The Empire will continue to win

Jinzhou, outside the Great Wall.

The wind was biting cold, and the snow was a foot thick.

As night fell, the four men lay quietly in a snowdrift near the railway tracks, blending seamlessly with the surrounding landscape.

Clang, clang~

Ugh~

"They're here."

The four men shakily got to their feet, used their stiff fingers to pry open the tinderbox, lit the fuse, and sparks hissed in the darkness.

If they have read the fairy tale "The Little Match Girl", they will surely think of the faint light of a match lit on a winter night.

"Black Card Incident, Banzai!"

These were the four little girls' last cries, their voices weak, after all, they had endured two days and two nights in the freezing cold.

Boom~

Amidst a massive explosion, the steam train derailed and overturned.

The scene was in complete chaos.

Shouts, gunshots, flashes of light~

.........

About two hours later, another train came from behind.

The driver immediately stopped adding coal, braked decisively, and brought the vehicle to a slow stop.

"What's going on?" Li Shaoquan, the commander of the First Division, wearing a black cloak, stepped off the train, grabbed a soldier, and asked loudly.

"Report to Commander: The tracks have been bombed, and the train has overturned."

How many were killed or injured?

"Report: More than 30 dead and more than 100 injured."

"Who did this?"

"Report: The brothers killed two people along the railway line. Judging from their clothes, they were ordinary civilians, but their builds made them look like soldiers."

"He was right!"

"What?"

"It's nothing, take me to see it."

"Yes."

In fact, Shen Moqing's warning was based on fact, because the railway line is fixed and stretches for thousands of miles. It's impossible for the railway company to keep an eye on every single spot.

There was clearly an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

If I were Yamagata Aritomo, I would have blown it up too.

The blast created two large craters, each about half a meter deep. Several meters of railway track were broken, and a steam locomotive overturned nearby, now covered in a layer of snow.

"Who is in charge here?" Li Shaoquan asked a group of busy railway company employees.

"I, I am the section chief of Jinzhou." A fat man ran over, bowing and scraping.

"How long will it take to resume traffic?"

"one day."

"I'll give you two hours, or you'll be court-martialed."

"Commander, this is impossible!" the section chief cried out in despair from behind.

Li Shaoquan didn't even turn his head.

"Guards, if the road can't be cleared in two hours, don't ask for permission, just kill them all."

"Yes."

The army has never believed in science; the army only believes in will.

If artillery firepower is insufficient, willpower will make up for it.

If you don't have enough bullets, you'll make up for it with willpower.

Once the military order is given, the soldiers must be prepared to die, braving mountains of knives, seas of fire, and even the gates of hell. Only in this way can they be considered elite veterans.

.........

Despite the clear threat of death, the staff of the Jinzhou section of the Northern Railway Company displayed unprecedented determination and opened the line to traffic in just two hours.

What used to be a day's work was finished in just two hours.

The price was that everyone's palms were covered in blood, because the frozen soil was difficult to dig. After a few swings of the pickaxe, their hands were cracked and their fingernails were broken.

Li Shaoquan glanced at the pitiful wretches who were weeping and wailing, and began to give orders.

"Pass down my order: the first vehicle will carry only one platoon of soldiers as the vanguard. If there are any casualties, the compensation will be tripled. If they survive to reach Fengtian, the soldiers will be promoted to platoon leaders, and the platoon leaders will be promoted to sentry officers."

"The second vehicle carries only one sentry, who will still be the vanguard. If there are any casualties, the compensation will be doubled. If they survive to reach Fengtian, the soldier will be promoted to squad leader, and the squad leader will be promoted to platoon leader."

"The distance between the first and second vehicles is 2 li."

"The third vehicle was 5 li away from the second vehicle. Starting with the third vehicle, all vehicles were fully loaded. We stopped marching at night and switched to marching during the day."

"Yes."

Soon~

The locomotive responsible for scouting the way rumbled past us.

The difference was that there were two more soldiers in the engine compartment, ready to kill anyone who appeared near the railway line at any time.

.........

Snowflakes were falling heavily, turning the world white.

In the wild.

"Commander, shall we go back to the carriage?" Liu Mingchuan suggested in a low voice.

"If it weren't for Shen Moqing overseeing the military industry, I would really like to transfer him to the front lines to serve as my advisor," Li Shaoquan replied, seemingly ignoring the question.

"what?"

"His strategic predictions were very accurate."

As they were talking.

In the distance, a rider galloped swiftly towards them.

Upon reaching him, the knight leaped off his horse, and before he could even brush off the wind and snow, presented the telegram with both hands.

"Report, urgent telegram from the capital."

The telegram contained the following:

"Urgent telegram from the Forbidden City to Fengtian: The First, Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Army Corps of the Eastern Sang Dynasty are launching a fierce attack on Fengtian day and night. Our army has suffered heavy casualties. In the fierce battle, the Fengtian Military Governor Ronglu was seriously wounded by artillery fire. The situation is critical. I hope your troops will overcome all difficulties, speed up the march, and arrive in Fengtian within two days."

Li Shaoquan looked up at the leaden-gray sky, where a heavy snow was falling.

A moment of silence.

Said:

"I have sent a telegram to the capital. Spies from Dongsang are active outside the Great Wall, bombing railway tracks, burning stations, and launching attacks, which has caused considerable difficulties for our march. However, I will rush to Fengtian as quickly as possible. I hope the court will urge the arrival of reinforcements and munitions."

"Yes."

The telegraph office was 5 miles away.

Compared to wireless telegraphy, wired telegraphy has too many limitations.

But to everyone's surprise, the Jinzhou Telegraph Bureau was in complete chaos when suddenly, telegrams could not be sent. It was determined to be a fault in the power lines, and they had to rush to repair them.

The dispatched reconnaissance team was ambushed by the Dongsang people.

A fierce battle lasting 25 minutes~

A 25-man intelligence team was defeated by a spy group of only 5 people, which shows that willpower is crucial in combat.

.........

Outside Fengtian City.

Temperatures dropped to -20 degrees Celsius.

The sky and earth were all white, and the ice was three feet thick.

High-ranking officers such as Yamagata Aritomo, Nogi Maresuke, and Kodama Gentaro, wearing black cloaks, stood on a slope, holding binoculars.

In the expensive Zeiss lens, the city wall is pitted and stained with blood, but it has not collapsed.

This is a distinctive feature of traditional Chinese brick-clad rammed earth city walls, which can withstand repeated bombardment from artillery pieces up to 150mm in diameter without collapsing entirely.

"Commander, urgent telegram from headquarters."

A knight came running quickly and took a telegram from his briefcase.

Yamagata Aritomo, the self-proclaimed founder of the Eastern Empire's army, a general, and the current commander-in-chief of the dispatched army, took off his gloves and opened the telegram.

In an instant, his eyebrows and beard furrowed, his pain evident.

"Sir, what's wrong?"

"The General Headquarters is very dissatisfied with my insistence on launching the winter offensive. They have dismissed me from my post and ordered me to return home immediately by warship. Nogi, you will take over as commander and lead the troops back to the winter encampment."

"How could these cowards at headquarters treat you like this? Commander, don't bother with them. A general in the field may disobey orders. Let's take Fengtian City in one fell swoop first."

"No, this time is different. His Majesty the Emperor has personally come to Hiroshima to oversee the headquarters. This is an imperial decree, and imperial decrees cannot be disobeyed."

.........

On the day.

Yamagata Aritomo resigned in disappointment, and Nogi Maresuke, who was even more fanatical and loyal, took over as commander of the expeditionary force.

Nogi had served as Emperor Bunji's tutor and was a thoroughly fanatical militarist, even though he believed that Fengtian could be captured in three to five days.

But his deep-seated obedience still prevented him from going alone.

The emperor is a god.

How can a person defy the will of the gods?

Outside, a fierce wind and snowstorm raged.

Inside the tent.

Nogi Maresuke addressed the officers, his voice slightly hoarse: "Proclamate to the entire army that each corps will provide cover in turn, with the Akiyama Cavalry Brigade bringing up the rear, and proceed in an orderly retreat to the winter encampment."

"Ha-yi."

Everyone simultaneously brought their heels together.