In the conference room of the headquarters building of the Fifth Division in Lushun, a group of commanders from the Fifth Division, the Eighteenth Division, the Second Fleet, and civilian officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stationed in Lushun were having a heated discussion. The content of the discussion
Naturally, it is still related to the attack on Qingdao. The offensive originally planned to be launched in early October has now been put on hold due to changes in the Beiyang government. This has made the Japanese soldiers who are full of battle hope and hope to defeat the Western powers again feel very dissatisfied.
News of the Qingdao Incident came as early as early September. Japan's Navy Ministry and Army Ministry have been arguing over this matter, but the cabinet and Congress have yet to make a decision.
During a meeting at the Friendship Hotel in Fengtian a few days ago, he was humiliated in public by Chinese General Yuan Su. This resentment has become increasingly out of control after brewing for a period of time.
The soldiers were very excited and kept threatening to go to war with China to teach these arrogant and ignorant Chinese people a lesson. However, the civil servants had to worry about the international situation and the current actual situation in Japan, and still pinned their hopes on diplomatic channels.
Put pressure on the Beiyang government in the hope of promoting the formation of a neutral theater in Qingdao.
For this reason, Japan's Minister to China paid a special visit to Yuan Shikai on October 5th, and offered to make concessions for the first time, expressing his willingness to give up some of the jumps in the "Twenty-One Articles" as long as Yuan Shikai could withdraw his orders and allow the British and Japanese coalition forces to continue
Attack Qingdao. And repeatedly promised that Japan would do its best to support Yuan Shikai in proclaiming himself emperor.
Bargaining is not unfamiliar to Yuan Shikai. At first, he used the method of retreat to advance to force the Qing court to give up power. Now seeing that the emperor himself is short of breath, how could he give up after getting a little benefit? Not to mention that Yuan Shikai does not want to go with the emperor now.
If you want to negotiate in person, you have to take into account the current domestic situation. As the saying goes, you have to shoot when the arrow is on the string. The whole country has been mobilized to support Qingdao, and in the end, you reached an agreement with Japan. Wouldn't that be unfair to yourself?
It was precisely because of Ri Zhiyi's unsuccessful return that the dissatisfaction of the troops stationed in Lushun was further intensified.
Instigated by a few senior officers, the Fifth Division and the Eighteenth Division decided not to wait for the pedantic bureaucrats in the local Congress to let go of the never-ending discussions, but to form a temporary group headed by the Lushun Command.
Headquarters, on its own, launched a retaliatory and demonstrative attack on China.
The meeting held at the headquarters of the Fifth Division in Lushun was to finalize and discuss the unauthorized attack.
Although several civilian officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still wanted to calm down the emotions of the soldiers, even the special commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed support for the fifth division, the eighteenth division and the second fleet to take military actions, and several others
What weight does persuasion have? The special commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was humiliated in public by Yuan Su, and Yuan Su's action was clearly a declaration of war. Even though the local Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the cabinet were still hesitant, this personal irritation could not be vented.
What's more, according to the combat plan hosted by the Fifth Division Headquarters, Lushun will only launch a localized attack on the Chinese Army in the Liaodong Peninsula. The entire planned combat time will not exceed ten days, and the combat goal is
Within ten days, they defeated the main force of the Chinese garrison on the Liaodong Peninsula and captured Jinzhou in one fell swoop.
As long as this battle is won, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have more say at the negotiating table.
As for the Cabinet and Congress, as long as it is finally proven that the Fifth Division, the 18th Division and the Second Fleet are right to make such arbitrary claims, it is expected that they will not really be blamed. The reason why they made such arbitrary claims is nothing more than
The purpose is to avoid the red tape and excessive concerns of a bunch of literati, and directly verify the facts with results.
At the beginning of the meeting, everyone grumbled for a while, and then gradually got down to business. The commander-in-chief of the Fifth Division, Kikuzo Otani, introduced the troop dispatch plan he had formulated, and then discussed the details. Everyone had a general combat idea.
It is clear that it is nothing more than artillery and naval gun cover, and the army is advancing towards the town. The expected start time of the war is October 28th, and Yingkou must be captured before November, and Anshan must be captured before November 6th.
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The combat force was composed of the Fifth Division as the main force and the Eighteenth Division as the supporting force. The gunboats of the Second Fleet took the lead in seizing the favorable sea areas of the Bohai Bay and Jinzhou Bay and carried out continuous fire strikes with naval guns.
The specific combat missions of combat units below the division level will be briefed by the headquarters of each brigade and each regiment before the 28th and assigned in place.
When the meeting was almost over, a group of officers from the 18th Division were still whispering among themselves, but the commander-in-chief of the division, Mitsuomi Kamio, turned to the adjutant Akita Heiichi aside and asked him: "I was at the Friendship Hotel before.
At the meeting, have you seen the two commander-in-chiefs arranged by Beiyang Zhengfu to the three northeastern provinces? According to the information we have now obtained, the person responsible for frontal defense against Lushun is Yuan Su, the Military Affairs Office of Zhili Province, which means throwing white gloves at Mr. Hirao.
That person."
Shoda Pingyi couldn't help but gnashed his teeth when he thought of Yuan Su's arrogant behavior at that time. His face was cold and he said angrily: "Commander, yes, it is this person. He is the nephew of President Yuan Shikai, and he was also killed not long ago.
Beiyang Zhengfu is regarded as the spokesperson of the new Zhongyang Army. It was also mentioned in the message sent back by Mr. Banxili that it was this person who together with Cai E formulated the plan for the standard equipment of the China Army."
Kamio Mitsuomi nodded slowly and said speculatively: "So, this Yuan Su is quite capable."
Akita Heiichi sneered and said: "You think too highly of him. In the past few days, I have sent people to collect information about this person. Three years ago, he was just a little-known person. He relied on bragging about himself and the Yuan family everywhere.
Because of his family ties, he became a relative with President Yuan Shikai. However, there is no real evidence to prove this person’s origins in private.”
Kamio Mitsuomi's expression did not change much, and he still maintained a thoughtful attitude.
The division chief of staff next to him, Masaki Jinzaburo, heard the conversation between the two and immediately joined in. He was also dismissive of Yuan Su's personal background and said: "Yes, Yuan Su is actually a person who is just trying to gain fame.
At most, he has some business ability. Judging from the intelligence we collected in Henan, Yuan Su has not made much achievements in suppressing civil unrest in Henan, and has not formulated any large-scale battle plans. Except for Luanzhou and Shangqiu
, Shanhaiguan and other places have implemented some policies that are in line with public opinion, but they have no experience in military leadership."