The Tumen River flows continuously on the border between Korea and Northeast China, and the Tumen River, which is more than 1,100 miles long, does not appear as often in the history of East Asia as the Yalu River, and even the reason why it is widely known is because after the Russian War, in order to prevent the Russian army from attacking the Russian mainland from the Tumen River, the Russian army transferred as many as four divisions to the right bank of the river and built a large number of fortresses.

However, the Russians did not know that the reason why the 2nd and 3rd Reserve Divisions of the Japanese Army on the left bank built fortifications in the area of North Hasakai Province was just a plan by Kodama Gentaro to lure the enemy and divide his troops.

The defense line of the second and third reserve divisions of the army stood along the Tumen River, with Shili Cave at the mouth of the Tumen River as the point, and extended to Hepu Cave, and the defense line was lined with forts and fortresses, but in the Maoshan mountain and forest area where the terrain was relatively complicated, it was not suitable for the movement of large troops, so it was not fortified.

There are no bridges over the Tumen River, and any army that wants to cross the Tumen River must be built by engineers; a year ago, the Guangfu Army used iron sappers to build bridges over the Yellow River for the first time, and when the main force of the Korean army crossed the Yalu River, in addition to seizing the bridge of the army engineers, the two engineer regiments spent several hours erecting improvised sapper pontoon bridges almost under the noses of the army.

At midnight on April 22, when the boat did not arrive according to the delivery, and the raft was wasting time, Sergeant Li Jisheng of the 3rd Engineer Regiment and the 1st Battalion with a rope tied to his waist resolutely jumped into the Tumen River and swam towards the opposite bank in an almost brute way to measure the width of the bridge.

In April, the Tumen River flowed with ice water flowing down from Changbai Mountain, and the icy and piercing water made Li Jisheng, who was swimming in the river, tremble up and down, and when he was desperately swimming towards the opposite bank, the temperature was carried away by the river little by little, but the Tumen River, which was only a few hundred meters long, seemed to become as wide as the Yangtze River.

"Grit your teeth and hold on!"

Li Jisheng muttered to himself in his heart, the trees on the other side of the river under the moonlight became more and more blurred, so sleepy! Slowly, when the heat in his body ran out, he felt his eyelids begin to fight, and even his arms and legs twitched, and he drank a few sips of cold river water every time he twitched.

Suddenly, the head that had been exposed on the surface of the river was buried in the water, and the hearts of the people on the north bank of the river tightened violently, until the head surfaced again, the original tight breathing on the north bank of the river was relaxed, and Li Zimao looked at Li Jisheng on the surface of the river tightly.

"You have to resist it! Yoshiko! ”

Although he knew that he couldn't hear it, Li Zimao still couldn't help but say this. Actually, he said this because Li Jisheng couldn't hear it. From time to time, he looked at his pocket watch worriedly. He watched as time walked slowly, slowly, slowly...... Finally, he saw the water quietly rippling, and after ten minutes he saw Li Jisheng crawl to the shore.

Li Jisheng, who climbed up and down the river, was there with all his strength, pulling the rope until he touched the knot, and then he lazily lay down towards the river, motionless, the bayonet was inserted into the riverbank, and the knot was fastened to the bayonet.

Five hours later, near dawn, a simple sapper bridge made of iron boats and planks appeared on the banks of the Tumen River, and the officers and men of the 1st Cavalry Division who arrived at the riverside did not know that one soldier had paid with his own life for this sapper bridge, and for the cavalry, they now had only one purpose: "cross the Tumen River!" ”

“…… From the end of the Shang Dynasty more than 3,000 years ago, the king had no way. The Zhou Dynasty took the opportunity to eliminate the Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty nobleman named "Jizi", who was unwilling to be a courtier of the Western Zhou Dynasty, led 500 Shang Dynasty people, fled to Korea, and established the first state on the Korean Peninsula. Since that time, North Korea has been a vassal state of China.

For more than 3,000 years, the countries that appeared on the Korean Peninsula were all vassal states of China, and counties were established as part of Chinese territory. The Korean Peninsula has 3,000 miles of rivers and mountains, and it is a vassal of China for 3,000 years, and all this, until before and after the First Sino-Japanese War, everything has changed, for the Manchu Qing Dynasty who stole the Central Plains, the whole country of Korea has been up and down for more than 200 years, and the face of the heart is not recognized, and the weakening of the Manchu Qing in modern times has made Korea have the heart of self-reliance. ”

When the horse's hooves sounded on the planks of the boat bridge, on the bank of the Jiangbei River, Yu Zhucheng, who was riding on a horse, looked at North Korea on the other side of the river, and said to Chief of Staff Wu Fengze in a slow voice.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty, who had been enslaved by foreign races and stole the Central Plains with barbarians, had lost all of China's thousand-year-old family wealth within a few decades, and the vassal states had fallen to the ground and the Celestial Empire had lost face. For the sake of their own international status and world prestige, the Manchus also had to strive to keep Korea and do their best to control this last vassal.

Twenty years of Guangxu. Dry Jiawu. The First Sino-Japanese War broke out. In this battle, the elite of the Qing army was lost. More than ten years of painstaking efforts to build the Beiyang Naval Division is gone. The war ended with the defeat of the Manchus and the payment of land reparations. Since then, China has lost its last one. It is also the oldest vassal state of 3,000 years. The defeated Manchus were forced to recognize the power of the Korean Empire, and two years later, the name of Korea was changed to the "Korean Empire". ”

When he spoke, Yu Zhucheng's voice was slightly low, his brows furrowed from time to time, this battle is extraordinary, if it is successful, China will regain the vassal country after losing its vassal eleven years, for anyone who wants to reproduce the glory of China, the existence of the vassal state may be to fill the spiritual need for the glory of ancient times.

The division commander's words made Wu Fengze's expression become solemn, and listening to the sound of horses' hooves in his ears, he sighed.

"In the past, it's just the past, since then, North Korea is North Korea, China is China, how many people still remember that the other side of the Yalu River was a 3,000-year-old vassal of China?"

"I remember!"

Looking at the calm river, Mao Zhiheng, who had just crossed the Tumen River, said lightly, why could he remember, because on the ancestral tablet of the Mao family, there was a person who had fought with Suo Lu here.

After the ancestor Mao led more than 100 people to achieve the "Zhenjiang Victory", the Houjin side was extremely shocked and sent a large army to counterattack. It is a pity that the soldiers are too small to support, and they once retreated into North Korea. Joseon Jiedu made Zheng Zun and Pu Ye lead the Houjin army to surround Mao Wenlong in the forest, but it turned out to be the name of the old ancestor...... "Old ancestor, your great-great-grandson is here today!" ”

With a low whisper in his heart, Mao Zhiheng's eyes sharpened, and he held the Chasik cavalry knife on his waist.

In the past two hundred and sixty years, he is the first person in the direct line of the Mao family to hold an official position, if it is the Manchu Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that Mao Jiayi will still have no one to enter the office, but now it is China, and his first battle was in North Korea, where the ancestors fought bloodily, thinking of this Mao Zhiheng's face showed a little smugness.

The people of the Mao family have finally returned to North Korea! Not the cavalry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but the cavalry of the dignified China.

"If you can achieve the final honor on the battlefield, even if you die, it will not be in vain!"

When he was thinking like this, Mao Zhiheng, who was holding the rank of cavalry warrant officer, had already crossed the wooden railway bridge on the Yalu River with the large army that had taken the engineers half a year to build.

Yu Zhucheng, who was already thirty-two years old, looked at the nearly 10,000 horsemen of the First Cavalry Division of the Guards Army who had crossed the Yalu River, and the sound of horses' hooves as the cavalry walked on the road echoed in the heavens and the earth.

"A man can only do one big thing in his life!"

muttering these words on his lips, Yu Zhucheng found that he had not achieved anything great in his life, at least until now, far from achieving the great things he recognized in his life.

The Second Cavalry Division recovered Kulen and recovered a territory equivalent to one-tenth the size of China, and what was the Guild doing himself? Cut the heads of those horse teams in the northwest, even last time, I originally wanted to annihilate the Yalu River Army, but the first cavalry division couldn't let go of my hands and feet at all, and this time I could let go of my hands and feet?

Yu Zhucheng on horseback muttered in his heart, lightly clamped the horse's belly, and the Don River war horse worth eight hundred and sixty-three yuan under his crotch meekly carried his master towards the sapper pontoon.

"Okay, Fengqin, let's go kill the second division of Little Nose!"

"It's just a reserve division!"

In the headquarters of the Manchurian Army of the Russian Empire in Harbin, Ninevich said a relaxed word to General Kuropatkin, walked to the map, and pointed to the map of Korea with his command stick.

"Russia is hungry for a victory more than ever, I mean the Army, you should know, at the time of the Battle of Sand River last year. Because our army had gained a certain advantage, we did not publish any war report on this, and in order to inspire the people, we made a great propaganda that we had won a major victory, "completely annihilating one battalion and capturing eleven cannons." The newspapers of various European countries also made a big denden to this news, and all the battalions were annihilated...... Just such a victory is enough to make the whole of Russia excited, Your Majesty needs victory, the nobles need victory, and the same people need victory! ”

At this point, Linevich raised his voice.

"To ensure this victory, Prince Mikhail ......"

As soon as the name came out, the two of them conjured up in their minds at the same time the image of His Royal Highness the prince who courted the female officials of the Chinese court in Nanjing, but fortunately the prince did not forget his duty when he was romantic.

"At a high price of £260 each, five hundred Makqin heavy machine guns were purchased from China, and now these machine guns will be strengthened for you, dear Kuropatkin, now, my friend, the only thing you need to do is to cross the Tumen River, defeat the 3rd Reserve Division of the Japanese army, and then march on the entire Korean Peninsula!"

He sat down at the table again from the wall where the map was hung, gently let go of the command stick in his hand, took a deep breath, tried to move on from his previous emotion, but failed, and finally let out a long sigh, and then looked helplessly at Kuropatkin in front of him.

"Judging from the current situation on the battlefield, we are doomed to lose the whole of Manchuria, and for Russia, this is a reality that we have to accept, so we must seize the Korean Peninsula, which can not only save face for the Russian Empire, but also ......"

Kuropatkin did not speak as Lynevich spoke, and in the Russian Army he had always been known for being extremely competent and meticulous, his hair was neatly combed as before, without a trace of mess, his glasses were tightly worn on the bridge of his nose, and his beard was carefully trimmed, at which point he nodded.

"I understand that if we control the Korean Peninsula, then in the next few decades, even centuries, we will have to face pressure from Russia, we are a weak country, and I also have an extreme sense of unease in my surname, if we control the Korean Peninsula, we will directly face pressure from Russia, which will inevitably lead to the loss of all the strategic arrangements in this war, perhaps, we will ......"

But will it be possible to march into North Korea Chinese...... Any belligerent country is not afraid of the battlefield, what he fears is the transaction behind the battlefield.

"Maybe we will lose the war, but if we can control North Korea, we will win the whole strategy!"

Taking Kuropatkin's words, Linevich leaned back in his chair a little lazily, and then looked around again.

"Now almost everyone except His Majesty the Tsar understands that we cannot win the naval battle at all, the Second Fleet seems to be huge, but too many old warships will drag down the whole fleet, I pray every day to all the gods I know, that Roysay, Stevensky's court favorite, will win the naval battle, but we must always prepare for the worst......"

When Linnevich stopped and closed his eyes, they both sat there in silence, and Kuropatkin was silent for a long time before he spoke.

"Linevich, you need to know that if we attack North Korea, then the only winners in this war are the Chinese, and Russia and Yuben will be the losers in this war."

Kuropatkin turned uneasily in his chair, waved his fingers, and said with a sad face.

"The Chinese have recovered Manchuria, we have withdrawn from Manchuria, and they themselves will withdraw from Manchuria with our attack on Korea, their main forces will be transferred to Korea in the next month to block us, in order to stop us, I will even reach an agreement with China at any cost, in the wartime, I will not be able to bear the loss of all the elite army at all, this war, I have exhausted my wealth, Russia is also discredited, and the winner is the Chinese with the least losses!"

As he spoke, Linnevich's eyes wandered around the room where it was just the two of them. From time to time, he cast his gaze to the map, and occasionally to the Chinese vase in the room that was more than a hundred years old, and after drinking the glass of vodka on the table, he looked at Kuropatkin in front of him. At this point, he became increasingly resentful.

“…… Yue Ben died, spent money, Russia's reputation was discredited, the war went on for a year and two months, and in the end, both we and Yue himself lost their pants, and all the cheapness was given to the Chinese! ”

When Kuropatkin said this indignantly, he apparently forgot how many times in the past few hundred years had the expansion of the Russian Empire in the East not taken advantage of the fire?

"That's why we're attacking North Korea!"

Ninevich shrugged his shoulders helplessly, picked up the wine bottle on the table with one hand, and poured a full glass of wine for Kuropatkin.

"If we can't get Korea, then we will lose everything in the war, the reputation of the Russian Empire, the interests of Russia in Manchuria, the Eastern Qing Railway, the South Manchurian Railway, extraterritoriality in China, etc., ......"

Counting his fingers, Lin counted the losses of the Russian Empire, and Linevich suddenly said in an aggravated tone.

"In this case, we need to compensate even more, Chairman Witte said very clearly, the Russian Empire needs a certain amount of compensation to recover Russia's losses, and in the same way, His Majesty also said that Russia needs to use a few victories to recover the previous decline, you and I both understand that if there is no victory, the declining national fortunes will not recover, and Russia needs victory!"

Kuropatkin did not answer him directly.

"A lot of troops are not willing to continue this war, and the troops transferred from Europe have even brought anti-war sentiments to the army, my friend."

"But that's not true for everyone, am I right? Do you see the soldiers? ”

Linevich swiped his finger into the air and pointed out the window, pointing to the Russian military camp outside Harbin.

"In the past month, although some troops are reluctant to continue the war, however, more soldiers are not willing to be defeated by the yellow-skinned monkeys, especially after they see the victory of the Chinese! Instead, they were more eager to fight, eager to be victorious for the Caucasians! ”

Linevich talked about what he knew about the soldiers, and although it was a little less realistic, Kuropatkin had to laugh back.

"In short, no matter what reaction the Chinese make, whether they will take advantage of the Korean issue or not, to reach any agreement with Yu himself, so that he can withdraw the Manchurian army from Manchuria, and stop us in Korea, we must use victory to tell Yu himself and the whole world that the Russian Empire will never sink, and the Russian Army will still defend the dignity of Russia!"

After a majestic speech, Lynevich suddenly spoke again.

"Kuropatkin, my friend, this is also the most important moment for you to restore your reputation, if you can succeed, no one will mention your defeat in the Battle of Mukden, they will only remember your success in Korea, and ......"

After standing up again, Lynevich walked to the map and pointed to a certain location on the Korean Peninsula.

"Believe me, I will ask you to occupy the whole of Korea only if conditions permit, and if the Chinese really reach an agreement with themselves, then I think the rest is how we consolidate the results of the war, you will get enough machine guns, artillery, personnel and other supplies to rebuild a Lushun in Korea!"

"Is it waiting for the Chinese to complete the deal made with the blood of the Russians and himself in the future in the "New Lushun"? ”

Kuropatkin couldn't help but mock, although he was eager to restore his reputation with victory, but as long as he thought that Russia had become a "bargaining chip" for the Chinese, his heart was full of unwillingness.

"Nope! All we need to do at that point is ...... Wait there for the victory of the Second Fleet...... Or fail! ”

(To be continued)