Jiaozhou City is located in the depths of Jiaozhou Bay, is the first stop of the Jiaozhou Railway Qingdao to Jinan, from Jiaozhou Bay to here in a straight line of 36 kilometers, unless the Japanese fleet breaks through the mine blockade into the bay, otherwise it is just outside the maximum range of the King Kong naval guns. In order to intervene in the battle for Qingdao at a critical moment, the 2nd and 18th Divisions directly placed their forward bases here, although they attracted protests from Germany, but at this moment even they felt that the protest was extremely weak.

The entire Jiaozhou city has become a large military camp, and the materials that have long been hoarded in Xuzhou and Bengbu and other places began to be transported to the front line along the Jiaoji Railway.

Shandong is not as good as Fengtian, and the coastline after Lushun was occupied is actually just that, as for the north of Jinzhou on the peninsula, it is full of tidal flats, and it is barely able to rely on boats until Yingkou in Gaizhou, and the Yalu River and the Tumen River are even more mountainous, so the Japanese army can only land in Jiuliancheng and Jinzhou. And Shandong is in trouble, not to mention the mouth of the Yellow River and the Longkou that has been occupied, Penglai, Haiyang, Jiaonan and Rizhao all have the landing conditions, and they can even pounce directly on Jiangsu, so don't look at the first batch of three reserve divisions have been replenished to the Bohai Theater, but in order to ensure the safety of seaports in various places, nearly 90,000 troops including 1 main division, 3 Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi reserve divisions and 4 National Guard Brigades have been contained, so there are still only 2, 9, 11, 18, 102, Six divisions of the 103rd and a cavalry brigade were formed only last year, while the second batch of reserve divisions, two of which had arrived from Sichuan, would not arrive until at least mid-August.

On the other hand, after the successive defeats of Motianling and Jiuliancheng, the Japanese divisions and regiments had already resumed their wartime establishment, and in addition to transferring personnel from the reserve to replenish them, they also transferred some wings from other divisions and regiments that were not dispatched for the time being to reinforce them. The three divisions that rushed to Shandong were all composed of four infantry wings, three artillery and cavalry engineering wings, and some additional auxiliary personnel, with a full strength of more than 23,000 per division and regiment, plus the ninth brigade and regiment, which actually exceeded 70,000, not counting the scattered forces such as the Marine Corps.

War is attrition and counter-attrition, and those who want to kill their opponents with a stick are often killed first, so after Cai Ye arrived here, in addition to speeding up the arrival of the troops, he did not rush to launch a large-scale campaign, but stepped up the evacuation of the people in the war zone, transferred materials or simply burned them. The conscripted minfu was leveling the land with the help of tractors, and the two sparrow reconnaissance trainers that arrived in the first batch slowly rose into the sky from among them, which was shocking to anyone who saw the plane for the first time, so many people raised their heads and watched the war eagle disappear in the direction of Qingdao.

Governor Waldeck and Traun, who had come to consult, soon saw the sparrows whizzing by, and the corners of their mouths were in a trance.

"It's a war!" Traun held the cold cement parapet in his hand, and his gaze was a little frozen when he looked at the sea: "I received a telegram last night that His Majesty Wilhelm has declared war on France and Russia, and the chief of staff of Moltke Jr. is attacking Belgium according to the Schlieffen plan, and it is only a matter of time before the British are involved." Here you are. ”

"Japan and China both want to get Qingdao, and we are caught between them." Governor Waldeck, who had the Prussian Medal of Honor pinned to his chest, looked at Traun and asked, "Is there any news from Your Majesty and the General Staff?" ”

Traun shook his head: "No reply yet." I guess His Majesty Wilhelm is not willing to give up Qingdao. ”

"No one will be reconciled, although Yang Qiu said that we can come back, but do you think we still have a place to settle after losing Qingdao?" Waldeck suddenly straightened up, and the old Prussian soldier suddenly raised his voice: "Your Excellency, Minister, help me convey to His Majesty William, at least I will not give it to them easily." ”

Traun understood that, in fact, since Bismarck's time when the German army advocated command and brotherhood, there was no army in Germany that surrendered without firing a shot. It's just that he is worried that Yang Qiu is too guilty to explain, after all, Germany and him have not yet reached the point where the conflict of interests tears their faces, and those new technologies that emerge in an endless stream may be able to help Germany, so he said: "I have no right to give you orders, but for the sake of Germany and him not having a serious conflict, please make the most suitable choice." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the staff officer rushed over and shouted, "Your Excellency! Japan ordered us to hand over the Qingdao and Jiaoji railways within six hours. ”

"I will make a choice for Germany." After Waldeck finished speaking, he smiled at Traun and then turned his head to say that his voice was much rougher: "Six hours? Why not 6 minutes? Tell those yellow-skinned dwarfs that I will pile their corpses all over Mount Maultik and fill the reservoir with their blood! ”

Just as the Japanese government issued an ultimatum to Germany, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the Wehrmacht dispersed from Laiyang to the townships and counties to demand that everyone evacuate. "Auntie, let's go! There's going to be a war here. ”

"Uncle listened to me, the Japanese are calling! Come on. ”

"Lao Tzu kindly persuaded you, why are you scolding? Where is the tomb of Wanzhong in Lushunkou still standing! The Japanese soldiers were ferocious, and it would be too late if they didn't leave. "In Qixia County, north of Laiyang, a team of cavalry is persuading everyone to leave, but the Chinese people are willing to give up so much of their business at once, so even if the soldiers say that they are dry, less than half of the people in the county are gone.

This situation made Mei Sheng particularly annoyed.

Because of his meritorious service in the Northern Expedition and the defense of Dongying, he is now the commander of the Second Cavalry Brigade. Unlike the 1st Brigade, which came from the northwest, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade and the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, which was on standby in Rehe to guard against Mongolia, were all selected from the Northeast and Beiyang armies after the reunification of the country, and their quality and ability were not much worse than those of the 1st Brigade. But that's a war! Now it was a chore to persuade the common people to leave their things and evacuate quickly, so he had to personally lead the officers to summon the gentry to persuade everyone to leave.

In the county government, the new young county magistrate was also sweating profusely, and the chairman was calling on millions of members of the National Socialist Party across the country to work together to cooperate with the army and the government to do a good job in overcoming the national crisis, but they did not want to leave when these squires and local protectors, who were usually cooperative, heard that they were going to leave their land and property and evacuate. It was the first time that Mei Sheng had encountered such a tricky task, unlike the county magistrate who had just graduated from college, he simply took out his pistol and slapped it on the table after he was in a hurry, and Qiu Ba yelled: "Go!" You have to go, who the hell won't go, Lao Tzu will raid the house with a gun first! ”

The squires and local protectors broke out in a cold sweat, and the prestige of the national defense army has long been famous in the north and south of the country, starting from the southwest to the northern expedition to Henan and Shaanxi, how many uncooperative people have ended up with no money? Therefore, the people who were still aggressive just now and said that they would not leave immediately turned one hundred and eighty degrees, nodded and said that they would take everyone away immediately.

Seeing that it finally made sense, although the means were almost intimidating, the county magistrate finally breathed a sigh of relief, and naughtily raised his thumb to Mei Sheng: "Chief Mei, it's still up to you." "Hehe, what's this, I want to be when I was in Dongying." Mei Sheng put away his gun and was just about to show off his great achievements in killing all sides in Dongying, when an explosion suddenly came from outside.

"Brigade commander, Japanese army!"

"What!" The explosion frightened the county magistrate to squat down in a hurry, Mei Sheng also jumped up like a rabbit, and rushed outside to see a lot of Japanese infantry in the direction of Longkou in the northwest, and the four field guns kept firing here.

Mei Sheng didn't expect the Japanese army to kill so quickly, which showed that the other party's reinforcements had arrived, and hurriedly grabbed the county magistrate and shouted: "Retreat!" Take everyone to Laiyang immediately! Burn all the food for me before you leave! We're here to cover you. "Since the 2nd Brigade has all been dispersed to various towns and villages, Mei Sheng has only one cavalry battalion in his hands, and the Japanese army has almost one brigade, if the enemy has a cannon to defend the city, he will not have much advantage, so he simply ordered to charge first to disrupt the enemy's position, and then defend the city to buy time.

When more than 500 cavalry began to attack, the people who were reluctant to leave just now instantly turned into birds and beasts and scattered under the threat of falling shells, and many ordinary people who did not run in the right direction were killed by shells, and the blood finally made the people here clearly realize that the war was coming.

"Spread out."

Mei Sheng raised his saber, lowered his head, and almost the whole person lay on the back of the galloping horse and rushed towards the enemy, although he still had a submachine gun on his back, but he preferred to use the traditional saber to solve the problem. A distance of a few hundred meters was just two puffs of smoke for a war horse, and before the Japanese infantry fired the third shot, Mei Sheng's saber had already wiped the neck of a Japanese soldier who had no time to guard against it.

By the time the blood poured out, the cavalry battalion had already penetrated the Japanese position, bypassing a large circle and then rushing up again from the back. In just two charges, the Japanese brigade that had just arrived was rushed to pieces, and Mei Sheng originally wanted to simply come for the third time, but the two Japanese heavy machine gun squads made him give up the idea.

Shells and machine guns were intertwined again, and they were sprinkled over and over again in the unprepared Qixia County, and hundreds of civilians who did not have time to be completely blown up were killed, but more because of the stubborn resistance of the cavalry to retreat from the West Gate to Laiyang. Three hours later, the entire county was empty, and before leaving, Mei Sheng simply lit a fire to everything that the Japanese army could use, and then led the cavalry battalion away. Almost at the same time as Qixia encountered the Japanese army, Shirakawa Yoshinori, who had been reinforced by a brigade, changed his defense to attack and led the 9th Brigade from Longkou to all parts of the peninsula, in addition to seizing the territory as soon as possible, he also hoped to collect food supplies and military supplies, and open up the north and south to cooperate with the attack on Qingdao. However, the result was not good, due to the obstruction and destruction of the cavalry brigade that had begun to organize the evacuation in advance, the granaries in many places were burned, so that the 9th Brigade did not collect enough food.

Soon after Qixia appeared in the Japanese army, Cai Yi received the news that Shirakawa Yoshinori had sent an all-out attack on the counties on the peninsula north of Laiyang, but at this time he had no time to care, because a thunderous explosion had already been heard in Qingdao, which was close at hand.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of August 2, 1914, the Japanese government declared war on Germany! The Japanese Second Fleet, which arrived in advance, gathered four old battleships and began to bomb the Qingdao fortress indiscriminately. At this time, the British government, which was an ally of Japan, had not yet declared war.