On the night of November 9th.

Nogi Noshinori was awakened from his dream by a loud noise, he sat up with a breath, suddenly felt his head spinning, his chest was hesitant and nauseated, he shook twice and lay back weakly.

This action alarmed the people next to him. A military doctor immediately rushed over and quickly checked his pulse and eyeballs, but was slapped away by him with a rough slap, and asked in a hoarse voice: "What's going on?" Why am I lying in bed?! ”

The chief of staff rushed in and shouted excitedly: "Your Excellency, you have woken up, it is really good!" ”

Nogi Noshinori "snapped" and patted the bed gang: "I asked you what happened!" ”

The military doctor replied: "Your Excellency, you were wounded at close range by an enemy shell and are unconscious. Fortunately, there is no major problem, and I will do a detailed medical examination for you. ”

Nogi immediately vetoed: "No need! I'm so good! Now, tell me how far the battle has got? Did you break through the enemy's defenses? ”

The chief of staff bowed his head in shame.

"Got it! Is there still no way to do it? ”

Nogi Noshinori doesn't have to guess to know that the result must be very bad. The greatest possibility is that no progress has been made at the expense of great casualties. This is very helpless, but it is a cruel reality that we have to face at present.

The chief of staff said: "Your Excellency, it's not that the soldiers don't work hard, it's really that the enemy's artillery fire is too fierce, and we ...... There is almost no safe place to find a trim. And the lines of the offensive were covered by their firepower. Now, the soldiers in front are fighting with the corpses of the Imperial warriors as a barrier! ”

Speaking of this, the chief of staff could not help but burst into tears. That kind of scene, who can stand it when they look at it.

Nogi Noshinori gritted his teeth so loudly that they rattled. He sat up straight with his hands propped up, and said stiffly: "Show me the casualty records!" ”

The chief of staff did not dare to disobey. Trembling, he handed over a report.

Nogi Noshinori looked at it, and couldn't help but shiver, and the corners of his mouth suddenly bit blood.

It's miserable! The First Wing was almost gone, and if it weren't for the fact that the other side just took a defensive position and launched a counterattack, their establishment would have almost been removed.

The reinforced 15th Wing failed to make any progress in several successive charges, but paid more than 500 casualties.

The worst thing is that the enemy army does not know what means to pass guò. It is always possible to quickly discover their gathering place, and even more so to find out when the troops are having dinner. So in the past few days, as long as the Japanese army began to cook, camp and sleep, the opponent's shells could always fly over and accurately smash into the crowd.

The continuous attacks originally adopted by the Japanese army, and the tremendous psychological pressure caused by the tactics of crowds, were reversed into troops advancing to a depth of five kilometers in their positions, and they did not have the slightest chance to repair. If you don't want to be killed by a sudden shell, you can only repair it from a distance.

But how terrible is this? The troops had to cross five kilometers of rugged mountain roads to reach their positions. You have to run five kilometers to withdraw. The amount of time and physical exertion alone is unbearable. Not to mention, the shells that could come at any time.

So stalemate, the result of mutual consumption is. The Japanese paid huge casualties, but did not capture the position. The other party also caused great attrition and casualties because of this, but did not collapse.

The chief of staff sighed: "There are too many of their cannons!" The range is also very long. There is no way for us to prevent and dodge. It seems that there were also naval cannons added before, which had a great impact on the soldiers. ”

Yang Hao temporarily converted into 150 cannons. Although most of the shells were armor-piercing, hitting the enemy's position was just a pit. But the mournful roar of the low-altitude flight. But like the whistle of the deadly ghost and god messenger, it brought great mental destruction to the Japanese soldiers.

And these shells were also mixed with explosive grenades, although they were very powerful black powder, it was easy to kill and injure unprotected infantry. Coupled with the astonishing range, the morale of the Japanese army was low, and they never had the courage to fight resolutely.

The artillery brought by the Japanese army was completely destroyed, and the entire Second Army did not have a single usable cannon at the moment, and all the soldiers could only rely on the rifles in their hands to shoot and charge. After three days of fierce fighting, the ammunition was almost exhausted, and the dry rations that he carried with him were also eaten. There is no place to collect it nearby, but the naval transport team has to face the attack of Yang Haiwei's fleet. They're about to be alone.

In a few days, Nogi seemed to be ten years old, and the First Brigade had paid more than 4,000 casualties without any progress, which would have been a stain on his lifelong military career.

Trying to take a few deep breaths and digest the impact of the casualties, Nogi Noshinori asked again, "How is the progress at the division headquarters?" ”

The chief of staff shook his head helplessly: "The same result." And the number of defenders seems to have increased, they took advantage of the gap between the battles to build a large number of trenches, and now all the soldiers are hiding in them and shooting, it is very difficult to hit them. ”

"Damn! It's a bunch of cowards who don't have a sense of samurai honor! ”

Nogi Noshinori angrily hammered the bed gang, and the wound on his forehead broke open again, and the pain in his heart made him more conscious.

"What instructions do you have from the lieutenant general's side? Also, can the First Army be summoned to reinforce and attack together? ”

"I'm afraid not. The First Army had already launched an operation to the north, and they were going to take the opportunity to capture the Qing nest in one fell swoop and march into the Shanhai Pass. ”

Nogi Xidian snorted coldly: "The general of the mountain county is going to get what he wants!" ”

As a good friend, he can be happy that Youpeng in Shan County has succeeded, but compared to his own hesitation, it seems a little overshadowed. How could he, who wanted to become a generation of famous generals from the bottom of his heart, be compared like this?

"No, I have to ask the division commander to try to break through Jinzhou and take Lushun no matter what!" With extraordinary perseverance, he stood up and staggered out.

The situation at the headquarters of the 1st Division of the Mountain Genji was even worse than Nogi Noshinori knew.

Its 2nd and 12th Brigades went into battle in batches, and after several setbacks, they did not make any progress except for leaving dead bodies on the ground.

On the other hand, on Yang Hao's side, after the preliminary completion of the survey of the rear position and the construction of fortifications in Dalian, the reserves led by Li Yingjiu rushed over one after another to enter the battle. It's morning. Yang Haiwei's navy, which had completed the replenishment, sailed out of Dalian Bay and became entangled with the Japanese fleet. Six of the gunboats made a detour to attack the transports behind them. Forced the enemy ships to retreat back to cover them.

As a result, the artillerymen who had trained their hands at the Bay Battery were also freed up. Further strengthened to the Golden State front.

By noon on 9 November, almost all of the 1st Regiment and reserves of the New Army were in place, and only 1,000 men remained on alert in Dalian. The total strength of the Jinzhou battlefield has increased to more than 8,000, which is enough to ensure the two rotations of the three positions.

After several days of fighting, the Qing army suffered more than 600 casualties, but the rest of the people were excellently trained. At this time, he was able to cooperate with the new army to rely on trench fortifications to do calm shooting, and sure enough, the speed of training recruits on the battlefield was more than ten times.

At night, Yang Hao came to the front line. At the top of the Great Monk Mountain, observing the enemy's situation from many observation posts, it is difficult to see piles of Japanese troops repairing and camping, and the offensive force is not as good as before.

The scout's return showed that the Japanese soldiers who had been killed were running out of food and ammunition, and he concluded that the Japanese were unable to continue their efforts. As long as Yang Haiwei can successfully block his sea transportation line, this battle will be won!

Yang Hao then summoned the commanders of each battalion and put forward his own judgment. Shi Jianfei agreed, and further advised: "Since the Japanese army is short of food and ammunition, and has been fighting for days without an inch, its military spirit will be lost. I think. It is entirely possible to organize a sudden counterattack to break up at least one enemy and cause great damage. At that time, they will attack elsewhere or continue to hold on. It's all at ease. It can also strengthen the confidence of friendly forces. ”

Since the start of the war. The Qing army was defeated in successive battles. In particular, the first battle of Jiangfang was too painful, and the morale of the soldiers and horses from all walks of life was low. The generals have no fighting spirit. If you can give them some confidence, at least you can hold the Japanese army back longer.

Yang Hao immediately agreed.

He thought deeper, and if the estimate was not bad, Li Hongzhang would definitely make two plans, and he would like to negotiate peace with Japan. And there must be a lot of peace talks within the Qing court, without him, the upper echelons of the Manchurians don't care about the land reparations, they are only worried about their own small life is unstable. Now there is one more reason, what if he Yang Hao becomes the second Zeng Guofan Li Hongzhang?

Liu Yong rarely speaks, but at this moment he also spoke: "The fighting spirit of the Japanese army is not strong, and the combat effectiveness is average. After days of harassment, their spirit and body were lowered to a certain level. I'm in favor of fighting back. ”

The other two battalions naturally have nothing to say, who doesn't want to take the opportunity to make some contributions?

Yang Hao made a final decision: "Then it's decided, complete the change of defense of each battalion at ten o'clock, and use the reserve to assist the Qing army to hold on." At four o'clock in the morning, three ways launched a counterattack at the same time! The depth of the attack is limited to five kilometers, so you can't fall in love! ”

"Understood!"

The battalions and companies were excitedly gearing up and dispersed one after another, preparing to withdraw the soldiers and hurrying to repair.

At eleven o'clock in the evening, the defenders of the battlefield on three sides handed over their positions, but the old-fashioned artillery of the Qing army became active collectively. Regardless of whether it is accurate or not, as long as it is a pile of cannons that can be fired, and the shells are thrown out in an orderly manner as if they don't need money. They don't care whether they hit the target or not, and it's not enough to let the Japanese army rest.

At one o'clock, the density of artillery fire suddenly doubled, especially in front of the battlefield on three sides, and a large pile of Japanese corpses was blown apart by the projectiles blasted straight out of the cannon! Between the rugged mountains, it seems that dozens of giants are wielding big axes and constantly chopping, and the sound is earth-shattering!

While the defenders were shooting, they would burst into a loud shout! Some bold recruits in body armor even ventured out of their trenches and rushed forward for hundreds of meters, throwing grenades at the front of the Japanese troops, or firing wildly.

The Japanese thought that they were going to launch a counter-charge, and hurriedly sent people out to reinforce them, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

After going back and forth for two hours, the Japanese army was exhausted and exhausted.

Nogi Noshinori felt that something was not quite right, the enemy army would not launch a night counterattack for no reason, and simple attacks would not be so frequent and risky.

"Could it be that they intend to launch a full-scale counteroffensive?"

Realizing this possibility, he immediately summoned his staff officers to discuss countermeasures. The chief of staff thought it was unlikely: "If the enemy were to fight back, it would not be so obvious." That is tantamount to telling us to strengthen our precautions. Not enough to be on the safe side, are we temporarily retreating just in case? ”

"Retreat?! Never! ”

Nogi Noshinori categorically rejected it, and he would never accept the shame of being defeated by the enemy. But on second thought, it seems that there is another possibility. For example, a feint to scare the headquarters? After all, after a few days, the enemy army must be tired enough. Where do they come from the body and the ability to fight back?

He also informed the division headquarters of this discovery, and Lieutenant General Yamachi Genji also said that it was not impossible.

The Japanese army began to mobilize for defense, but the results were very unoptimistic - days of casualties and tosses, the soldiers could fall asleep in any position, hungry, freezing and hungry, and the guns were almost unable to catch them!

At half past three o'clock in the morning, the shells of the frontal bombardment were unprecedentedly dense, and it seemed that all the artillery had joined in, and the roar of more than 100 cannons resounded through the mountains!

The Japanese troops at the front were like listening to a lullaby, their nerves had long been numb, and they only mechanically fired back at the enemy troops who had groped their way.

But this time, it's different!

Many times more figures emerged from the trenches, and they quickly crossed the obstacles to the front along the route they had found in the previous charges, and rushed to the vicinity of the starting point of the Japanese attack.

Four o'clock! Three red signal flares suddenly rose in the sky, and the silent mortars and 75 mountain guns opened fire in unison, suddenly forming a dazzling wall of fire in the rear of the Japanese position one kilometer deep!

The three battalions of infantry of the New Army, which were ready to advance, burst out in unison, light machine guns and Bobosha submachine guns took the lead in opening the way, and the water-like bullets were frantically poured into every Japanese hiding place, and where the explosion flashed and illuminated, as long as it was a living thing that moved, all of them were beaten into a sieve!

Liujiadian, where the headquarters of the Nogi Xidian Brigade is located, is only five kilometers away from the battlefield of the Great Monk Mountain, and all the villages have been destroyed due to continuous shelling along the way. The Japanese did not dare to set up campsites in the areas covered by artillery fire, so the brigade headquarters was actually more prominent.

The artillery fire in front of him suddenly shone brightly, and Nogi Nozomi's pawn was immediately alarmed. However, he still did not think that the other party could counterattack here, so he was indifferent to the persuasion of the chief of staff and the guards to retreat.

But he would never have imagined how determined Yang Hao's counteroffensive was this time, and his actions were even more decisive! Seeing that the Japanese troops along the way had no fighting spirit to flee for their lives and retreat, he immediately ordered the forward to go straight forward and attack their brigade headquarters as fast as possible!

In the chaos, a battalion and a company led by Huang Lebo were faster than the Japanese army escaping, and the crazy hurricane rushed until the distance was less than a kilometer, and the artillery in the rear extended in unison, and twelve 75 mountain guns, 6 100mm mortars and 9 82 mortars gathered fire together, blasting out an almost connected blast channel in front of them!

Nogi Noshinori had never been hit by such a heavy shell, and the explosion advanced to the center of the brigade headquarters and even around it in a matter of minutes, crippling the two squadron soldiers guarding the place! And he, along with most of the officers, gave the 100mm grenade poured from the top of the explosion, and the explosion was scattered!

When Yang Hao rushed in with people, he saw Huang Lebo excitedly holding a war knife and laughing: "Let's kill a general!" (To be continued......)