Song Biao was promoted from squad leader to regiment leader in just one month, his mood was happy and painful, promotion is always a happy thing, but being the regiment leader of the Russians is a painful and struggling thing.

At the time of the invasion of China by the Eight-Power Alliance, the Russian and Russian armies were the real main force and the vanguard of the invasion of China, and the two countries could not wait to annex China's territory and resources more than any other power, and from that moment on, the Chinese should be cautious about guarding against them.

The lesser of two powers.

Between Russia and Russia, Song Biao would rather choose to help Russia than try his best to expel Russia from Northeast China, otherwise there will be endless troubles in the future, and in general, as long as the opportunity is seized, Russia will not be difficult to deal with.

In the past few days of becoming the commander of the Manchurian Infantry Regiment, Song Biao only did such a thing as recruiting troops, and in the name of the Manchurian Infantry Regiment, he posted notices in Shenyang City and the surrounding tunzi, and in Fushun, he also recruited people with great fanfare.

The time is very urgent, but fortunately, Song Biao's military salary is attractive enough, and there are many recruits, which gives Song Biao a great space to choose those who are more suitable for being soldiers.

First of all, he only recruits healthy young people who are over 18 years old and under 30 years old; secondly, priority is given to those who have attended private schools; The third is to recruit those who are skilled, who are miners and caravans, who can ride horses, who can hunt, who can speak a little Russian.

On February 23, 1905, when he and Major Kornilov joined again, the Manchurian Infantry Regiment had expanded to 3,122 men, with two infantry battalions, an integrated infantry battalion, a transport brigade, an engineer brigade, and two cavalry squadrons.

The establishment of the Manchurian Infantry Regiment was the foundation already set by the General Staff of the Tsarist Far Eastern Army, just to make it easier for the brothers and newly recruited soldiers to understand the entire establishment system.

Grass-roots command units are battalions and brigades, and they must have their own battalion headquarters.

In order to be in a hurry, they officially set out at two o'clock in the morning, and arrived at Taniguchi Tunzi on the afternoon of the 24th, and stationed on the spot to build simple fortifications and garrison areas in accordance with the orders of the General Staff of the Far Eastern Army, so as to create conditions for the Kuban Cossack cavalry to travel lightly and raid the army.

Taniguchi is only six kilometers away from the defense line of the Shendanbao Army, and in fact it already belongs to the real front-line position, and the Second Army of the Tsarist Far Eastern Army is stationed here with a company of troops, which belongs to the Fourth Siberian Infantry Division, and is also a reserve force temporarily transferred.

Before dark, Song Biao and Major Kornilov quietly changed their clothes together, and walked ten miles to Jinshantun to observe the position built by the army in Dongtaizi, the garrison of the army in Shendanbao was the first cavalry brigade, more than 8,000 people, adopting a decentralized strategy of arming, trying to control more defense points, and building a large number of fortifications to assist each other.

Shendanbao is 40 kilometers away from Shenyang in the north and 35 kilometers away from Liaoyang in the south, just in the middle of the staggered military strength of the two sides, during this period, the army has gathered the strength of five armies in the Liaoyang area, with a total strength of 270,000 troops, 1,082 artillery pieces and 200 machine guns, scattered on the attack line of 100 kilometers, while the total strength of the Russian army is about 330,000 people, 1,266 artillery pieces, and 60 machine guns.

In his busy schedule, Song Biao did not forget the special camouflage required by the scouts, he asked people to prepare some white dogskin jackets in advance, and after the group changed their clothes, they quietly infiltrated the position of the army in the surrounding area, and after passing Jinshantun, they went deep into the place less than one kilometer away from the main position of the army.

Song Biao was prostrate in a white jacket in the snow of a sloping forest, and Major Kornilov hid around him with Li Fugui and others.

Hidden behind a bush, Song Biao carefully used a telescope to observe the position of the army in Dongtaizi, the army has been stationed here for a month, the fortifications are very solid and perfect, less than a thousand meters apart, he can even clearly see the soldiers of the army standing guard on the trenches and tower posts.

On the forward trenches, the army arranged a large number of firing points and a long line of wire to block horses, and the trenches were very perfect, and hidden trenches, bunkers, communication trenches, and bulletproof trenches specially aimed at grenades were also dug out.

Song Biao could see a typical machine-gun fortification, surrounded by a circle of coarse sacks of filled soil, filled with high and tamped perimeters, with extremely strong strafing ability, from the density of distribution, it was estimated that on the one-kilometer-long defense line around Shendanbao and Dongtaizi, the army arranged more than 15 heavy machine guns.

After seeing the state of the defensive line, he turned his head to look at Major Kornilov, who was lying next to him, also observing the line with a telescope.

After waiting for a while, Major Kornilov turned his head and looked at Song Biao and asked, "What do you think of the situation?" ”

Song Biao gave him his binoculars and said, "The army has arranged a large number of machine guns, I estimate that there are more than fifteen, this scale seems to be a bit too much, and the frontal impact will be very disadvantageous, and more artillery must be deployed to strike...... However, considering that the fortifications of the army have been built very well, the actual effect will not be very good. ”

"Is that so?"

Major Kornilov was puzzled, but after he used Song Biao's telescope, he quickly gasped.

Military telescopes are not very uncommon things, nor is it said that the surname can be good, usually only equivalent to the specifications of mid-range civilian products, low price, easy to carry, can reach 7 times magnification. The so-called 7x magnification is equivalent to pulling something from 700 meters away to 100 meters, and if your eyesight can see a machine gun from 200 meters away, then you can see a machine gun 1400 meters away through a military telescope.

With a distance of less than a kilometer, Song Biao could even clearly see that most of the machine guns of the Yue army were actually German-made Makqin heavy machine guns captured from the Russian army.

After observing for a while, Major Kornilov was able to confirm that the army had deployed a large number of heavy machine guns, and asked very suspiciously: "You said that they are a cavalry brigade, how can they have so many machine guns?" Is it necessary? ”

Song Biao thought for a while and said: "If you don't think it's necessary, then you mean that you still don't understand Asian culture and military thought, Asia and Europe have different basic judgments on cavalry, in Asia, cavalry is the fastest type of troops, emphasizing speed and mobility, and in Europe, cavalry is fixed as the most powerful destruction surname unit." The goal of equipping the cavalry with a large number of machine guns was simple, that is, to penetrate into the enemy's positions and rear as quickly as possible, build fortifications, and stand on defense. ”

Major Kornilov was not an officer who looked down on Asians, but he still stubbornly sneered: "It is a very stupid choice to use cavalry in this way, they will consume cavalry on this position ......!" ”

Song Biao didn't speak.

If a person thinks that someone else is stupid, there is an 80% probability that he is stupid, and Major Kornilov himself may also feel that he can't say anything later.

If the army was stupid, then the command of the Far Eastern Army, which ordered the Cossack cavalry to storm the position from the flank, was even more stupid.

At this time, no army knew the power of the Maxim machine gun better than the Russian army, and fifteen Maxim cross-arranged on a defense line only one kilometer long, could strangle almost everything.

Major Kornilov used Song Biao's telescope to observe for a long time, and he never exchanged his views with Song Biao, but after waiting for a while, he suddenly praised Song Biao: "Your telescope is very good, can you give it to me?" ”

"Can't!"

Song Biao suddenly glared at Major Kornilov with a fierce tiger, startling the other party.

Major Kornilov hurriedly returned the telescope in his hand to Song Biao, and couldn't help but add: "It's really good, I can see it very clearly, I can even see the other party's machine gun rack." ”

Song Biao snorted, found a very tall pine tree nearby, and asked Li Fugui to help him climb up, standing on a higher position and looking down on the entire army position.

On the Dongtaizi position, the Yue army actually only deployed the strength of an infantry wing, and such a long defense line was only 1,500 people, which shows that the deployment is very scattered, the strength is limited, and it can only be supplemented by the powerful firepower of machine guns, or it is the only choice for the Yue army to defend Shendan Fort and at the same time it is difficult to draw a large number of troops.

The main position of the army is the three defense lines of Dongtaizi, Beitaizi and Liuhekou around Xiaobaozi, and a part of the troops is reserved as a reserve force in Xiaobaozi, where the army uses the original houses to build dozens of horse farms, and about five or six thousand war horses are hoarded there, and the scale is so large that it can be seen from a long distance.

Considering that the army may still have a defensive point at Wicker Pass, in the decisive battle in the final stage of the Russo-Russian War, a brigade of 8,000 people wants to hold a strategic area within a radius of 10 kilometers, this plan is really very gambling, very lucky, if the Russian army's will to fight is resolute and smart, it can completely tear a hole here, directly cut the two main forces of the army in Liaoyang and Liaozhong, and use Shendanbao as a mobile deployment to concentrate the main force to encircle and annihilate the one with fewer troops.

From this point of view, General Dashanyan has to gamble on Shendanbao in the case of a serious shortage of troops, and General Kuropatkin also has a hunch that the Second Army will besiege Shendanbao, both of them are very correct and clever in decision-making, but it is a pity that the rigidity of the senior commanders of the Russian army, as well as various defects within the Russian system, as well as supply and internal [***] and other problems, including General Kuropatkin himself also has the defect of not being resolute enough to fight, afraid of excessive losses, gains and losses, Even if they make the right decision, they don't dare to follow through to it.

It should be said that the great rout of the Russian army in the Battle of Mukden basically stemmed from this inconspicuous Shendan Fort.

After observing the entire position of the army at a high place, Song Biao returned to Tanikou with the reconnaissance team, because he had a forward-looking surname for the development of the entire war situation, and after comprehensively and carefully observing the position of the army and the arrangement of the armament, Song Biao fully realized that it was a wrong choice to camp troops at Tanikou.

After some deep thought, Song Biao immediately asked Major Kornilov to stay and continue to work on the construction of Gukou, while he himself took Zhao Tingzhu's 1st Infantry Battalion and Hu Dalin's engineer brigade to set off quietly at night, and secretly excavated fortifications at Jinshantun, two kilometers away from the front of the Dongtaizi defense line on the flank of the Yue army.

There is a large area of dense forest around Jinshan Tunzi, and more than 100 local residents have already taken refuge and left, and the whole Tunzi is generally on a soil slope, which is five or six meters higher than the surrounding fields, and there are many large mounds tens of meters high.

When passing through Jinshantun, Song Biao had already realized that this was a good defense area, and the overall defense effect was also very good if he could push further south and build fortifications on the Yabatai Mound in the south, forming a situation where the two points echoed, and the army was basically not sure to attack it.

He secretly built fortifications in the big forest of Jinshantun, and at the same time he was familiar with the distribution of houses in the tunzi, and if he had to retreat to the tunzi, he could also fight a quasi-street battle on the spot.