"Reported, the Yueyang ship came to inform that the Russian army had arrived near Qianwei Town, and the vanguard troops had arrived at Gaoling Town."

Zhu Yaping nodded and said, "Okay, I'll notify the various corps and the Shanhaiguan authorities to come here for a meeting."

Qianwei Town is located in Suizhong County, Huludao City, Liaoning Province. It is about 30 kilometers away from Shanhaiguan, and is only 23 kilometers away from Shanhaiguan defense line arranged by the People's Army. The Ming Dynasty set up the Qiantun Guard here, which was called the first guard outside Shanhaiguan. Qianwei Town was also named because of this. The Russian army's large troops arrived at Qianwei Town, which means that they entered the range of Shanhaiguan. It can be said that the war may begin at any time.

At this time, 15 days have passed since the People's Army entered the Shanhai, and the People's Army also made full use of these fifteen days to dispatch troops. At this time, three regiments of the Second Regiment, the Fifth Regiment, and the Ninth Regiment, as well as the First Regiment and the Independent Light Howitzer Battalion. The total force reached more than 9ooo people, 36 77mm field artillery, 12 1o5mm light howitzers, and 6 Whammy vehicles and 3 Off-road vehicles, which were mainly for the reconnaissance of the troops.

The command of the People's Army is located in the Jiumenkou area outside Shanhaiguan. It turned out that there was a Great Wall tunnel here. In the 13th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, when the famous general Xu Da presided over the construction of the Jiumenkou Great Wall, he dug out a secret passage in the mountain that went straight out of the pass from the inside of the Great Wall. It can both garrison troops and from the inner city to the rear of the enemy who attacked the city. The total length of the secret passage is 1027 meters, there are 29 large and small caves in the cave, and a drainage system and ventilation holes are designed to dig the water well, and a total of about 2 ooo people can be stationed.

The Shanhaiguan defense line arranged by the People's Army is outside the exit, so this tunnel has no effect of a surprise attack, but it can still be used to garrison the troops. After the commander of the 6th Army Zhu Yaping arrived at Shanhaiguan, he set up the command center here, and some other cave rooms in the Sui Road are used as warehouses and some as field hospitals.

The People's Army's defense line was not arranged based on the Great Wall. This is because in the age of thermal weapons, the defense effect of the Great Wall was greatly reduced. Just like the city wall could not resist the bombardment of artillery, on the contrary, the Great Wall's target was obvious and was not conducive to the concealment of soldiers. Therefore, the People's Army's defense line was arranged 2-3 kilometers away from the Great Wall, and the Great Wall was only used as the rear. The defense line was mainly composed of irregular trench fronts, and barbed wire was drawn on the edges of the trenches, blocked wood, etc., and occupied five nearby hills and arranged various artillery. In terms of force distribution, the troops of the Second and Fifth Regiments were mainly stationed in various defense positions, and the Ninth Regiment was used as the general reserve.

On the sea, a crossing warship is maintained at any time in the sea of ​​Shanhaiguan. It is a mixed formation with the Brandenburg battleship, the Saxony ironclad ship and two torpedo boat destroyers. Now the Yueyang ship is on the turn, and it goes forward to the Jinzhou waters. It passes through the warships and uses drones to reconnaise the movements of the Russian army. It is also informed to the Shanhaiguan Command every day that it can be said that the Russian army sent troops from Jinzhou, and its movements have been controlled by the crossers. The Brandenburg battleship and the Saxony ironclad ship are equipped with 4 28o mm cannons, with a maximum range of 20 kilometers. It can not only provide fire support to the People's Army, but also monitor the movements of Shanhaiguan. Once the Qing army in Shanhaiguan is unfavorable to the People's Army, it will immediately shell Shanhaiguan.

The time was not long. Members of the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Regiment, as well as the guards of Shanhaiguan, Zheng Caisheng, Fushun, Song Qing, Ma Yukun, Zhang Peilun, Li Jingfang and others all rushed to the Jiumenkou Great Wall to participate in this pre-war meeting.

Everyone sat down in the surrender road, and Zhu Yaping said: "Everyone, the command center has just received information. The Russian brigade has arrived at Qianwei Town, and the vanguard army has arrived at Gaoling Town. The battle is estimated to begin within a day or two. Therefore, I ordered all positions to enter the combat state immediately. All troops will be arranged according to the arrangement and all the troops will enter the position to defend, ready to fight the Russian attack at any time."

The members of the three regiments immediately stood up and saluted, expressing their orders.

At this time, Zheng Caisheng said: "Generals, you all come to help us guard Shanhaiguan. I am really grateful. However, we were originally the defenders of Shanhaiguan. We have the responsibility to defend our territory. I don't know what we can do?"

Song Qing also said: "Yes, generals, you are very righteous. I am deeply impressed. But we cannot just watch you fight with the Russian army. Therefore, we can do anything we can. Please give orders as long as we can."

In fact, during this period, the Qing army in Shanhaiguan cooperated with the actions of the People's Army and helped the People's Army dig trenches, build fortifications, transport supplies, etc., which did help the People's Army a lot of help. However, from Zheng Caisheng's mind, it was enough to do this. As for fighting with the Russian army, it was the People's Army's business and had nothing to do with him. If the People's Army wins, he might as well keep up and get some advantage. If the People's Army loses, he will leave as soon as possible. The civilian army was not stationed in Shanhaiguan City, but arranged defense lines outside Jiumenkou, which also relieved Zheng Caisheng completely because it showed that the People's Army did not have the ambition to turn against the enemy and annex Shanhaiguan. Moreover, Jiumenkou is more than 20 miles away from Shanhaiguan. Once the People's Army was defeated, he had enough time to escape. Zheng Caisheng prepared two steamships at the Shanhaiguan Pier and transported some of his family's wealth to the ship, and could escape from Shanhaiguan at any time.

However, Song Qing, Ma Yukun and Zheng Caisheng have different mentalities. They are both long-standing generals, and have participated in many major wars such as the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Nian Army, the quelling of the Chaoyang Rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and have fought with the Eight-Nation Alliance. They also have some of the blood and courage of some warriors. Of course, if they were asked to fight against the Russian army alone, they would definitely not dare, but the situation is different now, because there are overseas Chinese behind them.

With the increase of the People's Army in Shanhaiguan, the strong self-confidence shown by the soldiers of the People's Army also greatly infected Song Qing and Ma Yukun. Both of them were experienced in battles. Although they lost more than they won, their vision was very different from Zheng Caisheng. Seeing that the soldiers of the People's Army were full of energy, vigorous and enforced orders, had excellent military discipline and style, which was not the same as the Qing army. Moreover, they were based on the previous achievements of the People's Army, so the two were quite confident in the People's Army. Moreover, they were not willing to remain silent, hoping to follow the People's Army to win several battles. This was to justify themselves; the other was to accumulate some military achievements, and when the situation in the future stabilized, it was also their own capital.

However, the two were not the garrisons of Shanhaiguan, but because they retreated to Shanhaiguan after Beijing was defeated. Both of them were old men in their seventies, Ma Yukun was over 60 years old, and Song Qing was even nearly 80 years old. Zhu Yaping, the chief general of overseas Chinese, seemed to be less than forty. The age contrast was too large, so it was difficult to take the initiative to mention it to overseas Chinese, so they had to let Zheng Caisheng stand out.

Although Zheng Caisheng was the admiral of Shanhaiguan, Song Qing's official position was to command the left army of Wuwei and Sichuan, and also to lead the army alone, and he also had to lead the Yi army; Ma Yukun's official position was to run the left army of Wuyi and Zhili, and both official positions and qualifications were far stronger than Zheng Caisheng. Moreover, the total number of troops of the two was nearly 10,000, which was far more than the defenders of Shanhaiguan. Therefore, Zheng Caisheng did not dare to refute the face of the two, so he had to bite the bullet and propose to Zhu Yaping that he hoped that there was something to do.

Zhu Yaping nodded. He had done his job before coming to Shanhaiguan. Knowing who Song Qing and Ma Yukun were, he nodded and said, "Don't worry, all military gates, you will never be missing in this battle with the Russian army. Moreover, we are all after Yanhuang. Only by working together can we ensure that China is not bullied by foreign enemies. However, now that the Russian army has just arrived, the morale is strong, and we have set up a line of defense and are ready for battle. Therefore, if we do not visit, the Russian army will suffer a few great losses first, and the Russian army will be beaten. When they encounter bloody in front of our defense line and the veterans are tired, we will attack again, so that we can defeat the Russian army in one fell swoop. At that time, it is time for all military gates to show their skills."

Song Qing and Ma Yukun nodded repeatedly when they heard this. They were all experienced in battle formations and were well-versed in military tactics. Naturally, they knew that the combat plan Zhu Yaping said was deeply integrated with military tactics. In Chinese history, there were many examples of using this tactic and very effective. Usually, they defeated the strong with the weak and defeated the more with the few. Moreover, for this period, the People's Army has been building fortifications at the Jiumen, and it was also a stance of holding the ground. Therefore, this was not beyond Song Qing and Ma Yukun's expectations.

However, this tactic must first withstand the enemy's attack, and when defending against the enemy's attack, it often requires a large casualty. The People's Army took the initiative to take on this most difficult combat task, which can be said to be gnawing all the difficult bones, and the remaining opportunity to make meritorious contributions was given to itself. It can be said that this is a considerable favor. Song Qing and Ma Yukun were also a person who had been in the officialdom for decades, so they didn't understand these. Of course, neither of them knew that in the hands of the People's Army, they actually held a huge ace.

At this time, Zhu Yaping said again: "But after the war begins, we must guard the Jiumenkou defense line with all our strength. The Russian army may send an army to bypass Jiumenkou and attack Shanhaiguan unexpectedly. Therefore, the defense of Shanhaiguan requires all admirals to pay more attention."

Song Qing hurriedly said: "Generals, don't worry. After we go back, we will arrange personnel immediately and strictly guard the city. We will never give the Russian army an opportunity to take advantage of it."

In fact, it is not easy for the Russian army to detour the Jiumenkou and attack Shanhaiguan in surprise. First, it cannot dispatch too many troops; second, it cannot carry heavy weapons, otherwise it will lose the effect of a surprise attack, but in this way, it will not be able to attack Shanhaiguan. Therefore, as long as Shanhaiguan strictly defends and does not allow the Russian army to take advantage of it, it can basically ensure that the city of the city will not be lost. This is much easier than the People's Army guarding the Jiumenkou defense line.
Chapter completed!