Episode 69: Two Lines of Defense

At six o'clock in the morning of June 2, Zhu Yourong and his entourage finished breakfast, left here, and continued to drive eastward, heading to the Blue Second Division and the Red Fourth Division.

Rommel was also ready to lead the 1st Blue Division eastward to participate in the final battle of annihilation. Although the Blue 1st Division is a fast and mobile armored division, it is such a large division after all, and it is much slower than the queen's convoy in terms of preparation and travel speed on the road. Therefore, Zhu Yourong's convoy left first and headed for the Second Blue Division.

Zhu Yourong sat in a daze in the command car, his body swaying gently with the swaying of the car. Wei Zijin looked at her and noticed something unusual. When he came out of Nanjing yesterday, Zhu Yourong was very interested, either lying on the shooting window to watch the scenery, or lying on the periscope to watch the scenery. But now, obviously, the soul is not giving up.

Wei Zijin instinctively guessed that it was related to Xiang Xiaoqiang.

She lowered her head, silent, and continued to translate the few secret messages she received in the morning. These are all some news sent from Nanjing, either to ask Zhu Yourong to know, or to ask Zhu Yourong for instructions. Generally, there are no major state events, mainly matters involving the royal family.

However, Wei Zijin flipped through the codebook with his left hand, recorded it on the telegram paper with his right hand, and slowly stared at the telegram.

She looked up at Zhu Yourong, and then looked down at the text of the telegram. After hesitating for a while, he continued to finish translating it, then read it again, looked up and said:

"Your Majesty."

Zhu Yourong didn't seem to hear it, still leaning lazily on the sofa, holding a book in his hand, but his eyes were fixed on a painting on the wall. Obvious uncertainty.

Wei Zijin said softly again:

"Your Majesty."

"Huh?"

Zhu Yourong finally reacted and looked at her.

"Your Majesty," Wei Zijin looked at her and said softly, "Miss Zheng from the palace has called, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received a call from Siam asking if it is convenient for His Royal Highness the Prince to visit recently. The cabinet has already telegraphed back, saying that His Royal Highness the prince is welcome to come to Nanjing, and that he can visit at any time in the near future as long as it is convenient. ”

Zhu Yourong's eyes trembled and drooped. She gripped the couch cushion with one hand and breathed heavily.

"Your Majesty, ...... you?"

Zhu Yourong closed his eyes and shook his head, but did not speak.

Wei Zijin stared at Zhu Yourong's face, observing her expression, but said:

"Your Majesty, are you a little motion sick? I told the convoy to stay steady. ”

Zhu Yourong closed his eyes and nodded.

……

As if deliberately for the Empress, the Blues' attacks on the Reds were not carried out at the same time, but in a clear sequence. First, the first blue division "performed", and after the first blue division finished the performance, the second blue division continued to "perform". Zhu Yourong happened to finish watching the attack of the 1st Blue Division, and he was in time to see the attack of the 2nd Blue Division.

But this is not arranged for the sake of showing Zhu Yourong. The main reason is the number of aircraft. Although the proportion of air power equipped by the Blue Army is already very high, there are only more than 100 aircraft, and at most they can only support a fierce air attack on one division at the same time. At this time, on other battlefields, there are very few aircraft, and they can only ensure small-scale attacks and slow down the opponent's march.

Therefore, the wisest and most efficient way for the Blues is to concentrate their air forces and cooperate with the ground forces to attack one division, and then turn around to attack the other.

The queen's motorcade drove on a small north-south road, and soon it turned from the Shanghai-Nanjing Highway to the Nanjing-Hangzhou Highway. Shanghai-Nanjing Highway is a main road from Nanjing to Shanghai, from the north side of Taihu Lake; The Nanjing-Hangzhou Highway runs from Nanjing to Hangzhou, from the south side of Taihu Lake. The convoy got on the Nanjing-Hangzhou Highway and continued to the southeast, which is very close to Yixing, where the Red Fourth Division and the Blue Second Division are now located.

The road network in this area of the Yangtze River Delta is relatively dense, which is quite suitable for the movement of motorized troops. The 2nd Blue Division spent the whole day yesterday relying on the road network, going around in circles with the 4th Red Division in this area. As for the Red Fifth Division, it was on the south side of Taihu Lake, dozens of kilometers away from here, and with the aircraft attacking, it would not be able to survive for three days as long as the Blue Army was willing.

When the Empress convoy arrived at the predetermined location and began to contact the Blue Second Division, it was learned that the Blue Second Division had launched an attack an hour earlier.

This surprised Xiang Xiaoqiang. Unexpectedly, Hou Hekun and Rommel are two completely opposite people. Rommel was trying to make the empress see his battles, let the empress see his talents; And Hou Hekun didn't have that kind of thing at all. How to fight, how to fight, did not wait a little because the empress came to observe.

In fact, with the current situation, where and when to fight is up to the Blues. The 2nd Blue Division was on wheels in its entirety, moving fast on its own, and it also had air supremacy, which could slow down the Red Army's march at will. If he really had to show the Empress, he could wait a day.

……

The defense area of the Red Fourth Division was twenty kilometers wide. Such a long time, for a division, the place to defend is too long. Originally, when the Blue Army had just raided yesterday and broke through the defense line of the Red Second and Third Red Divisions in the north, Tang Yunsheng planned to transfer the Red Fourth Division to the nearest reinforcements, but after a day of exercise, it was difficult to move an inch by the planes of the Blue Army. Moreover, on this day, the four divisions of the Red Army were broken by each other, which made Tang Yunsheng conclude that it is still necessary to stick to the defensive line, respond to all changes with the same, and not use people's two legs to compete with the wheels of a car.

Last night, taking advantage of the fact that there was no aircraft harassment in the dark night, the Red Fourth Division retreated to the line of defense between the two lakes. Although there is a long place to defend here, there are large lakes in the north and south to rely on, as long as the east and west sides are defended. Moreover, the original defensive line was basically facing the east, because the Blues were all deployed in the east before, and the war was fought from east to west. But now the Blues have come, and according to their maneuverability, it is up to them to attack from east to west, or from west to east. The Taihu Lake in the south is too big to go around, but it is only an hour before the Blues want to get around it in the north.

Therefore, the Red Fourth Division re-established a defensive line on the west side of the original defensive line to prevent the Blue Army from attacking from west to east. In this case, the Red Fourth Division itself was in the middle of the two lines of defense. Moreover, the new defensive line to the west was too short of time, and it was very rudimentary to build a barbed wire fence and some foxholes. Therefore, the Red Fourth Division deployed heavy troops here. The few remaining anti-tank guns and infantry guns of the whole division also got to this defensive line, dug shelter pits, and prepared to resist.

Sandwiching themselves between the two lines of defense may seem stupid, but there is no way to do it. Now the Red Army does not have an advantage in strength, in speed, in firepower, in armor protection, in the air...... If you don't try to protect yourself and expose yourself to the open to play against the Blues, you will definitely be "swept away" again. The examples of the previous divisions are already here.