For a long time, the commanders of the Japanese army have always had a common problem, in order to show their talent and Confucian demeanor, they will lose no time in creating some Chinese limericks that seem to be incomprehensible and seem to understand non-understanding, such as the supreme commander of the Japanese Army, Yama Prefecture Aritomo, including Nogi Noshinori, etc., are all lovers of these limericks. Of course, the level of poetry is very boring, and in the eyes of the insider, they are completely beginners.

Just as Nozu Daoguan and other vassals were elegant, in a temporarily excavated and simple cave in Pingcheng, Liu Jintang was carefully looking at the map. Although the daytime battle was fierce and the losses were heavy, with nearly a thousand casualties, it only increased his confidence.

Judging from the attack lineup of the Japanese army, there were at least two divisions, although the other side attacked fiercely and charged frantically in waves, but through several contacts, Liu Jintang still had a lot of understanding of the Japanese army and also understood the flaws of the other side.

Although the officers and men of the other side are generally brave and fierce, and they also like to outflank the rear road, their offensive tactics are very simple and rigid, and their firepower is insufficient, especially the number of artillery is very limited, and there are almost no heavy weapons such as machine guns.

Liu Jintang came to the conclusion that the most appropriate tactic for dealing with the Japanese army was to remain calm, adopt a steady style of play, not to use aggressive and risky surprise attacks, and not to disrupt the battle with the Japanese army. Accurately predict the movements of the opposing side, arrange well-defended positions, organize a powerful network of firepower, and all that remains is slaughter, slaughter, and slaughter.

He wrote a report on his experience and sent it to Beijing, and at the same time ordered the defenders of Pyongyang to begin preparations for retreat, destroying everything that could be destroyed, leaving a rubble of rubble to the Japanese army.

At this time, the 7th Division, stationed in Pyongyang, began to destroy the city step by step.

Pyongyang originally had tens of thousands of residents, some of whom had already fled because of the war, and the remaining thousands of people were also mobilized to retreat to the north.

The government has already issued a notice from door to door, and the evacuated families will be given three liters of millet to each household, and those who cannot be removed will stay, anyway, when the time comes, no matter whether there is anyone or not, all the houses will be burned down, and those who are burned to death deserve to be burned inside.

In fact, there is no need to force it, the news of the Japanese army's massacre of Seoul has already spread all over the world, and the people hate the Japanese army to the bone, but they are afraid to avoid it. Many people even hated the same enemy, responded to the government's call, packed up their bags, received millet, and directly set fire to their homes.

Seeing that the people's hearts were available, the Guards paid to hire the people to carry the materials together. All the gold, silver, pearls, jade, grain, ammunition, medicines, silk, cloth, clothing, shoes and socks, bedding, cattle, sheep, donkeys, horses, etc., were loaded onto the train and carried away.

All the houses were destroyed, including shops, temples, houses, etc., and even the official yamen were burned down, so as not to give the enemy a place to shelter from the wind and snow.

Dead rats were thrown into the wells, and large stones were filled with them, and even the trees and flowers were spared. In short, everything that could be destroyed was destroyed, and not even a single plank or grass could be left for the Japanese.

The intense burning and destruction lasted for half a month, and by the beginning of January 1884, there was not a single building left in the entire city of Pyongyang, except for the camp of the Guards.

Pyongyang's thousand-year-old history has been destroyed by wars many times, but it has never been so clean and thorough as this one, Pyongyang as a city has become a historical term, and all it has here is rubble and scorched earth surrounded by a ring of walls.

Subsequently, the Guards began to withdraw from Pyongyang one after another, taking a train to the north, and Wu Zhaoyoubu was the first to retreat.

On December 28, the Japanese Second and Third Armies had landed in Haiju, Bupuri and other places. In Jianghua Bay, south of Haizhou, hundreds of Japanese ships were connected end to end, and Japanese military flags were everywhere, including those of the army and the navy.

Japan's naval flag is very similar to the army flag, both of which are a round of the rising sun, radiating ten thousand golden rays. But the sun in the center is the army flag, and the sun in the center and to the left is the navy flag.

The Supreme Commander, Yama Prefecture Youpeng, stood on the hillside on the shore, looking at the majestic military appearance with great ambition, and couldn't help but be full of pride.

Yama Prefecture Aritomo was born in the Choshu Domain, a hero of the Meiji Restoration, and at the same time the leader of Japan's military reform, known as the "father of the imperial army", and the most powerful promoter of Japan's foreign aggression and expansion.

Since the beginning of the "Theory of the Conquest of Korea," there has been a popular mantra among Japanese expansionists, that is, "drinking horses in the Yalu River." Historically, Japanese troops occupied Pyongyang only during the Battle of Munroku (1592), and never reached northern Korea, let alone entered the borders of China. When the Japanese army entered Pyongyang in 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was once carried away and could not be defeated, and then planned to enter China the following year, and captured Beijing, moved the Japanese capital here, and used the ten surrounding counties as "Gongsheng Shang (Emperor) Emperor". Although Toyotomi's fantasies are disillusioned, Yamaguchi Aritomo wants to realize Toyotomi's unfinished ambitions. Shanxian was not satisfied with "drinking horses on the Yalu River", what he had in mind was a "big strategy", that is, Jihua first took Northeast China, then carried out the Zhili Operation, and captured Beijing, which was the "mainland dream" that he had been thinking about for a long time.

Standing on the land of the Korean Peninsula today, Youpeng of Yama County has finally come into contact with the coveted "mainland dream".

After two days of adjustment and assembly, on December 30, the Japanese Second Army, commanded by Prince Akihito Komatsumiya, set off for Nampo, preparing to cross the Zaeyongjiang River and attack Pyongyang from the southwest; The Third Army, under the personal command of Yama Arm, went to Sariwon, crossed the Hwangju River, and attacked the Pyongyang area from the southeast. Jihua of Shan County attacked Pyongyang from both sides with superior forces and took this important town in one fell swoop.

Due to several heavy snowfalls, the already rugged road was completely buried, and only a white expanse was left between heaven and earth, and the route of the previous march of the First Army had been completely lost, and both Japanese armies marched in extremely difficult conditions.

Before the war, Japan had anticipated the hardships of fighting in a foreign country, so although the number of its divisions and regiments reached more than 18,000, the number of combatants was only about 12,000, and the remaining more than 6,000 people specialized in various logistical work.

Because of the harsh climate, pack cattle die a lot, and it is extremely difficult to transport auxiliary weights. The supplies could not be transported, the grain and grass could not be supplied, and the military march was very slow. The Japanese army searched for fleeing Korean civilians every day to act as people's husbands and forcibly requisitioned horses and cattle, but there was no man's land everywhere, and most of the people along the road were driven away by the Chinese army, and the rest fled to the mountains.

Therefore, each Japanese soldier had to carry his own heavy loads forward, barely meeting the needs of transportation. For example, 1 mountain cannon can be broken down into 6 components, plus a base shell of 20 rounds, which originally required 6 to 7 mules to carry it, but now the animal power is not enough, so it can only transport the mountain cannon components, and the rest of the shells have to be carried by the soldiers themselves.

On 6 January, the Third Army had reached the east bank of the Datong River and launched a tentative assault on the positions at Funhashi-ri.

At this time, the retreat of the Guards was in progress, and Chen Jiabu had already left Pyongyang as the second group. However, after experiencing the in-depth decoy of the Sino-French war, the size of the Chinese officers and soldiers has become more sophisticated. The resistance on the first day was still very fierce and showed no signs of retreating. It was only on the second day that he began to slowly retreat, and Zuihou all retreated along the pontoon bridge to the east bank.

On the other hand, the Japanese Second Army had also reached the southwestern suburbs and successfully captured the Shanchuandong area. At this time, Fang Yousheng's department of the Guards had also retreated, leaving only Jin Shun personally commanding more than 4,000 people. From the evening of January 7, the artillery of the Guards ran out of shells that they had not been able to take away, and the rumbling of the artillery continued until midnight, crackling and very lively.

The direction of the mountain and river cave outside the city is the main target, which has become the advance position of the Japanese Second Army, and the continuous artillery fire did not cause many casualties, but the Japanese army quarreled all night, and the commander Katsura Taro, Hasegawa Yoshimichi and others were very happy: the Chinese artillery is so aimless, it will only waste ammunition, it can be seen that the quality is not high, relying on artillery to strengthen the courage. But the Chinese are really rich!

By January 8, Kim Soonbu withdrew from Pyongyang, boarded a train and retreated north from the direction of Peony Peak, and before leaving, he carried out Zuihou sabotage: the telegraph line, the railway and the station were also blasted.

In less than an hour, the Japanese soldiers entered Pyongyang and sent back a report: "The Chinese have all fled!" ”

Youpeng and others in Shan County were very surprised by this, they were going to fight a bloody battle, but they succeeded so easily, and they couldn't help but make some generals suspicious.

However, the report was soon confirmed, and the generals entered the city happily as if they had picked up a big bargain. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the city, the oncoming scene surprised everyone, and the commander of the Fifth Division, Ao Baogong, was full of doubts: "Did we go to the wrong place?" ”

Youpeng in Shanxian immediately reacted and shouted angrily: "Zhina bastard, Bagaya Road!" Where is this Pyongyang, this is simply Siberia! ”