According to Yang Song's thinking, now is the best time to attack the Yarkand Khanate. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Although the Yarkand Khanate was the largest country in the Western Regions, its standing army was only 30,000, and even if it was mobilized for war, it could only double the population base of the Yarkand Khanate at most, reaching a total of about 60,000 troops.

If the Ming army gathered in the northwest region before, it would make the Yarkand Khanate fearful, but now the Ming Dynasty has officially declared war with the Russian-Manchurian coalition army, which has made the countries of the Western Regions put down the stones in their hearts.

This is the opportunity in Yang Song's mouth.

The terrain of the Western Regions is dangerous and difficult to defend and difficult to attack, if in the past, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to take down the countries of the Western Regions, less than 100,000 soldiers, basically don't even think about it.

But now it is different, because the Yarkand Khanate has transferred its main forces to the Tianshan Mountains in the northwest region, and the internal forces have almost been exhausted.

"It's easy to say, but have you ever thought about it, even if the Yarkand Khanate is ambitious, it is always on guard against my Ming, and now the only way to enter the Western Regions is only two transportation arteries, one is the Grand Canyon of Horsehair Mountain in Hamiwei, and the other is the Dangjin Pass located in the southeast of Dunhuang. These two places are easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the Yarkand Khanate has stationed heavy troops in these two places, once it is attacked, whether it can break through for the time being, the other party can definitely be alert at the first time, and send troops back to help, how to crack it when the time comes? Guo Sheng pointed to the military map on the wall and analyzed.

For a long time, why the Ming Dynasty could not recover Xinjiang and Tibet, mainly due to the geographical location, in addition to the mountains and mountains in the Western Regions, is the desert Gobi, the only two main roads to the west, were heavily guarded by the Yarkand Khanate, except for the strong attack, the Ming army had no way.

It is not difficult to see from the place names of the horsehair mountain canyon and the Dangjin Mountain Pass that they are all dangerous places that cannot be opened.

If you want to storm these two places, it is almost as difficult as the Mobei ethnic minorities to attack the pass of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty.

It is true that Guo Sheng has 30,000 troops under his command, but they are the air force, a rapid reaction force, and they are seriously lacking in heavy weapons, so it is simply unrealistic to force them through.

"I don't think you figured it out, Yang Song has been emphasizing before that the capital of the Yarkand Khanate is empty, but he has never mentioned these two passes." Li Hongfei reminded.

Just like the previous Ming Dynasty, the strength of the nine-sided town is indeed strong, and even the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not dare to force their way through the pass.

But there are gains and losses, and in the end, a group of inconspicuous peasant troops dug a big pit from the inside, almost burying the entire Ming Dynasty.

"I also know that the capital of the Yarkand Khanate is empty, but if I don't break through these two passes, how can I get to Yarkand? Is it difficult to fly over........... That's right! I didn't expect that we were the Air Force, so we could fly over! Guo Sheng slapped his thigh and instantly understood what the two meant.

"That's right, this is the south of the Dangjin Pass, also known as the Altun Mountain Range, close to the mountain on the side of the Ming Dynasty, the most gentle place, are above 60 degrees, it is not an exaggeration to call it a cliff. This is not only the border between the Ming Dynasty and the Yarkand Khanate, but also regarded by the Yarkand Khanate as an insurmountable natural barrier. After investigation, the agents of our National Security Bureau found that in addition to the fact that there are people living 50 miles south of the mountain pass today, further south is a deserted area, not to mention 30,000 people, even if 100,000 troops are transferred over, the other party will not notice it in the slightest. Yang Song patiently explained as he moved the baton south from the current mountain pass on the map.

There is no need to look for the Grand Canyon of Horsehair Mountain, or the bad luck of the two checkpoints of Dangjin Pass, the Ming army can take an airship, cross the Altun Mountain, which is called a natural danger by the people of the Yarkand Khanate, and land directly at the back of the checkpoint.

Whether it is a combination of inside and outside to force a pass, or conceal their whereabouts, and directly attack the capital of the Yarkand Khanate, the initiative is completely in the hands of the Ming Air Force.

The area mentioned by Yang Song, not to mention the territory of the Yarkand Khanate, even in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, there are no people living here, Guo Sheng can lead the troops to the foot of the Altun Mountain smoothly, and then use airships to transport soldiers across the border.

The current flight speed of the airship can make two round trips a day (at night due to unfamiliar terrain, the airship can not continue to work), based on the capacity of one airship can withstand the carrying capacity of twenty fully armed soldiers, thirty airships, a day can reach 1,200 people.

"At present, the strength of the capital of the Yarkand Khanate is about 3,000 people, including the defenders of several nearby affiliated cities, the total strength will not exceed 5,000, if you are given five days to attack, how many soldiers do you need to be sure to take the opponent's capital?" Li Hongfei turned his head and asked Guo Sheng.

Fighting deep behind enemy lines, the faster the better, five days is the maximum time limit set by Li Hongfei for Guo Sheng, because once the city cannot be broken after five days, then the defenders from all over the country can rush to reinforcements.

What's more serious is that the defenders near the border of Daming, as well as the heavy troops near the border of Junggar, may return to help at that time.

Once the reinforcements arrived, Guo Sheng and the others had not captured the royal city, then they would only have the end of the entire army.

This is a risky plan, Li Hongfei needs Guo Sheng to ensure the superiority of troops, and at the same time cannot put all the 30,000 air forces into the battlefield, because the carrying capacity of the airship is limited, and it is difficult for 30 airships to ensure the logistics supply of the 30,000 army.

In Li Hongfei's view, it is best to keep the number of troops participating in the offensive below 5,000.

"Three thousand, I only need three thousand troops, and I guarantee that within five days, I will take the capital of the Yarkand Khanate!" Guo Sheng said confidently.

The so-called five days, of course, does not refer to the five days after crossing the border, after all, the territory of the Yarkand Khanate is not small, and a group of infantry under Guo Sheng, let alone attacking, it is not bad to be able to walk to the nearest city in the territory of the Yarkand Khanate in five days.

"You want to go to war yourself?" Li Hongfei heard the difference.

"That's right, as the commander of the Air Force, if you can't personally command this battle, how will you serve the people in the future and how will you lead your officers?" Guo Sheng said calmly.

He was worried that Li Hongfei would stop him, and as soon as he opened his mouth, he blocked the back road.

As the commander of the army, he must not only have command ability, but also sometimes he must take the lead, which even Li Hongfei cannot do.

"Well, this battle is the first battle since the establishment of your Air Force, and I don't have much to say. I can only promise you that if there is a change at the border, I will try my best to hold off the other party and buy you time. Li Hongfei finally agreed.

Guo Sheng has his own ideas, Li Hongfei doesn't want to interfere too much, the only thing he can do is to help him drag the main force of the enemy, and try to delay the defenders of the Grand Canyon of Horsehair Mountain and Dangjin Pass.

As for the heavy troops in the Junggar border area, Li Hongfei could not do anything..........

Two days later, Guo Sheng selected 3,000 soldiers with extremely strong tactical skills from among the divisions, temporarily formed an airborne regiment, and marched towards the Qaidam Basin.

The westernmost cliff of the Qaidam Basin is the destination of Guo Sheng's trip, from which you can take an airship to enter the territory of the Yarkand Khanate at the fastest speed.

On the seventh day of Guo Sheng's departure, he arrived at Jiayuguan on a fast horse, and Li Hongfei knew that Guo Sheng and others had successfully entered the Yarkand Khanate.

"Pass the order, the defenders of Jiayuguan have entered a state of first-level combat readiness, and each army will send additional scouts to closely monitor the movements of the enemy troops at the Grand Canyon of Horsehair Mountain and the two checkpoints of Dangjin Pass, if you find that the enemy has signs of retreating, you don't need to report it, you can directly launch an attack, bite the enemy and then talk about it!" Li Hongfei gave an order.

The first level of combat readiness is already equivalent to the outbreak of war.

Generals above the front-line regiment can even launch attacks on other countries' armies without authorization and at their own discretion.

Generally speaking, in the absence of a declaration of war, Li Hongfei would not easily give such an order, especially in a sensitive area like Jiayuguan, once the order is issued, it means that war breaks out.

However, due to the communication relationship, in order to hold back the defenders in these two places, Li Hongfei had to give the front-line generals enough authority to respond as soon as possible.

The defenders of Jiayuguan were not Guo Sheng's air force, but a regular field army, the Seventh Army of Daming National Defense.

Its predecessor was adapted from the serious Suzhou Army, not to mention the military quality of the soldiers, in terms of equipment alone, it is definitely one of the most luxurious main forces.

There are as many as 300 heavy guns with a caliber of more than 150 mm, and there are even 24 260 mm heavy guns with a firing range of more than 8,000 meters.

Since the mass production of smokeless gunpowder, the performance of the Ming army's artillery has been greatly improved again, especially in terms of firing range, which has more than doubled on the original basis.

Of course, smokeless gunpowder is only one of the aspects, on the other hand, after years of exploration, the level of casting cannons in the Ming Dynasty has been greatly improved, and in some large-caliber artillery, the latest technology is used - drawing rifling.

Rifling the barrel is a method used to improve the accuracy and range of a shell, whether it is spherical or conical.

To draw rifling for the barrel, you first need to polish the barrel and then engrave a spiral groove on the inside of the barrel.

When a shell is fired from inside the barrel, it hits these spiral grooves, creating a high-speed rotation (up to 1000 to 3000 revolutions per minute) after flying out of the barrel, and a speed of up to 800 to 1200 meters per second in the air.

Therefore, under the dual effect of smokeless gunpowder and rifling, the firing range of artillery has increased exponentially, and it has become an inevitable trend.

However, drawing rifling for the breech is also limited by the technical level, and it cannot be used for small-caliber guns and smaller caliber rifles.

Even large-caliber artillery, because of the relatively rough drawing process, often after firing fifty or sixty rounds, the rifle will be smoothed out, and eventually become a smoothbore gun........

Fortunately, this is not the point, the point is that the 260-mm heavy artillery equipped by the Seventh Army is definitely capable of delivering a devastating blow to the two impregnable defensive lines of the Yarkand Khanate.

If the Yarkand Khanate dares to withdraw its troops to help, the Ming Dynasty will be able to take advantage of the situation to take these two passes in one fell swoop, which is tantamount to the occupation of the country for the Yarkand Khanate.

Because of the loss of these two passes, the entire Yarkand Khanate will have no danger to defend, and the main force of the Ming army can also drive straight in.

If you want to recover Xinjiang and Tibet, you must use thunderous means to take the Yarkand Khanate, so as to deter the remaining 14 countries.

Therefore, Li Hongfei was even more concerned about this campaign than the Wehrmacht's entry into Mongolia.

"Your Excellency, rest assured, the National Security Bureau has a special contact point in the Yarkand region, and if General Guo arrives in Yarkand, we will receive the flying pigeon message in a few days." Yang Song understood Li Hongfei's worries, so he said with relief.

"Flying Pigeon? Your NSA is quite capable, and in just one year, you have established a contact point of this level. Li Hongfei couldn't help but praise.

The contact point that can use the Flying Pigeon Transmission is the highest level of contact point of the National Security Bureau.

Because the carrier pigeon is an animal, it is not an exaggeration to call it a military material, and if you want to use a carrier pigeon, you naturally have to feed and train it.

Feeding carrier pigeons in the capital of a country is like using a radio station in a military restricted area in later generations, and it is also a very conspicuous public radio station.

This is also the reason why Li Hongfei praised that in just one year, the State Security Bureau has achieved such amazing results in Yarkand, and this achievement must be recognized.

"In fact, this contact point was not set up by the National Security Bureau, but the former Jinyi Guard, a resident spy sent to the Yarkand Khanate." Yang Song explained.

"Jinyiwei again?" Li Hongfei was a little curious.

"Although the Ming Dynasty has not been able to recover the Western Regions in recent years, it has never given up these areas, even if a peasant uprising broke out and the treasury was empty, the Holy Shang still insisted on allocating funds to monitor the countries of the Western Regions. And the lowly post was responsible for the official intelligence collection of the Yarkand Khanate. As for the Jinyi Guard stationed in Yarkand, if you really want to calculate it, his great-grandfather is the first Jinyi Guard stationed in the Yarkand Khanate, and he is only inheriting the mantle of his ancestors, otherwise with the character of the Yarkand people, how can he easily let him feed carrier pigeons near the national capital? Yang Song said.

Li Hongfei never expected that a special contact point would take four generations of hard work, what a lot of perseverance!

Living in a foreign country all year round, but serving his country without regrets, he even has to educate his children and grandchildren to be loyal to a country that they may not have seen in their lifetime, let alone know whether they will be able to return in the end.

This is the glory of Jinyiwei, no matter how much infamy he bears, no matter how many grievances he bears, he will unswervingly carry out the tasks assigned by his superiors.

"Is this man reliable?" Li Hongfei suddenly asked.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he regretted it a little, people have paid for generations of time for the faith in their hearts, but now Li Hongfei wants to question the other party, and in front of a former Jinyi guard, questioning their loyalty.

"Your Excellency, please rest assured, although the other party used to be my comrade, but the necessary confidentiality work still has to be observed, we chose to activate this line in order to get the latest information as soon as possible, and we didn't reveal a word that shouldn't be said to the other party. Just like this military operation, the other side did not know about it, but I believe that General Guo led his army to the Yarkand region, and the other side will definitely notify us as soon as possible such important news. Yang Song explained.

Regarding Li Hongfei's suspicions, Yang Song didn't say much, whether it was the former Jinyiwei or the current National Security Bureau agent, but anyone who does intelligence work, if he can't even understand this, he can't do this job at all.

With the dark line of Jinyiwei, Li Hongfei is finally a lot more down-to-earth in his heart, and grasping the opportunity often determines the final direction of a war..........