"Taking advantage of this war to liberate Shandong, even if we can't liberate all of it, we must expand the Shandong base area as much as possible." Chen Ke put forward his views at the meeting held in Zhengzhou.

The comrades in the Central Committee had no objection to this. Zhang Yu, upholding his consistent style, asked first, "Will it trigger fierce opposition from the Beiyang government? It is not yet time for a full-scale civil war."

"Leave the cities to Beiyang; we only want the countryside." Chai Qingguo voiced the opinion of most comrades, which caused a burst of laughter.

"We can't leave the cities in Shandong to Beiyang either. Shandong is a good place. There is iron ore in Zhangdian, Zibo," Chen Ke replied. Zhangdian had left an extremely deep impression on Chen Ke; it was the place of a serious failure in his life. When he was only a step away from victory, Chen Ke had fallen before dawn. And that failed experience of providing liquid air separation equipment to the steel plant allowed Chen Ke to learn a lot of concepts about high-pressure pipelines, air separation, welding, and welder training. These concepts had been practiced and applied in the construction of many steel plants in the base areas.

No one in the Central Committee questioned Chen Ke. If Chen Ke said there was iron ore in Zhangdian, everyone firmly believed there was iron ore in Zhangdian. If Chen Ke said there was a gold mine in Zhangdian, the comrades would also follow Chen Ke to mine gold with full confidence. Moreover, after experiencing the industrialization era for a few years and being influenced by some guys with a background in chemistry like Chen Ke, the comrades had a common attitude towards precious metals. For ordinary life, steel was far more useful than gold.

Chai Qingguo laughed with satisfaction, "Our Shandong just has a lot of good stuff."

"Shandong is indeed very good for engaging in industry, and agriculture is also very good. Plant more trees. After the greening is done, Shandong can also plant mulberries and raise silkworms on a large scale. Northern Shandong can raise tussah silkworms," Chen Ke added.

So under the guidance of these two people, the original war meeting turned into a construction planning meeting. This was also a "topic-straying tradition" of the People's Party. Everyone believed that war and construction were originally one entity. While relying on the army to solve a crowd of reactionaries, the army must also engage in construction together with the people.

Land reform and land planning, basic water conservancy construction launched together, breeding industry and textile industry combined with women's liberation, compulsory education and a medical system dominated by barefoot doctors developed together with grassroots organization construction. Urbanization and townification combined with railways, highways, and logistics. These were all the crystals of the People's Party's massive work practice over the past few years.

These seemingly complete constructions also involved the establishment of combat troops, engineering corps, railway corps, local construction corps, teachers, government personnel, scientific and technological workers, and political propaganda personnel. And so on and so forth, a whole series of contents.

Most importantly, there was also the establishment and revision of a corresponding series of evaluation systems.

Previously, Chen Ke had to shoulder these alone. By 1914, a large number of comrades had taken up these work contents. While the organization of the People's Party expanded rapidly, its efficiency improved even more rapidly.

The discussion did not expand infinitely. Once the extent of construction to be carried out in the short term was determined, the scope of the struggle against the enemy also had a basic line of thought. This basic line of thought was no different from the consistent line of the People's Party: "Liberate Shandong, build Shandong, stabilize Shandong."

"The Japanese aggressors must be eliminated and driven out of the base area. If the Beiyang government carries out acts of selling out the country, we must eliminate these traitors, collaborators, and national scum. Comrades, by now, you already know that overthrowing Beiyang is not too difficult; building China is the most difficult, and the people's revolution is the most difficult. There are surely comrades who think that we go into the vast various places of China, painstakingly carrying out land reform, education, and construction village by village. Compared with this labor, wouldn't the revolution be successful if we directly defeated and killed these enemies of Beiyang? I want to emphasize once again, the purpose of the people's revolution, the communist revolution, is to let everyone obtain freedom and liberation. Not only liberation from the oppressors and exploiters but also obtaining true self-liberation. Therefore, going to the grassroots, going to the people, promoting the people to obtain a better life, and letting the people truly understand this world, this is the simplest and fastest method. The end of this road is still far away, but the road is tortuous, and the future is bright!"

After Chen Ke finished speaking, the comrades of the Central Committee just nodded with understanding or smiled bitterly. Everyone had worked hard from the grassroots level, and in front of everyone, there was Chen Ke, the "guide," constantly revealing the true face of the world to the comrades. Thinking of the difficulties and hardships to be faced, no one would feel relaxed and happy.

"Then everyone starts to compile the personnel entering Shandong. At the same time, tell the comrades on the front line to strike the Japanese army fiercely. Defensive operations. Our reinforcements will start to set off immediately." Chen Ke issued the order.

In fact, without Chen Ke's order, the fighting near Qingdao showed no sign of stopping. The Japanese army that landed at Yangkou in Laoshan was suffering terrible harassment every day. If they were still fighting bloody battles for the first two days, from the third night onwards, the People's Party's strategy underwent tremendous changes. Almost every night, huge fireworks would rise into the sky, and along with the fireworks, there were various disturbing measures.

The People's Party used reconnaissance planes to monitor the Japanese army's movements during the day. At night, the Air Force was used to drop specially made bombs on the Japanese camp. These bombs had limited lethality, but the explosion sound was extremely loud. The Japanese army initially didn't figure out where these bombs came from, but the huge explosion sound once every one or two hours at night made it difficult for the Japanese army to sleep peacefully.

If they didn't sleep well at night, naturally many problems would occur in the fighting during the day. At least when the Japanese army groped towards Laoshan from the nearby high ground at night, expecting to take the lead in forming a new ambush position, the People's Party was quite guarded against this, and battles between small units occurred frequently. In such engagements, the Japanese army could hardly gain an advantage.

Whenever the Sendai Division at Yangkou in Laoshan made up its mind to attack towards Qingdao with the whole army, the harassment operations of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army made the Sendai Division commander unable to make up his mind to implement military actions that disregarded the route of retreat. According to the news they received, a large number of troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army were stationed in the north of Qingdao. They were neither fully deployed into the Qingdao Fortress nor did they enter the range of naval guns. This unit just waited there quietly. And if the Sendai Division advanced regardless of everything, that would be a precise description of the four words "walking right into a trap." As a last resort, the Sendai Division had to endure the continuous harassment and engage in endless small-scale exchanges of fire with the People's Party every day.

Compared with such pain of the Sendai Division, the Kyushu Division appeared much more straightforward. The Kyushu Division was composed of miners and had a more unswerving and indomitable temperament. Even solid mineral veins could be dug open, so there was no reason to fear the enemy.

When this unit fought with the harassment units of the People's Party, they were more calm in the face of changes and more steady. This also had something to do with the relatively flat terrain. The commander of the Kyushu Division was not a reckless person. He submitted an application to the Allied Command asking whether to execute according to the original plan. Before the reply arrived, the order urging him to attack had already arrived. After all, the Kyushu Division had stopped at the landing position in Longkou for two days. During these two days, the Kyushu Division did not encounter any enemies nor did any fighting occur.

Disobeying military orders was a very severe crime. Waiting for two days had reached the limit of the Kyushu Division commander's waiting ability. Harboring extreme unwillingness, the division commander ordered the troops to start setting off according to the original plan. The two brigades began to move south divided into front and rear groups. The Japanese troops who suffered severe blows immediately after landing were responsible for staying behind to guard the beachhead position on the shore.

Starting from September 26th, the Kyushu Division on the journey was not subjected to any harassment along the way, and the troops marched in an orderly manner. By September 28th, the second half of the Japanese army had marched to the area between Pingdu and Yexian.

After studying the war situation, Pu Guanshui, commander of the Qingdao Military Sub-district, sent a division of troops to meet the Japanese army landing in Longkou. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had two divisions with 40,000 men. The opposing Kyushu Division, because part of its personnel remained in Japan, part was injured, and part was guarding the landing area, had a real strength of only 18,000 men in the two brigades. The frontline command of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army formulated an operational plan to surround and annihilate the Kyushu Division.

"After these few days of fighting, we have determined that the tactical level of the Japanese army is still at the level of the Russo-Japanese War. Charges are based on squads. The combat efficiency is far lower than our army. Should we consider adopting the large encirclement mode?"

The so-called large encirclement refers to a continuous encirclement circle. The art of war says, "Therefore, the method of using troops is: if ten times the enemy, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, engage them; if equal, be able to divide them; if fewer, be able to escape them; if not as good, be able to avoid them. Therefore, the obstinacy of a small enemy is the capture of a large enemy."

The military academy of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army has a special translation for this. The principle applied in actual combat is: if our forces are ten times the enemy's, implement encirclement and annihilation; if five times the enemy's, implement an attack; if two times the enemy's, strive to defeat the enemy forces; if forces are equal, try to disperse and defeat them one by one. If forces are weaker than the enemy, avoid combat. Therefore, if the weak and small side fights to the death and sticks to defense, it will become the captive of the powerful enemy.

Immediately, a comrade raised an opinion, "The disparity in strength between the two sides is limited. We only have twice the enemy's strength. If we implement a battle of encirclement and annihilation, we have to let the troops in Qingdao and even Yangkou join in. Moreover, the Japanese army attacking in two routes has actually committed the mistake of dividing their forces. If forces are equal, try to disperse and defeat them one by one. In the current situation, the troops in Yangkou don't need to leave a whole division at all; leaving just one regiment can contain the enemy. Even if the enemy is not contained, the two regiments in Qingdao currently can also hold. As long as we annihilate the Longkou route of the Japanese army with four times the strength, and then we turn our troops back to Qingdao, if the enemy is not scared away, they will also be annihilated."

"That's right, lure the enemy deep and fight a battle of annihilation with superior forces." There were many comrades who agreed with this view.

The two division commanders of the frontline command also fully agreed, "Then let's send a telegram to Commander Pu."

Pu Guanshui took less than thirty minutes to reply. "The comrades' suggestion is very good. I have ordered the troops in Qingdao and Yangkou to set off towards you. I personally will stay in Qingdao to command the battle. The front line will establish a frontline command. It is hereby ordered that the frontline command quickly set up a traffic station to receive the rear troops. And be responsible for the implementation of the campaign."

The comrades on the front line were very grateful for Pu Guanshui's hands-off policy, but they dared not throw Pu Guanshui and two regiments in Qingdao. The war situation was unpredictable. Even with four times the strength of the Japanese army, it did not mean an easy victory could be won. In case the Japanese army went crazy, and the Sendai Division raided Qingdao regardless of everything, annihilating the Kyushu Division but losing Qingdao and the Military Sub-district Commander Pu Guanshui, this would not be an ordinary responsibility.

Comrades immediately sent a telegram back, "We still request Commander Pu to personally command the battle."

Pu Guanshui's reply was very simple, "Don't talk nonsense. How you fight, how I go to command is also how to fight. While commanding the battle, I still have to worry about the affairs of the Qingdao Fortress. So I stay at the Qingdao Fortress to command the battle. Could it be that comrades have no confidence in me? Moreover, if I go to your place to command the battle, what mood will the Qingdao comrades have when they don't see me? I believe comrades will definitely win, and please also believe that I will not lose the Qingdao Fortress. The only suggestion is, comrades fight how you should fight. Don't worry, don't worry about Qingdao."

With this telegram from Pu Guanshui, the comrades on the Longkou side also breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone indeed felt reassured that Pu Guanshui could sit in charge of Qingdao. It was also impossible for the comrades to send someone to Qingdao to forcibly tie Pu Guanshui to the Longkou front line.

After the operational objective of the battle of annihilation was determined, all actions were handled completely according to the education received in the military academy. The terrain had long been scouted on the spot. After the rectification movement, at least 'knowing oneself' could be achieved. In terms of 'knowing the enemy', the Japanese firepower configuration had been determined through intelligence and Japanese prisoners of war. Using "Chen Ke's Dynamic Combat Equation," which is the Lanchester's laws plagiarized by Chen Ke, the results of several deductions were all that the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army could win a great victory.

However, the comrades of the frontline command were not satisfied. Countless events proved that after the victory of the battle, "Chen Ke's Dynamic Combat Equation" could indeed be used to explain the battle, but the unknown enemy situation before the battle often caused the speculated results to have great deviations. This did not only refer to underestimating the enemy; the result of overestimating the enemy would also cause a great waste of combat power. The deeper the understanding of war, the more comrades discovered that this world is one where perfection cannot be pursued. The battlefield is more practical than anywhere else. If one cannot pour attention into the present second, not responding to the immediate problems at any time, but pursuing ethereal perfection and victory, not only will these laughable goals not be achieved, but a tragic price of life will certainly be paid.

The plan of the large encirclement battle was modified into a dynamic encirclement battle, after all, nearly half of the troops were still on the way. Comprehensive defense was cut down to key defense. The enemy was absolutely not allowed to break out. After the troop deployment was completed according to the development of the war situation at that time, the final battle of annihilation would begin to be implemented.

Dozens or hundreds of abacuses clattered loudly in the calculation section. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army did not have the rich experience of the People's Liberation Army, so it could only rely on more meticulous calculation and scientific systems to induce and summarize. In contrast, as the enemy of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the Kyushu Division was in the midst of a tenacious continued march.

Naturally, it was impossible for the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army to let the Kyushu Division move so easily. Various harassment units began to set out. Striving to hinder the movement of the Kyushu Division, and at the same time collect various intelligence on the Kyushu Division.

The division commander of the Kyushu Division felt a burst of annoyance in his heart when he saw the reconnaissance planes of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army flying in the sky. In the landing battle a few days ago, several reconnaissance planes took off from the Japanese aircraft carrier, and without exception, they were all shot down by the Air Force of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. And the army's reconnaissance balloons were also all shot down, and the members on the balloons were either dead or injured. When the navy found the commander of the Kyushu Division and made a big noise, the division commander also held a breath of resentment in his heart.

"It would be great if the navy's ships could also carry a large number of combat aircraft sometime," the division commander thought with a summary and pioneering line of thinking. Historically, the time for aircraft to get on warships was far from the 1930s. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, after the invention of the aircraft, various ideas and practices of aircraft on ships appeared. It was just that the overall idea of aircraft carrier operations had also been proposed by people long ago, and only practical work began to mature in the 1930s.

But thinking was just thinking. The division commander himself did not have an overall idea, nor did he have the knowledge to build an aircraft carrier. He could only look at it.

However, the planes in the sky had no intention of retreating after a reconnaissance. Soon, some small black dots broke away from the planes and fell towards the direction where the division commander and the dense cavalry were. The commander of the Kyushu Division didn't understand what was going on for a moment. He was still craning his neck and looking at the sky with binoculars. He only saw the small black dots dropped by the four-plane formation of the Air Force of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army expanding violently. As the small black dots landed near the division commander where the horses were dense, violent explosions rose one after another. The division commander felt a burning sensation in his chest. Looking down, he saw the tail of a piece of shrapnel exposed outside his military uniform. In the next instant, something heavily hit the division commander's head. In the dizziness, the colors of the whole world quickly disappeared from the vision of the Kyushu Division commander.

It is impossible for the air force to observe the battle results. While carrying out reconnaissance, pulling the handle of the bomb release mechanism, bombing suspicious enemy targets, and bombing dense enemy formations, this is all the work of the air force at present. After they finished bombing, they quickly pulled up the flight altitude. Recently, when the Japanese army saw the planes of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, they fired with rifles. This kind of venting shooting by the Japanese army didn't care whether it could hit the target or not. The fire-proof fuel tank designed by Chairman Chen Ke was wrapped with a layer of rubber on the outside of the fuel tank. If hit by a rifle bullet, the rubber would automatically contract to plug the leak, preventing fuel leakage to the greatest extent. However, this thing had two side effects. One was that it greatly increased the self-weight of the aircraft. Secondly, if it was really hit, it was not easy to know. although no plane had been blown up in the air by the Japanese army, aircraft malfunctions and crashes happened many times afterward. Air Force pilots were troops with a fearless tradition, but it didn't mean everyone hoped to look for trouble. After bombing, the planes relied on the opportunity of reduced self-weight to accelerate their climb and headed for the airport.

The death of the commander of the Japanese Kyushu Division and the casualties of most of the division headquarters greatly affected the subsequent battles of the Kyushu Division. The two brigade commanders fought almost on their own. The battle of encirclement and annihilation was implemented extremely smoothly. The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army thoroughly utilized the advantages of firepower and numbers, and with the help of rocket artillery, annihilated the Japanese Kyushu Division in two days.

It was not until the interrogation of prisoners of war after the battle that the Air Force knew that it had established the great merit of bombing the commander of the Japanese Kyushu Division to death. In the subsequent discussion meeting, Air Force Commander Division Commander Hai Mengqi warned the comrades, "We are just 'beating the rabbit while gathering grass' (doing something in passing/getting a lucky bonus). If we earned it, we earned it. In the future, comrades should not take this credit of bombing the enemy division commander to death to heart and be unable to let go. That is just a burden. This matter is already over, so we must forget it immediately. Why could we have such an achievement? That is because everyone followed the rules and observed carefully. But no matter how carefully one observes, it is impossible to distinguish the position of the enemy division commander. So observation must be careful, detailed enough is fine. 'Beating the rabbit while gathering grass' does not mean letting everyone 'wait by the stump for a rabbit' (wait for a stroke of luck). Going too far is as bad as not doing enough. Not detailed enough or too detailed are both the most inefficient. Finally, I congratulate comrades again on achieving such a record! And I wish comrades greater achievements in advance. Thank you everyone!"

Because the troops suffered heavy losses, Captain Kumamoto Jiro, who was forced to stay at the Longkou landing ground, was blessed by misfortune and did not advance with the division. After the escaped remnants came back to report the news that the entire Kyushu Division was wiped out, Captain Kumamoto Jiro was ordered to go to "receive" the Kyushu Division.

The trembling Kumamoto squadron arrived at the battlefield, which was twenty kilometers long and five kilometers wide. On the battlefield densely covered with bomb craters, blood, some human limbs, and weapon fragments, more than a dozen huge earthen mounds were piled up. In front of the earthen mounds stood simple wooden monuments "Collective Cemetery of the War Dead of the Japanese Sixth Division." Each earthen mound was four or five people high and tens of meters in circumference. Captain Kumamoto sized up the empty battlefield. He couldn't believe that the comrades-in-arms who had laughed and talked with him a few days ago were buried under these large earthen mounds.

Captain Kumamoto ordered people to shovel open a corner of the earthen mound while keeping guard. Before long, he heard the subordinate shoveling the soil scream. Captain Kumamoto walked to the side of the earthen mound. Japanese corpses were exposed under the not-too-thin earthen mound. "Keep digging!" Kumamoto Jiro ordered.

Layers upon layers of Japanese corpses were constantly exposed under the earthen mound. After digging for several meters, the soldiers were already weak in their hands and feet due to fear and sadness, unable to wave their shovels. They sat limply on the ground and cried bitterly. Even those soldiers who did not lose their composure like this looked at everything in front of them dumbfounded. Kumamoto Jiro looked at the Japanese corpses exposed in front of him, stacked in more than a dozen layers. He looked at the other dozen or so large earthen mounds by the roadside with distracted eyes for a good while. He could no longer bear it, holding his head and howling.