"Self-preservation is not a big problem." Xuan Jianzhang actually didn't have the confidence in his heart, but if he felt that it was really not possible, he would retreat to Fukuoka, it was still okay, after all, the Chinese army had the advantage of weapons and equipment, and in the open inland city, the defense still had an advantage.

Li Hongzhang heard that Xuan Jianzhang was not confident enough, so he naturally wouldn't say anything, and after two words of encouragement, he hung up the phone.

Anyway, with such a little strength now, in the absence of foreign aid and no reserve material support, how to fight, Li Hongzhang believes that Xuan Jianzhang, a soldier who has been in battle for a long time, should know in his heart.

In fact, the situation was even worse than Li Hongzhang and Xuan Jianzhang expected.

The Japanese government army originally had more than 25,000 troops, and the emperor gritted his teeth and transferred troops from all over the island of Honshu, and made up more than 30,000 troops, plus the soldiers and horses in the hands of Yama Prefecture Youpeng, the total number reached 60,000, and the grain and grass could be supplied to the army for half a year.

The most important thing is that these more than 60,000 people, all of them are also equipped with firearms, and half of the soldiers have replaced their various miscellaneous rifles (mostly from the United States Civil War obsolete products) with the British's Type 1853 Enfield!

This is the success of Ito Hirobumi in European diplomacy, and from the current point of view, the diplomacy of the Chinese emperor has not made the slightest progress, while Ito Hirobumi's diplomacy is very successful.

Not only did the two major power blocs resist China, but they also purchased a large number of infantry equipment.

The Model 1853 Enfield was a new-generation rifle that took part in a series of wars of colonial expansion, and it used the same method of primer fire as described above. At the same time, the new weapon received a barrel with rifling.

Rifling helps to improve the accuracy of the rifle while also increasing the effective range of the rifle. The specific process of technological progress is not said for the time being.

The 1853-style Enfield was even the trigger for the Indian rebellion (later histories also called it the Great Indian National Revolt).

The immediate trigger for the outbreak of the uprising was rumors about bullet lubricants.

At the beginning of 1857, a theory began to circulate among mercenaries that the East India Company had applied a mixture of lard and butter to the carton packaging of rifles (which was the 1853 Enfield).

Since Hindus regarded cattle as gods and avoided eating beef, while Muslims regarded pigs as filth, soldiers had to bite through the paper skin of rifle bullets (how paper ammunition was used) before loading them. As a result, the soldiers refused to use these bullets.

The East India Company claimed that this was a rumor and had replaced it with a new bullet with wax lubricant.

But Indian soldiers still suspected that the lubricating oil was not clean and refused to bite off the lubricant-coated bullet casings used in the new guns. Later, a number of clashes related to the new rifle led directly to the outbreak of uprisings in various places.

The rifle, which was in service from 1853 to 1867, was the same as the Brown Bess in that it was eventually sent back to the factory for modification due to new technological changes.

The Japanese are now using the 1853 Enfield rifle, and some are the Schneider-Enfield rifle that has been modified, and in all aspects of performance, it is not inferior to the President 1874 rifle of the previous stage of the Chinese army.

The Schneider-Enfield rifle is a modified version of the 1853 Enfield.

Since the Americans Smith and Watson designed a complete metal bullet with an eggshell, primer, charge, and warhead in 1860, it was possible to use breech loading and excitation.

The previous two generations of rifles were loaded from the muzzle, so loading was a very cumbersome thing, but the advent of breech loading technology radically increased the rate of fire, and the rifle rose from 2-4 rounds per minute to almost 10 rounds per minute.

It's a pity that this rifle needs to manually open the breech locking block, which is likely to be hot from long-term shooting, and also find a way to shake out the cartridge case, which invisibly adds a lot of trouble.

As a result, the requirement for a rifle capable of opening and closing, locking and throwing the shell by mechanical structure was put on the agenda, so that the third generation of the British Empire rifle was only in service as the main rifle in the country for five years.

Of course, the British gave the Japanese all about obsolete guns, and definitely not the Martini-Henry rifle, which is now being widely equipped, will definitely not be taken out.

Even so, it has also raised the Japanese government army, not only in terms of the number of troops, but also in terms of military equipment.

This time, not only was it still under the personal command of Aritomo Yamagu, but Emperor Meiji, in his anger, also sent Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito to the front line to supervise the battle.

Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito was a member of the Japanese imperial family, a statesman, and an important minister and general during the Meiji period.

The first prince of Prince Zhiren of the Arisugawa Palace, he successively served as the chairman of the Senate, the minister of the left, the governor of the conquest, the head of the army staff headquarters, and the chief of staff. Army General. The princess was Tokugawa Sadako, the daughter of Tokugawa Saiaki, the lord of the Mito domain.

In the 4th year of Kaei (1851), when he was 17 years old, he made a marriage contract with the sister of Emperor Komei and Prince Kounanai, but unexpectedly, in 1853, there was an incident of "the coming of the black ship", and there was great pressure for Japan to cooperate with the outside world, so the theory of public and military integration arose, and the Japanese emperor regime, which had been dormant for more than 1,000 years, was quietly resurrected.

At that time, the Tokugawa shogunate was still in charge of Japan, and in order to ease the relationship between the two, some ministers proposed (in 1861) that Princess Wanomiya be married to the Tokugawa family's shogun, Ieshige.

The person who came up with this idea is also famous, and he is Iwakura Gushi. In this way, the marriage contract between Prince Chihito of Arisugawa Palace and Princess Wanomiya had to be annulled.

Because of the hatred of taking his wife, the prince has been a staunch supporter of the return of the great government and the fall of force from then on.

In May 1864, two months before the Forbidden Gate Rebellion, Prince Chihito and Prince Shihito met with Matsudaira Yoho, the shogunate's guardian of Kyoto, at a state council convened by the Emperor.

Since Prince Chihito was a disciple of the Chinese scholar Osawa Wansui, his palace became a place for Katsura Kogoro and Kusaka Genrui to enter and leave freely through his close confidant Kotaro Kotaka and the Choshu feudal clan of the Kotoshi faction.

Later, at the time of the Forbidden Gate Change, it is said that the Choshu soldiers who attacked the palace were guided by the Sugawa Miyaya, and for a time rumors spread that he was arrested and detained by the Kyoto Council for violating the laws of the Miyaya family. Emperor Xiaoming was furious and dismissed their father and son from entering the palace and ordered them to think about it behind closed doors.

In January of the 3rd year of Kei (1867), Emperor Komei, who was friendly with the shogunate, died suddenly and without cause. The 15-year-old Meiji Emperor Jianzuo, Prince Zhiren, and Prince Chihito lifted the ban on father and son. In October, he was reinstated, replacing Prince Shoren-in and Nijo Saikei, who advocated friendship with the shogunate, and on December 9 of the same year, Prince Chihito, who had a good relationship with Choshu, was appointed as a judge. Become the leader of the shogunate.

Although Prince Chiren has a prominent status and a noble status, he lacks practical work ability. Fortunately, he was sober-minded and never thought of grasping all the power in his hands, doing his best, and doing everything himself. He persuaded Emperor Moji to issue a decree and appoint a large number of previously excluded imperial ministers. Among them, there are two extremely important figures: Minoru Sanjo and Iwakura Gushi.

Soon after (February 2, 1868), the two men were appointed vice presidents. Since he had these two major talents as helpers, Prince Chiren was relieved to be the big shopkeeper with ease and effort, and all the specific affairs were left to the two of them.

This year, Minoru Sanjo was 31 years old and Iwakura Gumi was 43 years old. In the 4th year of Kei (1868), the Boshin War broke out, and Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito became the supreme commander of the official army and the governor of the Eastern Expeditionary Army. The staff officer was Saigo Takamori, who was responsible for the actual command, and the officers and troops marched to Edo, and finally won a great victory with the bloodless opening of Edo Castle.

In the 2nd year of the Meiji era (1869), Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito went to Europe to inspect and returned to Japan in the 3rd year of the Meiji era (1870). Inaugurated as Secretary of the Ministry of War. In Meiji 4 (1871), he became governor of Fukuoka Domain, and in Meiji 9 (1876), he became chairman of the House of Lords.

In the 10th year of the Meiji era (1877), the Southwest War broke out, and he was once again appointed as the Grand Governor of the Expedition, the Commander of the Army, and the Governor of Nishiki Takamori.

Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito was the first member of the Meiji Imperial family and was absolutely trusted by Emperor Meiji.

Although the Japanese government had the support of Britain and France, it could not afford to borrow too much, and the national strength was weak, so Emperor Meiji shouted the slogan of a decisive battle with the Chinese army this time.

Among the more than 60,000 troops was the Emperor's Praetorian Guard, which had been replaced by Schneider-Enfield rifles that had just returned from Europe, and which had participated in the wars since the Emperor's return to power, and was experienced, well-equipped, and most loyal.

"You are all brave generals who can fight well in the Empire, why do you have a tenfold advantage over the enemy's soldiers, but you have been defeated repeatedly?" Prince Arisugawa Gong Chihito said angrily at the meeting of all the officers: "We have the advantage of being local, we have the advantage of numbers, the Chinese army has the advantage of weapons and equipment, and the advantage of being well-trained, why don't you analyze the situation of the enemy and us before the war?" Don't analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the enemy and me, stand in place again and again, and let people cut off their heads? ”

Although Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito is not a general, nor is he a handsome talent, and his ability is very mediocre, he is still very good in terms of strategy and vision of major events, otherwise he would not have won the absolute trust of Emperor Meiji.

After listening to the words of Prince Arisugawa Palace, the more than 100 Japanese officers present bowed their heads in shame.

"I'm not saying all this to put pressure on everyone, but now that Japan has reached the most critical moment, you won't be unclear in your hearts, right? If Kyushu Island is occupied by China for a long time, our territory will be missing, and Kyushu Island plays a very important role in the entire Japanese economy, more than a quarter, and Nagasaki is the first important port in Japan to switch trade! Japan cannot be actually reunified, coupled with the containment of the Chinese army, the speed of economic development will slow down, and the speed of army building will also slow down, and the huge Chinese empire has already been actually unified, and is expanding its territory, when the time comes, the gap between Japan and China will become wider and wider, and when the time comes, when the Chinese army is pressed on the border, it is the time when all the countries here are ruined! After Prince Asugawa Gong finished speaking, he sat down angrily and motioned for Yama County Youpeng to speak.

Shan Shan Youpeng said in a heavy voice: "His Royal Highness the Prince's words, everyone has heard it, the prince said about the dangerous situation, I believe everyone here is very clear, I should bear the main responsibility for the previous failure, it is because I did not formulate an effective method according to the situation of the Chinese army, I wanted to apologize to the emperor for the sake of the war, but the war is not over, it is the time to employ people, I can only temporarily press the mind to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor." This time, together with the General Staff Headquarters, I have worked out a new type of tactic, and we must give full play to the advantages of our army's large number and local operations! This is the new pincer offensive! ”

With the words of Youpeng in Shanxian County, all the officers quickly looked at each other, and the talk of a pincer offensive was obviously very fresh.

Yama Prefecture Youpeng marked the current location of the Chinese army on the map, as well as the location of the Japanese government army, and used the small Japanese flag to mark the location and direction of the upcoming operation.

"General, the Chinese army is good at dividing and encircling, and if you do this, it may turn into a movement war, which is the strength of the Chinese army." An officer questioned.

Youpeng in Shanxian raised his hand, "The past standing pile style of play is obviously no longer able to meet the current operational needs, the Chinese army will move, why can't we exercise?" ”8)