Chapter 99: A Rehearsal for War

  In fact, Yang Feng left only the west side for the Japanese army to attack, and no matter which direction they attacked from, whether it was from Arakawa or Tamagawa, the result would be that they would be bombarded by the warship's cannons. The power of the large-caliber naval guns is obvious, with dozens of 200mm caliber guns, one round of simultaneous firing would be enough to wipe out an entire Japanese battalion, and even the bravest soldiers wouldn't dare provoke them.

  So the only choice for Taishanliang was to go west, which is at least a little farther from the coast. After a round of artillery preparation, 70,000 Japanese troops launched a charge against the enemy's 20-kilometer-long defensive line in front of them. The Japanese army, which had been tempered on Mount Niitaka, would never again form dense formations this time. Including the sixth division that was hastily trained before the attack, they all crouched down with bayonets and rifles, forming a scattered formation, just like a black tide rushing forward.

  Shells burst ceaselessly among them, huge flames rose thick and fast, countless mangled limbs flew through the sky, and on the long battle line, the brave Japanese soldiers shouted loudly with their hatred for the invaders in blood and fire, this sound even covered the explosion of shells.

  "It's a sure win for the sorrowful soldiers!" Prime Minister Ito, who was watching from behind, said with satisfaction. These elite troops returning from the battlefield are indeed different, and their momentum is impressive.

  "Mr. Prime Minister, to attack such a defensive line, morale must be high, the charge must be resolute, and there must be an unyielding spirit of fighting without retreating, no matter if it's cannonballs or bullets, even if flesh and blood are flying everywhere, one cannot hesitate, only then can..." Just as Dashi Yan was proudly boasting, a strange whistling sound interrupted his words, followed by a series of earth-shaking explosions that erupted among the attacking Japanese troops, and large patches of blackness suddenly appeared in the tide.

  The soldiers of the Second Army who had never encountered a 130mm naval gun on the front line of Yashan were suddenly stunned, and the charging crowd quickly appeared shaken.

  "Charge! Take back our homeland with our lives!" Commander Oyama rushed forward a few steps, brandishing his sword and shouting personally. The three division commanders also rode their war horses to the front line to direct the battle personally. Perhaps the sight of their battered homeland in the distance stirred up hatred among the Japanese troops. Under the lead of the First Division, the Japanese army continued to charge with even louder shouts amidst the intense explosions of thousands of shells falling every minute.

  However, the artillery in the rear were not so lucky. In the crow's nest of the raider, observers quickly reported the position of the Japanese artillery, and the 130mm cannon with a range of 17 kilometers was raised. A dense barrage of shells immediately whizzed away, and Oyama, who had a clearer head, ordered the artillery to retreat without hesitation, but even so, about one-third of the guns were destroyed by the ship's gunfire.

  This news made Dashan Yan sigh, it was clear that his opponent was very good at building his own turtle shell, he could say that the advantage of the weapon was used to the extreme, from the beginning, he forced himself onto a battlefield that was most favorable to them.

  In the midst of the cannon fire, the Japanese army finally approached the Allied defense line, but at this moment, both Oyama Iwao and Ito Hirobumi became tense, because just then the machine guns on the opposite side fired, and in an instant the battlefield turned into hell. The Japanese army, which was charging forward, was like encountering a grindstone, being ground away layer by layer from front to back, corpses began to pile up instantly, the density of machine guns within 100 meters was almost comparable to that of World War I standards, it can be imagined what kind of blow the Japanese army encountered at this time.

  In an instant, the entire front line was already a river of blood. Especially in the section defended by the Huai Army, those old soldiers who had been using this weapon to kill Japanese troops for half a year were obviously more experienced in killing people. The corpses of the Japanese army fell down one after another in front of them, and the scene of mountains of corpses and seas of blood was chilling.

  The Japanese army was still bravely but futilely charging forward under the hail of machine gun bullets, and the elite troops who had learned to move in zigzag routes were running forward with their waists bent at the fastest speed. Unfortunately, the density of machine guns here even exceeded that of Yashan. The individual's bravery or cleverness was so pale and powerless in the face of a firepower projection of over 100,000 rounds per minute.

  In the eyes of a gunner grasping the machine gun grip, any heroic act within the open firing range is like a pathetic joke. The fire-spewing killing machine only needs to move slightly, and all efforts will come to an end. Life here is as humble as a dog.

  The surging black tide was now like a dike being battered on the shore, rapidly turning into powder. The blood of Japanese warriors dyed their hometown's soil red, countless soldiers gazed at the enemy's back with unblinking eyes. Some truly clever Japanese soldiers had already begun to lie down behind the corpses of their comrades, using the bodies as cover to shoot forward, but unfortunately they were armed with single-shot rifles rather than machine guns, and the sporadic shooting was unable to suppress the machine guns. Moreover, there were tens of thousands of infantrymen on the opposite side, each holding a repeating rifle.

  The battle gradually changed from the Japanese army's charge to a mutual shooting, which might not be very suitable for the German machine gunners, but it was completely familiar to the Huai Army machine gunners. Every time after the Japanese charge was blocked, the battle would change to this state, and the crazy sweep would quickly become accurate point shooting, using ten or even a few rounds of short-range shooting under the guidance of infantry on the side to name the Japanese who were lying on the ground.

  On the defensive line of Yang's army, this situation was even better to deal with. The infantry had mortars set up in their trenches, and while the machine guns and rifles were firing, shells were also flying towards the target one after another. The poor Japanese soldiers opposite them didn't dare lift their heads, they could only crouch down among the piles of corpses of their comrades, shivering with fear, praying to escape disaster.

  The Germans, who saw the great power of machine guns in defensive battles for the first time, were stunned. This was not war, it was a pure tusha. Even large numbers of German military officers ran to the positions of Xu Bangda and Jiang Zikang's troops, holding notebooks and learning in the smoke.

  The fierce battle lasted for half an hour, and as the Japanese corpses piled up in front of them, neither Ito Hirobumi nor Oyama Iwao could hold on any longer. This kind of fighting had lost all meaning, and they would gain nothing but the sacrifice of their soldiers' lives. As the bugle sounded, the Japanese troops who were struggling in the hell began to retreat. At this time, the difference between the Japanese troops who retreated from the battlefield and the domestic army was immediately revealed. When the sixth division's soldiers heard the order to retreat, they hastily got up and ran away, only to fall one by one under the bullets shot from behind. However, the old soldiers of the second army were much smarter, crawling on the ground and retreating while occasionally firing back at the enemy, until they retreated more than 500 meters before jumping up and sprinting away at top speed.

  The Japanese army's first attack ended like this, in just half an hour, they left nearly seven thousand corpses in front of the Allied forces, of course, there were also seriously injured ones who couldn't escape. After the gunfire stopped, the entire battlefield was left with only their desperate cries. To show some mercy, the Allied command allowed Japanese medical personnel to come forward and take away these wounded soldiers. Otherwise, it would be a headache. It can be imagined what kind of blow it would deal to the Japanese army's morale when these originally vigorous companions were carried back covered in blood.

  The Japanese army, unwilling to accept defeat, launched a surprise attack again at night. Xu Bangdao and Jiang Zikang, who were familiar with this tactic, had already warned Yang Feng. Under the light of high-powered searchlights, the Japanese sneak attack quickly turned into a rout. However, just as things were going smoothly in Tokyo, there was also some bad news. While the Eight-Nation Alliance and the Japanese army were fighting in Tokyo, the British were taking over cities one by one on the island of Kyushu under the guise of mediation, claiming to protect Japanese civilians from the war.

  This shameless behavior was again met with extreme contempt by Waldsee and Yang Feng, but his Morning Post did not comment on it at all. As a result, the British became even more unscrupulous, fearing that such behavior would affect their friendship with Yang Feng. However, the fact that the Morning Post did not comment meant that Boss Yang was not bothered about it. On the other hand, German newspapers made sarcastic remarks to the best of their abilities, which even triggered a large-scale verbal spat between British and German newspapers.

  For Yang, as long as Japan is divided, it doesn't matter how many people are involved. The British can take the entire island of Kyushu, and that's fine, as long as they leave him with the islands south of Tanegashima. Even if Russia lands in Hokkaido after the thaw, he welcomes it. As for Germany, isn't there still Honshu? If Kagoshima is not available, rent Kanmon or Wu Port. Of course, if Wilhelm really wants Kyushu, he can go and fight with his grandmother!

  The war situation in Japan did not affect the Liaodong battlefield, and even under such circumstances, the domestic supply of goods to Wonsan Port did not stop. Yamagata Aritomo directly cut off all communication links between his troops and the home country, and transferred the main force of the Japanese army from Pyongyang and Hansong to Liaodong, dividing them into two routes and launching a fierce attack on Shenyang without hesitation.

  The Qing army in various parts of the opposite side continued to retreat, Fengcheng and Xiuyan successively lost their defenses. Although the northern route was blocked at Motianling, the southern route directly killed towards Liaoyang. Cixi hastily dispatched all the troops she could gather from the northeast to the front line, countless Manchu children shed blood on the battlefield, but even so, they couldn't stop the Japanese army's footsteps. To vent their hatred for the Chinese people in Roulin's hometown, the Japanese army slaughtered on a large scale in Liaodong, Fengcheng, Andong, Xiuyan and other places, where massacres occurred, especially since the Japanese army had always been fighting under the anti-Manchu banner, so this massacre was more targeted.

  In this case, even Li Er Guizi had to be careful, although the Japanese army's chances of attacking Lushun from Liaoyang were slim, he still transferred 10,000 troops from his newly recruited batch to Lushun, on the one hand to guard the old nest of the Beiyang Navy, and on the other hand to fool the imperial court, so as not to be urged every day to send troops to Liaodong.