On November 8, the Fuxing Newspaper published an article entitled "National War, National War!" Unification of China, Unity of Foreignness".

"China is a unified China, the national war is also the national war of the provinces, the national war of 40,000 compatriots, the victory will lay the foundation of China's national fortune, 40,000 compatriots can benefit, now the provinces are unanimous in the outside world, there will be no reason for failure......"

This article completely pushed the national war boom in all provinces of the country to its peak, and the first batch of personnel of the Sichuan Army and the Third Army of the Beiyang Army under the command of Cao Kun had already arrived in Shandong by train.

Later, there was a steady stream of Sichuan children taking the train to Shandong, and the 300,000 Sichuan troops were expected to be able to reach Shandong by train in only ten days.

Cai arrived in Shandong on 9 November, and was accompanied by the Sichuan warlord Xiong Kewu and others, as well as Jiang Baili, a staff officer who assisted him in the Protectorate War.

The speed of the Beiyang Army was also very fast, especially those Beiyang troops who took the initiative to respond to the national war, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, and Feng Yuxiang successively made the arrival of Shandong on November 9.

The mobilization of 100,000 people in Yunnan was slower, because Yunnan had a railway to Vietnam, which was built by the French. However, Yunnan has no railway to other provinces, so it is necessary to walk to Sichuan by railway, and it will take at least half a month to reach Shandong.

As for the other provinces, even if they didn't really want to participate in the war, they at least sent a few thousand people to avoid being accused by the people of ignoring the overall situation of the country.

Although Beiyang Political Axe said that it would mobilize 200,000 people, the mobilization speed was very slow, except for the troops who took the initiative to respond to the national war, it was estimated that it would take some time for other troops to arrive, or they just said that they did not actually want to mobilize so many people to Shandong.

When Cai Yi and Jiang Baili arrived at the Weifang Railway Station, Chen Xuanyu, chief of the General Staff of the East China Army, came to greet them, and the people of Weifang also welcomed them in the railway station, waving small flags to welcome the arrival of the national armies of various provinces.

When they arrived in Weifang, Cai Yi, Jiang Baili and others saw a busy scene at the railway station, and many East China militiamen also walked off the train one by one.

Not far away, the highway is even more busy, and trucks are transporting truckloads of supplies to the front line.

When they stepped off the train, Chen Xuanyu hurriedly greeted them, shook hands with them warmly, and then arranged them to the camp that had been prepared long ago.

Hearing that Cao Kun, Feng Yuxiang and others from the Beiyang Army would arrive later, Cai Ye asked his subordinates to take the Sichuan army to the camp to rest, while he and the main personnel of the Sichuan army also stayed at the railway station.

Seeing that the East China militia continued to arrive in Weifang, Cai Yi said to Jiang Baili, "It seems that the East China Army has mobilized a lot of people. Jiang Baili nodded and said: "Now China's strongest mobilization ability is better than East China." ”

It's not clear how many there are, but it does seem like a lot.

About two hours later, the Beiyang Army also took the train to Weifang, and Cao Kun, Wu Peifu, Feng Yuxiang and others also walked off the train.

After a warm welcome, a group of people arrived at the camp that had been prepared for a long time.

Cai and the generals of the Beiyang Army became friendly forces at this time, and a few months ago, they were still facing off in Sichuan.

The camp was huge, and it was already crowded with people at this time.

The Sichuan Army and the Beiyang Army were properly arranged in the camp, and a large number of supplies were brought from the warehouse, and a large number of canned food were distributed first.

The treatment of the national war army in each province is on par with that of the East China Army, and the same is true for the food.

It is believed that after the fight of this national war, there will not be a single province in the future that will not aspire to the treatment of the East China Army, and this will also provide a good foundation for future reunification.

The canned food tasted very good, especially for soldiers who didn't eat canned food for a long time, the food was so good.

In addition to canned beef, there are also canned fruits, etc., and the armies have to marvel at the good treatment of the East China Army, which is really not comparable to anyone.

Chen Xuanyu held a small meeting with the commanders of the various armies to explain the arrangements after that.

"This time, the East China Army mobilized 500,000 militiamen, and the provinces will arrive in the early stage about more than 400,000, which together is more than 900,000 people." Chen Xuanyu said to everyone present: "This war does not need everyone to take the lead, nor does it need everyone to fight a tough battle, these will be solved by our East China Army." Your main task is to press the rear in case of emergency. ”

Chen Xuanyu's words made some people feel relieved, after all, they would not be used as cannon fodder, but some people had opinions, Cai Ye interrupted Chen Xuanyu's words and said: "Chief of Staff Chen, our Sichuan army came to Shandong to fight the national war, not to wave the flag and shout. ”

"General Cai, don't be impatient, the battle will definitely be fought. However, for the time being, there are only 200,000 front-line combat places between the various armies. Our East China militia needs at least 100,000 people, and the rest of the provinces and national armies still have 100,000 people. ”

As soon as Chen Xuanyu finished speaking, Cai Yi said: "Then we want all the 100,000 places." ”

"General Cai has a big appetite, aren't we coming to Shandong to fight the national war?" Wu Peifu asked out loud, and Feng Yuxiang also said at this time: "Our brigade can go into battle with the whole army, and we are definitely not afraid of fighting." ”

Chen Xuanyu continued at this time: "Anyone who goes to the front line, the treatment and bereavement pension are all according to the standard of the East China Army, and the soldier can receive fifteen silver dollars per month, and the death pension is one thousand silver dollars. As long as they go to the front line to fight, they will all be issued with the standard equipment of our East China Army, and those who are pressed in the back will be paid ten silver dollars a month, and the food will also be in line with the regular supply of the East China Army. ”

Everyone was stunned, the treatment was so high?

reacted, and immediately began to fiercely compete for the place on the front line.

…… At this time, the high-level officials of the company were caught in disagreement, and all provinces in China responded to the beginning of the Shandong battlefield, and the political axe of the company felt that something was wrong.

China has a population of 400 million, and at this time the war boom has been driven, so how many people can China mobilize?

The anti-war faction said at the meeting: "According to the data provided by the Allied countries, this year the East China Autonomous Government has exported nearly 3 million guns of various types to the Allied countries, and they have also exported a lot of war materials to Germany, and the exact number is unknown." ”

"If China fights the Shandong war with all its might, then they will have people and no shortage of weapons. It is very likely that there will be a situation in which the Imperial Army will be blocked one after another, and it will be basically impossible for our Imperial Army to bring the Chinese to their knees. ”

"You guys are so naïve, the people of China definitely don't have that kind of cohesion, maybe we can buy some people to strike a fatal blow from the back of the people."

"Don't you think this is a good opportunity to drain the blood of the China?" The main battle faction stood up and said in a loud voice: "Even if there are many people in China, we have 800,000 invincible imperial troops, and we can definitely cause ten kills and injuries in Shandong, that is, 8 million kills for the people of China." ”

"It is obviously impossible to withdraw troops, we have invested so much strength in Shandong, if we retreat, the empire will lose face. Now the question is whether to attack or defend. ”

Offensive? Defend?

This issue has again aroused heated debate, and the worried side of the situation believes that the East China Army should be quickly defeated in Shandong before the East China political axe has not mobilized sufficient forces, otherwise it will be more and more disadvantageous.

Although the optimists also feel that the increasing number of people in the East China Army is very worrying, if they hold on, they can at least kill and injure millions of people in China, and then attack and counterattack...... "We don't know what the combat intentions of the Chinese people are, maybe they want to attack, maybe they will defend in place." We must have more than two sets of plans......"

The opinions of the generals of the army are very different, but the commander-in-chief of the Shandong army, Nei Sanxiao Erlang, has his own plans.

Uchiyama Kojiro was the first general of the "Tenbao Qian Group" in the Army, and graduated from the Army University as the chief of the fourth term.

This also means that the army will gradually be mastered by the graduates of the army academy.

After a long period of selection, the army selected Uchiyama Kojiro from among many candidates and appointed him commander-in-chief of Shandong.

Uchiyama Kojiro knew that the situation was far more dangerous than it seemed on the surface, because the Great Empire had lost air supremacy again.

If the last Shandong war was lost by air supremacy, then this war is still very likely to repeat the mistakes of the past.

At this time, the army demanded that the navy be able to secure the transportation line, and the navy demanded that the army attack as soon as possible to destroy the airfield of the Chinese people.

It seems difficult to find a balance between the two, which is itself held by the Air Force, which of course is also commanded by the Army.

However, in the previous air contest, the air force was still defeated, and facts proved that the air force was far inferior to China in the development of aircraft.

There is no air supremacy, there is no sea supremacy, although this concept is novel, and then the Navy suffered a big loss last time, and even the Fuso and Hiei were salvaged by the East China political axe.

Uchiyama Kojiro knew that it would not work like this, if it was defense at this time, then the Chinese's defense line would become stronger and stronger, and if they did not attack at that time, then the war would only continue to stalemate, and the accompanying future would be a naval blockade, and he really had little confidence in those air defense battleships of the navy.

He felt that there were only two options at this time, one was to attack, and the other was to withdraw his troops.

The latter is obviously unrealistic, even if it is to be withdrawn, it is already too late, and it is said that too many manpower, material and financial resources have been invested in Shandong, and the huge materials hoarded in Shandong alone cannot be transferred.

Then at this time you can only attack, and then attack!

The Imperial Army must destroy the will of the Chinese with a ferocious offensive and destroy all their coastal airfields to ensure the smooth flow of sea lines of communication.

If it drags on any longer, then the Yellow Army really has no hope of breaking through the barbed wire fences and trenches that stretch for hundreds of kilometers.

…… After nearly half an hour of arguing, the Nationalist armies reached a mutually acceptable share.

The Beiyang Army and the Southwest faction each shared half of the quotas, Cao Kun was allocated 40,000 places, the remaining 10,000 were given to Feng Yuxiang and some other Beiyang troops, and Cai Yi was given 50,000 places.

Although the Sichuan army mobilized 300,000 people, there were few professional soldiers after all, and it was very good to be able to win 50,000, while the Beiyang Army had a little foundation, although the number was not as large as that of the Sichuan army.

(To be continued)