At 2 pm, the two people's army launched an attack on the main position of the Japanese army's Shaling Fort.

Although Harukami Tooya wanted to fight to the death, the Japanese army's general situation was already desperate at this time and irreversible. The People's Army first concentrated its firepower and launched a fierce artillery strike on the Japanese positions with 18 towing artillery and 2 self-propelled artillery as the core. Then other artillery fired one after another. In just 20 minutes, more than 20 o'clock shots were poured into the Japanese positions, almost covering the entire Japanese position, and most of the fortifications built by the Japanese army were destroyed.

Then the People's Army launched an attack on Shaling Fort. Although the Japanese army fought to the death, many Japanese soldiers chose to die with the People's Army soldiers to stop the People's Army's attack, but it was still difficult to prevent the positions from being captured by the People's Army bit by bit. Each key point was captured by the People's Army one by one, and the Japanese positions gradually decreased. At 4 pm, Mao Qian's position had been compressed by the People's Army to less than 20%. Seeing that the situation of the battle was decided, Toya Mitsuru had to order the retreat from the position and move to the northeast.

During the retreat, the Japanese army was pursued by the People's Army, and suffered heavy losses. Moreover, the Japanese army in several positions could not retreat in time and was surrounded by the People's Army. They were either completely annihilated by the People's Army or captured. By 6:15 pm, the battle was basically over and the People's Army completely occupied Shaling Fort.

The entire battle lasted for two days, and the People's Army achieved a comprehensive victory and completely got rid of the unfavorable situation of attacking on both sides.

In fact, when the People's Army concentrated its troops and attacked Shaling Fort with all its might, the Japanese army also gathered troops to attack Liaozhong. During this attack, the Japanese army gathered a division, three brigades, a cavalry corps, and a corps that would be reorganized after Liaozhong lost, with a total force of about 42,000.

The main general is still the commander of the Fourth Army, General Notsu Daokuen. Because among the generals of the Japanese Army, Notsu Daokuen was one of the generals who were more capable and experienced in the past, the commander of the Manchurian Army, Oyama Iwa, believed that he should give Notsu Daokuen a chance to prove himself. At this time, the situation in Lushun had deteriorated, and Nogi Hidun was ready to die for his country. If the Japanese army wanted to save the current situation, then the Liaohe battle must be won. Only by blocking the People's Army on the west bank of the Liaohe River can the Japanese army have the spare strength to gather troops to recover Lushun.

To block the People's Army on the west bank of the Liaohe River, it is necessary to recover Liaozhong and defeat the People's Army that has killed Liaohe River. Nozin Daokuen was considered by Oyama Iron to be the most suitable candidate to recover Liaozhong except for Oyama Iron Taro. Although he lost Liaozhong and allowed the People's Army to break through the Japanese army's Liaohe defense line, Oyama Iron also knew that this could not be blamed on Nozin Daokuen. Moreover, Oyama Iron Taro is now the chief of staff of the Manchu Army Command, and he has the responsibility to be responsible for overall operations. It is impossible to send him to command a local battlefield, so he can only use Nozin Daokuen in the end.

In fact, Notsu Daokuen was also full of anger because among the Japanese generals, he has always been known for his good at attacking attacks, but the main responsibility for defending the Liaohe defense line is defense, and it is also an extremely passive type. He can only wait for the People's Army to launch an attack on the Liaohe River. Even the main attack is to attack instead of defense. This simple value is to let Notsu Daokuen abandon the long and use the short. Therefore, in the past few days, Notsu Daokuen complained to Oyama Iwaki, saying that he was completely bound to fight with his siblings. If the domestic approval of his proposed combat plan to actively attack the west bank of the Liaohe River and annihilate the People's Army, there would be no failure of the Liaohe River.

After learning that he was appointed as the commander of the attack on Liaozhong, Notsu Daokuan was also very happy and thought that he had finally had the opportunity to avenge his previous shame and justify himself. Of course, Notsu Daokuan was also very clear that he had also embarked on a path of no return at the same time, because the battle against Liaozhong could only succeed but not fail. Once this battle failed, Nogi Hinokuan, who was determined to sacrifice his country in Lushun, would be his role model, and maybe he would still be loyal to Japan in front of Nogi Hinokuan.

Of course, Notsu Dao Kan still had full confidence in this battle, because the Japanese army now had the advantage of attacking the People's Army in two lines. Although there was only one division stationed in Shaling Fort, it could have enough constraining effect on the People's Army after all.

But on the way to attack Liaozhong, Notsu Dokun received a telegram from Lieutenant General Toya Mitsuharu, the commander of the 11th Division who was stationed in Shaling Fort. Only then did he know that the People's Army had already concentrated two divisions and two regiments of troops to attack Shaling Fort. Toya Mitsuharu had retreated to Shaling Fort to guard it, and suggested that Notsu Dokun should take advantage of the current empty troops in Liaozhong to conquer Liaozhong as soon as possible.

After reading the telegram, Notsu Dokan immediately sent a scout to reconnaissance and quickly confirmed that the report of Toya Mitsuharu was correct. The main force of the People's Army indeed went to attack Shaling Fort. There was only one division and one regiment guarding Liaozhong, and there was another division stationed on the west bank of the Liao River. All of them were less than 30,000. It was said that they were all second-line troops. Therefore, Toya Mitsuharu's suggestion was indeed very implementable. Simply put, both the Japanese and the People's Army now used the "upward chi vs. Zhongchi" strategy, so victory depends on which side's main force first defeated the opponent's left-behind army and captured the opponent's position.

Of course, there was no other choice for Notsu Dokan. Although the Japanese army had the advantage of attacking the People's Army in two lines, it could be said that the People's Army divided the Japanese army into two parts and had the advantage of the inside line. Therefore, the Japanese army had no initiative in choosing the style of play. So Notsu Dokan immediately ordered Tooya Harukami to guard at Shaling Fort for three days, and at the same time ordered to recruit his own staff and staff, the commanders of the famous division and brigade to formulate a combat plan to attack Liaozhong. Of course, it was also to issue a death order to conquer Liaozhong, and to conquer Liaozhong within three days. At the same time, in order to restrain the People's Army in western Liaoxi and prevent it from supporting Liaozhong's defenders, Notsu Dokan ordered a brigade to cross the river in the upper reaches of the Liaohe River and fight against the west bank of the Liaohe River.

At this time, Chief of Staff, Major General Uehara, made a suggestion to Notsu Daoguan. That is, the People's Army only arranged a division to guard the west bank of the Liao River, it would be better to send 2-3 brigades and cavalry gangs across the Liao River, and then disperse the troops, siege cities and land in the western Liaoning area, burn, kill and loot, create chaos, and even attack the People's Army's logistics and replenishment line, or attack Jinzhou. The western Liaoning is the rear of the People's Army, and the People's Army must not ignore it. Therefore, the main forces of the People's Army will inevitably withdraw all the forces to Liaoxi to pursue and block the Japanese army. This will not only relieve the danger of Shaling Fort, but also the Japanese army can take the opportunity to recover Liaozhong.

Although this plan comes at the expense of the Japanese army crossing the river, because the army crossing the river must be surrounded and blocked by the People's Army and fight in the other side's territory, even if it can retreat to the east bank of the Liao River, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses. However, the determination to recover Liaozhong is extremely high. Strategically, it can be restored to the situation where the two sides fought each other through the Liao River before the People's Army joined the war. Uehara Yuzusa believed it was worth a try.

After thinking about it for a while, Notsu Dokan decided to refute the suggestion made by Uehara. The reason is that the plan is too complicated, with too many variables, and too risky. What if the People's Army ignores the Japanese army crossing the Liaohe River? It is not that easy to attack the People's Army's logistics and supplementary line. It turns out that in order to figure out how the People's Army brought the naval guns to land for use, after the fall of Liaozhong, Notsu Dokan also sent a large number of scouts and intelligence personnel. It was finally understood that the People's Army was equipped with a weapon called an armored train, and the naval guns were installed on the armored train.

Notsu Dokun is a man who has experienced many battles. He understood at first glance that this so-called armored train can actually be understood as moving the navy's warships from sea to land. It just depends on the railway tracks. Notsu Dokun can also imagine that such an armored train is extremely powerful. No wonder the artillery range of overseas Chinese will be so far. And he couldn't help but sigh that overseas Chinese are so smart that they came up with such a way. If the Japanese army had such weapons, the early battle with the Russian army would have been much easier. Now, it would have been completely defeated. Not to mention Shenyang, I am afraid that even Heilongjiang would be taken down. There will be a conflict with the Russian army there, and it will not give overseas Chinese a chance to send troops.

Fortunately, armored trains must rely on rails to move, so there is nothing in Liaodong except along the Liao River. However, when entering western Liaoning, they will inevitably face the People's Army's armored trains. How many armored trains did the People's Army carry in total? How many soldiers did it take to defeat an armored train? Notsu Dokun was not sure about this.

Of course, in addition to the armored train, Notsu Dokan also believes that Uehara Yoshita's role in western Liaoning is too high. Now the People's Army does regard western Liaoning as its logistics base, but now the People's Army is easy to capture Lushun. Once the People's Army takes Lushun, it will obtain a permanent logistics base in the Liaodong area. The role of western Liaoning will inevitably be greatly reduced. Moreover, after the People's Army conquered Shaling Fort, it can immediately lead its troops south to capture Yingkou, so that it can obtain the estuary of the Liaohe River. Even if Jinzhou is lost, it can also ensure logistics support in Liaodong.

Because there are too many variables and too many risks in this plan, Notsu Dokan finally decided to adopt relatively stable tactics. Notsu Dokan believes that even if he adopts stable tactics, he will have at least 60% or 70% of the confidence, so there is no need to take risks.
Chapter completed!