The Fuxing Army's counteroffensive against the Japanese stopped at noon, and the forward troops did not break through to Beicang and Liu Anzhuang. The reasons for this were: first, the 150mm cannon of the Japanese field heavy artillery wing began to fire -- the decisive advance wing bought time for the follow-up troops, and most of the Japanese army did not break up, and the morning was enough for the Japanese artillery to set up artillery positions and bombard the attacking revival army under the guidance of the front-line observer; In addition, the 13th Division of Akiyama Yoshiko has not retreated to its main position, but has tried in vain to attack the flank of the Fuxing Army Douzhangzhuang. The chief of staff, Fujii Shigeta, who understood Akiyama's deep meaning, not only stopped urging him to retreat, but also reinforced the 10th Division that had just disembarked. It's just that the Douzhangzhuang defense line was already within the scope of consideration for Lei Yizhen, and the 123rd Division had already been transferred from the rear, just to prevent the Japanese dogs from jumping over the wall and storming the flank.

Despite this, Lei Yizhen was still satisfied with the revival army, after all, only two divisions were advancing, and the Japanese army was blocked by five divisions, and these five were all main divisions, although their own assault was because of the good coordination between the infantry and artillery, but it was still commendable; In addition, he also believes that this attack has helped him understand some key problems: for example, the 4th and 38th Divisions attacked forward with four artillery regiments, although the artillery was towed by tractors and had sufficient maneuverability, but the infantry and artillery did not coordinate well in the movement, and the artillery moved forward in order to keep up with the infantry, and the Japanese army intermittently attacked and fired at the rear of the Fuxing Army, so that when the infantry needed artillery the most, they often could not provide fire support in time.

At the same time, artillery destruction, infantry occupation, is the standard mode of operation of the Baath Army. Once the artillery could not keep up, the infantry commander's mortar had no fire advantage over the Japanese field artillery. It's a bit of a shrunken. Zhang Fugui of the 4th Division was better, but the 38th Division stopped and waited for the artillery to come up and fight again. Such a dependence on artillery, this is also a problem.

Lei Yizhen said these two points in the post-war summary, the previous chief of staff Xu Dachun agreed, but this is also due to the army's underestimation of the Japanese army's determination to fight to the death, the assault infantry is already very mixed with the Japanese army, the idea at that time is not to destroy them, but to drive them forward, so as to bring greater chaos to the Japanese army, but these divisions are all regular divisions of the Japanese army. All of them fought to the death and did not retreat, which made the strategy of driving the sheep fail, and because of the waste of precious time in driving the sheep, they did not quickly penetrate into the depth of the Japanese army; In addition, the Japanese artillery shelled indiscriminately between the enemy and us, which was also the reason why it was difficult for the attacking troops to advance. In short, it was the underestimation of the enemy's will to fight that slowed the advance.

In the final analysis, the problem of the troops' excessive reliance on artillery is that the troops lack combat experience and are accustomed to artillery bombarding first and then rushing. Not decisive enough. But in the future, this kind of thing will be encountered a lot, and infantry tactics will naturally be able to fight.

Lei Yizhen thought that Qian Ding of the 38th Division was too soft, while Xu Dachun thought that the 38th Division had not fought a tough battle after all, and had repeatedly practiced infantry and artillery coordination before. Suddenly there was no artillery, and naturally there was no place to go.

One of the two is objective and the other is subjective. It's also very comprehensive. In the end, the argument between the two was stopped by Fan An, the political commissar who had just arrived, who came with the words of the prime minister. That is, it is absolutely impossible to defeat the Japanese army, and it is best to do so now. The wounded beast is the most likely to lose its mind, and now that the Japanese army has been enraged, they are waiting for it to jump in completely.

After Fan An finished saying this, Lei Yizhen and Xu Dachun calmed down, the room was full of smoke, and the three of them ignored the report, and after a while, Chief of Staff Xu Dachun said: "Old Fan, you are the political commissar, and the news of your line is better than ours, what is the plan on the side of the gentleman, it can't always be like the Northeast, always restrict North China, right?" ”

Although there was a mobilization meeting before the war and knew some details of the follow-up, Xu Dachun still felt that the plan of the General Staff was more than that, but Xu Jingxi and others of the General Staff were very tight-mouthed, and he didn't get anything, so he wanted to inquire from the line of the political commissar.

Seeing Xu Dachun's words, Fan An didn't say anything, but smiled: "I'm not in charge of fighting, I'm only in charge of the soldier's ideological work." You ask me, who should I ask? I happened to see my husband before I came, and he said that he could play well in front, but not too much. I'm passing this on today, and I don't know anything else. Didn't the General Staff inform you? ”

Lei Yizhen only smoked and didn't speak, but Xu Dachun said: "When the offensive plan was reported, the General Staff notified it, and it was explained again at eight o'clock. If it weren't for the fact that everyone knew the roots, they would really think that the people in the General Staff were all Japanese. ”

Xu Dachun made such an analogy, even Lei Yizhen, who was a little strict, laughed, and he said again: "Now that we have ordered the troops to retreat, it is still a good location in Yangcun, sandwiched by two lakes, and then there are Yongding River and Longwan River or something outside, if the Japanese army wants to occupy here, then use corpses to spread this place." ”

"What about the captives? How many are there this time? Fan An asked. And the results? ”

"Probably ......" Xu Dachun thought about the approximate number reported from the front, and said: "There are few prisoners in the Japanese army, but they were stunned by artillery fire during the assault in the morning, and there are one or two hundred of them." From yesterday to now, the Japanese have probably lost more than 4,000 people in battle, and the number of wounded should not be less than that, all because of the flank attack last night; The casualties of our army have not yet been reported, but it is estimated that they will not exceed 2,000 people, mainly caused by the attack in the morning, and the Japanese army suffered great damage after indiscriminate shelling. ”

Xu Dachun said here, Fan An took the pen and started to note, and after saying this, Xu Dachun smiled and asked, "What, are you going to see the newspaper soon?" Do you want to report more results, the people in the Ministry of Rites are so happy? ”

Fan An said with a smile after remembering: "Casualties are not the key, it is estimated that our casualties will be increased by one or two times, otherwise the Japanese will not believe it when they see it." The Ministry of Rites wants something to boost the hearts of the people, but what they want is prisoners, didn't the Japanese say that all their soldiers abide by bushido and are loyal to the emperor, and now get some prisoners out, so as to prove that the Japanese soldiers are also afraid of death. ”

In the front-line command of the Fuxing Army in Wuqing County, the commander, chief of staff, and political commissar talked and laughed, while the headquarters of the Japanese Zhili Dispatch Army in Tianjin, dozens of kilometers away, was bleak. From the beginning of the offensive of the Chinese army in the morning, the staff officers of the headquarters were in a hurry. Such a trembling morning, waiting for the rumbling of artillery to the north to cease. The pale faces of these staff officers were only then restored to blood, and the rice balls that had been thrown aside were also stuffed into their mouths and devoured. It's just that. When the news of the broken jade in Jingkou Province came, everyone began to worry again. Not to mention the Battle of the Japanese Dynasty, it was the extremely fierce Battle of Rilu, and not a single general in Japan was killed, but now, there is a division commander who was killed by the guns of the Chinese Army, how can this be accepted by the emperor and the people? The last time Major General Naganuma could be said to be the result of a despicable sneak attack by the enemy, but this time it was still a sneak attack by the Shina people?

The staff officers were panicked, but Commander Kuroki Weizhen sat in the inner room without eating or drinking after giving the order in the morning. He didn't pay attention to the front-line battle situation, and all the information was transmitted to the chief of staff, Fujii, who handled it, and only waited for the report of the broken jade at the mouth of the well, and Fujii Shibeta went to report it.

"The Shina army was repulsed?" In the dimly lit room, Kuroki, who had been sitting for a long time, looked at Fujii, who had come in, and spoke before he could speak, as if he was lamenting the failure of the onslaught plan, and that it would be many days before he could attack again.

"Yes. Excellency. The Chinese army was repulsed. Fujii said stiffly, he pondered for a while, and finally said, "Inoguchi-kun...... The jade is broken! ”

"Nani!" Kuroki, who had been sitting for a long time, suddenly shuddered and said movingly, "How is this possible? ”

"Yes. Excellency! Iguchi-kun was ambushed by Shina artillery, so ......" Shigeta Fujii lowered his head and stopped just lifting his head. Iguchi is one of Gentaro Kodama's most admired counselors. If it weren't for the fact that he was a little less qualified, I am afraid that this time he would have been appointed chief of staff of the Manchurian Army. is such an imperial talent, and the jade is actually broken.

"Hey! Report it to Marshal Oyama. Kuroki was silent for a while before he spoke. In addition, the Zhili Army is far more stubborn than we think. Now it is estimated that nine regular divisions and regiments are not enough, and the existing artillery and artillery are not enough, and if you want to take Beijing as much as possible, you need to have more troops, more artillery and shells. ”

"Hay!" After the failure of the rapid attack, Fujii also thought of many problems, and now he listened to Kuroki's own words that the troops were not enough, and the cannons and shells were not enough, so he deeply agreed, and bowed immediately and went out. A few minutes later, a telegram was sent to Anton.

The Manchurian Army Command has long been concerned about the situation of Zhili, originally thought that it could hear the good news of Zhili's capture of Yangcun, who knew that it was the Zhina Army that was counterattacking until dawn, and the headquarters was also extremely dissatisfied with this, Zhili was the focus of attention of all countries, and if it was really repelled by the Zhina Army, then the honor of the Army would be completely lost. The telegram sent by Fujii finally reassured the people in the headquarters, but the jade fragmentation of Iguchi Shugo made people unhappy. In the war against the branch, not only did there be no results, but it was also a general, and if the news was transmitted back to China, the people would criticize it again.

"It looks like it's going to be worse than expected!" Chief of Staff Yusaku Uehara sighed, he was completely in favor of Kuroki's plan for a rapid attack, which is why he proposed Kuroki as the commander of the Naoli Dispatch Army, among the generals in the army, Kuroki is good at attacking, but he doesn't want to not say that he didn't want to be captured, and he was counterattacked by the Shina Army, which is really unimaginable.

"Your Excellency, the Blackwood Army already has nine divisions, and if you want to increase your troops, you can't just rely on one port in Tianjin." Staff officer Koichiro Tachibana said. "This is bound to occupy Qinhuangdao, and to occupy Qinhuangdao, if you want to restore the port facilities, it will take a month and a half and two months. There are heavy rains from July to August every year in Zhili, and if the time is good, then the qiē can still be in time, if not, then the war will drag on until late August or even September. ”

"Isn't it possible to attack along the Beijing-Tianjin Railway?" Yusaku Uehara asked suddenly.

"Going north from the Beijing-Tianjin Railway is the shortest route, but it is also the most difficult. Although Zhili is a plain, but there are many rivers, there are many lakes, the terrain of Yangcun is extremely dangerous, in addition to the two sides of the lake and lake protection, there are many rivers on both sides of the lake and lake protection, if you want to occupy it when it is rainy in summer, it is impossible to occupy it in the case of almost equal troops. Tachibana Koichiro said, he only felt that the adults in the base camp must be dizzy, Manchuria is the best attack in autumn, and nothing can be collected in winter, while Naoli is the best attack in winter, and the rivers are crisscrossing in summer and autumn, and the route of attack is extremely limited.

As if feeling that Tachibana was right, Yusaku Uehara swept his eyes to the map, looked at it and looked, and if he only attacked north from Tianjin, he would have to go north along the railway, and if he didn't follow the railway, he could follow the official road on the west side of the North Canal. But it doesn't matter if it's a railroad or an official road. Its meeting point is in Yang Village. If you don't take Yangcun, you can't go north at all; And to take Yang Village. It is not possible to detour on the flanks, and only a strong attack can be carried out under the protection of lakes and rivers, and the long defense line in the northeast is solidified by the defense of the Zhina army, and the fifteen-kilometer defense line in front of Yangcun is not the iron bucket of the Zhina army?

If you don't take Yangcun, you can only attack from east to west from Qinhuangdao, Funing, Lulong, Fengrun, Jixian, Sanhe, and Tongzhou. Although it is possible to occupy Tangshan along the railway from Tianjin and attack the flank of the defenders of Qinhuangdao in China, it is possible to occupy Qinhuangdao and Lulong and other places lightly. But to the west of Fengrun, it is not so easy to fight, especially this road is already at the foot of Yan Mountain, although the mountain is gentle, the mountain is scattered, but this is more dangerous than other places, especially Jixian County, although it is only 90 kilometers away from Beijing, but it has been an important place since ancient times. Is it really that easy to capture?

The chief of staff's gaze wandered west of Fengrun, especially staring at Jixian County in a daze, Tachibana Koichiro immediately said: "Your Excellency, the whole of Beijing can pass the road of the army in the summer. In addition to the Jinjing line, there is only the Baoding line and the Qinhuangdao Jixian Tongzhou line. Baoding is far away from Tianjin, deep into the interior of China. Although there is a direct railway to Beijing, there is no major road connecting it with Tianjin. It is not advisable here; And Qinhuangdao, Jixian, Tongzhou line, although there is no railway. But since the Qin is the gallop road, the Qing Dynasty is the emperor to worship the ancestors of the royal road, repair every year, the road width is more than ten meters, and extremely flat, even if the branch here is also a strong wall clear, the bridge on the royal road is removed, we can also rebuild, and there is no big river in this direction.

As for Jixian County, known as Yuyang County in ancient times, the soldiers of China mostly respected it as a winning enemy, but their starting point was to consider the defense of the border pass, and never imagined that the enemy army would attack from the sea side. From Tianjin, it occupied Tangshan along the Jingfeng line, then went north to Fengrun, and then went west to capture Jixian, Sanhe, and Tongzhou. As long as Tongzhou is captured, the defenders of the first line of Najin and Beijing are captured, and they will inevitably retreat to the outskirts of Beijing. For us, the key is that Yangcun is only 15 kilometers away, and the troops can't open it, and other places can open it, but the transportation is inconvenient, and there are too many rivers, once it floods, it will be besieged by floods like Mukden back then. ”

Tachibana Koichiro peeled off the cocoon, and gradually dispelled Uehara Yusaku's concerns, in his opinion, attacking Beijing is actually two roads, one is Tianjin to the north, this road can be in winter, but it is absolutely not possible in summer; The other is to go west along the ancient official road from Qinhuangdao, although this road is a little more dangerous, but it is indeed feasible.

"Can't you just build a railway and go north from Baodi?" Yusaku Uehara looked at the mountains on the ancient official road, and he was still very uneasy.

"Your Excellency, Baodi must not be able to." Tachibana Koichiro shook his head when he heard Takatsu. "There are always floods in this county every July, last year, and the year before. Our army will have to cross many rivers when it enters Beijing from Baodi, and the Chinese army will resist step by step, and when the flood occurs a month later, not only will it not be able to attack, but the railway will also be washed away.

Your Excellency, the stupidest way is the safest way, although the official road is farther, and it is more dangerous, but this road has been walked by the people for thousands of years, and it is the safest. Judging from the current situation, the North China China Army is extremely strong and tenacious, and if it wants to occupy Beijing, it will have to wait until winter to be sure. ”

Tachibana Koichiro's words, finally moved Uehara Yusaku, after consulting with Oyama Iwa, that night, a long telegram was sent to Tokyo, a few days later Tokyo called back, Lushun Second Army handed over to Fukushima Yasuma command, the former army commander Okubo Gong moved to Tianjin, specifically responsible for the command of the Qinhuangdao front-line troops, and the 4th, 10th, 13th, and 16th divisions under the command of Kuroki were established to form the Second Army of the Zhili Dispatch Army, commanded by Okubo Gong. Before Ao Baogong arrived, the unit had already drawn its camp north and captured Tangshan, while the 8th Army He Zhaoxian wanted to resist, but retreated directly to Fengrun under the order of the General Staff. Sure enough, after He Zhaoxian retreated to Fengrun, the Japanese army did not immediately attack north, but occupied Qinhuangdao with the navy and began to clean up and rebuild the harbor.

In the plan of the General Staff, there were only two routes for the Japanese army to attack Beijing, one was the direction of Beijing and Tianjin, and the other was the direction of Tangshan Fengrun. The former is the Tianjin port as a logistical support, and the latter is supported by Qinhuangdao, as long as the railway rail is laid between Tangshan and Fengrun, then the Japanese army's war materials, heavy artillery, etc. can be transported to the eastern front, and the royal road left by the Manchu Qing Dynasty is really extremely convenient for the army, if the road is paved with a rail, then the traffic conditions are not much worse than the Tianjin-Beijing railway on the southern line.

The Japanese army's move to increase the eastern front made the Chinese people, who were supposed to be excited about the victory at Yangcun, begin to worry, and many people even began to complain about the Manchus, if they did not want to worship their ancestors, this road would not have been built so well, so that it would be used by the enemy.

Seeing such comments, Yang Rui just wanted to laugh, but the Chinese people still only dared to kill the tiger, and the live tiger did not dare to touch it at all. If it weren't for the restrictions of the great powers, Dagukou, Junliangcheng, and Tianjin would not have been so easily occupied by the Japanese army, and it was precisely because of the restrictions of the Xinchou Treaty that the Fuxing Army had to retreat and defend Yangcun. But even so, the envoys of the great powers had nothing to do, and they had to take note that today it was the revival army that sabotaged the railway, and tomorrow it was the shells that fell outside Tianjin, anyway, it was not very annoying.

The great powers are all trivial matters for the time being, but the biggest thing in front of Yang Rui now is what to do because more than one million people have moved out of the Jianbi Qingye? Unlike the Northeast, Liaodong is originally mountainous, and there are many uncultivated places in the Northeast, so you can plant new fields with enough farm tools prepared before. After filling up the workers of the Kaiping coal mine, the new coal mine in Shanxi also stuffed some people in, but this is only a small head, and the others don't know where to arrange.

"I think it's better to build a reservoir." Wu Tongju, director of the Department of Water Resources, said. "In addition to planting trees, the upstream still has to build a reservoir, so there will be no floods every year. There are reservoirs that can still store water, and when there is a dry day, the fields can be watered, and the people do not ask for rain. ”

"I think it's okay to build roads and railways." Sheng Xuanhuai of the Ministry of Transport said that his beard was all white, but his spirit was strong.

"In my opinion, many infrastructure projects in Shanxi Industrial Park have not been completed, and there are many people who need to complete them." Xu Huafeng of the Ministry of Industry said.

"Actually, there are few people in the northwest, and those people who have no land can still immigrate there. Life is definitely better than living in Zhili. Tao Chengzhang of the Ministry of Agriculture said. Yin'an Hall had no taste, and as soon as he sat down, the whole room turned sour, and unlike everyone else, he still wore straw sandals.

After a few people finished speaking, they all looked at Yu Huizu in the household department with their eyes. Last year's budget has been arranged, and now more than one million people always have to be supported, but they can't be raised in vain, they always have to work, and cash-for-work is the best way, so I don't know which department this work belongs to.

Yu Hui Ancestor God of Wealth is used to it, he doesn't care about other people's eyes, and the old god has been sitting there, as if today's events have nothing to do with him.

"Brother Hanzhang, is there any money in the household department?" couldn't wait any longer, Yang Rui could only ask for money.

"Ahh What kind of silver do you want? Yu Huizu came back to his senses and was a little stupid.

"It is better to arrange the people's money in cash, but it is better to pay for work, but in addition to labor money, it is also necessary to pay for materials. Whether it is building reservoirs, roads and railways, infrastructure construction, or immigration, there is always money. Can the household department withdraw the money now? Yang Rui asked.

"Nope." In the expectant eyes of everyone, Yu Huizu didn't think about it and refused.

"Really?" Yang Rui didn't give up asking.

"No, the last penny has been arranged, and now the money for buying porridge for the people is diverted from other places." Yu Huizu said, very sincere, "Those people in the General Staff don't know how to save money, I heard that the tsunami in Tianjin used 800 tons of explosives, and one million yuan was gone all of a sudden, which is too expensive." ”

As soon as he said the tsunami in Tianjin, Yang Rui sweated heavily, it was not 800 tons of explosives, but more than 1,350 tons, and 1 million was the factory cost price. He sweated and said: "That's also a real thing, at least this time it's verified, whoever wants to go ashore from Dagu has to weigh it." Besides, it also calmed the hearts of the people in the capital Zhili. ”

Yang Rui said this, Yu Huizu didn't mention it again, but he said: "Actually, can the debt of the United States be borrowed again?" The U.S. minister visited me two days ago and said he could help us issue war bonds. It takes money to fight a war, and the construction of various ministries is ...... Ahem, ahem, we also need money, and since Americans are willing to borrow money, let's borrow more. (To be continued......)