Lin Daxin asked the adjutant of the Governor's Mansion to send a telegram to Jiang Yu, the commander of the Fourth Division, and sent a telegram agreeing to the Dingbei Army in Heilongjiang to choose a defensive position, and at the same time told Jiang Yu that Lin Daxin was about to lead the Guards Division and the Second Division in Shenyang to Heilongjiang to support their Dongning City. :

After the Guards Division and the 2nd Division arrived at Dongning City, they would choose to continue to hold out or attack according to the situation of the battle.

Lin Daxin also asked the adjutant to send a telegram to Zhang Zuolin, the commander of the 12th Division in Fuyuan City, canceling the attack order of the 12th Division and asking the 12th Division to block the Russian army attacking Fuyuan in Fuyuan City. Yu Lichen, the commander of the 14th Division of the Hailan Paoding Northern Army, sent a telegram to cancel the attack order of the 14th Division, although there was no information about the Russian army's attack on Hailanpao, but Lin Daxin still ordered the 14th Division to strictly defend Hailanpao to prevent the Russian army from raiding.

In the division headquarters of the Fourth Division in Dongning City, Heilongjiang, after Jiang Yu received a telegram from Lin Daxin, he asked people to invite Zhang Daxiong, the commander of the armored division, and Duan Qirui, the commander of the 11th Division, to his division headquarters.

Zhang Daxiong and Duan Qirui arrived at the division headquarters of the Fourth Division soon after, Jiang Yu handed the telegram sent by Lin Daxin to the two people to get the information of the Russian army's offensive and said: "This is the information that our military intelligence bureau got in Vladivostok, Russia!" Based on the intelligence of the Military Intelligence Agency, I asked the principal to cancel the attack on the Russian Far East and first consume the Russian army with a defensive war. ”

Jiang Yu picked up the telegram that Lin Daxin had just sent and handed it to the two people and said: "This is the latest order of the principal, the principal has agreed that our three divisions will take a defensive battle in Dongning City to resist the 200,000 troops of the Russian army from Twin Cities!" ”

After the two of them read the two telegrams, Zhang Daxiong said with a smile: "I didn't expect that the only tank armored division in Russia would also come to attack our Dongning City!" Hahaha. I didn't expect that I would be able to catch up with a tank battle when I just became the commander of the armored division, cool! I can't wait to meet the Russian tank division for a while! ”

Jiang Yu and Duan Qirui looked at each other. couldn't help laughing, the two of them had a deep understanding of Zhang Daxiong, a militant, and the dignified commander of the first division led the officers and soldiers to fight with the Japanese with bayonets.

Duan Qirui put the telegram he was still holding on the table, and then said: "200,000 troops is a lot, but with the perfect fortifications inside and outside Dongning City, and our 3 divisions. There should be no problem holding Dongning. Old ginger, sledgehammer, what do you guys think? ”

Jiang Yu said: "Although I have canceled the plan to attack the Russian Far East. Let's defend Dongning. But I don't think we can be passive on the defensive, we should take advantage of the advantages of the armored division, and take advantage of the fact that the Russian army is not firmly established after it reaches the periphery of Dongning. Take the initiative once. It is better to be able to defeat 200,000 Russian troops directly! ”

Duan Qirui actually considered the Dingbei Army with 3 divisions in his heart, plus 1 powerful armored division, just guarding Dongning City and waiting for the Russian army to attack, a little overkill, hearing Jiang Yu's words, he immediately nodded excitedly and said: "What Lao Jiang said is reasonable, with the strength of our 3 divisions, only 200,000 Russian troops are not a problem at all." It would be better if we could keep all the 200,000 Russian troops in Dongning, so that we could attack the Russian Far East in the future. It's a lot less troublesome. ”

Zhang Daxiong laughed and said: "It's still 2 old brothers, then let's make up our minds, when the Russian army arrives in Dongning, we will take the initiative to attack them by surprise, and then the armored division will definitely beat the Russians to the ground!" ”

After Lin Daxin learned some fresh words in modern time and space, he returned to the Qing Dynasty time and space and said it involuntarily, and then was imitated by his subordinates one after another.

Jiang Yu, Duan Qirui, and Zhang Daxiong discussed specific tactics in the division headquarters of the Fourth Division, and then the three of them went their separate ways and arranged for their own troops.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty called Outer Mongolia Khalkha Mongolia or Mobei Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia was called Horqin Mongolia or Monan Mongolia, and Ni Fan, the commander of the Third Division, received a telegram from Lin Daxin that the 150,000 Russian troops in Haktu City, opposite the trading city, would launch an attack on the trading city on August 25, six days later.

Ni Fan looked at the telegram and felt relieved, and finally knew the specific attack time of the Russian army, so he didn't have to keep guessing when the Russian army would be able to attack the city. Ni Fan ordered the people at the division headquarters to call the three brigade commanders of the 31st Infantry Brigade, the 32nd Infantry Brigade, and the 33rd Infantry Brigade, as well as the commander of the 34th Brigade of the division's heavy artillery brigade, to the division headquarters.

Ni Fan said to the four brigade commanders: "The brothers of the Military Intelligence Bureau have received information that the 150,000 Russian troops in Haktu City will attack us in 6 days, how are the combat readiness of the brigades prepared?" What happened to the final progress of the fortifications outside the city? ”

The city is only a small city, so Ni Fan put the main defensive position outside the city, especially in the direction of the Russian city of Haktu, which has allowed the officers and soldiers of the third division to build relatively complete fortifications day and night, relying on the terrain.

The brigade commander of the 31st Brigade said: "Division commander, the positions outside the city are almost built, but it's a pity that we are too far away from the northeast here, and too little cement is transported, otherwise if the defensive positions are built into permanent fortifications of cement and steel bars, not to mention 150,000 Russian troops, even if there are 500,000 Russian troops, our third division can also hold the trading city!" ”

The commander of the 34th Brigade of the Heavy Artillery Brigade said: "Our Heavy Artillery Brigade has established more than a dozen artillery positions inside and outside the city, and there are enough shells to support the infantry at any time and carry out covering artillery bombardment of the enemy. ”

The heavy artillery brigade has established more than a dozen artillery positions in order to avoid the bombardment of Russian artillery in artillery battles, and can transfer positions at any time. Even the artillery of the other 3 brigades also chose multiple positions and shifted their positions at any time to avoid the counterattack of Russian artillery.

The brigade commander of the 32nd Brigade said: "Division commander, several of our brigades are ready, division commander, you can arrange the areas to be defended by each brigade!" ”

The commander of the 33rd Brigade nodded and said, "Division commander, give the order!" Our brigade has asked for a frontal position, and it will definitely be able to block the Russian attack!"

As soon as the brigade commanders of the 31st and 32nd brigades heard this, they immediately expressed to Ni Fan that they hoped that their brigade would take on the heavy responsibility and guard the frontal positions that would definitely be attacked by the Russian army.

Ni Fan thought about it for a while and said, "That's it." The frontal position was first defended by the 31st Brigade, and the other three positions were defended by the 32nd Brigade, with the 33rd Brigade as a reserve. Support at any time. The heavy artillery brigade maintains contact with the forward positions, and cooperates with the artillery of the brigades at any time to provide artillery support to the forward positions. Ladies and gentlemen, our Third Division has always been well-known for its good defense in the Dingbei Army, and it was our Third Division that fought the Battle of Jinzhou that year, and several Japanese standing divisions were bloodied in front of our Third Division. Now in the face of the Russian army, I hope you brothers. Don't let the prestige of the 3rd Division fall! ”

The four division commanders stood up with a "snap": "Swear to live and die with the position!" ”

After that, the 31st Brigade entered the frontal positions outside the city, and the 32nd Brigade entered the positions in the other three directions of the city.

Wang Yuwei, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 31st Brigade, received from the brigade headquarters that his battalion would guard the defensive position named Heights 306. So he took the 522 officers and men of the whole battalion, plus 90 officers and men of 1 guard company supported by the brigade headquarters, and 78 officers and soldiers of the engineer company supported by the regiment into the 306 heights at the forefront of the frontal position.

Wang Yuwei is the fourth phase of the teaching team and is just 25 years old this year. My hometown is from Xinxiang, Henan. Wang Yuwei has been practicing martial arts since childhood. Usually 7 or 8 people can't get in, and they have been in private school for a few years, which can be described as both civil and military. At that time, he was attracted by the preferential treatment of the Dingbei Army, which was still called the Sailor Academy, and joined it, and now he is a major battalion commander.

Wang Yuwei knew that his battalion's task this time was very heavy, and the 306 Heights in front of the breakthrough would be the focus of the Russian army's attack, and the brigade headquarters and regiment headquarters had specially strengthened their battalions by 1 guard company and 1 engineer company, which means that there will be 690 officers and soldiers of the Dingbei Army guarding the 306 Heights now.

The brigade commander and regiment commander also confessed to themselves. This 306 heights are a point of support for the frontal position and must not be lost. The brigade headquarters and regimental headquarters can provide artillery support to Wang Yuwei at any time, and the reserve team will also give priority to supporting the 306 heights.

After Wang Yuwei went to the 306 heights, he asked the officers and soldiers to continue to strengthen the fortifications, and the more solid they were, the more they would have a better grasp of defense. Wang Yuwei arranged the 1st Company of his battalion to the first fortification halfway up the mountain, and the 2nd Company was stationed at the second fortification on the top of the mountain, and divided the 6 Type 96 heavy machine guns and 6 Type 96 light machine guns of the machine gun company into the two fortifications equally.

In this way, each fortification has 6 60mm mortars, 5 Type 96 heavy machine guns and 7 Type 96 light machine guns, and the firepower is very powerful.

The distance from the bottom of the slope to the top of the slope is only more than 250 meters, so the distance between the two fortifications of the 306 high ground is not far, only about 100 meters.

Wang Yuwei also asked the 12 88-mm mortars of the battalion's artillery company to set up several artillery positions on the anti-slope of the 306 Heights, and one guard company and one engineer company sent by the brigade headquarters and regiment headquarters, as well as the guard platoon, engineer platoon, logistics support platoon, communications squad, and medical squad of his own battalion, were all stationed in the anti-slope anti-artillery holes as reserves to support the two positions at any time.

Six days later, on August 25, the 150,000 Russian troops in the city of Haktu gathered outside the city of Haktu in accordance with the plan made before the war, and almost poured out, under the leadership of the commander Lieutenant General Ivanov, ready to cross the border between Outer Mongolia and Russia, and pounced on the third division of the Dingbei Army in the city.

At the first halfway point of the 306 heights, a soldier nicknamed Leper in the 1st Company was poking his head out and using a telescope to observe the situation of the Russian army in the city of Haktu opposite the position, the city of buying and selling and the city of Haktu are only less than 6 kilometers away, and the other city's city can be seen with a telescope.

The city of Haktu is also not large, and there are many of the 150,000 troops of the Russian army, all of which are stationed outside the city of Haktu.

Suddenly, the leper found out from the telescope that the situation of the Russian army in the direction of Haktu City today was different from usual, and the black and oppressed Russian troops walked out of their camp and began to rush in the direction of their positions.

The crunch of the leprosy teeth, it's finally here, old Maozi! There was hatred and anger in the eyes of the leper head, but he immediately remembered that his responsibility was to be ordered to observe the situation of the Russian army in Haktu, so he immediately put down the binoculars and shouted in the direction of the underground artillery hole where the company commander was: "Company commander, company commander, the Russians have come from the city of Haktu!" ”

Zhou Manchu, the commander of the 1st Company, heard the shouts outside, and immediately ran out of the anti-artillery hole, looked in the direction of Haktu outside the position with a telescope, and then turned back to the squad leader of the guard squad who was following him and shouted: "Quick! Inform the battalion commander that the Russian army is coming! ”

Without the notice of the 1st company commander, Wang Yuwei is now at the position on the top of the mountain to check if there is anything wrong with the fortifications, Wang Yuwei also found the Russian army approaching in the distance from the telescope, and said to himself: "Damn! Lao Maozi is finally here! ”

Soon the third division of the entire trading city already knew that the Russian army had dispatched from Haktu and pounced on the trading city, and a major battle was about to begin.

The 150,000-strong Russian army had a total of 5 armies, forming the First Siberian Front, under the jurisdiction of the 6th Army, the 19th Army, the 12th Cavalry Army, the 31st Army and the 32nd Army, a total of 15 divisions. Among them, the 6th Army has 1 heavy artillery division and 3 infantry divisions of about 10,000 people, the 12th Cavalry Corps has 2 Cossack cavalry divisions of nearly 10,000 people, and the other 3 armies each have 3 infantry divisions of nearly 10,000 people.

The commander of the First Siberian Front, Russian Lieutenant General Ivanov, is the commander of the 6th Army, which belongs to the main force of the Russian army, in addition to an infantry division with about 30,000 people, there is also a heavy artillery division including 30 152-mm howitzers and 40 127-mm field guns.

Because the distance between Maimaicheng and Haktu is not far, Ivanov ordered the heavy artillery division and the artillery of various armies to set up dozens of artillery positions near Haktu City, about 3,000 to 4,000 meters away from the position of the Dingbei Army, and then at 9 o'clock in the morning, Ivanov ordered the Russian artillery to send hundreds of large and small artillery pieces to the position of the Dingbei Army in front of the city of Maimao.

"Boom-boom-boom-" The shells of the Russian artillery continued to fall on the positions of the 31st Brigade, and then the 40 155-mm heavy howitzers of the Heavy Artillery Brigade of the 3rd Division and the 30 105-mm howitzers of the Heavy Artillery Regiment of the 31st Brigade, as well as the artillery of the 31st Brigade regiments, began to bombard the Russian artillery positions.

After the Russian artillery positions were bombarded, the Russian artillery also began to bombard the direction of the artillery positions of the Northern Army according to observation and measurement, and the shells of both sides were constantly intertwined in the air.

At the same time, the artillery of both sides is constantly shifting positions to reduce their own losses.

Seven days after Russia and the Qing Dynasty declared war, the war between Russia and Lin Daxin officially began in the trading city of Outer Mongolia. (To be continued......) R527