For two days in a row, a drizzle covered the area around Vladivostok.

The sky was gloomy and weak, and the earth was eroded after the snow melted.

In the early morning of April 7, 1904, at the top of Artem Hill, the front command post of the Eastern Front of the Allied Army.

Liu Bailiang, dressed in the uniform of a green tweed general, stood solemnly in front of the observation hole, his face oozing the color of the sky, and the commander of the front army hated the weather far more than he hated the enemy, if he really hated the enemy.

Chief of Staff Wang Zhi leaned over: "Commander Liu, the enemy's position is shrouded in rain and fog, our artillery cannot accurately bombard, and the air force cannot be dispatched, do you want to push back the time of the general attack." ”

"No need, start a general offensive according to the original plan."

Liu Bailiang said coldly.

"But ......"

"You have to make up your mind, isn't that what you said to me two days ago?"

"But now it'...... situation"

"We can't afford to wait—even if we fill it with flesh and blood, we will also fill the fortress - isn't that what Wu Weigong explained? In that case, let's first fill in the opposite Mount Kimir with flesh and blood. ”

"Commander Liu, this ......"

"Don't say it, I have to complete the task on time, not for myself, but for our empire, how can this empire that we have built with the blood of countless people fall into the situation of being blackmailed by others because of the blood of tens of thousands of people? The Russians must not be allowed to compensate for the defeat on land with victory at sea, that would be our eternal shame, and I will first of all apologize for my own crimes! ”

Liu Bailiang said, patting the revolver on his waist.

Wang Zhi stared at Liu Bailiang in a little surprise.

At seven o'clock Beijing time, the rumbling sound of artillery shook the entire Vladivostok Peninsula.

Twenty-one 305-mm howitzers, nine 380-mm giant mortars, and four 254-mm fortress guns captured from the Russian army whistled through the humid air and smashed heavily on the Russian positions in Mount Kimir. Like clocks, this magical tree grows up every few minutes on the Kimir Hills, forming a horrible forest that oppresses the earth and tears the sky, and then disperses in an ethereal and ethereal grace.

The 305-mm howitzer of the Chinese army weighed 34,500 kilograms, and the shells weighed 350 kilograms.

A 380-mm giant mortar with a dead weight of 79,000 kilograms and shells weighing 750 kilograms.

The former emits a sharp whistling sound similar to a train whistle after launching, so it is called a "train bomb", and the latter emits a muffled thunder-like low whistling sound after launching, so it is called a "thunder bomb", which has great spiritual shock.

Through the thin rain and mist, Liu Bailiang can vaguely enjoy the magical jungle on the Kimir Mountains.

In addition to the huge trees, the low bushes covered the hill so densely that not even a single ant seemed to fit in.

Eighty-four 150-millimeter howitzers and mortars, plus one hundred and sixty-two 105-millimeter cannons, their flying locust shells of forty and twenty kilograms rained down on Mount Kimir, and their indulgent flashes were like stars falling on the mountain within a radius of three or four kilometers.

The day's artillery preparations were scheduled to take six hours, and for this purpose 6,000 rounds of 305-mm shells and 1,500 rounds of 380-mm shells were prepared on the artillery position, as well as 80,000 rounds of 150-mm shells and 150,000 rounds of 105-mm shells, and the gunners had to get rid of at least half of the shells on the position within six hours.

In addition to these heavy guns, more than 500 light howitzers, field guns, mountain guns, and large and small mortars deployed in the forward positions will also fiercely bombard the enemy's front line an hour before the infantry attack, and some mountain guns and mortars will also advance with the synchronizers - more than 300,000 shells will be prepared for these guns.

The Chinese army attacking the Kimir Mountains area was divided into two waves, the first attack wave was the 11th Infantry Division of Major General Zheng Hong, the second attack wave was the 13th Infantry Division of Major General Peng Tongfeng, and the reserve was the 100th Brigade of the 34th Infantry Division, with a total strength of 76,000 men and an actual strength of about 60,000 troops.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Michikan Nozu's Japanese First Army will launch a diversionary attack on the area of Mount Ulan west of Mount Kimir with two divisions of about 36,000 troops, equipped with 16 150-mm howitzers.

Lieutenant General Okubogong's Japanese Second Army will devote about 55,000 troops from three divisions, including the Guards Division, to launch a substantial attack on the area of Heights 201 (known as St. John's Heights in Russian) east of Mount Kimir, with six 305-mm howitzers, 24 150-mm howitzers, and 13 152-mm fortress guns.

Due to the bad meteorological conditions, the coalition airborne floating units could not be dispatched, and the air calibration could not be carried out, so they could only rely on the artillery observation posts at the front to calibrate the artillery, all of which were set up on the high ground occupied by their own side, and some were set up in bunkers hundreds of yards to one or two kilometers away from the enemy's positions, and the observation posts and the artillery command posts relied on field telephone communication.

Soon after the start of the allied artillery bombardment on all fronts, the Russian artillery launched a counterattack, and the Russian heavy artillery deployed on the back of the hillside launched a bombardment of several high ground and deep areas occupied by the coalition forces, and the Russian medium-caliber artillery protected by strong fortresses and batteries launched intermittent concentrated fire on the possible assembly areas of the coalition forces, the main passages, forward command posts, and observation posts.

However, by 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the Russian counterattack artillery fire on the main direction of the coalition attack - the area of Mount Kimir - was very thin, and the entire mountain was shrouded in a thick cloud of smoke, like an active volcano that was about to finish its eruption.

"This time, we must squeeze your blood ......"

Liu Bailiang put down the binoculars, and then the orderlies brought a simple lunch: white flour steamed buns, canned beef and pickles.

"Let's eat first, it's going to take another hour."

Wang directly handed Liu Bailiang a hot steamed bun and a pair of chopsticks.

Liu Bailiang absentmindedly nibbled on steamed buns, and his left hand subconsciously played the piano on the revolver on his waist.

Of course, Wang Zhi's sniper's eyes would not miss such a small action: "What's wrong?" Nervous. ”

"It's fine."

"Something, I felt Wu Weigong's angry appearance, I was frightened."

"."

"My heart is empty."

"You're not looking for trouble."

Liu Bailiang's neck has been choking, probably choked on steamed buns, and he coughed violently for a while, and the orderly hurriedly served tea.

Liu Bailiang poured two sips of tea and exhaled a long breath, which was considered to be recovered.

Wang Zhi patted him on the back: "It's okay." ”

"It's fine."

Liu Bailiang tore at the innocent white-flour steamed bun and said lightly.

"Wang Zhi, our friendship is not shallow, can I ask you a question."

"Say it."

Wang's face was a question mark — it had been a long time since he had heard a comrade from the twenty-first century ask him to answer a question in such a formal tone.

"What kind of country do you want?"

Wang Zhi's clear black pearl-like eyes swirled in circles, and his gaze wandered between the ceiling and wall of the log bunker for a few seconds, and suddenly stopped at the kerosene lamp on the table that quietly emitted a reddish-yellow glow.

"Country, I want a stable China that can shine on the earth."

"Terror or oppressive stability, and flashes of destruction and self-destruction?"

Wang Zhi was a little surprised: "What do you mean?" ”

Liu Bailiang stuffed a thin piece of steamed bread into his mouth.

The table shook slightly, and logs creaked on the walls and ceiling of the bunker - they were accompanied by the muffled explosion of Russian heavy artillery shells.

"Wang Zhi, what do you think Ding Jieyun wants?"

"You mean ......"

"What they want may not be fundamentally different from what Wu Weigong wants."

Wang Zhi felt a little pain in his stomach, and he covered his stomach with conditions.

"What the hell are you trying to say?"

Liu Bailiang picked up a piece of spiced pickles with red pepper powder, put it on the peeled steamed bun, and took a bite gently, a small piece was missing in the middle of the steamed bun, crescent-shaped, with clear tooth marks.

"Wang Zhi, let me ask you, in the first place, why did you come here for?"

Wang Zhi swallowed the warm saliva, and his stomach felt a little more comfortable.

"Commander Liu, I think this kind of conversation seems too ......"

Liu Bailiang stared at him kindly: "Can you answer my question?" ”

"Well, since you want to know Lu Dao...... As you know, I was originally a sniper of the mobile team directly under the regiment, and I did a good job, and I was evaluated every year......"

"Yes, Zhong Xiahuo often says that you are the number one sniper in the whole regiment, so you are also the number one sniper in the country, but unfortunately, it is not our company, such a good talent has not come to him, it is a waste of ......"

Wang Zhi smiled slightly: "You Zhong Company Commander, you can't be saved, don't learn from him." ”

"No way, close to Zhu Zhechi."

"It's the other way around."

"Leave it alone, keep talking about yours."

A trace of inexplicable emotion flashed on Wang Zhi's face, as if to correspond to this emotion, and another heavy shell exploded near the bunker, and the log wall creaked again.

"Do you remember Operation K517 for two or three years?"

"The riot crackdown, remember, is classified as the third class, and it seems to be an organized riot that has evolved into a protest action."

"I later learned that the leaders of that impoverished county had forcibly demolished thousands of residents' homes in order to build a stadium and square in the center of the county town for the sake of carrying out a performance project, and only gave compensation of one-third of the equivalent housing price, triggering tens of thousands of people to march on the streets. The people surrounded the county government, and some people opened fire on the people, causing the situation to deteriorate, and the people occupied the government compound, killed the main leaders, and then under the organization of some people, the people stormed the public security bureau and the armed police station, and opened the militia warehouse to distribute weapons and ammunition, and the incident then evolved into an armed riot, so the mobile team was asked to participate in the suppression of the riot. ”

"It's just a riot at the county level, this kind of thing has to come dozens of times a year, it's nothing, and the news can be blocked soon, and it's not peaceful in the world after all - what's so special about that operation?"