"Your Excellency Commander, don't hesitate any longer, immediately decide to abandon Liaoyang and withdraw to Phoenix City. I am willing to give up the responsibility of Liaoyang, and I am willing to share it with His Excellency the Commander. ”

"Well, for the sake of these hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers, as well as logistics personnel, to preserve Japan's vital forces, we can only choose to retreat, and the responsibility is borne by me, after arriving in Phoenix, I will resign to the General Staff, you don't have to worry. ”

"Your Excellency the Commander......"

"Kodamama-kun, there is no need to say any more, giving up Liaoyang, there is always a need for someone to take responsibility, it is enough to have me, if we both leave, what will happen to these Japanese living forces, and it doesn't mean that it will be safe when you arrive in Phoenix, and you are still needed to command the Japanese army. ”

Dashanyan received a telegram from the Japanese Army Staff on May 31, only to know that the General Staff kicked the ball to himself again, of course, he also threw the responsibility of giving up Liaoyang to himself, and at this time Dashanyan had no other way, the staff could shake the pot, but he could not shake it, after the failure of the 4th Army Corps' operation to support Jiuliancheng, the situation of the Japanese army became very critical, and the regiment had to urgently order Kodama Gentaro, who was in charge of the retreat in Shenyang, to return to Liaoyang to negotiate the military situation.

During this period of time, Japan's retreat from Shenyang was fruitful, and of course, thanks to Kodama Gentaro's good organization and scheduling, it has now withdrawn to Liaoyang with five divisions, more than 150,000 logistics personnel, and about 200,000 tons of various materials. In Shenyang, there are about 140,000 garrisons, more than 50,000 logistics personnel, and about 180,000 tons of various materials, but they are mainly weapons and ammunition, and other materials are less than 50,000 tons. It is estimated that in another 3-4 days, the Japanese army can leave the Russian army with an empty city.

However, due to the reduction in the number of troops, the Japanese army had abandoned most of the positions outside Shenyang, and the farthest position from the city was only more than 8 kilometers. Although the Japanese army had already abandoned most of the positions outside the city, although the Russian army had gathered more than 100,000 troops, it was always stationed about 20 kilometers away from Shenyang City, but it did not dare to approach these positions, and only dared to send a small force to approach and test the Japanese army, but immediately retreated as soon as the fire was exchanged.

At this time, the guard strength of Liaoyang reached 6 divisions, 3 brigades, a total of about 120,000 people, Dashanyan also established two lines of defense for Liaoyang, the first is the periphery of Liaoyang, from Shoushan to Zhangtaizi, a width of 20 kilometers, about 10-15 kilometers away from Liaoyang City, a total of Shoushan, Hanjiatai Village, Xiaotai, Tong Zhuangzi, Zhangtaizi five positions, of which Shoushan and Zhangtaizi each arranged a brigade, the other three positions are a division, a total of about 60,000 people, another division in Anshan, Gongchangling arranged a brigade, as a cover for Liaoyang's flank and rear.

The second line of defense is based on the city walls and moats of Liaoyang.

The present Liaoyang City was built in the Ming Dynasty in the Ming Hongwu five years (1372), lasted more than 1 0 years, the circumference is about 24 li, the city wall is built of bricks and stones, the inner stone and the outer bricks, the rammed earth in the center of the wall, the upper narrow and the lower width, the trapezoidal, the bottom of the wall is 8.30 meters wide, 10 meters high. Liaoyang city is divided into two cities in the north and south, the two cities are connected in the shape of the word "day", the south city is larger, it is the main city of Liaoyang city, the capital of Liaodong, the official office of the general military office, are all located in the south city, the north and south are 1 800 meters long, the east and west are 2 250 meters wide, there are corner towers at the four corners of the city, there are 6 city gates in total, one of them communicates with the north city; and the north city is smaller, the north and south are 1000 meters wide, the east and west are 2 200 meters long, and there are 3 city gates. Outside the city wall, there is a moat on all sides, using the water of the Taizi River, which is 4 meters deep and about 1 0 meters wide.

The Liaoyang city of the Qing Dynasty basically maintained the scale of the Ming Dynasty, although in the age of firearms, the defense of the city wall has been greatly reduced, but it still has a certain effect, and there is the cover of the moat, the Japanese army stationed in Liaoyang for a short time, and it is only in the last ten days that Liaoyang began to be armed, so it is too late to build any solid fortifications, there are ready-made city defense facilities, and it is natural to make full use of them.

However, although the resolution of the Japanese army to withdraw from Liaoyang has been determined, it is not something that can be said to go, Bi Jing still has the People's Army and the Russian army around him, and a perfect withdrawal plan must be formulated, and the top priority is to open the retreat route as soon as possible, at least 2-3 divisions must be sent to the 4th Army Corps, but now the guard strength of Liaoyang can not be moved, after all, it is still facing the 200,000 troops of the People's Army, at this time, the People's Army will never let the Japanese army withdraw from Liaoyang calmly, so it can only be transferred from Shenyang to reinforce the 4th Army Corps。

Kodama Gentaro said that tomorrow he would immediately transfer three divisions from the army in Shenyang and two to reinforce the 4th Army Corps, and asked Nozu to go through the road and make every effort to open up the retreat route, while the other division would stay in Liaoyang to strengthen Liaoyang's troops, after all, there must be a fierce battle to be fought in Liaoyang.

The remaining military personnel in Shenyang must be evacuated as soon as possible, and within three days, all of them must be evacuated from Shenyang, and those who have no time to transport away the materials will be destroyed on the spot, and the evacuated military personnel will not stay in Liaoyang, and those who take the train will get off directly in Anshan and march from there to Phoenix, while those who leave Shenyang on foot will bypass Liaoyang and go to Phoenix. Fortunately, the Russian army is still shrinking its hands, which can be regarded as reducing the difficulty of the Japanese army.

Of course, the Japanese troops guarding Liaoyang could not hold out for too long, and after the troops in Shenyang had withdrawn, they had to start retreating immediately. There are two directions of retreat, one is to Anshan and then to Phoenix, and the other is to march to Phoenix through Longbow Ridge. Of course, before that, it is necessary to block the attack of the People's Army, after all, the People's Army is not as jealous of the Japanese army as the Russian army. Moreover, once the People's Army launches an attack, the actions of the Russian army may also be active, and at that time Liaoyang will be under tremendous pressure, so it is necessary not only to maintain sufficient guard troops, but also to ensure the smooth and cover of the rear road.

Oyama Iwa and Kodama Gentaro's judgment was indeed correct, and the KPA's attack on Liaoyang was launched in the early morning of June 1. Launching an offensive at night is one of the characteristics of the People's Army, because it has the advantage of unmanned aerial vehicle reconnaissance and guidance, so for the People's Army at night is its greatest advantage, and it is natural to make full use of it.

After receiving that the 1st Army had successfully held off the Japanese support forces, the commander of the Northeast Theater* also knew that the time had come to attack Liaoyang. In the past few days, the People's Army has not been idle, the main forces of the 3rd Army and the 4th Army have crossed the Liao River, and the whole line has advanced to a position about 2-3000 meters away from the Japanese position, only the railway bridge on the Liao River is still under construction, and the armored train cannot cross the river, but it can also launch an attack on the Japanese defense line at any time.

At the same time, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and fixed-wing aircraft were used to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the positions arranged by the Japanese army, detailed operational drawings and sand table models were drawn, and an operational plan for attacking Liaoyang was drawn up. Among the five positions arranged on the first line of defense in Liaoyang set up by the Japanese army, Shoushan and Zhangtaizi were the flanks covering the first line of defense, and the front line of defense was composed of three positions: Hanjiatai Village, Xiaotai, and Tong Zhuangzi. Tian Ji attacked the Xiaotai position by the 2nd Army, and after conquering the Xiaotai position, directly attacked Liaoyang City; the 3rd Army attacked Tong Zhuangzi and continued to attack Shoushan after breaking through; and the 4th Army attacked Hanjiatai Village and then attacked Zhang Hezi.

Before the attack, the armies concentrated their artillery, first of all, to carry out a covered artillery bombardment of the Japanese positions, the towed artillery regiment will be divided into battalion units, with the armies fighting, the main task is to strike at the enemy's artillery positions, the self-propelled artillery regiment with the 2nd Army, after breaking through the Xiaotai defensive line, to rely on the heavy firepower of self-propelled artillery, blast open the city wall of Liaoyang City. If the offensive is blocked, wait for the opportunity to throw armored forces on the battlefield.

After the assignment was completed, each army also drew up its own battle plan, preset positions, etc., and all preparations were completed, so after the order was given, the armies also immediately moved into action and entered their respective positions on the night of May 31.

According to the establishment of the KPA, there are about 400 artillery pieces in one army, and about 180 guns with a caliber of more than 100 mm, and the rest are 75 mm caliber guns. However, not all the guns were used in this shelling, mainly guns of more than 100 mm caliber were used, and only a small number of 75 mm caliber guns were used, but in this way, more than 230 guns were put into use in each army, adding up to about 700 gun packs.

For this shelling, KPA plans to prepare the use of 50,000 shells. After more than half a year of preparation, the People's Army has now amassed about 150,000 rounds of various artillery shells on the Western Front, of which about 80,000 are conventional shells and the rest are mortar shells. Therefore, for the first time in the history of the People's Army, the number of artillery pieces and the number of shells used in this war were large. Even in this era, it is very rare.

In the Russo-Japanese War, more than 1,000 artillery pieces were used on both sides, and there were several times when Japan and Russia each threw in more than 700 artillery pieces in a battle, but it was never before that 700 guns were concentrated to strike at the enemy's positions. After all, in this era, although the armies of all countries understood the principle of concentrated use of artillery, the concept of concentrated firepower covering strikes did not exist until the First World War.

Of course, in order to organize an artillery strike of this scale, it is necessary to have an extremely strict organization and plan, because all the artillery will not shoot together, first, this kind of shooting will consume the shells too quickly, and second, it will strike excessively at the target of the shelling, causing a waste of firepower; therefore, it is necessary to divide the artillery into several batches and fire in turns, which can not only ensure the continuity of the fire strike, but can also be advanced layer by layer, forming a firepower to extend to the front line. Generally speaking, the larger the caliber of the artillery, the further back it is, the first to fire, the main goal is to destroy the enemy's fixed targets and main firing points; the artillery with a small caliber is positioned in the front and then fires at the rear to carry out intensive strikes, and according to the battlefield situation, it advances and strikes in depth at the enemy's positions.

At 4 o'clock in the morning of June 1, the guns of the firing units had been adjusted on the various positions of the KPA, and together they launched a fierce artillery attack on the Japanese positions. For a while, the sound of artillery roaring, the sharp sound of shells breaking through the air, and the explosion of shells landing on the ground were endless.