Originally, according to the agreement reached between Japan and the former Qing Dynasty and even the Beiyang government, Japan could have a large number of troops stationed in Northeast China, so as to ensure all the interests of the Japanese government in Northeast China. The garrison numbered as much as a division, and in addition to that, a large number of troops were stationed along the railway, which was no less significant.

In addition, there is Fushun, we all know that Fushun has a large number of coal resources, and it is called the coal capital in later generations (there are really many cities with the title of coal capital, should it be rotated every few years?) It is famous for producing a large number of coal mines and other resources.

But it is precisely because of Japan's existence in the northeast that cities like Fushun are basically within the scope of Japan's interests. When the Kuomintang government implemented the 'Seventh Five-Year Project', it was because Fushun had already been acquired by Japan at that time, so it had to temporarily put Fushun down.

So taking the opportunity to win in Shandong, Yan Shao must get the Northeast back.

Because the Northeast is the most suitable region for the development of heavy industry in China, there are not only a lot of coal resources, but also a lot of iron ore resources, and even oil resources. For a country like China, the importance of the Northeast is self-evident.

And if the Northeast can be recaptured, then it only takes a few years of development for China's strength to be greatly enhanced. In fact, Yan Shao has now begun to think about a Northeast development plan, just wait for the Japanese to drive out of the Northeast, he will start this plan―――――― of course, considering that the population of the Northeast is too small, Yan Shao also thought about immigrating some people to the past, but it is of a resource nature.

In fact, the population of the Northeast in later generations was basically immigrated. There are actually very few originals, and most of these people are concentrated in Shandong and Hebei provinces, especially Shandong...

To put it simply. Just go to the cemeteries of some cities in the Northeast and look at the tombstones on them. It may be an exaggeration to say that nine out of ten are from Shandong, but if eight out of ten are from Shandong, it is basically not much of a problem...

Then there was the issue of Lushun, which, according to the agreement signed between the Qing government and Russia, was to be returned to China in 1922. Of course, according to the temper of the Russians. The possibility of returning it to China in 1922 is basically zero, and Yan Shao can think of it even if he thinks about it with his knees, and the Russians will definitely force China to extend the deadline for Lushun at that time.

It's a pity. Although the Russians had a good idea, they lost Lushun to Japan in the Russo-Japanese War. Japan, on the other hand, rightfully took over the Fort Arthur, along with the deadline of 1922.

According to the original history, the Japanese were able to extend this period through guò 21. But now...

Weihai and Lushun are two important towns located at the top of China's Jiaodong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula respectively. They are like two dutiful guards, guarding the Bohai Strait, which is the only gateway to China's only inland sea ―――――― the Bohai Sea, and is also the two major coastal defense fortresses in the Beijing-Tianjin area.

It must be explained here that Britain and Russia were the main opponents in the imperialist struggle for the Far East at the end of the 19th century. In 1898, Tsarist Russia forcibly leased Lushunkou and Dalian Bay, making the northeast its sphere of influence. The great expansion of its influence in China aroused strong resentment in Britain. During the negotiations between China and Russia on the issue of Lend-Lease of the University of Tourism. Britain was vehemently opposed. Seeing that it was inevitable for Tsarist Russia to lease Luda, the British government decided to forcibly occupy Weihaiwei as 'compensation' to contend with Tsarist Russia. On March 27, 1898 (the 24th year of Guangxu), the Sino-Russian "Luda Land Lease Treaty" was formally signed. The next day, the British government sent a telegram to Dou Nale, the minister to China, and sent a note to the Qing government, formally proposing that Britain lease Weihaiwei.

In order to achieve this goal, the British government also enlisted the support of Japan and Germany, but the Qing government did not dare to refuse, but weakly stated that the matter of Lend-Lease could not be negotiated until the Japanese troops withdrew from Weihaiwei. But the British government couldn't wait and threatened to send a navy to Yantai. Under the military intimidation of the British, Prime Minister Yamen sent a note to Dou Nale agreeing to lease Weihaiwei to Britain, but the lease period must be the same as that of Russia's lease of Luda, China can still use Weihaiwei Harbor to moor military ships, and Britain must not make any more territorial claims to China in the future. Dou Nale agreed with the first two points, but flatly rejected the third point. He arrogantly declared that the British lease of Weihaiwei was intended to resist the forces of Tsarist Russia in the north, and that if France took the port in the south, Britain would 'claim another place to meet it'.

Leaving aside the rest of the story, according to the agreement between Britain and the Qing government, the British concession period in Weihai was about the same as that of Russia. At the same time, the purpose of the British concession of Weihai was also to defend against Russian forces, so if China could recover Lushun, it would be equivalent to having a reason to claim Weihaiwei back from the British, and as long as Weihaiwei and Lushun were available, the Bohai Sea could become China's inland sea again, rather than a tourist area for other countries to see...

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In addition to the Tohoku, there is no doubt that the large number of concessions that Japan has in China must also be recovered, after all, no one likes to have a large number of concessions from other countries in their own country.

There is also the Japanese garrison in China, according to the agreement reached between the national government and other countries, basically almost all the great powers have reduced their garrison in China to a symbolic figure, only Japan...

Only Japan still has a large number of troops stationed in China, such as Shanhaiguan and Beijing-Tianjin.

If it weren't for the hope of limiting this war to a certain area and making it a local war, Yan Shao would have already taken action against these troops, so with this opportunity, Yan Shao would definitely not waste it.

Naturally, there is also the issue of reparations, in fact, if it can get reparations, this will probably be the first time in China's history that it has successfully obtained reparations...

As for Taiwan...

The Kuomintang government did not put forward a demand for taking back Taiwan, not because it did not want to, but because both Yan Shao and others knew very well that with a victory in Shandong, it was still a little short of wanting Japan to obediently return Taiwan...

After all, even if you count the tens of thousands of people in Shandong, Japan has only lost more than 100,000 people. It is undoubtedly too naïve to think that Japan will return Taiwan with these more than 100,000 people. The only way is to push north and take it along with North Korea. Then in exchange with North Korea and Japan, this is probably the only way to get Japan to return Taiwan.

But if nothing else, the cost of attacking North Korea is still too great after all...

After all, the Japanese have been operating in Korea for many years, unlike Shandong, which is poor and white, although the equipment of the Wehrmacht is much stronger than that of the Japanese, if they take the initiative to launch an offensive. Casualties are definitely indispensable, even if they can win in the end, the casualties afterwards are definitely not what Yan Shao is willing to bear.

What's more, for the Shandong campaign, although Yan Shao stored a large amount of ammunition. However, the amount of ammunition is so large, and after being equipped with a large number of machine guns and other weapons, it is obvious that the domestic industrial production capacity alone has been somewhat unable to keep up with the consumption of ammunition.

It would be best if North Korea could be taken before the ammunition ran out. But what if not? Yan Shao must take this into account. It is a virtue to take what is good, and if you are overly greedy, it is very likely to be self-defeating.

So Yan Shao did not ask for Taiwan, but planned to wait until the next war...

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The above reasons are undoubtedly very legitimate for China, after all, this war can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye, and China has already won. But when the news reached Japan, it caused an uproar in Japan...

After all, if the above conditions are agreed. Japan's interests in China will be reversed by many years, and it can even be said that there is nothing―――――― except for a not very valuable Taiwan (historically Nogi Noshinori once mentioned that he sold Taiwan). The reason is that it is not valuable, for which he even negotiated privately with the French, but in the end it was not negotiated).

In fact, even if there was no news from home, Kato Takaaki would not have agreed to such a condition, so he even approached the other ministers of the four countries, after all, the ministers of the four countries had vaguely stated that they would stand on the side of the Japanese government.

However, when facing the ministers of the four countries, Yan Shao said it very clearly.

"These are all things that my country deserves, and my willingness to accept mediation is just to give you a face, and it does not mean that I am afraid of things, if the Japanese do not agree to my conditions......... When the matter in Shandong is over, I will claim back the qiē I deserve in my own way..."

In fact, where is it necessary to wait until the end of the matter in Shandong, just after Yan Shao made the above remarks to Zhu Erdian and others, the troops stationed in the Beijing-Tianjin area have begun to surround the Japanese garrison in this area.

At the same time, Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu, who had received orders from Yan Shao, had also mobilized troops and began to approach the Japanese division in the northeast.

However, that division is also smart, Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu have just made some moves, and they have already hid in the Lushun Fortress.

Since the Russo-Japanese War, the fortress of Arthur has been reinforced by the Japanese many times, and it cannot be said to be impregnable, but it can also be said to be easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is definitely not an easy thing to capture this place, at least not with the strength of the Wehrmacht in the northeast, so Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu did not do it immediately, but now the Lushun fortress and the border between the northeast and North Korea are ready, and they will wait for reinforcements from other areas to arrive...

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In addition to the actions in Beijing, Tianjin, and Northeast China, all the cities in China that had Japanese concessions also began to mobilize troops, and if the provinces that had been drained of troops because of the war in Shandong, they sent the militia over, only to turn their faces directly when needed.

At the same time, after a period of rest, the Shandong Defense Forces, which had been immersed for some time, also began to act again ...

With the arrival of reinforcements from two infantry divisions, the strength of the Wehrmacht in Shandong has reached more than 180,000. This figure has already reached more than twice that of the Japanese army, and it can be said that it already has a decisive advantage.

However, in order to be able to eat the Japanese army in front of him, Cai Ye still made some deployment...

"First of all, we will transfer some troops from other regions, the current Japanese surface fleet has been lost, and if the mainland wants to gather troops, it is unlikely that it will be possible in a short time, so we can completely transfer some of the troops deployed along the coast back..."

Jiang Baili nodded in agreement. "And the troops in the Qingdao fortress. There is basically no threat there anymore, and it would be a waste to deploy a division, and we could have left an infantry brigade there. Transfer all the remaining troops..."

Between the words, the two had already made all the decisions, and soon, more than half of the troops that had been deployed in various places along the coast of Shandong, and the troops responsible for the defense were transferred to the front line of Linglong Town, and even the infantry division that was originally in the Qingdao fortress was also dropped, leaving only one infantry brigade still in place.

At the moment, Japan's surface fleet is close to total annihilation. It is impossible to gather too many troops in a short period of time in the country, and it can be said that the Qingdao fortress is already foolproof. Even if the Japanese unexpectedly launched an offensive against the Qingdao fortress, with the strength of an infantry brigade inside the fortress. It's no problem to resist for more than a month or two months, this time is enough for Cai Ye and them to send troops back, so there is no need to worry about this problem at all...

And after almost all the troops have been concentrated on the front line of Linglong Town, under the orders of Cai Yi and others. The Wehrmacht, located on the front line of Linglong Town, also launched a fierce offensive against the Japanese army. The intensity of the offensive was probably the most fierce since the beginning of the war in Shandong.

Of course...

What they did was not just a frontal offensive.

After all, if you just make a head-on breakthrough, it will be difficult to catch them all...

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"Commander, it's really okay to do this..."

Seeing that Liu Guangyuan was standing on the deck enjoying the scenery, his adjutant said helplessly.

"I always felt like it was too dangerous for us to do this..."

"Wealth is in danger, haven't you heard of this sentence..."Seeing his adjutant say this, Liu Guangyuan was also a little helpless.

"But. I've never heard of such a dangerous thing...", pointing to some of the ships near his ship, Liu Guangyuan's adjutant looked at him. "If the Japanese find out. Then we're all done..."

In fact, it's not just him, Liu Guangyuan himself knows this very well...

Sailing on the sea, a fleet of ships that had just been organized by the Kuomintang government not long ago, their task was also very simple, that is, to transport Liu Guangyuan and them to a position unwilling to be from Longkou Bay, and then launch a surprise attack on Longkou Bay.

To put it simply, it was to cut off the retreat of the Japanese army.

As long as Longkou Bay can be taken down, then it is equivalent to making the Japanese army lose contact with the Japanese mainland, not only can they not get any supplies, but it is even impossible to return to the Japanese mainland through Guò, and the Japanese troops trapped in Shandong will become the stuffing in the buns, and they can be eaten only when they are cooked.

But there is also a big problem here, that is, this plan is a little too dangerous.

Because at this time the main forces of the National Defense Navy were still in Shanghai and Fuzhou, and there were very few surface ships located in the north. Even if Yan Shao transferred some naval ships in Tianjin, plus the Empress Elizabeth, which originally belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it would definitely not be the opponent of the Japanese Navy―――――― although the Japanese Navy had been heavily damaged, and the capital ships had almost sunk, but after all, the emaciated camel was bigger than the horse, even if it was not as good as the main naval force in the south, it would be no problem to clean up this fleet with only gunboats and old cruisers...

It is precisely because of this that Liu Guangyuan is a little helpless.

Although there are many ships responsible for escorting this time, most of them are old ships from the former Qing Dynasty, and the latest ones are only those thousand-ton gunboats purchased from Britain during the Anhui Navy period. If it hadn't been discovered, nothing would have been fine, but if it had been discovered by the Japanese...

Then they're in big trouble...

However, this operation was necessary, because according to the information obtained by the Special Affairs Bureau, the Japanese had already begun to consider a plan to withdraw the army from Shandong. If the Japanese really let the Japanese withdraw their troops in Shandong, then Yan Shao's bargaining chips would be gone, and there was only one way to recapture what belonged to him, and that was to use force to use force.

But for this method, if possible, Yan Shao still hopes not to use it―――――― this is the period of development that China needs most, and Yan Shao does not intend to destroy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of a long war.

Yes, if the Japanese are cleaned up now, Japan may be hit hard, but the development opportunities he hopes for will also be missed.

And Yan Shao is also very clear about one thing, that is, at this time, China has received some vigilance from the Entente and the United States and other countries, so if you want to make a fortune quietly, it is better to keep a low profile.

Otherwise...

Forget about the Entente, after all, at this time they were busy fighting, but the United States ...

At present, the United States has not yet joined the war in Europe, and they will make a lot of money in this war, just like Yan Shao.

In other words, their strength has not been damaged in any way, but has been greatly enhanced.

After the end of the war, Britain, France and other countries may no longer have the strength, but the United States is the strongest, and he does not want to let the United States find a way to arm Japan because it has aroused the vigilance of the United States―――――― which is not impossible...

Therefore, Yan Shao's current goal is only one, that is, to force Japan to admit defeat and, as far as possible, to regain his own part by more peaceful means.

Of course, if things don't go as expected, Yan Shao doesn't mind using some more violent means...

After all, everything is in the interests of the country... (To be continued......)