After eight nights, although the city is not as noisy as during the day, the sound of "ping-pong" can still be heard in the dim light.

It was the Japanese army constructing field fortifications, although the outer field fortifications were almost completed. But in the eyes of the Japanese command, these field fortifications were far from enough, as long as the Battle of Dalian in Lushun had not officially begun, then. It was necessary for the Japanese army to unremittingly build field fortifications on the periphery, layer by layer, one by one. Take advantage of the natural terrain to build a strong defensive line. to fend off the onslaught of the squadron.

This is the west of Dalian Kiba Fort, is a small town on the South Manchurian Railway, although this town is not inconspicuous, but now the status is very important, because this is the current South Manchurian Railway Traffic Command Center, the railway traffic between Lushun and Dalian depends on the Kiba Fort Railway Station for coordination, and in this Kiba Fort town stationed a Japanese army engineer unit, they are responsible for ensuring that this section of the railway is controlled in the hands of the Japanese army, once the front line situation is not good, then this Japanese army engineer unit will blow up all the railways north of the Kiba Fort.

In fact, the South Manchurian Railway north of Dalian to Jinzhou has been completely blown up by the Japanese army, leaving only the section of the railway from Lushun to Dalian, and even the remaining section of the railway has been dug with blast pits in many roadbeds and bridges if necessary. Japanese sappers can quickly stuff explosives into the blasting pit and blow up the railroad and bridge to prevent the squadron from using it.

In order to defend this section of the South Manchurian Railway, the Japanese sent modified armored trains to the Kibabao Railway Station so that they could support the front line at any time, and because they were some distance from the front line, if the defensive line in the direction of Dalian could not hold it, they could also quickly retreat to Lushun for the last resistance.

It was now nine o'clock in the evening, and night had already ruled the land, and like the Dalian side, the construction of field fortifications was continuing here at Kiba Fort. Due to the serious shortage of Japanese troops, the Japanese expatriates living in Lushun and Dalian had to be mobilized. With shovels and iron manuscripts, he frantically excavated various fortifications in the black soil of the Liaodong Peninsula. Trenches, communication trenches, foxholes, artillery bunkers. In addition to these common fortifications, there is also a wider and deeper trench, in the words of the Japanese army, this is called "anti-tank trench spoon" It is said that it is a kind of fortification of the Japanese army officer Ming who suffered defeat on the front line, specially used to deal with those armored vehicles of the squadron, as for whether it works or not, then you can only wait for the squadron to fight, but then again, the Japanese army is indeed afraid of those armored vehicles, it is said that the reason why the front line has been defeated again and again is because of those armored vehicles of the squadron, Whenever the Japanese army wanted to confront the attack of the Chinese infantry head-on, one or two Chinese tank units would often appear in the flank direction to carry out tactical detours, and once the rear road was cut off, the Japanese defense troops in front of the battlefield would soon fall into a state of confusion, and the logistics would not be discussed at all.

It is precisely because of this that now the Japanese army headquarters has changed its battlefield deployment, and the first-line defense of the past has been canceled, and now the Japanese army intends to carry out multi-layer defense. Moreover, the defense of the flanks was strengthened, and anti-tank trenches were built in multiple directions to resist the flank armor of the squadron to outflank the tactics.

This is how the defense line of Fort Kiba is arranged, and since this is the defensive outpost of Lushun, the defensive depth of Fort Kiba's defense line is even more exaggerated than that of Dalian. This was because the Japanese command believed that the Chinese army's offensive could only come from the north, so in the event of a battle in the direction of Dalian, the Japanese command would send enough troops from the Lushun fortress north to Kiba Fort. Then, depending on the battle situation on the front line, it was decided whether to defend Kiba Fort on the spot or go to Dalian for reinforcements. Because Kiba Fort is a necessary place for the South Manchurian Railway. This will definitely become the key attack direction of the squadron, and with the defensive positions on the left and right flanks of Fort Kiba, the Japanese command can win more time for the defensive battle of Arthur.

Now the Japanese commander of Kiba Fort has no other thoughts, only one thought, that is, to continue to build fortifications, as long as the squadron has not come, then, the Japanese troops and expatriates here must contribute sweat and physical strength to the defensive operation.

Due to the imminent start of the Battle of Dalian in Lushun, the foreign nationals in Dalian and Lushun had basically passed through the defense line of the Chinese and Japanese armies with the assistance of the International Red Cross Society and retreated from Jinzhou. They had to participate in the construction of fortifications, but not all Japanese people were tame. Many of them insist that they should return to China instead of being cannon fodder here.

While the Japanese troops and expatriates at Kiba Fort were frantically digging various fortifications, a train quietly entered the station and stopped on the platform. A lieutenant general officer stepped down from the carriage, and it was none other than the Japanese "Governor of Kwantung." Yasumasa Fukushima.

Fukushima Ann came from Lushun. He was accompanied by all the members of his General Staff, since the death of Koichiro Tachibana, the commander of the Kwantung Army, who had changed in a hurry, had sent a telegram to the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters to send a new commander to take over the command, but at this time, none of the generals in Japan were willing to come over and take the blame for the mistakes of the Japanese government's strategic decision-making, and there was no one who could be trusted among the army officers who remained in Lushun. Akiyama Yoshiko, who originally commanded operations in Dalian, was qualified to serve as the new commander, but Major General Akiyama himself refused to serve as the commander of the Kwantung Army, so that Fukushima Yasumasa, a "civilian official", naturally took over the command of the Kwantung Army.

Leaving Lushun this time, Fukushima Yasumasa's real destination is Dalian, the reason why he stopped at Fort Kiba to inspect was only temporary, he wanted to see the construction of fortifications here, since getting the report of the front-line troops, Fukushima Yasumasa really paid attention to the armored combat vehicles equipped by the squadron, he realized that with the fortifications in Dalian, it was difficult to resist the attack of the armored troops of the squadron, but the hilly terrain here at Fort Kiba was more conducive to the defensive operations of the Japanese army.

It is precisely for this reason that Fukushima Yasumasa is ready to retreat the Japanese troops from the direction of Dalian at any time on the one hand, and on the other hand, he has also strengthened the importance of the fortifications of Fort Kiba, and he intends to use Fort Kiba to block the first team to win more time for the defense of Arthur, although Fukushima Yasumasa is also very clear that it is impossible to have any reinforcements under the current situation, but it can be delayed for one more day, and the telegram taken from Japan the day before yesterday made it very clear that the Japanese government is passing through the British, The French diplomatic mission in China is in contact with the Chinese side and intends to use foreign negotiations to resolve the current military crisis, so as long as Lushun can hold on to the peace talks, then Fukushima Yasumasa will be guilty of meritorious service.

Yasumasa Fukushima came from an intelligence background, although he had never been on the battlefield or commanded an army before. But there is also some research on military hurricanes. He insisted. Fighting purely on defense is not the best thing to do. According to his previous strategy. The Japanese army was supposed to advance to the Touhe River north of Jinshu for offensive defense. In the Russo-Japanese War that year, the Russian ** team did just that, only due to the confusion of the Russian army's command. Only then did the Japanese army break through the Shahe defense line.

However, Fukushima Yasumasa's idea was not supported by the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, which believed that the main combat goal should be to cut off the logistics supply line of the squadron, and it was precisely for this reason that the "advance team of the First Army of the First Army" placed the main force in the direction of the flank of the Chinese attack force, and as a result, the troops were completely caught in a tactical disadvantage, and almost all the troops were annihilated under the two sides of the squadron. Only the detachment commanded by Yoshiko Akiyama arrived in Golden State.

Relying on the current strength of the Japanese army, there is no way to reverse the tactical disadvantage, and all Fukushima Yasumasa can do is to use delaying tactics and cooperate with diplomatic negotiations to strive for a more decent end to Northeast Asia

。

Getting off the train car, Fukushima Yasumasa first went to see a defensive tank trench in the flank position of Fort Kiba, he is most worried about the tank unit of the squadron, although according to the battle report of the front, the field artillery can indeed penetrate the armor plate of some armored combat vehicles, but now the Japanese army does not have enough field artillery, and in front of the tank troops of the cluster assault, the field artillery often only has one chance to open the artillery, once the artillery is fired, even if it is well concealed, the gun position will be exposed because of the smoke and dust from the muzzle, The next thing is the artillery counterattack of the Chinese tank, and in the face of the artillery counterattack of this tank, the field artillery is very vulnerable.

Since field artillery is not the best anti-tank weapon, Fukushima Yasumasa can only count on these anti-tank trenches to be effective.

Since it was an officer who came down from the front line to guide the construction of the anti-tank trench, he had experience in fighting against the chariot. As a result, these trenches were dug deep and wide, enough for the chariots to fall flat and not get up. Even for tracked combat vehicles, here is a trench.

Behind these trenches, the Japanese army also deployed a large number of field guns and mountain artillery to intercept the Chinese infantry and sappers who followed the operation of the tanks, preventing them from rushing up and destroying the anti-tank trenches, and also planted mines detonated by wires on the positions in front of the anti-tank trenches, but the number of mines was too small. And at the moment there are fewer and fewer shells for the Japanese army. Whether this tactic can stop the progress of the squadron is still unknown.

Just when Fukushima Yasushi was thinking about whether to take the initiative to counterattack while defending the operation, a few days ago the expatriates suddenly rushed over, threw the excavation tool in their hands at Fukushima Yasumasa's feet, and then scolded viciously.

"We are not soldiers! We are not soldiers in the countryside either! Fighting a war is not our business! We're going back to Japan! If it weren't for your stupidity, how could our Imperial Japan suffer such a crushing defeat? ”

"Yaga!"

A staff officer grabbed one of the expatriates by the collar, slapped him twice, and then slammed him to the ground.

"You coward! It will only be wild to the common people! As soon as you see the Chinese, you army will become cowards! We're going back to Japan! We're going back to Japan! Give us the boat! Give us the boat! ”

Another Nihonbashi man rushed forward and fought with a staff officer, who was also knocking over the lantern in his hand, and the surroundings suddenly became pitch black.

"Yaga! The Chinese are coming over soon, you are still arguing, what's the point? The interests of the empire are related to all the Japanese people, and at such a time, you are not willing to serve the empire, and as a Japanese citizen, do you not feel ashamed? Do you want to be non-nationals? ”

Fu Wuan was scolding the troublemakers of the Japanese expatriates, he was very annoyed and helpless, since the squadron occupied Jinzhou, the Chinese train artillery fired directly at Dalian Bay from the direction of the Jinzhou Isthmus, and at first it was still blindly fired. However, when a heavy bomber flew over Dalian, the accuracy of the train guns was greatly improved, and it was precisely under the threat of the squadron's artillery fire that the supply of arms to Dalian and Lushun could not be stopped, and all the Japanese warships and merchant ships anchored in Dalian Bay could only retreat. Now he is being dragged over to repair the fortifications as a strong man. And no wonder they have an opinion.

For these Nihonbashi people who have no sense of the big picture. Fukushima Yasumasa has no way among these people. Many businessmen who had gone to the "Kanto Prefecture" to do business, and the war left them with nothing, and they were angry. Vented all the resentment on the Japanese army.

Yasumasa Fukushima has a greater resentment than the Japanese diaspora. On the one hand, there was the successive defeats of the army. On the other hand, there is the Navy's foresight, just yesterday. The Japanese Combined Fleet sent a telegram informing Fukushima that the Japanese Combined Fleet would most likely not participate in the Dalian defense operation because of fears of the threat of Chinese bombers and submarines, and that the morale of the Japanese Combined Fleet was at an all-time low because the new commander had not yet been decided.

, Wanbi North

The news of Heihachiro Togo's death in battle was officially conveyed to Yasumasa Fukushima in yesterday's telegram. Although the Navy said that Marshal Togo sank with the flagship, according to domestic rumors that Fukushima Yasumasa arrived the day before yesterday, Marshal Togo evacuated the warship after the flagship was torpedoed. Marshal Togo was killed with a machine gun from a fighter of the Chinese Air Force on a lifeboat.

Although Fukushima Yasumasa did not believe that Marshal Togo died in a lifeboat, Fukushima Yasumasa could accept some basis for such rumors, given the threat faced by the Japanese Combined Fleet at the time. That is, the reason why Marshal Togo evacuated the sunken flagship was not out of personal purpose. In the Russo-Japanese War, the commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet, Makarov, was sunk with the ship on the flagship, and the death of Commander Makarov was a heavy blow to the morale of the Russian Navy, and according to the post-war analysis, this sudden incident had a direct impact on the surrender of the Russian army in Arthur. He was well aware of what the death of the commander of the fleet meant for the fleet.

However, the god of fate did not seem to favor the Japanese Combined Fleet, and Marshal Togo was still killed. It was true that the morale of the Japanese Combined Fleet was thus reduced to an "all-time low". Fukushima Yasumasa could only sigh.

Heihachiro Togo was killed, and some people sighed for it. So, what if Yasushi Fukushima died in defensive operations? Did anyone sigh for him?

Fukushima Yasumasa doesn't know the answer, but he knows the fact that the ** squadron is now gearing up and will devote itself to a general attack on Dalian and Lushun at any time. If you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the heart, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!