Seeing that Xu Jingxi intends to let Lu Mengxiong go, Li Erhu smiled and kept saying, "Don't worry, don't worry. With me here, the team leader can't do anything."

Lu Mengxiong and the newly formed camp were in the snow for a long time. It was not until heavy snow fell in the sky that Lu Mengxiong ordered the soldiers to disband. After agitated, Lu Mengxiong was very calm after all. He just wanted to have a good sleep and then make up the soft eggs through the next battle. After making up his mind, Lu Mengxiong asked Li Erhu to ask for five or six officers, so he found a tent to sleep. Seeing Lu Mengxiong asleep, Li Erhu felt relieved and left with the machine gun.

When Lu Mengxiong was raising his strength to prepare for the next battle, the confrontation between the Second Army and the General Command was fiercely on the phone line. In the view of Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin, the Japanese army in the central position were constantly shelling the Russian positions, and the Japanese barracks were often in and out, as if they were preparing for a large-scale attack. Of course, this was just a situation seen from the Russian positions. However, other sources of information from Kuropatkin were not in harmony with the Qing people. Therefore, without the support of other intelligence, Kuropatkin believed that the Japanese army in the central position would soon launch a large-scale offensive. Given that the railway was bombed and the European army was late, he decided that the attack of the Second Army should be stopped and the 10th Army was transferred back to strengthen the strength of the Third Army in the Central Position.

In the view of General Billy Jerlinger, the Japanese army has now transferred several divisions of troops to prevent their attack on their flanks, and the Japanese central defense line will definitely be reduced. At this time, as long as the third army in the central government or the first army on the other side launches a large-scale offensive, it is easy to break through the Japanese defense line. As long as the Russian army breaks through the Japanese defense line at any place, then taking advantage of the situation to advance, the entire Japanese army will immediately collapse, that is, it will not be completely wiped out by the Russian army, and will be driven to the beach. At most, relying on the support of the Japanese navy, barely resisting the Russian army.

To be fair, although General Billy Gerlinger was old, he was still a regular officer, not just a staff officer like Curo Parkingt. The staff dared to think but not make it, because making any choice would abandon other choices. Curo Parkingt, who was a staff member, did not have such courage, and General Billy Gerlinger had such courage, but the one who determined the situation was the staff rather than the general. So when the Japanese army pretended to attack, Curo Parkingt retreated, or because he saw Billy Gerlinger's achievements. Of course, he did not come forward himself, but let him do it.

Minister of War Major General Aiwuerut sent the order to the Second Army Command. Billy Geerlinger, who was tough, pushed the order back. Then, after a while, Major General Aiwuerut called to tell the reason for the command. The two people argued on the phone whether to retreat to deal with the Japanese defense or actively attack to suppress the Japanese army in the entire line. Billy Geerlinger kept yelling as he spoke. Finally, when Major General Aiwuerut said, "The subsequent ammunition of the Second Army cannot be fully replenished", he gently knocked down Billy Geerlinger.

That night, Yang Rui received an order from the Army Command, which was the content of the order, "retreat."

Yang Rui asked Colonel Madlitov with a telegram, "Col. What's going on?"

The colonel looked decadent and said, "The despicable conspirator has come up with an idea that he will exchange the soldiers for their blood for positions to the Japanese."

Seeing the colonel gritting his teeth, Yang Rui knew that the order came from the General Command. Instead of a simple tactical retreat. When he received the telegram, he thought General Billy Jerlinger was going to play tactical retreat and put the Japanese army in to fight. At that time, he was very confused. Such advanced tactics should not be something that the general's elm-head could think of. So that's the case. It seems that this training is over. We have to wait until the Battle of Fengtian to train.

Since that's the case, then retreat. Yang Rui said to Leo: "Notify the troops. Just follow the plan." He had already made a retreat plan before, but Yang Rui didn't know when the Heigoutai Battle will end.

Soon, the order for retreat was passed to the front. Xu Jingxi, who was in charge of the front line, was stunned when he saw the order. He thought he would have to fight for a few more days before he finished work, but he didn't expect the battle to end so soon. He immediately issued orders to the battalions of the first regiment to immediately take over the defense position. The plan was for the second division to retreat first, and the three battalions of the first regiment were responsible for breaking the rear. The route of retreat was the route of the previous regiment attacking Sanjianpao. The efforts of the civilians over the past few days finally repaired the road. Although it was not very smooth, at least the cannon trucks could pass.

Lu Mengxiong, who received the order, was talking to the soldiers of the newly-organized battalion. In fact, it was better to say that it was a curse than a scolding person. He would be stunned when he saw the order. He arranged the new battalion to enter the position in the second half of the night, but now he was still mobilized and was ordered to retreat. Lu Mengxiong stopped the communication soldier who was sending the order and said, "Are you right? Are the entire army retreating?"

The communications troop knew the temper of the regiment commander and dared not answer, so he said, "Yes, regiment commander, the order of the group army is to ask for retreat, so..."

Lu Mengxiong kneaded the paper of the order in his hand, very angry, but impatient. He also wanted to pull this person to the battlefield and toss and make a lot of trouble. Who knew that the sky was not as good as others wished. It was so spicy next door! He said helplessly to the soldiers in front of him, and each company and platoon should be careful to pack his luggage and prepare to retreat tonight.

The second-rate people in the newly formed camp thought they would be brought to the battlefield by the killing god in front of them tonight. Then, facing the Japanese army who thought they were crazy last night, although they did not want to, none of them dared to disobey the order of the killing god. When everyone was determined to die, they suddenly heard the order to retreat. After the entire camp was silent for a long time, they suddenly cheered, and some people immediately knelt down to worship the heavens, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Amitabha Buddha and others came out.

Seeing them doing this, Lu Mengxiong was so amused and laughed. He shouted, "Standing attentive!"

The people who fell to the ground immediately stood up reflexively and returned to the camp under Lu Mengxiong's command. The group of people was really unsuccessful. Lu Mengxiong thought so, so he should dismiss him as soon as possible.

When the Russian army from Heigou to Tong Erbao retreated across the board, in the Manchu Army headquarters in Yantai, Major General Fukushima Anmasato was introducing the situation of the Independence Army to Chief of Staff. He was very puzzled by the newly released Independence Army of Ouyu. Where did a strong army emerge? He actually ate two of his own brigades in a row, which had to give the whole person the highest attention. When the situation on the left wing was serious, Ouyu was not interested in listening to the matter of the Independence Army. Yesterday, the Second Division and the Eighth Division successfully attacked the night and the left wing was safe. He had the worries to hear Fukushima talk about the matter of the Independence Army.

"Your Excellency," Fukushima said politely, "The independent army of Luguo was found to be a merger of two teams. One was the horse thief-Zaoshanyu division that was previously occupied in Liuhe County, with about 10,000 people. The other was the Kanto detachment led by Zhang Zongchang, a native of Shandong. The leader was Zhang Zongchang, a Shandong native. This army originally maintained railways in the Harbin area, with a population of about 20,000. According to intelligence, only a small number of troops of the army were combat-effective. When the attack was shown in front of military officers from various countries, the attacking soldiers did not undergo sufficient training. They turned around and fled when they heard the sound of cannons. So I judged that in this army, Luguo officers were the skeleton, while the horse thieves of Qing Dynasty were flesh and blood. Judging from the situation of the Manchu Volunteer Army, as long as the officers were brave and played an example, the combat effectiveness of the entire army would be greatly improved."

Fukushima's speculation is still very reasonable. At least this has been verified in the Japanese army. Although the soldiers' training is not enough, as long as the officers command properly, they can play an example and follow the officers to charge. After the officers brought the beards several times and the beards were tempered, they would dare to execute orders even if the officers did not charge. Ota said: "Yubi Hiroshi of the Eighth Division said that the news he received was that the Qing army had regular troops in the independent army of the Lu Kingdom, which seemed to be not true."

"Aoki has investigated his relationship in Beijing, and now it is certain that there is no regular Qing army joining the Lu army. Yubi's news is not correct. The patrol battalions in Heilongjiang and Jilin have not been mobilized, so the abnormal combat effectiveness of the Independent Army is still the combination of horse thieves and Lu army officers." Fukushima said.

Kota still agrees with Fukushima's speculation. He nodded and signaled him to continue to say. Seeing that the Chief of Staff recognized his speculation, Fukushima said, "Now the Dongqing Railway was bombed. The speed of European troops from Luguo's country to Manchuria will be reduced. By transporting on ice, there are only four trains going south every day. However, although the number of trains is reduced, as long as Luguo implements this method, the number of Luguo's troops will increase by 30,000 to 40,000."

"Thirty to forty thousand people?" Eryu was a little surprised, "Can there be so many?"

"Yes, yours." Fukushima said, "The Russian army lost 45,000 people in the last Battle of Shahe alone. The weapons of these soldiers can be handed over to the recruited Qing people. As long as there are so many officers in Lu Country, they can increase so many people in a short period of time. Moreover, according to information, many carpenters from the Yalu River have joined the Zuoshan Diao's troops. They are very dissatisfied with some of the empire's policies. It is estimated that the number of carpenters in Changbai Mountain area is about 100,000. They are now unemployed. The Tonghua Railway Company will not officially start recruiting workers until April, so I am very worried that they will join the Lu people's army."

The timber policy on the Yalu River was not entirely decided by the Manchurian Army Command, but was more determined by the attitudes of the chaebols and royal relatives in Japan. Wars, especially in aggressive wars, were sacrificed by soldiers and made money. After those tyrants confiscated the timber in the name of the Manchurian Army, they changed their identities and sold the confiscated timber to the Manchurian Army. There was no good way for this little jade.

Eryu didn't want to talk about Yalu River Timber, and asked: "What kind of person is Zuoshan Diao? Can he serve the empire like Feng Linge?"

"Zushan Diao's real name is Wang Qinian, a native of Zhili. In the 28th year of Meiji, he left the Qing army and entered the mountain to hunt for gold. Later, because he failed to compete for the ore veins with his accomplices, he entered the mountain and became a horse thief. His previous name was "Good Luck". His army had only more than 100 people. Later, it was said that he met a Taoist priest who helped him change his name to Zushan Diao and began to grow bigger. In the Changbai Mountain area, only in the Heishan tribe of Huairen could compete with it. Also, the last attack on the Imperial Aobao Army Station was completed by Zushan Diao's troops."

"Nani?" But Eryu still remembered the previous attack on Xiong Yuecheng, especially because the reserve ammunition was blown up so that the Japanese army could only charge in person. "Is it really them?"

"Yes, yourselves." Major General Fukushima said: "This was revealed by the horse thieves on Huairen's side. Last month, Zuoshan Diao attacked their camp and snatched away the Lu people they had captured before. After that, Zuoshan Diao was bribed by Colonel Madlitov of Lu and joined the Lu army."

"That's how it is." Eryu said, "It seems impossible to buy them."

"Yes." Fukushima said. "But now the horse thief Black Mountain demon on Huairen's side, because Zaoshan Diao and Lu Guoren are together, they seem to want to defect to us now. They have contacted us last month,"

Eryu knew the situation of the Black Mountain demon. This army that could independently eliminate the regular army of Luguo had been on the list of wins, but the other party had always refused to see their own people. They seemed to like to occupy their own territory and ignored anyone. Who knew that when Zuoshan Diao surrendered to Luguo, they would also find a backer, which was also considered a good bird to choose a tree to live on. In contrast, the branch was the Fuxing Army with the smallest number, with only passionate and no pragmatic spirit at all, and repeatedly ruling away from their own side's win. Fortunately, their target was the people of Luguo, especially the bombing of the Songhua River Bridge this time, which was their credit. It was really the God Blessing Empire.

"How many of them are there?" Eryu asked.

"They said they had ten thousand people."

"Ten thousand people?"

"Yes, according to the last time they wiped out the Luguo army in Pingding Mountain, they should have about 5,000 people. At that time, the Luguo army fled north in panic and then entered their ambush. They had a kind of artillery similar to that used by the Third Army. The range was very close, but they could fire shells very quickly. The power of these shells was less than ordinary shells. Judging from the thick smoke from the shells, we speculated that it should be filled with black gunpowder, but these cannons played a great role in destroying the Luguo army." Fukushima's intelligence mainly came from Nakanosuke Hanada. That time he witnessed the entire battle with his own eyes, but what he didn't know was that it was already very dark at that time, and many things Hanada Nakanosuke were also guessed by himself.

"The artillery of the Third Army? Haha..." Gentaro Ota smiled. Because the Third Army was engaged in trench warfare in Lushun and Luguo, they specially made many wooden cannons. These cannons were made by breaking through hardwood, hollowing out their hearts and then putting together. In order not to explode when firing shells, there were still many ropes around the cannon body. Although the cannons were simple to make, their power was very limited, especially the range was only a few hundred meters, and some with large calibers were less than one hundred meters. This is also an urgent method for the third army soldiers.

After laughing, Eryu said, "The poor have their own ways. If they have ten thousand people, then guns and ammunition are not enough. Now is no longer the era of black gunpowder."

"Your Excellency, the horse thieves in the Qing Dynasty often boast about their strength for the sake of face. According to the number of Luguo troops they eliminated, they only had less than 5,000 rifles, so it is unlikely that there will be 10,000 people. There should be a brigade." Fukushima has been counting the number of Luguo troops eliminated by the Montenegro Monarch. The statistics result is that the Luguo troops destroyed by them are about 4,000, and there will be no more than 5,000 people. In addition to the civilian guns they can collect, it is judged that their number is about brigade.

"There is also a brigade that is very helpful to us," said Eryu. "This is the third time that China has mobilized. Next month we will start a decisive battle with the Luguo army. With more Qing horse thieves joining us, we can reduce the pressure on the main force."

Fukushima knew the importance of winning over this horse thief to fight later, especially the Japanese army that fought continuously, but now he has won all the people he should win over. The number of the Manchu Volunteer Army has almost reached 30,000, and there is really no one to pull. However, his own people cannot be pulled, so he has a poaching plan. He took out a plan from his folder and handed it to Eryu, and then said: "Your Excellency, there is a plan here that may disintegrate the Qing horse thief troops in Luguo, and also investigate the leaks in the base camp."

Eryu took it and looked carefully for a while, then asked: "We don't have many armed forces in North Manchuria. If the plan is not successful, then..."

Fukushima An Zheng said seriously, "That's right. Your Excellency, but if the plan is successful, it will be of great help to the empire. Now the empire's army in Manchuria plus the third army in Lushun only has 160,000 people, and even if the country mobilizes, it will not exceed 220,000 people, and many of them are reserve troops. The Luguo army now has 230,000 people. According to the railway supply speed, when the decisive battle is over a month, they are likely to exceed 270,000 people. If the Qing horses are added,

Thieves, the gap between us and Luguo will be too big, but as long as this plan can be realized, the number gap will not be that big. In addition, it is the leak incident in Lushun. We did not catch the person involved. Although Tokyo conducted a thorough investigation, there was no result. According to the captive senior officer of Luguo, the intelligence-selling Nikola Ivanovich Zhang seemed to have some connection with Zuoshan Diao. If someone was sent to Zuoshan Diao, some clues might be found..."
Chapter completed!