Shanhaiguan.

February 9 in the Western calendar, 6 o'clock in the morning.

In the snow, with the loud trumpet of the charge, the attack of the three cities outside the gate broke out so suddenly.

The north gate of the blocked north wing of the city has been reopened at night, and a large number of anti-Japanese soldiers have passed through the city gate and bravely rushed to the Japanese position and defense line in the east camp.

"Rush!"

At the same time, from the reserved gap in the east and west breastwork, a large number of anti-Japanese soldiers also rushed out, shouting and rushing towards the Japanese defense line 300 meters ahead.

"Yaga! Get up, get up! Grab your rifle and quickly go to the position to stop it! ”

"All into position, all into position!"

"Bang, bang, bang—"

Seeing the sudden attack of the Qing army in the three cities, the Japanese officers stationed in the city of Dongxiluo and the outer defense line of Dongdaying shouted and ordered the soldiers to enter the position to block the attack, while shooting warning again and again.

"Shoot from your back, shoot from your stomach with your stomach down!"

"Bang, bang, bang—"

The vanguard of the attacking anti-Japanese army soon rushed to a distance of less than 150 meters from the Japanese position, and stretched along an arc to both sides, lying down and shooting at the Japanese troops on the opposite position.

"Attack, attack!"

"Baga, kill these clear dogs!"

Above the defensive position of the Japanese army, there was a shout of 'wow' everywhere, obviously the initiative of the anti-Japanese army to attack, deeply humiliated these Japanese soldiers, and they cursed and lay behind the improvised bunker, shooting back with death.

"Kill the dogs!"

"Bang, bang, bang—"

"Kill these clear dogs!"

"Bang, bang, bang—"

For a time, in the blizzard, gunshots and shouts were connected and resounded throughout the world.

"Order, the 3rd Infantry Brigade Hayashi Taiichiro Division will send 2 infantry squadrons to reinforce along the line in the east and west directions; Cavalry units assembled to be ordered. ”

The commander of the 19th Wing of the Japanese Army, Chestnut Iihara, listened to the gunshots everywhere, thought for a while, and then ordered loudly: "These Qing troops must not be allowed to break through and escape!" ”

"Hey!"

Taiichiro Hayashi and Tatsunosuke Kobayashi shouted in response.

"17th and 18th squadrons, on standby at the East Battalion;"

Hayashi Taiichiro raised his pistol and shouted an order: "The 13th and 14th squadrons, led by Captain Kitagawa, are moving reinforcements in the direction of Xiluo Castle to the west, and the 15th and 16th squadrons are moving east with me!" ”

"All cavalry assembled!"

Kobayashi Tatsunosuke drew the cavalry sword in his hand and shouted on his horse: "Today, I will use the blood of the Qing army to wash away the shame of the 5th Brigade!" ”

"Wash away the shame! Wash away the shame! ”

The remaining more than 170 cavalry cavalry of the 5th Cavalry Brigade jumped on their horses one by one with blood-red eyes and roared wildly.

"Kill!"

"Shoot!"

As a steady stream of anti-Japanese troops rushed out of the gap in the breastwork between the eastern and western cities from the north gate of the northern wing of the city, and spread out along the battle line 150 meters away from the Japanese position, the battle became more and more fierce.

Yamaguchi Sutomi, Nakaki Noki, Okubo Toshisada and a group of staff officers of the 3rd Brigade stood on top of the castle tower of Shanhaiguan and looked north.

The heavy snow was still falling, and the vision became blurred when it reached three or four hundred meters, and only the gunshots and angry shouts could be heard in the 'rustling' snow.

"The 19th Wing of the Eastern Battalion, plus the remnants of the 5th Cavalry Brigade, has about 1,700 troops to defend the northern front, and it should be fine."

"On the opposite side of the eastern breastwork, Fukushima Osa put 3 squadrons of troops and personally stationed them, and put 1,200 imperial soldiers on the entire eastern front."

"1,400 soldiers were placed on the western front, and at the opposite side of the west breastwork, four squadrons led by Okada Shaosa were stationed."

Standing on the city wall, Okubo Toshisada analyzed his inference for Yamaguchi Sotomi: "Although the Qing army is now firing from three sides, it is impossible to determine the direction of their breakthrough, but the east is facing the sea, and the north is heavily guarded by the 19th Wing, and it is estimated that the possibility of breaking through from the west is the greatest." ”

"And if you break through from the north, you can escape all the way north along Jiaoshan and reach the Jiujiang River; Even if the Qing army can successfully break through the siege, their only way to survive after that is the Great Wall of the Nine Gates, where it will join the Qing army of the original Jiaoshan and then return to the pass. ”

Lin Fangtaro Shaozuo, a staff officer of the 3rd Brigade, said affirmatively: "Only this way is the only chance for the Qing army in these three cities to survive!" ”

"Commander, this is an excellent opportunity to annihilate this Qing army in one fell swoop!"

Okubo Toshisada said excitedly: "If the strength of the 4th Wing does not go to assist the outer defense, let the Qing army attack and charge, otherwise once the defense is strengthened, the Qing army will see that there is no hope of breaking through and will retract the turtle shell of the three cities, which is a big trouble!" ”

"What do you mean?"

Yamaguchi's face was not full of excitement, but was filled with clouds and doubts.

"I suggest that the more than 2,600 troops of the 4th Wing should all attack from the north gate of the main city of Shanhaiguan, attack the southern chest wall of the Qing army with all their might, and attack the inner city after breaking the wall, and force all the Qing troops out of the turtle shell of the three cities; At the same time, the artillery fired blindly, increasing the tension and forcing the Qing army to abandon the city and flee. ”

Okubo Rizhen said with a proud look of excitement: "In this way, even if these tens of thousands of Qing troops can break through, in the heavy snow, they will not be able to gather troops at all, and they must flee towards the nine gates in confusion; Just like General Lijian did before, the imperial army chased and killed all the way, and it is estimated that before they reached the Nine Gates, these tens of thousands of Qing troops had already been slaughtered by the imperial army! ”

The Japanese soldiers on the city wall all looked at Yamaguchi Suchen with enthusiasm, waiting for his attack order.

However, Yamaguchi Suchen did not give the order to attack for a long time, and the color of his face changed several times, sometimes distorted, sometimes decisive, sometimes hideous.

In the end, it turned into a long sigh of relief.

"Command!"

"Hey!"

All the Japanese generals stood straight, waiting for Yamaguchi Sotomi's order to attack.

"The 19th Wing, the 5th Cavalry Brigade, the main force is contracted to strictly defend in the East Camp, and once the Qing army breaks through on the east and west sides, it is responsible for receiving the blocking teams on both sides to enter the East Camp."

"Commander?"

Nakaki Noue, Okubo Toshisada, Yoshitaro Hayashi ——, a group of Japanese officers all looked at Yamaguchi Suchen with a look of surprise.

However, Yamaguchi Suchen ignored them at all and continued to issue orders with a cold face.

"Fukushima Yongzhi, Okada Akiyoshi, Ishihara and Eda, who guard the breach of the Great Wall, also need to hold their respective camps to the death, and once the positions on both sides are breached, they will immediately receive the soldiers into the camp. At the same time, the 4th Wing allocated 4 squadrons to the Great Wall breaches on both sides to assist Ishihara and Eda in the defense. ”

Yamaguchi Suchen ordered in a deep voice with a cold face: "For the sudden ** of the Qing army, don't care, if the Qing army leaves, it must not be pursued; If the Qing army continues to attack and widen the gap, the main purpose of the attack is to shoot the Qing army! ”

After speaking, Yamaguchi Suchen looked around coldly at his subordinates, and scolded angrily: "Are you all pig brains? These days, the Qing army has not broken through, and they are specifically picking up today's blizzard day to break through, are they looking for death? ”

"Even you idiots can see that even if the breakthrough is successful at this time, it will be a dead end, defeating the anti-Japanese army of the imperial army many times, and their commander He Changying in the city will not understand! Will he be even more stupid than you? A family of guards who thought he was stupid, Akiyama Yoshiya, Nagata Kame, and Saito Tokuaki, had not been shameful captives, and they would have already turned into a pile of bones! ”

Yamaguchi Suchen was so angry that his face was bloody, and he felt that he had been severely humiliated by the anti-Japanese army that made him helpless today, and yelled and scolded: "This is obviously a bait, a trap!" Believe it or not! ”