The winter in North Korea was cold, and the bad weather had made it impossible for both Qing and Japanese sides to continue fighting. Although the armies of the two sides did not reach the point of exhaustion, the bad weather and traffic conditions also made the two sides rationally choose to suspend the operation.

Before entering the winter truce, Nie Shicheng's troops withdrew from the front line of Wolbong Mountain to Incheon. Ma Yukun's division fought small and medium-scale battles with the Japanese troops who landed at Wonsan. Although the Japanese army was unable to break through the defense line of Ma Yukun's division in Pyongyang. However, the more well-armed Japanese army was apparently able to make a detour to the rear of the Qing army while maintaining pressure on Ma Yukun's troops, cutting off the retreat from Korea to the country. The Qing troops stationed in North Korea, who had no way out, could only retreat to the narrow area of Incheon and Pyongyang for defense. But fortunately, although the land traffic is broken, the sea traffic is still smooth. Supplies and communications were never cut off, and a large number of wounded soldiers were repatriated by transport ships.

Taking advantage of this truce, the senior generals of the Qing troops stationed in Korea also needed time to plan their future battle plans. So the generals of the Qing army came to Pyongyang to discuss the next battle plan. In addition to the generals of the Beiyang New Army and the Old Army, Zuo Guigui, the general of the Fengjun Army who fought in Korea, also participated.

However, unlike history, Zuo Guigui was not the actual commander of the Qing army in North Korea this time. Zuo Guigui, who entered the DPRK relatively late and did not have an advantage in strength and official position, did not have many achievements, so the supreme command of the troops in the DPRK fell to Nie Shicheng, whether in terms of military merits or troops, Nie Shicheng, who won the battle of Chenghuan and had the support of the new army. Naturally, he did the top spot.

"Our army has been fighting for half a year since it entered the DPRK, and although it started to fight quite well, this Japan has been in a steady stream, knocking out a batch of batches and coming again. Now. Our army has been compressed into the narrow area of Incheon-Pyongyang. The back road has also been cut off by the Japanese army. Food, grass and ammunition are transported by sea. It's not a good situation. At the beginning of the meeting, Ma Yukun put forward his own opinions.

"Now, whether our army can reopen the land passage to the country, even if it is defeated by the Japanese army head-on, our army still has the opportunity to withdraw to the country by land." Zuo Guigui is also very unoptimistic about the current situation.

With the speeches of Ma Yukun and Zuo Guigui, many generals also whispered to the below, to say that there was no way back, they were not worried that it was impossible. Although the supply by sea was sufficient, the Japanese had now formed an encirclement posture, and if there were no more reinforcements, the Qing army could still be driven into the sea by relying on the superiority of troops.

"I wonder if Nakado-sama mentioned the navy?" Shao Yu on the side arched his hand to Nie Shicheng and asked. **Soak! Book. Although Shao Yu's official position is not high. But together with Nie Shicheng, he fought the Battle of Chenghuan and the bloody battle of Yuefeng Mountain. The merit is great, so he was also allowed to participate in this meeting of senior officers.

"What are we doing with the Navy at the Army Council?" Zuo Guigui said with some dissatisfaction. In the face of these training troops from Nanyang, Zuo Guigui has a lot of opinions, whether it is equipment and treatment is better than his Fengjun, although he has military merits. However, Zuo Guigui felt that if he had the money and equipment, he would definitely do a better job than those people in Nanyang.

"Lord Zuo's words are wrong. Judging from the current shape, there is basically no possibility of success in trying to return by land, and the Japanese troops who landed at Wonsan have already outflanked our flank. The Japanese troops coming from Wolbong Mountain had already arrived near Incheon. In fact, our army has been completely surrounded, and our army has limited strength. The requisition used to carry supplies and provisions was even more limited.

Even if our army can open a breakthrough, it will not be able to quickly return to the country at all. AMONG OTHER THINGS, THE 105MM HEAVY GUNS ALONE DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH HORSES TO CARRY THEM. Even if the baggage is discarded, it can easily turn into a rout under the blows of the Japanese army along the way. At that time, North Korea's 30,000 garrisons may be wiped out. Shao Yu spoke eloquently, without a trace of nervousness in the face of many senior officers. …,

"Then you mean to retreat by sea?" Zuo asked preciously.

"Now the only option is to go by sea. And taking the sea route is bound to grasp the sea supremacy, and the so-called last general is concerned about the situation of the navy. Shao Yu nodded and said.

"It's strange to say, my Beiyang Naval Division and the Japanese Navy have also fought 2 major battles, whether it is the Battle of the Izu Islands or the Battle of Gunsan Bay, the losses on both sides are very large, and no one can completely control the sea route, if you want to retreat during this time, the 30,000 troops of my Qing Dynasty stationed in Korea can also be withdrawn, what is Lord Zhongtang waiting for?" Ma Yukun's is very simple, if you want to fight, then hurry up to increase troops and equipment, if you don't fight, then hurry back. This kind of single-minded building an offensive and waiting for the other party to fight really made Ma Yukun very dissatisfied.

"Since everyone wants to know Li Zhongtang's thoughts, I might as well call you a bottom. This is top secret, just know it, and if anyone wants to leak it, military law will not tolerate it. Nie Shicheng said sternly.

"Allowing the Beiyang garrison to continue to stay in North Korea is based on the overall situation. As everyone knows, in addition to our new Beiyang army and the old army, Taiwan's Governor Liu and Liangguang Governor Li also trained the new army, and these new troops began to transport to Liaodong after the war with the permission of the imperial court. The defense of the Liaodong Peninsula is also being intensively arranged, but fortunately, after nearly half a year of preparations, the transportation of troops and the arrangement of defense are nearing completion. It stands to reason that our troops, who have been fighting desperately in Korea for half a year, can also be withdrawn. Nie Shicheng listened to this and looked at everyone's reactions.

"However, we still have two important tasks to complete. First, we need to do a bait. Use our 30,000 army forces of the Qing Dynasty as bait to attract the Japanese Combined Fleet. Second, it will take some time for the peninsula in eastern Liaodong to be ready for war. Nie Shicheng said.

"Nie Junmen, do you mean to say that the reason why our army stays here is to let the Japanese Combined Fleet find an opportunity to copy our sea route. And then the Beiyang Naval Division will start a decisive battle with the Japanese fleet? Shao Yu asked with a sinking in his heart.

"That's what it means." Nie Shicheng nodded and said.

"Then can the Beiyang Naval Division be sure of victory in battle? Whether it was the Battle of Izu or the Battle of Gunsan Bay, both sides were defeated. Ma Yukun frowned.

"Lord Nakado promises, as long as the land can withstand it. Retreat by sea is definitely not a problem. Nie Shicheng still trusts Li Hongzhang very much. So he said confidently.

"Since Li Zhongtang has an order. Naturally, we should abide by it. However, I hope that Nie Junmen can ask for more artillery supplies. The artillery of the Japanese artillery wing far surpassed our artillery stationed in North Korea, and the 107MM cannon in the bloody battle of Yuefeng Mountain in the previous month caused huge casualties to our army. Now there is an intelligence reality, and in order to break through our Pyongyang defense line, the Japanese army has specially assigned an artillery wing. THERE IS A 120MM CANNON (THIS IS SEEN IN THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST Sino-Japanese War, which was used in the attack on the defense line of the Yalu River. and large-caliber mortars, the former has a long range, the latter is hugely powerful. It is a great threat to our army. As soon as Ma Yukun saw that it was the order of his old boss, he no longer bothered about the issue of withdrawing troops. Instead, they focused on how to stick to it.

"There is still one thing that is not clear at the end of the general, why did our army not retreat to the Yalu River but to Lushun? Could it be that Lord Nakado is planning to let the Japanese army go straight in? Zuo asked dissatisfiedly.

A few Beiyang bigwigs, you look at me, I look at you, no one speaks, in fact, everyone understands the reason. On the long defense line of the Yalu River, it was impossible for the Qing army to hold back nearly 100,000 Japanese troops.

Moreover, the general rear of the Beiyang armies is in Lushun, and it is very difficult to guarantee the supply from the Yalu River to Lushun. After all, there are not so many recruits in the current Beiyang army, and the northeast is even more sparsely populated. It's hard to find someone if you want to. …,

"Since all the old people in Beiyang don't want to say it. Then I'll talk about it as an outsider. Seeing Nie Shicheng's gesture, Shao Yu arched his hand and said: "Zuo Junmen thinks that whether it is the Feng army, or the Sheng army and the Zhenbian army combined, how many people can there be?" ”

"General Iktanga's town border army is about 5,000 men, plus the remaining Feng army and Sheng army. The total number is still okay with 30,000. Zuo Guigui said with the math.

"And the Beiyang New Army, plus the Liangguang Training Army and the Taiwan Training Army, which have now gone north, is only 45,000 people at most, and you have to note that this also includes troops in North Korea. According to this calculation, all the troops that our Qing Dynasty can transfer to the Yalu River will not exceed the Japanese army. That's right, right? Shao Yu continued.

"That's how it should be." Left precious pout.

"If you talk about combat power. The gap is even more pronounced, to put it mildly. The combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army Training is not at the same level as that of Japan. The heavy artillery units deployed in Lushun were discharged, and in addition to the superiority of light weapons, the new army was also suppressed by the Japanese in terms of artillery. As for supplies, although our army is fighting on the inner front. However, there are still too few human resources that can be used, and the old army and the northeast training army do not even have a logistics supply system. That left-sama. How do you think this battle should be fought? Shao Yu said with some heaviness.

"Ugh." Zuo Guigui was also speechless for a while, before entering the dynasty, Zuo Guigui was also a veteran of a hundred battles, and fought with the Taiping Army, the Twist Army and bandits. However, after coming to North Korea, although there were not many wars, there were still a few small battles. The training and firepower of the Japanese army were completely beyond Zuo's expectations. Compared with the attack of the Japanese brigade level, it can be supported by 4 mountain guns, and the left precious Feng army has more than 3,500 people, but only 2 rapid-fire guns and 6 small mountain guns.

Although Lao Li generously provided 24 guns, for various reasons, he could not find enough gunners and related personnel, and the artillery team was not built for a long time, but fortunately, he brought 12 Krupp camp guns with the army, and then transferred a group of gunners from the Beiyang Army to complete the formation of the artillery team.

"Since it can't be fought at the Yalu River, it is better to retreat and rely on the fortress for defense, which can not only obtain the support of heavy artillery and the protection of bunkers, but also lengthen the supply line of the Japanese army, and provide the possibility for our army's surprise attack on the opponent's logistics. Rather than wasting troops in vain on the Yalu River, it was better to defend and attack the Japanese army in key positions. Nie Shicheng looked at Zuo Guigui, whose face was flushed, and said patiently.

"Since Nie Junmen has said so, then I should obey my orders." Although there is still some dissatisfaction in my heart, the shape is stronger than people. Zuo Guigui can only accept this order.

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