"We are not going to surrender, why are we letting our comrades go under the white flag?" In the afterglow of the setting sun, Pang Zi asked Pu Guanshui.

Pu Guanshui replied: "First of all, it is not a white flag. It was a red cross flag for medical use. Secondly, can you guarantee that our comrades will not be used as offensive spearheads by the Germans when they pass? ”

This is the real truth, yes, but Pang Zi is still extremely awkward in his heart, "Where are the immortals in war." What German civilians? All aggressors. ”

"Dogs bite people, people beat dogs to death, that's right. But dogs eat, people eat too? Pu Guanshui persuaded, "Lao Pang, I know that you have a deep enmity with the Germans. But we are first and foremost members of the People's Party, and we are also proud Chinese. Don't you feel ashamed to have a virtue with a foreign devil? ”

"I'm not ashamed! What's not to be ashamed of in revenge? Pang Zi replied loudly. However, it is obvious that his confidence is also quite lacking. It is impossible for the BJP to allow the killing of civilians, as Chen Ke made clear at the pre-war meeting. The massacre of civilians who did not resist for reasons of anger was to be shot, no matter how high the position of the person in the BJP.

Pu Guanshui didn't want to take advantage of his tongue, so he changed the topic, "The battle that starts tomorrow will definitely meet the desperate resistance of the Germans." Troops will be sent out tonight to prepare for the blasting. ”

Hearing this, Pang Zi was a little angry for the first minute, but after a minute, he couldn't hold back anymore, "Let's go, I'll lead the team." ”

Yang Guigui, the commander of the Seventh Army, said with a smile: "The two legs of the charge can't outrun your four legs, but the blasting can't be on your turn." After saying this, Yang Guigui turned to Pu Guanshui, "Commander Pu, you came back from Germany." How good can the Germans be? ”

"Very capable of fighting." Pu Guanshui told the truth, "You can say that they are old-fashioned, and their tactics are completely different from ours, but the Germans are quite capable of fighting in their tactics." Don't think of Beiyang as the Germans think. I actually hoped that the Germans would surrender, but they would not surrender. ”

The first battle of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's construction was to break through the siege of Yuezhangjidi in Fengtai County, and since then, there have not been many real field battles, most of which have been siege warfare. Yang Guigui, who rose from an ordinary soldier to the position of army commander, has a deep understanding of the cruelty of siege warfare. Coupled with the fact that he had studied the map of Qingdao Fortress, Yang Guigui only sighed slightly, but did not make the slightest comment.

The People's Party's negotiating team approached the Qingdao fortress on horseback and with the Red Cross flag held high, and the Germans had not completely lost their minds. Although a platoon of German soldiers with rifles was raised, aiming at the BJP soldiers as if they were facing a great enemy. But no one fired at the negotiating team. Because he had never met the Germans, the negotiator, Lin Juemin, did not know whether the Germans were already white-skinned or pale from nervousness. And there were some things that attracted Lin Juemin's attention even more, at the barricade in front of the fortress, the expatriates were panicked and carried large bags of things to the fortress, riding horse-drawn carriages or flatbed carts to the fortress. Seeing three People's Party cavalrymen holding red cross flags approaching, the faces of these foreign devils were extremely ugly.

He was rudely dragged off his horse by German soldiers and searched. Lin Juemin didn't say anything, but when the German soldiers were about to tie up the three of them, Lin Juemin shouted in very unfamiliar German: "Is this how you treat the negotiators?" ”

As soon as these words were shouted, the German officer's face was a little unbearable. Although they would love to shoot the three BJP soldiers indiscriminately, or to dismantle them. But it is really inappropriate to treat negotiators in this way. Especially after the bombardment, the German soldiers felt that great danger was approaching mercilessly. Eventually, the officer stopped the soldier from tying up the negotiator.

"What are you here for?" An ensign asked.

"We're here to negotiate with you. Now that there is a war, your civilians are entering the fortress, which is a war zone, and as soon as our side fires cannons, God knows if they will be affected. Therefore, we propose that civilians be placed in a neutral zone, where neither side conducts military operations. ”

Lin Juemin's suggestion came as a surprise to the German officers, and this mode of disposition was very much in line with the usual European approach. But this is China, the German ensign even wonders if there is something wrong with his eyes, and the black-haired and black-eyed Chinese in front of him, who is not fluent in speaking, and can even speak German that does not make sense, is actually a European?

Not only the German second lieutenant, but also the German soldiers and German civilians who heard this all looked at Lin Juemin in front of them with extremely surprised eyes. The lieutenant was silent for a moment before asking, "Is there anything else?" ”

"We are the glorious People's Party Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and I now make a formal request to you that the German troops in the Tsingtao fortress surrender to our Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army by three o'clock tomorrow morning. Before three o'clock tomorrow morning, our side will not attack for the time being. If you do not contact us after three o'clock, we will assume that you refuse to surrender. If you continue to fight, but are concerned about the civilian population, then please send a representative to follow me to our headquarters now. We will be in talks with you on the security of civilians. But in any case, as long as you do not surrender, and tomorrow morning is the deadline for our side, and the battle will inevitably begin. I would like to ask the second lieutenant to convey our meaning to you. ”

The faces of the Germans around Lin Juemin were already ugly, and after hearing this, the faces of all Germans became even more ugly. The demands made by the BJP negotiators were not unusual, and could even be said to be quite battlefield-like. But as the weaker side, the Germans, both military and civilian, felt a deep sense of shame.

But since the People's Party has sent an official representative, the second lieutenant does not dare to take this responsibility, "Please wait a moment." With that, the lieutenant ran into the fortress. Twenty minutes later, the second lieutenant ran out a little out of breath, and after showing a warrant to the officer in charge of guarding the exit, he came to Lin Juemin and said, "Please follow me in." ”

As he walked, Lin Juemin praised the comrades next to him in Chinese: "The Germans are indeed very disciplined. ”

"yes. Chairman Chen said that if he did not have a warrant, he would not be able to open the door if he personally called the doorman. It's easy to say, but when it comes to doing it, I'm afraid that no one will dare to do it. The comrade next to him also praised. If it was the People's Party, this second lieutenant was afraid that he would not need to take any warrant at all, and he would be able to bring people into the fortress with a direct explanation.

The group did not go too far, and in a house not far from the entrance, the acting governor of the German Jiaoao was waiting there with a stern look on his face.

After someone introduced him, Lin Juemin saluted the naval colonel, "I am Lin Juemin of the People's Party Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. ”

After a pause, Senior Colonel Hernell was extremely reluctant to return the military salute to Lin Juemin according to etiquette. Before the two sides negotiated, Lin Juemin said: "Mr. Colonel, my German skills are very poor, and some words may only be able to be expressed clearly in Chinese, so it is best to ask you to find a translator to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings." ”

Colonel Hainel replied, "The gentleman next to me is the translator, and you can speak in Chinese." ”

After receiving the assurance of communication, the two sides sat down and began to negotiate. The People's Party does not have many demands, and it is still what Lin Juemin just said. Senior Colonel Hainel then asked for an extension of the negotiations.

Lin Juemin replied very seriously: "At present, part of the main German forces in China are in Lianyungang and part of them are in Beijing. If we can't take the Qingdao fortress in the short term, once your reinforcements enter the Qingdao fortress, it will be extremely disadvantageous to our side. So we don't have that much time for you. ”

Colonel Hainel asked with a gloomy face, "And how long do we spend negotiating now?" ”

"No amount of time we spend negotiating will change the timing of our war. Even if we talk about it now at three o'clock tomorrow morning, the battle will break out. Please be aware of this. ”

Hearing this, Colonel Hainel's face was so gloomy that he could almost wring out water. In order to ensure the dignity of Germany, he did not say anything unpleasant in a feeling of extreme humiliation. But even so, Senior Colonel Hainel could not but admit that from the point of view of the BJP, this demand was not incomprehensible. But for the German army in the current Qingdao fortress, the People's Party was indeed stuck in the pulse of the extremely short number of German troops.

"How many people do you put in it, and dare to attack Qingdao Fortress?" Senior Colonel Hainel asked.

"You can see it when we're attacking." Lin Juemin replied with a smile.

Such a personable attitude made Colonel Hainel feel even more humiliated, and he gritted his teeth a little and said: "You will definitely not be able to withstand the expeditionary force that our Germany is about to send. ”

Hearing this, Lin Juemin's smile immediately disappeared from his face, and Senior Colonel Hainel felt that his threat seemed to have had an effect. The People's Party may dare to attack the weakly armed Qingdao Fortress, but in the face of the anger of Germany, or even the anger of the entire Western world, the People's Party may not have the courage to respond.

Just when Senior Colonel Hainel thought that he had overwhelmed Lin Juemin in momentum, Lin Juemin spoke, this time he used Mandarin with a certain Cantonese accent instead of bad German. Lin Juemin replied word by word: "Maybe your German expeditionary force is very strong, but if you Germans want to occupy our Chinese land, you need to step over the corpse of our People's Party first." If you can't cross it, you'll have to lie in a coffin and go back to Germany. ”

Senior Colonel Heller did not understand Chinese, and the face of the translator, who had not been able to come in handy, became extremely ugly. It wasn't until Colonel Hainel glared at the interpreter that he came to his senses from the shock. I listened to the translator and translated Lin Juemin's Chinese into German. Senior Colonel Hainel was also silent.

No longer waiting for Hei Nell to say anything, Lin Juemin said: "Mr. Colonel, I have already conveyed everything to you. Is there anything you don't understand about my statement? ”

Heinel said coldly, "Are you in a hurry to go back?" ”

"I'm afraid I'll delay you too much. With this pointless delay, it's good that you can eat a few more bites. Lin Juemin replied.

Hainel didn't understand the Chinese malice in German, and he indifferently motioned for Lin Juemin to go.

"By the way, Colonel, what time are you doing?" Lin Juemin remembered the last thing that needed to be determined.

The two of them have a pair of watches, and Lin Juemin's watch is at 6:10 p.m. on July 10. Colonel Hainel's watch was 6:18.

"Colonel Hainel, our army will keep the time according to my watch. Please note this. Lin Juemin gave the final advice.

The BJP has no intention of waiting, and this is the attitude that the BJP has received from its leader, Chen Ke. And Chen Ke learned this attitude from Grandpa Mao.

Now that the Germans had suffered heavy losses in manpower, they had no more troops to defend the fortress unless they were completely broken and put their forces outside the fortress. Even if the Germans had temporarily incorporated expatriates into their troops, their strength would never have exceeded three thousand. The Qingdao fortress is quite large, and if you want to defend the fortress impermeable, this number of troops is still far from enough.

After listening to Lin Juemin's report, Pu Guanshui didn't care. In fact, the fighting has not stopped at all, and the deployment of the BJP has never stopped. Because the Germans suffered heavy losses in their forces, the People's Party deployed faster. Pu Guanshui ordered: "The artillery moves forward, no matter what the Germans are going to do." Be prepared to shoot at three o'clock. ”

"Commander Pu, I want to go to the front." Lin Juemin said suddenly.

"Huh? Staff Officer Lin, you want to go to the front? "Puguanshui is a little strange.

"Yes. I want to go to the front. Lin Juemin replied seriously. His words to Senior Colonel Hernell were made by Chen Ke at the pre-war mobilization meeting. The People's Party is likely to provoke armed intervention by the Great Powers because of the war with Germany, as Chen Ke has made very clear. "Comrades, there must be comrades in the party who will think that if we can endure it, we will wait until we are stronger, and then take back China's interests from the gringos. But what I want to say is that there is no room for forbearance on this issue of right and wrong. Whoever wants to occupy the territory of China must first step over the corpse of our People's Party. When they couldn't cross it, they lay down in the coffin and went back to their hometown. China's sovereignty is non-negotiable. The Manchus had discussed with foreign countries before, but what was the final result? We, the People's Party, will never follow the Manchu Qing Dynasty! ”

As a result, today he negotiated with the Germans, and in the face of the threat of the German Colonel Hernell, Lin Juemin directly used Chen Ke's words, and now his blood is boiling, and he just wants to go into battle to kill the enemy.

Pu Guanshui replied calmly: "Staff Officer Lin, it is an organizational arrangement for you to work in the staff department. BJP members must obey the organizational arrangements. If the organization sends you to the front line, you must go to the front line to shed blood and die. Don't do things because of your personal desires and impulses. Got it? ”

"Please give me a chance!" Lin Juemin did not give up his idea.

"The German warships will be back in Qingdao within 48 hours at the latest. We must capture the fortress of Qingdao before the German fleet rushes back. The front-line infantry configuration is all trained, and you have not participated in the corresponding training and arrangement, and you feel that your blood is boiling on the front line, and it is possible to fight well. There is also the possibility of causing problems for the troops. If you want to go to the front-line troops, when you have completed the staff service period, you have to go to the army or not. So now let's get to the bottom of what you've seen inside the fortress. Go to work. Pu Guanshui gave the final reply.

"Yes!" Lin Juemin saluted Pu Guanshui depressedly, and then left depressed.

Not long after the summer solstice, even if it was almost 8 o'clock in the evening, there was still a glimmer of light in the sky, and the troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, which had been resting since the morning, had already eaten dinner, and the siege troops began to move in the direction of Qingdao Fortress in the last remaining light. It didn't take long for it to get dark.

There are hundreds of parts in total, and when transported, they can be disassembled into various modes that are convenient for transportation. Pre-war can be pre-installed to various degrees depending on the battlefield situation. A skilled artillery crew is capable of firing three shots in two minutes. After firing, the artillery crew could drop the bracket and run away, avoiding devastating retaliatory fire from enemy artillery.

It was already unlikely that the Germans would be able to discharge the outposts, but the People's Party troops did not dare to be careless. By the time the fort guns were erected, the firing parameters for each area had already been prepared. With the old-fashioned Germans, such a parameter table is even less likely to be sloppy. Therefore, the assembly areas of troops and the positions of rocket artillery need to be effectively resettled.

The reason why the Germans were given time until 3 p.m. was because according to local experience, it took so long for the outpost to determine the area of attack. The vanguard first determined the route and position of the march, and the artillery and infantry began to fight as soon as they entered the position. If the staging areas are shelled, it means that the offensive is simply impossible.

The minutes passed like this, and no sound was heard from the command headquarters for the time being, but hundreds of vanguard troops had already touched the enemy's artillery firing range and began to prepare for battle.

"The Germans must not come to negotiate." Pu Guanshui prayed silently, although he opposed the vengeful Pang Zi during the day, but for military considerations, the Germans did not negotiate, which meant that the war could be carried out freely. If the Germans did negotiate, there would be no way for the People's Party to refuse the humanitarian resettlement of civilians.

At one o'clock in the morning, a muffled sound suddenly came from afar outside. Then, closer away, a violent explosion was heard. The Germans opened fire.

"The troops have been discovered?" Puguan Shui became nervous. However, he soon heard that the position of the German shelling was far from the place of departure of the troops. Not to mention the position of the vanguard. But soon after the cannon sounded, there was a new loud noise. Pu Guanshui soon understood that the Germans had adopted the method of artillery fire on night duty.

This is what Chen Ke talked about as "artillery fire on night duty," that is, in anticipation of a night attack, firing artillery shells at the area where the enemy will probably pass through in an approximate period of time. To be able to hit the enemy, that is, the blind cat meets the dead mouse. However, this kind of irregular shelling can very effectively disrupt the enemy's deployment and put psychological pressure on the enemy.

With the current strength of the People's Party, even if it knows this method of warfare, it simply does not have the capital to engage in this kind of "artillery firepower on night duty." Although he has always admired Chen Ke, every time Chen Ke put forward strategies and tactics that the People's Party had never thought of, especially combat skills, and these things were fulfilled, Pu Guanshui still couldn't help but feel sincerely admired. Such a man of outstanding insight was the founder of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and in itself could make the comrades of the army feel a sense of reassurance.

"The troops began to attack, executed according to the standards of a class of combat." With a sigh of relief, Pu Guanshui gave an order. The first type of combat standard is considered a general combat standard, that is, the idea that there are no civilians in the theater of operations. Where the forces consider a threat, the primary objective is to eliminate the threat. According to the more popular interpretation method of later generations, it is "shoot first, then shout." ”

As soon as Pu Guanshui's order was given, the observer came in to report. "Commander Pu, our artillery has begun to return fire!"

Although the headquarters was busy, the staff officers were all informing the troops through field telephone calls to start the offensive, and Puguanshui could be a little more relaxed. He got up and walked briskly out of the headquarters. What could be seen was already the last stage of rocket artillery firing, and only a dozen bright flames were running in the air at high speed. Immediately, it exploded violently near the fort of Qingdao Fortress in Germany, and there were bright flashes of light, even making people feel like the sky was about to dawn.

The battle for the official assault on the Qingdao fortress finally began.