"Old Ji Futuo, determined to be in a thousand miles." The martyrs are in their twilight years and their hearts are full of excitement. --written in front.
The Battle of Jia-Wu, the smoke rose again, and the Great Qing Dynasty, which had been "rich and strong" for nearly thirty years, at this time it could be described as a collapse in the Korean battlefield. The Japanese followed the retreat route of the Qing army and fought all the way into the hinterland of the Qing Dynasty, like a fierce tiger into the mountains. Lost Nine Cities, Lost Travel Shun, Lost Sea City... The Qing army was defeated again and again in the northeast battlefield, and the war was getting closer and closer to the Beijing Division...
Seeing the Japanese army's sharp edge, the Qing court was shocked, and did not expect that the small country of Qiu'er was invincible on the battlefield. Li Hongzhang and the Huai Army system he led were repeatedly defeated in naval and land battles, and the officials and people launched round after round of attacks on Li Hongzhang, who was "unclean in itself.", because of the defeat.
The Xiang army rose in the era of Zeng Guofan to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, after which the Twist Army and the Northwest Rebellion were quelled, and later under the leadership of Zuo Zongtang to retake Xinjiang, "the sons of Hu Xiang were full of Heavenly Mountains", the Xiang Army can be described as a flourish. The history of the invincibility of the Xiang Army once made people at that time "the battle record of the Xiang Army, and the language loyalty and righteousness of the Xiang Army."
Xiang Army
Some Hunan officials and people who "are worried about the world and dare to be the first" believe that it is time for Hunan people to "save the world" in the face of increasingly urgent national difficulties.
At this time, although Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang and other early leaders of the Xiang Army had long since passed away, most of the Xiang Army had been disbanded. However, many Hunan people took the initiative to ask for help, asking to go out of Shanhaiguan to resist the Japanese army by land, and Wu Dayi, then the governor of Hunan, wrote to the imperial court, believing that leading the Huxiang disciples who had a high morale and people's morale to go north would be able to establish a special medal for saving the country.
The Qing court, especially the imperial party faction, was anxious to use the former generals of Xiangzhong to "help Xianghuai", hoping that the Xiang army would achieve great results, and from then on, Li Hongzhang's Huai army would be expelled from the government and the opposition, and really grasp power. On the one hand, the imperial court allowed the sons of the Xiang army recruited by The Governor of Hunan, Wu Dayi, to go out to fight at Shanhaiguan, and on the other hand, a group of former generals of the Xiang Army were used to fight in Liaodong, and Zuo Zongtang's old department Wei Guangtao, Zeng Guoquan's old department Chen Xiang, and Li Guangjiu, the son of the Xiang army general Li Xubin, were all ordered to recruit troops out of the customs and aid Liaodong in the north. Even Liu Kunyi, a veteran general of the Xiang Army who was the governor of Liangjiang at the time and who was already over the age of HuaJia, was also appointed as the minister of Chincha by the emperor, ordering him to restrain the internal and external defenses of Shanhaiguan and supervise the divisions to fight.
Whether it is high in the temple or far away from the rivers and lakes, they are full of expectations for the Xiang Army to go out, perhaps, the Xiang Army can really create some miracles...
The time was short, and the transportation was extremely inconvenient at that time, and it took more than half a year for the Xiang army to go north to get out of the customs and engage in real battles. At this time, the war situation in the northeast was already very critical, the Beiyang Fleet was almost annihilated, and the imperial court was already planning to negotiate peace with Japan. The Exit of the Xiang Army was doomed to be unable to truly change the final outcome of the Sino-Japanese War. The imperial court only hoped that the Xiang army would achieve some victories on the battlefield and win a little leverage for the ongoing negotiations.
On February 11, 1895, more than 10,000 men and horses of the 23rd Battalion of the Xiang Army arrived at Tianzhuangtai in the lower reaches of the Liao River, just as the Qing army attacked Haicheng. Haicheng is an important hub in the northeast, and the Japanese army occupied Haicheng, entered Shenyang to the north, and attacked Shanhaiguan to the west. Soon after the Xiang army arrived, it turned around with the other Qing troops stationed here, totaling about 33,000 people, and launched a third attack on Haicheng. Trying to organize the Japanese offensive to add a little leverage to the Sino-Japanese negotiations.
In the face of several times the Qing army, the Japanese army formulated a sweeping plan, "pretending to attack Liaoyang, taking Niuzhuang", intending to use the main force to detour the flank and occupy niuzhuang, the logistics base in the rear of the Qing army, and form a siege to the Qing army besieging Haicheng. However, the Qing army blindly attacked the city and did not know the japanese army's plot to "encircle Wei and save Zhao".
Niuzhuang, located 25 kilometers west of Haicheng, was a strategic location for the Qing army to transport food, ammunition and silver. However, the Qing army was negligent in its precautions, and "only one battalion was stationed in Wuwei" in Niuzhuang. Although at that time, some spies reported the movement of the Japanese army: "Seventy horse thieves and thousands of infantry teams, went around Geng Zhuangzi and Guchengzi, and feared attacking Niuzhuangye." As a result, most of the Qing generals did not believe that the Japanese army dared to abandon Haicheng to attack Niuzhuang.
Bronze statue of Wei Guangtao
When the Japanese army approached, the Qing army was busy making defensive preparations. Because the area around Niuzhuang was flat and there was no city wall to defend, the Qing commander Wei Guangtao ordered the infantry to urgently build a one-foot-thick chest wall as a defense. Shooting holes were also cut into the walls of the various courtyards of the shogunate, and preparations were made for street battles.
On 3 March, the Japanese 3rd Division and the 5th Division set out from two directions and attacked Niuzhuang separately. By 7:00 a.m. on the 4th, the Japanese troops had arrived on the outskirts of Niuzhuang and were preparing to attack the city.
At about 8:00 a.m., the Japanese army used a total of 24 field guns and mountain artillery to bombard the Qing positions in Niuzhuang in an attempt to destroy the simple fortifications of the Qing army. After the shelling, the Japanese launched an attack on the Qing positions. The Qing army knew that its strength was inferior, so it remained still, and after the Japanese army approached the perimeter of the fortifications, the guns were fired at the same time, the Japanese army was killed and wounded more than 100 people, and the wing commander Sato was seriously wounded and carried off the battlefield.
Japanese troops in the cattle village
Helplessly, there were many Japanese troops, and the scattered attack was still very effective, and soon broke into the city of Niuzhuang and launched a fierce street battle with the Qing army. The Qing army was divided and surrounded by superior enemy forces into dozens of battle groups, ranging from a few hundred to a few dozen. The Qing army, which had lost its unified command, fought separately and carried out scattered resistance. The Japanese army was also divided into dozens of units of squadrons and squads, fighting with the Qing army and breaking through the walls with sappers. The teeth of the two sides are intertwined, and it is difficult to separate for a while.
The Japanese military reporter recorded: "At this time, the sound of guns and artillery is like a hundred thunderbolts, and the roar of ten thousand lions is deafening. Hundreds of clouds floated over Niuzhuang, and the grenades fired by our army exploded in the air, and the smoke floated deep in the willows, which was the afterglow of the enemy's artillery. "The fighting was unusually brutal.
By sunset, the Qing army was still holding out in the northeast of Niuzhuang City and the Yamen of Niuzhuang in the west of the city. Among them, the Qing army stationed at the pot relied on the solid stone wall to release the platoon guns in an orderly manner, without fear. The Japanese army repeatedly failed to charge, and later used sappers to bury explosives and mines under the wall, and blew two large holes in the courtyard wall, and the pot was lost.
At Niuzhuang Yamen, the Qing army resisted with a strong masonry wall. Seeing that the attack could not be effective for a while, the Japanese army threw a letter of persuasion into the wall. However, in the face of the surrender letter, the Qing army returned with bullets, and the Japanese army could not persuade them to surrender, so they had to continue the strong attack. The Japanese set fire to the houses on both sides, and for a time the fire and smoke enveloped the Qing positions. Just then, a Japanese shell hit the ammunition depot inside the yamen, causing an explosion. In the end, the Japanese army took the opportunity to enter one after another, which occupied Niuzhuang Yamen.
Image of Li Guangjiu in the play (no real photo found)
Just when Wei Guangtao's Wuwei army was fighting fiercely with the Japanese army, Li Guangjiu, the son of Li Xubin, the first general of the Xiang Army, was shocked to learn that the Japanese army was attacking Niuzhuang, and led more than 2,400 people from the fifth battalion of the old Xiang Army to retreat from the Haicheng front line and rush to the aid of Niuzhuang.
Li Guangjiu led an army: "The soldiers and soldiers traveled more than twenty miles to Niuzhuang, and before they could make rice, they were already surrounded." At this point, Li Guangjiu learned that the outer defense line of Niuzhuang had been broken, and the Wuwei army was retreating to the city street. Immediately divided into three roads, "Before the left camp was the right road, attacking to the Guandi Temple and other places, taking the right rear battalion as the left road, attacking the Sea Temple and other places, taking the middle camp and the horse infantry squad as the middle road, and attacking the area around Niuzhuang Tucheng." ”
At this time, the Japanese army basically occupied Niuzhuang, and as soon as Li Guangjiu's troops entered Niuzhuang, they fell into a situation of street fighting. The Japanese army attacked the Xiang army from the houses on both sides of the road, blocking the road, leaving Li Guangjiu's troops unable to retreat, and the battle was extremely unfavorable to the Qing army.
The battle lasted until the evening, Wei Guangtao's troops and Li Guangjiu's troops had to organize a breakthrough because they were "full of bullets", and on the way they were intercepted by the mixed 6th Brigade, and the fighting between the two sides was fierce, and the Qing army suffered more than 40 casualties.
Li Guangjiu led the remnants of 300 people to retreat 15 kilometers away from Niuzhuang, facing the Pursuit of the Japanese Army, knowing that blindly retreating would only lead to a larger pursuit by the Japanese army, so he organized an ambush. At that time, the Japanese army was in a hurry, did not expect the Qing army to dare to fight again, was caught off guard, the Japanese army was afraid that there were more Qing troops in front, had to give up the pursuit and retreated.
Japanese troops on the move
At this point, the entire Niuzhuang Battle was over, and the Japanese army occupied Niuzhuang. The New Xiang Army led by Wei Guangtao and the Old Xiang Army led by Li Guangjiu fought extremely fiercely in Niuzhuang. Wei Guangtao's army lost more than 900 casualties and wounded more than 300; Li Guangjiu's army "killed more than 700 people in battle and wounded more than 380 inside", counting more than 1,000 dead, more than 700 wounded, and 698 captured. The battalion and sentry officers suffered several casualties, but the commanders Wei Guangtao and Li Guangjiu were spared death. The Japanese army also gave a high evaluation to the Qing army in this battle. According to Japanese records, with superior troops, "after a day and night of fierce street fighting, it was barely occupied on the fifth day." This sentence fully proves that the combat effectiveness of the Xiang Army is still excellent in the Qing Army.
If every Qing army could have such a will to fight, fought so hard, and inflicted greater casualties on the Japanese army, it would not be so unscrupulous compared to the Japanese army in China!