In the black soil of the northeast, there are three wide and beautiful rivers, they are the Heilongjiang River that originates from the Mongolian Plateau, the Songhua River that originates from the Great Xing'an Mountains and the Ussuri River that originates from the Sikhote Mountains, among which the Songhua River and the Ussuri River eventually flow into the Heilongjiang River to the northeast, the distance between the two intersections is less than 150 kilometers, and in the middle is a vast swamp land called the "Three Rivers Plain".

On the edge of the vast swamps, several cities that are beginning to flourish are showing their vitality: Fujin on the west side of the Sanjiang Plain and on the right bank of the Songhua River, Fuyuan on the north side of the Sanjiang Plain and on the right bank of the Heilongjiang River, Boli (Khabarovsk) on the northeast of the Sanjiang Plain and on the left bank of the Heilongjiang River, Rao River on the southeast of the Sanjiang Plain and on the left bank of the Ussuri River, and Baoqing on the left bank of the Luoli River to the south of the Sanjiang Plain. The reason for the use of the term "de facto borders" is that the Chinese Empire has been claiming for more than a decade that the entire territory of more than 1 million square kilometers south of the Trans-Khingan Mountains and east of the Ergun River, including Sakhalin Island, which has been annexed by Russia since 1858, is within the territory of the Chinese Empire, but the Russian side refuses to recognize this on the basis of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Aihui in 1858 and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing in 1860. The Sino-Russian War broke out on the grounds that Russia had massacred the Chinese in Hailanpao and invaded the 64 Tun area in Jiangdong, claiming to protect all the Chinese in the occupied territories and attacking the Russian Far East.

In the early morning of September 9, 1903, Lieutenant General Xiao Lieri, commander of the Second Army of the Imperial Chinese Army, and Major General Hu Jingjing, chief of staff, arrived at the Rao River on the left bank of the Ussuri River. Raohe is a small county town with more than 40,000 inhabitants, and several new streets are being built, which alone shows the momentum of the previous prosperity of the town.

On this day, the city was different from the past, the construction of the new street had also stopped, and many people were driving carts full of things to the outside of the city, because the citizens knew that tens of thousands of soldiers had gathered outside the city, and it was obvious that there was going to be a fight, and the Russians on the opposite side also had artillery, and a few cannons came, and if they didn't do well, the whole family would die, and it would be a while to hide.

Xiao Lieri, whose character is Hongcheng, was Chinese New Year's Eve at the age of 37 and was the commander of the 10th "Golden Lion" Regiment of the Janissaries; during the Sino-Japanese War, he led the regiment in a bloody battle with the entire brigade of the Japanese general Nogi Noshinori for most of the day, and the whole regiment suffered nearly eighty percent casualties, and had to return to China to recuperate. The battle of neutralization made China and foreign countries sigh for its tragedy, and Xiao Lieri became well-known in China and became a model of "iron-blooded loyalty" reported by various newspapers. After Xiao Lieri recovered from his wounds, he led his troops to conquer Japan again, attacked Kobe, and personally beheaded the level of no calculation, and in the Battle of Sekigahara, he led the regiment to attack the position at the northern foot of Nangong Mountain, opening the way for the main attack force to detour behind the enemy. In May 1896, under the direct order of Marshal Liu Yun, chief of the General Staff, he led his brigade to raid the headquarters of the First Praetorian Guard Division, and arrested Major General Lu Zixiang, commander of the First Praetorian Guard Division, a major figure in Ding Jieyun's rebellion. After graduating, he successively served as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the commander of the infantry corps, and the commander of the military region. The army has the 7th Infantry Division, the 10th Infantry Division, the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, the 2nd Independent Artillery Brigade and the 30th Reserve Infantry Division, with a total strength of 112,000 troops.

At this time, Xiao Lieri was still as tiger-backed as he was back then, but the beard on his face during the First Sino-Japanese War had been replaced by a fashionable mustache, a pure black horse on his crotch, dressed in the navy blue general uniform of the Wehrmacht, and a dazzling silver dragon's eye inlaid with sapphire with six dragon claws on his left chest The fourth-class Blue Dragon Medal, under which he was pinned with platinum, white tiger and double feathers, and a tiger's eye with diamonds - this is proof that he is the brave of the brave, and he has more medals, but only need to hang out these two, It is enough to make the person who sees it either envious or jealous or ashamed. Xiao Lieri still has a saber with a gold and silver beast pattern sheath hanging from his waist, but this is just a pure decoration for him, and the weapon he really loves is supported by a guard on horseback, which is a Qinglong Glaive knife wrapped in a cloth sleeve, a war knife that has really slashed the bodies of hundreds of people, it is always carried by Xiao Lieri, and he takes it off and manipulates it as soon as he is interested, so that the guards look in a daze - that thing really weighs sixty-eight pounds.

Xiao Lieri's chief of staff, Hu Jingwei, was born in the first artillery specialty of Lu University, and was the commander of the artillery regiment of the forbidden 1st division during the first neutralization campaign, and was ordered to command three artillery battalions to support Xiao Lieri's forbidden 10th regiment to guard and neutralize. Because Hu was terrified of his outstanding performance in the First Sino-Japanese War, he was very satisfied with the higher-level command organs in organizing artillery operations in all cases, and was once called the "artillery king" by Liu Yun, the Duke of Wuwei, in public.

At this time, Hu Jingwei and Xiao Lieri immediately went telescopes on the banks of the Ussuri River, and each observed the opposite bank with a telescope.

A few miles north of the Rao River, there is a river named Bikin, which originates in the north of the Sikhote Mountains, flows into the Ussuri River to the west, traces the Bijin River from the confluence of the river and goes up less than ten miles, there is a village and town named Bijin (that is, named after the river) on the left bank of the Bijin River, the eastern section of the Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the river through the town, goes straight to Vladivostok (Vladivostok) to the south, and connects with Boli (Khabarovsk) to the north.

To the northwest of Bijin is the swampy land of the Sanjiang Plain, and to the south is the swampy plain formed by the alluvial formation of the three major rivers of the Bijin River, the Great Ussurka River and the Ussuri River, which is the only place for the Chinese army to block Vladivostok from the south and from the north, and the Russian army is obviously aware of this, and sent the 34th Regiment of Eastern Siberia to garrison around Bikin, and built a series of semi-permanent fortifications, in an attempt to hold back the Chinese army as long as possible, waiting for the troops of the Amur Military District and the Primorsky Military District to come to reinforce.

"Old Xiao, the time is almost up."

Hu said as he stroked the glass lid of his pocket watch, Xiao Lieri nodded slightly, and pointed his left hand to a dense forest on the right bank of the river.

"They are still there, and since three days ago, our men have been paying attention there, and there should be at least three infantry companies, six to ten cannons, just in front of the position where we are scheduled to erect the pontoon bridge, which is a great threat to our troops, and we must find a way to remove them."

"Don't worry, the artillery deployment operation I personally organized, as long as the firepower on the other side shows up, he will not be able to eat and walk around within a few minutes."

Xiao Lieri crossed his waist and smiled: "With you, the king of artillery, I will put ten thousand hearts." ”

"Don't dare to be, but then again, our army is divided into two ways to take Boli, and the distance between the two roads is two or three hundred miles, but it gives the other side a chance to break through, although the plan of the General Staff says that the Russian army in front of our army is weak, and the probability of taking the initiative to seek battle is very small, but if the other party's generals command properly, we can always suffer a lot of losses."

Hu Jingzhen's "taking Boli by two routes" is based on the plan of the General Staff, the 7th Infantry Division of the Second Army will cross the Ussuri River from the Rao River, capture Bijin, and then attack Boli from the south to the north; The 10th Infantry Division crossed the Heilongjiang River from Fujin to Hegang, captured Birobidzhan, and then advanced from west to east towards Boli, and together with the 7th Division, flanked the enemy in Boli. The 7th Division was responsible for the main attack on Burleigh, so it was equipped with two-thirds of the army's artillery and cavalry, and two brigades of the 30th Infantry Division would also follow the 7th Division to replenish possible attrition at any time.

According to the pre-war and last enemy briefing sent by the base camp to the field army headquarters on September 8, the Russian troops deployed in front of the Second Army are the 1st Army of the Russian Far East, which has the 1st and 2nd Infantry Divisions of the Far East and the 7th Cavalry Division of Siberia under its jurisdiction, as well as the garrison units of Khabarovsk (Boli) and Nikolaevsk (Temple Street), about 5 independent battalions, with a total strength of about 53,000 men, mainly relying on the Khabarovsk fortress group for defense. The Khabarovsk fortress complex consisted of 11 batteries and 6 fortresses, connected by a number of support points and a system of barbed wire trenches to form a circular defensive line, equipped with more than 140 large and small fortress guns. On the Chinese side on the other side of Khabarovsk, an area more than 100 kilometers long and dozens of kilometers deep is an undeveloped swamp area in the Sanjiang Plain, and it is difficult for troops to maneuver, so the General Staff decided not to attack Khabarovsk from the front, but to order the two main divisions of the Second Army to launch attacks on two starting positions 150 to 200 kilometers away in a straight line, cut off the enemy forces in Khabarovsk and the adjacent troops, and then encircle and annihilate them.

Hu's frightened worries seemed to Xiao Lieri to be a bit superfluous, because he felt that even with only one division, it would not be a problem to take Boli, although that division was not a Praetorian Division.

The Infantry Division of the Imperial Chinese National Defense Force in 1903 was a large, but far less powerful tactical unit of all arms than the Praetorian Guard Division.

Like the Janissary Division, the Wehrmacht Infantry Division had 12 men per squad, 3 squads per platoon, 3 platoons per company, 4 companies per battalion, 3 battalions per regiment, 3 regiments per brigade, and 3 brigades per division.

The direct units of the Wehrmacht infantry divisions were much inferior compared to the Praetorian Divisions, which had no cavalry regiments and only a cavalry reconnaissance battalion; There are only 4 battalions of the Wehrmacht divisional artillery regiment (the Janissaries have 5 battalions), two of which are equipped with 18 90-mm light howitzers each, and the other two battalions are each equipped with 18 105-mm cannons, unlike the divisional artillery of the Janissail, which has 36 150-mm heavy howitzers and 54 105-mm cannons.

At the brigade level, the Wehrmacht brigade artillery consisted of a battalion of 75-mm field guns and a 100-mm mortar battery, armed with 18 75-mm field guns and six 100-mm mortars, while the Janissaries brigade artillery had 18 90-mm light howitzers.

The regimental artillery batteries of the Wehrmacht were armed with six 57-mm mountain guns and three 80-mm mortars, while the regimental artillery of the Janissaries had six 75-mm mountain guns and three 100-mm mortars.

The F-FDTL battalion fire support platoon is armed with three 60-mm mortars and two heavy machine guns, while the battalion fire support company of the Janissaries is armed with two 80-mm mortars and two heavy machine guns.

At the grass-roots level, the Wehrmacht is equipped with two light machine guns for each company of machine gun squads, two 60 mm mortars and two light machine guns for each fire platoon of each company of the Janissaries, and one light machine gun for each infantry platoon, for a total of five light machine guns in the company.

Each infantry division of the National Defense Forces has about 34,000 personnel, and the full strength rate is about 80 percent in peacetime, and it takes three to one week to mobilize in wartime before it can fully exert its combat effectiveness.

The Wehrmacht Cavalry Brigade has about 6,500 personnel, which is the same as that of the Janissary Cavalry Brigade, but with a very different equipment.

The Wehrmacht cavalry brigade is equipped with a 57-mm light cavalry field artillery battery with 6 guns, an 80-mm mortar company with 6 guns, a machine gun company with 12 heavy machine guns.

The Janissary Cavalry Regiment was armed with 6 heavy machine guns and 18 light machine guns, 6 57-mm light cavalry field guns and 6 80-mm mortars. The Janissaries Cavalry Brigade is directly subordinate to a mixed artillery battalion under the brigade, equipped with 12 90-mm howitzers and 6 100-mm mortars, so that the brigade has a certain degree of ability to attack fortified positions.

In addition to General Liang Tianhe's Praetorian Field Army, the other three field armies under the jurisdiction of the Northeast Front Army were all composed of divisions and brigades of the Wehrmacht, which had the ability to destroy the Russian troops of the same level under the ideal equality of field operations, but when they encountered strong fortresses, they had to rely on the support of independent artillery units.

The separate 2nd Artillery Brigade assigned to the 2nd Army was also divided into three three-battalion regiments, of which the 1st Regiment was armed with 9 305mm siege guns, the 2nd Regiment was armed with 36 150mm heavy howitzers and 18 105mm cannons, and the 3rd Regiment was armed with 18 105mm cannons and 36 90mm rapid-fire light howitzers. In accordance with the spirit of the General Staff Headquarters, the Second Army transferred nine 305-mm siege guns, 24 150-mm heavy howitzers, 24 105-mm cannons, and 18 90-mm howitzers of the Independent Second Artillery Brigade to Raohe to support the 7th Division in breaking through the Ussuri River and moving north, while 12 150-mm heavy howitzers, 12 105-mm cannons, and 18 90-mm howitzers were transferred to Hegang to support the 10th Division's efforts to break through the Heilongjiang River and advance eastward.

In the early morning of 9 September, under Hu's terrified and meticulous arrangement, the Chinese artillery at Raohe smoothly entered the firing position, and all the divisional artillery of the 7th Division and the military artillery assigned to the 7th Division, a total of 146 cannons, were ready to go, just waiting for that order.

The heralds shuttled back and forth beside Xiao Lieri, and a series of reports continued to rise and fall.

"Report to the Commander! The military artillery floating observation company was lifted off, and 6 balloons were successfully lifted into the air! ”

"Report to the Commander! A Chinese airship appeared in the scheduled airspace, sending out a signal that 'it has entered the position and is ready to start operations at any time'. ”

"Report to the Commander! The commander-in-chief of artillery asks for instructions on action! ”

"Report to the Commander! The Commander of the Forward Battalion requests instructions for action! ”

……

"Request a directive for action? Hmph, anxious guys, no, the time is up. ”

Xiao Lieri rubbed the slippery mustache on the side of his mouth, clapped his hands, and a guard behind him hurriedly came over and asked, "What does the commander command?" ”

"Bring me my knife!"

The guard who carried the knife for Xiao Lieri immediately untied the cloth bag on the knife, and trembled and held the knife to Xiao Lieri's hand - this knife is also ridiculously heavy.

Hu shook his head in horror and smiled: "Old Xiao, when is it, do you still want to dance with this thing?" ”

"I didn't plan to dance with it, I just wanted to put it in my hands, and it was solid."

The guard behind him with a knife muttered to himself: "It's really collapsed, my shoulders are about to collapse - but the commander is playing with that iron lump like a straw, oh my God, our commander is really Guan Gong's reincarnation!" ”

"Herald! The whole army is on the move! ”

Xiao Lieri single-handedly lifted his two-man long Qinglong Glaive Knife, the blade pointed eastward, the tip of the knife pointed to the air, east, the bank of the Ussuri River was verdant and empty, and the blue sky was clear and the sun was shining.

The 146 cannons roared together, the dense forest where the Russian army was hidden was immediately a sea of fire, sawdust flew in all directions like the winter solstice snow, butterflies fluttered and fell on the leaves in the heavy rain of the earth, the branches and limbs on fire continued to fly together, and the desperate wails of human dying were like the whispers of ghosts in the forest.

"The Striker Battalion is on board!"

After receiving the report, Xiao Lieri remained silent.

"The forward battalion is crossing the river!"

Xiao Lieri dug out his ears with his little thumb, dug out a small lump of ear droppings, and threw it on the ground angrily.

"The forward battalion is under fire from the opposite bank!"

Xiao Lieri sneezed, and then laughed at himself that his wife and children at home missed him.

"The artillery unit has completed its first school firing and is firing at a new target!"

Xiao Lieri asked the herald to go to the commander of the Seventh Division.

"The forward battalion broke through to the enemy position! Artillery support stopped! The ferry is on its way back! ”

Xiao Lieri stuck the Qinglong Glaive upside down on the ground, holding the binoculars with both hands, staring at the opposite shore.

"The Forward Battalion sends a signal! Conquer the enemy's first-line position and develop towards the enemy's second-line position! ”

"Damn it, it's a shame, and you won't even say anything about asking for reinforcements!"

Xiao Lieri shouted, his face was full of joy, and at this time, Major General Chu Qing, the commander of the Seventh Division, ran over to report, and Xiao Lieri patted him on the shoulder and applauded again and again.

"The person you choose is good, you want such a person, quickly, let the follow-up troops go over to reinforce it, that kid must have suffered a lot."

"Yes, the 2nd Battalion is on board, and it will be there soon!"

Chu Qing responded, and was secretly proud in his heart.

This time, the forward battalion was set as the 1st Battalion of the 59th Regiment of the 20th Brigade of the 7th Division, the battalion commander Major Su Dingfang, a soldier, participated in the Sino-Japanese War, and served as a soldier under Xiao Lieri. Xiao Lieri took a fancy to this Su Dingfang early and planned to let him make a contribution, but it was inconvenient for him to speak, but Chu Qing was a clever person, and he figured out the commander's meaning in a few days, so the forward battalion successfully fell to the head of the first battalion of the 59th regiment.

Before 12 o'clock at noon, the Chinese army completely controlled the landing ground on the right bank of the Ussuri River, and began to erect pontoon bridges.

Su Dingfang greeted him in fear, stood and saluted, and shouted: "Commander! ”

"Xiao Su, well done, continue in the future, the people who came out of our Golden Lion Regiment are all steel and iron, hard! Remember, don't embarrass me, don't disgrace the Golden Lions! Don't disgrace the brothers who died in Korea and Japan! ”

"Commander, don't worry! Su Dingfang remembered it all! ”

When Su Dingfang heard the words of the dead brother, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Su Dingfang's family of five brothers, four joined the army, one died in North Korea, and two died in Japan.

During the day on September 9, the 7th Infantry Division of the Chinese Army completed the operation of crossing the Ussuri River at the cost of 27 killed and 82 wounded, captured 3 artillery pieces, and the Russian troops blocking the Chinese army crossing the river were killed 126, wounded 231, and captured 14.