The sun stares coldly at the bustling ground from the west. Red rivers, black clouds, flickering lights, splatters of flesh, dancing death. Humans are the most hobby-loving and proficient animals in the world, and God created humans to make them kill in front of him for fun?

Nogi Noshinori's flesh bullet attack has entered a critical moment.

When the time came for the attack, the officers in the trenches raised their sabers, and the soldiers leveled their rifles with bayonets. One out of every ten riflemen has the Rising Sun flag under their rifles, and a central standard-bearer carries a two-high battle flag as a spiritual pillar throughout the skirmish. Everyone held their breath and waited for the order to attack. With the rumbling of artillery on the Qing army's position on the opposite side, the commander of the third wave of stragglers, Haruga Shimizu, finally gave the signal to attack: "Long live the Emperor!" Advance! ”

"Long live the Emperor!"

The thunderous cries shook everyone's eardrums, the trenches were thrown behind, fear was strangled by fanaticism, cowardice was destroyed by fanaticism, hesitation was crushed by fanaticism, and a burning heart would not let people retain superfluous feelings.

ZHA medicine and bullets also do not allow people to retain extra lives.

As soon as the third wave of the Japanese stragglers ran out of the trenches less than 200 meters, the Qing army's blocking artillery fire immediately and accurately fell, and the intact and incomplete human bodies began to take off, glide, and fall in the air.

The fourth wave of stragglers followed up with dead bodies and wounded soldiers all over the ground, and Commander Shimakawa Sozozo was blown into mud by a heavy artillery shell less than three minutes after he left the trench.

After Nogi Noshinori saw the departure of the fourth wave of stragglers, the Qing army's artillery fire began to retreat, concentrating on the area of the Nakagawa River to intercept and fire. Feeling that the time had come, he drew his saber and personally led the selected 800 loyal team members, all of whom were tied with a white cloth ribbon printed with the red rising sun and the word "victory" written on it, and their chests were open, carrying only sabers and rifles with bayonets, jumped out of the trenches, and rushed straight to the Qing army's position.

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In the artillery command post of the Qing army, Lieutenant Colonel Hu Jingwei, commander of the artillery regiment of the Second Janissary Division, saw that the enemy was menacing, and although he was anxious, he still methodically directed the artillery to transfer fire in a timely manner and intercept the fire layer by layer. At this time, some officers and men of the third wave of the Japanese army had already passed through the artillery blockade and waded through Zhongchuan, approaching the forward position of the Qing army on the one hand, and entering the forbidden area of the Qing army's artillery firing on the other. Hu was so frightened that he scolded: "My mother, why can't I be sure, herald!" All the fire is concentrated in the No. 5 area of the Zhongchuan waterfront, at a distance of 3,700 meters, and the continuous fire is fixed in Zhuyuan, and it is not allowed to stop without my order! ”

On the artillery position behind, the artillery officers and soldiers were in full swing, and the bombardier carried dozens of pounds of shells and shouted the trumpet to the loader, and the loader reloaded the bomb into the chamber and shouted: "This is sent to the dog emperor!" Then the cannon door was closed with a "click". Every time a gunner pulled the firing rope, he shouted, "My Emperor is fucking!" The other gunner next to him alternated between "eating a cannon from a man" and "beating him a son of a bitch".

The blazing artillery fire of the Qing army brought great casualties to the Japanese army, but because the infantry positions of the Qing army were repeatedly looted by the Japanese artillery fire, the main firepower loss was not small, the defenders suffered heavy casualties, and the blocking fire was insufficient.

"Brethren! Get on the bayonet and fight with the dog! Major Su Sanling, the commander of the first battalion, grabbed a rifle, put on his bayonet, took the lead in jumping out of the trench, and led more than 200 men in the battalion who were still able to fight to kill the enemy position.

The two officers and men joined together in front of the trench, killing each other, and the bright light reflected by the bayonets and sabers was soon covered with blood, and the roar of the knife shooter was mixed with the painful howl of the knife striker resounding throughout the position.

As soon as the battalion commander of Su Sanling killed the position, he flashed sideways, shook the assassination of a Japanese soldier, rushed forward with his body, exerted his arm, and stabbed the enemy soldier in the throat with a knife.

Several Japanese soldiers on the side saw the two bars and one star on the shoulders of the battalion commander Su, and knew that he was the front-line commander, and they rushed over together with a scream of wah-wah.

The battalion commander Su responded calmly, first raised his hand vigorously, picked up the bayonet of the Japanese soldier who rushed straight at the head, and stabbed it with his backhand, and a hole was immediately opened in the belly of the Japanese soldier.

The two Japanese soldiers pounced on Su Sanling on the left and the right, and the battalion commander Su took the initiative to attack, first rushed to the left to meet the Japanese soldiers, and slammed the middle of the rifle in the hands of the Japanese soldiers with all his strength. As soon as the battalion commander Su pulled out the blood-dripping bayonet, the Japanese soldiers behind him had already rushed close, and he didn't have time to reflexively block it, so he rolled on the spot, avoiding the powerful stab of the Japanese soldiers, and at the same time touched his hand to his waist. When he rolled over, he just happened to take a face with the Japanese soldier, raised his hand, pulled the trigger continuously, and three 7.63 mm revolver bullets all entered the chest of the Japanese soldier.

When Su Sanling stood up, he saw another large group of enemy soldiers rushing closer, licked his lips, and roared: "Come on, little devil, see how grandpa cleans you up!" He led several guards platoon soldiers around him to hundreds of enemy soldiers.

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When Nogi Noshinori's 800 Meiji Loyal Brigade crossed the Qing artillery blockade line at the cost of one-third of the casualties and set foot on the north bank of Zhongchuan, Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Lieri, commander of the 10th Regiment of the Qing Army's Praetorian Guard, had already led the last 350 reserves to launch a counterattack on the fourth wave of the Japanese army's scattered line.

After a fierce battle, the officers and men of the fourth wave of the Japanese army's straggler line, who finally rushed to the forward position of the Qing army, saw a terrible scene, an officer rushed forward with a two-person long Qinglong Yunyue knife in both hands, and a large group of officers and soldiers behind him had traditional cold weapons such as broadswords, spears, long knives, and long axes in addition to bayonets.

Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Lieri, who likes to practice martial arts and strengthen his body, carries out training in traditional martial arts among the officers and men of the regiment on weekdays, and even when he goes to the battlefield, he does not forget to bring all kinds of traditional weapons for practice. The Japanese soldiers had been practicing foreign exercises with rifles for a long time, and they had long since stopped practicing swords and spears, and suddenly saw the majestic long knives and axes in the near distance, and they couldn't help but be frightened.

Xiao Lieri danced vividly with the Qinglong Yunyue knife, cut off the head of a Japanese soldier with a 68-pound broadsword, and then cut a Japanese officer holding a thin Japanese knife into two pieces from his waist, cut the entire arm of a Japanese soldier with an oblique knife, and cut an officer in half from head to crotch with a vertical knife. A Japanese soldier raised his rifle horizontally to try to block, was cut off by Xiao Lieri's broadsword and spear, after all, the rifle played a buffering role, the big knife from the Japanese soldier's neck obliquely down to the right chest, only half a finger thick remaining flesh under the knife was connected, Xiao Lieri raised his head, pulled out the blade, and the gushing blood flew in all directions, the head and half of the Japanese soldier's body hung to the side, and the internal organs in the abdomen were exposed, and the Japanese soldiers around him were shocked to forget the bushido spirit that they repeatedly preached on weekdays, and turned around with a rifle and fled.

"Rush!" , Xiao Lieri and his subordinates rose up, brandishing blood-stained weapons to chase over, cutting down dozens of slow-running Japanese soldiers, and colliding head-on with the Meiji loyal team led by Nogi Noshinori himself.

Although Nogi has always been ruthless and brave, after all, after a long time in battle, seeing that the Qing army was in full swing, he did not dare to immediately step forward to fight hand-to-hand, and hurriedly ordered the front team to squat down and shoot. A volley of volleys passed, the Qing army fell, Xiao Lieri was hit in his left arm and right leg, and was covered by the guards around him and carried back to the rear, and the momentum of the whole army suddenly decreased. Nogi commanded his subordinates to fire two consecutive volleys, killing and wounding more than half of the officers and soldiers of the Qing army's reserves, and then shouted "Long live the emperor" in unison, and the Qing army was unable to support it, and began to retreat, and behind it was the regimental headquarters and artillery positions, the situation was suddenly like a weak candle in the wind, and the Qing army's front faced a total collapse.

"Get out of the way!" The remnants of the 10th Janissary Regiment looked back, only to see dust flying, sabers shining, flags waving, and a few golden characters on a white battle flag dazzling: "Cavalry Regiment of the Second Praetorian Guard Division."

It turned out that after receiving Xiao Lieri's request for help, Zhong Xiahuo, commander of the Second Praetorian Division, accurately judged that the Japanese army was trying to attack with all its might to open up the situation when the Qing army brigade reinforcements had not arrived, and if he sent infantry to support, he was afraid of delaying the fighters, so he personally ordered Lieutenant Colonel Xiang Lan, the commander of the division's cavalry regiment, to order him to lead all the cavalry regiments to rush to the front line of Zhonghe to support the battle situation.

As soon as Lieutenant Colonel Xiang Lan's Praetorian Cavalry Regiment appeared, the situation on the battlefield immediately changed drastically, and more than a thousand Qing Janissaries were like wind and clouds, rushing Nogi's hundreds of loyal troops to pieces in the blink of an eye.

The saber passed, the head rolled, the blood rushed to the sky, the horse's hooves stepped down, the broken flesh was rotten, and the screams were screaming. After a few minutes, the Japanese soldiers on the battlefield were either killed or wounded, and the few Japanese soldiers who raised their hands to surrender were actually cut off by the Qing cavalry who were killing and making a fortune.

Major General Nogi Noshinori, the commander of the 5th Brigade of the Japanese Army, was in a different place, soaked in blood, and who hacked him to death could not be found out by the Qing army itself afterwards, but it didn't matter. A commander who squandered the lives of his soldiers out of the inflated personal heroism did not deserve the respect of his opponents.

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After the Japanese position on the south bank of the Nakagawa River, Lieutenant General Yoshimasa Oshima, commander of the 3rd Division, held the telescope and looked at it more and more gloomy, and threw the telescope down the hill and waved his hand to the communicator: "Order the cavalry wing, immediately attack the whole team, and be sure to drive the Qing army off the position!" ”。 When the signal soldiers were gone, Yoshimasa Oshima pulled out his saber and slashed to the ground, and said hysterically: "Nogi Noshinori!" You dead pig! ”

At this time, it was almost dusk, and the sunset in the west was like blood, and it was like a raging fire. Under the red light, more than 1,000 Japanese cavalry slaughtered from the avenue, the hooves of iron-clad horses trampled on the countless bones and scraps abandoned on the battlefield, the sound of sabers unsheathed was sonorous and crisp, and the shouts of rushing and killing were stacked like a tide, all of which were quickly wiped out by the roaring artillery fire and the bullets flying like locusts.

The front hooves of a war horse were high, and then they fell to the side, and the cavalry on the horse fell heavily to the ground, struggled a few times to get up, and suddenly hit several machine gun bullets, and after shaking violently, they fell on their backs with their hands raised. The same scenario repeats itself over and over again as time slowly advances.

Lieutenant Colonel Xiang Lan, the commander of the cavalry regiment of the Qing army, had already prepared, and as soon as the Japanese infantry was driven off the position, he ordered his subordinates to quickly pull through the heavy machine guns and machine guns and place them on the position, and the cavalry dismounted and entered the trenches to prepare to resist the enemy's counterattack. This measure later proved to be very correct, and most of the casualties of the Japanese cavalry wing were killed under intensive and accurate fire, three cavalry squadron leaders were killed, and the wing commander Koga Kanobu Osa was shot three times, but fortunately his subordinates desperately protected him from death. At this point, the Japanese army was forced to stop the offensive due to the exhaustion of its troops, and the Qing army was busy reorganizing and deploying, strengthening the defense, and did not counterattack, and the bloody and fierce battle on the front line of Zhonghe on August 3, 1894 ended with a total of more than 9,000 casualties of the two armies, and the total ratio of killed and wounded was seven to two, which shows the tragedy of the battle. Among them, the Japanese army killed 6,072 people, and the Qing army also paid the price of 1,141 casualties. The 5th Brigade of the Japanese Army was reduced by more than 70% and lost its attack power, and the remnants were transferred back to Seoul to take charge of the city defense, and the 10th Regiment of the Qing Army Praetorian Guard was also reduced by more than 80% and was forced to return to China to recuperate. The bloody battle of Zhonghe began with the recklessness of the Japanese commander, and the fierce and cruel fighting between the two armies was famous, and the Japanese army suffered huge casualties.

On the night of August 3, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Janissary Division, the second batch of Qing troops entering Korea, arrived in Korea. On the same day, the General Staff of the Qing Army ordered the establishment of the Northern Army, with Major General Zhong Xiahuo as the commander of the corps, to unify the dispatch of all troops entering Korea from the north of Seoul.

The Japanese Imperial Headquarters in Nagasaki did not receive any news of the defeat at the time of the neutralization, and the Japanese army continued to increase its troops to Korea according to the original plan, and sailed to Dadonggou with a combined fleet in an attempt to intercept the ships of the Qing army carrying troops entering Korea by sea.

On August 5, 1894, the Japanese 7th Division landed in Pusan, following the 3rd and 6th Divisions. On the same day, the main force of the Qing Army's Zhenyang Fleet covered the 11th and 12th Regiments of the 4th Brigade of the 2nd Praetorian Division and the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Praetorian Guard Division to land at Dadonggou to support Pyongyang by sea.

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In the Dadonggou sea area, it was early in the morning, and Rear Admiral Liu Buyun, commander-in-chief of the Qing Imperial Navy, stood on the bridge command platform of the battleship "Longwei", the general flagship of the Zhenyang Fleet, surrounded by the elite of the imperial navy.

On the left hand side of Rear Admiral Liu Buyun stood Brigadier General Lin Taezeng, commander of the first detachment of the Zhenyang Fleet, and after the defeat in the naval battle off Incheon, he wrote to the General Staff to ask for the blame and resign, and Liu Yun, chief of the General Staff, instructed: "No, this defeat is the fault of the General Staff, except for the captain of the Fang who escaped from the battle, he must be beheaded and shown to the public, and the front-line commanders have no reason to be held accountable." He still retains his position as commander of the Beiyang Fleet and is the new deputy commander of the Zhenyang Fleet. In this attack of the Zhenyang fleet, Commodore Lin Taizeng was still stationed on the reserve flagship battleship "Dingyuan", and if the mast of the general flagship was damaged or the commander-in-chief was unable to exercise his duties normally, he would take over the command.

On the right hand side of Rear Admiral Liu Buyun are the captains of the four armored battleships, from near to far, in order of Captain Sa Zhenbing of "Longwei", Captain Yan Fu of "Fengxiang", Captain Yang Yonglin of "Dingyuan", and Captain Lin Yingqi of "Zhenyuan".

Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying, commander of the commando team who was also the first batch of cadets of the Mawei Naval Academy and the first batch of students to study at the Royal Naval College in the United Kingdom, was also the same as the above six people, and he was in charge of the new-style cruiser "Hurricane" and was responsible for commanding a total of eight "Wind" class cruisers with a maximum speed of 21 knots, namely "Hurricane", "Gale Wind", "Chasing Wind", "Hurricane", "Super Wind", "Hurricane", "Hurricane", "Hurricane", "Hurricane", "T The task of the assault team is to block the Japanese First Guerrilla Group and prevent it from disrupting its own formation, so that its own team can concentrate on attacking the Japanese army.

Behind Lieutenant Colonel Jiang Chaoying there is still Lieutenant Colonel Liu Guanxiong, deputy commander of the commando and captain of the "Gale", he belongs to the second batch of students who went to the United Kingdom, although his qualifications are shallower than Jiang Chaoying and others, but because of his excellent academic performance, after returning to China, he performed well during his service in the Beiyang Fleet, and was favored by Chief of Staff Liu Yun and Commander-in-Chief Liu Buchan, so he was reused in this sortie.

On Liu Guanxiong's left are Colonel Huang Jianxun, commander of the armored patrol and captain of the armored cruiser "Jianbei" (the first phase of Mawei and the first batch of students to study in the UK), and Lieutenant Colonel Cheng Biguang, deputy commander of the armored patrol and captain of the armored cruiser "Jiannan". On the right is Lieutenant Colonel Dai Bokang, commander of the 1st Escort Group and captain of the cruiser "Nanchen", who is responsible for commanding the two ships "Nanchen" and "Nanrui" transferred from the Ocean Fleet to support; Lieutenant Colonel Lin Lu, commander of the second escort and captain of the cruiser "Yangwei", and the second ship under his command is "Yangwei" and "Chaoyong"; Rear Admiral Wu Jingrong, commander of the 3rd Escort Group and commander of the gunboat "Guangjia", was in charge of commanding the two ships "Guangjia" and "Guangyi" in Nanyang. In this sortie, the patrol team was formed into the formation of the team, followed and supported the four armored battleships in a duel with the enemy team. The three escort teams were scattered throughout Haikou and were responsible for guarding and directly covering the loading and unloading of the army.

The huge fleet led by Rear Admiral Liu Buyun, commander-in-chief of the navy and commander of the Zhenyang fleet, had 23 large and small warships, including almost all the cruisers and capital ships of the Qing Empire.

Major General Liu Buyun remembered the meeting with Major General Yang Zhengjin, chief of the Operations Division of the General Staff Department, before departure.

On that day, Yang Zhengjin personally rushed to Lushun Military Port by warship and gave Liu Buyun a face-to-face lecture on the opportunity on behalf of Liu Yun, chief of the General Staff.

"-- The General Staff Department organized the second Dadonggou landing operation this time, first, in order to increase troops from the sea to Pyongyang according to the original plan, and second, to lure the Japanese Combined Fleet to attack, annihilate it in one fell swoop, and change the situation on the entire battlefield."

"Director Yang, there is a question, what if the Japanese army does not come to Dadonggou to fight me?"

"Then immediately after completing the task of supporting the landing of the army, turn south, go to Inchon to ask for the enemy for a decisive battle, if the main force of the Japanese army is not found in Incheon, you can go further south to find the enemy, until it is inserted into the port of Pusan, and cut off the supply line of the Japanese army in the Korean Strait."

"I understand, there is another question, that is, how can the General Staff be sure that our army will be able to annihilate the Japanese Combined Fleet in this battle?"

"-This is not a problem of the General Staff, but your problem, the General Staff is just giving you a task, and your duties require you to complete it, that's all, have I made it clear?"

"Yes—"

"Your Excellency, the Empire rises and falls, in this battle, Chief of Staff Liu asked me to tell you that he believes in the strength of the Imperial Fleet, and even more in your command ability."

"Please tell Chief of Staff Liu, I, Liu Buyun, will lead the army to attack this time, and if I don't succeed, I will sacrifice myself and be loyal to the empire to the end!"

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"Your Excellency Commander, a column of smoke has been found in the southwest!"

Liu Buyun quickly dispelled the memories, raised the telescope and followed Brigadier General Lin Taizeng's expectations, and sure enough, he found a column of smoke, and there was more than one.

"All in place! Sound the battle alarm! ”

When the officers heard the order, they were about to return to their positions, when they suddenly heard Commander Liu shouting: "The empire rises and falls, in this battle, all the kings work hard and fight to the end!" ”

Everyone turned back one after another, and after a slight pause, they all drew their sabers and pointed them to the sky, shouting in unison: "Long live the Empire!" Long live the Imperial Navy! ”

The blades of countless sunlight cut through the gray clouds of the morning, and then tore the remaining cloud curtain fragments to pieces, and the dazzling sunlight at the end of the last day poured down without any obstruction, and fell straight on the golden dragon battle flag on a red background fluttering on the top of the mast of the battleship "Longwei", like a shining golden dragon soaring above the sky.