Bats and Thorn Birds

In the spring of 1904, due to strategic considerations, Chen Tian upgraded the Koenigsberg Junior Military Academy to the Koenigsberg Military Academy and expanded its scale as a training ground for military personnel in East Prussia. The military academy recruits 1,000 young people between the ages of 6 and 16 from Germany, and enters the 6-10 year-old youth class, the 11-15 year-old youth class and the 16-20 year-old vocational class. The students in the junior class receive the same basic education. After entering the youth class, they will start to choose the direction they are interested in. After entering the professional class, they will enter the infantry command, artillery command, mechanical engineering, aircraft, and water surface. Majors such as ships and submarines accept different studies.

In addition, in order to increase his military and political "listening", Chen Tian decided to let the military academy select about 50 students about 10 years old from the juvenile class graduates for professional intelligence training. Chen tian plans to allow them to serve in various German troops after receiving six years of hard training, part of them are inserted into German government departments, and part of the fake identity is mixed into the military and government departments of European countries. For this group of people, Chen Tian also gave them a special name: Bat Legion.

Drawing on the experience of future wars, Chen tian is also preparing to select a group of soldiers with particularly good shooting from the East Prussian Army for special sniper training. Their main target on the battlefield is the officer of the other party. Among this group of people, they will select some soldiers who are determined and willing to dedicate themselves. Chen Tian will let them leave the army and enter another organization-the thorn bird, and their task is to assassinate.

It is a pity that the planning is beautiful, but there are always all kinds of troubles to realize.

In 1904, most people had little idea of ​​spies and special forces, let alone instructors in this area. Chen Tian had to find Thomas. At this time, Thomas did not live well in the intelligence room of the General Staff. The style of the General Staff was strictly in accordance with the regulations. Therefore, many of Thomas's opinions were not adopted. After the two of them had a small talk, they immediately met and Thomas immediately applied for transfer from the General. Staff, entered the East Prussian Army of Chen tian.

After all, Thomas spent four years in the intelligence department. He still knows the structure of the intelligence department well, but he does not know much about the training of spies. To be precise, there are few professional methods of spy training in that era. So the two men fumbled forward in the dark.

In the selection of the Bat Corps, they selected students who were born poor, because their willpower and loyalty will be higher than others. These students need to voluntarily dedicate themselves to the country, followed by a series of physical and willpower tests, and those who pass the test can receive the next training after obtaining the consent of their families.

Next, they arranged for these students to learn all kinds of training they can think of, such as language skills, fighting, engineering skills, first aid, self-help, social benefits, and weapon use. Due to the idea of ​​personal experience and self-exercise, Chen Tian and Thomas often join their training. Every year, students are eliminated, and at the end of all training, only 15 people can successfully become the first members of the Bat Army. Eight of them entered other military academies as ordinary graduates of the Königsberg Military Academy or directly entered military service in Germany. Four of them entered various German government agencies and slowly climbed from the lowest level. Another three people They were sent to France, and they tried to enter the French army or government.

Compared to the Bat Army, Chen Tian's thorn bird is much simpler. As long as the skills are superb, there are many orphans or brothers in the family and they are not married, they can volunteer to participate in the selection and training of thorn birds. The training of thorn birds is mainly in shooting, camouflage, willpower, endurance and loyalty.

In the years that followed, the Bat Corps and the thorn bird competed for the German throne in World War I and later, and made good contributions to Chen Tian and Germany.

In February 1904, when Chen Tian and Thomas were too busy dealing with the bat army and the thorn bird, the Russo-Japanese War broke out on time according to the historical trajectory.

In 1894, Japan launched the Sino-Japanese War of aggression against China and North Korea, forcing the Qing government to sign the "Maguan Treaty" on giving up land for compensation the Liaodong Peninsula. Tsarist Russia, who was determined to monopolize Northeast China, was unwilling to show its weakness, attracted Germany and France, and created the "Three Nations Intervention to Return to Liaoning" incident, forcing Japan to return the Liaodong Peninsula to China. In this regard, Japan is resentful and waiting for revenge. Soon after the Japanese were forced to return to Liaoning, the Tsarist Russia used the pretext of "repaying Liao for merits" to seize the privilege of building the Middle East Railway and its feeder lines in northeast China. Later, they forcibly leased Lushun and Dalian from the Chinese government, and took the opportunity of the Eight-Power Allied Forces to invade China to occupy the entire three northeastern provinces. Russia's ambitions for expansion have exacerbated its conflicts with Japan on the Northeast and North Korea issues. After 10 years of preparations for war, Japan's strength has greatly increased. In 1902, the British-Japanese alliance was concluded, and it was determined to make a comeback in the northeast region and establish hegemony.

The direct cause of the intensification of the conflict between Japan and Russia is Russia's refusal to withdraw its troops from Northeast China. After the signing of the Treaty of Xin Chou, Russia urged all countries to withdraw their troops from China as soon as possible, while their own troops continued to rely on the Northeast and appointed the Governor of the Far East. Japan refused to give up and took the initiative to negotiate with Russia. In order to compete for the Far East and plunder wealth, Japan and Russia, on the one hand and the other, refused to give in to each other; while mobilizing troops, they prepared for war. Because Russia refused to withdraw its troops from northeast China, Japan issued an ultimatum to Russia on February 6, 1904, and announced the ending of Japan-Russia diplomatic relations. At the same time, the Japanese Navy began operations. On February 8, the Japanese joint fleet attacked a Russian warship in Lushun Port and fought without a declaration. On the 10th, the Japanese and Russian governments declared war on each other, and the Japanese-Russian war officially began.

Lushun is located at the southwestern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula, surrounded by hills, and serves as the gateway to the northeast, and the throat into the Bohai Strait. Its strategic position is very important. Lushun Port is a non-freezing port. The water in the port is shallow and relatively narrow, with only a 150-meter wide estuary. The main force of the Russian Pacific Squadron is permanently stationed there. At midnight on February 8th, while Russian officers were holding a dinner to celebrate the naming day of the fleet commander General Stark in Lushun City, Higashi Hachiro commanded the Japanese joint fleet to launch a sudden attack, firing 16 torpedoes and hitting three Russian warships. Opened the prelude to the war. Explosions and artillery sounds kept coming, and Russian officers on the shore were immediately shocked, wondering what had happened to the harbor. After the truth was revealed, he hurriedly returned to his warship and organized a counterattack. The Japanese ship was invincible and was forced to retreat. The commander of the Russian fleet was worried that he would be ambushed by mistake and ordered the ships not to pursue them, avoiding the harbor and not fighting, and sticking to the Lushun fortress. After the night attack on Lushun Port, Higashi Hachiro saw that the Russian ship could not escape from the port, and had strong coastal artillery support. It was difficult for the Japanese joint fleet to hit the Russian Pacific Fleet, which was a big headache. In order to fully control the sea power and reduce the threat to the Japanese naval traffic line, Higashi Hachiro decided to follow the successful practice of the US-Western War, sink the ship at the exit of Lushun Port, block the Russian fleet, and continuously bombard the Russian ships. From February 9th until early March, the Japanese army had several unsuccessful shipwreck closure operations. In early March, the new commander of the Pacific Squadron of Russia, Makarov, took office in Lushun and immediately took a series of precautionary measures while demanding that the fleet take the initiative to attack. On the basis of understanding the sea area and the situation of ships and fortresses, he decided to deploy mines in the coastal area of ​​the Liaodong Peninsula to prevent the Japanese from landing and threatening the Lushun base from the side; step up the repair of injured ships, dispatch fleets to the sea, and strengthen sea and land cooperative combat training ; Request the Vladivostok Fleet to send troops southward to the Sea of ​​Japan, actively attack the Japanese maritime traffic lines, and contain Japanese joint fleet operations. These measures of Makarov improved the passive situation of the Russian army and gave the officers and men confidence in defeating the Japanese. However, on April 13, Makarov was on board the battleship Petropavlovsk. When he returned to sea, he thundered and exploded, killing the sea. The new commander, Witgeft, believed that with the help of Lushun Fortress, the safety of the fleet could be ensured, and no longer took any offensive operations. Since then, the maritime combat initiative fell into the hands of the Japanese army again.

The Japanese wartime base camp decided to take land offensive operations in view of the delay of the Navy in destroying the Russian Pacific Squadron. On March 21, the First Japanese Army, commanded by General Kuroki, first landed northward in Incheon, North Korea, and reached the Yalu River in mid-April. As the move was unexpected by the Russian army, the Japanese army quickly defeated the Russian army Dongman Detachment led by Zasulich and occupied Jiulian City and Phoenix City, resulting in a situation of threatening Liaoyang. At the same time, the Second Japanese Army led by General Ao Bao Gong made a successful landing on Zhuanghe in the Liaodong Peninsula in early May, and arrived in Jinzhou at the end of May; the Japanese Third Army, commanded by General Nomu Xidian, also landed from Dalian Bay at the end of May To advance to Lushun; the Fourth Japanese Army led by Admiral Nozu Dou made landfall on Dagu Mountain in the Liaodong Peninsula in mid-May to occupy Haicheng. The Japanese army succeeded in attacking one after another on the land, which put the Russian army in a passive position. The Japanese "Manchurian Army Headquarters" originally planned to wait for the Third Army to conquer Lushun, command the four armies in a unified manner, and conduct a Liaoyang battle with the Russian army.

By the autumn of 1904, Chen Tian's Bat Corps and the thorn bird had completed their formation and began to conduct methodical training. After Chen Tian handed over these two troops to Thomas to manage, he and Oli left for China, near to Observe the biggest war at the beginning of the century. There, an unexpected thing was waiting for him...