Episode 70 Super Big Kidnap Ticket

"Protecting the !! bombers"

The leader of the kingfisher formation shouted loudly and ordered:

"Three, four, five brigades protect the bombers! The first and second teams meet the enemy with me! ”

Saying that he rolled on his side, with two brigades, a total of 68 fighters from the high altitude, .

The leader of the Osprey formation also immediately ordered:

"Drop the bomb, evade and return!"

Because the above explained in advance that the dive bomber protects itself in the first place, and it is better to kill a few Qing soldiers than to lose one.

The 150 "Ospreys" immediately dropped their bombs, scattered to evade the fighters, and returned home under the close protection of 82 "Kingfishers."

More than 60 Ming troops, more than 30 Qing troops, and nearly 100 fighters immediately unfolded in the skies over Pukou.

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang saw from the observation window that two dive bombers were dragging black smoke down, and his expression immediately became sharp.

"What's going on!" He yelled to his side, "How can we be shot down!" ”

Then he immediately picked up his binoculars and looked at the sky on the other side, and continued to roar:

"The Qing planes came around from there! …… As I said, not a single dive bomber is allowed to be lost! …… What are our planes for! Find me Li Guoliang! ”

The communications soldiers behind him did not dare to breathe, and were busy contacting the commander of the army aviation. Soon, Li Guoliang appeared on the other end of the phone, and without waiting to speak to Xiaoqiang, he said honestly and fearfully:

"To your lordship...... The last general already knows, and the last general will send fighter jets! The last general promised that not a single bomber would be shot down again! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang's mood eased a little, and sighed:

"Master Li, as I said, there are too many places to use these 150 dive bombers in the Ming Dynasty. Be sure to protect it. …… It's also my fault that you put too much emphasis on battlefield protection, so you concentrated all the fighters in the sky over Pukou and let the Qing planes drill over. Lord Li, you still have to send alert fighters. You're more professional than me, you decide. ”

"Yes, yes," Li Guoliang wiped a cold sweat, "The last general will arrange this." Thank you, sir......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was right, Li Guoliang cared too much about the air superiority over Pukou, and took an extremely risky move, he transferred almost all the fighters of the first and second air divisions to Pukou.

At present, there are four aviation divisions in the Ming Dynasty, and each division has a total of 100 fighters and bombers. The 1st and 2nd Aviation Divisions defended the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and were the elite of the entire army aviation, and almost all of their fighters were the most advanced "Kingfishers." In doing so, Li Guoliang almost aired the fighters within 300 to 400 kilometers along the river, and the Qing planes easily broke through the air defense, made a detour to the southeast of Nanjing, and successfully attacked from the angle of the sun.

Soon, Xiang Xiaoqiang received a report from Li Guoliang that according to the report of the kingfisher leader, the Qing army was eight "44 formations", a total of 32 fighters, all of which were single-wing "Haidongqing". Xiang Xiaoqiang was suddenly overjoyed and asked Li Guoliang:

"What do you think?"

Li Guoliang's voice was also excited:

"There are only about 100 Haidongqing left in the Qingyu Air Force, and now more than 30 have been sent at once, which can be said to be a gamble! …… My lord, this may be because their emperor is surrounded here, and the Qing Air Force can't take care of anything, so let's just eat this bite! ”

This veteran of aviation analyzes the same as himself. Xiang Xiaoqiang was very happy and said:

"Not bad! I saw dozens of Kingfishers escorting the bombers home. Let them return to the battle as soon as they are escorted, and we will use our five-to-one advantage to eat the enemy and minimize our own losses, while also fighting quickly. Other places cannot be without fighter planes, and if they do not react to the enemy, it will be troublesome for the air to attack our airfield. ”

"That's right," replied Li Guoliang, "the last general did take a risk." ”

Numerical superiority always means a better exchange ratio. Originally, the fighters of the Ming army had a two-to-one advantage, but now the 82 kingfishers escorting the osprey bombers returned to the battlefield again, and the numerical advantage of the Ming army reached five to one.

The 32 Haidongqing planes of the Qing army all belonged to the First Combat Aviation Regiment of the Qing Air Force, and the quality of the pilots was not below that of the Ming pilots, but they came from a distance at Fengyang Airport, which was nearly 200 kilometers away, and nearly half of the fuel was consumed, and the air combat was the most fuel-intensive.

These 32 Haidongqing rushed in to fight for a round, fought for several rounds, and were knocked out 15 planes, and the rest were short of fuel, one by one, trying to get out of the battlefield. However, the maximum speed of the "Kingfisher" is 12 kilometers per hour faster than that of "Haidongqing", and it bites tightly.

For a time, the sky over the Yangtze River seemed to be smeared by a paintbrush, and dozens of long smoke dragged in the sky, accompanied by fireballs that exploded in the air from time to time, which was spectacular.

The citizens of Nanjing had never seen such a scene, and for a time they feasted their eyes, almost forgetting the war, and climbed to the roofs or high places to watch the rare spectacle of this life. Whenever a plane exploded into a fireball in the air or dragged a long cigarette to the ground, some citizens cheered and some sighed. More people couldn't tell who was who, and they asked each other about it.

In more than ten minutes, the remaining 17 "Haidongqing" of the Qing army were also shot down one by one. In total, the Ming army lost only 13 "Kingfishers".

The swap ratio is 2.5 to 1, which is pretty good.

"Great," Xiang Xiaoqiang was in the telescope, watching the last Hai Dongqing fall into the river, and patted his thigh happily, "Now there are only more than sixty monoplane fighters left in the Qing army!" …… And we have more than two hundred. ”

……

Although the Ming army attacked the periphery of Pukou Town, the remaining 30,000 or 40,000 people of the three Eight Banner Divisions of the Qing army have now shrunk into the town, hiding in the streets and alleys, private houses, relying on the ruins of the walls, and resisting with mortars, anti-tank guns and other weapons. The remaining Eight Banners Division's will to resist was quite resolute, far from being comparable to those Han troops on the periphery. The Ming army suddenly became very uncomfortable, and although there were tanks and armored vehicles on the road, they also began to struggle, and casualties surged.

The Ming army went to attack Li first, and most of the captured soldiers were Qing soldiers, and civilians were rarely seen. Occasionally, a small number of civilians were gathered by the Ming army, taken far beyond the battlefield, and the large Red Cross flag prepared was unfurled for aerial identification.

At present, only a few thousand people have been seen, less than a fraction of the Qing army. Perhaps after many days of fighting, most of the civilians in Pukou fled. But these civilians suffered heavy casualties, all of them were injured by the bombs and shells of the Ming army, and they fled with their families in tow. Now most of the military doctors and medicines in Pukou are used on these civilians.

A female soldier of the People's Guard Corps was angry and asked them:

"The two sides of the strait have been bombarding each other for so many days, why haven't you run away? Can your little family foundation be more important than your own life? ”

A woman with a child in her arms, sat on the ground, raised her head, and said blankly:

"How can we ordinary people run?"

"Hey, why can't you people run?"

The few Pukou people sitting on the ground looked at each other and were very confused. An old man glanced at her and said:

"Girl, seeing that you look good-looking, how can you make us people happy?"

This female military doctor wondered:

"How can I make you people happy? Hey, tell me clearly, what the hell is going on? ”

The old man shook his head and sighed:

"We are ordinary people, we have no money, we have no ability, how much money do we have to spend to get to the road!"

The female military doctor was stunned for a moment and muttered:

"Road...... Road? ”

She remembered that when the people of the Northern Qing Dynasty left their residences, they had to do "roads" first. But she didn't expect that there would be a war, and the people would have to flee to the road. Besides, this is not a flight to the south, this is a flight to the north!

"It's a war now!" She was a little furious and asked indignantly, "It's normal for refugees to flee, and now there are no roads, isn't this making ordinary people die?" ”

The old man said "hey" and sneered:

"You don't want a road there? Isn't it all like that? …… Girl, you are young, you don't understand, the things in this world are dark! The more times like this, the tighter the road jam! The officials who were in charge of the road all moved into the big bunkers, and they were not afraid of shells, so they calmed down and made money...... Usually spend half an ocean, and then invite a guest to have a meal, you can make a ...... Now I heard that it has risen to more than 50 oceans!

"It's better if there is someone above, and you can get one for less money...... If there is no one above you, and people know that you have two money, then it is strange that you will not be squeezed into bankruptcy! …… Hmph, poor people like us, who have no money and no power, can only sit at home and chant Buddha...... Oh, by the way, it's not that there is no way, Zhang Sanwang in the alley of the opposite door sent his fourteen-year-old daughter to the bunker...... As a result, by the next day, it only cost forty oceans, six roads were done, and the whole family of six fled to their lives...... and Liu Sangu on the other side of the dock, who sent her daughter-in-law to the bunker, but the family also ran away...... An old man like me, who has no daughter or daughter-in-law, can only ......"

When the female military doctor heard this, she was already trembling with anger, and said angrily:

"Shameless! It's so shameless! …… Tell you, we don't need a road over there! Not only don't you need roads, but you can go wherever you want! ”

The old man squinted his eyes and shook his head:

"I don't believe it. How can there be such a thing, it is not all messed up. ”

The woman holding the child next to her saw that this female officer of the Ming Army was already angry, so she hurriedly pulled the old man quietly and whispered:

"Grandpa, you don't have to say a word...... Haven't we escaped now, and we haven't spent a penny, so what are we going to ......do?"

A voice behind him asked:

"Are you telling the truth?"

The female military doctor turned to look and saw an armored car parked not far behind her, and a young major general listened coldly. Behind him stood several lieutenant generals.

She gasped, seeing so many dignitaries at the same time for the first time. The female military doctor of the People's Guard immediately knew who was in front of her, and immediately saluted Xiang Xiaoqiang and said loudly:

"Commander!"

When this small group of ordinary people heard that it was a commander, they all stood up in fear, some bowed, and some asked for peace. More people just stood dumbfounded.

Because the Ming army had advanced to Pukou Town, the riverside position was already very safe, and the attack was blocked, Xiang Xiaoqiang moved the temporary headquarters to the west bank and was able to command nearby.

But he overheard the conversation. This is something he never expected. Xiang Xiaoqiang asked the old man:

"You mean, most of the people of Pukou are still in the town?"

The old man was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak, and he was about to kowtow to say goodbye in a trembling voice, and he was about to kneel down while pulling the shelf. Xiang Xiaoqiang frowned, with a look, the guard next to him immediately stepped forward and helped the old man up.

At this time, several female military doctors and nurses around saw that this was Commander Xiang and surrounded them. Two or three female nurses were anxious to behave, and comforted the old man in a soft voice, telling him not to be afraid, saying that we are very good to the adults......

The old man finally stopped being afraid, and talked tremblingly about the situation in the town. A few ordinary people next to me also followed you and added one sentence to another.

It turned out that until the day before Emperor Guangwu came, the relevant officials of Pukou Town also partnered with the garrison to make a fortune by taking advantage of the Ming army's artillery bombardment. The garrison kept the town around to prevent people from escaping, and those who wanted to escape had to spend dozens of times the price to build road strips, otherwise they could only be bombed in the town. There are more than 50,000 civilians in Pukou Town, and these days, those who have some access and a little savings have successively set up high-priced roads and walked thousands of people.

But on the morning of the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, the emperor suddenly came, and the local officials and officers were afraid, afraid that the emperor would see that there were still so many civilians who had not left, and when they questioned him, they colluded, saying that the local people were fiercely loyal and willing to live and die with Pukou. In this way, even high-priced roads will not be done, and not a single person will want to go out. In the past two days, the Ming army has shelled and bombed, and the people have been killed and wounded.

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt almost suffocated. He took a deep breath and asked:

"How many people are there in the town now? You estimate. ”

The old man thought for a while, hesitated and said:

"Twenty or thirty thousand, why can't there be less than thirty thousand."

A few ordinary people next to him also nodded and said about the same.

Xiang Xiaoqiang touched his forehead and felt his heart tremble. Twenty or thirty thousand civilians were forced to concentrate in a palm-sized town. How dense does it have to be? If such a bomb goes down, at least half of the people will be killed.

No matter how harsh a country or government is to its people, it will at least allow its people to flee when faced with foreign enemies.

…… But what we see now is that the government acts as kidnappers, treats the people as meat tickets, and uses foreign enemies to attack and extort ransom from the people. Such a government, such a court......

Xiang Xiaoqiang was silent for a long time, slowly turned around, and looked north.

……

From here to the north, thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, millions of square kilometers of land, hundreds of millions of people......

How long will you be kidnapped by this regime?

Shouldn't they be liberated?

Isn't it "possible" to liberate them?

The thought startled him.

…… Can you? No! The vast land, huge population, and huge army of the Northern Qing Dynasty...... This is all war potential, and it is a war potential that Nanming cannot compare.

…… Northern Qing population?

Xiang Xiaoqiang turned around and looked at the thousands of people who had escaped for their lives, hugging and crying. Those who had escaped with their whole families stepped forward to stop them whenever they saw the officers of the Ming Army passing by, and asked if they could go to Nanming.

…… The army of the Northern Qing Dynasty?

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the hundreds of thousands of black prisoners who were pressed and couldn't see the end at a glance. The captives sat on the ground and waited to go to Nanming, many of them were laughing with each other, not at all frustrated or unwilling after being captured.

…… Can't it?

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the north, sniffing the cold air from the north, but his chest suddenly became hot. He forced himself to calm down. It's incredible. What I am thinking about now is something that no one dares to think about in the entire Ming Command and the entire Ming Army. Those experienced generals and marshals, they didn't dare to think about such a thing.

But this crazy thought had already surged into his mind, and he couldn't get rid of it. - Just like the famous saying: once a person has the desire to fly, he will no longer be satisfied and crawl on the ground.

waved his hand to Xiaoqiang, pulled his thoughts back, and did the current business first. Listening to the rumbling of artillery in the northeast, he ordered:

"Tell the commander of the army aviation that the Osprey bomber formation will not take off for the time being."

"Yes."

"No heavy artillery is allowed for the time being."

"Your Excellency?"

"Let's use the tank to push it in first."

Xiang Xiaoqiang said.

……

The People's Guard's Lightning-2 tank moved slowly, its tracks "creaking" through the broken bricks and rubble, followed by a platoon of infantrymen with submachine guns. Further back, there was a "Steel Crossbow" self-propelled gun.

A dilapidated building in front of it was three stories tall and still intact, the walls were riddled with bullet marks, the glass windows were shattered, the window holes were charred black, and a large piece of broken glass was scattered around the building.

The tank commander's heart was beating. He had just participated in the street battle in Nanjing, and from experience, he knew that there was an ambush in this kind of building. But there are so many windows that the enemy can attack you from any of them.

The tracks stopped, the engines still fluttered, the turret roared and turned, and the 37mm barrel slowly lifted up, looking at the windows on the second and third floors.

If it had been before, it would have been possible to call a dive bomber and level the building from the air. However, he had just received an order from the headquarters, not only was there no dive bomber support, but he could no longer fire artillery or use flamethrowers indiscriminately on unknown buildings. Because there may be a large number of civilians inside.

And so it is. Before receiving the order, the Ming army found that there were more civilians in the building than they could have imagined. It is often a single shot that hits in, blowing up a large number of women, children and the elderly. And there were only two or three Qing soldiers who really walked out with their hands raised.

Suddenly, on the first floor of this small building, smoke and flames erupted from the windows, and the front armor of the Ming army tank was hit with a loud bang.

did not penetrate, it is estimated that the opponent is 37 small cannons.

"There is an ambush, hide quickly!"

Before the shouting fell, two light machine guns stretched out from the two window openings on the second floor, and fired fiercely at the Ming army below, and for a time, a large number of Ming soldiers were killed.

The Lightning-2 tank immediately fell backwards, depressing the barrel and firing it at that window. Then the self-propelled guns in the back came up, the 57-mm barrels roared, and the walls of the second floor collapsed into a large chunk, and a cloud of fire and dust filled the air.

The smoke cleared, and the loud crying of children could be heard in the building. Two Qing soldiers died on the ground downstairs, and in the large gap on the second floor, two bloody corpses could be seen. One was wearing a floral padded jacket, and the other was crushed under a brick wall, revealing only half of its head. The head is obviously small, and it is a small child.

Another eleven or twelve-year-old girl came over crying, her face covered in blood, screaming and crying and throwing herself on the corpse in a flowered jacket, shouting "Mother, mother". A **-year-old boy next to him was crying, picking up broken bricks, gritting his teeth and throwing them at the Ming soldiers downstairs.

The little girl immediately got up from her mother, hugged her brother tightly, and pulled him back, while looking fearfully at the Ming soldiers below.

The platoon commander of the Ming army endured the discomfort in his heart and ordered:

"One shift, two shifts, occupy this building!"

More than two dozen soldiers carrying submachine guns quickly rushed into the small building, and soon, there was a loud burst of gunfire in the building. The sound of Thomson's submachine guns of the Ming army, the light machine guns of the Eight Banners Division's imitation Soviet turntable, the shouts and persuasions of the Ming army to surrender, and the sound of grenade explosions from time to time.

During the scuffle, from time to time, civilians rushed out of the door on the first floor, and several civilians jumped directly from the window hole on the second floor, falling to the ground and struggling in pain.

…… But this is just one of many similar scenes in the street fighting in Pukou.

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang was studying the battle situation in the armored command vehicle when he suddenly heard a commotion in the distance. It's not the sound of a fight, and it's not like the sound of a captive making trouble.

He frowned and told people to go out and see what was going on.

Soon the guard returned and reported to him:

"Back to my lord, it seems to be ...... There were quite a few war correspondents. ”

"Reporter?!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang stood up, rushed directly to the door, and looked out.

More than 100 meters away, there was really a group of reporters, thirty or forty people, carrying tripods and magnesium lamps. Most of them are Chinese, but there are also some foreigners.

More than a dozen gendarmes were desperately stopping them, shouting something. But the reporters held their cameras high, still "banging" around to take pictures, and puffs of white smoke continued to rise.

Xiang Xiaoqiang narrowed his eyes, a little incredulous to see it.

…… What a war correspondent! In the past, war correspondents were all foreigners, but today, the reporters who saw the faces of Chinese for the first time rushed to the most dangerous front line with their cameras on their shoulders. …… This would have been unthinkable in the Hereafter.

Daming's news media is really professional!

He reacted and yelled at Li Gensheng beside him:

"Who sent these reporters over? Now the pontoon bridge is so tense that every plank has to be stepped on by the most useful people! Who got these journalists on the pontoon?! ”

Li Gensheng put his hand on the pergola, looked around, and pointed into the distance:

"Your Excellency, you see, they came by boat on their own."

Boat? Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at his hand, and a barge docked on the river beach a few hundred meters away, which was the most common kind on the Yangtze River that transports coal and pulls sand. A boat can seat dozens of people.

"Hey!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smashed his fist on the armor plate, not knowing what to say. Money can make ghosts grind, and although the cannonballs are flying all over the river now, these reporters each take a little money, which is a lot of money in the eyes of a certain money-greedy boat boss. It's very simple!

"Bang!"

A white light pierced into the eye. Xiang Xiaoqiang understood that he was photographed in. He returned to the command car in a rage.

Li Gensheng leaned over and said:

"My lord, there are so many civilian casualties in the town, you can't let reporters in! …… ...... to our reputation"

When Xiang Xiaoqiang heard the word "civilian casualties", his mind turned: you can't look at the problem like this.

…… The civilian casualties are heavy, and this is obviously not my responsibility, but the responsibility of the Qing government. Now, if I cover it like this, it will be easier to tell it when the time comes. Maybe in the future, the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians will be on my head.

Moreover, there are so many foreigners among these reporters, and the international influence here is too great. In case the whole world knows that Daming has a "city slaughtering general", then play Dafa...... Lao Tzu just received the edict and controlled the whole ** team, seeing that I am not happy and there are more people who want me to die! If you catch this matter and make a fuss, it will be very troublesome not to die. Besides, Zhu Yourong's girl is as kind as a sheep, if she knew that I attacked a small town and injured tens of thousands of civilians, then my impression in her heart ...... You don't have to mix it up in the future.

Xiang Xiaoqiang made up his mind that he must take advantage of these reporters to seize the opportunity to expose the matter.

He turned his face to Li Gensheng and said:

"No, don't stop them, let them in for an interview. I was interviewed personally. …… Arrange for them to interview me first, and then arrange for them to interview refugees. ”