At this time, Zhu Yaping said: "Also, once the war starts, we will go all out to meet the Russian army, so the logistics supply, grain, grass, ammunition, and material transportation, and I also have to invite Zheng Junmen, and you have to work a lot, this matter is very important, you should not take it lightly." 81?Chinese.?8?1(1)"

At present, the main warehouse of the People's Army is located at the Shanhaiguan Railway Station, which is about 18 kilometers away from the Jiumen defense line, so a second move is required. In this regard, the defenders of Shanhaiguan have also given strong support to the People's Army, and have collected more than 15o carriages, more than 5oo trolleys, more than 2oo donkeys and mules, and more than 2ooo civilian servants to carry out secondary transportation for the People's Army. Of course, all the wages of the civilian service are paid directly by the people's army, and they are paid directly to the individual civilian service, and they are no longer subject to layers of harsh deductions, so the motivation of the civilian servants is very high, and all the carrying work is completed on schedule.

Although the transportation does not need to be done by the Qing army itself, but once the war begins, the supervision of logistics and transportation needs, and the work of escorting it can only be handed over to the Qing army to manage, but the Qing army in this era is extremely corrupt. In the past ten days, there have been two times when the Qing army participated in the transportation, trying to get the materials, but the People's Army watched it closely, so it failed to succeed, and once the supervision was relaxed, it was difficult to ensure that they did not make a ghost out of it.

Zheng Caisheng is also an old fritter in the officialdom, so he can't hear Zhu Yaping's voice, and he also knows what kind of bird nature his subordinates are, they are all masters who make money from the oil pot, even the offerings of the imperial court dare to deduct 20%, and they dare not do anything, if they really want to hand over the grain, grass, ammunition, and materials of overseas Chinese to them for escort, they will definitely get benefits from it, and it is good that ten cars of materials can be sent to eight. Zheng Caisheng understands the priority of the matter, are overseas Chinese a force to be provoked, not to mention that there is Li Zhongtang intervening here, if something really happens, he can't afford this responsibility, so he nodded again and again, and said: "Please rest assured, the Brotherhood will send a confidant to be responsible for escorting, and will personally supervise it, and it will never make a mistake." ”

At this time, Song Qingdao: "The relationship between material transportation is very important, Zheng Junmen still has the heavy responsibility of defending the city, I am afraid it is difficult to separate, according to the old man's opinion, it is better to hand over the matter of material transportation to the eldest prince and Mr. Zhang to be responsible." ”

Song Qingji is an old man, he doesn't understand the stakes, he knows that Zhu Ya is not at ease with the Qing army, and he has also been stationed in Shanhaiguan for a few months, and he knows Zheng Caisheng and his people quite well, and knows that these people are unreliable, so he suggested that Li Jingfang, Zhang Peilun came to take charge of this matter, first, because in the beginning, these two people came to persuade Shanhai and overseas Chinese to join forces to resist the Russian army, and the two of them can obviously be recognized by overseas Chinese, and if something happens, they will be in front of them, and there is still a certain room for relaxation; second, there is Li Hongzhang behind these two people, and there is still a certain amount of deterrence, which is more deterrent to the soldiers.

During this period of time, Li Jingfang and Zhang Peilun have been staying in Shanhaiguan, mainly to help the People's Army communicate with the generals of Shanhaiguan and play a lubricating role, and so far, the People's Army and the Qing Army in Shanhaiguan get along quite well, and they cooperate with each other well, among which Li Jingfang and Zhang Peilun also played a considerable role. Therefore, Li Jingfang and Zhang Peilun are in charge of logistics and transportation, which can be regarded as reassuring Zhu Yaping, at least more reliable than Zheng Caisheng.

So Zhu Yaping also nodded and said, "If this arrangement is made, it will be no better, but I need to bother the eldest prince and Mr. Zhang." ”

Li Jingfang was very happy in his heart, his main purpose in coming to Shanhaiguan was to personally experience the battlefield, although during this period of time, he had also participated in some of the People's Army's pre-war arrangements for the position, but they were just a fun, the People's Army's military meeting could not participate, and he did not need to use his own pickaxe to move the shovel on the battlefield, and if he could be responsible for the logistics and transportation of the People's Army, he could justifiably participate in the military discussions of overseas Chinese, Li Jingfang was naturally happy, and said busily:" As long as it is to resist the Russian army and try to ensure that China does not lose, it is my responsibility to do nothing. ”

Although Zhang Peilun did not make a sound, he wanted to do his best to resist the overall situation of the Russian army, and he did not refuse, so he did come down like this, and after the meeting was dismissed, everyone went to prepare.

―――――――― Divider ――――――――― Dividing Line――――――――

The Russian army sent troops from Jinzhou to attack Shanhaiguan, specially transferred troops from the Far Eastern Army invading the northeast, and organized the Far Southeast Army Corps, including the Fifth and Eleventh integrated divisions, as well as a cavalry regiment and a heavy howitzer regiment, with a total strength of more than 32,000 troops and more than 18o artillery pieces of various kinds; Major General Kigliapa of the 11th Division. In addition, more than 26,000 civilian servants, more than 5,000 donkeys, horses and livestock were requisitioned from the northeast region to carry supplies for the Russian army.

However, the degree of the Russian army's advance is basically close to the lowest line predicted by the Tianjin Military Commission, and it is not that the Russian army does not want to march quickly, after all, it is impossible for the fighting nation not to understand the truth of the noble soldiers, but it is really beyond its strength, and on the one hand, it is the Russian army's ability to organize and execute, and on the other hand, there are indeed quite large objective reasons.

Although Russia is a huge country across Eurasia 6, the European part is only a small part of Russia, but it is the core area of Russia, is the most socially and economically advanced region of Russia, and the Asian part, from which it is the far East Siberian region, is almost a wilderness, this time Russia in order to invade Northeast China, mobilized nearly 2o thousand troops, but almost all the logistics materials need to be transported from the European part.

At this time, the Trans-Siberian Railway built by Russia has not yet been half completed, so it can only rely on manpower to accumulate strength through the Siberian wilderness, which is an extremely difficult thing, a one-way trip takes at least half a year, and it is greatly affected by the season, because it is in winter, it is impossible to organize transportation, so now the Russian army invading Northeast China has not been replenished for more than half a year.

Other supplies may be plundered in northeastern China, but there is no way to get weapons and ammunition, so they can only rely on the last year's shipments. It is still the season of early March, and the Siberian wilderness has just thawed, that is, it has just begun to be transported, so it will take about 3-4 months until the new batch of logistics supplies arrives.

In the previous stage, the Russian army invaded China's northeast region, although it did not fight any major battles, but it also consumed part of the ammunition, and later fought with Japan for the Korean Peninsula. Now the Russian army has not yet reached the point of running out of ammunition and food, but it is not enough to support a full-scale battle.

After all, in the past six months, the achievements of the People's Army have been there, and the terrain of Shanhaiguan is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, although the Russians are arrogant, they are not blindly arrogant, and they must not be underestimated against an enemy like the People's Army, and they must be fully prepared.

So after the capture of Jinzhou, the Russian army went through half a month of preparation, mobilized elite soldiers, and prepared ammunition materials, this time the Russian army dispatched more than 32,000 troops, accounting for only about 1/6 of the total strength of the Russian army, and the ammunition prepared reached more than sixty percent of the current Russian army's inventory of ammunition, which can also be seen that although the Russian army dispatched troops are not much, but they are indeed going all out.

After arriving at Gaoling Town, the commander, Lieutenant General Apalikov, also received a report that the overseas Chinese had now arranged positions outside Shanhaiguan, about 23 kilometers away from the Russian army, so Lieutenant General Apalikov decided to set up the headquarters of the Russian army in Gaoling Town, and the logistics site of the Russian army in the avant-garde town, which was garrisoned by the quartermaster Major General Mikhailov led by two battalions. At the same time, the Fifth Division was ordered to continue to advance and camp at the Jiujiang River, which was only about 15 kilometers away from the overseas Chinese positions, and became the forward position of the Russian army.

After a night's rest, Lieutenant General Apalkov came to the forward position, and by this time the commander of the 5th Division, Major General Obumochaev, had already sent scouts to reconnoiter the KPA positions and draw up a map.

The defense line of the People's Army is based on the nine gates as the core, relying on the Great Wall to the south, and along the north bank of the Jiujiang River to the east, each extending a distance of about 5 kilometers, and setting up two positions, roughly showing a "factory" shaped trend, in which the two positions arranged along the Great Wall are relying on the mountain, the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the position set up along the north bank of the Jiujiang River is relatively gentle, by its easternmost position, located in a place called Zhangjiachang Village, with two small hills that are not too high terrain as the basis for the layout. Therefore, Obumochaev suggested to the commander that he should attack the overseas Chinese early tomorrow morning and capture this position first.

Lieutenant General Apalikov carefully read the map and also thought that Obumochaev's proposal was feasible, but the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Sokolov, had a different opinion and said: "Your Excellency Commander, now that the three howitzer regiments of our army have not yet arrived, it is too hasty to attack at this time, or wait for the howitzer regiment to arrive, and then attack is not too late, it is estimated that in three more days, the howitzer regiment will be able to arrive." ”

It turned out that the two divisions of the Russian army were equipped with a light howitzer regiment, each equipped with 27 1o7mm light howitzers, and a separate heavy howitzer regiment was also equipped with 18 152mm heavy howitzers. However, although the howitzer has a long range and great power, it is too heavy and slow to transport, and if it follows the large army, it will slow down the march, so the three howitzer regiments are left behind by the Russian army.