(At the behest of the editor, chapters 78, 83, 86, 88, 111, 112, 113, and 118 of this book will be deleted, of which chapter 78 will be deleted as a whole, and now it's just a matter of dealing with some details of the plot connection, and it will be deleted and completed tomorrow, and the subsequent chapters will just be updated, xiexie.) ）

Early in the morning of October 30, 1883, Ban Phong Song, Laos. The name here is the city, but in fact it is just a large loose peasant settlement, the morning light is faint, and there are bamboo buildings and wooden stilt houses in the middle of the continuous farmland, which is completely an idyllic scenery of farming.

But at this time, the whole area was filled with murderous sounds, guns roared, and the rice seedlings in the fields were beaten into the air wrapped in muddy water. The main force of the Chinese patrol army fought here with the Siamese army all night, Pan Dingxin used all his strength, and has been holding on until now, but he can no longer hold on, all the reserves are used up, and the most terrible thing is that the ammunition is about to run out. Because the Siamese army was charging so fiercely, in order to suppress the other side, the patrol had to open fire with all their might, and the Grusen shells had been completely exhausted.

Zhao Paye. Surriwang, Siam's veteran minister, Chulalongkorn served as regent for a time after his succession, at this time he was the commander of the "Rama Division" and the commander of the first wave of Siam's offensive forces. His face is dark, his body is short, but his eyes are bright, his two nasolabial folds are as long as knives, he is not angry and arrogant, and he is called "the silent lion" in the army.

He was holding a telescope to observe the situation on the battlefield, and he already clearly felt that the firepower of the Chinese army had been greatly weakened. Previously, he had always hidden the "Rama Division" as a reserve at critical moments, but only used other old Siamese troops, launching repeated attacks, constantly depleting the opponent's ammunition and morale.

At this time, he felt that the time was ripe, and looked back at the half-squatting, densely packed officers and soldiers behind him, and with a wave of his hand, an order signal was immediately issued in the army.

Unlike other countries that use military horns to herald orders, Siam's herald tool is an elephant foot drum, which is very national. As the rumbling sound sounded, the Rama division, which had been waiting for a long time, was like a tiger descending from the mountain, and the dragon went out to sea, letting out a tsunami-like roar, and swooped straight towards the Chinese position in front.

In just a moment, Pan Dingxin knew that the general trend had gone, and he had no choice but to order the whole army to retreat to the north, but the position had been completely disrupted and faced a collapse.

Seeing this, Pan Dingxin came up with a bad move, and ordered people to scatter the gold, pearls, and gems that he had originally collected, including more than 20,000 taels of silver, on both sides of the road, and scatter them while fleeing, so as to attract the attention of the pursuers.

This trick really worked, and most of the Siamese officers and soldiers were poor, and when they saw the gold and silver on the roadside, they went to pick it up. In particular, the old Siamese army completely lost order and fell into a frenzied rush.

Faced with this chaotic situation, Chao Paye. Surriwang, on the contrary, feared that the Chinese army would kill the rifles, so he ordered to stop the pursuit, and ordered the Rama division to cover while gathering the troops on the spot. This decision also allowed Pan Dingxin to escape the catastrophe and retain thousands of remnants.

On the afternoon of the 30th, Pan Dingxin took these thousands of people to withdraw from Ban Xintai across the Nan'e River, and directly abandoned Vientiane City, without looking back.

On the 31st, Zhao Huaiye's troops had also been defeated and retreated, and the two remnants converged at Wanrong, one hundred and twenty kilometers north of Vientiane, and counted them, there were still about 8,000 people, but the weapons were almost completely lost.

While reorganizing the troops, Pan Dingxin sent a report to Beijing asking for guilt, and it is estimated that he will have to be cut down for several years if he does not die.

On November 1, Ding Yuntong received the report of defeat from the south, and he did not feel any frustration, he actually expected this result for a long time. As the greatest monarch in the history of Siam, Chulalongkorn had been preparing for war for so long, with great assistance from Japan, and it would be illogical to be able to repel it with a single patrol.

Such a result just made Siam feel at ease and boldly send all the main forces up, and as long as the "Lushan Jihua" was successfully implemented, Siam would be greatly injured, and the rest would be at the mercy of China.

At the same time, he also received a secret report from North Korea, according to various circumstances, the Japanese army carried out a brutal massacre after occupying Seoul, and the specific death toll is incalculable, but it is conservatively estimated that there are tens of thousands. Therefore, many ministers have suggested that this issue should be made in a big way to create public opinion in the international community.

Ding Yuntong thought about it, but still rejected the proposal. In the long run, the Japanese army's massacre and abuse of the Korean people is beneficial to China, because it will make North Korea more firmly on China's side. If the atrocities of the Japanese are publicized in the international community, what can be done if public opinion is in an uproar, and if the Japanese rein in and rectify military discipline, will it be self-defeating?

On the same day, the Siamese army held a grand ceremony in Vientiane, and tens of thousands of officers and soldiers lined up in a neat queue and entered the city in a mighty manner.

The capture of Vientiane gave Siam enough reason to ask Japan for assistance. Previously, according to the agreement between the two sides, Japan was to pay 8 million yen to Siam, which is equivalent to 5.5 million taels of silver. However, Japan's own finances are also very difficult, and it is a bit painful to come up with 8 million yen at once, so it will give 3 million yen first, and the rest will be paid off when the Siamese army reaches the Chinese border. Japan's attitude made the Siamese government very annoyed, the previous agreement between the two sides was not like this, but there was no other way, at this moment Siam and Japan are facing a common enemy, and any resentment can only be buried in the heart.

The victory in the first battle greatly increased Siam's confidence, and the original fear of China's behemoth disappeared for a while. Under Chulalongkorn's remote command, the second wave of Siam's army quickly advanced towards the Mekong, and the first wave, after a two-day break, began its advance towards Xiangshangliao on 3 November.

The attack on Siam made Japan even happier, and the government and the opposition cheered and jubilated, and with the response of the south, Japan was more confident of defeating China, and the base camp also ordered the Japanese troops assembled in Seoul to attack north immediately.

It's November 5th. The Japanese First Army had completed the landing and assembled in Seoul. Although the nominal commander of the First Army was Prince Arisugawa Miyashihito, the de facto commanders were Michikan Nozu of the 1st Division and Sakuma Sakuma of the 2nd Division.

On 8 November, the 1st Army began to move north along the front direction of Pyongyang, South Hwanghae-do, while the 6th Division was flank-approaching Pyongyang along Gangwon Province, and Jihua was to reach the outskirts of Pyongyang in mid-November.

And in Pyongyang, the Guards are also being deployed defensively under the command of Liu Jintang, commander of the First Army. The First Army included 24,000 men from the 7th and 9th Divisions of the Guards, 3,500 remnants of Su Yuanchun's brigade, and more than 2,000 from Wu Zhaoyou's army, with a total strength of nearly 30,000 troops.

Liu Jintang, whose name is Yizhai, started in the Hunan Army, and had just turned forty years old at this time. He once served as the main force to quell the Tongzhi rebellion in the northwest region, and was also the actual commander of the recovery of Xinjiang. His fighting style is not afraid of strong enemies, dares to fight, is brave and tenacious, and at the same time has the command ability of calm and witty, flexible and mobile, and surprisingly victorious, and is called "unparalleled in the world" by Zuo Zongtang.

Pyongyang is the main transportation route in the north of North Korea and the only way to China. To the east and south is the Taedong River, and to the west is the Pyonggang River, a tributary of the Taedong River, and the Chinese-built railway goes around the foot of Peony Peak in the north to the Qixingak Pavilion under the city of Pyongyang.

Liu Jintang believes that the city of Pyongyang is tall and strong, and there are rivers on both sides to cover it, so it is not difficult to defend, and the most important place should be the peony platform on the peony peak. Because as long as you hold the Peony Terrace, you can hold the railway line behind, so that the guards can advance and retreat freely and be fully supplied.

Therefore, he placed the core of defense on the Peony Terrace, and ordered the commander of the 7th Division, Jin Shun, and the brigade commander Chen Jia to lead 7,000 guards, as well as Li Zuyuan's two Korean battalions of 1,000 people, to defend this place, and built a large number of forts and batteries on the Peony Terrace, and planted a large number of mines in front of the mountain.

The brigade commander Fang Yousheng was ordered to lead 5,000 people to be stationed in the boat bridge on the east bank of the Datong River, and to build a pontoon bridge on the Datong River to open up traffic.

Oh Sig-you led 2,500 men, as well as Yoon Tae-jun's two North Korean battalions of 1,000 men, to defend the area around Sancheon-dong in the southwest of Pyongyang and cover Pyongyang from behind.

Liu Jintang himself led a complete Ninth Division and was stationed in Pyongyang as a reserve. His wishful thinking was to take advantage of the dangerous mountains and rivers and the fortified city barriers, gradually consume the offensive spirit of the Japanese army, and choose the right time to use the Ninth Division to deal a fatal blow to the enemy.

The battle for Pyongyang is about to break out.