On November 24, heavy snow fell on the largest defensive heights of the Ulsan fortress in southern Korea, Heishuiling. Just when Western countries are celebrating the advent of Christmas, in Ulsan, North Korea, the Chinese Emperor [***] team is still fighting to the death with the Tsarist Russian Emperor [***] team. However, the Russian officers and soldiers in the Ulsan fortress did not forget to secretly make a pine tree and hang lanterns to celebrate.

In Ulsan, the Chinese Emperor [***] team has been fighting fiercely with the Russian army in the fortress for ten days, although the Chinese Emperor [***] offensive is extremely fierce, but the Russian resistance in the Ulsan fortress is also extremely fierce, so that the Chinese Emperor [***] team has encountered a hard bone, has not been able to gnaw, and paid for this huge casualties of more than 2,000 people.

Today is Christmas, and the commander of the Third Front, Liang Huadian, does not want the Russians to have a good time, and at the same time thinks that this may be an opportunity, because Westerners regard Christmas as the most important festival, so they are bound to celebrate and relax their vigilance. In turn, Liang Huadian also hoped to end the campaign before the arrival of the Chinese New Year so that he could go home for the New Year, so today is destined to be an unusual day.

Near Heishuiling, the officers and men of the eight divisions of the Third Front Army of the Chinese Empire were quietly waiting for the signal for a general attack, the icy snowflakes reminded them of their distant homeland and loved ones, and just the day before, many soldiers had written what might be their last letters home. Zhang Da and Zhang Er whispered in the trenches, the brothers joined the reserve of the Imperial Chinese Army half a year ago, and came to the Korean battlefield, were assigned to different theaters, and did not know each other's news.

Shortly before the fierce battle in the fortress, they were assigned to the same infantry company of the 47th Army, and Zhang Da and Zhang Er agreed: to fight side by side and never be separated.

Looking around, the soldiers were mostly expressionless, and they knew exactly what kind of battle they were facing. For ten days, the fierceness of the attack and defense of the fortress made them unforgettable, and every day there were soldiers who retreated from the front line, and no one was not afraid to see how they were missing arms and legs. But the blood of the soldiers, encouraged by the company's staff officers, burned in their hearts, and it was the first time they had fought for the glory of the young Chinese Empire, so they soon overcame their fears. As long as this war is won, the Chinese Empire will no longer be looked down upon by the Western powers.

Located in the Ulsan fortress system, the Heishui Ridge is seven kilometers long from north to south, and the location is very important, and the Russian army is condescending on the ridge, and the position of the Chinese Emperor [***] can be seen clearly. Since the first Sino-Russian war, the Russian army has deployed layers of defenses on the Heishui Ridge, digging and reinforcing tunnels in the mountains to resist artillery bombardment, arranging three trench defense lines, surrounded by barbed wire, artillery groups on the ridge and a large number of machine gun bunkers to form a staggered fire network. In the past ten days, the Chinese Emperor [***] has launched many attacks, all of which have failed, with more than 2,000 casualties, and Heishuiling has become the first hard bone since the Chinese Emperor [***] entered the Korean War, and the soldiers of the Third Front Army of the Chinese Emperor [***] even nicknamed it "Death Ridge".

This Death Ridge is the main body of the Ulsan Fortress, and it is also the commanding height, as long as the Black Water Ridge is taken, it is equivalent to taking the Ulsan Fortress.

In order to quickly end the Korean War, the General Staff of the Chinese Empire ordered the Third Front of the Chinese Empire to capture Ulsan before the onset of winter. The Third Front then made a comprehensive plan, gathering eight divisions and 60,000 troops to prepare for a strong attack.

Using the previous intelligence photos, the War Department constructed a model of the position of Heishuiling in the command headquarters, marked the pillboxes and machine gun positions with colored flags, and repeatedly conducted drills without missing any details. More than 60,000 maps were produced, one for the main attacking force, and the map divided the depth of the Russian army's position into four and demarcated it with black, red, blue, and brown lines. Each line was attacked by a different battalion, and each soldier knew exactly what he was aiming for. The sappers dug 12 tunnels one to three kilometers long to deliver infantry and ammunition to the foot of the mountain, and blasted the tunnel openings to form the charging line, which would greatly reduce infantry casualties.

As early as November 18, nearly 1,000 artillery pieces of the Chinese Emperor, including four 380-mm siege howitzers, began to carry out heavy artillery bombardment on Heishuiling in order to cover the excavation of tunnels by the engineering troops. The Third Front poured more than 500,000 rounds of artillery shells totaling 25,000 tons on the Russian fortified positions and rear supply lines in a week, and the new high-explosive charges effectively destroyed the Russian fortresses and ring barbed wire, and inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army.

On November 24, the General Staff transferred four airships to the Third Front Army as a weapon for the bombing of the Ulsan fortress. The airship dropped a large number of bombshells and incendiary gasoline bombs, turning the entire Ulsan fortress into a sea of fire in an instant. The number of Russian casualties has risen sharply, and the total number of Russian casualties in the past 10 days has reached more than 4,000 in the 20-minute bombardment of the airship. The Russian soldiers called it "suffering" with great sorrow.

After the Second Front Army swept through the central region of Korea, Duan Qirui, an artillery expert, also rushed to help after receiving an order from the General Staff, responsible for observing the artillery positions of the Russian fortress and providing artillery fire to counter-suppress. He took many adventures to fly over the Blackwater Ridge in an airship, and his ground observation post team could measure the caliber of Russian artillery in three minutes with an accuracy of 22 meters using the calculation of fire and sound. The most effective tactic was to use the 83rd Division's invented infantry artillery coordinated rolling artillery cover, which raised the muzzle after every three minutes of shelling, and extended the coverage line 80 meters forward, with the infantry charging close to this wall of fire. The salvo artillery fire pressed the Russian troops in the tunnels, cut off the traffic between the trenches, and tried not to give the Russians a chance to return to the machine-gun bunkers. Duan Qirui's order was: Brothers, be as precise as a train, otherwise death awaits you.

Of course, this move was still influenced by the tactics of Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Naiyun, who attacked Seoul, and Duan Qirui just carried it forward.

On the evening of November 24, the Chinese Emperor [***] whispered an order from the trenches: "Get on the bayonet."

Two minutes later, a thousand cannons bombarded in unison, and the ground shook so that even the people on the other side of the strait could hear it. Duan Qirui's artillery team marked the positions of the Russian artillery one by one and carried out more accurate firepower strikes, and 176 of the 212 Russian artillery pieces were quickly dumbed. Soon the airship dropped incendiary bombs again, and the Ulsan fortress was turned into a hell of Seongin, melting blood and snow together.

The first wave of 15,000 Chinese emperors [***] lined up from south to north, stepping on the muddy and charred land after the burning. The 1st Division used the tunnel as a cover, entered the charge line in the shortest possible time, and broke through the first line of defense of the Russian army in half an hour, and at about half past one in the morning, occupied the anti-slope and the artillery positions in the rear of the Russian army, only 12 minutes later than expected. The second and third echelons were also progressing well, and eight hours after the start of the general offensive, three-quarters of the surface positions at Blackwater Ridge were occupied.

However, the fourth echelon responsible for capturing the northern tip of the 334 Heights, which is the highest point of the Heishui Ridge and the strongest defensive hill of the Russian army, has encountered a hard bone. An officer of the fourth echelon made a mistake in command and made a big mistake, he wanted to be able to use the fortifications on the spot after conquering the trenches, so he asked the artillery fire to jump over the first line of trenches. As a result, under the frantic strafing of the Russian machine guns, the main attack of the 87th Infantry Regiment suffered more than half of the casualties in less than 6 minutes.

Zhang Da and Zhang Er jumped from one crater to another, and suddenly Zhang Da was shot and fell. Zhang Er was reluctant to leave his injured brother behind, but their brothers vowed to live and die together. But the responsibilities of a soldier left him with no choice. At the moment when he jumped out of the crater again, a bullet grazed, Zhang Erzheng stood up to look at Zhang Da, and was immediately shot in the head and died in his brother's arms.

Throughout the day, the Russian army condescendingly weaved several nets of fire from the 334 heights and the hills on the north side, and the 125th Division, which had already lost 1,000 officers and soldiers in the failed night attack a few days earlier, made difficult progress. According to the pre-war plan, Heights 334 must be taken before dark, otherwise the Russian army will receive reinforcements at night. The 125th Division used the 85th Highland Battalion, the last fully formed battalion. The 85th Battalion had arrived in Korea for just one day, and it was not known how fierce the offensive and defensive battles of the fortress were.

But the good thing is that the officers and men of the 85th Battalion are more courageous because they don't know the level of danger. After receiving the order from the division headquarters, the battalion commander immediately led this group of excited subordinates into battle.

At 5:45 p.m., the officers and men of the 85th Battalion lay down at the foot of the 334th Heights and waited for artillery cover, but the artillery fire never came, many artillery groups had already run out of shells, and all the participating troops were calling for artillery group cover, and the artillery group headquarters was busy and anxious, so it has not been able to provide artillery support to the 85th Battalion.

Heights 334 must be taken on time, otherwise it will affect the attack actions of other brother forces, and it will also affect the course of the offensive and defensive battles of the fortress.

"There are a dozen Russian Maozi on the opposite side, and we have 500 men, and even without artillery support, we can still capture the enemy's position."

At 6:45 a.m., at the instigation of the battalion commander, the officers and men of the battalion suddenly surged up with blood and spirit, and showed a fearless spirit of sacrifice.

The brave soldiers shouted and rushed forward with bayonets in their hands, braving the enemy's bullets, and the Russian machine gunners in the 2 machine gun positions turned around and fled in fright. Half an hour later, the 85th Battalion took the 334th Heights at the cost of two-thirds of its personnel, thus playing a decisive role in the entire battle situation.

In the early morning of November 26, officers and men of three infantry battalions from the great western part of China rushed to the 211 Heights in the dark. In the heavy snow and darkness, both sides could not distinguish between friend and foe and could not shoot. Thus, the first large-scale white-knuckle battle broke out. The soldiers of the Chinese Emperor [***] team, who have undergone rigorous training, play teamwork tactics and fight bravely. And the Russian army was already stupid by the tragic battle of more than ten days, and they fought on their own, so after a hard hand-to-hand fight, the Chinese Emperor [***] team killed all the Russian troops and uprooted the last stronghold on the 211 heights.

After four days of bloody fighting, the main position of the Russian army in Korea's strongest and impregnable Ulsan fortress, Heishuiling, fell into the hands of the Chinese Emperor [***]. The Emperor of China [***] paid the price of 3,631 killed and 7,000 wounded. The Russian army suffered nearly 20,000 casualties, and another 4,000 were taken prisoner. The Battle of Blackwater captured more weapons and prisoners than any previous campaign.

After the Battle of Heishuiling, the Russian Ulsan Fortress lost its commanding heights and barriers, and standing on Heishuiling, the Chinese Emperor [***] team could see the Russian fortress system below. Condescendingly, the Chinese Emperor [***] could storm the interior of the Ulsan fortress with a single charge.

Ulsan Fortress Commander Stepan? Osibovi? Lieutenant General Makarov knew that the tide was turning, that he had less than two thousand men in his hands and that he had no hope of victory, so he decided to surrender.

On November 29, 1901, since the start of the Sino-Russian war, the highest-ranking officer of the Russian army, Stepan? Osibovi? Lieutenant General Makarov formally surrendered to General Liang Huadian of the Third Front Army of the Chinese Empire, and thus the Korean Campaign came to an end.

In addition to capturing more than 3,000 Russian officers and soldiers at the Ulsan Fortress, the Chinese Emperor's [***] team also captured more than a dozen warships of the entire Russian Far East Fleet and thousands of Russian naval officers.

Among them were the battleships Oslyabya, Petropavlovsk, Poltava, Sevastopol, Victory, Retvizan, the battleship Duke of Edinburgh, the armored cruisers Donskoy, Svetleyna, Kornilov, and Three Saints, as well as the gunboats Thunder and Valian, as well as twenty-four torpedo boats and six auxiliary ships.

The great victory of the Chinese Emperor [***] in the Korean battlefield, especially the offensive and defensive battle of the Ulsan Fortress, was of great strategic significance, and the Chinese Emperor [***] in the entire Far Eastern battlefield was excited. As the first time that the Chinese Emperor [***] appeared on the battlefield as a national armed force as a whole, soldiers from all over the country fought side by side, proving that they had the same excellent officers, the same heroic soldiers, and could conquer the strongest fortresses. For the first time, the Chinese Emperor [***] team relied on its own strength to capture the strong fortress heavily defended by the Russian army, proving that the Chinese Emperor [***] team officially moved from a strategic defensive army to a strategic offensive army, and the Chinese empire no longer had to worry about the myth of the invincibility of the Western powers, and since then it has stepped out of the shadow of the Western military threat and occupied a place in international affairs.

The political significance of the Battle of Ulsan Fortress for the Chinese Empire far exceeded its military significance, and the Chinese Emperor's [***] troops fighting in the northeast and northwest were greatly encouraged, and the people of the whole country were more convinced of the victory of the Chinese Empire, and this effect was immeasurable.

On November 30, Wang Chenhao, the emperor of the Chinese Empire, issued an order to commend the Chinese emperor's [***] team that had won a great victory in the attack and defense of the Ulsan fortress, reward the three armies, and at the same time compensate the fallen soldiers and commend and treat the wounded soldiers.

At the same time, Wang Chenhao ordered November 30 to be designated as a memorial for veterans, so that the soldiers of the Chinese Empire who died on the Heishui Ridge would forever become a symbol of bravery and self-sacrifice in the hearts of the people of the Chinese Empire.

For this reason, Wang Chenhao also specially allocated 1 million dragon coins from his internal funds to build the Heishuiling Monument on the 334 Heights, where the Chinese Emperor's [***] team shed the most blood. The front of the monument is engraved with images of fallen soldiers standing up again and rushing to the enemy line with their living comrades, and the names of all fallen soldiers are engraved on the back.

One of them, designed by Wang Chenhao himself, has become the most eye-catching, a mother bowing her head and weeping, symbolizing the young motherland's mourning of her lost children.

At Wang's request, 4,216 Chinese Imperial pine and maple trees were planted on the slopes of Heishuiling, representing the 4,216 Imperial Chinese soldiers who died in various parts of Korea.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ in less than a month, the Imperial Chinese Army achieved brilliant results on the Korean Peninsula, occupying the Korean Peninsula in one fell swoop and removing the threat from the southeast of the Northeast Theater of the Chinese Empire.

In addition to the heroic operations of the Imperial Chinese Army, the Imperial Chinese Navy contributed to the victory of the Korean Campaign. Because without the Chinese Imperial Navy's sea supremacy, and without the navy's help to transport the land forces to land on the various coastal ports of Korea, the army might not have been able to end the Korean campaign so quickly.

During this time, a small naval battle broke out between the Imperial Chinese Navy and a small detachment of the Russian Far East Fleet, known as the Battle of Tsushima.

The Battle of Tsushima was the first major naval battle in the Sino-Russian War, and the first in the world between truly armored cruisers. The Imperial Chinese Navy crushed the last confidence of the Russian Far East Fleet through the Battle of the Tsushima Naval Battle and the Blockade of Ulsan Bay, completely eliminated the attack and harassment of the Russian cruiser detachment in Vladivostok on the maritime shipping of the Chinese Empire, and ensured the absolute sea supremacy of the Chinese Empire on the Korean Peninsula in victory.

Vladivostok is located in the Russian Far East, is the terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway, faces the Pacific Ocean, borders the Sea of Honhon, controls the Sea of Okhotsk, is 160 kilometers away from North Korea, 640 kilometers away from Hokkaido, and its strategic location is extremely important. In 1860, Russia took advantage of the Second Opium War to seize the place from the Qing government and renamed it Vladivostok. In 1872, Russia moved the base of the fleet in the Siberian district from Temple Street to Vladivostok, and built forts and permanent fortifications around it as one of its main bases for hegemony in the Far East.

From 1896 onwards, in preparation for war against China, Russia concentrated its Far Eastern navy in Ulsan and Vladivostok, North Korea. The main force of the Pacific Fleet, dominated by battleships, of the Russian Far East Fleet was stationed in Ulsan Bay, preparing for a decisive naval battle with the fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy. At the same time, based on Vladivostok, a detachment of Readi cruisers was formed, with Rear Admiral Essen as its commander, which was responsible for disrupting the sea lines of communication of the Chinese Empire, dispersing the forces of the Imperial Chinese Naval Fleet, and relieving the pressure on the Ulsan fortress.

The main force of the Vladivostok detachment was 5 large cruisers built at the end of the 19th century, the Russians, the Admiral Nakhimov, the Azov Memorial, the Monomakh and the Twelve Apostles. These large cruisers belonged to the transitional design of the development process of Russian cruisers at that time, with fast speed and strong endurance, which were very suitable for breaking the mission. However, due to the limitations of technical conditions, the five ships still retain the ancient sail mast rigging, and the armor is relatively weak, the main gun still adopts the side gun profile design, and the 8-inch gun is located on the upper deck in the open air, and the protection capacity is low.

As soon as the war between the Chinese Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire began, the Vladivostok detachment was immediately thrown into battle. Because of the weakness of his forces, Essen decided not to confront the Imperial Chinese Navy head-on, but to rely on his own high speed, high endurance and bad weather near the Sea to engage in naval guerrilla warfare. Therefore, although the Imperial Chinese Pacific Fleet formed four maritime convoys immediately after the start of the war, and later added a more powerful 2nd Squadron to search and intercept, it still failed to stop the Russian cruiser attack.

(To be continued)