On this day, the front line was quiet. The Japanese side, which had been attacking intensively for more than a month, suddenly stopped attacking. This abnormal performance quickly aroused heated discussion among the defenders in the city.
In the headquarters, Stessel looked around and said in a deep voice.
"Let's all share our opinions. Why did Japan suddenly stop its artillery fire?"
Stessel was Maozi's supreme commander in the Port Arthur Fortress and graduated from the Pavlovsk Military School in 1866.
In February this year, Japan and Russia officially declared war, and Port Arthur became a frontline battleground between the two sides. Nearly nine months have passed since the two countries officially went to war.
Within a year, the Japanese launched four general attacks with human bombs. Although the Japanese suffered heavy losses, Maozi, who was isolated and helpless, suffered considerable losses.
Nowadays, the soldiers in the city not only lack food, but what is even more terrible is that they cannot supplement vitamins. Because of the lack of vitamins, many soldiers in the city are unable to fight.
It would still be half a year before the Baltic Fleet arrived in the Far East. Stessel asked himself that given the current situation, it was absolutely impossible to hold on.
At this point in the war, Stessel was already thinking of surrendering.
After all, if he continues to fight, his people will probably be gone.
Furthermore, having fought alone against tens of thousands of Japanese troops for half a year, Stessel believed that even if he surrendered now, it would be a glorious surrender!
As Strssel's words fell, all the unscrupulous officers looked at me and me, but no one expressed an opinion.
We have worked together for many years, how could they not guess the commander's thoughts?
It was nothing more than wanting to surrender to Japan.
In fact, as early as August, the Japanese side submitted a letter of persuasion to surrender to Stessel, but at that time Kondrachenko, the main militant general on the Maoist side, strongly opposed surrendering to the Japanese side.
In addition, the situation at that time was not as bad as it is now, and the two sides were still evenly divided.
Therefore, Stessel naturally rejected this letter of surrender.
"Um?"
Seeing that no one responded, Stessel couldn't help but snorted heavily.
"General, I think the Japanese side may be preparing to make adjustments. After all, as the defenders, we are all exhausted by this long battle, let alone the Japanese side as the attacking side?"
"Second! According to observations in recent days, the frequency of Japanese artillery fire has obviously been decreasing. I guess that Japan's ammunition reserves are insufficient. Now that the war has ceased, they are just waiting for the replenishment of subsequent ammunition."
"General, I believe that the Japanese may be planning to launch another general offensive. Now it is just the calm before the storm. When the Japanese are fully prepared, they will definitely launch a more violent attack!"
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As the first staff officer spoke, others expressed their opinions one after another.
After listening to the remarks of all the officers, although Stessel remained calm on the surface, he was already frowning secretly in his heart.
Not satisfied!
He was very dissatisfied!
How come no one mentioned that the Japanese wanted to persuade them to surrender again?
This was what he was waiting for. If someone made a start, he could raise the issue of "do you agree to surrender?"
After serving in the army for more than ten years, Stessel knew his own military regulations by heart. He knew very well that if he directly agreed to surrender to the Japanese side, he would do it.
Then, what is waiting for him is to be transferred to a military court and will most likely be sentenced to death!
Because Port Arthur is so important to Mao Xiong, without Lushun, Mao Xiong will lose everything in the Far East!
If he leads Russia to surrender to Japan, Nicholas II will never let him off easily!
Thinking of this, Stessel couldn't help but wink at his close subordinate, asking him to start the topic of 'persuading surrender'.
"General, the Japanese may repeat their old tactics and try to persuade us to surrender again."
As soon as these words came out, the scene suddenly fell silent, and everyone's eyes turned to the person who said these words.
Everyone present knew who this person was.
Since the other party said such words, others couldn't help but murmur to themselves, is this the reason why the commander held the meeting?
If you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem impossible.
The situation has developed to this point. Not only Stessel wants to surrender, but others also don't want to end this extremely bad war as soon as possible.
It's just that due to military law, no one dared to take the initiative.
Now that we have finally made a start, others can't care so much and have started discussing the issue of surrender.
It didn't take long for the congregation to reach a consensus.
If the Japanese side really tries to persuade them to surrender again, it may not be a bad idea to accept the surrender.
However, what happened next was beyond the Russians' expectations. They waited and waited, but never waited until the Japanese sent an envoy.
At this point, the situation has completely come to a standstill.
Mao Zi's side no longer wants to defend, but the Japanese side has not sent an envoy for a long time. They can't just raise the white flag, right?
If they really do this, none of them will be able to escape the sanctions of the military court.
The Japanese side was in disarray because they had no commander. In addition, the Manchurian Army Headquarters had not ordered the continued attack, but instead ordered them to wait where they were for the arrival of a new commander.
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On the other side, taking advantage of the suspension of war between Japan and Russia these days, Li Jie successfully entered the city of Lushun. As soon as he entered the city, he was shocked by the tragic scenes in the city.
The situation in the city was beyond his expectation. Now the city can no longer be said to be a city, it is just a ruin.
Looking around, the collapsed houses, displaced people, piles of corpses, and wounded soldiers howling and struggling, the scene here is like a hell on earth.
This time, Li Jie did not take Xia Yuanzhang into the city with him, but sneaked in alone. Before setting off, Xia Yuanzhang had given him an address.
But judging from the current situation, that address is probably useless.
Fortunately, Li Jie didn't place his hopes on that address. Before setting off, he carefully asked Xia Yuanzhang about the physical characteristics of the other party's wife and daughter, and then used his profiling skills to accurately draw the portraits of the other party's wife and daughter.
After walking around for a long time, Li Jie finally found Xia Yuanzhang's wife and daughter in front of a collapsed house.
Once you find the person, the rest will be easy.
After all, in the current situation, if you want to let people into the city, many people would not dare, but it is not difficult to get out of the city.
According to Li Jie's observation, several groups of people have secretly left the city to escape.
After that, Li Jie used a little trick to successfully catch up with a Maozi officer.
Faced with the 'heavy sum of money' (actually just a small yellow croaker), Officer Mao Zi showed no resistance. He didn't even have to say a word or two, and directly agreed to let them out of the city.