In order to prevent the Russian army from landing along the coast of Korea and the Liaodong Peninsula, the Qing army made the following arrangements: Nie Shicheng's 12,000 men deployed defensive positions on the right bank of the Yalu River.

On the bank of the Tumen River in Hunchun, Jilin General Changshun transferred a total of 45 battalions of Eight Banners and Green Battalions, with more than 30,000 people stationed on the front line of Hunchun and Tumen, to strictly guard against death. During the First Sino-Japanese War, the army mainly attacked Shengjing, and the battlefield did not affect Jilin. The Russian army may attack Changshun's defense area, in order not to be blamed by the imperial court, Changshun has the responsibility of defending the territory and cannot be slack, so he issued a strict order, and all the generals who lost Hunchun were severely punished.

On the south bank of the Songhua River in Jilin Province, the first and second towns of the Beiyang Army built fortifications in Khalgin (Harbin), and on the opposite bank was defended by the "East Manchurian" detachment of the Russian army, commanded by Lieutenant General Zasulich, under the jurisdiction of the 1st Amur Division and the 2nd Binjiang Division. Zasulich, with nearly 30,000 men and 70 artillery pieces, has occupied positions around Hulan for 1 and a half months, but has not strengthened the fortifications. The troops were scattered on the wide Jiangbei front, and there were countless directions for the Qing army's possible attack. Only a long trench was built along the river, and it was almost uncamouflaged. The reserves, which account for about half of the total force, are deployed 10 kilometers away. The artillery positions were completely exposed, and they directly defied the Qing troops on the opposite bank.

Lieutenant General Zasulich did not think that the Qing army dared to fight back, and it was an open secret that the Qing army was strictly ordered not to take the initiative to fight during this period of time. At the same time, the Songhua River is a natural barrier, and the 100-meter-wide river cannot hide any target. He believed that if the Qing army dared to cross the river, it would suffer heavy losses.

After discussion, Wang Shizhen and others believed that the only advantage in front of them was that the Russians did not believe that the Qing army would take the initiative to counterattack.

"Our plan is for First Town to cross the river secretly. Raid the rear base of the Russian army and destroy the food and ammunition supply base of the Russian army. At the same time, in response to the second town's battle to cross the river, the two towns flanked the Russian army and the defenders of the river before and after, and it was necessary to win both in one blow, because if it failed, the first town would face a battle against the water, and there was a danger of annihilation. ”

Gong Yuanyou, as the chief officer of the engineering unit, first chose the place to cross the river, and said: "I suggest that the river crossing be carried out in Daniujia Village in the upper reaches of the Songhua River. Second, there is a road in the mountains behind Daniujia Village to bypass the frontal defensive positions of the Russian army and directly enter the flank and rear of the Russian army in Hulan. ”

Yang Rongtai pointed to the map and analyzed: "The Russian gunboats will pass by there every two hours, and I am afraid it will be too late to send the soldiers over." ”

Wang Shizhen said: "Since it's too late, let's make time for him to be in time." We will place only three gunboats in Mulan, a hundred miles downstream, and send a force to build fortifications in Mulan and make a posture to cross the river in order to paralyze the enemy. The enemy will transfer the patrol gunboats to Mulan so that you will have time to set up a pontoon bridge to cross the river. ”

Gong Yuanyou said: "For the sake of insurance, I suggest that the engineer battalion of the second town be handed over to me as well, and the two engineer battalions will build a pontoon bridge faster." ”

Wang Shizhen nodded in agreement, and then said: "The two engineer battalions together, the pontoon bridge must be erected within two hours." Two hours later, after Jiang Gui led the cavalry regiment across the river, he first attacked the Russian army's logistics base, burning their supplies and making them unable to continue fighting. ”

"Yes!" Jiang Gui led the order.

Then, Wang Shizhen arranged the whole plan in turn. In addition to the baggage battalion of the first town to participate in the river-crossing operation, the cavalry regiment of the second town was assigned to the command of Jiang Guidi, and also participated in the river-crossing operation. The second town is responsible for attracting frontal Russian fire, cooperating with the first town to raid the rear of the Russian army in a roundabout way.

When everything is ready, just wait for the moment. And all this they planned, as their boss Tie Liang, didn't know at all.

Beginning the next day, Wang Shizhen sent a battalion from the second town to a relatively hidden location near Mulan Town that was suitable for crossing the river and began to prepare for the crossing of the river. Two days later, Russian patrol gunboats discovered the hidden river crossing point. The Russian gunboats tried to come over to check the situation, but three Qing river gunboats intercepted them. The two sides then confronted each other, and the sabre rattled and tensioned. Although it was still in the armistice stage, the Russian gunboats bullied the weak Qing army and immediately opened fire, and then the Qing gunboats returned fire.

The Russian army took the lead in firing artillery This is something in Wang Shizhen's plan, because the two countries are currently in the armistice stage, and the first strike needs to have an excuse. The Russian gunboats took the lead in opening fire and attacked the Qing gunboats, which was to ignore the peace talks and have no sincerity in the peace talks, which put the Qing government axe in a favorable diplomatic position.

An exchange of fire broke out between the two sides, and the news quickly reached the political axes of the two countries that were negotiating. The Qing government axe accused Russia of rudely shelling the Qing army, which was regarded as an act of ignoring negotiations. The Russian side, on the other hand, rudely accused the Qing army of bad intentions and demanded that the Qing government explain the purpose of building similar river-crossing facilities in Mulan.

The two sides began to spit again, and Lieutenant General Zasulich, the commander of the Russian army on the north bank of the Songhua River, mobilized gunboats to closely monitor the direction of the Mulan Ferry, and at the same time, the troops on the north bank also divided their troops in the direction of Mulan.

Just when the Russian army focused its attention on the direction of Mulan downstream, Wang Shizhen's side also began to act.

The sky was beautiful and the sky was gloomy from the morning of June 30. In the afternoon, it rained non-stop, and there was no intention of stopping until the evening.

The sky is cloudy, just enough to cover the operation of crossing the river, and the rain is not heavy, but it can block the sight of the Russian army on the other side of the river, as well as cover the sound of the army crossing the river.

At this moment, the Russian army still judged that the Qing army's actions in the Mulan direction were just to scare people, and the purpose was just to add chips to the negotiation table. Lieutenant Zasulic will continue to stay in the county office in Hulan County, drinking his favorite vodka.

That night, Wang Shizhen ordered the Songhua River to cross the river and the battle officially began. The first town of the Beiyang Army marched to Daniujia Village in the upper reaches of the Songhua River to prepare to cross the river.

Prior to this, Gong Yuanyou had already led two engineer battalions to rush to the pre-selected river crossing site near Daniujia Village in advance and began to erect a pontoon bridge.

And before the sappers erected the pontoon bridge, the fighters of the reconnaissance battalion had already pulled out all the several guard towers set up by the Russian army nearby.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the four pontoon bridges were erected, and the first town began to cross the river.

The rain was pouring down, muffling the sound of the army crossing the river.

In the early hours of the morning, the officers and soldiers of the first town successfully completed the crossing of the river, and the Russian army still did not know anything about it.

Knowing that the first town had successfully crossed the river, Wang Shizhen and others in the base camp immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly criticized that the Qing political axe was not useless for the Russians to grovel, at least now it made the Russians feel underestimated, but helped the first town successfully complete the task of crossing the river.

After completing the river crossing, the first town quickly bypassed Daniujia Village, went around from the southern foot of Shuangkou Mountain to the northwest of Hulan, and assembled in the area of the Sun Temple.

Due to the rain, the 54 cannons of the First Town Artillery Regiment were transported in a bit time-consuming, and sometimes the wheels of the artillery got stuck in the mud and could not walk. Duan Qirui was afraid of delaying the action of the whole army, so he rolled up his sleeves and personally went down to help pull the gun carriage. When the officers and men saw that the officers in charge had taken matters into their own hands, they were very moved and made every effort to eat milk. Finally, with the concerted efforts of all the officers and men, the 54 cannons of the artillery regiment were safely brought to the assembly point.

At five o'clock in the morning, the departments of the first town entered their intended positions, and at this time the rain gradually stopped. All the officers and men quickly ate their breakfast rations, checked their weapons and ammunition, and made final preparations. At the same time, Duan Qirui's artillery regimental position was also deployed. The 54 cannons were arranged in an orderly order according to the order of attack. In addition to the two 80 artillery companies, the muzzles of the other four 80 artillery batteries were aimed at the Russian battalion in Songbei, while the three 150 heavy howitzer batteries aimed their guns at the artillery positions of the Russian army.

According to the plan, the 1st Regiment and the 2nd Regiment of the 2nd Brigade of the Cavalry Regiment were responsible for attacking the Russian supply depot, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and the 1st Brigade, the 2nd Brigade and 1st Regiment, and the Artillery Regiment were responsible for attacking the Songbei battalion on the left flank of the Russian Hulan defensive position and seizing the nearby river defense position, and then responding to the 2nd Town to cross the river.

At dawn, people are most sleepy. At this moment, most of the officers and soldiers of the Russian army are still asleep, unaware of the approaching danger.

In the artillery regiment command post, Duan Qirui quietly looked at the enemy position in the distance. The rain stopped, but it seemed to be fogging.

The staff officer of the artillery regiment next to him looked at his pocket watch from time to time, watching the time tick and tick.

"What time is it?"

Duan Qirui asked suddenly.

"Five twenty o'clock, forty minutes before the total attack time."

"No, it's going to fog up, so you have to attack early."

Duan Qirui deserved to be an excellent officer, and he immediately discovered that the fog after the rain was afraid that it would affect the visibility of the attacking troops and also affect the accuracy of the artillery bombardment.

"Immediately notify the other ministries, and say that the fog is going to rise, and it is recommended to launch an attack immediately."

"Yes!"

The staff officers of the artillery regiment immediately sent people to inform Jiang Guidi, Liang Huadian, Wang Yingkai and others, and soon they agreed to Duan Qirui's suggestion and agreed to launch an attack at half past five.

Duan Qirui immediately ordered: "Order! Ready for battle! ”

"Yes! Ready for battle! ”

The staff officer of the artillery regiment repeated the order, and then ordered the officers and men of each artillery company to enter the combat state.

"Get into position!"

With the shouts of the commanders of each artillery company, in the anti-shock trench not far from the position of each cannon, a group of hidden artillery quickly and orderly ran into their respective gun positions.

"Correct the Yuan!"

The gunners quickly corrected the elements, and the ammunition men opened the ammunition box next to them, took out the shells, and everything was in order.

"Target 102 heights, azimuth 320, five shots ready!"

The ammunition man quickly fed the shell into the chamber, closed the gun door, and locked the latch.

"One shot, good!"

"Second artillery, good!"

"Three cannons, good!"

……

……

"Six guns, good!"

After the deputy gunners of each gun were ready, they got up one after another to report, and the main gunner held the gun rope tightly, waiting for the next order. At the same time, the commanders of the artillery companies announced their readiness.

"Artillery company, in place!"

"Second Artillery Company, in position!"

……

"Ninth Artillery Company, in place!"

The commanders of each artillery company transmitted the news of their positions to the headquarters of the artillery regiment, and the staff officers of the artillery regiment reported loudly: "The artillery regiment is in position!" ”

Duan Qirui looked at his pocket watch, there was less than a minute before the scheduled time, and the preparation time of the entire artillery regiment was just two minutes, which made him very satisfied.

The first battle was approaching, and Duan Qirui was both nervous and excited. He stared silently at the second hand on his pocket watch, watching it tick and tick.

"It's time!"

"Start attacking!"