Episode 31 The Secret of the Jangsan Islands

On the night of the 20th, the front had been silent for 5 days, and neither side had made any major moves, as if they were accumulating strength.

Except at sea. The fleets on the Yellow Sea shuttled back and forth, and the Ming army sent fleets to the Changshan Islands day after day, and it was no longer hidden.

In the past few days, Guangwu has been nervous, staring at the news in the direction of the Changshan Islands. However, although the Changshan Islands are only 12 kilometers away from the nearest place on the mainland of Liaodong, these 12 kilometers of strait are like an iron curtain, completely closed to the Northern Qing Dynasty.

Now Guangwu Zhi sighed that if he had taken the position a long time ago, he would have been like Nanming, who would have actively prepared for the establishment of submarine forces after the European War. Father Emperor Xuantong and Guardian's stupid boy are completely elm heads, after the European War, Britain desperately promoted the "submarine obsolescence theory", so the Qing Dynasty also believed it, and when people developed submarines in Nanming, they also laughed at it. How about now? If there are so many dozens of submarines now, let alone the troop transport fleet that can attack Nanming, why can't even a few islands get close?

The more than 10-kilometer strait was almost crowded with destroyers and patrol boats of the Ming army, and the Qing army could not even mix a small sampan.

This is true of the sea, not to mention the heavens.

The air supremacy over the Changshan Islands was completely in the hands of the Ming army, and even the air supremacy over the entire Liaodong Peninsula was won by the Ming army. There are two brigade airfields, a squadron airfield, and one of the brigades and one squadron are fighters. Add to that the fact that four aircraft carriers gather together and circulate around the archipelago all day, each carrying at least thirty fighters, that is another three or four groups. In this way, five brigades of fighters are equal to a reinforced combat aviation regiment.

There were no planes left at the airport in Lushun, and Guangwu did not dare to put the precious planes there again. It's too close, and once the Ming army plane attacks, there is no time to even give an early warning. He had already evacuated Lushun's plane to other small airfields on the Liaodong Peninsula.

As the landing of the Ming army in Shandong was imminent day by day, Guangwu tried several times to let the fighters fly over the archipelago to see if there were so many troops stationed below. Just a glance. Although the exercise corps has been continuously transferred to Shandong, there is always a little stubborn voice in his heart, telling him that this is a scam. He really wanted to verify it. Even if it's not a scam, you can fly up to it and take a few more looks, and estimate the approximate strength.

But not even this glance. A few were shot down when they were sent.

Finally, on the 19th, Guangwu gritted his teeth and fought hard to send two fighter groups from all over the sea, intending to spare dozens of casualties and take a look at the island.

The Liaodong Peninsula can't make up so many Haidongqing, and there are not even so many fighters. He could only transfer fighter planes from two regiment-level airfields in Tangshan and Dongying first, and fly to three small airfields on the Liaodong Peninsula in one way. There they landed and refueled, and formed two groups with local planes, a total of 96 Haidongqing fighters, and flew mightily to the Changshan Islands.

The group was still in the interior of the Liaodong Peninsula when it was discovered by Ming patrol fighters. Seeing that the Qing planes were coming, the Ming fighters reported to the fleet and turned around and ran. At the two airfields in the Changshan Islands, all fighter planes immediately took off to meet the fight. At the same time, the two aircraft carriers cruising in the nearby waters also began to sail against the wind, releasing fighter jets one by one. The other two aircraft carriers in the harbor immediately pulled anchor and left the harbor to prepare for the release of fighter jets.

This was the first major air battle in the Ming and Qing wars. The reason for this was that Emperor Guangwu wanted to take a look at the Changshan Islands.

Fighters from both sides scuffle over the strait. The Ming army was a brigade with one squadron and 60 kingfishers, and faced two brigades and 96 Haidongqing of the Qing army, which was inferior in numbers. But even so, it still let the Qing army plane drop into the sea like dumplings. The quality training of the pilots of the Qing army could not be compared with that of the pilots of the Ming army, and in addition, the Dongjiang Fleet was far away from the Nanming mainland, and the people stationed there belonged to the "outpost border army", and they were all elite soldiers and strong generals. Therefore, although the number of the Ming army was 2:3, it still had the upper hand.

The pilots of the Qing army were all full of people, fighting for their ancestors, and it stands to reason that they should have high morale and fight very tragically. But in the hearts of most of them, the emperor sent them to engage in this kind of meaningless "reconnaissance", which was simply to send them to death. Most people don't want to give their lives here. Therefore, they played the "unspoken rules" that they knew each other well from the beginning.

They started by turning the throttle to the maximum, spinning desperately, deliberately tossing their own fuel, and at the same time acting as "fierce dogfights". They came from afar, and the oil stored was not much, and under this violent toss, one after another Haidongqing oil was in a hurry, and they justifiably left the battlefield and went home.

There were fewer and fewer Qing army planes left in the battlefield, and more and more Ming fighters were reinforced, and an overwhelming advantage was soon formed. None of the Ming planes were shot down, only Hai Dongqing fell down one after another.

At this time, the pilots of the Qing army who remained on the battlefield were all those who still had a certain degree of belief in their hearts and were willing to fight bravely for the country. This kind of person is already very rare in the Qing army, and at this time, under the unspoken rule of "survival of the fittest" in the Qing army, they are being ruthlessly eliminated. On the contrary, it is those who are greedy for life and afraid of death, and who are cunning and sophisticated, have survived.

In the end, the tragic "Great Encirclement and Annihilation" began. Five or six fighters of the Ming army fought one after another, and these only remaining "backbones" of the Qing army's air force spilled blood one after another.

By the time the Qing army still had two two-plane formations left and the last four planes, the Ming planes in the sky seemed to have received a signal, and at the same time slowed down the pressure on these four planes, revealing a gap in the south. These four Haidongqing did not forget their mission, and immediately seized the opportunity, increased the throttle and rushed south, directly from the sky over Dachangshan Island.

Dachangshan Island is the largest island in the Changshan Islands and is also the island where the No. 1 and No. 2 ports of the Dongjiang Fleet are located. Behind him were dozens of Ming army planes chasing after them, and these four Haidongqing pilots didn't dare to look at it more, but just stretched out their heads and glanced at them roughly.

Just this glimpse, they were amazed by what they saw.

On Dachangshan Island, there are tents all over the mountain, and there are large areas of things hidden by camouflage nets and branches, which are integrated with the green mountains. The port was crowded with cargo ships, the docks were also full of various supplies, and the containers were piled up as high as a mountain. The crane is still hanging the boxes and unloading them.

The warships in the harbor and the anti-aircraft guns on the shore fired at them at the same time, and the powerful anti-aircraft fire weaved a dense net of fire, tracer shells flew up from all directions marked by the line of fire, and the surrounding sky was completely covered with dense black spots.

These four Haidongqing tragically sent back their last call signs to the base, and two of them were engulfed in artillery fire one after another, turning into two big fireballs and throwing them into the sea in a circle. The other two were lucky enough to pass through the fire, but were destined not to escape the large number of pursuers behind. In the high-speed chase, the fuel of the two Hai Dongqing ran out in a blink of an eye and they were planted into the sea one after another. The pilot parachuted and was taken prisoner by the Ming speedboat.

At the end of the air battle, 41 of the 96 Haidongqing lost 41 planes, and the battle loss rate was more than 40%. The Ming army lost only 15 planes, with a battle loss rate of 25%. It is significant that the Qing army, in addition to the loss of 41 aircraft, also lost 41 pilots. The pilots were either killed or parachuted into captivity. Except for 5 Ming pilots who were killed, the remaining 10 were rescued by parachuting and were able to return to the army.

The Qing army's "fire reconnaissance" was costly, but Guangwu finally achieved its set goal - at the cost of 41 Haidongqing, he saw the island of the Ming army.

The answer is obvious: there are a large number of troops stationed on the island. As for how much, it was too hasty, and the pilots didn't have time to elaborate. Anyway, judging by their frightened tone, there must have been quite a few.

The loss of 41 precious Haidong Qingguangwu was certainly painful, but he felt that it was still worth it. At least it affirmed that the Ming army's accumulation of troops on the Changshan Islands was not a hoax, which proved that Shandong was indeed under a high threat. After thinking about it, he felt still not at ease, and sent an order to transfer 50 150mm land heavy guns from the south of the Beijing-Tianjin Army to strengthen them to five ports in Shandong. On average, 10 150mm guns were added to each port as shore defense guns. Then, several groups of fake artillery were arranged between the shore artillery positions, confusing the real and the false, in order to confuse the Ming bombers and disperse the firepower.

……

In the air battle of the Liaohai Sea on the 19th, the reaction of the Ming army was equally shocking. The Qing army dispatched such a large group of aircraft to provoke at one time, and did not bring bombers, not for bombing, but only for reconnaissance......

Even if it was the high-level of the Ming army, he was also amazed by Guangwu's style of "using troops luxuriously". You must know that with the existing strength of the Qing army's air force, such losses cannot withstand a few times. Moreover, with the level of the aviation industry in the Northern Qing Dynasty, the monthly output is only one-third of that of Nanming, and there are fewer reserve pilots (Nanming not only has a larger military aviation school, but also many rich people play seaplanes among the people, and there are many non-governmental seaplane clubs). Even if it is a 1:1 fight, Beiqing can't fight it.

However, this time he finally let Guangwu see what he wanted to see, which was reassuring him.

In the Ming Army Command, those core decision-makers also secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Especially Xiang Xiaoqiang, he is the initiator.

……

At noon on the 20th, Qiu Yu came to the fortress to look at Xiaoqiang with a food box, a soup dumpling from Shunde Garden, and a few snacks.

Qiu Yu was originally a member of the People's Guard Corps Headquarters, and he was Xiang Xiaoqiang's adjutant, so he was as important as Xiuxiu in theory. Therefore, without the restrictions of the families of ordinary generals, you can go all the way to the most core position: the central command hall.

The hall was still busy, and at lunchtime, most of the officers still didn't go to the cafeteria, they were all carrying lunch boxes, and they were busy eating a few bites. The hall was filled with ringing phones and the smell of food.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was not too busy at this time, he handed over the things at hand to Li Gensheng, and then took Qiu Xiuxiu and the two to the officer's cafeteria for dinner.

Qiu Yu and Xiuxiu haven't seen each other for many days, and the two little girls are very affectionate. But Qiu Yu mainly misses Xiang Xiaoqiang, this is not fake. The three of them found a small corner, ate the delicious food in the food box, talked and laughed, and were warm.

Qiu Yu was on the side of the headquarters, and he also knew about the Liaohai air battle yesterday. But she doesn't know the core secret.

This is not to blame her for being too "big radish", nor is it to blame Xiang Xiaoqiang for deliberately hiding from her. Because this plan was originally only an idea proposed to Xiaoqiang, and then it was handed over to the high command to improve, and then it was basically operated by the navy, and the People's Guard did not participate in it.

Qiu Yu first looked at the surroundings and saw that there was no one around, and then asked Xiaoqiang and Xiuxiu in a low voice, very mysteriously:

"Hey, you know it inside, there was a big air battle on the Changshan Islands yesterday."

Xiang Xiaoqiang and Xiuxiu glanced at each other, then nodded together and smiled:

"Yes."

"Hey, then you know that too......" Qiu Yu said in a lower voice, "...... The Qing army has taken all the troops on our island away, right? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang and Xiuxiu smiled together:

"Yes."

Qiu Yun felt that something was wrong, looked at them a few times, and then said suspiciously:

"That'...... You all know, is there anything I don't know? ”

Seeing Qiu Yun's brain spinning so fast this time, the two laughed again. Then, Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at Xiuxiu, the two made eye contact, and then both nodded, meaning that it was almost time to get to the bottom of Qiuqiu.

Xiuxiu also looked around, and then lowered her voice and smiled at Qiu Yu:

"You know, you know...... In the Changshan Islands, there are no troops at all. ”

Qiu Yu stopped chewing and was stunned. She raised her eyes and looked at them even more suspiciously.

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said with a smile:

"Yes, that's right. No troops. ”

"Gah?"

Qiu Yu couldn't accept it for a while, stayed for a while, and muttered:

"Not a single soldier?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"Of course there are soldiers, hundreds of sappers."

"Work...... Sapper? What is it for? ”

Xiuxiu laughed quietly:

"Build an airport. The Dongjiang Fleet now has only two large airfields on Dachangshan Island and Xiaochangshan Island, and one small airfield on Haxian Island with only three...... Future wars will all rely on air supremacy, and the Dongjiang Fleet will serve as a strategic air base north of the Ming Dynasty and will be responsible for air strikes against the northern Manchu Qing Dynasty for a long time during the war...... In this case, the current three airports are not enough. As you know, our navy has long said that it will build a large airfield on Guanglu Island and Zhangzi Island...... You know, the fleet that is going there now is actually a construction of the airport...... It is true that the troops were also transported, but it was not hundreds of thousands of troops at all, it was just a few hundred sappers......"

Qiu Yu was dumbfounded when he heard this. She didn't expect that.

“…… That...... So many freighters going back and forth, and all of them are empty? ”

Xiuxiu shook her head and smiled:

"How can it be empty? The waterline is so high, and the Qingyu are not stupid, they will think that we are selling flaws, and they will not believe it...... The clothes are all cement, yellow sand, bricks, steel bars, and other building materials...... It is necessary to repair runways, terminals, dormitories, hangars, etc...... It's a lot of money. Otherwise, the draft of a cargo ship of several thousand tons would not be so low! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang added with a grin:

"On the deck were bulldozers, earthmoving trucks, and they were tightly covered with canvas...... When the little Japanese reconnaissance plane saw it, it must have thought it was a tank and a military vehicle...... Hehe...... It's a miserable deception...... Well, the most important thing is that these fleets weren't even sent to deceive the captives. Because even if they didn't have this plan, they would have to repair the airport...... Hahaha......"

Xiuxiu smiled:

"Also, we let the Qing prisoners of war wear our army's clothes, carry empty guns, and line up at the Ningbo dock every night to board the ship...... Ningbo is a big port, but the security is not the tightest, and it will always be seen by a spy of the Northern Qing Dynasty and reported back...... Every night, troop carriers loaded with more than 10,000 prisoners of war left the port and went to sea, then dropped them off at a small island dock of the East China Sea Fleet, and then sailed north on empty ships......"

Qiu Yu asked incredulously:

"That'...... And what about those prisoners of war? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"There are special boats waiting there every night to load prisoners of war onto ships and transport them to the port of Xiangshan in the south...... The train from the port of Xiangshan transported them into Fenghua. Fenghua is very close to Ningbo, where one of our prisoner of war camps is located...... Well, that is to say, the 'hundreds of thousands' army in the eyes of the Northern Qing Dynasty is such a large number of more than 10,000 prisoners of war, which are transported out of the sea every night, returned that night, transported into the prisoner of war camp during the day, and then transported into Ningbo Port the next night...... It's just a repeat performance...... Anyway, the more than 10,000 prisoners of war are all held in prisoner of war camps, so don't worry about them leaking secrets, haha......"

Xiuxiu also grinned, and Xiang Xiaoqiang's faces were full of pride.

Qiu Yu was dumbfounded, and only after a long time did he exhale a sigh of "wow", and sighed fiercely:

"You guys are really ...... Look, I said it a long time ago, both of you are foxes, and you still don't recognize it......"