After the various forces converged, the Western Front began its operational deployment. At the beginning, Wang Mao wanted to disassemble the armored corps brought by Xue Boling and cooperate with the infantry to charge after the shelling, but this plan was resolutely opposed by Xue Boling.

Xue Boling's opposing point of view came from Huang Ke, from the beginning of the formation of this armored corps, Huang Ke gave them the mission and task of independent combat, in his words, "The armored force is not a vassal of how the troops, you are the trump card troops who fight alone." ”

Xue Boling didn't quite understand at the beginning, looking at the armies of the world, armored troops are a new branch of the army, and the European army powers have scattered armored troops among the infantry, cooperated with the infantry to carry out positional warfare, concentrated the armored troops, and lost the cover of the infantry What is the combat effectiveness of the armored troops, which is really unreassuring.

However, Xue Boling quickly overturned his speculation, Huang Ke first found many articles in the German "Military Weekly" to translate them for him to read, to Xue Boling's deep impression was that a German officer named Guderian proposed that the mechanization of armored forces would be the trend of future development, and armored troops should not be attached to infantry.

With a little change in thinking, Xue Boling began to really think about the kind of armored tactics that Huang Ke described to him. With the vigorous input of the Northern Expeditionary Army Command, he quickly developed from a previous armored brigade to another armored regiment worthy of the name.

By the end of the Northern Expedition, the First Armored Regiment to which Xue Boling belonged had more than 60 tanks and more than 50 armored vehicles, and the number of troops had reached more than 1,000.

The ensuing actual combat proved the correctness of the combat theory of the armored corps.

At the end of the Northern Expedition, when the Eastern Route Army was attacking the Northeast Army, the armored regiment had a chance to perform. Xue Boling commanded hundreds of armored combat vehicles under his command to drive straight in, and the powerful artillery fire and impact speed crushed the trench walls built by the Northeast Army.

In addition to the superiority in firepower, the shock brought by the armored corps was even more severe, and for a time the enemy troops were terrified when they heard the rumble of the artillery carriage. The armored regiment also took advantage of the victory to pursue, and at the most time of the day, it was even able to advance the battle line by nearly 100 kilometers, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as invincible wherever it went.

Jiang Xianyun, Xue Boling, Jiang Baili and others saw the superiority of the group's armored charge from here, and compared with the previous positional warfare, this change was revolutionary.

After the change of banners in the Northeast, the 100 tanks and armored vehicles owned by the Northeast Army were also incorporated into the armored regiment, and the size of the armored regiment was doubled to form the 1st Armored Brigade.

Now that Xue Boling has a huge steel army with nearly 200 tanks and armored vehicles of all kinds, he is looking forward to the battle ahead.

Wang Maocai waved his hand after hearing this, "Brother Boling, Lanzhou's defensive position is different from that of the Northeast Army, the defensive line they built is not like an ordinary trench like the Northeast Army, not only reinforced concrete fortifications, but also mountain artillery with heavy firepower; You know, if you expose all your precious tanks to this kind of firepower, you will be sending targets to the enemy, and even if you tear them open, you will lose a lot! ”

After hearing this, Xue Boling disagreed: "Commander Wang, raising troops for a thousand days and using troops for a while, you can't treat them as baby bumps because of the high cost of armored equipment, what is the use of this army in that way?" ”

In fact, in the Northern Expeditionary Army, there has always been a difference between the officers of the Xiguan faction and the officers of the merchant group, the Xiguan faction mostly refers to those officers who graduated or served in the teaching task in the later stage of the Xiguan Military Academy, and the merchant faction refers to the generals of the merchant regiment army formed by Huang Ke at the earliest, and later there were officers from other units who also formed their own faction.

In order to eliminate the differences between regions and factions, Huang Ke once adopted methods such as the mutual transfer of officers and the study and integration of officers at the Xiguan Military Academy, and although great results were achieved, there was still such a knot in the hearts of some people, and the fundamental reason was that the personal experiences and studies of the officers of the Xiguan faction and the merchant group faction were obviously different.

Most of the Xiguan faction were intellectuals, but the people of the Shang Tuan faction were all at the bottom of society before joining the army, and the differences in education and culture between the two sides always caused them to be estranged.

Wang Maocai is a representative of the typical merchant group, he was a veteran of the warlord army before joining the merchant army, and he belongs to the kind of person who has a more active brain, so he is often eclectic when fighting; Xue Boling belongs to the Xiguan faction, he is an intellectual young man, and he serves the country in the army with revolutionary ideals, so he is naturally different from Wang Maocai. The two sides already have disagreements, so it is normal for them to have military differences.

However, Xue Boling was a subordinate after all, and after listening to his opinion, Wang Maocai knocked his cigarette pouch and said: "Brigade Commander Xue, take your troops for military training with infantry and tan, remember!" This is a military order. ”

After speaking, Wang Maocai staggered away with a long cigarette pouch, leaving no benefit for the other party to continue to justify, leaving only Xue Boling standing there stupid.

When the Western Front submitted the final battle plan to the Military Commission, Jiang Baili and others discussed changing the Butan coordinated operation to a tank and armored group operation. After getting the approval report, Wang Mao was very annoyed, but it could only be so.

"If they're willing to die, let them go. Damn! Lao Tzu is rare, they are all piled up with gold, so they are not allowed to charge alone, this is a good person, and it is not rare. ”

Wang Maocai was scolding alone in the house, and Liu Jian, who was passing by the door, smiled after hearing this: "Commander Wang's intentions, don't they know, it's just that the army wants to grow and develop, and armoring is an inevitable trend." Lanzhou deliberately mobilized armored troops to come over in this battle, and this is exactly the intention. ”

Liu Jian's few words made Wang Maocai suddenly realize, he patted his thigh and said, "Oops! Why didn't I think of this stubble? You're right, when I was at the Xiguan Military Academy, Instructor Lao Maozi taught me. Commander Huang has also done some 'blitzkrieg' before, he said that it is to first cover the enemy's fire with artillery, and then the group armored group charges, and the mechanized infantry quickly occupies the position later. I would think that it was the same as saying that there were not even a few mountain artillery, but now it is different, we have several independent artillery regiments, and the armored forces have been formed, isn't this the use of this tactic? ”

"Yes, our army is still growing. Now that Mr. Huang is going to Europe to introduce more perfect industrial technology and establish a complete industrial system, in the future, we will update the equipment of the whole army, and the tactics of fighting a war will naturally keep pace with the times. Liu Jian simply sat down and had a long talk with Wang Maocai.

To be honest, Wang Maocai and the Xiguan faction couldn't talk together, Batu was one of his friends, but Liu Jian in front of him made him change his opinion of some intellectuals in the army. The two of them talked a lot about the deployment of the battle of Lanzhou in front of them, to the country's industrial development, and even the current world situation, the balance of power between China and Japan, and so on, until dawn.

After dawn, the guard outside the door came in to change shifts, only to find that the two had fallen asleep on the table.

Three days later, the troops organized by the Guangzhou government to attack Lanzhou were assembled. Hundreds of thousands of troops have formed a situation of encirclement of Lanzhou and made final preparations for attack.

In the outer positions, hundreds of field artillery pieces were pushed out of the fortifications, and the heads of guns were raised to aim at the reinforced concrete positions; Armored tanks lined up, ready to attack; Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are preparing for the final charge......

The soldiers are coming to the city, and the army is pressing! The Ma brothers in Lanzhou felt unprecedented pressure, but they still claimed that the fortifications in Lanzhou were impregnable, and they wanted to annihilate the Western Front here.

Before the attack, the Western Front Army launched a huge psychological offensive, I don't know where Jiang Xianyun got some loudspeakers to shout at him every day, the content is nothing more than two pieces, in the morning every day to talk about the benefits of land reform, Ma Jiajun bullying the common people, and so on, in the afternoon to say that the Guangzhou government revolution is for the people, and the combat effectiveness of the Western Front Army is cloudy.

During the sound offensive, the Western Front Army also threw propaganda leaflets with aviation balloons for the first time, and the people in Lanzhou City were panicked for a while.

It was at this time that the offensive of the Western Front began. In the early hours of the morning, hundreds of field artillery pieces began to test fire at the outlying positions of Lanzhou, and after calibrating the correct position, the artillery fire began to gradually extend, and for a time the periphery of Lanzhou was in flames.

The firepower of the Ma Jiajun and the Western Front were not at the same level at all, and there was no artillery counterattack at all. The extended artillery fire covered the outer positions, and the fortifications that the Ma brothers were proud of were shattered under the powerful artillery fire, and the concrete fragments that were blown up greatly increased the lethality of the shells, and the scattered rubble made the surrounding living forces lose their combat effectiveness in an instant.

Wang Maocai, who was hiding in the forward position to observe, laughed loudly after seeing it: "A few tons of ammunition is enough for the Ma brothers to drink a pot, haha!" Brother Boling, your troops are ready. ”

Xue Boling, who was wearing a training uniform and a fur hat, smiled slightly: "After the artillery fire stops, the armored troops will start to attack!" The range of our frontal attack is five kilometers, and after tearing a hole, the troops behind will follow, and divide the Ma Jiajun on the spot! ”

"Our cavalry, as the second echelon, will cut them apart at once if we quickly intersperse, and the Ma family army will definitely flee to Qinghai at that time." Batu is confidently preparing for this battle.

The sound of artillery continued, Wang Maocai lit a big cigarette pouch and shouted excitedly: "The artillery fire can last for a while, let's go back separately and prepare." Fucking fun! There has never been a war like this. ”

After several hours of artillery fire, the front-line fortifications in Lanzhou were completely lost, and not long after dawn, the roaring artillery stopped, and when Ma Jiajun, who was hiding in the air-raid shelter, poked his head out of the fortifications, the sound of rolling iron flowing and shaking came from the opposite position.