"The Japanese are coming so fast!" , Yuan Shikai, who had already shaved his head, was shocked when he received the urgent report, but when he saw the young man who pushed the door in, his expression relaxed slightly, and he smiled, "Fortunately, you came faster!" ”

The young man smiled faintly and said, "Of course, we are a cavalry regiment, and we left earlier, how can the Japanese compare?" ”

However, Yuan Shikai's good mood did not last long, just over an hour later, he received an urgent report that the first line of defense was lost, "This is impossible!" ”

"Hireqing mistook me!" , Yuan Shikai scolded his think tank Wang Shizhen in a hurry, and ordered someone to call him immediately, and after thinking for a while, the young man said that he was going to the front line to see the situation, and then left without waiting for Yuan Shikai to reply.

Soon Wang Shizhen hurried over, his face was full of gloom, he was directly subordinate to the Zhengding people's clan, two years younger than Yuan Shikai, but the official fortune was far inferior to the latter, before the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, it was just a small artillery team training, he had fought side by side with Gao Shanji in the battle of Xuanwumen, but it was not until Ye Zhichao was executed that he was under the command of Gao Shanji, after Gao Shanji was martyred, Wang Shizhen switched to Yuan Shikai, and gradually gained his trust in the process of reorganizing the troops, before Yuan Shikai's uprising, he had become Yuan Shikai's adjutant, which is highly valued.

Although he was born in the army, what Wang Shizhen was best at was pre-war planning, and Yuan Shikai also used people's strengths, and regarded him more as a think tank than a general, but what he didn't expect was that Wang Shizhen's suggestion, which sounded very reasonable, was actually a "bad idea"

A few days ago, after Iktanga and Yulu fled with a large number of cavalry to abandon the city. Wang Shizhen immediately thought that they should go to the Japanese, worried that the Japanese army would attack soon, and directly defeat the tens of thousands of Qing troops who were undecided, so he gave Yuan Shikai an idea to arrange as many of his troops as possible on the first line of defense outside Fengtian.

There are three advantages to this, first of all, the soldiers and horses of Yuan Shikai's headquarters are based on the veterans who have been withdrawn from the Korean battlefield as the backbone, and they are his own soldiers, and they have the strongest will to fight, and they should be able to hold out longer, so that Yuan Shikai has more time to rectify the various Qing troops that have just been subdued; At the same time, Yuan Shikai sacrificed his own soldiers first, which is called selflessness, which can appease the chief generals of the Qing army in other departments, and is more conducive to Yuan Shikai's control of various armies, for example, Nie Shicheng originally relied on his old qualifications to not obey him very much, but after this arrangement, Nie Shicheng was immediately greatly moved, and he never fought with Yuan Shikai again; This is the third

"These dead are all Lao Tzu's soldiers!" , This was Yuan Shikai's first reaction after hearing Wang Shizhen's proposal, but the latter shook his hand at him and said, "You are no longer the chief soldier of the Great Qing Kingdom, where will you have your own soldiers in the future!" ”

Yuan Shikai woke up when he came to the throne that the army of the Datong Party was a "********", and since he had joined the Datong Party, it was impossible for him to still have troops that were completely obedient to his orders as before.

In this case, it is not Yuan Shikai's own soldiers who are lost on the first line of defense, but can use this to show his attitude to win the favor of the top level of the Datong Party, which is conducive to his continued reuse in the future, which is the third benefit of Wang Shizhen's plan

Yuan Shikai felt justified after thinking about it, so he hardened his heart and adopted Wang Shizhen's strategy, but what he didn't expect was that the Japanese army not only came faster than expected, but the intensity of the offensive also greatly exceeded the previous attacks on Fengtian, and as a result, the first line of defense that he thought would be able to hold out for at least a few days was broken through by the Japanese army in less than two hours!

Even if it is no longer a "soldier for a general", the faction still exists, and Yuan Shikai can sacrifice his old subordinates for his promotion, but it is inevitable to feel distressed. And if the Japanese army breaks through the second line of defense in a short period of time, then the tens of thousands of troops in Mukden are in danger of collapsing on the whole line, and it is no wonder that Yuan Shikai will blame Wang Shizhen for his plan in a hurry.

However, Yuan Shikai's ability to control his emotions is still very strong, when Wang Shizhen arrived, he had completely calmed down, and after carefully re-reading the battle report, Yuan Shikai quickly understood that he was wrong to blame Wang Shizhen, "Pingqing, don't blame yourself, after all, who knew that the Japanese would be so desperate this time?" ”

That's right, the Japanese army was really desperate this time, and Katsura Taro concentrated the strength of an entire infantry wing (or the kind that was strengthened after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War) to storm the first line of defense, and under the cover of artillery fire, more than 5,000 devils lined up in a dense formation and launched a bayonet charge!

Yuan Shikai's troops had the foundation left by Gao Shanji at the beginning, and they were one of the few elite soldiers in the Qing army with the ability to fight bayonets, but the dense formation of several thousand bayonet charges was still beyond their psychological endurance. When the Japanese army rushed to the position of the Qing army with a roar under the fierce fire of the Qing army's fast guns and hand-cranked machine guns, Yuan Shikai's elite troops, who had always been considered the strongest in the Qing army in Fengtian, quickly collapsed

"Your Excellency, you didn't see it! Those Oriental devils are like crazy, we have knocked down an unknown number of them, and they still rush desperately", a deserter confided in Yuan Shikai with a crying voice about the terrible scene at that time, and Yuan Shikai frowned when he heard it.

But Wang Shizhen's face showed a slight joy, and he comforted Yuan Shikai and said, "If he didn't exaggerate, the Japanese losses must be not small, the second line of defense should be able to block them, and Nie Shicheng's troops are still very capable of fighting."

However, when the two of them came to the castle tower and took out their binoculars to see the scene in the distance, their faces suddenly darkened, "The Japanese used not one wing for a frontal attack, but two wings?" The first wing broke through the first line of ground and stayed to repair, and the wing behind it did not stop and continued to attack my second line of defense? Where did the Japanese get so many combatable soldiers? Damn, the second line of defense looks like it's going to be overwhelming! ”

"The Japanese are really desperate, I'm afraid they don't even care about the protection of the flanks and rear, that's why they can free up so many troops. And judging from their current momentum of not caring about casualties at all, it is obvious that the Japanese are going to make a hammer deal and prepare to fight Mukden in one go! Wang Shizhen was the first to understand, and he gasped, but he also saw an opportunity from it, "Although it is unknown what makes the Japanese so desperate, this should also be the last attack of the Japanese, as long as they can repel this offensive, they will never be able to make a comeback." (To be continued.) )