Chapter 329: Iron Armor (I)

The sound of artillery fell silent, the battlefield was a mess, the corpses of the dead soldiers all over the ground, and the wreckage of the field artillery that fell to the side, were all witnesses of the one-sided battle, the victor was the United Front ** armed forces, and the defeated side was the Third Division of the Beiyang Army.

Although the fighting has stopped, the battlefield is still 'wafting' with gunpowder smoke, and the choking smell of gunpowder permeates the battlefield, and the whole battlefield is quiet and pretty, and occasionally one or two moans of the dying are heard, which adds to the strange atmosphere on the battlefield.

"Dada...... Dadada......"

Suddenly, the roar of machine guns rang out, making the dead battlefield noisy for a moment, but soon, the gunfire fell silent again, and the surroundings became dead silence again.

In this strange dead silence, Zhang Guodong raised his head and looked at the railway embankment not far away, and saw that the strange-looking train was still parked there, and the short and thick chimney of the locomotive was spewing black smoke, like a dormant beast, and the bottom of the heavy steel armor also spewed out some white 'door' g' 'door'g 'g' g steam from time to time, with a strange "hiss" sound, as if the beast was polishing its claws, and it seemed that it would pounce on it at any time to choose someone to eat.

"Woo—————— woo ——————"

The train suddenly sounded a whistle, frightened by this whistle, Zhang Guodong hurriedly buried his head again, crawling motionless in the pile of corpses, lying behind the wreckage of the field artillery that the 'door' was crooked, relying on this obstacle, Zhang Guodong had been pretending to be dead here for half an hour.

Zhang Guodong is the third division of the Beiyang Army. A squad leader, he is a native of Shucheng, Anhui Province, under the jurisdiction of Luzhou Mansion in the division, so it is considered that Beiyang "His Royal Highness" Duan Zhigui's little fellow, Duan Zhigui took the Qingwang Mansion Zaizhen's 'door' road to become the governor of Heilongjiang, considering that he went to work in a different place, he needed a reliable guard, so he sent someone back to Luzhou Mansion to recruit guards, this chapter Guodong was the official food eaten at that time, and the name of this "Guodong" was also changed by Duan Zhigui's master, Originally, their gang of Anhui Goshha was going to follow Governor Duan to Heilongjiang to fight the autumn breeze, but unexpectedly, Duan Zhigui bribed Zaizhen's secret called "Sanlin Company" The imperial historians caught the horse's feet, and at that time, King Xiaogong and his gang were planning to bring down King Qing and Yuan Shikai, so they took the opportunity to fall into the ground, and as a result, the case happened, and Duan Zhigui bribed the governor to buy the governor's matter. The government and the opposition were shaken, King Qing and Yuan Shikai could only lose the car to protect the handsome, Duan Zhigui's governor couldn't do it, and he couldn't afford to raise so many Goshha when he was idle in the Yi Army, so he recommended them to go to the Beiyang New Army, and this Zhang Guodong ate the emperor's grain in this way.

After the "Wushen **", the Beiyang Army was greatly expanded, and there were not enough officers, and many small soldiers were also stained with the light of **, and they got the benefits of the republic, and became an officer, Zhang Guodong also turned into a squad leader, although the official is small, but the monthly military salary is higher than that of the small soldiers, and he can command the small soldiers.

With the escalation of the confrontation between the north and the south, a large number of Beiyang troops were transferred south, and Zhang Guodong was transferred from Shanhaiguan to Tianjin with the third division, and after replenishing the weapons and ammunition, he was transferred to Zhengzhou, Henan by train, as an ordinary cannon fodder of the second army of the Beiyang south, and walked in front of other troops.

Since the initial march was very smooth, the 3rd Division of the Beiyang Army was in . Under the command of division commander Cao Kun, several key towns in Chenzhou Prefecture were successively captured, and the top and bottom of the Beiyang Third Division felt good about themselves, and Zhang Guodong was no exception.

However, their excitement did not last long, first at the division headquarters. Xihua was attacked by the cavalry of the Southern Army for a long time, and the morale and morale of the army were affected, and then in the battle of attacking Xinyang, the Southern Army stubbornly resisted, and fought for several days, but the Beiyang Army failed to break through any key position, and the third division became depressed again, and everyone was full of strange words, although Zhang Guodong didn't say much strange things, but the idea of going to Wuhan to make a fortune in his heart was sober, and now, his only thought was how to leave Xinyang alive.

Of course, the more important question is if you can't get out of this alive. In front of him, it would be impossible for Zhang Guodong to leave Xinyang alive.

The key is that column. The strange-looking train, if it refuses to leave here, Zhang Guodong must continue to lie here and pretend to be dead, but the problem is that this is still the forefront of the 'exchange' of fire between the two warring sides, whether it is the Beiyang Army to attack, or the United Front to counterattack, the open land by the railway embankment is a killing field where bullets fly, and the shells of the Beiyang Army attacking the train will also be opened on this open land. Flowers' explosion, so, one more minute of stay here, one more minute of danger, Zhang Guodong also understands this truth very well.

Zhang Guodong's knowledge is limited, he doesn't know what to call the train in front of him, the iron armor covered in the whole body looks very heavy, and all the shells of the Beiyang Army can't help it, so it seems that it may be more appropriate to call it an "ironclad car".

In fact, when this train draped in iron armor and carrying cannons and machine guns suddenly appeared in front of the Beiyang officers and soldiers who launched the attack, some people shouted "iron armored car", but the scene was extremely 'chaotic', Zhang Guodong did not know whether this title was shouted by those officers who had stayed abroad, he only knew that when this train rushed towards him, all the people were stunned, and the soldiers who were still alive in his class almost immediately thought of escaping and escaping from this battlefield full of strange atmosphere.

Zhang Guodong couldn't stop his men, because he was also stunned for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, the ironclad car had already stopped in front of the Beiyang Army with a whistle, and he condescended on the roadbed, using machine guns and cannons to fire fiercely at the Beiyang officers and soldiers who were still in a daze.

What was the specific situation at that time, Zhang Guodong can't remember clearly, he only vaguely remembers his illusion at the time, in his opinion at that time, it was not machine guns and cannons that roared in front of him, but the monsters that ran out of the deep mountains and old forests were howling, and with every howl, a group of people would fall in the Beiyang Army, and every time the cannon sounded, there were fragments of people's stumps flying into the sky, spinning and falling in front of others, and even on their heads.

At that time, the 3rd Division of the Beiyang Army was entering the sortie position, preparing to launch an attack on a hilltop high ground by the railway, and they were completely unprepared for defense, because the 4th and 7th Divisions were placed in the south, and according to common sense, if the Southern Army wanted to attack the 3rd Division, it must first break through the defensive line of the 4th and 7th Divisions.

However, the officers and men of the Third Division did not expect at all that the Southern Army actually sent a train covered with iron armor to rush through the defense line of the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division, and rushed to the third division in one breath along the intact railway.

Ironically, it was that railway line, the headquarters of the Beiyang Army had repeatedly warned the troops that it was necessary to ensure the integrity of the railway, so that when the Beiyang Army broke through Xinyang and headed south, it could be easily used to pursue the Southern Army troops fleeing south, but unfortunately, the current reality was just the opposite, and it was the Beiyang Army, not the Southern Army, that was being pursued.

On one side is the long-planned Southern Army ironclad car, and on the other side is the Beiyang Third Division, which has just entered the sortie position and has not yet been fully assembled, anyone with a little military common sense can foresee what will happen.

That's right, as soon as the two sides came into contact, the morale of the Beiyang 3rd Division collapsed, especially when the soldiers found that no weapon in their hands could deal with the ironclad train, and all of them chose to flee the battlefield, fleeing this defeated battlefield before the infantry of the Southern Army pounced.

Zhang Guodong originally planned to flee from the battlefield with others, but he didn't run a few steps and died, but fortunately, he was in a hurry, and hurriedly rolled down in the pile of corpses, so he pretended to be a dead man, until now, he has been lying on the side of the field artillery that was blown up in this 'door' for half an hour, during which the Beiyang Third Division tried to organize an effective attack, and the artillery frantically dumped shells on the roadbed and the train, but the shells that came over could not distinguish between the northern army and the southern army, and those shells could not deal with the ironclad cars, but the infantry to pack up their own is still more than enough, many Beiyang Army soldiers did not die under the guns of the Southern Army, but died at the hands of their own artillery, and the soldiers of the Beiyang Army who did not die may have to thank the ironclad train, because it was the cannons on the car that suppressed the Beiyang Army artillery and forced them to retreat quickly.

The battle between the two sides stopped, and it lasted only 20 minutes, during which the Southern Army even sent two planes to drop a few small bombs on the position of the Beiyang Army, which further destroyed the morale of the Beiyang Army.

Zhang Guodong's life was big, and he didn't even break his skin during the shelling and bombing, but his feet were so badly bent that he couldn't get up to take advantage of the 'chaos' to escape from the battlefield, so he just kept lying here, waiting for the ironclad train to leave here.

But what made Zhang Guodong strange was that after the ironclad train drove here, it stopped here, and he had no intention of retreating to the south at all, nor did he pursue the fleeing Beiyang troops, and he didn't know what the commander of the train was thinking, wasn't he afraid that the back road would be cut off and dumplings would be made? After all, it was a train, not a horse-drawn carriage, and it relied on the railroad tracks to move, and the positions in the south were those of the Beiyang Fourth and Seventh Divisions, and they could completely dig up the roadbed, tear down the rails, and turn this ironclad train into a frozen snake.

Zhang Guodong understands this truth, and he thinks that other officers should also understand, but why does the commander of this ironclad train not seem to be worried about being cut off at all?

Zhang Guodong lay in the pile of corpses and pondered, listening attentively, he could only hear the sound of gunfire coming from far away in the south, the battle there had been 'fierce' going on since just now, even if the Beiyang Third Division had collapsed, the Beiyang Fourth Division and the Seventh Division still held their positions and fought a 'fierce' battle with the Southern Army, as for who won and who lost, Zhang Guodong was not clear.

However, when the 3rd Beiyang Division and the ironclad train were 'engaged' just now, Zhang Guodong seemed to see a large force of the Southern Army carrying the red flag on the other side of the railway, and it seemed that they were going to flank the 3rd Beiyang Division, but when they found that the 3rd Division had collapsed, they did not launch an attack on the 3rd Division, but turned around and went to the south, to the territory of the 4th and 7th Beiyang Divisions.

Could it be that the Southern Army troops went to outflank the rear roads of the Beiyang Fourth and Seventh Divisions? Zhang Guodong was a little worried about the Beiyang Fourth Division and the Seventh Division.

Just when Zhang Guodong was thinking about 'chaos', there were two more whistles, and the stiff snake-like ironclad train finally started slowly.

"Boom—————— Boom ——————"

"Boom——————boom——————"

……

The sound of the friction of the machine parts and the exhaust sound of the steam engine were 'intertwined' together, although the sound was not loud, but to Zhang Guodong's ears, this sound was like the roar of a fierce beast after waking up, which made him tremble, and the two 'legs' couldn't help but tremble.

burying his head in the pile of corpses, Zhang Guodong didn't even dare to breathe, let alone look up, he could only rely on his ears to judge whether the ironclad train had gone far.

Thankfully, the ironclad train finally went far this time, but it still did not withdraw to the south, but continued to the north, along the railway to the north, faster and faster, and sounded the whistle as it went, as if it was afraid that the Beiyang Army would not know that it was coming.

Raising his head, seeing that the ironclad train had gone two miles away, Zhang Guodong breathed a long sigh of relief and moved his foot, although the place where he was still a little painful, but it didn't seem to hinder walking.

Turning his head, he quickly checked the open land behind him, only a mile or two away from the nearest mountain to the west, but there were "mountain" cave soldiers guarding the southern army, and they couldn't go over, so there were not many options left, and the north definitely couldn't go, the ironclad train was there, and the third division of Beiyang that pursued the rout went there, Zhang Guodong went there to throw himself into the net, and the east was a prominent position of the southern army, and the terrain there was more open, and there was not even a tree bare, and he couldn't take risks, so count, The only place Zhang Guodong can go is the south, although there is still fighting, but after all, it is the defense line of the Beiyang Fourth and Seventh Divisions, which is better than other directions, and the only thing to worry about is the southern army troops that outflank the back road.

Of course, going to the south does not mean that Zhang Guodong is going to join the Beiyang Fourth Division and the Seventh Division, he has already made up his mind just now, and when he leaves here alive, he will immediately go to the nearby villages to find some civilian clothes, and then run away, he will never want to eat the imperial food of the Beiyang Army again.

So, Zhang Guodong stood up from the pile of corpses, and after walking a few steps, he saw a rifle on the ground, so he picked it up and used it as a crutch in his hand. There were some soldiers of the Southern Army who came down from the ironclad train just now, but they didn't care about the rifles all over the ground, and instead carried the few 'strong' machine guns left on the battlefield by the Beiyang Third Division onto the train.

"Perhaps, the Southern Army has already opened fire with those Beiyang machine guns, right?"

Hearing the sound of machine gun 'shooting' from the north, Zhang Guodong turned his head to take a look, there, it was also the direction of the retreat of the Beiyang Third Division, and the position further north was the position of the Beiyang Ninth Division, Zhang Guodong forced himself not to think about how the Ninth Division would show its combat effectiveness in front of the ironclad train.

"Walk a few miles to the south, then go west...... If you can't go back to Anhui, you will be in this Henan, and it is better to be a mountain king than to be cannon fodder. ”

Looking up at the sun in the sky, Zhang Guodong sighed, picked up a few good guns from the ground, carried them on his back, and then limped to the south with a rifle.

Under the dazzling sunlight, Zhang Guodong turned around, looked at the wolf-ridden battlefield, and couldn't help but howl twice.

It is too speechless for an ironclad train to defeat a division of the Beiyang Army so easily.

This ironclad sonorous war really made all the Beiyang officers and soldiers dumbfounded.