The Japanese knew that the Chinese would not be able to fulfil their demands within the stated timeframe. Instead, their issuance was designed to raise the morale of Japanese troops, cow the Chinese, and demonstrate the "determination" of the Japanese military to foreigners. As expected, the demands were viewed as humiliating and unacceptable by the Chinese. In response, Chiang, who had left the area, sent a courier to the Japanese garrison, stating that he would meet some, but not all of the stated demands. Fukuda, who deemed that his demands had not been met, launched a full-scale attack on the Chinese in Jinan in the afternoon of 8 May. Fighting was fiercest on the night of 9–10 May, with the Japanese using artillery to bombard the old walled city, where the remaining NRA troops had holed up. The civilian population of the old city were not warned in advance of the Japanese bombardment, which is thought to have resulted in many casualties. The final group of Chinese soldiers escaped under the cover of night on 10–11 May. By morning, the Japanese had gained full control of Jinan, and took up positions in the walled city. The city would remain under Japanese occupation until March 1929, when an agreement to settle the dispute over Jinan was reached. The period of occupation was defined by oppression, with freedom of the press and assembly proscribed, postal correspondence censored, and residents killed for alleged sympathies with the KMT. Aftermath Chiang apologised to the Japanese on 10 May and removed He Yaozu from his post. After the incident, Chiang decided he would write one "way to kill the Japanese" each day in his journal, and also wrote that he now thought the Japanese were China's greatest enemy. Justifying his backing down from conflict in Jinan, he added that "before one can settle scores, one must be strong". When Chiang lectured a group of Chinese army cadets on the subject, he urged them to turn their energies to washing away the shame of Jinan, but to conceal their hatred until the last moment. Japanese prime minister Tanaka, who also had hoped to avoid conflict, opened negotiations with Chiang, and close to a year later, in March 1929, an agreement was reached to share responsibility for the Jinan incident, settle the dispute, and withdraw all Japanese troops from Shandong. If the incident had been an isolated example