Seeing that Xu Jingxi intended to let Lu Mengxiong go, Li Erhu smiled all over his face, and said vigorously, "Don't worry, don't worry." Yes, there is nothing wrong with the head of the regiment. ”

Lu Mengxiong and the new battalion were in a stalemate in the snow for a long time, until it snowed heavily in the sky, Lu Mengxiong ordered the soldiers to disband, Lu Mengxiong was very calm after the anger and anxiety, he just wanted to sleep well, and then go through the next battle to get a good look at these soft eggs, after making up his mind, Lu Mengxiong asked Li Erhu for five or six officers, so he casually found a tent to sleep. Seeing that Lu Mengxiong was asleep, Li Erhu relieved himself and left with a machine gun.

When Lu Mengxiong was recuperating and preparing for the next battle, the confrontation between the Second Army and the General Headquarters was raging on the telephone line, in the opinion of the commander-in-chief Kuropatkin, the Japanese army in the central position was constantly shelling the Russian position, and the Japanese barracks were often cars in and out, as if they were preparing for a large-scale attack, of course, this was only seen from the Russian position, but Kuropatkin's other intelligence sources, because there was no harmonious relationship with the Qing people, so, there was no other intelligence supportIn view of the bombing of the railroad and the belated arrival of the European armies, Kuropatkin decided that the Second Army should be halted and the Tenth Army should be withdrawn back to strengthen the Third Army in the central position.

In the opinion of General Billy Gellinger of the Second Army, now that the Japanese army has transferred the strength of several divisions to prevent its own attack on their flank, then the strength of the Japanese central defense line must be reduced, and at this time, as long as the Third Army in the center, or the First Army on the other side, launches a large-scale offensive, then it will be easy to break through the Japanese defense line, as long as the Russian army breaks through the Japanese defense line in any place. Then take advantage of the situation to rush forward, and the entire Japanese army will collapse immediately, that is, if it is not completely annihilated by the Russian army, then it will also be driven to the sea, and at most rely on the support of the Japanese Navy to barely resist the Russian army.

In all fairness, although General Billy Gellinger is old, no matter how old he is, he is still a regular officer, not just a staff officer like Kuropagent, who only dares to think but dare not do it, because any choice will abandon other options. Kuropagent, who was born as a staff officer, did not have such courage, while General Billy Gellinger had such courage, but it was the staff officers, not the generals, who decided the situation. So when the Japanese pretended to attack, Kuropagent retreated. Or to back down from seeing Billy Gellinger's results, of course. He didn't come forward on his own. Instead, he asked the chief of operations, Major General Ai Erut, to issue the order to "stop the offensive and retreat" to the headquarters of the Second Army, and the tough Billy Gerlinger pushed back this order, and then after a while, Major General Ai Erut called and told the reason for the order, and the two men debated on the phone whether to retreat to deal with the Japanese defense or to actively attack to suppress the Japanese on all fronts. Billy Gerlinger kept yelling as he spoke, and finally, when Major General Ai Erut said, "The Second Army's subsequent ammunition cannot be fully replenished," Billy Gerlinger was gently knocked down.

That night, Yang Rui received an order from the headquarters of the group army, the content of which was to "retreat." ”

Yang Rui took the telegram and asked Colonel Madlidov. "Colonel, what's going on?"

The colonel looked decadent and said: "The idea of the despicable conspirator, he wants to give the soldiers positions in exchange for blood to the Japanese. ”

Seeing the colonel gritting his teeth, Yang Rui knew that this order came from the General Headquarters, not a simple tactical retreat, when he received the telegram before, he thought that General Billy Gellinger was going to play a tactical retreat, and he wanted to put the Japanese army in to fight, he was very confused at that time, such a high-level tactic should not be something that the general's elm head could come up with, it turned out to be like this, it seems that this training is over, and the training will have to wait until the battle of Mukden.

Since this is the case, then retreat, Yang Rui said to Leo: "Inform the troops." Just follow the plan. "I had already made a retreat plan before, but Yang Rui didn't know when the Battle of Heigoutai would end this time.

Soon, the order to retreat reached the front, and Xu Jingxi, who was in charge of the front line, was also stunned when he saw the order, he thought that he would have to fight for a few more days before he finished work, but he didn't expect the battle to end so quickly. He immediately issued an order to the battalions of the 1st Regiment to take over the defensive positions immediately, and the plan was that the headquarters of the 2nd Division would retreat first, and the 3rd battalion of the 1st Regiment would be responsible for breaking the rear. The route of retreat was the route used by the previous regiment to attack the three-pointed bubble, and the efforts of the people for several days finally repaired this road, although it was not very smooth, but at least the artillery carriages could pass through guò.

Lu Mengxiong, who received the order, was talking to the soldiers of the newly formed battalion, in fact, it was better to say that it was a lecture than to scold, he would be stunned when he saw the order, and the new battalion was to enter the position in the second half of the night, but now he was still mobilized and was ordered to retreat, Lu Mengxiong stopped the signal soldier who sent the order, and said, "You are not mistaken." Is this a retreat? ”

The signal corpsman knew the temper of the regiment commander and did not dare not answer, so he said: "Yes, regiment commander, the order of the group army is to retreat, so ......"

Lu Mengxiong rubbed the paper on which he wrote the order in his hand, he was very angry, but he was very impatient, he still wanted to pull this ticket to the battlefield and toss it, who knew that the sky was not as good as people wanted. It's really spicy next door! He reluctantly said to the soldiers in front of him, all companies and platoons should pay attention to their outfits and prepare to retreat at night.

The second-rate sons of the newly formed battalion thought that they would be brought to the battlefield by the killing god in front of them tonight, and then faced the Japanese army who was as crazy as last night, although they were unwilling, but none of them dared to disobey the order of the killing god, and when the big guy was determined to die, he suddenly heard the order to retreat, and the whole camp was silent for a while, and suddenly cheered, and some people immediately knelt down to worship the sky, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Amitabha Buddha and the like all came out.

Seeing them behave like this, Lu Mengxiong couldn't cry or laugh, he yelled, "Lizheng!" ”

The person who fell to the ground immediately stood up reflexively, and then returned to the camp under Lu Mengxiong's command. This group of people is really hopeless, Lu Mengxiong thought so, it is better to dismiss as soon as possible.

At the time when the Russian troops retreated on all fronts from Heigou Tai to Tong Erbao, in the headquarters of the Manchurian Army in Yantai, Major General Fukushima Yasumasa was briefing Chief of Staff Kodama on the situation of the Independence Army. For the newly released Luguo Independent Army, the entire Kodama Gentaro is very puzzled, where did this emerge from a strong army? actually ate two of his own brigades in a row. This has to make the whole person pay the highest attention to it. When the situation on the left flank was severe, Gentaro Kodama didn't have the heart to listen to the affairs of the Independent Army, and after the successful night attack of the Second Division and the Eighth Division yesterday and the safety of the left flank, he had the heart to listen to Fukushima talk about the Independent Army.

"Your Excellency," Fukushima said politely, "it is believed that the Independence Army of Lu Country was formed by the merger of two teams, one is the Horse Thief Mountain Sculpture Department that was entrenched in Liuhe County before, about 10,000 people, and the other is the Kwantung Detachment led by Zhang Zongchang in the rear of the Russian army. The leader was Zhang Zongchang, a native of Shandong, and this army originally maintained the railway in the Harbin area, and the number was about 20,000. According to intelligence, only a small part of the army had combat effectiveness, and when it was previously displayed in front of military attachés of various countries, it was time to attack. The attacking soldiers were not adequately trained, and they fled when they heard the sound of artillery. So I judge. In this army. The officers of the Lu Kingdom are the skeletons, while the Qing horse thieves are flesh and blood. As far as the situation of the Manchurian Volunteer Army is concerned, as long as the officers are brave and play an exemplary role, the combat effectiveness of the entire army will be greatly enhanced. ”

Fukushima Yasumasa's speculation is still very reasonable, at least on the part of the Japanese army, which has been verified. Although the training of the soldiers is very insufficient, as long as the officers command properly and can play an exemplary role, the beard will follow the officers to charge. In the officer brought several times. After the courage of the beards has been honed, then even if the officers do not charge, the beards dare to carry out the order. Kodama said: "Yubi Guangwei of the Eighth Division said that the news he received said that there were regular troops of the Qing State in the independent army of Lu Country, which seems to be not true. ”

"Aoki Tongguò has investigated his relations in Beijing, and it is now certain that there is no regular army of the Qing State participating in the Lu army, and Yubi's news is not correct. The patrol battalions in Heilongjiang and Jilin also did not have major transfers, so the abnormal combat effectiveness of the independent army still lies in the combination of horse thieves and Lu Guo officers. Fukushima said.

Kodama still agreed with Fukushima's speculation, and he nodded and motioned for him to continue. Seeing that the chief of staff recognized his speculation, Fukushima added, "Now that the Dongqing Railway has been bombed, the speed of the transfer of troops from Europe to Manchuria will be reduced, and there will be only four trains going south every day, but although the number of trains is reduced, as long as the Lu country implements this method, the number of troops in the country will increase by 30,000 to 40,000." ”

"Three to forty thousand?" Kodama was a little surprised, "Can there be so many?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Fukushima said, "In the last battle of Shahe alone, the Russian army lost 45,000 people, and the weapons of these soldiers can be handed over to the recruited Qing people, as long as there are so many officers in the Lu country, they can increase so many people in a short period of time." And according to the intelligence, there are now many carpenters on the other side of the Yalu River who have joined the army of the mountain carving, they are very dissatisfied with some of the policies of the empire, it is estimated that the number of carpenters in the Changbai Mountain area is about 100,000, and they are all unemployed now, and the Tonghua Railway Company will not officially start recruiting until April, so I am very worried that they will join the army of the Lu people. ”

The timber policy on the Yalu River was not entirely decided by the Manchurian Army Command, but was more determined by the attitude of the Japanese chaebols and the imperial family; wars, especially wars of aggression, were all made by sacrificing soldiers and making money by the chaebols, and those traitors confiscated the timber in the name of the Manchurian Army, and then changed their identities to sell the confiscated timber to the Manchurian Army.

Kodama didn't want to talk about the Yalu River wood, and asked, "What kind of person is the mountain carving, can he serve the empire like Feng Linge?" ”

"The real name of the mountain carving is Wang Qinian, and he is directly affiliated with the people. In the twenty-eighth year of the Meiji era, he left the Qing army to enter the mountains to pan for gold, and then because he and his accomplices failed to compete for the ore vein, he went into the mountains to become a horse thief, and the previous name was called to do a good job, and his troops were only more than 100 people, and it is said that he met a Taoist priest who helped him change his name to a mountain carving, and began to make it bigger. In the area of Changbai Mountain, only the Black Mountain Department of Huairen can compete with it. In addition, the last attack on the Imperial Obo military station was completed by the Yama Sculpture Division. ”

"Nani?" Kodama still has a deep memory of the previous attack on Kumatake Castle, especially since the Japanese army could only charge with white knives because of the explosion of the ammunition reserves, "Are they really them?" ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Major General Fukushima said: "This was revealed by the horse thieves on Huairen's side, and last month, the mountain eagle attacked their camp. They also snatched the Lu people they had captured before, and then the mountain eagle was bought by Colonel Madlidov of the Lu country and joined the Lu army. ”

"That's right." Kodama said, "It seems that it is impossible to buy them. ”

"Yes." Fukushima said, "But now the horse thief Black Mountain Demon on Huairen's side, he seems to want to take refuge with us now because he is with the Lu people because of the mountain carving." They reached out to us last month,"

Kodama knows the situation of the Black Mountain Demon, and this force that can independently exterminate the regular army of the Lu Kingdom has long been on the list of wooers, but the other party has always refused to see his own people. They seem to like to occupy their own territory, and no one pays attention to it, who knows that as soon as the mountain carving takes refuge in the country of Lu, they will also find a backer, and it can be regarded as a good bird to choose a tree to perch on. In contrast, the branch is the smallest revival army, which is only full of enthusiasm and has no pragmatic spirit at all. has repeatedly shirked their own efforts, but fortunately, their target is the Lu Guoren. Especially this time the Songhua River Bridge was bombed. It's their credit. God bless the Empire.

"And how many of them are there?" Kodama asked.

"They say they have 10,000 people."

"Ten thousand?"

"Yes, judging by the last time they wiped out the Lu army in Pingdingshan, they should have about five thousand people. At that time, the Lu army fled north in panic and then entered their ambush, and they had a kind of artillery similar to that used by the Third Army, and the range was very close. However, it is possible to fire shells very quickly, and these shells are less powerful than ordinary shells, and judging by the smoke from the shells, we speculate that they should be filled with black powder. However, these artillery pieces played a great role in eliminating the Lu army. "Fukushima's information mainly came from Hanada Nakanosuke, and he witnessed the entire battle with his own eyes that time, but what he didn't know was that it was already dark at that time, and many things about Hanada Nakanosuke were also guessed by himself.

"The artillery of the Third Army? Haha......" Kodama Gentaro laughed, the Third Army because of the trench warfare in Lushun and Luguo, so specially made a lot of wooden cannons, these cannons are made of broken hardwood, hollowed out the heart and then put together, in order not to blow up when the shells are fired, there are also a lot of ropes around the cannon body, although the artillery is simple, but the power is very limited, especially the range is only a few hundred meters, and some calibers are less than a hundred meters, which can be regarded as an urgent method for the soldiers of the Third Army.

Kodama finished laughing and said, "The poor have a poor man's way." If they have 10,000 people, then guns and ammunition are not enough. Now is not the era of black powder. ”

"Your Excellency, the Qing horse thieves often boast of their strength for the sake of face, according to the number of Lu Guo troops they have eliminated, they only have less than five thousand rifles, so it is unlikely that there are 10,000 people, there should be a brigade." Fukushima has been counting the number of Luguo troops eliminated by the Black Mountain Demon Tribe, and the result of the statistics is that the Luguo army eliminated by them is about 4,000 people, not more than 5,000 people, plus the civilian guns they can collect, so it is judged that their number is about one brigade.

"Having a brigade is also very helpful for us." Kodama said, "This is the third mobilization in the country, and we will have a decisive battle with the army of Lu Province next month." With more Qing horse thieves joining us, we can reduce the pressure on the main force. ”

Fukushima knew the importance of winning over this horse thief for the later battles, especially the losses of the Japanese army in continuous battles were very large, but now he has won over all the people he should have wooed, and the number of Manchurian volunteers has almost reached 30,000, and there is really no one to pull. However, his own people can't pull, he has a plan to dig the wall. He took out a plan from the Wen Jiàn folder he carried with him and handed it to Kodama, and then said, "Your Excellency, here is a plan, maybe it can disintegrate the Qing horse thief forces in the Lu Kingdom, and in addition, it can also investigate the leak of the base camp. ”

Hearing this, Kodama took it, looked at it carefully for a while, and then asked, "We don't have many armed forces in North Manchuria, if the plan is not successful, then ......?"

Fukushima Yasumasa said, "That's right. Your Excellency, but if the plan is successful, it will be of great help to the Empire. At present, the empire's army in Manchuria plus the third army in Lushun is only 160,000 people, and even if it is mobilized at home, it will not exceed 220,000 people, and many of them are reserves; And the army of Lu Guo now has 230,000 people, according to the supply speed of the railway, when the decisive battle is more than a month, then they are likely to exceed 270,000 people, if you add the horse thieves of the Qing State, then the gap between us and Lu Guo is too big, but as long as this plan can be realized, then the gap in numbers will not be so big. In addition, there is the leak incident on the Lushun side. We didn't catch the person involved, although a thorough investigation was done in Tokyo, but there was no result, according to the captured high-ranking officer of Lu Guo, the information seller Nikolai. Ivanovich. Zhang seems to have some connection with the mountain carving, and if you send someone to the mountain carving, you may be able to find some clues......"

After the occupation of Arthur, the Japanese finally knew why their attack was controlled everywhere, and the results of the investigation made the Japanese base camp panic, but there was no countermeasure, they had no idea what was going on. The Yan zhòng question finally made Kodama Gentaro make a decision, and he said, "Okay, then let's contact Aju." (To be continued......)