Chapter 021 Prelude to the Battle

The woman with a broken arm said that this Japanese was a good man and saved her life. If she wanted to kill her, she would be killed together!

Zhang Zuolin had no choice but to bring Yoshio Asano back to the fort with the woman.

In this day's battle, Guo Erzhuan's company was killed and injured a lot, which made Guo Erzhuan's eyes red. Seeing Zhang Zuolin bring back a Japanese, Guo Erzhuan was furious and had to kill the Japanese major.

However, the woman was killed by Yoshio Ono's side.

Guo Erjian scolded: "Whoever protects the Japanese is a traitor!" Traitors are as damned as the Japanese. They are all pulled out and killed by me!"

Two soldiers rushed over and were about to take action when the woman with a broken arm suddenly shouted, "Guo Erjian, I want to see Zhou Charter!"

Guo Erbar was shocked. The woman not only called out his name, but also dared to call the name of Zhou Charter, the commander of Zhangjun.

Guo Er looked up and down at the woman and felt a little familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen her. He couldn't help but be full of doubts.

Zhang Zuolin also said, "This woman is kind. Hey, where are you from and what's her name? How do you know the name of our teacher?

The woman lost too much blood, her face was pale and weak. Her body shook, fell into the arms of Yoshio Mano, and fainted.

"send them to the Golden Mountain Fort quickly!" Guo Er pole shouted, and he had realized that this woman was very good!

......

On the Golden Mountain Fort, the cannon rumbled.

On the sea, six Japanese ships appeared again. This is the fleet sent by the joint fleet to transport the mixed brigade from North Korea. It consists of two cruisers and four gunboats. The flagship is another heavy armored fast cruiser of the joint fleet, Gao Qianhui.

Zhou Charter had long expected that the Japanese army would attack Lushun from sea, mountains and land, but he did not expect the Japanese army to come so quickly.

In just a day and a half after capturing Lushun Port, Japanese warships appeared on the sea again.

These warships should have been pulled out from the sea of Weihaiwei by the joint fleet. They should first go to Incheon, North Korea, to receive the landing force of the first army attacking Lushun, and then return to Lushun. They circled a big circle and arrived in Lushun at noon on the 27th.

The efficiency of the Japanese is amazing.

Zhou Charter knows that Lushun Port will face a fierce battle.

Today's Japanese army no longer dares to underestimate Zhangjun. They are bound to send an overwhelming number of troops. Judging from the situation of Japanese ships on the sea, at least one Japanese brigade of about 5,000 troops is waiting for landing. In the direction of Jinzhou, two Japanese brigades are making a sharp advance towards Lushun.

What worries Zhou Charter is that there is a serious shortage of troops at hand. More than 2,000 people are scattered in various forts and ports around Lushun, and the troops in all directions are overstretched.

There are only 2,000 Zhang troops stationed in Lushun, of which 1,500 are the coastal defense force with the Golden Mountain Fort as the core and 500 land defense force with the Erlongshan Fort as the core.

Fortunately, before the arrival of the Japanese reinforcements, Zhang Jun had captured three coastal defense forts along the coast of Lushun Port, including the Pearl Reef Fort, which was second only to the Golden Mountain Fort. The artillery fire on the three forts controlled the Lushun Channel. At the same time, the torpedo boat formation led by Liu Bu to be stationed in the Lushun military port at any time. Launched a containment attack on the Japanese ship. Zhang Jun has the ability to cooperate with land and sea, which is greatly conducive to the defense of Lushun Port.

The Japanese ship arrived in the Lushun Sea at noon. Two hours later, it still did not launch a landing operation.

The long-range artillery on the three coastal defense forts controlled by Zhang Jun posed a great threat to the Japanese ships, and the torpedo boats often launched harassing assaults on the Japanese ships under the cover of the fort artillery, forcing the Japanese ships not to approach the beach easily.

The battle between the fort and the torpedo boat was originally the core tactical idea of the defense of Lushun Fortress. At the beginning, if the Qing army had adhered to this tactical idea, Lushun Port should not have been easily lost. Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the Beiyang Marine Division, ordered the torpedo boat troops to withdraw to Weihaiwei, which was a call.

The sky is gloomy, the sea is shining with fire, and the fort and the Japanese ship are shelled across the sea. The hit rate of both sides is very low. Overall, the battle seems very dull.

However, Zhou Charter knows that this is only temporary. It won't be long before the Japanese army will launch a desperate attack on Lushun Port. Reclaiming Lushun at all costs is the established policy of Japan's base camp and cannot be changed.

Zhou Charter is waiting by the telegraph machine. Since the beginning of the war, this submarine cable has become the only channel for Zhou Charter to contact the outside world.

Just now, Zhou Charter received a telegram from Pyongyang that the Japanese army had abandoned the Battle of Linjin River and calmed down by the Linjin River. At the same time, the news from Pyongyang also confirmed that the Japanese army had abandoned the Battle of Shanhaiguan at the same time.

This means that the Japanese army will withdraw troops from North Korea and come to Lushun. And the Japanese army in Yingkou will also return to Lushun.

The Qing Dynasty can breathe a sigh of relief, but the 2,000 soldiers in Lushun will face great pressure from the Japanese army from two directions.

Zhou Charter has no reinforcements. He knew that the Empress Dowager Buddha would not send reinforcements to him. She should have known the war situation of Lushun, and also knew that Zhou Charter's troops would fall into the siege of the Japanese army and let Zhou Charter die at the hands of the Japanese, which was exactly what she hoped.

Now, Zhou Charter's only hope is the main force of the Zhang army by the Linjin River.

Since the Japanese army gave up the battle of the Linjin River, it is meaningless for the main force of the Zhang army to stay by the Linjin River. If Luo Mingfang can send a regiment to help Lushun, then Lushun's defense force will be greatly strengthened. With a strong fortress, Zhou Charter is sure to defend Lushun.

Luo Mingfang also put forward such an opinion in the telegram, and Luo Mingfang has ordered Wu Peifu's first regiment to retreat and gather in Anzhou to prepare to assist Lushun.

The question is, how to transport this group to Lushun?

The Japanese occupied the right to control the sea, and by the Yalu River, Song Qing's troops have received a secret order from the Empress Dowager to block the Yalu River, and the sea and land are not connected.

Luo Mingfang proposed to take the sea route in the telegram. The reason was that the sea was near, and the Japanese joint fleet was busy with the Shandong campaign and could not pull out warships to completely block the Yellow Sea. On the Yellow Sea, only a few Japanese light gunboats cruised. As long as Zhang Jun acted properly, he could try to avoid the Japanese gunboats.

Zhou Charter also tends to go sea. The Qing army by the Yalu River should not give Zhangjun another chance. The Empress Dowager should have realized that the presence of Zhou Charter's men in Lushun must be the result of the release of water by the Yalu River garrison. She will never let this happen again.

However, it is still too risky to travel by sea. Zhang Jun does not have large ships, let alone warships. Those who can transport Zhang Jun can only be the fishing boats of the Anzhou people. If these fishing boats encounter Japanese ships, they can only be beaten. Even if they are lucky enough to avoid Japanese ships, the wind and waves on the sea can overturn them.

There were bursts of roaring outside the bunker, and a 36cm naval shell fell under the chest wall of the Golden Mountain Fort. The violent explosion raised a thick smoke, and a piece of dust fell on the bunker.

Zhou Charter looked at the hole. On the sea in the distance, under the cover of shore guns, three torpedo boats charged the Japanese fleet.

The four torpedo boats that followed Liu Bu toad to Lushun have been injured in today's battle. The left No. 1 bridge was hit by a bomb, eight crew members were killed, a torpedo launch tube was damaged, the power system was damaged, and the speed dropped to 6 knots. They had to swim in the port and serve as vigilance.

The remaining three torpedo boats, Fulong, left two and left three, launched a guerrilla attack on the Japanese ship under the leadership of Liu Bu.

Under normal circumstances, torpedo boats cannot actively attack cruisers, which is equivalent to suicide. However, off the coast of Lushunkou, there is strong shore gun cover, and the torpedo boat has the confidence to attack the cruiser.

Liu Bu Toad adopts the guerrilla tactics of hitting and running. Under the cover of the shore gun, the torpedo boat rushed to the Japanese fleet in the distant sea at full speed and launched torpedoes at a distance of 300 meters to 400 meters. This distance is not the best distance for torpedo attack. Enemy ships can often quickly turn their course to avoid torpedoes. However, Liu Bu The tactical purpose of Toad is not to sink the enemy ship with torpedo, but to disrupt the formation of the enemy ship and force the enemy ship to stay away from the coast and prevent landing operations.

This tactic is extremely effective. Today, Liu Bu Toad has launched three charges and fired six torpedoes. Although none of them hit the enemy ship and Zuo Yi was injured, however, under the impact of the torpedo boat, the Japanese ship had to retreat. At the same time, the shore guns on the Golden Mountain and the Pearl Reef battery took advantage of the Japanese ship to avoid the torpedo. At that time, three Japanese ships were shot, including a cruiser.

In this attack, Liu Bucao still followed the old tactics and rushed out of the waterway with the roar of the shore gun. This time, he was not very lucky. One kilometer away from the Japanese ship, the left third mineboat was hit by a fire and had to turn around and return. Fulong and the left two were still charging the Japanese ship with full power. 300 meters away from the Japanese ship, a torpedo was fired, then turned its course and retreated at full speed.

Four torpedoes dragged the water line and rushed towards the Takachie and Akizuzu cruisers. The two Japanese ships hurriedly turned the rudder to avoid, while the gunboats behind the cruiser concentrated their guns and desperately opened fire at the torpedo boats.

Gao Qianhui turned north, and Akitsuzhou turned south, drawing two beautiful arcs. The torpedo rubbed the cruiser's bridge and rushed to the depths of the sea.

However, Gao Qianhui had just avoided the torpedo and heard two explosions before he could take a breath. Two shells landed on the deck of Gao Qianhui, which were the shells of the shore cannon.

In the sound of the explosion, the Gao Qianhui flew flesh and blood, and a big fire rose into the air.

However, the retreated second left torpedo boat was also bombarded by Japanese gunboats. One shell accurately hit the second left command tower. The second left boat was killed, and the mast was broken, causing a fire.