There is definitely a reason why Ruprecht decided to delay the Russians for another month! It's March 1895! The Japanese army is also ready, because the navy has been heavily damaged, the offensive of the Japanese army has also been affected, and the Japanese who broke through the Yalu River defense line in 1894 in history can only spend the winter in Korea, and as the weather warms, the Japanese finally want to attack the Yalu River defense line! And it's time for mercenaries made up of Russian and Bavarian armies!

And at this moment, the front-line commander of the Blue Corps, Baron Schmidt (von Brown). Calyput sat in the rear. He was nibbling on steamed buns on the north bank of a boundary river called the Yalu River, eating something similar to the stew in the Northeast in later generations. There is no way, in order to ensure the supply of ammunition and concentrate feed for horses for the troops, the blue army can only grieve the stomachs of officers and soldiers, ammunition is absolutely indispensable, the stomachs of horses are more delicate than people, don't look like the Far East is still a few months, whether it is a small number of horses brought by the Germans themselves or some of the horses provided by the Russians, they are not very cold to the feed of the Qing country. It's okay to eat it, but if you use pure local feed, some horses will immediately say that they won't do it!

"Our biggest enemy is the unfamiliar environment here, and it is not the Japanese, who have lost more men in this battle than the Japanese guns! The only thing that can make us feel good is that the food here is still good, and the Qing people provide plenty of meat, some of which we can't even name, and are unique animals here. For example, the Siberian tiger. After the war, Viscount Schmidt wrote in his memoirs!

Mr. Baron has had a hard time in the past few months, but he is still grateful to the above for letting them come to the northeast of the Qing Kingdom in advance, at least here they are familiar with the battlefield. Although hundreds of people were forced to withdraw from the fighting for a few months due to frostbite or other reasons, the subsequent replenishment of troops from home not only made up for the attrition, but also brought the number of troops to 2,500! And as the weather gradually warms up, the Japanese on the south bank of the Yalu River are finally ready to move!

"All the Qing troops were unreliable, even the Russians were not so reliable, the Qing army was only suitable for transporting supplies in the rear, and the Russians could at most be used as auxiliaries." Viscount Schmidt said to Major Mackensen, the representative of the Prussian detachment next to him. Needless to say, most of the elite of the Qing army in Beiyang were folded in Korea, and the morale of the remaining troops was also very low. As for the quality of the commander? Viscount Schmidt does not deny that some of them have some talents, such as Nie Shicheng, who is now in charge of logistics for his own troops. But they lack an understanding of the current war, and there are problems everywhere from command to operation.

"Can't the Russians? Their soldiers are the best soldiers, tough and tenacious. There were also Cossack cavalry, who were very capable of skirmishing. "Mackensen came relatively late, and his understanding of the Russian army is still more at the level of the Crimean War.

"But their soldiers lack a kind of flexibility, they can't do anything without the orders of the commander! They are like machines, not so much tenacious and tenacious as numb! The Cossack cavalry was closer to the bandits, and it was okay to fight with the wind, but in the event of a setback, it was easy to get into trouble! What's more, there is no basic trust between us. Viscount Schmidt said with some concern.

After several months of exchanges, Schmidt can be regarded as having a deeper understanding of the situation of the Russian army, and the quality of Russian officers is poor, and their actions tend to be conservative. Although the soldiers are obedient, they are only obedient, and it is really difficult to say how much combat effectiveness a soldier without subjective initiative can exert in a chaotic battle.

As for the Cossack cavalry, this thing gave Schmidt the feeling that robbery, looting, and aggression were like fire, and when they encountered a strong enemy, they turned into the wind! The Cossack cavalry looked at history and was not just the main one! And now times have changed, under the blows of various rifles and artillery, it is really difficult to say how much the cavalry can play, in Schmidt's view, the final result of the cavalry in the future is to become mounted infantry.

"So you rejected the suggestion that the Blue Legion defend the Yalu River, and instead deployed in the back, just to prevent your own side from being surrounded?" Mackenson said thoughtfully. At the beginning, Song Qing, one of the commanders of the Qing State, wanted Viscount Schmidt to guard the Yalu River, but this suggestion was flatly rejected by the latter. And now, Mackensen understands the deeper reason.

The Qing army's defense was a simple line of defense, not deep enough, as long as it broke a little, there was not even enough reserves, although their own troops had a large number of horses, but because the troops had a lot of automatic weapons, ammunition and baggage were also a lot, in case the friendly troops on the flanks were defeated. (In Schmidt's opinion, this is simply certain) then it is very likely that he will be surrounded by less than 2500 people!

There are only 2,500 people in total, if you really fall into the situation of being flanked, how do you say to run? Even if you can fight again, you can't stop the Japanese troops who are pouring in like a tide! As the first Bavarian officer to contact rapid-fire guns and machine guns, Schmidt had a very clear understanding of these two weapons, although rapid-fire weapons can greatly optimize the advantages of defensive forces, but the range is limited, and the firepower lacks sufficient extension. So Schmidt meant to fight on the outside and not to fight hard with the Japanese army.

Therefore, in the end, Schmidt's blue army was deployed on the second line, and in line with the idea of fighting if it can be fought and leaving if it can't, in Schmidt's plan, the Yalu River defense line cannot be defended. According to the strength and strategic needs of the Japanese, their first target of attack would be the Liaodong Peninsula, where there was a base for the Beiyang Fleet, and the Japanese forces would not be able to go straight to the depths of the northeast. Therefore, after the first battle with the Japanese on the Yalu River, the Blue Army will retreat to the direction of Liaoyang, and then rely on Liaoyang's supplies to fight a limited positional battle with the other side!

"Why don't we launch a limited attack? If your estimate is correct, we should be right on the flank of the Japanese army, with their fragile transport lines and rear forces exposed to us, and with the Russian cavalry superiority, we can totally inflict heavy losses on our opponents. Mackenson said thoughtfully. He was bolder and more radical than Baron Schmidt's plans!

"That's a matter for the Russians, our troops are not suitable, and it is unrealistic to have a force with a large number of heavy weapons and ammunition attacking at high speed. In the case of the opponent's superiority in firepower, cavalry attacking infantry may not have an advantage, this phenomenon has been present since the Napoleonic period, and the key to our victory in the Frango-Prussian War is artillery and infantry, not highly mobile cavalry. Schmidt was against the plan.

"Mr. Major, this is a rare opportunity, we must at least experiment with this tactic, it may be the key to our victory in future wars! Rely on fast troops with a small number of high-performance weapons to quickly attack and crush your opponent's key nodes, and then lock in the victory! It is impossible for the empire to engage in a sustained war, and it is the key to deal with the opponent cleanly. Do you see what I mean? Mackenson said sincerely.

"So you're treating this war as an experiment, and my soldiers are your test subjects? Is that so? Schmidt's face was a little gloomy, and his tone was a little cold, as if he was trying to suppress his anger.

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