Not to mention the extent to which Britain, the United States, and France, which have huge investments in China, will react, at least Japan's reaction is a bit exaggerated.

In the face of the declaration of war by the government of South China, Japan's reaction was not anger, but in their view, it was nothing more than the reaction of the blood of the warlords in China. At the same time, they were full of confidence in the fighting power of the Imperial Japanese Army, and in their opinion, as long as His Majesty the Emperor's samurai took a bamboo spear and stabbed the hot-headed Shina warlord, it would be dead. Therefore, they did not carry out a general mobilization to increase Japan's immediate combat strength, nor did they agree to the proposal of Nagata Tetsuyama, Ishihara Wanji, and others to withdraw the main forces of the imperial army on the expedition to Siberia, because neither Prime Minister Kei Hara nor Minister Tanaka was prepared to expand the war against China.

First, judging from the current situation, it seems that the British Empire is still strong, and after the end of the European War, it first successfully suppressed the German Revolution and the Hungarian Revolution, and then actively intervened in the Turkish and Russian issues. After all, Shina is also the sphere of influence of the British, and it is the sheep in the pastures of the British, and the value of Japan is only a dog watching the sheep, and if the dog dares to bite the sheep to death, the British, the farmer, will slaughter the disobedient dog. To start a war with a world empire like Britain, the Japanese did not have so much courage. Second, there are many contradictions in Japan at present, due to the sharp decline in orders at the end of the European war, Japan's factories and mines are generally under-employed. This is also the reason why Yuan Kei agreed to send troops to Siberia and China, which is nothing more than to realize internal potential by expanding domestic demand and alleviate economic pressure. However, it has to be said that because Japan has been providing military products to Europe in the past few years, Japan's own war strength reserves are very unsatisfactory at present, and they simply do not have enough strength to launch a full-scale war of aggression against China. Particularly dangerous is that the annual steel output in southern China is expected to be equal to Japan's by the end of this year, and although the amount of special steel is not as good, the quantity alone is enough to worry Japan. Nevertheless, with the support of Nagata Tetsuyama, the Japanese military department developed plans A and B.

The so-called Plan A is that the Japanese army fought smoothly in Shandong, successfully defeated the South China army, and then the war was handed over to Zhang Zuolin's Feng army to continue.

And Plan B is much more terrifying, under Ishihara Wan'er's suggestion, once the Japanese army does not go well in the Shandong area or even loses unexpectedly, then the empire should consider expanding the scope of the war to punish China, and at this time, it should send more imperial troops and the main force of the combined fleet to carry out landing operations in the rich southeast region of China, and inflict heavy losses on the entire China......

Out of his responsibility to His Majesty the Emperor, Tanaka had to allow Plan B to exist as a backup, and the two divisions in Kyushu would also exist as the implementation force of Plan B. But despite this, Tanaka still firmly believed that with the strength of the Imperial Japanese Army, Plan A would inevitably succeed, onboard, onboard!

In the end, the problem was still in the execution, although the Japanese side had premeditated for a long time, but due to various reasons, not all three divisions were transported to Qingdao, Shandong. To be precise, the soldiers of the three divisions were transported, but many of the heavy equipment was still in the process of being shipped from the mainland. An infantry division without heavy weapons can only be regarded as a rifle division, and the commanders at the front line did not have the arrogance of Sadao Araki, who dared to let the samurai kill the enemy with bamboo guns. As a result, Tanaka's offensive plan became impossible to execute from the very beginning of the war, and the Japanese army only took over the communication line from Qingdao to Weifang in the next half month.

Since the Japanese were so polite, there was no need for the Youth Army to be polite, and Bai Chongxi issued the battle order for the Jinan Campaign almost the day after the war was declared. Ten divisions deployed on the Xuzhou front unceremoniously began combat operations......

Bai Chongxi's combat orders were issued very meticulously, so meticulous that Liu Xing, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Route Army, had almost nothing to do. And the purpose of his deployment is very clear:

Zhang Zizhong, the first division of the Youth Army, was required to march 300 kilometers to Zibo and organize a defense on the spot, it is worth mentioning that because it is an assault force, they have nothing to do with taking the train on the Beijing-Pudong line, at most heavy equipment can go from this railway, because the eastern section of this railway is still under the control of Zhang Zongchang. Therefore, the task of Zhang Zizhong's troops was very arduous, and this was still based on the fact that the marching route was mostly plains, and if it was Shandong, no matter how hard the training was, it would be difficult for the First Division to complete the task of rushing to Zibo to fortify and ensure time for the decisive battle in the Jinan area in seven days. The five divisions of Yu Zuobai, the sixth division of Dai Yue, the fifteenth division of Gu Pinzhen, and the twenty-first division of Tao Junbu set out from Xuzhou and rushed straight to Jinan along the Jingpu line. Xue Yue's division of the 25th Division and Zhu Peide's division of the 27th Division were ordered to march 200 kilometers to occupy the Rizhao area and threaten the flank of Qingdao. Zhu Jiande's division of the 28th Division stayed in Xuzhou, and Liu Mingzhao's division of the 29th Division followed and advanced to Jinan, but not simply followed, but marched along the west side of Weishan Lake, and then took the railway after taking Jining. The 30th Normal Division was required to follow the 1st Division and maintain a one-day marching distance, so that it could form a strong reinforcement to the 1st Division at any time......

The division commander below is not a fuel-efficient lamp, Gu Pinzhen, the division commander from the Yunnan Army, Fan Shisheng and Zhu Peide were having dinner with Liu Bocheng and Zhu Jiande, the division commanders from the Sichuan Army, when they got the order, they are all people who have followed Cai Yi, and the relationship is naturally better than ordinary people. Gu Pinzhen looked at the battle plan and exclaimed: "Our white boss is really not an ordinary person, he is worthy of the existence of defeating the Germans in Europe, this combat order did not put Zhang Zongchang's Zhilu coalition army in his eyes from beginning to end, every layout is aimed at the Japanese, this time the fun of little Japan is great." ”

Liu Mingzhao didn't dare to agree: "I'm afraid that things are not so simple, looking at this layout, I'm afraid that it is not to defeat the Japanese, but to eat all the Japanese in one bite." I went to Europe late, and I didn't catch up with the Verdun counterattack, but as far as I know, it was a sports war at that time, and I don't know if this time Commander Bai is ready to play sports war again. If so, Little Japan is different from the Germans, and they are also well-known in sports warfare. ”

Zhu Peide nodded: "I've heard from people from other brother units that this white chief of staff is the most willing to fight, and never considers how big the casualties of the lower head team are, what he wants is victory." We were transferred from our hometown this time to listen to his command, and I am afraid that the losses and losses of the troops and generals will be small, and it is not impossible to annihilate the whole army if we don't do it well. ”

Zhu Jiande shook his head and said: "Ci is not in charge of the army, if we are in charge, it is estimated that it is not much better than this benevolent brother, it doesn't matter what you lose, our Wang Dashuai treats everyone equally, and the ones who give us are all standing numbers, and how much we lose must be supplemented." What we have to do now is to fight well in this battle and play our own prestige......"

Fan Shisheng smiled and said: "I know that you have ideas, hehe, there are more than 20,000 elite soldiers and strong generals under your hands, first-class equipment, and sufficient supplies, which are much stronger than when we begged Yuan...... I was all tempted, thinking about making a name for myself. In fact, I also think so myself, as Wang Dashuai said, this is the era of our soldiers, and the era of our fame......"

Just when the arrogant Japanese army was still grinding and waiting for equipment in Qingdao, the first division of the Youth Army Zhang Zizhong had already begun a very arduous march, and the weather in Shandong in October had begun to turn cooler, so Bai Chongxi's idea was to end the Shandong war in the shortest possible time. But it was soon vetoed by Wang Zhenyu, who clearly told Bai Chongxi that he should be prepared to last the war for half a year to two years or even longer, because the Japanese are people with dreams.

On the Sulu border, the Zhilu coalition army arranged many patrol battalions here in order to guard against the surprise attack of the youth army. However, late at night on October 11, these patrol battalions did not play any role at all, Zhang Zizhong's first division broke through the Sulu border very easily, and at noon on the 12th, the vanguard of the first division from Taierzhuang easily took Lanling County, which was empty, and broke into Shandong for more than 80 miles, capturing more than 2,000 people of the Zhilu coalition army. At this time, Zhang Zongchang, who had just received Zhang Zuolin's secret retreat order, was still hugging his new aunt and wife who had just woken up, and the first thing he did when he woke up was not to think about how to implement Zhang Zuolin's retreat order, but to yawn and instruct the adjutant: "Concubine, concubine, in the future, the concubine tax will be levied in the province, why do I have to pay for the concubine myself?" ”

The adjutant seemed to be accustomed to this, and immediately turned around and went to initially sign the order to raise taxes, Zhang Zongchang, who can lose 100,000 oceans casually by playing cards, can pick on his own troops, except for the good treatment of the White Russian soldiers, and even the command department at the division level under his command is not equipped with a radio station. Zhang Zongchang felt that it was useless to spend money, what was the matter, wouldn't it be over if he let the herald run errands? So the news of the Youth Army's entry into Shandong was finally told to Zhang Zongchang by the Japanese, and the time was already the next day......

At this time, Zhang Zongchang remembered that he had not organized the Zhilu coalition army to retreat north, and this was really a plaything and a delay in the military plane