Japan and Russia opened the pot in South Manchuria, and the South Manchurian detachment under the command of Lu Shan, which had been active in South Manchuria, was inevitably involved in the Russo-Japanese War. Not to mention that they were "recruited" by the Russians, in 1904, almost all the bearded people in the land of Kanto were faced with a choice, either to help the Japanese fight the Russians, or to help the Russians fight the Japanese. Neutrality is almost impossible. It was the Manchu court, which openly declared "partial neutrality", although under the banner of neutrality, the ass actually sat on the side of the Japanese. Needless to say, the governor of the three eastern provinces, Yuan Shikai, was asked by his friend Aoki Xuanchun Daisa, to send capable officers to Kanto, contact beards in various places, accept weapons and silver taels provided by the Japanese, and do the matter of armed resistance against the Russian army.

On the surface, the Japanese took the lead. The Russian old Maozi took advantage of the suppression of the Boxers to send troops to Manchuria and occupied almost the entire territory of Northeast China. After the signing of the Xinchou Treaty, he found all kinds of excuses to stay in the northeast and was unwilling to "return" the northeast to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which naturally offended the Manchu court, which regarded Manchuria as the "land of dragon rejuvenation".

During his lifetime, Li Hongzhang had always adopted a pro-Russian foreign policy, using Russia's power to deal with other powers, and after Li's death, there was almost no one in the imperial court to help Russia explain. Russia's monopoly of Manchuria also offended Britain, Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries, and except for France, which had always been an ally with Russia, almost no power supported Russia. And out of consideration for its own "mainland policy", Japan also easily won the favor of the Kwantung beards under the banner of expelling Russia from Manchuria for the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Another factor that caused the local bandits to be armed and pro-Japanese was that Japan did an excellent job of espionage in the Kanto region.

In this way, a "beard" that helped Russia in the war looked quite unusual.

The South Manchurian detachment entered the Kanto region at the end of last year. After receiving the provisional number of Russia, it went through two combat processes.

The first stage was mainly aimed at a large number of anti-Russian Chinese forces in South Manchuria, namely the Kwantung Beard. Among them, there are mainly two major units, the Feng Delin department in East Manchuria and the Zhang Zuolin department in South Manchuria.

At first, Lushan's activity area was in Liaodong, that is, the area east of Haicheng and west of Phoenix. The ambush battle at Dead Tree Ridge was a famous battle for the South Manchurian detachment, and the elimination of 50 Japanese soldiers in the first battle made the detachment famous, so that the Russian army paid attention to this well-equipped and effective armed force, and asked them to eliminate the bandits of Feng Delin's department who were "causing trouble" in East Manchuria as soon as possible. Soon after, Xiong Xun's brigade, which had finished resting at Xiamatang, confronted Feng Delin's troops in the Chenjiatun area northeast of Haicheng. Hit Feng Department hard. A Japanese officer was also captured, shocking Liaodong. Subsequently, Lu Shan led the main force of the detachment that met the third batch of reinforcements to Haicheng and began the "purge" of Feng Delin's troops.

Of course, Feng Delin did not know the origin of the Nanman detachment. Think of it as an unidentified beard. If he knows that his opponent is rigorously trained. A well-organized regular army. Feng Delin may adopt a dodging strategy rather than recklessly fighting with the South Manchurian detachment.

Chen Jiatun lost the first battle against Feng Delin, and he was very unconvinced. He quickly gathered several bandits, preparing to eliminate or expel the "outsiders" who had intruded into his territory. Wrong information misled Feng Delin, a habitual bandit. He believed that the enemy was only two or three hundred, and that he could gather at least four or five hundred, and that the Japanese would provide weapons. Therefore, Feng sent a horse team to increase the reconnaissance of the South Manchurian detachment. After Lu Shan led the main force to arrive near Haicheng, he listened to the opinions of Xiong Xun, who had been dealing with Feng Min, showed the enemy weakness, and deliberately released the rumors, so that Feng Bu could grasp the whereabouts of Xiong Xun's brigade, and deliberately let Feng Delin's brigade surround more than 200 people from Xiong Xun's department in Chenjiatun. However, after a day of fierce fighting, several strong attacks failed, and he realized that it was too late to plan in the middle of the plan, and the remaining two brigades of Lushan had already stuck up by night, and the superiority of troops, equipment and combat effectiveness were not comparable to Feng's. Feng Delin finally saw the gap between the regular army and the beard. In the second battle of Chenjiatun, Feng Delin was seriously wounded and died, and Feng Delin's troops, which were a headache for the Russians in Liaodong, were basically wiped out.

The first battle of Chenjiatun shook Liaodong. The local people hated and feared the South Manchurian detachment. The military and political committee headed by Lu Shan studied the situation and realized that it was necessary to alleviate the misunderstanding of the local people about the South Manchurian detachment. The method was very simple, they adopted the traditional measure of killing the rich and helping the poor, and distributed the seized goods of Feng Delin's family to the people. Collect evidence, severely suppress the wealthy families who helped the Japanese army around Haicheng, and shoot a group of local gentry who colluded with the Japanese army. This approach is very pleasing to the Russian army, and they are paying more and more attention to this armed force that is dedicated to the Russian army.

Lu Shan was also a good follower when he was under Long Qian, although he was demoted due to negligence, he has always been the number one general that Long Qian relied on in military affairs, especially in military training. In fact, Lu Shan has an opinion on Long Qian's emphasis on discipline and not easy to kill. I always feel that my boss is good at everything, but he is too bookish and angry. Fight the world, which one is not a steel knife to open the way and kill a piece of the sky? Now that Lu Shan is leading the army, he has the right to act cheaply. Therefore, in the process of attacking Feng Delin's troops, he inevitably had some thirst for killing, and all those who had evidence of the day would be shot. However, Liaodong still eats this set, and after the killing, the situation east of Haicheng has calmed down a lot. Although soon due to the frontal defeat of the Russian army, not to mention Haicheng, even Liaoyang was lost, the name of the South Manchurian detachment was considered to have broken out, and Lu Dashan's name shocked South Manchuria, so that the beards faced a difficult choice, either choose to confront Lu Dashan's troops, or surrender and join Lu Dashan's mountain. In this era, few people understand things such as the country, the nation, the name, and justice, especially the beards, and the fact that having milk is a mother is a common characteristic of the vast majority. It is Zhang Zuolin's department who has the final say in the Xinmin area, and many people are also Russian or Japanese, wavering. Therefore, due to the prestige of Lushan's soldiers, most of the bearded people on Liaodong Road chose to surrender.

At the turn of the spring and summer of 1904, a total of 1,000 bandits surrendered to the South Manchurian detachment and were incorporated into the army for discipline and military training. The bearded men were accustomed to being free and loose, and when they joined the South Manchurian detachment, they knew the strict military regulations and the hardships of training in this unit. As a result, some people began to flee with their guns, and all the deserters who were caught, Lu Shan was shot and killed, without mercy.

There is another side of Lu Shan's character that Long Qian doesn't know, but he has participated in the Mengshan army. From beginning to end, he has witnessed the process of Mengshan Army from small to large, from weak to strong, Lu Shan and his senior officers have learned the positive things of Long Qian's rule of the army, so the military regulations are unprecedentedly strict, the training is unprecedentedly harsh, for his subordinates who rape women and rob merchants and ordinary people, Lu Shan treats deserters the same, almost a result. Death penalty!

Major Sokolov, the liaison officer of the Russian army, who had been following the South Manchurian detachment, was amazed at the detachment's discipline and military training. He simply couldn't believe that this was something that bandits could do. In his report to Major General Artemyev, he said that the principal commanders of this unit seem to have received regular military training somewhere, and that their orders, systems, and training methods are quite worthy of reference, and he hoped that the General Headquarters would pay attention to them. But he would never have imagined that there were hundreds of regular officers and soldiers from the Guannai in this unit. And Major General Artemyev, who was in charge of this aspect, was only concerned about the results of this force. Where to dig deeper? The more combat-ready the detachment. The happier he is.

After the local pro-Japanese forces in Haicheng were suppressed, poor peasants began to join the South Manchurian detachment, and the locals joined in. The South Manchurian detachment became more and more deaf and clear-sighted.

At the beginning of May, the South Manchurian detachment was reorganized, the strength of the three brigades was replenished, and a cavalry squadron was established. After the arrival of the fourth batch of reinforcements, Lushan launched a month-long large-scale training, and when the Japanese offensive against South Manchuria was launched, the South Manchurian detachment was already a force to be reckoned with 1,700 troops.

The second stage was an operation against the Naganuma detachment of the Japanese army.

The Naganuma Detachment was an elite cavalry team organized by the Japanese army to cooperate with the Battle of Liaoyang, which was equipped with dozens of bearded men who were determined to help the Japanese army fight. This cavalry detachment, which crossed the battle line and penetrated deep into the rear of the Russian army, inflicted great losses on the Russian army. Their cavalry, which specifically aimed at disrupting lines of communication and attacking Russian baggage troops, was an extreme headache for the Russian army. The Russian army encircled and suppressed several times, but because the Naganuma detachment had the intelligence support of local pro-Japanese beards, they found nothing. Major General Artemyev, who was in charge of recruiting the Lushan detachment at the beginning, suggested that the South Manchurian detachment, which was already strong and strong, be used to deal with the Yongnuma detachment. Beginning in August last year, Lu Shan commanded troops to keep an eye on the Yongnuma troops, and finally in October they surrounded the Yongnuma detachment in the Chenjia shack northwest of Mukden; after two days and one night of bloody fighting, with the cooperation of an artillery battalion of the Russian army that rushed in, they completely annihilated the Yongnuma detachment, and none of them slipped through the net. More than 900 Japanese soldiers were killed and 340 prisoners (including wounded soldiers) were captured. It completely relieved the Russian army's henchmen. The South Manchurian detachment suffered more than 1,200 casualties in this battle, which can be regarded as a broken muscle. Among them, Fan Deping, the deputy commander who personally led the assault team's main attack, was almost killed by three bullets, and was out of danger because he was sent to the Fengtian Russian Military Hospital for timely surgery. The liaison officer, Major Sokolov, was also wounded by shrapnel and sent back to the Russian army field hospital for treatment, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel for merit and left the South Manchurian detachment, and the Russian army sent another captain to replace Sokolov as the liaison officer.

After the first battle of the Chen family's shack, the South Manchurian detachment was reborn and reborn. Lu Shan believed that although the troops were not as good as the Mengshan army, they could basically confront the Japanese army head-on. As a general rule, it is difficult for any unit to become a real elite unless it has experienced one or two bloody battles.

As a result, the South Manchurian detachment was highly appreciated by the General Headquarters of the Russian Army, and was reorganized into the South Manchurian Independent Regiment and officially incorporated into the Far Eastern Army. During the three-month recuperation, the Separate Regiment expanded its forces aggressively, abolishing the original brigade and forming three reinforced infantry battalions, a machine gun battalion and a cavalry battalion. In addition, a baggage battalion with 80 wagons and a guard company consisting mostly of soldiers of the Mengshan Army were established.

In the later stage of the recuperation, Lu Shan, at the request of the Russian army, also for the training of the battle, led the cavalry battalion and the first two infantry battalions to complete the reorganization to the west, to clear the beard in the western Liaoxi area, and had a head-on conflict with Zhang Zuolin's department, Lu Shan defeated Zhang Zuolin's department, killed Zhang Zuolin's general and brother Ma Longtan, and captured Zhang Zuoxiang. But in this battle, Lu Shan was hit by a stray bullet in the face, which almost caused the South Manchurian detachment to lose its commander, and finally broke its appearance. And the captain of the Russian army who came to the South Manchurian detachment was shot black by Sheng Guang in the chaotic battle because he offended Sheng Guang. Of course, the matter was suppressed by Lu Shan, and it was reported that the liaison officer was killed in battle, and the Russian army did not find anything strange until a month and a half later, when a new liaison officer was sent.

At that time, Zhang Zuolin's troops had already firmly helped Japan resist Russia, but because of the fate of one side, Lu Shan did not kill Zhang Zuoxiang, but detained him in the army and forced Zhang Zuolin to make concessions. Zhang Zuolin sent someone to contact Lu Shan, hoping to redeem Zhang Zuoxiang with gold and silver, Lu Shan is not short of money and food now, and the Russian army's stable and sufficient supplies allow him not to think about logistics problems, and detaining Zhang Zuoxiang is conducive to the operation of Zhang Zuolin's department. This incident had a great impact, and Lu Shan himself didn't realize that he didn't have time to deal with Zhang Zuolin's problem, and the Battle of Fengtian broke out. At the suggestion of Artemyev, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Far Eastern Army, Kuropatkin, decided to end the rest of the South Manchurian detachment and transfer the front line as a reserve for the Right Wing Army. (To be continued......)