At 3 o'clock in the morning on April 8, 1899, a group of soldiers from the northwest training army slowly moved towards the barracks of Yuan Shikai's training army under the cover of night. Because the 75 rapid-fire gun was too heavy to carry, it was mainly light equipment in the first wave of sneak attack troops. Rong Lu's plan was very simple, he began to attack Yuan's defense line with elite infantry, tearing holes in several key points, and then the main force cooperated with artillery to carry out a strong attack. And there was a certain amount of cavalry to attack Yuan's army from the flank. If you can, go straight to the Fengtai camp, the base camp of the imperial party, as long as you take Guangxu, then the overall situation will be decided!

I have to say that the Ronglu forward troops are still very strong, and after about one hour, one of the 500-strong troops arrived near the destination Yangjiazhuang very smoothly. At this time, Yangjiazhuang was still a small village, and Yuan Shikai's troops were not stationed in Zhuangli, but camped outside, and there was a battalion of Yuan Jun, about 500 people. According to Rong Lu's plan, as long as his sneak attack force can eat this army, then the army that enters later can start a detour from the east or directly to the south, cutting off Guangxu's retreat to the south.

After this northwest training detachment arrived at the designated position, it began to attack, because it was a sneak attack, and it was too late to build a position, but hastily selected the artillery position and machine gun position, and then the remaining infantry was ready to attack the Yuan army camp 800 meters away. Looking out of the darkness, the camp in the distance was brightly lit, and several sentries in charge of training were walking back and forth. Everything was so calm and normal.

Peng, Peng, Peng, a few dull sounds broke the quiet night sky of Beijing. Several mortar shells arced through the air and landed into Yuan's camp in the distance. Several smoke screens were raised, and several barracks were blown up. The panicked shouts and screams of the accompanying soldiers, everything was as Rong Lu expected, and Yuan Shikai was defenseless. Victory is in sight!

After the tentative shelling ended, the corrected artillery of the Northwest Training Army began to design at full speed, and the four 60 mortars fired the highest rate of fire, and the shells streaked across the sky and splashed the flowers of death on the reinforcements on the opposite side. Then the four heavy machine guns roared. Tongues of fire suppressed the firepower of the individual resistance on the opposite side. With the support of mortars and machine guns, a large number of infantry rushed towards the opposite side, and the battalion officer who led the group looked at everything in front of him with satisfaction. In his opinion, victory in the war could be achieved in a matter of minutes.

Just as the soldiers of the Northwest Training Army shouted and rushed towards the opponent's position, several points of light suddenly rose from behind the barracks of Yuan's army, and then these points of light suddenly exploded when they fell. The dazzling white light slowly fell, turning the entire front of the battlefield into daylight! The sudden white light made the attacking troops who had adapted to the dark light instantly blind, a large number of soldiers were at a loss, and the originally neat offensive formation was instantly messy. At this time, in some places close to the ground, gun barrels protrude from the shooting holes, if someone can get close and take a closer look, he will find that the northwest training army is facing a group of well-built bunkers!

A network of fire formed by a rain of bullets directly covered all the attacking troops, and the bullets shuttled through the air like locusts. Groups of infantry were torn to shreds by the dense rain of bullets before they could even react. The Northwest Exercise Army was swept away like wheat that had been cut down. And this was just the beginning, as a 75 rapid-fire gun finally revealed its terrible muzzle in a running block hidden in a fortified house. In just 1 minute, this M1897 rapid-fire gun produced in the Ghana Artillery Factory in France fired 8 shells, directly sweeping away most of the mortar and machine gun positions of the Northwest Training Army! In just ten minutes after the start of the battle, the attacker changed from a hunter to a hunter. Groups of Yuan troops rushed out of the hidden trenches and pursued the retreating enemy troops.

This battlefield is just a small index of the whole of Beijing. Throughout the night, the area around Beijing was enveloped in the smoke of artillery fire and the smell of blood. The strength accumulated by the emperor and queen over the years completely exploded tonight. Rong Lu's first move did not achieve the expected advantage. Although not all attacks were ambushed by Yuan's army. But overall, Rong Lu's strategy of striking first was indeed a failure!

Yuan Shikai was naturally not Zhuge Liang who was not a prophet, and the fundamental reason why he was able to make a correct decision about the situation at night was that the information he obtained was obtained from Beiyang on the one hand, and from Xizuo in the other camp on the other hand. And according to this intelligence. Yuan Shikai decided to defend as an attack, and there were not many Yuan soldiers, but the strength was advanced equipment. But at the same time, because the Russians temporarily stopped the supply of ammunition, Yuan Shikai's reserves were not enough for him to give full play to his firepower advantage, and after all considerations, he decided to consume the opponent first, and then launch a counterattack.

In this way, the imperialist party and the latter party were finally completely apportioned, and the war began to heat up directly, and both sides had to put the other to death. Leave no stone unturned in the attack. And the impact of the gunfire in Beijing quickly spread to the whole country, and even changed the pattern of the world!

The first to move is naturally Beiyang. A large number of Beiyang troops quickly took control of the various passages into the theater of operations and established positions. At the same time, it cut off Beijing's telegraph connection with the surrounding area. However, in order to stabilize the two sides, so that the emperor and queen can "rest assured" of the fight. Li Hongzhang declared neutrality at the first time. Subsequently, the powerful factions in Nanyang and other places were consistent with Beiyang, except for a few Manchu governors who made changes, the others chose to remain silent and concentrated their efforts to ensure local stability.

And in the Northeast, the place where a major war is most likely to break out outside of Beijing, Xu Jie and Iketanga's war preparations are basically completed. The troops along the Yalu River were already in place, and the cavalry on the western front was ready to go, and now it was time for the Russians to strike first. After many reconnaissances, it has been basically determined that the number of Russian troops on the opposite side will not exceed 60,000! With the superiority of troops, Xu Jie is already thinking about whether he can turn his defensive strategy into an offensive strategy?

While paying attention to the situation on land, Xu Jie did not relax his vigilance against the Russian Far East Fleet. Although the Russians are now concentrating their forces against Japan, although the Russian Far East Fleet has not entered the warning range of the Beiyang now, and will not pose a serious threat to the maritime transportation of the Beiyang, Xu Jie cannot help but take precautions, the Japanese Navy will kill the strength of a brigade of the Russians with a sneak attack, and if the transport fleet is attacked by those Russian warships that are more powerful than Asahi or Hatsukumo, I am afraid the result will be even worse!

At this time, the most annoyed was the Russian Tsar, who had not achieved the desired results after a long period of preparation, and Guangxu in the Forbidden City was not able to solve Cixi's ability in a short time, while Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, still controlled other areas except the Beijing area. More importantly, the Russian troops deployed on the northeastern front were only half of what was planned! The remaining troops were either not in place or were trapped on the Japanese battlefield. By the way, there is also a brigade of troops that have already fed the fish! On the other hand, in Beiyang, Liu Mingchuan and Li Hanzhang in the south sent a large number of troops and materials to the north, and the most powerful transport torrent flowed to Tianjin and Dalian, with the support of this sea transportation line, the Beiyang Army has become more and more powerful!

The Russians will not watch as the opportunities they have worked so hard to create are lost over time. After some weighing, Nicholas II gave two orders to the Far Eastern Military District, the first was to concentrate on attacking Japan and make up for the shortcomings of the Russian army by plundering Japanese supplies in large quantities. In order to make a forced landing on Japan as soon as possible and get out of the muddy pond of the Russian-Japanese battlefield. Second, although the Russians could not openly launch an attack on the Beiyang Army in the northeast. However, the Russians still decided to use the princes and Cossack cavalry in Outer Mongolia who had defected to the Russians to attack Inner Mongolia from Outer Mongolia, on the one hand, to support Guangxu, and on the other hand, to harass Beiyang from the flank. Of course, none of this will be done under the banner of Russia.

And now the most leisurely are the British, who have a lot of money and materials in their hands, and watch the Beiyang, Japan, and Russia fight openly and secretly for the future fate of the Far East, while the British only need to give the three parties some bargaining chips made of money and materials to decide the fate of each country, what a pleasant thing. But the subsequent development made the British somewhat unexpected, after Japan declared war on Russia, Beiyang did not immediately fight Russia, even now that the central fire has begun, neither the Russians nor Beiyang have any next move. Of course, the Russians are not strong enough, but in the eyes of the British, why didn't Beiyang let Japan become cannon fodder and then take over control of the entire country with stability?

And if this development continues, Russia will successfully defeat Japan and expand in the Far East again, which will be absolutely fatal to the interests of the British Empire in the Far East! And Beiyang's inaction attitude did make the British angry. So the British decided to make solemn representations to Xu Jie, either to start a war with the Russians or to support Japan's war against Russia. And said that British support for the North Seas was used against Russia.

In this way, the situation in the whole Far East was in chaos, and when everyone had come to their senses from the initial turmoil, all forces would proceed according to their own plans, and the Russians were anxious to open up the situation on the Japanese battlefield, while a Cossack cavalry and the Mongol pro-Russian forces were converging and plotting to advance south. The convoy of the North Seas was also escorted by the North Ocean Fleet and prepared to sail to Japan, in order to make the Russians leave more blood here by supporting Japan. And Japan, this poor cannon fodder is withstanding repeated blows from the Russian Far East Fleet and the Russian Army. It's struggling to support it. As soon as the war began, the Far East was once again plunged into the sacrifice of fire and blood, and after the end of this war, a new country would stand in the east. He will completely change the pattern of the Far East and the whole world!

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