From Harbin to Vladivostock the line of defence may be said roughly to traverse Kirwin and to sweep Eastward to the coast. On the land side Vladivostock is defended by the difficult nature of the country and by the river Toumen, which covers its approach from the South-west. So isolated, however, is this fortress that its capture was an incident that did not enter into the first phase of the campaign. The base of the triangle from the mouth of the Yalu to the Toumen is the strongest line of defence, and was the first to be assailed. The Yalu forms a natural barrier along the north of Korea. Winding its tortuous length between high and rugged mountains it receives as affluents many torrents and impetuous streams. A few miles from the point where its waters mingle with the ocean, the banks of the Yalu descend into the plain. Upon this lower ground on the left of the river is the town of Wiju, and on the right nearer to the bay stands Antung. At Wiju you may cross the Yalu; it is the key to the barrier of mountain and flood that divides the hermit kingdom from Manchuria. To force the passage of the river by direct assault would have been to risk disaster at the outset. It was necessary to make a diversion in order to turn the position and compel the Russians to fall back along the road to Liao-yang. Such a movement required great skill and secrecy. In 1894 the Japanese effected a landing near the mouth of the river and on the right bank, so as to envelop Antung and Wiju from the North. With a view to mislead the enemy General Kuroki made a demonstration in front of Antung, where the Russians awaited attack, while he pushed his flanking movement through the almost inaccessible mountains on the East. When the Japanese crossed the Yalu, their real difficulties began. The country South of Mukden is a sea of mountains, and there was always in the mind of General Kuroki’s staff the fear that General Kuropatkin would detach a large force from the Peninsula and succeed in isolating the Japanese army in Manchuria. To guard against that danger troops were landed at Takushan, West of Antung, and formed a new _point d’appui_, from which a strong flank was pushed steadily toward the narrow peninsula. The purpose of this movement was not merely to protect General Kuroki’s army, but to cover the army that was about to land in the Liao-tung Peninsula. Here again the Russians were taken by surprise. They expected a descent upon Nieuchang, on the West coast of the Gulf, which seemed an ideal point from which to threaten Liao-yang through Hai-cheng, to cut off Port Arthur, and to turn the position. But again the Japanese adopted the strategy of the Chinese War, and despite the report of its impregnable strength, forced a landing at Kin-chou at the neck of the Kwanlung Peninsula.