On July 4, 1894, Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty personally issued a decree and declared war on Japan.

In the afternoon of the next day, important military and political officials of Liu Yun's department in Beijing gathered at the residence of the chief of the general staff for a meeting of the "sub-planning department."

The so-called "Subordinate Cabinet" was originally a joke of Wen Yi, because at that time, most of the civilian officials of Liu Yun's department were vice-ministers, and there was a saying of "Vice-Minister's Cabinet", while the military attache occupied the General Staff, and the "Vice-Minister's Cabinet" plus the General Staff Department became the "Vice-Adviser's Department".

Before the birth of the democratically elected cabinet, this "subordinate department" actually controlled the military and political power of the empire, and determined most of the country's priorities, such as by rewarding industry and commerce, concentrating on the development of road and mining heavy industries, accumulating huge social wealth and a strong industrial base, building an elite army and a strong navy in an advanced and efficient manner, developing modern education, and completely abolishing the imperial examination system in 1893.

Now, the meeting of the "Ministry of Conspiracy" began.

"The Intelligence Service bears unshirkable responsibility for this failure, and I ask for the resignation of the blame."

"The main reason for this failure is the planning of the Operations Department, and I request that I be removed from my post."

"Shut up, you guys don't do it, who am I looking for to do it, I should resign the most, but I can't resign, do you understand? Sit down if you understand! ”

Zhu Tao and Yang Zhengjin slowly sat down under Liu Yun's emotionless gaze.

Liu Yun looked around at everyone, took off his military hat and put it away, and everyone followed suit in turn.

"This failure has taught us a lesson," Liu Yun paused for a moment and said in an aggravated tone, "Don't think that since the 21st century, you must be higher than the people here!" I used to be the highest-ranking soldier here, and I was only the commander of a special operations regiment, commanding more than a thousand people, not to mention you, all of them were company commanders and platoon commanders, and the highest was the battalion commander, and none of them had ever been in the navy, so there was no bottom at all how to fight a naval battle. At present, we have more than 100,000 or 200,000 elite troops under our command, and if necessary, we can mobilize more than 400,000 troops from all over the country to train troops and the Eighth Banner Army. We also have a fleet, three major fleets, take the essence to form the Zhenyang fleet, although this time the battle of Inchon suffered heavy losses, but most of the cutting-edge warships are still intact. Our every move is not a matter of killing a few hundred or thousands of people, but determines the future and destiny of the entire country, the entire nation, the 300 million to 400 million compatriots and their descendants! Think about it, if we still use the thinking of being a company commander or battalion commander to guide our own actions, can we make good use of these troops? Can we afford that? Are we worthy of the eighteenth generation of our ancestors? ”

The crowd was silent.

Liu Yun breathed a sigh of relief, took a sip of tea, his mood was slightly calmer, and said: "Things are already like this, and I am also at fault, but we don't have time to discuss the gains and losses of this battle now, the key to the problem is what to do next, according to the original strategic plan, if the naval battle is initially defeated, the navy should first rest, and then seek an opportunity to fight a decisive battle, and the army will enter Korea, control all important places, and resist the possible landing of the Japanese army." What is everyone's opinion on this? ”

Wen Yi said: "The losses of our army in this naval battle are far greater than those of the Japanese army, and I thought that the landing of the Japanese army would be inevitable. The most likely landing sites are in Busan and Wonsan, which are the closest to the Japanese archipelago, and the navy is easier to protect and the risk is lower; Wonsan is on the east coast of Korea, and landing from here can directly attack Pyongyang and block the road for our army to support Seoul, so there is no need to worry about being attacked by our sea for the time being. ”

Yang Zhengjin, director of the Operations Division, said: "Wen Yi is reasonable, but I think that if the second detachment of the Zhenyang Fleet is sent south to intercept the enemy and block the Korean Strait, it will be impossible for the Japanese army to land, and our army can safely enter and occupy all important places in Korea." ”

Liu Yun shook his head: "No, the second detachment can't attack for the time being, at most it can be used to cover the landing of the army in Dadonggou, if you want to fight as a team, you have to wait for the repair of the capital ships of the first detachment and the Nanyang and Dayang fleets to send ships to help." This time, we do not want a small victory, we want to annihilate the enemy's main force in one battle and seize absolute sea supremacy, so we must concentrate all the available forces before we can attack. ”

Zhu Tao, director of the Intelligence Division, said: "If our army does not have naval support, the Japanese army will soon complete the landing at Busan and Wonsan, and the 1st Special Task Group, which is now stationed in Seoul, will be in the predicament of being attacked on both sides." ”

Wen Yidai Liu Yunying said: "Then withdraw from Seoul, stick to Pyongyang, and wait for a full-scale counterattack after seizing sea supremacy." ”

Liu Yun nodded: "Wen Yi is right, Seoul is surrounded by a flat river, there is no danger to defend, if it is attacked by the Japanese army from the north and south, the first special mixed group will definitely die, it is better to withdraw to Pyongyang, not only can you defend by the mountains and rivers, but also can easily get reinforcements and supply support." ”

Everyone nodded yes, and after some detailed discussions, the advance operational plan for the Korean War was delineated.

As soon as the military issue was discussed, Liu Yun turned to Wen Yi and said: "I heard that some people in the cabinet and the senior administration yuan seized on this defeat to make a big fuss, and even worse, they wrote to Guangxu to dismiss me, have you heard of it?" ”

Wen Yi smiled bitterly: "Not only do I want to dismiss you, but also me, the directors of the various departments of the General Staff, the deputy ministers of the various ministries sitting here, in short, some people want us to all fall down so that we can be replaced." ”

Liu Yun asked again: "How is Guangxu's attitude?" ”

Wen Yi said: "You have already apologized to him yesterday, what else can he do, Guangxu depends on us to survive, I am afraid he knows this better than us." ”

Liu Yundao: "Remember those guys who want to replace them, and after the war is over, they will open the knife one by one, and play with us to fall into the well, which is simply looking for death." ”

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Fast forward to July 25, 1894. On this day, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Lie-ri, commander of the special task force and commander of the 10th Janissary Regiment, the 1st Special Task Group of the Qing Army (under the jurisdiction of the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the Praetorian Guard Marine Corps and the 4th Brigade and 10th Regiment of the 2nd Praetorian Guard Division), together with 800 Korean Janissaries troops, escorted more than 1,000 members of the Joseon royal family to abandon Seoul and retreat to Pyongyang. At this time, in Suwon, less than 50 miles from Seoul, Lieutenant General Yoshimasa Oshima, commander of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army, was carefully planning a strategy to conquer Seoul with his staff.

On the same day, the 2nd Praetorian Guard Division of the Qing Army, which arrived in Pyongyang on the 16th, was engaged in fierce battles with the headquarters of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, which arrived in Pyongyang 5 miles east of Pyongyang and 30 miles south of Pyongyang.

On the Jiangdong front, the sound of guns and artillery continued.

Major General Zhong Xiahuo, commander of the 2nd Praetorian Guard Division, was escorted by only 30 cavalrymen and rushed to the position in the northeastern mountains of the Yangtze River to inspect the battle situation of the 15th Regiment of the 5th Janissary Brigade of the garrison.

In the headquarters of the 15th Regiment behind the mountain, Lieutenant Colonel Chen Xingyun, the commander of the regiment, saw a group of cavalry rushing from the rear from a distance, and hurriedly ordered the guard company to enter a combat state until he could clearly see the dragon flag in the hands of a cavalryman.

"Head Chen! I'm Zhong Xiahuo! Tell your men not to go off! ”

Zhong Xiahuo's loud voice made a low echo in the valley, and Chen Xingyun immediately waved his hand and ordered: "Return to alert!" ”

Zhong Xiahuo jumped from his horse and landed on the ground, just in time to meet Chen Xingyun who came up.

"Commander, why are you here in person?"

"Can't you come and see?"

"It's dangerous here."

"What's more dangerous, don't bother, what's going on on your side?"

Chen Xingyun led Zhong Xia Huo into the regiment headquarters - a tent ventilated on three sides, it was the height of summer, the sun was like fire, the tent was stuffy, and everyone had a little bead of sweat on their foreheads.

"Look, division commander," Chen Xingyun pointed to the map, "the 19th Infantry Wing of the Japanese Army has launched five charges since this morning, and each charge has bombarded our positions with blazing artillery fire. ”

Zhong Xiahuo looked at the map carefully, smiled and shook his head: "Commander Chen, the terrain you are in is very favorable, the Japanese army has no possibility of breaking through with an infantry wing, the more desperate the enemy is to attack, the faster it will come when it is exhausted, your regiment has suffered one-third casualties, and the Japanese army may have suffered two-thirds of the casualties. ”

Chen Xingyun was still worried: "Not necessarily, the Japanese army seems to have concentrated the artillery of the whole division to bombard our position fiercely, and if it continues like this-"

Zhong Xiahuo clicked on the map: "You want reinforcements, right, to tell you the truth, since yesterday, the direction of neutralization has been tight, and all the reserves have been transferred." We must defend the southern gate of Pyongyang in order to meet the first mixed group, and if the neutralization is lost, all the more than 5,000 friendly troops will be destroyed, and the Korean royal family will also fall into the hands of the Japanese, and we will be at a disadvantage both tactically and strategically. So, there are no reinforcements for you, and my order is, at all costs, hold my position for me. ”

Chen Xingyun said: "Yes, I promise to complete the task!" I was still muttering in my heart.

Zhong Xiahuo saw that his attitude was not resolute enough, so he deliberately said: "In this way, you lead me to the position to go around, see how fierce the enemy's artillery fire is, and then I will calculate how many cannons I should send you over." ”

Chen Xingyun was taken aback: "Division commander, don't go to the position, I can't be responsible for something, in this way, I will try my best to hold the position, and I won't mention the reinforcements." It's just—"

"Are you afraid of death?"

"My subordinates have no such intentions, division commander, if you really want to understand our 15th Regiment, just allocate four or five base ammunition to come over, our 57 Mountain Artillery is almost out of food."

Zhong Xiahuo turned back to the correspondent and said, "Write down, allocate 30 boxes of 57 artillery shells and 10 boxes of machine gun bullets to the 15th Regiment, and deliver them before dusk." ”

Chen Xingyun was so happy that he almost bent down to perform the old-fashioned salute.

※※※

The position of the 1st battalion of the 15th Regiment is located at the southern foot of the North Mountain, at this time it is already full of craters, none of the trees on the mountain are intact, the trenches are divided into one by one by the craters, the position is full of dead bodies, the tragic arms and legs are scattered among them, and the wounded soldiers abandoned on the hillside are wailing endlessly, this scene is like hell on earth.

Soon, the rapid sound of gunfire engulfed everything again.

Major Mo Huahu, commander of the 1st battalion, heard in the anti-artillery hole that the Japanese heavy artillery fire had extended backwards, and immediately rushed to the trench, and together with the soldiers of the machine gun platoon, pushed a ten-barreled Grimm machine gun into the battle position, and then personally operated the gun to shoot. The barrel of the Grimm machine gun turned sharply and fired in turn, and the 7-point 92-mm bullets rained down the hill with bayonets.

Suddenly, there was a whistling sound, and a group of Wuqishan artillery shells blossomed on the Japanese straggler line, knocking down several pieces at once. Mo Huahu shouted: "Okay, beating him is really fucking faster than my family cutting wheat!" The finger pulled the trigger and quickly emptied the entire 100-round ring drum.

"Bullets, bring bullets!" Mo Huahu roared, but saw the machine gun platoon leader Second Lieutenant Xu Soul running over, panting and saying: "Report to the battalion commander, there are only 300 machine gun bullets left in the whole battalion, and each machine gun is only enough for one drum." ”

"Stupid, what are you nervous about, isn't there still three hundred rounds, bring me a drum first!"

"Yes." Xu Soul handed over the drum, thinking that this battalion commander should be himself, and Mo Huahu was only qualified to be a machine gun shooter.

A hundred rounds of ammunition were only enough for the greedy Green machine gun to swallow for half a minute, and Mo Huahu's machine gun stopped with a "click".

"Are there any more bullets?"

"The second class is using a drum, this is the last drum—"

"Bring it!"

Xu Soul slowly handed over the last drum, and the expression on his face seemed to be handing over his own daughter to the landlord who was begging for rent.

When the last machine gun drum of the first battalion was reimbursed in the hands of the battalion commander, the whole battalion's machine guns shut up.

After another burst of intensive artillery fire, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 19th Infantry Wing of the Japanese Army, Chang Chuan Neng Shaozuo, led the last 300 fresh troops of his team to rush to the position of the first battalion of the Qing army, and the two 70-mm infantry guns and eight Ma Keqin machine guns of the rear brigade kept spitting bright red fire.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Great Japanese Empire! The Imperial Army is invincible! ”

Kukawa Ryu Noshi shouted slogans and raised his sabers, followed by a large group of imperial samurai with strips of sunburst cloth tied on their heads, shirtless, rifles in their hands, or mad dogs.

On the position of the first battalion, Major Mo Huahu and his subordinates were being overwhelmed by the Japanese machine guns, when they suddenly heard a shout of wah-wah, and it was obvious that the enemy had rushed closer.

Mo Huahu patted Xu Soul on the shoulder: "Go, help me go to the anti-artillery hole of the battalion headquarters and bring my big knife." ”

Xu Soul was surprised: "What kind of thing do you want to use?" ”

Mo Huahu said: "What kind of thing, that's called a big knife, go quickly." ”

Xu Soul hurriedly ran to the anti-artillery hole of the battalion headquarters, grabbed the big knife and ran back, and when he handed the big knife to Battalion Commander Mo, the soldiers in the trench had already loaded their bayonets and were ready to rush out of the gang to fight hand-to-hand.

Mo Huahu had a revolver in his left hand and a broad-bladed broadsword with a red tassel in his right hand, and shouted in his mouth: "The little devil rushed up, cut him down, brothers, follow me!" The body had already jumped out of the trench, and when he met a Japanese soldier rushing in front, he immediately raised his knife and cut off a round head.

"Kill!"

More than 200 men rushed down the hill with bayonets, including Second Lieutenant Xu Soul, the commander of the machine gun platoon.

Xu Soul followed closely behind Battalion Commander Mo, always guarding against devils from sneaking up behind the battalion commander's flank. Suddenly, a barking Japanese soldier flashed from the oblique stab, and went straight to the back of the battalion commander's heart, and Xu Soul hurriedly stepped forward with a gun to block the other party. The Japanese soldiers were menacing, and turned to stab Xu Soul, but Xu Soul was unable to block because he did not practice bayonet kung fu well, and he was stabbed in the left shoulder, screaming in pain. The Japanese soldier withdrew his gun and was about to stab again, but a silver light flashed from his neck, and immediately a stream of dirty blood flew into the sky, splashing Xu Soul's face all over his head.

Xu Soul wiped his face, looked at the red on his body, and didn't know where his own blood was, where was the blood of the devil, only to see Camp Commander Mo running towards him with a blood-dripping big knife, and yelled at himself: "Boy, learn a little!" Then he swung his knife and rushed again. Xu Soul knelt down covering his wounds, seeing that the brothers around him drove the enemy down the hillside under the leadership of Battalion Commander Mo, thinking to himself that he was really not a thing, and it was already eight lifetimes of virtue to be a platoon commander.

Kukawa Ryuneng Shaozo swung his knife and slashed down a Qing soldier, and shot a wounded soldier in the head - in order to save him from the humiliation of being captured, he finally met Mo Huahu, who had the rank of major on his shoulder.

Before Hisakawa could think that his opponent must be the commander of the Qing army, his long thin head rolled down the hill.

There is no time for people to think and talk nonsense on the real battlefield.

※※※

At dusk that day, Chen Xingyun, the commander of the 15th Regiment of the Qing Army's Praetorian Guard, received what he wanted with satisfaction - three carts full of ammunition.

At the same time, the commander of the 19th Wing of the Japanese Army, Chihiro O, Minaminakasa, led his remnants, which were less than a quarter of his quota, to abandon the attack on Koto and retreat to Yangde.