In Dongjiaomin Lane, British ambassador Juerdian just sent away a guest and turned around and was about to return to the office, the embassy secretary rushed to report to him. As soon as he got the news, Japan started war against China three hours ago.

The news of the war between China and Japan made Juerdian open his mouth and unable to speak for a moment. Some time ago, the withdrawal of the Japanese army from Kanto Prefecture made all the countries of the Allied countries breathe a sigh of relief. When the European war was in full swing, no one wanted to break out in the Far East again, let alone a war between the member states of the Allied. Since the Japanese insisted on their own and sent troops to land in Kanto Prefecture, Juerdian, as the British ambassador, was paying attention to the changes in the situation at the first time. When the Chinese government proposed to exert influence on Japan and prevent the Japanese from crazy behavior, Juerdian, who set out from the overall situation, immediately joined forces with the ambassadors of France, Russia and other countries to mediate the tension between China and Japan.

I thought the Japanese withdrew from Kanto Prefecture because of mediation. Seeing the situation changing in a good direction, Juerdian gradually felt relieved. Who would have thought that just when everyone felt that the shadow of war began to dissipate, a war suddenly broke out between China and Japan, which shocked Juerdian.

He hurriedly asked about the outbreak of the war, but due to the short time, even the Chinese government did not know the specific information. He only knew that the Japanese Army suddenly launched an attack on the position stationed by the Chinese team at 6 o'clock this morning, and the war continued at this time.

"Crazy, these yellow-skinned monkeys are crazy!" Juerdian is no longer as gentle as an ordinary elegant gentleman, but is like a red-eyed gambler who is losing eyes and swears. The sudden war between China and Japan disrupted the layout of Britain, France and other countries in the Far East, complicating the uncertainty of the European war. Although the United Kingdom and France have Americans behind, and the continuous transportation of materials from the United States to Europe through the Atlantic Ocean, the power of the allies is still strong. The Battle of Verdun, which just ended a few months ago, was at the same time.

Although the Allies did not achieve their original goals, they suffered huge losses from Britain and France. Then the Allies launched the Somme Battle. The two sides fought fiercely and had not yet decided to win or lose. On the Eastern Front, Tsarist Russia struggled to support it. If it weren't for the pile of lives, the Germans would have almost fought to the capital. As the war continued, Tsarist Russia was already exhausted. Intelligence from Tsarist Russia showed that anti-war sentiment gradually increased, and no one knew whether Tsarist Russia could support the victory of the war.

Fortunately, although Tsarist Russia was not as lucky as Britain and France, with the help of Americans, it seemed that it could support it for some time with the help of the Chinese. But now the Japanese suddenly launched a war against China. If Tsarist Russia lost its only foreign aid and withdrew from the war due to the war between China and Japan, this would have terrible consequences.

The Allies fought on both sides, but they still made the Allies complain. If Tsarist Russia withdrew from the war, the Allies would no longer have the worries of the Eastern Front. Once the Allies transferred the forces on the Eastern Front to the Western Front, this would be the arrival of a huge disaster for the Allies.

"These madmen must be stopped!" Juerdian thought, if there was no drag on the European war, he almost wanted to ask London to immediately send a huge royal navy to the Far East to teach the idiotic Japanese a lesson, so that they could know what to do. But now, due to the situation, Juerdian can do only diplomatic means for the time being, so he immediately made a decision and demanded that he meet with France and Russia immediately to put pressure on Japan.

At the same time, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs also began to take action. Foreign Minister Cao Rulin, on behalf of the Chinese government, filed a strong protest against Japan, informed the ambassadors of various countries, and explained China's position. If Japan does not cease fire and withdraw its troops as soon as possible and compensates for the huge losses caused by launching a war against China, the Chinese government will fight to the end and completely drive the Japanese out of China's territory.

The Chinese government's statement caused a huge shock, which was a rare tough attitude in modern Chinese history. Of course, in addition to the incident where Lafayette declared war with countries around the world.

When Japanese ambassador Nichiyi received a protest letter from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he denied that he insisted that it was absolutely impossible for the Japanese to launch a war first. It must be that the Chinese people took advantage of the Japanese withdrawal and launched a sneak attack. As members of civilized countries, the Japanese would not do such a thing. Only despicable Chinese would do this. Not only that, Nichiyi also turned around on the spot, demanding that China be fully responsible for the outbreak of the war and compensate Japan for the losses. At the same time, he also offered even more outrageous conditions for ceding land. The Japanese inverted black and white made the Chinese diplomats angry and turned around and left immediately.

At 10:00 a.m., Fang Zida rushed back to the Prime Minister's Office from the office, just in time for the convening of the combat meeting. After entering the conference room, Chief of General Staff Wang Shizhen held a command stick in his hand and pointed at the map hanging on the wall. Based on the contact feedback he had just obtained with Fengtian, it was confirmed that the first line of defense had been lost, and the second line of defense was also in danger. Sun Liechen, the commander of the 54th Division, repelled the Japanese charge three times in a row, but during the third defense, the position was almost broken by the Japanese army, and he suffered heavy losses and barely defeated the Japanese army.

The 54th Division, which was short of soldiers and weapons, had reached the end of its strength, and Sun Liechen had begun to move to the third line of defense one after another. At this time, the third line of defense was not fully prepared. Although Zhang Zuolin's telegram kept saying that he would block the Japanese's attack on the third line of defense, from the situation, his hope was not too great.

"Please see, Fengtian's four defense lines are located in Wanjialing, Yangtun, Buyunshan, Gaizhou, and Chenjiadian. If Yangtun was occupied by the Japanese army, it could only stop the Japanese army in Buyunshan, Gaizhou, and Chenjiadian. Once these defense lines are all broken through, the Japanese army will no longer be blocked, and the vanguard will point directly to Fengtian."

With Wang Shizhen's guidance on the map, everyone frowned and looked unoptimistic. On the Liaodong Peninsula, the Japanese Kanto Prefecture is at the southernmost end of the peninsula, and the four lines of defense of the Chinese team are exactly the key position to block the Japanese on the peninsula. If all the defense lines are broken, the Japanese army can jump out of the peninsula and connect with the Korean garrison, and the situation in the northeast will lose control. So no matter what, the best way to deal with it is to defend the exit of the peninsula and stop the Japanese.

"How was Zhang Zuolin's defense line arranged? Even a sneak attack would not be like this, right?" Army General Duan Zhigui said unhappy. He knew the terrain around Fengtian very well, and logically, as long as he was prepared for the defense line, even in the sneak attack, the situation would not be so bad.

"Zhang Zuolin did not pull the barbed wire in front of the trenches according to the opinions of the General Staff, so Sun Liechen's army did not have much means to withstand the Japanese group charge after losing most of its heavy weapons." Wang Shizhen explained with a gloomy expression.

"Zhang Zuolin... ruined the country!" Duan Zhigui patted the table and cursed. In fact, he did not consider digging trenches and pulling barbed wire. He thought that fighting was just a real sword and gun, and there was no way to hide in the pit like a turtle. However, at this time, he would not be so stupid that he could express his ideas. If he was a fellow Taoist, he would not be able to scold Zhang Zuolin to show his cleverness. Duan Zhigui could still do it.

"No matter what, Zhang Zuolin called and talked about this. He has now realized the position war between barbed wire and trenches. He is now stepping up the arrangement of the third line of defense, but he is worried that it will not have time to go up." Wang Shizhen said just by talking about the matter without answering Duan Zhigui's words.

"How is the General Staff's plan to mobilize troops?" Jin Yunpeng asked rushingly.

After exchanging glances with Minister of Defense Duan Qirui, Wang Shizhen said: "My Central Army's Ninth Army has moved closer to Fengtian, and part of the 28th Army has also begun to take action. It is expected that the vanguard will reach the predetermined position as early as 3:00 this afternoon. As for Chengde's Central Army, it will enter and exit the railway eastward tomorrow..."

Hearing this, Fang Zida suddenly looked dazed, and Jiang Zhiqing's head couldn't help but flashed through his mind. The name of the Central Army sounded too familiar. It made people feel like they were confused when they were in a mess.

The meeting continued. Fang Zida sat in the corner and listened quietly to the arguments between the generals. He was only aware of some professional terms. It sounded like everyone was very clear, but he couldn't tell who was better. Speaking of which, although Fang Zida had fought several battles, practiced military affairs, and led the adaptation of the National Defense Forces, he was actually just a three-legged cat to military affairs. Song Jiaoren believed that his proficiency in military affairs was just a misunderstanding.

Fang Zida felt a little regretful when he heard them talking about the tension on the front line. At that time, Wu Peifu mainly proposed that he would replace Zhang Zuolin to guard Fengtian. Although Fang Zida was moved, he did not insist on considering Zhang Zuolin's reasons. If he had known this, he would have tried to let Wu Peifu go to Fengtian. If it were Wu Peifu instead of Zhang Zuolin, the situation might be completely different now.

Thinking of this, Fang Zida couldn't help but smile bitterly. Everyone could do it afterwards, and he was too ideal. Although Zhang Zuolin made some mistakes in setting up the defense line and was too careless to the Japanese, his resolute resistance was still appropriate, which was not easy in this regard.

"I don't know what Wu Ziyu will react after receiving the news, how will he respond?" Fang Zida thought secretly.

"Report!"

Just as the meeting was about to end, a staff officer rushed in and shouted loudly.

"What's the matter? Haven't you seen us having a meeting?" Duan Qirui, the Minister of Defense who presided over the meeting, glared at the staff officer with a very unhappy look.

"What happened to Qing... Qing*dao!" The consultant said hurriedly: "General Wu Ziyu just called. This morning, the Japanese Second Fleet began to assemble in the Qingdao waters and officially launched an attack on Qing*dao at 10 o'clock..."

"What!" As soon as the words finished, everyone stood up in shock, unable to believe their ears. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!