Li Hongzhang thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty means so, but how to fight, I haven't thought about it yet, don't move blindly, you still have to prepare in advance." ”"The fight is definitely going to be fought, and the key is now whether to fight the Japanese government army first or the samurai army of Saigo Takamori first."
Xuan Jianzhang said a little impatiently."
Hahaha, you, you still can't hold your breath, I think so, now it's not a question of which one we fight, it's a question of who is most likely to hit us first, and who is the biggest threat to hit us."
Li Hongzhang said with a smile.Xuan Jianzhang heard Li Hongzhang say this, and immediately admired, he is a soldier, Li Hongzhang can also be regarded as a military starter, although he has not commanded the war after the establishment of Huaguo, but he is not a person who has not been exposed to the war of hot firearms, not to mention, the emperor of Hua is because Li Hongzhang's political insight does not know how many times higher than Xuan Jianzhang, so he will let Xuan Jianzhang obey Li Hongzhang's orders, otherwise, other regions outside the mainland of China are generally placed by the army commander above the ruling chief."
The big threat, of course, is the Japanese government army, what do you mean, don't care about the samurai army of Takamori Saigo, don't go ahead and wipe them out," Xuan Jianzhang asked."
It's not that they don't know how to suppress it, they will come to us by themselves, just let the garrison troops near Jicheng pay attention to the realm, we will leave them an activity area, waiting for them to come to the door by themselves, isn't it to save time and effort than you went to clean up" Li Hongzhang replied."
Yes, yes, yes, or the adults think ahead, we really don't need to use the main force to manage the samurai army, then, I recently planned an attack on Shimonoseki City," Xuan Jianzhang asked."
I think so."
Li Hongzhang replied crisply.After Li Hongzhang's clear reply, Xuan Jianzhang has confidence, he is just an officer, and he cannot be regarded as a politician, outside of China itself, even if he has the advantage of force, he can't do it indiscriminately, not to mention, the situation in Japan is very complicated now, and China's force is far from the point of dominance, "Okay, within three days, I will take action, please call back Your Majesty." ”"Okay."
Li Hongzhang put down the phone and secretly prayed that there should be no mistake in dealing with the Japanese government troops now, and that it would be better to win, and if he lost, or if the Japanese government troops landed on Kyushu Island, it would be very unfavorable to the Chinese emperor's diplomacy in Europe.In late April 1879, the Yamaprefecture Aritomo Army led four divisions to deploy in the Shimonoseki Castle area of Japan.Located at the westernmost tip of Japan's main island of Honshu, Shimonoseki is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture, surrounded by the sea on three sides, with beautiful scenery, and has been famous for its sea and land transportation since ancient times, and has developed commerce, fisheries, and agriculture.At this time, it was not a city, but just a military stronghold, which was very beneficial for Japan to counterattack Kyushu Island, because there was no need to worry about hurting the Japanese people.Xuan Jianzhang was also very satisfied with fighting with Japan here, and he also didn't care about the Japanese people, although he invaded the Japanese mainland, but in the policy of the Chinese Emperor, there was no such thing as killing the people.The Shimonoseki area is located between the two districts of Honshu Island and Kyushu Island, and is isolated.
Yamaguchi Youtomo tried to expand the entire island of Kyushu based on this.On the one hand, the Japanese were actively preparing for war, and on the other hand, they played duplicitous tactics and invited Li Hongzhang to Kyoto, Japan, for negotiations on several occasions.After giving Xuan Jianzhang clear instructions, in order to defend the fruits of victory, Li Hongzhang negotiated with the Japanese diplomatic side on the one hand and expressed his willingness to negotiate, and on the other hand, he was secretly preparing for war.In his instructions on military deployment in various localities, Xuan Jianzhang demanded that the officers and men of the front line in Kitakyushu should immediately assemble the main force, take the destruction of the living forces of the Japanese as the starting point, and take all effective means to completely destroy the Japanese government army, so that the Japanese would not dare to attack the idea of Kitakyushu Castle casually.On 20 July, Xuan Jianzhang again instructed the 1st Regiment and the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Field Division of the Chinese Army that the more than 16,000 Japanese government troops outside Shimonoseki City were the danger of their henchmen and that they must be resolutely and completely annihilated, and came up with a specific battle plan.The establishment of the Chinese army is large, a division has 20,000 people, a brigade is more than 6,000 people, and the number of a regiment is between 18,002,000 people, so the total strength of the Chinese army is about 4,000 people, which is also the largest force that Xuan Jianzhang can come up with in the short term.The Japanese troops outside Shimonoseki Castle were about 30,000 people, and the four divisions of the Japanese originally had 40,000 people, but because of the fierce battle with the Japanese samurai army, they were driven out of Kyushu Island by the Chinese army.The ratio of the strength of the Chinese army to the Japanese was 1:75, which was almost eight times the difference.In order to successfully fight the Battle of Shimonoseki, the General Staff of the First Field Division of the Chinese Army conscientiously carried out pre-war preparations and carried out extensive political mobilization among the military and the people.He called on everyone to fight for the defense of the fruits of victory on Kyushu Island, and put forward the slogan "Fight the Battle of Shimonoseki Castle and support His Majesty's diplomatic negotiations."
The troops knew that the Emperor Hua had personally gone to Europe for diplomatic negotiations, and they were all worried about His Majesty's safety.Xuan Jianzhang said: "The better this battle of Shimonoseki Castle is fought, and the more completely the Japanese government forces are annihilated, the safer Your Majesty will be, and the more powerful he will be at the negotiating table."
Although China had only mobilized more than 600,000 people to Japan's Kyushu Island to clear the wasteland, local governments at all levels had also mobilized 50,000 militiamen to support or participate in the war.Adequate pre-war preparations boosted the morale of the troops, and ensured the supply of the front line and the security of the rear.In order to concentrate his forces to the greatest extent, Xuan Jianzhang adopted the method of fighting, building, and training at the same time, and after a short period of three days of preparation, preparations were made before the war.Xuan Jianzhang launched a general offensive at dusk on April 24.Before the general attack, the 1st Regiment of the 1st Field Division of the Chinese Army dug a tunnel of more than 100 meters to the city wall, and used two medium-sized anti-aircraft guns to blow up the city wall.The charge of the Didi Da Hua Army was so familiar, and it hadn't been heard for a while, which made the entire Xiaguan City enter a nightmare in an instant.The Japanese deployed a total of more than 30,000 troops in Shimonoseki City, and the Chinese army only had about 4,000 people, and this situation was almost transparent to both sides, because the sea area between the Korean Province of China and the Japanese island of Kyushu had been blocked by the British fleet, and it was impossible to have new troops, plus the necessary defense, so the Chinese army could come up with such a few men at most.But to the surprise of Youpeng in Shanxian County, with such a few people, the Chinese army actually dared to take the initiative to attack, and the fortified Xiaguan City t1706231537: