The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 615: The Russian Emperor is Blind

Teng Yuzao put away his smile and said, "I want to remind you that Director Zuo's battle report is much more detailed than what the Russians provided us. Some of the information in it is not known to the Russians. It was obtained by the Intelligence Department of the General Staff through special channels. Please keep it confidential."

The special channel that Teng Yuzhao mentioned was naturally the intelligence obtained by observing and intercepting the radio communications between Japan and Russia through airships.

The General Staff not only has departments such as operations, communications, logistics, training, and general affairs, but also an intelligence department that specializes in investigating and collecting intelligence on soldiers.

Much of the intelligence from the Intelligence Department was provided to them by Teng Yuzhao based on his memory and judgment, and then summarized by the Telecommunications Department and the Intelligence Department, and finally the Intelligence Department came up with a systematic enemy situation report.

As for the Director Zuo mentioned by Teng Yuzhao, he was naturally the Chief of Operations of the General Staff, Zuo Baotian.

This time, Teng Yuzhao originally planned to come with only his personal guards and hide quietly among Wu Peifu's staff, but Wei Jinghai was not willing to do that. In the end, he sent Zuo Baotian, who led a few staff officers to form a small combat department, to be with Teng Yuzhao on the grounds that the situation inside the Great Wall was complicated and he was afraid that the Shuntian Army would take advantage of the lack of troops in Zhishan Province.

Zuo Baotian is now the de facto chief of staff of the Restoration Army, while Lu Jingchen, deputy chief of staff of Wu Peifu's Fifth Regiment, continues to serve as deputy chief of staff in the Restoration Army. The streamlined staff only has three departments: operations, intelligence and communications, and logistics and medical affairs, all of which are composed of staff brought by Zuo Baotian and staff from Wu Peifu's Fifth Regiment.

Teng Yuzao hesitated and added, "Although we are fighting together with the Russians now, you should know that we may have to fight with them in the end."

Before Teng Yuzhao had finished speaking, a report came from the outer room separated by logs, and then an artillery staff officer ran in.

Teng Yuzhao recognized this staff officer. He was Zuo Baotian's direct subordinate and an artillery staff officer in the artillery section of the Operations Department of the General Staff.

The staff officer, who looked a little nervous, just walked quickly into the operations room and reported hesitantly.

"Reporting to the Chief of Staff, something strange happened when the artillery was correcting the shelling area!"

Zuo Baotian's face darkened at the words of the General Staff, and he spoke in a deep voice with an unexpected look on his face.

"What's the strange situation?"

Seeing that Zuo Baotian was unhappy and that Teng Yuzhao was also present, the staff officer became even more nervous, hesitant and unable to speak.

Teng Yuzhao suddenly had an idea. He had thought of something and couldn't help but said to the staff officer with a smile.

"Don't be anxious, take your time to talk."

When Teng Yuzhao spoke, the staff officer's nervous expression eased a little.

"Marshal, you understand artillery. Artillery needs to use a compass to correct its position, but when the First Division's artillery brigade was correcting its position, they found that the needles of all the compasses in their regiment were shaking."

In order to cooperate with the Russian army in combat and avoid trouble, the Restoration Army's various unit numbers have begun to adopt the world's common settings. Since the Zhi army is large-scale, the strength of a brigade has reached the division level standard. The two brigades of Wu Peifu and Li Jinyu have been changed to the First and Second Divisions of the Restoration Army, and the two battalions of Li Xianze and Liu Shijiu have been changed to the First Independent Brigade and the Second Independent Brigade of the Restoration Army.

Since the troops were surrounded by either Japanese or Russian troops, in order to act quickly in emergency situations, the Restoration Army did not have any artillery units directly under the army. However, each division, brigade, and regiment had artillery units directly under its command, and the artillery units of these artillery units were all light 75mm mountain guns and mortars.

For example, the divisional artillery brigade is an artillery regiment with thirty-six mountain guns and a heavy mortar regiment with 105mm caliber, also equipped with thirty-six guns.

The artillery regiment directly under the brigade has been reduced in size by one level and now has a mountain artillery battalion and an 87mm mortar battalion.

The regimental artillery is an artillery battalion consisting of three 87mm mortar companies.

Battalion-level units do not have direct artillery. Each company has an artillery platoon equipped with 60mm mortars, with six mortars in each platoon.

Hearing that such a thing had happened, everyone in the operations room was stunned, and Zuo Baotian asked in surprise.

"Is the compass broken?"

As soon as he said this, Zuo Baotian realized that there was something wrong with his words. It wasn't just one compass of the artillery brigade that had an abnormality, but all of them. It was impossible that all the compasses were damaged at the same time!
The staff officer said hurriedly, "Chief of Staff, no, it's not just the First Division, the Second Division and the two independent brigades are all experiencing this situation."

The staff officer said, handing a compass in his hand to Zuo Baotian, "It's all like this!"

Liu Shijiu and Wu Peifu also came over in surprise to check, and were shocked to see that the needle of the intact compass in Zuo Baotian's hand was not fixed in the north position, but was shaking constantly.

Liu Nineteen said with a pale face, "Damn it, could it be that this little devil has some magic trick?"

Teng Yuzhao already understood the whole story. He remembered that when he was studying war history in his previous life, he saw that when the Japanese artillery units were preparing to bombard the Gongchangling position, they were surprised to find that their compasses were all shaking, which made it impossible for them to determine the exact azimuth.

After Teng Yuzhao took the compass, he just looked at it and handed it back to the staff officer.

Then he looked at the astonished crowd and said with a smile, "This is not because the Japanese devils have some magic. This is because there is probably a huge magnetite nearby, or even right under our feet. It is the magnetic field of this large magnetite that interferes with your compass. Even if the Japanese devils attack us now, their artillery will encounter the same problem."

"Once you leave here, your compass will immediately return to normal."

Teng Yuzhao knew very well that it was because of this incident that the Japanese realized that there was a huge iron mine in Gongchangling, so shortly after the Russo-Japanese War, they used the Manchurian Railway to explore the Gongchangling iron mine, and then jointly developed it with the Qing government.

Teng Yuzao added, "Historical records show that there are iron mines in the Gongchangling area. The ancients already knew about it. It's not a secret. But they didn't know there was a huge mineral vein here."

"Iron smelting workshops first appeared here during the Goguryeo period of the Tang Dynasty, and mining continued in successive dynasties. In the early Ming Dynasty, the largest ironworks was located nearby."

However, Teng Yuzao did not want to educate his subordinates who knew little about science, so he said to the artillery staff officer, "Since we cannot use the compass, we can only use a stupid method. Before the Japanese attack, we should immediately arrange for the artillery units to conduct field surveying and artillery test firing to determine the position angle of the artillery array."

After the artillery staff officer left, although he saw that his subordinates were still confused about the compass failure, he smiled and said.

"After we drive away the Japanese and the Russians, we will develop this iron mine. Then you will know that I am right."

"Okay, now Director Zuo will report on the battle situation."

Zuo Baotian said as he opened the leather folder in his hand.

"Only a small part of the battle situation I reported came from the Russians. The rest was obtained by us through more reliable channels. Therefore, our intelligence is more detailed than that of the Russians."

"According to the intelligence we have, the Japanese's plan to attack Liaoyang was approved by the Japanese headquarters in China and distributed to all troops on August 5."

"The main content of the Japanese attack on Liaoyang is that while the Japanese Second Army and Fourth Army attack the old Russian South Manchuria Group near Anshan, the Japanese First Army will attack the old Russian East Manchuria Group in the area from Da'anping to Tangheyan, that is, the old Russian East Siberian Third and Tenth Army."

"We have informed the Japanese of this battle plan to the Russian commander-in-chief of the Manchurian Army, Kuropatkin, and suggested that he transfer the 10th Army to the vicinity of Anshan. We will take over the defense of the remaining positions of the 10th Army."

Zuo Baotian continued, "According to the Japanese plan, they should have launched the attack on the 6th at the latest. However, due to continuous rainfall, the water levels of rivers and streams have risen sharply, causing the Japanese general attack to be postponed again and again."

"It was not until a week ago, at dawn on the 13th of this month, that the Japanese Kuroki Tamemoto's First Army began to attack the Red Sand Ridge area defended by the Russian Third Army and the Highlands west of Gaofeng Temple defended by the Tenth Army. The Japanese did not launch an attack on the Gongchangling position where we are now."

"The Japanese Second Army and Fourth Army also began to attack the Russian South Manchuria Group near Anshan on the same day."

"In terms of combat organization, the Russians organized the troops into two combat groups, South Manchuria and East Manchuria. Alexander von Biedrin commanded the East Manchuria Group, which was composed of the Third East Siberian Army and the Tenth European Army, with a total of about 100,000 people."

"The South Manchuria Group was led by Nikolai Zarubaev, and consisted of the First, Second, and Fourth Siberian Armies, totaling about 80,000 men."

"In addition, the Russians also specially formed a cavalry unit named after Powell Mishchenko as a mobile force, with about eleven cavalry companies, and a reserve of about thirty battalions near Liaoyang."

"The artillery of both sides is not very strong. The Japanese Kuroki Tameharu's First Army has about 120 artillery pieces, and the East Manchuria Group has 182 artillery pieces."

"Due to the successive victories, the Japanese army is now in high spirits. On the first day of the war, that is, the 13th, the Japanese First Army in front of us launched a fierce attack at eight locations at the same time with the Second Division on the positions of the East Siberian Tenth Army commanded by the commander of the Russian Tenth Army, Sluchevsky."

"Although the front-line troops of the old Russians put up a tenacious resistance and repelled the attacks of the Japanese for several consecutive days, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese, their army commander Sluchevsky did not want to launch a counterattack and led the reserve troops to retreat to the rear position in the Tanghe River Valley area."

"Because Sluchevsky was afraid of the enemy and avoided fighting, under the pressure of the Japanese Second Division, the Russian Tenth Army also withdrew to the preset position in the Tang River Valley."

"The one attacking the Russian Siberian Third Army was the Guards Division of the Japanese First Army. Yesterday, the Guards Division attempted to bypass the left wing of the Russian Third Army, but was attacked from the side by the Russian reserve forces and had to retreat in disgrace."

"According to the reconnaissance report and Bidlin's report on the battle, the Japanese First Army Commander Kuroki Tamemasa transferred the reserve troops to reinforce the Imperial Guard Division in order to turn the tide of the battle. As a result, he was blocked by the Russian artillery and suffered heavy casualties, and was forced to stop the attack."

"At present, the Japanese First Army has received 30,000 domestic reinforcements and is working hard to replenish them. However, the Russian commander-in-chief Kuropatkin is worried that the East Manchurian Group will be surrounded by the Japanese Second Army that will arrive later in the area near Gongchangling. On August 14, he ordered the East Manchurian Group to evacuate the frontline."

"It was only because Bidlin was unwilling to give up his strong position after learning that we were about to join the East Manchuria Group that he allowed the Tenth Army to retreat and gave up the first line of defense in the eastern defense position. That allowed us to take over the second line of defense at Gongchangling held by the Tenth Army."

"Also, on August 14, the Japanese Fourth Army and Second Army launched an attack on the Russian South Manchuria Group near the Anshan Railway Station. The two sides fought fiercely and the battle is currently in a stalemate."

"However, according to the battle situation reported by Kuropatkin, the Japanese may be able to bypass the two wings of the Russian South Manchuria Group."

"It's just that there have been frequent heavy rains recently. The railway and communication lines from Dalian to Haicheng have been washed away by mountain torrents and heavy rains in many places. The operations of the Japanese troops have to be postponed again."

"According to the latest intelligence, the weather has improved since yesterday, and the Japanese have decided to resume the attack on the 23rd."

"Marshal, I just don't understand!"

Liu Nineteen couldn't help but frown and interrupted, "Although the Japanese still took the initiative to attack, they fought back and forth with the Russians."

"Also, the Russians have the advantage in terms of military strength. At least in the east, the Russians' East Manchuria Group is much stronger than the Japanese in terms of manpower and firepower, but why are they in a completely defensive posture?"

"Besides, in my opinion, even if the Russians can't win, they won't lose anyway!"

Teng Yuzao smiled bitterly and said, "The Russians' right wing southern group consists of three armies commanded by Zarubaev, the left wing eastern group consists of two armies commanded by Bildlinger, there are several more armies east of Liaoyang, and another two armies as reserves."

"It seems that the military strength is indeed superior, but in fact it is not the case. According to Kuropatkin's order, each army that entered the defensive position used 40% to 50% of its troops as reserves. As a result, the actual number of troops they deployed to the frontline battlefield was greatly reduced."

"On the contrary, the Japanese did not keep any reserve troops, and threw most of their troops into the battlefield at once. In this way, although the Japanese were still at a disadvantage in terms of total strength, they formed a fist on both wings and even had an advantage in terms of strength."

"Tell me, if the Japanese can break through on both wings, or even just on the right wing where the Russian South Manchuria group is located, the entire direction of the Russians will be shaken, and collapse is only a matter of time."

"According to our intelligence, according to the Japanese plan, they want their Nozu Michitsugu Fourth Army to attack from the front to contain the main force of the Russian army, while the First and Second Armies will bypass the left and right wings of the Russian army from the east and west respectively, with the right wing as the main attack direction. This is undoubtedly a bold plan to surround the majority with the minority."

"Damn it, the Russian commander-in-chief is a fool. They want to defend themselves, but they are also worried about being broken through and surrounded by the Japanese. They are afraid of both ends! It would be a miracle if they are not defeated."

(End of this chapter)