Chapter 682: National War (I)

As the flagship of the "Mallard Troops". The combat effectiveness of the "Chuguan" is still quite considerable, this shallow water gunboat was ordered from the Japanese shipyard by Zhang Zhi'dong, the former governor of Qinghuguang, and there are six ships of the same type, the "Chuguan" is the fifth, which was completed and returned to China in 1906 and incorporated into the Jiangfang fleet, the "Chuguan" gunboat is 60 meters long, 9 meters wide, with a draft of 2 meters, a standard displacement of 750 tons, a coal carrying capacity of 150 tons, a maximum speed of 13 knots, and a total of 85 people.

Because the needs of coastal operations were taken into account at the beginning of the order, the firepower of the "Chuguan" was much stronger than that of ordinary gunboats, and one 'gun' 120 mm naval guns were installed in the bow and stern of the ship, and two 'guns' 75 mm secondary guns.

Now the Japanese gunboat against the "Chuguan" is a small gunboat. The largest caliber naval gun on the ship was only 40 millimeters, which was far from being the opponent of the "Chuguan"; not to mention, there was a 'door' 20 millimeter high "shooting" gun installed on the "exposed" sky bridge of the "Chuguan" ship, and the firepower was also very fierce, and in almost a dozen seconds after the battle began, the Japanese gunboat that came from the upper reaches of the Yalu River completely lost its ability to fight back, and the wooden deck and chart room were also ablaze with fire.

"Boom!"

"Chuguan" hit another 120-mm main gun shell, right in the bow waterline of the Japanese gunboat, penetrated the thin steel plate, and exploded in the cabin, this shell was very deadly, almost at the same time, the Japanese gunboat began to sink.

However, in just a few minutes, the Japanese gunboat sat on the channel, and only the superstructure was still 'exposed' on the water, and the Japanese sailors who were not dead jumped ship one after another to flee for their lives, swam to the shore on the North Korean side of the Yalu River, and quickly ran away.

The officers and men of the 16 th Division of the Liaoning Provincial Army, who were hiding at the foot of the mountain to watch the battle, shouted happily, and many simply rushed to the shore, waving flagpoles, and shouting loudly at the "Chuguan," while others used their rifles to 'shoot' at the fleeing Japanese troops on the other side.

Zhang Zuolin sat on the dirt slope with great interest, watching the "Chuguan" sail upstream.

The sailors on the "Chuguan" soon spotted the group of Chinese soldiers on the shore, but they did not immediately dock. Instead, he dropped a sampan and landed on the Chinese side of the Yalu River with several officers on board.

Zhang Zuolin rushed up to meet him, and when he asked, he learned that these naval officers wanted to find a harbor where the "Chuguan" could be berthed, and they asked for it to be nearby.

This is not difficult for Zhang Zuolin, he has led his troops over for a few days, and knows that there is a tributary not far upstream to meet the Yalu River, where is a good harbor, the location is hidden, suitable for defense, but the water depth is also enough for the "Chuguan" to sail, so without saying a word, he called two soldiers and asked them to lead the naval officers to rush upstream to check the location of the harbor, while he stayed here, and commanded the officers and soldiers who had a good water 'nature' to swim to the Japanese gunboat that was sitting on the channel of the Yalu River to see if they could pick up some"Falling".

After more than half an hour of busy work, the officers and men finally picked up two katanas, some guns and ammunition, and a few military maps from the cabin of the Japanese gunboat. The only thing that satisfied Zhang Zuolin was that the two 'Ting' Hutchikes machine guns were intact and became trophies.

Just as Zhang Zuolin was working to pick up the "foreign falls" under his command, five very small warships sailed up from the lower reaches of the Yalu River, also waving the Chinese flag, Zhang Zuolin asked a staff officer, and only then did he learn that this was called a "torpedo boat," although the hull was not large, but the speed was very fast, and compared with the old torpedo boats, this kind of torpedo boats were more mobile and flexible.

Although he expressed doubts about whether this kind of torpedo speedboat could throw torpedoes in the Yalu River, the staff officer was very sure that the 20-mm machine gun on the torpedo speedboat was definitely not vegetarian, and he also believed that now that the Chinese river fleet had suddenly sailed into the Yalu River, this move was very likely to indicate that the center would make some moves in this area.

After listening to the staff officer's analysis, Zhang Zuolin did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly ordered the troops to turn around and rush to the headquarters to see if the headquarters had received orders from above.

By the time Zhang Zuolin led the patrol back to the Tuchengzi Headquarters, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon, and the headquarters had indeed received an order from his superiors, but this order was not taken by telegram, but sent by a special person.

The person who delivered the order was named Zhang Guoping, the commander of the separate cavalry division of the Wehrmacht, with the rank of brigadier general.

Zhang Guoping didn't come alone, he was followed by a cavalry brigade, brigade commander Yang Banghan.

Zhang Zuolin and Zhang Guoping had a one-sided relationship, and that was the year before last. The independent cavalry division carried out long-distance training, passing by Zhang Zuolin's station, where the two met, if it weren't for Zhang Guoping's anxious departure, Zhang Zuolin even planned to change posts with him to talk about 'friendship'.

Although the two can't say that they have any 'friendship', Zhang Zuolin is from a reckless background, and he has a set of 'friendship' with others, and he met with Zhang Guoping, first put aside the orders of his superiors, and then took Zhang Guoping's hand to reminisce about the past.

Zhang Guoping didn't see much outside, and only after Zhang Zuolin finished his 'friendship' did he take out the order from his superiors.

"Division Commander Zhang, tonight, an infantry brigade will be driven from Phoenix City to Tuchengzi, this is the vanguard force, and there will be troops coming over one after another tomorrow, and as soon as the order arrives, these troops will cross the Yalu River, and the superior orders you must cooperate with these infantry units to cross the Yalu River."

"I'm going to cross the river too?"

Zhang Zuolin took the order and read it, and was quite surprised, and the order was clearly written, asking him to lead the cavalry unit of the 16th Division of the Liaoning Provincial Army stationed in Tuchengzi to cross the Yalu River together to cover the army's 'advance' to the deep area of northern Korea.

"yes. After you leave, this earthen city will be taken over by the independent cavalry brigade, and we will ensure that your rear road is safe, and there will soon be an air squadron here, and when the time comes, they will be able to provide you with air cover. ”

Zhang Guoping nodded and pointed to Yang Banghan, the commander of the cavalry brigade standing beside him, and Zhang Zuolin came back to his senses.

"The northern part of Korea is mountainous, so it's not a good place for cavalry." Zhang Zuolin said.

"You don't have to worry about this, your route of march is the coastal plain area, and the guerrillas will do the work of drilling ravines."

"But the coastal plains are vulnerable to Japanese naval attacks." Zhang Zuolin said again.

"I'll tell you the truth. The center made this arrangement to attract the attention of the Japanese navy and army, you are a feint force, not a storming force, if the Japanese navy attacks, you can naturally retreat. ”

For Zhang Zuolin's thoughts, Zhang Guoping can grasp it somewhat, in the final analysis, this green forest figure is still reluctant to give him his little "belongings", but now that the central order has been issued, he is not afraid that he will disobey the military order.

Hearing this, Zhang Zuolin put his mind at ease, but after thinking about it again, he had long been unable to fully control the troops, and the 16th Division of the Liaoning Provincial Army was no longer the "Zhang Family Army", so why should he 'show' his cowardice in front of others?

After pondering for a while, Zhang Zuolin immediately took out a resolute expression.

"No problem, going around in circles with people in the mountains is my forte, and it's even more fine on the plains."

"That's right! This is what the General Staff meant, asking you to go around in circles with the Japanese army in the northern region of Korea, to deal with the Liaodong battlefield, and to defeat the Japanese army in the future. ”

Zhang Guoping stopped at the point, and did not tell all the arrangements of the General Staff, and he could not believe Zhang Zuolin, a figure from the green forest.

The main purpose of this invasion of Korea was to "induce" the Japanese army to divide its forces, on the one hand, to relieve the frontal pressure on the "Goryeo Independence Army" in the direction of Anju, and on the other hand, to attract some of the Japanese troops in Japan to the Korean Peninsula, so that they could not concentrate their forces on one battlefield.

Not only the Wehrmacht's infantry and cavalry units will also be involved in the operation, but the navy's battlefield is limited to the Yalu River, and the navy is responsible for protecting the logistics line of the army units crossing the Yalu River.

After Zhang Zuolin accepted the order, he immediately ordered someone to convey the order and instructed the cavalry to prepare for the attack. At the same time, he began to move and 'hand' defense to Zhang Guo, and by the way, the field airfield was also moved and 'handed over'.

After Zhang Zuolin led his troops into Tuchengzi, he requisitioned that piece of farmland, and when the summer harvest had passed, there was no trouble, and all he had to do was to send soldiers to level the farmland so that the planes could take off and land.

Tuchengzi Airport is also the most easternmost field airfield in the three eastern provinces of China at present, and planes take off from here to not only reconnoiter and bomb the northern region of Korea, but also fly directly to Vladivostok to the northeast to monitor the movement of Tsarist Russia's troops and fleets, although Tsarist Russia does not seem to have any intention of intervening in the Sino-Japanese War, and the situation in Europe is becoming increasingly tense, which distracts the attention of Tsarist Russia, but it is not afraid of 10,000 in case, and it is also necessary to establish a cordon against Russia on the front line. And Zhang Guoping led the cavalry troops into Tuchengzi precisely for this purpose, once the Russian army in North Manchu made a stupid 'jade' move, Zhang Guoping's cavalry could quickly move north along the Yalu River and cut off the rear route of the Russian army.

In the evening, the flying squadron that had transferred from the direction of Phoenix finally arrived over Tuchengzi and soon landed at the field airfield.

followed Zhang Guoping to the airport and walked around, looking at those fighters and bombers, as well as the bullet holes on a few planes, Zhang Zuolin firmly believed that this war was not a trick of the center to kill people with a knife, this was indeed a national war!