Chapter 69: Meat Grinder

  Notsu no Michizane, who was preparing to attack, had no idea what kind of terrifying firepower he would face. In fact, he was worried about his logistics supply, not that there were no supplies, but the Japanese could guarantee the supply for two divisions on the front line, even though they were not rich. The key was that it couldn't be transported over, and those Koreans were too difficult to deal with. Not only did they run into the mountains and refuse to help him, but they also ambushed him along the way, which was simply infuriating. Didn't they know that the Imperial Army had come to liberate them?

  Because he couldn't capture Minamoto no Yoshitsune, one of his logistics officers was so ashamed that he actually committed seppuku.

  So before the dawn attack, he could only give each soldier a rice ball and a piece of salted fish, then let them charge towards the Qing army's position under the cover of sporadic artillery fire and led by their respective officers.

  However, looking at the Qing army's position in front of him, he suddenly felt a sense of confusion, as if he hadn't seen anyone. Instead, there were some low and small mounds like small earth piles, with what seemed to be cave entrances in front, followed by some short walls that were less than one foot high. They wouldn't have built such a low bunker, would they? That's just ridiculous.

  At the same time, on a mountain peak opposite him, Zhang Gaoyuan was holding a monocular telescope looking at the Japanese army below. Although he left behind an inglorious record of losing Qingdao in history, this guy was actually one of the few fierce generals in the late Huai Army, Liu Mingchuan's number one fighter. Whether it was in Taiwan's resistance against France or suppression of the indigenous people, they were all bloody-handed, and even on the battlefield of the First Sino-Japanese War, his Xungwu Army was one of the few Qing armies that dared to engage in close combat with the Japanese army, including this commander himself.

  However, the first time he clashed with the Japanese army, he was still surprised by this army, because even on the French army, he had never seen such a neat attack, of course, this was good for him.

  "Fire!" he shouted coldly, and the orderly beside him waved a small flag. The twelve Krupp 75mm field guns and twenty Bofors 82mm mortars on the artillery position immediately opened fire on the attacking Japanese army. These were all top-of-the-line equipment, with the Krupp guns being slightly inferior, but the Bofors 82mm mortars were equipped with tungsten cores. Moreover, the Qing army's artillery technology was not bad at all, and their infantry marksmanship was also good in training, but on the battlefield, amidst the hail of bullets, they would get nervous and their shots would go astray. This problem didn't exist for the artillery.

  With a terrifying density, the shells that kept bursting in the attacking troops made Notsu's mouth twitch involuntarily. He finally understood why Oshima Yoshimasa had been defeated one after another. This was not war, it was just throwing money away. In this thunderous sound like summer thunder, the bronze cannons in his hands were simply shameful.

  But what comforted him was that his soldiers were still very brave, despite the shells bursting around them, despite the fragments of their comrades falling on them from time to time, and despite not having seen the enemy yet, they were still running forward in a daze under the leadership of the officer with white gloves and a shining military sword. After leaving behind countless bodies, they finally ran to a position several hundred meters away from that low wall.

  At this time, they still did not come under attack.

  "Charge, for the Emperor, for the Empire!" An officer raised his sword and shouted excitedly. At this moment, a dull cowhide war drum suddenly sounded, and the officer was stunned. Almost at the same time, flames burst out of that small mound in front of him.

  At this moment, the poor guy was cut in half amidst flying blood and flesh.

  The next moment, all the Japanese soldiers felt what hell was like. On their front line, Zhang Gaoyuan had arranged eight Madsen heavy machine guns, with four grenade launchers in between, and two Hotchkiss five-barreled cannons and dozens of small-caliber cannons hidden inside the fortifications. These killing machines poured bullets and shells into the Japanese troops like a stormy rain, and the densely formed Japanese troops, still advancing in this era's style, were like a field of sorghum knocked down by a bulldozer, with corpses falling to the ground in waves.

  At this moment, the Qing army soldiers hiding in the trenches also opened fire. Although it was their first experience on such a battlefield, they couldn't help but feel a little nervous. However, seeing the enemy struggling in blood and fire, while they only needed to slightly raise their heads and pull the trigger to claim a life, their tense emotions quickly subsided at the fastest speed. The level of training began to play out gradually, and the number of Japanese soldiers killed or wounded under their guns began to increase gradually.

  Moreover, Zhang Gaoyuan's battalion was also equipped with the Yang Feng version of the Lee-Enfield rifle. This thing doesn't need to be said much, dozens of them concentrated together, and the rate of fire is basically similar to that of a heavy machine gun. What's more, there are thousands of them here, plus those using tubular magazines firing Mausers, the firepower density made Lieutenant General Nogi Maresuke's heart skip a beat from afar.

  Watching his soldiers being mercilessly shot down by the invisible enemies in front of him like dogs, his heart was bleeding, but at this moment he absolutely could not retreat, as the outcome of war often depends on the last moment.

  "Charge, charge, now is the time to show your courage! For the Emperor, for the future of the Empire, with your swords, with your blood, with your lives, for your descendants, create an immortal era!" Notsu Dogen swung his military sword, ignoring the guards' attempts to stop him, and shouted as he ran forward.

  At such a distance, it is estimated that the soldiers in front will not hear, but fortunately those officers have not collapsed, and the obedience of Japanese soldiers has also been demonstrated at this time. Although the bullets are whistling in front, although their companions are falling down one by one beside them, they still hold up the bayonet-equipped rifles, with the blood-stimulated killing intent, struggling forward, and then being torn apart by machine gun bullets without any suspense. In a very short period of time, an attack on the Japanese army appeared in front, and a strip of blood-soaked bodies emerged.

  Zhang Gaoyuan's current firepower density, even if it were to be used in World War II, would still be effective. Moreover, the Japanese army had not yet learned the true meaning of dispersed combat, and they did not have machine gun cover behind them. His tactics, which combined machine guns with trench warfare but lacked barbed wire, could now be said to be a meat grinder, something he himself had not anticipated.

  As for the barbed wire, Li Hongzhang was indeed buying it, but since it needed to be ordered from the United States, it would take some time to arrive. As for the armaments engineer at Krupp, Li Ergezi basically listened to him and followed his advice, unaware that this engineer was also an employee of the Ambrella Corporation. This defensive tactic using barbed wire and machine guns had been explained by Yang Dabang many times when he was impersonating a military expert, and his mission was to slowly teach it to the Huai Army.

  The battle on the front line ended quickly, and although the Japanese soldiers were obedient, they weren't fools. When they realized that their attack would only result in death without any gain, no one could continue to hold on. They retreated like a tide before even reaching the hand grenade's attacking distance. This left Zhang Gaoyuan somewhat unsatisfied, knowing that each of his soldiers still had at least ten hand grenades. Li Hongzhang not only purchased machine guns but also bought 100,000 hand grenades from the Bofors company, which had just arrived. He even began to have the Beiyang Machinery Bureau imitate these things, replacing the phosphorus with nitrocellulose.

  Notsu Michihiro, the middle general, sat on the ground with a painful expression, leaning on his military sword. In this battle, he had already lost more than a thousand men. Looking at those listless and demoralized soldiers, he knew that they were already afraid, and this fear would ferment over time. As a general, he was not afraid of losing many soldiers, what he truly feared was that his own soldiers would be destroyed by terror.

  At the same time as his attack on this side failed, the Japanese army that launched a diversionary attack from the south also failed, but because it was not the main direction of attack, they retreated relatively quickly and suffered only over 200 casualties.

  While the direction of the welcome post station, Daisho Gicho did not even dare to launch an attack. He was frightened and severely lacking in ammunition because all the supplies that came with the 6th Brigade were destroyed by the Beiyang Navy's bombardment of Incheon. Now, it's not just him, even the Hanseong Japanese military didn't have enough ammunition. Before the supplies arrived at Wonsan, each of his soldiers had less than ten bullets, let alone attacking, they were nervous about defending.

  This also allowed him to avoid being entangled in the meat grinder, knowing that Nie Shi Cheng, who was facing him, had also transformed his defense line in the same way, and the number of machine guns in his hands was not less than Zhang Gaoyuan's.

  When Li Hongzhang learned of the news that the Tiananmen Chapter had defeated the Japanese army, he was in Tianjin welcoming the Ryukyu prince who came to pay homage, and mainly to visit the Flying Eagle destroyer. When this warship carried him out of the Dagu mouth at a speed of 36 knots, Li's eyeballs almost popped out.

  "Captain Anderson, what is a battleship like this worth?" he asked, suppressing his excitement to the captain standing beside him.

  "Your Excellency, the warship itself is not expensive, what's valuable are the two diesel engines and those six steam-powered torpedoes. At their normal selling price in Europe, just these items would be worth ￡140,000, with each engine costing ￡40,000 and each torpedo ￡10,000," Anderson said.

  Li Hongzhang took a deep breath in shock, this is even more expensive than a cruiser.

  "Of course, Governor, the price of this thing is entirely up to Mr. Yang's word, if you have something suitable for exchange, it's even possible to give it to you for free." Anderson said with deep meaning.

  "I don't know what Governor Yang likes," said Li Hongzhang.

  "You'll have to ask him yourself then." Anderson shrugged.