On the night of 16 June 1883, Ding Yuntong received a telegram from the north and south lines at the same time, describing the battle in detail, and the conclusion was similar: the enemy's position had been defeated, and our army's position was solid.

In fact, he had already received a secret report from the military commander before, and this result made him feel relieved. He was not worried about the south side, and with the strength of his left precious troops, he should be able to block the enemy army. "Lushan Jihua" is already being implemented, and it is believed that in the next two days, the offensive and defensive situation in the south will be reversed.

He is mainly worried about the north, the impression of the Qing army in the previous life is too profound, although the Guards have undergone ideological restoration, weapon updates, strict training, and the baptism of brutal actual combat, its combat effectiveness is not trivial, but after all, this is the first large-scale duel with the Japanese army, a good blade is not sharp, not only to see how bright it is to grind, but also to see whether the cut fat is thick enough.

Although the strength of the Japanese army participating in the war, at present, there are almost three divisions, and the Guards repelled the fierce attack of the other side with inferior forces, which is enough to prove that the "knife" of the Guards is sharp enough, which will make Ding Yuntong more confident to participate in the future battle for Shijie.

He thought happily in his heart: "As long as the level of industrialization continues to improve, the speed of increase in the Guards will become faster and faster, and when we have hundreds of thousands or even millions of Guards in our hands, I dare not say anything else. When the time comes, the princesses of Siam, the princesses of Japan, and even the noblewomen of Arabia want them to go to Beijing to sleep, and it is not a matter of Lao Tzu's words, dare to pop out of the teeth without half a word, and Lao Tzu will directly destroy you! ”

In fact, it doesn't make much sense for him to do whatever he wants in China, he is the son of heaven, he is already rich all over the world, and now he is pursuing global hegemony, which can make people secrete adrenaline, increase hormones, open up their appetite, and shake the tiger's body!

It's so beautiful to think about, Ding Yuntong sighed, now we must do everything in a down-to-earth manner, do not make fatal mistakes, win the war externally, and annihilate the Blackstone Society internally, and must not be careless. Ding Yuntong believes that the next assassination of Jihua must already be in the works!

Although according to the secret report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there was no change in the "Wu Dog" being monitored, but Ding Yuntong was unwilling to sit back and wait for Heishi to make a move, a few days ago he had instructed Zhao Bingjun to execute a jihua to "lure the snake out of the hole", lure Heishi to reveal flaws, and then give a fatal blow! Jihua's code name is "Chinese Dream", and when you wake up from a dream, it will be the end of the Blackstone Society!

On the same night, Zhonghe County, on the east bank of the Datong River, was a small and simple town, with low and dilapidated houses, narrow and rugged streets, and filth on both sides.

At this time, the North Korean people had no concept of public health, epidemic prevention and health care, and domestic garbage and even urine and urine were dumped at will, flowing everywhere, and the smell was stinking, like hell.

In a temple in the southwest of the town, the senior generals of the Japanese army were holding a military meeting, and the atmosphere of the meeting was very depressing. The offensive during the day did not make any progress, and the casualties of the troops were very heavy, especially the 6th Division, which was known for its bravery, suffered the heaviest losses, with nearly 2,000 men killed from the division commander Gu Ganseong down, and the losses on the east bank of the Taedong River and southwest of Pyongyang, so that there were more than 4,000 casualties on the first day of the attack.

This figure surprised the base camp extremely much, and the army chief of staff Dashan Yan even went out of his way to ask if the report on the front line was written incorrectly, and an extra zero was added to the back?

The Japanese commanders were frustrated by the fact that the Chinese defenses relied on strong fortified fortresses and suffered relatively few casualties, and that the Chinese were apparently well supplied with ammunition and were unsparing in their firepower.

The meeting was quickly divided into two opinions, the commander of the 2nd Division, Sakuma Zamata, the 1st Army Chief of Staff Oshima Yoshimasa, and the acting commander of the 6th Division, Masashi Terauchi, believed that the core of the defense of the Chinese position was in the northeast Mudandai, so it was necessary to aim at the southwest and continue the onslaught.

On the other hand, the commander of the 1st Division, Michikan Nozu, the staff officer Yusaku Ueno, and the acting chief of staff of the 6th Division, Yoshiko Akiyama, believed that China's position was very strong, and the Japanese army lacked heavy artillery at present, and even if it cost a huge price to capture the fortress group in the southwest, it would be difficult to affect Pyongyang City.

The two opinions were disputed, and the quarrel was so red that the commander of the First Army, Prince Azukigawa Palace, could not make a decision.

In fact, this man did not have the ability to command large battles, and the reason for his high status as a lieutenant general was mainly because he was the uncle of Emperor Meiji. During the Boshin War's crusade against the shogunate, he served as the generalissimo of the Eastern Expedition and made great military achievements, but it was Saigo Takamori who actually commanded him. This time, he encountered the hard bone of the Chinese Guards, the attack was ineffective, and there was controversy, and he, the nominal commander, could no longer be the shopkeeper, so he had to come out to play a round and make a compromise decision: the 2nd Division could attack the southwest according to the original Jihua, and the 1st and 6th Divisions would suspend the offensive and only use firepower to contain the enemy.

In the area of Shanchedong, southwest of Pyongyang, there were 2,500 guards of Wu Zhaoyou and two Korean battalions of 1,000 men of Yoon Tae-jun. The so-called "dong" in North Korea does not refer to a cave, but is an administrative division unit, equivalent to a street or village in China.

On November 17, before the sky was completely clear, the Japanese Second Division, which was eager to make meritorious contributions, launched an attack on Shanchuan Cave.

In the hilly area in front of the mountain and river caves, the Japanese bombarded the positions of the Chinese troops with artillery units, while the Japanese infantry brigades took turns to attack. However, the Japanese 70mm bronze cannon and mountain artillery were not powerful enough, and it was always difficult to destroy the fortress group of the Guards, and the Japanese infantry was exposed to the open area, suffering heavy casualties, but the effect was not good.

Sakuma Zomattai ordered the cavalry to be dispatched, and the cavalry brigade of the 2nd Division, 652 people, all waded across the ordinary river on the west side, bypassing the fortress positions of the Chinese army, in an attempt to outflank them from the rear.

Liu Jintang, who had been closely following the trend of the battle situation, immediately ordered after receiving the report to assemble the two cavalry battalions of the 7th Division and the 9th Division, which were on standby in the city, and nearly 900 people immediately attacked from Jingchangmen on the west side of Pyongyang, and launched a hedge against the Japanese cavalry brigade!

At this time, the cavalry battle was completely different from the classical way of fighting, all kinds of technical movements were superfluous, and the discipline of the cavalry was more important than jishu. Often the entire cavalry unit is lined up, the horses are next to the horse, shoulder to shoulder, like an impermeable wall, directly sweeping over, the cavalry in the middle does not even need to hold the reins, the war horses will be naturally carried by the horses on the left and right. No matter how many casualties you face, you must rush through with your eyes closed, and if one wave does not succeed, you will reconnect the formation, and then another wave. If the enemy still scatters and attacks like the ancient cavalry, no matter how good the riding skills are and how skilled the sword skills are, they will be rushed to a pulp and crushed.

At a distance of two thousand meters, both China and Japan began to form a formation, and almost simultaneously launched a charge, and the sound of thousands of horses galloping was as deafening as rolling thunder. Although the cavalry on both sides were armed with rifles, they only raised their sabers and did not shoot. Shooting on a horse that is galloping violently, the accuracy is extremely low, and more importantly, if you reload, raise the gun, aim, and shoot, these actions will greatly affect the coordination of the cavalry with each other, and thus affect the integrity of the entire formation.

In the blink of an eye, the cavalry of both sides approached at great speed, and with the "boom" sound, the "thick wall" violently collided together, like the collision of two huge waves of the sea, splashing into the sky. Many people were knocked into the air and flew directly to the rear, flying seven or eight meters away, and even if they were not killed on the spot, they would fall into their own horse team and be trampled to death by the chaotic hooves.

The two sides brandished sabers and slashed frantically, and some took the opportunity to raise their guns to shoot, while quickly regrouping in formation, and the victory or defeat often depended on which side could line up faster into a "thick wall", and the fierce charging continued repeatedly, the whole area was full of smoke and dust, and people shouted and neighed, and screamed again and again.

On the side of Shanchuan Cave, the Japanese army did their best, forgetting their lives and death, and launched a siege on the fortress, taking them down one by one. Every time a fortress is defeated, dozens or even hundreds of lives are paid, and the soldiers of the Guards who defend it do not retreat when they run out of bullets, let alone surrender.

Yoshimasa Oshima, who directly commanded the battle, reported to Sakuma Zuomathew: "These Shina people are simply not people, they are like a group of madmen, fighting madmen!" ”

Zhu Xianmin, an officer of the Guards, led a company to hold on to a core fortress area, and held out for a whole day under the siege of thousands of Japanese soldiers, until the Japanese army stepped on the thick corpses of soldiers on both sides and rushed into the fortress, all the Guards soldiers were killed, and all the bullets had been exhausted, leaving only Zhu Xianmin alone.

At this time, Zhu Xianmin was already seriously wounded, covered in blood, lying on the ground, his eyes were scattered, his eyes could not move, his dry throat could only make a faint sound, he could not even speak, but just a moment ago, he was still firing at the enemy with a revolver.

The Japanese army was shocked by this brave Chinese, what liliang supported him and was able to fight so frantically? The Japanese commander, who was deeply in awe, couldn't help but take off his military hat to salute, and it didn't take long for Zhu Xianmin to die with his eyes open.

It was dark, and after more than 1,000 dead in the battle, the Guards finally withdrew from the mountain and river caves and retreated into Pyongyang. North Korean troops also fought unusually bravely, with nearly half of them killed or wounded. After paying a heavy price for casualties, the cavalry of the Guards also drove the Japanese cavalry brigade back to the west bank of the ordinary river.

The Japanese casualties were even greater, both infantry brigades were heavily damaged, one of them killed and seriously wounded amounted to more than 2,000 people, almost lost its combat effectiveness, and the 2nd Division had to stop the offensive.

The Sino-Japanese battlefield in the north is in a bloody and bitter battle, while the Siamese army in the south is about to be doomed. On the 17th, the reinforced Pannuranggisi troops arrived in the area south of Luang Prabang and joined forces with Chao Paya. The Surivan army converged, and the Siamese army was preparing for a new offensive.

At this time, at dusk of the same day, a huge and majestic river fleet finally arrived at the banks of the Mekong River outside Vientiane City, and a blood-red battle flag was hung high on the bow of each warship, on which was a red dragon with teeth and claws!

The success of "Lushan Jihua" is imminent!