Episode 88 Pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger

The battle was decided, and a military operation was planned to begin a week later, codenamed "Lu You". Because Lu You has a famous poem: "The king of the north sets the Central Plains Day, and don't forget to tell Nai Weng about the family sacrifice." This is the vague meaning of "Beiding Central Plains".

Launching another offensive under such circumstances is tantamount to launching another campaign in the middle of a war, the army is in place, the logistics system and so on are also sound, and it is enough to wait for an order to run at high speed. It takes much less time than starting a war from scratch.

After the day was decided on November 20, Xiang Xiaoqiang began preparations for "deliberately ending the negotiations" at the negotiation table in the afternoon.

First of all, the Ming army delegation pretended to be anxious, and said that they had been questioned by Her Majesty the Empress, that Her Majesty could no longer tolerate this kind of endless negotiations, and that the Ming Dynasty could take another big step, as long as the Northern Qing Dynasty agreed to implement the two articles of "open press and freedom of movement", then the Ming Dynasty would no longer put forward more land claims.

That is to say, what Shandong Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula, and northern Shanxi, the Ming Dynasty did not want, as long as the Northern Qing Dynasty accepted these two conditions.

Xiang Xiaoqiang and repeatedly emphasized: This is the bottom line of Daming.

Nanming's attitude is something that Yonggui could never have imagined. Not only Yonggui, but even Guangwu in Beijing couldn't understand why Nanming could take root in these two items and recognize them, and would rather give up so many tangible benefits for them?

After thinking about it, high-level officials in Guangwu and the Northern Qing Dynasty still believed that Nanming was nothing more than a high-profile affair, winning international support and forcing the Qing Dynasty into a corner. But if the Qing Dynasty accepted it, it would be a countdown to the end of the Manchu regime.

However, after thinking about it, I can't think of one thing: Nanming forced the Qing Dynasty into a corner, is it any good for itself? Isn't this the standard "harm to others and not to oneself"?

……

At the same time as Xiang Xiaoqiang proposed a new attitude at the negotiating table, the Ming government also held a press conference at the same time to inform the press of this new attitude: the Ming Dynasty now does not want the land of the Qing court, and does not want the indemnity of the Qing court, as long as the Qing court promises to treat the people under its rule well, so that the people of the Northern Qing Dynasty can also enjoy what the people of the Ming Dynasty enjoy. That's the only requirement.

This gesture is not high. "Kind people" all over the world read the newspaper and were moved by Daming.

But then again, Nanming is not exactly a high-profile appearance, and it is also a last chance to give Beiqing before attacking. According to Zhu Yourong, if the Northern Qing accepted these two items before the attack, then the attack would have been canceled.

Of course, when Her Majesty said this, no one spoke out against it. The civil ministers and generals present all understood that the Northern Qing Dynasty would never accept these two articles. Therefore, I am happy to obey Her Majesty the Empress.

In the following week, at the negotiating table, apart from the two items of "news and migration" that had to be argued every day, the only focus was on the Shanxi issue.

It is very strange that Nan Ming is unwilling to talk about Shandong with the Northern Qing Dynasty and Liaodong with the Northern Qing Dynasty, but he is only willing to talk about Shanxi with the Northern Qing Dynasty. In particular, once Yonggui talked about the Shanxi issue, Xiang Xiaoqiang tacitly acquiesced to him putting aside the core issue of "news and migration" and talking about the Shanxi issue with him.

As a result, in the daily newspapers outside, in addition to the stalemate of "news and migration", the most attractive thing is the Shanxi issue. People all over the world who are concerned about the Ming and Qing wars are also concerned about the negotiations on the Shanxi issue.

Xiang Xiaoqiang deliberately mentioned the original "simultaneous cessation of the army by both sides" at the negotiation table every day, and Yonggui also followed him, and also emphasized that both sides had achieved the "simultaneous cessation of the army" in Shanxi, and also emphasized that the northern part of Shanxi is a "vacuum zone", and there is only a Ming army in the south of Shanxi, but there is no Qing army in the north, how unfair it is......

Therefore, this information also appeared repeatedly in the newspaper every day, objectively, let everyone see: the Northern Qing Dynasty repeatedly swore that Shanxi did not have our Qing army, how I kept my promise.

By November 26, all the secret preparations for the second blitzkrieg, the "Land Tour", were in place, and everything was in place, except for the east wind.

……

During the negotiation on the afternoon of the 26th, Xiang Xiaoqiang was called out halfway. It took a while to return to the negotiating table.

When he came back, he didn't say a word, slapped the table, and shouted in a loud voice:

"Yong-sama! Are you planning to sneak up on us? ”

Yonggui was stunned for a moment, "chuckled" in his heart, and said with a forced smile:

"To your lordship...... Where does this begin? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang took out a copy of "information", and pretended to confirm it again, with an expression of anger, nervousness, and fear, he shook the paper and shouted:

"We just received information that your Qing army has already touched Taiyuan, and it is only fifty kilometers away from our army!"

Yonggui's face turned a little white.

However, he still managed to calm himself and smiled:

"Lord Xiang, where did you get this so-called information?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang said in a loud voice:

"You don't care! Taiyuan intelligence! Our intelligence officer in Taiyuan sent it to us! ”

Yonggui smiled:

"Lord Xiang, may I ask, are your intelligence officers trained? As far as I know, there are only two battalions of gendarmes in Taiyuan at present, in addition to the police. Does the 'Qing Army' in the mouth of your intelligence officer mean the two battalions of military police? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, a little speechless, with a somewhat embarrassed look on his face, and after a while, he shouted again:

"That'...... That...... Even if there is no one in Taiyuan City, it must be ambushed near Taiyuan! ”

Yonggui was relieved at this time, he knew that Ming Fang did not have any accurate information, most of it was based on some rumors in Taiyuan City, and he made a so-called "intelligence" and used it to deceive himself. Fortunately, I reacted quickly and didn't panic, otherwise I would have really been exposed.

Yonggui is no longer afraid of him shouting, and he smiled and reasoned with him with a pleasant face:

"My Lord Xiang...... Do you believe in this so-called 'intelligence'? I'm afraid you're not some kind of 'intelligence agent', just the 'informant' of the common people who were bought in Taiyuan, right? ”

"You don't care who you want, you just say if there is such a thing."

Yonggui smiled:

"Sir, do you say you have one? Your planes are scouting in the sky every day, and we are moving every soldier on the ground, can you not see it? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang thought for a moment and said:

"Then, you can transfer troops at night."

Yonggui said with a smile:

"Lord Xiang, our closest corps to Taiyuan is in Beijing and Tianjin. Okay, even if we secretly transfer troops to Taiyuan, we can't transfer less, right? It is definitely impossible to have hundreds of people or thousands of people, at least a few divisions, a dozen divisions, right? Hundreds of kilometers from Beijing to Taiyuan, it is impossible to walk there overnight, right? And what about the daytime? Then a large army of more than a dozen divisions, even if it advances in multiple directions, it will take dozens of kilometers just to travel the army column, and your planes will not be seen in the sky during the day? …… I said to you, sir, these most basic logical questions, you, and your adults, must have thought before accusing us, right? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes and looked at him suspiciously. And Yonggui smiled very calmly, looking completely able to stand the test.

After looking at it for a long time, Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the information in his hand suspiciously, sat down slowly, and lit a cigarette.

Yonggui didn't speak, just looked at him with a smile, waiting for him to say first.

After a long while, Xiang Xiaoqiang snorted and said slowly:

"Then, this afternoon, our government is going to announce to reporters, saying that we have the information, your Qing army has broken its promise, has sneaked into Shanxi, is advancing south, and our army will be attacked at any time......"

He looked up at the clock and said in frustration:

"I'm afraid I'm already having a press conference right now."

Yonggui looked at him sympathetically and shrugged his shoulders slowly, indicating that there was nothing he could do.

Then, Yonggui stood up and said:

"Lord Xiang, in view of this, I am afraid that I will not be able to negotiate here anymore, please allow me to go back to my residence now, send a report to Beijing, and tell the emperor what you are doing...... There is no way, you lack sincerity now, first fabricate the facts, and spew blood, then we must also announce the truth to the outside world, meet your challenges, and defend our innocence in front of the world. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang stopped talking, hesitated, and nodded frustratedly.

……

At 17:30 in the afternoon, the Nanming War Department really held a press conference to announce to the media that the Qing army was rapidly marching south of Shanxi, and according to intelligence, the vanguard had arrived in Taiyuan and was still moving south, and it was estimated that within a day, there would be contact with the Ming army's reconnaissance troops.

At the same time, Yonggui sent a secret telegram to Beijing in his room, reporting to Guangwu Xiaoqiang's reaction, and at the same time informing Guangwu that the Nanming War Department of Guangwu was holding a press conference and asked the emperor to listen to the radio quickly.

Yonggui estimated in the telegram that although the information obtained by Nanming was not accurate, it was quite close to the truth. This shows that Nanming's intelligence agents in Taiyuan may have caught some rumors that "there are a large number of troops in the mountains outside the city" and sent them back to Nanjing, but Nanjing was so nervous that they overreacted and may have believed it without verification. Or they tried to verify it, but the "information barrier" built by the Qing army on the north side of Taiyuan was so effective that the intelligence agents of the Southern Ming could not personally go to the mountains outside the city to verify it. Under such circumstances, the Nanming intelligence officer became more and more sure of his judgment.

In fact, after the 20 divisions of the Qing army arrived on the north side of Taiyuan, the city immediately sent military police to set up a blockade outside the city, and no one was allowed to go up the mountain. There are all kinds of rumors in Taiyuan City. One of the main rumors was that there were a large number of troops in ambush in the mountains outside the city, preparing to attack the Ming army.

From this point of view, Yonggui's guess is also very reasonable. - Except for one misguess, that is, Nanming's "intelligence officer" is not a common man lurking in Taiyuan City, but Guadxin, the Minister of Military Aircraft of the Qing Dynasty.

……

So, at 7 o'clock in the evening, an hour after Nanming's press conference, the Qing government in Beijing also held a press conference, inviting all the resident reporters from the embassies of various countries to refute Nanming's "deliberate slander" in a high-profile manner. The spokesman of the Qing court said in a solemn and solemn manner that the Qing Dynasty did not have any garrison above the brigade level in Shanxi, and except for a small number of garrison troops and gendarmes in various localities, there was not a single soldier. Nanming's rumors are harboring evil intentions and have ulterior motives.

Nanking.

Xiang Xiaoqiang lay in an easy chair, listening to the short waves from Beijing on the radio with great interest, listening to the Qing court spokesman's refuting rumors with a sense of justice, and rubbing his hands with excitement.

"Okay, good," he said to himself with a grin, "Guangwu, Guangwu, that's what you want...... If you don't say this, we're embarrassed to attack your Shanxi Corps! Since you've said that, we don't have much to say...... Haha, this time let you knock out your front teeth and swallow it in your stomach...... This time, I will teach you a lesson, find out in advance what you encounter in the future, admit it when you should admit it, and don't rush to refute the rumors as soon as you come up...... Refuting rumors can also chop you to death...... Hahaha. ”

When he finished laughing, he shouted:

"Xiuxiu! Hu Jiong! Come on! Change! Prepare the car! General Ben is going to the High Command! General Ben is going to command the war! Aha! ”

……

All night on November 26, the atmosphere of the night before D appeared in the Purple Mountain Fortress. The various departments were busy liaising and making arrangements, the telephone rang one after another, the officers ran around with their papers, and the central radio broadcast every hour on the left and right roads, the positions of the various units, and the preparations of the various flight groups of the Army Air Force......

Xiang Xiaoqiang is also busy, eager to have three heads and six arms. Make phone calls, sign orders, read telegrams...... However, unlike the hectic situation on the eve of D Day, after nearly two months of training in war command, he is now only "busy" and not "chaotic."

In fact, this is also a big change in the entire fortress. After more than two months of running-in, there is a little less "rush" and more "ease" from top to bottom.

Very early in the evening, Xiang Xiaoqiang went to sleep in the room. Because, tomorrow I have to get up early and personally command the dawn offensive of the People's Guards.

……

At 3:40 a.m. on November 27, three groups of 180 Swan twin-engine horizontal bombers were ready to go on the lawns of the three airports of Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and Linfen. The last batch of bombs is being pulled under the belly of the aircraft by the trolley and hoisted into the bomb bay. A group of bomber crew members, in the hangar, watched the commander's combat demonstration.

Two brigades, totaling 80 Kingfisher fighters, have been scattered and parked at several field airfields in the occupied areas of Shanxi, and are also making final preparations.

These field airfields were built intensively during the negotiations. The Ming army did not waste a day. Now these small airfields are far from enemy territory and are dedicated to fighter jets. The fighter has a short range, and taking off from here maximizes its power and provides protection for bombers taking off from the rear.

Now, Nanming's entire war machine is ready to go, just waiting for an order.