February 20, 1884, Weihaiwei, Motianling.

The Sky Ridge is the highest peak in the mountains and the most dangerous place in the entire system. The fort is towering, towering into the clouds, and you can only see it when you look up. The entire position is connected by a breastwork, winding and twisting, built along the mountain, and looks like a bit of the Great Wall.

The Japanese army decided to concentrate on Liliang first to seize the Sky Ridge, because this peak is the commanding height of the Nanbang battery group, and behind it are three coastal defense batteries, once they are occupied, they can control the batteries on the south bank of Weihai, and the entire defense system of China's Nanbang batteries will collapse.

On the other hand, even if the Guards all lost the other three land defense forts, Yang Fengling, and Lianziding, as long as they held the Sky Ridge, the South Gang Forts would not be lost.

Based on this, before the outbreak of the war, China had built the Motianling Fort as the largest fort in Asia. The fort is located on the flat top of the Sky Ridge, surrounded by a circular mound of earth, with a buttress every dozen paces for the gunner to aim and fire. There is an exit directly north of the fort, which is the road to enter and exit the fort. It is surrounded by a four-meter-deep trench, and obstacles such as deer, bamboo nails, thistles, and wooden thorns are piled up outside the ditch, and there are mines between the deep ditch and the obstacles. And on the steep slopes of the front, there are also a large number of mines.

The fort was made of mixed soil and glutinous rice juice, stirred and poured, and was extremely strong, with a total of seven heavy guns, four 210mm Krupp guns, and three 280mm Krupp steel guns transported from the Mawei Battery.

This cannon, which once caused great suffering to the French warships, is now being used against the Japanese. At the beginning of the construction, the Minister of Military Affairs Peng Yulin wanted to install these guns on the coastal defense fort, but Ding Yuntong personally ordered the security of Motianling, Peng Yulin once complained about this, but now the value of heavy artillery is reflected.

Not only did he have these seven guns, but Liu Mingchuan also placed the heavy artillery battalion of the Third Division on the Sky Ridge, so that the firepower on the fort was considerable. And if the weather permits, hot air balloons can also take off in the harbor and conduct fire command on artillery.

You must know that those heavy artillery have a long range, and if the enemy gets close to a range of one kilometer, he basically enters the blind spot of the heavy artillery, and can only rely on small-caliber artillery to kill and injure. Therefore, for heavy artillery, it is particularly important to rely on hot air balloons to locate long-range targets

The Guards held the fort and condescended, and here they gathered a brigade of troops, and the rest of the batteries had only one battalion.

Liu Mingchuan's division headquarters is in the tunnel on the top of the mountain, and a large amount of grain and salt is stored in the cave on the top of the mountain, which is enough for the entire brigade to hold out for ten days.

As soon as dawn dawned, the Japanese offensive began, and the 7th Division dispatched thousands of infantry to pounce on the Ferris Ridge, with the 13th Infantry Wing on the right flank, led by its wing commander Kamada Yoshimasa;

The 23rd Infantry Wing was in the center, led by Wing Commander Shizuoka Masayi Nakasa, followed by mountain artillery and engineers, and led by its captain Michiji Umezawa;

The 17th Infantry Wing, led by Wing Commander Katsubu Nakasa, was on the left flank, and the 6th Engineer Brigade, led by Captain Kawamura Masinao Nakasa, responded on the side.

Brigade commander Seizawa Okazawa led the 29th Wing to follow behind the large force, and division commander Kuroki Weizhen personally commanded the field artillery to cover the operation, and the entire 7th Division can be said to have exhausted its elite.

The Japanese troops, relying on the cover of trees and bushes, had just approached five kilometers in front of the mountain when they found two huge white spheres floating in the sky, on which flags of various colors were hung.

The Japanese army was not equipped with hot air balloons at this time, and most of the officers and soldiers did not know what this thing was for, but Okazawa Seidasa had studied in Europe and knew that this was called an artillery observation balloon, which was used to correct the position for long-range fire.

Soon the premonition came true, and there was a sharp whistling sound in the sky, as if someone had whistled in his ear, piercing the eardrums with severe pain, and then the cannonballs fell, kicking up a cloud of dust. With the screams, the formation of the Japanese troops on the march was chaotic, and everyone looked for cover on the spot.

After a period of confusion, the Japanese continued to advance, but after not taking a few steps, another shell hit, and after a few back and forth, the Japanese offensive formation had been disrupted.

As the sky got closer and closer to the Sky Ridge, the flying artillery fire became more and more intense, due to the guidance of the hot air balloon in the sky, the artillery fire always maintained a high degree of precision, almost following the bombardment of the Japanese army, every time the distance advanced, the number of casualties would continue to increase, and the cattle and horses carrying weapons, ammunition and equipment were frightened and galloped, making the sappers and artillerymen miserable. The most unlucky was Michiji Umezawa in the middle lane, a shell hit him directly a few meters in front of him, his head and shoulders were directly sliced by shrapnel, and he was shocked by the shock wave a hundred meters away.

After losing hundreds of people, the Japanese army finally came to Motianling, and began to charge under the cover of mountain artillery, the left flank attacked the most fiercely, braving the rain of bullets, regardless of the roar of mines, and soon rushed halfway up the mountain.

Several machine guns and field artillery bombarded violently, sweeping away all the people who rushed the most fiercely and shouted the loudest in front, and the wing commander Katsubu Nakasa Omuro was red-eyed, regardless of casualties, brandished a command knife and forced his subordinates to rush up, until he rushed to the top of the mountain, but it was difficult to move an inch in front of the combination of obstacles, deep ditches, and mines, and became a live target for the Guards, and more than 200 people were killed in a few minutes! Including Katsutake Omuro himself was also killed by a single shot, and when he died, his eyes were still wide open, and there was a large walnut-like hole in his head.

What a stormy blow it was! The officers and men of the Guards were all in high spirits, and this was a great time! It's more exciting than any shooting training, and with the crisp sound of gunfire, the enemies fall one by one, and the more fierce they jump, the faster they die, proving that this is an era of defense paramount.

After a while, the Japanese had to retreat, and the other two roads were not much better, they were pressed halfway up the hill by the fire of the Guards, unable to raise their heads, and after several hard fights, and after thousands of casualties, the Japanese had to suspend the attack. Nogi Noshinori believes that the Sky Ridge is difficult to conquer and that the target should be changed.

On the 21st, the Japanese army began to divide its forces to attack the rest of the forts, the defense of these forts was relatively weak, and there was also a lack of artillery, after a day of hard fighting, Nogi Noshinori captured the north of the city of the hundred-foot cliff on the east side, and the west Kuanjiro captured Yang Fengling, and the defenders were outnumbered, and they all withdrew to the coastal defense batteries such as Longmiaozui. Subsequently, Nogi Noshinori captured the lotus seed top, and the Japanese army had formed a siege of Motianling.

On the same day, the Japanese army on the North Road had also rushed to Weihaiwei, because Weihaiwei was in no danger to defend, and Zhang Gaoyuan, the defender of the North Gang Battery, only symbolically resisted, and then withdrew to the fort, commanding the 5,000 Guards Army to give the Japanese 10th Division a head-on attack.

On the 22nd, Nogi Noshinori tried to temporarily shelve Motianling, and the troops bypassed Yang Fengling and attempted to directly attack the Longmiaozui defended by Wang Debang, at this time the role of Motianling was reflected, all the field artillery was turned, condescending, attacking the Japanese army from the rear, Liu Mingchuan even continued to send Huang Shouzhong and Hu Kunshan and others, the whole regiment and the whole camp to harass, and the Chinese and Japanese sides were entangled back and forth for a whole day, without results.

Relying on the guidance of hot air balloons, those heavy artillery still bombarded the follow-up troops and supply lines of the Japanese army, and even one shell hit a field correspondent's regiment by chance, causing seven dead and thirteen wounded.

Zuihou, the Japanese came to the conclusion that without capturing Motianling, everything Jihua could not be carried out, and Nogi Noshinori took the initiative to ask Daishanyan to launch a "decisive attack" on Motianling.

On the 23rd, the 9th Division of the Japanese Army assembled in front of the Motianling, and Nogi Noshinori instructed all the officers and men: "The glory and disgrace of the empire are all related to the war against China, and the victory or defeat of the war is determined by whether it can annihilate its navy, and the Motianling in front of you is the barrier of the China navy." Therefore, all the soldiers must fight with all their might, live up to the emperor's order, and the trust of the people. ＂

At the same time, Dashan Yan mobilized all the artillery, built an artillery position in front of Motianling, and ordered the 7th Division to also be placed under the unified command of Nogi Noshinori.

Nogi Noshinori wrapped a white cloth around his head and gave an order to the whole army: "If the bullets can't get in, use cannonballs." If the cannonball doesn't get in, it's hit with a meat bullet. "Ask the soldiers to carry out suicide attacks and fill the Sky Ridge with flesh and blood.

On the afternoon of the 23rd, the weather turned bad, with strong winds and snowflakes, making the Chinese hot air balloon unable to use normally. Nogi Noshinori believed that the beauty of the heavenly prince was caused by the emperor's virtue, and he wrote a poem to show his intentions: "The fat horse and the big sword have not yet been paid, and the emperor's grace has been bathed in the spring and autumn for a few springs." Dou Scoop poured out his drunken dreams and broke through the four hundred states of China. ＂

Subsequently, the Japanese army's "meat bomb attack" on Motianling began.