Just as the battle of the Japanese West Sea Fleet attacking the Chinese Navy in Shuri Port started, the 50,000 Japanese troops led by Takahashi Suo also launched a raid on the Chinese Shence Army outside Shuri. ☆→☆→,

The sound of cannons was roaring and deafening.

The Japanese army assembled 200 artillery pieces to bombard the Shence Army camp. The officers and soldiers of the 12th Town were responsible for defending the camp. Relying on reinforced concrete fortifications, they stood firm and prevented the Japanese army from advancing.

Under the night, artillery fire shone everywhere, and gunfire was densely filled with rain.

What is particularly conspicuous is the machine gun bunker position of the Chinese Shence Army. The Gatling machine guns fired outward from the bunker shooting port, killing the Japanese army that launched the charge and falling down one by one.

The Japanese army first saw a huge killer like the Gatling machine gun. As expected, as the legendary, it was extremely cruel and known as the meat grinder on the battlefield of Songhu.

"Bastard!" Takahashi Sheng was so angry that he shivered. He replaced several commanders in a row and launched more than a dozen attacks in a row, but it was still useless. Instead, it caused a large number of soldiers on his side to be killed and injured.

"Stack all the artillery fire to the enemy's bunkers!"

"But in this way, the enemy's artillery fire will not be suppressed!"

"I can't care about so much. I must eliminate the Chinese Shence Army as soon as possible. I always feel that the sound of fighting on the harbor is wrong!"

Takahashi looked over the harbor and saw artillery fire everywhere, but he had heard the sound of Japanese ships firing. Now more of the sound of gunfire are unfamiliar with him, which shows that the Chinese Navy's firepower is dominant.

"If the navy is defeated, our army will have no way out. If we cannot defeat the Chinese Shence Army camp, we will be even more passive!"

"The artillery fire of the Chinese Shence Army is too fierce. If we do not have artillery support, the losses will be greater!"

After repeated research, Takahashi finally gave up the transfer of artillery to bombard the machine gun bunkers of the Chinese Shence Army, and instead adopted a new tactic of artificially carrying slag medicine bags to blow up the bunkers.

A group of Japanese samurai who were loyal to the Emperor acted as suicide squads and carried the slag bags to crawl towards the bunkers in the distance.

Since it was nighttime and the shooting sight was limited, this gave the Japanese samurai a chance. Soon the machine gun bunkers of the Shence Army were blown up one after another.

However, in order to cover the Japanese warriors' bombing of bunkers, the Japanese army launched fierce attacks, with countless casualties.

Almost a machine gun bunker would be replaced by hundreds or even thousands of Japanese soldiers. This battle loss ratio was so angry that Takahashi Jun was so angry that he was about to vomit blood.

When the commander of the 12th town saw the machine gun bunkers being destroyed, he not only was not afraid, but instead showed a more mysterious sneer.

"Order the front-line troops to abandon the peripheral positions and alternately cover the retreat. Stick to the second-line positions!"

The Shence Army then alternately covered the cover and quickly retreated to the second-tier position, giving up the first-tier position.

Soon, the Japanese army occupied the front line of positions, and Takahashi Jung in the rear was immediately overjoyed, and his intention, who had originally wanted to give up, immediately became excited.

"Occurrence! Attack! The first soldier who attacked was promoted to three levels, and the first one hundred soldiers who rushed in were rewarded with ten silver dollars!"

There must be brave men under heavy rewards. Takahashi's rewards stimulated the nerves of the Japanese soldiers, making them quickly forget the dangers of the battlefield, and rushed forward with screams.

The Chinese Shence Army continued to rely on anti-shock wave positions made of reinforced concrete to block the attack. The Gatling machine guns spit out fire, constantly shooting and killing the Japanese army, sweeping a large area, as easy as cutting wheat.

The battle became more and more intense, and the Japanese army became more and more crazy.

Logically speaking, the Chinese Shence Army had two towns of troops, with a total of 54 artillery pieces, but at this moment only 125 cannons and 155 heavy howitzers were fighting back, while the 75mm infantry cannons did not move.

It turned out that Zhang Qiang thought that if he used equipment to crush the Japanese army from the beginning, it would inevitably make the Japanese army frightened. He would not dare to attack again or turn around and run away directly.

This is not in line with Zhang Qiang's fighting character. He likes to encircle and annihilate, so he discusses with the division commander of the 12th town. The 12th town stays in the military camp to attract Japanese firepower, while Zhang Qiang takes the Second Town to carry all the light 75 infantry artillery to circumvent the route, cut off the Japanese supply line from the side and rear, and then attacks forward and backward to annihilate all the 50,000 Japanese troops.

When the Japanese army occupied the front-line position and launched a charge towards the second-line position, they suddenly found a dense machine gun fire from the back slope.

Dada dada dada dada...

In the back slope castle, five Gatling machine guns spit out fire tongues, shooting the Japanese army from the flank, forming a cross-fire network with the machine gun fire of the second-line Shence Army.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of Japanese troops were fired by this crossfire and fell down one by one, blood flowing into a river.

"asshole!"

"I was actually ambushed again!"

Takahashi, who was watching the game behind, bit his tongue and lips so angry that he bit his tongue and lips, and blood flowed. Combined with his hideous face, it looked particularly terrifying in the darkness.

"Retreat quickly!"

When the Japanese army retreated, Takahashi did not launch another attack, but instead counted the casualties. The 50,000 Japanese troops he brought have now more than half of them were injured or killed.

Whether to continue the attack, Takahashi didn't speak, and a group of officers were waiting for news about the port.

Soon, the Japanese troops sent to the port came back to report that the West Sea Fleet was wiped out.

Upon hearing this news, the Japanese army was in panic. Without the navy, they would hang alone in Ryukyu Island overseas and wait for death.

“Retreat now!”

"Banhara Brigade was cut off from the rear!"

Takahashi made a decision without hesitation.

However, just as the Japanese army began to retreat one after another, artillery fire suddenly spread across the back, and the second town finally walked around the back of the Japanese army and launched a raid.

The Japanese soldiers were panicked and wanted to retreat back to Shuli as soon as possible, but they were suddenly attacked in the rear and chaos broke out for a while.

The second town of the Shence Army is an elite among the elite Chinese army. It has strong combat power and good weapons and equipment. In addition, it suddenly launched an attack. The Japanese army's leading unit was the Nagoya Brigade, but it was defeated by the second town of the Shence Army in less than ten minutes.

On the other hand, the Twelve Towns of the Shence Army also launched a counterattack at the agreed time. Although Banyuan Brigade was prepared, the group was destroyed within ten minutes.

Takahashi ordered all troops to defend on the spot, but the entire army was in chaos. The soldiers only wanted to escape. Only hundreds of people around him could obey Takahashi's orders.

The Shen Ce Army attacked forward and backward, with a force of unstoppable force.

Relying on his equipment advantages and proper use of military tactics, after half an hour of fierce fighting, he finally cleared out the resistance of the Japanese army. When he caught Takahashi, he was so angry that he vomited blood that Sanli was squirting his braids.

By noon the next day, sporadic gunfire finally ended. Fifty thousand Japanese troops were wiped out.

The gate of Shuri slowly opened, and Shangtai appeared on the top of the city in fear. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Chinese Shence Army was coming triumphantly. He hurriedly left the city to greet him.

Yu Tao and Zhang Qiang handled the navy and army matters respectively, and then led troops into the city together.

The mighty and majestic Chinese Shence Army paraded in Shuri City and accepted congratulations from the people of Ryukyu.

Celebration banquets are naturally indispensable, but Shang Tai still secretly met Yu Tao and Zhang Qiang before and asked about the meaning of ****.

"As a vassal state of the empire, Ryukyu can only pay tribute to the empire in the future. Ryukyu's military command and diplomatic command will only be commanded by the imperial government in the future, and the King of Ryukyu has no right to interfere anymore. However, the imperial government will retain the title of King of Ryukyu. Without affecting the decrees issued by the imperial government, the King of Ryukyu still has administrative jurisdiction over Ryukyu."

First beat Shangtai and then give him a sweet date.

Sure enough, Shangtai was ashamed when he heard the first half of the sentence, but when he heard that he was still the King of Ryukyu and had administrative jurisdiction over Ryukyu, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. This was much more relaxed than the Japanese, because Japan completely annexed Ryukyu and imprisoned the Shangtai royal family in Edo forever. On the contrary, although the Chinese government also annexed Ryukyu, it at least ensured the interests of Shangtai himself and his family. The two rights were less important, Shangtai immediately accepted this condition.

The two sides agreed on the terms, so the following celebration banquet became much easier, and both sides were very happy, but the pro-Japanese officials were all frightened. Because their backers were defeated, the fate waiting for them would inevitably be bleak.

After the celebration, Zhang Qiang obtained evidence from Shangtai and pro-China officials and began a major purge. Any pro-Japanese faction will be dismissed and punished. The mild ones will be demoted to common people, and the severe ones will be shot, and there is no choice to go to jail.

The takeover work of Ryukyu various places began quickly, and all Japanese were not welcomed and forced to expel them, otherwise they would be imprisoned in concentration camps.

On the third day, the news came back to Shanghai. Li Weiguo finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Ryukyu was brought back, and the Japanese West Sea Fleet was completely destroyed except for the escape of the Izumi ship.

Ryukyu King Shangtai will go to Beijing in a month to accept the title of the Chinese emperor, so Li Weiguo had to end this southern tour and return to Beijing.

At the same time, the 39th town of the Chinese Shence Army has successfully entered the Ili area (Xinjiang), the 40th town has entered Ulyasutai (Outer Mongolia), the 41st town has entered Ulanqab (Inner Mongolia), the 42nd town has entered Krausu (Tibet), and the 43th town has successfully stationed in Xihairut (Qinghai).

Since Tibet has nominally agreed to be under the jurisdiction of the central government, the 42nd Town entered Krausu without being blocked. After all, the Central Army came under the banner of preventing Russian invasion, so local forces in Tibet could not refute and could only watch the imperial army entering Tibet.

However, although the officers and soldiers of the 42nd Town were mentally prepared, the altitude sickness was still very strong. Not long after arriving in Tibet, more than a thousand officers and soldiers fell ill and were immediately transferred from Tibet. At the same time, troops were drawn from other places to replenish them.

Fortunately, it is a peaceful solution to Tibet. If it is a war, local Tibetan forces only need to fight guerrilla warfare to drag down the Chinese Shence Army.

Li Weiguo was still very grateful to have received this news. Thanks to his final choice to resolve the Tibet issue peacefully, otherwise he would have had a headache.

On the day Li Weiguo returned to the capital, the 39th town in Xinjiang also sent back the first letter of victory.

The battle report was still the same as ten days ago.

After the Thirty-Nine Towns entered Xinjiang, with the cooperation of the local Yili General, they first lifted the siege of Kurhalausu, severely damaged part of the Tsarist Russian Seventh Ranger Regiment, and wiped out more than 800 enemies.

Then the 39 towns marched towards Yili City, and fought fiercely with the main force of the Tsarist Russian Seventh Ranger in Ningyuan City for three days and three nights. In the end, the 39 towns destroyed the Ningyuan wall with 155 mm heavy howitzers. The Tsarist Russian Seventh Ranger was killed and injured, and was forced to abandon Ningyuan and retreat to Yili City.

In this battle, the Chinese Shence Army suffered more than 600 casualties and killed more than 3,000 enemies. Due to the huge ammunition consumption, the logistics supply could not be kept up, so they could only defend Ningyuan and the Russian army, waiting for logistics supply.

In the northwest war, especially in the era of hot weapons, logistics must keep up, otherwise even if the war is won, they have to give up occupation. The Sino-Indian border war back then was because logistics could not keep up, and they had to retreat even if they win.

Now Li Weiguo also knows that the northwest road is difficult and logistics transportation is very difficult, especially for the 155mm heavy howitzer used by the Shence Army, the transportation of weapons and ammunition is very heavy. Even if there is truck support, there are few roads suitable for truck driving, and most of them have to be pulled by mules and horses.

The railways in the Northwest must be built as soon as possible. If they are opened to traffic one day earlier, the central government can strengthen its control over the Northwest region one day earlier. Otherwise, the risk will be one day later.

This is also one of the reasons why Li Weiguo was unwilling to go to a full-scale war with Tsarist Russia in the northwest at this time. He only sent a town of troops to recover the Yili area because it was because it was going to go to a full-scale war with Tsarist Russia there. It would be useless if there were too many troops. If there were too many troops, just a logistics supply pressure would be enough to drag down the central government's finances.

Unless a railway is opened, Li Weiguo will never be able to make a big fight in the northwest region.

Of course, wars that can be fought over small years, and it doesn’t matter how many years it will take. After all, the Northwest is so poor that it is not very valuable, so Li Weiguo can afford it. The longer it delays, the more the tribes in the Northwest will have to rely on the central court, which will be beneficial to the central government to strengthen control of the Northwest.

A month later, King Shangtai of Ryukyu led an envoy to Beijing.

Li Weiguo met Shang Tai in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and appointed Shang Tai as King of Ryukyu.

The only difference is that when all dynasties were granted the title of King of Ryukyu, they would reward a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, but this time Li Weiguo did not do that.

In his eyes, force determines everything. The **** country is only effective within the range of cannons. If it is not strong, it is a foolish act to just give money to appease the vassal states just for the sake of face.

Li Weiguo only symbolically rewarded some domestic industrial goods, which he brought back from Shanghai, mostly textiles and handicrafts.

Shang Tai felt unhappy when he saw such a small reward, but when he faced Li Weiguo's sharp eyes, he was so scared that he was ruthless, and the dissatisfaction disappeared immediately.

The weak will always respect the strong!

This time, Li Weiguo enthroned the Ryukyu Kingdom and specially notified all the ministers of European and American countries to China, as well as those envoys from small foreign countries that nominally submitted to China, allowing them to witness this historical moment together.

In the past, the great powers of Europe and the United States had always had differences on the issue of colonies and vassal states. In the eyes of European and American powers, the so-called vassal states in the Qing Dynasty were just an ally relationship, not a colonial relationship.

But this time, Li Weiguo clearly stipulated that the Ryukyu Kingdom had no diplomatic or military power, only administrative power, and this provision clearly was the relationship between colonies and overseas territories in the thinking of the great powers.

In this way, the Ryukyu Kingdom is equivalent to China's colonies or overseas autonomous territories, so the great powers of Europe and the United States cannot bypass the Chinese government and conduct diplomatic and military exchanges with the Ryukyu Kingdom alone.

This is a disguised warning that clearly expresses China's absolute sectarian right to the vassal states.

As for the envoys of other vassal states, they also realized this and could not treat the country as a stupid and expensive second-hand man. If you want to get China's protection in the future, you have to hand over diplomatic and military rights, otherwise you will not be able to take advantage of China again.
Chapter completed!