Respectfully

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife completely ignited the anger of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As the second largest empire in Europe after Tsarist Russia in terms of land area, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would never let the death of the crown prince and his wife rest easily.When it was found that the pistol used by the assassin Princip came from the Serbian National Intelligence Agency, the anger of the Austro-Hungarian Empire immediately burned on Serbia.

After the remains of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were transported back to Vienna, Austria-Hungary held a grand state funeral. During this period, European countries began intense diplomatic mediation. In any case, the Balkans are very important to all countries. Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany , the United Kingdom, and the Ottoman Empire have intricate strengths in the Balkans. Once this powder keg is ignited, the consequences will be disastrous.

The eyes of European countries began to focus on the Balkans, and the war in Asia could no longer attract their attention.

On June 29th, the fifth day of the Dalian Battle, the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army had already reduced its staff by half. Facing the fierce attacks of the Chinese army, the division had no choice but to send a request to the base camp for "tactical guidance." " telegram.

It's called tactical guidance, and the actual meaning is: the Fifth Division can't hold on anymore, and if no reinforcements are sent, the Fifth Division will be over.

Not long after the establishment of the Okuma Cabinet, the public anger caused by the Yamamoto Cabinet has not yet been completely subsided. In addition, the domestic economy is sluggish, and it is impossible to send troops directly from Japan. North Korea dispatched garrison troops.

In order to suppress the resistance activities in North Korea, the Governor of North Korea, Ji Nei Zhengyi, is forming the No.19 Division of the Japanese Army on the basis of the North Korean Garrison Army. After receiving the order from the base camp, he immediately ordered two regiments to gather from the station and enter Andong via Sinuiju. , Inflicted heavy blows on the flanks of the army in the six northern provinces.

The idea in the temple is good, but it is doomed to fail.As soon as the Iijima United Team and the Sato United Team set foot on Anton's land, artillery fire from the direction of Fengcheng smashed down overwhelmingly.The soldiers of the two regiments were caught off guard.

"Baga! The Chinese!"

The North Korean garrison troops have not yet had a direct collision with the troops of the six northern provinces. Most of their knowledge about the troops of the six northern provinces comes from Japanese expatriates who fled back from Fengcheng.Although Dalian's Fifth Division was beaten up by the troops of the six northern provinces, the Korean and Japanese troops still insisted that the Hiroshima people were too incompetent!

"dash forward!"

Captain Iijima pulled out his command saber and swung it forward vigorously, "Kill them all!"

Captain Sato gave the order to stay put. Compared with Iijima, Sato was more cunning. He had already smelled danger from the artillery fire of the Chinese army.With such fierce artillery fire, what they faced was definitely not an ordinary enemy.Let Iijima explore the way first.

Standing in front of the vertical telescope, Zhao Yue, the commander of the third division, bent down to check the shelling situation. When he saw two squadrons of Japanese rushing towards the trench dug in advance, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

It's finally here!He thought that the army would be able to open yesterday, but he didn't expect that these gangsters walked so slowly, making him wait for a whole day!But it’s good if you come, you don’t want to go back once you come.

"Stop the shelling and let them come up!"

"Yes!"

Several small captains of the Iijima Regiment took the lead and rushed to the front. They were ordered to support the Fifth Division of Dalian, and they must defeat the Chinese army in front of them!

The distance between the two sides kept getting closer, 800 meters, 500 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters... When the Iijima unit rushed to about 250 meters away from the trench, was stopped by barbed wire, and when the movement slowed down, intensive gunshots rang out.

Da da da!

With the sound of machine guns, rifles, splashing bullets, and hot dust, the Japanese soldiers in front of the barbed wire were like cutting wheat, falling one crop after another.

Several squad leaders were named and shot when the gunshots sounded. The soldiers of the third division may not be as good as the elite of the independent brigade as a whole, but they also have one thing that other troops can't match, that is, the number of sharpshooters.

At a distance of less than 300 meters, lock on to the target and shoot headshots.

Red blood and white brains splattered everywhere, watching Shangguan die tragically in front of his eyes, still in such a posture, many Japanese soldiers began to feel terrified.

"The third!"

A soldier with a childish face added another touch to the body of the gun with a knife. His German Mauser K98 has already been painted with a straight character. He licked his lips. There are five guns on the platoon leader's gun , Back then in Fengcheng, the platoon leader even killed a squadron leader. The platoon leader said that this time they came from two Japanese regiments. Maybe he was lucky enough to meet a captain or something, and he could show off well in front of his brothers. Show off.

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the soldier's face, and the next moment, a bullet just flew over his head, and a big hand slammed his head down, "Don't kill you?!"

"Hey." The young soldier laughed twice, "Squad leader."

"Squad leader! Those Japanese scumbags are good at shooting. Hurry up, they're all here, you're still dreaming!"

After saying that, he tapped Brother Bing on the head again, and his fist hit the helmet with a loud bang, which showed that he hadn't spared any strength.

The young soldier didn't dare to laugh anymore, picked up his rifle, walked across the trench with his waist bent, and walked to the next sniper point.

The firepower of the third division caught the Iijima unit off guard and suffered a big loss. When the two attacking squadrons retreated, no fewer than sixty corpses were left in front of the third division's defensive position.

This was just a tentative attack. Captain Iijima immediately changed his face when he heard the reported battle damage, and Captain Sato felt even worse.

"Iijima-kun, it's impossible to attack by force. We don't have heavy artillery, and the firepower of machine guns is not as good as the opponent's. We have to find another way."

"any solution?"

"Night attack." Captain Sato said: "Take advantage of the night to pass through the opponent's defensive position, and send another person to report the situation here to His Excellency. I always feel that something is wrong. The Chinese people seem to have expected us to appear in the here."

Hearing Sato's words, Iijima's expression became serious.

"Okay, just do what Sato-kun said!"

The Japanese soldiers of the two regiments shrank back, and pretended to start digging trenches. The shelling and gunfire of the third division also stopped.The head of the [-]th Regiment of the [-]rd Division, who was in charge of the frontal defense, put down his binoculars and rubbed his chin, "Seeing that these scumbags can't make it through the day, they probably want to play night raids and bird hunting in the dark, so let's play with them! Tnnd, Fighting at night, we are the ancestors of these scumbags!"

After finishing his speech, the staff officer of the regiment headquarters who was drinking water choked sharply, and his slightly fair face turned red from choking.

The exchange of fire between the [-]rd Division and the two Japanese regiments spread to Dalian immediately. After reading the telegram from Zhao Yue, the Commander of the [-]rd Division, Adjutant Ji glanced at Young Marshal Lou's expression, "Young Marshal, how do you call me back?"

"Hit." Lou Xiao didn't raise his head, "If you come, stay here."

"Yes!"

"In addition, I called the President. The Japanese troops stationed in North Korea crossed the border to attack our army. Our side suffered heavy losses and was forced to fight back."

Adjutant Ji: "..."

"What?" Young Marshal Lou raised his head.

Adjutant Ji shook his head quickly, "Subordinates will send a telegram to the President immediately!"

"kindness."

After Adjutant Ji left, Young Marshal Lou picked up another telegram on the table, which was sent by Li Jinyan. Looking at the news that Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, Lou Xiao's expression remained unchanged, and the corners of his mouth slightly curled up.

Europe is about to fall into chaos, and a war is inevitable. Once a war breaks out, the great powers will have no time to look around.Marshal Lou's eyes fell on the map again, Dalian must be taken down as soon as possible!

When encountering the fortifications and trenches of the Japanese army, the officers and soldiers of the independent brigade no longer scattered large-scale attacks, but formed small battle groups one after another, and began to carry out targeted elimination of the stubborn Japanese army.A new class of troops has also appeared in these battle groups, the fire-breathing soldiers.

It was jointly developed by several young technicians in the Northern Arsenal and two assistants in Qiao Leshan's laboratory. It is said to be inspired by the fire-breathing performances of street jugglers.

When Li Jinyan saw the experimental flame-throwing device for the first time, he was really taken aback. He thought that the God of Time Traveling opened the golden finger again, but it turned out that he was completely overthinking.

It's just that the manufacturing process of the fire-breathing device is still very rough, and the fire-breathing soldier itself has no good protective measures. Once the fire-breathing tank is hit, the fire-breathing soldier will undoubtedly die.But when it comes to clearing out stubborn enemies in the fortifications, these flamethrowers can exert great power.

When the Japanese soldiers saw these fire-breathing soldiers carrying strange cans on their backs and being able to spray flames tens of meters long with a single pull of the trigger, they were all stunned.

"What kind of weapon is this?!"

Flames are different from bullets. Bullets will be blocked by fortifications, but flames will not. Even if they are not directly injured by flames, the scorching heat is enough to suffocate the Japanese soldiers in the fortifications.

At the beginning, Ding Zhao wanted to add some fuel to the flamethrower, but unfortunately he failed, but he just shrugged his shoulders indifferently, turned around and continued to study tear gas bombs.

"Amaterasu!"

A few Japanese soldiers whose bodies were burned by flames ran out of the bunker, and kept rolling on the ground, but the flames on their bodies became more and more intense. Their miserable screams were more shocking to other Japanese soldiers than the rifles in the hands of Huaxia soldiers. The soldiers were terrified.

"what!"

Driven to a desperate situation, the nearly collapsed Japanese soldiers took off their shirts, covered their bodies with grenades, shouted Long live the Emperor, and rushed straight to the Huaxia soldiers who were cleaning the Japanese strongholds, but they would always be killed by bullets. Halfway, none of them could come close to the goal.Some Japanese soldiers were also very cunning. They lay down on the ground and pretended to be dead, and only fired grenades when Chinese soldiers approached.

This kind of attack caused a lot of trouble for the soldiers. Apart from being annoyed, when they encountered "dead" Japanese soldiers, they would give them a few bullets first, regardless of 21 or [-].

The gunfire on the battlefield intensified again, and the people in the logistics department began to scratch their hair and hit the wall again.

In the middle of the night on the 29th, the Iijima United and Sato United launched a night attack. As soon as they approached the third division's sentry post, gunshots rang out, and they walked into the ambush set up by the third division without knowing it. lock up……

In the early morning of the [-]th, after a night of fierce fighting, the Sato United and Iijima United became history, and the flags of the United Army, which were burned to the ground on both sides, were sent to Zhao Yue, the commander of the third division, but he was disgusted by Zhao Yue. Throwing it aside, "This is all rags! A Japanese army fled into Sinuiju, and ordered the [-]th Regiment and the [-]th Regiment to pursue immediately!"

The staff of the division headquarters really wanted to say, all the Japanese soldiers in the two regiments were killed, so where did the "one Japanese army" come from?

But the command of the young marshal is that the third division will enter North Korea, and the division seat said so again, so let's do it.Anyway, in this world, the truth is on the side of whoever fires the cannon.

Hearing the bad news from Iijima United and Sato United, Terauchi Masaki, the governor of North Korea, could hardly believe his ears. When he learned that the Chinese army had invaded Sinuiju, Temple's face changed suddenly, and he immediately unfolded the map. Seeing the location marked above, he slammed the table suddenly: "Damn it! I was fooled! The goal of the Chinese people is North Korea!"

Zhengyi in the temple immediately sent a telegram to the base camp, and at the same time ordered the summoning of the North Korean garrison troops.

The actions of the Japanese did not escape the eyes of some North Koreans. Lee Hee, the king of North Korea who was imprisoned in the Gyeongun Palace in the temple because of the Hague secret envoy incident, had a flash of light in his eyes after learning about the incident through secret channels.

Seeking help from the Russians, he failed, and as a result, he was put under house arrest by the Japanese.

If you ask the Chinese for help... If the Chinese are willing to help drive away the Japanese, then ask the Europeans for help and drive the Chinese away!His country will be completely...

Li Xi sat alone in the room, lost in thought.

The Japanese base camp was also taken aback when they received the telegram from the temple. Why, is Lou Xiao's real goal North Korea? !

"This is impossible!"

"Why is it impossible? He can challenge the Great Japanese Empire and Tsarist Russia at the same time, he is a madman!"

The Japanese cabinet was also caught in a quarrel. Some people believed that the troops of the six northern provinces intercepted the North Korean garrison troops and then attacked North Korea. The main purpose was Dalian.Another opinion is that Lou Xiao wants Dalian, but he also wants North Korea.

"Once North Korea is captured, the lifeline of the empire will be cut off!"

Japan is an island country with a small land and scarce resources. North Korea's food, ore, and timber are all extremely important to Japan.

"Everyone, a decision must be made as soon as possible."

Prime Minister Okuma looked serious.

The current situation in Europe is unstable, and Zhu Erdian's telegram has attracted the attention of Whitehall. Lou Xiao's army has also attracted the attention of European powers, including the torpedo boat that dared to attack the Takachiho, and the six gunboats. Impressed.

As Zhu Erdian said: "A terrible country, a terrible nation."

Britain will support Japan to suppress China, but with such a tense situation in Europe, they never want to make China completely fall to Germany.

Japan's navy is indeed powerful, but Japan is so poor that it is almost like pants.

China does not have a navy, but the performance of the army has attracted the attention of European powers.Huaxia has a vast land area and a large population. It doesn't need too much. As long as it can arm an army of 100 million from the six northern provinces, it is enough to make the world look at it.

Today's European powers are all engaged in an arms race. Except for Tsarist Russia, very few can mobilize millions of troops.But the tsar's army, to put it bluntly, even if it had modern equipment, was at best used for appearances.

Japan must make a choice, whether to keep Dalian or keep North Korea.Under the circumstances that Britain will never directly intervene, with Japan's current national strength, it can only keep one place. If it is "greedy", it will definitely be nothing, and nothing can be kept!

After some fierce quarrels, the cabinet finally made a decision, North Korea!

When Otani Kikuzang and Kwantung governor Oshima Yoshisawa received the telegram from the base camp, both of them were silent.

There would be no reinforcements, no fleet support, and they would be outcasts.

On the surface of the sea, the torpedo boats and six gunboats driven by veteran Beiyang sailors suddenly began shelling Lushunkou. They were no match for the battleships, and it would definitely not be a problem to bully the Japanese troops on the shore.

Liu Hailong stood on the bow of the torpedo boat, looked at the familiar but unfamiliar Lushunkou, clenched his fists, his eyes were red.

Liu Guandai, brothers on the ship, if you are still there, open your eyes and watch, I, Liu Hailong, and these fifty or so old brothers, will avenge you!

"put!"

The artillery on the six gunboats made a loud rumble, and the old sailors on the ship seemed to have returned to 20 years ago. The huge water column, the rising black smoke, and the silent shells drove the warship to hit the Japanese ship. , Liu Guandai, who sank with the ship... It has been 20 years, and the brothers have all died. Their lives have been saved to this day, just to avenge the brothers!

"eye for eye!"

The sins committed by robbers should be paid with blood!

On June [-], riots broke out among the Japanese and Korean nationals in Dalian. The cause was that some people spread the news among the nationals that Japan planned to abandon Dalian and let the Japanese troops and Chinese nationals here fend for themselves.Japanese military police and Japanese wounded soldiers who had retired from the battlefield also joined the rioting crowd.

On July [-], Dalian's Huaxia patrol police, led by the deputy police chief, attacked the Japanese military police station.

On the same day, the troops of the six northern provinces completely captured all the defensive positions outside Dalian, and the No. 30 Division of the Hebei Army arrived at Dashiqiao by train.

The Ji army got off the train and assembled in line. The soldiers from the six northern provinces on the platform were all covered in gunpowder and murderous.

"A division of Japan, brothers, come and kill the enemy with us!"

What he said made Ji Jun's blood surge, and he wished he could grab his gun and rush to the battlefield immediately.When they went to the front line and saw the battle between the soldiers from the six northern provinces and the Japanese army, their jaws dropped to the ground.

A platoon leader stabbed the company commander, "Company commander, is that our army?"

The company commander swallowed, "Should."

Platoon leader: "..."

Such an army, with such combat effectiveness, is fortunate that everyone is a "friendly army".

While talking, a few more burning Japanese rushed out of the trenches, and with a few gunshots, they all fell to the ground. Clenched fists, this is our own army!

On July [-], the troops from the six northern provinces and the Hebei Army invaded Dalian City, and the fate of the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army entered the countdown.

On the same day, the Third Division of the Six Northern Provinces occupied Sinuiju. King Lee Hee of North Korea took advantage of the busy preparations for the war by the Japanese and tried every means to secretly deliver the news to his confidants outside Qingyun Palace.

On the same day, Sanma's army entered Outer Mongolia, overcame obstacles all the way, and went straight to Uliasutai. Many of the Outer Mongolia herdsmen they met on the road were Sanma's acquaintances. They thought that these Chinese soldiers were coming to rob again. The noble lords showed them the way one after another.

On July 2th, the army of Sanma encountered the army assembled by the Mongolian princes, which numbered [-].

Fifteen thousand against twenty thousand, cavalry against cavalry.

Ma Qingxiang, who personally led the army into Outer Mongolia, waved his saber: "I have never been afraid of anyone! Kill!"

"kill!"

The Chinese cavalry and the Mongolian cavalry collided violently like two sharp swords.The fighting style in the era of cold weapons can best stimulate the blood in the soldiers.

The clanging of sabers, the neighing of horses, the shouts of knights on horseback, the life falling from horses...

The goshawk flew across the sky, looking down at the endless bloody battle on the grassland.

Charge, charge, charge again!

Cavalry, born to attack and charge!

In the fighting again and again, the casualties of both sides continued to expand, but no one retreated.Ma Qingxiang's face and body were splattered with blood, but he showed his ferocity completely. He raised his saber again, and the sun illuminated the blood-stained blade.

"kill!"

When he led the cavalry to charge again, there was a burst of gunshots like popping beans behind the Mongolian cavalry.A regiment under the newly established No.16 Division in the Six Northern Provinces suddenly appeared behind the Mongolian cavalry.

"The other side's reinforcements?"

The Mongolian cavalry began to be chaotic. The battle was evenly matched, but because of the appearance of the army from the six northern provinces, the balance of victory was completely tilted to one side.

"retreat!"

The commander of the Mongolian cavalry is not a fool. If they continue to fight, they have no chance of winning.Seeing that the Mongolian cavalry was about to run away, Ma Qingxiang pulled the reins: "Not one of them can be let go! Let me catch up with them, kill them all, and give life sacrifices to the brothers!"

"kill!"

The three-horse army chased behind the Mongolian cavalry all the way, and rushed towards Tangnu Wulianghai with a roar.In the middle of the pursuit, Ma Qingxiang found that the group of Mongolians were running towards Lao Maozi's place. As soon as he gritted his teeth, didn't the group of people always say that Ma Qingxiang was a horse bandit with a beard, and they would be cowardly when they met foreigners?He is going to let those people see today, who is the coward!

The officers and soldiers of the newly created No.16 Division who were chasing after Ma Qingxiang were a little dumbfounded when they learned that Ma Qingxiang's team had chased the Mongolian cavalry all the way into Russia.

The order of the master seat is to reinforce the three-horse team to take Uliasutai, then Khobdo, Maimaicheng, and finally Tangnu Wulianghai.Who would have thought that this bearded horse would go to Siberia without hesitation!There is no rich person to rob him.

"Tuanza, what should we do?"

"Chase!"

Let's chase, what else can we do if we don't chase?

Therefore, following the Manchuria Frontier Army and the newly established No.15 Division, the cavalry of Sanma, a regiment of the newly established No.16 Division, also entered Siberia successively.

At the same time, after days of hard work, the resistance organization led by Kirov finally captured Irkutsk and cut off the large railway that runs through Siberia.Kazan performed very bravely in the battle and rescued Kirov again. Since then, he has become Kirov's most loyal friend and comrade-in-arms in his life.

On July [-]th, Tsuneo Matsudaira, the First Counselor of the Japanese Legation in China, formally sent a note to the Chinese government. Japan was willing to return Dalian to the Chinese government unconditionally, provided that the Chinese government ensured the safety of the Japanese nationals and Japanese troops in Dalian and at the same time withdrew the troops entering North Korea. .

President Lou Da sneered, telling you to hold back when you left, but want to leave now?late!

On July [-]th, Lou Xiao gave an ultimatum to the Japanese troops stationed in Dalian and Yoshimasa Oshima, the governor of the Kwantung region, to immediately lay down their weapons and surrender unconditionally.

"Five hours." Adjutant Ji, who came to negotiate, looked at the head of the Fifth Division and the governor of Kanto in front of him, and said in a cold voice, "After five hours, our army will start shelling immediately. In addition, the young commander asked me to give The two of you have a saying, if there is one less Chinese in Dalian, ten Japanese will be buried with him!"

Yoshimasa Oshima and the commander of the Otani division still wanted to raise conditions, but Adjutant Ji didn't give them a chance at all.

The situation is obvious, Japan can no longer take care of them, either surrender, or go to see their Amaterasu.

Five hours later, Kikuzō Otani, head of the Japanese Fifth Division, handed over his command saber. It was not Lou Xiao himself who accepted his surrender, but the four leaders of the Independent Brigade selected by lot.

The governor of Kanto, Oshima Yoshisawa, also chose to surrender. Apart from Japanese officials, there was also a beautiful Japanese woman who followed him out of the governor's mansion.

On July [-]th, the photo of the surrender of the Japanese Fifth Division was published on the headlines of major newspapers in China.

On July [-]th, a young Portuguese businessman and his beautiful oriental wife boarded a passenger ship bound for Europe. Their destination was Belgium, a small European country.

After sending Ned and Second Sister Xu away, Li Jinyan sent another telegram to Young Marshal Lou. The people who were looking for oil in Gansu finally sent back good news. Soon, they will have their own oil fields.

Lou Xiao's call back was still brief, with only one word "good".

Li Jinyan smiled and folded up the telegram and put it in a drawer. Counting the time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was about to issue an ultimatum to Serbia, and the powder kegs in Europe were about to explode.

Thinking of the huge amount of banknotes he was about to get, Li Jinyan couldn't help but want to laugh three times. After waiting for so long, this day is finally here!

On July 23, the Austro-Hungarian Empire finally issued an ultimatum to Serbia. Serbia agreed to all conditions except for the internal affairs of the country. However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was still dissatisfied and withdrew its ambassador to Serbia and closed the embassy.

This means that the Austro-Hungarian Empire has completely broken off diplomatic relations with Serbia.

It also means war.

After receiving a "empty check" from Kaiser Wilhelm, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was full of confidence. Even if Serbia was backed by Tsarist Russia, the old emperor would beat Serbia to the ground!

At the same time, despite the dissuasion of France and the threat of Germany, the Tsar began to partially mobilize the army. Nicholas II himself was reluctant to do so, but the main combat faction gained the upper hand in the State Duma meeting.

Kaiser Wilhelm also fulfilled his promise. He told the Austro-Hungarian Empire that Germany is a friend of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and can also become the backing of the Austro-Hungarian Empire!

On July 28, the Austro-Hungarian Empire officially declared war on Serbia, and the European powder keg finally exploded.