When the troops receiving the concession arrived in Qingdao, it was the afternoon, the red sun was setting in the west, and the Prussian soldiers bathed in the sunshine, their bayonets flashing with cold light, showed that they were particularly energetic. The pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info honor guard played a sonorous and powerful national anthem, and in response, the Lu Army Military Band also walked out of the queue and played the national anthem of Qingyun.

The battle flags of the two countries approached each other, and beside the standard-bearers, the chief officers on high-headed horses and dressed in ceremonial robes had no intention of fighting each other, but smiled and saluted each other to show that both sides had no ill will.

Zhao Guanhou was responsible for receiving the concession troops, including his own basic unit, the cavalry brigade, plus the 5th Division. Prior to this, the first division of the 37th division of Shangquan and the first and second divisions of the provincial army successively arrived at the periphery of the Qingdao fortress of the Prussian army. The main force of the Shandong Navy, in addition to the daily patrol ships, basically entered the waters of Qingdao, and the elite of the Lu army gathered here.

All Prussian forces in Shandong had also been concentrated in Qingdao. Among them, more than 5,000 troops have been deployed in Shandong, and a general mobilization of all male expatriates in Shandong has been carried out, with a total of nearly 10,000 armed personnel. On the naval side, it is a combined fleet group composed of an Ottoman fleet and the Qingdao navy.

From a formal point of view, it seems that a fierce confrontation will break out between China and Pudong, and the war will decide the ownership of Qingdao. But in fact, the Shandong Army was not greeted with bayonets and bullets, but with flowers and applause.

The Prussian governor in Shandong, Wadeck, Bishop Andrew, and Leeman the Younger, were among the greeting procession. The military band played the national anthems of the two countries, and then, with the Prussian army as a guide, guided the Lu army into the Qingdao fortress.

Zhao Guanhou and Wadek walked side by side, their faces indifferent, "Your Excellency Wadeke, this time Shandong is considered to be a chestnut in the fire for Prussia, and openly turned against the Fusang people. In the future, when the Fuso people come to trouble me, your country must come forward to take care of it, or I, the overseer, will not be able to sit still. ”

"Zhao Guanshuai can rest assured that the empire is progressing smoothly on the battlefield of Taixi, and victory belongs to the great Prussia after all! The end of the Albians is coming, and the fate of the Fuso, as the lackeys of the Albians in the East, has long been sealed. What awaits them will be the wrath of His Majesty the Emperor, and the merciless blows of my Prussian warriors. I promise that day will come soon, and of course, until then, we will have to pay some price, but believe me, it will be worth it. As long as we stick to Qingdao, what you lose will be rewarded tenfold and hundredfold. ”

From the very beginning, there were differences in the positions of Prussia and Zhao Guanhou in the way the Shandong question was handled. It's not a matter of philosophy, it's purely a matter of interest.

If Zhao Guanhou bows to Fusang, at least at this stage, the Gonghe Army can completely protect itself. However, Prussia invested a huge amount of capital in Shandong, so naturally Zhao Guanhou would not be allowed to give up his interests to the Fusang people. Thus, peace with the Fuso meant betrayal for Prussia.

However, if war was chosen, Prussia, as a power that was challenging the inherent order of the world, would have very limited capital to invest in the Shandong battlefield. Returning the colonies to China is actually transferring the contradictions, and it also proves that its own confidence is insufficient.

If the battlefield is confined to Shandong, Prussia's strength in this battlefield is actually far weaker than that of Fuso. Unlike Fuso, which can mobilize 100,000 generals, Prussia is limited by its projection capacity, and the deployment of an army with a total of less than 10,000 troops in Shandong is already its limit.

With a force of this scale, if you want to protect the entire Jiaodong, it is simply impossible. In fact, at present, the Prussian army in Shandong is already the concentration of all Prussian forces in the East. In the short term, it is impossible to come to the aid of new forces. If a war breaks out in Qingdao in the future, Shandong can only rely on itself in terms of funds and materials.

However, whether it was the interests of Shandong or the Qingdao fortress, Prussia could not give up, so it could only let the local troops in Shandong undertake the combat mission. Let the Chinese shed their blood and die to defend the interests of Prussia. In the past, Prussia's investment in Shandong, and even military and technical assistance, now it is time to collect interest.

For a possible attack by the Fusos, Waldeck, based on the strength at hand, strategically, chose the idea of defending against the attack.

Its concept is: take Qingdao as the core and arrange three layers of defense line. On the first floor, the Floating Mountain and the Lonely Mountain are used as support points to build the latest fortress defense cluster. The second layer is the "Prince Fortress" as the core, the defense line from Zhanshan to Haibo River, and the last layer is the core fortification with Qingdao Mountain, Chushui Mountain and Taiping Mountain as the main body.

Due to the staggering number of interests in Shandong, it was impossible for Prussia to give up this place, because in the face of objective difficulties, Prussia did invest a huge amount of money in these three-layer fortifications. Of course, Shandong also paid a lot of manpower.

The construction of the entire fortress took nearly a year and mobilized more than 100,000 migrant workers. Under the personal guidance of Prussian engineers, the construction was finally completed before the arrival of the Fuso troops, after thousands of lives.

According to Zhao Guanhou's observations, the price paid was rewarded enough, and this Qingdao fortress was superior to the Chengshun fortress in any aspect. The firepower of the fortress, the degree of solidity, can only be described as impeccable. When the fortress was completed, Governor Wadeck, who was a sapper, said that such a fortress would be enough to hold out until the end of the world.

Due to the limited capital at hand, it was impossible to break the Fuso troops in the field, and Prussia's only option was to defend. As long as the fortress can hold out until the victory is determined on the battlefield of Tessie, whether the empire cripples the combined forces of Albion and Cape, or defeats Tiele and makes them surrender, the Fuso people can be defeated without a fight. The victory or defeat on the battlefield depends on the battlefield, and as long as you do not lose, it is enough to maintain Prussia's interests from loss.

Inside the fortress, Prussia bought a large amount of grain in Shandong, and the food reserves were enough to last for more than half a year. This cycle will be extended with the introduction of emergency rationing in wartime. Having learned the lessons of the previous Tiele Lushun Fortress, there are still a large number of vegetables in the Qingdao Fortress to ensure that the soldiers will not be infected with diseases such as sepsis.

For this huge fortress, the only problem is the strength of the troops. No matter how confident he is in his fortress, after all, the Fuso people can send troops in a steady stream, and the 8,000 Prussians in Wadeck's hands are one less dead. At least until the Tessie War is decided, he will not be able to get new recruits, and it is even possible that he will be able to withdraw his troops and continue fighting in Tessie. A fortress without soldiers has no effect, and if you want to hold the fortress, in the end, you have to rely on the Chinese.

Based on the Sino-Prussian Treaty of Shandong, the Prussians sent a large number of military instructors to Shandong, and these officers themselves also assumed the role of seizing military power and spies. He has also evaluated the combat strength of the troops he has trained. According to the assessment of these instructors, the Lu army has a tenacious will to fight, good obedience, and is suitable for use as consumables.

As a result of the previous close cooperation, Prussia knew more about Shandong's family than other countries. At present, Zhao Guanhou has begun to carry out wartime mobilization, and in the area under his control, it is determined that more than 100,000 troops can be mobilized. No matter how bad the individual level of these armies is, the number of troops alone is enough to become an important weight in determining the direction of the battlefield.

On the contrary, if these armies join the Fuso side, one in and one out, it will be the greatest disaster for the empire. Therefore, on the surface, Wadeck and the entire Prussian Shandong army gave the Lu army the greatest courtesy and preferential treatment. Its purpose was to tie Shandong to the Prussian chariot and fight to the death in order to defend the interests of the great Prussian Empire in China.

From the moment the Lu soldiers set foot on the Qingdao fortress, their fate had been decided, and they shed the last drop of blood for Prussia. Regardless of whether the Qingdao fortress can be successfully defended in the future, these soldiers are basically dead or alive.

According to the military plan formulated by Wadeke, the Shandong Army was deployed in the outermost part and was responsible for defending the areas around Fushan and Gushan, exchanging lives for lives, and at least fighting with the Fusang Army to achieve one-to-one casualties. From the beginning of the second line of defense, the Lu army was mixed with the Prussian army and accepted the command of the Prussian army.

According to previous Prussian internal calculations, the outer line of defense could hold on for two to three months, at the cost of heavy casualties among the defenders. The remnants then abandoned the first line of defense and moved to the second line of defense, holding out for at least another two months, and of course, after such a battle, there was very little left of the defenders. In other words, as soon as these Lu troops stepped on the position, there was no possibility of leaving alive.

More importantly, Fuso's war against Prussia could not involve the rest of Shandong morally or legally. However, Shandong's troops were all involved in the fortress, which was tantamount to giving up their neutral status and becoming a participant.

Once the Fusang army landed, it would inevitably launch attacks on other areas, and the elite of Shandong were all in the fortress, and there were no troops to defend in other areas, so they would naturally fall quickly, and for Zhao Guanhou, the overseer of Shandong, their own interests would also suffer huge losses.

In addition to borrowing from Shandong's army, Wadek, who also had to borrow Shandong's materials and food to hold the fortress, naturally would not be an enemy of Shandong's nominal supreme commander at this time.

With a smile on his face, he promised a bright future ahead.

"You must know that not long ago, the Empire had just won a brilliant victory against Capet, and in the Battle of the Marne, we used a clever fishhook tactic to make our troops retreat, and only when the Entente fools pursued us, did we find ourselves in an ambush circle of our army. In that battle, the Allies lost more than 50,000 soldiers. You have to know what that means, they are about to run out of soldiers. In Tieler, we sponsored the opponents of the Tiele Emperor to cause trouble in the country, and I believe that soon Tiele will be mired in civil strife and have no time to take care of anything else. ”

"As for the Fuso fools, they made a big mistake and tried to get their hands on the interests of Southeast Asia. The active provocation of the Yankee fleet by the Navy of Fuso will only lead to the rapid fall of the Yankees to our country, and when the Yankees abandon their isolationist position and officially enter the war, it will not be long before the Entente will surrender. The Empire's armies would turn to the east, and the Fuso would not be worthy of being the Empire's opponents. The punishment for Fuso will be unprecedentedly cruel, and the reward for your Excellency will be unprecedentedly superior. ”

"I hope so. This time, I also put my life on the line, and if I can't get enough in return, even if I have these brothers under my command, I am afraid that it will not be easy to appease. ”

"Zhao Guanshuai is right, please rest assured, since the time your army entered the Qingdao fortress, the expenses of your army's military salaries will be borne by the Prussian Empire. In terms of materials, the empire will also pay according to the price, and deduct it from the loan in Shandong. ”

Wadeck's face was still full of humility, but he secretly sneered in his heart: these people are destined to die, and we have always been tolerant of the dead. You want to threaten me with these armed thugs? Are you still naïve to think that these forces are under your control?

Reinstein and his men did not appear in the reinforcements, but entered the fortress by three army divisions and one brigade in Shandong, two of which were taught by Prussian instructors and mid-level and senior officers in the troops. Although wearing the uniform of the Combined Army, Wadeck believed that the force was effectively in the hands of his own country. In the event of a conflict, those officers could command their troops and point their guns at Zhao Guanhou's subordinates.

As for the so-called Shandong Navy, it is even more outside the scope of Prussian calculations. Little Liman's four steam warships were enough to wipe out the entire Shandong navy, and under the threat of artillery, he was not afraid that they would not do what he was told.

Under the guidance of Prussian officers, the Lu army entered the predetermined positions respectively and stationed them in the first and second lines of defense of the fortress. The escort troops of one battalion, as well as cadres above the Lu regiment level, entered Qingdao City as honored guests.

Reporters and cameras have already been prepared to record this historic moment on film amid the rise of the powder. Chinese soldiers, from the hands of foreigners, took back their own territory.

Prussian journalists captured a warm handshake between the two sides, and then the flag, a symbol of Prussian authority, was lowered, and in its place, the five-color flag representing the unity. Zhao Guanhou held the handle of the knife and took a few photos under the flag, and when the white smoke flashed, Wadek stepped forward with a smile and held Zhao Guanhou's hand

"With these photos, together with the operation of your propaganda agency, you will be a hero of the Commons. Even Your Excellency Yuan will be robbed of the limelight by you. With the support of public opinion, I believe that Your Excellency's position in Shandong will be solid. Now, it's time for us to change the flag back. ”

"Your Excellency the Governor has won the prize. We have an old Chinese saying that the first bird is flicked out. It's not necessarily a good thing to be a hero at this time. His Excellency the Governor of Fuso's note already knew that with Shandong's current strength, it was not enough to compete with Fusang. And public opinion has always been influenced by interests, and if the overall interests of Shandong are seriously damaged, the gentry will no longer support me, and you should know what this means in China. ”

Wadeck muttered to himself: Isn't the biggest gentry leader in Shandong now you? This kind of talk is nothing more than wanting more benefits. But it is precisely because of Zhao Guanhou's attitude that he is relieved to cooperate with him, if Zhao Guanhou really has no desires, Prussia will not dare to cooperate with him.

"Guanshuai is too worried, even Fuso, it needs to consider the interests of various countries in China. They are currently at odds with the Yankees, and if they continue to target Shandong, even Albion, they will intervene. Therefore, their target will only be Qingdao, and as long as we hold the fortress under our feet, your authority in Shandong will be unshakable. As for the losses suffered by Jiaodong, in the future, a few pieces of meat will definitely be cut from the Fusang people to make up for the losses suffered by Shandong. His Majesty the Emperor, who is generous, will never let his friends suffer any losses, and the crown commander should know this. The Doge's Palace has prepared a welcome ball for you, so let's go have a few drinks for the sake of our future cooperation. ”

Qingdao's future strategic materials all rely on Shandong to transport, and it is the current Wadek that does not dare to put up a fight with Zhao Guanhou. Before the Fusang troops launched an attack, they had to seize all the time to stock up on food and ammunition, and every link was inseparable from the support of Zhao Guanhou, the local governor of Shandong. Perfunctory treatment of him is also an important component of Shandong's defensive operations.

Therefore, although the Qingdao fortress has been under military control, in order to welcome the arrival of Zhao Guanhou, Wadek still held a grand welcome banquet in the governor's palace. The wine and food, coupled with the exotic beauties, are still a scene of singing and dancing.

Dozens of beautiful and touching girls, dressed in dresses that reveal half of the jade ball, shuttle back and forth to provide services to guests. The families of the Prussian officers living in Qingdao sat on the sidelines, waiting for the dance to begin later, when the Lu officers danced.

Zhao Guanhou, as an honored guest, was not present, and in the secret room of the Governor's Palace, Wadek, Andrew and Zhao Guanhou sat opposite each other.

The wind blew the flag, and the re-hung Black Eagle Flag, bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun, was dazzling. The breeze rolls up, the clouds are in all directions, and the slightly salty sea breeze blows. Veterans who have been stationed in Qingdao for many years know that tonight, most of them will be raining. (To be continued.) )