Episode 19 Advance to the Central Plains

In the darkness of the night before the early morning of the 5th, between "Longshan" and "Fengling," about 30 kilometers southeast of Fangcheng County, under the moonlight, long queues of tanks and armored vehicles reflected the cold metal light and crowded forward on the path between the two mountains. On the ridges on both sides, the commanding heights were already covered with mortar firing points and machine gun positions of the Ming army. These firing points overlook the valley between the two mountains and provide escort for the armored forces.

These two mountains have good names, Longshan and Fengling. They are all part of the Fangcheng barrier, the end of which the Dabie Mountain Range extends here. The majestic Dabie Mountains, which stretch majestically and are more than 1,000 meters above sea level, have shrunk into small mountains with an altitude of several hundred meters and a radius of only a few kilometers. To the northwest of Fangcheng is the end of another large mountain range, the Qinling Mountains. When the Qinling Mountains arrived here, they also shrunk into small mountains.

These hills are not connected, they are separated by gaps ranging from a few hundred meters to several kilometers, with small mountain roads in between, large valleys and villages in between. There are also several natural reservoirs in the middle. Compared with their parent mountain ranges, the Qinling Mountains and the Dabie Mountains, they can only be regarded as small hills. But it is this kind of small hills, each of which is taller and larger than the Purple Mountain in Nanjing. They stretched out and formed a barrier large enough to hold back the advance of the large army.

It is not difficult for a person to climb over them lightly on two legs, but it is very difficult to continue to transport a large number of heavy equipment such as logistics baggage and wheeled towed artillery. The only way for the big army to pass through is through the only smooth road between Qinling and Dabie Mountain-Fangcheng Corridor. The Fangcheng Corridor is a large flat valley more than 20 kilometers wide and more than 30 kilometers long. It is also the only place within a few hundred kilometers that can accommodate the loose passage of large army groups.

But now, in the face of man's determination, these natural difficulties also seem to bow their heads.

It seems that Rommel intended to begin to establish his reputation as the "mountain fox" here. He took all the tank and armored vehicle units of the 4th Division of the People's Guard Corps through the small valley between Longshan and Fengling. The 4th Division of the People's Guard is an armored division, and its combat strength is dominated by tanks. Rommel threw away all his wheeled vehicles, taking only a tank regiment (about 100 tanks) and an armored infantry regiment (124 armored vehicles) along the mountain path to the back of Fangcheng.

Between the valleys, where only the moonlight shines, the superior cross-country ability of the Ming army tanks played a big role. Nanming's guiding ideology in designing tanks and armored vehicles has always been to adapt to rapid marching in the muddy conditions of the hills and paddy fields south of the Yangtze River. The characteristics of light body, high horsepower, and wide tracks bring this characteristic to the extreme. It was precisely because of this advantage of the Ming army's chariots that Rommel dared to take the initiative to ask for an unexpected detour through the mountains.

The main defensive forces of the Qing army were placed on the Fangcheng corridor, on which intricate permanent trenches and artillery positions were built on this flat corridor 20 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers long, and artillery batteries were erected on the small ridges on both sides, and the muzzles of the guns were aimed at the mountain corridors. Even if the Ming planes were able to destroy the artillery positions in the corridor, the artillery on the hills on both sides would still work. Although there are not many artillery pieces on the mountain, it is difficult to blow up.

A detour from the side of such a defensive position through the mountains, this is a gamble. But Xiang Xiaoqiang dared to bet on this, in addition to having confidence in the Ming army's tank capacity, it was also because the Qing army did not lay minefields. After all, it is more than 150 kilometers from the border of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Who would plant mines in their "own backyard" 150 km away from the border? The Southern Ming who were on the defensive was not on the defensive, and the Northern Qing who was on the offensive was even less so. Being able to advance to the "hinterland" of the enemy country of 150 kilometers in two days is unthinkable in the eyes of any ** circles now.

If more mines were planted between these intricate mountains, the Panzer Division would not be able to die. The defenders can surrender because of their low will to fight, they can collapse at the touch of a button because they have not seen an armored cluster, but the "morale" of the mines is always so high that they will never retreat and will not surrender.

The mountain path chosen by the Fourth Division of the People's Guard was the weakest part of the Qing army's defense. Yil Jueluo-Huizhang shrank all his forces into the Fangcheng corridor, and the troops that had previously defended the various valleys were now basically hidden in the concrete trenches in the Fangcheng corridor. Of course, in this way, the small reconnaissance force of the Ming army could easily infiltrate it. However, the Qing army was not afraid of small forces, and what they were most afraid of was that the large army of the Ming army broke through the Fangcheng corridor and drove straight into the Henan Plain. At present, between the small mountains on both sides, the Qing army has left only battalion and company-level alert troops, stationed in the villages on the flat land between the mountains.

However, neither the army commander Hui Zhang, nor the platoon commanders and squad leaders of the Qing army below, could have imagined that an armored unit composed of more than 200 taels of tanks and armored vehicles would be able to climb over mountains and mountains, and never be able to reach a village or a store in a small valley.

On moonlit nights, the Ming armored units drove slowly and carefully, but they were also very hidden. In the early hours of the morning, I passed through a village, Li Lianzhuang. The reconnaissance battalion quickly surrounded the village with submachine guns, and then rushed in, and in a short battle, a garrison company of the Qing army was annihilated. Immediately afterwards, a large army of tanks of the Ming army passed through the village in a long line and openly.

The villagers were awakened by the gunshots, and after the panic, they found that there was a constant rumbling sound outside, and their beds and windowsills were shaking. The villagers dared to put on their clothes and come out to see, and were shocked to see the endless torrent of steel on the dirt road at the entrance of the village in the moonlight.

The Ming soldiers in the village whispered to comfort the villagers:

"Don't shout, don't be afraid, your village is gone."

"What...... What is the Restoration? ”

"From now on, this is the place of Daming."

“……”

A great sense of happiness quickly enveloped the hearts of every villager. The whole village is boiling, although according to the requirements of the Ming army, the implementation of light control, there are no lights, but inside and outside the village, there are excited villagers who gather together in clothes, and there are many people's first reaction: pack up the clothes and cover, and run to the south as soon as the morning dawns!

……

In the morning, it dawned. The vanguard of the 4th Panzer Division had already passed through the valley and came to a relatively wide mountain flat. The number of villages in this generation began to increase, and the chances of being discovered by the Qing army were much greater. They left dirt roads and fields, avoided villages, and specially selected woods and bushes on the gentle slopes of the mountains for their journey. It's about 20 kilometers from the Fangcheng corridor to the northwest, but there are basically no mountains blocking it, except for some gentle hills and woods. The whole division galloped for an hour and could appear on the back of Fangcheng, posing a mortal threat to the ground artillery positions of the Qing army.

At 11 o'clock at noon, Rommel ordered the whole division to stop advancing, and more than two hundred tanks and armored vehicles turned off their engines and lay in ambush among the dense woods and hilly bushes. Now we are waiting for the results of the negotiations on Fang Cheng's side.

……

In the Fangcheng County Headquarters, the negotiators of the Ming army were arguing with Hui Zhang. Now the representatives of the Ming army can also see that this Hui Zhang does not want to surrender for the honor of the soldier at all, but just wants to take a stand and knock on more bamboo poles. Hui Zhang was sure that the Ming army was unwilling to storm the Fangcheng corridor, and he also decided that the Ming army must advance quickly and could not afford time. Therefore, he calmed down and rubbed with the negotiators of the Ming army little by little, and the price was getting higher and higher.

Now, he has made a bid to demand two million Ming Yang, and every officer below who surrenders with him must get the corresponding price code on the Ming army's "surrender bonus".

2 million Mingyang, which is four times higher than the bonus price. The 2 million Ming Yang Ming army is not unaffordable, but it can't tolerate a Qing army general who is ready to surrender to sit on the ground and raise the price like this. As soon as this precedent was set, every Qing army general in the future had a mentality of waiting for the price to sell, and those who should have surrendered may not surrender because they did not give money, or because they gave less money.

At half past eleven o'clock in the afternoon, Hui Zhang, in order to show that he was calm and relaxed, was about to invite the Ming army negotiators to lunch, when another Ming army representative was brought in. They had just been newly sent.

"Lord Hui," the newly arrived Ming army officer said without saying a word after meeting, "It's eleven forty o'clock, and we've been talking to you for a morning." Now we give you one last chance, and if you are willing to surrender, you must disarm your entire army by twelve o'clock. There is no fighting between us yet, and you can enjoy a range of benefits for your surrender. In ten minutes, we will make one last persuasion to surrender your army. But let me remind you that we are only going to persuade us to surrender, and if our surrender troops are subjected to even a single shell, you will be considered to have resisted, and we will begin a full-scale, three-dimensional assault on the ground and ground, and we will annihilate your troops, and then advance into the Henan Plain in the afternoon. ”

Hui Zhang was confused when he heard this, he frowned, and said slowly:

"What do you mean...... Persuade the troops to surrender? Are you not now exhorting me to surrender? Aren't you the only ones who persuaded the troops to surrender? Who else? ”

Another Ming army officer also put away his polite attitude all morning, directly put on a straight face, and sneered:

"It's not just a few of us. It was another force to persuade surrender. Not here at the headquarters, but somewhere else. Once again, I warn you that our troops are here to persuade them to surrender and will not fire first, and it is better to warn your men not to fire first...... If our surrendering troops were to receive a single shell, they would immediately become attacking troops...... Whether your troops can withstand it at that time is another story. Lord Hui, you will also change from an uprising general worth hundreds of thousands of Ming Yang to an ordinary prisoner and a prisoner. ”

Hui Zhang stared at them suspiciously, feeling more and more ominous in his heart. …… What tricks do they play?

At this time, the telephone on the desk rang sharply.

Hui Zhang glanced at a few Ming army officers and grabbed the microphone with some hesitation.

"I'm a military seat...... What the? What did you say? Yes?! …… Are you crazy? You repeat! ”

On the phone was a frightened voice:

"Throne, Throne...... It's true, it's real! Spreading...... The mountains are full of Ming army tanks, and there are ...... There are hundreds...... No, no, thousands! At least two thousand! Ming Army Armored Division...... No, the Panzer Army bypassed the Dabie Mountains and made a roundabout! We're blocking the back road! ”

Hui Zhang roared:

"Nonsense! Calm down, don't get a fever! How can it be! Dabie Mountain is hundreds of kilometers long, and if the Ming army comes from the east, it must first cross the Yangtze River, and then fight all the way! I can't beat it here without a year and a half! You see clearly before you speak! ”

"Really, Throne! It's all over the mountains! …… Ah, now there are more and more tanks...... Those bushes, it turned out to be all tanks! We didn't even see it! Now they're ripping off their camouflage and taking off all those leaves! More and more tanks! ”

Hui Zhangman's face slowly turned pale, raised his eyes and glanced at several Ming army officers in horror, then covered the microphone and asked in a low voice:

"What are those tanks doing? Did you attack you? ”

"No, not really...... Hey, strange, those tanks are all parked there, and they all have white flags on them, as if they are going to surrender to us......"

"Don't talk!"

"No...... Not surrender...... Ah, there are a few cars coming, and the captain on them is waving a white flag...... Ah, they shouted over the loudspeaker...... Be...... It is to persuade us to surrender...... They gave us 10 minutes to surrender, and if we didn't surrender by 12 o'clock, they drove over and bulldozed us...... Throne, what should I do? Shall we open fire? …… Throne, we can't win! We have a hundred or dozens of cannons, and there are thousands of tanks over there! …… The Ming army said that there is any benefit to surrendering now, and there will be nothing left as soon as the battle begins......"

The sound in Hui Zhang's eardrum eardrum was buzzing, and all that was left in his head was a buzzing sound.

"Lord Hui," a Ming officer said with a smile, "Is it that our persuasion troops have arrived?" Hehe, it's not much, two armored divisions, less than 500 tanks, more than 300 self-propelled guns, and more than 400 armored vehicles. They're here to persuade them to surrender, and there's no malice, so you can think about it before you open fire. If you fire a gun, they'll all be in combat. ”

Hui Zhang's body shook straight, and he squeezed out a sentence for a long time:

"You ...... How did they get by? ”

"Drive past with tracks."

“……”

Hui Zhang gritted his teeth and said fiercely:

"Nonsense! Not so many at all! I can't believe you've driven so far! 500 tanks, 300 self-propelled guns, 400 armored vehicles, such a large force simply cannot sneak through! I see that you are a small force of a hundred and ten tanks at most! ”

The officer of the Ming army said with a smile:

"Would you like to give it a try? You just have to give the order to open fire and see how many guns are fired back. ”

Hui Zhang's face turned whiter, he muttered something in his mouth, and sat down slowly.

He stared nervously at the alarm clock on his desk, watching the minute hand on it get closer and closer to 12 o'clock.

With five minutes left, he couldn't hold on, raised his head, and asked in a hoarse voice:

"If I surrender now, what more conditions can I get? I don't want two million, just give me one. ”

"No," the Ming officer shook his head categorically, "we can't set a precedent for you. It's only 500,000, not a single cent more. ”

"Eight...... 800,000 is okay? ”

"Ahem, three minutes to go."

Hui Zhang buried his face between his palms, breathed a few times rapidly, then grabbed the telephone receiver and said weakly:

"Don't fire...... An order was given to the whole army not to resist, but to come out of the fortifications and pile up their weapons in a concentrated manner...... Don't clash with the Ming army...... Obey all the arrangements of the Ming army...... Finished. ”

……

At 12:00 noon on October 5, the defenders of the Qing army surrendered. The Ming army's left army group did not spend a single shot, and the large army rumbled through the Fangcheng corridor and entered the Henan Plain of Pingchuan.

On the wide and flat corridor of Fangcheng, there are undulating hills on both sides, and the Qing army batteries faintly seen among the hills and woods are also hung with white flags. The long queue of tanks, armored vehicles, cars, and artillery of the Ming army drove through the river endlessly, advancing from the Xiangfan Basin into the Central Plains.

On both sides of the column of marching troops that could not be seen at a glance were the surrendered Qing troops who were also in sight, marching in the direction of the round trip. But compared with the brothers in Nanyang, Yangzhou, Gaoyou, and other places, they were much luckier. They surrendered without a fight, without the rounds of bombardment, shelling, and without the wounded who had short legs and broken arms, and who carried stretchers on crutches. These Qing soldiers were able-bodied, and according to the promise, they could become new citizens of the Ming Dynasty without entering the prisoner of war camp.

The important thing is that when the war enters a difficult juncture in the future, these newly added young and middle-aged people with military training will become good targets for the Ming Dynasty's conscription and make up for the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty's lack of soldiers. They will willingly fight for the Ming army and liberate their homeland.

……

Right Combat Zone, Baoying County, Baoying Airport of the Qing Army.

Here is already the rest of the troops on the eastern front, in confusion and panic, busy retreating. There was all kinds of news circulating in the troops, indicating where the army had arrived, which unit had been completely annihilated, and which unit had been surrounded...... The morale of the army is seriously unstable. Some people even exaggerated that the Ming army had reached Shandong and encircled the sea, and all the Qing troops in Jiangsu were made dumplings.

Although the Dongtai Airport in the southeast has not been directly occupied, it has been confirmed that it has been encircled. And the generals of the Baoying garrison here are determined not to follow in the footsteps of Dongtai and withdraw before the Ming army is encircled. The main forces of the Qing army in the south were to the west of the two lakes, and in Anhui, the top priority now was to abandon Baoying, pass over the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal between Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake, and wave with the main army of Anhui to ensure that it would not be eaten.

Now on the Baoying airfield, the head of the aviation regiment is directing the final preparations before evacuation. After two major bombings, there are few intact planes left on Baoying Airport. Now they are lining up at the airport, taking off from Xuzhou Airport using the only two runways without craters. In the face of the absolute superiority of the Ming army's air power, the entire Northern Qing air force was panicking to preserve its strength and evacuate the aircraft to the hinterland airfield on the back.

"Quick! Hurry up! Those broken planes doused with gasoline! ”

The regimental commander stood by the runway, directing the ground crew below to pour gasoline on the damaged and temporarily repaired planes, and then set them on fire. In the airport office building, boxes of papers were thrown out of the window and piled on the lawn to set on fire. The fire of the documents, coupled with the sky-high flames of the plane, caused the entire Baoying Airport to burst into flames, as if it had just been bombed.

Suddenly, a communications soldier wearing a headset ran out of the office building in the distance, and he hissed and shouted:

"They're coming———— sir, they're coming———— take off quickly!! Take off quickly————!!! ”

Before the people on the airport could react, a few small black spots came out of the sky, screaming and pounced in the blink of an eye, and a few bullets and smoke exploded on the runway, and then a few bombs were dropped, and the dozen or so planes that were about to take off suddenly fell into flames.

The airport immediately exploded, and everyone fled with their heads covered, falling to the ground in a desperate manner.

After a while, the Ming plane flew away.

At this time, those who had not yet had time to get up felt that there was something unusual about the ground under them. It seemed to be trembling slightly.

Some people put their ears on it and actually heard the sound of the engine......