Chapter 526 525 [The Great Wall War]

There are a lot of celebrities who came to see the play today, more than half of them were invited by Meng Xiaodong himself.

These days, Peking Opera is a national quintessence like mahjong, and everyone from the powerful to the common people loves it.

Meng Xiaodong was well-known in East China and Central China when she was a teenager, and she sang operas in Pingjin and Tianjin for several years. She knew no fewer dignitaries and celebrities than Zhou Hexuan. All the pear gardens in Tianjin, celebrities in the fancier circle, including some politicians and wealthy businessmen, all came to join in the fun.

Many people from Peiping also came, including Zhang Xueliang's wife, Yu Fengzhi.

This eldest sister is a veteran and die-hard movie fan. She is usually keen on social welfare activities and belongs to a well-known philanthropist in the north. She has always had a good relationship with Meng Xiaodong, and used to take Zhang Xueliang to the theater together. Although Zhou Hexuan and Zhang Xueliang had trouble, the personal relationship between the two women is still very close.

"Mingcheng," Yu Fengzhi took the initiative to talk to Zhou Hexuan, "I miss Hanqing very much, why haven't you been visiting the house recently?"

Zhou Hexuan laughed and said, "I'm usually too busy, so I will definitely visit Commander Zhang another day."

Yu Fengzhi deliberately eased the conflict and said, "Why are you so out of touch, you can just call him Han Qing."

Zhou Hexuan could only say: "Brother Hanqing is busy with military affairs these days, I'm afraid I don't have time to talk to me."

"What can he do?" Yu Fengzhi smiled, and suddenly remembered Zhang Xueliang's frequent military meetings these days, so he asked quickly, "Mingcheng, are the Japanese making moves again?"

Zhou Hexuan nodded with a serious face: "The target of the Japanese this time is Rehe."

During the period of the Republic of China, there were four provinces in Northeast China, namely Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Rehe. After the September 18th Incident, the Japanese only occupied the three provinces in the Northeast, and only by swallowing Rehe Province can they be considered to have complete control of the Northeast.

If nothing else, when Zhou Hexuan and the others were watching a play in the theater, the Kwantung Army was already preparing to attack Shanhaiguan.

There is no need for Zhou Hexuan to remind this matter, Zhang Xueliang was already prepared.

Since the Kwantung Army captured Jinzhou, they quickly mobilized troops to set up camp. The Japanese camp was only 1 mile away from Shanhaiguan.

Just half a month ago, the Kwantung Army blatantly fired at Shanhaiguan, and completed the assembly of sea, land, and air forces at the end of December. He also publicly evacuated the local Japanese nationals, making it clear that he was going to attack Shanhaiguan, and he was not afraid of exposing his military plan at all.

Zhang Xueliang was scolded by the whole country after losing the three eastern provinces, and he also wanted to restore his prestige. When he learned of the movement of the Kwantung Army, he immediately dispatched troops to deploy the Great Wall defense line, and prepared to fight the Kwantung Army to the death—he had no way out. exposed under the iron hooves.

Where is Rehe Province?

At the junction of the three provinces of Hebei, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia in later generations, such as Chengde, Chifeng, and Huludao, they were all under the jurisdiction of Rehe Province at this time.

Zhou Hexuan looked at the stage helplessly. Probably tonight, the defenders of Shanhaiguan will fire the first shot of the Great Wall War of Resistance.

The Great Wall's Anti-Japanese War is full of songs and tears.

However, the Kwantung Army at this time is no longer the Kwantung Army at the time of "September 18th". Under the three-dimensional attack of the three armies of the sea, land and air, Shanhaiguan was breached after only holding on for three days. In the next few months, the Central Army, the Northwest Army, and the Northeast Army jointly defended the front line of the Great Wall, but they were still unable to withstand the Japanese attack, and finally ended the war with the "Tanggu Agreement" that humiliated the country. After the Japanese army captured Rehe, their soldiers pointed directly at Beiping and Tianjin, and fighting again would be a full-scale war of resistance.

Of course, the Great Wall War was not without merit. The people all over the country donated money and materials enthusiastically, while the frontline officers and soldiers fought bravely. They were often wiped out in battalion units, and no one retreated until the last battle.

This caused great casualties to the Japanese army, and also hit the arrogance of the Japanese military headquarters, so that the Japanese army had to postpone its plan to invade China in an all-round way.

Chang Kaishen is the one who is more messed up. Although he sent a part of the Central Army to support him, he still basically continued the decision of "to fight against the outside world, we must first secure the inside". Not only that, he also deliberately suppressed non-governmental anti-Japanese and national salvation activities, on the grounds that he would avoid completely angering Japan.

...

Not long after, Hu Shi also came with his friends, sitting in the auditorium and chatting nonsense with Zhou Hexuan.

Finally the fun begins.

The music sounded, and four eunuchs led Zhu Wenxun onto the stage.

After a while of chanting, Eunuch A faced the inside and said, "General Hua is entering the palace!"

"Leader!"

Hua Yun, played by Meng Xiaodong, came out in response, and read: "I am ordered to guard the important city, how can I have peace day and night?"

"good!"

Meng Xiaodong only took a few steps on the stage, and then he said a sentence, which caused the audience to burst into applause.

Tianjin Famous Ticket Han Shenxian said to Wang Gengsheng beside him: "Xiao Dongbai has been studying under Mr. Yu for three years, and now his skills have been perfected, and he is not inferior to all the famous Xusheng masters."

Wang Gengsheng also said with emotion: "Xiaodong's comeback this time, the title of 'Donghuang' is well deserved. In today's China, Xiaodong is not only ranked first, but at least he can be ranked in the top three."

The play being sung right now is called "Battle of Peace", and the famous general Hua Yun is under Zhu Wenxun, Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew. Because Zhu Wenxun refused to adopt a good strategy, and then bowed his knees and surrendered, Hua Yun was defeated and captured, and finally vowed to die unyielding, and was tied to the execution ground by Chen Youliang. After arriving at the execution ground, Hua Yun broke the rope, took the knife and beheaded several Han soldiers, but was exhausted by the arrow and killed herself in the enemy's formation.

Zhou Hexuan is now considered a knowledgeable fancier, and all the dramas of Meng Xiaodong's comeback today were chosen by Zhou Hexuan himself. There is no drama about love between children, it is all about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country, and swearing to the death. For example, the current "Battle of Peace" satirizes Chang Kaishen and Zhang Xueliang severely, comparing them to Zhu Wenxun who bowed his knees and surrendered.

"Accepting the king's kindness should be rewarded, and the ministers will be loyal, sweep away the smoke and dust, open up the territory and determine the universe. How many people have spared their lives since ancient times, and the king is loyal to the court, so how can the clan be cared for!"

"good!"

"good!"

As soon as Meng Xiaodong sang, the theater immediately burst into applause, and the momentum seemed to be able to overturn the ceiling.

A rich second-generation star-chaser named Li Zhigang, blushing with excitement at this moment, frantically took out silver dollars from his pocket and threw them on, shouting impatiently: "Look and see!"

Historically, this guy died 5 years ago.

Because he was obsessed with Meng Xiaodong and couldn't help himself, he pursued it in many ways but failed. He also heard that Meng Xiaodong married Mei Lanfang as his concubine, so he directly raised his gun and ran to Mei Lanfang to settle the score. The manager of "Continental Evening News" Zhang Hanju tried to persuade the fight, but was shot to death by Li Zhigang. Li Zhigang was also shot to death for homicide.

Chasing stars until he shoots and kills people shows how charming Meng Xiaodong is.

Fortunately, the matter of Meng Xiaodong marrying Zhou Hexuan as his concubine has not been fully exposed, otherwise Li Zhigang would have come to trouble Zhou Hexuan with a gun.

Today is Meng Xiaodong's comeback special, except for taking the opportunity to take a break in the middle of a few scenes, Meng Xiaodong sang for a full afternoon, and the fans applauded until his voice became hoarse. When the performance was over, silver dollars, jewelry and other rewards were everywhere on the stage, and dozens of bouquets of flowers were piled up in the backstage.

Although Vivien Leigh didn't understand, she was still frightened by the madness of these movie fans. Although she was popular in London, but when she was acting, she didn't see anyone throwing money wildly on the stage.

Suddenly, Vivien Leigh became very interested in Peking Opera. She ran to Meng Xiaodong and said, "Miss Meng, I want to learn opera from you!"

"Huh?" Meng Xiaodong was confused.

In the next period of time, Meng Xiaodong sang 32 consecutive shows in Pingjin and Tianjin, almost all the shows were sold out, and his fame went further than a few years ago. No one dared to question the title of "Donghuang" anymore, because of his strength, many people even regarded Meng Xiaodong as "the first person in Xusheng".

There is a record in "History of Chinese Opera": "(Meng Xiaodong) has worshiped (Yu) Shuyan since he worshiped (Yu) Shuyan. Stuff is something for a real research institute, and Meng Xiaodong is really the only qualified graduate student."

"The only person in the Yu faction who has received the true inheritance of the mantle", this evaluation is not unreasonable.

In martial arts novels, Meng Xiaodong is probably equivalent to bringing his art into the Wudang school, and after several years of penance, he becomes the chief disciple and future head of Wudang.

Since then, Meng Xiaodong's fame has reached that of Mei Lanfang in North China, and gradually spread to the South. So much so that a local tyrant in Shanghai celebrated his birthday and sent a special telegram to Tianjin to invite Meng Xiaodong to a concert in Shanghai with a lot of money. The appearance fee was 500 yuan, including food, lodging and travel expenses, and there was also a tip.

At the same time that Meng Xiaodong became popular, Zhang Xueliang was reviled by the public again. Because the Great Wall defense line was lost one after another, the Japanese army continued to invade Rehe, Zhang Xueliang became a national sinner again, and there were voices telling him to get out and go to the wild.

When the entire province of Rehe fell, it was the day when Zhang Xueliang took the blame and went to the field.

In fact, Zhang Xueliang really took the blame this time, and the responsibility for Rehe's fall was not entirely on him.

Rehe Province belonged to Tang Yulin's territory. Since the fall of the three eastern provinces, Tang Yulin no longer listened to Zhang Xueliang's command. When Zhang Xueliang and Song Ziwen went to Rehe to supervise the battle, Tang Yulin cursed after hearing the news: "Did the little six collude with Song Ziwen and come to attack me!"

As a veteran Feng faction warlord, the Japanese army was approaching in a big way. Tang Yulin's first thought was to preserve his strength. He violated Zhang Xueliang and Zhang Zuoxiang's combat orders in various ways, which resulted in Jehol's defense system full of loopholes.

When facing the Japanese aircraft and tanks, Tang Yulin's Cui Xingwu Department took the lead in surrendering, and a big hole was opened in the front line defense of "Kailu". Immediately after Wan Fulin was in charge of defending the "Lingyuan" line, he heard the news and fled, and the Chaoyang area followed suit.

The simultaneous defeat of the three fronts made the Japanese army feel like they were in no man's land.

Zhang Xueliang wanted to roll up his sleeves and fight a bloody battle, but the warlords under him didn't listen to his command, so what could he do?

Zhang Zuoxiang, the coach of the Battle of Rehe, also performed badly. Seeing that several fronts were lost, he didn't think about how to remedy it, so he left the troops and ran away in a car. And Tang Yulin saw that the coach had run away, and he was playing a fart, so he also led the troops to retreat.

On the contrary, Sun Dianying, who was born as a bandit, showed bravery and led his troops to fight the Japanese army for seven days and seven nights. It's a pity that this Captain Mojin later defected to Japan and became a traitor, otherwise he would be regarded as an anti-Japanese patriotic general.