The key to the valley of the Liao River, it will be remembered, lies in the three passes of Motienling, Taling, and Fenshuiling; and these were all held in force by the Russians. The first of them stands on the main road leading from Feng-hwang-cheng to Liao-yang; the second (which must not be confused with the pass of the same name situated north of the Taitse River at about 60 miles to the east of Liao-yang) commands the road between Feng-hwang-cheng and Haicheng; and the third is on the road from Siuyen to Tashichao and is about 20 miles southeast from the latter place. The situation of the most important posts along the railway from Mukden to Kaiping has already been indicated, but for the sake of clearness it may be repeated that Liao-yang, where General Kuropatkin had concentrated his main army, stands about 40 miles south of Mukden; that 30 miles further south again is situated Haicheng; and that an interval of 30 miles more separates that town from Kaiping, or Kaichau, as it is sometimes called, Tashichao lying half-way between. [Sidenote: Kuropatkin's Essential Weakness] General Nodzu's troops were now for the first time brought into action, and operated in unison with General Kuroki's army in the attack upon the passes. A combination of most skilful movements made them masters of these important defiles within a few days of one another. In each case the tactics were the same. A frontal attack was pushed forward by one division, while strong bodies were sent round both to the right and left, and, securing ground from which they could enfilade the Russian trenches, rendered the position untenable by the defending force. General surprise was felt at the ineffective stand made here by General Kuropatkin's troops, especially as they had spent at least three months in building entrenchments, protected by wire entanglements and all the accessories of modern scientific warfare. The fact was, however, that the essential weakness of Kuropatkin's army in point of numbers compared with its opponents was now made disastrously apparent, and in spite of the natural and artificial strength of these passes, he could not prevent the superior force which the Japanese invariably contrived to bring against him at any given point from turning his flanks. Both the Taling Pass and the Motienling Pass, at the latter of which General Count Keller, who had superseded General Sassulitch in his command, directed the Russian operations, fell an easy prey to Kuroki's manoeuvres; but at Fenshuiling General Nodzu met with fierce opposition. The defile was defended by fourteen battalions of infantry and three regiments of cavalry, supported by thirty guns, and a severe engagement took place, lasting for six hours. It was apparent that the strength of the Russian entrenchments was such that a direct attack would involve an enormous sacrifice of life; but after brilliant tactics, carried out during the night of the 26th June and the early