Episode 180 Assassination Warrant and Silence

Xiang Xiaoqiang drove forward along the long tank column in an armored car, and soon, the brightly lit "Binghe" training ground was left behind, but the "bang" cannon sound became louder and louder, and the semicircular flashes in the darkness ahead kept appearing.

The front should be practiced night shooting. Sure enough, a few minutes later, the armored vehicle was in the midst of a flurry of artillery fire. Orange flashes flickered frequently with a loud and deafening sound, and in the flashes you could see the tanks glowing with metallic cold light, as well as the commander with his head held high on the turret.

In the darkness more than 200 meters away, twenty large gray-white target disks could be faintly seen moving along the top of the trench, moving at a speed of about 20 kilometers per hour. Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes, trying to see through the constantly flashing fires around him, trying to see the target disks in the distance.

But it's hard. The starlight in the sky was faint, and the target disk was far away. If they weren't moving, they wouldn't be easy to spot.

Of course, this kind of training is very familiar with Xiaoqiang, and the People's Guard's own tank training ground often uses it, and the size of the target disc is different, which is divided into the No. 1 target disk, the No. 2 target disk, the No. 3 target disk, and the No. 4 target disk. Now he used it to estimate that it should be the No. 2 target disk, each with a diameter of 1.5 meters, which is the second largest, and is used for medium-distance shooting training within 800 meters. Although the distance is only about 200 meters, it is at night, and the moving target makes it even more difficult.

The target is hit with an armor-piercing projectile, a solid warhead, and there is no charge, so it only penetrates the target disc and has no explosive effect.

Xiang Xiaoqiang held the telescope and watched the twenty target disks moving at a constant speed in the distance were pierced by the shells one after another, and the target shafts fell. Within tens of seconds, all 20 targets were penetrated.

Suddenly, all the artillery fire around them stopped, and there was silence all around, and there was darkness again.

A light was lit in one place, illuminating another armored car. Standing in the armored vehicle was a stocky old man in a black tank training uniform, wearing a work cap and headset, waving and speaking German. Another officer in the same car also had a headset, and when the old man finished speaking, he translated.

The distance is relatively far, and people say it on the radio, so there is no need to shout, Xiang Xiaoqiang can only barely hear individual words:

“…… Nocturnal performance...... Morning...... Pounce...... Visual...... Assault boldly...... Adventurous ...... Coordination in the dark...... The following single exercise ......"

After he finished speaking, the lights overhead went out, and the entire training ground fell into darkness again. Immediately afterwards, the earth shook, and the surrounding tanks were all activated, some reversing and some moving forward, without turning on their lights, relying only on the starlight to adjust their positions. Only a few glowsticks could be seen waving in the darkness. That's a couple of gendarmes commanding between tanks. These steel behemoths rumbled past them, relying only on the glow sticks in their hands to avoid running over them. If this were an ordinary person, I would have been scared a long time ago. But the gendarmes remained calm and in command.

Soon, most of the tanks stopped, but the engines were still vibrating. In the distance, a target disk moved out at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour. Suddenly, there was a loud bang, and flames erupted from the muzzle of the front tank, and the shells drilled deep into the barrier earthen wall 200 meters away, but the target disk in front of the earthen wall was still moving.

The first shot missed.

There was a shout from the tank, followed by a loud "dang", and the moving target disk in the distance fell to the ground.

Immediately after, another target disc moved out.

Now it is individual shooting, each tank has three chances.

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang watched the targets of several tanks here. I haven't seen it for a while, and now the level of shooting in the tank units has increased significantly compared to the last time. In this month-long demonic training, the capabilities of the armored forces have improved faster than in the past few months.

He saw as if he were in the rumble of the cannon, and the voice under the armored car shouted:

"Report!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang took down the binoculars and saw the next herald of the armored car standing upright.

"Speak!"

"Yes!" The herald shouted loudly from time to time in the sound of cannons, "Report to your lordship, General Guderian asks what is the matter with you!" ”

Well, it seems that old man Guderian also saw himself. Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to hold up the telescope, looked at the target disk in the distance, did not look back, and said:

"General Guderian, please, come to me."

"Yes!"

The herald made a standard turn and ran away into the darkness.

After a while, the herald's voice sounded again under the car:

"Report to your Excellency! General Guderian has arrived! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang took off the binoculars and looked under the armored car, a short and fat old German man with gray hair and a mustache under his nose stared at him in the dark.

Xiang Xiaoqiang turned over and jumped out of the car with the armor plate, looking at him quite majestically. Guderian touched his heels and saluted. Xiang Xiaoqiang also returned a salute.

If it were other subordinate generals, Xiang Xiaoqiang would definitely step forward with a smile, hold his hand, pat his arm, and greet him very cordially. But he knew Guderian very well, and knew that this man was an old-fashioned Prussian aristocratic officer, and he was very unaccustomed to this kind of "hypocritical" intimacy in the Chinese style. After trying to Xiaoqiang a few times, Guderian looked a little disgusted. Xiang Xiaoqiang simply took out a one-dimensional face to get along with him. In this way, Guderian was more adaptable.

Xiang Xiaoqiang made a gesture and asked him to step aside to speak. The two talked as they walked, followed by Hu Jiong, as a confidant translator.

Xiang Xiaoqiang held his hands behind his back, walked in the dark, and asked lightly as he walked:

"General Guderian, I'm curious about some of your training programs."

Guderian also walked beside him with his hands behind his back, one foot deep and one foot shallow, he pondered for a moment, and smiled:

"Mr. Commander refers to ......"

"I'm talking about crossing rivers on ice."

Xiang Xiaoqiang said straight to the point. Then he stopped, saw that there was no one else around but Hu Jiong, stared into Guderian's eyes, and said:

"General Guderian, what are your considerations for training your troops to cross rivers on ice?"

"Oh."

"General Guderian, the rivers of our Daming do not freeze in winter. Although you have not been here for a long time, with your professionalism, you will not be unaware. ”

Guderian smiled and raised his head, a pair of small eyes shining with a sly light in the deep triangular eye sockets.

"Mr. Commander," he smiled, "it seems that the information I have gathered is a little different from what you have gathered...... The rivers of Daming sometimes freeze in winter. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, and the first thought in his mind was: Ah? No way? Troubled for a long time? Could it be that the temperatures in the thirties were so low that the rivers in southern China would freeze over?

Guderian nodded, reaffirming:

"Yes, Mr. Commander, I have collected all the geographical and climatic conditions of your country...... Within 50 to 100 kilometers south of the Yangtze River and 150 to 200 kilometers west of the coastline, the rivers also freeze in winter. It doesn't freeze every year, but it freezes every two and a half years on average. And some rivers are frozen to such an extent that even cars and light tanks can be allowed to pass through them...... Mr. Commander, you see, this area is the part of the Qing army that is most likely to invade, and it is also our main potential battlefield. The area has a dense water network, and if every river had to be bridged, our mechanized forces would be severely constrained. Therefore, this kind of training is necessary. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes and stared suspiciously at this serious little old man. He seriously suspected that the little old man was talking about it. At least it wasn't so cold that winter when I came. Otherwise, he would have frozen to death in the Yangtze River.

He turned his face to look at Hu Jiong and asked:

"Is it so cold in the winter in Jiangnan?"

Hu Jiong smiled:

"Back to my lord, it's almost, but it's going to freeze too...... However, as General Guderian said, the ice can shoot tanks...... In such a cold winter, my subordinates have never encountered such a big age. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang counted, nodded, and smiled with Guderian again:

"General Guderian, I don't care if someone has revealed anything to you, or if you have speculated on your own...... I only care, how do you explain it to the soldiers? Does it make the soldiers feel some kind of association? ”

Guderian said in a serious manner:

"Mr. Commander, crossing the river on ice is a project that I had to train for when I was the director of armored forces in Germany...... Since your country has brought me here, I will train the troops in my own way, and I need no explanation. In Germany, soldiers are not allowed to ask so many 'whys', and as for what associations come to their minds, that's their own business. However, anyone who makes such associations or questions my training methods under various pretexts will be punished. …… This is the explanation that the soldiers got. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled dumbly. After a while, he nodded and said with a smile:

"Okay, your explanation is good...... But I advise you, Mr. General, that it is better to make the soldiers think that this training on the ice is nothing more than the result of the rigidity of the old German man's head, and not a special training for some purpose...... Therefore, this kind of training does not have to be too much, it can be done incidentally...... Because you know ......"

He lowered his voice and said:

"Even if we really need to cross rivers on ice during the war, there are not so many rivers where we have to fight...... Do you see what I mean? ”

A trace of excitement flashed in Guderian's triangular eye sockets, and he shook Xiang Xiaoqiang's hand at once, and also asked in a low voice:

"Mr. Commander...... What do you mean...... Am I not misjudged? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't answer positively, but smiled mysteriously:

"Mr. Guderian...... As I said, serving in Daming will definitely get you something that you can't get in Germany......"

The little old man grinned, and the mustache on his lips shook back and forth.

Xiang Xiaoqiang pulled down his face again and said fiercely:

"If the news leaks ahead of time, then I swear, you'll just have to stay home and watch us!"

……

That night, Xiang Xiaoqiang inspected all over the training ground for half the night, and then did not go to the dormitory of the sniper school, but simply lay on a hard bed in an armored command vehicle and made do all night. The next day, he inspected the daytime training of the armored division for another morning, ate a field lunch at noon, and drove back to the headquarters in the city.

In the headquarters office, Qiu Yu and Xiuxiu had already stood there straight, waiting for him half happily and half aggrieved. This time, Xiang Xiaoqiang was separated from them for so many days, and as soon as he came back, he went to attend the award ceremony of the captured officers and soldiers, and then went to the headquarters for a meeting, and then went to the Tangshan training ground......

Seeing his beloved wife, Xiang Xiaoqiang was also quite excited. Behind him, Hu Jiong withdrew with a very eyelid and closed the door, and opened his arms with a smile to Xiaoqiang, and the two little girls immediately rushed over, got into his arms, and almost knocked him to the ground.

Xiang Xiaoqiang hugged the two girls, patted and coaxed, "three in one", and walked to the desk step by step with difficulty.

After being intimate for a while, Xiuxiu felt that Xiang Xiaoqiang seemed to have something important to do, so she took the initiative to withdraw, brushed her hair shyly, and buttoned her clothes. Qiu Yu was still in his arms and didn't want to come out, so Xiang Xiaoqiang let her, hugged her, and said to Xiuxiu with a smile:

"Xiuxiu, go to Ziteng's place and give this to him......"

As he spoke, Xiang Xiaoqiang took out two pieces of paper from his pocket, unfolded them and handed them to her, and said:

"These are two certificates, Zhang Liansheng was brutally killed, and the people who signed it were involved. You ask him to arrange for an assassination plan to be carried out in Chifeng. All the sixteen people above must be killed, and the means are not limited. ”

Listening to Xiang Xiaoqiang spit out such an eerie order, Qiu Yu also got out of his arms, looked at the two of them with wide eyes, and took two more lists to look at.

Xiuxiu also got together with Qiu Yun, and the two of them looked at the two certificates together.

Xiang Xiaoqiang ordered again:

"None of these people are high-ranking officers, the highest rank is only a lieutenant colonel, and the rank of civilian officials is not high, so they can't talk about tight security measures, and the assassination plan should not be complicated. But there is one thing that must be remembered: the assassination must not begin until the fourth group of prisoners of war has returned, that is, after all of our prisoners of war have returned. …… There is plenty of time left for the child. ”

Xiuxiu took two certificates and said solemnly:

"Yes!"

……

Xiuxiu turned around and went out. Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately asked Qiu Yu to bring him yesterday's and today's newspapers. He mainly wanted to see what Zheng Yuxuan said at the press conference.

Xiang Xiaoqiang quickly browsed the front pages of several newspapers. Soon it was clear that the doorway was coming.

Both Zheng Yuxuan and other officials only talked about how the Northern Qing Dynasty faked and mistreated prisoners of war, as well as Zhang Liansheng's brave behavior and how he was brutally killed. But as for the captured Ming army of more than 8,000 instead of more than 6,000, there is no mention of this most critical core news.

The number of prisoners was more than 8,000 at the beginning, and the Qing side has always concealed the true number from the Ming side, saying that it is more than 6,000. This means that about 2,000 prisoners of war have been tortured to death in labor camps. If this is said to be said, it will be a matter of anger not only in Nanming, but also in the world.

Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't expect that they would hide this and not say it at the press conference.

He flipped through the other newspapers until he flipped through the pile of newspapers in front of him, and he couldn't find the words "two thousand dead."

It can be seen that it has been concealed...... As soon as this kind of news is revealed, it will definitely be on the front page, and there is no need to look for it at all. But...... Why?

Xiang Xiaoqiang pinched his chin, guessing what was going on, who could put pressure on Lord Zheng to hold back at the press conference and not say the most outrageous thing.

What are the reasons for this?