting proudly, "Look at that! Our Staff Officer Zhu couldn't bear to leave us after all—he’s back!"
Zhu Shiqing could only smile wryly. After exchanging brief pleasantries, he began inquiring about what puzzled him most. "Regimental Commander, why did army headquarters transfer your Military Training Corps back here?"
"What Military Training Corps? What do you mean, Military Training Corps?" Sun Yi's face darkened. Glancing left and right, he replied shamelessly, "We are the 219th Regiment."
Zhu Shiqing froze for a second, then burst out laughing, nodding repeatedly in agreement. "Right, right! We'll just treat them as recruits Division Commander Feng sent to replenish us!"
Yet once the topic turned to the transfers, the mood in the room grew noticeably somber. Xiang Chengyu and Tan Hai, who had been chiming in with idle chatter, bowed their heads and quietly sipped from their bowls. Sun Yi paused for a good while before speaking slowly:
"Yesterday, Army Commander Song arrived in Tianjin and held an emergency meeting to discuss the military operations against the Japanese. By this morning, army headquarters had reached an agreement with the Japanese side: disarm Beiping, implement a ceasefire between both sides, hand over city administration to the police, and grant the Japanese garrison rights to Lugou Bridge Railway Station."
"Didn't I hear that Division Commander Zhao already recaptured Longwangmiao? Why compromise with the Japanese troops then?" The smile on Zhu Shiqing's face vanished instantly. "The Ping-Han Railway is the 29th Army's lifeline!"
The Japanese demand to take over Lugou Bridge Railway Station had an obvious purpose: to prevent the Nationalist Army from the south from reaching Beiping by train.
Zhu Shiqing's question left Sun Yi at a loss for an answer. In the past, a man with his fiery temper would have launched into a furious tirade, but having endured the battle at Fengtai, Sun Yi seemed noticeably more composed. With a touch of dark humor, he replied:
"Maybe... maybe when Army Commander Song signed the agreement, he didn't know Longwangmiao had been retaken."
Things had reached this point, and there was nothing more to say; the 29th Army could only take things one step at a time. Because the Military Training Corps had only nine hundred men, Sun Yi simply organized them into two battalions, keeping Xiang Chengyu and Tan Hai as battalion commanders. Every day, they drilled according to regular army standards, and surprisingly, these boy soldiers did not complain of hardship or fatigue!
That evening, to welcome Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian back to the ranks, Sun Yi generously brought out all the provisions the regiment had, treating these young boys to a good meal as well.
Under the twilight, the officers and soldiers at Yingtaoyuan were immersed in a harmonious atmosphere. The youthful vigor of the college students clicked instantly with Sun Yi's forthright, bold nature. Moreover, seeing Zhu Shiqing and Fang Wenjian as professionally trained young patriots gave the unit's morale an immense boost.
Behind the lively bustle, the Japanese newly deployed Korea-based 20th Division had already split into three columns and was lunging toward Beiping!
Across the quiet North China Plain, two companies of Japanese troops quietly arrived by train at Langfang Station, which they had only recently captured. Upon arrival, the Japanese boarded more than twenty troop transports and drove straight north, heading directly for Guang'anmen.
Awaiting them on the Guang'anmen gatehouse was a squad under the 3rd Battalion of the former Beiping Garrison Security Regiment—roughly a company's worth of garrison troops. Below the gatehouse, at the inner gate, was a squad of gate police from the Beiping Police Bureau, around a dozen men.
As the night wore into the small hours, the sentry on duty atop the city tower suddenly heard a rumbling noise. He hurriedly leaned over the parapet to peer south.
Amid the whistling night wind, over a dozen trucks with their headlights on drove toward them in formation, two or three abreast. In the vast darkness, the sentry could only make out the black silhouettes of the trucks, but that was enough to tell they were headed straight for Guang'anmen.
"Squad Leader! Squad Leader!"
Stepping back, the sentry shook awake the squad leader who had been dozing against the wall. "Vehicles coming!"
Shoved awake, the security squad leader was about to snap when the sound of running engines indeed reached his ears. He shoved the sentry aside, leaned against the wall, raised his binoculars, peered for a moment, and cursed, "Damn it, who the hell can see clearly in this pitch black?!"
"Squad Leader, could it be our own people?" the sentry asked timidly.
"Are you fucking stupid? Where would our 29th Army get so many trucks?" Though the security squad leader had been napping, his wits were intact. He immediately barked, "All of you, snap to attention! Watch out for a night raid by the devils!"
The soldiers stationed around, who had been half-asleep, snapped awake at once. They stepped forward and took the cool night breeze on their faces, clearing their heads in an instant.
Under their watchful eyes, the Japanese trucks pulled up about two hundred meters from the gatehouse and lined up abreast. From the backs of the trucks, swarms of Japanese soldiers began disembarking!
"It's the devils!"
The security squad leader watched with a grim expression, his sweaty hand clamped tightly onto the holster of his Broomhandle Mauser at his waist. He suddenly felt cursed with rotten luck. Guang'anmen was deep in the rear, far from any battlefield. When ordered to guard Guang'anmen, he had thought yesterday that it was a cushy assignment!
Who would have thought that on his very first day on duty, he would run into this kind of mess!
Compared to the other outer city gates, the garrison at Guang'anmen was pitifully small, mostly composed of young soldiers who lacked combat experience. Fortunately, the city gates were already barred, which provided the squad leader a sliver of comfort.
"Squad Leader, we have a ceasefire with the devils. Should we draw our guns?" the sentry asked with exasperating innocence, sending a chill through the squad leader's spine.
With no choice, he drew his pistol first and chambered a round, cursing, "Every last one of you, raise your rifles! Who knows what foul shit these bastards are cooking up! The moment they make a move, we shoot back!"
Below the walls, the Japanese troops continued to disembark, their assembled ranks swelling. Before the Chinese defenders on the gate could attempt any exchange, a Japanese company commander shattered the silence with a command to attack—and the assault began!
*Crack-crack-crack!*
Because the Japanese trucks had deployed in a line, their machine gunners mounted their weapons on the hoods, forming a sweeping tongue of fire that spouted dense muzzle flashes into the darkness!
"The devils are attacking! The devils are attacking!"
Many soldiers atop the gate cried out in panic, but most were steadied by their squad leader. Having fought his way up through battles, the squad leader was not intimidated in the least. He shouted coldly, "Fire!"
Both sides opened fire. The vanguard of the Japanese force moved toward the gate in attack formation, shielded by heavy suppressive fire from the rear. This put the defenders through hell: below was pitch darkness, where only muzzle flashes indicated enemy positions, and bullets were fired into the dark with no way of knowing if they hit their mark.
The Guang'anmen gatehouse, however, had lanterns lit. At such close range, Japanese rounds seemed to seek out the defenders, striking soldiers in the head and sending them collapsing heavily against the cold stones of the wall.
Sensing the dire gravity of the situation, the security squad leader scrambled back from the parapet and ducked into the command post inside the gatehouse. Snatching up the receiver, his right hand cranked the telephone handle so furiously it nearly began to smoke. The moment the call went through, he roared with all his might into the mouthpiece:
"The devils are attacking! Guang'anmen! The devils are attacking!"
Chapter 69