The low clouds seemed to be only a few meters away from the sea, which was so depressing that it was breathless. Even the faint sea breeze seemed steaming. This stuffy weather made people feel like they were steaming a sauna. Sweat soaked their clothes and was quickly steamed dry. Then they were sweating again, and they ended up sticking and itchy all over. Everyone wanted to soak in the sea comfortably.

On the ancient and long coastline, a group of steel and cement turrets exuded a completely different momentum from other earth-stacked wooden turrets. The thick and short cannon barrels, steel turrets, cement cannon seats, and a group of soldiers wearing pointed helmets patrolling back and forth.

Qingdao, Qianhai Huiquan South Corner Front, Huiquan Corner Fort was built in 1902. It is the first fort built by Germany in Qingdao. It is equipped with two 240mm cannons and two 150mm cannons. The cannons are turret-type rotating cannons. The turret area has a large-scale underground cover and has tunnels connecting the Ilchis Barracks and other places.

At the edge of the turret, a small team of soldiers took advantage of the patrol gap to rest on the low wall.

"The weather is so hot!" A little bearded soldier put his rifle obliquely beside him, took off his hat and wiped the sweat on his forehead. His name is Hartman, with the rank of corporal, and he has the highest military rank among these five people. He has also been to Qingdao the longest. In 3 years, he has almost become a Qingdao pass.

"Yes! It's so hot! I didn't expect that there was such a stuffy weather on the beach!" Another soldier also took off his helmet, revealing his golden curly hair. Private Schmidt, who was stationed along the Jiaoji Railway with his troops, was transferred to Qingdao after the war broke out and assigned to the turret garrison.

"Bad weather, bad situation! I never thought I would come here to fight!" The older soldier seemed to be as bad as the weather. Blank, who came to China with his family a year ago to do business. He was summoned as a reserve officer in Qingdao. His family had returned to Germany through other channels.

The two soldiers who remained silent seemed very different from the others - the guy on the right also had a gray military uniform and a pointed helmet, but his skin was like black charcoal. Private Bomgard was affiliated with the German foreign legion "Black Storm". Although the face and skin color on the left were not significantly different from the three people in front, he was wearing blue military uniform and gray pants. Austrian Corporal Stifet, he and hundreds of other Austrian soldiers stationed in various concessions came to Qingdao as loyal allies of Germany.

Blank took out a pack of cigarettes and started to distribute them. As a businessman with a small career, the cigarettes he smoked were considered high-end. Hartman and Schmidt happily took the cigarettes, but when they handed them to Tifett, he had no expression.

"Why are Austrians frightened by the Japanese?"

"Japanese? In my eyes, they are just a group of short pigs! I hate them, and even more so. My niece was also on the ship detained by Britain the day before yesterday!" The Austrian held his hat in his hand and said angrily, "Damn British, the ship is full of old, weak, women and children who are going to return to Germany! I heard that they actually took the ship to Weihaiwei!"

The others were silent. On the last day of August today, the British navy was still the world's number one, and their warships were rampant in all oceans. Starting a week ago, the St. George's flag and the Sun flag appeared on the coast of Jiaozhou Bay and blocked the entire harbor. The main force of the German Far East Fleet, six cruisers, quietly sailed away from the port before Britain and Japan surrounded Qingdao, broke through the Japanese blockade line, got rid of the encirclement and interception of dozens of warships from Japan, Britain, France, Russia and other countries, and entered the South Pacific and Indian Oceans to conduct attacks. Now there are only a few small destroyers and the old Austrian cruiser "Queen Elizabeth".

The war finally burned to this beautiful harbor. After Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, it used the Navy's 1st Fleet to warn the Yellow Sea and the northern waters of the East China Sea. The 2nd Fleet blocked Jiaozhou Bay on the 27th and seized the sea control power.

After the outbreak of the European war, Germany's Governor Valdek, the German Governor of Jiaoao, drove tens of thousands of Chinese to build temporary fortresses, digging trenches, transporting materials, and actively preparing for war. While urgently summoning reserve personnel from China to Qingdao to participate in the war, he transferred the German troops stationed along the Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Shanghai, Jinan and Jiaoji Railways to Qingdao. During the war, the German army had 17 ships, 9 aircraft, 211 artillery and 347 machine guns in Qingdao, including a German foreign legion composed of more than 5,000 African soldiers and hundreds of Austrian soldiers. The total strength reached 14,000. The navy and coastal defense forces were commanded by Valdek himself, and the army troops were handed over to the unified command of the foreign legion commander Major Arens.

The German army built a total of 4 wharfs, 6 fortresses and 22 fortresses in Qingdao, realizing the fortification. Before the Japanese attack, they laid mechanical mines at the port and set up power grids on the shore.

In Qingdao's sea defense, there were forts built in Taixi, Tuandao, Huiquanjiao and Taipingjiao, and ships were sent to patrol in Jiaozhou Bay. In addition, alert teams were also sent to Fushan, Gushan, Aoshanwei, Jinkou, Gaomi and other places.

In Qingdao's land defense, it is mainly composed of two defense lines. The first line of defense is composed of infantry land defense fortresses. On the west bank of the coastal river, it starts from Xiaozhan Mountain in the south and reaches the mouth of Haibo River in the north, including six fortresses on the coast.

The second line of defense is composed of the Shushui Mountain through Wannian Mountain to Taiping Mountain, and is composed of temporary fortresses and field defense fortifications built before the war.

The fortress is generally composed of a large cover and 1 to 2 small covers to store ammunition, feed and house troops. Most of the fortress lines extend northward along the coastal moors. The fortress is about 100 meters away from the river channel. A trench about 5 meters deep and 6 meters wide is dug between the riverbed and the fortress. The bottom of the trench is covered with barbed wire, which is connected to the north and south coasts. On the west side of the trench, a long series of infantry bunkers were built along the trench, and light artillery, machine guns, rifles and other weapons are equipped with these small fortresses, forming a solid defense line of up to 6 kilometers.

Qingdao's defense is already in sufficient strength to compare with the Lushun Fortress in the past. However, it is far away from Europe, Germany and Austria. The soldiers cannot expect a large number of reinforcements as the Russian army back then. They can only rely on their own strength.

"Hey! African friends!" When Blank handed the cigarette to Bomgard, the African eyes flashed, and then silently took it.

"Thanks!"

"Oh! It turns out that our African friends can speak German! Why did you never speak before?" The young Schmidt screamed in excitement.

"There was a German pastor who had been preaching in our village. I learned something from him. After joining the foreign legion, the instructors taught him some more!" Bomgard put the cigarette in his pocket. His German sounded a bit stiff, but this was already strange to Schmidt and the others.

"Haha! What a strange African! Do you really use a gun?" Schmidt seemed very curious about Bomgard.

The Africans skillfully sent the bullet into the chamber, and then pointed the muzzle at Schmidt's toe.

"Don't be excited! My African friend, I was just a joke just now!" Tifet quickly pushed Bomgard's gun away, fearing that he would accidentally smash his toes. At this time, the Austrians also smiled with a sad cloud.

"I heard that the training of the Black Storm is much stricter than ours, right? Mr. Bomgard!" Corporal Hartman originally had a headache for the complex personnel of this patrol team, but now it seems that the situation is better than expected.

"Yes! We are training seriously every day, and everyone uses various weapons, including machine guns and cannons!" The Africans are no longer so reserved. When he and his regiment were drawn to strengthen the defense of various turrets a few days ago, he was still worried about staying with white soldiers. After all, whites discrimination against blacks is still very serious.

Just as this group of complicated people were having a good conversation, the entire turret suddenly became noisy. With loud noises, the cannons of the turret began to shoot at the sea.

"What happened?" Hartman looked at the sea in surprise. Since the Japanese army announced that they would block Jiaozhou Bay from August 27, limiting all neutral ships from 35.5 degrees to 36.7 degrees north latitude and 110.10 to 122.36 degrees east radius, it is difficult to see ships moving on the sea outside the fort.

There was a small black dot on the sea in the distance, and the shells were flying there.

"What's that?"

If there is a high-power telescope, Hartman will find that it is a mine-sweeping escort ship with sixteen Japanese Navy flags flying with the Sun Rising Chronicles.

This mine-sweeping escort ship was sent by the Japanese army to open the waterway to the outside of Qingdao Bay as soon as possible. Not long ago, it quietly appeared on the coast of Jiaozhou Bay for mine-sweeping operations. Just as the Japanese soldiers above were about to cut off the wire rope on the anchor mine, the German observation sentry of Huiquanjiao Fort discovered it. The cannons of the fort immediately opened fire at it within the effective range, and then the coastal defense turrets such as Yamen Mountain, Ilchis Mountain South Fort also fired together. The 240mm giant shell of Huiquanjiao Fort landed around the Japanese ship, and water columns continued to rise around the Japanese ship. Soon, the Japanese ship was caught fire and fled back to the sea outside of Laoshan with thick smoke.

In the early morning of the next day, Hartman and others were awakened again. A Japanese minesweeper boat ran aground near Chaolian Island on the east of Qingdao. When the German gunboat arrived at the scene, the Japanese sailors had already left in a small boat. The German gunboat fired more than 10 shells to sink it.
Chapter completed!