The entire Qingdao has been completely paralyzed since November!
Needless to say, the machines were shut down and the school became empty, but there was no electricity, no water, and even those who filled chamber pots and toilets joined the strike. This turned Qingdao into a dead city and a complete
A smelly city.
Originally, in Akiyama Masanosuke's opinion, the strike would not last long because those Chinese workers and the whole family needed to eat!
But the development of the situation was completely different from what he thought.
The grain purchased in the name of Qingdao China General Chamber of Commerce is being distributed to the homes of these workers...
All of this was planned by Wang Hengyue behind the scenes!
In order to support the strikes, market strikes, and school strikes in Qingdao, how much money will be spent to regain Qingdao? Wang Hengyue doesn't care at all! As long as he can take back the land, he is willing to bankrupt himself!
Akiyama Masanosuke is worried. The pressure from protests from domestic and Japanese people in Qingdao has become unbearable for him. And Qingdao shows no signs of resuming work.
By November 10, the general strike sweeping Qingdao had lasted for eighteen days, and Akiyama Masanosuke could no longer sit still.
He made an appointment with strike representatives, but the conditions proposed by them were simply unacceptable to him.
"Your Excellency, the Minister of Civil Affairs, the only option is to use force to suppress them!" Kenichi Oshima, the commander of the Japanese garrison in Qingdao, said murderously: "Since the Chinese people are unwilling to resume work, we can only use force to force them to do so!
"
Akiyama Masanosuke hesitated.
What are the consequences if force is used?
The current Chinese government is not the Manchu and Qing government in the past, nor is it the Beiyang government. The rash use of force will only allow the Chinese to find an excuse to enter Qingdao!
In fact, maybe the president of China has long wanted to regain Qingdao...
"Send the soldiers to the streets." After hesitating there for a long time, Akiyama Masanosuke finally said: "But no bloodshed is allowed without my order! Your Excellency, Commander, I must implore you to remember the current international situation.
It is very complicated. There are not many countries that support Japan. Europeans and Americans hope that the Chinese Army will continue to fight in Russia. They support the Chinese. If bloody conflicts continue to occur at this time, it will have a negative impact on the empire's interests in Qingdao.
The impact is difficult to judge.”
Oshima nodded slightly.
As a soldier, although he prefers to take the most direct form, once a war breaks out, it will be a very terrible thing.
The combat effectiveness shown by the Chinese on the Russian battlefield has put Oshima Kenichi under heavy pressure. It would be very unwise to break out a war at this time.
To be patient, you must force yourself and the soldiers to endure as much as possible...
"Your Excellency, Chief of Civil Affairs, I'm sorry for everything I did." Aida Jun bowed deeply: "If I hadn't been calm, then..."
"It has already happened, don't think about it any more..." Interrupting his subordinates, Akiyama Masanosuke thought for a while: "Your Excellency, Commander, we must put some pressure on those who are on strike. If this does not happen,
In the event of bloodshed, we must let the Chinese people know that we will not hesitate to use force to solve the problem..."
"Do not worry!"
...
Japanese troops began to appear on the streets of Qingdao!
In Qingdao, Japan has 20,000 navy and army soldiers. It is obvious that a crisis is quietly approaching...
At this time, President Wang Hengyue, who arrived in Ningbo, finally made a statement in front of the world for the first time:
In view of the current serious situation in Qingdao and the Japanese side's use of troops to suppress it with force, in order to protect the safety of Chinese people's lives and property in Qingdao, the President ordered the Navy's Third Squadron to enter Qingdao. He also ordered two of the Fifth Army of Zanxu, King of Jinan, Shandong
Individual divisions are on standby to enter Qingdao to maintain the local situation!
This declaration is earth-shattering!
Wang Hengyue had no intention of informing Japan at all, but directly announced the order!
The Japanese Minister to China, Eikichi Obata, immediately lodged a "protest" with the Chinese government, while Prime Minister Wang Qinglu told the Japanese Minister in a stern tone:
Qingdao has always been Chinese land, and the Chinese government has never signed any contract to cede Qingdao to Japan! A country does not need permission from other countries to send warships and troops into its own land!
Kobata Eikichi was speechless.
There is no contract that cedes Qingdao to Japan!
A country does not need permission from other countries to send warships and troops into its own land!
This is the most powerful answer from China!
Eikichi Obata is in a dilemma, and the Japanese government is also in a dilemma.
Representatives of the Chinese government did not sign the Treaty of Versailles and refused to recognize Japan's occupation of Qingdao. Their warships and troops have every reason to enter Qingdao!
Unless, Japan does not hesitate to go to war with China over the Qingdao issue!
But this seems unlikely now. The European and American powers are completely on the side of the Chinese government at this stage...
After receiving the order, the Chinese Navy and Army took action at the same time!
On November 12, Duan Qirui, special adviser to the Shandong Provincial Government of the Republic of China, ordered that Wang Zanxu's Fifth Army enter Qingdao as a regiment.
Japan suddenly became nervous...
Akiyama Masanosuke made an emergency appointment with Duan Qirui and gave a serious warning that Duan Qirui must take full responsibility for the Chinese Communist Party's action into Qingdao, and Duan Qirui must also bear all the consequences of the war that may result.
But at this time, Duan Qirui was uncharacteristic. He told Masanosuke Akiyama: "I must be responsible for the safety of the lives and property of the Chinese people in Qingdao. What's more, Qingdao is Chinese land if we leave it. If our army enters our own land, I don't want to
There is nothing to be responsible for!"
"You want to openly provoke a war!" Oshima Kenichi, who was also involved in the negotiations, roared: "The navy and army of the Empire of Japan will not hesitate to fight to safeguard their rights and interests!"
"China's navy and army will also fight to safeguard the sovereignty and dignity of the country!" Duan Qirui said slowly, but without giving in at all: "This is like our army entering Tokyo and stationing troops there.
If the Japanese in Tokyo were killed, what about you? Mr. Commander Oshima, what would you do?"
"Yaka!" Oshima Kenichi shouted angrily: "Tokyo is sacred, how could the Chinese army enter!"
"Damn it!" Duan Qirui also slapped the table suddenly: "Qingdao is also a sacred Chinese territory, and you have entered it too!"
Akiyama Masanosuke and Oshima Kenichi looked at this "consultant" blankly as if they were meeting Duan Qirui for the first time.
I remember that when he first arrived in Shandong, he was very "friendly" to Japan, and even visited Qingdao under the leadership of Masanosuke Akiyama. Why did he seem to have changed in the blink of an eye?
Akiyama Masanosuke slowed down his tone: "Mr. Duan Qirui, there is a traditional friendship between you and Japan. I hope that you can stay calm on the basis that the Chinese government has lost its calm...
"
"My government has not lost its cool..." Duan Qirui smiled faintly: "If a government watches its own people being massacred and remains indifferent, then that is the real loss of calm. Yes,
I have a 'friendship' with Japan, but I can still let go of this friendship compared with national interests..."
Akiyama Masanosuke narrowed his eyes and stared at Duan Qirui.
Duan Qirui also looked at him very calmly, without fear.
For Duan Qirui, he has nothing to worry about, and he thinks he has done one thing right:
Never back down from any force!
...
The situation in Qingdao has become very bad.
The warships and armies of China and Japan began to confront each other in Qingdao, and war could break out anytime and anywhere!
At this moment, the final decisive battle in Kdonsnoyarsk, Russia, is about to break out, and the European and American powers absolutely do not want any conflict to occur at this time.
Ministers from various countries began to frequently travel between China and Japan, persuading both sides to stay calm and do everything possible to avoid war and maintain the situation in the Far East.
The European and American powers do not want to see a war break out between China and Japan, and Japan is not willing to go to war with China at this time.
And similarly, Wang Hengyue also knew that this battle could not be fought!
Both sides are threatening and testing each other's bottom line. Neither China nor Japan has completed preparations for war.
Maybe some fanatical soldiers in China and Japan hope that a war will break out immediately and a life-and-death battle will take place, but this is not what a head of state wants to do.
Against Japan, either we don't fight, or we must fight with one fatal blow!
Qingdao is watching, China is watching, and the whole world is watching!
Wang Hengyue's tough attitude supported the Chinese government and her officials to also confront Japan with a tough attitude. Japan and Japanese businessmen put heavy pressure on Akiyama Masanosuke and Obata Eikichi.
Now, it is time to solve the Qingdao problem!
Both sides quietly began to make concessions there. First, Oshima Kenichi evacuated most of the soldiers on the streets of Qingdao at the suggestion of Akiyama Masanosuke, leaving only the Japanese police behind.
After that, Duan Qirui also ordered that except for the regiment that entered Qingdao first, the rest of the Chinese army's regiment was temporarily suspended from entering Qingdao.
On November 14, at the suggestion of US Minister to China Klein, China and Japan agreed to start negotiations in Nanjing to resolve the Qingdao issue in the shortest possible time.
The Nanjing negotiations can be seen as a continuation of the "Versailles Peace Treaty", in which various countries launched new negotiations on the unresolved Qingdao issue.
Wang Hengyue only gave one order to his plenipotentiary representative Wang Qinglu who participated in the negotiations:
All sovereignty over Qingdao must be restored to the hands of the Chinese government!