Because there is a real heavy artillery brigade, equipped with the new 180-mm heavy artillery given by Yang Shuoming, Fu Xiaoan, who originally had little confidence in the acting Fifth Division, is now much stronger than before.

After learning that Yang Shuoming had annihilated more than 7,000 Japanese invaders, the morale of the Chinese army, which had been defeated for several days, was boosted, and the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division, which had 180 mm heavy artillery like the victorious Jiangxi army, were also eager to try, wanting to establish the same feats, and the reason why Fu Xiaoan said that he wanted to take the lead was also to try his own combat strength and touch the bottom of the Japanese army.

For the Chinese army, there is a lot to learn in the war.

Listening to Fu Xiao'an's slightly agitated words, Cao Kun smiled and said, "Brother Fu has seen the outside, the brothers in the fifth town have walked a long way and are relatively tired, so it is better to leave the matter of taking the lead to our third town." ”

"Let's listen to Brother Yang's opinion." Zhang Xun, who was sitting on the chair, suddenly said, "These days, this battle fought by Brother Yang is quite decent. ”

Listening to Zhang Xun's words, a trace of annoyance flashed in Wu Peifu's eyes, he just wanted to have a seizure, but seeing that Cao Kun was still smiling there, he even nodded at Zhang Xun, expressing his agreement with Zhang Xun, he held back his anger and didn't say anything, but turned his gaze to Yang Shuoming, waiting for his speech.

"The Japanese army in Shandong originally had an advantage in strength over our army, but it was too contemptuous of our army, and the progress was too fast, and as a result, the battle line was stretched too long. Yang Shuoming pointed to the map and said, "The main force of the Japanese army in the rear is concentrated in Qingdao, the Japanese troops in Zibo, Qingzhou and Weixian are very small, our army can just concentrate its forces and cut off the connection between its front and rear, the Japanese army in Jinan is fighting continuously, and the ammunition supply is definitely insufficient. ”

"Take back Qingdao?" Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, the Beiyang generals in the room were all surprised.

"Qingdao has been occupied by foreign countries for many years, and it is time to return to the embrace of the motherland." Yang Shuoming looked at the Beiyang generals who were looking at each other and nodded, "Of course, this is a later story, what we can do now is to cut off the Jiaoji Railway, so that the Japanese army cannot take care of each other, and then gather and annihilate the Japanese army in Jinan in the shortest possible time." ”

"The shortest amount of time?" Wu Peifu looked at Yang Shuoming and asked.

"Yes, the shortest time." Yang Shuoming said, "Because we will not have a lot of time, Japan has the advantage of the navy, the failure of the Shandong operation, will be transferred from the country, covered by the navy, landing on the coast of the Jiaodong Peninsula, our army must take advantage of the arrival of its reinforcements as soon as possible, otherwise as soon as the Japanese reinforcements arrive, the future battle will be difficult to fight." ”

After listening to Yang Shuoming's words, all the people in the room fell silent.

For most people, the prospect of this war is actually very bleak.

The difference in strength between China and Japan is not clearer than they are known by these soldiers.

"Our main purpose of the operation is not only to hold Shandong, but to strive to destroy as many Japanese troops as possible on the battlefield of Shandong, to weaken the strength of the Japanese army to attack our homeland to the greatest extent, to make the Japanese realize that it is impossible for them to occupy our country, so as to force them to return to the negotiating table and end the war on the most favorable terms for our country." Yang Shuoming continued, "Only when we beat the Japanese hard, and they know how powerful we are, will we know the difficulties and retreat, otherwise, our China will never come out in front of Japan." ”

"Then let's fight well, let the Japanese taste our awesomeness!" Wu Peifu looked at the generals and said loudly, "Even if we finally defeat this war, we can't let the Japanese underestimate us Chinese!" ”

Listening to Wu Peifu's words, some brigade commanders roared one after another, Yang Shuoming looked at the Beiyang warlord who was notorious for the massacre of Jinghan railway workers in the textbooks of later generations (now he is not close to the warlord), and Zhang Xun, the "pigtailed handsome" who also scolded constantly behind him because of the restoration, and sighed secretly in his heart.

Perhaps he was too deeply influenced by the "mainstream" view of history in later generations, and he had a certain prejudice against the historical figures of this era, more or less, and was always instinctively willing to speculate on their words and deeds with the worst malice, but so far, all these people he has seen are Chinese with backbone and blood. ,

Now, I will fight side by side with these people against the barbaric Japanese invaders!

Yang Shuoming retracted his thoughts, refocused his attention on the military meeting in front of him, he looked at the maps and data flashing in his eyes, and began to talk to the Beiyang generals about some details of the battle.

June 21, 1915, on the outskirts of Qingzhou.

At this time, it was close to dusk, but the Japanese position was still a busy scene.

Large groups of Japanese soldiers poured from the communication trenches to the improvised trenches on the front line, and in these shallow trenches, there were still some Japanese soldiers digging hard, and there was an atmosphere of imminent war.

"Our commander is really going to make a plan," Yamamoto Daisa of the 2nd Brigade of the 29th Brigade Hamamatsu Wing patted the ash hanging on his chest and complained to the Wing Commander Shizuoka beside him, "Why don't you let the people of the Guards Brigade come here to carry out defensive duties?" ”

"Those boys and brothers from Tokyo are actually decorations." Shizuoka sneered contemptuously, "They didn't come to Qingdao to fight a war. ”

"But now they are still well in Qingdao City, and there is the protection of the navy, but we are here, using our heads to withstand the artillery fire of the Chinese." Yamamoto shook his head with a wry smile, "This is the difference between people from Tokyo and people from Sendai?" ”

"It is you and me, as well as them, who can really fight for the glory of the Empire." Shizuoka heard the strangeness in Yamamoto's words, and the words of encouragement involuntarily blurted out, "Besides, the artillery fire of the Chinese is actually not so terrible. ”

"But Major General Yamada was killed." Yamamoto said with frustration, "According to the people who fled back from the 24th Brigade, their artillery fire was actually suppressed by the heavy artillery of the Chinese, and you think about it, how many cannons did the Chinese use to attack us?" And Tokyo still thinks we can easily hit Beijing! ”

"We are facing the main force of the Shina army," Shizuoka tried to cheer up Yamamoto, "and don't forget, we easily conquered Mukden and are now closing in on Beijing." ”

"I heard that they didn't fight well," Yamamoto said, "and Cai Gong, the best general in the Chinese, is now in front of them, as if they can't move on anymore." ”

"Cai is indeed an excellent commander," Shizuoka nodded, but immediately corrected Yamamoto's statement, "but even he can't stop the imperial army from advancing towards Beijing, and this time the stagnation of the imperial army's offensive is entirely due to the sudden arrival of the rainy season." ”

In the direction of Mukden, the Japanese attack was very smooth, Mukden, Liaoyang, Jinzhou and other important towns were captured by the Japanese army one after another, and the Chinese army was defeated and retreated, but after entering the second half of June, the northeast suddenly rained continuously, and many places became a Ze country, and the heavy rain forced the Japanese army to stop advancing, and the Chinese army could not stop the Japanese army in such weather. Both sides have stopped attacking each other, and the Northeast Battlefield is now effectively in a state of armistice.

"I wish we had a few heavy rains here." Yamamoto looked at the Japanese soldiers around him who were busy like ants, and said helplessly, "General Kamio doesn't know what to think, and in such a situation, he still wants us to launch a counterattack against the Chinese army!" And it's a deadly night attack! No artillery support yet! Isn't this asking us to die in vain? ”

"As I said earlier, the artillery fire of the Chinese is not so terrible. According to our spies, they do not have many heavy artillery, there are few shells, in the previous battles, they have consumed a lot of shells, and they simply cannot be replenished in time, you know, many of the shells of the Chinese are bought, they themselves cannot produce enough high-quality shells like us, and now our navy has blocked the sea surface of China, and the Chinese can no longer get shells from the outside world. Shizuoka said, "Don't you see that the Chinese have not done anything big these days except for sending only a few stragglers to harass us. It was based on this that General Kamio made the decision to attack at night. ”

"I hope he's right." Yamamoto sighed.

"I believe that from this evening onwards, the people of China will have great suffering." Shizuoka looked at the sunset and lit a paper cigarette, at this time, he suddenly had a sense of foreboding, but in his mouth, it did not show it.

Soon, Shizuoka's premonition was confirmed, just when he had just smoked the paper cigarette, before he could snuff out the cigarette butt, accompanied by the brilliant red glow rising in the distance, a large-caliber cannonball fired by the Chinese smashed down from the sky like a meteor, landed next to Shizuoka and Yamamoto and exploded, blowing them both into minced meat almost at the same time.

Thus began the first round of artillery bombardment of the Chinese troops, and a dense rain of bullets from the sky with a piercing whistling crash smashed into the trenches crowded with Japanese soldiers.

At first a howl of terror, then a scream of misery and pain, then a bark of sorrow and despair, and finally the screams and moans of the survivors.

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