Qin Lang needed a telegram from Washington, a telegram urging him to march to Beijing as soon as possible and rescue diplomats, embassy staff, and civilians. Only when he got www.biquge.info this telegram could he rightfully abandon Vice Admiral Seymour and his coalition forces and attack Beijing alone.

He needed this telegram, urgently, but not so anxiously. Qin Lang was sure that it would soon be delivered to him, and it would only take a few days—theoretically, it wouldn't take more than a week. Still, he could make such a short period of time even shorter.

Coalition...... More precisely, Lieutenant General Nogi Noshinori will help him achieve this goal.

The Japanese Army's god of war was furious at his "small setback," Nogi's own account, and his chief of staff, Kenzo Ishibashi, described the first day of the battle as a "tactical defeat," even though their troops had lost 1,500 officers and enlisted men, and almost 1,000 wounded. However, his anger was not directed at the "setback" itself, but at the soldiers who caused the "setback".

These soldiers were not brave enough, and here lies the problem, they were not at all like real Japanese samurai who were ready to serve His Majesty the Emperor and the great cause of the Empire; They were supposed to be brave and fearless in the rain of bullets, breaking through the positions of the Chinese army with indomitable momentum and winning the victory, but these guys quickly retreated because of the slightest blow.

Shame on you!

Nogi Noshinori believed that the "setbacks" he encountered were only due to the cowardice of the soldiers, and of course, as long as the problem was corrected, victory would come. And he did, and fifty of the first soldiers to flee were arrested and executed without any trial by order of the lieutenant general.

Then, Nogi began to plan his revenge.

Of course, he wants revenge. Although the lieutenant general and his chief of staff did not think that they had suffered a defeat, being held back by the Chinese army for a whole day made the Japanese army's god of war feel disgraced, so he wanted to take revenge.

He's going to break through that damn position, he's going to do it. If one infantry brigade is not able to complete the task, then two brigades, three brigades are thrown in...... Even every soldier who took his command. In short, no matter how much power needs to be invested and how much cost it takes, he must achieve a breakthrough.

And he's sure to make a breakthrough. There can be no doubt, of course, that the valiant Imperial Japanese Army will not be held back by a few narrow trenches and cowardly Chinese soldiers hiding in the trenches - past, present, and future, never.

"Tomorrow, my troops will break through the positions of the Chinese army in one fell swoop." Nogi Noshinori's fist slammed heavily on the map marking the location of the position of the former army of the Takei Guard, "Crush it completely!" ”

His speech drew a buzz and a slight, apparently suppressed ridicule.

Apparently, Nogi made a mistake: he should not have announced at a military meeting of the coalition command that he was going to crush the positions of the Chinese troops. Everyone was well aware of the fortification of that position, and the price that the Japanese Army had already paid. Crush it? Sounds more like a joke.

"How many more soldiers are you going to lose, General Nogi Noshinori?" The commander of the Russian army, General Linivich, said in a tone that was not just mocking, "Another fifteen hundred, or more?" ”

Nogi Noshinori grimaced and did not deign to answer the question. However, from the very beginning, Rinevich did not expect him to respond to his provocations head-on, and without wasting a single moment, the general turned his face to the nominal Supreme Commander of the coalition forces. "Vice Admiral Seymour, I personally believe that it is necessary for the coalition forces to bypass Nie's forces and Tianjin and attack Beijing directly. As long as the Chinese capital is captured, this war will end immediately......"

"I agree!" Before he could finish his sentence, the Italians had already jumped up in support, and then the commander of the Austro-Hungarian army and the commander of the French army joined in.

Seymour's eyebrows furrowed. This is a rather bad phenomenon, although the Italians, the French and the Austrians have very weak voices, but after all, it is a voice, representing the attitude of the three countries. At a time when the Germans had not yet arrived, and the Americans were absent from the meeting, this attitude undoubtedly strengthened the strength of the Russians.

And that's just the beginning. The Vice Admiral was well aware that General Lynivich had always been strong in replacing him as commander of the coalition forces, that a change of aim was only his first step, and that once he succeeded, Lynivich would take advantage of the victory and achieve his goal before he had yet suffered defeat - Seymour knew the plan of his Russian allies and was extremely reluctant to see it succeed.

For the sake of his position, for the sake of the interests of the British Empire, and of course for the sake of comforting the face-damaged Japanese, he had to stop Leeniwicz.

"I'm against it." Vice Admiral warned, "If we bypass Tianjin and attack Beijing directly, Nie Shicheng will take the opportunity to attack our logistics and transportation lines." I must remind you that this will lead us to a terrible defeat. ”

"I don't think it would be more devastating than the damage from attacking a fortified military position." The Russians said, "And we can give the task of attacking Nie Shicheng to the Americans......"

"I can't trust those Americans." Once again, the Italians intervened. This time, though, he expressed opposition, "I'm referring to the commander of the American army. As we know, Qin Lang and Yi Shui are both Chinese, and perhaps they won't be at war with their compatriots. ”

"Moreover, the Chinese army is trained by the Americans." The Austrian also said, "I doubt that they will fight." ”

Two to one. Fortunately, the French were still on the side of the Russians. "There is no logic to your suspicions. I must remind you that the American forces commanded by Qin Lang and Yi Shui are still part of the coalition forces, and they are guarding the Zizhulin Concession and fighting against the boxers who attacked the concession. Which side they are on is an obvious thing. ”

Two to two. Once this happens, the quarrel is an inevitable consequence and will always unfold quickly. No one thought about the opinion of Seymour and Nogi Noshinori, not because their opinion was unimportant, but because their attitude was too clear: the Japanese wanted revenge, and the British would unswervingly support them, and no one could change this fact, and no one intended to change it.

For Linivich, as well as the Italians, the French, and the Austrians, they wanted to bypass Nie Shicheng's forces and Tientsin only to reduce their losses and at the same time occupy a city as quickly as possible and loot it, but if anyone was willing to take on the task of attacking the Chinese army alone and did not need their army to fight, then naturally, they would also be happy to stand aside and watch, and for the time being ignore the question of the distribution of benefits.

After all, the wealth of the Chinese does not disappear inexplicably, and it is a good choice to watch a wonderful show before dividing it, why not?

As for quarrels, it's just a habit, and an integral part of a game.

"A bunch of monkeys." Nogi Noshinori secretly commented.

Of course, he did not know that the officers of the coalition army were also the same opinion of him, and even the soldiers of the coalition forces and several Western journalists who were interviewing the coalition forces had the same opinion. When they heard that the Japanese army was going to continue attacking the Chinese position, which had cost it 1,500 men, instead of bypassing him, the first reaction of these people was that they were really crazy, and the second reaction was that they were going to watch from the sidelines.

So the next day, thousands of Allied officers and soldiers, as well as all the journalists, ran to the battlefield to see how the Japanese crushed their opponents.

"Warriors of the Great Japanese Empire, you have all seen it, thousands of Westerners are watching you!" Nogi Noshinori pointed to his audience and gave a final speech to the soldiers before the battle began, "Therefore, you must set an example and show your loyalty and dedication to His Majesty the Emperor to the Western countries, and show the bravery, fearlessness, and tenacity of the imperial samurai to the Western countries." Ladies and gentlemen, you must go forward bravely, fight bullets with bullets, sweep away the cowardly people with indomitable spirit, and win victory for His Majesty the Emperor and the Empire! ”

"Everyone can hear clearly, this war is about the prestige of the imperial country, you can only move forward, and you cannot retreat at any time." Kenzo Ishibashi stepped forward and continued, "If anyone retreats, they will be severely punished and will not be forgiven. ”

"Warriors of the Great Japanese Empire, the time has come for you to make brilliant achievements." Nogi Noshinori picked it up again, then paused for a moment, pulled out his command knife, and shouted at maximum volume: "Forward!" ”

"Your Majesty the Emperor, long live!" An officer shouted, and at the same time took the first step.

"Hooray! Banzai! Banzai! In the next second, the Japanese soldiers on the battlefield took the first step forward together, and at the same time they were all howling hoarsely. Their performance has puzzled every Westerner, and more importantly, no one knows what "banzhi" means.

Soon, however, they ceased to care about this seemingly trivial issue - the Japanese soldiers had begun to advance towards the positions of the Chinese troops.

The pitch battle is about to begin.

But in reality, it doesn't seem like a pitched battle is about to begin. The neat action of three thousand Japanese soldiers, although visually impressive, ......

"Everyone!" In the first trench, a junior officer, trained as an American adviser and had just been promoted, shouted to his soldiers, "Raise your gun, aim!" (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )