In 1937, taking advantage of the internal friction of various Warlords in China, the Japanese army provoked an incident in the Beiping area, and the Aggressive Ambitions of the Japanese became more and more obvious. At the time of the Lugou Bridge Incident, Song Zheyuan, commander of the 29th Army, was building a tomb for his grandfather and father in Leling, Shandong. He heard the news and said to his subordinates: "If there is a real war, our army will not be ambiguous." Japan has planes and tanks, we have large knives and grenades, and we have competed in places such as Xifengkou. The two armies killed each other, and the planes and tanks were not as good as the big knives. No matter how the situation changes in the future, I, Song Zheyuan, will never be a traitor or a traitor. ”
On July 11, Song Zheyuan arrived in Tianjin from Leling. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek, who was in Nanjing, hoped that Song Zheyuan would immediately go to Baoding to take command of the resistance to the Japanese army. At the same time, he sent the same telegram to Beiping and Leling, telling Song Zheyuan that the troops of China and Japan were moving.
At the time of the exchange of troops between the two countries, Song Zheyuan did not realize that the "Lugou Bridge Incident" was the beginning of Japan's large-scale attack on China, and his biggest fear was that he was afraid that the Central Army would go north and gradually seize his territory in Pingjin in the name of anti-Japanese resistance. Therefore, he hopes to negotiate and compromise with the Japanese side with limited concessions to preserve the hard-won army and territory.
On the 12th, Song Zheyuan issued a statement on the current situation, claiming that the incident at the Lugou Bridge was actually an unfortunate event in East Asia, and that local conflicts, if resolved at any time, would still be a great blessing in misfortune. The two major ethnic groups in East Asia should be resolved in order and should not cause trouble to themselves. A peace-loving man, he hopes that China and Japan will put the overall situation in East Asia first.
At this time, Qin Dechun had obtained reliable information on the Japanese side's large-scale increase in troops, and He Yingqin also telephoned to tell Song Zheyuan that Japan had issued a national mobilization order, and after the Lugou Bridge incident, north China was becoming more and more serious, and Tianjin was full of Japanese troops, and he was already in danger, so please go to Baoding immediately and sit in charge of the war against Japan.
Zhang Kexia, deputy chief of staff of the 29th Army, told Song Zheyuan that it is now at the juncture of national survival, and if there is no war, he will become a national sinner for eternity. Now, according to the situation between the enemy and ourselves, we have the advantage and can seize the fighter to defeat the enemy before the enemy reinforces. Song Zheyuan nodded in agreement and asked Zhang Kexia to formulate a battle plan based on attack and defense.
Zhang Kexia immediately formulated a battle plan based on attack and defense, and organized the strength of the 29th Army into several groups, divided into three theaters of operations in Tianjin, Beiping, and Chahar, with the Baoding area as the assembly area of the general reserve. First of all, the Japanese North China garrison in the area was eliminated, and then it advanced to Shanhaiguan with all its strength, and destroyed about 20,000 Japanese troops in North China with superior troops. However, just as Zhang Kexia handed over the battle plan to Song Zheyuan, Song Zheyuan fell into the hands of the Japanese side, believing that the problem could be resolved through negotiation, and personally negotiated with Lieutenant General Xiangyueqing of the Japanese North China garrison in Tianjin. He later claimed to people that he met with Xiangyue and talked very well, and there was no problem in resolving it peacefully.
After returning to Beiping, Song Zheyuan expressed his peaceful stand to the outside world and hoped that China and Japan would resolve the Lugou Bridge incident at an early date. But reality soon shattered his illusions, and Japan was determined to occupy all of China. On July 15, the Japanese army formulated a battle plan, and on the 20th began to mobilize troops to prepare for war, the invaders officially tore off the pretense of peace and began a large-scale attack on north China.