Shanhaiguan, the division headquarters of the 9th Infantry Division of the Northern Army, Major General Zhang Haipeng is giving combat orders.

"Let the 91st Infantry Regiment abandon its position and withdraw to the city after an hour of resistance." Major General Zhang Haipeng ordered.

"General, why abandon positions? Haven't we already resisted the attack of the Beiyang Army? A staff officer asked.

"This is an order given by the young marshal himself, do you still have any questions?" Major General Zhang Haipeng asked.

"No more!" The staff officer nodded immediately.

"I think the reason why the young marshal asked us to do this is to let the Beiyang Army have a thought. In the past few days, they have lost a lot. If we don't even have a breakthrough of our defenses outside the city, we'll make them give up the attack. In that case, it will not work in our favor. Our main force is about to arrive, of course, we want to be able to annihilate the main forces of these dozen towns of the Beiyang Army in one fell swoop, how can we let them escape again? Major General Zhang Haipeng said.

The staff officers all nodded their heads again and again, and everyone was a little excited. They all knew that this undoubtedly meant that a large-scale counterattack by the Northern Army was about to begin. Now retract your fist so that you can have more power when you hit it.

Under Feng Guozhang's strong order, the Beiyang Army once again launched a fierce attack on Shanhaiguan. It's just that they still hit their heads on the strong defense line of the Northern Army. The swarm attack of the Beiyang Army was of no use at all, and in the face of the crossfire composed of light and heavy machine guns of the Northern Army, it was simply to send people to death.

However, to the surprise of the Beiyang Army, why did their attack obviously not penetrate the position of the Northern Army, but the Northern Army took the initiative to retreat?

After hearing that the Northern Army had retreated, the Beiyang Army had captured the positions on the outskirts of Shanhaiguan. Feng Guozhang was very excited.

"I knew that those guys in the Northern Army had also reached the end of their crossbows, and they had suffered a lot of losses in the battles for days. Now, they finally can't hold it anymore. As long as we hold on a little longer, the final victory will be ours! Feng Guozhang's face was happy. As if victory was already in sight.

The other generals of the Beiyang Army were also full of doubts in their hearts, and some couldn't understand why they were like this.

However, the Northern Army took the initiative to retreat, which is undoubtedly a good thing, and naturally their troops no longer need to brave the Northern Army's bullets to launch an attack, and they can retain their strength to the greatest extent.

It's just that Feng Guozhang obviously thinks that the best time to defeat the Northern Army and take Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop has come. After easily taking the outer positions of Shanhaiguan. Feng Guozhang began to urge the Beiyang Army to continue the attack on Shanhaiguan.

Shanhaiguan is known as the first pass in the world. Although in today's hot weapons, the importance of this pass is far less than that of the cold weapons era. But overall, it's still easy to defend and difficult to attack. The result of the attack of the Beiyang Army can be imagined. It was still a head-butting and bleeding in the face of the strong firepower of the Northern Army.

However, Feng Guozhang can't care about these anymore. He confidently believes that victory is just around the corner, and as long as he works harder, he will be able to win Shanhaiguan. Therefore. Ignoring the opposition of the rulers, he used Yuan Datou's orders to subdue them. Directly order the army to attack. And this, in the end, showed that it was just to increase the casualties of the Beiyang soldiers, and it was useless at all.

November 20, 1908, this day was just over a week after Yuan Datou ascended the throne as emperor. On this day, the Northern Army officially launched a large-scale offensive against the Beiyang Army. Hundreds of thousands of northern troops attacked Yanjing City in two ways. It's like giving Yuan Datou a hard slap.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, on the Shanhaiguan front, the three heavy artillery brigades of the Northern Army, the divisional artillery battalions of the ten infantry divisions, and the subordinate regimental artillery batteries all entered the positions. In total, four hundred and thirty-two 155-mm heavy howitzers were included. 360 105-mm light howitzers and 270 75-mm field guns all went into position. Shanhaiguan has been besieged by the Beiyang Army for so many days, and it is also the turn of the Northern Army to launch a counterattack.

Wu Haoxuan and Lieutenant General Shi Tianhan, the commander in charge of the operation against the Beiyang Army, both appeared in Shanhaiguan in person.

"In this attack, we must find a way to keep the Beiyang Army in these fifteen towns here. After the artillery broke the will of the Beiyang Army to resist, the cavalry brigade attacked, intercepted the Beiyang Army, and broke their defenses. The infantry struck quickly, divided and surrounded them, and tried to annihilate them all! Wu Haoxuan punched the military map on the table.

"Yes, young marshal. Rest assured, we've got you covered. These hundreds of thousands of Beiyang troops are difficult to fly even if they have wings! Lieutenant General Shi Tianhan said excitedly. As long as the hundreds of thousands of Beiyang troops are eliminated, the next step is to descend on Yanjing City. If Yuan Datou can be caught, then this war will be over.

With the order of Lieutenant General Shi Tianhan, thousands of cannons began to bombard, and the rumbling cannon sound sounded as if it were thunder. One after another, the shells whistled towards the positions of the Beiyang Army. The flames and smoke after the explosion almost completely enveloped the positions of the Beiyang Army.

"Oh my God! How many artillery pieces did the Northern Army use! Wang Zhanyuan, the commander of the second town of the Beiyang Army, exclaimed.

"At least a thousand cannons, most of them heavy guns with a caliber of more than 100 millimeters. Is this the real strength of the Northern Army? After doing it for a long time, we were completely tricked by each other. What is about to capture Shanhaiguan is simply delusional. It's just that someone dug a pit for us to jump into! Cao Kun said dissatisfied.

Feng Guozhang's face was already pale at the moment, and if he looked closely, he could see that his body was trembling slightly. It is clear that he was also frightened by the massive shelling of the Northern Army. The Northern Army has shown such great firepower, how can it be the end of the crossbow? It is clear that he wants to annihilate the Beiyang Army in one fell swoop!

The positions outside the Shanhai Pass that the Beiyang Army had previously occupied were completely reduced to a sea of fire. The Beiyang Army, which was stationed in these positions, suffered heavy artillery fire. Many Beiyang officers and soldiers were killed while they were still asleep.

"This battle can't be fought, we have to retreat. Otherwise, we're all going to die here. Since the Northern Army had carefully prepared such a large-scale artillery bombardment, it was clear that they were ready for a counterattack. Yang Shande, the commander of the fourth town, said hatefully.

"That's right, retreat immediately, or it will be too late." Other generals also chimed in.

Feng Guozhang opened his mouth, wanting to reprimand these guys. However, in the end, nothing could be said. Judging from the current situation, he already knows that he has lost this battle.

Since Feng Guozhang did not stop it, those generals immediately went back to gather their troops and prepared to flee from Shanhaiguan. They were completely frightened by the heavy shelling of the Northern Army, and they no longer had the courage to continue fighting.

The shelling of the Northern Army ended after only twenty minutes. After that, the three cavalry brigades of the Northern Army launched an attack, and more than 20,000 cavalry slaughtered from Shanhaiguan and directly killed the Beiyang Army that was preparing to retreat.

The roaring sound of horses' hooves, the high shouts of killing, and the bright sabers in the hands of the cavalry made the Beiyang army tremble and run away. But how can the legs of a man be compared to the four legs of a war horse? Soon they were caught up.

"Poof!"

The saber in the hand of the cavalryman fell, and then raised. A human head was already flying high, and blood was spurting out of the broken neck like a fountain. Because of inertia, the lower half of the body ran out for a few steps before falling to the ground.

The cavalry of the Northern Army wantonly slashed and killed those Beiyang Army. I don't know how many Beiyang troops were trampled to death by war horses. Some people couldn't escape, so they had to kneel and beg for mercy. But the cavalry of the Northern Army simply did not have time to pay attention to them, they needed to constantly rush to catch up with the fleeing Beiyang Army and intercept them. At the same time, these Beiyang armies were divided into pieces to create favorable conditions for the subsequent infantry to annihilate them.

In the face of the pursuit of the Northern Army, the retreat of the Beiyang Army immediately evolved into a rout. Countless Beiyang officers and soldiers desperately fled in the direction of Yanjing City, wishing that their parents would give them two more legs, so that they might be able to run faster.

The so-called defeat is like a mountain, probably like this. Although the Beiyang Army suffered heavy losses under the city of Shanhaiguan, there were still more than 100,000 people. If they were calm, they might not be able to resist the attack of the cavalry of the Northern Army. However, at this time, these guys all wanted to flee for their lives, and it was impossible for them to unite and cooperate to resist the attack of the Northern Army.

The cavalry of the Northern Army, relying on the advantage of speed, caught up with the fleeing Beiyang Army and intercepted them. Groups of cavalry began to charge, dividing the Beiyang Army into pieces. The infantry from the Shanhai Pass also caught up with it, and with the help of the cavalry, they surrounded the Beiyang Army. Although, in terms of troops, the Northern Army did not have an absolute superiority. But at this moment, the morale of the Beiyang Army was completely lost, and it was unable to resist the attack of the Northern Army at all, and the final result could only be encircled and annihilated by the Northern Army little by little.

After a whole day of fighting, more than 100,000 Beiyang troops had been divided and surrounded in the territory of Yongping Province. These northern armies were divided into dozens of encirclements, large and small, with only a few hundred people in the small encirclement but 20,000 or 30,000 in the large encirclement. Although the battle was not over, there was no doubt about the victory of the Northern Army. (To be continued......)

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