Rizhao is a new city, and at the beginning of 1914, the Qinglian Line built by the People's Party had just begun trial operation, and Rizhao was one of the important stops. The acceleration of urbanization brought about by the railway pass, and the population of this small place, which was originally a few thousand people, expanded to more than 10,000 people in just over half a year. The troops of the Shandong Military Region were all gathered in Qingdao, and when the Japanese army turned south to seize Rizhao, all the local troops and masses in Rizhao were transferred by train. When the Shandong Military Region and the Huai Naval Region were considering encircling and annihilating the Japanese army, Beiyang jumped out and demanded to guard "Rizhao". The Central Military Commission ordered a suspension of the offensive. Since Beiyang is willing to make a final effort on the verge of death, the Central Committee of the People's Party is also willing to see what Beiyang is capable of.

If Beiyang can win, the overall situation in the Far East will become unfavorable to Japan. This is of great benefit to the overall interests of the BJP. If Beiyang loses the Battle of Rizhao, everyone can see that Beiyang will not be able to defeat Japan, and Japan will not be able to defeat the People's Party. It will be of great benefit to the BJP's ensuing National Liberation War.

Chen Ke also hoped to weaken Britain in disguise, and if Beiyang won, Britain would have to increase its support for Beiyang in order to drive Beiyang to deal with the People's Party. The Americans are very smart, they will not join the Allies. The entry of the United States into the Entente means that the Entente will win. At this stage, a small weakening of Britain is very beneficial to China's development. Therefore, the main forces of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army in Hubei and Jiangxi began to attack Hunan, and the troops in the north entered a short period of campaign rest. The People's Party waited to see how the battle between Japan and Beiyang would be decided.

The People's Party had such spare time, and Japan on the other side was in an extremely difficult situation. Before the Battle of Qingdao, the Japanese army had made "all the ideological preparations", that is, they were not ideologically prepared for defeat. The Japanese side had planned to take advantage of the situation to expand Japan's interests in Shandong. According to Japanese officials, once the People's Party was defeated and Qingdao was seized, Yuan Shikai did not dare to directly start a war with Japan. Japan could blackmail Yuan Shikai into allowing the expansion of Japan's rights and interests in Northeast China. If Japan's original rights and interests in Northeast China want to become real interests, it needs to invest like a huge investment in Northeast China, and the returns are not yet certain, but the results are destined to be extremely slow.

Japan's main purpose in maintaining Northeast China was to defend Korea. There are iron ore mines in the north of Korea, but there is a shortage of iron ore in Japan itself, and now that the People's Party has broken off the coke-for-ore agreement with Japan, Japan must first completely digest North Korea.

If this were the only reason, Japan would not have been so eager to intervene in the Chinese civil war. Japan knows the significance of the coal-iron complex to industry, and watching the People's Party play hard to develop steel, if the People's Party reunifies China, Japan's interests are destined to be greatly threatened. Hardliners in Japan are advocating that Britain declare war on China, or at least the People's Party, by taking advantage of the war. At this time, Japan could act as a British thug to intervene in Shandong.

After colluding with the United States, the United States found its collaborators in China and immediately left Japan aside. The restriction on the export of raw silk from Japan once dealt a great blow to the Japanese economy. Raw silk exports account for half of Japan's exports, and the result of this money being cut off is that the Japanese silk industry has suffered a comprehensive crushing blow. Both the old-fashioned and hard-liners in Japan agree that Japan's biggest enemy at the moment is the People's Party.

Even for such a straightforward reason, Japan would have done it earlier. The reason why it did not do so early was because the People's Party was located in a region that made it impossible for Japan to start, and Britain was the hegemon of the East Asian sea, and without Britain's consent, Japan did not dare to take action against the two ports of Qingdao and Lianyungang. Without these two ports, Japan would not have been able to fight a war with the People's Party unless it took the Yangtze River. Britain controlled shipping on the Yangtze River, and Japan was even less likely to intervene in the Yangtze River. In the face of the growing strength of the People's Party in East Asian trade, Japan was helpless against the People's Party.

It was not until after the outbreak of World War I, when the British needed a large amount of silk as a heavy artillery package, that the Japanese silk industry improved. After the outbreak of World War I, the People's Party began to expel British power in the Yangtze River, and Japan finally found a breakthrough. They immediately volunteered to the British to act as pawns, and temporarily obtained Yuan Shikai's support by "supporting Yuan Shikai as emperor". Japan is well aware that they have only one chance, and the capture of Qingdao proves that Japan has the strength to fight the People's Party. Then everything is easy to say. Both Britain and Beiyang will accept Japan's expansion of its sphere of influence in Shandong.

At least until the defeat of Qingdao, Japan still had plans to intervene in Shandong. Japan covets the construction of the People's Party in southern Shandong, that is, in Huaihai Province. Grain, silk, Zaozhuang's coal-iron complex, and even Xuzhou's industrial center based on the development of electrical technology in the second industrial revolution. If you can annihilate the People's Party in Qingdao in one fell swoop, then seize Rizhao and Lianyungang, and then attack Xuzhou along the railway. The proceeds of this vast and fertile region will fall into the hands of Japan.

Before the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan did not expect to be able to seize such great benefits from China. Then, in this Qingdao Campaign, in the face of the People's Party that was attacked on all sides, if Japan was able to open up the situation, it may not be impossible to make another great gain in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Until the Japanese defeat at Qingdao, the Kyushu Division was almost completely annihilated. Only then did Japan understand why the People's Party was able to dominate China and even dare to challenge Britain. The People's Party did not rely on intrigue and intrigues, not on the "secret agreement" with Yuan Shikai of Beiyang, but on real strength. It's just that it was difficult for Japan to ride a tiger at this time, so they turned to attack Rizhao and cut off the Qinglian Railway. Qingdao has Qingdao Fortress as support, and Rizhao does not have Rizhao Fortress. Rizhao does not have so many mountainous areas, the port area is flat, and if the People's Party wants to recapture Rizhao, it will inevitably have to completely expose the army to the naval guns of the Japanese Navy, and the combat effectiveness of the People's Party will inevitably be greatly reduced.

Before the People's Party could attack, Beiyang took the lead in turning its face and saying that it wanted to "take back" Rizhao. The renunciation of this "quasi-ally" annoyed the Japanese side, and the surrender of Rizhao to the Beiyang meant that Japan bowed to the Beiyang. It is difficult to say whether Yuan Shikai will be destroyed in the future, at least the sunshine to the north means that Japan will never be able to enter China again in the short term. This is absolutely not in Japan's interests. Therefore, the Japanese side was full of anger at Yuan Shikai's "betrayal of his teammates". It's just that Japan didn't expect at this time that the existence of teammates was pitted. When Japan showed an advantage on the surface, Japan still had value in using Yuan Shikai. Facts have proved that Japan is not the opponent of the People's Party, and Yuan Shikai's best choice is to fall into the ground.

At a time when the Japanese army was determined that "even if it suffered heavy losses, it could not be defeated by Beiyang" and tried its best to prepare for defense. Wu Peifu, commander of the Beiyang Fourth Army, commanded his troops and began to attack Rizhao.

There is no essential difference in the way wars are fought, and even the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which is under the command of the People's Liberation Army, has not created anything fundamentally different.

Before the war, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had to rely not only on airplanes, but also on cavalry and land scouts. Wu Peifu did not have an airplane, so he relied on telescopes and cavalry, and the Beiyang Fourth Army also raised observation balloons, which made up for the shortcomings of high-altitude reconnaissance.

The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had to prepare artillery fire before the war, and in addition to rocket artillery, the large-caliber artillery of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was even inferior to the Beiyang Fourth Army, an army with integrated British equipment. The Japanese army not only had artillery attached to divisions and regiments, but also naval artillery to assist them. After a rumbling exchange of bombardments between the two sides, the infantry battle finally began.

The infantry of the PLA is the strongest infantry in the world, not because of what has been created, but because this great army has an indomitable offensive spirit. The People's Liberation Army's civil engineering is the best in the world, but the trenches are not for static defense, but to better protect themselves before attacking the enemy. And the excavation of zigzag trenches is not the original creation of the PLA, at least there were similar tactics in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom era. At that time, when the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attacked the city, it dug through the trenches under the enemy's city gate or city wall, stuffed it into a coffin filled with explosives, and with a loud bang, the city wall or city gate was destroyed, and the soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom swarmed in.

The perfect combination of attack and defense, the maximum use of current technology, the maximum use of the latest technology has been mastered. Moreover, the main thing is to annihilate the enemy's living forces to the greatest extent. These concepts of war are taught in this way in any military school that is reasonably competent. However, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the only one in Chen Ke's history that has thoroughly integrated these educations and this kind of cognition into the bone marrow of an army and into the soul of an army through practice, and refined and summarized these with a military concept.

The rest of the army can only do this paradoxically. The Fourth Army under the command of Wu Peifu was a British army, Wu Peifu was a studious man, and before the war, he also dug some trenches in the form of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. These trenches did play a big role under the frantic shelling of the Japanese army, and if it was according to the previous practice of the Beiyang Army, the infantry stayed together in groups, and in the dense artillery fire, the casualties would definitely not be small.

Both the Japanese and the Beiyang Army lacked ammunition, even the Japanese Navy. As the shells gradually began to thin out. Wu Peifu, as the commander of the attacking side, took the lead in issuing the order to charge, and the vanguard of the Beiyang Army ran out of the trench and touched in the direction of the Japanese army.

The initial losses of the battle were all incurred in these fire probes. Even in the era of cold weapons, the vanguard troops are also elite troops, they must continue to test the enemy's "lethality delivery ability", if they find that their lethality can overwhelm the enemy, they must desperately break into the enemy's array. The Beiyang Army was defeated by the Japanese army, and the Beiyang Army began to shoot at the Japanese army's line of fire, and some Japanese soldiers were shot and fell to the ground. As a result, more Japanese troops joined the shooting ranks, and some people in Beiyang and Japanese troops were killed or wounded after being shot.

The standard weapon of the Beiyang Fourth Army is the famous imported British Lee Enfield rifle. This rifle has a large reload and a high rate of fire. It is quite suitable for the characteristics of the Beiyang Army, which stresses courage and ignores science. Intensive rifle salvos that began in the Hunan army era and were repeatedly in Korea during the First Sino-Japanese War almost overwhelming the Japanese army. This time was no exception. The Japanese army did not expect that the Beiyang Army would be able to have such fierce firepower at the beginning. It was suppressed for a while. It was not until the Japanese heavy machine guns began to fire fiercely that the almost fanatical offensive of the Beiyang Army was slightly stopped. However, at this time, part of the Beiyang Army had approached the Japanese trenches. Firepower alone could no longer prevent these Beiyang troops from entering the Japanese positions.

"Kill!" The Japanese also came up with the tried and tested method of bayonet charge. In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese army tried this time and again. Japanese officers and soldiers climbed out of the trenches with bayonets and rushed towards the Beiyang Army, hoping to continue the glory of their predecessors and kill the Beiyang Army in hand-to-hand combat in one fell swoop.

The Lee-Enfield rifle is characterized by the use of a rotating pull-back bolt and a box-shaped detachable magazine, and a rotating pull-back bolt with a locked rear end, which is relatively fast to reload; The installation of a fixed box-type double-row capacity 10-round magazine loading, which improves continuous firepower, is one of the fastest rate of fire in actual combat, and has the advantages of reliability, short bolt stroke, and easy operation. There have been instances in which the Germans mistakenly believed that British positions armed with Lee-Enfield rifles were armed with heavy machine guns.

The rifle of the Japanese army was at most five methods. The rate of fire of the Beiyang Army was not fast when running. The Japanese took advantage of the position when shooting, and by the time the bayonet battle was really fought, there were still remaining bullets in the rifles of the Beiyang Army, and the Japanese had run out of bullets. At this time, the advantages of the two sides were immediately reversed, and in the dense firepower of the Beiyang Army, the Japanese soldiers who broke out of the trenches were beaten like prisoners shot at close range. The Beiyang Army has always "won with courage", and some of them are brave and courageous. Seeing that the gap was opened and shouting, the Beiyang Army entered the Japanese position with a rifle.

Someone once discussed the question of when a chess layout is the most powerful, and the general answer is "the original layout is the most perfect and powerful." ”

The same is true for defensive positions, the initial layout can take into account the coordination of light and heavy firepower, the echelon of troops, and all kinds of war situations that can be conceived can be taken into account. Once the position is breached, then the advantage of the original position can instantly become a disadvantage. The echelon combination of light and heavy firepower will easily lose its effect in the face of a melee situation. For example, a straight trench that is easy to move and transmit orders, and easy to adjust the density and direction of fire, becomes a source of confusion. The rifle range is at least five or six hundred meters, and the straight trench has become a trench that can be pierced with a single shot.

One of the reasons why the PLA is strong is that they are able to launch an almost perfect offensive, and in the course of offensive development, the entire offensive posture becomes stronger and stronger. And the defensive enemy, once it is broken through, can only get worse and worse. This is one of the reasons why this army is invincible.

From a philosophical point of view, the command concept of this army is "firmly believed that the world is constantly changing," and the PLA's combat is to make the changing battlefield develop in a direction that is more and more favorable to the PLA. Grandpa Mao once said, "This army has an indomitable spirit, it will overwhelm all enemies, and will never be subjugated by the enemy, no matter in any difficult and difficult occasions, as long as there is one person, this person will continue to fight." ”

Wu Peifu did not listen to the teachings of this great man, nor did he receive a full set of philosophical and military science education in the military academy of the People's Party, including "Theory of Practice" and "Theory of Contradiction". Wu Peifu adheres to the very traditional concept of "the brave wins". But the simple idea of China, confined to a specific environment, illustrates the idea of changing from quantitative to qualitative change in the world of sports.

Seeing that the first wave of attacks was successful, Wu Peifu immediately ordered the follow-up troops to follow up the attack to the breakthrough. And the troops on both flanks increased the pressure and tried to create more breakthroughs.

The Japanese army's military research was not dry, and even if there was a sudden setback, the Japanese artillery immediately increased the density and speed of fire. The direction of shooting was the only way for Wu Peifu's reinforcements. Even if the Beiyang Army had an advantage in a certain part and broke through a part of the Japanese army's first-line defense system, the overall strength and firepower of the Japanese army still had a comprehensive advantage over this part of the Beiyang Army. As long as the Beiyang Army can be prevented from continuing to inject military strength into this gap, as long as it can prevent the Beiyang Army from continuing to attack, the Japanese army will be able to restore its original defense system sooner or later.

If the Japanese army were facing the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which was under the division of the People's Liberation Army, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would have moved as close to the Japanese army as possible. One of the most subtle aspects of sports warfare is the "frontier movement". It's not just about moving troops "right under the nose" of the enemy, it's about determining the line of attack, and not just one line of attack.

But Wu Peifu's ability reached the limit at this point, and he also determined more than two offensive lines, but the Japanese army was wary of these offensive lines that could be determined without too much effort. Shells rained down on these routes, sending the second wave of Beiyang Army flying in the air and shattering its bones. The Beiyang Army sent out two battalion-level units in a row, but they were scattered by Japanese artillery fire on the way. With the passage of time, the Beiyang officers and soldiers who attacked the Japanese positions were either heroically killed or captured.

The shouting and killing on the Japanese positions gradually stopped, and the Japanese artillery fire gradually stopped. When the two sides temporarily stopped fighting, the sea breeze gradually blew away the smoke and dust that permeated the battlefield. Wu Peifu held a telescope and looked at the Japanese position opposite. However, I saw that many people were pushed out of the Japanese position, and it was determined from the cyan uniforms that these people were officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army. Without waiting for Wu Peifu to figure out what the Japanese army was doing, he saw these Beiyang officers and soldiers standing behind them with rifles, Wu Peifu saw the Japanese guns spewing smoke after the bullets were fired, and the Beiyang officers and soldiers in front of the Japanese army fell to the ground one after another. Only then did Wu Peifu understand that the Japanese army had just pushed the captured Beiyang officers and soldiers out of the Japanese trenches and shot them on the spot.

"Fuck your ancestor!" Seeing this scene, many officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army, including Wu Peifu, couldn't help but scold. But no matter how much he scolded, the first attack launched by the elite of the Beiyang Army still failed.