The Bund in Shanghai.

A huge offshore fleet is flexing its muscles in the Yangtze River Delta. The fluttering plaster flag was particularly dazzling, and the originally busy Shanghai wharf became deserted. The sudden capture of Shanghai by Wehrmacht soldiers made the merchants of all sides panic, and God knows what the crazy young marshal in the north would do. In these troubled times, only prudence and caution can survive. Both farmers and businessmen know how to seek good fortune and avoid evil, and they can make less money, so they should try to avoid trouble.

After receiving the capture of Shanghai by the Chinese Navy with land forces, Rìben's Combined Fleet approached Shanghai at great speed and effectively blocked the mouth of the Yangtze River. The consciousness of provocation is very clear. However, to the surprise of the Combined Fleet, the Chinese Navy could not come out of the Yangtze River waterway, and the Combined Fleet did not receive an order from the military headquarters to launch an attack. For the Rìben Navy, it was difficult for the large battleships to operate on the Yangtze River waterway, which caused the Rìben Navy to stare dryly at the Yangtze River Waterway.

On the Akaryu, the flagship of the Combined Fleet, the commander of the Combined Fleet, Gentaro Yamashita, had a sinking face. They had been adrift at sea for several days, but the military headquarters never received a clear order to retreat. For the Navy, it is nothing to sail at sea for a long time, but now it is different, they are blocked in the back road of the Chinese Navy, and with the consistent strength of the Chinese zhèng fǔ, it is quite possible to use force against the Imperial Navy. Although China's naval combat strength and the Combined Fleet are not of the same grade at all, this is China's territory after all, and such a long long labor expedition is also a burden for the Combined Fleet.

"Your Excellency General, don't you have an order from the military department yet?" Vice Admiral Yamaya, Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet, asked.

Gentaro Yamashita shook his head, and there was anxiety between his eyebrows that was difficult to squeeze.

"Isn't the empire paying too much attention to the navy of China? The strength of the Chinese fleet was barely about the same as the tonnage of a sub-fleet of the Empire. But in terms of the xìng energy of the ship, it is far behind. With such an old and weak fleet, the empire has nothing to scruple about, just destroy it. Lieutenant General Yamaya said in a deep voice.

"Now the internal orders of the empire are not unified, and the struggle between the emperor and the military department is fierce. Without the emperor's mandate, it would have been difficult for the military to make accurate and decisive decisions. Gentaro Yamashita said with a sigh.

Rì Ben joined the Entente, and more and more resources were tilted towards the Western battlefield. Moreover, with the stalemate in the Western theater, the status of the Eastern military power became more and more important, and Emperor Rìmoto intended to increase his power in the West in order to strengthen the influence of the Rìmoto Empire in the world. But the military department has no great interest in promoting national prestige in the West. From the moment it was founded, the military department had a clear goal, that is, to lead Rìben to dominate the Far East. Therefore, there was a great contradiction between the military department and the emperor around the war in the West. The reason why the military department is so enthusiastic about interfering in China's affairs is not only that it does not want the Wehrmacht to become bigger, but also because it wants to draw the emperor's attention from the West back to the Far East. An old fox like Youpeng in Shan County would not waste the power that the empire had so hard built up to serve the West for those vague promises. However, the power of the emperor is far stronger than the military department imagined, especially the Taisho Emperor took advantage of the last defeat of the army to take back a lot of power from the hands of Yamaguchi Aritomo, which makes the Taisho Emperor no longer the puppet who was erected by them. Yama Prefecture Youpeng didn't dare to sweep the emperor's face too much. But if Beiyang opens his mouth to ask for help, then the empire has ample reasons to meddle in Chinese affairs. And as long as there are sufficient benefits from the North Sea, the emperor has no reason to object. It was precisely because of this that the Combined Fleet would rush to the sea outside Shanghai to wait for Beiyang zhèng fǔ to ask for help. At the same time, the envoy of Rìben is also constantly visiting the high-level of Beiyang, hoping to promote Beiyang to ask for help from Rìben. Give rì a reason to intervene.

There are many high-level people in Beiyang, and even Beiyang Prime Minister Wang Shizhen feels that with the help of the power of the national defense force, Beiyang will have a chance to exist. But Feng Guozhang's attitude was very resolute, and the Beiyang bigwigs did not let him change his mind when he met him several times. Even with the successive victories of the Wehrmacht on the battlefield, the defeat of Beiyang has become obvious to anyone.

As the saying goes, there are no eggs under the nest, and under the pressure of the Wehrmacht, the top brass of Beiyang finally became divided, and some people hoped that they could use the power of Rì himself to block the attack of the Wehrmacht. The other part of the people hoped that Beiyang would surrender to the National Defense Force, originally in Beiyang, there was no market for Toucheng, but the telegram of Běi Jīngzhèng Fǔ President Li Yuanhong persuaded many people in Beiyang to move. Everyone knows that Young Marshal Feng has the courage to do so, as long as he agrees, he will not break his promise.

Feng Guozhang watched coldly. There has never been a clear statement, and the old men of Beiyang are even more panicked. The originally prosperous city of Nanjing has lost its stability, with few pedestrians and withered commerce, and a dilapidated scene.

Yangtze River. The Wehrmacht Navy slowly approached the shore, and soldiers began to disembark from the merchant ships escorting the escort behind, and a force quickly docked, during which the Beiyang Army did not attack and was powerless to stop it.

Two hours later, a group of IDF soldiers dressed in camouflage and carrying bulging backpacks lined up on the shore. This force of 20,000 men is not a large division in the Wehrmacht. However, the momentum of this army was extremely dignified, although there was not much killing energy, but the army of 20,000 people stood quietly, and the momentum of a jīng sharp army was born spontaneously.

This unit was the 1st SS Division, and the commander of the 1st Division was none other than Liu Ta, who had made meritorious contributions on the battlefield. Now Liu Ta is already a major general and division commander of the SS. The SS and Wehrmacht were somewhat different, not only because SS soldiers were basically selected from the Wehrmacht, but also because SS officers were one level higher in rank than their predecessors in the Wehrmacht. No one will say anything about this, after all, the SS is the personal guard of the young marshal.

The SS originally wanted to use the surging water of the Yangtze River to directly attack Nanjing, the headquarters of Beiyang. However, Beiyang is not stupid, and the Yangtze River Fleet under his command has laid a large number of mines on the line from Jiang Yin to Zhenjiang, and I don't know how long it will take to thoroughly sort it out. Liu Ta is not equal, and he can't wait. Therefore, the SS chose to disembark at Jiang Yīn and fight directly by land.

The first target of the SS attack was Changzhou. Changzhou, as the city to garrison Nanjing, gathered a division of troops in the city. After receiving the Wehrmacht disembarkation, the division did not dare to delay, and immediately reported to the Beiyang Governor's Palace, and at the same time sent troops to resist.

To the surprise of all parties, this Beiyang division was defeated by the SS in just one face, and the fierce momentum and weapons and equipment displayed by the SS soldiers directly defeated the Beiyang Army.

The SS took Changzhou with little effort. Such a result had a great impact on Beiyang. Feng Guozhang finally began to pay attention to this presumptuous Wehrmacht unit.

Out of prudence, Feng Guozhang transferred 50,000 men from the Nanjing garrison, and then united with the Zhenjiang garrison to obtain a total of 60,000 men, hoping to encircle and suppress this presumptuous Wehrmacht force.

But what shocked the Beiyang Army was that after the SS captured Changzhou, it did not stop, but passed directly through the city, not even paying attention to the prisoners, but only taking away some weapons and equipment and property that could be used. When the Beiyang Army reacted and sent scouts, the whole Changzhou was in chaos, many people took advantage of the fire to loot, and the original military disaster was magnified several times. Eventually, several local veterans joined forces to temporarily stabilize the situation in Changzhou. Only by this time, the 1st SS Division, the initiator of this incident, had disappeared without a trace.

Originally, Beiyang thought that this force would directly attack Zhenjiang, after all, Zhenjiang is the most important city on the periphery of Nanjing, and it is also the current station of the Yangtze River Fleet, if the Wehrmacht captures Zhenjiang, it can directly face the Beiyang headquarters Nanjing, and the Wehrmacht Navy can also advance with confidence to ensure the logistics supply of the SS.

This idea was originally correct, but the SS and Wehrmacht did not use it after all, especially since the 1st SS Division was the basic unit of the SS, and the worship of Young Marshal Feng within the entire army had reached the point of fanaticism. This army is equivalent to the most devout believer of Feng Shaoshuai, as long as it is Feng Shaoshuai's orders, even if he dies, he will carry them out unconditionally. To be precise, these people are all people who have been brainwashed by Feng Shaoshuai, that is, Feng Yong's personal guards, and the sharpest knife in his hand.

The strangeness of the SS surprised the whole Beiyang. Xiao Yaonan, the commander of the Nanjing garrison, was nervous, so he defended the whole of Nanjing like an iron pass, and put the reconnaissance area 20 kilometers around Nanjing. Xiao Yaonan keenly felt the extraordinaryness of this army. Now there are not many garrison troops in Nanjing, and 50,000 people have just been transferred out, and now the number of troops under his command is less than 60,000. Although these troops are still far more than the SS, Xiao Yaonan still does not dare to slack off, too many facts have proved that as long as it has something to do with the Wehrmacht, it will not be too simple.

Xiao Yaonan had a more cautious and delicate mind than other generals in Beiyang, and his caution played a role at this time. Early the next morning, the scouts in Beiyang discovered the traces of the SS. This made Xiao Yaonan very happy, and at the same time, he was full of jealousy of this army. Marching nearly two hundred miles a day, such a terrifying army, if they hadn't been prepared, I'm afraid they would really have to suffer a big loss. Xiao Yaonan ordered the troops to enter a state of combat readiness, and at the same time ordered the troops transferred to Zhenjiang to return to help, and reported the matter to the Beiyang Governor's Mansion as soon as possible.

...