"It's so hot..."

Leaning back in the trenches, one of the soldiers said to his companions.

It was only better that he was better, and there happened to be a big rock in the place where he was sitting now, and it would have been cooler if he had his back against him, but his companions had no strength to answer him.

Not only the army, but also the national defense army and the national defense army are equal under the scorching sun.

At this moment, on their respective defensive lines, both the Japanese army and the Wehrmacht are hiding in the trenches like a pack of dead dogs. Fortunately, there is no drought in Shandong, and there is no shortage of water, otherwise it is really easy to get heated.

Of course, not all officers and soldiers are like this, only those troops that carry out garrison duties. The troops who had no task were almost all hiding in the tunnels at the moment.

In the past, I always felt that there were some damp tunnels, but at this time, it was like a fairyland for ordinary officers and soldiers...

Of course, there are also those who are not hiding in the pit to escape the heat, such as Cai Yi...

Although air conditioners are still rare in this day and age, especially in China. However, Yan Guang attaches great importance to Cai Ng, and at the same time, he also takes into account Cai Ng's body, so Yan Guang still prepared a few sets for Cai Ng.

Therefore, in the National Defense Force at this time, if you can serve by Cai Yi's side, it is definitely an advantage. Air conditioning by Willis? Haviland? Carlil invented it on July 17, 1902, but the original purpose of inventing the air conditioner was not to bring a comfortable living environment for people, but to serve some dead things. In the 20 years since the invention of air conditioning, it has always been machines, not people, that enjoy air conditioning. Until 1924, a shopping mall in Detroit fainted because of the hot weather, so the first installation of three central air conditioners, this move was a great success, the cool environment made people's consumption desire to increase greatly, since then, air conditioning has become a powerful tool for businesses to attract customers, the era of air conditioning for people, officially arrived.

And what Yan Guang is doing now is to let this era come in advance.

After all, the weather is hot, and it is really incomprehensible to put a good air conditioner for people not to use for machines. So now the presidential palace is almost full of air conditioners, and even the bathroom has a...

And because there are often officials in and out of the presidential palace, they also have a personal experience of the benefits of air conditioning. Therefore, the two air-conditioning factories in Tianjin are too busy even if they implement the three-shift system—————— it must be explained that the two air-conditioning factories are also made by Yanguang.

After all, if the businessmen of this era were to do it, they would only do some match factories, textile factories or something, and they would never think of opening a high-tech factory...

——————————

"The entire brigade doesn't even have a single survivor..."

Listening to the news that had just come back, Akiyama's face became quite ugly.

Mitsutomi Kamio went to the front line to inspect, and at the moment only Akiyama Yoshiko is in charge of the headquarters of the expeditionary force, so everything, no matter how big or small, needs to be reported to Akiyama Yoshiko. In fact, the officers of the expeditionary force were more willing to report to Akiyama Yoshiko, even those of the Young Zhuang faction. After all, Kamio Mitsutomi's temper is too short-tempered, and if there is a slight problem, he may be punished and scolded by Kamio Mitsutomi, compared to Akiyama Kokotomi is much gentler—————— by the way, although Akiyama Kokoto also has a position of deputy commander, but Akiyama Koko's expeditionary force headquarters is not as comfortable as Cai Yi's.

Not to mention the air-conditioning and cold machines, in order to improve the concealment, so as not to be covered by the heavy artillery and aircraft of the Wehrmacht, the entire headquarters of the expeditionary force was in an extremely deep cave.

In such a hot day, although the cave is definitely shady enough, it is comfortable...

"Alright, you guys go down first..."

Although he wanted to vent his anger, in the end, Akiyama Yoshigu waved his hand.

"Yes..."

Hearing Akiyama Yoshiko's words, the officers were also relieved. After all, a whole brigade of baggage was wiped out by the enemy in the rear, and if it was really to be investigated, it would be enough for a dozen people to cut their stomachs.

After a few officers breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of Akiyama Koko's cave, Akiyama Koko's adjutant stood up and said.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the cavalry of the Chinese has become more and more emboldened, and now even the cavalry of the regimental size has been sent to our rear, what should we do now......... If we don't think about the key, I'm afraid our logistics line will be..."

Although the distance between Longkou and Laiyang is not very far, with the current level of the road, it is no problem to walk for two or three days. If the logistics line is really cut off, maybe the army in Laiyang will be severely damaged.

However, hearing the adjutant's words, Akiyama Yoshiko smiled bitterly and said nothing.

"Cavalry..."

Akiyama didn't want to deal with these defense cavalry that destroyed the logistics line, but...

"How can we have so many cavalry..."

The best weapons to defend against cavalry are machine guns and heavy machine guns, but what is the best weapon against cavalry? If you put it in a hundred years, I am afraid that any person can say a dozen things, but in this era there is only one.

"Cavalry"

In this era, road construction was rather rudimentary, and vehicles such as automobiles were in their infancy. So although technology is still changing with each passing day, the best type of mobile on the road is still cavalry, and if you want to deal with cavalry, there is only one best means, that is, cavalry.

It's just that this expeditionary force landed in China, because of the inconvenience of transportation, it didn't bring too many cavalry, and the opposite Nationalist Army, any division has at least one regiment of cavalry—————— so it seems that even if it brings cavalry, it is useless, because before the Russo-Russian War, there were only more than 700 cavalry wings in a cavalry wing, while the cavalry regiment in the new army at the end of the Qing Dynasty was more than 1,100 people...

However, it is no wonder that the cavalry of the great powers at that time, especially the cavalry attached to the infantry units, mostly used the formation of small regiments. The cavalry regiment under the division has jurisdiction over three to four cavalry companies with five or six hundred men, and this simplification of the establishment has enabled the cavalry company to have the ability to conduct combat operations on its own. As a result, the situation of the cavalry regiment being detected when acting alone is greatly reduced, the regimental commander can more easily control the troops, and at the same time, the consumption within the cavalry regiment establishment is greatly reduced, thus increasing the combat efficiency.

The cavalry of the Beiyang Army is just the opposite, using the establishment of large standards (regiments) and squads (companies), which belongs to the typical surname of the transition from the era of cold weapons to the era of hot weapons. The reason for this is that it is estimated that the understanding of cavalry on the battlefield at this time was still in the Napoleonic era, and there was no obvious progress even compared with Monk Greenqin.

The current Wehrmacht inherits the establishment of the new army at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and the standard of the late Qing Dynasty is continued in the establishment of cavalry, so although each division of the Wehrmacht has more than 20,000 people after mobilization, while the infantry division of the Wehrmacht is only more than 12,000, but if you fight for cavalry, the Wehrmacht may not be the opponent of the Wehrmacht...

"I really hope that the general of the temple can arrive soon..."

Terauchi Zhengyi came to Shandong with two and a half divisions this time, and when he arrived, the two and a half divisions naturally arrived. At that time, maybe he can solve the dilemma in front of him, and ......... If anything happens in the future, it will not be his responsibility.

At present, after the wounded are eliminated, there are only more than 30,000 people left to use, and the strength of the expeditionary force is still in a trend of decreasing and decreasing. At the same time, the Wehrmacht on the opposite side is gathering more and more, considering the embarrassing situation that the army is the attacker...

If it goes on like this, Akiyama Yoshiko and Kamio Mitsutomi will have to consider whether to withdraw to Huangxian.

Otherwise, with the frequent disruption of logistics and the dwindling number of troops, Akiyama Yoshiko really did not have the confidence to win this battle.

It's not that Akiyama Yoshiko hasn't thought of other ways to get out of the current predicament, but due to the lack of troops, Akiyama Yoshiko can't think of any good plans. What's more, if the troops were really divided into other positions and discovered by the Wehrmacht on the opposite side, I am afraid that the Wehrmacht would be able to take the position of the Wehrmacht within a day.

At the moment, the sky was full of Wehrmacht planes, and at night there were constant flares, and Akiyama had no confidence to hide from the Wehrmacht on the other side.

"Ugh..."

Just as Akiyama Yoshiko was sitting on his chair and sighing, Mitsutomi Kamio suddenly strode in.

"What's wrong? Akiyama-kun? Why do you look sad? ”

Akiyama shook his head and said.

"Nothing." As he spoke, he glanced at Kamio Mitsutomi. "What, Kamio-kun, have you finished inspecting it?"

"It's over." As he spoke, Kamio Mitsutomi sat down in a nearby position, took a glass of water, and drank it with a grunt, and only continued after half a sound. "It's really hot outside, I've just been out for a while and I can't stand it, it's really hard for the soldiers below."

After Kamio Mitsutomi finished speaking, Akiyama Yoshiko handed him the report he had just given.

Kamio Mitsutomi was still curious about what was going on at first, but when he saw the contents, he immediately became furious.

"These damn Chinans..."

That's a whole baggage team, how many people are there in the expeditionary force in Shandong now?

What's more, it is still the most intense time of the war in Shandong, and if it goes on like this, they can only draw troops from the 29th Brigade in Huang County...

"It's superfluous to say anything now, so let's send a telegram to Tokyo as soon as possible, and let the Terauchi general bring reinforcements as soon as possible..."

Listening to Akiyama's words, Kamio Mitsutomi also nodded.

If before landing in Shandong, Kamio Mitsutomi still looked down on the defenders of Shandong, then the recent engagement has made him understand. The National Defense Force in Shandong is by no means something that their tens of thousands of expeditionary forces can solve.

"Okay, I'll send a telegram back to Tokyo..."

——————————

The telegram from Mitsutomi Kamio and Yoshiko Akiyama was quickly transmitted back to Tokyo, and after receiving the telegram, Okaichi Nosuke just glanced at it and threw it aside.

It's not that Okaichi doesn't pay attention to the content of the telegram, but that there have been too many telegrams sent back by Akiyama Yoshiko and the two of them recently, and Okaichi Nosuke can only come step by step even if he is in a hurry.

"There's nothing wrong with the Navy, right?"

After putting the telegram aside, Nosuke Okaichi looked at the Army Chief of Staff with a straight face, "Makobin"

Zhen Gongbin said. "Your Excellency, rest assured, the Navy has already begun to ship to the ports..."

"I'm asking about air defense ...

"Air defense," Zhen Zhengbin smiled bitterly. According to Vice Admiral Yuzaburo Kato's proposal, the navy has already equipped all large ships and troop carriers with heavy machine guns and other weapons, and it is believed that this will play a certain role. ”

"I hope so..."

It's not that Okaichi is blindly worried, it's really that what happened last time was too evil, and he actually sank four battleships and two battle cruisers in one time.

And this time is different from last time, it was only the navy's ships that sank last time, and no matter what, Ichinosuke Shenoka didn't feel distressed. But this time, the navy's ships were loaded with people from the army, and there were more than 50,000 people in two and a half divisions, and if it really sank, Okaichi Nosuke would have the heart to vomit blood.

What's more, these two divisions are still waiting for help from Shenwei Guangchen and others in Shandong...

While Okaichi was still worried, after a few days of preparation, the remnants of the expeditionary fleet had already returned to the ports of Saihon, loaded the army divisions that had been waiting in the harbor for a long time onto the warships, and then converged in the North Sea and sailed to Longkou Bay.

In charge of the position of commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Yuzaburo Kato is still in charge.

Last time, Yuzaburo Kato was greatly criticized, after all, the sinking of four battleships and two battle cruisers had already broken the Morimoto Navy, who was not very thick. It was only considering that Yuzaburo Kato was the only experienced member of the navy that Shigenobu Okuma and Minister of the Navy Yashiro Rokuro decided to make Yuzaburo Kato guilty.

Of course, even if Yuzaburo Kato successfully transported the army ashore, the merit would definitely not be able to withstand it, but at least, Yuzaburo Kato doesn't need to face the fate of seppuku...

And Yuzaburo Kato himself, after what happened last time, also consulted the entire expeditionary fleet. Not only were they equipped the main ships with heavy machine guns and other anti-aircraft firepower, but on the way to the ports of Japan, while the army was still assembling in the army, they practiced evasive actions on the way, so as to avoid being too panicked and their own people were huddled together in actual combat.

"Kato-kun, did you say that the Chinese came back this time..."

After the rendezvous in the North Sea, boarding the flagship "Hanoi" of Yuzaburo Kato, the commander of the Second Fleet, Kitakichi Kato, whispered.

What happened last time really shocked him a lot, so if possible, Kato Dingyoshi really didn't want to face the Wehrmacht Air Force, even if the Samoto Navy was ready to do everything it could.

And after hearing Kato Dingyoshi's words, Kato Yuzaburo shook his head and said.

"The Chinese have a saying, it is a blessing not a curse, it is a disaster that cannot be avoided, we can only look at luck, but my intuition tells me that this time the Chinese will definitely come..."

Of course, I know that although the MIA branch in Yumoto used to be tasked with monitoring the Confederacy that had set up its headquarters in Tokyo. However, after the outbreak of the war in Europe, the Military Intelligence Bureau had already shifted the mission goal to Yue himself, coupled with such a big move as the mobilization of two and a half divisions, the Military Intelligence Bureau had already transmitted the news to Yanjing as soon as his fleet left Hong Kong.

As for the route of the expeditionary fleet, this military intelligence bureau is not clear.

But it doesn't have to be clear, because Cai Ye doesn't need to know where they came from at all, he just needs to know where they are going.

Therefore, when the expeditionary fleet was still more than 20 nautical miles away from Longkou Bay, the Wehrmacht Air Force, which had been stationed for a long time, had already informed the headquarters of this situation. At the same time, under the order of Air Force Minister Xu Tianchuan, more than 60 bombers, which had been preparing for a long time, also flew to Longkou Bay.

The purpose was to sink a few more of the main ships of the expeditionary fleet when the army landed.

It's just that when the bomber formation flew to the sea area where the expeditionary fleet was located, Yuzaburo Kato, who knew that they were back, had already ordered the ships to maneuver to evade. At the same time, when the bomber formation flew over the head of the fleet, the heavy machine guns on the warships also opened fire in unison...

The Wehrmacht Air Force, which did not expect this situation at all, not only did the bombs and torpedoes dropped miss several targets, but several bombers in the bomber formation were also shot down three times on the spot, and even more Fokker planes flew with them.

The bomber formation, which failed to achieve its goal, finally dropped all the bombs and torpedoes, and could only leave the sea area in a slight embarrassment.

And looking at the bomber formation that left in embarrassment, the naval soldiers on the warship all cheered.

After this battle, the shadow brought by the air force to the navy finally dissipated a lot.

Looking at the cheering officers and soldiers around them, Yuzaburo Kato and Dingyoshi Kato also laughed, but there was no smile in their eyes.

True, just now they did drive the Wehrmacht Air Force away, but this does not mean that the bomber formations of the Air Force are in vain...

A cruiser of the second rank, and a troop carrier with a full infantry wing ...

Compared with the previous encounters, the losses this time were indeed incredible, and it also proved that the correct evasive maneuvers and appropriate anti-aircraft fire could indeed resist attacks from the air.

But...

"With the development of science and technology, one day these things flying in the sky will really become the enemy's fierce enemy, or even a nemesis..."

Thinking so, Kato Yuzaburo and Kato Dingyoshi had already decided to wait until the end of this mission to propose to the military department to develop some weapons that were powerful enough, at least more powerful than the Hatch Chase heavy machine gun, otherwise one day the navy would be destroyed in the hands of these seemingly small "toys."

"Your Excellency, what should we do now?"

Looking at the pensive Yuzaburo Kato and Dingyoshi Kato, an officer on the side asked.

"Leave two cruisers to rescue the soldiers who fell overboard, and the rest continue to advance towards Longkou Bay, and be sure to send all the troops ashore within today..."

"Yes!"

After getting Minglin, the two second-class cruisers stayed behind to rescue the sunken cruiser and the overboard soldiers on the troop carrier, while the remaining troop carriers continued to sail towards Longkou Bay under the escort of the expeditionary fleet...

At this time, when more than 50 bombers and less than 100 Fokker planes flew back to Laiyang Airport, looking at these scarred fighters, the airport personnel who had already prepared for the celebration were all stunned...

(To be continued)