On a day when a rainstorm was about to come, the screams of the Chinese people resounded in the northwest of the Shandong Peninsula:

"The Wako are coming! Run, folks! ”

Early in the morning, dozens of Japanese warships and large steamers appeared outside the port of Longkou in Shandong, and then countless Japanese soldiers landed in the harbor under the cover of naval guns, and their dirty leather boots once again set foot on Chinese soil. In just one day, the once beautiful harbor became a mess, and the Japanese army galloped as if entering a defeated country, burning, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evil, and even forced a large number of young and middle-aged people to do their coolies.

After the main force of the Japanese army forcibly landed at Longkou, it invaded and occupied the towns along the Huangxian, Yexian, Pingdu, Jimo and Jiaoji railways all the way south, and continued to advance towards Qingdao. Along the way, chickens and dogs jumped in the villages, and the cries shook the sky.

An old man sat next to a burning house, holding his dead grandson and weeping silently, "Oh my God! Where are our troops? Why let these Japanese people who kill a thousand knives run rampant! ”

A week ago, Beijing, Yuan Da Presidential Palace.

A group of cars drove into the presidential palace with dazzling sun flags on them, and Japanese soldiers armed with rifles stood on the pedals on both sides of the car. Before the car could stop, the Japanese soldiers jumped out of the car and stood guard next to the convoy with bayonets. An old man in a tuxedo slowly slipped out of the car, and another Japanese officer followed him out of the car.

"Welcome, Mr. Ambassador! Welcome, Mr. Osa! The officer nodded desperately like a chicken pecking rice, and led them in.

The Chinese soldiers watched as the Japanese officers walked into the presidential palace with guns and knives, but they did not even dare to make a sound.

"I said, big brother, why are these Japanese so sideways?" A Chinese soldier touched his companion lightly and snorted at the Japanese soldiers who were standing there expressionlessly.

"Brother, don't mess with these Japanese people, even our president has to give them three points!" The older Chinese soldier next to him glanced inside the gate, "I heard that now they are going to fight the German Maozi in Qingdao with the British Maozi, these have seen a show, let them go dog-eat-dog!" ”

"Big brother, do you think which of them will win?" The soldier tightened the belt of his gun and straightened his chest like the Japanese soldier.

"Whatever they do! It's not a war with us! The older soldier looked indifferent, as if he had forgotten that the war was fought on Chinese soil, and that no matter which side won, it was the Chinese people who would suffer in the end.

In one of the most luxurious study rooms in the presidential palace, when I saw the Japanese coming in, the big bald head sitting behind the desk quickly stood up.

"Ah...... Welcome, Mr. Ambassador! The big bald man stretched out his right hand, but the Japanese ambassador and the Japanese officer just walked up to the desk and bowed slightly, and the big bald man had to smile awkwardly and retract his hand.

"President Yuan, long time no see!"

"Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for your concern, I wonder what advice Mr. Ambassador has for today?" After motioning for the others to leave the study, the big bald head sat back in his place with a smile on his face, which was a chair with an unusually delicate and luxurious carved dragon carving.

The Japanese soldier who came with the Japanese ambassador took out a map and spread it on the table, and when he looked at it, he understood seven or eight points.

"Mr. Ambassador, the courage of your country to go to war with the Germans is truly admirable, but as far as I know, the Germans have built a large number of advanced fortifications in Qingdao. In my humble opinion, everyone still values peace, and let them fight the battle of foreigners by themselves! If your country insists on attacking Qingdao, I am afraid that it will inevitably lose its troops and ......."

"Yaga!" The Japanese soldier stood up suddenly, startling the big bald head.

"Bastard! How can you be so rude to the great president! Although the Japanese ambassador said this, there was no anger in his tone, and the big sa said "hi" and silently retreated to the side.

"Mr. President, our country will never tolerate the Germans' hegemony in East Asia, this is a just war for the Asian people to drive out the enemy, and we hope to receive your strong support! As long as the president demarcates the south of the Yellow River as a neutral zone for our army to march, he can get the honor of the victor without a fight! ”

"But Mr. Ambassador, my country is prepared to remain neutral in the war, so I am afraid that it will be ......" The big bald head looked very embarrassed, and the Japanese ambassador saw through his trick at a glance.

"We understand this, and if the President agrees, as a thank you, our government will urge the bank to approve your government's loan of 20 million yuan!"

The brows of the big bald head were all stretched out at once, "That's good, that's good!" It is the duty of our government to support the Asian compatriots in driving out the German Korko! ”

"Very well, Mr. President! Wait for the news of the triumph of our Imperial Japanese Army! ”

In the end, the government of Yuan Da Guangtou brazenly declared that the areas around Zhulongkou, Laizhou, and Jiaozhou Bay were war zones, and that they did not assume the responsibility of complete neutrality, and the rest of the country still strictly maintained neutrality. At the same time, it was agreed with the Japanese government that the special marching area was limited to the east of Weixian Station, about 100 miles from Qingdao, and that the Japanese army should abide by this limit and not cross the westward advance.

In early September, the first batch of more than 20,000 troops of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army arrived at Longkou and landed under the cover of the fleet. Longkou, located 150 miles from Qingdao, was not a German lease, and there were no German troops, and the Japanese landed at Longkou nominally by land, but in fact to include the entire Shandong Peninsula in their sphere of influence.

Shortly after the Japanese landed at Longkou, the situation in the European theater changed dramatically, and the powerful British navy was heavily damaged by the Germans, and the main warships were lost. The Japanese government took into account the rapid development of the situation in the European war and the uncertain situation of the war, and decided to capture Qingdao as soon as possible. The Japanese General Staff Headquarters then decided to increase its troops again, adding the 4th Independent Siege Heavy Artillery Brigade, carrying 6 powerful 280 mm caliber heavy howitzers; the deployment of additional temporary railway wings for the erection of light railways; Taking into account the firepower gap caused by the time taken to erect the railway, in order to make up for the firepower gap, the second wing of the field heavy artillery was redeployed, carrying 12 heavy howitzers with a caliber of 240 mm; Due to the huge amount of work, an independent engineer brigade was also transferred, and all the additional troops were ready to follow the second batch of Japanese troops to land from Laoshan Bay.

The water area on the east side of Wanggezhuang in Laoshan Bay is about 1 kilometer away from the shore is an ideal anchorage for the Japanese army, which can berth more than 3,000 tons of transport ships, and can accommodate dozens of large and small ships in the bay, and the landing conditions are superior to those of Longkou Bay. However, because the east and southeast sides of the bay mouth face the open sea, they are susceptible to the influence of wind and waves, and it is difficult to land when the waves are strong, so they must be connected by small boats.

The Japanese army originally expected that the landing would be very smooth, but unexpectedly, the weather would not be perfect, and in addition, they were all recruited civilian ships from China, so many supplies could not be transported. The German army first laid many mines along the coast, forcing the Japanese troops to clear mines before they could land. As a result, the Japanese army sent several minesweepers to carry out minesweeping operations in the open waters around Yangkou.

In order to prevent the Japanese fleet from landing off the coast of Qingdao, the Germans laid a total of more than 300 mines in the waters off Qingdao, most of which were located in the shipping lanes between Huiquanjiao and Xuejia Island, and between Tuan Island and Xuejia Island. In this place alone, more than 130 anchor mines were deployed, forming two blockade lines. In addition, the Germans also laid two mine arrays off the coast of Shazikou Bay, totaling more than 30 mines. The Germans also laid nearly 20 mines on Damai Island and the line of Stone Old Man. At the same time, the Germans laid more than 20 sunken mines on the line of Fushansuo Bay to prevent the Japanese from sending small boats to land. In order to prevent the combined Japanese and British fleets from approaching the coast, the Germans deployed more than 50 mines in the waters west of Dagong Island. In addition, in order to prevent Japanese ships from approaching the urban area along Xuejia Island, the Germans also deployed more than 50 mines in the waters around Zhucha Island. At the same time, the Germans also deployed a varying number of submerged mines in the waters near the coastal defense forts such as Taiping Point and Huiquan Point to facilitate defense. These mines are basically divided into two types: anchor mines and sunken mines. Most of these anchor mines are deployed in important water areas to block the main shipping lanes; Sunken mines are deployed in places where enemy ships can easily land. A small number of German drift mines were deployed in deep-sea waters.

Originally, the Japanese army also wanted to take a large warship to go ashore directly near Qingdao, but because there were German coastal defense batteries and some temporary batteries everywhere on the shore, and because the Germans had laid a large number of anchor mines and sunken mines on the sea, the eight minesweepers of the Japanese Second Fleet were unable to clear the coastal mines within the specified time. In addition, the German coastal defense batteries were able to fire at Japanese ships operating minesweepers from the side.

The Japanese minesweeping operations continued until mid-September, when the Horiuchi Brigade flotilla, which was preparing to land from Laoshan, landed close to the coast.

The area of Wanggezhuang in Laoshan Bay is surrounded by mountains on three sides, one side faces the sea, the sea surface in the bay is flat and is an excellent landing ground, because of its location, the tide difference is large, so the Japanese army uses the difference between the tide and the evening to speed up the construction of the landing trestle bridge as much as possible, so as to facilitate the landing of materials. Due to the short length of several landing trestle bridges built, it was difficult for the Japanese army to land. Although the Japanese army forcibly landed in the heavy rain, when the tide fell, the sea withdrew from a large shallow, and the Japanese ships could not reach the landing trestle, so they had to use some small wooden boats to connect back and forth, dismantle the large materials, and load them on the ship, while most of the personnel swam ashore. God seemed to condemn this unjust war, and for several days after the Horiuchi Brigade landed, it rained incessantly, which made the landing of the Japanese army extremely difficult.

In mid-September, a fierce naval battle broke out again in the North Sea, and the British naval force was devastated, and the British king issued a declaration to defend the homeland, summoning the British colonial fleets and colonial legions to return to the mainland, and the British fleet and the Indian colonial corps that had planned to participate in the battle of Qingdao also hurriedly withdrew.

Although the Entente army that attacked Qingdao was only left with the Japanese army, but the Japanese did not intend to give up at all, after the Japanese army landed from Longkou occupied the Jiaoji Railway on land, the German army's land retreat was stuck, when the Japanese army Horiuchi detachment as the second batch of the Japanese 18th Division sent troops to land from Laoshan Bay northeast of Qingdao, the Japanese encirclement of Qingdao has gradually formed, as the two army units began to exchange fire, the battle of Qingdao is intensifying!