Lieutenant General Akashi Motojiro received the news that the first line of fortifications was tight, and immediately ordered all of them to retreat and retreat to the second line of fortifications on Mt. Kitakai. However, the speed of the rout of the army was obviously beyond his expectations, and the rudimentary first line of fortifications did little to hinder the advance of the [***] squadron, and the 50-kilometer-long ribbon-fish trenches with a width of less than a kilometer collapsed in only one and a half hours under the combined attack of Kuang Haishan's rapid troop artillery and air force.

As the king of espionage in Asia, Akashi Genjiro's ability is undoubted, but his official position is the division commander of the Kumamoto Division, and it is enough to let a top spy officer serve as the military commander, but this time the base camp doesn't know if his brain is rusty, and he is used as a chief of staff. Sowing discord, collecting economic and military intelligence, and dividing and disintegrating the enemy army are what Lieutenant General Genjiro Akashi is good at, and directing operations is obviously not his forte. Akashi Genjiro suffers from the uselessness of heroes, so he can only listen to the dispatch of General Akiyama Yoshiko, and his role at the moment is not as good as a wing captain.

General Akiyama Yoshiko deployed more than 13,000 soldiers and hundreds of artillery pieces of various calibers in the first line of trenches, and he didn't expect to be able to hold off the squadron with this lack of depth fortifications, he only needed these cannon fodder to delay the advance of the Jianghuai army and buy time for the main force of the Yue army attacking Qingdao. Therefore, Admiral Akiyama put all the building materials such as reinforced concrete and sleepers on the second line of defense of Mt. Northridge.

General Yoshiko Akiyama predicted that it would take more than ten days for the Chinese to move their troops to the Jiaodong Peninsula, and at least three days if they wanted to break through this defensive line. And he only needed twelve days to completely defeat the German defenders, and then join forces and defeat the Chinese.

However, Akiyama did not expect that the Jianghuai Army would be so powerful, let alone that the Jianghuai Army's firepower would be so powerful, and this rudimentary defensive line would be broken through in just one and a half hours. This battle undoubtedly exposed the weakness of the army's extreme lack of ability in defensive warfare. The Army University adheres to the philosophy of Lieutenant Colonel Metzel of Germany, which regards offense as the best defense, and the defense in the army is extremely despised, even regarded as a sign of cowardice.

The army's ability to shoot, fight at night, sneak attack, and run long distances is quite good, but because of the strange guiding ideology that this kind of defense is equal to cowardice, Lu University did not even offer a defense course. Even when recruiting students, there are countless brain-dead unlimited questions. One of the most typical questions is what would you do if you found an enemy army in front of you? The standard answer is: rush up, surround them, destroy them. If someone dares to ask how many enemy troops there are and how strong the firepower is, then it is over.

The examiner will definitely stand up angrily and roar: Yaga, you cowardly fellow, go back to your troops!

Under this rigid education, the senior officers of the army are basically extremely strategically retarded. This copycat version of trench warfare in front of me is still the product of General Akiyama Yoshigu crossing the river by feeling the stones. A military strategist like General Yoshiko Akiyama will never appear again in the Army.

After being hit by the heavy artillery fire of the Jianghuai Army, the telephone lines of the Japanese army's positions were also blown up in many places, and the wing commander could not find the captain of the brigade, and the captain of the brigade could not find the squadron leader. The soldiers fought separately, and the few who received the order to retreat fled eastward under the fire of artillery fire and the strafing of aircraft overhead. Most of them did not receive orders, screaming and jumping out of the trench with their rifles, and naturally formed a straggler line to launch a counterattack on the Jianghuai army.

The enemy was in front, surrounded them, and annihilated them, which was the instinctive reaction of the officers who graduated from the Lu University.

The officers of the Jianghuai Army, who were on the way to charge, were stunned at first, and then overjoyed, and the soldiers immediately joined the enemy in a skirmish. The machine gunner quickly lay down and suppressed the Japanese army with Depp's light machine gun, while the grenadiers loaded the grenades in a kneeling position to eliminate the few remaining heavy machine guns of the Japanese army. The signal corps reported the position of the army to the artillery in the rear.

The spontaneous counterattack of the Japanese army was broken into small units that were not subordinate to each other, and then they were divided and surrounded by the Jianghuai army.

The army had already lost its command, and the remaining bravery could not make up for the gap in firepower, and the counterattack turned into a stupid suicide. However, his ferocity was also beyond the imagination of the Western military attachés who watched the battle, in their opinion, the troops had already been crippled, and the soldiers had suffered more than one-third casualties, and this kind of battle, which obviously had no suspense, should have been surrendered with a white flag long ago. Kuang Haishan also gave Yue himself the opportunity to surrender, and he sent people to shout in Yue, but the Yue army refused to surrender their guns, even if the rifle was broken, they would pick up their bayonets and charge into the dense rain of bullets until they were beaten into a sieve.

If the Westerners were shocked by the army's fearless style of fearing death, they were shocked by the Jianghuai army's firepower and the quality of its soldiers. The soldiers seem to have forgotten that this is a battlefield of corpses and a sea of blood, everyone's technical movements are calm, the cooperation between the small units is close, it seems that the workers are working in the workshop, the farmers are harvesting the crops in the rice fields, the silence of the Oriental surname Gerry, the characteristic tenacity in the face of danger and suffering, makes the Westerners who are accustomed to shouting feel a cool air rushing up the spine.

The British military attache was dizzy, he felt that this squadron was a strengthened version of the Gurkha troops, the same surname was quiet and silent, the same killing ruthless and absolute obedience to orders, the same ability to endure hardships and hardships, the wounded soldiers would rather clench their teeth than moan in pain, but these Chinese also have a smart mind and the ability to understand new weapons that the Gurkha do not have.

What is even more terrifying is that the Gurkha have only more than 20,000 soldiers at most, and this country can draw 2 million soldiers at any time.

You must know that the 30,000 British troops armed to the teeth could not take advantage of the 10,000 Gurkha soldiers who used bows and arrows and arquebuses. What is the concept of two million well-armed Gurkha soldiers? Like the ancestors of the Gurkhas, the Mongol army, it is probably enough to sweep the whole world!

The Russians were obsessed with the air force, and once they had a strong air force, the Russian army could take advantage of the vast depth of the territory to retreat in a big way, and at the same time stretch the supply lines of the Germans, and then use the air force to completely cut off the Germans and finally eliminate them. Territorial defense in great depth is exactly what the Russians are good at. The Russians were better at defensive warfare than offensive ones.

The Germans favored the 47-round Depp light machine gun, which used 7.92 mm ammunition and happened to be the same as the German rifle ammunition, and this powerful and extremely light weapon could make up for the overly bulky defect of the Maxim heavy machine gun. At the same time, the blasting canisters used by the JAC army to blow up the barbed wire, and the grenadiers that could shoot at a curve, also made the Germans itch and feel uncomfortable. They had been so entrenched by the trench warfare of the Anglo-French army that one German soldier would have a surplus against three French soldiers if they had fought in formation, as in the previous Franco-Prussian War era. But trenches, machine guns, barbed wire have eliminated the gap in the quality of soldiers, and now whoever attacks on the European front will die.

Britain and France have many colonies overseas, Indians, Gurkhas, and Algerians can supplement the British and French troops as cannon fodder, while the Germans are all blonde and blue-eyed Germans!

The battle was not over yet, the Jianghuai army was still chasing and suppressing the remnants of the enemy, and the military attaches of various countries who were watching the battle could not wait to use radio waves to send the battle situation ahead to the consulates and legations.

The purpose of these telegrams is almost exactly the same: first, to win China into its own camp, and if it is really not possible, it is necessary to at least ensure China's neutral status, and absolutely must not allow China, which has a huge population advantage, to join the enemy camp. Second, buy weapons from the Chinese in large quantities, the more the better.

Leaving a small group of troops to clear out a few small units of the Yue army that were stubbornly resisting, Kuang Haishan continued to advance with the brigade, and the fighters flying from the Weifang airport roared in, and the planes that were about to run out of fuel flew back to the airport to refuel. Kwong Haishan's troop trucks carried the soldiers forward, and the cavalry rushed in columns along the road. Along the way, the soldiers were killed and the baggage was discarded, the telephone lines and cable telegraphs of the soldiers were cut off, and the messengers were killed. The Yue troops who fled to the second line of defense were beaten by cold guns from the ground, from the trees, and from the haystacks, and the small units of the Yue army who tried to meet were killed and wounded by machine guns and small-caliber artillery.

When the "Flying Leopard" trucks drove past with soldiers of the Jianghuai Army wearing yellow-green camouflage uniforms, cheers and the sound of "Hanfeng I" rifles firing into the sky could be heard from time to time, and the soldiers of the rapid unit also fired their guns into the sky in response.

These people are the soldiers of the commercial police corps who infiltrated the Jiaoao concession in advance, they are all Anhui people, and the treatment is the best in the entire Jianghuai army system, and there is no need to doubt the loyalty of the Jianghuai army. Before the army crossed the sea and entered the Jiaodong Peninsula, He Tianshou had secretly transferred them from Shanghai to Shandong, and some of them were broken into pieces and mixed into the German concession in the Jiaoao area in company platoons.

After they came to the Jiaodong Peninsula, they contacted the local merchant groups and militia groups everywhere to reconnoiter the firepower and troop allocation of the Germans and themselves, and after receiving the order from Chai Dongliang, they immediately began to take action, sabotaging the communications and logistical supplies of the Yue army, killing the soldiers at the military stations along the way, and burning the materials in the military stations.

The common people of Shandong have no good impression of the Germans and himself, but they praise Yuan Shikai for their merits, and the old Yuan was the governor of Shandong, and his political achievements were quite good, he built a highway and telegraphed a factory, and also opened an official warehouse to help the victims, and when the Gengzi country changed, Yuan Shikai drove the turbulent Shandong Boxers to Shanxi and Zhili, and at the same time Shandong secretly joined the team of southeast mutual protection, and the Eight-Nation Coalition did not disturb the people of Shandong on the way to the country. The Boxers in Shanxi, Zhili slaughtered, only a Yanjing City was killed by the Boxers more than 100,000 people, after the arrival of the Eight-Nation Coalition continued the bloody massacre, the whole of North China became a ghost in the world, Yuan Shikai's foresight made the people of Shandong avoid a catastrophe, to protect the peace of the province.

Yuan Shikai's moral administration in Shandong benefited the Jianghuai army a lot. The local people heard that Chai Dongliang was the president who took over from Yuan Shikai, inheriting the legal system of Beiyang, and they were also quite close to the Jianghuai Army and regarded them as soldiers. The common people took the initiative to lead the way for them, helped the commercial police corps to raise food and grass, and provided information about the Germans and themselves. The 2,000 merchant police corps mixed in the Jiaodong Peninsula were like fish in water, and the progress was extremely smooth.

Under the cover of the Air Force and the escort of the commercial police corps along the way, the "Flying Leopard" truck successfully arrived at the foot of Beiling Mountain, which is the gateway to Qingdao, and the sound of artillery fire between the two armies could be faintly heard.

At the foot of the hill, the army built a second line of defense, which was less than ten kilometers long, but was obviously much stronger than the first. Fortresses made of rocks and wood, lookouts, and machine-gun bunkers made of reinforced concrete can be seen everywhere. The barbed wire fence is dense, and the rusty barbs are terrifying.

Kwong Haishan's tactics were extremely simple, first the air force bombed and strafed, then the artillery continued to bombard, blowing all the fortifications to pieces, and then the infantry advanced slowly in an extremely sparse skirmish. The Demoman uses the blaster canister to clear the remaining barbed wire at any time.

It was less than 500 meters away from the position of the army, and the position of the army was deadly silent, 400 meters, there was still no movement, and at 300 meters, the position of the army had not yet responded.

Kuang Haishan, who was watching the battle from a distance, suddenly broke out in cold sweat on his forehead, his right eyelid jumped non-stop, and he vaguely felt a dangerous aura.

"Da Da Da!"

Machine guns rang out, "Da Da Da", "Da Da Da", it seemed that at the same moment, dozens of heavy machine guns rang out at the same time, the forward of the Jianghuai army fell, and the dense rain of bullets knocked down these heroic soldiers in rows, and the blood stained the grass and trees and the loess under their feet.

"Knock Knock"

The artillery fire of the army divided the troops of the Jianghuai Army from front to rear, and it was impossible to figure out how many hidden firing points there were at the foot of the mountain, and bullets were fired from every corner. The army's excellent individual shooting skills took the lives of dozens of Chinese soldiers in an instant.

The mortars and grenadiers of the Jianghuai army in front of the breakthrough immediately returned fire, but the firing points of the Japanese army were all hidden in the semi-permanent fortifications of reinforced concrete, and it was difficult to destroy them directly.

The advancing Jianghuai soldiers retreated with the sound of the horns, and the Japanese army rushed out of the trenches to snatch the wounded of the Jianghuai army under the cover of artillery fire and machine guns, and the two sides finally met in a narrow way, and mortars, grenadiers, and light machine guns finally exerted their might, in order to prevent the wounded from being snatched away by the Japanese army, the Jianghuai army's rifles and grenades were connected with the Japanese army's short soldiers, and the two sides were entangled together, and even the machine guns could not be used. The air force swept the ground and flew low, using machine guns to repel the Japanese troops who were trying to come to reinforce behind, and the Jianghuai army had the upper hand in numbers and firepower. Mortars and grenadiers poured shells into the trenches with a high rate of fire of 20 rounds per minute, compressing them in the narrow anti-artillery pits and not daring to show their heads.

The rate of fire of the "Hanfeng I" rifle, as well as the use of grenades, gave the Jianghuai army an advantage in individual firepower, and they gradually annihilated the Japanese troops outside the trenches one by one.

Repelled the counterattack of the Yue army, but in order to snatch back the wounded and the corpses of the robes, dozens more warriors fell in pools of blood.

The planes of the 1st Air Force Division once again bombed the positions of the Yue army indiscriminately, but the results were obviously not good, and the rocks on the Beiling Mountain became the main building materials of the Yue army, and the soldiers of the Yue army hid in underground fortifications built of reinforced concrete and boulders, and attacked the Jianghuai army from countless hidden fire points. Although Kuang Haishan carried hundreds of artillery pieces, he did not have the kind of large-caliber mortars specially used to attack city walls and strong fortifications, and even 120 mm howitzers had extremely limited lethality to these troops hidden in the underground fortifications.

Seeing that the air force was not effective in striking at the enemy, Kuang Haishan ordered by wireless telegram that five fighters would be left to serve as air cover, and the rest of the fighters of the 1st Air Force Division would fly directly to Qingdao to bomb the Japanese troops who were attacking the German batteries on Qingdao Mountain and Signal Hill. It is necessary to delay the speed at which the main force of the Yue army occupies the attack battery, otherwise once the Yue army occupies the battery, those Krupp cannons will inevitably cause great casualties to the Jianghuai army.

Kuang Haishan was a little strange, why did he only take the initiative to attack when he was beaten? Could it be that the rigid-minded Yue Jun has also learned to be smart?

And on the Beiling Mountain, a general who looked like a Westerner gasped, he couldn't believe that the army in camouflage in front of him would be Chinese soldiers! In his impression, the Chinese have always thrown away their weapons and fled when they hear the sound of gunfire!

This person is none other than General Akiyama Yoshiko, the commander of the Army! If he hadn't personally rushed to Beiling Mountain to command, I'm afraid that those generals with smaller brains than Songzi would have ordered the troops to counterattack on all fronts!

The military attachés watching the battle were all thinking in their hearts about how to break through this defense line of the army if they were the commanders, and there was no good way to think about it, and it was nothing more than to fill their own trenches with their lives. What else can be done? The Chinese have the most advanced aircraft in the world, and don't they have nothing to do with the enemy hiding in strong fortifications?

Kuang Haishan had a flat face, and he ordered the artillery to fire a few shots at the positions of the Yue army every three or five times to carry out small-scale disturbances, and the infantry withdrew from the range of the Yue army's fire and camped to rest.

It was getting late, the smell of food wafted out of the camp, and the soldiers of the Jianghuai Army who had fought for a day were sleepy and tired, and they fell asleep after eating, except for the bright searchlights on the lookout platform that scanned every dark corner, the machine guns on the watchtower opened their black muzzles, and the sentries who had slept enough during the day were full of energy and stood as straight as flag guns.

At five o'clock in the morning, the east was just white, the people in the camp were awakened, the earth was trembling slightly, there were bursts of roaring from the west, and the awakened crowd hurriedly grabbed their weapons, only to see a steel monster eight meters long and more than three meters high, was "galloping" at a speed of ten kilometers per hour.

The monster was densely covered with machine guns and artillery, and a conspicuous army logo of the iron-blooded eighteen stars on the black shell.

The military attachés of various countries who watched the battle ran out with their pants up, all of them were stunned by these steel monsters, is this a killing machine that ran out of hell?

(To be continued)