The first month of the month is already twenty-five, but the moonlight after the snow stops is very bright, and the night sky inlaid with crescents is dotted with stars. Under the starry sky, the cavalry battalion ran a short distance to the east, and when it entered a small hill through a forest, it saw the Japanese infantry marching densely on the white snow a few miles ahead. When everyone saw the Japanese soldiers all over the mountains, they all gasped all of a sudden, there are too many people! Although there were many people when they mixed with the Russian cavalry, everyone led the way in the front, and never looked far to see the whole army marching, and now they saw the Japanese moving in the moonlight like a forest, which made everyone startled.

Zheng Lanting was also shocked by the scale of the Japanese, he touched his nose and said, "Damn, how many people have to be here?" Big enough nose to drink a pot. ”

Xiang Xiang just wanted to see if the Japanese were really coming, he estimated that if Japan wanted to attack Misichchenko's flank, it would take at least one division of troops, and when he saw Zheng Lanting asking, he said: "I can't see clearly, we can't see the place on the hillside, it is estimated that there are still people, there should be more than 10,000." ”

Xiang Xiang was talking, and more than a hundred cavalry suddenly rushed over in the distance, and Liu Dachun next to him shouted, "The devil cavalry is here." Do you want to catch up? ”

Xiang Xiang just wanted to see the Japanese soldiers, and he didn't mean to fight them, he looked at the Japanese cavalry rushing under the moonlight, and said, "Withdraw." Remove! Then he turned the horse's head and went back and forth.

Xiang Xiang ordered, and the others also ran back. Although they retreated, the Japanese cavalry running in the distance pursued them until Xiang Xiang and them sank into the dark woods, and then they stopped by their horses. The 2nd Cavalry Wing of the 2nd Division of the 2nd Division that pursued Xiang Xiang and them, this night attack was cut off by cavalry, and the Japanese army's reinforcement of the left flank was a very secret thing, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th divisions were all marching at night.

Look at the woods where the enemy riders are hidden. Kawasaki Nakasa breathed a sigh of relief, and the adjutant next to him asked, "Your Excellency, are we ......?"

Kawasaki Nakasa raised his hand to stop the adjutant's words, "The direction the other party is not where the Russian army is located, and they didn't shoot a warning when they saw us, so they shouldn't be Cossack cavalry...... Let's go back, the battle is about to begin. ”

The night's march did not exhaust the Japanese troops, and on the eve of dawn, the 2nd Division entered Dongsanjiazi. The Russian guard posts did not make much difference, and by the time their guns rang out, the enemy had already touched the edge of Zhuangzi, and after a hurried run, countless Japanese troops rushed into Zhuangzi. The sudden attack caught the Russian army at a loss. They didn't know how many Japanese rushed in, but they felt shouts of killing everywhere. Many were stabbed to death with bayonets in tents without clothing. And more Russian troops began to flee, and those with and without horses were scattered in all directions. Lieutenant General Misichchenko could not figure out the situation in a hazy way, and he judged that no less than 10,000 Japanese troops were attacking him, so he escaped from Zhuangzi with a wolf under the protection of the guard battalion.

Compared to Misichchenko's luck, Lieutenant General Rusanov of the 14th Division was more unlucky. Unlike the 2nd Division, which came urgently, the 8th Division had a lot of artillery, and while the surprise attack was carried out, the Japanese artillery followed behind the infantry and continued to shell the Russian troops in front. Lieutenant General Rusanov was unfortunately hit by the sparse Japanese artillery fire, and his headquarters was completely routed by the rest of the 8th Division, and thousands of Russian troops were captured.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the news of the collapse of all the Russian troops in the east reached the headquarters of the independent army, and Colonel Madlidov rushed over the orderly soldiers very excitedly, and woke up Yang Rui, who was sleeping soundly: "Wang, get up, something is wrong!" Wang, the Japanese are coming! ”

The colonel shouted loudly, he was actually very panicked, the Russian army rout who fled to Hetuozi did not know how many Japanese soldiers there were, they were awakened in their sleep by the shouts of the Japanese who broke in, even if they escaped, these people were still very panicked, and the number of Japanese troops was mostly speculation, most people said that the Japanese army had tens of thousands, and a more outrageous major said that they had more than 100,000 people. 100,000 people is not a small number, you must know that the Second Army is less than 100,000 people, if there are really 100,000 Japanese troops coming towards him, then with the independence army of 10,000 elites and 10,000 peasants, it will not be able to stop.

In the shaking of Madelidov, Yang Rui woke up very reluctantly in a dream, who called himself a mercenary now, he asked: "Did the Japanese call?" Captain. ”

"Yes. Rusanov's 14th Division in front has already collapsed, and the Japanese are coming towards us, they have 100,000 men! The Colonel's face was as anxious as constipation.

Yang Ruitong had already known about the movement of the Japanese army, and he was not nervous at all, but said, "Colonel, if they had 100,000 people, then we would have been surrounded by them a long time ago." Don't be nervous, I estimate that there are only about 20,000 of them at most. You go to the war room first, I'll come over when I get up. Let's discuss what's next. ”

Yang Rui's calmness made Madlidov feel a little calm, and he immediately rushed to the war room, where Leo was already there.

The Japanese army's surprise attack was different from what Yang Rui had thought before, he thought that they would start attacking after dawn, but the fact was that they launched a white-edged night attack before dawn, and as for the strength of the attack, it was not as he expected, basically more than 20,000 people from the newly transferred Second Division and the rest of the Eighth Division. Yang Rui knew that the Japanese were reinforcing before, and he didn't mean to remind the Russians at all, and now that the Russian army is broken, he has no intention of going to the rescue. Several people discussed in the war room for a long time, and the only result was to retreat, not only the previous ambush troops had to retreat, but even the headquarters had to withdraw from Hetuozi to Sumabao.

At twelve o'clock at noon, the battle line stabilized again, the 1/4 arc of the leftmost flank of the Japanese army, the top of Li Datun, Hanshantai, and Shendanbao were still in the hands of the Japanese army, and the bottom of the arc was in the hands of the Russian army. At the top of the offensive arc were the Russian 15th Division and the 10th Army, and the defending ones were the 3rd and 5th Divisions, except for the Riqiushan Detachment, which had disappeared completely; At the lower end of the arc, the offense and defense were different, attacking the remnants of the Japanese Eighth Division and the Second Division, and defending Yang Rui's Independent Army and the remnants of the 14th Division of more than 7,000 people. As for the scattered Missichenko cavalry corps, the five families in the rear of the battle line were regrouped, and the cavalry corps suffered relatively small losses, with an estimated loss of only more than 2,000 men. The troops of more than 23,000 men had gathered more than 18,000 people at noon, but because of the panic that escaped before dawn, many baggage, especially horses, were captured by the Japanese, and of these nearly 20,000 Cossack cavalry, there were less than 15,000 cavalrymen who could really fight.

30,000 against 20,000 Yang Rui is not afraid, although he has such a burden as the second division, but Sumabao, Sanjianpao, and Tong Erbao have been repairing fortifications, and it is impossible for the Japanese army to enter without killing 20,000 or 30,000 people. In the headquarters of Sumabao, he put the order urgently sent by the headquarters of the group army to hold his position lightly on the table. In his opinion, the Japanese have been reinforcing a large number of people, and this battle has ended, and it is difficult to achieve anything by relying on the strength of the Second Division alone, especially Shendanbao has not been taken until now.

"Colonel. I'm not worried about the Japanese on the other side, even if they come with another division. We can still hold on. It's Your Excellency the General, what is he going to do next? Now it seems that Shen Danbao cannot be taken, does our previous plan still make sense? Yang Rui said, "The Japanese reinforcements are all mobilized from the front, and at this time, as long as the Third Army on the front is slightly pressed in the middle, the Japanese are estimated to collapse." ”

"Yes, exactly." The colonel said. Then he became agitated, "Your Excellency the General has raised this issue with the General Headquarters, but the coward said that the Japanese began shelling the Third Army last night. They're about to attack. He's a little! There's no intention of launching an attack at all! ”

Yang Rui glanced at Leo when he heard this, and smiled in his heart, but said on his lips, "That's really a pity, even if we can stay here, it's meaningless." ”

"No, king." The colonel still did not give up, "General Missichko's cavalry corps is still gathering, and he told me before that he wanted to make a counterattack against this sneak attack of the Japanese. ”

Seeing that the colonel was still thinking about the dream of defeating the Japanese on the left flank, Leo said, "Colonel, the situation of Missichchenko is not very good, and even if he can organize an army, but the Japanese have built whole fortifications in the field, I don't think his cavalry can play a role." I think the only thing he can do is go to the wolf's cave ditch to make trouble, but that is very limited. The Japanese and the large forces were not far away, and the logistics line was not important to them. ”

Leo rarely spoke, but his opinion still carried a lot of weight in Colonel Madlidov's heart. The colonel moved his mouth, but could not say anything, in his opinion, this attack was the best opportunity to oust Kuropatkin, but now it seemed that he had a good chance because of his own carelessness. "Damn it!" The colonel scolded, his fists clenched heavily on the table.

Madlidov's anger did not help, and Yang Rui had little interest in the infighting of the Russians, and he quickly forgot about the conversation and turned his mind to the Independence Army. The supply of personnel and materials after the war was extremely important. The material may be easy to get, and I have to replenish it alone, that is, mortar shells and flying thunder artillery shells, and there are enough workers in Tonghua, as long as they are transported over, there is no way for the personnel for a while, and now more than 4,000 people have been lost in the two major wars, although this includes the losses of the second division and five regiments, but now the first division is estimated to be less than 10,000 people.

Where are you going to get people? Yang Rui was distressed, there were not many recruits recruited because of officers before, but now after the first battle, he lost more than 3,000 people, and he wanted to replenish but there was no supplement, he knew that he would recruit tens of thousands of people last autumn, so he would not have enough troops now.

"Send a report to Tonghua and let the recruitment of new recruits be expanded over there, and it is best to go to the wooden shed area to see if you can recruit as many people as you can, as long as the people are qualified." Yang Rui said to the correspondent. He is a little anxious now, afraid that he will not have enough manpower in the future.

"Yes! Commander. After the correspondent wrote the telegram, it was handed over to Yang Rui for review, and Yang Rui read it before signing it. After the correspondent left, Yang Rui said to Leo again: "Maybe I was too conservative before, and I would have recruited more people if I knew about it." ”

Leo agrees with this, but he also expected to go the elite route before. "The number of soldiers is already quite large. Of the 23,000 soldiers, 13,000 were on our side, and the other 10,000 men, except for the 8,000 men of the 1st Brigade, the rest were unwilling to help the Russians fight. Yang, we can only hope that the next batch of recruits will complete their training. ”

"What's next?" Yang Rui shook his head. "It's too slow. Now in this weather, there is too little time to train outdoors. If you want to train well, you will have to wait until at least May. Now, if the Japanese attack, we will lose a lot of men, and it is estimated that we will have one brigade left after this battle, thank God. ”

Yang Rui only felt that his identity had become a businessman again, constantly calculating between costs and benefits. It's just that, unlike business, any victory on the battlefield comes at a price that cannot be replenished, at least for a short period of time. It seems that the only way to get the idea is to hit the second division, the Kwantung detachment originally had nearly 20,000 people, and when they were sent to Mukden to participate in the exhibition, many old and weak had already been eliminated. The current 10,000 people are a good source of soldiers, but what about those original Russian officers, how can they be bypassed?

Just as he was thinking about how to dig the corner of the second division better and faster, the cannon outside rang out, and the Japanese army was attacking the previous headquarters, Hetuozi. Although the snowy night march made the soldiers tired. However, the victory won on the eve of dawn greatly demoralized the Japanese army, especially after knowing that the Qing horse thieves were defending in front. After a little rest after the 2nd Division. It's going on the offensive again. The cannon rang out for a while, but Yang Rui heard the sound of large-caliber artillery mixed with it, and he exclaimed, "It can't be ......."

Leo also heard it at this time, nodded and said: "It's Rusanov's siege artillery company, and yesterday he transferred this company to the front line to attack the Japanese army." Now the artillery of this company has been captured by the Japanese. ”

It is unimaginable to feel the 40-kilogram shells fired by the 150mm guns on the head, especially since these artillery pieces were originally intended to be handed over to the Independence Army, but now they have become a siege weapon in the hands of the Japanese. "Fuck it!" Yang Rui scolded. A fist slammed into the table and shook everything on it, after which he got up and hurried out the door, shouting: "Madlidov! Madelidov! ”

When Yang Rui was looking for Colonel Madlidov to settle accounts, Cheng Zhiyan got up from the snow, and just now a large-caliber cannon fell in the house not far from the trench, blowing up the tiles and wall mud everywhere, next to Lu Mengxiong pulled down the fur hat on his head and shook the dust, and accidentally said again: "Book that, what kind of cannon is this?" It's too Herning! ”

"What cannon? Siege artillery of the Russians. Cheng Zhiyu was relatively calm, "Damn, I didn't have a chance to see it before, but now I do." I guess the fortifications won't be able to withstand it. "In winter, the fortifications are too difficult to repair, and it is difficult to find quality for scale, especially without cement, wood and soil alone are not reliable.

Lu Mengxiong's face was on the side when he heard this, he knew this kind of artillery, he hurried back to the command post, and when he arrested someone, he asked, "Where is Lao Lin?" What about Lao Lin? Where did the death go? ”

When everyone shook their heads and said they didn't know, Lin Songjian walked in outside the house, "What's the matter, I'm not dead yet?" ”

Lu Mengxiong grabbed him and said: "The little devil's siege cannon is too powerful, what to do, the fortifications may not be able to withstand it." ”

Lin Songjian looked calm, he is a native of Fujian, and he is also a first-term student, but he is the commander of the engineer battalion, "What can I do, the position will not be strong without cement, and the current way can only boil water." You'd better go and comfort the barren green (sweet potatoes) of the Second Division, it's about to blow up the camp. ”

Except for the First Division, Lu Mengxiong's other troops were all croppers of the Second Division, and it was okay to shoot in peacetime, but once the artillery was fired, they panicked, especially the Sixth Regiment, which was beaten by artillery when it surrounded and annihilated the Fourth Brigade last time, and was afraid when they heard the sound of artillery. When Lu Mengxiong heard this, he hurriedly went out again, but when he came to the door, he asked again: "What do you mean by boiling water, now you want to prevent artillery." ”

"See for yourself, and you'll know when you see it." Lin Songjian ignores him, he is a depressed character, and he has never been calm and never excited.

Seeing Lin Songjian say this, Lu Mengxiong didn't care about him, just hurriedly went out and walked along the trench to the front line. On the way, he saw that the sapper battalion was demolishing the houses again, and then setting up pots and boiling water everywhere, and when he was wondering, he saw that the sappers kept carrying the boiled hot water to the trenches, and then, with the assistance of the soldiers, the water kept pouring on the trenches, and after a while it formed a thick ice. It seems that there is really a way, Lu Mengxiong thought.

As soon as Lu Mengxiong arrived at the front line, Wang Shouyi, the deputy commander of the first battalion, came up, Lu Mengxiong was not polite, and asked, "How is the situation of those people in the second division, I heard that the battalion is going to be bombed?" ”

Wang Shouyi was about to reply, but a heavy artillery shell fell in the trench more than 100 meters away, setting off a piece of dirt and broken wood, and as soon as the dust fell, he heard a chaotic scream from there, and after a while, many people ran out of the anti-artillery hole, Lu Mengxiong saw this, and immediately rushed over.

Although the cannon just now did not hit the anti-artillery hole, it shocked the Maozi officer outside the cave entrance to death, and the soldiers of the six regiments, who were already frightened birds, wanted to retreat, the farther away the better. As soon as Lu Mengxiong waved his hand, the accompanying guard squad stopped this person, he pulled out his pistol and fired two shots into the sky, shouting: "Who dares to go!" Lawfully kill on sight! ”

In a hurry, I saw the senior official, and these soldiers who wanted to run immediately withered, but they didn't dare to go back to the position, so dozens of soldiers who ran in front knelt on the ground and begged for mercy loudly, "Spare your life, spare your life, this cannon is too powerful, we are afraid, we are not soldiers......" (to be continued......