The sun never sets

"

Send someone to tell Grand Duke Nicholas that you have reached a dead end. If you are willing to admit defeat and return Qiqihar, Tongliao, Harbin and other northeastern territories to China, we will not pursue your invasion and will not ask for war reparations. "

Lin Yongchang wrote a letter in Russian and found a captured Russian officer to deliver the letter.

"The Japanese army has crossed the Yalu River. The Russian army has no chance of victory! Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately. This is your last chance. If you don't surrender within twelve hours, we will launch a general offensive!"

The bandaged, pale-faced Russian officer took the letter without saying a word. Two years ago, the Russians always boasted that "one Russian soldier is worth five Chinese soldiers." After the defeat of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Russian army raised its evaluation of the Chinese army, but only believed that the Chinese were about the same as the Turks, but still slightly worse than the Russian army.

Now the Russian army launched an attack with superior forces, but was beaten badly, losing a large number of troops and weapons and equipment. The Russians had to admit that the Chinese army was not inferior to the Russian army, if not stronger. Lieutenant Constantine put the letter in his arms with fear and hatred, and then saluted Lin Yongchang.

"Give him a horse and a white flag, so that he won't be killed by the Russians."

When reading history books before, Lin Yongchang once saw something very speechless. A certain General Lin was wearing a captured Japanese military coat and riding a Japanese horse, and then he was shot by a soldier of the Jin army. The famous Marshal Lin in history almost died like this. What kind of thing is this?

The shot fired by the Jin army soldier named Wang Lusheng can be said to have changed history to a certain extent. If he had missed, or if he had shot more accurately, history might have been a little different.

Lin Yongchang was not worried about Lieutenant Constantine's life, but wanted to deliver the letter to Admiral Nicholas in order to shake the other party's determination to resist and create a better offensive environment for his own army.

He was not prepared to give the Russian army twelve hours. At most, the People's Army would launch a general offensive in six hours. Although it was already midnight, who said that the offensive could not be launched in the middle of the night?

No matter it is the Battle of Two Kingdoms or the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, if the enemies dare to invade, they will be destroyed!

New forces gradually arrived at the Liaohe River, including Wang Hu, Li Yunlong, Wu Peifu, Cao Kun, Zhang Zuolin, Ma Yu and other troops. The total strength of the People's Army reached more than 38,000 people, but many of the troops were not fully organized, and the artillery and heavy machine guns were left behind. Even the heavy weapons that were pulled to the Liaohe River did not have much ammunition.

In order to protect the so-called "dragon's rise land", the previous colonial regime did not allow Han people to go to the Northeast to engage in farming, hunting and digging ginseng, and specially built a 1,300-kilometer "willow border". At the end of the dynasty, the ban was relaxed, but there are still more roe deer than people in this black land of the Northeast.

In another time and space, after the Boxer Rebellion, the imperial court increased its plunder of the people in order to compensate the foreigners, forcing many people to "go to Guandong". A large number of people from Hebei, Shandong and other places fled to the Northeast, which led to a substantial increase in the population of the Northeast.

In this world, the Eight-Nation Alliance was completely wiped out, and the new people's government did not have to pay war reparations to the foreigners. Naturally, there were not so many people going to the Northeast to make a living. The population of the entire Northeast was smaller than in another time and space, and the same was true for western Liaoning.

With a small population, there are not enough people to build roads. The transportation facilities in the area from Liaohe River to Dalingh River were not good to begin with. The People's Army caused extensive damage when they retreated. The Russian army had a lot of trouble to repair part of it, but when the Russian army retreated, they caused more damage.

In addition, it was drizzling and the roads were muddy. The heavy howitzers were stuck in the mud, and it was difficult to transport the carts carrying ammunition and food to the front line. Almost all the troops who arrived at the Liaohe River were light infantry, with only a rifle and 60 rounds of ammunition, and only three days of dry food.

But Lin Yongchang did not intend to wait any longer. He would launch a general attack tonight and leave more Russian troops on the west bank of the Liaohe River.

At night, bonfires were lit on both the Russian and People's Army positions, but they could only illuminate a small part of the area. Outside the range of the bonfires, darkness enveloped everything. From somewhere came the howling of wolves, and there seemed to be chewing sounds, which was terrifying to hear.

Chapter 193: Great Victory

The land of Northeast China is so vast that a few hundred thousand people are nothing on this land. Except for a few settlements, most of the wild places are still in a wild state, and wild beasts can often be seen. The Chinese and Russian armies fought here, scaring away many wild beasts, and the smell of blood also attracted many meat eaters and scavengers.

The Russians had a very tight supply system, with a large number of personnel being used to transport food and ammunition. They had no means of transporting the dead soldiers back, nor could they prepare coffins for all the dead. They were just serfs anyway, so why bother? Why not just dig a pit and bury them?

During the day, the Chinese army and the Russian army fought, and at night, all kinds of wild animals wandered around the fields, ready to dig up the buried dead and eat them. It was the same tonight. Just as a wild wolf was digging in the soil, trying to dig out the bodies of the Russian soldiers under the soil, a roar suddenly came from the distance.

More than a dozen cannons opened fire at once, firing fiercely at the densest area of the Russian army.

Fire from the muzzles rose and fell, and the gunners fired at the fastest speed. The shells landed near the ferry, knocking down dozens or even hundreds of people. This amount of casualties was nothing to the Russian army, but it caused panic among them.

The Russian army that fled overnight did not expect that the enemy would not sleep at night, and didn't they say that the ultimatum would be delivered tomorrow morning? Why did they fire at this time? The Chinese are so hateful! They have no martial ethics at all!

Lieutenant Constantine was extremely angry. He waved his fist and shouted loudly: "The Chinese are treacherous!"

Many other officers followed suit and shouted. They all knew the news Constantine brought, so they were very angry, but they used anger to cover up their panic. Nicholas sighed and said, "I guessed that the enemy would attack in advance, but it's useless to guess it."

"It's impossible to launch a large-scale attack at night!" Someone shouted, "We can hold on!"

Grand Duke Nicholas nodded and was about to say something when a bright ball of light suddenly appeared in the sky. The light spread in all directions, illuminating a large area. Soon after, a second, third, and more balls of light appeared, illuminating the earth as if it were daytime.

"What is this?" Grand Duke Nicholas's face turned pale with horror, and then he understood what was going on, and then he muttered to himself, "Terrible Chinese!"

The bright lights in the sky were flares fired by the People's Army. The principle is not difficult, just add some magnesium powder. Add a small parachute to the flare, and it can stay in the air longer. When countless stars lit up in the sky, illuminating the earth, the People's Army launched a general attack. More than 30,000 bayonets lit up, like a steel jungle.

"attack!"

"Long live!"

"Come on!"

"Kill!" "Kill!"

The People's Army's attack was like a landslide and tsunami, and the Russian resistance was quickly overwhelmed. During the day, the Russian army fought very bravely, but now they lost the courage to fight. On the one hand, it was because the sudden change made many people panic; on the other hand, it was because the Russian army had been retreating through the pontoon bridge, and the number of troops left on the west bank had decreased.

The Russian defense line collapsed at the first blow. The soldiers abandoned everything and rushed eastward with bare hands. The Cossack cavalry no longer had the courage they had before. They had no intention of fighting to the death and just slipped away. The Liao River was not too wide, so at most they could just hold on to the horses' necks and swim across.

Next to the floating bridge, several Russian officers came forward and grabbed Grand Duke Nicholas, "General, hurry up! The great Russia cannot afford to lose another royal family member in battle!"

Nicholas didn't say anything about holding on to the rear at this time. The defeat was so severe that even if Kutuzov and Suvorov came, they couldn't save the situation. He followed the officers onto the pontoon bridge and hastily retreated to the east bank of the Liao River.

On the other side of the river, there were still tens of thousands of Russian troops, and another 40,000 or 50,000 troops were on their way. As long as they could gain a firm foothold, the situation would not get out of control. The letter Constantine brought back said that the Japanese army had crossed the Yalu River. Admiral Nicholas did not believe it. The Japanese were so polite, how could they do a sneak attack? The Japanese were so respectful to Russia, how could they suddenly attack and hurt people?

It’s not that Archduke Nicholas was stupid, but that the Japanese behaved too well and acted too much like civilized people.

After hastily fleeing to the east bank, an officer ordered the pontoon bridge to be set on fire. A raging fire was burning, and the faces of the people around were illuminated by the flickering flames. The pontoon bridge was crowded with Russian soldiers fleeing for their lives. Dozens of people who rushed to the shore were covered with grease and turned into moving torches. They waved their arms wildly and rushed around, screaming as loudly as a human could.

The floating bridge was soon burned and the Russian soldiers on the bridge cursed the arsonist loudly, and fell into the river with a "creaking" sound. Those who were good at swimming and could stay awake could swim to the shore, but more people fell into panic, they would struggle in the water with all their strength, turn in circles in the river, and be washed away by the river after being exhausted.

The Liao River is directly connected to the Bohai Sea. If you are lucky enough, you may be able to float along the ocean to Lushun and swim directly back to Vladivostok. The world is so big and full of wonders. Maybe there are people who are so lucky.

The morale of the Russian army had reached rock bottom. After discovering that the commander and the generals and officers had all fled and the pontoon bridge had been burned, they lost the strength to flee. Amid the slogans of "surrender your weapons and we will not kill you" everywhere in the mountains, the Russian army laid down their weapons and chose to surrender. Even some Cossack cavalry made the same choice. Although they were barbaric, they were still human beings after all.

As human beings, we know how to seek benefits and avoid harm, we will feel fear, and we will fall into the herd mentality. If everyone else has invested, then we will follow suit. In the middle of the night, except for the real iron-headed kid, normal people probably won't want to hold on to the horse's neck and swim to the other side. It doesn't sound reliable!

By the time it got light, the battle on the west bank of the Liao River had largely ended, and the organized resistance of the Russian army had basically ceased to exist. More than a hundred Russian cavalrymen broke out of the encirclement and fled upstream, but it was not a big problem. The Russian army was already a frightened bird and it was impossible for them to make a comeback.

Besides, what role can just a hundred or so cavalrymen play?

During the battle last night, the cavalry did not perform very well and their combat efficiency was very low, whether it was the Russian cavalry or the People's Army cavalry. Even the [Mongol Iron Cavalry] could not exert much combat effectiveness in the dark.

The effect of flares is very good, but they cannot keep the battlefield bright all the time. After the battle, the battlefield alternates between light and darkness. When the cavalry participating in the attack falls into darkness, various problems will arise, the biggest of which is that they can no longer command.

The People's Army's Cavalry Manual pointed out that the command range of cavalry was too small, so it was recommended to use flags for command. In the dark, it was difficult to command with flags. After losing their organization, the cavalry of the People's Army fell into a situation of fighting on their own. The Russian cavalry played almost no role. They launched a counterattack, but were quickly defeated. The cavalry of the People's Army could not be commanded at night, and the same was true for the Russian army.

The biggest effect of night battles is to weaken the morale of the enemy and prevent them from getting a good rest. It is rare to launch an attack with tens of thousands of troops at a time. The People's Army encountered various problems during the attack. Fortunately, the Russian army performed even worse, which led to a hearty victory. Otherwise, a large-scale night battle might turn into a disaster.

Chapter 194: Dispatching Troops

Nicholas believed that the Japanese could not possibly attack the Russian Empire. With such a small steel production and such a small size, how could Japan dare to attack the "European steamroller"? It was impossible, absolutely impossible. Everything was a Chinese conspiracy.

But after the sun came out, news came from the rear that the Japanese troops were divided into two groups, one attacking Lushun and the other attacking Liaoyang. Liaodong was in danger!

"Damn it!" Nicholas's hands began to tremble as he roared, "Damn Japanese!"

The frightened Russian generals and officers followed suit and started to curse. Being defeated by the Chinese was fine, after all, they had fought a bloody battle with swords and guns. The Japanese had previously tried their best to encourage the Russian army to launch an attack, but now they turned around and launched a war without declaring war. This kind of abominable behavior was simply unheard of!

In Europe, a war must be declared before it can be fought. Fighting without declaring a war is one of the most despicable practices!

Declare war? The Japanese said that we never need this thing when we fight. We will know when the war starts. As for declaring war, we can declare war after the war starts, or we can not declare war after the war is over. The Japanese army accepted the invitation of the Chinese government and entered Liaodong to help maintain order! (Actually, they did not)

At the Imperial Conference in Tokyo, Ito Hirobumi did not agree to enter China again at this time. He made an impassioned speech in front of Emperor Meiji and a group of elders, saying that Japan's current problems were not external but internal, and that the "Meiji Restoration" needed to be deepened. The main points of Ito Hirobumi's proposals were learned from the People's Party, such as "equal land tax exemption" and "streamlining the military and government". If the Chinese can use it, the Japanese can also use it.

Although the Japanese have various character flaws, it is undeniable that they still have many advantages, and being good at learning is one of them. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Japan was still chasing the hammer of the previous dynasty's officers and soldiers, beating the Chinese to pieces both at sea and on land. How come when a big bald man came up, the Chinese became like wolves and tigers, and even the Eight-Nation Alliance was overturned?

Lin Yongchang recruited many Japanese prisoners of war and collected a lot of intelligence through Funakoshi Fumio and others. In this process, many thoughts flowed into Japan. The military insisted that the Japanese army did not suffer a defeat and that the Fifth Division was not completely wiped out. These were all rumors fabricated by non-citizens, but the death notices received by so many military families in Hiroshima were not fake.

There are still so many soldiers and officers alive, how could the news be completely suppressed?

Many Japanese scholars and intellectuals wanted to understand the reasons, and carefully studied the changes in China over the past two years, and indeed found something bad. The Japanese are not stupid, and they quickly analyzed the benefits and advantages of the policies implemented by the people's government.

Although there are some discrepancies with the facts, the analysis is still roughly accurate. Then some people said that we Japanese can do the same! Ito Hirobumi himself organized a group of people to study China's policies and obtained some very useful conclusions. After the People's Army defeated the Russian army in western Liaoning, the Chinese government's policies became better.

But Ito Hirobumi's proposal was rejected. What a joke! "Equalizing land tax exemption?" "Supporting workers and farmers?"

This is shaking the foundation of the Empire of Japan! The royal family, the nobility, the warlords, the chaebols, which one of them is not sucking blood from the peasants and workers? If we learn to do the same as the Chinese, how can we have such a good life? We have worked so hard for so many years, is it just to be the people's servants?

Someone accused Ito Hirobumi of "shaking the national system" and "offending the emperor" at the imperial meeting, forcing Ito Hirobumi to admit his mistake in public and then shift the topic to war. At this time, Japan had not yet suffered the bitterness of the Russo-Japanese War and still thought that war was a good thing like the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, so naturally no one opposed sending troops.

Previously, they were frightened by the great powers. Now that they have the support of the United Kingdom, the United States and other great powers, and they find that the Russian army is so weak, the Japanese army is even more enthusiastic about sending troops. Ito Hirobumi wanted to oppose it, but he was criticized and could not say anything. He could only choose to shut up.

Without saying a word, the Japanese crossed the Yalu River and prepared to take over Liaodong first. The rest of the matter could be discussed slowly.

For the Central People's Republic government, it is better to put Liaodong in the hands of the Russians than to let it fall into the hands of the Japanese. As for the Japanese government, they must maintain their maritime superiority in East Asia. The threat level of Port Arthur in the hands of the Chinese and in the hands of the Russians is completely different.

The Beiyang Fleet had been destroyed, and the new People's Government had no intention of developing the navy for the time being, so the Russian fleet became the main enemy of the Japanese Navy. The primary goal of the Japanese Navy was to seize Port Arthur, and the Japanese Army wanted to seize Shenyang and Liaoyang. Some Army generals said that if the Navy wanted Port Arthur, they should let them take it themselves. The Army had a big appetite, and if the war went well, they were ready to take Harbin, Qiqihar and other places.

At this time, the Japanese army was not so arrogant as to start wars on all sides like in later generations. They had made the decision to seize Liaodong and even the entire Northeast, and were also prepared to extort a "Liaoning ransom" from the Chinese if the powers intervened. Anyway, no matter what, they could not suffer losses!

After crossing the Yalu River, the Japanese army encountered only a little resistance. They followed the march route six years ago and easily occupied Dandong, Zhuanghe, Kuandian, Xiuyan and other places. The main force of the Korean garrison went straight to the city of Liaoyang. Here, the Japanese army encountered real resistance.

The Japanese squadron at the front was eager to make a contribution, so they charged with rifles without waiting for the troops behind them to catch up. They shouted the slogan "It's dark, load the cards!" and excitedly rushed into Liaoyang City, and then fell into the ambush of the Russians.

The Russian army had been fighting the Chinese in western Liaoning for more than a year, and was often ambushed by the People's Army. The Russians had learned a little from the many losses they had suffered. Several heavy machine guns fired wildly at the area inside the city gate, and the dense fire net killed more than 30 Japanese soldiers. The remaining Japanese soldiers were so frightened that they could only lie on the ground and fight back.

The power of the heavy machine gun is amazing. Even if you hide inside a room or behind a wall, you will be shot to death.

The Russians used up a belt of ammunition and did not even bother to replace it, but launched a hand-to-hand charge. The Japanese soldiers lying on the ground got up and fought under the command of the sergeants and corporals. The hand-to-hand combat lasted less than ten minutes before the outcome was decided. The Japanese army was defeated, and the squadron that rushed into the city became a small team and fled back in panic.

Chapter 195 Slow Down

Since the Japanese army failed to capture Liaoyang in the first place, the war inevitably became protracted. In recent years, military technology has been developing rapidly. The Americans are replacing their weapons, and the Japanese are the same. After they received a huge amount of war reparations, they began the plan to replace their weapons.

However, Japan's financial resources were too limited, and the number of troops was too large, so the speed of changing equipment was very slow. It was not until the Fifth Division was almost annihilated that the Japanese army accelerated the speed of changing equipment. They replaced new rifles, and because they suffered a great loss in North China in the Gengzi Year, they also increased the number of heavy machine guns in the army and equipped the soldiers with some grenades.

The intellectual community is concerned about the various policies implemented by the Chinese, while the military is more concerned about the equipment of the Chinese army. The German army is equipped with many heavy machine guns. Even the "teacher" did so, so the Japanese naturally followed suit. Previously, the military leaders and generals were opposed to equipping heavy machine guns, mainly because they were too wasteful of bullets.

The Junker nobles in the German military were also opposed to equipping heavy machine guns. It was Kaiser Wilhelm II who paid for the equipment. The reason why the German generals opposed it was the same as the Japanese. The heavy machine guns were not shooting bullets, but spewing money! Other countries such as Britain and France were not too fond of heavy machine guns. Even though the great powers suffered a great loss in North China, they did not pay much attention to heavy machine guns.

In addition to being too expensive, there is another reason: "heavy machine guns" are really heavy and it is difficult to keep up with the speed of infantry. When "offensive" tactics are popular all over the world, it is understandable that heavy machine guns are not taken seriously. Weapons and equipment are not only weapons and equipment, nor are they just a matter of tactical choice. They also involve many interests. Japan had warlords, and so did Germany. The Junker aristocracy firmly grasped the military power and would never give outsiders the opportunity to get involved.

The Japanese military used to think that it would be enough to recruit a few more soldiers. What heavy machine guns were needed? The rural areas of Japan were full of poor young men. A stamp worth a few cents could recruit an infantryman. If one was not enough, then ten would be recruited!

The reason why the "heavy machine gun is useless" theory appears is mainly because of poverty. The royal family, nobles, chaebols, and warlords took too much of the profits, so there was less money to be spent on updating machines and military equipment? This is also related to the tradition of the Japanese. They just like to do things in a small way, and they are very stingy when doing anything.

However, the shock brought by the destruction of the Fifth Division was too great. Even the most stubborn guys had to admit that heavy machine guns were really useful, and grenades were also very useful. Those in the military did not admit that the policies implemented by the North China government were good, but the improvement of the Chinese army's combat effectiveness was seen by the top leaders, so they could only find some other reasons.

After the introduction of heavy machine guns and hand grenades, the firepower of the Japanese army was improved, but its mobility was greatly reduced. Many generals were still indifferent to these evil ways.

I don't think so, and I think spirit is more important than weapons. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese army defeated the Huai Army and the Beiyang Army with outdated weapons. In the war last year, the Chinese, armed with outdated weapons, defeated the well-equipped Eight-Nation Alliance.

Heavy machine guns are fine, but they cannot be relied upon. As for the Fifth Division incident, it is also easy to explain. Yamaguchi Motoomi was corrupt and degenerate, and he deviated from the spirit of Bushido!

The Korean garrison troops entered Liaodong again with this idea in mind. They left their cannons, heavy machine guns and other equipment behind, and relied on infantry and cavalry to advance quickly, reaching the city of Liaoyang in one fell swoop. After the investigation, they hit a wall.

The main force of the Russian army was led by Grand Duke Nicholas to fight the Chinese. After the defeat, Grand Duke Nicholas was in danger. Half of the remaining troops were sent to rescue the Grand Duke, but more than 10,000 troops and a lot of cannons were still left in the city.

After the Japanese failed in their first attack on Liaoyang, they launched several more attacks, but all ended in failure because they had no heavy weapons support. The Japanese generals had no choice but to wait for the artillery behind them to come up. Grenades are very useful in battle, but they are ultimately no match for howitzers.

The attack on Liaoyang was not successful, and the attack on Lushun was also unsuccessful. The army was not interested in Lushun, thinking that it was the navy's business, and only sent a regiment to cooperate with the navy. It cannot be said that the army was perfunctory. According to the experience of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, one regiment was more than enough to capture Lushun.

However, the Russian troops stationed in Lushun were not the same as Li Hongzhang's Huai Army. The attack on Lushun by the army regiment and navy sailors was met with a fierce counterattack from the beginning. The Russian soldiers stationed on the mountain used heavy machine guns to knock down the Japanese troops one by one, and also modified the mines and rolled them down the hillside, causing the Japanese to die and suffer terribly.

The land attack failed to achieve a breakthrough, and the Japanese navy did not dare to rush into Port Arthur to take over the port and its equipment. As long as a few heavy guns were set up on the mountain, it would pose a great threat to the warships in the port. Because of the pitch angle of the warship, there was no way to deal with the enemy on the top of the mountain, and the only way to solve the problem was to rely on infantry.

The problem is that the infantry failed to solve...

Damn the army idiots! The navy generals cursed behind their backs, unanimously believing that the army didn’t want the navy to steal the limelight, so they didn’t work hard during the battle and dragged their feet around Lushun.

But the Japanese are very stubborn. If they can't take it down once, they will try again! If they don't have enough troops, they will send more troops. If the firepower is insufficient, they will bring more heavy weapons. The army has already reached Liaoyang City and will occupy it soon. The navy cannot fall behind!

The Korean garrison downplayed the defeat at Liaoyang, only boasting that they had occupied a large area of Liaodong, so that the headquarters and the navy thought that the army was progressing well and would soon sweep across the entire Northeast. Well, this is very Japanese.

When the Japanese army encountered setbacks in Liaoyang and Lushun, the People's Army had just finished fighting on the west bank of the Liaohe River. Marshal Lin saw the Japanese army attacking cities and strongholds in Liaodong, and also saw the Russian army's persistence in Liaoyang. If the Russian army was defeated, he would not mind leading his troops across the Liaohe River and killing the Russians.

We were fighting the Russians before, and it doesn't matter if we fight the Japanese in the future. But since the Russians are still capable of fighting, we should stop while we are ahead. The Russian army suffered heavy losses, and the People's Army also suffered heavy losses, and a lot of weapons, equipment and ammunition were consumed. Last year, North China was a sea of blood and corpses, and this year there was another major battle in Liaodong. The two great victories certainly boosted the Chinese people's morale, but they also consumed a lot of the vitality of the People's Government.

It's not impossible to continue fighting, and it's no problem to grit your teeth and fight for another year or two, but look at the situation in the east, west, south, and north. In the northwest, Britain and Russia are eyeing them covetously, and there are also Hui people who are not content. In the north, the Mongols are vying for independence, and in the south, the Nationalist government and the military government are rapidly expanding their military forces. There is no place to worry about.

Is it really okay to continue fighting? If you can, you should slow down for a while.

So Marshal Lin released another Russian officer, indicating that he would not cross the Liaohe River to launch an attack in a short time, and was willing to return some seriously wounded Russian soldiers to General Nicholas.

Chapter 196 Good Luck

"Damn Chinese, they want to deceive us again!"

"We won't be fooled!"

"Prepare the soldiers for battle!"

Lin Yongchang showed goodwill, but Russians are not baboons. Even if Russians are really white baboons, they will learn their lesson after being fooled once. The Chinese just performed a trick a dozen hours ago, and now they want to do it again. It's really abominable.

Nicholas Romanov stopped the officers' meaningless abuse and said, "Gentlemen, the situation is now very clear. We are attacked from both sides. What else can we do except trust the Chinese? If the Japanese and Chinese come together..."

He made a gesture of clasping his hands together, "Then we have no choice but to surrender."

Someone shouted: "We can retreat to Vladivostok!"