Whether there is war or not, the year always has to pass. In Xiuyan County, the Hebei Bangzi Troupe invited from Yingkou set up several platforms in front of the Guandi Temple, one played the rat to get married, the other played Zhang Fool on the street, and the other played Ye Zhichao to guard North Korea. The first two attendees were all comedies, and the people who watched it laughed and laughed, and the latter Ye Zhichao was not a festive play, but the General Political Department took into account the large number of Hui people in the Xiuyan area, and arranged a play in order to unite the people of all ethnic groups in the Han, Manchu and Hui, but it was watched by the most people, and the entire street in front of the temple was crowded, so that the military headquarters had to send people here to maintain order.

At noon, Zhengda under the snow was eating, but because the play was reaching its climax, the people around the stage just did not disperse, only to see the Qing army's main general Zuo Guigui ascend the Xuanwu Gate, and the spectators were all fascinated and applauded in unison. When everyone was cheering, in the headquarters of the 7th Army in Wenchang Pavilion in the south of the county seat, Li Shutong was holding a meeting with the three division commanders below.

Cao Zude, chief of staff of the army, said: "The southwest direction of the Anbong Line is garrisoned by the Japanese 1st Army, and a division is in the south of Dagu Mountain, blocking us in the area of Luoquanling; Another division was on the north side of the county on the east side of Huanghuadian on the east of Jiguan Mountain, and the 21st Division was facing the hat helmet mountain rock; The other two divisions were at Tongyuan Fort, approaching Motianling together with the 3rd Army. It can be said that with such an arrangement of the Japanese army, it is not difficult to eat the division in the south. It is not difficult because this division is deployed alone in Dagushan, and the nearest reinforcement to it is a wing of Andong Harbor, and the others are the Japanese troops stationed in Andong. These troops are closer to the wing guarding the harbor, but this is also fifty kilometers away, and they have to come over on this snowy day. There are no two days and one night that cannot be reached.

It is difficult to say that it takes more than 20 days to work, that is, the frozen soil has also been burned by the Japanese army. The fortifications of the Japanese army on the side of Gushan Town must have been built solidly, and we would not be able to dig out the trenches in a hurry; Let's talk about it for the convenience of action. We can only bring mountain artillery, and we will definitely not take advantage of the Japanese field artillery with mountain artillery; Then there are these days are windy and snowy days, although you can go along the ocean river out of the mountain, but the narrow road of the whistle river chestnut ditch out of the mountain is really not easy to walk, you have to walk 35 kilometers in one night, although you can rest for a day when you get to the big lonely mountain, but it is still enough to choke.

However, this battle is still worth fighting, and it is the Japanese Guards Division that is stationed in Gushan Town. The division commander, Takeliang Yamane, was a Japanese nobleman, and the previous division commander was a prince. In other words, this army is similar to our 4th Army, belonging to the Praetorian Guard, as long as it can be surrounded in Dagu Mountain, Dashan Rock will not be saved, and it will definitely be saved in a hurry, so this is our opportunity. The arrangement of the General Staff has always been rarely set to death, and when the time comes, if you feel that the Guards Division is not delicious. Then we can besiege the city and send reinforcements and eat up the Japanese troops who came to help from Andong. ”

"Dagushan is by the sea, what if the Japanese come up from the water?" Wu Rong, commander of the 20th Division, asked.

"The ocean river has frozen." Cao Zude said. "If they want to land, they can only land in the Bodhisattva Temple. When surrounding the Guards Division. We will first occupy that place, and destroy the Japanese soldiers who are guarding it. The rest depends on how you act, if you act well. The Japanese army was unguarded, and they could eat as many people as they came. As for reinforcements on land. You don't want me to teach you over there, do you? The place was full of mountains, and there were potholes. It's a good place for an ambush. ”

"Got it!" Wu Rong said that before retreating to Xiuyan, when he passed by the chair circle, he thought that if he could ambush in this place, as many Japanese could be killed and eaten.

"The general meeting gave us this task instead of the 4th Army, the key is that we have been professionally trained in snow warfare, are frost-tolerant, and can ski. Speaking of these armies in the country, the 1st Army is pressing us, and the 6th Army is coming down from us, so don't lose the people of the 7th Army when you go out! It was all the chief of staff who was talking, and the army commander Li Shutong did not speak until this time: "Although we have not fought such a large-scale mobile war or ambush war, the entire Liaodong is a mountainous area, and one million people are placed here, and there are still many free places." Winter is the world of our Northeast Army, and if we don't seize the opportunity to win a few battles, then I'm sorry for so many years of hard training. ”

"Understood, Commander!" Wu Rong and several division commanders immediately replied. The army commander has always been mild-mannered, and it is still very rare to say such heavy words, this time in the war against Japan, the entire front is moving for the 7th Army, and it will really be a shame to fight badly.

"Okay, I won't say anything more, I'll eat later, and I'll treat it as an early New Year's Eve. Set off at the beginning of the evening, and at dawn on the second day of the first month, you must launch an attack on the enemy of Dagu Mountain, and it is best to eat it, and if you can't eat it, you will besiege the city and send reinforcements. Uncle Li said.

"Yes, Commander!" Several division commanders shouted again, saluted and went out.

When the task was arranged at the southernmost end of the Eastern Front, Wu Peifu, commander of the artillery regiment of the 33rd Division, was holding a telescope at the Qingyi Mountain defense line in the northeastern section of Motianling, and was looking at the Japanese position opposite. Like their own trenches, the Japanese positions also arranged the barbed wire at the front end of the trenches, but because of the lack of logistics supply, the thickness of the barbed wire was only two layers, and the thin ones were up to six meters, and the trenches seemed to be only one.

"Regiment Commander, the devil's position is too thin." Wang Yongzhong, the commander of the artillery battalion next to him, said. "If we accidentally stab us, the revival group will say that we have done a bad job."

"Get to work!" Wu Peifu said. "Poke through or not, that's a matter of the top. What is the arrangement of the General Staff Headquarters, the division commander will understand. ”

Many old people in Beiyang in the army complained a little about the 11th Army being arranged in the easternmost position, but in Wu Peifu's opinion, there was nothing bad about this, and it was better to arrange it here than to arrange it to fight a tough battle on the front line of Motianling. The Japanese are said to have brought a large-caliber fortress cannon, that guy he saw it during the Russo-Japanese War, a cannon and a big pothole, it is simply not something that people can bear, and the Revival Society did not arrange for himself to go there to plug the cannon hole, which is already a great luck.

As soon as the regiment commander spoke, his subordinates stopped nagging, and after observing the layout of the Japanese trenches in the trenches, they retreated to a small hill behind the position to take a closer look at the entire Japanese defense line. Qingyi Mountain is in the southernmost part of the small plain where Kuandian County is located, guarding the main road in the northeast of Anbei, as long as you cross the Qingyi Mountain on the main road. Then the whole Kuandian will be in no danger to defend. The 33rd Division occupied Qingyi Mountain, and the Japanese 3rd Division on the opposite side occupied Maodian, two or three kilometers south of Qingyi Mountain. The defense line is set up in the area of Jiajiabao, Horn Ridge and Gulingzi. The nearest trenches of the two armies were less than a kilometer apart, and there was a hill and two ditches in the middle. In the first half of the month, both sides spent a lot of effort and killed a lot of people in order to grab the dwarf mountain bag in the center of the battlefield. At this time, it was occupied by the Japanese army, because the trench was really difficult to dig, and the Japanese army grabbed it and was blown back by its own artillery, and many people died in vain.

Wu Peifu saw Erdaogou in the telescope, and thought that he was harvesting the lives of Japanese soldiers there before, and his face smiled. Unlike Beiyang, the Baxing Army raised artillery to a key position in the entire division. And artillery officers and infantry officers are independent systems of non-interference with each other. If this kind of subordination relationship is placed in the old Beiyang, then the infantry artillery will have to be separated, but in the revival army, this makes the infantry artillery cooperate more closely, and while the infantry is in charge of the artillery, the artillery can also put forward some more professional opinions on the infantry attack and defense, so as to prevent the infantry commander from ordering the artillery to do things that cannot be done at all as soon as his brain is hot.

In addition to the improvement of the status of artillery, the training of artillery is also very different from before. Let's talk about shells, in the past, when Beiyang bought cannons, they all carried a thousand shells with one cannon. Although there are a lot of 1,000 shells, the training and combat are all in it, so it is necessary to use it sparingly, and the training in peacetime is to release empty artillery. I can only have a good time during the training. After the revival took over, the supply of artillery shells was released, and there was a lot of training in peacetime. After the first coordinated training of infantry artillery, the gunners all sighed that they had fought more guns in this time than in their lifetimes. The new dynasty is really fucking rich! Artillery is made by artillery. This is a sentence repeatedly said by the officers of the artillery regiment sent by the General Staff at that time, and now the artillery regiment has been practicing for so long. It's time to show your paws.

"The Japanese trench is thinly dug, there is only one, but this is only under the ridge of the mountain, I estimate that there is another one behind the ridge, but behind the ridge of the mountain, we can't see it, the artillery wants to completely destroy the one behind, it is still a little difficult, and the one can only rely on mortars advancing with the infantry." After some on-the-spot reconnaissance, Wu Peifu returned to the Kuandian Division Headquarters and briefed the division commander Cao Kun and two brigade commanders, Tang Tianxi and Zhang Hongkui, on the situation ahead.

"The barbed wire fence is also very thin, the average thickness is only about six meters, and the layout is very non-standard, the mesh type is not like the mesh type, the roof is not like the roof, messy, it is estimated that the Japanese have not studied how to arrange the barbed wire as carefully as we do. At present, after 4,000 meters of the enemy's trenches, our artillery needs 300 rounds of grenades to break through the width of a 10-meter mesh or roof-type barbed wire fence with a thickness of 10 meters, according to the artillery drill code.

At present, the breakthrough point chosen by our side is about 250 meters, but the barbed wire of the Japanese army is not thick, so if you calculate it, 200 rounds per 10 meters is enough, that is to say, 5,000 shells can completely guarantee that when the infantry rushes to the trench, the breakthrough will be completely opened. The 5,000 rounds were only aimed at the barbed wire, and some were to destroy the enemy's headquarters, trenches, and the like, and the whole artillery preparation was planned to use 10,000 shells, and the shelling time was one and a half hours, so that the artillery would open fire half an hour before dawn. ”

The artillery opened his mouth to be 10,000 shells, and the division commander Cao Kun was shocked when he heard it, he still did not change his concept from the old Beiyang, 10,000 shells are equivalent to 200 rounds per gun, this is just artillery preparation, if it was really a few days down, the 1,000 shells originally equipped with Beiyang would have been gone long ago.

"Good! Fuck it like that! Zhang Hongkui said. He is the brigade commander of the 332 Brigade, an old Beiyang background, and when he talks about doing Japanese, he is full of energy.

"The people up there aren't going to try to wipe us out." Tang Tianxi, the brigade commander of the 331 Brigade, said that he was just a guy in the bathhouse earlier, and he became his male favorite when he met Yuan Shikai, and then he soared all the way to the position of brigade commander. He failed several evaluations held by the General Staff Headquarters, but due to the previous agreement, his official position was retained.

"What is this called?" Cao Kun also didn't like Tang Tianxi, but because of Yuan Gong's affection, he also endured Tang Tianxi a lot, after all, he couldn't help but repay the kindness of the encounter. "If you really want to wipe us out, then throw us to the side of the Sky Ridge to block the cannon hole, why do you put us here?"

"I'm just talking." Yuan Shikai was dead after all, Tang Tianxi didn't dare to be as arrogant as before, and when he saw Cao Kun speak, he had to go down.

"The General Staff asked us to be the first to open fire, which was to look up to our 33rd Division, although it was just a feint. It also has to be played really, if it is played smoothly at the bottom. It's best to be able to get close to Anton; If you can't get close to Anton, see if you can occupy Maodian on the other side of the mountain. 10,000 shells were gone in less than an hour. This is more than 100,000 taels of silver, so you always have to get something back. "Cao Kun's mentality is cannonballs, he used to sell cloth and sell them, and although he is the commander of a division at this time, his thrifty habits still can't be changed." Eighteen years ago, when I was under the Yijun Qingshuai, I fought a battle with the Japanese on the Yalu River, and we lost at that time, and we can't lose again this time, and we will start fighting tomorrow. If anyone disobeys military orders, don't say that Lao Tzu is unsympathetic! ”

With a click, Cao Kun slapped the pistol on the table, making the hearts of everyone in the seats jump: Cao San's fool is going to be real this time.

At the moment of the meeting of the 33rd Division, Lieutenant General Okaichi Nosuke, the commander of the 3rd Division on the mountain side, was on the front line to inspect the front. Vientiane is renewed, and the New Year's Day is still according to the old practice of ancient China.

"What are the recent movements of the Chinese army on the other side?" The division commander Okaichi did not forget the military situation and deliberately went to the front line trenches to observe the opponent's position. It's just that unlike before, after the commander of the 6th Brigade was killed by a sniper from China. Japanese officers had to sacrifice honor to save their lives. At this time, the division commander's red circle hat had been replaced by an ordinary yellow circle hat by the adjutant, and the fur coat on his body was also a color with the collar badge removed. And he observed very carefully, looked a little and lowered his body.

"Report to Your Excellency. There was no movement in the Chinese army. "Wing Commander Okano Osa did not smile at the actions of the division commander, who died beside him in the first place. The brains that exploded in his head splashed his face. At present, all the soldiers on the front line do not dare to poke their heads over the upper edge of the trenches, and the only thing that can really reconnoiter the enemy's situation is the artillery observation balloons flying in mid-air.

"Your Excellency, the banner of the troops stationed on the opposite side is the 33rd Division of China, and the predecessor of this force is the 3rd Town of the Beiyang Army. The division commander is Cao Kun, and the artillery commander is our old acquaintance Wu Peifu, who was once assigned by Yuan Shikai to the northeast to support our army's detective intelligence during the Rilu War. Chief of Staff Tokuzaburo Yoshihashi said.

"Did you send someone to contact him?" When Okaichi Nosuke heard that it was actually the third town in Beiyang, he immediately asked. He knows that the people of China are very affectionate and righteous, as long as they can form brothers with the Beiyang Army, even if they do not take refuge, they will do nothing or do less to hinder their actions, so as to show that they are not ruthless and unrighteous people, in the final analysis, it is still the heart of the people of the people who only have love and self-interest, and no country.

"There were." Wing Captain Michichi Okano. "After the misfortune of the brigade commander, our army sent a letter to Cao Kun, and also sent a letter to Wu Peifu with Wu Peifu's previous boss, Morita Liyuan Dazuo, but the former did not reply, but Wu Peifu replied. He said that he was not in favor of sniper warfare, but he was not a sniper commander and could not order them to stop this disgraceful act of warfare, and he finally stood in the position of his friends and suggested that all our officers remove their collar badges and wear ordinary soldiers' military caps, so that they can be exempted from the sniper sniper attack. ”

"Oh." When the division commander, Lieutenant General Okaichi Nosuke, heard this, he only sighed, in fact, the army has long known this, but every officer regards honor as life, and many officers are worried that once the officer's identification is removed, it will not be able to effectively command the troops, so the matter is discussed and stopped.

"You should strengthen your ties with Wu Jun!" Lieutenant General Okaichi sighed and commanded again. "In China, people who have read books are very concerned about their name, and in order to protect their reputation and not be accused by their friends, they often inadvertently betray the country for the sake of affection. In the past, we made good use of this every time we fought, but now that the Yang clan of the Fuxing Society is in power, it is trying its best to change this situation, and now there are not many people who can be used by us, and Beiyang is estimated to be the last group. ”

"Hay!" The division commander emphasized this point, and the chief of staff and the wing commander all shouted the order. Wing Captain Okano Osaku said: "We have sent them a New Year's gift, and when they return the gift in the afternoon, they will bring back a message to advise us not to leave the camp in the next few days, so as not to be able to see friends in the future." ”

"Nani?" The commander of the division, Lieutenant General Okaichi Nosuke, was shocked, "Is the Shina Army going to attack?" ”

"Possibly." Okano Daisado. Otherwise, the reply would not have said so. Coupled with the observation of the position in China in the past few days, it seems that the arrangement of the rear of the position in China has also been adjusted, and combined with this message, it is estimated that they will attack in the next few days. ”

"And how big was the attack? Is it an attack by a division on the opposite side, or an attack by the entire Chinese army? The division commander stared at Okano Osaku and asked, he suddenly felt that the situation was a little strict.

"Your Excellency, the commander of the reporting division, Wu Peifu did not respond after we wrote again, and the weather has been bad in the past few days, and the balloon cannot see the entire Zhina position." Okano Daisado. "Now the staff officers are still observing ......"

"What else to observe, this situation must be reported immediately!" The division commander, Nosuke Okaichi, shouted. The Wing Commander didn't know what was going on on his side, but he knew it. Although I don't know the specific number of the Chinese army, I only have more than 110,000 people in seven divisions on Anton's side. Because of transportation restrictions, the 3rd Army has not been fully staffed, and the follow-up 5th Army has only arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, and it will take about ten days to rush all over, so it can be said that now is the weakest time for the Manchurian Army.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency." Called by the division commander, Okano Daisa was suddenly startled, he just regarded the reply from the other side as a small piece of advice, and he didn't want to be so involved.

"Tonight, the 6th Brigade withdrew from the first line of trenches and moved to the second line of trenches, and at least one brigade should be on duty at night to prevent the White Blade Sneak Attack of the Chinese Army at night. If the Chinese army breaks through the position, the brigade must hold on to the last man. Okaichi no Suke ordered, and then threw away the soldier's hat on his head and hurried back to Anton.

Two hours later, the news of the recent offensive of the Chinese Army reached the headquarters of the Manchurian Army, and the chief of staff, Isamu Uehara, immediately summoned a meeting of the people to discuss the matter.

"Gentlemen, Wu Peifujun of the Zhina Army warned us not to go out of the camp in the next few days, in case our friends will not be able to see each other in the future. Okaichi-kun believed that this was a harbinger of a large-scale offensive by the Chinese army, and built a proper contraction of the defensive line of our army to avoid the first wave of the Chinese army's offensive. Admiral Yusaku Uehara said.

"Wu Peifujun? Who is he? The commander of the 1st Army, Kuroki Weizhen, said.

"He is the commander of the artillery regiment of the 33rd Division of China, and during the Rilu War, he was sent by Lord Yuan Shikai to help us spy on the intelligence of the Lu National Army." As soon as Wu Peifu's military rank was mentioned, everyone's tense faces were relieved, and the rank of the wing captain was too low. Seeing this, General Uehara Yusaku said again: "According to the information of the second part, Wu Peifu is very ethical and a humble gentleman. Although he was suspected of killing our personnel during the Rilu War, it was inferred that he had to do it. The gentleman of Shina has always been righteous, and Morita Liyuan Dazuo attached great importance to Wu Jun before, and no matter how angry Wu Jun was with the Japanese army, he would still be righteous to Morita Dazuo, otherwise this would be contrary to the gentleman's style; Moreover, this person is the commander of the artillery regiment, and he must have been able to reach the offensive orders of the Chinese army. ”

"I believe that what Wu Peifu said is true, I have been in contact with the people of China, and they attach great importance to their friends, and most of their advice to friends is true." Genjiro Akashi said. "Because of the restrictions on transportation, many of our troops are still in Korea and the mainland, and it is best for the Chinese army to launch an offensive at this time, and our army must prepare for this in advance. Today is New Year's Day again, and if I were the commander of the Chinese Army, I would definitely choose to launch an attack tonight. ”

Akashi Genjiro contributed a lot to winning the Rilu War, and army veteran Yama Prefecture Aritomo said that he alone was equal to ten divisions. He judged it like this now, and all the generals present were moved, but some people didn't buy him, and the chief of staff of the 1st Army, Fujii Shigeta, reprimanded: "Ridiculous! The words of a small artillery commander were actually taken as a holy decree. When will the Chinese army dare to take the initiative to attack us? Our army is weak now, but wasn't it weak before? Why didn't the Chinese army attack before, but now it dares to attack? Your Excellency Oyama, the Imperial Japanese Army must not let the whole army withdraw from the front line trenches because of the words of the commander of the Chinese regiment, and the news will become a laughing stock of the people! ”

After the chief of staff finished speaking, the commander of the 1st Army, who had always been calm and resolute, Kuroki Weizhen, also said: "Even if what the people of China say is true, it cannot prove that this is the whole army of the China Army launching an attack. It will be enough for the 3rd Army to withdraw the first line of trenches from the north, and the 1st Army will be on heightened alert, especially this evening. (To be continued......)