Yanjing, Wang Chenhao's suspension of the Beiyang Army suddenly caused a shock in the imperial court.

Over the past year or so, more than ninety percent of the imperial court's army and navy expenses have been paid by Wang Chenhao, which has led to the saving of more than 100 million taels of silver in the financial expenditure of the Qing government. The rest of the silver and silver courts were able to divert to other expenditures, which made the departments of the court very happy, because the appropriations for them were increased accordingly.

But with Wang Chenhao's letter that could no longer support military expenditures was sent to the Jinluan Palace, with an IOU of 130 million taels of silver in arrears, the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty were suddenly stunned.

The accounts are afraid to be calculated, and the civil and military ministers of the Manchu Dynasty usually know that Wang Chenhao is rich, which has reduced a lot of burden to the imperial court, but no one cares about the specific amount.

Now with the disclosure of this IOU, the dignified Qing Kingdom actually owes Wang Chenhao 130 million taels of silver, which is really embarrassing if it is passed out.

But this is the case, everyone knows that Wang Chenhao is good at media hype, and this matter will definitely spread all over the world in a few days.

There were several fire bubbles on the corners of Guangxu's mouth in one night, which was obviously a manifestation of fire.

With a 'snap', Guangxu put Wang Chenhao's recital on the ground, and sat on the dragon chair with a sad face.

"What is your best plan?"

More than a dozen civil and military ministers, you look at me, I look at you, maybe they have some solutions for other things, but if they talk about the problem of silver, it will be complicated, and they will have no way.

Weng Tongyi picked up Wang Chenhao's recital, snorted coldly, and said: "Your Majesty, since Lord Wang Chenhao can't come up with the money, then follow his proposal and disarm." However, disarmament began with his Beiyang Army Eight Towns. ”

Shao Youlian, the secretary of the Ministry of War, hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, don't do it!" These eight towns in Beiyang are the elite of the national army, and when the great powers look around our dynasty, isn't cutting off the elite troops equivalent to opening the door of the house to let the thieves in? ”

Zhang Yinhuan, the head of the household, glared and said: "The eight towns of Beiyang are machines that eat money, and they will get more than 36 million taels of silver just to raise them a year, while the total cost of the new army in the twenty-eight towns of other provinces is only 30 million taels of silver. ”

Shao Youlian asked rhetorically: "Lord Zhang, is it possible that after laying off the eight towns of Beiyang, your household department will have the money to pay for the expenses of the new army in the other twenty-eight towns?" ”

"This-"

Zhang Yinhuan was speechless for a moment, and said strongly: "At least you can reduce the financial burden!" ”

Shao Youlian sneered: "In order to reduce the financial burden, he lost his national defense, Lord Zhang is really calculating?" What are your intentions? ”

Shao Youlian asked, and Zhang Yinhuan suddenly stopped talking.

"Then it's good to cut the military expenses of the new army, and treat them the same as the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion, so that it will save expenses and balance the grievances of the soldiers of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion."

Prince Li's plain words expressed his dissatisfaction with the new army, and the reason was very good, that is, the new army's salary was more than that of their Eight Banners and Green Battalions, and it was twice as much.

Tie Liang said angrily: "Cut military spending? Prince Li, you are not a soldier, I don't know what is the most taboo thing to be a soldier? We have to make a fuss about cutting the salaries of civilian officials, let alone cutting the salaries of the army? Or cut the salary of the Beiyang Army that is not subject to control, and it is strange if there is no mutiny! ”

As we all know, Tie Liang has served as the commander of the eight towns of the Beiyang Army for more than half a year, and everyone knows that he is an angry little daughter-in-law. But on the other hand, they also understand that the eight towns of the Beiyang Army are not an easy army to handle, not to mention the salary cut, and everyone is really worried that the Beiyang Army will make trouble, this is not a joke. We all know that the Beiyang Army is brave and good at fighting, and has defeated the Russian devils, and no one dares to provoke the Beiyang Army anymore when looking at the armies in various parts of the country.

Prince Qing yawned and said, "This doesn't work, that doesn't work, there has to be a solution, right?" ”

Stand up straight and talk without back pain!

Everyone suddenly slammed their eyes on Yixuan's body, but this guy seemed to be used to it.

Prince Gong asked, "It seems that Prince Qing has a way?" ”

Everyone immediately snickered, knowing that Yi was giving this waste prince a problem.

However, this time they really looked away, and Yixuan also had his own way.

"What is there to argue about? Didn't Wang Chenhao and Lord Wang understand everything written on the fold? Disarmament is it! ”

Everyone was speechless...... The morning court opened in the morning, at noon Guangxu went to eat by himself, but the ministers could only stand on the Jinluan Palace and quarrel, until after noon, they did not come up with a reason, and finally Guangxu saw that they could not come up with a way, so they let them go to the court.

In the next few days, the imperial court has not come up with a decent method, and Guangxu is in a hurry.

From the fourth day, the generals of the Beiyang Army were under Wang Chenhao's secret order, and they caused trouble one after another. Then, a large number of officers and men were driven out of the army by the superior generals because of the "accident", and naturally gathered at the Shuiguan Wharf in Tianjin, and then rushed to Shanghai on the troop transport ship that had been prepared in advance.

In accordance with Wang Chenhao's secret order, half of the officers and soldiers were pulled out of each town, and a total of 60,000 officers and soldiers violated the regulations of the Beiyang Army because of various "accidents", and Anlu was driven out of the Beiyang Army.

The imperial court sent people down to inquire and investigate, and Wang Shizhen and other generals "truthfully reported" that the soldiers made trouble because of the suspension of pay, and the trouble violated military law, so they were driven out of the army.

With such a reply, the court had no choice. Although Guangxu was afraid that Wang Chenhao's strength would threaten the safety of the imperial court, when half of the soldiers of the Beiyang Army left, Guangxu was worried in turn, he was afraid that once the Beiyang Army was gone, who else would protect the safety of the imperial court.

But Guangxu could not have imagined that this was just a deliberate trick by Wang Chenhao, the purpose of which was to bypass the imperial court's strict order not to use the army to interfere in Ryukyu affairs.

At the same time, after Tang Shouqian received Wang Chenhao's order from Wang Chenhao in Shanghai's public concession area, he immediately organized the "Chinese People's Volunteers" and prepared to march into the Ryukyus with great fanfare under the banner of regaining their home garden for the people of the Ryukyus.

At the same time, Wang Chenhao ordered the five large armored cruisers of the Second Combat Squadron of the Royal Navy, "Yu Yong", "Brave Brave", "Fighting Yong", "Brave Courage", and "Brave Brave", together with the six hunting ships of the Fifth Squadron, "Flying Fish", "Pegasus", "Flying Snake", "Flying Leopard", "Flying Fox", and "Flying Tiger", to arrive at the Gaochang Temple in Shanghai at the same time. It is called the transfer of defense, which is actually to provide cover for the landing of the Volunteer Army in the Ryukyus.

The Chinese People's Volunteers were reorganized in the Shanghai Public Concession, and the 60,000 soldiers of the Beiyang Army were reorganized into four divisions, which were named the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Divisions of the Volunteer Army. Since these 60,000 people all ran out of the formation, it only took a few days of integrated training to successfully complete the relevant adaptation.

When the news of the establishment of the Chinese People's Volunteers in the Shanghai Public Concession broke, the whole country was in an uproar and the world was shocked.

As the first landing of the term volunteer army on the military stage of the world, it opened up a new way of thinking for politicians all over the world. Wang Chenhao's "Volunteer Army" tactics were immediately highly praised by military strategists and politicians from various countries and regarded as a classic strategy.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ Forbidden City, the Imperial Study.

Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao jointly met with him.

When the words "Volunteers" reached Guangxu's ears, the young emperor was drinking tea and was immediately choked to death.

"Volunteers?"

After a long time, Guangxu stopped coughing, but he obviously inhaled a lot of tea in his lungs, and he couldn't cough it out, which was very uncomfortable.

"Yes! Emperor! ”

Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao also replied helplessly, when he learned the news, he was also angry and funny, and had to praise Wang Chenhao for being a genius.

Under Guangxu's careful questioning, after Weng Tonggong and Li Hongzao's explanation, Guangxu realized that Wang Chenhao did all this to bypass his holy decree and not give him any handle.

Guangxu suddenly had a wry smile on his face, these days he was worried about half of the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Army, he never thought that this was just a bureau deliberately set up by Wang Chenhao, and from beginning to end, he was a dignified Emperor Yanjing was played with by others in applause.

"His heart can be punished!"

After a long time, Emperor Guangxu squeezed out these words from between his teeth, obviously he was very angry.

Weng Tongyi said: "Your Majesty, according to the old minister's opinion, this Wang Chenhao is obviously bullying the monarch in disguise now, and he should be punished for a serious crime." ”

Li Hongzao objected: "Your Majesty, although we all know that this is Wang Chenhao's ghost, we have no reason to punish him. Wang Chenhao is always doing his tricks, and he won't give us a chance to catch him. ”

Weng Tongyi said unhappily: "Then let him come like this?" This Ryukyu incident will definitely provoke a dispute between China and China! This will put the court in a disadvantageous position! ”

Li Hongzao retorted: "Why did you fall into a disadvantageous place? Now that the great powers of all countries are silent, public opinion at home and abroad has sympathy for this 'volunteer army' and there is no negative impact. He said that he bullied our dynasty more than ten years ago and occupied Ryukyu, causing Ryukyu to ask for help from our Celestial Empire, and we could only watch Ryukyu being annexed by Ryukyu. Let's ask, if the countries that respect the Celestial Empire as the suzerainty turn their backs on us one by one, is this the result you want? ”

Weng Tong said angrily: "What do you mean by this? Are you talking to Wang Chenhao? ”

Li Hongzao snorted coldly: "It has nothing to do with Wang Chenhao!" I'm just talking about things! I've been thinking a lot about the issue of the Ryukyus lately. The scene of all the nations coming to the court back then is gone, and the surrounding vassal countries of the Celestial Empire have all been occupied by foreign powers, and I am not happy in my heart. ”

Weng Tonggong said: "Am I happy? ”

"Enough!"

Seeing that Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao were arguing, Guangxu suddenly glared and stopped them.

Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao hurriedly pleaded guilty.

"Forget it!"

Guangxu waved his hand and said: "Actually, if you think about it, Wang Chenhao didn't dare to resist the decree head-on no matter what, he did this to make a volunteer army, but it also saved the imperial court from diplomatic problems, and at the same time, if it can really help the Ryukyus to restore the country, it can be regarded as helping the imperial court to give an explanation to the people of the Ryukyus." ”

Weng Tongyi and Li Hongzao glanced at each other, and they were all surprised, they didn't expect Guangxu to think like this.

"Your Majesty, what are you?"

Guangxu smiled bitterly and said, "I've been thinking about a question, no matter how Wang Chenhao thinks he is making meritorious contributions to the court, am I too sensitive?" ”

Li Hongzao said: "Judging from this time, in fact, Wang Chenhao can directly resist the decree with the military power in his hands, and the court can't do anything about him." But Wang Chenhao chose to find another way, that is, not to embarrass the court, but also to help the court get things done. This shows that Wang Chenhao at least has no intention of rebelling, and Weichen thinks that if he can be good at entrapment, it will be a good way. ”

Weng Tongyi immediately retorted: "The emperor can't, even if Wang Chenhao has no objection, but he is also from the queen mother's side." ”

"I know! I'm tired! Kneel down and be in peace! ”

Li Hongzao asked, "Your Majesty, what about this matter?" ”

Guangxu waved his hand impatiently and said, "Let him toss!" If you lose the battle, I won't give him a good look! ”

Li Hongzao and Weng Tongrong looked at each other, not knowing what Guangxu was thinking.

The two of them then knelt down and exited the imperial study.

After the two left, Guangxu fell into deep thought. He was thinking about what Wang Chenhao was thinking, and at the same time, he was also reflecting on himself, why he was toyed with by Wang Chenhao every time.

"It would be nice if I was a faint king, and I directly cut off Wang Chenhao's head. But I am not a Ming Jun, otherwise Wang Chenhao would definitely be attached to me. I am a mediocre emperor who is not up or down! ”

Guangxu smashed his fist on the imperial book case, and seemed to forget the pain, but his heart hurt even more.

※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ faced Wang Chenhao's "Volunteer Army", he was completely speechless.

It is said that the cabinet of Kiyotaka Kuroda urgently convened a meeting to discuss the seriousness of the situation. Kuroda Kiyotaka's cabinet demanded that the Qing Zheng Axe immediately stop this "non-governmental organization" called the Volunteer Army, but obviously it would not have any effect, because the Qing Zheng Axe also had no way to deal with this "non-governmental organization", not to mention that the other party was established in the Shanghai Public Concession area. And the great powers of various countries also wanted to see how much of a storm this "volunteer army" could make, so they all declared their neutrality on the grounds of respecting their personal freedom.

Although the Russian political axe wanted to help Yuben, the interests of the Ryukyus had almost nothing to do with the interests of Russia, and the Russian authorities really could not raise the spirit to take care of this matter, and Wang Chenhao's move was really clever, and Russia had no excuse to interfere.

At the General Staff of the Army, Prince Chihito decided to mobilize the 5th Division to reinforce Okinawa Prefecture, led by Lieutenant General Ueda Arisawa and in cooperation with the 1st Division of Yama Prefecture Aritomo, to strengthen the defense of Okinawa Prefecture.

Yama Youpeng was convinced that his 1st Division would be enough to hold Naha Island, because he did not believe that the Chinese People's Volunteers would be able to defeat his regular army. Of course, Shan Shan Youpeng also knew that the Chinese People's Volunteer Army was the Beiyang Army, but he did not believe that the Volunteer Army could beat his troops, because in the battle sequence of the Army, the first division was called the elite, and he was confident that he would defeat all opponents.

On April 24, Shang Tai sent a note to the consul of the British Concession in Tianjin, Tsuneichi, demanding that the Ryukyu Kingdom be returned immediately. Immediately rejected by Tsuneichi. Three times in a row, Shang Tai's attitude was tougher than the last, but he resolutely did not let go.

On April 27, after the ultimatum submitted by Shotai to the Makamachi was rejected, Shotai officially declared war on the Ryukyu Exile Axe, and the Ryukyu Restoration War began.

As early as three days ago, several warships from Keelung, Taiwan, left for Naha Island ahead of schedule. The warships were escorted by two ships, "Yu Yong" and "Courageous," and the patrol gunboats found them, but they did not intercept them.

The warships that departed from Keelung were carrying 5,000 green battalion soldiers of Taiwan Governor Tang Jingsong. As for why they launched an attack on the Naha army in advance, it was mainly to test the firepower and combat effectiveness of the army, and it was also a tactic to paralyze the army.

Wang Chenhao knew that in the First Sino-Japanese War, the army won an absolute victory, and the Qing army was vulnerable in front of them. Although three years have passed, the First Division of the Yue Army will definitely remember it vividly. In order to let the army relax their vigilance and let them become arrogant soldiers. Wang Chenhao decided to have the Tang Zijun under the governor of Taiwan, Tang Jingsong, wear the Beiyang Army uniforms without armbands and any other insignia, and pretend to be the Chinese People's Volunteers to fight in Naha.

Tang Jingsong originally didn't do it, but he started a fight with the army, and it was clear that he was going to die. But Wang Chenhao promised to promote him to the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang after the deed, because Wang Chenhao's strength is strong, Tang Jingsong completely believes that Wang Chenhao has this ability, so in order to get his own promotion and make a fortune, he was deceived into sending his subordinates Tang Zi Army 5,000 green battalion soldiers to the battlefield of Naha Island.

The Tang Army in Taiwan is not without combat effectiveness, and its combat effectiveness is still very strong compared to other green battalion soldiers in the Qing Empire. Because this army fought the Sino-French War and the Sino-Chinese Keelung War, and the generals won in the end, they were very bold in fighting against the Yue army.

After two days of landing operations, the Tang Army completed the landing at Yaeti in the southern part of Naha Island. Interestingly, the army retreated with only a small disturbance, and did not deploy a large number of troops to prevent the landing.

It turned out that Youpeng in Shan County had planned to fight an anti-landing war, but when he saw the powerful warships of the Qing Empire, he immediately dispelled this idea.

This is because after acquiring the Ryukyu Islands, he did not focus on the construction of the Ryukyu Islands. The fortifications on the Ryukyu Islands were built during World War II, and before that, there was no fear that an enemy would land on the Ryukyu Islands, so there were almost no fortifications on the Ryukyu Islands, and there were no shore fortifications.

For this reason, although some fortifications were built in Yama County, they were far from being able to resist the onslaught of shipborne artillery. Therefore, without the support of the Yama Navy, Yama Youpeng had to choose to retreat, let this volunteer army land, and then start a war on the island far from the coastline.

On the afternoon of April 26, the Tang Army began to advance into the hegemonic territory under the banner of "Volunteer Army".

At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the vanguard of the Tang Army encountered a small group of troops of the 1st Division, and an exchange of fire broke out. After more than ten minutes of fierce fighting between the two sides, the Yue army saw that the reinforcements of the Tang Army were arriving one after another, so they chose to retreat.

In Shurijo Castle, the commander of the 1st Division, General Aritomo Yamayama, and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Shigeo Sameshima, held consultations.

"Shanxian Jun, I think this volunteer army is fundamentally vulnerable, and the outside world boasts of how powerful the Beiyang Army is, I can't see it. When a small unit of ours encountered them, it had already tested their firepower, and the guns were very fierce, but they did not hurt many of us, so it was just so-so. ”

Youpeng of Shanxian was a little puzzled, according to the information he obtained, the Beiyang Army was not in vain, why this landing force gave him the feeling that it was just a little stronger than the Qing army in the First Sino-Japanese War.

"To be on the safe side, I suggest we fight them so we can find out what they're really good at?"

Shigeo Sameshima said: "I'll take the lead!" I will let them know what the real army is! ”

Youpeng of Shan County nodded and said, "Okay!" You take a brigade to set up a position in the open field under Gao Jinjia Mountain, fight a battle with the Qing army, and see how strong this so-called volunteer army or Beiyang Army is? I'll watch and cheer for you on Gao Jin Jia Mountain! ”

Shigeo Sameshima smiled: "It's best to prepare a table of wine for me to celebrate!" However, I don't need a brigade. Gao Jin Jiashan can't open the strength of a brigade, too much is not good, just give me a wing. ”

Youpeng of Shan County smiled and said, "I thought you were really proud!" Since you are clear-headed, then I am relieved! I wish you a triumph! ”

Shigeo Sameshima nodded in thanks.

On the morning of April 27, the Tang army under the leadership of Liu Yongfu arrived at the foot of Gaojin Jiashan, and the sentinel reported to Liu Yongfu that the army had set up a position and was ready for a decisive battle.

Liu Yongfu then personally reconnoitred and determined that the strength of the army was about 3,000 people in a wing, and a simple fortification was built in front of the mountain.

Because the army temporarily decided to test the firepower and combat effectiveness of the Qing army at the foot of Gaojinjia Mountain, it did not build permanent fortifications.

Liu Yongfu saw that the other party had no intention of defending, so he understood that this was just a temporary encounter, and immediately ordered the Tang army to attack.

In order to make the Tang army look like the Beiyang Army, Wang Chenhao equipped them with artillery and heavy machine guns. With these two heavy weapons, Liu Yongfu was full of confidence, and immediately gave the opposing army a heavy bombardment, and then the infantry pushed the heavy machine guns forward to attack.

Although the Tang Army commanded by Liu Yongfu did not have the combat tactics of the Beiyang Army, he also knew that he would give full play to the advantages of firepower, and he suddenly invented the tactic of pushing heavy machine guns on the battlefield. If Wang Chenhao saw it, he would definitely applaud Liu Yongfu.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

Taking advantage of the heavy artillery fire and heavy machine guns, the Tang army launched an attack, and the shells poured on the positions of the Yue army, and suddenly there was a sea of fire. The heavy machine gun bullets swept over the position of the army, and suddenly stirred up a cloud of sand and dust.

Shigeo Sameshima looked at the "Beiyang Army" rushing over from the opposite side, and sighed that the other party was really rich, and the shells and bullets poured out without spending money, and he was really envious of him.

Shooting at the sight of the enemy, no matter how far away, was a common problem of the old army of the Qing Empire. At this time, it was very obvious in Liu Yongfu and his Tang Zijun.

The Tang army opened fire from a distance, and the momentum was indeed earth-shattering, but it was basically difficult to hit the Yue army hiding in the improvised trenches.

As the two sides approached, the Yue army did not open fire until the Tang army was about 70 meters closer. It is no wonder that the army has limited funds and does not dare to waste bullets, so it is only fired when it is closer.

The marksmanship of the Yue army was obviously much more accurate than that of the Tang army, and it immediately caused heavy casualties to the Tang army. At the same time, the artillery positions hidden under the hill also opened fire. The artillery of the Yue Army has not moved any time, just to fully find out the location and firepower of the artillery of the Tang Army. At this time, all the artillery fire of the Yue army hit the artillery position of the Tang Army, and the artillery position of the Tang Army did not have any cover and protective measures, and as a result, the shelling fell into a sea of fire in less than ten minutes.

The artillery of the Tang Army lost its attack power, and the artillery fire of the Yue Army turned back to attack the attacking Tang Army, but the target of the attack was also to hit the middle and rear of the Tang Army, creating a blocking firing posture and suppressing the follow-up troops of the Tang Army to move forward for reinforcements.

Somewhere on the top of the mountain, Yama Prefecture Youpeng looked at the battle situation under the mountain, and he knew that Sameshima Shigeo's words were right, and the "Beiyang Army" on the opposite side was really not as powerful as he imagined. The judgment given by Youpeng in Shan County is that the Beiyang Army won by relying on equipment, because the firepower of the other side is really fierce, more than twice that of the Yue Army. Yama Prefecture Youpeng was suddenly relieved a lot, and he was worried about whether he was blowing up his cowhide, but now it seems that his first division can completely defeat any Beiyang Army that lands on Naha Island.

The battle at the foot of the mountain lasted from morning to afternoon, and Liu Yongfu led the Tang army to attack bravely, suffering numerous casualties, but no progress was made.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, when Liu Yongfu led the army to carry out the twelfth charge, the opposite army actually carried out a counter-charge, but the Tang army was unprepared in a hurry, and the first company was killed by the army more than 200 meters away, and finally stopped the charge after being blocked by the army's own blocking artillery fire.

Liu Yongfu lost more than 1,300 troops, and in order to preserve his strength, he immediately ordered the withdrawal of troops. The commander of the army, Shigeo Sameshima, saw that it was getting late, and was afraid that the Qing army would have an ambush, so he did not pursue and retreated with victory.

That night, Yama Prefecture Youpeng arranged a celebration banquet for Shark Island Shigeo to congratulate him on his victory in the first battle.

In the following days, Liu Yongfu led the Tang army to try to make a detour to attack Shuri City many times, but they all failed, and were intercepted by the Yue army, not to mention, and were chased and beaten many times, until they retreated to the beachhead by the sea, the Yue army saw that the warships of the Qing Empire were parked in the bay and did not dare to get too close, so they let Liu Yongfu go.

In a few days of fighting, Liu Yongfu's Tang army lost nearly 3,000 men, removed the wounded, and left less than 1,700 soldiers to fight.

Liu Yongfu asked Tang Jingsong to let them withdraw, Tang Jingsong also felt very sorry for his troops, but thinking of Wang Chenhao's promise to him, Tang Jingsong immediately refused with words, and continued to let Liu Yongfu lead people to deal with the army.

At the same time, Tang Jingsong truthfully reported the situation to Wang Chenhao, who believed that the plan had been completed, so he ordered the real Beiyang Army to start landing and formulated a comprehensive battle plan.

Wu Fengling, commander of the First Division of the Volunteer Army, and Lei Zhenchun, chief of staff, personally led the First Division to land at Bazhongting where Liu Yongfu was located, and frontally contained the main force of the First Division of the Chinese Army, but they were not allowed to storm onslaught, but only contained, and attacked together after waiting for the general attack order to be issued; Wu Changchun, commander of the Second Division of the Chinese People's Volunteers, and Yang Rongtai, chief of staff, led the Second Division to land at Zhongcheng Village behind the First Division of the Chinese Army, which was the gathering point of the Ryukyuan people. Duan Qirui, commander of the Third Division of the Volunteer Army, and Xu Bangjie, chief of staff, led the Third Division to land at Yiyewan, which is also a gathering area in the Ryukyus. After the 3rd Division landed, it would launch an attack from the left rear of the 1st Division, cutting off the road for the 1st Division to retreat to Shuri.

After the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions completed the encirclement of the 1st Division of the Chinese Army, they launched an attack at the same time to completely annihilate the 1st Division of the Chinese Army.

Feng Guozhang, commander of the Fourth Division of the Chinese People's Volunteers, and Jin Yunpeng, chief of staff, led the Fourth Division to intercept the Fifth Division of the Yue Army, which came out to reinforce Shuri City.

On 1 May, the Chinese Volunteers completed the encirclement of the First Division of the Chinese People's Liberation Army as they wished. First of all, thanks to the fact that the Yue army did not have naval support, the first division of the Yue army did not dare to expose its troops near the coastline, for fear of being bombed by Wang Chenhao's warships. Therefore, the army did not defend the coastline and gave the volunteers a number of landing sites to choose from. The second is that he was unpopular in the Ryukyus, in order to enslave the Ryukyu people, he said that he implemented a cruel policy, burning, killing and looting all kinds of evil, causing the Ryukyuan people to hate himself, when the volunteers landed, the Ryukyu locals gave great cover, and even they took the initiative to erect a trestle for the volunteers, so that the landing craft could dock at the trestle, and directly let the volunteers soldiers and equipment land smoothly. The second is that the first division of the army, Shan Shan Youpeng and Onishima Shigeo, were deceived, thinking that Liu Yongfu's Tang Army was the Beiyang Army, and greatly underestimated the combat effectiveness of the volunteers, so when the first division of the Volunteer Army frontally contained the first division, Shan County Youpeng pressed all its main forces to the front, planning to eat the volunteers on the opposite side first, and then turn around and attack others.

These series of factors were superimposed, and the three divisions of the Volunteer Army had already successfully completed the encirclement of the First Division of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

At noon on 1 May, the 1st Division concentrated its artillery and launched a fierce attack on the frontal defense line of the 1st Division. The 36 80 infantry guns of the 1st Division opened heavy fire and attacked the frontal position of the 1st Wing of the Japanese Army, and the enemy's position was suddenly in flames.

After seeing that the Volunteers opened fire, the 48 76-mm mountain guns of the First Division were concentrated and quickly returned fire, intending to knock out the artillery positions of the Volunteers.

However, the artillery positions of the Volunteer Army were not comparable to Liu Yongfu's Tang Army, and the artillery positions were arranged with bunkers and false targets to attract artillery fire and preserve the real artillery fire.

At the same time, because the army was inferior to the enemy, all 48 cannons of all eight artillery groups of the 1st Division opened fire, exposing their positions.

At the same time, the 18 150-mm heavy howitzers of the 1st Division of the Chinese People's Volunteers, which had been hidden, immediately opened fire, and the shells whistled and fired at the artillery positions of the Yue Army, which immediately exploded into a sea of fire on the artillery positions of the Yue Army.

Shan County Youpeng was taken aback, he never expected that the opponent would have such a strong artillery fire, and at this moment he already felt as if he had been fooled.

Similarly, Chief of Staff Shigeo Sameshima also felt that something was wrong, but before he could adjust his tactics, five of the army's eight artillery battery positions had been eliminated.

In the following few minutes of artillery battle, the positions of the last three artillery companies of the First Division of the Japanese Army were also destroyed by the 150-mm heavy artillery of the Volunteers.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery fire of the 1st Division began to bombard the frontal defensive positions of the Yue army, and the positions of the artillery bombardment were all key parts of the Yue army, causing heavy casualties to the Yue army.

Subsequently, the artillery fire was extended, and the 1st Division of the Volunteer Army launched a forward attack. Most of the Yue army thought that the Beiyang Army on the opposite side was too poor in marksmanship, and as a result, they suffered a big loss, and in the first wave of battles between the two sides, the Yue army suffered a big loss with a huge battle loss ratio of 5 to 1.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the First Division of the Volunteer Army had broken through the three defensive positions of the Yue Army, and Youpeng Ye in Shanxian County had already understood that he had been fooled, and this was the real combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army. However, he regretted it too late, and when he ordered a retreat and called for help from Shuri's 5th Division, the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the Volunteer Army had already launched a fierce attack on his flanks and flanks.

The defensive positions built by the army are 6 fronts and only 1 in the rear, and the 1st Division on the front has broken through three defensive positions, but it will not make Yama County Youpeng afraid. However, a defensive position in the rear was broken through in less than ten minutes under the fierce attack of the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the Volunteers, which immediately cost Youpeng Shan County's life.

Youpeng in Shanxian County fell into the encirclement and had no choice but to break through.

However, the strength of the Volunteer Army was three times that of Youpeng in Shanxi, and in addition to the absolute superiority in firepower, Youpeng in Shanxian tried to break through several times, but all of them were beaten back, and the defensive positions were broken one after another, and the first division of the army was heavily damaged, with one-third of the casualties.

Yama Prefecture Youpeng and Sameshima Shigeo hurriedly discussed, and urgently withdrew to Xiyuan Mountain, intending to rely on the mountain to continue to hold on and wait for reinforcements, and at the same time constantly send people to break through and reinforce the Fifth Division of Shuri.

Although the people of Youpeng in Shan County failed to break through the siege and send a letter to the Fifth Division, Lieutenant General Ueda Arisawa, the commander of the Fifth Division, did not give it in vain, and immediately judged that Youpeng in Shan County was in trouble.

Ueda Arisawa immediately sent a brigade to reinforce Yaetin direction, but the troops were ambushed by the 4th Division of the Volunteer Army as soon as they drove not far from Shuri Castle. The army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat.

Ueda Arisawa immediately judged that this was a typical encirclement tactic, and knew that Yamaprefecture Youtomo was in danger, so he ordered the Ninth Brigade to abandon heavy weapons, go into battle lightly, avoid the attack of the volunteers, and make a detour to quickly reinforce Yaeting.

(To be continued)