Chapter 8 Liaoyang

"I don't think the Russians can turn it over," Chen Cheng said, "unless they immediately cease war with the Japanese now, form an alliance, and then turn their guns and come to us." Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Otherwise, I don't know what we have to fear. “

"It seems that you have lost all the military-related information to me recently?" Lin Mengchu said: "You are now focusing on industrial production, the reserve of weapons and ammunition, and the mobilization amount?" ”

"yes, what's wrong?" Chen Cheng asked, "Is something wrong?" There are too many things to do, and I'm a little too busy, so I don't pay so much attention to things related to China. ”

"Then do you know that the American has been very close to the one in Xuzhou recently?"

"Feng Guozhang? Is he trying to provoke a war in Henan again? Chen Cheng thought for a while and said, "It's nothing, right?" Although the war in Henan is gone, the skirmishes have never stopped..... When did the Americans get involved with Feng Guozhang? ”

"Probably after we cut off our trade with them," the girl snorted, "and cutting off people's wealth is like killing your parents." Now that there is no place for domestic capital to invest, we have expelled American businessmen from our country, and of course they will hate us to the bitter end. ”

"So they want to fund Feng Guozhang to fight us?" Chen Cheng smiled: "Then their vision is really not good. ”

"Do you really think it's that simple?" The girl sneered, "The Americans are distant cousins of the British, and they are both brutal and cunning. Those churches in Hebei and Shanxi have a lot of people who have sent our information, do you know these things? ”

"Of course I know, churches, foreigners, this is one of the focuses of the Military Horse Statistics Section. And didn't we send people to break into the interior of the Americans? Rest assured, I have never underestimated these imperialist powers. Otherwise, why do you think we moved our base camp to Shanxi? ”

"You mean the American named Barriday?" Lin Mengchu laughed, "He helped us trick Yuan Shikai at the beginning. No, it can't be said that Yuan Shikai was trapped, but it just provided us with some convenience. When we boycotted Americans and American goods, we didn't boycott them too, did we? ”

"No," Chen Cheng shook his head and said, "The best way to make profits is to monopolize." In return for Barriday, he is now the only American allowed to do business with us, and many American consortia are rushing to give him money. We also need to leave a gap, through which we can get whatever we need. ”

"So you're prepared?" The girl's tone relaxed, "Since that's the case, then I have nothing to worry about." Those people in the south are now waiting for something to go wrong on our side, I'm afraid they will be disappointed. ”

"Everything will decay from the beetle. Most of the time, it is the internal factors that determine the external changes. As long as we don't make mistakes ourselves, then external changes don't have much impact on us. It is only when our upswing is over that external changes become a decisive force. ”

Lin Mengchu tilted his head slightly, stared at Chen Cheng for a while, and then said, "Why do you say that I understand Chinese, but I just don't understand it very well?" Are you talking nonsense again? ”

"Haha, you've found out." Chen Cheng laughed, "So you don't need to worry about anything, just do what you have to do." The Russo-Japanese War was the first major war of the 20th century, and there are not many opportunities to observe it so directly and up close. Chu Chu, if you have free time, you might as well pay more attention to the tactics and equipment level of both of them, and we will use them in the future. ”

At the same time as the Japanese army stormed Lushun, they were preparing for the Battle of Liaoyang. It was originally planned to capture Lushun and draw out the 3rd Army for the Liaoyang direction. The 3rd Army could not be drawn, and the postponement of the Battle of Liaoyang was not conducive to the overall situation of the war, because as time went on, Russian reinforcements would arrive in a steady stream from the Russian hinterland.

To this end, it is necessary to seize the opportunity to annihilate the main forces of the Russian army assembled in the Liaoyang area in one fell swoop with the existing strength of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th armies. Although the Japanese army had an inferior strength (135,000 to 180,000), the Japanese had some advantages in firepower, and the previous stage of the operation had already touched the bottom of the Russian army, which strengthened the confidence of winning more with less.

The Russian soldiers were not without bravery, and those gray cattle were indomitable in battle, giving the Japanese a shock to them. In the field encounters, there was no machine-gun fire or artillery fire, and soldiers on both sides had to rely on rifles, bayonets and grenades.

Although the Japanese still defeated the Russians, the casualties were greater than those of the Russians. If it weren't for the cowardice of the high-ranking generals of the Russian army, who often issued some inconsistent and chaotic orders, the Japanese would not have been able to kill all the way to Liaoyang.

The Russian army in the Liaoyang area was defended into 3 positions. The first line (forward position) is 75 kilometers long and is located about 30 kilometers south and southeast of Liaoyang. The second position is 22 kilometers long and about 8 kilometers away from Liaoyang. The third position is close to Liaoyang City. The total length is 15 km. These three positions, especially the first one, were small in depth, the flanks were exposed, and the fortification construction plan was not completed, so it could not resist the Japanese attack.

The development of the domestic situation in Russia required the Russian army to win a major military victory in the Liaoyang region. After long-term preparations, the local Russian army has stockpiled a large amount of combat materials, and the conditions are relatively favorable. Kuropatkin threatened to "rather die than retreat from Liaoyang", and he decided to rely on the forward fortifications to resist and exhaust the attacking Japanese army, and then turn to counterattack. That is to say, the Russian army, having superior forces, adopted a passive waiting approach, giving the initiative to the enemy from the very beginning.

If the Russians had fought back decisively in the century, when the Japanese had come from afar and had not yet reached the front with artillery and ammunition, the Russians would have won at least one battle. In the encounters in the field, the Russians did not fight badly, and the exchange ratio was more than good. However, as long as there were more than 10,000 people in the battle, the Japanese, who were always more organized and had the advantage of local firepower, could win the final victory.

Two days later, when the Japanese heavy artillery wing (mostly 105mm howitzers classified as infantry support fire in the northwest) arrived, the balance of victory and defeat had inevitably begun to favor the Japanese side.