Chapter 44 Peace talks (1)

Under the city of Tianjin, the coalition forces were captured alive, leaving more than 80,000 prisoners. These prisoners were all treasures, and they were all the capital for Yang Yi to bargain with Britain and France in the future. Based on the humanitarian principle of saving lives and helping the wounded, Yang Yi sent a large number of people to resettle these prisoners, and those who were injured were treated, while those who were not injured went to work honestly. Europeans were just bargains. Since they surrendered, they were still honest. As long as they did not abuse them, the prisoners of war would not cause much trouble. The prohibition of massacre and abuse of prisoners was a military rule that Yang Yiyi had already set.

This battle captured more than 1,000 artillery and more than 60,000 rifles. The equipment that the new army urgently needed was greatly supplemented. After packing up the British and French coalition forces, Yang Yi could finally turn back and teach the Russians a lesson.

The coalition forces retreated quickly. Under the cover of the navy, the garrisons from Taiwan and Guangzhou boarded the ship to escape. The Chinese army had almost no effort to recover lost territory. In this large counterattack, the garrisons of the coalition forces in Taiwan and Guangzhou were also hit to varying degrees. Chen Yucheng and Li Hongzhang were all good at taking advantage of the situation.

The coalition forces who could truly retreat to Singapore were pitiful. When they came out, there were 200,000 navy and army coalition forces. When they arrived in Singapore, there were only less than 60,000 people left. The coalition forces suffered an unprecedented defeat.

Just as the coalition forces retreated in large numbers and fled wildly, Nie Shicheng, who was far away in the Baishan and Black Water in the northeast, had retreated to Harbin, and the Russian army had entered the depth of more than 600 kilometers of Chinese territory.

Yang Yi immediately ordered Li Xiucheng to leave a small number of troops to clean the battlefield. The main force immediately went north and rushed to the Northeast battlefield, and must leave the Russians. In order to completely leave the Russians, Yang Yi explained when he gave Nie Shicheng the instructions that although the troops were blocking one after another, the troops did not retreat straightly, but used the vast geographical environment of the Northeast. The blocking troops only retreated to both sides and gave the front to the Russians. The retreating troops gathered again behind the Russians. After completing the blocking mission, they had another new task, which was to cut off the Russians' retreat.

Within half a month after the coalition retreated, due to lack of intelligence, the Russians did not receive any information that the coalition had been eliminated, and they continued to fight south. The Russians went south all the way to Harbin. At this time, the 60,000 to 70,000 troops in Li Xiucheng, plus the reinforcements of two divisions of Liu Mingchuan's troops, and the 100,000 troops had already begun a new assembly under Shanhaiguan.

What should I fight a battle with the Russians? This question has troubled Yang Yi for a long time. The original plan was to let Nie Shicheng carry out the final blocking under the city of Harbin and wait for reinforcements. Now Britain and France are defeated, and joining the blocking of the Russian army in Harbin is too powerful. The Russians have always taken advantage of it and ran away without it. Once the Russians hear some news and turn around and run away, the battle will be in vain. The situation between Russia and Britain and France is different. Russia borders China and has been peeping at Chinese territory for a long time. In history, Russia used the coalition forces to forcibly force the Qing government to sign the Sino-Russia Aihui Treaty, ceding more than 400,000 square kilometers of land, and instigating Outer Mongolia independence. To be honest, Russia is the biggest opponent of China's strength, so it must be beaten to the Russians in pain and fear.

It takes time to completely annihilate the Russian army. It takes time to assemble troops, and prepare food and ammunition. After thinking about it over and over again, only by giving up Harbin and truly achieving the goal of luring the enemy into depth is Yang Yi's final determination. Although the Songliao Plain in the Songhua River Basin is flat and the new army will have no danger to defend after giving up Harbin, in order to complete the plan to completely annihilate the Russian army, Yang Yi decided that even if the Songliao Plain area was destroyed, the Russians would be wiped out. This would be exchanged for at least twenty years of peace abroad and time and space for development.

Harbin, there are only less than 20,000 defensive troops in the city, and most of them are recruited by the local recruits. Yang Yi asked Nie Shicheng to block the Russian army in Harbin for at least three days, and all the people would have to be transferred away in these three days. Nie Shicheng was burdened very heavy, but Nie Shicheng already knew that the Chinese army had wiped out the coalition under the city of Tianjin. This gave Nie Shicheng extremely confidence and was determined to stage a good show on this northeast land, so that the Russian Russians knew that China was inviolable.

Harbin City is not big. As early as the early days of Nie Shicheng arrived in the northeast, he had already sent people to excavate fortifications outside the city. The trenches and bunkers were ready-made. According to Nie Shicheng's estimate, it would be fine to guard for three days.

The Russian cavalry finally appeared in Nie Shicheng's vision. Although the Cossack cavalry was still very arrogant after suffering losses, they now acted much more honestly than before, and never distanced more than five kilometers from the main force. The Russians suffered losses last time, but now they are much more honest. They are steadily fighting all the way, and they are not rushing forward. Nie Shicheng is also happy to waste time with them.

What should come is always coming, and the battle under Harbin City is inevitable. The Russian army is eager to try, and the Chinese army is ready to fight.

In contrast, the Russian army is much worse than the British and French coalition forces in terms of equipment, whether it is the number of artillery, the performance of rifles, and the range of guns and cannons. In theory, for Nie Shicheng, the defense in Harbin is not as difficult as falling from Tianjin City, but Nie Shicheng also has his own difficulties, that is, the troops brought from the pass, only one division, plus some other troops, have only 5,000 ethane, and the others are recruited on the spot. Moreover, in order to ensure that the Russian retreat can be cut off, Nie Shicheng lurks the main force behind the Russian army. In addition, Nie Shicheng's army has serious shortage of Maxim machine guns, and the new army has less than 20 Maxim machine guns, which is quite different from the troops defending Tianjin. In addition, Nie Shicheng does not have many barbed wire and does not pull a barbed wire on the position, which makes it much more difficult to defend.

The Russians set up all four hundred cannons, bombed the positions outside Harbin city, and then began to charge intensively. Relying on the positions, the new army, under the command of Nie Shicheng, constantly repelled the Russian attack with rifles and grenades. Although the Russians were not as well equipped as the British and French coalition forces and had fewer cannons, the Russian soldiers were all brutal and were very fierce when fighting.

In front of the barbed wire, the Russians also suffered losses. It takes a process to adapt to new things. After spending half a day and more than 3,000 casualties, the Russian army finally broke through the interception of the barbed wire and faced the Chinese army directly.

Three days were not long, but not short. In these three days, Yang Yi completed the assembly of the counterattack troops and the reserves of ammunition were basically in place. The troops had set off, crossed Shanhaiguan, and headed straight to the Northeast battlefield. The most important thing now is to see if Nie Shicheng could hold the Russian army back. What Nie Shicheng needed to do was to drag the Russian army to the northeast and the Songliao Plain for at least half a month.

In three days, the Russians spent three days and paid a price of nearly 10,000 people, and then occupied Harbin. Nie Shi became a Russian who was not irritating and afraid that the Russians would escape. He had ordered the troops in the rear to stop harassing the Russians' transportation line. He also kindly left some food in the city of Harbin, making the illusion of a hard fight and a hasty retreat. The purpose was to confuse the Russians and let them relax their vigilance.

In fact, the Russians were also very hard-working. The troops fought continuously, and the 100,000 troops were exhausted. After arriving in Harbin, Pideluofu rectified his troops. More than 100,000 people had already gone. Pideluofu decided to repair it in Harbin, further replenish ammunition and food, and then carry out the next attack.

Thanks to Pi Deluofu's care, Nie Shicheng and others were able to retreat calmly. In order to minimize the losses, the people nearby had already moved, and the Russians sent plundering troops to no awkward encounters any obstacles, but most of them were lost and nothing was done.

"Quick, fast, fast." Li Xiucheng stood on a high place, almost urging the troops to march with shouts. The fighter's shots were fleeting. If the Russians were let go, I don't know when the chance would be there next time.

In order to race against time, the counterattack troops were divided into three groups of people and horses. The first batch of cavalry, a cavalry brigade of 5,000 people, was the leading one, and all infantry advanced lightly, and finally various artillery units. No matter what, the Russians must be blocked.

The Russians stayed in Harbin for six days, and these six days of stay were almost fatal. Nie Shicheng and his troops had moved again, but this time the transfer was not retreating, but towards the rear of the Russians, with the purpose of meeting the original blocking troops and completely cutting off the Russians' retreat. The Russians finally realized something was wrong. During these six days, a large number of Chinese military activities were constantly being heard from the rear. Fortunately, the transportation issue that Pi Deluofu was worried about was not too big, and the ammunition of the troops had been partially replenished. Just when Pi Deluofu decided to start the next attack, a message still reached his ears, that is, the British and French coalition forces had been wiped out under the city of Tianjin.

Only then did Pi Deluofu feel the crisis and immediately planned to dismantle the troops and run away. Then another bad news came. A convoy carrying a large number of ammunition was ambushed by Chinese troops in the Qingyunling area, and all the ammunition sent was destroyed.

Bad news always comes one after another. The vanguard reconnaissance troops sent to the south soon brought back another piece of bad news. A large number of Chinese cavalry appeared in the south, and they were coming to Harbin quickly. The thing that Pideluofu was most worried about was still that Harbin was just a trap, and now he finally understood.

The Russian army immediately began to retreat, but the retreat process was particularly difficult. Less than five miles away from Harbin, he encountered continuous harassment from small Chinese troops. The troops fought and stopped and marched thirty kilometers a day. It was still a long distance away from the border. As the commander of the Russian army, Pideluofu now feels that the distance suddenly becomes particularly far.
Chapter completed!