On the eve of the outbreak of the war against Russia, the mercenaries and garrisons of the Northern Theater and the army of the Chinese Empire were conducting military exercises in the northeast, and the battlefield of the exercise was divided into two places: one was in Aihui County on the south bank of the Heilongjiang River north of Harbin. One is along the Dongqing Railway in Dongning County (now Suifenhe) in Ning'an Province (now Mudanjiang City), close to Primorsky Krai with Russia. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

On August 21, cadres at and above the regimental level had received combat orders to attack Russia and were ready for battle. At 6 a.m. on the 22nd, the troops conducting military exercises in the two places crossed the border line and entered the territory of the Russian Empire at the same time, and the fighting in several other places began at the same time.

The commander in charge of the occupation of Hailanpao was Lieutenant General Ge Zhennan, chief of staff of the Xinzhou Provincial Military Region, and the troops he led included five brigades of Japanese mercenaries, three cavalry divisions, and one garrison, with a total strength of more than 150,000.

Three of the five brigades of mercenaries have returned from South America, and two brigades are recruits who have not yet been on the battlefield since they were formed, and this is a training for them.

The commanders of the three cavalry divisions were Sun Liechen, Baiyin Dalai and Tao Ke Taohu; The commander of the garrison division was Feng Linge, and the commanders of the three divisions below were Wu Junsheng, Du Lisan, and Ji Jinchun.

These people were all bandits, and after being recruited, they trained in the Peninsula Special Administrative Region, and were later sent to the country of Lu to participate in the war against Canada, and then participated in the war against Mexico and the Isthmus, and only returned to the Peninsula Special Administrative Region after fighting the war against Venezuela to rest and replenish.

In order to keep the cavalry division flexible and mobile, and more suitable for long-term field battles in a large area, Governor Xiao Xuguang ordered them to add a 1,000-man baggage regiment, in addition to more light machine guns and mortars; The infantry's general-purpose machine gun was replaced with the MG42 general-purpose machine gun, and the replaced MG34 general-purpose machine gun was heavily equipped with second-line troops, with 120 MG34s in each cavalry division, and was no longer equipped with Maxim heavy machine guns; This brought the number of each cavalry division to 11,500 men.

The garrison army was also reorganized, with the number of each division being 20,000 people, and the establishment and equipment were similar to those of the national defense divisions, except that they were not equipped with sniper guns, the divisional artillery battalion was 75mm mountain guns, the army-affiliated artillery regiment was 105mm howitzers, and the entire garrison army was 70,000 people.

The Makqin heavy machine guns replaced by cavalry divisions and garrisons were equipped with mercenary troops, which greatly increased the mercenary firepower.

Before leaving, Lieutenant General Ge Zhennan convened a mobilization meeting of officers at and above the regimental level.

Ge Zhennan said: "The scale of this war will not be very large, because there are airships to assist in the bombing, the intensity of the war will not be very intense, but, you should not underestimate the enemy, I believe that most of you have the experience of fighting with the Russian army or fighting side by side, they are no strangers to them, they are still very brave when fighting a tailwind, I hope you will not capsize in the gutter, you must be cautious, not only to ensure the victory of the war, but also to control the war damage within a reasonable range." ”

"Yes, Chief of Staff!" Everyone immediately took a stand.

Ge Zhennan continued: "Our goal is to annihilate the defenders of Hailanpao and occupy Hailanpao and the surrounding towns, there are more than 40,000 regular Russian troops and 24,000 local garrisons in Hailanpao, which is our main goal to annihilate; In addition, there were 12,000 regular troops, 20,000 local garrisons, and an 8,000-strong Cossack cavalry division scattered in the towns outside Hailanpao, and the goal of the mercenaries and garrisons was to encircle Hailanpao and annihilate the Russian defenders; The duty of the cavalry division was to annihilate the reinforcements on the outskirts of the city and regain the surrounding towns; This battle is a battle to regain lost territory, and it is an incomparably glorious battle for the soldiers. ”

"Yes, Chief of Staff!" Everyone replied excitedly, everyone was full of confidence in the war, not only the number of troops exceeded half of the opponent's, but more importantly, the weapons and equipment were much better than the enemy's, and the enemy's garrisons were very scattered, which was convenient for them to break through one by one.

Chief of Staff Ge said: "Whether you can win smoothly this time depends on the results of the three cavalry divisions, although you are facing a lot of enemies, but their stations are very scattered, as long as you don't give the enemy a chance to gather, you will easily win, so the speed of the attack must be fast; As long as the enemy on the periphery of Hailan Pao is eliminated and the reinforcements are lost, the enemy army in Hailan Pao City will not be worried. Originally, His Majesty was going to form a cavalry corps before the war, but Governor Xiao Dadu suggested that a cavalry corps be formed after the war, on the grounds that the enemy facing this battle was weaker and could be used as a training exercise, and after the war, the commander of the cavalry corps would be determined according to the merits of each cavalry division, so I hope that the cavalry divisions will not let me lose face. ”

"Yes, Chief of Staff!" Feng Linge and the three of them immediately replied happily. Baiyin Dalai and Tao Ke Taohu and many of the officers and soldiers of the cavalry unit are Mongolians, they grew up on horseback, excellent riding skills, are excellent cavalry, after joining the mercenaries of the Xia Empire, they did not suffer any discrimination, and gradually integrated into this big family, this time the two of them also have hope for the position of commander.

Then, Ge Zhennan changed his sad expression and said seriously: "I believe you still remember that 10 years ago, there were two massacres on the other side of the river, the Hailan Pao tragedy and the Sixty-four Tun tragedy, they didn't even let go of the old and young women and children, this is a heinous crime committed by Russian brutes against the Chinese, I now declare that I will not accept prisoners against the Russian army, and all civilians will be arrested, as free labor for the empire, and they will be reformed through lifelong labor, and those who dare to resist will be killed." ”

"Yes, Chief of Staff!"

Not only the Chinese officers were very supportive of this order, but also the Japanese mercenary officers and soldiers were very supportive of this order.

For these Chinese officers, they are all from the three eastern provinces, and they are very aware of the crimes committed by the Russians in the northeast at the beginning, and they are very excited to let them participate in the war to recover their homeland and avenge the Chinese who were victimized at the beginning. When they were in the Americas, they thought that His Majesty had forgotten his promise to them, and they also thought that the South American campaign would last for a long time, and there was no chance of revenge against Russia in this life, which made them suffer for a long time, but they didn't expect happiness to come so suddenly, and after destroying Venezuela, they were immediately sent back to the peninsula SAR for rest, redress, and replenishment of troops.

The Japanese mercenary officers were all veterans, many of whom had participated in the Russo-Japanese War, and many of their fellow countrymen, friends, and comrades-in-arms died in that war, and they hated the murderous Russians and were very eager to defeat the Russian army again and avenge the dead and wounded.

Ge Zhennan was satisfied with everyone's attitude, so he said: "Okay, since everyone wants to fight with Russia, then I will now announce the battle order." ”