Six ugly bunker trucks with long "pig noses", divided into upper and lower tiers and covered with rivets, swept through Jinzhou, and the 30 mm thick homogeneous steel plates were a nightmare for the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, whose artillery was almost completely destroyed. You can't imagine the feeling of a bullet tickling on it, a deer block being bulldozed in front, and a steel mountain weighing more than 40 tons running over head-on! It's like a truck with wheels taller than a human being hitting you on a bike!

At this moment, the ugly appearance that Yang Qiu couldn't stand to look at had been ignored, and the bunker car was like a mammoth beast in ancient times, crushing and crushing towards the Japanese army! Crush again! The sappers erected the prefabricated steel girders used for the Bailey Bridge to the trenches to allow the Gray Wolf armored vehicles to pass smoothly, and behind them were the soldiers of the dense 16th Infantry Division, bent over and with their heads bowed, charging forward along the crushing trajectory.

In just one hour, the outer defense line that Otani Kikuzo regarded as able to withstand several times the enemy was broken. An hour later, all 144 guns of various types, including those in the Lushan long-range artillery position, used arson shells. Window paper is burning, beams are burning, trees are burning! The entire city of Jinzhou was enveloped in flames and smoke! In order to pull out the nail of Jinzhou as soon as possible and open up the Jingfeng Railway, the Northeast Theater Command took out all the 20,000 arson bombs in its inventory to carry out rounds of shelling Jinzhou City!

Before the Japanese troops, who had just been beaten by the bunker cars, could catch their breath when they found themselves in an endless sea of fire and smoke. In fact, the power of arson bombs is far less powerful than described, and the lethal power is much weaker than that of poison gas bombs, and it is smoke that really causes damage! The choking and poisonous smoke was terrifying, and according to later statistics, more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers were choked to death by the poisonous smoke after being burned, or were burned to death in a coma due to an overdose.

Early the next morning, when the smoke gradually cleared by the sea breeze, the 4th and 16th Infantry Divisions, a total of three brigades, entered the ruined Jinzhou Castle without blood, and Otani Kikuzo had no choice but to risk his life to retreat to the vicinity of Qinggou Bay. After receiving the news of the loss of Jinzhou that night, Terauchi Masashi ignored the threat and mobilized more than 40 small boats to set off from Pulandian overnight, and finally brought the 21st Brigade, which had less than 2,000 men, back to Lushun the next morning.

At the same time, Feng Guozhang, who was personally sitting in Jiulian City, also suddenly became a teenager and went into battle to command the heavy artillery of Hushan Fortress as the support to launch a fierce attack on the Japanese 20th Division entrenched on the Andong side of the Yalu River, because the heavy equipment of the Japanese 20th Division has not been able to cross the river, and the railway from Sinuiju to Pyongyang has been cut off, for fear that the Japanese 20th Division, which has been cut off from the back road, will take the initiative to abandon its position and retreat to the front line of Bakuba in Sinuiju despite the order to defend it.

After learning the news, Yan Youbing, who had been privately nicknamed "the first artillery in the Northeast", took the initiative to seek battle, led an artillery regiment composed of two 105 and one 75 rapid-fire guns to enter Andong, and launched round after round of artillery bombardment on the White Horse Mountain Heights of the Japanese army. In the end, after five days of repeated battles, the National Defense Force successfully crossed the river at the cost of nearly 2,000 casualties, and an infantry regiment of the 101st Guard Division and the 37th Brigade led by Chen Yushi seized the Sinuiju bridgehead of the Andong Railway Bridge, officially announcing that the squadron would re-set foot on the land of the Korean Peninsula after 20 years. After learning the news, Yue Peng immediately ordered the mobilization of 20 inland ore carriers and 67 trucks to send several sets of large Bailey Bridge steel structure parts stored in Haicheng to the front line for the rapid repair of the Andong Bridge.

The Japanese army, who was still preparing to learn from the Wehrmacht's defense of the river trenches, obviously did not expect that there would be such a thing as the Bailey Bridge in the world, so they did not destroy the most important bridge piers, and in the end they could only watch the Wehrmacht, under the cover of hundreds of cannons and machine guns, build a simple steel bridge in only three days, and then continuously pull heavy equipment across the Yalu River to advance towards Baima Mountain.

On October 17, the battle for Baima Mountain began, just when the two armies were anxious, the Korean Independence Army suddenly appeared behind the Japanese army and wreaked havoc, resulting in the burning of all the granaries and cotton clothes hoarded in Sinuiju, and more than 20,000 Japanese troops faced the dilemma of running out of food, and finally had to retreat again and retreat all the way to Taizhou after 20 kilometers to wait for reinforcements. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Field Division, the 32nd Brigade of the 10th Infantry Division, and the 45th Brigade of the 14th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht made a detour through Fengcheng and Donggang, completely opened the road to the fortress of Dagushan, and then launched a fierce attack on Zhuanghe.

On October 22, the 1012 Brigade of the 101st Division of Xiuyan cooperated with the 31st and 32nd Brigades of the 10th Division to attack Buyun Mountain, and the three brigades attacking Zhuanghe at the same time also defeated a large group of Japanese troops in Xiaogushan, and then joined the division of Wugucheng outside Wafangdian, and the troops arrived at the front line of Piziwo in Jinzhou (known as Kanto Prefecture in Japan) for the first time. Terauchi Masatsuki, who heard the news, was shocked, he didn't expect that the 20th Division blocking this line would take the initiative to withdraw to Sinuiju and give up the Yalu River Bridge in Andong! What's even more stupid is that in advance everyone didn't know that the Chinese already had the technology to quickly repair bridges! As a result, two brigades entered and occupied Mt. Bakuba, North Korea, and eventually lost half of Sinuiju!

But before he had time to think much about Korea, the loss of Wugucheng made him even more uneasy, because it meant that the Wehrmacht with a full six brigades could cut off the Gaeju-Jinzhou railway at any time, and after weighing it again, he had to abandon the Gaizhou defense line that had taken a month to build, and ordered all troops to withdraw to Jinzhou in an attempt to defend the largest and strongest Japanese fortress in China.

Starting from Jinzhou, in just half a month, the Northeast Theater Command has invested a total of 4 main infantry divisions, 2 reserve infantry divisions, and 372 artillery pieces of various types. With the help of more than 500 trucks of various types and 40,000 national transport teams, they swept across the Liaodong Peninsula and attacked and destroyed the three and a half divisions of the Japanese army, which was seriously frustrated by the lack of troops and the confidence of the major generals, and pressed back to Jinzhou. From the end of the Battle of Qingdao, the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese army was completely shattered. Inspired by the destruction of more than 30,000 enemies in the Battle of Qingdao, the Northeast Army, which already had 10 infantry divisions with a total of 210,000 soldiers, also directly erected artillery at the gates of Jinzhou and North Korea.

After the Beijing-Fengzhou railway was reopened, the General Staff of the National Defense Forces immediately began to speed up the transportation of materials hoarded in the Beijing-Tianjin area to Mukden, and the Jiaodong Theater, which had completed its combat mission, also dispatched elite troops, including the 102nd Guard Division, to the north to provide support. On October 25, when Li Yuanhong met with British envoy Bernard in Nanjing, he said that all negotiations must be concluded by November 20, and if the two countries fail to reach a contract within the time limit, then the Republic of China government will terminate all negotiations and recover the homeland by military means.

A series of bad news, such as the loss of the 21st Brigade in Jinzhou and the almost total annihilation of the 21st Brigade, the withdrawal of the 20th Division to Korea, the establishment of the National Defense Forces in Korea, and the direct targeting of troops in Jinju, finally made the Japanese Government, which had a hint of luck, give up its illusions, and while trying its best to send additional troops to Korea, it seriously considered the "Eight Articles of the People's Order." Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma also gave his first speech to the Diet on the Sino-Japanese War, saying that "ending the war is the only and right choice" after seeing no possibility of victory in the war. As soon as the rhetoric came out, there was once again confrontation in Japan, and tens of thousands of workers and peasants, who were increasingly embarrassed by the war, took to the streets to demand an end to the war, while the radicals represented by Aoki Nobujun said that they should hold on to Lushun and wear down the Wehrmacht with powerful fortress artillery and wait for the international situation to reverse.

But before they could expect the international situation to reverse, the hurricane in Europe expanded again!

On October 29, 1914, the former German cruiser Goben, which had been sold to the Ottoman Empire, under the leadership of German captain Sorochin, suddenly attacked the Russian Black Sea port cities of Sevastopol and Odyssey. In the face of the Goben's powerful firepower, the Russian army was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses. In particular, a large explosion occurred after the arsenal in the port of Sevastopol was named by 280-mm naval guns, which not only killed thousands of soldiers and ordinary people, but also reduced the two most important Russian industrial cities to nothing, and completely paralyzed dozens of military-industrial enterprises, making it more difficult for the Russian army, which had been seriously underequipped due to manufacturing capacity for a long time.

Having both Britain and France themselves underarmed, Nicholas II began to frantically wave checks and immediately ordered a large batch of arms from the United States. At this time, the U.S. industry, especially the army industry, is not even as good as Italy, and it takes enough time for the strong industrial capacity to be converted into the military industry! So every day His Majesty the Tsar could be seen wandering through the gardens in a daze, wondering when he would be able to withdraw his troops to the Far East and buy much-needed weapons.

The streets of St. Petersburg were deserted, and the heart of Tsarist Russia, like the bustling city of Western Europe, was in a depression due to the war. Workers were ordered to work overtime, the military, police, and secret forces were all dispatched to supervise production, peasants were asked to hand in more grain, and "grey livestock" from all over the country marched to the front with their bare hands, waiting for weapons and equipment that would arrive at an unknown time.

The sedan flying the five-color flag pulled out of the somewhat shabby Chinese legation in Russia, and after a detour in front of the magnificent Hermitage Square, it drove towards a manor house on the outskirts.

In the car, Wang Zhengting was checking whether he had brought all his things, and Lu Zhengxiang, the minister to Russia who had been the prime minister for a few days during the Yuan Shikai period, stared at the five-color flag, holding a brocade box in his hand and seemed to be thinking about something: "Rutang (Wang Zhengting), I think this five-color flag is probably going to be changed." ”

Wang Zhengting raised his head and looked at him and laughed without hesitation: "What Brother Zixin said is that the common prosperity of the five ethnic groups and the Republic of China were fundamentally proposed by President Yuan back then, but it is a pity that the Manchurians dug their own graves in a vain attempt to rely on the Japanese to restore, how can He De continue to appear on the national flag!" Therefore, before I came here, the National Assembly had already started discussions on revising the national flag and emblem and determining the national anthem, and I believe that it will be decided soon. ”

Lu Zhengxiang nodded, thinking of the events during this time, his heart was also turbulent. The sudden change in the political situation in China in the past two years is indeed something that these overseas Chinese did not expect. Yuan Shikai was paralyzed, and the powerful Beiyang collapsed overnight, and Yang Qiu led the rapid rise of the national society to achieve independence, self-reliance, self-improvement, strengthen the concept of the country, devote itself to the common progress of the people, and finally realize the socialization and transformation of the country. However, just when everyone was spreading out the books and carefully studying the theory of the national society, something unexpected and even uneasy happened, just when everyone thought that Yang Qiu would slowly take the whole of China into his hands in the next ten years, he unexpectedly took advantage of the Xihuamen incident to declare war on Japan one year after the reunification of the country! On the day he got the news, he and all the diplomats stationed in Russia sighed, thinking that the young and vigorous Yang Qiu would destroy the hard-won overall situation of reunification, after all, the idea of the invincibility of the Japanese army was still deep-rooted at that time. For this reason, he also deliberately sent a telegram to Yang Qiu in his private name, demanding that the declaration of war be withdrawn, and suggesting that there should be no haste and patience, and that the overall situation of the whole country should be stabilized first, and then try to defeat the foreign powers and achieve true national reunification.

After sending the telegram, he was ready to be dismissed, but the telegram did not even reprimand him. Yang Qiu continued his declaration of war and actively mobilized his army, and eventually the war broke out from Mukden. Although he strongly disagreed with the immediate start of the war, after all, this war was related to the survival of the country, so he not only took the lead in donating money to buy urgently needed industrial equipment in the country and shipped it back, but also actively contacted Russia to seek the possibility of China and Russia joining forces against Japan. But people said lightly, who would care that he was such a semi-colony, and even the country was not recognized by the people's minister, not only had no effect, but caused countless ridicule and white eyes.

The news of the victory began to come one after another, but he was still worried, because he knew that Yang Qiu had taken an unexpected advantage. After all, Japan was not prepared for war at that time, and even if the two countries were very close, it would take two days and two nights for the fastest ship to depart from Sasebo to arrive in Lushun, not to mention that it would take at least a month to mobilize from peacetime to wartime. It wasn't until the news that the Japanese army landed at Longkou and Laoshan Bay at the same time that he began to have trouble sleeping day and night.

The flames of war have burned to Shandong! It turned into a real tough battle, and the Wehrmacht was almost at a total disadvantage in the face of a naval disadvantage.

Perhaps God bless China, at the most critical moment, the European war broke out, and Britain, France and Russia contracted on all fronts! Germany concedes Qingdao! In the end, after a month of blood and fire, the Battle of Qingdao won a complete victory by annihilating more than 30,000 Japanese troops!

That day, all worries and insecurity were left behind. Regardless of whether Yang Qiu gambled or predicted that war would break out in Europe, whether he was confident or planned for several years, the result was the most important thing! So people deliberately bought firecrackers to celebrate.

He will always remember that that morning, the Russian Foreign Ministry, which used to send people only in times of blackmail, sent two special envoys to send blessings of victory. Time, people, location and national fortune! All returned to the vast land of China. The next day, Wang Zhengting came all the way and brought a letter from Yang Qiu, which contained only a short sentence.

"Thank you to all the staff stationed in Russia who bought much-needed machines for the country at a critical moment and dedicated them to diplomatic posts for a long time. You are the window of the country's propaganda to the outside world, and you are also the sons and daughters of China walking in the world family. ”

That day, he held the letter and wept bitterly, and then opened his daughter Hong, who had brought him from his hometown, and drank drunk in the dark. Chinese bitter! Chinese pain! The tears of the Chinese can only be swallowed silently in the stomach! After a hundred years of humiliation, there is finally the light of day, and what could be more inspiring than these words for these diplomats? Therefore, he devoted all his energy to actively cooperating with Wang Zhengting, and although Russia was still unwilling to give a clear answer on the issues of Mongolia and Xinjiang, with the defeat of Tannenberg, Russia's weakness began to gradually appear. The Black Sea crisis a few days ago has plunged Russia into despair and anxiety, and at this moment, 300,000 elite divisions stationed in the Far East have become the key! As soon as he thought of this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but flush a hint of cunning.

Weighing through the thousands of gifts in his hand, he suddenly smiled and said, "Rutang, the person we are going to see today is not trivial, don't be surprised no matter what you see." ”

Wang Zhengting hadn't been here for a long time, and he wasn't very familiar with the domestic situation in Russia, so he was also confused after hearing this, and asked: "Brother Zixin didn't say that I really forgot, who did you pull me out early in the morning to see?" It's so mysterious, could it be that he went to see Nicholas II in private? ”

Nicholas II? Lu Zhengxiang shook his head, his eyes narrowed and he laughed: "Brother Confucianism, it is not His Majesty the Tsar who is really in charge of Russia now!" ”