Republic of China Empire of Japan Japanese estimate : 3,000Chinese investigation of dead army personnel and civilians since the Mukden Incident[1]In Heilongjiang Province from 5 November until 20 November 1931 : Taishō period Shōwa period The Jiangqiao campaign was a series of battles and skirmishes occurring after the Mukden Incident, during the invasion of Manchuria by the Imperial Japanese Army, prior to the Second Sino-Japanese War.

After the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Kwantung Army quickly overran the provinces of Liaoning and Jilin, occupying major cities and railways.

Zhang Xueliang telegraphed the Kuomintang government in Nanjing for instructions, and then appointed General Ma Zhanshan as acting Chairman and Military Commander-in-chief of Heilongjiang Province on October 16, 1931.

[citation needed] In November 1931, General Ma Zhanshan chose to disobey the Kuomintang government's ban on further resistance to the Japanese invasion and attempted to prevent Japanese forces from crossing into Heilongjiang province by defending a strategic railway bridge across the Nen River near Jiangqiao.

A repair crew, guarded by 800 Japanese soldiers, went to work on 4 November 1931, but fighting soon erupted with the 2,500 Chinese troops nearby.

On the November 17, in subzero weather, 3,500 Japanese troops of the 2nd division, under the command of General Jiro Tamon, mounted an attack on Qiqihar's 8,000 defenders along a five-mile front on the heights of San-chien-fang south of Tangchi.

Japanese troops attempting to press Ma's men further up the Nonni River towards Koshen in the cold suffered large casualties on several occasions.