After declaring war on Germany, Jiaozhou Bay did not go in chaos, but instead began to arrange it every minute.

The Germans had their own way of preparing for mobilization. As early as the 81st, the Governor General of Zhouwan immediately issued a mobilization order to the German ships in the Chinese territory and the territorial waters after receiving a secret telegram from their country to participate in the war. The lightning strike ship S90 and two of the gunboats rushed to Qingdao. The other gunboats were either sank on the spot or "sold" to the Chinese government because of their distance. The crew members, German soldiers and expatriates scattered across China, managed to arrive at Qingdao by land, and joined the German army and strengthened their defensive power.

Although Qingdao's land defense can be said to be relatively complete - Tirpitz, who was once the commander of the Far East Fleet, boasted that the Japanese army would pay at least 5 people, the naval power was really pitifully cold. The main force of the German Far East Fleet was no longer in the port. The most powerful ships in Jiaozhou Bay were the old cruiser "Queen Elizabeth" of the Austro-Hungarian Navy and some shallow water gunboats.

A week after the outbreak of the European war, although there was no clear order from the government, Navy Captain Meyer Valdike, the governor of Jiaozhou Bay, decided not to risk sending warships or merchant ships to break through, and also rejected the plan to attack the British loan Weihaiwei proposed by some young and powerful officers, believing that this would not be of much benefit to Qingdao's defense and would be more likely to stimulate the ambitions of hostile countries.

As the European war situation expanded and deepened, Qingdao's combat readiness was also proceeding in an orderly manner. The lightning strike ship S90 was laid on a large scale at the entrance of Jiaozhou Bay. This process was not discovered and attacked by the British destroyer who knew it later. At this time, Britain and Germany had declared war. The war was legal. S90 took advantage of the familiar environment to hide in the sea area marked as "shallow water" on the sea chart. The British destroyer "Kennet" that followed was immediately attacked by the coastal artillery and was forced to return, but in fact, the mine-breaking operation was approaching.

After receiving the general mobilization order from the General Staff Headquarters, the National Defense Forces exercise troops quickly took action and continued to move the entire acting position forward. After more than a month of live-fire training, the units not only practiced coordinated operations under complex conditions, but more importantly, they greatly stimulated morale - especially after Japan's arrogant statement on Shandong issue was issued, it aroused indignation across the National Defense Forces.

The Imperial Base Camp established a joint command post at the foot of Xishan, with Tieliang, Wang Yingkai, Yinchang and others providing all central turnover. In the direction of Dezhou, the National Defense Forces established a forward enemy command center. Wang Shizhen personally served as the commander-in-chief of the front enemy, and the Navy Sa Zhenbing and the Imperial Guard Liangbi served as deputy commander-in-chief. Ha Hanzhang, Cheng Biguang and Jiang Fangzhen served as members of the staff team, as representatives of the three armies of the land, sea and the ban.

"Please introduce the overall defense layout in Qingdao."

"Please look." Jiang Fangzhen pointed the map of Jiaozhou Bay on the wall with a teaching point, which was very ashamed. Because of the lease, only the Germans had a comprehensive and standard detailed picture of Jiaozhou Bay. He said, "The outer defense line of Qingdao spreads along the boundary of the leased land. The inner circle defense line is mainly based on the Potato Mountain in the suburbs of Qingdao, Bismarck Mountain and Moltke Mountain as the core. The two mountain names were named after the Germans occupied Qingdao. There are 8 main fortresses and 5 pairs. =: Forward land. A total of 5 280mm and 3240mm fortress cannons, 5 210mm and 9 150mm heavy howitzers. 6 105mm medium howitzers, and there are several light ditches more prominent. These turrets plus 8 multi-faceted prisms~: 50. The terrain is conspicuous, which is very dangerous and can be regarded as solid."

Everyone nodded frequently.

"According to the intelligence provided by Germany, in addition to the forces to defend the fortress, Germany also stationed the 31,300th Marine Corps in Qingdao, including 4 infantry companies, 1 cavalry company, 1 engineer company, 1 artillery company and 2 machine gun companies; originally, 4 infantry companies, 1 cavalry company and 2 artillery units in the Embassy District of the Capital and Tianjin Dezuo, all of which retreated to Qingdao after Germany participated in the war; in addition, by recruiting retired expatriates and volunteers, Germany also recruited an additional 500 reserve troops. Although these German troops are all elite, ammunition and supply are sufficient, there are still relatively prominent problems - the number of people is insufficient and cannot cope with high-intensity continuous combat. Even if the casualty rate can be controlled, and if there is no echelon rotation, the fatigue of people and land cannot be reduced, and the combat effectiveness is difficult to last."

Wang Shizhen smiled and said, "That is why the emperor asked us to quickly drive the troops in and let the Germans help us guard Qingdao."

"There are three variables here: First, can the German garrison truly swear allegiance to the empire as agreed, and will not hand over all defense systems and fortifications to our country intact; Second, even if everything goes as expected, how to maintain the fighting will of the German officers and soldiers after major changes is a test; Third, how can we achieve coordinated and joint combat?" Jiang Fangzhen said with a worry, "These three variables cannot be solved, and it is very difficult to defend Qingdao."

"Can all the Germans be removed and replaced by the National Wehrmacht to take over?"

"No." Wang Shizhen shook his head, "First of all, only the Germans know the best how to arrange the fortifications in Qingdao and how to design the defense system. We cannot grasp the whole picture in a hurry; secondly, even if we can change the defense, we must beware of the Japanese attacks immediately. If the Japanese take advantage of the situation, it will be troublesome. Finally, the fiddling of these turrets is very complicated, and we may not be able to exert combat effectiveness even if we know it."

"This brings a question, how to command operations? Theoretically, all German troops joined the National Welfare Army and became the Imperial Guards' foreign corps. We should accept our command. In reality, the German troops master the essence of the entire defense. We should cooperate. They should command us to cooperate with our forces. Moreover, "Sa Zhenbing paused, "China and Germany do not have languages, the soldiers received very different training, and it is difficult to coordinate the command."

So today we are convened to hold such a meeting to discuss how to take over Qing Wang Shizhen and said, "The emperor has issued a dead order. In any case, Qingdao must be kept!"

"I have a suggestion. Draw 3,000 people from the Imperial Guards." Liangbi explained, "Because the Imperial Guards have a high proportion of instructors, no matter whether the officers and soldiers agree with the German-style command system, there are many people who speak German, so communication is relatively easy."

"So, who will be appointed as the commander?"

"I plan to go by myself." Liangbi pointed to himself, "My rank is higher than all German officers. It is easy to gain their trust. Moreover, I am relatively familiar with many instructors, commanding and coordination are more convenient. Besides, according to the Ice Plan, the Imperial Guard is the second echelon, and there are two generals Jiang Fangzhen and Zhang Shaozeng that are enough to command."

Wang Shizhen pondered for a moment and said, "This is also a strategy. Which group do you plan to take?"

"Just take Sun Chuanfang and his team. This guy is a desperate man. He also had the experience of defending the rebellion in Wuchang back then."

"I think it's OK," said Sa Zhenbing. "The staff team should still bring one, and the radio should be carried. You can contact the fleet and the front-line command directly at that time."

After thinking about it, the rest of the people felt that such an arrangement was more appropriate.

"The emperor has given instructions to guard against the Japanese's routine of head attacks that are not good and detours from the flanks." Wang Shizhen studied it carefully. "According to my point of view, this possibility is indeed relatively high. What are your opinions?"

"I thought Japan would have two options if it wanted to detour from the flank." Ha Hanzhang clicked on the map with a guide. "The first is the Longkou area in the northwest of Qingdao, and the second is the Laoshan Bay in the south of Qingdao. The North Road is more likely than the South Road. Therefore, we must make corresponding preparations in defense."

"I order that everything will be carried out as planned. Except for the troops stationed in Qingdao, the Imperial Guards retreated to the second line and confused the Japanese organs. The rest of the troops continued to move forward, requiring them to arrive at designated locations within 5, and carry out targeted training and pre-war mobilization. The Navy must monitor the movements of the Japanese Navy at any time. The 'Thunder' plan must be completed within the designated period, and the 'Black' plan can be implemented..."

"yes

When the Empire was busy planning the Jiaozhou strategy, Japan was not idle either. In response to the unexpected tough attitude of the imperial government, the Japanese cabinet held a special discussion. After a debate, the consensus conclusion was that China was a tough guy, and was nothing more than a strong statement on the face. It was estimated that it would make concessions at the last moment. The militants from the army and the provinces even proposed that if China did not surrender, they would take down the entire Shandong. Although Prime Minister Yamamoto's Mutuala did not reject such a proposal, Qingdao was still selected as the main target of combat in the subsequently approved combat plan.

In order to continue to be disguised as the British-Japanese alliance opposed Germany, the Japanese Navy specially invited the old British battleship "Trimage" stationed in Hong Kong and the four British old destroyers of Weihaiweidi to join the Japanese fleet.

Almost while the naval formation was completed, Japan's troops used for land offensives were also gathered at the same time. In order to strengthen the 18th Division of the Handi Army, the commander was Lieutenant General Kamio Mitsumon. Before strengthening the 18th Regiment, the 18th Regiment originally had the 23rd and 24th brigades, an artillery and cavalry regiment, and several engineering and logistics brigades. Through strengthening, the 29th brigades were also attached. The 6th and 12th Regiments also sent an infantry regiment respectively, so the total strength of the enhanced advance troops reached nearly 60,000. The British also sent the 2nd Nanwei and the 36th Sikh Regiment. Similar to the naval forces, the British Army also played a supporting role in this battle, but the combat effectiveness of its Sikh Regiment was very strong and can be regarded as an elite general.

Due to the particularity of the Qingdao Battle and the imbalance of the power balance, almost all Japanese generals regarded it as a one-sided war, believing that the goal could be achieved without much effort. Therefore, many people competed for the position of this commander. Although Kamio Komiko was also a lieutenant general, he has always been known for his cautiousness rather than bravery in the Japanese army. This time he chose him as the front-line commander, which was nothing more than a matter of caution. In the eyes of the military headquarters, it was only a matter of time before the victory of the Imperial Army with a numerical advantage was only a matter of time before someone publicly threatened to take Qingdao in 6 hours, so there was no need to "meat-stopping" generals like General Nogi in the Russo-Japanese War. What the Japanese army needed was to turn the Qingdao Battle into a "propaganda model" type of battle. What was needed was only the final victory, and it was not worthy of time, nor did they want to pay a heavy price like winning Lushun 203.

828, the main ship of the Japanese Second Fleet took a straight line to reach near Qingdao. Coincidentally, two days later, the typhoon hit the sea surface of Jiaozhou Bay. The Japanese destroyer "Bai Miao" was blown by strong winds to the coast of Lingshan Island outside Jiaozhou Bay and the crew could only abandon the ship and escape. After 4, after the calm waves, the German "Java" gunboat rushed out of the port under the cover of the coastal artillery and sank it.

With the convergence of Japanese fleets, Kato Tadakishi announced that he would block Jiaozhou Bay from 830, with a north latitude of 356.7 degrees and east. The ships passed by, and asked the ships that were still staying in this water to leave within 24 hours. = The next day, Japan occupied a small island outside the coast of Jiaozhou Bay and raised the Japanese flag, saying that this was the beginning of the capture of German occupation territory. In fact, there was not even a German army on the island, and most of them were Chinese people. The imperial government expressed strong protests on this, but neither Britain nor Japan paid attention to it, and instead carried out a more intense military mobilization activity.
Chapter completed!