As soon as Qin Chuan mentioned Zhou Xianxian, Feng Guozhang's face couldn't help but become gloomy, and he was silent for a long time before he whispered in a heavy tone. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"Bizhou is busy with military affairs outside the city, and he will turn to visit the adults in a while, but it is just a 。。。。。。 of the show"

Feng Guozhang was silent for a long time before he spit out a sentence with difficulty: "Xiancheng has died in Chenghuan!" ”

The premonition in his heart was confirmed, Qin Chuan's heart had already sunk, and he was sad for a long time before Qin Chuan asked Feng Guozhang in a low voice.

"Huafu, how did Xiancheng die in battle? What is the situation of the battle of Chenghuan? ”

Feng Guozhang sighed deeply, took a sip of tea, took the remaining stack of rice paper on the table where Qin Chuan wrote the essentials of trench construction, and took out a Venus brand gold pen produced by the Aurora Group from his pocket.

The Venus brand gold pen in Feng Guozhang's hand is a thousand special fountain pens specially ordered by Qin Chuan to Pan Sichi, the pen body is gilded, and the emblem of the salt group is carved on it, and the number is also engraved, and the nib is also iridium, not only writing fluently, but also noble and gorgeous in appearance, which can be called a boutique. This batch of gold pens was only issued by Qin Chuan to officers above the company level of the Yan Regiment for use, and it could be given to Feng Guozhang, obviously Qin Chuan had other intentions. Not only Feng Guozhang, but also Li Chun, Yu Guangxi, Li Guohua, Zhou Xianxian, and Xin Delin also have one.

Feng Guozhang took out the cap of the pen, lay down on the table of the Eight Immortals, and began to tell Qin Chuan about the Chenghuan War with the golden pen in his hand on rice paper.

The Qing army that Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng brought to Asan for the first time was only about 2,500 people, and seeing that the strength of the Japanese army in Seoul was gradually increasing, it had far exceeded the strength of the Qing army, not counting the troops that have landed in Pusan today.

Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng felt that their troops were insufficient and the situation was grim, so they had no choice but to repeatedly call Li Hongzhang to send additional reinforcements.

By the time Jiang Zikang led two battalions of troops, the total strength reached 3,880 men.

Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng were waiting for Gao Jishan to lead troops again, and they didn't want to receive a call from Li Hongzhang first, telling Ye Zhichao, "China, Japan and North Korea will break up and prepare for war quickly." Later, he received a telegram that "Gao Sheng was sunk by the Japanese, the border provocation has begun, and he is preparing for war." It was also learned that the Japanese troops moving south of Seoul had reached the area of Zhenwei and were approaching Asan.

The two felt that the situation was serious, and once the war began, the Asan Qing army would inevitably be outnumbered. Nie Shicheng even believes that "the sea route has been blocked, the reinforcements are difficult to cross, and Asan is a Jedi that cannot be defended." Gongju is backed by mountains and faces the river, and is born to win, so it can be used as a backup." It was suggested that Ye Zhichao lead the Gubeikou training army to move to Gongzhou, and Nie Shicheng himself led other troops to move to welcome the enemy.

In fact, since Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng received the news that the Gaosheng had been sunk by Japanese ships, they had reached a consensus that it was no longer meaningful to garrison Asan, and that the whole army should quickly move north at this time and get land support before they could fight a decisive battle against the Japanese army.

It's just that this idea can no longer be reported to Li Hongzhang. Because the telegraph line from Asan to Tianjin needed to pass through Seoul and then to Pyongyang, and finally to Tianjin, the telegraph line from Seoul to Asan had been cut off by the Japanese army.

Li Hongzhang insisted on maintaining the Asan garrison, the purpose of which was to go south to Seoul after the heavy troops were assembled on the northern route, so as to create a situation in which the Qing army stationed in Asan attacked the north and south of Seoul. In addition, the Asan garrison had another task, which was to block the convergence of the Japanese troops landing from Busan and the Japanese army in Seoul.

Without Li Hongzhang's instructions, Ye Zhichao did not dare to change Li Hongzhang's battle plan without authorization, and Nie Shicheng also knew Ye Zhichao's difficulties, so he had to retreat to the second best thing before making this suggestion.

Nie Shicheng's suggestion, although it was said to give up Asan, did not dare to go far, Chenghuan and Asan are only fifty kilometers apart, even if the army on the North Road approaches Seoul as scheduled, it can also cause a flanking attack on the Japanese army in Seoul. However, Ye Zhichao moved to defend Gongzhou, but he was able to control the retreat of the Qing army to the north. It should be said that Nie Shicheng's suggestion was still with the idea that once the situation was unfavorable, the whole army could smoothly retreat north.

Of course, Ye Zhichao understood what Nie Shicheng meant, and he was thinking of one thing, how could he disagree.

So, Nie Shicheng and Jiang Zikang led more than four battalions of the two armies to Chenghuan to prepare to meet the invading Japanese army. Who knew that after Nie Shicheng left, Ye Zhichao changed his doctrine again, leaving Nie Shicheng's named chief soldier Tan Qingyuan to lead the first battalion of Renzi to stay in Asan, and he himself took a battalion to escort the baggage to Gongzhou, and then temporarily tuned in Tian'an on the way.

Regarding Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng's withdrawal from Ashan, Qin Chuan was in favor.

From Qin Chuan's point of view, they have less than 4,000 troops, and they can hold on to the south of Korea with no rear and no strong fortifications, which is simply a fantasy, and there is no way to survive if they stay in Asan or even south of the Han River. This also shows that Li Hongzhang has always believed that his Beiyang elite is not only not inferior to the Japanese army in terms of combat effectiveness, but even stronger than the Japanese army.

With such thoughts, it is no wonder that Li Hongzhang does not say that the Qing army and the Japanese army have the upper hand in several conflicts in Korea, and at this time, even the European and American powers unanimously believe that the Qing army's land force is by no means inferior to the Japanese army.

It's just that Qin Chuan was puzzled by Ye Zhichao's division of the already insufficient forces into three places. Thinking about it carefully, Qin Chuan estimated that Ye Zhichao was unwilling to take on the charge of disobeying military orders and left a battalion in Asan to show that he had not completely given up on Asan.

Qin Chuan believed that under the circumstances, Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng should decisively withdraw their troops to the north, fight and go, and return by detour, which is the best policy. Although Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng arranged it like this, and it was also a deployment with the word "go" as the core, Qin Chuan felt that the two of them were so indecisive between fighting and leaving, that they couldn't fight with all their strength, and they retreated and dragged mud and water, which was very miscalculated.

It's just that what Qin Chuan thought in his heart was difficult to say in front of Feng Guozhang. Qin Chuan knew that Nie Shicheng valued Feng Guozhang very much, and Feng Guozhang was also very grateful to Nie Shicheng.

Feng Guozhang didn't know what Qin Chuan was thinking, and continued to explain the battle to Qin Chuan with some reluctance.

Before the Japanese army began to attack Cheng Huan, Nie Shicheng commanded his troops to build fortifications for several days, and built six forts in three days, including four on Wolbong Mountain east of Cheng Huan, one on Niusheri Mountain west of Cheng Huan and one on the west side of the Seoul Nanlai Road.

Jiang Zikang led a battalion to garrison Niusheri Mountain, sentry commander Yin Desheng led an artillery team to garrison the top of Niusheli Mountain, and battalion officer Xu Zhaogui led a battalion to defend Yuefeng Mountain.

Soon after, the scouts sent by Nie Shicheng found out that the Japanese army was going to attack Cheng Huan in two ways in the early morning of the next day, so Nie Shicheng prepared to set up an ambush to attack him first.

According to Nie Shicheng's deployment, the sentry officer Xu Zhaode led a sentry to ambush on the side of the mountain, helped Feng Yihe to lead a team of 300 horses to hide in the woods next to the Ancheng River, helped Nie Pengcheng to lead four sentry posts to ambush on the west side of Anchengdu, and the battalion officer Wei Jiaxun led a battalion to respond in the center, and Yu Guangxian, Zhou Xianxian, Li Guohua, Xin Delin and others led dozens of people to ambush in the houses in Jialongli on the south bank of Anchengdu, in order to prevent the Japanese army from seizing the houses and holding on.

According to Feng Guozhang's introduction, Anchengdu is a necessary place for Chenghuan to go south from Seoul, with swamps and rice fields on both sides of the river, lush forests, and is indeed a good place for ambushes. Regarding Nie Shicheng's ambush, Qin Chuan thought it was very correct. It's just that Qin Chuan regretted Nie Shicheng's ambush configuration.

Qin Chuan believes that Nie Shicheng made three mistakes in this ambush battle.

First, the number of troops invested was too small, and Nie Shicheng only invested more than 1,400 people, that is, half of the troops, and he did not have the determination to defeat the enemy in a battle;

Second, the depth of the ambush circle is too shallow, and once the follow-up troops of the Japanese army desperately attack, not only will the ambush effect not be achieved, but may even suffer losses;

The third is: Yu Guangxi's ambush troops are too weak in front of the rush, and once there is an accident, it is likely that he will not be able to retreat with his whole body.

To be honest, in Qin Chuan's opinion, the best result of such an ambush battle is to fight a rout, and it is impossible to completely turn the tide of the battle.

Sure enough, after the Japanese right flank forward entered the ambush circle, a fierce battle broke out between the two sides, and the Qing army won a complete victory at the beginning, killing four officers including Masashi Hashimoto and Captain Naotomi Matsuzaki, and more than 50 Japanese soldiers were killed and wounded. But then the follow-up troops of the Japanese army arrived, and the situation was instantly reversed, and the 300 horse team led by Feng Yihe first withdrew from the battle, and the other departments had to retreat, only in Jialong, Yu Guangxi, Zhou Xianzhang and dozens of others were besieged by the Japanese army on three sides and fell into a heavy siege. In the end, Zhou Xianzhang and more than 20 Qing troops died, and the rest of the troops broke through desperately under the leadership of Guangxi, Li Guohua, Xin Delin and others.

Subsequently, the commander of the 9th Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army, Yoshimasa Oshima, commanded the two Japanese troops to launch a fierce artillery bombardment of the Qing army's Chenghuan position, and the forts built by the Qing army for several days collapsed one after another under the heavy artillery bombardment of the Japanese army for more than two hours, and several positions changed hands. Although Nie Shicheng repeatedly rushed to kill the overseers, he lost the advantage of the terrain, and the difference in strength was huge, and he returned several times in vain. In desperation, Nie Shicheng had no choice but to lead the army to break through and rush to Tian'an, and only stabilized his position under Ye Zhichao's response.

After the Japanese army captured Chenghuan, they did not immediately pursue Nie Shicheng with all their might, but waved their troops to Ashan.

The defenders of Asan only had a battalion of Qing soldiers led by Tan Qingyuan, and they did not dare to resist the enemy head-on. Tan Qingyuan was also a little bold, although he knew that he was invincible, he did not run away immediately, but led the army to withdraw from the Asan garrison and secretly hid in the mountains, originally wanting to suddenly return at night, taking advantage of the great victory of the Japanese army and forgetting that the defense was lax, he bit the Japanese army hard.

I don't want to, I don't know where the news leaked, the Japanese army secretly set up an ambush at the garrison at night, Tan Qingyuan not only did not "steal chickens" in the night attack, but lost "a lot of rice", and was waited by the Japanese army, not to mention more than 100 dead and wounded, the black light was chased out by the Japanese army for more than ten miles, and one of the eight cannons was lost.

Tan Qingyuan ran all the way with the remnants of the defeated army, and ran straight to Tian'an to see Ye Zhichao and Nie Shicheng to stop their feet. Subsequently, the three of them retreated all the way to Gongzhou, and a few days later, they found that the Japanese scouts were following them.

Due to the loss of telegraph contact with Tianjin, Ye Zhichao hesitated for a long time, and finally decided to retreat north. Their retreat route was to make a detour to the east coast of Korea, crossing the Han River and the Taedong River, a journey of more than 2,000 miles, which lasted more than a month, before finally arriving in Pyongyang.

After Feng Guozhang finished speaking, Qin Chuan couldn't help but sigh for a while.

In Chenghuan, although the Qing army was outnumbered, the Ye and Nie armies were not without opportunities, but the two did not grasp it well, if they seized the opportunity, they would win a blow, and then the time of the battle of Pyongyang would be greatly delayed, and the Qing army would be more prepared.

Just as he was sighing, Nie Shicheng walked in with a calm face and a big stride.