"Company commander, it's raining so hard today..."

On the Qingdao fortress, Xiang Pet said to the company commander Li Mudao, and wiped his face with his hand to wipe all the rain on his face.

And after listening to Xiang Pet's words, Li Mu also nodded with a wry smile.

"yes, it's been raining for two days."

At this time, it was August 15th, although Yan Guang had assembled 6 infantry divisions and 2 artillery brigades in Shandong in order to deal with him, but...

Four battle cruisers, ten battleships, as well as more than a dozen cruisers of the first and second ranks and seven destroyer formations ...

With such a huge fleet, the original six infantry divisions were quite adequate at first glance, but considering that Qingdao Fortress also needed garrisons, Yan Guang had to transfer the 21st and 23rd Divisions, that is, the original Beiyang 1st and 3rd Divisions, from Nanjing and Yanjing.

In the Qingdao War, Qingdao Fortress would fall within a month, because there were too few defenders in Qingdao Fortress. The huge Qingdao fortress, more than 5,000 German troops could not carry out an effective defense at all―――――― Yan Guang would not ignore the lessons of this history.

However, Yan Guang is not very relieved of these surrendered troops in Beiyang after all, not to mention that because of the "flag people making trouble", Yan Guang and the flag people are very unhappy, and in the 21st Division, most of the officers and soldiers are flag people...

So in the end, it was the 23rd Division and a division of the former National Social Army that were responsible for garrisoning the Qingdao Fortress.

Although the strength of the two divisions is not much, there are other troops in Shandong to make a strategy, and the Qingdao fortress is very strong, so the strength of the two divisions is enough.

"But company commander, do you think those devils are easy to deal with?"

Looking at the empty sea, Xiang Pet asked Li Mu.

"It's hard to say..."Li Mu shook his head. We haven't fought with those who said it, Jiawu and Gengzi have done it twice, but at that time our army was too bad to make a comparison, but anyway, I was always better than the Germans to deal with―――――― with the same strength. Saying that, Li Mu glanced at Xiang Pet. Said this devil? Where did you learn to call it? ”

However, after listening to Li Mu's words, Xiang Pet said quite exaggeratedly.

"No, company commander, you don't know where the title comes from?"

Of course Li Mu didn't know, after all, their 23rd Division hurried to Shandong by train after receiving the task, and he was an officer in the division, how could he be like Xiang Pet, this kid, who had nothing else to do except training all day long.

And after seeing that Li Mu really didn't know, Xiang Pet hurriedly explained on the side.

"Xiao said that this devil is what the president said in the newspaper a few years ago, and now this title has been spread all over the army..."

Of course, it wasn't Yan Guang who said it in the newspaper, in fact, this title was on August 10, when he had decided to form an expeditionary force, Yan Guang because his "sense of sight" was too strong, so he said it in the internal meeting―――――― everyone can understand, after all, in Yan Guang's era, the devil was already synonymous with himself―――――― although he was not angry after hearing this pronoun, and even many people thought that this name was very cute (this is true... ）。

is the so-called mother-in-law's mouth, this kind of problem is there in that dynasty. Therefore, the word "devil" just came out of Yan Guang's mouth on the 10th, and by the time it reached the 11th, it had already spread throughout half of Yanjing City.

And now, on the 15th, there are very few people in the whole army who don't know this synonym ...

Similarly, because I don't know which stupid guy revealed this nickname to reporters, the result was that the nickname had been published in almost all newspapers in China the next day, and by now, basically the whole country knows about it.

For this matter, said Zhiyi even came to the door to protest once, and Yan Guang also said that Zhiyi had no choice, after all, now China said that the two countries have not declared war, and it is impossible to declare war―――――― war is very likely to be limited to Shandong, Yan Guang has been notified by Zhu Erdian. If Yan Guang declares war on Yue Ben now, he may instead weigh his own heart.

And although Yan Guang is very confident in his army, the navy...

In the case of naval superiority, if he chooses to attack from multiple sides, then China's long coastline will definitely be like a rag, and he will be poked with holes.

――――――――――

Just as Xiang Pet and Li Mu were talking about the word "Little Devil", on the narrow coastline of the Shandong Peninsula, a four-plane formation composed of Fokker planes was patrolling along the coastline.

In fact, Yan Guang didn't want to do this, after all, the detention time of ships on the sea surface was longer than that of aircraft―――――― although the patrol range was definitely not as wide as that of aircraft.

However, if a formation of surface ships and reconnaissance planes can form a cordon, it will undoubtedly be foolproof.

It's just that the gap between the Chinese Navy and the Yuben Navy is too big, so big that it can never catch up in a short time, so Yan Guang can only rely on reconnaissance planes to guard ―――――― if he sends out surface ships, even if he uses fishing boats to camouflage.

After all, he has no surname, and he has already shown it in Lushun in the past and Nanjing in the future, if Yan Guang really sent people to disguise themselves as fishing boats on the sea, it is difficult to say that the ships of this navy will not greet these fishing boats with naval guns first...

Battleships are different from other large ships and fishing boats, and their extremely long viewing range will definitely allow them to attack fishing boats before they even detect them.

And, again, it's something that only needs to be understood in one shot...

Therefore, in the end, all reconnaissance activities on the Shandong Peninsula were handed over to the Air Force to complete.

Fortunately, today's Chinese Air Force is extremely large, and the aircraft of this era, except for aircraft like Ilya. In addition to the Muromets bomber, the construction is also very simple.

Therefore, the current Chinese Air Force can casually dispatch two or three hundred Fokker planes, and this is because some time ago, the Sichuan Arsenal and some affiliated aircraft factories were concentrating on manufacturing Ilya. Because of the Muromets bombers, otherwise, it would not be impossible for the current number of aircraft in the Chinese Air Force to exceed 800 ...

(In 1915, Germany produced 800 planes a year, and by 1918, Britain produced more than 3,000 planes in that year...) ）

"Lao Li, did you find anything over there?"

Piloting a Fokker that had just come out of the factory, one pilot said to the pilot of another plane on the flank.

"That's right."

Hearing the voice shouting to himself, the pilot replied after shaking his head.

In fact, he did not see anything of any interest, and now on the sea, because of the likelihood of war, not a single fishing boat dared to stop. So all they can see is the clouds under the fuselage.

"What the hell, when did these devils come?"

Scolding the nickname that has recently become popular in the military, the pilot shook the fuselage in extreme boredom.

When the companions on the side heard him say this, they could only shake their heads and smile bitterly.

After flying along the coastline for almost five minutes, and still not finding anything useful, the commander of the formation looked at the fuel, and when he found that there was not much fuel left, he shouted and gestured to the other three planes beside him.

"It looks like there's no drama today, let's go back."

Looking at the fuel, the pilots of the other three planes also nodded.

Don't look at how chic they are flying now, but if they run out of fuel, they will definitely fall straight down and kiss the earth, which is not what they want.

But just as they were about to return to their air base in Laiyang, a pilot suddenly screamed in a shrill and piercing voice that could not even cover the engines of the planes.

"Look, look there!!"

Following the pilot's hand, the other three pilots saw an unforgettable scene for them...

In the sea to the northeast, a large fleet is heading in the direction of the Shandong Peninsula.

"Damn, it's my fleet !!"

Looking at several battleships in the fleet that were simply impossible to ignore, the commander of the formation shouted.

"Captain, what should we do now?"

"Let's go around and !!"

After answering the questions of his subordinates, the commander flew in the direction of the expeditionary fleet with his plane.

The other pilots saw that the captain was like this, and they all followed the plane one by one in the direction of the fleet.

They do not worry about their own safety, because in this era, aircraft are only the main force of reconnaissance, and the rest, whether it is a ground war or a war at sea, has little effect.

Great is to throw a few grenades to disturb it, so in this era, there is no field air defense, those steel giants on the sea, and there are no worries about the "mosquitoes" flying in the sky.

So don't look at the steel behemoths below, all of them are tens of millions of tons, but there is nothing they can do about these planes flying in the sky.

At this time, in the Yueben Expeditionary Force below, because this four-plane formation was unscrupulous and flew quite low, it was soon discovered by the Yue himself below.

It's just that there is nothing he can do about these four mosquitoes flying in the sky, so they have nothing else to do except some radical sailors and army soldiers on troop carriers who shoot at the planes in the sky with Type 38 rifles.

At this time, on the flagship of the Expeditionary Force, the Hanoi, the officers of the navy were also reporting like Vice Admiral Yuzaburo Kato, the commander of the fleet.

"Your Excellency Lieutenant General, the one flying in the sky is the reconnaissance plane of the Chinese people, and now our position may have been exposed..."

Yuzaburo Kato was called out of the bedroom by his subordinates, and he was tidying up his clothes at this time.

"Chinese planes?"

As he spoke, Yuzaburo Kato took the binoculars and looked at the sky.

In the sky, after completing the reconnaissance mission, the four planes were already preparing to leave―――――― in fact, they also wanted to reconnoiter for a while and take a good look at the establishment of the fleet, but unfortunately at this time they had not much fuel left. And what's worse is that...

The worst thing is that the person in the fleet can already pose a threat to them.

For example, the army on the troop carrier, although the equipment of the army is much worse than that of the Wehrmacht, but there are heavy machine guns or something, and there is also such a brand as Hatch Chase in the army, plus the Hatch Chase is much lighter than Makqin, so when the four of them made the following Yue himself quite annoyed, some of the officers and men of the Saying Ship have already moved out the Hatch Kaiss machine gun and fired at the plane in the sky.

As for the soldiers' waste of ammunition, those ordinary officers did not pay much attention to it, and even many officers of the Sayben also participated.

Without him, it was really these "presumptuous" reconnaissance planes that made these officers and men too annoyed.

Therefore, in the absence of a choice, the pilots in the sky had no choice but to return to the air base in Laiyang as soon as possible.

And after seeing that all four planes left, Yuzaburo Kato smiled slightly.

"I didn't expect to encounter such an obstacle on the way here..."

At this time, there was a sudden sound of footsteps outside the cabin, and not long after, an army general wearing the rank of lieutenant general suddenly walked in.

"Kato, is our position exposed?!"

At the same time, Mitsutomi Kamio was also the supreme commander of the army, and was specifically responsible for the war of the army in Shandong―――――― in fact, it was this person who commanded the Qingdao Campaign in history.

And after listening to Kamio Mitsutomi's words, Kato Yuzaburo just smiled.

"Looks right."

Indeed, although the speed of the fleet is already very fast, it is fast, and it is impossible to rush to Shandong faster than the reconnaissance planes of the Air Force.

After hearing Kato Yuzaburo's words, Mitsutomi Kamio angrily pounded the bulkhead of the cabin with his hand.

"Damn, how could it be exposed!!"

"I don't know about this, maybe Amaterasu just had a fight!"

Hearing Kato Yuzaburo say this, Mitsutomi Kamio glanced at it angrily.

"You bastard, it wasn't your navy that was responsible for the landing this time, of course you would say that."

Hearing Kamio Mitsutomi say this, several other army generals around him also looked at Kato Yuzaburo with unkind faces, and similarly, the naval generals around Kato Yuzaburo also glared back one by one.

It's no wonder they're like this, after all, it's not a matter of a day or two that the navy and the army don't deal with each other. In fact, it's normal for them to be like this now, and if the relationship between the two sides gets better one day, it's not normal...

Fortunately, Kato Yuzaburo didn't think too much about it, and Kamio Mitsutomi also understood the importance of the war, so after being annoyed for a while, Kamio Mitsutomi changed the topic.

"How many kilometers are there from Longkou now."

Originally, Mitsutomi Kamio wanted to change the topic and ease the atmosphere by the way.

But at this time, Kato Yuzaburo said with a smile.

"Your Excellency Kamio, when we are at sea, we use the sea..."

"You bastard!!"

Hearing Yuzaburo Kato say this, Mitsutomi Kamio was also on fire.

But at this time, Yuzaburo Kato spoke.

"According to our calculations, it will take about an hour to reach Longkou now." As he spoke, Yuzaburo Kato looked at Mitsutomi Kamio. "Your Excellency Kamio, please rest assured, in an hour's time, the Chinese will never have time to reach Longkou..."

That's right, I said that I had already reconnoitred it, and there was no Chinese garrison in Longkou Bay.

Because at this time, the National Defense Force, except for the two divisions in the Qingdao Fortress, the remaining six infantry divisions were almost all deployed on the front line of Qingdao, Laiyang, and Jinan, while Longkou Bay, which was located behind the Qingdao Fortress, had almost no troops, or no troops at all.

As for why I chose Longkou Bay?

As a matter of fact, he had been prepared for this move for a long time, because as early as March 1913, more than a year ago, he was dispatched by the Kanto Prefecture to conduct more than 30 investigations in the Longkou area, and wrote an investigation report entitled "Longkou Affair" to the political axe, which reported in detail the important situation of the Longkou harbor, the market, the population, customs, shipping, trade, taxation, finance, hinterland resources, and the army and the political axe.

In 1914, Tahara Tiannan came to China again to investigate Longkou. He noted in his report. "Longkou has a close relationship with the ports of Kanto Prefecture, and as a re-export place for goods exported from Hutouya and Yangjiaogou, and because of Huangxian County on its back, it has become more and more prosperous recently. In particular, there were no less than three or four million coolies who traveled to and from the three northeastern provinces through the port...... and their investigation provided information for the dispatch of troops to Longkou.

Moreover, when Yuan Shikai was not defeated by Yan Guang, Longkou Bay had been opened up as a commercial port for foreign trade by the Yanjing political axe at that time.

But the most important thing is that the current Weihaiwei is occupied by the British, and this best landing place is not something they can start...

"Okay then, I hope my troops will land and land..."Speaking of this, Mitsutomi Kamio glared at Kato Yuzaburo fiercely. I hope that when my troops land, there will be no hindrance. ”

"I promise."

Yuzaburo Kato said with a smile.

"Humph!" As if he couldn't get used to seeing Kato Yuzaburo always smiling, Kamio Mitsutomi snorted angrily and left the bridge with a few of his subordinates.

And after Kamio Mitsutomi left, several other admirals were gossiping.

"Your Excellency, these guys are so rude."

"yes, don't these army horse manure know what politeness is!!"

As for the anger of his subordinates, Yuzaburo Kato just smiled.

"Listening to you, when did these soldiers of the army know how to be polite..."

Hearing Yuzaburo Kato say this, those admirals were speechless, and then they all laughed.

It was at this time that Yuzaburo Kato said to an officer.

"Inform the whole fleet to speed up, we must land in Longkou Bay before the Chinese react..."

"Yes!"

(To be continued)