Let¡¯s not talk about the reaction of countries with huge investments in China such as Britain, the United States and France. At least Japan¡¯s reaction is a bit exaggerated. Faced with the declaration of war by the Chinese government in South China, Japan's reaction was not anger. In their view, this was just the passionate reaction of a local warlord in China. At the same time, they were full of confidence in the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Japanese Army. They thought that as long as His Majesty the Emperor's samurai stabbed the hot-headed China warlord with a bamboo spear, he would be dead, so they neither carried out general mobilization to increase Japan's immediate combat power, nor agreed with Nagata Tetsuzan and Ishihara Wan The proposal put forward by you and others to withdraw the main force of the imperial army from the expedition to Siberia was because neither Prime Minister Kei Hara nor Prime Minister Tanaka was prepared to expand the war against China. First of all, judging from the current situation, the British Empire seems to be still strong. After the European War, it first successfully suppressed the German revolution and the Hungarian revolution, and then actively interfered in the Turkish and Russian issues. It doesn't look like Nagata Tetsuzan and other leftovers. The returnees from Europe said they were about to decline and collapse, and Hara Kei, who did not know that the British treasury was already empty and running mice, naturally did not dare to expand the scale of the war against China wantonly. After all, China was also the British sphere of influence. They are sheep in British pastures, and the value of Japan is just the dog that watches the sheep. If the dog dares to bite the sheep to death, the British farmer will kill the disobedient dog and start a war with a world empire like Britain. Japan People don¡¯t have that much courage. Secondly, there are currently many conflicts in Japan. Due to the sharp drop in orders after the European War, Japanese factories and mines are generally under-operated. This is why Hara Keiyoshi agreed to send troops to Siberia and China. It is nothing more than By expanding domestic demand, internal potential can be tapped to alleviate economic pressure. However, it must be said that because it has been providing military products to Europe in the past few years, Japan's own war power reserves are currently very unsatisfactory, and they simply do not have enough power to launch A full-scale war of aggression against China. What is particularly dangerous is that the annual steel production in southern China is expected to be equal to that of Japan by the end of this year. Although the quantity of special steel is not as good as that of Japan, the quantity alone is enough to worry Japan. Nonetheless, in Nagata With Tieshan's support, the Japanese military formulated Plan A and Plan B. The so-called Plan A is that the Japanese army fought smoothly in Shandong and successfully defeated the South China Army. Then the war was handed over to Zhang Zuolin's Fengjun to continue. Japan only had to sit back and watch the tigers fight and then make peace with the war fortune. Plan B is much more terrifying. Under Kanji Ishihara's suggestion, once the Japanese army fails to fight in Shandong or even fails unexpectedly, the empire should consider expanding the scope of the war to punish China. At this time, more imperial troops and joint forces should be dispatched. The main force of the fleet carried out landing operations in the rich southeastern region of China, inflicting heavy damage to the entire China. Out of his responsible attitude towards His Majesty the Emperor, Tanaka had no choice but to allow Plan B to exist as a backup plan, and the two divisions placed in Kyushu would also exist as the execution force of Plan B. However, despite this, Tanaka still firmly believed that with Great Japan Given the strength of the Imperial Army, Plan A is bound to succeed, onboard, onboard. The final problem still lies in the execution. Although Japan had already planned it, due to various reasons, not all the three divisions were transported to Qingdao, Shandong. To be precise, the soldiers of the three divisions were transported, but A lot of heavy equipment is still in the process of being shipped from the mainland. An infantry division without heavy weapons can only be regarded as a rifle division. The frontline commanders do not have the courage of Sadao Araki to let the samurai hold bamboo spears. To kill the enemy, Tanaka's offensive plan became unexecutable from the beginning of the war. In the next half month, the Japanese army only took over the transportation line from Qingdao to Weifang. Since the Japanese are so polite, there is no need for the Youth Army to be polite. Bai Chongxi issued the combat order for the Jinan Campaign almost the day after he declared war, and the ten divisions deployed on the Xuzhou front line began combat operations without ceremony. Bai Chongxi's combat orders were very detailed, so detailed that Liu Xing, the commander-in-chief of the East Route Army, had almost nothing to do, and the purpose of his deployment was very clear: Zhang Zizhong's troops of the First Division of the Youth Army were asked to march 300 kilometers to arrive Zibo organized defense on the spot. It is worth mentioning that since they are assault troops, they have nothing to do by taking the Jingpu Line and taking the train. At most, heavy equipment can be walked on this railway, because the Shandong section of this railway It is still under the control of Zhang Zongchang, so the task of Zhang Zizhong's troops is very arduous. This is based on the fact that most of the marching routes are plains. If it is Shandong, no matter how hard the training is, it will be difficult for the first division to complete the seven-day rush to Zibo for defense. To ensure time for the decisive battle in the Jinan area, the 5th Division's Yu Zuobai Division, the 6th Division's Dai Yue Division, the 15th Division's Gu Pinzhen Division, and the 21st Division Tao Jun's Division set out from Xuzhou along the Jingpu Line. To attack Jinan, Bai Chongxi asked them to split into two. The 5th and 6th Divisions, which were good at mobile warfare, would outflank and advance, while the 15th and 21st Divisions would attack alternately along the railway line.Advancing, the 25th Division's Xue Yue Division and the 27th Division's Zhu Peide Division received orders to march 200 kilometers to occupy the Rizhao area and threaten Qingdao's flanks. The 28th Division's Zhu Jiande Division stayed in Xuzhou, and the 29th Division Liu Mingzhao's troops followed to Jinan, but they did not simply follow, but marched along the west side of Weishan Lake. After taking Jining, they took the railway. The 30th Normal School Shisheng's troops were asked to follow the First Division and stay for one day. The marching distance can form strong reinforcements for the first division at any time. The division commanders below are not very fuel-efficient. Division commanders Gu Pinzhen, Fan Shisheng and Zhu Peide who were born in the Yunnan Army were having dinner with Liu Bocheng and Zhu Jiande, the division commanders who were born in the Sichuan Army. They were all people who had followed Cai E, so their relationship was naturally better. Better than ordinary people, Gu Pinzhen looked at the battle plan and exclaimed: "Our boss Bai is indeed no ordinary person. He is worthy of having defeated the Germans in Europe. This battle order did not mention Zhang Zongchang from the beginning to the end. The Zhilu Allied Forces took it seriously, and every plan was aimed at the Japanese. This time, the little Japanese had more fun. " Liu Mingzhao did not agree: "I'm afraid things are not that simple. Looking at this plan, I'm afraid it's not. To defeat the Japanese, we have to eat them all in one bite. I went to Europe late. I didn¡¯t catch up with the Verdun counterattack, but as far as I know it was a mobile war. I don¡¯t know that this time it was in vain. Is the commander-in-chief planning to engage in mobile warfare again? If so, the little Japanese are different from the Germans. They are also famous for their mobile warfare. If we really fight, the losses for our participating troops will be huge." Zhu Peide nodded: "I'm here. I heard people from other fraternal units say that this Chief of Staff Bai is the most willing to sacrifice money in wars. He never considers the casualties of the troops below. He just wants victory. This time we are transferred from our hometown to follow his command. I'm afraid the casualties are all small. If we don't do it well, it's not impossible that the whole army will be annihilated." Zhu Jiande shook his head and said: "If Ci is not in charge of the army, if we are in charge, it will probably not be much better than this dear friend. It doesn't matter what we lose. , Our Marshal Wang treats everyone equally and gives us all standing numbers. No matter how much we lose, we will definitely make up for it. What we have to do now is to fight well in this battle and create our own prestige. " Fan. Shi Sheng chuckled and said: "I know you have ideas. Haha, each of them has more than 20,000 elite soldiers and generals, first-class equipment, and sufficient supplies. It is much better than when we were trying to challenge Yuan Nahui. I'm tempted. I think It¡¯s time to make a name for ourselves. In fact, I think so too. As Marshal Wang said, this is the era for us soldiers, and it¡¯s the time for us to make a name for ourselves.¡± Even though the arrogant Japanese army is still there. While Qingdao was waiting for equipment, the First Division of the Youth Army Zhang Zizhong had already begun a very arduous march. In October in Shandong, the weather had begun to turn cold, so Bai Chongxi's idea was to end the Shandong war in the shortest time, but soon It was quickly rejected by Wang Zhenyu. Wang Zhenyu clearly told Bai Chongxi that he should be prepared to continue the war for six months to two years or even longer, because the Japanese are people with dreams. On the border of Shandong and Shandong, the Zhili-Shandong Allied Forces arranged many patrol battalions here to prepare for the surprise attack of the Youth Army. However, late at night on October 11, these patrol battalions had no effect at all. Zhang Zizhong's First Division easily broke through the Soviet Union. At the Shandong border, at noon on the 12th, the vanguard of the First Division starting from Taierzhuang easily took over the defenseless Lanling County, broke into Shandong territory for more than 80 miles, and captured more than 2,000 Zhili Allied Forces. At this time, Zhang Zongchang, who had just received Zhang Zuolin's secret order to retreat, was still hugging his new concubine and had just woken up. The first thing he did when he woke up was not to think about how to execute Zhang Zuolin's order to retreat. Instead, he yawned and ordered his adjutant: : "Concubine, concubine, the concubine tax will be levied throughout the province in the future. Why should I pay for the concubine myself?" The adjutant seemed to be used to this, and immediately turned around to initial the order to increase the tax, and then played cards. Zhang Zongchang, who could easily lose a hundred thousand yuan, was very stingy about his troops. In addition to the generous treatment of the White Russian soldiers, his subordinates and even the division-level command department were not equipped with radio stations. Zhang Zongchang felt that it was expensive and useless. , If something really happened, wouldn¡¯t it be over if the messengers just ran around? So the Japanese finally told Zhang Zongchang the news that the Youth Army had entered Shandong, and it was already the next day. It was at this time that Zhang Zongchang remembered that he had not organized the Zhilu Allied Forces to withdraw northward. Now he was really wasting his time and wasting his time.