On a day when the storm was coming, the screams of the Chinese people resounded throughout the northwest of the Shandong Peninsula:

"The Japanese pirates are here! Let's run away, fellow villagers!"

Early in the morning, dozens of Japanese warships and large ships appeared outside Longkou Port in Shandong. Then countless Japanese soldiers boarded the port under the cover of naval guns. Their dirty leather boots once again set foot on China's land. In just one day, the once beautiful harbor became a mess. The Japanese army galloped freely like entering a defeated country, burning, killing, looting and doing all kinds of evil, and forced a large number of young and middle-aged men to be their coolies. If there were any Japanese soldiers who did not follow the brutal ones, they would go up and beat them, and the severe ones would even be disabled and killed.

After the Japanese army forcibly landed in Longkou, they invaded Huangxian, Yexian, Pingdu, Jimo and Jiaoji Railways all the way south, and continued to advance towards Qingdao. Villages along the way were full of chaos and cries.

An old man sat next to the burning house, holding his dead grandson and crying, "Oh my God! Where is our army? Why let these Japanese who kill thousands of swords run rampant everywhere!"

A week ago, in Beijing, President Yuan’s Palace.

A team of cars drove into the presidential palace, with dazzling sun flags inserted in the car, and Japanese soldiers holding rifles stood on the pedals on both sides of the car. Before the car could stop, the Japanese soldiers jumped out of the car and picked up bayonets to guard the convoy. An old man in a dress slowly got out of the car, and another Japanese officer followed him and also got out of the car.

"Welcome to Mr. Ambassador! Welcome to Mr. Colonel!" The officer nodded desperately like a chicken pecking at rice, while leading them in.

The Chinese soldiers watched the Japanese officers walk into the presidential palace with guns and knives, but they didn't even dare to say anything.

"I said, brother, why are these Japanese so slutty?" A Chinese soldier gently touched his companion and whispered at the Japanese soldiers standing there with expressionless faces.

"Brother, don't mess with these Japanese people, even our president will give them three points!" The older Chinese soldier next to him glanced into the gate, "I heard that they are now going to fight against the German Russians in Qingdao with British Russians. If you have a chance, let them bite their dogs!"

"Brother, who would they win?" The soldier tightened his gun belt before, straightening his chest as a result of the Japanese soldiers.

"Don't worry about them! It's not about fighting us!" The older soldier looked indifferent. He seemed to have forgotten that the war was carried out on China's territory. No matter which side wins, the Chinese people will eventually suffer.

In one of the most luxurious study rooms in the presidential palace, when I saw the Japanese coming in, the big bald man sitting behind the desk quickly stood up.

"Ah...Mr. Ambassador, welcome!" The bald man stretched out his right hand, but the Japanese ambassador and the Japanese officer just walked to the desk and bowed gently. The bald man had to smile awkwardly and retracted his hand back.

"President Yuan, long time no see!"

"Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for your concern. I wonder what advice is there today?" After signaling the others to leave the study, the bald man sat back to his seat with a smile on his face. It was a chair with an extremely exquisite and luxurious carving style of a carved dragon.

The Japanese colonel who came with the Japanese ambassador took out a map and spread it on the table. The bald man understood seven or eight in his heart when he saw it.

"Mr. Ambassador, your country's courage to go to war with the German bandits is really admirable. But as far as I know, the German bandits have built a large number of advanced fortifications in Qingdao. In my opinion, everyone should think that peace is the most important thing. Let the foreigners fight by themselves! Your country will inevitably suffer losses and generals if it is necessary to attack Qingdao..."

"Baga!" The Japanese colonel suddenly stood up, frightening the big bald man.

"Bastard! How can you be so rude to the President?" Although the Japanese ambassador said this, there was no anger in his tone. The colonel said "hi" and then retreated silently to the side.

"Mr. President, our country will never tolerate the Germans' domineering in East Asia. This is a just war to drive away the enemy for the Asian people. Our country hopes to get your strong support! As long as the President draws out the south of the Yellow River as a neutral zone for our army to march, he can get the honor of the winner without fighting!"

"But Mr. Ambassador, our country is ready to remain neutral in the war, so I'm afraid..." The bald man looked very embarrassed, and the Japanese ambassador saw through his tricks at a glance.

"We understand this, if the President agrees, as thanks, our government will urge the bank to approve your government's 20 million yuan loan!"

The big bald brows all stretched out, "That's good, that's good! It's the obligation of our government to support Asian compatriots to drive away the German bandits!"

"Very good, Mr. President! Wait for the news of our Imperial Japanese army's triumphant success!"

In the end, the bald Yuan government shamelessly announced that the Longkou area was silenced, and the areas near Laizhou and Jiaozhou Bay were war zones, and they lived up to the responsibility of being completely neutral, while other places remained strictly neutral. At the same time, they agreed with the Japanese government that the special marching area was limited to the east of Weixian Station, about 100 miles from Qingdao. The Japanese army should follow this boundary and not cross the westward.

In early September, the first batch of Japanese 18th Division sent more than 20,000 troops to Longkou and landed under the cover of the fleet. Longkou was 150 miles away from Qingdao, not Germany's leased land, nor did it have German troops. The Japanese army landed from Longkou by land, but in fact, they wanted to include the entire Shandong Peninsula in its own sphere of influence.

Shortly after the Japanese landed in Longkou, the situation on the battlefield in Europe changed drastically, and the powerful British navy was severely damaged by the German army, and all the main warships were lost. The Japanese government decided to capture Qingdao as soon as possible considering the rapid development of the European war and the uncertainty of the situation. The Japanese General Staff Headquarters decided to add troops again and add the 4th Battalion of the Independent Siege Heavy Artillery, carrying 6 powerful 280mm heavy howitzers; adding the temporary railway wings for setting up light railways; considering the firepower gap caused by the time spent on building the railway, in order to make up for its firepower gap, the Second Field Heavy Artillery Regiment was added, carrying 12 heavy howitzers with a caliber of 240mm; due to the huge project volume, an independent engineering brigade was also added, and all the additional troops were ready to follow the second batch of Japanese troops to land from Laoshan Bay.

The waters on the east side of Wanggezhuang in Laoshan Bay are about 1 kilometer away from the shore. They can moor more than 3,000 tons of transport ships. The bay can accommodate dozens of ships of all sizes and sizes. The landing conditions are superior to those of Longkou Bay. However, because the east side of the bay and the southeast side face the outer sea, they are easily affected by wind and waves. There are certain difficulties in landing when the waves are heavy, so you have to use a small boat to connect them.

The Japanese army originally expected that the landing would go smoothly, but unexpectedly, the weather was not good. In addition, they were all collecting domestic civilian ships, and many supplies could not be transported. The German army laid many mines along the coast in advance, forcing the Japanese army to clear mines before they could land. So the Japanese army sent several minesweepers to carry out minesweeping operations in the outer sea waters of Yangkou area.

In order to prevent the Japanese fleet from landing in the offshore of Qingdao, the German army had a total of more than 300 mines in the outer seas of Qingdao, most of which were located on the waterway between Huiquanjiao and Xuejia Island, Tuan Island and Xuejia Island. More than 130 anchor mines were deployed in this place alone, forming two blockade lines. In addition, the German army also laid two mine arrays outside the sea of ​​Shazikou Bay, totaling more than 30. The German army also laid nearly 20 mines on the front line of Damai Island and Shi Laoren. The German army also laid more than 20 sinking mines on the front line of Fushansuo Bay to prevent the Japanese and British fleet from landing.

Near the coast, the German army deployed more than 50 mines in the waters west of Dagong Island. In addition, in order to prevent Japanese ships from approaching the city from Xuejia Island, the German army also deployed more than 50 mines in the waters around Zhucha Island. At the same time, the German army also deployed a number of sinking mines in the waters near the coastal defense turrets such as Taiping Corner and Huiquan Corner to facilitate defense. These mines are basically divided into two types: anchor mines and sinking mines. Most of the anchor mines are deployed in important waters to block the main channel; sinking mines are deployed in places where enemy ships are prone to land. Another small part of the German army's drift mines are deployed in deep-sea waters.

Originally, the Japanese army also wanted to take large ships to land directly near Qingdao, but because there were German coastal defense artillery batteries and some temporary artillery batteries everywhere on the docking site, and the German army laid a large number of anchor mines and sinking bottom mines at the sea, the eight minesweepers of the Japanese Second Fleet could not clear the mines along the coast within the specified time. In addition, the German coastal defense artillery batteries could also shoot from the side towards Japanese ships operating in minesweeping operations.

The Japanese mine-sweeping operations lasted until mid-September, and the Horiuchi Brigade fleet, which was preparing to land from Laoshan, approached the coast to land.

The area of ​​Wanggezhuang in Laoshan Bay is surrounded by mountains on three sides and faces the sea. The flat sea surface in the bay is an excellent landing site. Due to the large tide drop, the Japanese army used the tide gap to speed up the construction of landing trests to facilitate the landing trests. Due to the short length of several landing trests built, the Japanese army had difficulty landing. Although the Japanese army forcibly landing in heavy rain, when the trest was low, the sea surface retreated from a large shallow. The Japanese ships could not rely on the landing trests, so they had to use some small wooden boats to connect the large supplies, dismantle them and pack them on the ship, and most of the personnel swam ashore. God seemed to be condemning this unjust war. During the days when the Horiuchi Brigade landed, heavy rain continued to fall, which brought great difficulties to the Japanese army's landing.

In mid-September, fierce naval battle broke out again in the North Sea, and the British local navy suffered a devastating blow. The British king issued a declaration to defend the land, summoning British colonial fleets and colonial legions to return to the land. The British fleet and Indian colonial legions, which were originally planned to participate in the battle in Qingdao, also evacuated in a hurry.
Chapter completed!