 During the Northern Expedition of 1927, North Szechuan Road and the extra-settlement roads area east of it to Hungkow Port were garrisoned by Japanese troops.Japanese troops retained control of this area until the January 28 incident of 1932, which gave the Japanese the opportunity to push the western boundary of this zone to the Shanghai–Woosung railway.In the fierce fighting during that battle, Japanese forces were able to occupy the urban area of the Zhabei Chinese zone, and several towns in the northern suburbs.