Episode 87 Fire attack that is not a fire attack

The generals were at loggerheads, so Xiang Xiaoqiang quietly suggested to Zhang Zhaoxian that since this matter involved the question of whether to re-terminate the negotiations and resume the war, I am afraid that the cabinet should be notified and a joint meeting of the military and the government should be held.

Zhang Zhaoxian nodded, also thinking so. The military really can't afford to do this on their own.

So the military reported to Zhu Yourong, and then Zhu Yourong told Shen Rongxuan about it, and then Shen Rongxuan selected a few necessary ministers to enter the headquarters and attend the meeting.

As a result, the morning meeting became a joint military-political meeting, and Shen Rongxuan and several ministers also attended. Once it becomes a joint military-political conference, then according to the usual practice, Zhu Yourong will also attend.

…… Then, Xiang Xiaoqiang's goal of wanting to meet Zhu Yourong has also been achieved.

Zhu Yourong is still wearing a small dress, a cashmere shawl, and a small light diamond tiara, as usual, wearing a shelf.

Her Majesty the Empress attended the meeting, and the discussion at the conference table suddenly became much more intense. Under the gaze of His Majesty, every minister or general is enthusiastically speaking, consciously or unconsciously showing off his eloquence and talent, and also trying to overpower others......

However, there is only one exception. That is Xiang Xiaoqiang.

In this group of impetuous and shallow civilian and military generals, Xiang Xiaoqiang seems so deep and calm.

Xiang Xiaoqiang...... He rarely speaks, but whenever he talks simply, he always gets straight to the point, and says a lot of things that others can't say...... What is that feeling?

Oh yes, sharp......

However, whenever he spoke to Xiaoqiang, Zhu Yourong either looked at the map or stared in front of him, always avoiding a fiery and sharp gaze from the opposite side. …… That was Xiang Xiaoqiang's gaze.

Xiang Xiaoqiang seems to have become the most powerful person on the military's side, except for Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng.

Now, after listening to the speeches of several military and political dignitaries, he said succinctly:

'Overall, I'm in favor of using this as an opportunity to attack. But the purpose was not to kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of more Qing troops, but to conduct a second blitzkrieg. The Qing army only has this force in Shanxi, and if we can defeat and disperse this force like lightning, then we will be able to open the throat of Taiyuan to the north and occupy the whole of Shanxi in one fell swoop. Ladies and gentlemen, please remember that the purpose of my proposal for a settlement by force is not to destroy tens of thousands of more Qing troops, but to break through this key to the central part of Shanxi, Taiyuan, and take the whole of Shanxi in one fell swoop. This should be our strategic determination. Ladies and gentlemen, I am done talking. ”

After speaking, he bowed slightly to both sides, glanced sharply at the circle, and finally landed on Zhu Yourong's face, which made Zhu Yourong "hot" a lot, and quickly lowered his gaze as if nothing happened, and then went to look at the map again.

Xiang Xiaoqiang made it clear that both the military and the cabinet felt a lot more confident and spoke more actively. Originally, some swing factions and wall grass also found support at once, and they all immediately occupied the side of the military faction.

As a result, there are few people left who advocate a political solution.

Shen Rongxuan listened to so many people's speeches, and after comprehensive consideration, he also felt that this situation was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for military action, but for political action, it was only an ordinary opportunity at most. In other words, as the first and auxiliary minister, he also felt that it was indeed a waste to use this opportunity for rectification activities. If it is really possible to defeat the Qing army's "Shanxi Corps" with lightning and thus occupy the entire Shanxi in one fell swoop, then this result cannot be played no matter how much the political card is played.

Now, the conference table gradually quieted down, and everyone's eyes were focused on Shen Rongxuan. Among the most heavyweights, only Shen Rongxuan has not yet expressed his position. Theoretically speaking, the first assistant minister is also the person with the highest status in the entire Ming Empire except for the Son of Heaven.

Shen Rongxuan pondered for a moment, nodded, and said slowly:

"As things stand, this is a rare opportunity to occupy Shanxi at low cost. I don't think there's a reason for us to waste. ”

After speaking, he also raised his head and looked around at everyone.

Okay, that's the final word.

Unexpectedly, Xiang Xiaoqiang spoke again:

"Ladies and gentlemen...... Should we take this opportunity to launch a full-scale military operation by integrating the left and right routes, not only to take Shanxi in one fell swoop, but also to take Shandong in one fell swoop, and to send the Qing regime to the Huangquan Road a big way? ”

……

The Ming military is still calm on the surface, and the negotiations in Wuwang Villa are still half-dead, but the headquarters and the entire Ming military machine have quietly and quickly started. Another wave of large-scale blitzkrieg is brewing.

During this time, both sides of the Ming and Qing dynasties were accumulating strength, but the entire state apparatus and social mechanism of the Southern Ming Dynasty were obviously superior and much more efficient, far from being comparable to the behemoth of the sick Longzhong in the Northern Qing Dynasty.

During this period of more than a month, Guangwu was able to recruit nearly 1 million more new troops. Nanming's army did not increase at all. Counting the casualties in the early stage, the number of troops has been slightly reduced. However, Nanming is mainly cultivating "internal strength". - Of course, the number of tanks and planes increased by a few hundred each, and the number of cars increased by almost four thousand. More important is the growth of logistical capacity.

Although tens of thousands of military vehicles from the United States have not yet been obtained, after a truce of more than a month, the combat units of the Ming army have been greatly repaired, their logistical capabilities have been greatly improved, the construction of various transportation departments and lines has been in an orderly manner, and the various warehouses, fuel depots, military stations, and supply points along the way have sufficient materials.

According to Xiang Xiaoqiang's view, there is no problem of "too long a front and difficult logistics" on the right side. Because at present, the right front line is in the Huai River valley, which is only about 200 kilometers away from Nanjing. What needs to be considered on the right side is how to accumulate strength and make an explosive and powerful attack to penetrate, divide, encircle, and annihilate the huge Central Plains Corps of the Qing army in one fell swoop, just like the Jianghuai Campaign in the first stage.

The real problem of "too long a front and logistical difficulties" is the left flank. If the left road starts from Xiangfan, it has reached the forefront of Shanxi now of the Ming army after a tortuous front, which has exceeded 1,000 kilometers. The last 200 kilometers were transported by car without railways.

However, Xiang Xiaoqiang believes: First, the distance of more than 200 kilometers is not long, and it is not a big problem to completely rely on highways. Second, Shanxi now has only these 20 divisions, that is, 280,000-300,000 Qing troops. As long as these Qing troops are defeated at once, then there will be no main force of the Qing army in front of the entire Shanxi. The Ming army can completely drive straight in, and there is no need to consider the attrition of combat along the way. In this way, if the war is not considered and only the march is considered, then the daily consumption of supplies for each division will be greatly reduced, thus freeing up a large amount of transportation capacity from transporting ammunition to transport fuel.

As for how to defeat the Shanxi Corps of the Qing Army, Xiang Xiaoqiang also expressed his opinion.

Now these Qing troops are hidden in the dense mountains and forests north of Taiyuan. With such nearly 300,000 people, if it really intends to rely on Taiyuan and hold this narrow mountain pass between Taihang Mountain and Luliang Mountain, then its main force will definitely be arranged in a place that is at most half a day's journey away from Taiyuan City. Nor could its farthest troops be placed too far away for more than a day's journey. Due to the mountainous edge environment, heavy equipment moves more slowly, so the actual distance is even smaller.

Then this density is quite large, and after rough calculations, the average is more than 15,000-20,000 people per square kilometer. Counting all kinds of artillery, vehicles, heavy equipment, and materials, the density of personnel is even larger. It can be said that whether it is a bomb, an artillery shell, or an incendiary bomb, each drop will bring great damage.

Now facing two practical difficulties.

First, if you use incendiary bombs, it may cause large-scale forest fires, and the outcome is difficult to control.

Second, it is easy to fall into moral passivity. Incendiary weapons are so cruel that they are forbidden in the Geneva Conventions along with dummy shells, poison gas, and so on. Although in real wars, it is inevitable that all armies will use some incendiary weapons, such as flamethrowers, etc., but after all, the scale of use is very small, and it is mainly used to clear pillboxes and fortifications, which is difficult to replace. The Hague Tribunal of the League of Nations has never taken these "petty fights" seriously. However, if tens of thousands of people were burned to death with the help of incendiary bombs this time, no one knows what the international consequences would be.

"Let's talk about the first one first," Xiang Xiaoqiang said, standing in front of the big map, pointing to the vicinity of Taiyuan with a pole, "This one is a topographic map of central Shanxi. This one is an enlarged aerial photograph of the vicinity of Taiyuan, mainly to take a look at the distribution of vegetation. You see, the two large mountain ranges in Shanxi, Taihang and Luliang, are mainly in a north-south direction, and they are almost parallel to each other. But in the north of Shanxi and the south of Shanxi, their bond is not the same...... It's like dancing the tango, we say that the man and the woman who dance the tango, always keep a cold distance at the top, while the bottom is passionate, and the four legs are tightly intertwined, almost together...... The two mountains are the opposite, the lower half is kept at a distance, and the upper half is almost close to each other......"

The room erupted in laughter. Xiang Xiaoqiang also smiled, secretly glanced at Zhu Yourong, and found that she was still expressionless, just blushing, avoiding his gaze.

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, and then said:

“…… The upper part, that is, the north, is almost glued together, and the lower part, that is, the south, is kept at a distance...... Then in the middle of them, that is, the position of the waist and eye, this most critical position is to build a city, that is, Taiyuan. You see, north of Taiyuan, the two major mountain systems are closely combined, leaving almost only a narrow corridor in the middle...... To the south of Taiyuan, there is a much looser plain, which can be said to be a flat river......

"So here comes what I'm going to say. First, the current season is late autumn, or early winter, and the wind blows all day long, and the wind blows from north to south, not the other way around. Second, the southern part of Taiyuan is a plain, with neither mountains nor forests. When the fire burns to the northern suburbs of Taiyuan, it will naturally stop. Please take a look at this aerial photo to see the distribution of vegetation near Taiyuan. ”

Everyone craned their necks to look and whisper. Xiang Xiaoqiang made a gesture, the conference room went dark, and a little female officer used a slide projector to type the photo on the big map. Now everyone can see it clearly.

"My lord," said one of the generals, "this matter is not a joke, although according to common sense, only the north wind will blow at this time, but what if the wind does not blow on the day of the operation, or if the south wind blows?" We should take this into account. ”

Someone retorted:

"In winter, at most, it won't be windy, how can there be a south wind."

The general snorted:

"Not necessarily. How did Cao Cao lose the Battle of Chibi? It's the south wind that hangs in the winter. ”

The officer from before laughed:

"Please, that's family talk, okay. If you want to talk about it, let's talk about the official history. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang interrupted with a smile:

"What this lord is talking about is the official history. Although "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is fictional enough, the Battle of Chibi, the south wind blew inexplicably in winter, but it was recorded in the official history "Three Kingdoms". We have to believe that. Hehe, however, here is the meteorological data from Shanxi in the coming week, and the conclusion of the chief meteorologist of the army aviation is that in the coming week, the north wind will not stop, and it will blow stronger and stronger. …… This is a 70% probability...... So, we don't have to worry too much about wildfires. ”

Someone else asked:

"Okay, even if we don't have to worry about wildfires, what about morality? The use of incendiary weapons on such a large scale is unjustifiable in any case. Our early efforts in the United States are likely to come to naught. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded and said with a smile:

"This question...... Commander Li of the Army Airlines, please answer. ”

Li Guoliang couldn't wait for a long time, jumped to the map, and said:

"Why, do you think that in such a dry season and dry vegetation, only burning weapons can cause fires in the mountains?"

There was silence in the conference room, and then there was a "coaxing" discussion. Everyone reacted. Yes, is it only incendiary bombs that start a wildfire? In this kind of dry weather, just like the dry wood-like mountains and forests in Shanxi, an ordinary bomb can also cause a mountain fire!

Xiang Xiaoqiang took it with a smile and said:

“…… Therefore, we do not have to deliberately arrange a 'fire attack', as long as we can 'bomb normally' in areas where enemy forces may be ambushed. Now not to mention bombs, even a grenade explodes, or even a bullet hitting the dead grass at close range, could set the whole mountain on fire. …… Hehe, even if the investigation team of the International Tribunal in The Hague came to investigate the area around Taiyuan, they could only find the wreckage of ordinary bombs, and absolutely could not find the wreckage of incendiary bombs, nor the remnants of incendiary weapons such as napalm, thermite, and magnesium powder. This attack, in the eyes of the whole world, will be just an ordinary military attack. …… It's a forest fire, I'm sorry, it's unfortunate, but it's an accident, not what we wanted. ”

The room was laughing again.