A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 269 Drive Tiger, Devour Wolf

Makarov said: "The meaning of the academician is that even the Japanese among the people are going to fight against us?"

Li Yu felt overwhelmed, these Japanese people really messed with him, no matter whether they recognized him or not, they were going to put him to death.So he took this opportunity to say: "Yes, you should be able to see the wolf ambition of the Japanese. Why did they build such a powerful navy?"

Makarov said solemnly: "I have studied the Japanese navy. A few years ago, when our Pacific Fleet was stationed in Lushun Port, the total tonnage of the Japanese Navy was only half of that of the Pacific Fleet. But now, the Japanese Navy already has six There are two advanced main battleships, and six first-class cruisers, all of which have a tonnage of almost [-] tons or even exceed the [-]-ton class, which together greatly exceeds our Pacific Fleet."

Horvath naturally also knew this information: "If there is a decisive battle at sea, our fleet has no chance of winning."

The two looked at each other, full of thoughts, and the Japanese's thoughts were clearly revealed.

It's just that they didn't leave anyone alive. The Japanese death squads who engaged in "surprise attacks" are all dead, so they can't make a fuss about it.There is no conclusive evidence now. The key point is that they also pretended to have big braids. Just looking at the corpses, they look very Chinese.

But for Li Yu, it may not be bad news, because if the news does not get out, the Japanese will not know that he killed several Japanese ronin.

Li Yu said: "I think you should strengthen your defenses. Since they make such small moves, they will make big moves."

Horvath knew the meaning of Li Yu's words, but he didn't believe it: "Does Mr. Academician mean that the Japanese will attack the Pacific Fleet?"

Li Yu said: "Generals, everyone now knows that the key to the situation is who can win the sea control. Therefore, the Japanese must want to capture Lushun Port and win the naval battle at the same time. Once this happens, it will be for you. Said it was unacceptable."

Makarov opened his mouth: "If there is no fleet, all our operations in the Far East will be wiped out."

What Russia wants is Lushun Port, a good port that is not frozen all year round, so the fleet must be the first, and the fleet is also the most valuable.

Li Yu said: "The Japanese obviously understand this truth."

Since different countries place different emphasis on history, they attach different importance to the same thing.

For example, our unforgettable Opium War is called the Sino-British Trade War in the UK.If you ask on the streets of the UK, ordinary people in the UK don’t know this at all, because for them, there have been too many aggressive and colonial wars in history, and the Opium War is similar to countless other wars in their eyes.

We also have a similar situation. Most Chinese people probably have never heard of the Sino-Indian War.Although it was a very remarkable war in terms of strategy and tactics, the country didn't take it seriously at all.

But for Indians, it is simply a national humiliation!Since then until modern society, many military exercises in India still regard us as imaginary enemies, even though we never cared about it.

There is also the Sino-Japanese War, which is definitely an unforgettable scar for the Chinese people.In Japan, this war is called the Nissin War. Except for historians, few ordinary Japanese students know about it.

——There is a famous saying that the so-called public memory comes from the mass media.

Ordinary people really don't know if it is not advertised.

And propaganda is in the service of politics, so I won’t expand on that.

In China, people who don't read history or military may not know much about the Russo-Japanese War, but this is the first modern war that the Japanese remember most deeply.

To be honest, this war is very similar to the Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-]. They all gathered the power of the whole country through gambles and increased leverage, and won another country that was stronger than themselves.

This war is firmly engraved in the historical memory of the Japanese people. Several key figures in it, such as Togo Heihachiro and Nogi Noki, were written in Japanese history books.

Because the difficulty of this war far exceeded that of the Sino-Japanese War.

Japan paid a huge price for its pre-war preparations. It overdrawn its naval military expenditures for the next ten years and built the so-called "Six or Six Fleet".

That is, six main battleships: two 2-ton Fuji-class ships, and four 12000-ton Shikishima-class ships.

Six first-class cruisers are also in the [-] to [-]-ton class.

This strength can be said to be invincible in East Asia. It is completely a crab on the sea and can walk sideways.

Since the Russo-Japanese War was aimed at controlling the sea in the final analysis, the Russian Pacific Fleet retreated to Lushun Port at the beginning of the war.

Lushun Port's sea defense is extremely strong, with more than 200 cannons. The Russian army's thinking is to stick to it and wait for help.

Of course, the Japanese army understood the thinking of the Russian army very well. They must take Lushun Port before the arrival of Russian reinforcements.

Otherwise, if the Baltic Sea, which travels through most of the world, is really at war with the Pacific Fleet, Japan will almost certainly be defeated. The Emperor is afraid that he will really go to the Kremlin to apologize.

Therefore, the Japanese navy and army formed a united front for the first time—this is absolutely unprecedented in the Japanese military circle.

Their idea is that the army stormed the heavily defended Lushun Fortress, forcing the Pacific Fleet to come out of the port and fight the navy.

The process was very tragic. The Third Army of the Japanese Army in charge of the offensive was commanded by Nogi Nori, who was known as "love soldiers like children", and forced the soldiers to charge fearlessly.

The Russian army in the fortress is well equipped, with all kinds of heavy machine guns, long-range artillery, rapid-fire guns, shrapnel, and barbed wire, which are very unfavorable to the attacker.

Moreover, Lushun Fortress is definitely the number one fortress in the Far East. There are 8 semi-permanent forts, 9 central forts, and six permanent forts. The four corner forts are connected to the front trenches of the position, and there are almost no defensive dead ends.

The rear highlands are support artillery positions.

If the main line of defense is breached, there will be fortress turrets and auxiliary corridors connected by trenches to surround Lushun.

(Speaking of such a good fortress, the Qing Dynasty directly gave it for free!)
The only problem is that there are not enough soldiers, and it is extremely difficult to break out after being surrounded.

Li Yu said: "Now that you know the opponent's purpose, I think you can focus on strengthening the defense of Lushun Fortress and surrounding fortresses, and continue to station heavy troops."

Makarov said: "There are [-] to [-] defenders in Lushun Fortress, and it is impossible for the Japanese to break through."

In the Battle of Lushun in the Russo-Japanese War, in fact, in the end, the Russian army did not have time to wait for reinforcements, and all the reserves were killed in the defense battle and had to be defeated.

Li Yu said: "It is obvious to all of you how the Japanese are not afraid of death today. Do you still think that [-] to [-] defenders are enough?"

Makarov touched the analgesic wound, the Japanese were too fearful to die. If the Japanese army were like this, they would be a very terrifying enemy, which made people feel cold.

Makarov said: "I see, I will transfer the army to continue to strengthen the fortress guard."

Historically, in the last attack on the Lushun Fortress, the Japanese side lost 1.7 people in one day.

Of course, it is not the Lushun Fortress that is directly attacking, but the 2.3 highland next to it.Because this highland can overlook the entire Lushun and the port, the Russian army used this advantage from the beginning to call artillery fire to accurately attack the Japanese army.

Japan has no special tactics, basically it is a fearless charge, and of course there will be artillery. Nogi Noki's son died in the charge.

Those who know a little about modern warfare should know that the most important thing to attack in modern warfare is infantry coordination.

That is to attack against their own artillery fire.

The impact point of one's own artillery shells needs to be five to sixty meters in front of the skirmish line, which can suppress the opponent's artillery fire while providing fire support cover for the own infantry.

It's just that the difficulty of execution is a bit high. The Japanese army rushed too fast, and many died under their own artillery fire.

When Japan cleaned up the fortresses around Lushun, it also used the method of digging tunnels to approach the fortresses, because the Maxim machine guns of the Russian army were too powerful.

——Li Yunlong also used this method to fight the Yamazaki Brigade.

In fact, the Japanese were very aggressive at the beginning, determined to directly attack the most difficult fortress in Lushun. Nogi Noki fought many times, but his son was dead and he still couldn't handle it.

The Japanese base camp was almost desperate, and the imperial meeting was held to change the 203 highland as the main attack direction.

However, due to the inherent differences within the Japanese army, abandoning the attack on the fortress would cause Nogi Noki and other army generals to suffer the shame of attacking losses and losing troops, so they refused to change the main attack direction.

Nogi Xidian's third army even called up volunteers to form the so-called death squads that never backed down-the Bailu squad.

Then more than 3000 Baiyu squad took advantage of the night to launch a suicide attack, but they were discovered by the Russian army, and most of the losses were lost. Commander Nakamura Saku ordered that the death squad, which would never retreat, retreat!

Only then did Nogi Xidian decide to attack the 203 Heights instead, and finally took it after paying a huge loss of 1.7 casualties.

Therefore, the key to the Russian army is whether it can strengthen the Lushun Fortress and the 203 Fortress.

Of course, Li Yu didn't want the Russian army to win, because the situation would be even more unfavorable if the Russian army won.

It can only make Japan win more tragically.

Li Yu said: "The commanding heights on the land are very important. The nearby highlands and Lushun Fortress have to hoard more soldiers."

Makarov suffered a great loss today, and made up his mind to transfer more troops to the port, but the troops were concentrated in Harbin, that is, Horvath.

But today Horvath was also very angry and promised to mobilize 1.5 people to continue strengthening Lushun and its surrounding areas.

Makarov suddenly asked: "Why is Mr. Academician so familiar with Lushun?"

Li Yu said casually, "I went there back then."

This sentence is a bit cryptic. Li Yu said that he had been there before crossing; but Makarov's understanding was that the Russian army had visited Lushun before it occupied Lushun, because Lushun was the territory of the Qing Dynasty before.

So it is inconvenient to continue asking.

The strengthening of 1.5 defenders is enough for Nogi Xidian to drink several more pots.

Japan fought the Russo-Japanese War basically by pouring all the power of the whole country and winning miserably.

Li Yu understands that neither side is a good thing, but according to logic deduction, the best result is really to make Japan's win even worse.

Because at this time the Northeast has essentially become the sphere of influence of Tsarist Russia.If Tsarist Russia wins, the consequences will be really disastrous.

After the war, under the mediation of the United States, Japan and Russia signed the "Portsmouth Treaty", under which Russia would not pay a dime, nor cut off a piece of land, but only transfer the rights and interests of the Northeast.

And Japan spent 17 billion yen for this war, almost all of which were debts. Japan was equivalent to not recovering blood after a hemorrhage.

Therefore, Japan's strength has also been greatly reduced, and it can be said that both sides have suffered losses with Russia. Even if they have obtained the rights and interests in the Northeast, they are already unable to manage the Northeast.

The Northeast thus returned to China in essence.

At the same time, there is room for Zhang Zuolin and others to display.

Although Man Qing didn't dare to let go of a fart when he watched others fight fiercely in his Longxing land, but he benefited instead.

In short, Li Yu can only propose this kind of suggestion of "driving tigers and devouring wolves" in the eyes of later generations of time travelers.

(End of this chapter)