In 1625, Huang Taiji moved the capital from Liaoyang to Shenyang, and began to build the imperial palace in Shenyang. Nine years later, Huang Taiji renamed Shenyang "Shengjing". Ten years later, taking advantage of the civil strife in the Central Plains, after the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which had entered the customs, moved the capital to Yanjing, Shengjing was the accompanying capital. The Manchu Qing claimed that Shengjing was the land of Manchurian Longxing, and the emperors of the two dynasties were buried. Therefore, Kangxi set up Fengtianfu in Shenyang in the fourth year of Kangxi with the meaning of "Fengtian carrier". Change Shengjing to Fengtian, in order not to forget the original, as well as to remember Emperor Taizu Taizong.

Although the Manchus claimed that "Manchuria" was "the land of their ancestors" and that Mukden was "the place of Longxing", but on October 1 of the year of Gengzi, the Russian army occupied "Manchuria" and seized Mukden in the name of peacemaking and rebellion. However, the Russians did not withdraw from "Manchuria", and Mukden, like the whole of "Manchuria", is still under the control of Russia until now.

Although Mukden is not the heart of Russia's invasion of the Northeast, it is the main road connecting the north and the south, especially after the outbreak of the Russo-Russian War, the loss of Dalini and Port Arthur (Lushun), Mukden "jumped" to become the most important transportation hub of Russia in the south of the Northeast, from the Russian mainland through the Trans-Siberian Railway, or from Vladivostok through the Middle East Railway to the war zone of materials, most of them are unloaded here, and the soldiers from the European mainland are trained in Manchuria, and they are also assembled in Mukden, which is also the location of the Russian army headquarters.

On the maps of the Russian and Russian armies, Fengtian is still Mukden, but on Chinese maps and newspapers, Fengtian has long since reverted to his real name -- Shenyang.

In March, the Russian and Russian armies invested a total of twice the population of Shenyang City, and more than 700,000 people fought fiercely within a radius of 200 miles outside Shenyang.

On March 9, Mukden, from the early hours of the morning, the whole city fell into chaos, soldiers retreating from the front line walked through the city, shops on both sides of the street, whether Chinese or Russian, were closed, at the railway station, thousands of Russian expatriates crowded towards the train like crazy, and at this time, there were still trains full of weapons, ammunition and all kinds of supplies entering the station, in order to be able to leave the city, well-dressed Russian men were also like Chinese coolies in the train station, desperately unloading supplies, So that the carriages can be vacated and they can get on the train and leave this hellish place.

The rumbling of artillery in the air, the sound of cannon getting closer and closer, all reminded the Russians inside and outside the city of Mukden that the fall of Mukden was only a matter of time, and although the Russians had a tradition of heroism in defending the dirt, for these civilians, all they could do was to get out of this place as soon as possible, and of course there were no shortage of deserted officers and soldiers.

In the Russian headquarters, despite the repeated defeats and the decadence of Kurobatkin, who had hardly tasted the fruits of victory, after the defense of Mukden was on the verge of collapse, despair and negativity spread in his heart, starting with the retreat of the entire front two days earlier, although he understood that the battle situation in Mukden was already inevitably about to face defeat. But he did not dare to retreat from Mukden lightly, and in the previous year, the Russian army had suffered successive defeats in various battlefields and the fall of Lushun, which made the tsar and the Russian political axe very eager to turn the tide of the war. For this reason, large numbers of troops were drawn from the Far East, Central Asia, and even Europe to the front, and the whole of Russia was eager to save the country from a victory, and at home, the workers' strikes against the war exacerbated the crisis at home, and when the tsar desperately needed a victory, Kurobatkin was unwilling and did not dare to retreat lightly.

“…… Since yesterday, General Linevich's First Army and General Billigellinger's Third Army were ordered to lead their troops to abandon their positions and retreat, although the enemy troops desperately resisted, the Yue Army still pursued with the main force in a roundabout way, and since then, the relatively stable situation on the Eastern Front has become more and more crisis, and from 5 o'clock this morning, the Yalu River Army of the Yue Army has turned into pursuit, and is now entering the Fushun area, the 1st Army has moved rapidly to attack in the direction of Fushun, and the Guards Division of the Yue Army is advancing north along the Pu River. The First Army of the Japanese Army attempted to join forces with the Nogi Division, thus encircling our army under the city of Mukden,...... It is expected that the actions of the First Army of the Yue Army will cut off the connection between the 1st Army of our army and the 2nd and 3rd armies, and at the same time, the 4th Army of the Yue Army received an order yesterday to turn into pursuit, and has broken through the defense line of our army last night, and is now marching on the front line of the southeast highlands of Dawa, and the 2nd Army of the Yue Ben continues to advance to Mukden, and due to the withdrawal of the [***] team from the defense line of the Liao River, the 3rd Army of the Yue Army has to use the ice bridge to cross to the west of the Liao River, and has appeared in the rear area of our army. It is supposed to cut off the railways and roads between Mukden and Tieling. ……”

The report of the chief of staff exacerbated the despair in Kurobatkin's heart, and he had no idea that this contraction of the front would lead to such a serious crisis on the entire front.

"Your Excellency Commander, this decisive battle in Fengtian has not only been defeated, but at the same time, if our army does not retreat as soon as possible, it will fall into a situation where it will be surrounded by the Japanese army, and then it will be encircled and annihilated!"

Chief of Staff Madletov solemnly warned, and seeing that the commander was still hesitating, he reminded again.

"Your Excellency Commander, we were supposed to withdraw to North Manchuria yesterday, but now it has been a whole day and night, if we don't give another order, once the 3rd Army occupies Tieling, our army will inevitably fall into encirclement, and the Russian Empire will have to face a Sedang-style encirclement and annihilation war!"

"Your Excellency, we must retreat before our army is defeated, and only by withdrawing into North Manchuria, with the elongation of the battle line of the army, can our army regain the advantage......

In the persuasion of everyone, Kurobatkin sighed in his heart, is it really necessary to retreat?

At this moment, a confidential officer burst into the war room in a panic.

"Your Excellency Commander, General Linevich, commander of the 1st Army, sent a telegram saying that the army was cutting off the front of our army at the junction of the 3rd and 1st armies!"

This sudden news made Kurobatkin's face change suddenly, and he could hardly believe his ears, saying that the army's attack was so fast that he asked again.

"The commander of the 1st Army, General Linevich, sent a telegram saying that the army was cutting off the front of our army at the junction of the 3rd and 1st armies!"

"Immediately send a telegram to the commander of the 2nd Army, Lieutenant General Kaulbars, ordering the 2nd Army to immediately launch a counteroffensive against the 3rd Army and cover the retreat of the whole army!"

Kurobatkin's answer finally made Kurobatkin make up his mind, the severance of the junction of the 3rd and 1st armies made him have no choice, he knew that even if he delayed for another hour, it was possible to invert the three armies of the Manchurian Army and fall into the encirclement of the army, and then the entire Russian Far East would open its doors to the army, and Russia would lose not only Manchuria, but even the entire Far East.

"Order the 1st and 3rd armies, the 16th army, and the 72nd division to immediately retreat along the railway line to Tieling, and the order must be carried out immediately!"

As soon as Kurobatkin's order arrived, Major General Nedrikh said urgently.

"Your Excellency, Commander, we still have ...... in Mukden"

Before he could finish speaking, the glances cast by his colleagues around him made the military engineer, the major general in charge of the logistics support of the entire Manchurian Group Army, swallow his words back.

"At this time, let's keep the army first!"

Kurobatkin, who understood what he was going to say, shook his head helplessly, and then turned his head to look at Madratov, yesterday he ordered the entire line to shrink the defensive line, and in the face of the pursuit of the army, he had proposed that he must immediately abandon Mukden, but he could not agree, and now this self-brewed bitter fruit can only be tasted by him.

This order to retreat came too late, at least a whole day and night, when the commander of the 2nd Army, who had been ordered to collect the defensive line, Lieutenant General Kaulbars, ordered his troops to immediately launch a counteroffensive against the 3rd Army at all costs.

When it was dark, the Russian army in Mukden began to carry out the retreat order issued by the commander-in-chief in Mukden, although the Russian army did not collapse like the French army in the Franco-Prussian War, but retreated towards Tieling along the South Manchurian Railway, which the 2nd Army had desperately protected.

However, when the Russian army retreated, under the continuous attack and artillery bombardment of the Japanese army, there was complete chaos inside and outside the city of Fengtian, and in order to be able to safely withdraw to Tieling, the soldiers threw away all other materials, countless cannons, food, guns, ammunition and tens of thousands of tons of various materials that had just arrived in Fengtian.

"The Russian army has retreated!"

In the chaotic Fengtian City when the Russian army retreated, some bold Shenyang citizens even ran out to pick up the food discarded by the Russian army, and some people also opened the arsenal discarded by the Russians in the Russian barracks, and the guns and ammunition were picked up in the carts. This is an intelligence officer from the MIA who entered the city a few months ago.

(The Russian calendar used in Russia at that time, that is, the time of the Augustan calendar, was wordless and could not be found for several days, so it is better to use the Gregorian calendar directly!) Including China, it is too cumbersome to use a lunar calendar. I hope you can understand)

(To be continued)