Rebirth of the Qing Empire

After Germany occupied Jiaozhou Bay, in order to occupy Shandong Province for a long time and continue to expand its influence into the hinterland of the Qing Empire, it began to focus on the construction of Qingdao City located in Jiaozhou Bay as an important basis for its national policy of continuing to open up new colonies in the Far East.

Therefore, Qingdao's standards for hardware construction such as ports, roads, train stations, power plants, water plants, hospitals, churches, meteorological observatories, various factories, and municipal facilities are quite high, and are at the same level as German domestic port cities.

Sophisticated and complete, Qingdao became the first port city in the Qing Empire to meet the standards of a contemporary European power.

As the base camp of the German Far East Fleet, it has built complete military docks, naval shipyards, coastal forts, bunkers, military camps, munitions warehouses and other defense facilities, and has more than 2,000 garrison troops. The ships of its Far East Fleet often operate in the Qing Dynasty.

They roamed the Yangtze River and coastal areas of the empire in a show of force and to protect the interests of their own government and expatriates in the Qing Empire.

Relying on Qingdao, Germany built railways and mined minerals on a large scale throughout Shandong in order to control Shandong and plunder Shandong's rich natural resources. The completion and opening of the Jiaoji Railway is a typical example.

But the situation in Shandong is very complicated, because the United Kingdom also leases the Weihaiwei Military Port in Shandong.

Weihai Weihai Military Port was once the station of the Beiyang Navy of the Qing Empire. It is located at the northeastern end of the Shandong Peninsula, in the Yellow Sea. It is separated from the Bohai Strait to the north and the Lushunkou Military Port on the Liaodong Peninsula in Shengjing Province, forming two ports guarding the entrance and exit of the Bohai Sea, one in the south and one in the north.

Maritime gateway.

At present, the Lushunkou Military Port has become an important base for the Beining Navy, and the Beining military also controls the north entrance to and from the Bohai Sea. If it wants to completely control the Bohai Sea, it must control the south entrance to and from the Bohai Sea, which means to recapture the Weihai Guard Port.

Therefore, the Bac Ninh government not only had to recapture Shandong from the Germans, but also had to recapture Weihaiwei from the British, and had to face two powerful enemies at the same time!

But as the Jin army made the Western powers unbelievably defeat the Russian and Japanese armies at the same time, the newly established Bac Ninh government was looked upon with admiration by the Western powers. Germany and the United Kingdom also felt a great threat like other countries. Although the British,

Both Germany and Germany have powerful navies, but on land, the two countries do not have the strength to compete with the Beining Army, which was expanded on the basis of the Jin Army. Therefore, both countries are hesitating between fighting or not fighting.

I hope that the Beining government will tolerate their luck as the weak Qing government did.

However, is this possible?!

After Emperor Xuantong succeeded to the throne, Kang Fan petitioned the Qing court to request that Shandong Province be included in the jurisdiction of Beining on the grounds of consolidating the maritime defense of the key areas of Beijing and Tianjin. The Qing court was forced to announce its agreement. Kang Fan then legitimately informed Ying that,

The ambassadors of Germany and Germany made it clear to both countries that they refused to recognize the "Jiaoao Concession Treaty" signed by the German government and the Qing government and the "Special Treaty for the Leasing of Weihaiwei" signed by the British government and the Qing government.

The country proposed the unconditional transfer of Shandong to the jurisdiction of the Bac Ninh government. The three parties launched long and fierce negotiations for this purpose, but there was still no progress until the second half of 1910.

In this way, Kang Fan was ready to use force to retake Shandong, and his opponent this time was Germany.

Compared with the two established European powers, Britain and France, Germany can only be regarded as a rising star. Its history of seeking overseas colonies only began in the late 19th century. Compared with second-tier European countries such as the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, and Spain, Germany

There is no comparison. In 1871, Germany defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War, thereby ending France's hegemony on the European continent and establishing a unified German Empire, which is contemporary Germany.

Since then, Germany began to rise as a European power, and then began to expand its borders in Europe and outside Europe. Jiaozhou Bay and Shandong were its first and only colonies in Asia, far away from its European homeland.

Thousands of miles away, if a war breaks out, the German garrison in Shandong will receive no external support at all and will have no choice but to wait and die.

As for the Far East Fleet, which on the surface seems to be very powerful compared to other Asian countries, in Kang Fan's eyes, it is just a bunch of antiques. The Bac Ninh Navy's advanced aircraft and submarines can easily destroy them, not to mention the new German Navy.

It was far weaker than the British navy. Even if a fleet was sent from the mainland to attack the Qing Empire, the result would be the same.

After considering all aspects of the situation, Kang Fan decided to start a fight.

Since the United States did not join the Western powers in carving up the Qing Empire and still pursued a peaceful "open door" policy, it would not be included in Kang Fan's blacklist of "punishing them one by one." Therefore, Judy,

The diplomat who works hard for the interests of the United States is still an outsider, which allows her to face Kang Fan, who is "high-spirited" at this time, with a calm attitude that "it has nothing to do with her." Therefore, she has no doubts about Kang Fan's decision.

No objection was raised.

"I will help you as much as possible to create a favorable international public opinion environment for your Bac Ninh government," Judy said.

Kang Fan smiled and said: "Just help me stabilize the radical politicians in your country, and I will take care of the other things."

Judy looked at Kang Fan thoughtfully, and asked with a very solemn expression: "Kang Fan, if one day my motherland does to your motherland what Germany, Britain, France and other countries have done to you,

Well, you will definitely start a war with my motherland, right?"

Kang Fan was stunned and said nothing.

Judy sighed and said in a heavy tone: "I know you will, because you love your motherland, just like I love mine. You have to defend your motherland, and you are not wrong... But if your motherland is like

My motherland has really become an enemy, so what will you do to me?"

Kang Fan thought for a long time and didn't know what to say.

"But I...I will still help you." Judy said firmly but also in a difficult tone.

Kang Fan was moved and hugged Zhu Di tightly. But at this moment, he remembered the impassioned words spoken by Cao Cao's general Xu Huang when he faced Guan Yu in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms": "Today is a matter of the country. I dare not

Use your private life to destroy public service!"

On October 1, 1910, the Bac Ninh government issued an ultimatum to the German government, requiring it to hand over Shandong to the Bac Ninh government before December 25 of that year, otherwise it would risk a war. However, the German government did not respond to the Bac Ninh government.

The two most powerful armored cruisers of the Far East Fleet, "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenno", were transferred back to Qingdao from the German Caroline Islands in the Pacific, with the intention of deterring the Bac Ninh government and strengthening Qingdao's defense.

strength.

The "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenno" armored cruisers both belong to the "Scharnhorst" class. The "Scharnhorst" class has a full load displacement of 13,000 tons and the thickest armor on the hull.

Reaching 150 mm, it is equipped with 8 main guns with a diameter of 210 mm and 6 secondary guns with a diameter of 150 mm. It is propelled by a 3-axis steam engine and has a speed of 23 knots. It is the most powerful first-class battleship newly commissioned by the German Far East Fleet.

It is also the pride of the German Navy and is recognized by the international military community as the best armored cruiser of the contemporary era. If it were the former Qing government, these two mighty steel battleships would be enough to have a "perfect" deterrent effect, but this time

The Germans got the wrong era and the wrong opponent, and they were destined to be unlucky.

Of course, the whereabouts of these two "star" German warships cannot escape the sight of the Bac Ninh military, from the offshore waters of the Qing Empire to the islands consisting of the Kuril Islands-Japanese Islands-Ryukyu Islands-Taiwan Island-Philippine Islands-Nanhua Island.

In the waters of the first island chain, Bac Ninh Coast Guard and Navy ships are paying attention to the two German ships. Intelligence personnel from the Security Bureau have penetrated into Qingdao in large numbers and used various means to collect information about the two German ships.

.The German side intended to show off its force to the Bac Ninh government and had not made any real preparations for war. Therefore, it did not even do the most basic confidentiality work. The activities of all Far East Fleet ships were open and clear.

On October 21, 1910, four formations each consisting of three "Jiaolong" class submarines departing from Lushun Naval Base were performing routine patrol missions in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea of ​​the Qing Empire. At 13:34 in the afternoon,

The search radar of the hq011 submarine in the 303 formation discovered a fleet of ships on the sea more than 300 kilometers southeast of the Shandong Peninsula. It then dived to periscope depth and conducted close reconnaissance, confirming that it was the "Scharnhöss" of the German Far East Fleet.

The "Special" and the "Gneisenno" and a coal ship responsible for fuel supply immediately notified the 301 formation in the nearby waters through the radio communication system. All six submarines of the two formations dived to the periscope depth.

Mobilely occupy a favorable position, develop a tactical formation, and prepare for an attack.

At 14:04, the German fleet entered the attack range.

At 14:14, six "Jiaolong" class submarines carried out a concealed torpedo salvo at periscope depth. 36 "harpoon" torpedoes formed an attack fan from different directions at a depth of 3 meters under the sea at a high speed of 40 knots.

Pounce on the target.

At 14:17:34, the first explosion was captured by the sonar of the hq017 submarine of the 301 formation, followed by the second, third... and thirteenth blast. A total of 13 torpedoes hit the target, and the attack was successful.

!

As the flagship of the German Far East Fleet, the "Scharnhorst" received "key care" from the Bac Ninh Navy and was hit by a total of 8 torpedoes. The continuous violent explosions immediately broke the 10,000-ton giant ship into two pieces.

Within 5 minutes, it sank to the bottom of the sea with more than 700 crew members.

The "Gneisenno" was slightly better. It was only hit by 3 torpedoes. Although it did not sink immediately, it ignited a raging fire that could not be extinguished. The next result would definitely be to detonate the ship's ammunition that had not fired a single shot.

The ammunition depot is full, and a devastating explosion will occur at any time, maybe within a few minutes, maybe within ten minutes.

The accompanying coal ship was hit by two torpedoes and sank to the bottom of the sea ten minutes after the "Scharnhorst" sank. But in these short ten minutes, the two ships survived

The German sailors and crew members provided a precious opportunity to escape. The frustrated German sailors and crew members climbed into the lifeboats or put on life jackets and lifebuoys and rushed into the embrace of the sea.

Six "Jiaolong" class submarines surfaced, dropped six inflatable life rafts full of food, medicine and drinking water, and then formed a line to evacuate the battlefield. Behind them, the burning "Gneisenno"

The jetted black smoke column gradually became farther and thinner, while explosions like landslides and earth-shattering followed one after another...

Out of humanitarian considerations, the Bac Ninh government entrusted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bac Ninh to notify the German Far East Fleet Command in Qingdao as soon as possible of the news of the sinking of the two German ships, so that the German side could launch rescue work in a timely manner. At the same time,

Beining's army and navy were dispatched at the same time to suppress the German troops in various parts of Shandong, and finally compressed all the German troops into a small area centered on Jiaozhou Bay. They took over the Jiaoji Railway and the German factories and mines in Shandong intact, and waited.

Germany’s next move.