On 13 August, it was said that Germany was willing to return the leased land in Jiaozhou Bay directly to China, and the chargé d'affaires of the embassy in China warned Vice Foreign Minister Cao Rulin that China would not be allowed to accept Germany's proposal.

Yuan Shikai called Xia Jun on the same day to discuss countermeasures with him.

Xia Jun told Yuan Shikai that there was no need to take a tough attitude for the time being, and he would discuss this with Germany.

If Beiyang and East China can show a tough attitude together at this time, Yueben's troops in Jiaozhou Bay can be stopped, but Xia Jun obviously wants to fight with Yueben on land.

China needs war!

Immediately, Xia Jun met with the German ambassador Tao Deman, and then quickly agreed with Tao Deman on the issue of the lease of Jiaozhou Bay in Guanyu, at this time Germany was no longer able to protect the Jiaozhou Bay concession, so it was willing to return Jiaozhou Bay to China, especially willing to return Jiaozhou Bay to the East China Autonomous Government.

The relationship between the East China Autonomous Government and Germany is very good at present, so the 4,500 Germans in Jiaozhou Bay will also be guaranteed after the surrender.

Xia Jun also promised to protect the safety of German capital in the seven provinces of East China's autonomous province.

For this reason, Germany is very satisfied with seeing such a result, and is willing to cooperate with the action of the axe of East China's autonomous government.

Immediately afterwards, Xia Jun began to mobilize troops, and at the same time transferred a large number of air forces to Lianyungang Airport, which was only more than 200 kilometers from Lianyungang to Jiaozhou Bay.

Even the Heavy Hammer I bomber can achieve this range, let alone the 2,100-kilometer range of the Kunpeng 2.

At present, the Air Force already has 300 Heavy Hammer 3, as well as 80 Kunpeng 3, because it is a wooden aircraft, so the production line is very well expanded, and now the aircraft factory is desperate to build aircraft, anyway, the Air Force does not use it, the Europeans will use it. No matter how heavy the production of Hammer 3 and Kunpeng 2 is, there is no need to be afraid of losing money.

Xia Jun is still very measured in this regard, and now the aircraft factory can produce 100 Heavy Hammer 3 and 50 Kunpeng 2 and 30 Eagle 3 in a month, not including the production capacity for export.

Xia Jun basically mobilized all the planes to Lianyungang Airport, and at the same time ordered the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Infantry Division, and 4th Artillery Division to maintain combat readiness.

and mobilized the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth production corps to rush to Xuzhou to stand by. As for the original five mixed brigades, they continue to guard the coastline.

…… The aircraft factory, as well as the tank factory, soon began to produce airplanes and combat vehicles throughout the day, and the military department gave an order to build as many aircraft and Type 13 dreadnoughts as possible in the shortest possible time.

The workers in the munitions factories could clearly feel that war was imminent.

Within the East China Army, those high-ranking officers were eager to try, and although they did not receive a combat order, judging from the orders of the military headquarters, it seemed that they were about to start fighting.

With whom to fight?

A lot of officers don't quite know it yet.

In Lianyungang, planes are constantly being transferred from all over the country, and the entire Lianyungang airport is full of planes, and the airport has been blocked, prohibiting any unrelated personnel from approaching, and barbed wire has been pulled up all around.

…… Ten days later, on August 23, the German declared war on Germany, apparently with the majority of British agitators, and on the same day, Germany declared war on Germany.

And in Europe, it seems that all countries are fighting a war of last resort. Germany sought to start a global war and divert the forces of the Allies to other theaters of war, thereby reducing the pressure on the main European theater.

The East China Autonomous Government promised that if the Allies attacked Qingdao, the East China Army would not sit idly by, a phenomenon that Germany was extremely willing to see.

Germany can clearly feel that China's East China Army is no longer willing to be lonely.

In Yueben's opinion, the Beiyang political axe succumbed to them. As for the autonomous political axe of East China, the army is not afraid of the East China Army, and the army is invincible!

If it was an invasion of the seven provinces of East China's autonomous province, he would have thought about it, after all, the East China Autonomous Political Axe had a large number of militias, and they would definitely be mired in the quagmire at that time, but they were not afraid in Shandong.

The axe of East China's autonomy has no foundation in Shandong.

If the two sides go to war, the East China Army will definitely be able to deal a head-on blow to the East China Army. At the same time, he believes that it is unlikely that the East China Autonomous Government will intervene in this matter, after all, in the opinion of the political axe, the disparity in strength between the two sides is too great, and if the people of China are stupid to this extent, they do not mind fighting a beautiful battle, so that the people of China can understand what the strongest army in Asia is.

Immediately after declaring war on Germany, he formed an alliance with the British.

It was said that Ben would send 40,000 troops, and the British would send 2,000 troops, and after the agreement, the British and the British decided to land at Longkou, Shandong.

On September 2, 1914, the British and Japanese allied forces successfully landed at Longkou.

When the news reached Hangzhou, major newspapers reported it and strongly condemned it.

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East China Autonomous Government issued an official letter condemning Britain and Britain, demanding that Britain and Britain immediately withdraw their troops from China, otherwise they would bear the consequences.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the East China Autonomous Government suddenly issued a statement, which was very unexpected by Britain and the United Kingdom.

The British ambassador Zhu Erdian hurriedly asked to see Xia Jun, the supreme head of the East China Autonomous Political Axe, Xia Jun met with Zhu Erdian, and he said to Zhu Erdian: "We do not allow the army of any country to trample on our territory, is Longkou your concession between the British and the Chinese?" ”

Zhu Erdian was speechless when asked, and said to Xia Jun for a long time: "Our British Empire has no intention of trampling on China's territorial sovereignty, but just wants to attack Qingdao, and we apologize for any inconvenience." ”

"Germany's concession in Jiaozhou Bay has been taken over by our East China Autonomous Political Axe." Xia Jun said suddenly, which caught Zhu Erdian a little off guard.

"Has the German political axe handed over Jiaozhou Bay to the East China Autonomous Political Axe?" Zhu Erdian asked.

Xia Jun sneered: "Of course, we have signed the agreement, we China will take back Jiaozhou Bay, I know that it is impossible to withdraw troops, but if Britain does not withdraw its troops, we will take necessary actions." ”

"Necessary action!" Zhu Erdian muttered, and his mind began to reverie.

This necessary action is likely to be the resumption of concessions, such as the concessions of Shanghai and Hankow, and even Hong Kong, which may be forcibly recovered by the East China Autonomous Government.

For the sake of a Jiaozhou Bay, a Jiaozhou Bay promised to the Ben, there is really no need for Britain to take such a risk.

"Alright! I think our British Empire will withdraw. Zhu Erdian's expression was written with a cold smile, since the Chinese can't think of it, then let the Yuben Army teach them a lesson, as long as they are frustrated in Shandong, then as long as they exert some pressure on the East China Autonomous Political Axe, they can be brought to their knees.

…… On 3 September, the East China Autonomous Government announced that China had reached an agreement with Germany that Germany would return Jiaozhou Bay to China, and again sternly warned Britain that "if we do not withdraw our troops from China, it will be regarded as a declaration of war against China." ”

On the same day, the British ambassador Zhu Erdian also consulted the British political axe, and the British political axe replied to Zhu Erdian that he would immediately promise to withdraw his troops from China.

At the same time, the British political axe issued an order to the British ambassador to Yueben, asking him to encourage Yueben to continue the attack on Jiaozhou Bay.

Britain and the East China Autonomous Axe have already had some unpleasant trade troubles, and the world boss can't wait to use this book to teach the East China Autonomous Axe a lesson, so that they can understand that they are just a little kid, and they don't have the strength to shout with the British.

However, at this time, Britain and Germany were fighting a big fight, and it was clear that they did not have enough forces in the Far East, so they were forced to withdraw their troops under the pressure of the autonomous political axe of East China.

For this reason, they were furious, and what they were angry about was not the withdrawal of British troops, but the sudden intervention of the East China Autonomous Axe and the takeover of the German Jiaozhou Bay.

What made them even more angry was that Germany ceded Jiaozhou Bay to China.

In Germany's view, giving Jiaozhou Bay to the Russians is even more humiliating, and giving Jiaozhou Bay to Russia is even more calm than giving the East China Autonomous Political Axe, and in several military exchanges, the combat effectiveness of the East China Army has also won the respect of Germany. What's more, although the two sides are not allies, many places have gone beyond the scope of allies, and in this war, the political axe of East China's autonomy is obviously biased in favor of Germany.

An emergency meeting was held, at which the men of the army confidently assured Yamamoto that they would be able to defeat the army of the Shina people.

"The army of the Chinese people uses a lot of new weapons, and although this is not a concern, I think it is better to send more troops to be safe." Gonbei Yamamoto expressed his opinion to the army, and the army also gave a positive voice.

"Once the army loses this war, the international status of the empire will decline sharply, and our army will not disappoint the expectations of the empire."

…… He originally mobilized 50,000 troops of the 18th Division as the main force, equipped with hundreds of heavy siege artillery, mountain artillery, field artillery, and many aircraft, and led the 18th Division to attack Qingdao from the land under the cover of the navy.

The 16th Division of the Chinese Army was formed in Kyoto in 1905, and its headquarters was located in Kyoto, and its officers and soldiers mainly came from Kyoto, Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture, so it was also called the "Kyoto Division". This division is a permanent division of the first class of the army, which is well-equipped, full of soldiers, and relatively strong in combat effectiveness, and participated in the Russian-Japanese War in the year of its formation.

In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the 16th Division of the Chinese Army was inseparable from a series of atrocities: the "100 Beheading" killing competition was launched; Participated in the implementation of the Nanjing Massacre...... Even the director of the Personnel Bureau of the Ministry of War at that time said: "The combat guidance given by the commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Imasago is against humanity." It can be seen how serious the atrocities of the 16th Division were.

At that time, the so-called "100 beheadings" that were widely publicized by newspapers such as the Tokyo Shimbun took place in the division. In the course of the 16th Division's pursuit from Wuxi to Changzhou, Second Lieutenant Takeshi Noda, adjutant of the 3rd Brigade of the 9th Infantry Wing of the 19th Brigade of the Division, and Second Lieutenant Toshiaki Mukai, the leader of the artillery squad of the brigade, met to see who would kill 100 people with their knives first when they arrived in Nanjing. After that, the two officers began to slaughter on a large scale, and when they reached the Purple Mountain outside Nanjing, Noda Takeshi killed 105 people, while Mukai Toshiaki killed 106 people.

As for the prisoners, the commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Imazo, wrote in his chronicles: "Basically, the policy of taking prisoners was not implemented, and it was decided to adopt a policy of total and complete extermination."

For example, the first division is called the Tokyo Division because all the soldiers and middle- and lower-ranking officers are from Tokyo. The 2nd Division is also known as the Sendai Division, and the 3rd Division is also known as the Nagoya Division...... The soldiers of this 16th Division are from the Kyoto area, so it is called the Kyoto Division (not Tokyo, Tokyo was formerly known as Edo), and this division obviously belongs to the divisions of the relatively wealthy areas, so they are better equipped than the divisions of other poor areas, and at the same time, the combat tasks that can be assigned are also 'Meicha'.

This is the consistent tradition of this army! Divisions in rich areas discriminate against divisions in poor areas, and divisions and regiments in poor areas are sent to fight in difficult areas.

The strength of the 16th Division suddenly increased to 70,000, which made Kamio Mitsutomi's confidence swell.

On September 4, the Great Empire did not recognize the legal status of the East China Autonomous Axe, nor did it recognize the Jiaozhou Bay Concession as being handed over to the East China Autonomous Axe. ”

Seeing this statement, Xia Jun smiled, it was time to bleed Xiao Yueben.

(To be continued)