Episode 13 Meat Shield

could not be delayed, and immediately entered the city to quell the riots, but there was still controversy. The point of contention is the extent to which the means are used.

The army of the Northern Expedition was no better than the domestic police in Nanming, they did not have high-pressure faucets or anything, they did not have riot rattan signs, they did not have batons, no handcuffs, and they did not have a large number of prisons for arresting people. In addition to real guns, they are real guns. If firing a gun into the sky doesn't work, is the next step to fire directly at people?

In that case, many people will inevitably be killed. Today is only the first day of the attack, and the previous secrecy work has been done so well that the press is completely in the dark. No matter how fast the media responded, it would take two or three days for the reporters to arrive. There is no shadow of the international press corps. In the absence of reporters' lenses, when the city was already full of corpses and a scene of rape and burning, the Ming army drove in and shot a group of people "crackling......

A day or two later, reporters from the army also came, and a few days later, foreign reporters also came, and many people were killed by bullets after seeing the tragic situation of burning and looting all over the city......

Who can tell you what this thing is?

The mob that participated in the burning, killing and looting would never admit that they had done it. Especially when they calm down after a day or two and look at the room full of goodies.

……

"Your Majesty," Shen Rongxuan said slowly on the phone, "the minister knows that you will never tolerate the continuation of the atrocities. Whatever happens when the army marches into the city, you'll hold on. …… Then, the minister can only agree. However, there are a few principles that ask Your Majesty to let the military cooperate. ”

After Zhu Yourong heard the news, he was already deeply shocked. She couldn't accept that the kind-hearted Chinese people would be as cruel as the natives of Nanyang. She nodded silently and did not speak.

Shen Rongxuan continued as if he saw her nod over the phone:

"The first and most important one, you must not shoot or kill. At most, you can only shoot into the air. In addition, you can do anything, you can arrest and beat people, but you can't leave behind the corpses that have been killed by bullets. Your Majesty, although the situation in Nanyang City is urgent now, the first priority of our army is to not be suspected of 'slaughtering the city'.

"Second, immediately organize a war correspondent corps, composed of reporters from several well-known newspapers, and the military has allocated a transport plane to fly to Xiangfan today and land at Xiangfan Airport at night. Then rushed to Nanyang City overnight.

"Article 3: Actively invite foreign journalists to come to the battlefield to cover news, and ask the military to provide them with all convenience.

"Fourth, tomorrow morning, the military will hold a press conference to inform the media about the causes and consequences of this Nanyang riot and what measures we have taken.

"Fifth, this is also the duty of the minister. The Minister will immediately send an invitation to the League of Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send an observer mission.

"Your Majesty, if you do these things, although you still can't stop the Northern Qing Dynasty and some rogue countries from slandering us, at least you can be fair and comfortable in the hearts of the people."

Zhu Yourong thought for a moment and said softly:

"Elder Shen Ge is right, we have to pay attention. …… But without further ado, I will now order the army into the city to quell the riots...... I believe that it will be quickly subsided without firing a shot...... I believe that our descendants of Yan and Huang are human beings, not beasts, and our compatriots can distinguish between good and bad, and will not be like the natives of Nanyang ......"

……

At 9 o'clock in the evening, an order was given, and the Ming army outside Nanyang City entered the city to quell the riots.

The armored car drawn from the motorized infantry division roared onto the street, the snow-bright headlights swept around, the loudspeaker on the roof played warning sentences, the machine gun on the roof of the car "da-da-da" half a shuttle from time to time to the sky, and the dazzling flash and piercing noise of the woodpecker machine gun pierced the night sky and was murderous.

Behind the armored car was a military truck, with two rows of steel helmets and bayonets neatly lined and glowing with metallic cold.

In half an hour, on every street, there was at least one armored car on duty. In each alley, a team of at least four soldiers patrolled. In addition, there are whole rows of soldiers, uniformly turning on flashlights, kicking and walking, and the neat footsteps echo in the empty street: "Cross! Straddle! Cross-......"

Occasionally, the mob that has not yet dispersed is also seen from afar a straight line of flashlight columns, the snow bright value shines over, and nothing can be seen behind the pillar of light, only the sound of neat big leather boots slowly approaching......

So, at ten o'clock, the riot in the whole city basically subsided.

Zhu Yourong is right, the Chinese people can't be compared with the Nanyang natives. This is not only manifested in the fact that the riots have subsided quickly, but also in the fact that once they have subsided, it is inconceivable that the streets will be safe and incomprehensible, and that these gentle people in front of them are actually those bloodthirsty beasts just now.

The people of the city changed from mobs to good people, and began to spontaneously help their neighbors put out the fires. Armored vehicles and soldiers of the Ming army patrolled the streets, but there was no martial law. This kind of scene can be seen everywhere in the streets and alleys: Ming soldiers with their sleeves rolled up and together with the common people to form a bucket team to fight fires. Two people pressed the handle next to the pressure well on the side of the street, and after receiving a bucket of water, they were quickly passed in the direction of the fire, and another team also came with empty buckets......

On the streets, homeless people gather around military vehicles and eat delicious individual rations with the soldiers...... Also, groups of children gathered around the soldiers to ask for fruit candy......

The beautiful scene of the harmonious coexistence of the soldiers of the Ming people and the kind people has been perfectly displayed in Nanyang City after the catastrophe.

In Nanjing, after hearing this report, several core high-level people all let out a long breath, wiped the cold sweat from their heads, and smiled.

Fortunately, this crisis PR has done a good job......

……

On the first day of the battle, because the pontoon bridge over the river had not yet been erected, and a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, automobiles, self-propelled guns, and other mechanized equipment had not been transported across the river, the advance speed of the army group on the right could not be compared with that on the left. However, with the air supremacy in the sky to open the way, and with a small number of motorized infantry divisions on the ground as the top soldiers, the vanguard of each army still advanced to an average of 50 kilometers. Within this range, Yangzhou, the largest city in the Northern Qing Dynasty, has fallen under siege by the Ming army and is under siege.

Yangzhou City is only about ten kilometers away from the Yangtze River, and the opposite side is Zhenjiang, an important military town in the Southern Ming Dynasty, so Yangzhou also has a large number of Qing troops, the most important of which is the Fourth Strategic Artillery Army. And without exception, on Saturday afternoon, almost all the high-ranking members of the Yangzhou army went to Yangzhou City, villas and brothels on the banks of Slender West Lake to "relax". By the time the war began on Sunday morning, the city of Yangzhou was full of high-level officials.

The commander of the Fourth Strategic Artillery Corps was called Nahai, who was originally the commander of the Eight Banners Division, an elite unit of the Qing Army, and later the imperial court began to implement the "de-Han people" among the top leaders of the whole army, and gradually replaced the high-level commanders of the Han Army with Manchurians, and many division commanders and brigade commanders of the Eight Banners Division became army commanders and commanders in the Han Army. Nahai is one of them.

In the end, he came down from the elite troops, and although he was "corrupted" for a long time, he still reacted very quickly. He heard a large number of planes passing overhead, and then the earth-shaking explosion of the strategic artillery group in the south, and he immediately understood what was going on, and immediately got up and grabbed the phone. I found that the phone didn't work, and I understood what was about to happen.

Under the almost hysterical and crazy command of Commander Nahai, the entire Yangzhou air defense siren sounded throughout the city, and the garrisons in the city all moved. Immediately afterwards, Nahai ordered all the gates of the city to be opened, and a large number of the defeated soldiers outside the city who had been bombed were accepted into the city, and mixed with the dense population inside the city to avoid further bombardment and artillery bombardment by the Ming army.

In his thoughts, the Ming army was preparing for a large-scale cross-river attack, and it was likely that it would annihilate more than 100,000 Qing troops like the last time it attacked Pukou, and then withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, he knew that in such a situation where communication was completely cut off and it was impossible to command the army at all, he could only gather more troops into the city to preserve the strength of his army to the greatest extent.

Yangzhou is not as good as Pukou, Pukou is just a town, but Yangzhou has a city wall, and the population density is much greater than Pukou. As long as they retreat into the city, lock them in the city gates, and use the people of the whole city as meat shields, the Ming army will not throw a bomb into the city. Yangzhou City is much larger than Pukou, how can it accommodate tens of thousands of people. If this time, when other armies were wiped out by the Ming army, one's own army could maintain two-thirds of its strength, it would be a great achievement.

Sure enough, although the Ming bombers roared in the sky, not a single bomb fell in Yangzhou City. But what he didn't expect was that so many soldiers took the initiative to surrender to the Ming army, and there were as many defeated soldiers running south as there were defeated soldiers running north. By the time the Ming army drove to the city, the city had only gathered less than half of its own troops, only more than 20,000 people.

But it is much better to save more than 20,000 people than to annihilate the entire army. Even if his career is unpredictable, at least his head is still stable. Nahai reorganized and gathered the Qing army in the city, and prayed in his heart: We must let other armies suffer great losses and suffer heavy defeats, and it is best to wipe out all the troops one by one, so that we can show the excellence of our army, and the bad things can become good things, and our career can be open.

The vanguard of the Ming army under the city did not pay attention to Yangzhou City, directly followed behind the tank, carried the rifle and walked over, many soldiers passed through Yangzhou, and they all smiled and waved hello to the Qing soldiers on the city, one by one rolled their tongues, learned the Beijing dialect, and shouted:

"Hey! Gentlemen! ”

"Hello!"

"Have you eaten?"

"If you don't surrender again, the lord will go into the city and abolish you!"

Hearing this, the Qing soldiers at the head of the city were terrified, and they all held their rifles tightly and aimed below, and they didn't dare to shoot. The machine gunner also nervously hid behind the baffle, looking through the small mouth at the Ming army below. The bomber next to him held the chain, his head shrunk behind the battlements.

However, after the initial fear brought by the Ming army's blitzkrieg passed, the Qing soldiers in the city were somewhat envious of those brothers who were captured by the Ming army in the first place.

……

Nahai was in the headquarters, personally tuning the radio, constantly searching for any Chinese radio that could be found. He needs news from the outside world too much now. In the morning, when Zhu Yourong was speaking, he was busy commanding the army and didn't bother to listen to the radio. But now he has heard Nan Ming's determination from Nan Ming's follow-up broadcast-

It seems like...... It seems that he is actually preparing to fight and destroy the Qing Dynasty.

This is beyond Nahai's comprehension. This was beyond the comprehension of most military generals of this era. No one can understand that Nanming, whose military strength, population base, and war potential are so disparity with his opponent, actually made such a madman-like move.

Nahai immediately came to the conclusion that Nanming was either crazy at the top or bluffing. Of course, judging by common sense, it can only be a bluff. That is to say, don't look at Nan Ming's shouting joy now, he will have to withdraw soon.

He was even more happy about it. This means that even if Nanming is bluffing, it is a large-scale attack, and there must be a long front that has been attacked. Other Qing army defenses will also be attacked in this way, and most of them will be much worse than themselves. In this way, his army will be even more outstanding.

……

By noon, the follow-up Ming army began to gather forces around the city of Yangzhou, and it seemed that they were preparing to attack the city.

And it seems that the Ming army is really as "righteous" as they imagined, not only did they not bomb the city, but they did not even arrange heavy howitzers outside the city, but only dragged a few medium-caliber cannons, which seemed to be preparing to bombard the city wall directly, and then rushed in and fought directly in the streets.

Nahai was prepared, and immediately ordered the army to escort the people to the city.

Sure enough, looking through the binoculars, the Ming army in the distance was dumbfounded, and those artillerymen hesitated, pointing and poking in this direction, arguing with each other, and making noise, and no one continued to prepare for the cannon. Then, a herald left on a sidecar. Probably reported to the top.

Nahai received the report, touched the sweat on his forehead, and laughed proudly.

The horror, tension, and anxiety that began at dawn were all vented in this burst of laughter.

He leaned back and slammed his back with laughter, slapped the table, and finally sat down against the wall with laughter, trembling as if he were crying. The adjutant and staff officer next to him were scared to death, thinking that the commander was crazy.

Nahai waved his hand, laughed, leaned his head against the wall wearily, and sighed in a hoarse voice:

"Hmm...... There are still hundreds of tons of grain in Yangzhou grain depot, which is about enough to last for a month...... If our army doesn't fight back within a month, we will all die and have no place to bury...... If we come back, then we'll all be heroes......"

……

At one o'clock in the afternoon, a chief's car drove from the city, waving a white flag, and drove until it stopped at the city gate. Two officers jumped out of the car, raised their heads and shouted:

"We are negotiators of the 12th Army of the Ming Army, and we ask to see the commander of your army!"

shouted several times in a row, but none of the Qing soldiers in the city dared to answer. After a while, a Qing army officer accosted him:

"Hey, you two, take two steps back! Stay away from the city gates! ”

The two Ming army officers retreated a few meters, still looking up at the city:

"Is that okay?"

After a while, a small crack opened in the city gate, and two Qing soldiers cautiously flashed out and beckoned:

"Hey! Feed! Come here! ”

Two Ming army officers walked over, and the two Qing soldiers took out black cloths and blindfolded them. Then he pushed them into the city, and the gates were shut.