Episode 25 Iron Flow Collision

Temperatures are rising rapidly.

On the opposite side was the overwhelming roar of "Wula", as well as the sound of tanks. Beside him, there was an explosion of shells that shook the ground and mountains...... It was dense like a meteor shower, with several shells exploding at the same time every second. The earth trembled, as if the air was burning.

At present, half of the Ming army guarding the Dihua Pass has suffered more than 30 percent of the casualties. On the other side, the Soviet casualties were at least three times higher than those of the Ming army. The 70-kilometer narrow strip of mountain passes from Dabancheng to the southern suburbs of Dihua, the Ming army fought and retreated, and it was very efficient and experienced to inflict maximum damage on the Soviet army, while avoiding excessive casualties of its own. The First Division of the People's Guard Corps is a battle-hardened and experienced unit, and Gao Dayi and Xiang Xiaoqiang have set up an operational mentality, not seeking "not losing an inch of land," but seeking the greatest exchange ratio.

Especially Xiang Xiaoqiang, who has decades of experience in later generations, understands the spleen and stomach of this monster in the north. From Tsarist Russia to the later Soviet Union, the expansion of this country has always been a "persimmon picking up soft pinch", and it knows how to choose opponents. Even if it expands, it is sure that it can be eaten in one bite, and the prey that it can't be eaten by itself is generally not provoked. This is a characteristic of Russia that distinguishes it from Germany and Japan.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's guiding ideology is: I hope that this time the Soviet Union will also come to make a profit, not to work hard. So as long as the Soviets understand as soon as possible that we are not soft persimmons, but also stinky and hard, and that we will have to pay a great price to gnaw on the next piece of land. Since it is to make a profit, it is necessary to calculate the cost, and the calculation value is not worth it. If the Soviet Union felt that it was not worth it, then the war would not escalate, and the northern frontier might be able to avoid the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood and be preserved.

More importantly, the Ming did not have to be bogged down in a full-scale war in the northwest. Relying on automobiles to transport troops, food, ammunition, fuel, and all other supplies for thousands of miles, the Ming Dynasty will definitely not be able to hold on. When the time comes, Japan will attack from the east, and the country will be in real danger.

There is another one, Xiang Xiaoqiang is also thinking about himself. It is estimated that within a day or two, reinforcements from the two motorized infantry divisions will arrive. At present, the Soviet army in the south is twenty times larger than itself, and there is no hope of breaking out of the encirclement head-on. The only hope is to fight leisurely and strive for this point of support for a few more days.

Moreover, it is necessary to see how the planes of the Ming army behave after dawn.

Kingfisher vs I-16, the Ming pilots trained in the Unification War vs the Soviet pilots trained in the Spanish War, I don't know how strong or weak the two sides are.

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shishige stayed in the armored command car, watching the staff officers of the division headquarters sweating and making orders and phone calls...... Heavy shells kept falling nearby, and as the ground trembled, the roof of the car resounded with a "clanging" sound of falling. Every now and then, a phone will fail and the phone line will be blown up. At this time, the communications corps had to carry the line on its back and brave the rain of bullets to check the line.

The other half of Altay's division was running wildly on the road, desperately rushing south, and it was estimated that he would be able to return in the evening at the earliest. Gao Dayi is now on the plane, and will land at Dihua Airport in more than an hour to direct the battle.

Xiang Xiaoqiang now has no role in specific command except for supervising the battle. But he is here, and he still has a great spiritual effect on the troops. Xiang Xiaoqiang's flag fluttering high above the command vehicle means that the victorious generals and anti-Qing heroes of the Ming army have always been with the soldiers.

He originally wanted to send Shishige back to Dihua Airport, and let her leave the dangerous place by plane and return to the mainland. But Fourteen Gege was unwilling anyway.

On the one hand, she really can't rest assured that Xiang Xiaoqiang is down, on the other hand, now the estimates of those women in Nanjing are crazy, and at this time they have the heart to fly over, seeing that they are alone, they came back by plane safely and soundly, leaving Xiang Xiaoqiang on the battlefield, so you can imagine how they feel. I guess I don't say it, but I can't wait to tear myself apart in my heart.

Moreover, there is a more important reason why Fourteen Gege decided to stay with him.

Now that Zhu Yourong's holy decree telegram has arrived, he ordered Xiang Xiaoqiang to take Princess Liaoyang and all the divisions to fly back to the mainland immediately once the situation deteriorates. Despite this telegram, Fourteen Gege was still worried that Xiang Xiaoqiang would be stubborn, and he would swear to live and die with the soldiers or something, which would be bad. Even if he is just acting, it is possible that he will not be able to grasp the rhythm and make the fake come true. Now that the Soviet army is so close to Dihua, they will rush over when they say they will rush over. If you don't grasp one well, the airport will really be lost.

The main task given to him by Fourteen Gege is to be optimistic about Xiang Xiaoqiang with the respect of a princess, and if necessary, order someone to forcibly get Xiang Xiaoqiang on the plane. If he made trouble with Xiaoqiang, he would personally order the guards to tie him up and carry him to the airport. No one dares to do this kind of thing except themselves. Gao Dayi didn't dare.

Now that he has received Zhu Yourong's telegram, the identity of Fourteen Gege has changed, which is equivalent to protecting this "public property" for "all sisters".

……

After dawn, on the flat land of the 10-kilometer-wide valley on the southern outskirts of Dihua, the tank battle between the two sides began.

The main force of the Soviet army was the BT fast tank, and the main force of the Ming army was the Lightning-3 tank.

The tanks of the Ming army had an overwhelming advantage in quality. The Lightning-3 combat weighs 22 tons, has 40 mm front armor, one 47 mm gun, two machine guns, and a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour on the road. The BT-7 tank had a total combat weight of only 13 tons, a maximum armor thickness of only 15 mm, a 45 mm gun, two or three machine guns. The only thing that can surpass the Lightning-3 tank is the speed, which has a maximum speed of 53 kilometers per hour.

The caliber of the artillery on both sides is actually about the same. The 40 mm thick armor of the Ming army was largely offset by gasoline engines. Of course, the BT tank only has 15 mm of front armor, and the Ming army's 47mm guns can easily penetrate it at once, but the Ming army tank itself has a gasoline engine and is easy to be set on fire. And the Soviet tanks were sometimes hit by armor-piercing shells, and the personnel were shocked to death, but the tanks stopped there, did not catch fire and did not explode. It can be repaired and replaced with another set of cannon fodder. On the contrary, the Ming tank, unless it was shot by the thickest armor in front, but whenever it was shot in the side, it immediately ignited a fire.

However, there are two other characteristics of the Ming tank, which are beyond the reach of the Soviet tanks. The first is that each tank of the Ming army has a vehicle-mounted radio, which can quickly communicate and deploy between battles. And the Soviets only had a radio for the command tanks. The second is that all the tank units of the Ming army participated in the war of unification and had rich experience. And the Soviet Army, unlike the Air Force, did not directly participate in the Spanish War in the form of "volunteer flying teams". The proportion of the army that went directly to the battlefield was very small, and only a small number of tankmen went to the battlefield in the name of "consultants" and returned to become ace tankers.

With these two factors, the Ming army tanks achieved a high exchange ratio. But helplessly, only more than 100 Ming tanks could be put into the Dihua battlefield, while the Soviet tanks were too many. The Ming tanks fired a cannon in one direction, and immediately three and five guns came from all directions. After a Lightning-3 has almost killed one or two, and at most a third, a third BT-7, it will generally fall into a sea of fire and explode on its own.

……

Around half-past six, the sky rumbled with the sound of engines.

The commanders on the positions of both the Ming and the Soviet Union looked up - there were planes.

At first, it was just a small black dot in the sky, but then it quickly grew larger, and then a sharp whistling sound was heard. The whistling of dozens of planes converged like an air raid siren.

The Ming army immediately cheered. Your own tank killer is here.