"He Changying's team, aren't they in Lushun, are they back?"

When Nie Shicheng saw the Western-style military uniforms worn by the soldiers on guard at the pass in front of him, he couldn't help but be surprised and delighted, and cried out in a lost voice. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Didn't you say that the fleet was attacked by the warships of the Japanese in Yingchengzi, and the fleet sank?"

Feng Guozhang on the side was also puzzled.

Soon, Nie Shicheng came to the headquarters of the Anti-Japanese Army Corps outside Shanhaiguan and on the edge of the city on the north wing, and met with He Changying and Li Jingfang.

In the sighing greetings between the three of them, Nie Shicheng knew that this army was originally just a thousand recruits and two battalions of sheng army, a temporarily integrated team.

Nie Shicheng couldn't help but be disappointed.

It was not that he was disappointed in the fighting spirit of the new army and the force value of the old Sheng army, but that He Changying's military strength was too small, and he did not have the ability to hold the Japanese army like in southern Liaoning.

It refers to these 2,000 recruits, Wang Liansan's 3,000 Ludong Army, plus two battalions of 1,000 banner soldiers stationed in Shanhaiguan Lieutenant Bai Ji, even if they can barely resist the Japanese soldiers in Suizhong County.

Keshan County has friends who are about to go south, or tens of thousands of troops who may be heading south, how to resist?

The military affairs were urgent, and after Nie Shicheng and He Changying met in a hurry, he led the army into the customs.

Then, at the Shanhaiguan Telegraph Office, the news of the discovery of a large number of Japanese troops in Suizhong County was sent to the Yamen, the governor of Jinmen Zhili.

Then Nie Shicheng ordered Xia Qingyun to take a thousand Luyu defense troops to temporarily stay in Shanhaiguan City, and go to the Beiyang Shanhaiguan Camp Office to receive food and supplies.

And Nie Shicheng rode a fast horse, led a team of cavalry, and went straight to Tangshan non-stop.

According to the itinerary, after meeting with Tang Renlian, the governor of Guangdong, he will return to Jinmen to meet Liu Kunyi, the new governor of Zhili, and take charge of the defense of the entire Zhili.

In the afternoon of the same day, the telegram sent by Nie Shicheng to the Governor's Mansion of Zhili, after shocking the entire Jinmen, was transmitted to the Forbidden City through the Military Affairs Office of the Tongzhou Governor.

-- The Japanese army, with a strength of nearly 10,000 troops, was actually less than 200 miles away from Shanhaiguan.

These days, because of the silence of the Fengtian telegram, it has made Guangxu's anxious white face have a few boils, and hearing this news has made Guangxu lose his face and his hands are trembling.

In that year, the Eight Banners entered the customs and sought to seize the world.

If today's tens of thousands of Japanese troops succeed in rushing through the pass, what unpredictable variables will happen?

Guangxu hurriedly issued a series of harshly worded telegram orders, ordering reinforcements from all over the country to speed up their march to Beijing, and at the same time ordered Lang Zhirui, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites who was training in Rehe, to immediately return to Beijing to preside over the training.

At the same time, he ordered Tang Renlian and Jia Qisheng of Tangshan, Xu Bangdao and Lian Shun of Ninghe Daying to immediately go to Shanhaiguan to garrison, and He Changying, Wang Liansan, and Bai Ji jointly supported the defense of Shanhaiguan.

He sent a telegram to Li Bingheng, the governor of Ludong, ordering the more than 1,600 soldiers who had escaped from Port Arthur captured in Yantai and Penglai to be escorted to Shanhaiguan to fill the armies.

The telegram ordered Weihaiwei Ding Ruchang and Ma Gelu to immediately send warships to Shanhaiguan to coordinate the operation.

With the issuance of Guangxu's stern orders one after another, the war machine of the Qing Dynasty finally gradually accelerated in this cold winter.

However, a large amount of arms is still on the way by sea.

The production of guns and bullets from the Beiyang Ordnance Bureau and the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau is limited to production capacity and cannot be supplied quickly and in large quantities.

It became a huge shortcoming of the Qing Dynasty's military operations.

A large number of Qing troops gathered to Zhili from all over the country, basically only a small number of rifles in their hands, and most of the Qing troops held rusty bird commanders in their hands, carrying guns, long hair, large blades, and pulling bronze old cannons.

Rushed to Zhili for reinforcements.

These firearms, earthen cannons, are almost all firearms when they fought the Taiping Army and twisted their guns.

Whether it is a veteran before or a hastily recruited recruit, the combat power is extremely unbearable, and on the real battlefield, except for being filled with people as cannon fodder, there is almost no substantive meaning.

On December 25th, the Japanese reinforcements to the north, after two days of rapid marching, successfully arrived at Changshan Temple and joined the Japanese heavy artillery wing.

At this time, the independent battalion had already made a detour of 50 miles south, bypassing the garrison of the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese Army in Suizhong County from the west, and returning to the army at Shanhaiguan, which was 200 miles away.

On the afternoon of the 25th, the three battalions of the Ting Army led by Tang Renlian, the two battalions of the Sheng Army and the first battalion of the Renzi Army led by Jia Qisheng, and the four battalions led by Xu Bangdao and Lian Shun arrived at Shanhaiguan.

Because Nie Shicheng met Liu Kunyi in person and took over the defense of Zhili, he temporarily wanted to stay in Jinmen to arrange the defense of the entire Zhili, so he handed over the defense of Shanhaiguan to Tang Renlian, the governor of Guangzhou, for the time being.

After Tang Renlian arrived at Shanhaiguan, he didn't have time to drink a sip of hot porridge, so he immediately summoned the generals to discuss the defense of Shanhaiguan.

In the Yamen, the deputy commander of Shanhaiguan, Tang Renlian, Wang Liansan, Jia Qisheng, He Changying, Xu Bangdao, Lian Shun, Xia Qingyun, Bai Ji, and a group of Qing generals sat in the hall, filled with smoke and a depressing atmosphere.

"Generals, the Japanese are also the first head, a few below, and you can see the king of Hades with one shot, besides, they attack us and defend us, how many hairs are afraid?"

Seeing the solemn atmosphere in the hall, the veteran Tang Renlian began to cheer everyone up: "General Xu, the deputy commander of the company, and the deputy commander of He, didn't beat the Japanese to the point of crying wolves in southern Liaoning; Haha, rejoice! ”

"It's not a problem to block it; However, there are still 30,000 or 40,000 Japanese soldiers behind us, pointing to our 20 or so battalion heads, 12,300 soldiers and horses, which is not easy to stop. ”

Jia Qisheng said solemnly: "The Japanese will arrive in a few days, and the reinforcements from all over the country are far away, and if the naval division does not move, the Japanese warships can sail to the beach and directly bombard Shanhaiguan, how can this battle be fought?" ”

"The key is that there is nothing in hand, I and General Lian's two thousand training troops, only the fifty or so people sent by General He are all Mauser fast guns, and the six hundred soldiers brought back by Zhou Zhongsheng have more than 400 fast guns;"

Xu Bangdao has been holding back his anger these days: "The rest of the recruits are now training with wooden sticks, is it possible to wait for the Japanese army to attack, and I let the soldiers hold wooden sticks and draw under the city wall?" ”

When it comes to firearms, Tang Renlian also has a headache, his infantry and sentry horse team of the third battalion of the Thunder Army have 1,600 people, and there are only 200 old Western single-shot rifles and 500 fast guns in their hands, and the rest are all embroidered straight slag bird systems and guns.

"That is, the military gate had better urge Sheng Huaixuan to make up for the guns in our hands."

The 3,000 training troops of the 36th battalion of Wang Lian from Ludong, except for the veterans of the 3rd battalion, they all have serious rifles, and the other three battalions are also bird commanders, carrying guns, and filling up with large blades.

Jia Qisheng and Bai Ji drank tea silently, the guns in their hands were all sophisticated Mausers, fast guns, there was no need to express their opinions.

"I have telegraphed Liu Duxian, and now it is true that there are no guns to adjust, and it will take half a month to estimate the guns of the West, and the daily output of the Ordnance Bureau is limited; However, Liu Duxian has promised that the fast guns produced will be given priority to the generals. ”

Speaking of this, Tang Renlian couldn't help but look at He Changying longingly and said: "General He seems to have enough weapons in his hands, recruited a battalion of recruits, and immediately equipped them with guns; Everyone is connected in Shanhaiguan, I don't know how many rifles are still in hand? ”

"You have also seen the military gate, my recruits this time used all the Japanese guns captured in Andong, Pulandian, and Jinzhou; Actually, it's easy to get your hands on a firearm—"

"Tell me about it?"

Looking at He Changying's mysterious smile, Tang Renlian perked up and looked at He Changying to ask.