"Toot ......"

The terrible and regrettable heavy artillery shells continued to pierce the sky, the roar of a steam locomotive shook the sky, and the violent explosion brought a burst of earth shaking and shaking, accompanied by a black smoke cloud that exploded hundreds of meters high. This is a French 1885 270mm rifled siege mortar transferred by the Russian army from the fortress in Vladivostok, in order to overcome the defense line of the Tumen River of the Japanese army, Russia mobilized all the resources that can be mobilized, and Russia needs this victory.

Thirty-eight 220/270 mm siege mortars from the Vladivostok fortress and 18 old 270mm rifled siege mortars of the 1885 model imported from France, these heavy guns were accompanied by hundreds of field guns, constantly scattering deadly shells towards the west bank of the Tumen River.

On the Tumen River, white water columns continued to blow up, the river water was dyed yellow by picric acid explosives, the howitzer shotguns that exploded in the sky continued to explode black and yellow explosions, and the scorching and deformed lead pellets pushed by picric acid explosives and TNT bombs flew in the air, and a personal blue and white figure was hit by the projectiles, flying into clouds of blood mist, but the attack still continued.

On the Tumen River, more than 20 iron-hulled steam ships weighing more than ten tons, black smoke columns spewed out from chimneys and white smoke and dust from the bow and stern of the ships, "bang, bang, bang" dull and fierce cannon sound continued to sound, the gun bodies of the 37-mm bangbang guns purchased from Germany flashed dazzling copper light in the sun, and the Russian shooters who were banging cannons shouted "kill the yellow-skinned monkeys" and kept firing small shells weighing one pound at the defensive positions of the Japanese army, and they used up the entire 25-round cartridge belt at one time. to cover the entire target area and deal a fatal blow to the defending artillery positions.

Although the gunners on the position were skillful, they could not suppress the bangbang guns fired at close range from the steamboats under the attack of the 270-mm heavy guns, and although the guns were spared by the heavy artillery bombardment, they were destroyed by the extraordinary blows of the bangbangs.

A thump cannon consumes up to 1000 rubles worth ammunition in one minute. At such a rate, the cost of a bang cannon in a battle would be quite staggering, and now, the Russian shooters, without thinking about this at all, twenty-six Makqin bang guns, with a maximum rate of fire of 400 rounds per minute, swung a 4.5 rouble shell at the army on the other side of the river.

The heavy shelling was effective, and in the midst of the heavy shelling, the troops in the defensive positions could not organize effective resistance at all, and at the same time, the Russian soldiers on the other side of the river, shouting with sampans several meters long on their shoulders, carrying 1.3-meter-long Mosin Nagant rifles, waded into the icy water, and as soon as these sampans that were made and looted in the port of Vladivostok got out of the water, ten or a dozen Russian soldiers jumped onto the boats and rowed towards the opposite bank with wooden pulp.

Compared with the artillery fire of the Russian army, the artillery fire of the army is becoming more and more scattered, completely in a passive state, and even when the Russian landing force crosses the river, their counterattack towards the river is limited, and the few shells fall on the river, except for the occasional trouble for the Russian troops who are desperately rowing on the sampan or life-saving wooden boat, at most...... It's just to dye the river yellow.

"This is the largest landing operation ever in human history!"

"What a great battle!"

When more than 5,000 Russian soldiers rowed their sampans towards the opposite bank, and the Russian officers and soldiers on the shore were amazed by this spectacular scene in front of them, on the river, there were dozens of non-powered iron-hulled boats slowly rowing on the river under the rowing of Russian soldiers.

When the sappers were building the pontoon bridge, in the face of the desperate counterattack of the Japanese army, the Russian soldiers who had just grabbed the beach shouted "Ula", held their rifles, and drove the Japanese army back to their trenches with bayonets.

White and blue corpses were scattered on the river beach, and the Russian soldiers who rushed to the beach used the corpses as sandbags without trenches and cover, desperately protecting the pontoon beachhead.

"Perhaps their generals can be accused of incompetence, but it cannot be denied that Russian soldiers are indeed the best soldiers among soldiers!"

In the observation post in Jiangbei, several Chinese [***] officers wearing tea-green military uniforms different from those of the Russian army talked to each other in Chinese.

"It's a pity that the front-line commanders are too conservative,"

One of the officers used a slightly "considerate" phrase on the other side, instead of using the incompetence he muttered in his heart.

"This kind of battle must be attacked, constantly attacked, when they first beat the army back, they should take advantage of the chaos to expand the beachhead, only in this way, it is possible to consolidate the beachhead, like the current way of fighting, if the defending side has sufficient troops, it can completely drive them down! There is only less than 100 meters in depth, and it is a matter of exchanging your life for a second! ”

"At least they can! This style of play, not every army can do it, and the courage is admirable! ”

Although others did not disagree with his point of view, at this time, they could not help but admire the bravery shown by these Russian soldiers.

When the officers in the bunker were whispering about the Russian [***] team in Chinese, the Russian soldiers on the river were working hard there, nearly a hundred iron boats were connected into a pontoon bridge composed of iron beams and wooden planks within an hour, when the pontoon bridge was built, a steady stream of Russian soldiers, still through the sampan continued to the west bank, under the desperate counterattack of the army and the desperate resistance of the Russian army, the river was dyed red, and the corpses were piled up on the bank, but the Russian army was still nailed there.

"Go fight and get back the honor of the Russians!"

Perhaps it is precisely in the face of the victory of the Chinese, these Russian soldiers can not accept it in any way, they were defeated by Yu himself, but the Chinese easily defeated the reality of Yu himself, and now they must save a little face, it is this kind of thinking that makes them struggle to support.

"The bridge is open!"

A shout of astonishment rang out in the shelter, and in the next second, the deafening sound of horses' hooves rang out, and while the horses' hooves roared in the air, the observers of the various countries in the shelter saw a cavalry unit, brandishing their swords, rushing towards the pontoon bridge, the Cossack cavalry of the Russians were the proudest of them, although they were defeated by the cavalry of Akiyama Yoshiko with machine guns on the Manchurian battlefield, but it did not prevent them from remaining as the cornerstone of the Russian Empire.

"That's it! Gentlemen, the Russians succeeded! ”

As the cavalry rushed across the ten-meter-wide sapper bridge, a German lieutenant colonel in the shelter put down the telescope in his hand and said a word of affirmation, then he turned to look at the French, Chinese, Italian and other [***] observers in the shelter, and asked with a smile.

"Gentlemen, will anyone join me in congratulating Commander Kuropatkin on his victory?"

"The Lu army crossed the Tumen River!"

Hundreds of kilometers away, in a shelter in Pyongyang, a telegram slowly drifted from Kodama Gentaro's hand onto the damp soil with a loud shout.

Gentaro Kodama, the chief of staff of the Manchurian Army, who had commanded Pyongyang's defensive operations for the past few days, had been under pressure beyond imagination, and for the first time a look of horror appeared on his face.

"Are you sure? The 3rd Reserve Division, failed to stop them? ”

Even after the telegram had fallen out of his hand, he asked several more times in order to confirm the exact surname of the message.

However, the answer of Haruno Okubo, the commander of the 6th Division, completely dispelled his last glimmer of hope.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, according to the telegram sent back by the 3rd Reserve Division, Kuropatkin commanded at least 150,000 troops to attack the defense line of the Tumen River from six directions, and he simply had no way to block their attacks in six directions at the same time, so ......"

Leaning back softly on the back of the chair, Kodama Gentaro didn't even hear clearly, Okubo Haruno finally said something, he only knew one thing now, what he least wanted to happen, happened at the most inappropriate time, although all this was already doomed, but now the timing is the most inappropriate.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, maybe we still have a way to stop them! They're just revealing [***]! ”

There was a hint of contempt in Okubo Haruno's words, and in Manchuria he had commanded troops to fight Lu again and again.

"The Lu [***] people may be very brave, but their officers are extremely incompetent!"

His words were exchanged for a shake and a wry smile from Gentaro Kodama.

"Oku-kun, as you said, we all know that the roots of the entire Russian [***] team have completely rotted, and the only thing we can rely on is the perseverance and patience of the soldiers who were contemptuously called "Russian pious gray cattle" by the noble officers...... It has long been known that the Russian [***] team lacks excellent commanders, and the vast majority of officers are mediocre and incompetent...... On the contrary, the Russian soldier is one of the best in the world, and his absolute obedience, perseverance and death-defying spirit are recognized as invaluable qualities...... However, Kuropatkin is still a competent commander, and we have no troops to stop his army in North and South Hamjing, but he has 150,000 troops! ”

When he said this, Kodama Gentaro closed his eyes in pain, the reason why he dragged his sick body to command the defensive operation of the Sixth Division in Pyongyang was to make the Chinese army retreat in difficulty, but he now realized that he had ignored one point, the commander of the Korean Army of the Chinese Army, Lan Tianwei, was more eager to prove something to his emperor through this battle.

The Chinese army did not retreat because it took advantage of Pyongyang's favorable terrain to organize defenses, but instead adjusted its tactics and encircled Pyongyang regardless of the safety of the rear roads; two of its divisions crossed the river from the mountainous area in the upper reaches of the Taedong River, cutting off Pyongyang's communication with the south, and mobilized field artillery to attack the river transport ships on the north bank of the Taedong River.

He prepared a place for Lan Tianwei to defend by the river and the gunboat to hold. However, Lan Tianwei boldly adjusted his tactics, forming an encirclement of Pyongyang at the cost that the two divisions could be completely annihilated at any time due to logistical problems, and using artillery on the river to disturb his own logistics; if he could drag on for ten days and detour to the two divisions on the south bank, the Chinese army would fall into a situation of poor logistics, and at that time, it would not be difficult for him to easily break their encirclement, and at the same time it would be possible to completely annihilate these two divisions.

Time!

In the end, time changed everything, and Lu [***] did not have enough time for himself, and now he only had two choices, one was to continue to tear up in Pyongyang and Blue Sky Wei, and the other was to end the war with China, and free up his hands to transfer back the main force of the Manchurian Army and repel the Lu [***] team that invaded Korea.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, are we going to continue to attack the southern flank cluster of the Chinese army?"

Haruno Okubo raised his own question, the defense along the river on the northern front and the continuous attack on the Chinese army on the southern front were tactics formulated by the chief of staff after the siege of Pyongyang, and the purpose was to consume the ammunition of the detour Chinese army on the south bank and create an opportunity to cooperate with the reinforcements of the 6th and 7th Reserve Divisions from Incheon to completely annihilate the Chinese army.

"It's late!"

Gentaro Kodama shook his head helplessly and sighed lightly.

"In the past few days, the reason why we have to continue to attack is to consume the ammunition and strength of the Chinese army on the southern front, to annihilate them before Lu [***] intervenes, and to create an opportunity for negotiations for Dean Ito in Nanjing, but now, if we can't transfer the Manchurian army to Korea as soon as possible, every day of delay, the Lu army, which will hardly be blocked, will be able to march dozens of kilometers, and in a month, the whole of Korea will inevitably fall under the control of the Lu country, and by that time, even if the navy defeats the Lu country fleet in a naval battle, The deterioration of the strategic situation is irreversible......"

At this moment, with an explosion, the shelter shook several times, and some dust shook off between the cracks in the logs at the top, which was the artillery bombardment of the main force of the Chinese army on the north bank of the Datong River, and the Chinese army on the south bank would only open fire unless necessary, and in most cases, he relied on the other side of the river to provide artillery cover.

Gentaro Kodama sat down and patted the dust between the collar with his hand, and then continued.

"Whether North Korea is controlled by China or Russia, it is unacceptable, so ......"

"However, what the Chinese want is Taiwan! Your Excellency, you have said that Taiwan is a barrier in the southern part of the country, and its military value is very great, and Taiwan cannot be returned to China. In order to get Taiwan, we spent so much effort and killed so many people, and if we return it to them, in the long run, it will do our country a hundred harms but no good. ”

Okubo Haruno looked at the silent chief of staff, after the initial occupation of Taiwan, the first three Taiwan governors Shikinori Kayama, Katsura Taro, and Nogi Noshinori failed to control Taiwan, in Nogi Noshinori's view, the ruler of the country won more than worth the loss, and the military expenditure was as high as 7 million yuan a year, in addition to Taiwan's taxes, the first Sino-Japanese War China's reparations also took out 12 million yuan to subsidize Taiwan's military spending.

As a result of the huge expenditure, the company not only did not get any real benefits from the cession of Taiwan, but instead became a heavy burden on the capital. The idea of betraying Taiwan was born, and he said that the then Prime Minister Masayoshi Matsukata was moved. After a series of behind-the-scenes activities, it was initially decided to sell Taiwan to France for 15 million francs.

However, in the end, it was Kodama's strong opposition and accusation of incompetence of the management officials that he recommended himself to be the governor of Taiwan, and after his arrival, he implemented a series of new measures in Taiwan and implemented a series of colonial policies in Taiwan, so that the authorities tasted the sweetness, and no one ever mentioned the matter of selling Taiwan to other countries. Even now, as the chief of staff of the Manchurian Army, he still serves as the governor of Taiwan.

Kodama Gentaro nodded, for what Okubo Haruno said, as the governor of Taiwan, how could he not know that when he knew that the Chinese had come up with the conditions of "exchange between Korea and Taiwan", the first thing he said was that the Chinese were crazy.

"Taiwan spent hundreds of millions of yuan on the war, and it took nearly 20,000 casualties to get it, and China must shed blood if it wants to recover Taiwan."

This is the answer given by Gentaro Kodama when the prime minister asked him what he meant, but now? Chinese if you want to take Taiwan, you may not need to shed blood in Taiwan, you just need to ...... "Dajiu, do you know the vicinity of Taiwan where the Lu Guo fleet has been frequently haunted recently!" ”

"I saw the news in the newspaper, thirteen merchant ships were sunk by bombing, and more than 35,000 tons of merchant ships were lost, I really don't know what the navy does to eat, do those idiots have to wait until the Lu Guo fleet sinks all our merchant ships before going to sea to meet them?"

Okubo Haruno was dissatisfied with the navy in his words, but in fact he was not the only one who was dissatisfied with the navy, and now the whole of the book is quite accusatory of the navy and the combined fleet, but the problem is that the navy simply pretended to be deaf and dumb, and they are still training them in the bay of South Korea.

"The Navy is waiting for the opportunity for a decisive battle!"

As the chief of staff of the Manchurian Army, Kodama Gentaro made a rare fair speech for the navy, and he understood that whether the navy can win or not will be directly related to whether the war can end, and the people of Lu must lose to the last bit of hope before they can face defeat.

"Now, there are a lot of rumors, but the most rumored is that the fleet of the country is likely to help the Chinese army to implement the landing on Taiwan, and at that time, there will be no exchange between South Korea and Taiwan, only ...... remain"

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, this is just speculation!"

When he retorted, Haruno Okubo looked at Gentaro Kodama with a sickly face in front of him in surprise.

"Do you also agree with the cession of Taiwan?"

Gentaro Kodama shook his head.

"If I could, I would never agree to cede Taiwan, as for now...... It depends on Tokyo's decision! As military personnel, it is difficult for us to oppose Tokyo's decision! So only fulfill the duty of a soldier and obey orders! ”

In fact, when Gentaro Kodama said this, although he didn't show his attitude, anyone could hear the meaning of his words and give up Taiwan!

For Kodama, in terms of the immediate security of Taiwan and Korea, the empire's homeland, he knew he had only one choice to make.

"But...... We have to understand that many things are temporary! ”

(To be continued)