 The campaign began on 18 January 1895 with a bombardment of the town of Dengzhou, some to the west of Weihaiwei, by the Imperial Japanese Navy cruisers , , and .This was a diversion to draw attention away from the landing of the Imperial Japanese Army's Japanese Second Army under the overall command of General Ōyama Iwao at Rongcheng, to the east of Weihaiwei.The Japanese forces, which consisted of the 2nd Division under Lieutenant General Sakuma Samata, and the 6th Division (less its 12th Brigade, which was left to garrison Lushunkou) under General Kuroki Tamemoto completed its landing without opposition by 22 January.