On the second day after arriving at the Lushun base, Lin Daxin ordered the 1st Division of the Dingbei Army to continue to guard the Lushun base, the 4th Division to take over the area south of Liaoyang City, and the 3 fleets of the Navy of the Navy of the Naval Academy to continue to block the Japanese sea route to Korea and Liaodong, cutting off the support of the Japanese army in Daqing and Korea.

Then Lin Daxin took Duan Qirui's 11th Division and Zhang Zuolin's 12th Division, as well as the guard regiment that had been following Lin Daxin, and marched along the line from Jinzhou to Yingkou in the direction of Liaoyang City.

On May 16, 1895, Lin Daxin led two divisions to arrive at the temporary camp of the Dingbei Army, 20 kilometers outside Liaoyang, and the seven division commanders of the Dingbei Army, Ni Fan, Zhao Hu and others, took Lin Daxin to the headquarters in the camp at the entrance of the camp.

In the headquarters, Lin Daxin asked Ni Fan, "How are the troops' preparations?" ”

Ni Fan said: "Principal! The divisions have already been prepared, just waiting for the headmaster's order, and then attack Liaoyang City! ”

Lin Daxin asked again: "What are the arrangements for the tactics of attacking the city?" Which division was the first to besiege the city? ”

Ni Fan replied: "We decided that before the attack was launched, the 10th Division would move to the north of Liaoyang City, the 9th Division would move to the east of Liaoyang City, and the 8th Division would move to the west of Liaoyang City. The south side was the main direction of the siege, and the troops of the 3rd, 6th, and 7th Divisions, with the cooperation of the armored troops of the 2nd Division, attacked the south of Liaoyang City, and we also decided to concentrate the heavy artillery regiments of several divisions in the south of Liaoyang City. The troops that attacked first agreed to be the 6th Division. ”

Lin Daxin nodded in agreement after hearing this, Ni Fan's plan was very reasonable, Lin Daxin just added: "Just implement this plan, the 11th and 12th divisions I brought will be used as the general reserve, and the artillery of each division will be told to give me a hard bombardment!" Shoot me all the shells you brought! ”

In the headquarters of the Japanese Southern Route Army in Liaoyang City, the commanders of all divisions of the Southern Route Army sat on the chairs of the headquarters, and the commander Dashan Yan said to the eight division commanders: "According to the scouts, another unit of the Dingbei Army has entered the camp of the Dingbei Army, and the day of the Dingbei Army's siege is not far away!" ”

The eight division commanders in the command headquarters were Shoichi Yoshida, commander of the 2nd Division, Katsura Taro, commander of the 3rd Division, Tsuyoshi Kakiki, commander of the 4th Division, Hideo Fukuda, commander of the 8th Division, Tomoo Minagawa, the new commander of the 9th Division, Keiichiro Koyama, the new commander of the 13th Division, Yoshian Akanishi, and the new commander of the 14th Division, Shihe Uchiyama.

The commander of the Third Division, Katsura Taro, frowned and said, "Now although we have 160,000 troops in 8 divisions in Liaoyang City, we lack artillery support!" The base camp only replenished us with troops and rifle ammunition, but the artillery lost by the divisions and regiments was not replenished! Now our 8 divisions and regiments together have less than 200 guns, and most of them are small-caliber, and there are not many 75-mm mountain guns! ”

The commander of the Fourth Division, who had never had a good relationship with Katsura Taro, Kakiki Gangnan, sneered and said contemptuously: "What? The commander of the Katsura Taro division is scared? Without artillery, wouldn't Liaoyang City be guarded? Could it be that the commander of the Katsura Taro Division wants to escape? ”

When Katsura Taro heard this, he immediately said angrily: "Kakiki Gangnan! When did I say I was going to run away! Don't distort what I mean there! I'm just saying that our artillery is much less than that of the Dingbei Army, which will be very detrimental to our defense! ”

Kakiki Gonnan continued: "I thought you coward wanted to escape! ”

Katsura Taro stood up and said angrily, "You guy from the rice grain store! Slandered me as a coward! I'm going to duel with you! "Before joining the Japanese Army, Kakiki worked as a guy in a rice grain store in Osaka!

Kakiki Gangnan, who hated others the most to mention that he had been a buddy in a rice grain store, stood up and shouted: "Okay! Katsura Taro, I'll duel with you, let's go! Let's either die or I die today! ”

"Sit it all down for me!" Da Shanyan suddenly shouted, and then Da Shanyan continued: "Now that the enemy is present, the two of you are still arguing over some trivial things! What a disgrace you have to the soldiers of the Empire! ”

Katsura Taro and Kakiki Gangnan saw that Commander Oyama Iwa was angry, and immediately bowed to Oyama Iwa and said, "I'm sorry Commander!" We were wrong! ”

Oyama Iwa didn't pursue it anymore when he saw that the two people admitted their mistakes, and then said: "The words of the Katsura Taro division are not wrong!" The Dingbei Army has an advantage over us in artillery! But our Southern Route Army must now hold off the powerful Dingbei Army in Liaoyang City and create an opportunity for the Northern Route Army to attack Beijing City! For this reason, our Southern Route Army must be ready to sacrifice! Including me, the commander, can give their lives to defend Liaoyang City! ”

The eight division commanders stood up at the same time and shouted: "Defend Liaoyang City!" ”

Oyama Iwayan nodded and said emotionally: "Commanders of the Imperial Division, our Great Japanese Empire is now facing the most dangerous time, and the Combined Fleet is completely annihilated!" The sea route between the Japanese mainland and Korea and the Qing Dynasty was also completely cut off after the peace talks broke down! This time, our defense of Liaoyang City is related to our entire battle situation! If we are defeated by the Dingbei Army and let the Dingbei Army occupy Liaoyang City, then the Dingbei Army can continue to attack Shengjing, and then march to Shanhaiguan to form a front and rear attack on the Northern Route Army! Then the war between our Great Japanese Empire and the Great Qing Dynasty was a complete failure! So, I would like to leave this great war concerning the Great Japanese Empire to you! ”

After speaking, Da Shanyan bowed deeply to the eight division commanders.

On behalf of the eight division commanders, Shoichi Yoshida, commander of the Second Division, said: "Your Excellency Commander, rest assured! Our divisions must defend Liaoyang City to the death! 8 divisions and 160,000 soldiers of the Japanese Empire, as long as there is one person, they will not let the Dingbei Army occupy Liaoyang City! ”

At 8 o'clock in the morning on May 17, the weather in Liaoyang City was very good, cloudless, the temperature was 22 degrees, neither cold nor hot. The Dingbei Army had formed a situation of encirclement against Liaoyang City in accordance with the pre-plan.

With Lin Daxin's order, 160 105mm howitzers of the heavy artillery regiments of 7 divisions of the Dingbei Army were concentrated, and hundreds of 75mm mountain guns and field artillery of the 3rd, 6th, and 7th divisions were concentrated, and the artillery bombardment began on the Japanese positions south of Liaoyang City!

"Boom-boom-boom-" Countless shells fell on the Japanese positions, although most of the Japanese soldiers were lying in the trenches, or even hiding in the anti-artillery holes, but there were still stumps and broken arms flying everywhere, and some Japanese recruits who could not stand this kind of fierce shelling mentally were frightened to run around, but they were soon killed by the dense artillery fire!

After the artillery of the entire Dingbei Army bombarded for 40 minutes, the artillerymen of the Dingbei Army were tired and sweaty, and they stopped the shelling under the order of their superiors!

After the shelling, 50 tanks and 33 armored vehicles of the 2nd Division of the Dingbei Army were in front, and the soldiers of the 6th Division of the Dingbei Army followed the tanks and armored vehicles behind and rushed to the position of the Japanese army to the south!

It turned out that the veterans of the Japanese army who had experienced the Battle of Jinzhou City suddenly changed their faces when they saw dozens of tanks and dozens of armored vehicles rushing towards their positions. The Japanese officers of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army who were responsible for the defense line outside the city south of Liaoyang City immediately organized death squads to blow up the steel chariots of the Northern Army with explosives bags!

The entire Japanese Southern Route Army, which had less than 200 small-caliber guns, also began to fire at the tanks and armored vehicles of the Dingbei Army, as well as the soldiers of the Dingbei Army of the Sixth Division!

It's a pity that the Japanese artillery didn't fire a few shots, and the 105-mm howitzers of the Dingbei Army, which had a long range and great power, bombarded the Japanese artillery positions, so that the already small Japanese artillery was much less, and the surviving Japanese artillery quickly pulled the remaining artillery fire and transferred it to other artillery positions.

However, when the Japanese artillery reopened fire in the new position, it would immediately be bombarded by the 105-mm howitzers of the Dingbei Army.

When the tanks and armored vehicles approached the Japanese position, hundreds of Japanese death squads holding explosive bags crossed out of the Japanese trenches, screaming and pounced on the tanks and armored vehicles of the Dingbei Army!

These Japanese death squads were immediately killed by the machine guns on the tanks and armored vehicles, and the soldiers of the Sixth Division who followed the tanks and armored vehicles. Then the second group of death squads with explosive bags rushed out of the Japanese trenches......

Batch after batch of Japanese death squads rushed to the tanks and armored vehicles of the Dingbei Army with explosives bags, and many Japanese recruits of the death squad were full of tears, forced by Japanese officers with guns, and rushed out of the trenches with explosives bags!

Although the Japanese death squad finally blew up the tracks of 2 tanks and destroyed 4 armored vehicles with human lives, they still could not resist the attack of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry of the Dingbei Army, and soon most of the Japanese positions in the south outside Liaoyang City were lost! The Japanese 13th Division guarding the position suffered nearly half of the casualties, and the division commander Chixi Ji'an saw the fierce Dingbei Army and was about to hit the headquarters of the 13th Division, so he immediately asked the commander Dashanyan in Liaoyang City for help!

Dashanyan received Chixi Ji'an's request for help, and smiled bitterly, he didn't expect the Dingbei Army to be so strong that a fully staffed Japanese army division couldn't hold on even for half an hour!

But the position outside the city must be held, otherwise the Dingbei Army will enter Liaoyang City! It can be seen from the experience of street fighting in Jinzhou City that the Dingbei Army is very good at street fighting, and the tanks and armored vehicles of the Dingbei Army plus the grenades of the soldiers of the Dingbei Army make the Dingbei Army have an advantage in the street fighting!

Dashanyan decided to delay the attack of the Dingbei Army as much as possible in the position outside Liaoyang City and the defensive line of the city wall, so he immediately sent the 14th Division to the position in the south outside Liaoyang City to support the 13th Division in Chixi Ji'an!

The Dingbei Army had already attacked near the headquarters of the 13th Division, and the commander of the 13th Division, Chixi Ji'an, inspired the Japanese officers and soldiers in the headquarters to shout: "Imperial samurai, the time has come to serve His Majesty the Emperor!" Then the Japanese officers and soldiers who personally led the command began to enter the trenches to resist the attacking Dingbei Army.

At the critical moment, the 14th Division, under the leadership of the division commander Uchiyama Zhihe, supported from behind the position. Seeing that the situation of the position was critical, Uchiyama Zhihe immediately ordered the soldiers of the 14th Division to launch a counter-charge against the Dingbei Army on the position. As soon as Chixi Ji'an, the commander of the 13th Division, saw the arrival of reinforcements, he immediately became in good spirits, and also organized the soldiers of the 13th Division to launch a counterattack against the Dingbei Army!

The tanks and armored vehicles of the Dingbei Army, as well as the officers and men of the 6th Division, brought considerable casualties to the Japanese soldiers of the 2 divisions of the counter-charge, but they were still recaptured by the crazy Japanese army!