Chief of the General Staff of the Tsarist Army Ivan? In front of Nicholas II, General Gilinsky blindly emphasized that the Russian army had 500,000 troops in the Far East, which was enough to defend important places in the Far East, such as Boli and Vladivostok, so that Nicholas II could rest assured.

However, in fact, Ivan? General Gilinsky is hiding a lot.

Since the declaration of war between China and Russia, the 10 armies of the First Front Army of the Chinese Empire with a total strength of 300,000 troops entered the south banks of the Ergun River, the Heilongjiang River, and the Ussuri River, and confronted the Russian army on the opposite side.

From November 4, 1901 to December 28, 1901, the Chinese Imperial Emperor [***] team has always adopted a defensive posture, and only a dozen fierce artillery battles and water battles between the river fleets broke out on the river, and no large-scale offensive and defensive operations occurred.

During this period of time, the Chinese Emperor [***] team relied on its absolute superiority in the number of artillery to inflict a big loss on the Russian artillery units in the artillery battle. In addition to a total of 1,080 cannons equipped by the standard equipment of each army, the First Theater Command of the First Theater of Operations also directly administers a reading artillery division with 300 155-mm heavy howitzers. On the other hand, the number of infantry artillery of the Russian army in the Far East is only 450, and the maximum caliber of the artillery is only 120 mm, after two months of artillery fighting between the two sides, the Russian artillery suffered heavy casualties, and the number of artillery plummeted to 240, while the Chinese Empire only lost less than 22 artillery, and the battle loss ratio was as high as 11:1, and the Russian artillery suffered a big loss.

Because the Russian army pursued a defensive strategy, Alekseev spent most of his funds on the defense system of the fortresses of Boli, Nebuchu, and Vladivostok. The number of artillery pieces in the Russian fortresses reached 660, of which the Vladivostok fortress had the most guns, up to 375 guns, which was more than the number of artillery pieces of the other two fortresses combined.

These three fortresses were so powerful and close to the border that the First Front of the Chinese Empire tried to send small forces across the river to infiltrate, but they were quickly beaten back by heavy artillery fire, and all the operations failed.

It is precisely because of the existence of these three powerful fortresses that the Chinese Emperor [***] did not dare to easily cross the river to launch an attack, so that the Russian Far East did not have much threat for the time being.

However, this changed with the victory of the Second and Third Fronts of the Chinese Empire in the Battle of the Korean Peninsula and the annihilation of the Russian Far East Fleet by the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The General Staff of the Chinese Empire quickly transferred the Second and Third Fronts from the Korean Peninsula to prepare for a reactionary attack on the Russian Amur Region and Primorsky Krai.

Among them, more than 120,000 people from the Fourth Army, the Nineteenth Army, the Twenty-second Army and the Twenty-fifth Army of the First Front Army of the Chinese Empire were transferred to the direction of Nebuchu, and on January 2, 1902, the Battle of Gilarin was launched, which defeated the Third Corps of the Russian Caucasus and successfully passed through the Ergun River. Because the 3rd Corps of the Caucasus had just been transferred from Europe to the Far East, it was sleepy and poor, and its preparations were not sufficient, under the surprise attack of the Chinese Emperor's [***] team, it was crushed for hundreds of miles, a large amount of supplies were lost, and finally had to retreat into the Nebuchu Fortress and nearby areas, relying on the artillery fire of the Nebuchu Fortress to stabilize the position. However, the railway line from Nebuchu to Boli and Vladivostok was completely destroyed by the Chinese Emperor's [***] team, making it impossible for the Russian army to make trains to Vladivostok and Bola. In this way, more than 200,000 people of the 3rd Caucasus Corps of the Russian Army were blocked in the direction of Nebuchu, and in a short period of time, they failed to break through the blockade of the Chinese Emperor [***], nor did they take a step forward, and the two sides confronted each other militarily on the front line of the Nebuchuzhur River. The 3rd Corps of the Russian Army in the Caucasus lost most of its supplies and could not be replenished in a short time, and the Chinese Emperor [***] on the opposite side did not have the intention of storming the Nebuchu fortress.

The First Division of the Second Front Army of the Chinese Empire broke away from the Korean battlefield, entered the Linjiang area of Jilin Province from North Hamgyong Province, North Korea, and launched the Linjiangkou Campaign with the Third, Ninth and Thirty-third Armies of the First Front Army, as well as the Northeast River Defense Fleet, on January 5. After three days of fierce fighting, the Amur Fleet was defeated and retreated to Vladivostok on the lower reaches of the Ussuri River. In this battle, the Amur River Fleet lost 15 gunboats and more than 30 torpedo boats, and it can be said that more than half of the main force was lost, and other ships were also damaged, and it was unable to recover in a short time. The Northeast River Defense Fleet lost seven artillery destroyers, four mine-strike hunting ships, and three gunboats, and seized the right to control inland rivers upstream of Boli.

On 9 January, the First Front Army and the Second Front Army concentrated 1,000 artillery pieces to bombard the Russian army's river defense positions in the upper reaches of Boli, and in the afternoon they destroyed four Russian artillery battalions and destroyed the 13-kilometer river defense fortifications in the northern section of the Wuyun River. That night, the First Front Army and the Second Front Army, with the cooperation and cover of the Northeast River Defense Fleet, forcibly crossed the Heilongjiang River and captured Birobidzhan on the north bank of the Wuyun River at dawn on the 10th.

General Alekseev pursued the principle of conservative warfare and did not dare to fight a large-scale field battle with the Chinese emperor, so he ordered the Russian army in the Far East and the 2nd Caucasian Corps to retreat, build fortifications near the Boli Fortress, and use the firepower of the Boli Fortress to carry out defensive operations.

In this way, the Russian army abandoned most of the western part of the Amur Region and retreated to Boli.

On January 15, the five armies of the Chinese Emperor [***] crossed the Heilongjiang River with a total of more than 150,000 troops, and then went south to surround the Boli Fortress, besieging the 120,000 Russian troops in the Boli Fortress and more than a dozen surrounding towns.

At the same time, the other three corps of the Second Front Army were transferred to Hunchun, Jilin Province, to attack the fortress of Vladivostok.

On January 9, the 16th Army of the Second Front Army defeated the First Army of the Russian Far East in the upper reaches of the Suifen River and won the victory in the Battle of the Suifen River. Subsequently, the Russian First Army retreated to Ussuriysk (Shuangchengzi).

On January 13, the Second Front Army crossed the river from the upper reaches of the Suifen River, and the three armies planned to encircle Shuangchengzi and encircle and annihilate the First Army of the Russian Far East. Alekseev understood the plans of the Chinese Emperor [***], so he ordered the First Army to abandon Shuangchengzi and retreat to Vladivostok. On the 14th, the Second Front Army occupied Shuangchengzi, and sent the Sixteenth Army to advance in the direction of Vladivostok.

On January 18, the 16th Army of the Second Front Army, on the south bank of the lower reaches of the Suifen River, was stubbornly resisted by the Russian army when attacking the fortresses No. 5 and No. E on the periphery of the Vladivostok fortress defense system. The 16th Army took three days to storm and sacrificed more than 1,000 people to break through the Russian fortresses No. 5 and No. E.

The Russian army's Vladivostok fortress defense system is very large, since the Arthur fortress, known as the first fortress in the Far East, Asia's Constantinople. Its main fortifications were completed as early as 1895, and subsequent improvements were expected to be completed in 1904, when after the outbreak of the Sino-Russian War, the Russian army intensified repairs and completed 70% of the work.

In the face of the Russian army's strong fortresses and fierce fortress artillery, the siege fortress artillery of the Second Front Army has not yet been transported across the river, although the divisional artillery regiments have 155 mm heavy howitzers, but they do not have much effect on the main fortress fortifications of the Russian army, obviously the Russian army learned the lessons of the 152 mm heavy howitzers at that time in the last Sino-Russian war, and the Russian soldiers in the fortifications have long been prepared.

The Second Front then suspended the onslaught on the fortress of Vladivostok, and only carried out artillery bombardment on the fortress every day, adopting the tactics of exhausting troops, making the Russian army not eat and sleep well, and the real killer weapon was still in the Third Front.

After the Third Front captured the Ulsan Fortress, the General Staff believed that the Third Front had valuable experience in attacking and defending the fortress, and that the Third Front could carry out landing operations from the sea through the Russian rear, and that the Air Force airship units were also allocated to the Third Front Army.

On 5 January, the Fourth Combat Brigade of the Imperial Chinese Navy dispatched a survey ship to reconnoiter the waters near Nakhodka, and on 12 January, after a survey by a naval survey ship, the water depth in the waters near the eastern part of Nakhodka Bay met the requirements of a landing ship, and the beach area was moderate and could be landed. Subsequently, the capital ship fleet of the Pacific Fleet carried out a heavy bombardment of the Russian garrison in Nakhodka, and in three days 50 tons of artillery shells smashed into Nakhodka, leveling the entire Nakhodka.

After the completion of the scorched earth operation, the Third Front Army of the Chinese Empire began to land at Nakhodka on the 16th. The commander of the Russian army, General Alekseev, was shocked when he learned of the situation, and once Nakhodka was lost, the Chinese Emperor [***] team would steal Vladivostok from the rear and cut the connection between Vladivostok and the Russian hinterland, so he immediately sent the Third Army of the Far East to reinforce Nakhodka. But at this time, the Second Front launched another fierce attack, and Alekseev had no choice but to send reinforcements from the 5th Division of the 3rd Army, and the rest of the 3rd Army remained in Vladivostok.

The 5th Russian Division left Vladivostok to reinforce Nakhodka, but due to the geographical conditions of Primorye, the troops were able to advance only along the seaward side of the Sikhote Mountains. After the collapse of the Russian Far East Fleet, the sea supremacy was already in the hands of the Imperial Chinese Navy. In order to cover the smooth landing of the Third Front, the Chinese Imperial Navy had already anticipated the reinforcements of the Russian army, so it waited for the rabbit on the sea of Fokino Bay near the narrow coastal road east of Fokino.

On the 18th, when the Fifth Division of the Russian Army arrived at Fokino, more than 30 warships of the Pacific Fleet of the Chinese Empire immediately fired shells at Fokino. Since the ships had already corrected the firing elements at the position of the road, most of the shells during the salvo fell on the road and near both sides of the road, causing heavy casualties to the Russian troops.

The Russian Fifth Division repeatedly tried to take advantage of the intermittent Pacific Fleet artillery strikes to pass quickly, but all failed, and finally the Russian Fifth Division gave up reinforcing Nakhodka after paying the price of more than 3,000 people.

The Russian 5th Division tried to hold on to Fokino and block the Chinese Emperor [***] from approaching Vladivostok, but soon the Pacific Fleet began to adjust its guns and smashed shells at Fokino, who was razed to the ground two days later. At this time, the 52nd Army of the Third Front of the Chinese Empire had completed the landing and began to attack in the direction of Fokino.

With the cooperation of the Pacific Fleet, the 52nd Army launched a fierce attack on the Russian 5th Division, which was holding on to Fokino. The Chinese Emperor's [***] team seems to be generally optimistic about the tactic of launching a charge while the artillery fire has just extended. The artillery fire on the forward position of the fifth division of the Russian army had just been extended, and before the Russian army could enter the position, the Chinese emperor [***] team rushed forward, and after a tragic white-knuckle battle, more than 1,000 people of the Russian army guarding the forward position were annihilated, and the position was lost.

The 52nd Army, with the residual power of breaking through the position, continued to launch a fierce assault, and the 5th Division of the Russian Army lost the second and third lines of defense one after another.

On the afternoon of the 21st, the headquarters of the Fifth Division of the Russian Army was shelled by the Imperial Chinese Navy, as a result of which more than 20 officers below the division commander were killed, and the Fifth Division lost its command. That night, the Chinese Emperor [***] launched a fierce attack, and the Russian army was confused because it had no command, and it began to rout in the second half of the night.

At dawn on the 22nd, the Chinese Emperor [***] occupied Fokino, and the Fifth Division of the Russian Army paid the price of more than 12,000 people, but in the end it failed to hold Fokino, and the remnants of several thousand Russian troops fled back to Vladivostok.

On February 1, 1902, the 23rd day of the lunar month of the Chinese Empire, the 150,000-strong army of the Third Front of the Chinese Empire arrived at the rear of Vladivostok after completing the landing in Nakhodka Bay, accompanied by 30 343-mm siege artillery pieces and 15 airships of the Air Force.

At this time, there was still a week before the Lunar New Year of the first year of the Chinese Empire, and the General Staff issued an order to the Second and Third Front Armies to take Vladivostok by Chinese New Year's Eve.

After a meeting between the commander of the Second Front Army, Duan Qirui, and the commander of the Third Front Army, Liang Huadian, they decided to cooperate again, and the two front armies joined forces to take the fortress of Vladivostok as they did in the capture of the fortress of Ulsan.

However, the Vladivostok fortress is much more powerful than the Ulsan fortress. The construction of the Ulsan fortress was relatively late, and the main project was not completed when it was captured by the Chinese Emperor [***]. As for the Vladivostok Fortress, its main works have long been completed, and the ancillary upgrade works have been completed for the most part, and the firepower is far more powerful than that of the Ulsan Fortress.

On February 1, Duan Qirui once again took an airship and flew to the sky above Vladivostok Fortress to carry out reconnaissance. At the same time, the two major fronts of the Chinese Empire concentrated more than 2,000 infantry guns and 30 large-caliber fortress siege artillery teams to carry out fierce bombardment of Vladivostok Fortress, and the main ships of the Pacific Fleet of the Second Fleet of the Navy entered Peter the Great Bay, Ussuri Bay, and Amur Bay respectively to carry out naval artillery bombardment on Vladivostok and cooperate with the army's operations.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

The entire Vladivostok was filled with the whistling of shells and explosions, and the strong fortress fortifications of the Russian army were suddenly scarred, and many places of poor quality and cutting corners were suddenly blown up. The resistance of the Russian army was also very tenacious, and more than 300 fortress artillery guns fired back, and a great artillery battle began.

Considering the ferocity of the Russian fortress artillery, Duan Qirui and Liang Huadian agreed that it would not be easy to send a large-scale ground force first, because a large-caliber fortress shell was enough to extinguish a company's skirmisher line.

After studying, the two decided to use army artillery and naval artillery to suppress the artillery fire of the Russian fortresses, dispatch small units at the company and platoon level, open the brigade and regiment level skirmishers, and attract and deplete the Russian army's ammunition reserves.

As a result, the Chinese Emperor's [***] team took the company and platoon as a unit, similar to the situation when the Russian army was driven on the Korean Peninsula, and the strength of a company pulled out the battle line and skirmish line of a brigade and regiment to attack the Russian fortress.

The defenders of Vladivostok were afraid that the Chinese Emperor's [***] team would storm the fortress, so they had to brave the risk of artillery fire, come out of the underground fortress shelter, and enter the fortress fortifications to defend. The artillery fire of the Chinese Imperial Navy and Army was extremely fierce, causing heavy casualties to the Russian army. In particular, the large-caliber 305-mm guns of the Pacific Fleet were completely lifeless within a radius of 100 meters from a single shell.

The artillery battle lasted throughout the day, and at night, the Chinese Empire sent airship units of the air force to drop bombs and gasoline incendiary bombs on the Vladivostok fortress from the air.

The Chinese Emperor's [***] team increased its strength at night, from company platoon to regimental and battalion level, but the skirmish line was still very large, reaching the level of a division-level skirmish, so as to reduce impact casualties and attract and consume more Russian troops and ammunition.

After the Vladivostok fortress artillery opened fire at night, its artillery position was quickly exposed, and the smoke of the fire when the fortress artillery was fired was very clear, which was convenient for the Chinese Imperial Navy, Army and Air Force to correct the impact point, so that more shells could accurately fall into the position of the Russian fortress artillery and paralyze the Russian fortress artillery firepower. At the same time, the artillery positions of the Imperial Chinese Army were constantly changing, making the bulky fortress guns of the Russian army difficult to aim. The naval warships have been sailing, changing their voyages at any time, and the Russian fortress guns are even more difficult to catch. In the dark sky, even if the Russian army dismantles the rapid-fire gun and changes it to an anti-aircraft gun, it can't see the target position clearly, and because it has no sights and shooting experience for anti-aircraft shooting, the huge airship can still be avoided with ease.

From the day of the siege of Vladivostok, General Alekseev had no contact with the outside world. The Chinese Emperor [***] cut the communication telephone lines and cables in Vladivostok, and the Russian army's radio system had limited transmission distances, and coupled with the cold weather of Siberia in winter, the signal with Moscow was good and bad, sometimes interrupted for up to 28 hours.

In the face of the fierce offensive of the Chinese Emperor's [***] team, Alekseev knew very well that judging from the current military deployment of the Chinese Empire, the typical tactics of blocking and reinforcing the dots. Emperor China [***] blocked Russian reinforcements in the direction of Nebuchu and Boli and landed in the hinterland behind Vladivostok, hoping to take the fortress of Vladivostok before more Russian reinforcements arrived.

Alekseev is well aware that once the Vladivostok fortress is lost, the Russian army will lose its support points in the Far East, and Primorye, the Amur Region, and the states further north will all fall. And the second batch of naval reinforcements planned by the Russian political axe will also lose its foothold in the Far East and will not be able to arrive, in which case, the Russian army will lose the advantage of fighting in the Far East.

Of course, victory and defeat are only the difference between victory and defeat. In Alekseev's view, the Chinese Emperor [***] sent more than half of its elite troops to attack Russia, and now it is pinned down near Nebuchu, Boli and Vladivostok, if these three fortresses cannot be taken in a short time, then after the arrival of the Russian million reinforcements, the Chinese Emperor [***] will fall into a counter-encirclement. At that time, the Ergun River, the Heilongjiang River, the Ussuri River and the eastern sea would put the Chinese Emperor [***] team in a passive situation. Therefore, Alekseev did not blindly choose defense, he seems to have learned a trick from the Chinese Empire's Yongping military exercises and Queshan military exercises, defensive counterattacks. Of course, the classic example of Napoleon's defeat of Russia has always been an example for Russian generals to follow.

(To be continued)