Beginning on the night of September 27, the news spread throughout Seoul that a large amount of grain had been burned, and that it would not be long before the Japanese would besiege the city, and when foreign aid would be cut off, everyone would have to starve to death.

The news spread throughout the night, causing hundreds of thousands of people in Seoul to panic and live all day.

By September 28, seeing that the news had almost spread, under the manipulation of Yuan Shikai, North Korean officials officially announced a terrible situation: the grain in Seoul could only last for three days, and after three days, all grain depots would be empty, all rice shops would be closed, all government relief would be canceled, and in a word, everyone would starve.

So the only way is for everyone to leave here to find a way to survive before the Japanese army surrounds Seoul, and the government will open the east gate to let the people escape.

In the next two days, the North Korean government sent all its personnel, no matter what they had done before, such as clerical care, warehouse watching, prison guards, sanitation workers, and even those who performed North Korean songs for the government, and knocked on doors, notices, orders, and intimidation from door to door, saying that if they did not leave, they would not be able to run away if they wanted to, and they could only wait to starve to death, and even if they did not starve to death, they would have to do hard labor and be punished after the war. Those who are willing to leave can be given a little travel fare, as well as a piece of yellow paper, a "certificate of allegiance to the state", and in the future, when the Japanese retreat, they can get a stone of rice with this "certificate of reward" and so on.

Under the government's coercion, intimidation, intimidation, and scolding, countless Seoul people began to pack up one after another, and gradually gathered in the square near the east gate of Seoul. People are gathering more and more, filling the entire Dongcheng District.

And those who have left their homes and regretted wanting to come back will be faced with sharp bayonets. Yoon Tae-jun re-recruited hundreds of North Korean stragglers and used them as pickets to monitor the people to stay honestly in Dongseong-gu. Although these North Korean soldiers are not good at fighting, they are still majestic and competent and happy to deal with the common people.

On September 30, 1883, in the early morning, the east gate of Seoul finally opened, and the people who were about to go crazy suddenly swarmed out, like an endless torrent, surging towards the eastern tide of Seoul.

Weishenme wants to open the east gate? Weishenme isn't the West Gate, the South Gate, or the North Gate?

This was specially formulated by Ding Yuntong based on the battlefield situation described by Yuan Shikai. The main force of the Japanese army is in the direction of Mount Esheng at the east gate, so simply drive all the people in that direction to "drive sheep and feed wolves". If the Japanese ignore it, the food pressure in Seoul will be drastically reduced, and the determination of the Chinese army to fight for victory will also deter the opponent. If the Japanese had stopped, they would have caused a large number of casualties and had completely turned themselves into demons.

The continuous flow of fleeing people continues, and the avenue outside the east gate is endless, shoulder to shoulder. By noon, more than 100,000 people had poured out of Seoul, and the crowd in front had approached Mount Esan.

Standing at the top of the mountain, Takashima Tonosuke and Akiyama Yoshiko were completely dumbfounded, and now even without binoculars, the two of them can clearly see that the endless stretch in front of the mountain is like an ocean, dense like an ant colony, and there is no end to the flow of fleeing people. And Seoul in the distance, like a monster, is still spitting out endless "ant colonies" with its mouth open.

Akiyama Yoshigu was the first to react: "What a vicious Chinese, this is simply charging at the common people, more ruthless than the samurai of the empire!" He immediately told Takashima that this was killing two birds with one stone, which not only relieved the pressure on food, but also caused problems for the Japanese army. If left unchecked, the entire line of defense will be swept to pieces by refugees.

Therefore, Akiyama suggested that the refugees must be stopped, bombed back to Seoul, and the food pressure in Seoul must be maintained.

Takashima thought that he could not be so cheap for the Chinese.

The Japanese army immediately took measures to block it, and it was about 10 miles from outside the east gate to Esheng Mountain, and the Japanese army set up a blockade line two miles in front of Esheng Mountain, prohibiting all personnel from passing, setting up a sentry every 50 meters, and digging trenches, tightly connecting the parts, eliminating the gaps, and preventing refugees from coming out.

In the afternoon, the dense flow of refugees was finally blocked in front of Mount E, and a few people tried to force their way across the trench, but they were all shot dead by the Japanese army on the spot, which completely shocked the subsequent refugees. In desperation, they can only turn back, hoping to return to Seoul.

The people in Seoul did not know anything about this, and under the urging and persecution of the government forces, they still poured out of the East Gate like a tidal wave, and at this time nearly 200,000 people had left Seoul, equivalent to more than half of the population of Seoul, and the middle zone from the outside of the city to Mount Esa was crowded.

At this time, it was already dusk, and the flow of people returning to the front began to collide with the rear, and slowly more and more North Koreans began to turn around and want to go back to the city.

On the city tower, Yuan Shikai, who had been observing with a telescope, felt that he couldn't hesitate, and maybe there would be a tide of returning to the city later. He immediately ordered the closure of the eastern gate of Seoul.

So, in the stunned eyes of thousands of people, the east gate was slammed shut, and all the 200,000 people who had already left the city were locked out of the city. They shouted outside the city, banging on the gates and walls, but there was no response. Some of them had to go back to the winter, and they still got merciless bullets.

The sea of people set off waves and rolled back and forth between the East Gate and Mount Esan, but every time it was like hitting an impregnable seawall, although the waves were very large, they could not take a step beyond the thunder pool.

To the west is the cold and tall city walls, to the east and north is a death blockade with black muzzles and bright bayonets, and to the south is the raging Han River. They were resolutely abandoned by this shijie.

It was already past dusk, and the sky was getting darker, and the poor and miserable people were at last desperate, and there was a miserable cry, shouting, and cursing all outside the east gate, and they angrily threw stones into the city, which should have been their home, but now the end of the world was beyond reach. The women raised their babies in their hands, hoping that they could bring the babies into the city, that someone would show mercy and save these hungry little lives.

But in response to them was Seoul, which was as silent as a tomb.

On the city tower, Ma Jianzhong couldn't bear it, and said to Yuan Shikai: "Is it too pitiful to open the door and let some in." ＂

Yuan Shikai sighed: "As long as this city gate is opened, you will never want to close it again, until you take everyone back, everything will fail, the Japanese think that they have a plan, and their morale will be greatly boosted, and when the emperor blames it, what is the answer that my brother is going to make?" ＂

He saw that Ma Jianzhong was speechless, and said: "I don't know the pain of death, how can I know the joy of life." If the Japanese do not win the war, the people who will suffer in this way will be tenfold or hundredfold. War, this is something that cannot be helped, we have to compare with the Japanese, who is more ruthless. ＂

Ma Jianzhong could only shake his head.

When night came, torches were lit outside the city, and people finally gave up the illusion of returning to the city. For them, if they want to survive, they can only go out and rush, the walls of Seoul are impassable, but the trenches of the Japanese army can be gambled.

Finally, a large number of people began to force their way through the blockade, blocked by rows of bullets, and soon thousands of people fell in the chaos, coupled with serious squeezing and stampede, the number of casualties was uncountable, and the corpses quickly filled the trench, but the Japanese army did not hesitate to consume a large number of guns and bullets, and forced these refugees back.

This has become a moment of fighting spirit between the Chinese and Japanese armies, and whoever is soft-hearted and open-minded is tantamount to telling the other side that he is not fierce enough and tough enough.

These poor refugees either knelt in groups under the city walls or in front of the Japanese blockade, begging for a way to live, but the Chinese and Japanese armies resolutely refused.

In the dark night outside Seoul, the cries of refugees shook the wilderness, as if it were a hell of a nose, and it was unbearable to see.

Ma Jianzhong sighed in the city: "Xing, the people are suffering; Death, the people are suffering! ＂

In the rough South China Sea, a group of Japanese warships flying the flag of the rising sun is escorting several merchant ships. Since the sinking of Nishikyo Maruyo, Japan suddenly realized the vastness of the battlefield and had to send a garrison fleet under the command of Gonbei Yamamoto to escort ships in the South China Sea. Since Japan did not have a naval base in this area, it was impossible to patrol for a long time, so it could only let merchant ships form a group, and then escort them by a unified fleet. During the escort process, they were also often harassed by Chinese warships.

On the other hand, the Japanese standing fleet was also constantly maneuvering in the Yellow Sea, trying to find the Chinese fleet for a decisive battle, or to intercept the Chinese supply ships, but to no avail.

Subsequently, under the orders of the base camp, the commander of the fleet, Ito Yuheng, decided to make a tentative attack on the Chinese naval port of Weihaiwei. On October 1st, the weather was clear, and the dazzling sun paved the sea with a layer of gold. The 12 warships of the Japanese standing fleet, lined up in a single column, gradually approached the waters off the Shandong Peninsula. The flag of the flagship Mubang is hoisted high, and Ito Yuhiro stands on the bridge, dressed in a white navy uniform, looking into the distance.

Traveling 20 nautical miles (equivalent to 37 kilometers) east of Rongcheng Bay, the signal corps suddenly reported: "Fleet spotted ahead!" Ito immediately ordered all personnel to be on alert. Immediately, all the officers and men who had been nervously on standby immediately entered combat posts.

As the distance between the two sides approached, the huge red dragon flag on the opposite warship could already be faintly seen through the telescope, Ito Yuhyi was very excited, and the long-awaited decisive moment came inadvertently, and he immediately entered the battle state of the entire fleet, and the sirens on the warship kept sounding.

It was none other than China's main fleet, which was patrolling the minefield as is customary today, but I didn't expect to run into the Japanese fleet here.

The fleet was marching in two parallel columns, and the two ironclad ships of Qinglong and Baihu were at the head, and the commander of the fleet, Shen Shoukun, stood on the White Tiger, carefully observed the opposite side, and ordered the fleet to change its formation and prepare for battle according to the predetermined plan.

The first sea battle of the Sino-Japanese War took place without warning.