Chapter 36 The Japanese Attack

In the following days, the whole army was actively preparing for war. Wei Jichen also stayed with the soldiers all day long, digging trenches, building mounds of earth, and pouring cold water. He was so busy that he couldn't even touch the ground every day, and he won the respect of most of the soldiers.

Before going to bed every night, Wei Jichen would spend 18 points of prestige to enter the system to practice marksmanship. In battlefield scenes, Wei Jichen usually chose the King of the Forest, because his next battles would be conducted in this high mountain.

Five days passed like this, and Wei Jichen's defensive position had begun to take shape.

Trenches are criss-crossed, foxholes, and air-raid shelters are all connected by communication trenches. If the soldiers defending the foxholes are hit, the rear can immediately provide support and treatment through the communication trenches.

Wei Jichen stood on the top of the mountain, proudly looking at his masterpiece over the past few days, and sneered in his heart: "Little Japan, grandpa will let you see it this time."

Wei Jichen's various fortifications also opened the eyes of other sentry officers in Yongziying. Hu Dianjia also sent several sergeants to come to learn from them. Wei Jichen was naturally optimistic about the success.

Hoof-clack, hoof-clack.

Two horses galloped rapidly on the road below. Wei Jichen looked around and saw that they were his own communications troops.

The two signal soldiers looked nervous and tired, but they did not slow down their horses at all.

After raising the token and passing the command, the signal soldier hurried towards the commander's tent.

It seems that the Japanese are not far away, Wei Jichen secretly guessed as he touched his chin.

In the handsome tent.

Nie Shicheng sat at the top, and the other commanders were separated into two columns.

"Report!" The signal soldier arrived before the signal came.

"Report, the enemy's 10th brigade has broken through Lianshan Pass and is coming towards our army's position at Dakaoling."

The signal soldier staggered in. As soon as he entered the door, he knelt down and reported loudly.

Nie Shicheng stroked his beard with his hand, his face slightly angry. Although he knew that Lianshan Pass could not be defended, he did not expect that it would fall so quickly.

This Jiang Zikang is too incompetent. Before the war, he vowed that he could hold on for half a month. Unexpectedly, news came yesterday that the Japanese troops were approaching the Nine Company Pass, and today news came again that they had lost the battle.

"Everyone, now that the troops are approaching the city, it is time for us to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty. The Japanese are coming with great force, but with the natural dangers of our Dagaoling, it is not so easy to break through."

After Nie Shicheng finished speaking, he glanced at the generals with a pair of tiger eyes, and said coldly: "Everyone, although I, Nie Shicheng, am the new commander-in-chief and do not have enough prestige, I know very well that if the military order is not up to date, defeat is not far away. Therefore, I, Nie Shicheng, am here today. I hereby give an order: no order, no retreat. Anyone who violates this order will be killed without mercy. I hope you will remember this sentence after you go down, fight against the Japanese together with Nie, and be loyal to the court and the emperor."

Liu Shengxiu, the commander of the Ming Army, suddenly said in a strange voice: "I am afraid that someone will leave the most difficult tasks to friendly forces to complete in order to preserve their strength."

Nie Shicheng looked at him directly, and then said firmly: "Nie's troops have always been at the forefront, and this time it is no different. They go into battle to kill the enemy. You can preserve your strength and report it to the higher authorities, but if someone violates Nie’s orders, Nie will never let him go.”

Lu Benyuan, the commander-in-chief of the Sheng army, smoothed things over and said: "Commander Nie, everyone, the Japanese are attacking very fast, I have to go down and prepare."

Nie Shicheng raised his hand, the generals dispersed, and the military meeting ended like this.

Feng Guozhang waited until everyone walked out of the camp, then frowned and said worriedly: "Shuai Nie, the last battle at Hushan was because Liu Shengxiu refused to save him, which led to heavy losses for our Luyu defense army. This time, he We will not repeat the same tactics to preserve our strength.”

Nie Shicheng said coldly: "Liu Shengxiu doesn't have the slightest idea of ​​the overall situation, but even if I lend him ten courages, he doesn't dare to do it this time. Last time, General Song responded to the court and took the biggest responsibility for the failure of the battle. Pushing Liu Shengxiu on, Zhongtang was criticized by many people in the court. Zhongtang was very angry and called Liu Shengxiu severely. Moreover, Zhongtang also gave me an order. If Liu Shengxiu refuses to push forward again this time. , I can take him down directly.”

Nie Shicheng was different from Song Qing. Song Qing was outside the Huai Army system. He could only report it to Li Hongzhang, but did not dare to punish those Huai Army generals, because once he punished them, he would be destroying the face of most Huai Army generals. The military generals must work together to secretly disobey his orders.

And Nie Shichen himself was a member of the Huai Army system. If he took action, others would only say that Liu Shengxiu deserved his punishment, but would not form a group to resist.

Not long after the signal corps left, Wei Jichen urgently mobilized his soldiers to get everyone ready for battle.

All the soldiers were convinced by him. After receiving the order, they did not dare to neglect. They all cheered up, loaded their guns, and looked nervously at the road in the distance.

"Zijie, has the situation changed? The Japanese are coming?" Li Yunfei walked to Wei Jichen and asked softly.

"I'm just guessing. There's nothing wrong with being prepared first." Wei Jichen smiled bitterly. His status was too low. He didn't know when it would be until the confirmed news arrived.

"Lianshan Pass was broken so quickly!" Li Yunfei said with disbelief.

Wei Jichen said solemnly: "This time, the vanguard of the Japanese is the 10th Brigade commanded by Naofumi Ritsumi. Naofumi Ritsumi has always believed in the importance of speed in war. He often makes many arrangements before the battle, and then suddenly launches a fierce attack to achieve success in one battle. It is not impossible for Lianshanguan to fall so quickly."

The solemn expression on Wei Jichen's face also affected Li Yunfei. He knew that Wei Jichen would not shoot without purpose.

While the two were silent, there was a sudden sound of people and horses on the road below. Hundreds of defeated soldiers shouted for their parents and ran towards Wei Jichen's position.

Why do you think Wei Jichen thinks they are defeated soldiers? It's because this group of people looked depressed and their morale was low. Some people even lost their guns and were barefoot. I don't know where they threw their shoes.

This group of people ran from afar, shouting: "The Japanese are coming, the Japanese are coming."

It was obvious that they were extremely scared.

Wei Jichen's face changed drastically. Damn, if this group of defeated soldiers rushed forward, it would definitely cause chaos in the position, and then the Japanese could take the opportunity to capture it.

Behind the defeated soldiers, closely following the more than 2,000 soldiers of the 10th Brigade, Li Jianshen was in the middle of the team. He led a group of staff and officers to ride on a small hill, and then raised the telescope in his hand to carefully check the situation of the Qing army's defeated soldiers in front.

When he saw the group of defeated soldiers rushing towards the enemy's position without hesitation, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

A regiment commander Takeda Hideyama next to him saw that the cooked duck flew away, and he couldn't help but be anxious, and asked nervously: "Major General, the Qing army is running back to the position. Should our army speed up the pursuit?"

Not long ago, Li Jianshen issued an order to pursue but not attack, which made the regiment commander under his command confused.

After taking Lianshan Pass, Naofumi Tachimi divided the 10th Brigade into two parts: one part was commanded by another brigade commander to attack Saimaji, which was garrisoned by Heilongjiang General Yiktang'a and was only a hundred miles away from Dagaoling; the other part was commanded by him personally to attack Dagaoling.

After Naofumi Tachimi conquered Lianshan Pass, the army did not even take a rest, but followed the defeated Qing army closely.

Chief of Staff Komamoto smiled faintly and said to Takeda Hideyama: "The order of the major general must have a deep meaning. You just have to wait and see."

In fact, Komamoto had already understood what Naofumi Tachimi meant, but he had to leave the limelight to Naofumi Tachimi. He did not want to be like Yang Xiu in the Three Kingdoms period, who dug his own grave with a useless sentence. Naofumi Tachimi pretended to be mysterious. If everything was guessed by his subordinates, what fun would he have?

Li Jian Shangwen raised his whip and said proudly: "Gentlemen, what are hundreds of defeated soldiers? Compared with Dagaoling, they are really insignificant. The purpose of our trip is to quickly tear open the defense line of Dagaoling and open the way forward for the follow-up troops of the empire."

The generals were all shocked. This brigade commander was really swift and unusual in combat. He had just captured Jiuliancheng this morning and was now thinking about how to capture Dagaoling.

He really dared to break through two lines of defense of the Qing army in one day.

"Gentlemen, I know you are worried. You are afraid that the soldiers will be tired and the Qing army will be rested. But you might as well think about it. If we repair it a little, won't the Qing army be rested? Look at the expressions of the imperial warriors. They are very excited. Moreover, if we attack Dagaoling at this time, we will definitely catch the Qing army off guard. They never expected that our army would move so quickly." Li Jian Shangwen said the reason passionately.

The generals of the 10th Brigade nodded involuntarily after hearing this. The Japanese army had easily broken through Lianshan Pass, and now their morale was high.

After saying this, Tachimi Naofumi raised his telescope to check the situation of the Qing army's fleeing soldiers, but saw that the group of fleeing soldiers was less than 500 meters away from the Qing army's position, and no one from the Qing army's position came out to stop them. Seeing this, he felt relieved.

"Takeda Hideyama!" Tachimi Naofumi shouted excitedly.

"Hey!"

"You lead your regiment to launch an attack in five minutes." Tachimi Naofumi ordered.

"Hey!" Takeda Hideyama hurried down after receiving the order.

Naofumi Tachimi looked at another regiment commander, Nishijima Sukeyoshi, and after a slight hesitation, he gave the order: "Nishijima-kun, your regiment should be ready to attack. Once the attack of Major Takeda's regiment is frustrated, you will lead the troops to continue the attack."

Although Naofumi Tachimi did not believe that the defenders of Dagaoling could withstand Takeda Hideyama's first wave of attacks, his good military qualities allowed him to prepare for the defeat.

He would not give the opposing defenders any breathing space. He would use wave after wave of fierce attacks to quickly tear open the Qing army's defense line.