The two theaters are quite important, and the First Army is currently mainly defending in Qingdao, which can be used as the general reserve on the side of the Qingdao Campaign, and the Second Army and the Third Army will also reach it in the shortest possible time, and the entire territory of Shandong has gathered 600,000 people of the Northwest Army, which is even more than the current Japanese mobilization.

From the northwest to Shandong, especially the Second Army and the Third Army, these two armies, which were not stationed in Baotou in the northwest, began to increase the scope of the northwest downwards, and many troops were stationed outward, and the current Baotou New Area is temporarily only stationed with the fast reaction units directly belonging to the two divisions of the military department, and these two divisions, like the reconnaissance regiment of the first division, are fully mechanized troops, but in terms of training and requirements, they have basically caught up with the standards of special forces, and can be said to be the most powerful troops in the entire northwest.

The first army is currently in Shandong, and according to the current defense area, the second army is in Xi'an, responsible for the security of the whole territory of Shaanxi, the third army is far away in Ningxia, need to deter several provinces in the frontier, Xi'an is also down, with the opening of the Longhai Railway, from Xi'an to Anhui, and then transfer to the Beijing-Shanghai railway, along a branch line connecting Shandong, to Qingdao, the distance is not close, but it is very smooth, but Ningxia, in the late Qing Dynasty, can be said to be a poor and backward frontier, That is, the beginning of the construction of the main artery to Xinjiang in the northwest, which is really combined with the railway core of the northwest, and the railway from Xining to Baotou runs through the entire northwest and goes all the way to Urumqi.

It is precisely because of the advent of railways that the territory and space have changed, and the distance of nearly 2,000 kilometers is simply an insurmountable obstacle for previous wars. Two or three months of marching, no matter how strong the warriors. It will also be dragged down, the Qing Dynasty once made expeditions to Jinchuan. However, it is in the northern part of Sichuan, while Ningxia is further away, far from the Central Plains. At present, the railway line laid in the northwest, under the condition that the speed of the main line train reaches 120 kilometers, the total time from assembly to entering the station will not exceed 72 hours, and most of the time is still wasted by assembling and entering the station, and the real road time. In less than 1 day, the powerful convenience brought by the railway is undoubted.

Geographically, it is farther than Japan from Qingdao, Xining to Qingdao, almost 2,000 kilometers, if you add the middle detour and enter the position, this distance will be even farther, and the distance from Qingdao to Nagasaki is only about 970 kilometers. Only about half of the area from Xining to Qingdao was carried out, and troops were transferred from the interior to the coastal areas relying on the dense railway network that had taken several years to build in the northwest. It took only a few days, and even after the Second and Third Armies had entered the positions, the Japanese army had not yet completed its assembly. Even the 6th Division, which was the first to set off, was still floating on the sea. It's still far from Qingdao.

Rapid reaction force, all the time. These are all required and advocated by Yang Yuanzhao, the software and hardware conditions of this era are insufficient, and the rapid reaction force does not have enough software and hardware support, and cannot achieve the strength of full-range strikes and rapid deployment, but with a certain amount of time, increasing his assembly speed, coupled with the dense railway network, can be in China, rapid maneuvering, and play the effect of one division equal to 1.5, or even 2, 3.

From the first day of entering the barracks, in addition to training discipline and obedience, there is also basic military training, which is to train this, how to complete the assembly faster, how to enter the combat state more perfectly, this point is not only paid attention to by the staff officers, the plans set up are strictly scientific reasoning step by step, and the soldiers are also strictly trained.

This kind of training not only increased the cohesion of the Northwest Army, but also increased the speed of the Northwest Army's response, many steps have been accurate to the minute and second, in these key links, each reduction time is very small, but when integrated together, it becomes a miracle like a rapid response, according to the number of the first, second, and third armies, as long as it is not in a state of complete leave, even in a state of ordinary alert, a group army can be able to achieve a dispersed state, Entering the state of railway transportation, which took up to 36 hours, which was simply unimaginable for the military of this era. As for the first-level combat readiness, it is even faster, almost ready for a qiē, at most 3 hours, you can set off in full gear.

The First Army was stationed in Qingdao and was responsible for dealing with the invaders near Qingdao, while the Second Army was responsible for garrisoning 12 cities near Shandong, and they were much closer than the Third Army, and they arrived at least 12 hours in advance, and then deployed to those cities in order, and the Third Army was on the outside of Jiaozhou Bay, and was deployed on the front line of Weihai in Yantai, ready to respond to the key attacks of the Japanese army at any time. In the case that the land offensive did not have an effect, the Japanese army probably would not choose to break through one after another on land, but would choose to take a shortcut and go to the vicinity of Jiaozhou Bay by sea.

600,000 troops, gathered in Shandong, this qiē, no one knows, all the special trains, are in the evening time fast through the northwest of the area, whistling by, most of the weapons and equipment are packed, even the soldiers are in a special stuffy tank truck, outside, there is no movement or situation at all, just like this, quietly, the northwest has made all the preparations, waiting for the arrival of Japan.

At this moment, in Japan's base camp, still immersed in excitement, the funds for the support of Britain and France have been put in place, 12 million pounds of low-interest loans, directly remitted to the account of the Japanese government, giving them great help, the military industry enterprises can go all out to start construction, Japan spent several decades, to build a military industry, the production of a large number of equipment, the recruitment of the new army and the recruitment of reserves, are carried out smoothly, relying on seeds, can build 25 new divisions, the Japanese are also very clear, only relying on 17 standing divisions, may not be able to take Qingdao in one fell swoop, but Qingdao is an important step in Japan's mainland plan, as long as Qingdao is taken, Shandong as its own sphere of influence, the resources of the entire Shandong plus Japan's domestic troops, you can gradually attack, Shandong is quite close to the core of the northwest, plus the relationship with the revolutionary party and Beiyang, the previous agreement, now can be carried out together, the three jointly send troops, carve up the northwest.

Japan is not good at intelligence, but it is close at hand, but it knows what kind of wealth the northwest has, marketing in the northwest of the world manufacturing, life-saving drugs sulfonamides and stockings, part-time jobs are made every day, grab these, Japan's productivity, will get a huge boost, the use of the industrial base of the northwest, relying on China's huge land and manpower, Japan will inevitably usher in greater success after the Meiji Restoration.

A sum of funds to be allocated, not only the low-interest loans of 12 million pounds from Britain and France, but also the wealth accumulated by Japan during this time, this money itself should be invested in industrial upgrading, and now all of it is invested in the military field, not only the navy began to use money to buy all kinds of warships, the army also began to expand its armaments, they directly contacted the United States, and imported more than 120 100 mm heavy guns from the United States at least, which are expected to arrive in Japan within three months.

Between Cangzhou and Binzhou, Hebei, in fact, close to Binzhou, is the northernmost one of the 12 railway hub cities, when the night, a military train enters the city of Binzhou, a whole division, the 23rd Division of the Northwest Army, riding 15 cars, has arrived in Binzhou, the city is between Tianjin and Shandong, plus 3 railways from here to guò, it is a regional railway hub city, so this small city is also quite large, The 23rd Division is close to 27,000 people, basically all of them can be stationed in the city, but it is easy to be attacked by dense firepower, and after considering the situation repeatedly, it was finally decided that the command and a part of the artillery and army were stationed in the city, about 5,000 people, and the rest were gradually deployed in a radius of 20 kilometers outside the city of Binzhou New Town, holding some communication arteries, even if the Japanese arrived in this vicinity, it was not easy to cross this and attack Jiaozhou Bay.

Binzhou New Town, which is the last garrison city, is already in the north of Shandong, and is about to enter the territory of Hebei, but according to the agreement, the new city itself is under the management of the northwest, and only needs to pay some taxes and fees to the district government every month. The poorly disciplined Beiyang Army and the Revolutionary Party Army could not stay in these new cities at all, and even if they were forced to stay, the higher cost of garrisoning troops would also give the two governments a bit of a headache.

Under normal circumstances, Xincheng is managed by the Xincheng government and police force, and at most there are some local militia troops, and now, the regular army in the northwest has entered, and immediately opened the posture, and the entire Xincheng surrounding immediately entered the state of military control, and was ready for the Japanese attack, and at this moment, whether it was the Sixth Division floating on the sea, or the Japanese Army that was assembling in the country, did not know. (To be continued......)