A knee-deep river flows from west to east, zigzag, all the way to the Datong River. There is a group of mountains in Hebei and Henan, which spread out and confronted each other across the river. The two mountains each cut through a road and meandered into one on a five-hole stone bridge that crossed the river. To the northeast of the stone bridge, a small town is built on the edge of the mountain and the river, and the avenue runs through the town, and I don't know how prosperous it used to be, but now it is only a ruin full of rubble and bones.

In the past ten days, in order to compete for Zhonghe and its vicinity, the Chinese and Japanese armies have shed the blood of thousands of officers and soldiers on both sides of Zhongchuan.

Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Lieri, commander of the 10th Regiment of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Praetorian Guard Division, had already pre-filled the date on his combat log: August 3, the 20th year of Guangxu, whether the battle on this day would be more tragic, or whether there would be a major turnaround, Xiao Lieri didn't have time to think about it so much, his mind was full of illusions of himself leading the soldiers to rush towards the enemy.

"Report to the Captain! Divisional urgency! The communication soldier shouted at the top of his voice - this is Xiao Lieri's rule, and his subordinates must shout at the highest volume as possible when reporting to him, because of this, the Tenth Regiment was casually given the reputation of "Lion Roar Regiment" by Liu Yun.

At this moment, Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Lieri, the head of the Lion Roar Regiment, shattered the illusion and raised his head: "Read!" ”

"Xiao Lieri, commander of the 10th Regiment, your unit seized the fighter plane in yesterday's Battle of Shiqiao, took the initiative to attack, and with a heroic and swift charge, the headquarters of the enemy's 12th Wing was crushed, killing 530 enemies and capturing 26 of them. In addition, for many days, your unit and the two regiments of the Marine Corps have been stubbornly defending the line in Zhongchuan, and the enemy is not allowed to go any further, and your unit has also suffered a lot of damage; from today to tomorrow morning, our reinforcements are coming, and your unit will be able to change its position tomorrow; before that, it is not allowed to attack without authorization, and in case of enemy attack, it will be resisted with intensive firepower; the second, third, and fifth battalions of the artillery regiment directly under your command will be directly charged by your unit today, and the shells will not be spared. In addition, the division headquarters today sent a sniper platoon of a reconnaissance battalion directly under the division to your headquarters to support and guide your unit's sniper operations, hoping to cooperate closely with it. Hereby, the commander of the Second Praetorian Guard Division, Zhong Xiahuo. ”

Xiao Lieri touched his head and muttered, "Sniper combat? A row top for a fart? cough, I don't know what Master Lu Dao thinks. ”

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On the north bank of Zhongchuan, there is a defensive position of the Qing army. Several trenches were dug behind the mountain, connected by communication trenches, and machine guns and machine guns were built to fire fortifications, observation fortifications and anti-artillery holes. The artillery position was located near the avenue, northwest of Zhonghe Town, covered by several mounds, and in the valley northeast of the artillery position, the headquarters of the 10th Janissary Regiment was located. There are flag contact points between the regimental headquarters, artillery positions and front-line trenches, and there are special personnel responsible for conveying various messages under flags, and artillery fire can be directed to fixed-point bombardment from the front line or regimental headquarters through flags and trumpets. This was the most effective method of rapid communication before the popularization of military corded telephones, but it was susceptible to many human factors, resulting in information leakage, misinformation or misunderstanding.

In the middle of summer afternoon, gray clouds obscure the sun and bring a slight coolness. The Qing army was silent on the position, and most of the officers and soldiers rested in the trenches, except for observers with binoculars left at the observation posts.

Second Lieutenant He Fengqi, the leader of the sniper squad of the 7th Company, the observer of the 3rd Battalion of the 10th Regiment, found several figures shaking in the Japanese position on the south bank in the telescope, and hurriedly glanced at the sketch of the shooting Zhuyuan, and found the measured distance at that position: 1200 meters. He immediately grabbed the long Manlisha sniper rifle at hand, put it into the observation port, held the barrel with one hand, touched the trigger with the other, the butt was against the shoulder, the barrel was slightly out of the observation port, and the eyes were close to the fixed scope twice as much, ready to lock on to the target.

On his first day at the Baoding Imperial Sniper School, He Fengqi heard a lesson about snipers from the principal, Colonel Wang Zhi: "A sniper must remain calm in any situation. At this moment, he was calming down, and the reticle in the scope slowly moved with the target. He chose the enemy in the white officer's uniform as the first target, but there was always a small soldier in front of that guy, which made He Fengqi very difficult, if he opened fire, the enemy would all fall, and the most likely to hit was the small soldier in the front, a small soldier was not considered a result at all in the eyes of snipers from the Imperial Sniper School.

The other party bent on his waist and used the crater and small mound as cover, and slowly approached Nakagawa, obviously trying to get close to reconnoitre. He Fengqi knew in his heart that although his Manlixia sniper rifle had an effective range of 1,500 meters, the hit rate at a distance of 1,000 meters was very unsatisfactory, and if he fired at too long a distance, the enemy had a great chance of escaping, and he could kill one or two at most, and it was difficult to say whether he could solve the officer. It's better to wait for the enemy to get close before looking for an opportunity to fire. After He Fengqi made this decision, he continued to maintain a high degree of attention and put the four Japanese soldiers at a distance of 1,000 meters.

He Fengqi breathed steadily, quietly waiting for the arrival of the fighter plane, and finally, the little soldier in front of the Japanese officer was suddenly accidentally knocked to the ground by something, and the officer's small head clearly lit up in He Fengqi's field of vision.

With a crisp gunshot, the Japanese officer fell to the ground on his back, and the others quickly fell down, not daring to move. He Feng pulled the bolt of the gun quickly, and the smoking cartridge case jumped out of the chamber, and the next bullet ejected from the magazine and quickly filled into the chamber.

He Fengqi maintained a posture of being ready to attack, although the main task had been completed, no one wanted to miss the snack after the main meal, and he waited for the remaining three soldiers to provide him with simple and wonderful entertainment.

After a long while, there was also a fluttering gunshot at the western end of the position, He Fengqi didn't want to pay attention to the results of others, he was full of patience.

Time flowed half-dead like the river of Zhongchuan, the sun got rid of the entanglement of gray clouds, and began to pour down the blazing flames, He Fengqi stayed in the covered observation post, although he was not sunburned, but his eyes were stung a little painfully by the overly bright reflection of the target area.

The three Japanese soldiers began to froze, and a thinner fellow struggled back from the low ground where he was hiding, and was about to climb over a raised hill when he flicked his right vest, and after a few struggles, it was forever silent.

He Fengqi pulled the bolt of the gun, and by the way, wiped his forehead with the sweat towel at hand, this day, it was too hot.

After another half an hour, Manlixia's crisp voice came from the east end of the position, and He Fengqi silently recited: "The heart is calm and naturally cool." wiped the sweat from his head.

Suddenly, the two remaining Japanese soldiers jumped up from the lowlands and rushed towards their positions at an astonishing speed, and the potential of a man to flee for his life may be limitless.

In He Fengqi's view, there is not much difference between a high-speed linear moving target and a stationary target, he easily bit the ten lines of the scope into the vest of a Japanese soldier, held his breath and pulled the trigger, the huge recoil force of Manlixia when shooting hit his shoulders sore, the Japanese soldier in the scope raised his hands high into the air, his head fell backwards and fell forward, at that moment, He Fengqi felt that time stood still.

"It's wonderful." He Fengqi muttered in his heart, pulled the bolt of the gun, and found that the last guy was still running lifelessly, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but flash a sweet smile.

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Behind the mountains on the south bank of the Nakagawa River, against the avenue, there is a small village called Kada-ri surrounded by green trees, where the headquarters of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army is located. On this day, Lieutenant General Yoshimasa Oshima was reprimanding his poor subordinates in a tiled house that was originally the main hall of the village chief's house.

"Rubbish! A bunch of rubbish! Are you still Imperial Samurai? Singing all day long to preach the martial might of the empire, loyalty to the emperor and the like, a small neutralization, after our army took over the ninth brigade of the fifth division, attacked for four consecutive days, and did not advance an inch, you say, what are you doing! Major General Nogi, your 5th Brigade is in charge of seizing the Zhonghe Bridge, why haven't you made any progress so far!? ”

The full name of the commander of the Fifth Brigade is Nogi Noshinori, a samurai of the Choshu Domain, with a short figure, a mustache, and eyes like a wolf, known for his fierceness and recklessness. He fought in the Boshin War of 1868, the battle between the Shogunate and the Shogunate. Later, Saigo Takamori, one of the first three heroes of the Restoration, launched a rebellion in 1877, and the Southwest War broke out. Emperor Meiji not only did not punish him, but instead commended him for his bravery in battle, and he was promoted to lieutenant commander of the army. Nogi was grateful and loyal to the emperor. After the outbreak of the Korean War, Nogi was promoted to major general, and before his departure, he wrote a poem Ming Zhidao:

The fat horse and the big knife have not yet been paid

The emperor's grace is empty for a few spring and autumn

Bucket scoop poured out drunk dreams

Break through the four hundred states of China

At that moment, Nogi Noshinori was asked by the commander of the Oshima Division, and he couldn't help but get up and said sharply: "Your Excellency the division commander asks your Excellency the division commander to assign all the heavy artillery to the headquarters, and the subordinate generals will personally lead the troops to break through the defense line of the Shina Army, and if it is ineffective before sunset tomorrow, the subordinates are willing to punish themselves to apologize." ”

Oshima Yoshimasa said coldly: "General Nogi, don't be angry, didn't your oath become empty words outside Kumamoto Castle back then?" I can't let your 9,000 men take this risk and repeat the ugly drama of the captured military flag. ”

Oshima's words, words like knives, pierced deep into Nogi's heart. Nogi Noki immediately pulled out his saber, put it on the table with a "click", put his left hand under the blade, and without waiting for everyone to react, he swung the knife and cut off the little finger of his left hand with a "click".

Yoshimasa Oshima shouted angrily, "Nogi! What are you doing! ”

Nogi Noshinori endured the pain, pressed the wound with his right hand, and said word by word: "Your Excellency refuses to trust your subordinates, and your subordinates have no choice but to cut their wills. ”

Oshima Yoshimasa let out a fierce breath from his nose and nodded with a straight face: "Okay, since General Nogi is so persistent, I will hand over the two artillery squadrons of the 6th Brigade of all companies of the artillery wing to the control of the 5th Brigade, and from this afternoon until sunset tomorrow, the 5th Brigade should attack the position of the Shina Army in the direction of Zhonghe Bridge with all its strength to achieve a breakthrough." The 11th Wing also made a feint attack from the Eastern Front and the 12th Wing from the Western Front to attract the attention of the Chinese Army and cover the flank of the 5th Brigade.

The cavalry wing was the general reserve, and as soon as the 5th Brigade reached a breakthrough, it would fight its way out of the breakthrough and advance to the Chinese army in order to expand the results of the battle. Everyone listened, the general attack was set at 4 p.m., and the previous 30 minutes of fire preparation began at 3:30 p.m. ”

"Subordinates obey!" The crowd shouted in unison, and Nogi thrust his saber back into its scabbard, gritting his teeth to ward off the pain in his hands, his face overflowing with ferocity.

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At 3:30 p.m. on August 3, 1894, the Japanese army concentrated 12 70-mm infantry guns, 16 75-mm mountain guns, 36 75-mm field guns, and 12 120-mm heavy howitzers, totaling 76 large and small artillery, and began intensive artillery bombardment on the position of the 10th Regiment of the Qing Army Janissaries. The Qing army's position was raining bullets for a while, the fire was shining, the smoke was rolling, and the earth was flying. As usual, the Qing soldiers took refuge in the anti-artillery holes, leaving only a few observers to observe the enemy's movements in the fortifications.

Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Lieri, commander of the 10th Janissary Regiment, heard the sound of artillery, and ran up the hill near the regiment headquarters with only two messengers, and inspected the situation with a British-made monocular, and found that the enemy's artillery fire this time was extremely fierce, and he had a premonition that the attack that the Japanese army was about to launch would be extraordinary, so he ordered a messenger to the artillery position to convey the order, asking the artillery to enter the combat state, and to carry all the ammunition in the ammunition depot to the position, preparing for a fierce battle, and ordering another messenger to rush back to the division headquarters immediately. Two battalions of infantry and five base shells were requested to support the front.

Half an hour later, the Japanese artillery fire turned to depth, and Xiao Lieri saw through the fading gunpowder smoke through the telescope that seemed to have no end to the Japanese straggler line, which was pouring towards his position like a tide.

"Correspondent!" Xiao Lieri shouted, but no one around him answered, only then did he think that the two communicators had all been sent down, and he was about to personally run to the artillery command post on another hill to give an order, when suddenly his ears exploded like thunder, and thousands of lights flashed at once. It turned out that the artillery unit had already opened fire to block fire in accordance with the flag order of the artillery command post, and Xiao Lieri scolded himself for being confused, forgetting that he had already authorized the artillery command post to open artillery bombardment as soon as he saw the enemy entering the firing range, so as not to make the enemy approach.

In addition to the 18 75-mm mountain guns of the artillery battalion of the 6th Janissary Brigade and the 9 57-mm mountain guns of the artillery company of the regiment, the most important thing is that the second, third, and fifth battalions of the divisional artillery regiment assigned to the division according to the order of the commander of the division Zhong Xiahuo that day, the first two battalions are each equipped with nine 150-mm heavy howitzers, and the fifth battalion is equipped with 18 75-mm field guns. A total of 63 supporting artillery pieces were carried out, except for the 9 57-mm mountain guns belonging to the regiment that were scattered in the depth of the front-line positions, the remaining 75-mm guns were all concentrated in the special artillery positions near the regimental headquarters of the 10th Regiment.

At this time, the artillery position had received an order from the artillery command post to start continuous fire interception of the No. 3 demarcated area 5,000 meters away, so as to weaken the advancing Japanese skirmish line and prevent the Japanese follow-up troops from advancing support.

"The roar of the 150-millimeter heavy artillery will definitely make people's blood swell," this is what Liu Yun said to the regiment commander Hu Jingzhen when he inspected the artillery regiment of the Second Janissary Division, and now Lieutenant Colonel Hu Jingzhen is suffering the shock of 18 150-mm heavy howitzers and 36 75-mm guns in the artillery command post, and feels that heaven seems to be not far away.

"Open the gun!"

"Drop the shell!"

"Clear the chamber!"

"Aim Correction!"

"Take the cannonballs!"

"Loading, Ready!"

"Reload!"

"Close the cannon door!"

"Fire!"

At the sound of the artillery officer's command, the soldiers on the position carried out various tactical maneuvers in an orderly manner, throwing a round of death-spreading shells at the enemy through the cannons, although all they saw now was flames, smoke, dust, and more and more metal shells, but the artillery brothers knew in their hearts that the casualties they inflicted on the enemy, both physical and mental, were impossible for the infantry brothers to do in any way.

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The first wave of the Japanese stragglers line consisted of two squadrons of the 1st Brigade and the 2nd Brigade of the 9th Wing of the 5th Brigade, about 1,200 people, led by the Wing Commander of the 9th Wing, Yamada Tsukasa Daisa, and after going out of the trenches, it spread out into a broad horizontal formation, about 1500 meters wide and about 100 meters deep, followed by about 600 meters behind the artillery barrage, first marched quickly, and then ran to attack when it was ready to enter a distance of 200 meters from the forward position of the Qing army.

The second wave of skirmishers was about 200 meters away from the first wave of skirmishers, and consisted of two squadrons of the 4th and 5th Battalions of the 10th Wing.

There were also the third and fourth waves of stragglers, the most of which was Nogi Noshinori's elite death squad, the Meiji Loyal Team, led by Nogi Noshinori himself, to be used as the last one, and these troops were still hidden in the trenches, waiting for the results of the first and second waves of stragglers.

In fact, the only result of the first and second waves of the stragglers was only to consume part of the ammunition of the Qing army.

Yamada Takumasa Daisa, who personally served as the front commander of the first wave of stragglers, walked out of the trench less than 200 meters ago, and was pierced through the skull by a 7.92 mm bullet fired by a Manlixia rifle, and automatically replaced Yamada Osa to become the commander of the first brigade of the front command, Ikemizu Kiyoo Nakasa only lived three minutes longer than his immediate superior, and after a burst of intensive artillery fire, Ikemizu's head was split into two by shrapnel, and brains and blood flowed in all directions. The deputy commander of the 10th Wing, Kamui Senaki Nakasa, took over the command of the front on his own accord, and he took advantage of more than his two predecessors, and after a Manlixia rifle bullet penetrated his arm, a cluster of shrapnel ripped his back to pieces, and then the Japanese soldiers snatched his body back and picked out 23 shrapnel from his back.

The first wave of skirmishers failed to launch a running charge according to the plan, and more than 1,200 men fell under the dense barrage of 57-mm to 150-mm shells and 7-point 92-mm bullets from Hanyang 88 Mauser rifles to Makqin machine guns before they reached the predetermined charging position.

The remnants of the officers and soldiers who escaped the artillery fire in the second wave of stragglers rushed through Zhongchuan on the corpses of their comrades, screaming and launching a charge, many people rushed to the front of the Qing army trench only a dozen meters, the Qing officers and soldiers launched a counterattack in a timely manner, and drove the Japanese army back into the river.

Nogi Noshinori saw his subordinates fall down one after another like wheat He being scythered in the binoculars, he was anxious and angry, pulled out his saber and ordered: "Order the artillery to prepare for the second artillery fire, the time is still half an hour, five minutes before the artillery fire is ready to stop, the third and fourth lines are 200 meters apart from the trenches, immediately run and charge, all the loyal troops are ready with bayonets, listen to my orders, and attack at any time!" ”

The Qing army's position was once again saturated and bombarded, and many exposed firepower points were destroyed, Xiao Lieri saw the unfavorable situation of the battle, and realized that the battle would be more brutal later, so he began to organize all the non-combatants in the regiment, equipped with light weapons borrowed from the artillery unit, plus the guard company, a total of 350 people, as a general reserve, ready to launch a counter-attack at a critical moment to drive the enemy out of the position.

"It's like attacking with a meat bullet." Xiao Lieri couldn't help but shake his head and sigh when he saw the corpses of Japanese soldiers scattered between the positions of the two armies through the binoculars.

The flesh and blood of soldiers are often the stepping stones for generals to become famous, and as for what kind of fame they become, the dead will not know the way.