Episode 61 Bloody Crocodile Pool

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the palm-sized piece on the map, suddenly scratched on it, and said:

"Thousands of Qing troops were crammed into these two or three square kilometers,....... Why not? ”

…… Is it to protect animals?

Li Gensheng was waiting to ask Xiaoqiang about this. After commanding battles together these times, Li Gensheng found that in fact, Xiang Xiaoqiang's military literacy was not very good, and he could not even be said to be a qualified military general. However, he has a good understanding, is quick to accept, and respects the advice of his subordinates. Mr. Lee and the other officers felt they could make the most of their work. For example, this time, Xiang Xiaoqiang first thought of capturing the zoo, and then suddenly thought that this situation could be eliminated with artillery fire. If you are a qualified officer, you must first think of using artillery.

But fortunately, Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately thought of this step, otherwise, Li Gensheng would really be disappointed in him.

Li Gensheng smiled:

"Well, your lord has a good idea, in this case, it is better to destroy the enemy with artillery. …… But there's more to the region than that...... Well, it's not just the Qing army, waiting for us to attack, but it's dogs and teeth are staggered, and they are fighting in a melee. The 118th Regiment of the 32nd Division of the Capital Garrison is in this area, and it seems that it has been dispersed at present, occupying several points, and is fighting with the Qing prisoners...... Therefore, we cannot use cannons, we can only push them flat. ”

……

The northwestern part of Nanjing City was generally controlled by the Qing Army's Eight Banners and Fourth Division, but some scattered strongholds were still in the hands of the 118th Regiment of the Capital Garrison. They have been beaten to the ground, and the regiment of more than 1,000 people is now left with three or four hundred people, some of whom are "fighting guerrillas" in dilapidated buildings, and some of them are occupying the animal houses in the zoo and resisting with determination.

Because the zoo is relatively open, ten anti-aircraft guns are arranged. Now the Ming army and the Qing army have occupied several gates, and they are trying to bombard each other. Now six of them have been destroyed by each other, and the remaining four have been separated from their original positions by both sides, loaded on wheels and dragged to hidden places.

Now more than 20 people of the Ming army have retreated into the rhinoceros hall. The rhinoceros hall has only one floor, more than 100 square meters, because it is for rhinoceros, and the walls are 30 cm thick reinforced concrete, which is quite solid, which is equal to a low-standard bunker. In the previous shelling, the rhinoceros hall ate a 105-mm shell, and a gap was blown in the wall, killing one white rhino, and the remaining three black rhinos all ran out.

These 20 or so Ming troops pulled a 75-mm anti-aircraft gun into it, and the muzzle of the black hole was facing this gap, plus a machine gun, to resist the absolutely superior Qing army, and the fight was already extremely hard. Fortunately, the rhinoceros hall is close to the zoo wall, and a small area outside the wall is still in the hands of the Ming army, so there is no need to suffer from the enemy. A few dozen meters in front of the rhinoceros hall is the crocodile pond, and there are artificial rivers at both ends, which meander towards the park and can only be crossed by a small bridge above. This also made it difficult for the Qing army to rush over.

More than two dozen people used all their strength to push the huge dead rhinoceros to the front of the gate, and used their heavy body as sandbags, and mounted machine guns on them, which was better than sandbags.

"Woo————boom !!"

Another mortar shell was eaten on the roof of the Rhino Pavilion, and the building was filled with dust. The 60-mm mortar shell did not penetrate the concrete floor, but this was already the third, and the roof would collapse after two more blows.

"Attention," shouted one of the soldiers who climbed up to the high window to observe, "at two o'clock...... Qingyu pushed something over again! ……”

The five Ming troops below, under the command of the only artilleryman, hurriedly shook the cannon and turned the muzzle of the cannon to the right.

“…… Attention, they pushed a 20mm cannon! …… Damn, it's our thing! ”

Opposite the crocodile pond, three Qing soldiers pushed 20 mm machine guns over, the Ming army didn't say a word, one shot went away, but these skills were too poor, and the shell broke a tree in the distance.

"Quick! Unbounce! Reload! ”

The only artilleryman shouted like crazy. Several infantry hurriedly pulled open the chamber of the cannon, withdrew the shell, and one soldier came with a cannonball, but he slipped and fell, and the long cannonball fell to the ground, and rolled into the corner of the wall after a few bounces. Everyone stared at the shell, they were all stupid, and no one knew what to do.

The Qing army shook the barrel of the cannon and opened fire on the rhinoceros pavilion, "bang ......"

A piece of cement wall in the rhinoceros hall suddenly shattered and was riddled with holes. All the Ming soldiers in the museum were lying on the ground, watching the anti-aircraft gun hit several 20-mm shells, and the barrel was deformed. Fortunately, there were no shells in the chamber.

Every soldier of the Ming army clutched his head tightly, thinking only in his heart:

"Dead ......"

Suddenly, there was a "boom" from the side, and there was a sound of the brick wall collapsing, followed by a cannon shot, and the echo exploded in the distance. The 20mm cannon was silent.

The sound of the engine appeared in his ears, and the desperate Ming army in the museum quickly got up to look, only to see that the machine gun in the distance had become a pile of wreckage, and several Qing soldiers died aside. Then a Lightning-3 tank appeared in front of him. And then another.

The turret of the tank was painted with a black sword.

The Ming army in the rhinoceros hall immediately cheered wildly, knowing that the reinforcements had arrived, and it was the legendary People's Guard.

The People's Guard Corps was the first to break through the wall and storm the zoo.

Immediately, dozens of People's Guard infantry poured into the Rhino House, setting up woodpecker machine guns, mortars, field telephones, and dragging sandbags from armored vehicles, turning the building into a fortified front-line command post in an instant.

The heroes saw the same thing, and they also took a fancy to the sturdy concrete building.

Three tanks and two armored vehicles spewed tongues of fire and attacked, and the Qing troops in front fled in anticipation, and the battle line was instantly advanced for almost fifty meters, until it stopped next to the crocodile pond.

The surviving garrison infantry were about to cry with excitement, and the tragedy and despair of fighting alone just now were all vented. The Medic of the People's Guard also came in and bandaged their wounds, and in the blink of an eye, a few cooks dragged in a broken tricycle with a stove and cauldron on it, and boiling steam. The garrison watched as they lifted the lid of the pot and "hula" down hundreds of dumplings.

"The brethren haven't eaten at noon, have they?" A People's Guard officer smiled, "I'll leave it to us to fight...... Today is the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve, and I want to explain to my wife that every brother on the front line will eat hot dumplings! …… Well, there's a dead rhinoceros here! Come on, come on, just taste what's the taste! ”

As he spoke, he asked the two cooks to rip off a large piece of rhinoceros beef with their bayonets, scoop a spoonful of boiling water from the dumpling pot to wash away the blood, cut it into several pieces, and throw it into the pot to cook together.

More than two dozen soldiers of the garrison were so moved that they almost cried. I didn't know if I would survive today, but now suddenly I am not only safe, but I can eat dumplings right away. They looked at the dumplings and large pieces of rhinoceros in the pot, smelled the smell of Zhenjiang balsamic vinegar, and now they felt unbearable hunger in their stomachs, and now they felt that today was the New Year.

Now the "moral politics" that moved the soldiers of the Ming army in the city to a mess, Xiang Xiaoqiang still doesn't know it. The soldiers only knew that it was the care of "Mrs. Xiang", but as for who it was, they did not know. In fact, this idea was conceived by Xiuxiu, and as soon as she told Qiu Yun, Qiu Yun immediately agreed, and immediately mobilized the female officers of the headquarters, the security team, the political work team and other female officers who were relatively idle, as well as some officers' families, and everyone made dumplings for the soldiers on the front line.

Stomach ache, snail immediately made the decision, let the propaganda car of the political work team drive on the streets of the east and south of Nanjing, soon, this meaningful move spread throughout Nanjing, at the moment when the soldiers approached the city, the north of the city rumbled, hundreds of thousands of dumplings in the south of the city were wrapped out, pulled by tricycles, bicycles and sent to the front line.

Whether it is the soldiers of the People's Guard or the soldiers of the capital garrison, in the rain of bullets, they are all eating hot dumplings, looking at the Qing soldiers on the opposite side can only nibble on pancakes, many of them can't even nibble on pancakes, and their morale is greatly boosted.

……

In front of the crocodile pond, mortar shells of the Qing army fell from time to time, setting off high and straight columns of smoke. Several tanks and armored vehicles of the People's Guard were parked here, their engines were shaking, and their armor was "clanging" with shrapnel. It is too dangerous to continue to stop here, but the crocodile pond in front of it is wide and large, and the artificial river on both sides is also more than two meters wide, so it will definitely not be able to drive through.

The observers climbed to the top of the rhinoceros pavilion and guided the mortars to return fire on the Qing troops. Three 60-mm mortars have been erected here, and the shells are constantly being fired into the sky.

But this effect is too limited, not to mention the mist, which is not visible from a few hundred meters away. On the other side, the Qing army only needed to shoot in the direction of the rhinoceros pavilion, but the Ming army here did not know where the Qing army's artillery fire was, so they could only estimate and suppress it.

One of the platoons serving as tank support infantry is Xu Xiangde's platoon. Xu Xiangde bit a straw stick, held a submachine gun, and sat behind an armored car. The bullets from nowhere "clanked" on the armored car, but he risked his head to look at the crocodile pond and suddenly ordered:

"Liu Xiaosheng, go and measure how deep the crocodile pool is!"

Private Liu Xiaosheng was taken aback, but immediately said:

"Yes!"

Then he covered his steel helmet and crawled towards the crocodile pool. When you get to the crocodile pool, sit up and hide behind the concrete fence. The bullets on the opposite side couldn't hit him for the time being.

In fact, the crocodile pond has a gentle slope on both sides, and there is water in the middle, which is convenient for crocodiles to climb up and bask in the sun. In order to prevent the crocodile from crawling out, a fence more than one meter high was built on the perimeter with a cement brick wall. If the water is not deep, the tank can completely hit the guardrail and drive through the pool.

But the guardrail has already been blown out by the cannonball with three big gaps, and it is estimated that the crocodiles have run a few times.

These crocodiles were already inactive this season, but the cannonballs kept shaking the earth, and although these crocodiles could not hear the sound, they were already vibrated and active.

Liu Xiaosheng poked his head out of a gap, looked at the pool of green water, and a few crocodiles on the slope crawling around, a little stunned, thinking about how to "measure" the depth of the water. He looked back and saw several tanks standing in a rising column of smoke, and a large number of infantry hiding behind, waiting to follow. The platoon commander also showed his head from behind the armored car and looked at himself anxiously.

Liu Xiaosheng's heart was horizontal, he turned over and climbed into the crocodile pool from the gap, and walked into the water with his waist bent. He paddled with his legs in the water, clutched his submachine gun, stared at the crocodile, so nervous that his heart was about to jump out, and he couldn't feel the water cold at all.

He walked into the pool with trepidation, and found that the water had only reached his thighs, and his heart was relaxed: the tank was completely passable!

Liu Xiaosheng happily straightened up, turned around and shouted:

"Platoon Commander——! The water depth is just over a meter——! The tank is completely ......"

Before he finished speaking, the blood mist exploded on his head, fell into the water, and made a big splash, and the corpse was like a blood gourd, rising and falling.

Xu Xiangde's heart tugged, and he immediately retracted his head, leaning back against the armored car and shouting:

"Qing army sniper——! Concealed ——! ”

Liu Xiaosheng's body floated in the crocodile pool, and the blood slowly spread. A few crocodiles slowly crawled into the water and leaned over.

Three crocodiles bit his head, shoulders, and thighs, and the fourth crocodile bit his arm, spun down in the water, twisted his arm off, raised his mouth, and swallowed it in a few clicks. Then, it bit the carcass again, and it was time for another crocodile to eat it......

For a while, the crocodiles in the pool were rolling, and the water was blood-red.