Early in the morning of 4 March, the Japanese Third Division, the Heavy Artillery Brigade, and the five artillery wings of the five divisions set out from Jinzhou and headed for Dalian.

At more than 9 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese artillery began to fire at the positions of the Dingbei Army on the outskirts of Dalian!

The commander of the 3rd Division, Katsura Taro, was waiting for the artillery bombardment to end before ordering the infantry to attack, when he suddenly received a report from his subordinates that Qing warships had appeared in the direction of Dalian Bay. These warships are the warships of the Arthur garrison fleet!

Katsura Taro was shocked and immediately ordered the heavy artillery brigade and 5 artillery wings to move their positions immediately, but the Japanese heavy artillery brigade and 5 artillery wings were still bombarded by the large-caliber naval guns of the Lushun garrison fleet!

The heavy artillery brigade and five artillery wings were heavily damaged, and then the Arthur garrison fleet also began to bombard the infantry of the third division.

The commander of the heavy artillery brigade, Goro Ichihara, was killed, 22 127-mm howitzers were blown up, only 18 remained, and the heavy artillery brigade lost thousands of personnel. 5 artillery wings were equal to 3 less at once, with a loss of 145 artillery pieces and more than 3,000 personnel. Such a large casualty was mainly caused by the shells of the naval guns, which also detonated the shells of the Japanese artillery positions, resulting in an even more huge explosion!

The 3rd Division was also killed by the artillery fire of the ship's guns, which was equivalent to the artillery fire of the Lushun garrison fleet, which wiped out more than 6,000 Japanese troops!

It turned out that Wu Peifu, the commander-in-chief of the Lushun base, knew that after the Japanese army was equipped with large-caliber howitzers, the artillery of the Dingbei Army was suppressed, and then the Japanese artillery brought great casualties to the Dingbei Army in the front-line position, so he thought of using warship guns to deal with the Japanese heavy artillery!

Wu Peifu reported this plan to Lin Daxin on the radio, preparing to abandon the positions in the Jinzhou area, take advantage of the characteristics of the periphery of Dalian within the firing range of the large-caliber naval guns of the Lushun garrison fleet, take the initiative to retreat to Dalian, attract the Japanese army to attack Dalian, and then let the Lushun garrison fleet move to Dalian Bay to bombard the Japanese heavy artillery units and other Japanese artillery!

As soon as Lin Daxin heard Wu Peifu's plan, he thought in his heart that if the plan was successful, it would not only be able to inflict heavy damage on the Japanese artillery units, but also very likely to make the Japanese troops attacking Lushun ask for help from the Japanese Combined Fleet, so that the Combined Fleet could cooperate with the Japanese Army to attack Lushun!

Isn't this the way we can fight a decisive battle with the Japanese Combined Fleet in the waters of Arthur! Immediately, Lin Daxin agreed to Wu Peifu's plan, and the troops in Jinzhou City took the initiative to withdraw to Dalian, so that the Japanese army on the southern route suffered heavy losses on the periphery of Dalian, and more than half of the artillery troops were lost!

At the same time, Lin Daxin discussed with Ding Ruchang, the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, and prepared to be personally led by Lin Daxin to transfer the first fleet and the second fleet of the Naval Academy to the Lushun base, and seek an opportunity to rely on the Lushun base and the Japanese combined fleet for a decisive battle!

Ding Ruchang agreed with Lin Daxin's construction, but Ding Ruchang was ready to transfer the Beiyang Naval Division to the Lushun base, so that he could concentrate all the strength of the entire Beiyang Naval Division and fight a decisive battle with the Japanese Combined Fleet!

However, now Lin Daxin, who has 2 cross-era submarines in his hand, no longer needs the entire Beiyang Naval Division to deal with the Japanese Combined Fleet, and discusses with Ding Ruchang that Weihaiwei also needs to leave forces to defend here, otherwise it will be bad if Weihaiwei is attacked by the Japanese Combined Fleet!

The 8 fast protection cruisers under construction in the Weihaiwei Shipyard, the 4 captured Italian large armored cruisers under repair in the shipyard, and the 5 captured ironclad battleships waiting to be repaired, if they were attacked by the Japanese Combined Fleet, Lin Daxin would have cried!

In the end, Ding Ruchang agreed that the Beiyang Navy Division team would stay in Weihaiwei, but Ding Ruchang told Lin Daxin to pay attention to safety! Ding Ruchang is still waiting for Lin Daxin to be his son-in-law!

The commander of the Southern Route Army, Da Shanyan, saw that there was a fleet guarding Dalian and Lushun together with the Dingbei Army, and there was no way to capture the entire Lushun fortress by relying only on the current Southern Route Army, so he reported to the Japanese base camp that if he wanted to capture Lushun, he must let the combined fleet destroy the Qing fleet in Lushun!

The Japanese army, which was blocked by Dalian on the southern route, made a breakthrough on the northern route.

On March 4, the 10th Division of the Japanese Army, under the leadership of the division commander Suzuki Kogu, was ordered by the Japanese base camp to join the North Route Army and came to the camp of the North Route Army outside Shengjing City.

Immediately, the Japanese Northern Route Army, which had more troops, launched a tidal attack on the Qing army position on the first line of Hunhe Fort south of Shengjing, under the leadership of Commander Yama Prefecture Youpeng!

Although the commander-in-chief of the Qing army in Shengjing, Yi Ke Tang'a, continued to send reinforcements to Nie Shicheng, and even Yi Ke Tang A personally led the remaining more than 2,000 people in his headquarters to support the front line of Hunhe Fort, but under the frantic attack of the Japanese army, by noon on the 6th, the six most important heights on the front line of Hunhe Fort were captured by the Japanese army.

As soon as the 6 heights were occupied by the Japanese army, the entire defense line of Hunhe Fort became like a sieve, and there were gaps everywhere! Iktanga, who had no choice, had no choice but to order the Qing troops on the defense line of Hunhe Fort to retreat to the walls of the southern city of Shengjing City.

As soon as the defense line of Hunhe Fort in the south was lost, and the flanks of the out-of-town positions to the north and west of Shengjing were exposed to Japanese attacks, Iktanga had no choice but to retreat all the forces of the Qing army into the Shengjing city wall. At this time, the number of the entire Shengjing garrison had dropped to less than 50,000!

At this time, there were still more than 60,000 people in the 4 divisions of the Japanese Northern Route Army, and they took advantage of the Qing army's retreat to Shengjing City and surrounded Shengjing City!

Then the Japanese army sent a letter of persuasion to Iktanga in the city!

In Shengjing City, in a hall of the mansion handed down by Yiketang Azu, the surviving Qing army generals were silent, each with a gloomy face.

Holding a letter in his hand, Iktanga said expressionlessly: "Now the Japanese have written a letter of persuasion to Ben Shuai!" I wonder what you think? ”

Nie Shicheng stood up and said categorically: "Handsome! It was decided that the Japanese could not surrender! ”

Zhang Xiluan, the minister of military training in the northeast, also said: "I am waiting to receive the emperor's grace!" And we are the dignified ministers of the Qing Dynasty, and we must not do the thing of surrendering to the Japanese invaders! Leave behind a shameful infamy! ”

Shengjing General Qingyu then said: "Ye will not surrender to the Japanese!" I can't afford to lose that person! ”

Iktanga himself would never surrender to the Japanese, and now seeing that the three main generals in Shengjing City were determined to resist the Japanese to the end, Iktanga leaked a smile with satisfaction, and then said with a stern face: "Okay! Since the generals are unwilling to surrender to the Japanese invaders! That commander ordered, and those who surrendered again were killed! Kill the escapees! Ben Shuai decided to live and die with Shengjing! ”

Then Iktanga tore up the Japanese letter of surrender in his hand, threw it on the ground, and shouted loudly: "Someone! Put Zhang Xin on Ben Shuai! ”

After Zhang Xin's defense of the West City was lost, Yi Ketanga learned from the collected Green Battalion soldiers that it was precisely because Zhang Xin, the general of the Green Battalion, took the lead in escaping that the 15,000 Green Battalion soldiers were defeated by 1 Japanese infantry wing and lost the West City Gate!

Later, in Shengjing City, Zhang Xin was found and arrested by Iktanga's subordinates!

With the order of Iktanga, Zhang Xin, who was tied up with five flowers, was brought into the hall by several Iktanga's personal soldiers, Zhang Xin saw Iktanga immediately kneeling on the ground, snot and crying: "Handsome! Spare your life! ”

Iktanga sneered and said, "Ben Shuai can spare you!" But so many soldiers who died because you escaped from the battle can't spare you! Come! Push Zhang Xin out and engage in military law! ”

"Handsome! Spare your life! I don't dare anymore! Zhang Xin was dragged out of the hall by two personal soldiers, and after a while, a scream came from outside. Then one of the soldiers walked into the hall with a wooden plate carrying a man's head.

Iktanga looked around at the twenty or so generals in the hall and said, "There are escapees! Just end up with Zhang Xin! ”

More than two dozen generals stood up and shouted in unison: "Swear to live and die with Shengjing!" ”

Unfortunately, the determination of the Qing generals did not stop the footsteps of the Japanese army, and the Japanese army began to storm Shengjing on the morning of the 7th, although the Qing defenders fought hard under the leadership of the generals, but Shengjing was broken on the evening of the 8th.

Iktanga led the Qing army to continue to engage in street battles with the Japanese troops who attacked the city, and a large number of Manchu and Han Zhuang people living in Shengjing City, inspired by the Qing Dynasty defenders, also took up arms and engaged in a tragic street battle with the invaders!

By the afternoon of 10, the Japanese had occupied most of the city, and the commander-in-chief of the Shengjing garrison, Iktanga, was seriously wounded and unconscious.

Nie Shicheng, Qingyu and Zhang Xiluan saw that the battle in Shengjing was no longer possible, and the three decided to break through with the seriously injured Iktanga. Then with an elite soldier under Nie Shicheng as the commando, he killed it from the encirclement of the Japanese army in the east of Shengjing City!

Waiting for the 3 generals to flee with the remnants of the soldiers to a tunzi 30 miles away from Shengjing, they counted and found that the 100,000 defenders in Shengjing escaped less than 6,000 people after the great battle with the Japanese North Route Army!

The Japanese army also suffered heavy casualties when it captured Shengjing, 80,000 people in 4 divisions of the Northern Route Army, and when Shengjing was completely controlled, there were only more than 40,000 people left! After the full occupation of Shengjing City, the Japanese army launched a dehumanizing massacre of Shengjing residents who helped the Qing army resist the Japanese army in Shengjing City!

According to statistics, 12,000 Qing prisoners of war and more than 60,000 residents of Shengjing were slaughtered by the Japanese army. From 70-year-old women to six- and seven-year-old girls, the beast-like Japanese army did not let go!