Chapter 136: It Is Time to Annihilate the Japanese

Gaiping, the temporary command post of the Japanese mixed brigade, Nogi Maresuke excitedly slapped the telegram on the table and said loudly: "The headquarters has agreed to my battle plan. Gentlemen, it will not be long before the remnants of the Weizi Army are annihilated. It seems that Nogi Maresuke is still obsessed with Wei Jichen. If Wei Jichen knew that he still had such a die-hard black fan, I wonder what he would think. The two brigade commanders hurriedly congratulated him and said: "Your Excellency the brigade commander has led us to victory after victory and is invincible. How can the headquarters not agree? I believe that after this battle, your Excellency the brigade commander will definitely be promoted to lieutenant general. "Nogi Maresuke has always loved to show off his elegance, and he immediately wrote a doggerel: "The battle is urgent in the snow, I ask who is the enemy of China, once we enter Haicheng, we will slaughter tens of millions of Weizi Army. "After Nogi Maresuke finished writing the poem, he looked around complacently. The generals around him all praised him, "Your Excellency the Brigade Commander is worthy of being a rare general in the empire who is both civil and military. If your masterpiece were to be spread to Haicheng, I believe that the soldiers of the Wei Army would flee in fear." "This poem by Nogi-kun made my subordinates see the Chinese crying under the iron hoofs of the imperial army. The thought of their confused and helpless appearance is exciting." "Gentlemen, after the occupation of Haicheng this time, the soldiers can party in the city for three days. "Nogi Maresuke squinted his eyes, enjoying the flattery of the crowd very much, and immediately reciprocated them. After three days of revelry, he did everything he could, including committing all kinds of evil. Among the Japanese troops invading China, Nogi Maresuke's men were the most rampant, and they robbed and became rich. Every day, the ships shipped back to Japan from China were filled with large amounts of gold, silver and jewelry, and Nogi Maresuke's brigade accounted for the majority of them. When the Japanese generals heard him say this, they all showed greed in their eyes and cheered excitedly. "Gentlemen, mobilize the soldiers immediately after you go down, and set off today! "Nogi Maresuke couldn't wait any longer and hurriedly issued an order to send troops. In Ximu City, Katsura Taro received the telegram from the headquarters almost at the same time. Although he was not as excited as Nogi Maresuke, he saw that revenge and washing away the shame were in sight, so he also issued an order to attack the army on the same day. The 3rd Division had already made various preparations for the war before the headquarters agreed to the battle plan. Although Katsura Taro's order was hasty, the soldiers said they had no pressure. The two Japanese armies set out from Ximu City and Gaiping at the same time and attacked Haicheng rapidly. Upon hearing the news, Guangxu ordered the troops in Haicheng to defend the city to the death and not to retreat a single step. At the same time, he hurriedly issued an order to the various units of the Hunan Army, ordering them to move quickly. Go to the front to meet and suppress the enemy in order to curb the bandit atmosphere. After receiving Guangxu's death order, Wu Dazheng, his troops, and the armies of Wei Guangtao and Wu Yuankai did not dare to delay any longer and had to march out of the pass that day. Liu Kunyi, the imperial commissioner in charge of the Eastern Expedition, was reprimanded by Guangxu. Seeing that there was no way forward and the situation on the front line was extremely urgent, he did not delay any longer and quickly headed for Shanhaiguan. The Hunan Army's vanguard of more than 10,000 people followed Wu Dazheng out of the pass in advance. It was the largest military expedition since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. For a while, horses neighed and flags waving all over Liaodong. The three armies were dispatched, soldiers came and went, and the troops inside and outside the pass gathered. A major war was inevitable. Nie Guilin and others stationed around Haicheng were all worried. In addition to reporting to the Beiyang Headquarters in Tianjin three times a day, In addition to telegraphing Li Hongzhang to request support, he also sent telegrams every now and then to harass Liu Kunyi, begging the imperial commissioner to speed up the march. While comforting the generals, Li Hongzhang ordered Song Qing in Yingkou to dispatch troops for support. Song Qing had his own plans. When he saw that Nogi Maresuke had only left more than 2,000 people to guard Gaiping, and the rest of the troops were rushing to Haicheng in a mighty manner, he decided to capture Gaiping and cut off Nogi Maresuke's retreat. However, Li Hongzhang sent telegrams one after another, and the wording was more intense than the last. In addition, he was also afraid that Haicheng could not be defended. Even if he captured Gaiping, he would have no choice but to retreat in the end. Therefore, Song Qing had to dispatch Jiang Guiti's 5th Battalion to support Haicheng. In Haicheng, Li Yunfei was unprecedentedly The commanders of all armies were solemnly invited to come to the city to discuss strategies against the enemy. After receiving the invitation, Nie Guilin, Jiang Xiyi, Xu Bangdao, Ma Jinxu and others put down their work and rushed over. Now, only the Wei army is stationed in Haicheng, and the other armies are stationed around Haicheng. The reason for this is that Nie Guilin and others have some small ideas. In case the Japanese are too fierce, it will be easier to retreat if they are stationed outside the city, right? Several people met outside the government office, all with anxious faces, while walking towards the temporary command post, talking about the current situation. "The two Japanese armies are attacking at the same time. It seems that they are determined to seize our Haicheng. The Japanese are marching very fast. If we wait until the imperial reinforcements arrive, it will probably be too late. "Nie Guilin gathered his sleeves and said to Jiang Xiyi beside him with a hunched back. "Now we can only fight against the enemy with our own troops and block the water with earth. Jiang Guiti's troops coming from Yingkou are not far away. I believe that as long as we hold on for a while longer, we may be able to defend Haicheng." Jiang Xiyi frowned and said. Nie Guilin blamed Wei Jichen again and said gloomily: "If Wei Jichen had not declared to counterattack Ximucheng last time, I would not have built much defensive fortifications. If I had decided to defend Haicheng from the beginning, I would not have dug fortifications in a hurry." Ma Jinxu disagreed with Nie Guilin's words and secretly despised him in his heart. He said with thorns: "Whether attacking or defending, building fortifications is the duty of an army. In my opinion, General Nie saw that the weather was cold and was reluctant to go out to urge the soldiers to build fortifications." The commander fished for three days and cast nets for two days, so naturally the soldiers under his command were passive and lazy.

Nie Guilin hid in the big tent and did not come out of the second door. When the soldiers saw him, they were also lazy and cut corners. The speed of building fortifications was naturally much slower. Now it was too late to sharpen the guns before the battle. Xu Bangdao saw that the Japanese army had not arrived to start the attack. Everyone had begun to blame each other, and he was even more upset. It was undoubtedly harder than climbing to the sky to repel the two-way attack of the Japanese army with different thoughts. Several commanders quarreled and soon walked to the door of the command post. The two sergeants standing at the door pushed open the door, and Nie Guilin raised his foot and rushed in first. The others entered one after another. In the temporary command post, there was a Liaodong military map hanging in front, and what surprised everyone was that in front of the map, there was a young man in plain clothes. The young man was facing the door with his back, staring at the map motionlessly. Nie Guilin was being mocked by Ma Jinxu, and he was feeling unhappy. When he entered the door, he saw a young man standing in front of him. He could not help but snorted and scolded: "Who are you? This is a military stronghold, how can an idle person come and go at will?" After Nie Guilin finished speaking, he took a few quick steps, walked in front of the young man, and was about to scold him in person. Xu Bangdao and others had originally watched Nie Guilin's behavior with cold eyes, thinking that he had lost his status by being on the same level as a young man. However, when Nie Guilin walked to the young man, stretched out his finger, his face suddenly changed, his mouth opened, and he couldn't speak as if he had seen a ghost, they were a little confused. "You... aren't you dead?" Nie Guilin swallowed hard and said with difficulty. Wei Jichen ignored him, but put his hands behind his back, then slowly turned around and said lightly: "Wei Jichen is here to welcome you all." In his calm tone, he carried an aura of arrogance, and in his faint smile, he was calm as if everything was under control. Everyone almost lost their voices at the same time, looking at Wei Jichen stupidly, not knowing how to react. "Why, I'm waiting for you here, are you surprised?" Wei Jichen showed a playful smile at the corner of his mouth, and his eyes swept over everyone one by one. "What's going on?" After a while, Ma Jinxu came back to his senses and asked everyone's thoughts. Wei Jichen sat down alone first, then stretched out his hand and motioned everyone to sit down. The commanders who originally thought they were the masters here now felt that they were just outsiders, and Wei Jichen was the real master here. Everyone's words and deeds were influenced by him, and they sat down at Wei Jichen's signal. Wei Jichen waved his hand, and a soldier beside him came forward and handed him a cigar. Wei Jichen held it between his fingers, and the soldier lit it with a match. Wei Jichen took a slow puff and then slowly blew out a smoke ring. Everyone was silent, watching Wei Jichen's smooth movements, afraid that opening his mouth would destroy the atmosphere in front of them. It seemed that this young man should be so calm and stable, and should be so calm and unhurried. "This is the cigar I seized from the Japanese. I heard it was produced in Cuba in South America." Wei Jichen's eyes were full of smiles, and then he said lightly: "I guess the Japanese will send more cigars this time." "General Wei, could it be that this was a trap from the beginning?" Xu Bangdao saw that Wei Jichen had been talking about this, and his curiosity was even greater. Wei Jichen nodded in approval, and that action was like seeing his own child have a promising future. "Yes, this is all my plan, Wei Jichen. Don't you think Ximu City is easy to defend but difficult to attack? Don't you want to lure the snake out of its hole? In this case, I will let the Japanese walk out of the city willingly and come to die willingly. Let them slowly step into our death encirclement." Wei Jichen raised one hand in front of him, then clenched it into a fist. Wei Jichen stood up and continued to speak passionately: "The Art of War says that if you are real, you should pretend to be real, and if you are pretending to be real, you should pretend to be real. I, Wei Jichen, want the Japanese to enter, and they will enter. I, Wei Jichen, want the Japanese to defend, and they will defend. Everything is under the control of this commander. This time, my five armies will gather in Haicheng to annihilate the 3rd Division. At this time, we will annihilate the Nogi Maresuke Mixed Brigade. Everyone, please join me, Wei Jichen, to build this unprecedented achievement. We want to let the whole world see the Japanese." Wei Jichen suddenly raised his voice, clenched his fist and punched it down, saying loudly: "Unbearable!" Wei Jichen's few words made everyone's blood boil, excited, and couldn't help but change with his emotional changes. They even forgot to blame Wei Jichen for playing tricks on them. What is the god of death? This is the god of death. While talking and laughing, the Japanese fell into his hub. With a little trick, the Japanese obediently let him dispatch them. With this commander, there is no need to worry about the Japanese not being defeated, with this commander, there is no need to worry about the Japanese not being destroyed, with this commander, there is no need to worry about not being able to achieve unprecedented achievements. "Everyone, are you willing to follow me to achieve this unprecedented achievement and become famous throughout the world!" Wei Jichen's eyes, which can see through people's hearts, swept across everyone's faces one by one. At this moment, even Nie Guilin, who had retreated after many battles, felt a surge of pride in his heart. "We are willing to follow Commander Wei and achieve this unprecedented achievement!" Everyone seemed to have returned to their youth, full of passion and strength.