After receiving information from the Military Intelligence Bureau about Russia's expansion of 2 million troops and the Russian-French alliance's preparation to send a combined fleet to Asia, Lin Daxin mobilized the Dingbei Army in various parts of the northeast, and then led the five divisions of the Dingbei Army to continue to rest in the Twin Cities, and did not rush to Vladivostok. It was almost 10 o'clock in the morning of September 14, Lin Daxin had just gotten up after a lazy sleep, and an adjutant of the Governor's Mansion who accompanied him on the expedition handed him two telegrams of success.

After reading the two telegrams, Lin Daxin showed a smile on his face, the inner city of Svobod and the city of Amur have been taken, so that the entire Far East, and even the eastern Siberian region of Russia, except for Vladivostok, is almost undefended against Lin Daxin, Zhang Zuolin and Li Yuandong also asked Lin Daxin for instructions in the telegram, preparing to occupy the land of several million square kilometers east of the line from the Lena River to the Outer Khingan Mountains, directly to the Bering Strait, and all the troops sent by the two divisions will occupy it and put it under the jurisdiction of the four northeastern provinces.

Lin Daxin took out the map, measured this large piece of land in Russia with his hands, and estimated that there must be at least 4 million square kilometers, how could such a large piece of fat not eat the reason in his mouth, so Lin Daxin immediately ordered the adjutant next to him to send a telegram to Zhang Zuolin and Li Yuandong, telling them that the credit for expanding the territory belonged to their two divisions.

After that, Lin Daxin thought that the time was ripe to capture Vladivostok, the last stronghold of the Russian Far East, so he ordered the five divisions of the Dingbei Army to set off for Vladivostok, leaving only one regiment of the 11th Division in the twin cities to guard.

The march of the five divisions of the Dingbei Army was not very fast, and it was not until the morning of the 16th that the five divisions of the Dingbei Army came to a place almost 12 kilometers away from the outlying fortifications of the Russians in Vladivostok. Then Lin Daxin ordered the army to set up a camp here by taking advantage of the mountainous situation, if it was closer, Lin Daxin was afraid that the Russian artillery would be able to hit it.

Lin Daxin's worries were not unreasonable, and after Lin Daxin took the five division commanders to find a higher hill and observe the peripheral fortifications of Vladivostok with a telescope for a while, Lin Daxin, who put down the telescope, showed a solemn expression on his face.

Lin Daxin saw through the telescope that a mountain on the periphery of Vladivostok was used by the Russians, and under the surface of the mountain, many fortifications inside the mountain were dug out, and many closed batteries were built, and the artillery was hidden in the fortifications inside the mountain, leaving only the muzzle for firing.

In addition to the artillery in the fortifications inside the mountain, the Russians also installed Maxim heavy machine guns in many firing ports, and also built many firing ports for Russian soldiers to shoot. Many reinforced concrete pillboxes and trenches were also built on the mountain, and many artillery pieces and Maxim heavy machine guns were also placed.

It was very difficult to capture 1 mountain fortification like this, Lin Daxin counted it, and there should be 36 of them in a row, making the entire mountain fortification on the periphery of Vladivostok impregnable.

Grandma's, Lin Daxin scolded secretly in his heart, he had only heard that the Russians had built the Vladivostok fortress in the past few years, but now he saw it with his own eyes, not only is it strong, but it has been cultivated into a turtle shell.

Lin Daxin said to the five division commanders with the same solemn faces: "Let's go, go back first!" ”

Lin Daxin and the five division commanders walked into the temporary camp under construction and entered a tent that had been set up, Lin Daxin put a rough map of the Russian military fortifications outside Vladivostok on the table, and then frowned and said: "I didn't expect the Russians to build Vladivostok like this, it is stronger than our Arthur fortress, let's talk about it, how can we fight this Vladivostok?" ”

Wang Hongjun, the commander of the second division, first said: "Most of the Russians' artillery is hidden in the fortifications below the mountain, that is, the artillery above the mountain is also hidden in the reinforced concrete pillboxes, which makes our artillery advantage unable to give full play, and it is impossible to suppress the Russian artillery at all. ”

Jiang Yu, the commander of the Fourth Division, also said: "Yes! The Russians placed artillery and heavy machine guns in these bunkers dug in the mountains, and our largest caliber 155 mm howitzers were enough to knock out these bunkers, plus the artillery and heavy machine guns in the reinforced concrete bunkers on the mountain, we had to pay a very big price even if we captured a hill, there are dozens of such hills outside Vladivostok, and it is too difficult to capture the periphery of Vladivostok. ”

Duan Qirui, the commander of the 11th Division, continued: "What's worse is that the outer mountain fortifications of the Russian army in Vladivostok are all within the range of the port warships, and when our infantry attacks, large-caliber naval guns can directly bombard the heads of our infantry. However, because the channel outside the port of Vladivostok has been set up by the Russian Navy with a large number of mines, the warships of our Northeast Navy will not be able to enter the port of Vladivostok at all and attack the Russian Pacific Fleet. ”

Zhang Daxiong, the commander of the armored division, followed: "The Russian army on the periphery of Vladivostok is all fortifications built on the mountain, the slope is very steep, and it is a little difficult for our tanks and armored vehicles to climb up, and it is difficult to carry out an effective attack!" ”

After listening to the words of several division commanders, Lin Daxin's brows furrowed a little tighter and said: "Although Vladivostok is much more troublesome than I imagined, but we must capture Vladivostok, do you have any good solutions?" ”

Several division commanders looked at each other and shook their heads, only Chen Ergou, the commander of the Guards Division, said: "Headmaster, why don't we attack it and try it and see how the firepower of the Russians is?" Are there any weaknesses? ”

Lin Daxin thought about it for a while, nodded and said helplessly: "It's just like this, let the troops rest today, tomorrow the second division will send 1 regiment to attack, and the armored division will also send 2 tank battle groups to cooperate with the infantry to attack, well, tomorrow will attack this hill in front of the Russian army!" Lin Daxin pointed at the 1 Russian army mountain positions on the periphery of Shanghai Ostomania on the map, and pointed with the index finger of his right hand.

In the afternoon of the same day, the 24th and 25th Divisions of the Dingbei Army's newly expanded B Division also rushed to the outskirts of Vladivostok and joined up with the five divisions led by Lin Daxin.

The 24th and 25th Divisions arrived at Vladivostok after sweeping through a small number of Russian troops in a Russian town near the border with Jilin Province.

In this way, the Dingbei Army has concentrated 1 guards division, 1 armored division, 3 A integrated divisions, and 2 B divisions on the periphery of Vladivostok, with more than 200,000 troops.

In the office of the governor's palace in Vladivostok, the governor of the Far East, Alekseev, said to Willistov, who he appointed as the commander of the defense of Vladivostok: "The Dingbei army has come outside Vladivostok, and there is no news from the inner city of Svobod and the city of Amur, these two cities are likely to have been lost, and now we are left with only Vladivostok in the entire Far East." We must hold Vladivostok and wait for reinforcements from Europe from His Majesty the Tsar. ”

Willistov said confidently: "Your Excellency, don't worry! Relying on the fortifications of our outer fortresses in Vladivostok, coupled with the sufficient strength of our defenders, the Dingbei Army has an army of one million, and it is not necessary to break through our outer fortresses. ”

After Willistov was appointed commander of the defense of the Vladivostok fortress, he turned around the 36 mountain fortifications on the periphery of Vladivostok in the past few days, and brought back some of the troops of the First Far Eastern Front, as well as artillery and Makqin heavy machine guns, to strengthen the top of the 36 mountain fortifications, so that the entire 36 mountain fortifications reached nearly 100,000 people, the large one reached more than 6,000 people, and the small one mountain fortifications also had at least more than 2,000 people.

Seeing the mountain fortifications, especially the fortifications dug up 1 or 2 meters below the surface of the mountain, plus sufficient troops, hundreds of large and small artillery, hundreds of Makqin heavy machine guns, and ammunition that could be replenished at any time, Willistov believed that no matter how many troops the Dingbei Army had, it would be impossible to break through the outer fortifications of Vladivostok in a short time.

Governor Alekseev heard Willistov's confident tone and said with a smile: "I hope that our Vladivostok fortress will become a sad place for the Dingbei Army, and it is best to let the blood of the Dingbei Army drain in the Vladivostok fortress." ”

On September 17, at 8 o'clock in the morning, the Dingbei Army outside the Vladivostok fortress concentrated thousands of artillery pieces with a caliber of more than 75 mm to carry out a fierce artillery bombardment of the mountain fortifications on the periphery of Vladivostok of the Russian army.

The artillery of the Dingbei Army only shelled for more than ten minutes before it was ordered to stop by Lin Daxin. The artillery of the Dingbei Army bombarded those fortifications deep into the mountain to no effect, but only blew up some trenches and a few pillboxes on the surface of the mountain, and these few pillboxes were destroyed by 155 mm howitzers, and other artillery, including 105 mm howitzers, did not have much effect on the thick reinforced concrete pillboxes on the mountain.

However, the artillery position of the Dingbei Army was bombarded by a number of large-caliber artillery of the Russian mountain fortifications, and the artillery of the Dingbei Army lost dozens of pieces in a short time, so Lin Daxin ordered the artillery to stop firing and immediately transfer the position.

The infantry regiment responsible for today's attack is the 211th Regiment of the 2nd Division, and they have already come to a position less than a kilometer away from the mountain fortifications on the periphery of the Russian army in accordance with the order of the division headquarters, hiding in the woods behind a small hill, and will launch an attack on the mountain fortifications of the Russian army at any time. The 2 tank battle groups of the armored division, 4 T1 heavy tanks, and 8 Black Wolf tanks are also hiding here, waiting for the coordinated infantry to launch an attack on the Russian mountain fortifications.

Lin Daxin saw that his artillery had no effect on the mountain fortifications on the outskirts of Vladivostok, and his brows were tightly furrowed. R1152