Chapter 69 Entering Jinzhou

Jinzhou has always been an important town in Liaodong and a place where soldiers must compete. It is located in the eastern section of the west corridor of Liaoning. In the east is the endless northeast plain, the north is the Songling Mountains, which are complex and difficult to pass through the army, and in the south is the wide Bohai Sea.

The southwest direction behind it is the strategic channel 'Liaoxi Corridor'.

It can be said that if you defend Jinzhou, you can defend the Liaoxi Corridor and the Liaoxi Corridor, so it is possible to march into the northeast. If Jinzhou is lost, the enemy can go straight to the Shanhaiguan. Because Jinzhou is so important, Yuan Shikai sent Zhao Dongyun's Third Association to Jinzhou.

And sending Zhao Dongyun to Jinzhou in Liaodong instead of sending Zhao Dongyun directly to Xinmin Yingkou near the Liaohe River, we can also understand Yuan Shikai's attitude towards the situation in Northeast China to a certain extent.

First of all, in the face of the tension in the northeast, Yuan Shikai can't but send troops into Liaodong, because in that case, it will be difficult for Yuan Shikai to withstand the huge pressure at home and abroad.

On the other hand, Yuan Shikai is also trying to avoid direct military conflicts with Russia, because in that case, Beiyang is unlucky.

The situation in the northeast in the summer of 1903 is actually no longer under the control of the Qing government and Russia!

As early as 1901, Russia put huge pressure on the Qing government in order to annex the Northeast, but at that time, it was still the Beiyang people led by Li Hongzhang who presided over the negotiations with the great powers, so they still resisted Russia's diplomatic pressure and insisted on sovereignty over the Northeast.

After the Xinchou Treaty, the pressure of the Qing government was greatly reduced, and it was naturally impossible to easily give up the sovereignty of the Northeast. In addition, Britain, the United States, Japan and other countries were unwilling to see Russia occupy the Northeast, so they also put great diplomatic pressure on the Qing government. This forced the Qing government to adopt a tough attitude to deal with the Northeast issue.

This also led to Russia's extremely difficult diplomatic environment from 1901 to 1902, because almost all the great powers asked Russia to withdraw from the northeast.

This led to the signing of the Treaty on the Consignment of the Three Eastern Provinces between Russia and the Qing government, but Russia is naturally unwilling to do so, after the withdrawal of troops in the first phase, the second phase found various reasons to refuse to withdraw troops and reoccupy the camp.

This led to the instability in the Northeast that began in April this year, forcing Japan to expand its armaments, and the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries strongly opposed Russia.

And the above three countries also exerted tough diplomatic pressure on China, warning China not to accept Russia's demands. At the same time, there was also a certain amount of public opinion pressure among the people in China, and the southern governors led by Zhang Zhidong all shouted that the United Japan would reject Russia.

This also led to the fact that the Qing government must adopt a tough diplomatic stance against Russia whether it wants to or not. In order to show a tough attitude and block the possibility of the Russian army going south, the Qing government asked Yuan Shikai to send troops into Liaodong.

This situation made Yuan Shikai very depressed and annoyed!

Because whether it is the southern governors led by Zhang Zhidong or the court princes in Beijing, most of them only have one mouth. Whether they persuaded them to cede the northeast from Russia's request or say that they will take a tough attitude against Russia, they only say and don't do it.

There is no one else who really does things except Beiyang!

In today's China, the southern governor led by Zhang Zhidong, Beiyang led by Yuan Shikai, and the Qing royal family led by Cixi are actually many relatively independent forces, and they do not have much common interests.

History has proved that whether it is the First Sino-Japanese War or the Gengzi Incident, it actually has nothing to do with the southern governors. The previous Sino-Japanese War was the Huai Army led by Li Hongzhang and the Japanese War. The Gengzi Incident was a war between the Qing royal family and the Eight-Nation Alliance. Now if there is a Sino-Russian war, then it will be Yuan The war between Beiyang and Russia led by Shikai.

Maybe it has something to do with the Qing royal family. After all, Cixi Guangxu is the ruler of this country.

But it has nothing to do with Zhang Zhidong and other southern governors. Zhang Zhidong can leisurely cross their legs, nibble on melon seeds and start a war with Russia. Anyway, it has nothing to do with them. If they win, say how wise my decision was at the beginning. If they lose, it must be Yuan Shikai. The relationship between traitors.

At worst, there will be another Southeast Mutual Insurance!

For Yuan Shikai and other northern governors who are the first to take the brunt, this is a matter of life, and it is not too cautious.

Therefore, in the face of pressure at home and abroad, Yuan Shikai must not give up the northeast easily, but he will not easily march east of the Liaohe River to clash with the Russian army.

It was with this complicated mentality that Yuan Shikai sent Zhao Dongyun's Third Association to Jinzhou, Liaodong.

Sending Zhao Dongyun's Third Association to Jinzhou, Liaodong can give many people an explanation, and the court is satisfied, because once the war breaks out, how can the Third Association persist for a few days? At that time, Cixi and Guangxu will have time to hunt in the west for the third time.

The great powers are satisfied, because it represents China's tough attitude towards Russia and that it will never succumb to Russia's unreasonable demands, which is crucial for the great powers.

And domestic public opinion is also satisfied.

In addition to these, he sent the Third Association to Jinzhou instead of Fengtian, Xinmin Hall and other places in the east, which also avoided further stimulating Russia and preventing a real war with Russia. In that case, Yuan Shikai would cry to death!

As a high-level general in the Beiyang system, Zhao Dongyun is naturally clear about Yuan Shikai's complex mentality, because Beiyang's interests represent Zhao Dongyun's interests.

Now the Beiyang New Army has not been completed. Today's plan is to expand the army and expand the army again. Don't make any accidents in the middle, and you can't go to war with Russia.

So Zhao Dongyun was still very cautious after arriving in Jinzhou. He did not send out electricity and shouting war and other words like those governors in China who stood and talked without back pain. The first thing he did after arriving in Jinzhou was to inform the Russians, stating that his Third Association was just to suppress the ground in Jinzhou. , the control guard came from the western corridor and had no intention of going eastward.

This statement sounds like a coward or traitor, but it is a helpless move in reality. When the country behind it is a weak country that is being bullied, can you still point to the Russians' nose and say: You can leave within 24 hours, or I will lead the army to fight!

If you really do that, then it will be no different from Cixi.

Of course, the external posture should be low-key and tolerant, but the combat readiness work cannot be relaxed. Although Zhao Dongyun's historical memory knows that Russia will not take the initiative to go west and south, he can appear in this era and lead him to Jinzhou. No one can guarantee whether Russia will It won't go south as in history.

So the first thing Zhao Dongyun did after arriving in Jinzhou was that he had no intention of going east outside Russia, and the second thing was to order the troops to build fortifications.

As the saying goes, whether Russia comes or not, Zhao Dongyun has to be prepared to avoid the Russian army coming.

Jinzhou urban area is surrounded by water on three sides, while the periphery is surrounded by mountains on three sides, which can be said to be a city that is very conducive to defense. In addition, another very important factor is that the railway inside and outside the customs passes through Jinzhou.

In modern wars, with the large amount of equipment of guns and cannons, the consumption of materials in wartime increased significantly. When a modern unit fights, it needs a large amount of logistics materials. When the large corps fight, it can't rely on traditional foot transportation and horse transportation to supply supplies.

At this time, the importance of railways is highlighted. In modern wars, in fact, most of the battles took place along the railway, because the existence of railways makes later replenishment more convenient. On the contrary, if there is no railway, the battle will be in the way and the supply of materials will be extremely inconvenient.

Jinzhou is an important route station of the railway inside and outside the customs (the predecessor of the Beijing-Feng Railway).

When transportation and terrain factors are combined, Jinzhou becomes a strategic place. If the Russian army wants to advance west, it must conquer Jinzhou.

In order to conquer Jinzhou, it is necessary to first conquer several highlands outside Jinzhou. Therefore, in the preliminary defense plan formulated by Zhao Dongyun, the outer support points are composed of Zijing Mountain in the east, Jiguan Mountain in the northwest, Erlangdong Mountain, etc., and the shelf mountains on the south side, and artillery and machine guns are deployed on the highlands.

At the same time, multiple defensive positions were built in Jinzhou City.

However, Zhao Dongyun's Third Association did not have many troops, and even if these positions were repaired, it was impossible to have enough troops to deploy, but Zhao Dongyun's idea was that no matter whether these positions were used in the future or not, but the positions were repaired first. After all, no one could explain what would happen in the future.

Of course, the most important thing for Zhao Dongyun is not to defend Jinzhou, but to ensure his retreat, so he first built not the front-sized Bauhinia Mountain position, but to build the Songshan defense line in the south of Jinzhou, and deployed two infantry battalions here, as well as two cavalry battalions.

Prevent the Russian army from crossing the river from the lower reaches of the daughter river and then encircling Jinzhou from the south. In that case, not to mention guarding Jinzhou, Zhao Dongyun's third association may have to be trapped in Jinzhou. Therefore, in the face of the big problem of his life and death, Zhao Dongyun's performance is very conservative, with two infantry battalions and two cavalry battalions. It is deployed here, on the one hand, as a reserve team in Jinzhou City, and on the other hand, as a guard force in the lower reaches of the Daughter River.

"As long as Songshan Town is not lost, then our retreat can be worry-free!" Lin Yongquan pointed to the map and said, "As for Jinzhou City, I suggest that we should focus on the urban area, which can effectively reduce the effectiveness of enemy artillery. Under the complex terrain of the urban area, our army's machine gun firepower can be exerted more effectively. If the enemy carries out a large-scale frontal attack on Jinzhou, it can effectively consume the enemy's living power.

Zhao Dongyun nodded: "Well, it seems that you have all worked hard, but I still want to say that the defense of Jinzhou lies in the first battle, using machine guns and other sudden strikes on the Russian army, so it is necessary to concentrate machine guns, artillery and other firepower as much as possible. "

Zhao Dongyun's words puzzled Lin Yongquan: "If the machine gun is concentrated, what about the other direction?"

Zhao Dongyun doesn't care! In his expectation, if he is really so unlucky to encounter the Russian army, then what he can do is to take advantage of the Russian army's lack of understanding of the lethality of machine guns in the early stage to kill the Russian army as much as possible.

At that time, if the Russian army launches an intensive charge all over the mountain, it will not be difficult to kill thousands of him in a day!

Only by hitting the morale of the Russian army at the beginning can we talk about the specific defense next. As for whether we can defend it or not, we will talk about it later.

After all, his third association is so small that even the number of soldiers filling the Jinzhou defense line is not enough. In the face of this situation, Zhao Dongyun sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai asking for reinforcements.