The cold wind blew all night.

In the early morning, the wind still doesn't stop, and the clouds still don't stop.

The hazy sky appears narrow, and the gray-black earth looks chaotic.

Between heaven and earth, the figure of the god of death and countless cannonballs that brought death flew.

October 18, 1903 was the scheduled date for the third general assault of the Janissary Field Army on the fortress of Blagoveshchensk.

On that day, before dawn, General Liang Tianhe, commander of the Praetorian Guards, appeared at the forward command post only two kilometers away from the starting position of the attacking troops, munching on meat buns and waiting for the time for the attack to come.

The hands of the pocket watch arrived at the position that people wanted to see, Liang Tianhe swallowed the mixture of meat, noodles and saliva at the end of the mouth, took the white handkerchief handed by the adjutant and rubbed the corners of his mouth, and ordered indifferently: "Order, the general attack begins." ”

At 6:30 a.m., the general assault began with the roar of 500 artillery pieces, including three 380-mm giant mortars firing 750-kilogram shells and nine 305-millimeter (12-inch) siege guns firing 350-kilogram shells. As a matter of fact, on the 17th, the 380-mm artillery had already fired 150 shells at the area of Fort A of the Hailanpao Fortress, while the 305-mm siege artillery fired more than 2,700 shells at the area of Fort A and Fort C and the urban area in the five consecutive days before the general attack. Under the fierce shelling in recent months, the urban area of Hailan Pao has long been reduced to a pile of rubble.

In front of Liang Tianhe, there was a large map, which was covered with colorful symbols.

In the center of the map is the Hailan Pao, sandwiched between the Heilongjiang River and the Jieya River, and various permanent and semi-permanent fortifications surround the city, which becomes a fortress.

The front of the Hailan Pao Fortress facing the land is only 15 kilometers, and the defense system is about 4-5 kilometers deep, divided into four lines of defense. The first line of defense consisted of a number of independent support points including civil bunkers, masonry pillboxes, foxholes, and communication trenches; The second line of defense is the main line of defense, and three large fortresses A, B, and C are set up from south to north, and the forts are connected by trenches, independent support points and independent bunkers, and a ditch with a depth of four or five meters is dug in front of the fortress, and the front of the defense line is covered with deer, barbed wire and mines; The third line of defense was the No. 1 and No. 2 battery systems, which were protected by pillbox groups between them; The fourth line of defense was the city wall surrounding the city, on which there were firing points and independent heavy batteries. In addition, the 9-kilometer coastal defense line facing the water was covered by a number of independent heavy artillery batteries and permanent fire points, and was covered by thick walls.

During the battle about a month before the day of the general assault, the Janissaries captured the first line of defense of the fortress, but failed to make crucial progress in front of the strong fortress line.

In order to reduce the sacrifices, Liang Tianhe ordered a large-scale civil engineering operation in front of the fortress defense line after the troops failed to storm the fortress twice, clearing most of the obstacles and minefields, digging tunnels and communication trenches and parallel trenches close to the fortress, and using tunnels to blast the fortress ditch and breast wall, but because the Russian army also carried out active anti-tunnel blasting operations (digging a new tunnel head-to-head or diagonally near the opponent's tunnel, blasting to destroy the opponent's tunnel when the two tunnels approached), Most of the tunnels of the Chinese army were destroyed by the Russian army before entering the target range, and they did not play a big role.

However, the power of 150-mm howitzers and 105-mm cannons was not enough to cause substantial damage to the fortress, and the main role was played by 305-mm siege guns, but the number was too small (only 9), and the 380-mm cannons were installed the day before the general attack.

In accordance with the instructions issued by Defense Minister Liu Yun to "take the Hailan Pao Fortress before winter," Liang Tianhe set the time for the third and most scheduled general attack on 18 October; in fact, if it is postponed by a few days, the 380-mm cannon that has been installed can play a greater role, but the military order is like a mountain, even if the 380-mm cannon has not been installed, the whole army must also be put into the general offensive according to the plan.

In the field of vision of the telescope, the flashes of artillery shell explosions rose and fell in the smoke of gunpowder, and the three huge fortresses that stretched and twisted were shrouded in countless smoke and dust, looming, if they were real, like a mirage.

Liang Tianhe let go of the binoculars and returned to the map table, rubbing his fingers on the three red arrows inserted into the Hailan Pao Fortress.

Lieutenant General Zhang Yiye, the chief of staff holding a teacup, sat on the side and said peacefully: "Don't worry, it will take four hours to prepare for artillery fire, and you still have to wait." ”

Liang Tianhe glanced at him, a meaningless smile on the corner of his mouth.

The red arrows on the map are marked with the number of troops, and the three arrows represent the three combat areas, from north to south, which are the left, center, and right wing.

The left and right flanks are the main direction of attack, and the center is the auxiliary direction of attack.

On the left and right flanks there were 6 Janissaries regiments (18 infantry battalions) divided into three echelons to attack, and in the center there were 3 Janissaries regiments (9 infantry battalions) also divided into three echelons to attack, and 6 regiments were kept as reserves.

The left flank is composed of troops of the 1st and 3rd Janissaries Brigades, the right flank is composed of the 5th and 6th Janissaries Brigades, the center is in charge of the 8th Reserve Janissary Brigade, and the reserves are the 10th and 12th Brigades of the Praetorian Guards, a total of seven brigades, according to the establishment of 63,000 men, under the jurisdiction of 63 infantry battalions.

The situation inside the fortress, Liang Tianhe is not very clear.

Three days ago, when the weather was still good, Liang Tianhe had taken a two-seater reconnaissance plane assigned to the field army to the sky above Hailan Pao twice, and saw the urban area that had been reduced to ruins, as well as the craters on the surface of the moon, although the three fortresses were dilapidated, but obviously there was still a lot of space to cover the defenders, criss-crossing communication trenches stretched out on the left and right sides of the fortress and the rear, the two battery systems behind the fortress had been destroyed, and the city wall system had not been seriously damaged. As for the casualties and surplus of supplies in the fortress, Liang Tianhe and Zhang Yiye both found it difficult to estimate, and they only knew that the total strength of the 11th Baikal Cossack Brigade attached to the First Siberian Army guarding the fortress was about 50,000 when it was surrounded, and after fierce fighting in recent months, the casualties may be around 30 to 40 percent.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes, Army General Liang Tianhe felt that time passed too slowly, three minutes was like three hours.

One hour, two hours, three hours, Private Wu Jun, who was on the front line, felt that time passed like lightning, and three hours were like three seconds.

The sound of the cannon could no longer affect Wu Jun's hearing, and he clearly heard some of the sounds he had been waiting for but that disturbed him.

"Second battalion! Get into position! ”

"Seventh Company, get moving, go to the front!"

"Deputy squad leader, it's time to move forward......

With Hanyang-made Type 97 rifles in their hands, grenade pouches, bullet boxes, and water bottles hanging from their waists, and backpacks containing zha medicine, dry rations, and first-aid kits, the soldiers rushed through the two-meter-deep communication trenches like moles, and rushed to the starting position, which was only two or three hundred yards away from the enemy position.

The enemy's shells continued to explode outside the trench, shrapnel whizzed over Wu Jun's head, and from time to time a few pieces of dirt fell on him, and the sound of the explosion was close at hand, making his ears ring, but he didn't care.

He cares most about his life right now.

With the unstoppable flow of people, Wu Jun entered the trench of the starting position, which was covered with bullet casings on the ground and stained with blood on the walls.

Wu Jun had heard that just the day before yesterday, the Russian army launched a counterattack on the Chinese positions in this area, and after the battle, the dead bodies of both sides almost filled the trenches.

The trench was more than two meters high, and it was necessary to pass through the pedals to get out, and there were slope guards with bulletproof plates in front and rear, but even so, everyone still squatted down in unison, and only a few middle and lower-ranking officers shuttled back and forth with their waists bold, conveying instructions and cheering up by the way.

"The general attack was launched on time at 10:30, our Yunlong Regiment is in the first echelon, and the opportunity to add glory to the regimental flag has come, remember, the first regiment of the Praetorian Guard is always the first, whoever retreats is to discredit the regimental flag, I killed him on the spot!"

"Half an hour later, the tunnel blasting of Fortress A will be launched, the explosion is very powerful, everyone be mentally prepared!"

"Check the weapon! You, the grenade fuse is exposed outside the bag, and you want everyone to die with you! ”

"Is the ID card hung up? It's none of my business if I don't see a corpse! ”

"Who wants to go to the toilet? After 10 minutes, you won't be allowed to move! ”

"The blasting is about to begin, plug your ears!"

Wu Jun stuffed two tampon balls into his ears.

Wu Jun felt the ground under his feet tremble, his heart and lungs suffocated, and he also saw the loose dirt on the trench slope sliding down one after another, and everyone showed a painful expression that they couldn't pull out their stool.

This was the most successful blasting since the siege of the city, the Chinese army engineers dug a tunnel nearly six meters deep into the ground under the breastwork of Fort A, filled it with 3,790 kilograms of ZHA medicine, and the violent explosion blew up a large pit with a diameter of 30 meters in the breastwork, and the blasting caused a strong vibration in the fortress, many bunkers, barracks and shelters were destroyed, and the inside of the fortress caught fire.

At the same time, various artillery pieces of the Chinese army fired heavily at the fort, which lasted for ten minutes.

"Go up! Go up, remember, you can only move forward, and those who retreat will be shot! ”

Tie Qun, the commander of the Seventh Company, roared loudly at everyone in the company with an iron face, and Wu Jun suddenly felt that flames would erupt from Tie Qun's mouth.

"Follow me, you'll be fine."

Squad leader Niu Hao patted Wu Jun on the shoulder and said, put his foot on the foot of the trench wall, and jumped outside the trench.

Wu Jun prayed again in his heart: "Heaven and the world, all the gods and bodhisattvas and Buddhas bless, I, Wu Jun, can retreat with my whole body, and I can contribute to paying off the land debt for my family in the future." ”

He jumped out of the trench, surrounded by familiar faces, he saw Niu Hao's back, and ran after him.

In front is Niu Hao's back, as well as a large hole in the chest wall of the fortress, and thick fireworks are swaying on the top of the fortress.

"It's going to be fine."

Wu Jun silently recited these words, clenched his rifle and rushed forward.

In front of him was Niu Hao's back, which was instantly lifted up by a flash of light, disintegrating into several pieces from the waist down and flying into the sky, while the upper body turned around in the air with open arms, rolling down the white leggings of countless Praetorian Guard soldiers.

Wu Jun silently watched as half of Niu Hao's body got closer and closer to his white leggings, lifted his legs, and stepped over Niu Hao's wide eyes.

"Landmine ......"

Wu Jun's consciousness crossed this piercing word like a meteor, he didn't look back, he didn't stop, he rushed straight through the bombed fortress ditch, climbed the gap in the chest wall of the fortress, and took a picture with the messy rubble and mutilated corpses in the fortress.

It is said that the impregnable fortress is a mess, with broken flesh and entrails splattered on broken masonry and cement, parts of artillery guns scattered and clattered when stepped on, orange flames erupted from several places, and choking smoke everywhere.

Thick smoke came to his face, and Wu Jun couldn't help but sneeze loudly.

"It's going to be fine."

Wu Jun muttered, wiped his nose, and jumped forward with his comrades.

As he navigated a collapsed machine-gun bunker, he felt a soft object on his feet, and his unrecovering sense of hearing felt what appeared to be human screams.

He looked down and saw that it was a wounded Russian soldier, his foot right on the other's bleeding belly.

Wu Jun looked at the wounded soldier indifferently, noticed that his white leggings had been stained red by the blood splashed by the wounded soldier, frowned, and turned the rifle with the bayonet in his backhand, and pierced the bayonet deep into the opponent's chest.

Pulling out the bayonet, the bright red blood slipped down from the blood groove in waves, and Niu Hao's half body that was flying in the air suddenly jumped into Wu Jun's eyelids.

"It's going to be fine!"

Wu Jun shook his rifle and roared, the image of memory shattered like glass, ahead, ruins, rubble, corpses. No, there was also a wriggling human body, seemingly choked by poisonous smoke, with its hands stuck in its throat, its tongue stuck out, and it was lying on the ground and twisting like a caterpillar. Wu Jun rushed forward excitedly, kicked the man in the face, and then stabbed him five times in the chest and neck in succession.

When he was about to stab him for the sixth time, the company commander Tie Qun rushed in front of Wu Jun and yelled at him with a twisted face, but Wu Jun just smiled at him, pulled out his bayonet and ran away.

Wu Jun ran very fast, and in a blink of an eye, he rushed to the front of the whole company, and his platoon commander Li Qing felt that he was too excited, so he chased after him, grabbed him, and yelled at him, but he did not react.

Li Qing slapped him.

Wu Jun touched his face, opened his eyes, and spit out a few words like a dream: "I...... Shot? ”

"You're crazy!"

Li Qing shouted, and pressed his head down.

"The enemy's reinforcements are coming up, and you are still rushing with your head buried in it, as if you haven't seen anything, you want to die! Come with me and cover the machine gun crew. ”

Each Janissaries infantry platoon was equipped with a machine gun crew, armed with a Type 1899 7-point 92 mm light machine gun, fed by 50 rounds of metal drums, which was the backbone of the infantry platoon's firepower.

Now, the machine gun crews of the 7th Company and 3 platoons have set up their machine guns on a protruding pile of rubble and fired fiercely at the Russian infantry who are jumping close to their own troops, while the Russian riflemen are trying to approach and eliminate the Chinese machine gunners in a roundabout way under the cover of the ruins of the fortress.

Wu Jun followed Li Qing, and under the cover of rubble and corpses, crawled to the side of the machine gun group of this platoon.

"Keep an eye on the little wall on the left, I just saw two people crawling behind the wall."

Li Qing pointed to a ruined wall fifty or sixty yards away to show Wu Jun.

Wu Jun put the rifle on a broken brick, aimed at the remnant wall, and after a few seconds, he saw a little yellow uniform color emerging from the right side of the wall, and immediately aimed and fired, and in a moment, the body of a Russian soldier rolled out of the wall.

As soon as Wu Jun pulled the bolt of the gun, another Russian soldier jumped out with a smoking cone-shaped object in his hand and rushed towards the machine gun position.

"It's too late!"

Wu Jun shouted in his heart, jumped up subconsciously, grabbed the middle part of the rifle with one hand, pointed the spear at the front of the Russian soldier running into, and threw the rifle like a javelin, before he lay down, he saw the spear pierced into the waist of the crazy Russian soldier.

"Success?"

Wu Jun thought to himself as he held his head as an explosion came, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the two machine gunners a few yards away were safe and sound.

"Well done! I didn't expect you to have this trick! ”

Platoon Commander Li jumped over and praised him excitedly, and he poked his head out to see a pile of radioactive flesh lying thirty or forty yards away, with several objects resembling rifle parts in between.

"Platoon commander, my rifle is ruined."

Wu Jun said that a rifle was immediately handed to him, but it was the company commander, Captain Tie Qun, who was holding the gun.

"Amazing job, young man, but this is just the beginning, get ready, we're going to rush over!"

Tie Qun said, patted him on the neck, raised the revolver with the red tassel belt floating in his hand, and shouted to the left and right: "Brothers of the Seventh Company! Rushed over! Long live the Empire! Praetorian Guard, forward! ”

With the shouts of the iron group, the trumpeters of the company blew the passionate trumpet, and the cry of "Long live the empire" spread rapidly like ripples, not only the seventh company, but also the four companies of the second battalion, which were the vanguard of the forbidden regiment, launched a charge at the same time, and the soldiers quickly jumped over the broken wall of dozens of yards with shining white blades, and killed themselves with the Russian reinforcements.

A few minutes later, the second echelon of the forbidden regiment, four companies of the third battalion joined the battle from the south side of the fortress, and the mortar groups of each company and battalion also set up mortars to bombard the Russian reinforcements that were constantly coming.

When Colonel Xu Soul, the commander of the 1st Forbidden Brigade, personally led the second echelon of his brigade to appear on the ruins of Fort A, the 1st Forbidden Regiment had completely occupied Fort A, and the officers and men were busy extinguishing fires, removing explosives, and rebuilding bunkers.

The third battalion and the seventh company, which suffered nearly one-third casualties, were ordered to withdraw and recuperate, and the subsequent battle would be carried out by the second and third echelons of the brigade.

"It's okay, I'm still alive."

Wu Jun thought about it, took the bloodstained bayonet off the rifle, wiped it clean with a handkerchief, and put it in a holster.

Company Commander Tie Qun patted him on the neck from behind: "A soldier Wu Jun, did a good job today, how many did you kill?" ”

"I don't count."

Wu Jun said, suddenly hearing a low whistling sound in the air.

"Lie down!"

Wu Jun felt that he had been pushed on his back, and he fell to the ground heavily, eating a mouth full of dust, and then his eardrums roared violently, maybe a second, maybe two seconds later, he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he was already in the green tent of the field bandaging station, lying on a thin military mattress.

"Awake?"

A medical soldier in a red coat asked him, and Wu Jun rubbed his eyes, only then did he see clearly that the red coat turned out to be a white coat stained with blood.

"Do you have a headache?"

"Yes...... The head is heavy ......"

Wu Jun raised his eyes up and saw the bandage on his forehead.

"You're lucky, you don't have any serious injuries, at most a little concussion, I heard that the officer next to you was hit through the skull by shrapnel, and the brains flew out......"

"Yes...... Officers? What's the last name? ”

"I don't know, it seems to be a captain, the commander of a certain company."

The medic said, placing a glass of water on the head of Wu Jun's bed.

"Can you move your hands and feet? Where else does it hurt? ”

"Shoulder pain...... Feeling tired......"

"Wait, I'll call the medical officer to show you."

The medic said, leaving tiredly.

Wu Jun looked at the green canvas bevel above his head, the corners of his mouth twitched, as if he wanted to cry, but he twisted the corners of his mouth and smiled.

"Great, I'm still alive, Daddy......"

Wu Jun closed his eyes, and there were bursts of rapid cannon sound from far away outside the tent, far away, farther and farther away from him, but not forever. He had chosen his path, he couldn't go back, he just wanted to take a quiet breather before returning to that place where life and death were uncertain.

The sky gradually turned from haze to gloom, and when pure darkness fell, the sound of gunfire around Hailan Bubble gradually thinned out.

Before dinner, General Liang Tianhe, commander of the Janissary Field Army, proudly walked around in the large dining room of the rear command post with wine glasses and loudly praised his senior officers.

"The forbidden division on the left flank is doing a good job, Fortress A has completely fallen into the hands of our army, very good, very good, I will work hard tomorrow, I will take down the battery line and attack under the city wall in one go......"

"The fourth division on the right flank is not bad, Fortress C has been taken, but there are still some attached bunkers around that have not been cleaned up, we must organize a night attack tonight to get rid of those small miscellaneous pieces......"

"Although the center is not the main direction of attack, many of the attached bunkers of Fortress B have been taken, very good, tomorrow the army will throw a brigade of reserves over, and strive to take Fortress B during the day tomorrow......"

"The artillery and sappers are especially well done, everyone should toast to the artillery director and the engineer director, come, do ......"

The glass goblets in the hands of the officers shook bright red wine, which in the light of the candlelight was like blood, like the blood of countless dead and wounded on both sides of the battlefield.

At this time, in the underground bunker of Lieutenant General Grenengsrow, commander of the 1st Russian Siberian Army, several generals who had to eat a simple dinner because the food depot was destroyed by a bomb were discussing the issue of surrender.

"Never surrender! For the sake of His Majesty the Tsar, we must fight to the death! ”

Grengelslo clamed the table and shouted, and the other two - Major General Glasco, commander of the 1st Siberian Division, and Major General Zaremenko, commander of the 2nd Division, hurriedly held on to the plate in front of him, which contained the steaming mashed potatoes.

Glasco and Zaremenko looked at each other, and Glasco shook his neck and motioned for Zaremenko to speak first.

Zaremenko coughed deliberately, cleared his throat, looked squarely at Greengelsrow and said: "Commander, accept the reality, the troops reinforced to the fortress have been repulsed in Moscow Vidino (see chapters 80-82), and now we are isolated, the enemy has launched a general attack today with absolute superiority, Fortress A and Fortress C have fallen, and the reserves that have been put into the counterattack have been hit by the enemy's superior firepower, and most of them have been lost, and it is impossible to continue to defend the fortress with the current strength......"

Grengelsloh rudely interrupted him: "Shut up! Nothing is impossible for the servicemen of the Russian Empire! Isn't Fortress B still in our hands? Don't we still have a fort line and a wall defense? Aren't you and I all right? Before you and I die in battle, don't even think about surrendering! ”

Glasco couldn't help but exclaim: "Commander, it's okay to sacrifice your and my lives, but please be sure to consider the lives of tens of thousands of civilians in the fortress!" The Chinese army has already blown the city into ruins, leaving the old, young, women and children homeless, windy and rainy for several days, many children have already died of illness, and it may begin to snow in a few days, and the situation will worsen. A few days ago, the enemy's aerial weapons blew up the main food warehouse of the fortress, and many soldiers and civilians will suffer from scurvy...... Judging from the current state of affairs, the fortress will definitely not hold out for another month, and General Kuropatkin's telegram yesterday also said that there will be no reinforcements for a month......"

Grengelslo retorted with an overwhelming voice: "General Kuropatkin has asked us to hold out for another three months, after three months there will definitely be reinforcements, we should obey the orders of the commander-in-chief and believe in his promises!" ”

Glasco and Zaremenko looked at each other again, and with a look of contempt in their eyes, they lowered their heads and pulled up the mashed potatoes on their plates.

Grengelsrow stood on the platform facing the pool of anger: "You, what kind of attitude do you have! What are your grievances about the Commander-in-Chief of the Far East, General Kuropatkin! ”

"I didn't ...... No...... Body touch. ”

Glasco puffed out his cheeks and said indistinctly.

"It's fine."

Zaremenko said, licking his lips.

"Or maybe you're unhappy with me!"

Grengelsloh jumped headlong into the pool.

Glasco and Zaremenko rambled.

"How dare you."

"Of course not, we have always treated you with great respect."

"yes, yes, it's so worshipful."

"Especially seeing your glorious behavior of being on the front line all the time and never hiding in the basement all day, I was so moved that tears almost fell."

"It's like seeing the reincarnation of the great General Suvorov."

"Much greater than General Kutuzov (Note 1)."

Grengelslo was so angry that his beard was about to jump: "You two mad dogs! Look, tomorrow I'm going to the front, to inspect Battery 1, and see what else you have to say! ”

Grengels Roth paused for a moment, and added: "There is the defense area of the 1st Division, so Major General Glasco wants to go with me." ”

Glasco's face turned blue all of a sudden, and he looked at Zaremenko, his ally just now, as if he were pleading.

Zaremenko stood up.

"I'm full, please continue, I still have to go to the defense area of my division to inspect."

Zaremenko said, fleeing the small restaurant with a low-level look of happiness.

In the afternoon of the next day, Zaremenko automatically became the commander of the 1st Siberian Army and the commander of Blagoveshchensk.

Lieutenant General Greengelsrow, the former commander of the First Army, was attacked by heavy artillery fire from the Chinese army at noon on the same day when he inspected the area of the No. 1 battery.

Zaremenko's first important move after taking over the fortress was to convene a meeting of the brigade commanders and the commanders of the defense zone on the evening of the 19th to discuss "the next step of the fortress."

Needless to say, this "next priority" is, of course, surrender.

In the battle of the day, Fortress B finally fell, the Chinese army attacked in front of the battery line, part of the troops had advanced under the city walls, the reserves of the fortress were depleted, and the ammunition supply began to be tight because the main ammunition depot was destroyed by the heavy artillery of the Chinese army. The above reasons were enough to convince the brigade commanders and the commanders of the defense districts, who were already physically and mentally exhausted, that before Zaremenko had finished dumping his high-sounding pretext, everyone had already raised their hands and agreed to surrender.

Zaremenko immediately ordered Colonel Kahu, chief of staff of the fortress command, to draft in English a letter to General Liang Tianhe, commander of the Chinese siege army, suggesting that negotiations be held on the surrender of the fortress. As soon as the letter was written, it was taken by Warrant Officer Marchenko, a staff officer of the fortress headquarters, to the outpost of the Chinese army.

The news of the imminent surrender of the fortress quickly spread among the defenders, and the officers and soldiers, led by junior officers and sergeants, began a frenzied sabotage operation, the remaining buildings were set on fire, fortifications, artillery and other weapons were destroyed, the remaining ammunition was destroyed, and the slogan of the Russian officers and soldiers was: "Do not leave anything useful to the enemy!" ”

The sabotage continued until after the negotiations began, and Zaremenko, fearing that this would affect the negotiations, sent a gendarmerie to stop it.

On the front, sporadic fighting was still going on in individual sections from the night of the 19th to noon on the 20th.

In the early morning of October 20, Zaremenko received a reply from Liang Tianhe agreeing to hold negotiations on the surrender of the Blagoveshchensk fortress, and in the afternoon the two sides held negotiations in a tent near Fort A, which had been conquered by Chinese troops. The head of the Russian plenipotentiary delegation was Colonel Kahu, chief of staff of the fortress command, and the plenipotentiary negotiator of the Chinese side was Lieutenant General Zhang Yiye, chief of staff of the Praetorian Guard.

With the victor's contemptuous smile, Zhang Yiye handed over the terms of surrender drawn up by the Chinese side to Kahuo and allowed the Russian delegation to discuss the conditions proposed by the Chinese side for 30 minutes.

After reading these conditions, Cahuy made a counter-proposal, asking that the defenders of the fortress first be allowed to leave the fortress with weapons.

Zhang Yiye snorted coldly, and said to the translator beside him: "Tell them that these conditions are decided by the imperial base camp, and not a word can be changed, if you don't agree, our army will resume the siege within 1 hour." ”

After the interpreter chattered for a while, Kaxiu discussed a few more words with the representatives around him, and nodded to Liang Tianhe and said a word.

The interpreter turned his head and said, "He said he could agree to our terms." ”

"Then sign it."

Liang Tianhe pointed to the quill pen that had been prepared on the table and said.

Kaxiu muttered a few times, picked up the pen, licked the ink, and began to sign.

At this time, under the crystal glass of the silver-shelled pocket watch placed in front of Liang Tianhe, the white gold-plated spearhead-shaped hands fell exactly at 3:37.

In accordance with the terms of surrender, the entire garrison of the fortress fell into captivity. All fortifications, fortifications, weapons, ammunition, funds and other military materiel were to be handed over to the Chinese army in their original condition. Generals and officers of the Russian army are allowed to carry ceremonial weapons (i.e., swords, swords, etc.) and personal necessities. The disarmed soldiers, sailors, and non-commissioned officers assembled at the designated place of the Chinese army under the command of their respective officers. The instrument of surrender shall be valid immediately from the date of its signature.

By the day of surrender, there were still 30,600 people (including 9,872 wounded and sick), more than 2,000 horses, 104 complete artillery pieces, 5 machine guns, and more than 10,000 shells of various types. According to the statistics of the quartermaster department of the garrison, by October 20, 1903, the flour of the troops could be supplied for eight months, but the non-staple food could only be supplied for one to three months. In addition, during the month-long siege, it is estimated that more than 10,000 citizens of Hailanpao died from artillery fire and disease.

From September 9 to October 20, 1903, in almost six weeks of fighting, the Praetorian Field Army suffered 38,700 casualties and missing personnel, including 16,300 killed and missing. The total results of the battle were: the total annihilation of about 50,000 troops defending the fortress of Hailan Pao, including the enemy's First Siberian Army, and heavy damage to the enemy's Second Siberian Army and the Eleventh Army, which had rushed all the way from the Kazan Military District to support, and a total of about 90,000 enemy troops were killed and captured, and tens of thousands of enemy troops were wounded.

The battle of the Janissaries did not end there, and the remnants of the Russian 2nd and 11th Armies of the 2nd and 11th Armies of Svobodne, 120 kilometers north of Hailanpao, were still entrenched, but they were already insignificant—the railway line from Svobodne to Chita had been severely damaged by the Chinese forces, and the Russians had only two options: stay in Svobodne and wait to be annihilated by the powerful Janissaries Field Army, or retreat in the direction of Chita in the coming snowy winter with wagons and feet.

The Praetorian Field Army was freed from the task of attacking the fortress, and at this time the most elite troops of the empire had four Praetorian Divisions, a Praetorian Cavalry Brigade and a Praetorian Artillery Brigade, which should have 155,000 men according to their establishment, and by October 20 there were 128,000 troops.

Soon, this powerful force will receive orders to go to the Western Front and become the pillar of the Chinese army on the Western Front.

The commander of the Praetorian Field Army, Admiral Liang Tianhe, was a thousand percent sure of this.

In addition, he was also sure that his status among the generals of the Wuwei family had also increased by 900 percent, and he imagined that he would be added to the rank of official in the future, and that he would have a large salary and annuity, and that the original idea of opening a company and running a farm was immediately reduced to vulgarity and frivolity, and was thrown into the stinking ditch of memory.

However, that night, thousands of miles away from the battlefield, Liu Yun, the Duke of Wuwei, did not sense Liang Tianhe's conviction, he was dressed all over his body, with medals on his chest, and accompanied the emperor to Tiananmen Square in his capacity as acting prime minister and minister of national defense, and watched the lantern procession of the soldiers and civilians of Beijing.

As soon as the good news of the conquest of Hailan Pao reached the Beijing Division, a number of newspaper offices immediately opened up at full capacity to print and distribute them free of charge throughout the city, and the base camp also quickly issued an order to the civil affairs department of the Beijing Division, requesting the organization of a lantern parade at night to celebrate.

Just after dinner time, more than 100,000 citizens and military police poured into the streets, carrying improvised or rushed lanterns, and the crowds of people on the East and West Chang'an Avenue, Qianmen Avenue and Guan Street (i.e., Yongdingmenwai Street) were surging and brightly lit, like a rushing river of light.

At about 10 o'clock, the parade began to set off large ceremonial flowers that had been prepared for the New Year's celebration near Tiananmen Square.

At that time, no one would have thought that the reason why they could see this magnificent and splendid scene in advance was not only because of a telegram, but also because hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians thousands of kilometers away had shed their blood for more than a month.

Happiness and joy, at some point extravagant and bloodthirsty.

Note 1: Suvorov and Kutuzov are both famous Russian generals in the late 18th century and early 19th century, Suvorov led the main forces of the Russian army in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791, and played a key role in Russia's final victory, in the Polish War in 1794, Suvorov's swift and brilliant actions determined the outcome of the war, and in 1799 he led his troops over the Alps to attack Italy occupied by the French army, and wrote "The Science of Victory". Kutuzov was Suvorov's general, and in 1812, when Russia fought against France, he served as the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, leading Russia to defeat the invasion of more than 600,000 troops led by Napoleon, the first emperor of the French Empire, who was the ruler of most of the European continent at that time.