Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 121

However, after entering Sichuan, Wuhan did not rush to conquer territory but instead focused on construction, which immediately attracted the support of the Sichuan people. The construction of docks and factories in Chongqing, the development of railways, and the mining of coal resources near the railways created tens of thousands of jobs. Thus, the areas where the railways were built not only solved local unemployment problems but also brought about a new social order. This kind of revolution naturally suppressed the destructive revolution of the Sichuan revolutionaries and made it difficult to maintain the slogan of "Sichuan people governing Sichuan."

As the railway drew ever closer to Chengdu, Xi Liang, who had initially been a staunch supporter of its construction, began to fear its ever-approaching reach. He had come to realize that this railway was no longer just a railway, but represented an extension of Wuhan's power. When the railway reached Chengdu, it meant that Wuhan would officially take over the city.

This was not Xiliang's misconception. In November, the National Assembly stripped the Empress Dowager of her title, Kang Youwei published an article stating that Guangxu had succeeded Xianfeng, not Tongzhi. The Eight Banners Conference decided to dismantle the Manchu cities throughout the interior and to gradually abolish the banner stipend within three years. This series of changes all indicated one thing: the Manchu Qing Dynasty had begun to collapse.

Upon receiving the notice to strip the Empress Dowager of her title and dismantle the Manchu city, Xiliang convened a meeting of Manchu and Han officials in Chengdu to discuss the matter. The dismantling of the Manchu city and the cessation of banner pay would arguably be the most detrimental to the Manchus in Chengdu. However, because General Chohabu of Chengdu had already gone to Beijing, no one within the Manchu city was willing to step forward and make a decision. Therefore, the Manchu commanders could only protest to Xiliang, but dared not openly oppose Beijing's decision.

On this matter, the other non-Manchu officials remained silent. Xiliang could tell that these officials were unwilling to stand with the Manchus against the court's decision. He sighed inwardly and could only change the subject, "Let's put this aside for now and talk about what everyone thinks about stripping the Empress Dowager of her title."

Even the commanders of the entire city fell silent. Only Zhao Erfeng, the Circuit Intendant of Jianchang, spoke out without hesitation: "Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao are traitors, wantonly sowing discord between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Without the Empress Dowager, would there be an Emperor? To say that the Emperor succeeded Emperor Wenzong is to treat the whole world like fools..."

Zhao Erfeng was able to speak such frank truths because he was a Manchu, and his brother was still the Governor-General of Yunnan, so he could naturally be unyielding to Beijing. However, others dared not echo him. Seeing that everyone remained silent, Xiliang had no choice but to call on Sichuan Governor-General Ma Weiqi and ask, "Governor-General Ma, what do you think? You were also promoted by the Empress Dowager."

Ma Weiqi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them and looked at Xiliang. After a long silence, he said, "General Chohabu said something very good before he went to the capital: We are all the Emperor's subjects, and obeying the Emperor's orders is our greatest duty. If we can't even keep this duty, how can we expect the people below to obey us?"

The key point now isn't what Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao said, but what the Emperor said. If the Governor-General thinks the Emperor's words don't count, then whose words do? I'm old and my mind isn't working as well as it used to be. If the Governor-General wants to say something, he should just say it openly and honestly, instead of making us guess.

Upon hearing Ma Weiqi's words, all the officials in the hall turned their gazes to the governor. Xiliang thought for a long time but ultimately couldn't utter a single word. What could he say under these circumstances? Should he suggest raising an army against the emperor for the sake of the Empress Dowager? The Manchus in Chengdu were currently complaining to find a way out of the suspension of their banner pay, not to launch a mutiny to force the court to retract its order.

The meeting was destined to end inconclusively, and Xiliang eventually submitted a telegram of resignation. The National Assembly then appointed Duanfang to succeed him as Governor-General of Sichuan, tasked with resolving the Manchurian issue in Chengdu. In reality, Duanfang remained in Wuchang, and Sichuan's administration was thus transferred to the Chongqing Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Committee. This brought Yuan Shikai a profound sense of crisis. He felt that Wuhan's controlled territory was growing too large, and the Beiyang government could no longer withstand it. Seeking the support of foreign powers and reclaiming Manchuria became the only way for the Beiyang government to counter Wuhan.

Chapter 429 Budget and Results

Another important reason why Yuan Shikai accepted the Japanese's advice and launched a counterattack against Jinzhou at this time was the issue of budget allocation.

During the Opium War, the Qing Empire's fiscal revenue was 4000 million taels of silver. It rose to 6000 million taels during the Tongzhi era, increased to 8000 million taels during the First Sino-Japanese War, and approached 2 million taels in 1903.

This increase in fiscal revenue was closely related to the opening of new tax sources. During the Opium War, more than 90% of fiscal revenue came from land tax, but by 1903, land tax accounted for only 33.8% of fiscal revenue, while customs duties accounted for 50.9%. Customs duties were controlled by the governors and viceroys of each province, while customs duties were in the hands of foreigners.

Yuan Shikai was able to support the Beiyang Army because, on the one hand, the fiscal revenue of Zhili region ranked third in the country. After 1904, Huguang stopped paying fiscal revenue to the central government and was therefore no longer ranked. Before 1904, Huguang ranked fourth with an annual revenue of about 1800 million taels, while Zhili region had an annual revenue of 2165 million taels.

Guangdong ranked ahead of Zhili with about 2300 million taels, while Jiangsu ranked first with nearly 4600 million taels, more than Guangdong and Zhili combined. Therefore, when northern Jiangsu was hit by floods this year, the court was most concerned about the disaster situation in northern Jiangsu. If Jiangsu could not recover as soon as possible, then next year's fiscal revenue would be greatly affected.

Although the Qing Dynasty's annual revenue approached 2 million taels, most of it was tied to fixed expenditures, leaving only the customs surplus and likin revenue as readily available funds. The budget allocation by the National Assembly was essentially the distribution of these customs surplus and likin revenues submitted to the central government.

Before the National Assembly overthrew the Empress Dowager Cixi's faction, these revenues were in the hands of Cixi and Manchu nobles. This was the new financial structure of the Qing Dynasty that emerged after the two empresses fled following the Boxer Rebellion. Even now that Yuan Shikai is the Chairman of the State Council, he cannot gain control over these revenues from the National Assembly because he cannot force foreigners and governors-general to acknowledge him as the sole representative of the Chinese government.

From the foreigners' perspective, the National Assembly, at least nominally, represented a community of various forces in China. What the National Assembly signed could not be overturned by any single force. Although they admired Yuan Shikai, they did not believe the current Beiyang government had the ability to overthrow the National Assembly, which meant their support for Yuan Shikai was likely wasted. Furthermore, the governors-general and viceroys would not choose Yuan Shikai to represent them, meaning they would become vassals of the Beiyang government, and their subordinates would abandon their support.

Therefore, only the National Assembly can now obtain customs surplus from foreigners and likin revenue from local governors, thus naturally gaining the power to allocate the budget. Of course, in the past few months, the National Assembly's management of budget expenditures has generally satisfied the provinces, after all, Wuhan has paid over 8000 million taels this year for war expenditures, disaster relief outside the province, and construction, which is close to half of the central budget expenditure.

In daily life, the main activities of the central government are actually only two things: taxation and expenditure. Only a court that can collect taxes from local areas and then spend the money is qualified to call itself the central government. The reason why the Qing Dynasty was able to continue after the Boxer Rebellion was that it was able to retain the power to collect taxes from local areas.

After the National Assembly overthrew the Empress Dowager's faction, the traditional Manchu dynasty no longer existed. Now, the governors and viceroys of various regions pay taxes to the central government not out of loyalty to the Aisin Gioro family or fear of the Manchus' military power, but because they believe that the National Assembly represents the will of the people and acknowledge the power of the National Assembly to govern the country.

If we disregard the central government, the National Assembly, then among the local powers, only Wuhan resembles a central government. This is because the Beiyang government could not collect taxes from other places besides its own local taxes, and the taxes it collected could not be spent in other provinces. This is why the Beiyang government was merely a local power.

Yuan Shikai now had no choice but to accept the National Assembly's control over the budget, because without the National Assembly he couldn't collect local taxes. To get the National Assembly to allocate a portion of the budget, he either needed to fund construction or wage war. Demanding a budget under the pretext of recapturing Jinzhou was clearly more reasonable.

After Japan joined the war, both the northern and southern peoples felt an excitement of impending victory. They eagerly hoped that the imperial court would send troops as soon as possible to join Japan in expelling the Russians from Manchuria, thus washing away the humiliation of the Eight-Nation Alliance's occupation of Beijing. In such a radical mood, any moderate proposal was clearly out of place.

Therefore, Yuan Shikai also adopted the tactics of manipulating public opinion used in Wuhan, promoting the recapture of Jinzhou. This did indeed garner him considerable support from intellectuals, and even some members of the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) sent telegrams in support of him. Consequently, he successfully secured a budget from the National Assembly, laying a solid foundation for the recapture of Jinzhou.

The cooperation with Wuhan not only granted Yuan Shikai the title of Chairman of the State Council, but also allowed him to reorganize the armed forces of the six Beiyang divisions and the Zhili region, thereby strengthening his control over the military power of the Beiyang clique.

Although the imperial court had previously assigned six divisions to the Beiyang Army, the First Division was designated as a new army composed of Manchu bannermen, which Yuan Shikai could not control at all. The other divisions were also staffed with Manchu officers and soldiers for surveillance. For example, Liangbi had only been back in China for less than two years when Yuan Shikai had to appoint him as the commander of the Eighth Regiment to satisfy the Manchus' desire for control over the Beiyang Army.

For the imperial court, Manchus were the most trustworthy, followed by students sent abroad for study, and lastly, officers trained by the Beiyang Army itself. Before heading south, Tie Liang had extensively placed outsiders in various Beiyang garrisons, precisely to break Yuan Shikai's private control over the Beiyang military.

Of course, the Manchus were really lacking in talent. There were very few Manchus like Liangbi who were willing to go abroad to study military affairs. After returning, they were suddenly promoted without even having served in the lower ranks. Naturally, they could not be said to have any control over the Beiyang Army. On the contrary, these Manchus and students who had studied abroad immediately obtained high positions after entering the Beiyang Army, which aroused dissatisfaction among the lower-ranking officers of the Beiyang Army. They felt that these people had taken their positions and made it impossible for them to advance. This made the Beiyang Army more united around Yuan Shikai.

Now, taking advantage of the National Assembly's purge of the Manchu rulers, Yuan Shikai also began a purge of the Beiyang Army, transferring out the Manchu officers and soldiers who had been forcibly brought in, thus truly turning the Six Divisions of Beiyang into a military group headed by himself.

The Yi Army under Jiang Guiti, along with various battalions of the Huai Army stationed in Zhili, were all armies that had historical ties with the Beiyang Army but no hierarchical relationship. Now, Yuan Shikai had reorganized them into the Beiyang system, making the armed forces of Zhili completely subordinate to it. The three Manchu battalions and the Infantry Commander's Office near Beijing were now completely ineffective; security within Beijing was handled by the Beijing Police Department, while the safety of the suburbs was managed by the Sixth Division of the Beiyang Army.

If Wuhan hadn't been there, Yuan Shikai's control over Beijing at this point would actually have surpassed the peak of the Huai Army's power. From this perspective, it's not entirely unfounded that the Manchus in Beijing called Yuan Shikai a living Cao Cao. However, with Wuhan now watching him like a hawk, Yuan Shikai had to first accumulate military merit to maintain his prestige.

As Xu Shichang said to Yuan Shikai, "The army's numbers alone are not enough to suppress Wuhan's ambitions. If we cannot match Wuhan in terms of military achievements, then we cannot resist Wuhan's demands."

Yuan Shikai agreed with his friend's view: what use is a large army if it can't fight? The great powers dared to use force against China with only a few thousand or tens of thousands of troops—was the Qing Dynasty's military strength insufficient? Clearly, they simply didn't take the Qing's hundreds of thousands of troops seriously. The Russians' hasty initiation of war against China was also due to the weakness and incompetence shown by the Qing army during the Boxer Rebellion. Therefore, the Russians believed that ten or twenty thousand men could reach Beijing and force the Qing Dynasty to sign a surrender agreement.

Who were the Hubei New Army? This was a force of a few hundred men who dared to confront tens of thousands of British troops in Tibet, and who even brought the war to India. They were also the force that persevered in the war against Russia, ultimately annihilating a detachment of the Russian army. To display one's numbers in front of such an army would be meaningless; it wouldn't intimidate the people of Hubei, and even the governors and viceroys of various regions would likely be unconvinced.

Therefore, to win the respect of the people of Hubei and gain the sincere support of the governors and viceroys of various regions, the Beiyang Army needed to at least achieve some success on the battlefield. After making preparations, Yuan Shikai ordered Duan Qirui to lead the Third Division of the Beiyang Army from Chengde towards Chaoyang, and Feng Guozhang to advance along the railway between the interior and exterior of the Great Wall towards Jinzhou, intending to take advantage of the opportunity when the main Russian forces in Manchuria were tied down by the Japanese army to recapture Jinzhou.

It should be said that after the Japanese army joined the war, the Chinese army in the west followed the Russian army's retreat at a leisurely pace, which did indeed confuse the Russian high command. Kuropatkin once believed that the Chinese only had the courage to hold their trenches, and that as long as the Russian army did not take the initiative to attack, the Chinese army would not dare to attack the Russian positions.

Especially after the Japanese army made great strides on both the northern and southern battlefields, Kuropatkin, in order to strengthen the fighting force against Japan, had already begun to secretly transfer artillery and infantry units from the West Manchuria Detachment. When the Chinese army launched its offensive, many of the Russian troops defending Xingcheng and Huludao had already been transferred to Jinzhou, and the Russian troops in Jinzhou had begun to move towards Fengtian.

Therefore, when Feng Guozhang and Fu Cixiang led nearly 9 troops from the Second and Fourth Divisions of the Beiyang Army and the 13th Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army from Suizhong to attack Xingcheng, they caught the Russian army off guard. Although the Russian army had set up trenches and machine gun positions in the Xingcheng area, due to the large-scale Japanese offensive, Kuropatkin had to recall all the machine guns from Xingcheng, and the number of artillery pieces was also reduced by half. After all, at this time, the entire Russian army in Manchuria only had 56 machine guns, not including the machine guns in Lushun and Vladivostok.

Fu Cixiang certainly wouldn't adopt the Russian army's charge tactics to fill the trenches. In this offensive tactic of breaking through trenches, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army was ahead of everyone else. After all, the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army had been constantly improving its trench tactics through offensive and defensive exercises from the very beginning. Wuhan also equipped them with tools and weapons for destroying barbed wire and conducting trench warfare.

The Russian army's withdrawal of machine guns reduced the number of artillery pieces on the front lines, greatly alleviating the difficulties for the attacking side. Fu Cixiang's 13th Division quickly broke through the Russian army's defensive positions in Xingcheng and launched an attack on the Russian rear without hesitation. This prevented the Russian army from reorganizing its defenses in Huludao and Tacheng. On the 10th day after the start of the war, Fu Cixiang's troops had broken through the most important Tashan Pass south of Jinzhou and entered the open Jinzhou Plain.

Chapter 430 The Turmoil in Manchuria

On December 24, the most important permanent battery on the east side of Vladivostok was captured by the Japanese army. This battery was located on the peninsula on the right side of the Golden Horn. When warships were anchored at this location, they could maneuver around the Golden Horn and bombard Vladivostok from the side. Therefore, the Russian army established a permanent battery here in 1883 and continued to expand it afterward.

In 1901, this permanent battery consisted of a nine-gun emplacement (seven with individual gun magazines and one double-gun rapid-fire emplacement with a gun magazine) and two independent units (each with two Nordenfield guns, the independent units located on either side of the main gun).

This can be considered the core of the coastal defense along the right side of the Golden Horn Bay peninsula. However, the main design purpose of this battery was to prevent attacks from the sea, not to defend against enemies on land. According to the Russian engineers' plan, a fortress should be built on the central mountain range to prevent enemy forces from attacking this area from the rear on land.

However, Forts No. 2 and No. 3 on the central mountain range were not completed before the outbreak of war and were captured by the Japanese army. As a result, the Russian army's forts there were blocked by the Japanese army, which had the advantage of high ground. Under the combined attack of the Japanese army by land and sea, this powerful permanent fort lasted two days longer than the other coastal forts, but was eventually captured by the Japanese army due to lack of manpower.

The fall of this battery triggered a split within the Russian army. The engineers of the Vladivostok fortress accused the fortress command of not listening to their advice to connect the batteries with tunnels, otherwise the Japanese army would not have been able to use artillery to stop the Russian army from reinforcing this most important coastal battery on the east side.

The fortress engineer said this to shirk his responsibility, because the nine 9-inch coastal guns on the fort, built in 1867, could fire in all 360 degrees. When the Japanese occupied the fort, they didn't need to have their warships fire blindly on the sea; they could directly use the 9-inch coastal guns on the fort to fire at Golden Horn Bay and Vladivostok city.

In other words, Vladivostok could no longer hold out. And indeed, after capturing the fort, the Japanese immediately conducted test firings on Golden Horn Bay and downtown Vladivostok, causing great shock to the Russian troops in the city and port. Kawamura Kageaki sent a Russian prisoner to Vladivostok to make a final surrender offer, stating that if they did not respond by 10:00 AM the next day, the Japanese would launch a final all-out offensive.

The Japanese knew full well that Russia and Qing China were different. After being defeated, Qing China would find it difficult to retaliate against Japan because it lacked the strength. However, Russia's power was concentrated in Europe. Even if Japan defeated the Russian army in the Far East, it would only have defeated a small part of Russia. If a full-scale war were to break out with Russia, Japan would undoubtedly be defeated.

It was precisely because of this understanding that the military orders issued by the Japanese high command to regulate the behavior of soldiers were strictly enforced by officers at all levels. Therefore, when the Russian army faced defeat, Kawamura was able to give the Russian commander in Vladivostok a dignified opportunity to surrender, citing the need to protect the lives of civilians in Vladivostok.

At this time, the Vladivostok garrison still numbered 2.2, including 3000 naval personnel and 1.8 army troops. However, the army's reserve force comprised more than 50% of its personnel, with some units having reserves exceeding three-quarters. Commander Major General Tsychakov believed that continuing the fight would only increase casualties. Although Vice Admiral Jesen, commander of the Vladivostok flotilla, opposed surrender, he ultimately failed to persuade his colleagues.

After the meeting, Vice Admiral Yesen returned to the ship and immediately convened a fleet meeting. He earnestly told his subordinates, "General Tsychakov and the fortress command have decided to hand over Vladivostok to the Japanese tomorrow, but we cannot hand over the warships to the Japanese, because these warships will become weapons that the Japanese use to attack their homeland, Russia..."

On the evening of the 24th, Vice Admiral Jesen led the Vladivostok detachment away from Golden Horn Bay, then opened the sea valves and sank the fleet. Only one cruiser, which was undergoing repairs in the shipyard due to being grounded, escaped this fate. Although the scuttling of the Russian Vladivostok fleet reduced the Japanese victory in some ways, the capture of Vladivostok in such a short time not only gave the army a greater advantage in northern Manchuria but also relieved the navy of a major concern.

The activity of the Vladivostok fleet after the start of the war made the Japanese military doubt the security of their logistics lines. The people of the Japanese archipelago were also confused about whether they could win the war because of the activity of the Vladivostok fleet. In the end, the Uemura fleet bore the brunt of the people's anger.

Because Russian warships had appeared in the Tokyo Bay area, Uemura was denounced as a "spy" by the public. Enraged Tokyo residents even vandalized Uemura's home, forcing him to send his wife and children back to her parents' home. In patriarchal Japan, failing to protect one's family was a highly dishonorable act. If Uemura could not avenge himself on the battlefield, he would certainly be relegated to the navy's reserves after the war.

Japan announced its occupation of Vladivostok on December 28th. Following this announcement, Russian government bonds plummeted on the international market, while Japanese and Chinese government bonds rose. The Japanese Ministry of Finance then used this opportunity to launch its third round of war bond issuance.

For Kuropatkin and St. Petersburg, the news of Vladivostok's fall was a bolt from the blue. While Kuropatkin had some preparation for the fall of Vladivostok, St. Petersburg was completely unprepared for this outcome.

Because St. Petersburg's prediction of the war was limited to the assumption that Port Arthur would fall, necessitating the prompt deployment of the Second Pacific Fleet to its aid. As for Vladivostok, they believed the Japanese wouldn't have the resources to attack two fortresses simultaneously. St. Petersburg did not anticipate that the Japanese would not launch an attack on Port Arthur, but instead concentrate their forces in the Primorsky Krai region.

A flawed assessment led St. Petersburg to overestimate Japan's mobilization capabilities. Petersburg believed that European troops deployed to the Far East should no longer be sent to southern Manchuria, but rather should be used to hold the Harbin area to prevent the Japanese from cutting off the Russian army's supply lines in southern Manchuria. Based on this assessment, Russian troops that were originally intended to reinforce southern Manchuria began to assemble in Harbin. Furthermore, to quickly strengthen the Russian defenses in the Harbin area, Petersburg ordered the suspension of all material transport unrelated to military operations.

So what constitutes the transport of supplies unrelated to military missions? The Russians removed clothing and food from transport duties, leaving personnel, artillery, and ammunition as the sole cargo on the military trains traveling from Europe to the Far East. To improve one-way transport capacity, upon arrival in Manchuria, all wagons were derailed and burned, leaving only the locomotives. This significantly reduced return time and eliminated the need to worry about storing the wagons.

However, this focus solely on transporting personnel and weapons, while replenishing the forces in the Far East, proved disastrous for Russian troops conscripted during the summer. Some units were still wearing thin summer uniforms as late as December. For an army with a high proportion of reserves, insufficient supplies inevitably led to a rapid decline in discipline.

Starting in October, Russian troops began sporadically looting civilians in Manchuria. By November, this looting had become commonplace. In December, even Russian troops stationed in Fengtian began looting nearby villages and setting fire to them to cover up their crimes.

The actions of the Russian army sparked widespread resistance among the people of Manchuria. Workers in Yingkou refused to work for the Russian army, and some even joined bandits to retaliate against the Russian army's logistics. In Russian-owned mines throughout Fengtian (Shenyang), Chinese workers went on strike one after another, refusing the Russians' requests for higher wages and a return to work. At the Wushan Coal Mine in Dongshan, hundreds of miners besieged the arrogant Russian foreman.

In villages throughout Northeast China, people refused to build fortifications for the Russians, undertake transportation tasks, sell grain to the Russian army, or use Russian currency. Chinese merchants also began to boycott their markets and refused to use Russian money for transactions.

Some respected intellectuals began organizing volunteer corps outside Manchuria to participate in the war against Russia. They called upon the bandit groups throughout Manchuria to resist the Russian invaders and expel the Russians from China. This appeal was echoed by bandits in various regions, and sabotage of the railway occurred everywhere along the Chinese Eastern Railway, forcing Kuropatkin to disperse his limited forces along the railway line. In some areas, a checkpoint had to be set up every five versts.

Therefore, although Japan transported as many as 120,000 troops from Europe to the Far East within five or six months after joining the war, the Russian army did not achieve an absolute majority on any battlefield. In order to counter the well-trained Japanese offensive, Kuropatkin had to exchange the conscripts who arrived in Manchuria later with the West Manchurian Group, attempting to integrate these conscripts in the less intense West Manchuria region before sending them into the more intense battlefields.

Kuropatkin's actions were born of necessity. Although the Russian army had already begun mobilizing in Europe, as Minister of the Army, he was well aware that among the mobilization efforts of the various military districts, the Kiev and Warsaw Military Districts were the best prepared and had the most effective training, as they were facing the Germans. The Vilnius, St. Petersburg, and Moscow Military Districts were less impressive, but as the second-line forces of the Kiev and Warsaw Military Districts, they were not entirely left to their own devices. However, the other military districts did not face such pressure, so their mobilization and training were a mess.

Apart from the main forces of the military districts, the Russian army's other units were almost entirely understaffed and empty shells. Officers and conscripts were only organized together according to established ranks during wartime. In other words, most officers only met their subordinates after arriving in Manchuria; they had never met them before.

These conscripts were supposed to train for at least three months a year, but in reality, this was far from the truth. A month of training was considered good, and many only maintained their training schedule on paper, never actually receiving any training. Therefore, during the more than two-month journey from Europe to Manchuria, these troops only had one unit designation; the soldiers had no idea what they were supposed to do, and the officers only learned about their troops' situation upon arriving in Manchuria and heading to the front lines.

Of the five Russian divisions stationed in the Jinzhou area, at least three were such hastily assembled mobilization divisions. When Lieutenant General Leonid Sobolov, commander of the West Manchuria Group, heard that the Chinese army had broken through the Tashan line, his mind went completely blank, because the Russian army had never intended to fight the Chinese in Jinzhou, and they had not built any fortifications near Jinzhou.

Chapter 431 Battle of Jinzhou

It's no wonder that Lieutenant General Sobolov experienced a temporary speechlessness, because Tashan is the entrance to the coastal corridor. When advancing from Manchuria towards North China, the flat land that travelers could pass through is only 12 versts. The passage is surrounded by mountains and the sea on both sides, which is why the section from Tashan to Shanhaiguan is called the coastal corridor.

For the past year, the Russian army has been constrained by the terrain of this corridor, which has prevented it from breaking through Shanhaiguan and entering the North China Plain. Therefore, Kuropatkin believes that since our army cannot advance, the Chinese obviously cannot either. As long as the Russian army defends the narrow passage from Xingcheng to Tashan in the same way as the Chinese, it will be fine.

It was with this in mind that Kuropatkin dared to so readily redeploy troops from the West Manchuria Group, moving combat-ready units to other directions in South Manchuria and assigning newly arrived troops to the Jinzhou area. But who would have thought that the Chinese would so easily break through the defenses of the Russian 17th East Siberian Division and advance the front line directly to the plains of Jinzhou?

Of course, Kuropatkin would not admit that his troop movement orders had caused a problem with the morale of the front-line troops and created a breach in the front-line defenses. Upon receiving the news, he immediately telegraphed Lieutenant General Sobolov, demanding that he recapture Tashan and Jinxi as soon as possible to prevent the Chinese from threatening Jinzhou. He stated that he did not have extra troops to consider the security of the flanks at the moment, and if a problem occurred in Jinzhou and led to the failure of the Liaoyang Campaign, then he would have to take responsibility for it.

If Kuropatkin was initially welcomed by the Manchurian army generals when he came to Manchuria to replace Governor-General Alekseev in command of the army, then after the successive losses of the Yalu River, Jinzhou, and Shuangchengzi, people began to doubt whether this Minister of the Army was capable of leading them to final victory.

Lieutenant General Sobolov was quite dissatisfied with Kuropatkin's order. Although he now had the strength of five divisions, apart from the 17th and 18th Divisions which had some combat experience in Manchuria, the 71st, 72nd and 54th Divisions were all newly formed units.

The situation was particularly bad for the 54th Division. Its commander, Orlov, was a war history expert who had just been recruited from the Nikolayevsky Academy, and his subordinates were all reserve soldiers over 30 years old. He only dared to place them in Yixian County to protect the railway line to Fengtian and to support the Raunitz Detachment in the Chaoyang area.

第71师、72师的情况稍好，这两个师被补充了一部分上过战场的官兵，但是这两支部队也是很难和第17师和18师相比的。现在第17师都被中国人击溃了，索伯洛夫中将很怀疑第71师、72师能够在野战中战胜中国人。

The 17th Division was defeated by the Chinese not because the Chinese refused to send troops to its aid, but because the division had already completely collapsed before the Chinese could even send troops to its aid. When the officers and soldiers of the 17th Division recounted their defeat, they were vague in their accounts, but it was certainly not due to a major setback at the front that led to the 17th Division's defeat.

According to the summary of the General Staff's investigation report on the officers and soldiers of the 17th Division, the 17th Division's losses were actually not significant; at least 1.7 of the 1.5 men returned. However, they abandoned all their artillery and supplies, and some soldiers even abandoned their rifles and backpacks. When asked why they deserted, their unanimous answer was that they had lost contact with their superiors, heard the shouts of Chinese soldiers advancing towards their rear, and believed that their side had been defeated. In order not to be taken prisoner by the Chinese, they had no choice but to abandon their positions and flee.

Lieutenant General Sobolov was experienced in combat, and from these reports he understood the main reason for the 17th Division's defeat. The Chinese had disrupted the 17th Division's organizational structure, and without officers' orders, Russian soldiers could no longer complete their tasks. This was especially true when there were many demoralized conscripts in the army, who easily took the loss of orders from their superiors as an indication that their side had already failed.

Lieutenant General Sobolov needed to buy time to establish defenses around Jinzhou, rather than to counterattack the narrow passages occupied by the Chinese, but Kuropatkin's orders caused his ideas to be resisted by his subordinates.

Orlov, the commander of the 54th Division, publicly supported Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin's order at a military conference. This military history expert, famous for studying Suvorov's expedition to Italy, refuted Lieutenant General Sobolov's defensive plan at the conference, saying, "...only by attacking can we seize the initiative on the battlefield."

Once the Chinese army breaks out of the coastal corridor, it can continuously expand its forces. This is Chinese territory, and they have almost unlimited manpower. If we choose to hold our ground, it is tantamount to handing over the initiative on the battlefield to the Chinese, which means that the Chinese can completely surround us.

We must deliver a crushing blow to the Chinese army before they can deploy and drive them back to the coastal corridor. As Marshal Suvorov said: "The true essence of military strategy is to attack the enemy directly at their most vulnerable point, rather than through indirect, roundabout means… Only a direct and courageous attack can secure victory."

Giving command of the army to a bookworm was indeed a disaster. No one at the military conference could persuade Major General Orlov, meaning that if they wanted to hold Jinzhou, they would have to bear the wrath of Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin if anything went wrong. No one wanted to be targeted by Kuropatkin, even though everyone now felt he was actually quite incompetent.

Lieutenant General Sobolov had no choice but to concentrate the 71st and 72nd Divisions and launch a counterattack along the railway line towards Tashan, while he led the 18th Division to provide support. The 17th Division remained in Jinzhou for reorganization and then returned to its original unit, while the 54th Division continued to be stationed in Yixian to protect the railway line.

Although Lieutenant General Sobolov presented a counterattack formation at Tashan, he did not actually agree with this counterattack operation. It was merely to appease Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin. Therefore, he placed the weaker 71st and 72nd Divisions at the front, in preparation for retreating to Jinzhou in case of a defeat, in order to realize his defensive operation plan.

Tashan has neither a mountain nor a pagoda; it's simply a rolling hillside. Because of its relatively flat terrain, the view is exceptionally open. However, to its east lies Jinzhou Bay, and to its west, Baitai Mountain. This means Tashan is a natural passageway, with the width between the mountains and the sea being only 12 kilometers. 18 kilometers west of Baitai Mountain are the real mountains, making this a necessary route from Jinzhou to the interior of China.

After capturing Tashan, Feng Guozhang advocated launching a full-scale attack on Jinzhou, but Fu Cixiang disagreed. He believed that adjustments should be made at this point because they lacked experience in open field battles with the Russian army. In fact, Chinese offensives never exceeded the size of a regiment, and the Russian army was forced to engage in such small-scale battles due to the terrain.

Although the Russian troops stationed in the Xingcheng-Tashan area were defeated, the battle also exposed many of their own problems. They lacked the ability to launch continuous attacks and had to stop and reorganize their troops after fighting for a while. As a result, although they defeated the Russian army, they failed to annihilate the Russian army's manpower. Simply put, the army lacked experience in large-scale operations.

Fu Cixiang believed that the command and communication issues for large-scale operations should be resolved first, and that the Russian army's deployment in Jinzhou should be investigated. Then, they should wait for the attack by the Third Division led by Duan Qirui, and both sides should cooperate in the operation.

However, the 13th Division of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army easily defeated the Russian army, leading Beiyang generals such as Zhang Huaizhi and Wang Zhanyuan to believe that the Russian army was already weak. They argued that if they attacked now, the Russian army might waver or even abandon Jinzhou. But if they remained stationary at Tashan, they would give the Russian army an opportunity to rebuild its morale. Wang Zhanyuan even suggested that if the 13th Division grew tired, he could replace it with the 13rd Brigade to take the vanguard role.

Fu Cixiang tried to persuade them with all his heart, but none of the Beiyang generals would listen. In the end, he had no choice but to give up and hand over the vanguard to the Second Division, with the 13th Division and the Fourth Division of Beiyang as their backup.

Jinzhou is located at the confluence of the Nü'er River and the Xiaoling River. To the north of Jinzhou is Beiputuo Mountain, and to the south of Jinzhou are also rolling hills. However, the east and west sides of Jinzhou are very flat, with only a few hills and large plains. East of the Liao River, it is an endless plain.

The railway line runs along the plains west of the mountains south of Jinzhou, crossing the Nü'er River and the Xiaoling River, before detouring north of Jinzhou and turning northeast. In summer and autumn, the Nü'er River and the Xiaoling River serve as natural moats for Jinzhou, but in winter they become flat land.

Therefore, the Second Division of the Beiyang Army could cross the Nü'er River directly along the railway line and then launch an attack on Jinzhou. This was Wang Zhanyuan's plan, and this is what he did. At the same time, the Russian army also chose to advance along the railway line towards Tashan, attempting to push the Chinese army back into the coastal corridor.

The reason why everyone attacked along the railway line was actually quite simple: only the railway could provide logistics for tens of thousands of troops on both sides. Once away from the railway line, the carrying capacity of thousands of mule wagons was equivalent to that of a single military train, which meant that the larger the army, the greater the logistical pressure.

On January 3, 1907, on the south bank of the Daughter River, at Ershilipu on the west side of Dajia Mountain, the cavalry and infantry of the Second Division of the Beiyang Army clashed with the Russian Cossack troops. The battle ended with the Beiyang cavalry losing 15 men and the Russians losing 9. After receiving the news, Wang Zhanyuan immediately deployed his troops at Chengjiafen and Yangjiawopeng, south of Ershilipu.

On the morning of January 4th, the Russian 71st Division entered Ershilipu and launched an attack at 1 PM. This direct, unprovoked attack by the Russian army caught the Beiyang Army off guard. Previously, the Beiyang Army had followed a methodical approach: digging fortifications, awaiting Russian artillery fire, and then waiting for the Russian infantry charge—a practice that seemed to have become routine.

However, without any artillery preparation, the Russian army directly pushed the war into a bayonet charge mode, which meant skipping the process of letting the Beiyang Army adapt to combat. As a result, after nearly three hours of fierce fighting, the Beiyang Army lost the positions that they had crudely built. If the 71st Division had not also been exhausted, Wang Zhanyuan's Third Brigade would probably have been crushed by the Russians.

Although the 71st Division achieved victory, it also suffered heavy casualties. The 12 machine guns carried by Wang Zhanyuan's troops inflicted at least a thousand casualties on the Russians during the battle. This is why the Russians lost the desire to pursue them after occupying the position.

Chapter 432 Battle of Jinzhou II

From January 5th to 6th, the Russian army and the Beiyang Army clashed three more battles of varying scales. Although Wang Zhanyuan and Bao Guiqing supported each other, they were still forced back by the Russian army. The battlefield was moved back to the vicinity of Gaoqiao, and the Beiyang generals finally had their tempers dampened by the fierce Russian offensive.

On the evening of January 6, Feng Guozhang convened a military conference in Gaoqiao. At the meeting, Wang Zhanyuan, Bao Guiqing and other generals of the Second Division were dejected, believing that the Russian army still had courage and that the Chinese army was not capable of fighting them head-on. The generals of the Fourth Division also became fearful and began to advocate the idea of ​​retreating to the Tashan line.

Feng Guozhang was also embarrassed by the performance of the Beiyang Army, but he could only ask Fu Cixiang, who was standing next to him, "Commander Fu, what do you think of the idea of ​​retreating to Tashan?"

After a moment of contemplation, Fu Cixiang said, "I think the main purpose of this military conference is to figure out how we lost. If we don't know how we lost, talking about offense or retreat is essentially giving up the war. In that case, we should not be considering where to retreat, but rather how to end the war."

Upon hearing Fu Cixiang's words, the Beiyang generals in the room merely glanced up at him briefly before lowering their heads to focus on the charcoal brazier beside them. Watching the flickering red light within the brazier, they all wondered if Fu Cixiang's words meant he was about to settle scores with Wang Zhanyuan and others who had previously advocated for war.

Wang Zhanyuan was clearly aware of this as well. He first looked at his colleagues and found that none of them would meet his gaze. Although he was unwilling, he could only bite the bullet and apologize, saying, "I was the one who advocated for the war, but I did not expect it to turn out like this. I am willing to take responsibility for this. I will apologize to the commander-in-chief after the war."

Wang Yingkai, the commander of the Second Division, was in poor health and therefore not at the front lines. Wu Fengling, the commander of the Fourth Division, who was present, stepped forward to plead for Wang Zhanyuan, arguing that now was a time when manpower was most needed, and that holding people responsible for the defeat in battle would likely damage morale. With Wu Fengling taking the lead, other Beiyang generals also spoke up to plead for Wang Zhanyuan.

Feng Guozhang then took the opportunity to ask Fu Cixiang for his opinion. Fu Cixiang was also quite surprised by the scene of the Beiyang generals showing unity to him, but he quickly realized that this was the kind of interpersonal relationship he was familiar with in China. He had spent a lot of time in Germany and Wuhan in the past two years, so he felt a little uncomfortable.

Germany isn't entirely devoid of human touch, but this is primarily reflected in personnel matters. At least in terms of promotion, officers from Junker families rise much faster than those from ordinary families who enter military academies. However, in official matters, Germans at least maintain a professional image. For instance, although Germans discriminate against people of Asian descent, after the Chinese army defeated the British and invaded India, the Berlin Military Academy immediately improved the treatment of Chinese cadets, believing their intelligence was not significantly different from that of Europeans.

In the Qing Dynasty, there were almost no public affairs, only private ones. As long as you had connections, even if you knew nothing about foreign languages, you could be hired as a translator and receive a salary. If you didn't have connections, even if you were a top student who graduated from a regular foreign university, you couldn't expect to get a job that matched your major.

The Qing Dynasty belonged to the Aisin Gioro clan and the Manchus. Therefore, official positions in the Qing Dynasty were essentially private wealth, used to support lackeys rather than to cultivate talent. Whether you could obtain an official position depended not on your qualifications or abilities, but on your connections with the high-ranking officials who decided on those appointments.

Therefore, when Prince Qing was in power, even powerful governors like Yuan Shikai had to give him gifts in order to recommend the talents they favored. Prince Qing's son could also be on friendly terms with Yuan Shikai. Although Prince Qing's son did not hold any official position, he could still influence his father's thoughts on personnel matters. It was no different from the imperial court being his family's company.

In comparison, Wuhan was far inferior to the Qing Dynasty in this respect. The Workers' Party was based on ideology, and only those who shared the same ideals could join the party. However, the Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Committee, which was controlled by the Workers' Party, tended to allow each person to act according to their own abilities in personnel appointments and removals. As long as one's political stance did not conflict with the Workers' Party, then even if one was appointed, one could still handle official business in an impartial manner.