My Italy

The news of the Japanese landing was also informed to the Italian side at the first time.

Italy was also very alert to the Japanese troops' landing in Dengzhou on the Shandong Peninsula (Rongcheng County belongs to Dengzhou).

The newly formed Italian dispatched troops in Pontianak also accelerated their preparations.

Especially Lieutenant General Alvaro, who is the commander of the dispatched troops, knows the seriousness of this matter. As the military commander who assisted the Qing Dynasty this time, Lieutenant General Alvaro certainly got a lot of information that outsiders didn't know.

This aid to the Qing Dynasty was very important to Italy and could not be missed, so after receiving the news of the Japanese landing, he immediately found Governor Antonio.

"Your Majesty the Governor, there are currently Japanese troops in the Shandong Peninsula of the Qing Dynasty. This requires us to speed up our preparations and we cannot wait any longer."

Facing Lieutenant General Alvaro who hurried to him, Antonio asked immediately. "How can I help you?"

Lieutenant General Alvaro took out a list and handed it to the Governor. "I divided the supplies needed by the dispatched army into several categories. The first category is priority necessities and must be prepared before departure. The second category is also necessities, but can be purchased at the stopping point. The third category can be provided by the Qing people , reducing our preparation time.”

Antonio took a brief look at the list. The first category on the list mainly included spare parts needed by the fleet, as well as military supplies such as army spare artillery ammunition, field phones, etc. These were all things that the Qing Dynasty could not produce and had no reserves.

The second category includes supplies such as food, winter clothing, raincoats, pickaxes and shovels. Although some supplies may seem inconspicuous, they are necessities. Of course, these necessities could be purchased in the Qing Dynasty in a short period of time, and they just cost a lot of money.

The third category is the materials stored by the Qing Dynasty, such as ammunition, guns and other weapons.

This does not mean that the dispatched troops will not carry weapons, but that there is no need to prepare spare weapons. Guns, artillery and other weapons will be lost on the battlefield, and they need to be replenished. Therefore, in addition to the weapons for normal use, the military also needs to reserve a batch of weapons.

"There is no problem. I will ask the people below to step up the purchase."

After reading the list, Governor Antonio immediately gave a positive answer, but then he spoke again. "Judging from this list, it seems that you are very unfavorable about the Qing army's combat effectiveness?"

Faced with Antonio's words, Lieutenant General Alvaro did not deny it, but asked. "You have also seen the battle between the Qing people and Japan before. Their ability is indeed questionable."

"But this is their homeland, and Weihaiwei is the last home port of the Qing fleet. If it is taken away, the Qing fleet will have nowhere to go."

Obviously, with Antonio's character, it is difficult for him to believe the idiom of being defeated in one strike. This also shows that he does not know much about the Qing army. Of course, there are some things that mislead him.

He has a small Governor's Guard. In order to win over the Chinese, half of this guard is Chinese. Judging from its performance, it is similar to Italian soldiers in all aspects, and in some aspects it is stronger. It was also because of the contacts around him that Antonio took a high look at the Qing army.

But obviously, Lieutenant General Alvaro, a military personnel, had a better understanding than the Governor, because there were many Italian advisers in the Qing army.

"According to the report of our consultants in the Qing army, what is the name of the army controlled by Prime Minister Li? By the way, it is called the Huai Army. They are unbearable. Their morale training is a headache. They actually have to pay for marching. , you can imagine this. To put it bluntly, I am most afraid that the Qing people will lose Weihaiwei before we arrive, and that would be the worst."

That's right, Lieutenant General Alvaro couldn't understand the expenses allocated to the Qing army at all. If you don’t leave without paying, is this still the country’s army? How to implement military orders? Is it necessary to use money to motivate the army at any time? If this were the case, European countries should stop fighting big wars and just go bankrupt.

However, although Lieutenant General Alvaro despised this, he still had to help the Qing Dynasty. In order to prevent the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, he also worked hard.

"Don't worry, I will strictly order all departments to cooperate with you, and I will definitely let your fleet set off before the Qing army collapses."

"Thank you. When I come back, I will taste my treasured wine with you."

"That's it."

When Lieutenant General Alvaro was worried about the Qing army, Li Zhongtang, who was staying in Tianjin, was also worried about this.

Since the Japanese troops landed in Rongcheng County, he has been receiving bad news in the past few days. According to reports from the front line, the Japanese troops were divided into two groups, one from the south and the other from the north, and marched towards Weihaiwei. They mobilized twenty-five battalion heads in Shandong to intercept and snipe. It is a pity that these more than 10,000 soldiers and horses were defeated one after another in the face of Japanese attacks. At present, on the northern front, they have lost several important points such as Gushan, Hedong Village, and Baojia Village. Only Wenquanzhai and Longjia Village are still in their hands. There is also no good news on the southern route. Yangtingji, Hushan and Hot Spring Hot Spring have all been lost. Currently, only Qiaotou Ji and Buliu Ji are in hand.

The Japanese troops on the northern and southern fronts were less than forty miles away from Weihaiwei. What kind of battle was this? It was in vain that these battalion leaders spent so much money and food on weekdays, and none of them were useful in the battle formation.

"General Antonio, when do you think your country's reinforcements will arrive? Can you send a telegram to urge them?"

At this time, Li Zhongtang, who was already angry, did not care about anything else and summoned the general adviser, Major General Antonio, to ask about the time for the arrival of reinforcements.

Influenced by the Qing Dynasty's invitation for Italian reinforcements, Major General Antonio was currently promoted. He was promoted from the general advisor of the Beiyang Navy to the general advisor of the Huai Army. Regardless of whether Major General Antonio was a naval general, he was forced to increase his responsibilities.

Although Antonio didn't know much about the army, there were many Italian consultants in the Qing army. After recruiting several army consultants to build a small circle, Antonio still gave some good suggestions, so this made him more and more popular with Li The importance of the nave.

Of course, Li Zhongtang was not normal that day. After spending so many years together, Antonio knew that Zhongtang was anxious. Of course, he also knew that the Qing army in Shandong was doing very poorly, because Li Zhongtang's main troops were all in Liaodong. Although there were thirty or forty thousand troops in Shandong, most of them were newly formed and their combat effectiveness was worrying. Now the Japanese army is The offense is revealed.

But he knows that he must answer Li Zhongtang's words now.

"Your Excellency Zhongtang, when the Japanese troops landed, I had already sent a telegram to Lanfang. Lieutenant General Alvaro promised me that he would arrive in half a month. It has been four days and we only need to hold Weihaiwei for eleven days. , then the Japanese troops who land will destroy themselves."

However, Major General Antonio's words did not reassure Li Zhongtang, and he continued to speak. "Can it be shortened to one week? I'm afraid there will be losses on the front line, which will shake the morale of the military."

Major General Antonio was shocked when he heard that Li Zhongtang wanted reinforcements to speed up. "One week is too short. A lot of preparation work has not been completed. Even some weapons and equipment may not be up to date."

"It doesn't matter. As long as our Huai army has it, your army can use it freely. I just want it to speed up."

"In that case, I need to ask before I can give an answer."

Although Antonio's words were uncertain, Li Zhongtang immediately implemented them. "It doesn't matter, I'm just waiting for good news here."

"Zhongtang, Weihaiwei's reinforcements still need to be urged. At present, Weihaiwei's strength is still not large."

"Okay, I will strictly order them to speed up."

The telegram from Tianjin soon arrived in Pontianak via cable. In the telegram, Major General Antonio described the current war situation in Shandong in detail, and also told Li Zhongtang's request for reinforcements.

"Let the fleet speed up its preparations. We will set off in a week."

Considering concerns about the combat effectiveness of the Qing army, Lieutenant General Alvaro decided to set off without complete preparations. Although he might have reduced the combat effectiveness of the dispatched troops, in order to ensure that Weihaiwei was not lost, this was the only way to go.

Although this will cause a lot of logistical trouble, we can't worry about it now.

So a week later, the huge fleet transporting the 1st Guards Division headed north under the protection of the dispatch fleet, preparing to fight the Japanese army in the Far East.