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Text Chapter 228 The Battle of Shanhaiguan

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    "Everyone, now the Korean Strait has been cut off by China's navy. We have no supplies and can't go back to Japan. Therefore, we can only attack and keep attacking. Defeat the current Chinese army and capture Shanhaiguan. By then, domestic  We can use this opportunity to force China to sign a peace treaty with us that is beneficial to the Japanese Empire. By then, all the kings will be heroes of the Japanese Empire!" Yamagata Aritomo continued to confuse.  In fact, as an army general and one of the veterans of the Japanese military, he is very clear about the current actions.  Japan has no way out. If the army cannot win, then Japan will really be finished.  Therefore, they must try their best to win.  It would be better to just stop the offensive after taking Shanhaiguan than to defend the Liaodong Peninsula.

    "Hi!" The division commanders of the eight divisions all replied loudly.

    "Your Excellency, Commander, although the warriors of the Japanese Empire are supported by the spirit of Bushido, we now only have 150,000 troops, which is almost the same as the Chinese defenders. And the Chinese army is on the defensive, which is more beneficial to them. Can we send troops from the Liaodong Peninsula and  North Korea sends a few more divisions over!" Lieutenant General Sakuma Matata, commander of the Second Division, suggested.

    "I have sent someone to pass the order. The reinforcements composed of the First Division, the Fourth Division, the Seventh Division, and the Eighth Division have already set off. In five to six days, they will be able to enter the battlefield. But I  We hope that we can conquer Shanhaiguan before the arrival of reinforcements, and let the flag of the Japanese Empire fly over the grand pass in China known as the 'No. 1 Pass in the World'!" Yamagata Aritomo said.  He was not a reckless person. When he led his troops to set off, the battle between the Japanese Combined Fleet and the Western Sichuan Navy had not begun.  At that time, their supply lines were still open.  But now, the navy has failed. In order to defeat the Western Sichuan Army, he has to invest more troops.  Therefore, Shanxian Youpeng immediately issued an order to dispatch four more divisions of reinforcements.  Moreover, these four divisions are all elite divisions.  The purpose is to ensure victory in the war.  In this case, they will form a strength advantage over the Western Sichuan Army in a few days, which will also help them launch an attack.

    "Hi! Your Excellency, Commander, is wise!" Lieutenant General Sakuma Mata said quickly.

    "Tomorrow's battle will begin with the Second Division. Do you have the confidence to break through the Chinese army's defense line?" Shanxian Youpeng said.

    "Commander, please rest assured, the Second Division will definitely be able to break through the Chinese army's defense line!" Sakuma Zumatai immediately assured.  According to the intelligence they received, the Western Sichuan Army only deployed one division in the Jiujiang River defense line in front.  Although the defensive side occupies a favorable location, the attacking side can choose a breakthrough point at will.  For an elite Japanese army like the Second Division, the British would have no problem defeating the same number of Chinese troops.  This made Lieutenant General Sakuma Mata full of confidence.

    "Very good, then I will wait to celebrate for you tomorrow!" Yamagata Aritomo was very satisfied with Lieutenant General Sakuma Mata's answer.  Although he believed that attacking Shanhaiguan, where the Western Sichuan Army was heavily stationed, would definitely encounter difficulties, he did not take it to heart at all when facing the Western Sichuan Army's first line of defense.  The Western Sichuan Army is only a defensive line stationed by one division, and they can break through it with a single charge.  You must know that during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, one of their divisions was enough to defeat tens of thousands of Qing troops.  Even if the Western Sichuan Army is more powerful than the Qing Army, in a one-on-one situation, victory will definitely belong to them.  Shanxian Youpeng would never have imagined that tomorrow's battle would be extremely brutal.  The corpses of Japanese soldiers will block the Jiujiang River.

    In order to withstand the attack of the Japanese army, the Western Sichuan Army specially set up the Shanhaiguan Theater, with Zhao Bowen, commander of the Second Cavalry Corps, as the commander. At the same time, the military rank has been promoted to lieutenant general.  After taking Xinjiang, all the generals of the Second Cavalry Army were promoted.  At the age of 43, Zhao Bowen became the fourth lieutenant general of the Western Sichuan Army, making the other generals very jealous.  But everyone knows that after this battle, many generals will be promoted, and with Wang Yuze ascending the throne and proclaiming himself emperor, rewards and the like will be indispensable.

    It was Du Qizheng's 23rd Division stationed at the Jiujiang River defense line.  During the Sino-British border conflict, the Ninth Brigade was almost crippled. After the war, the Ninth Brigade was rebuilt with veterans of the Ninth Brigade as the backbone.  After the expansion of the Western Sichuan Army, the Ninth Brigade was expanded into the 23rd Division, and Du Qizheng successfully became the division commander.  However, although the 23rd Division has half of the recruits, its combat effectiveness is very strong, which is inseparable from Du Qizheng's own arrogant character.

    It was Du Qizheng who took the initiative to apply to Zhao Bowen to garrison the Jiujiang River Defense Line.  In the defensive operations at Shanhaiguan, the main force was still four infantry divisions.  The two cavalry corps are mainly used for counterattack.  Cavalry was originally used to attack, not to defend the city.

      The Jiujiang River defense line is four kilometers long, extending from the mountains in the west to the seaside.  The mountain road was difficult to walk and large troops could not march. If the Japanese army wanted to attack Shanhaiguan, they had to break through the Jiujiang River defense line head-on.  However, just in case, Du Qizheng still deployed a battalion of troops in the mountains to the west.  The 4-kilometer-long frontal defense line is defended by the 231st and 232nd Regiments, with the 233rd Regiment and the troops directly under the division serving as reserves.

    The 48 artillery pieces of the artillery battalion of the 23rd Division are all deployed three kilometers south of the Jiujiang River defense line. When the Japanese army attacks, artillery fire can be used to block the entire Jiujiang River and even the Japanese advance positions in the north of the river.  .

    "I won't say anything more. The Japanese are already here. It seems that they will launch an attack tomorrow. I personally asked the commander for the task of garrisoning the Jiujiang River defense line. I promised the commander.  , the people are still in position, even if the people are gone, we must hold the position. Although we have not fought against the Japanese, we have fought against the British's most elite Gurkha Infantry Brigade in the border conflict.  . At that time, we used a brigade to resist the attack of tens of thousands of elite British soldiers. Now, we can still resist the Japanese attack! Is there any problem?" Du Qizheng said.

    "No problem!" Feng Yuan, the leader of the 231st Regiment, and Lu Hanyuan, the leader of the 232nd Regiment, both replied loudly.  They are all old men of the 23rd Division. They were once the battalion commander of the 9th Brigade. After the army expanded, they also successfully became the regimental commander.

    "Okay, let's break up the meeting! Let's go back and get ready. This is our first battle with the Japanese, and we must fight it well!" Du Qizheng urged again and again.  Although the Japanese were coming fiercely, the Western Sichuan Army was ready.  If his 23rd Division cannot hold the line of defense, others will laugh to death!

    "Commander, don't worry! If Japan dares to attack, we must let him know how powerful we are!" Feng Yuan, the leader of the 231st Regiment, said with a smile.  Although the Japanese Army defeated the Qing Army last year, the Western Sichuan Army even defeated the British Army, so naturally it did not take the Japanese Army seriously.

    On the morning of April 4, when the morning sun just showed its face, the Japanese army camp was already bustling with people.  The soldiers of the Second Division enjoyed delicious rice balls early in the morning, and each person also got a small piece of meat, which made everyone very excited.  The morale is also high for the upcoming battle.  The officers of the Second Division told the soldiers that they would defeat the Chinese on the opposite side just like they defeated the Qing army last year.

    Jiujiang River is just a small river. It has not entered the flood season in April. Even the outlet to the east is only less than a hundred meters wide.  Most places are only fifty or sixty meters wide, and the narrowest place is only more than twenty meters wide.  At the shallowest point, the water is less than half a meter deep, and an adult can easily swim through.  In addition, there are two bridges on the river, namely Houtun Bridge in the west and Hexi Bridge in the east.  Houtun Bridge belongs to the defense area of ??the 231st Regiment, while Hexi Bridge belongs to the defense area of ??the 232nd Regiment.  The two bridges are less than two kilometers apart.  The 23rd Division did not blow up the two bridges, but set up heavy machine guns and other heavy weapons near the southern bridge head.  Once the Japanese army tried to cross the river on these two bridges, the crossfire caused by the heavy machine guns of the Western Sichuan Army would be enough to turn this place into their tomb.

    Just after eight o'clock in the morning, the Japanese Army's Second Division launched the attack.  This time the attack was launched by the 4th Brigade of the Second Division.  Only one brigade of troops was invested, and no artillery preparations were made.  The Japanese army's intention was just to test the firepower of the Western Sichuan Army on the other side of the river.

    The 11th Brigade of the Second Division, which is responsible for the offensive, has a total strength of more than 1,100 people.  After receiving the order to attack, these more than a thousand Japanese soldiers immediately jumped into the Jiujiang River shouting "The Emperor is on board" and launched an attack to the south of the river.  The place they chose to attack was a place where the river was gentle after all, and the river was only less than fifty meters wide.  These Japanese soldiers, holding rifles in hand, rushed towards the other side of the river crazily.

    Defending this section of the defense line is the 3rd Battalion of the 232nd Regiment.  Facing the attack of Japanese soldiers, the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion did not panic. Everyone calmly waited for the order to fire.

    When the Japanese soldiers entered the middle of the river, the commander of the 3rd Battalion gave the order to open fire.  Suddenly, two Type 82 infantry guns, two heavy mortars, twenty medium and light mortars and twenty heavy machine guns of the third battalion opened fire.

    A large number of artillery shells fell into the river, knocking down the Japanese soldiers who were crossing the river.  The rows of bullets fired by the heavy machine guns were harvesting the lives of Japanese soldiers like wheat.  Such powerful firepower immediately stunned the Japanese soldiers.  What they attacked was obviously the defense line of a battalion of the Western Sichuan Army, but the firepower was even more fierce than that of a regiment of the Japanese Army.

    PS: The third update is here!  Four updates tomorrow, there will be an update in the early morning!  (To be continued)??If you like this work, you are welcome to become a registered member of Piaotian Literature to recommend this work. Your support is my biggest motivation.  )
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