Episode 20 Wedding Present: Armored Battalion

"Your Majesty,."

Xiang Xiaoqiang said to Empress Zhu Yourong.

……

Just now, in the imperial study of the Qianqing Palace, Xiang Xiaoqiang had just finished giving the empress a military lesson.

"It's almost time, so let's stop here today. This question is the task left to Your Majesty: If—just if—I want to expand my power in the South Seas, I ask Your Majesty to list three forward bases that must be seized. And how these three forward bases should rely on each other. Again, which of them is the primary and the secondary. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang stood up, smiled and bowed to Zhu Yourong, and was about to retire.

"Wait a minute, teacher," Zhu Yourong said as he looked down for something, "I've already written down this question...... But ......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned for a moment, remembered one thing, and said:

"Your Majesty, well, there is one more thing. Minister...... I'm getting married. ”

Zhu Yourong hummed twice while rummaging through things, and after a moment, he raised his head in a daze and looked at him.

"What, you...... You're getting married? ”

"Hmm...... I would like to ask Your Majesty for a day of marriage leave. It is...... Number 22. ”

Zhu Yourong was stunned for a while, and said softly:

"Ahh

"Your Majesty?"

Zhu Yourong smiled again, and said with a smile:

"Hehe, this is a good thing, the bride is beautiful...... What kind of lady is it......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang peeked at His Majesty's reaction, and replied cautiously:

"Your Majesty has met the captain of the Grasshopper, named Qiuyu."

"Oh, hehe," Zhu Yourong smiled and patted his head, "Qiu Yun, that's it, it's her, yes, yes, I forgot about it...... How's it going, when is the day? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang repeated embarrassedly:

"This, number 22."

"Oh yes, it's the 22nd, I forgot again...... Today is the 18th, and that will be three days later. This one...... Marriage is such a big thing, why does Teacher Xiang only need a day off? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"At this time when the country is in crisis, as a soldier, he should not leave his post. On this day, the ministers felt too much. ”

Zhu Yourong looked down at the bookcase and didn't speak for a long time. After a while, he looked up again and smiled:

"Hehe, let's do it, I'm in charge of Teacher Xiang, let's take a three-day vacation, and Teacher Xiang will accompany the new lady well."

"This ...... Hehe, the minister thanked His Majesty for his love. ”

"Wait a minute," Zhu Yourong rummaged through for a long time, found a file bag from the drawer, opened it and said with a smile, "Teacher Xiang, I originally wanted to tell you through the headquarters tomorrow, since this is the case, this can be regarded as a wedding gift from Teacher Xiang...... Although it is not appropriate to use this as a wedding gift, on the day of Xiang's wedding, I will make up another copy. ”

“？？？”

……

"Look at the teacher," Zhu Yourong said slowly as he flipped through the documents, "Since the national mobilization, we have produced 150 new tanks this month...... Hmm, so much ......."

Then, she raised her face and suddenly asked Xiao Qiang:

"How much do you want?"

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at her face for a long time before he was sure that this empress mm was not joking.

Suddenly, he felt the blood boiling all over his body.

This means that the People's Guard will have its own armored forces! He wants Xiaoqiang to have his own armored troops!!

Moreover, listening to Zhu Yourong's tone, he also let him take it casually, which means that he will give as much as he wants.

As a fan of the armored blitzkrieg, as a fan of Guderian, don't mention Xiang Xiaoqiang's feeling at this time. It's like a gun fan, one day he was taken to the gun arsenal by a big chief, and he was asked to take the world's famous guns casually.

But right now it's even more enjoyable than that, it's just a gun, it's a tank!

Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath, tried to stabilize his heart, touched the teacup and poured a few sips of water, and then asked in a normal tone:

"Your Majesty, are you going to give it to me...... Give your People's Guard to form armored units? ”

Just kidding, "my" People's Guards are not the same as "your" People's Guards. Although Zhu Yourong doesn't care about these details, Xiang Xiaoqiang just wants to make Zhu Yourong feel that the People's Guard is her own at all times, and Xiang Xiaoqiang is just in charge. This is not only reassuring, but also beneficial in the future. For example, this time she will feel that she has "given someone else" to other troops, and she will feel that she has only gone from the left pocket to the right pocket when she gives it to the People's Guard. We must let Zhu Yourong develop this feeling. God knows if there will be "sending" planes to the People's Guard in the future.

Zhu Yourong smiled:

"Why, are you surprised? …… In fact, wasn't it decided when we planned to establish the People's Guard, the People's Guard is my pro-army, and it is the top priority of all the armies of the Ming Dynasty, and we must build the most elite troops. Therefore, equipment and personnel naturally have priority over other troops. Tanks are a sharp weapon in today's land warfare, and naturally they cannot be left unequipped. Originally, I planned to equip the People's Guard with tanks within a year, but now that the war is going on, the People's Guard is the first in Nanjing, so I must be armed to the best in the shortest possible time. Moreover, it turned out that our monthly production of tanks was only about a dozen, but now that it has turned to the wartime economy, I did not expect such an output in the first month. So, hehe, while other troops haven't come to rob me yet, let's get more first. ”

Zhu Yourong smiled excitedly, as if he had taken a big advantage.

Xiang Xiaoqiang was also excited for a while, his mind gradually cleared up, and a very critical question was in front of him. How much to take? Who else will take these 150 tanks besides me?

Three new weapons emerged from the battlefields of World War I: airplanes, tanks, and submarines. After World War I, submarines were generally not favored, and they all felt that they were going to be outdated, like outcasts. But the other two, airplanes and tanks, have been widely sought after since the First World War, and everyone knows that they are good things, and countries are trying their best to develop them. Now tanks are a baby bump in the armies of all countries, and armies at all levels are rushing to get them. In other words, even if the People's Guard is the top priority, if you want to swallow these 150 tanks alone, you will become a "public enemy" of the whole army. A pair of red eyes around you can kill you with just your eyes.

Moreover, Zhu Yourong, a young girl, is in such a hurry to give the tank to the People's Guard, to a large extent, because the People's Guard is her "own" army, because Xiang Xiaoqiang gives her military lessons every day, because Xiang Xiaoqiang's tank battle aroused her interest. She is now thinking about "tanks to be used intensively", and she can't wait to give all these 150 tanks to Xiang Xiaoqiang. But she does not necessarily consider whether there are units that need tanks more than the People's Guard.

According to Xiang Xiaoqiang's judgment, there are two armies that need tanks now, one is the defenders of Nanjing. Guarding the periphery is the capital garrison, eight divisions, 100,000 people, and guarding the city is the People's Guard, which has more than 10,000 people, almost the size of a division. The other is a strategic reserve force currently stationed several dozen kilometers behind the Yangtze River defense line in the eastern section, with about 60 divisions.

But the problem is that half of the more than 600 tanks in the Ming Army are in the hands of the defenders of the Yangtze River defense line, and these few hundred tanks are widely distributed on the defense line several hundred kilometers long, with an average of more than one tank per kilometer. The current thinking is: since the tank is so powerful, it is natural to put it on the defensive line to block the enemy's offensive. This is the use of tanks as "cover for infantry" and "movable bunkers". This is also the tank as a baby pimple will be scattered like this. If dozens or hundreds of vehicles were gathered together to charge into battle, this kind of usage would definitely be too extravagant in the eyes of the generals of this era.

The remaining half of the tanks, more than 200 tanks, are in the hands of the strategic reserve, and more than 100 are in the hands of the capital garrison. Needless to say, they are also as evenly distributed as possible. The largest unit is the tank company, which has 15 or 20 vehicles. In this way, there are still divisions with tanks, and there are divisions without tanks.

The strategic reserve force has nearly 1 million people, and the capital garrison army has 100,000 people, and each has only one or two hundred tanks, and your people's guard force has 10,000 tanks, and if you are equipped with more than 100 tanks at once, needless to say, it will be as dazzling as a gift flower in the Chinese New Year's Eve.

Now if Xiang Xiaoqiang is selfless and dedicated to the country, he should give up all the tanks, because both the strategic reserve and the capital garrison need tanks more than the people's guard. Because they need to crush the Qing army in a field battle, and the People's Guards are just fighting street battles.

But for Xiang Xiaoqiang, a fan of armored warfare, it is obviously impossible. Taking a step back, even if all these more than 100 tanks were given to others, they would be divided evenly and divided into companies and platoons, to the extent that there were only a few tanks per kilometer. That's pretty much the same as nothing.

In this way, it is better to concentrate on his hands to defend Nanjing.

Xiang Xiaoqiang and Zhu Yourong talked about their views. Zhu Yourong had the intention of giving all the tanks to the People's Guard, but Xiang Xiaoqiang let her know that although concentrating all the tanks in the hands of the People's Guard could play the greatest role, the reality could not do so.

As a result, Zhu Yourong had a deep impression of Xiang Xiaoqiang's spirit of "taking the overall situation into account".

In the end, Xiang Xiaoqiang selflessly "let out" half of the tank and kept half for himself.

"Chen is going to form a tank battalion first," Xiang Xiaoqiang took a pen and wrote on the paper, which was also to give Zhu Yourong an armored force establishment class by the way, "At present, whether it is the Ming army or the Qing army, the largest establishment is still a tank company, so our tank battalion will have an overwhelming advantage." A tank battalion should preferably have a battalion headquarters, a communications platoon, a repair platoon, a reconnaissance platoon, three light tank companies, and a medium tank company. Each light tank company was formed into four platoons of five tanks each. Medium tanks were formed in three platoons, each of which was also five tanks. Such a battalion is 60 light tanks, 15 medium tanks, exactly 75 units, exactly half. ”

After speaking, he threw the pen to Xiaoqiang, and a burst of excitement spread throughout his body again. I have a tank myself. The real armoring of the Ming Army will start with the People's Guard.

……

The next day, January 19th, the twenty-sixth day of the Lunar New Year. Approaching Chinese New Year's Eve, there is no "New Year's flavor" on the street. At this time of year, the streets are already filled with the sound of firecrackers. However, this year, because of the war, in order not to be confused with the sound of gunfire, artillery is prohibited along the Yangtze River. The streets are deserted, and the atmosphere of the New Year has been ruined by the war. If it weren't for the left-behind citizens who pasted the Spring Festival couplets, they couldn't feel that the New Year was about to come.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's mood was very surging. He was sitting in the car, going to inspect his armored battalion. Zhu Yourong issued a holy decree, and all departments slipped the green light, and the efficiency was extremely high. As soon as more than 100 tanks got off the flatbed train, 75 were selected according to Xiang Xiaoqiang's request and drove to the People's Guard barracks in Xiaolingwei in the east of the city. The tank corps is all the best graduates selected from the Army Tank Academy, and more than 20 of the most experienced officers are selected from the tank units of the capital garrison to serve as company commanders and platoon commanders.

Recently, the sun has not come out for several days, since last night, the fog has become heavier, and this morning, the fog has been very thick, especially out of the city, after the crescent lake, from the left side of the road Purple Mountain woods filled with a thick fog, a white expanse, the farmland on the right side of the road is not more than ten meters to see.

The fog warning sent the day before yesterday was still very accurate. Presumably, the fog on the Yangtze River is even thicker now. Smoke is the attacker's best friend. If the Qing army wants to break through the defense line of the Yangtze River, there is no better time than now......

Xiang Xiaoqiang's two cars drove through several checkpoints and entered the main camp area of the People's Guard. Rows of camps on both sides of the road loom in the thick fog.

……

Finally passed through a gate guarded by a machine-gun pillbox, and there was no more camp, as if entering an open field.

In the dense fog, large iron-gray things appeared from time to time, faintly revealing armor plates, gun barrels, tracks, and numbers......

In front of each "thing", there stood two young black-clothed soldiers. Another man was half-protruding from the top and was also standing straight.

The two cars stopped and drilled out to Xiaoqiang with suppressed excitement. Li Gensheng also got out of the latter car. As the captain of the mobile team and the direct boss of the armored battalion, he is probably more excited than Xiang Xiaoqiang.

"Lizheng—"

There was a neat sound of leather boots, and the tank field stood upright.

The commander of the tank battalion led the officers of the battalion to salute in the car.

Xiang Xiaoqiang slowly raised his hand to his head and saluted them with a resolute expression.

The battalion commander commanded in a loud voice:

"All-turn on the lights-"

Suddenly, two rows of bright headlights appeared in the thick fog, neatly arranged on both sides, marking the location of each tank.

Then, he turned around on the spot, faced Xiang Xiaoqiang, and shouted with full anger:

"Your Excellency, Lord Commander, the commander of the 1st Tank Battalion of the People's Guard Mobile Brigade, Shi Shengli, see Your Excellency! Now the whole battalion is lined up, please review! ”

Nodding slightly to Xiaoqiang, the battalion commander turned around and shouted:

"Review - Begin!"

The military band of the political work team at the end of the road was already neatly arranged, and the conductor played the baton beautifully, and the loud and majestic military music resounded throughout the venue.

Xiang Xiaoqiang wrapped his black cloak, lightly held his sword, and walked slowly forward in the military music. A line of officers followed.

"All the officers and men of the company, salute the commander—"

Every time he walked by a tank, the crew of the tank saluted "pop", watched Xiaoqiang walk by, and then "snapped" to put it down.

Xiang Xiaoqiang held the saber in one hand, held it in the brim of his hat with the other, and returned the salute to the tank crew beside him. Bow your head slightly and smile appreciatively at them.

"All the officers and men of the second company, salute the commander—"

"All the officers and men of the third company, salute the commander-"

"All the officers and men of the Fourth Company, salute the commander—"

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang saluted the brothers on the left and right, and also observed the tanks behind them.

These tanks do not have the majestic appearance of later tanks, or even the tanks of World War II, they are not big, five short, only more than two meters tall, they look thin and thin, and they feel not much bigger than vans. The straight body plate, rarely curved or beveled, and a short section of small cannon sticking out of the small turret, like a pig's nose.

Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't help frowning slightly. Although he had been mentally prepared and knew what the tanks were at this time, and he had read the information yesterday, he was still subconsciously disappointed when he saw the real thing at first glance. Ugly, too ugly.

No way, the beautiful images such as Tiger, Leopard, T34, and JS in World War II had too deep an impact on his heart. At the moment, tanks in the mid-thirties are like ugly ducklings.

The only thing that is pleasing to the eye is that compared with the light tanks of the same period in Europe, they are lower in stature, the chassis is wider, and the tracks are also one-third wider, and it seems that the overall weight is better dispersed. This should be due to the fact that the south is mountainous and rainy, which makes it easy for them to go off-road in hilly and muddy areas.

At present, there are four main types of active tanks in the Ming army, the light tanks "Lightning-1" and "Lightning-2", the medium tank "Lightning-3", and the heavy tank "Thundering-1".

The Lightning-1 is the first tank designed by the Ming Dynasty, which was in service in the early 30s, only 6.5 tons, less than two meters high, only equipped with two machine guns as weapons, and the front armor is 15 mm, which can only barely withstand small arms, which is too weak. Therefore, very few are produced now, mainly for tank academies as training vehicles.

The Lightning-2 is also a little bit like this, with a total weight of 10 tons, a crew of 3 people, front armor of 30 mm, a 37 mm cannon, two machine guns, and a top speed of 40 kilometers per hour on the road. This is the kind of training that was done in the formation of three light tanks.

The Lightning-3 is a medium tank, with a total weight of 22 tons, a crew of 4 people, front armor of 40 mm, a 47 mm cannon, two machine guns, and a maximum speed of 40 kilometers per hour on the road. This time the 15 tanks that formed a medium tank company were like this.

In Xiang Xiaoqiang's eyes, the Lightning-3 finally has some combat effectiveness, the speed of 40 kilometers per hour is quite high in this period, and in addition to being used as an offensive tank, its 40 mm thick front armor and 47 mm main gun can also provide good cover for infantry, and it can barely be used as an infantry tank. The so-called infantry tank is the kind of tank with strong firepower, thick armor, slow speed, and is designed to provide cover for infantry. In fact, Daming has a real infantry tank, that is, the heavy tank Thundering-1. This thing is more than thirty tons, the front armor is 50 mm thick, the top speed is only 25 kilometers per hour, and the number of production is too small.

How to say it, I feel that the current tanks of the Ming Dynasty are a little inferior to the tanks of the same period in Britain, France and the Soviet Union, but they are already better than the German PZ-1, 2 and 3 types. Germany was bound by the Versailles Treaty, and the tank industry started too late.

……

After the majestic military music was played, Xiang Xiaoqiang stepped on the track and climbed onto a tank in the middle, took a megaphone, stood on top of the tank and said:

"Brothers, from today onwards, you will be a member of the People's Guard!"

In a word, all the tank crews rolled through another burst of excitement. Joining the People's Guard was the happiest thing they had done in the past two days. All of them had just graduated from the tank academy or served in other units, and they were overjoyed to hear that they had been selected for the People's Guard.

Xiang Xiaoqiang continued:

"The People's Guard is the elite of the Ming army, and you are the elite of the elite! You are the trump card in the future land war! It is a sharp knife unit in a future war, and it is a fist unit! Why? I tell you, because you are the fastest, the most powerful, and the hardest armored! You will be at the forefront of future wars, storming cities and lands, destroying the withered and decaying! What others can't tear, you can! You can plug the holes that others can't!

"I tell you, your 75 tanks and 300 brothers, will not be separated! It will not be split up like other troops! With me, you will always be together, you will always be comrades in the same battalion! In the future, if possible, we will have a second and third battalions! The same will not be separated! We will have armored regiments, armored divisions in the future!

"If possible, I will lead you to chase the Qinglu on the land of the motherland, like a tiger, and crush the blood of the Qinglu with your tracks! If God bless me Daming, I will also lead you to the north, go straight to the Yellow Dragon, and complete the unfinished business of Marshal Yue Fei back then! We will be like the Ming Army Song sang: Thirty merits, fame, dust and earth, eight thousand miles of clouds and moons! We will drive a chariot to break through the Helan Mountain shortage! We will be hungry for Hulu meat, laughing and thirsty for Hun blood! We will clean up the old mountains and rivers all over again, and face the sky!! ”

On the tank field, there was a long-lasting frenzied cheer. The young men's faces flushed with excitement, and the most bloody cries rushed out of their chests.

……

Beijing, Forbidden City South Study.

A large-scale map was placed in the middle, surrounded by a circle of generals and marshals. Standing in the middle was a young man in his thirties. He casually wore a horse coat, his face was kind, and among this pile of uniformed generals, he looked very casual.

The young man played with a paper fan in his left hand and a long stick in his right hand, gestured on the map, and said lightly:

"In this way, our East Route Army Group has 50 divisions, and the advantage over the frontal enemy is five to one. Army Group Center had 110 divisions, and the superiority over the frontal enemy was ten to one. Army Group West, with 65 divisions, had an advantage of six to one against the frontal enemy. Hehe, everyone, with such superior troops, coupled with such good foggy weather, if you can't fight again, then someone should really cut yourself. You think that's the case, huh? ”

He finally asked tepidly, opened the paper fan and symbolically slapped it twice, and all the generals present were so frightened that they shrank their heads and did not dare to look at him.

The young man "snapped" the fan, drew a circle on the picture with a stick, and continued:

"Again: the range of the East Route Group Army crossing the river is: west to Jiangyin, east to Chongming Island. The scope of the Middle Route Group Army's crossing of the river is: the section from Jiangyin in the east to Ma'anshan in the west. The range of the group army crossing the river on the West Road is: east to Ma'anshan and west to Tongling.

"According to the meteorological forecast, in the next two or three days, the fog will be the thickest in the east to Zhenjiang and Wuhu in the west. Once the river is successfully crossed at a certain point, it is necessary to immediately attack horizontally along the south bank of the Yangtze River, outflank the defenders of the Yangtze River defense line from behind, and try to tear the hole in the defense line wider.

"You may encounter Nanming's strategic reserves within 6 to 10 hours of crossing the river. Therefore, there is no need to be in a hurry to entangle and seize counties and cities, but to consolidate the ferry as much as possible, erect pontoon bridges, and allow our large troops and heavy equipment to cross the river as soon as possible. Hmph, Nanming's strategic reserve does not exceed 80 divisions, and as long as we can gain a foothold after crossing the river, we will have an absolute advantage. ”

At this moment, a young officer came running over and gave him a piece of information respectfully.

The young man looked at it and laughed out loud. He threw the paper on the table and said with a smile:

"The latest news, Nanming's People's Guard has formed an armored unit. Guess how many tanks? ”

Then, without waiting for anyone else to answer, he laughed mockingly himself:

"One tank battalion, a total of seventy-five tanks! That's a lot! Yes? Hahahaha......"

He smiled so happily that the generals around him followed with "haha" and "hehe". After a moment, the young man waved his hands and the laughter stopped abruptly.

He straightened his face and said proudly:

"And our Daqing, every division that participated in the offensive this time had tanks, and some divisions even had tank companies! Combined, the tanks of our three army groups are almost twice as many as all the tanks of Nanming! ”

He sat in his chair and stretched out his hand, and the person next to him respectfully offered a cup of tea. He scraped the tea leaves with the lid of the cup, drank while blowing, and said lightly:

"Then it's up to you, tomorrow at dawn at four o'clock. …… For more than half a month since the start of the war, we have been attacking tepidly every day for such a while, in order to make Nanming feel that we only have such a little ability, and relax mentally. Now we have to move the real Geer, and catch up with such good weather, God really helps, we can't win if we don't want to. …… For so many days, there are many of the old, weak, sick and disabled people who die in the Yangtze River every day, and the river water is red. They're having a great time! Hmph, it's okay, after crossing the river, let's kill all of them with profits! Ahem...... I heard it clearly, on Chinese New Year's Eve this year, Shu plans to go to the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and those who want to be a marquis will give me a starting spirit. ”