The next day, as soon as Xiang Xiaoqiang came to the headquarters, General Fang Dongcheng, the current commander of the Western Front, reported to him a good news.

Fang Dongcheng and Xiang Xiaoqiang are old acquaintances. As early as the beginning of the 36th year, when the Pukou counterattack was fought, Fang Dongcheng was one of the commanders of the five group armies who voluntarily crossed the river with the People's Guard and besieged Pukou. Later, in the War of Unification, he served as the commander of the Left Army Group, commanding half of the Ming army to fight against the Qing army. He can also be regarded as a generation of famous generals of the Ming Empire.

Since Zhao Cunnian was arrested for espionage, the People's Guard has no generals who can command the entire war zone. After all, this is an armed force that has rapidly developed from tens of thousands of people, and now it has only more than 200,000 people, and its scale is only equivalent to that of a group army, and in terms of talent, it certainly cannot be compared with an army of more than 2 million people and a long history. The commander-in-chief of the Western Front was replaced by someone other than the People's Guard, Xiang Xiaoqiang must have felt a little regretful, but other than that, it had no effect on him. What's more, Fang Dongcheng's relationship with him is still good.

Xiang Xiaoqiang is now smiling happily:

"Really? 10,000 vehicles at once? ”

Fang Dongcheng smiled:

"Lord Wang, I didn't believe it at first, but I heard them call this kind of ship 'Freedom Wheel' It is said that the United States has been designing this kind of ship since the war of our unification, and now dozens of ships have been built. I guess they were holding back their energy and waiting for today's opportunity......"

As soon as Xiang Xiaoqiang heard this thunderous name, he immediately laughed:

"Ah, the Liberty Wheel? Appeared so soon? ”

"Lord Wang?"

"Ah, well, ahem," Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, "I know this kind of freighter...... Yes, I have some information about this kind of ship. It is a freighter designed for large-scale production and rapid construction, simple in structure, but very reliable and particularly capable of loading. This thing is completely different from the previous shipbuilding model, a large part of it is done on the assembly line, but it is finally assembled on the slipway. With low cost and short construction period, it is most suitable for large-scale construction in wartime. Capacity...... It seems to be more than 9,000 tons. ”

Fang Dongcheng smiled:

"What the prince said is right. The fleet docked in Guangzhou this time was contracted by Ford, and there were a total of 10 free ships, all of which were trucks. Each ship is loaded with 1,000 vehicles, a total of 10,000 vehicles! ”

"10,000, 10,000...... Hehe, 10,000. ”

Although Xiang Xiaoqiang had already heard this terrifying number, the second time he heard it, he was still smiling and repeating it in his mouth.

10,000 military trucks, as long as 10 ships, just arrived. What a concept! The production of cars in the country in Daming is only a few thousand a month, and now these ten cargo ships are running on the sea for a month, and 10,000 are transported at once! Moreover, this is only a small fleet of ten ships, and there may be five or six, seven or eight, or even a dozen of such small fleets sailing on the seas at this time! God knows how many more of these fleets will dock this month! Moreover, the output of free wheels will be higher and higher! It is likely that in a few months, sea transport will no longer be a bottleneck.

Of course, although this fleet is not large, only ten ships, but because it is contracted by Ford, it is all cars, and nothing else, so for military vehicles, this is a large batch of goods. Generally speaking, the free wheel only carries two or three hundred cars, and then carries other goods.

"This should be the largest single military vehicle arriving in Hong Kong since the purchase of the US military, right? Haha," Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, "Lord Fang, how about it, with these 10,000 trucks at the bottom, do you have the confidence to go back to Northern Xinjiang in one go?" ”

Fang Dongcheng nodded and said with a smile:

"Hehe, I'll do my best."

……

Due to the huge gap between the two sides in this battle in terms of preparation, morale, and logistical support, the Ming army's offensive in the north and south was a rapid offensive all the way, although the bloody battles were one after another, but after all, the Soviet army failed to stop the Ming army's offensive. On the fourth day of the offensive, that is, on May 18, the vanguard of the Ming army's southern road had advanced to Guazhou, recovered the county seat of Guazhou, and began to turn northwest along the road, reaching Hami 350 kilometers away.

However, the Northern Road Offensive was already closer to Hami because it did not move along the winding road, but walked in a straight line in the Great Gobi, with only about 200 kilometers left. In the Great Gobi, they first ushered in the first tank battle.

In previous tug-of-war battles, both sides also preferred to fight closer to themselves. In this way, the battlefield is closer to one's supply base, and the opponent is farther away. Because both sides know that everyone is at the end of the crossbow, and the key to winning or losing is already the supply line. Whoever has a supply line that is a few hundred kilometers short will be able to win a big victory, annihilate the opponent's strength, and chase the opponent's fart.

This time was no exception. In the desert, just 200 kilometers from Hami, the first tank battle began. The two forward armored divisions of the Ming army had about 400 tanks against the Soviet army with about 600 tanks. This is a thousand-class tank battle. The two sides fought in the yellow sand for a long time, and finally more than 500 tanks of the Soviet army were destroyed, while the Ming army lost 150 vehicles. Judging by the number of tanks destroyed on both sides, the Ming army won a small victory. Because the artillery, armor, power, and technological level of the Ming army's tanks are much superior to the Soviet tanks, and the cost is much higher, one can top at least three Soviet troops.

But in this battle, the Ming army was the attacker, and the last battle was a pursuit battle, while the Soviet army was the defender, and it was a retreat battle. All the wounded tanks of the Soviet army were left on the battlefield, and not a single one was taken away. Even a small ailment such as a broken track or an engine failure is the same as being destroyed. And the Ming army was the last to clean up the battlefield, and all the wounded tanks could be repaired, unless the kind that was completely blown up to scrap metal and had no repair value could only be thrown there. But not many are bad enough to this extent. Most of them can still be used after repairs.

In the end, the Ming army was completely unable to repair only a few dozen vehicles, while the Soviet army still lost more than 500 vehicles. So in this way, the Ming army turned out to be a big victory.

……

The Southern Road Offensive conquered Guazhou and also entered the Great Gobi region. This is the end of the oasis corridor with abundant water and grass. Next, whether it is the south road or the north road, the test of logistics supply is suddenly severe. In the previous tug-of-war, the farthest distance that the Ming army could reach was a hundred kilometers east of Hami, and Hami had never been taken. It's because you can't pass the supply line. The Soviet army was also confident about this.

But this time, the Ming army took Guazhou, and did not stop to wait for fuel, water, ammunition, and parts as before...... He didn't wait for anything, but drove straight past without blinking an eyelid.

According to the report of the Soviet reconnaissance plane, on the road behind, the Ming army transported "a terrible number" of military vehicles. The tanks of the entire division were not driven by themselves, but mounted on flatbed trucks and galloped in line on the road. The number of water tankers has increased several times compared to before, and it is not like a special water tanker, but an ordinary truck, and the back is faced with a tin water tank...... There are also tank trucks, which used to be used by the Ming army to transport fuel, but now there are more ordinary trucks with large oil drums full of oil behind them.

Anyway, the Soviet command had a feeling: the Ming army had transferred all the military vehicles that could be used in the country here. Their inland garrisons,! ~！