1905: Beer Hall Speaker

Page 29

It turns out that the Qing Dynasty's top leadership was still embroiled in internal strife! Empress Dowager Cixi was terrified by the Changsha Uprising and resolutely refused to appoint Han Chinese generals. No matter how high Yuan Shikai's prestige was in the Beiyang Six Divisions, Cixi would not use him.

Instead, Empress Dowager Cixi appointed Tie Liang, a Manchu general in charge of the First Division, as the supreme commander of the army sent south to quell the rebellion. She also dispatched a large number of Manchu Eight Banners soldiers to replace officers of various ranks in the Six Divisions of Beiyang, thus taking over command.

Yuan Shikai was still in a state of being sidelined after being stripped of power. He quickly ordered his confidants Wang Shizhen and Duan Qirui to lead the Fifth Division and the Third Division of the Beiyang Army to garrison Zhengzhou and Shijiazhuang in Henan Province, respectively, to guard the Beijing-Hankou Railway.

The revolutionary army made no attempt to hide their Northern Expedition; both Empress Dowager Cixi and Yuan Shikai understood Zhao Yan's plan: to march straight to the capital along the Beijing-Hankou Railway.

But understanding is one thing, and unity is another. Sometimes, the smarter people are, the clearer they see things, but the less they can unite because everyone has their own agenda.

If the Qing high command and military and political leaders had truly been united, gathering the strength of the six Beiyang divisions plus other affiliated troops, and clenching their fists together to deliver a powerful blow to the Northern Expeditionary Army, Zhao Yan's rapid advance would have been crushed long ago.

On the 20th, the Northern Expeditionary Army entered and occupied the Zhengzhou-Luoyang line, and continued to build a tortoise shell defense. It was convenient to advance along the railway line, and supplies were continuously sent to the front.

The rear areas of Changsha and Wuhan also received a series of aid from Zhao Yan. With money and weapons, the rear areas accelerated their reorganization of the reserve army.

Every day, a fully armed reinforced regiment arrives at the front line by train. Zhao Yan's forces are approaching 180,000, of which 100,000 are fully armed soldiers. Regardless of their combat effectiveness, their equipment is at least complete.

On the 25th, the Qing government finally made a compromise. The military situation was dire; the Northern Expeditionary Army had already reached Zhengzhou and was continuing north by train. If things went smoothly, they could reach the capital in a week.

With the situation extremely urgent, Empress Dowager Cixi finally compromised, returning some military power to Yuan Shikai and asking him to take charge of the southward campaign to quell the rebellion, while Tie Liang was relegated to a secondary position.

There was no way to use the Manchus; the Beiyang Army's high command and even middle command were replaced twice after the Changsha Uprising. All of them were Manchu sons whom Empress Dowager Cixi believed were loyal to the Qing Dynasty. But the central leadership alone was useless; the Beiyang Army did not recognize the Manchus at all, only Yuan Shikai.

Even after Yuan Shikai was sidelined, there were reports of Beiyang Army soldiers heading south to join the revolutionary army, leading everyone to believe that the Qing Dynasty was doomed.

Yuan Shikai could no longer sit still. If things continued like this, he would not only lose the ability to defend the Qing Dynasty, but also lose all his bargaining chips in surrounding the Beiyang base and negotiating with the revolutionary army.

Since Empress Dowager Cixi was unwilling to remove the elements mixed in with the Beiyang Army, Yuan Shikai had no choice but to rush back into action. If things continued like this, no one would have a chance.

Political struggles at the top may indeed have little to do with those at the bottom, but that's assuming there's no external third party involved. Once a third party intervenes, and you're still caught up in the chaos of constantly changing leaders, the people below will get annoyed and simply ignore you, turning their attention to the third party instead.

Empress Dowager Cixi and Yuan Shikai were like a married couple, while the Beiyang Six Divisions were like their children. The old couple were so busy arguing about their savings accounts that they neglected their children.

Then a blond guy riding a ghost fire appeared and said, "Come hang out with me, and I'll take you to cause a ruckus in the streets, how about it?" And then the kid started to waver.

Finally, Empress Dowager Cixi and Yuan Shikai recognized the situation and decided to weather the immediate crisis first, and deal with the rest later. They quickly pulled the child away from Huang Mao and the whole family beat him up together.

After Yuan Shikai came out of retirement, the Beiyang Army immediately felt pressured, and the troops of the Six Divisions began to move south one after another, also assembling and advancing along the Beijing-Hankou Railway.

Empress Dowager Cixi cobbled together funds from various sources, even bringing in Mongol cavalry, to assemble an army of 130,000 for Yuan Shikai to march south and quell the rebellion.

Yuan Shikai was not ambiguous either. He had long understood the intentions of the Northern Expeditionary Army, and his army did not play any tricks. It directly marched south along the Beijing-Hankou Railway.

For the fastest and most convenient mobilization and maintenance of troop deployments, railway lines are the optimal and perfect route.

When the Northern Expeditionary Army reached the Hebi-Puyang line, the main force of the Beiyang Army had already arrived in Handan. A total of more than 300,000 troops from both sides gathered in the heart of the Central Plains of Hebei, beginning to brew a major battle that would determine the future and destiny of China.

Yuan Shikai even sent envoys to the revolutionary army camp to negotiate, hoping to see if he could stabilize the revolutionary army and try to talk things over.

After all, once the war started, the Beiyang Army would never be the winner, unless Yuan Shikai could annihilate the Northern Expeditionary Army without suffering any casualties and then return to Beijing to force Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu to abdicate.

But that was obviously impossible. No matter how bad the Northern Expeditionary Army was, it was still a well-equipped army of 180,000 men with high morale. The Beiyang Army could only hope for a Pyrrhic victory.

Therefore, Yuan Shikai wanted to discuss the matter and see if he could find a way to both stabilize the Northern Expeditionary Army and preserve the core of the Beiyang Army.

Yuan Shikai still had the same old bureaucratic mindset, treating the army as a source of power and trying to profit from both the revolutionary army and the Qing government.

But Zhao Yan was no Sun Yat-sen; he didn't listen at all. The visiting Beiyang envoys weren't even allowed into the central command tent; they were sent directly to a prisoner-of-war camp.

This was only because the other party was Han Chinese; if it were a Manchu, they would have been beheaded and sacrificed to the flag upon meeting.

The Northern Expeditionary Army would never negotiate or accept any compromise. The purpose of the Northern Expedition was to achieve complete annihilation. This was not only Zhao Yan's will, but also the will of all officers and soldiers of the entire Northern Expeditionary Army.

His eyes were bloodshot, and his killing intent was overwhelming. At this point, Zhao Yan couldn't calm the morale of his troops without finding a target to eliminate.

Chapter 52 Let's have some fun grinding meat together!

“Da da da da”

On the front lines at Hebi, Maxim heavy machine guns in the trenches of the Northern Expeditionary Army were roaring, a belt of 150 bullets being swallowed into the chamber and consumed in just one minute.

Machine gunner Liu Deshui was almost numb from the shockwave, but he didn't have time to appreciate the string of corpses hanging on the barbed wire in front of him. He quickly called on his comrades to immediately lift the scorching hot machine gun and move to a different position.

Some people helped carry the gun rack, some helped carry the coolant tank, and others had their bodies wrapped in dense chains of bullets.

Sure enough, the machine gun position where they had just been positioned was now covered by artillery shells from the Beiyang Army.

Today is March 8th, and it has been almost a week since the Northern Expeditionary Army and the Beiyang Army officially made contact and started fighting.

Zhao Yan, commander of the Northern Expeditionary Army, rejected any form of negotiation and peace talks from Yuan Shikai, determined to carry the war through to the end. Even the Qing court in Beijing was willing to negotiate with the Northern Expeditionary Army, but Zhao Yan remained unmoved.

With no other options, the Beiyang Army had no choice but to abandon its illusions and fight resolutely. Yuan Shikai thought that it would be much easier to negotiate after first inflicting heavy losses on the Northern Expeditionary Army.

But after the Beiyang Six Divisions were repeatedly sent to attack the Northern Expeditionary Army's positions, they changed their minds. Who the hell invented this disgusting line-filling tactic?

The Northern Expeditionary Army's combat skills were clearly terrible, and its equipment system was a hodgepodge of all sorts of foreign-made equipment, so it was impossible to say whether it was good or bad.

Those defensive lines looked like nothing more than earthen ditches and wooden strips, but once they made real contact and started fighting, they discovered that these things were actually incredibly disgusting and difficult to deal with.

A few small barbed wire fences led to the deaths of countless elite Beiyang soldiers. The best solution the Beiyang Army could think of was to use artillery to destroy the wooden stakes and barbed wire fences, and then rush into the Northern Expeditionary Army's defenses.

But even if you manage to break in, it's all for naught. If you send in one regiment, the Northern Expeditionary Army will immediately send two regiments to surround and beat you up.

Inside the trenches, the two sides were locked in close combat. Combat skills and tactical coordination became irrelevant. All that mattered was their fearless will to keep tearing flesh apart. And the Northern Expeditionary Army just happened to be a bunch of fearless madmen!

"Boom boom"

After shelling for more than ten minutes, the Beiyang Army, feeling the pinch of the shells, stopped firing. They had fired more than two thousand shells, and then the horde of Beiyang Army soldiers from the First Division launched a bayonet charge.

The two armies' positions were practically touching, only two or three hundred meters apart. Infantry charges could arrive almost instantly. It wasn't that the Beiyang Army wanted to be so close, but rather that the Northern Expeditionary Army had deliberately built their positions there, making it impossible to shake them off!

"For the Qing Dynasty, for the Beiyang Army, charge!"

The morale of the officers and soldiers of the First Division of Beiyang Army was still quite high. Many Manchu officers in the attacking force raised their sabers and kept shouting slogans, but they were quickly targeted and killed by the rifle fire of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

The First Division of the Beiyang Army had the highest degree of Manchu-Han cohesion among the six divisions, with one-third of its troops being Manchu bannermen, making it a model of Manchu-Han unity in the military.

But nominal unity is not the same in actual combat.

The gap between the Manchus and the Han was very deep. When it came to this desperate act of breaking through barbed wire, most of the energy on both sides was not to guard against the Northern Expeditionary Army, but to keep an eye on their "comrades-in-arms". The Han people were watching the Manchus, and the Manchus were watching the Han people in the same way.

Especially the Manchus; if the Manchus showed the slightest fear and did not charge, or charged too slowly, the Han people would immediately follow suit or even turn around and run away.

This land belongs to you Manchus. If you won't even risk your lives, do you expect me to? I'm already doing Lord Yuan a favor by not joining the Northern Expeditionary Army. You expect me to lead the charge? Dream on!

Forced into a corner, the Manchus had to lead the charge in every attack, otherwise the troops would not move at all. Not only were the Han rank-and-file soldiers watching them, but the high-ranking officers also judged their level of effort based on their performance.

"Break through the artillery-covered area, advance, and the first to scale the wall will be given a flag, and those who achieve merit will be rewarded with titles!"

The Beiyang officer, his eyes gleaming with excitement at the gap in the barbed wire so close at hand, frantically urged his soldiers to assemble and charge toward the opening created by the artillery shell.

However, in trench warfare, experienced attacking troops will never rush to the gaps created by artillery shells, but will instead carry tools and find their own breakthroughs.

The gaps created by those shells were like bait used by anglers; you could see them clearly, and the Northern Expeditionary Army could see them even more clearly. By the time you charged in, they would already be waiting for you with crossfire from more than a dozen heavy machine guns.

But after the Beiyang Army had been charging for so many days, no one noticed this problem. This is a typical example of survivor bias, because only by returning alive can you bring the message back.

The Beiyang Army soldiers who rushed into the breach were all dead, and the dead cannot speak.

The Qing court had issued imperial edicts several times, promising to raise the banner and reward those who broke through the Northern Expeditionary Army's defenses, regardless of their rank, but no one had ever received this reward.

"Da da da"

Liu Deshui's heavy machine gun fired again, unleashing a torrent of firepower that swept across the battlefield once more.

The Beiyang Army soldiers who crowded into the gap were immediately thrown into chaos, with limbs flying everywhere. A full-power heavy machine gun shot at a person was not just a simple hole, especially an automatic gun with a high density of continuous fire. Once it hit, several bullets would be caught in the blast.

These unlucky souls are usually torn apart like rags and then scattered everywhere.

The men in front died, but the men behind continued to charge. Retreat was out of the question; if they did, they would either be killed by bullets from the Northern Expeditionary Army or by bullets from their own comrades' supervisory teams.

Trench warfare doesn't require morale; it relies entirely on the supervisory teams. They don't care whether you genuinely want to fight or what your morale is like; once you arrive, you have to fill the gaps.

At this point, if it were any well-trained army of any of the great powers, the Beiyang Army would have had no chance of breaking into the trenches. However, the revolutionary army was still lacking in experience. After suffering heavy casualties, the Beiyang Army still managed to break through the barbed wire and rush in.

But it doesn't matter, entrenching tools and cold bayonets have been waiting in the trench for a long time.

"Brothers, the enemy has come knocking! Give them a piece of your mind!"

"Charge forward, leave no survivors, and use bayonets to show the Manchus what a damn revolution really is!"

The Northern Expeditionary Army's counterattack force poured into the front line from the second line. Before the Beiyang Army soldiers who rushed in could even celebrate for a few seconds, bayonets were shoved directly into their mouths.

"puff puff"

"Spare me! I'm a Manchu! I'll give you money, just don't stab me!"

"Pfft!"

"I am a Han Chinese, I surrender!"

"Pfft!"

"Damn it, if they won't give us a way out, then none of us will live!"

"Pfft!"

It's already a bloody battle, no matter what you say, it won't make a difference. At this critical juncture, even if you bring over the People's Army, they won't accept your surrender. At this point, whoever shows mercy will die.

Half an hour later, the trench fell silent. There were no more cries of pain or pleas for mercy. The machine gun fire stopped, and the artillery fire ceased completely.

Looking at the now-quiet position opposite him, Feng Shan, the commander of the First Division of the Beiyang Army, felt as if his bones had been removed. He slumped down, put down his binoculars, and sat on the ground.

Another regiment of nearly two thousand men was completely wiped out. The opposing position was like a demon that devoured people without spitting out bones; almost none of those who charged in came back alive.

Behind the Northern Expeditionary Army's positions, Zhao Yan, upon receiving the news, also sighed. His men had suffered considerable casualties, with six or seven hundred men, roughly equivalent to a full-strength infantry battalion, completely wiped out.

But more than the loss of personnel, Zhao Yan was heartbroken by the loss of ammunition and equipment. This was not because Zhao Yan was cold-blooded, but because at this stage, the equipment of the Northern Expeditionary Army was indeed more important than human lives.

Because the great powers had already begun to impose a blockade on the revolutionary army's forces, and they weren't fools, their reaction was much faster than Zhao Yan had anticipated. In less than a month, they figured out Zhao Yan's diplomatic deception against them in just over ten days.

The foreign powers did not lose face by coming over to question Zhao Yan about his actions, because they had already understood Zhao Yan's attitude: it was very unfriendly and he had to be taught a lesson!

If they dare to cheat today, they'll dare to rob tomorrow. How can the great powers tolerate such a thing? Even if Zhao Yan tries every trick in the book, if you have no chips, no matter how good your cards are, it's useless. Your opponents can easily see through you.

Zhao Yan never publicly expressed his attitude toward the various treaties signed between China and the foreign powers, nor on the issue of concessions in China; he consistently avoided the question.

In international diplomacy, nobody is a fool. Your avoidance and refusal to express your opinion is itself an attitude. Silence means non-acknowledgment!

Therefore, the British, together with Japan, France, Russia, Italy and other countries, blocked the most important channel for the revolutionary army to obtain military supplies from the outside world: the Yangtze River!

The provisional government had ordered several batches of overseas arms, but they were all seized in the Shanghai concessions and had no chance to enter the Yangtze River.

The British blockaded the entire Yangtze River and strictly inspected every cargo ship. Any military-related materials and goods were prohibited from passing through. Not even a gun or a bullet, let alone a roll of barbed wire, could be transported to Hankou!

Yes, the British have already listed barbed wire as a military-controlled item, along with food, steel, fuel, and other supplies that are prohibited from being transported.

At present, the revolutionary army can only obtain limited external military supplies through the port of Guangzhou. However, compared with the free shipping of the Yangtze River waterway, the efficiency of inland transportation is still too slow and cannot keep up with the consumption at the front.

In addition, the foreign powers also began to provide military aid to the Qing Dynasty. Otherwise, the Beiyang Army would have been dreaming if they hadn't been able to launch a barrage of artillery fire! They probably wouldn't have even been willing to use a few hundred shells, let alone thousands at once!

But things changed after the Qing Dynasty received military aid. The artillery and other firepower output of the Beiyang Army were much stronger than at the beginning of the war. On the most frenzied day, they were able to fire 70,000 shells, which deeply shocked the Northern Expeditionary Army for a whole year!

But Zhao Yan remained unmoved, and the revolutionary army's position remained unshaken. What a joke! You think you can break through the trenches with tens or hundreds of thousands of shells? If it were that easy, would it still be called the disgusting line-filling tactic?

Zhao Yan's core idea has always been to drag you down with him. So what if you have military aid? To put it bluntly, the more military aid you have, the more you will die. Without military aid, you won't dare to charge forward like this.

With military reinforcements, you charged even more fiercely. Only by charging forward can the trenches become a meat grinder. Once the meat grinder is in operation, the Northern Expeditionary Army has nothing to fear!

We don't have the resources for a large-scale field or mobile warfare battle, but when it comes to trench warfare and seeing who's more willing to die, Zhao Yan is fully confident. The Hanyang Arsenal's production capacity is soaring, and although the overall data is still lackluster, if we use it sparingly, maintaining the defensive line shouldn't be a problem.

So no matter how hard you try, you still can't break through, and can only happily grind meat with me!

Chapter 53 I won't compromise even if it means fighting to the end of the world!

"What's going on? Why are there so many fewer train cars arriving at the front lines from Hankou these past few days? What are you logistics department doing?"

Zhao Yan was furious and kept waving the logistics department report in his hand.

Zhao Yan might be lazy and skip reading the daily battle reports, but he always carefully reviewed every single one of the daily logistics department reports.

What is trench warfare all about? It's all about logistics! Everything else can go wrong, even the front lines can go wrong, but logistics cannot afford to go wrong.

If the front line is breached, as long as the logistics line is still intact, the retreat can continue to gather people and repair the defense line. However, if the logistics are in trouble, even if the front line is still impregnable today, it will be in turmoil tomorrow.

The logistics officer who rushed over from Hankou explained helplessly, "Your Excellency, the foreigners are going too far!"

"The railway administration is controlled by foreigners. They withdrew most of their technical personnel and staff, claiming it was in protest against our illegal forced requisition of the Beijing-Hankou railway line."

The railway management is not cooperating, causing a severe drop in shunting and dispatching efficiency!

"Moreover, the foreigners have blocked the Yangtze River shipping route. Now we can't buy supplies and equipment even if we have money. We can only go through Lingnan and obtain supplies and equipment through Guangzhou Port!"

The Beijing-Hankou Railway was a railway line owned by the great powers. According to the agreements and treaties, the great powers had the right to manage and control this railway. The Northern Expeditionary Army's forced requisition of the southern section of the Beijing-Hankou Railway for military use was already a serious breach of contract.

Now that Zhao Yan has completely offended the great powers, they will no longer hold back and will directly undermine your railway lines, turning your entire north-south defense system into a castle in the air!

The officers and generals in the headquarters were completely enraged. Their own country's railway line had been controlled by foreigners during the war, and they even dared to cause trouble. No one could tolerate this.