Twelve divisions launched a full-scale offensive, with six divisions held in reserve, ready to commit heavy forces at any breakthrough point to immediately shatter the enemy defense line.

Lieutenant General Hoshino Shōzaburō, commander of the 9th Division, understood exactly what his division was to do from the moment he received the operational orders. At 10:00 AM, a communications officer strode into the division headquarters and handed over the order from Army Command. After reading it, Division Commander Hoshino reviewed the critical sections again before handing the document to his Chief of Staff, saying, "Chief of Staff, Headquarters wants us to complete our troop replenishment right here on the positions."

The Division Chief of Staff took the document and glanced at it, instantly grasping the intent of the Manchuria-Mongolia Expeditionary Army Headquarters. Completing replenishment at the front lines meant the troops had to maintain constant combat pressure. They could not give the Northeast Army any respite to redeploy forces to reinforce the main Japanese direction of attack.

Knowing they were participating in a campaign involving eighteen divisions, the Chief of Staff felt a palpitation. After four hours of fighting, he had already sensed just how bloody this super-scale campaign was, judging by the ceaseless stream of casualty reports and the extremely limited distance of advance.

Since Headquarters had ordered it, and the Division Commander had understood, the Chief of Staff asked, "If the Commander permits, I will arrange it immediately."

Division Commander Hoshino paced a few steps with his hands behind his back within the headquarters before ordering, "Have the regiment of the 2nd Brigade that is currently attacking continue to maintain the offensive. Continue probing for weaknesses in the enemy positions. Force the enemy so they cannot withdraw a single soldier."

"Yes," the Chief of Staff replied.

As the Chief of Staff left the headquarters to receive the replacement troops, he saw several European officers being escorted towards the rear by Japanese soldiers. Walking with them was a team of Korean porters pulling carts piled high with Japanese corpses. They were likely being transported to the rear.

The Chief of Staff frowned and ordered his adjutant, "Hurry up and send these observers to the rear. Afterwards, even if Headquarters orders it, do not allow these people to come to our division."

These foreign observers were led by the French Major General Louis. Seeing the Japanese so eagerly 'escorting' his party away, Major General Louis found these Japanese officers quite amusing. Did they not know how miserable the war in Europe was?

The Japanese 9th Division was established in Kanazawa, Japan, in 1896. A standing division of the Imperial Japanese Army consisted of two infantry brigades, totaling four infantry regiments, plus artillery, cavalry, engineer, and transport regiments, with a total strength of about 22,000 men.

Because the Japanese Army implemented a regional conscription system for reserve personnel, the area where each Army division was stationed in peacetime was also the home of its officers and men and the source of its replenishment troops. The 9th Division was stationed in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, and Fukui in peacetime, and most of its personnel were from these areas. Since the Japanese Army often referred to divisions by their location or commander's name, the 9th Division was also known as the "Kanazawa Division."

Everything he saw before him did not make Major General Louis and the officers of the French Military Observation Mission look down on the Japanese Army. Major General Louis actually rated the Japanese 9th Division quite highly. The French Military Observation Mission, including Lieutenant Colonel Malone, held the same view.

Of course, the French Military Observation Mission was also very envious that the Japanese Army could fight in a battlefield environment like Korea.

The environment of the European battlefield was far worse than that of Korea. especially since the main combat areas were the plains and lowlands of Europe, where the water table was high and there were many rivers and swamps. If trenches were dug slightly deeper, water would likely seep in. The land was only truly dry for a short three or four months of the year. For the other months, especially from late autumn to spring, soldiers had to fight almost soaked in the muddy water of the trenches.

Compared to the European theater, the environment in Korea, where one didn't have to fight treading in muddy water even after winter snows, was already enviable. At least the wounded officers and men wouldn't fall into mud dyed red by their own blood and drown.

A little disdain for the Japanese Army's lack of worldly experience did not affect Major General Louis's careful collection of battlefield intelligence. At the beginning of the battle, Japanese soldiers were carried down by stretcher teams. An hour later, stretcher teams began to be insufficient, and many soldiers were carried down on the backs of medics.

Two hours into the battle, every stretcher of the Japanese stretcher teams carried two Japanese wounded, and they were serious casualties. The lightly wounded could only stop the bleeding briefly and walk down themselves.

Major General Louis watched the teams of Korean colonial porters transporting the wounded under Japanese direction. They transported the wounded one by one with utter submissiveness. That submissiveness came from the heart, because they knew clearly that they were a lower class of people in front of the Japanese. This was much better than the people in the French colonies. This submissiveness, born of a clear consciousness of high and low status, made Major General Louis greatly envious. Thinking back to the people in the French colonies, they were truly wild and difficult to tame.

Leaving the 9th Division's position along a safe passage, Major General Louis stopped and looked back at the distant direction of the Japanese 9th Division. He saw that the movement of personnel in the rear of the position was very orderly. It was evident that the 9th Division had not been thrown into chaos by heavy losses.

This left Major General Louis with some regret. If only there were a French Military Observation Mission on the Northeast Army's front lines as well. With observation missions on both sides, one could more clearly understand the level of understanding of campaign management by the division and corps-level commanders of the Northeast Army and the Japanese Army, and understand the ability of the Northeast Army and the Japanese Army to withstand such high-intensity warfare.

So far, the performance of both sides had been disciplined and proper, possessing the level of the Great War in Europe. As for the heavy casualties, it was not strange at all; a war of this scale should have such a quantity of casualties. If both sides could keep fighting like this, it meant that the war in the Far East had reached the level of the top-tier second-rate Great Powers of the world.

On the eastern part of the entire front, in the sector of the 25th Division on the east coast of Korea, the division commander similarly sent the British Military Observation Mission to the rear on the grounds that 'combat is dangerous.' Major General James, head of the British Military Observation Mission, had views on the war that were basically the same as the French Military Representative Mission.

But Major General James frowned, his mind already considering how to send a telegram to the British military. This telegram had to be sent now. That the level of warfare in the Far East had developed to be comparable to the European War meant that the situation in the Far East was already out of control.

It was almost no longer possible for Britain to determine the fate of the Far East solely by its own military action. Major General James felt there were too many things to report, yet he didn't know how to report them. Like Major General Louis, Major General James couldn't help but hope that the generals of the Northeast Army and the Japanese Army did not yet possess military command skills comparable to British generals.

If the Northeast and Japan were still just barbarians who had mastered advanced weapons, it would undoubtedly be a great thing for Britain. As for whether things would go as wished, the subsequent battle reports would tell.

...If the Japanese side was willing to let the British Military Representative Mission see the true battle reports.

Major General James also gazed at the distant battlefield, wanting very much to see with his own eyes what was happening on the Northeast Army's positions.

The Northeast Army's battle line was similar to the Japanese Army's. Although the Northeast Army did not oppress the Koreans as the Japanese did, they still conscripted Korean laborers to undertake part of the transport work.

It was better not to transport the wounded in bumpy trucks if possible, so the Northeast Army provided a large number of handcarts to transport the wounded quickly to dressing stations within one kilometer of the rear of the battle line for emergency treatment, and then quickly transport them to field hospitals.

The field hospitals were in relatively safe mountain hollows. In the mountainous northern part of Korea, such hollows were plentiful. At this moment, handcarts were moving in and out of the entrance to the hollow. Amidst the rumble of artillery, the simply bandaged wounded were sent in. When they left, they were either wounded who had been treated and were being transported to the rear, or bodies of martyrs placed in hemp body bags, sent to the identification center for fallen officers and men.

Whether wounded or martyrs, the Northeast Army did not want to abandon them. Transported to the vicinity of the railway station, after statistics and recording, they would be put on trains arriving from the rear to the front. Train after train arrived from the rear full of officers, men, weapons, and ammunition, and returned full of wounded and martyrs.

The railway from the Yalu River to the Pyongyang defense line was nearly a thousand kilometers long, and the density of trains running on it had reached the upper limit of its carrying capacity. Each train could transport 200 wounded, and there was a specialized car responsible for transporting martyrs. Sixty trains moving from the northeast direction towards the Pyongyang defense line were full of personnel and supplies, and sixty trains moving from the Pyongyang defense line towards the northeast were also full of personnel.

Every minute, trains rumbled forward. Every minute, the railways of Korea maintained a total of 120 trains travelling north and south.

The Northeast Army had deployed 100,000 replacement troops behind the Pyongyang defense line. In three days, the 100,000 replacement troops were almost gone. Most importantly, although some units had reached full strength again through replenishment, such units needed a day of rest and reorganization. The number of these units was too large, so Hu Xiushan began to rely on the reserves to take over the defense line.

The Japanese offensive posture was already extremely clear: to break through the flat areas and attempt to cut off the Pyongyang defense line. Facing a battle line boiling with blood and life, Hu Xiushan still contacted the four corps commanders one by one according to procedure. After the telegrams were sent, Hu Xiushan said to Xu Chengfeng, "Commander, I need a corps of reserves."

Xu Chengfeng didn't even ask, directly inquiring of Chief of Staff Cheng Ruofan, "Which units of the 3rd Corps can be transferred to the 2nd Army Group?"

Cheng Ruofan did not look at the order of battle table and wrote down the designations of three divisions. Xu Chengfeng took a look; this was actually drawing one division from each of the three corps defending the coastline to give to Hu Xiushan as reserves.

Xu Chengfeng said nothing. The remaining corps was the general reserve; this force would only be used at the very end.