Chapter 973, Commander-in-Chief

On August 5, Wu Shaoting formally appointed the establishment of the command center of the three eastern provinces, appointed Cai E as the supreme commander of the command center, and specially awarded Cai E the honorary rank of marshal of the army, and thus Cai E became the first marshal of the Republic of China. In the afternoon of the same day, Wu Shaoting personally presided over the first military meeting of the command center, first listened to the current combat situation reports of various troops, and then began to formulate the next offensive plan.

The current war is mainly concentrated at two points. One is the Dandong front and the other is the Lushun front. As for the Jiangjie side, the current stalemate, the 33rd and 35th Divisions have not launched a second offensive since the last attack. There is still no news on Wu Peifu's side. This not only annoyed Cai E, but even Wu Shaoting felt a little incredible. But there is no way, after all, they will not accept foreign military orders, and not to mention that they have lost contact at all.

The reason why the 33rd and 35th Divisions did not launch a second offensive was mainly from a strategic level to reduce the burden on the battlefield as much as possible and transfer more war resources to the Dandong Front.

Sun Liechen attended the military meeting under the order of Zhang Zuolin, and also made a detailed report on the current war in Jinzhou.

In accordance with the strategy formulated by the Army Command, the war camp of Lushun Fortress caused the Japanese army to bleeding. Therefore, during this period, the First Route Army of the three northeastern provinces mainly launched an offensive with artillery and air force, while the army mainly focused on positional war confrontation. Although there was no practical progress on the battlefield, the distance between the troops of China and Japan was still the same at the beginning of the war, but the First Route Army launched seven air strikes in the past month, each time more fiercely.

"Four of these seven air strikes were launched late at night, and the other three started at 5 a.m. With the support of the intelligence collected by the MIIS, we successfully destroyed two Japanese material warehouses and a barracks. At the same time, the attacks launched at night forced the Fifth Division to be in a state of tension at all times. Soldiers, officers and servants lacked sufficient rest. During the day, we used artillery to carry out continuous firepower coverage, focusing on destroying the enemy's positions and logistics stations." Sun Liechen said.

After the Qingdao War, the artillery troops of the Fifth Division were greatly reduced, and in the following months, they did not receive timely assistance and recovery, so they were not completely against China in terms of heavy firepower. The tactic adopted by Zhang Zuolin was to raid at night and shelling during the day, which made the Fifth Division struggling and unable to rest with peace of mind.

Afterwards, representatives sent by the delegation of officers in Qingdao reported on Germany's military operations on the sea.

Since the Nanjing Presidential Office ordered a military maritime ban on the Liaodong Peninsula, the strategic materials that rush to Lushun to escort can only be sent to warships. From mid-June to early July, since neither Chinese nor German intelligence units were able to grasp the detailed operations of the Navy, the Navy warships often arrived in Lushun like a trick. The German Far East Fleet could not cruise in the Liaodong waters at all times. After all, the Far East Fleet was limited in strength, so they could only choose to go to sea at a specific time.

The Chinese Navy drew a Beiyang Fleet with several captive and repaired cruisers that had been captured and restored before, and temporarily formed the Liaohai Detachment. The main battleship was the renamed warship, including the armored cruiser "Nanjing", the armored cruiser "China", the battleship "Dragon" and four destroyers. Although the captive second fleet had more than twenty ships of large and small ships, it was only because the Chinese Navy's operational technology and human resources could only equip these "large" warships, and the rest of the warships were temporarily staying in the dock for reserve.

The Liaohai Detachment and the German Far East Fleet jointly held martial law missions in the Lushun waters, and the fire exchange with the *** Nanqing Fleet (adapted into the *** Third Fleet in December 1915) was on the evening of July 19. At that time, the German Fleet completed its inspection mission and prepared to return. It met the Nanqing Fleet, which was trying to go to Lushun at night, in the central part of the Yellow Sea. The two sides immediately exchanged fire.

Since the Southern Qing Fleet was at the wind and occupied a good formation position first, it quickly suppressed the Far East Fleet at the beginning of the battle.

The commander of the Far East Fleet immediately issued a radio contact with the Liaohai Detachment stationed in Weihai. At the same time, he deliberately set off firepower that could not resist the Nanqing Fleet and slowly retreated towards the Bohai Sea, intending to attract the Nanqing Fleet to go deeper, and then fight a pincer attack when the Liaohai Detachment arrived. However, the main battleships of the Nanqing Fleet were only five "Kashima" armored cruisers, "Tashima" armored cruisers, "New High" battle cruisers, "Shunhi" battleships and "Akashi" battlecruisers. The remaining mine ships, sea sweepers, and destroyers were all small warships below 1,000 tons. At the same time, there was a merchant ship full of strategic materials in the rear, and he did not dare to pursue the German ship rashly for a while.

Japan and Germany fought vigilantly on the sea for about two hours. You retreated and I retreated and you chased after you, until the sky turned completely dark, and the fleet quietly retreated while the night was covering the night. When the Liaohai Detachment arrived, he found almost nothing and could only return with the German Far East Fleet to retreat.

This small maritime friction is the only naval battle since the war between China and Japan began. Only a few warships of the German Far East Fleet were slightly injured and did not suffer too serious losses. In the next half month, either the Navy did not send supplies to Lushun again, or it successfully avoided the interception of the Chinese and German navy.

After listening to the report of the delegation officer, Wu Shaoting said: "Although our primary focus is not to attack the Navy, the maintenance of territorial waters must be done, and the people of the territorial waters cannot be made to think that they can enter and exit our Chinese waters at will. The navy should strengthen intelligence collection and prevent the invasion of the Navy in advance. It is best to destroy the Navy before the Navy sends the materials ashore. This will inevitably cause a more serious morale blow to the Fifth Division in Lushun."

Zhang Xiaozhun, who was sitting under the long-term conference table, said: "Head of the People's Republic of China, the current situation of anti-China is very serious. Most of the agents of the CIA and the War Intelligence Agency have been forced to evacuate. At present, the main source of intelligence is still obtained from third parties, which is relatively risky."

Cai E said calmly: "No matter how high the risk is, you cannot retreat. Intelligence work is about the general matter. If you can't deal with the best, you will be able to do a good job in our country!"

After a pause, Wu Shaoting changed the topic and said, "Today, it has been two months since the war started, but the expected effect is obviously far from reaching. The Germans had spoken out before. If we cannot push the front line to Pyongyang within three months, that is, before October, then the next battle will only depend on our own efforts. In the whole two months, Dandong became the main battlefield, but the entire front was struggling. It is hard to imagine that we could break through Shinyiju in two months." When he said this, his eyes fell on Cai E.

Cai E's face changed slightly, but he quickly returned to calm and he didn't say anything.

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Chapter completed!