Chapter 137 Anti-aircraft Cannon

After learning about the news that Empress Dowager Longyu decided to move the capital, the Japanese were very happy. Regarding the cost of moving the capital, the Japanese voluntarily offered an agreement to borrow one million taels of silver to help the royal family move to Changchun. The construction of the new palace in Changchun was immediately launched, but the new palace was obviously not as good as the Forbidden City, and it was not even one-tenth of it. The Qing royal family had to accept their fate. It would be good if a fleeing government could save their lives, and there was still some pomp.

A large number of temporary requisitions of horse-drawn carriages, mule carriages, ox carriages and other means of transportation began to appear in the Forbidden City. The crowds of people inside and outside the palace were several times more lively than usual.

The Palace Guard also stepped up patrols around the city to prevent the civilians who participated in the transport from stealing treasures from the palace. All the treasures were registered and recorded in detail before getting on the car, and a dedicated person was responsible for several cars. If something was lost on the road, the man and the head of the civilians under him were responsible.

A hot weather suddenly spread out in the palaces, pavilions, roads and paths. The concubines, palace maids, and eunuchs who were idle and had nothing to do became ants on the hot pan, shouting and organizing everywhere. The concubines were busy instructing the palace maids and eunuchs to work, while the eunuchs were busy instructing the civilians to carry the sealed boxes one by one. Guards were supervising them next to them to prevent theft.

However, such a large-scale and rapid relocation is inevitable that several treasures will be lost. The guards' eyes cannot be staring at each hand without blinking, nor can they guarantee that the palace maids and eunuchs will not take the lead before the things are included. However, losing a few things is a drop in the bucket for the royal family. If the result is not found at that time, they will turn a blind eye and let it go.

After receiving the news that the Japanese entered Shandong and Tianjin, Li Tiancheng in Wuchang was extremely shocked and expressed strong indignation at Yuan Shikai and the Qing Dynasty's inducement of wolf in the house. At this time, the Japanese Navy's fleet also frequently showed abnormal movements. In addition to continuing to transport troops to Shandong, a fleet of twenty ships was sent towards Shanghai, which seemed to be targeting the Shanghai Military Government of Zhenguo Army.

Because Shanghai is too close to the East China Sea and is susceptible to artillery attacks by foreign enemy naval warships, Li Tianjian immediately decided to move the political institutions of the military government to Nanjing. Then Tan Jianye received an order and mobilized government staff to start the relocation today and work in advance at the Nanjing Governor's Office and other places.

The naval commander Sa Zhenbing in Shanghai also received an order to prepare to fight the invading Japanese fleet. Sa Zhenbing was organizing the navy to fight against the invasion of the Japanese fleet according to Li Tiancheng's instructions. The navy's bases in Shanghai, Ningbo and Taizhou were in a state of emergency combat readiness. Navy personnel who were on vacation at home had returned to work. The fleet frequently sailed out of the port to monitor the movements on the East China Sea. The two submarines were also on standby and ready to attack at any time.

Then Li Tiancheng left Wuchang and flew directly to Nanjing to preside over the overall situation.

By October 30, the Northern Army of Zhenguo Army had been resting in Zaozhuang and other places for a few days and had already attacked the Jinan area. The three Japanese divisions that had landed one after another had also deployed defenses in various parts of northern Shandong. The 18th Division had already deployed defenses on the Dezhou front line and formed a confrontation with the Zhenguo Army in the Yucheng area outside Jinan City. The 19th Division was deployed defenses on the front line of Zibo, Shandong and Weifang, and the 22nd Division was deployed defenses from Linqing, Shandong to Liaocheng. In this way, Jinan was actually surrounded by the Japanese on three sides. Before the Zhenguo Army attacked Liaocheng, the Japanese army had seized the Liaocheng first and locked the offensive route of Zhenguo Army going westward to Handan, Xingtai and other places in Hebei.

At this time, the new army of the Second and Sixth Towns of Beiyang were distributed in Zhili and Henan to station. Zhenguo's army was in Anhui and Shandong's front line was also long, and there was no plan to attack Zhili yet. At this time, the Japanese suddenly came in, and the Zhenguo's attack on Zhili suddenly became full of resistance.

In the brigade stationed in Yucheng, Shandong, the Japanese army had arranged a defense line about ten kilometers long at the forefront of a field camp, digging trenches deep in various places, building fortresses, and sending heavy troops to guard the key intersections. The Japanese sun flags were flying everywhere, and soldiers patrolling and guarding were everywhere.

On the mountain behind a long trench southeast of Yucheng, a team of Japanese soldiers were gathering around a cannon and chatting something. A bearded lieutenant was looking at the strange-looking cannon with great enthusiasm, and kept saying "Yoxi, Yoxi".

"Kobayashi thinks, you have a good brain. Thinking of such a good idea, this cannon has become a powerful cannon after being modified. I want to inform the owner and give you special rewards." The second lieutenant looked at a short Japanese soldier with a smile and praised him.

"This is what I should do, serve His Majesty the Japanese Emperor, and will never refuse to die." The Japanese soldiers immediately saluted a military salute and responded righteously.

"Kobayashi thinks, you must guide these soldiers well, let them proficiently operate this new guy, and use it to deal with the helicopters of the Zhenguo Army. It is of great use." The second lieutenant patted the Japanese soldier on the shoulder and ordered him.

"Hi"

"I am about to be promoted to lieutenant. I will advise the superiors to promote you to lieutenant. You must work hard to serve His Majesty the Emperor." The lieutenant then said seriously.

"Hi" the Japanese soldier smiled, and his two yellowed rows of teeth made people feel a bit funny.

Surrounded by these Japanese soldiers, they were full of interest to discuss a simple anti-aircraft cannon they made themselves. In fact, it was an ordinary 37mm steel cannon. An iron corner was added below the steel cannon, which was a fixed base, which fixed the cannon at a very high elevation angle. The launch elevation angle that was originally lower than forty-five degrees was now turned into about eighty degrees. After the base was fixed, the cannon could only fire shells in one direction. Although the cannon could hit the sky, its range was obviously not comparable to that of the real anti-aircraft cannon.

A real anti-aircraft gun can freely switch to various angles and elevation angles to aim at the sky target. The rate of fire is the most important performance indicator of anti-aircraft guns. Compared with aircraft that fly fast at high altitudes, if the rate of fire of anti-aircraft guns is too slow, it is impossible to capture a fast-moving aircraft.

This simple anti-aircraft gun not only cannot fire shells from different angles, but also cannot fire shells like anti-aircraft guns. It aims at high-speed aircraft only at low-fire rates at one angle. Obviously, the hit rate will be pitifully low, but having is better than not. At least it can deter the Zhenguo Army's aircraft so that they dare not fly to low altitudes to carry out raids.

In addition, heavy machine guns can also strike aircraft in the air, but ordinary heavy machine guns do not have high-altitude aiming devices and cannot launch high elevation angles, so the strike capability is quite weak. If the aircraft does not lower the flight altitude and fly close to the ground, the heavy machine gun can be negligible.

The Japanese had already learned that the Zhenguo Army had new things like helicopters. They learned that helicopters were extremely outstanding in battlefield maneuver and raid capabilities, and also conducted analysis and research on the Wushengguan Battle. They were very afraid of this new type of aircraft. Compared with the gliding aircraft just developed by the great powers, this aircraft was not restricted by the terrain and could be launched at any time and anywhere, which shows how powerful it is.

A new scientific research project was created in Japan at this time, namely the helicopter research project. However, their foundation was too poor, and even the automobile engine could not be built well at this time. Not to mention helicopters, it is estimated that it would be impossible for them to study helicopters in a few years or even decades. Unless they received foreign technical assistance, they could quickly improve their capabilities in this field.

The three divisions of the Japanese Army in Shandong received an order to remain in motion and deter the Zhenguo Army from the army so that they would not dare to continue moving forward. At the same time, they increased their defense efforts, dug trenches deep in various places, built bunkers, built fortifications based on favorable terrain, blocked major traffic arteries and intersections, and carried out strict surveillance and reconnaissance activities on the Zhenguo Army, and continued to transport supplies from the country, and additional army troops would be sent into China at any time according to the needs of the war situation.

The reactions of the Japanese army suddenly landed in Shandong and Tianjin were different from each country. There were generally condemnation and opposition from the European and American powers, because all countries have interests in China and do not want to see any country occupy China. Japan's behavior seriously affected the interests of other powers in China. Among them, Germany was the strongest of which was the one who responded, because Germany had previously been killed by missionaries and sent troops to invade Jiaozhou Bay and the Shandong Peninsula. At this time, Shandong had become the sphere of influence of Germany. Germany had multiple railway rights to build roads, resource mining, military garrison rights and other powers in Shandong.

Now the Japanese suddenly intervened in Shandong. Although the places they landed did not belong to the defense zones where the German army was stationed, it was equivalent to inserting a knife into the backyard of the German sphere of influence, and three Japanese corps of more than 30,000 people came at once. If these corps launched an attack on the German Shandong garrison, the German army would be seriously threatened.

Therefore, the German government immediately launched a serious warning and protest to the Japanese government, denying the Japanese army's actions of entering Shandong without consultation, and declaring that the German army had the right to take further action.

Previously, the sphere of influence of the great powers in China was relatively stable. Northeast China, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and other places were Russia's sphere of influence. Later, Japan intervened in the Northeast, broke out in the Russo-Japanese War, and seized most of the power in the Northeast. Japan's sphere of influence also included Fujian. As a veteran imperialist country, Britain occupied the rights and interests of provinces such as the Yangtze River Basin and Henan, while France occupied the rights and interests of the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan. The United States missed the division of China because of the war with Spain, and did not occupy a favorable position in China. Later, it won some equal benefits...
Chapter completed!