With this army he was holding the railway line from Mukden to Port Arthur, a distance of about 230 miles. His headquarters were at Liao-yang, and he held Haicheng and Kaiping in force, while a detachment was thrown out to the south-west and occupied Niuchwang. In the extreme south Port Arthur, though closely blockaded from the sea by the watchful Togo, was as yet open to communication by land, and no attempt had hitherto been made by the Japanese to secure a footing on the Liao-tung Peninsula. On the east of the Liao-yang--Kaiping line the Russian troops occupied three important passes, namely, Ta-ling, about 50 miles distant, in a northeasterly direction, from Liao-yang; the Motien-ling, about 25 miles away on the main road to Feng-hwang-cheng; and Fen-chu-ling, half way on the road from Tashihchao to Siuyen. Tashihchao is on the railway midway between Haicheng and Kaiping. The Motien-ling Pass was the scene of a sanguinary combat between the Chinese and the Japanese in the war of 1894, and on that occasion the Mikado's forces had the greatest trouble in capturing it. Besides holding these passes General Kuropatkin had pushed forward his Cossack patrols to scour the country as far as Feng-hwang-cheng, and constant small encounters took place between them and General Kuroki's outposts during the ensuing six weeks. [Sidenote: Kuropatkin Tied to His Railway] It is clear from this brief statement of the Russian position that the Japanese, always provided that they could retain the command of the sea, were placed at a great strategical advantage compared with their enemy. Holding their First Army poised at Feng-hwang-cheng, they could throw their Second and Third Armies upon the coast at any point that suited them best for the purpose of making a great combined movement. On the other hand, Kuropatkin was practically tied to the railway, and, with the inadequate force at his disposal, could not advance against Kuroki to destroy him in detail before the arrival of fresh armies from Japan. He was liable to attack at any point, and it was the peculiar difficulty of his situation that he could not tell which point would be selected. As a matter of fact, when the blow fell, as it soon did with crushing effect, he was powerless to prevent it. [Sidenote: The Second Scheme of Attack]