Zhou Heng had long expected the actions of the Ming army. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info He deliberately did not arrange a heavy defense on the south bank of the Arno River, just to attract the Ming army to the bank of the Arno River, and when the Ming army crossed the river in a big way, he used the dense firepower points that had been arranged long ago to knock the Ming army to the ground with a rain of bullets.

An hour passed, two hours passed. When the sun began to sink in the west, Wang Dexiang, who came to the front line to watch the battle, had a blue face, and his hands trembled slightly with anger.

Looking through the binoculars, several tanks that drove up to the bridgehead in the distance were turned into scrap metal emitting black smoke by the fire points hidden in the ruins on the opposite bank, and looked at the fallen Ming infantry in pieces. Wang Dexiang, who was almost dripping with blood from his eyes, slowly lowered his eyelids, took a deep breath, and then ordered in a deep voice: "Stop attacking!" ”

During the all-day battle, at least more than 7,000 Ming officers and men were killed, wounded, and captured, and more than 200 vehicles of various kinds were damaged. Especially when the Arno River was stormed in the afternoon, in the face of a dense rain of bullets like splashing water, the not wide river was almost covered with the remains of the Ming army. The army aviation fighter unit in the sky also suffered serious losses, and the loss of nearly 150 fighters made the army aviation commanders feel heartache.

Although they successfully repelled the Ming offensive, the Americans were also uncomfortable. Although they were the defenders, the fierce artillery bombardment and aerial bombardment of the Ming army almost blew the entire city of Florence to pieces. According to a rough estimate, the number of U.S. troops stationed in the city was at least 8,000 or more, and the armored vehicles deployed by the 1st Armored Division as fixed vitality points in various places also lost more than 100. However, the Americans successfully resisted the offensive of the Ming army and firmly held most of Florence in their own hands. In particular, it is a vital transport hub.

"These bastards!" Wang Dexiang, who returned to the front-line headquarters, looked at the preliminary battle damage statistics he had just obtained in his hand, and the anger that had been suppressed for several hours finally erupted irrepressibly. Although the loss of equipment was painful, the huge number of casualties was what really stimulated him. Daming has all kinds of equipment, but talent is what Daming looks at the most.

"Sir, what now?" The generals of the Ming army, who were also angry, came to Wang Dexiang's side and asked aloud.

"What else can I do?" Wang Dexiang ordered sharply with red eyes, "Send a telegram to the follow-up troops, and order them to arrive before twelve o'clock!" Especially the artillerymen! Also, send a telegram to the High Command to report the situation here. ”

Because the defeat during the day caused the Ming army to be demoralized, there was no large-scale attack after dinner. At about six o'clock in the evening, about a regiment of German garrisons from near Pisa arrived in Florence and strengthened the defenders. This force was drawn from Pisa and other places in order to protect this important point of defense in Florence. As for whether it will weaken the defenses of places such as Pisa, it is no longer a matter of concern. Fiorentina lost it, and Pizza couldn't hold it.

Soon, in the following hours, the follow-up units of the Ming army, which had been strictly ordered to hurry quickly, also gradually arrived at the Florentine front, especially those powerful towed artillery units. The arrival of hundreds of large-caliber guns gave another boost to the morale of the gradually declining Ming army.

Although the mobility of these towed guns is average in front of armored troops, their power is not covered. Hundreds of kings of war roared together, and any kind of army had to pay a heavy price.

For the officers and men of both sides, who had fought all day, the fierce battle was just the beginning.

......

"Didn't take it?" The imperial capital, Zhang Cheng's official residence. After dinner, Zhang Cheng, who was leaning on the sofa and listening to the song with headphones, opened his eyes a little unexpectedly and looked at Wang Yan who was standing in front of him, and asked suspiciously. In Zhang Cheng's reflection, the flank roundabout corps has always been a smooth and rapid assault, is it that this time it has encountered a strong enemy?

"Yes, Your Excellency." Wang Yan, who was invited by a group of senior generals of the army to send Zhang Cheng the news of this kind of defeat in the war on the grounds that he was busy with military affairs, nodded helplessly, and said, "The main force of the Allied forces stationed in Florence is the First Armored Division of the United States, which has strong combat effectiveness. The American resistance in Florence was fierce, and the front-line troops suffered heavy losses in the daytime fighting, and although some progress was made, they were unable to completely capture Florence. ”

Wang Yan was also very helpless in his heart. He was engaged in intelligence but was forced by a group of generals to send the military intelligence and battle situation to the front line, and he also had a headache for this nondescript thing. This kind of thing should have been done by the army generals.

The senior generals of the Ming Army are basically old vixens, after all, people who can stand out from millions of armies cannot have a bad head. The front line lost the battle, and no one did such a thing as sending letters. Wang Yan, an important henchman under Zhang Cheng, who happened to be handling affairs in the Supreme Command, was there, and the army had no choice but to ask Wang Yan. No one wants to face the wrath of the Supreme Commander, after all, it is a failure.

"Oh." Zhang Cheng slowly lowered his eyelids, his face was unwavering, and he didn't have a too angry expression.

Zhang Cheng knew very well in his heart that although the Ming army was very powerful, they were all earthlings, and they all used weapons of the same era. It's all too normal for an attack to be frustrated. It's just that this time the goal is very important. If you can't take Florence, you can't attack Pisa and Livorno, and if you can't take Pisa and Livorno, you have to watch Rommel escape with hundreds of thousands of German elites. He couldn't bear this kind of thing anyway.

Wang Yan lowered his head and looked at the thick carpet under his feet, without saying a word. This is a matter for the Army, and it is already something he should not do as an intelligence worker to report, and if he says anything more at this time, he will really be asking for trouble for himself.

After a moment of silence, he said softly, "Then inform the General Staff to implement the second set of combat plans, this time Rommel can't be allowed to run away no matter what." ”

Zhang Cheng has long seen this war very clearly. There are only two battlefields that really determine the direction of this war, one is the Pacific and the other is Russia.

Defeating the U.S. Navy and seizing sea supremacy in the Pacific Ocean is to make the Ming invincible. Except for the U.S. Navy, no one could threaten the industrial base of Daming itself. With a solid rear, Daming was able to persist in fighting all the time. This is the basis for protecting the principal and not losing money, and seeing how much you can earn in the end.

As for the Russian battlefield, it is the key point that determines the final outcome of the war. That's right, the war node planned in Zhang Cheng's mind is on the Russian battlefield.

Don't look at Russia, it doesn't seem to be very brilliant in the anti-Ming alliance, and it has basically lost many battles and won few victories for more than two years. But Russia's war potential is the strongest among the allies besides the United States. Not much else, the population of nearly 200 million alone has left Germany and France far behind. Moreover, Russia has a large territorial area as a strategic detour space, which other European countries do not have.

Defeat in one or two, or several large-scale battles, did not kill the Russians. Because they have enough strategic space and a chance to come back to life. But Germany and France are not good, their land area is small, there is not much strategic space, if a few major battles are lost, the whole country will fall into a state of no return.

Then there's the terrain. Europe is typically a wide on the right and narrow on the left, like a huge, flat funnel. The biggest place is in Russia. Once Russia is taken, the steel torrent of the Ming Dynasty will sweep towards Central and Western Europe with the momentum of Wanjun, because of the terrain, the troops will become more and more concentrated, and the combat effectiveness will naturally be greatly strengthened. The commanders all knew very well that the only way to concentrate troops was to concentrate their forces rather than to scatter their forces like looking for death.

And although the Russians have been beaten badly in the past two years, they are still able to pull up a huge army. Equipped with weapons provided by various allies, it is still full of combat effectiveness.

What's more, the two-year war has also been like a bath, and all the fools who did nothing before the war have been purged from the army. The current commanders of the Russian army are basically elites who have grown up from the flames of war. At the same time, after two years of fighting, their troops have gradually been reborn, and they are no longer the serf army that was so low in combat effectiveness that it was ridiculed before the war, and had nothing but numbers.

As for the battle of Italy and the battle between the Balkans and Spain, which are still being prepared, because of the terrain and the proximity to the core areas of Germany, France and Germany, they appeared more as a way to weaken the Allied forces.

After all, although Germany and France are now playing soy sauce on the battlefield in Russia, their actual losses in national strength and military strength are not large. Once the Ming army attacks them with all their might, who knows how long they will fight? Not to mention that the places where the army can attack are all blocked by huge mountain ranges.

Zhang Cheng's mind has always been on the Russian battlefield. As long as Russia is taken, it is equivalent to taking the whole of Europe. Although Germany, France, Britain and other countries resisted desperately, the final trend could not be stopped. And once Europe is taken, the United States, which is located on the American continent, will become a loner, and it will be impossible to fight against the Ming Dynasty who has reached its peak by itself.

As for those small countries in South America, Zhang Cheng didn't care at all.

The attack on Italy was mainly aimed at weakening the war potential of Germany, France and other countries. At the same time, it will position itself in an invincible position at the diplomatic-political level. The same applies to countries such as Spain and the Balkans.

It's like a dessert, an appetizer. Before focusing his main goal and attention on the Russian battlefield, Zhang Cheng could not let Germany and France and other countries have enough energy and strength to support the Russians. Putting a sharp dagger under their stomachs to prevent them from helping the Russians was the core of Zhang Cheng's campaign in southern Europe.

Weaken the war potential of countries and divert the energy to contain them. This is a chess piece that Zhang Cheng fell in the European region. (To be continued.) )