On May 26th the battle of Nanshan was fought. Until that victory was won in the Peninsula it was feared that General Oku would be attacked by the Russian forces North and South of Nanshan, and that General Kuroki would be compelled to relieve the pressure on the Second Army by marching upon Hai-chung. The Russians missed a supreme opportunity. What they ought to have done was to concentrate their forces and make a determined assault upon the army in the Liao-tung Peninsula, or upon the army at Feng-hoang-cheng. But General Kuropatkin’s vicious habit of “nibbling” prevailed, and no big movement was attempted. The Russian army was split into ineffectual fragments--some at Kin-chow, others at Kai-ping, some at Liao-tung, others near Feng-hoang-cheng. Through all these alarms General Kuroki held fast to his purpose of accumulating stores and strengthening the position about Feng-hoang-cheng. He was conscious that the Russians feared him, and would not willingly leave open the road to Liao-tung, even in the hope of crushing General Oku. When General Stakelberg moved south to fight the battle of Te-li-tzu, it appeared as if the moment had arrived for a rapid march on Liao-yang, but the Japanese knew that the Russian force in front of them was strong. Accordingly General Kuroki remained at Feng-hoang-cheng until he had accumulated stores and munitions of war that made him independent of the immediate control of the sea, and until there was no further risk of the Russians concentrating all their forces against one of the invading armies. The interval of forty-five days was not wasted. Engineers were occupied in constructing a light railway from the port of Antung, in building bridges across the winding stream of the Tsa-ho, which follows the North as far as the pass of Mou-tien-ling, in making and improving roads over mountains and along valleys, in entrenching hills that command approaches from the North, and in erecting bomb-proof shelters and gun emplacements. Warehouses arose outside the ancient and decaying walls of the city, and were filled with rice and the simple food of the Japanese soldier.