Yang Chao then followed Wu Peifu to inspect the army. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"You all know how many people the Russians have killed and how many big girls they have ruined in our three eastern provinces in the past few years. You don't know, the Russians used to call them Rakshasa ghosts, and the old people in the village knew why they were called Rakshasa ghosts, because they ate people! ”

"We don't stop the Russians here, and when they pass Harbin, they will be in their hometown. They will rob our family of food, and rob the girls of our village. When they can't grab it, and they don't have anything to eat in the winter, they eat people. Who wants your father, your mother, your sister to be eaten by the Russians and ruined? ”

One by one, young, enthusiastic propagandists, constantly agitating the soldiers.

These are all from the Propaganda Department of the Fuqiang Party, but they are not elite figures, they have never gone abroad, and they are basically graduates of local schools in Shandong, and students who study history and humanities are regarded as middle and low-level members of the Fuqiang Party.

Tell these people that bold propaganda does not hesitate to spread rumors, exaggerations and intimidation, and do not be afraid that the soldiers will not believe it, and that lying three times will not make it true, and saying it three hundred times will become it three hundred times.

Yang Chao is a strong supporter of the spiritual construction of soldiers, and his slogan is: "Propagandists must be assigned to the company!" ”

Of course, an orthodox German military academy officer like Wu Peifu prefers to use military discipline and military law to restrain the troops, and of course he does not oppose Yang Chao's construction of a propaganda team, but he has implemented the military law system, and the harsh military law, if you take a step back, you will die, and there is absolutely no luck.

In addition to inspecting the troops, Yang Chao also had to deal with reporters from various countries in Harbin, and in the face of a Japanese reporter's comment on the cooperation between Ito Hirobumi and Yang Chao to achieve a joint anti-Russian diplomatic success, Yang Chao did not hesitate to express his praise.

"I have always admired Marquis Ito. In my opinion, Marquis Ito is the first diplomat of the East. ”

Yang Chao's answer made the Japanese reporter very happy, and he conducted a long interview with Yang Chao, and finally sent it back to Japan. Ito's popularity has heated up again.

Some reporters also asked Ito Hirobumi about Yang Chao's answer, and Ito Hirobumi very modestly complimented Yang Chao, praising Yang Chao as China's most internationally minded diplomatic strategist after Li Hongzhang.

And Hirobumi Ito in an interview. He did not hesitate to expose his secret meeting with Yang Chao back then, of course, Ito Hirofumi picked it out, such as the deletion of part of the Japanese content, and the rumors published by Yang Chao in Shanghai, but only said that he was moved by Yang Chao's patriotic spirit at that time and decided to use the goal of Sino-Japanese friendship. Waiver of compensation.

At that time, Ito Hirobumi was scolded by the people, but this time Ito Hirobumi was able to stand up, he said that the waiver of reparations was the best choice for Japan, not only gained international reputation at that time, but also led the international community to follow suit, exempting China's reparations, or encouraging Chinese students, enhancing China's strength, so that China will not be invaded by Russia.

Most importantly, Japan has gained the friendship of the Chinese. That's why this time the two sides cooperated to declare war on Russia, Ito Hirobumi said that without China's cooperation, Japan would have to fight another costly Russo-Japanese war, and now with the Chinese army to share the pressure, Japan can concentrate on Lushun, and there is a better chance of completely defeating the Russians.

Ito Hirofumi finally commented that Yang Chao has already shown the demeanor of a world-class diplomat since the beginning of the operation of the issue of exempting countries from China's indemnity, and then he has blackmailed Russia militarily. It is the pinnacle of work, but this choice to cooperate with Japan really shows that Yang Chao has grown into a mature, steady and responsible diplomatic talent, and Ito Hirofumi is very happy after Li Hongzhang's death. I am very happy that there are still such talents in China.

"Ma's, now it's a cooperative relationship, just like that, the black old man, the knife is stabbed!"

After Yang Chao saw Ito Hirofumi's evaluation, he couldn't help but curse secretly.

Looks. Ito Hirofumi is praising Yang Chao, but the matter of Gengzi's indemnity is obviously that Yang Chao calculated the Western powers, and ordinary people can't understand it, and the real political master can see through it at a glance, and he will definitely think that Yang Chao is a conspirator, so that when Westerners cooperate with Yang Chao in the future, they will definitely keep an eye on it. This is completely inconsistent with the image that Yang Chao has always built to respect agreements, keep promises, and believe in the spirit of contract.

But that's not the most important thing, don't you be afraid that those in power in China will feel threatened by Yang Chao so high?

Zhang Zhidong doesn't have to be afraid, this old doctor knows that he won't live long, and he is also very optimistic about Yang Chao, otherwise he will not vigorously support Yang Chao this time, Yang Chao even felt from Zhang Zhidong's tone that Zhang Zhidong took the risk of supporting Yang Chao to start a war this time, in fact, he was making political achievements for Yang Chao, he hoped that after his death, Yang Chao would have enough prestige to take over the government and let China go on the right path.

Just when the senior officials of China and Japan praised each other and seemed to have a very close cooperative relationship, the war had already begun.

The first to attack were not the Chinese, nor the Russians, but the Japanese.

The Japanese blocked Lushun as soon as possible, and at the same time sent troops from Dalian to cut off the retreat of the Russian army, blocking the Russians in Lushun as last time.

The Russians have no intention of running away, and probably want to use the fortress of Arthur to mass-kill and injure the Japanese army like last time.

So until the Japanese were ready and began to attack, the Russians did not make any moves to break through.

The Japanese attack began with artillery bombardment, because in the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese discovered the advantage of 280 heavy artillery, this time they prepared 2,000 heavy artillery, and constantly launched artillery bombardment operations against Lushun.

After the Japanese attacked, the Russians also went on the offensive.

The Russians attacked Harbin.

The Russian army really did not choose to go south from Vladivostok, because Haisenwei had been blocked by the Japanese with fleets and mines, and they could only go south by land, and they could only climb over the Changbai Mountain to attack the north of Korea with great difficulty, which was too easy to be intercepted by Japan with sea control, and there was no strategic significance in attacking the mountains in the north of Korea, and the Russians were eager to open up the land route to Arthur, so that they could win the war.

Therefore, as a railway hub to Lushun, Harbin is a battleground, although Wu Peifu is confident, but the Russians are equally confident, Wu Peifu thinks that the Russians can't capture Harbin, and the Russians also think that Wu Peifu can't hold Harbin.

The Russian offensive was as brutal and brutal as ever.

Observers from various countries set up observation platforms on the high mountains near Harbin. Through the telescope, I saw that after the shelling, the Russians rushed to the Chinese positions in droves, and then fell in front of the Chinese positions like wheat harvested in autumn. Harvested by machine guns, lives were taken.

And the indestructibility of the Chinese's position has made Westerners begin to face up to modern warfare and find that it seems that the defensive side has an absolute advantage, but how to resolve the defensive advantage?

But the Russians had no intention of retreating, and remained the same. The same method of warfare as during the Russo-Japanese War, continuing to cover the infantry charge with artillery fire, because they could not find a more suitable method, the method of fighting the trenches, did not appear until World War II, when it was a new tactic born after the maturity of tank technology, and now only people can be used.

"Don't worry, my lord, there are also people on duty at night, and they will never give the Russians a chance to sneak attack."

Fighting broke out for three days, with minimal casualties among Chinese soldiers. But the Russians have lost tens of thousands of people, and Wu Peifu is more confident.

"Beware of arrogance and rashness, okay, go and send a telegram to Zhang Xiang to report on today's battle situation."

Yang Chao nodded, he had already read the battle report, and he felt that there was no problem, so he planned to send it to the newspaper, but he must have let Zhang Zhidong know it first, not only to make the old man happy, but also out of respect. At least Yang Chao decided that if it was Li Hongzhang, he would not agree to go to war with the Russians.

It is all the more necessary to publish such favorable war reports in the newspapers. It is very advantageous to take this opportunity to encourage the morale of the nation and to stimulate the idea of the state.

The increase in the confidence of the people not only means the birth of a patriotic spirit, but also has great practical benefits, at least in the sale of bonds in Shanghai. It went very smoothly, and the common people actively subscribed for bonds, from the wealthy businessmen to the peddlers and pawns, all crowded in front of the various money banks to ask to buy bonds, and in the end, the major money banks had to limit the number of subscriptions, and each person was limited to 10 taels of silver, so as to strive to let more people buy bonds and let more people support the country.

The first tranche of 100 million taels of bonds was sold out three days before the outbreak of the war, and then the second batch was also sold out after the battle broke out ten days later, and a total of 200 million taels of bonds were turned into silver dollars and silver bills that flowed into various industrial enterprises in Shandong, turned into weapons and equipment, and were sent to the northeast by rail.

The entire country's economy began to be driven by the war and rumbled like a machine of unprecedented size and complexity.

At the same time, on the bright side, China, Japan, and Russia have all started to compete head-on, and they have done a lot of things in private.

The Japanese Akashi Motojiro once again found Comrade Vladimir and gave Comrade Vladimir another million yen for Comrade Vladimir to stab his country.

Yang Chao found Kirilenko and Mahuva, Kirilenko was a little-known Russian officer, after the Russo-Japanese War, Yang Chao was sent back to Russia by airship, and gave him 100,000 rifles, Kirilenko used these weapons to launch a less successful uprising, although the uprising failed, but he personally gained high prestige, and now he is still a giant within the Russian secret organization.

When Tsarist Russia suppressed the Polish uprising, he tried to rescue nearly 1,000 Polish rebels, and he did not listen to Yang Chao's suggestion to send these people to China, but established strongholds in the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries, where he continued to absorb the reincarnation fighters from Poland, and now has 3,000 people.

Of course, Ma Huowa did not break away from the connection with China, and Yang Chao was still in close contact, through the organization of the Rich and Strong Party in Europe, Yang Chao had received 5 million marks from Ma Huowa in recent years, and this time he found Ma Huowa and told him that he was ready to find an opportunity to return to China to launch an uprising.

Of course, Yang Chao told Ma Huowa very righteously that he should let himself decide, let him feel that the time is ripe to do it, Yang Chao said that this is completely in line with the interests of both parties, if Ma Huowa feels that the opportunity is not ripe, he can give up this opportunity.

Ma Huowa is not willing to give up, he saw Japan and China unite to attack Russia, he felt that this opportunity was too good, the Japanese army had proven their strength, and the Chinese army, at least the army of Shandong, Ma Huowa still knew very well, he had an account book in his heart, he knew which Northeast soldiers who had been repeatedly stimulated by Yang Chao with the concept of hometown for three years How strong the will to fight was, not to mention the combat quality, when Ma Huowa was there, he knew that these soldiers were already quite elite, As long as there is a strong will to fight, this is the best soldier in the world.

So Mahuwa has no doubts about another shameful defeat of the Russians, and once the Russians fail, this is an opportunity for Poland to revolt from the west of Russia and establish a Poland of their own, not Tsarist Poland.

However, both Comrade Vladimir and Ma Huowa, both of them chose to wait for the opportunity for the time being, and at the same time secretly gathered forces, waited for the opportunity, and waited for the opportunity to bring down Tsarist Russia. (To be continued.) )