Xiang Xiaoqiang sat there, listening to these gray-haired old generals talk about the words "defense line" and "fortification", boasting about how thick the cement was, and the more he listened to it, the more unpleasant it became.

This was only a tentative small attack, with only more than 1,000 men dispatched, while the Qing army pressed more than 3 million troops on the north bank.

The Yangtze River defense line from Anqing to Shanghai is hundreds of kilometers long, and it is impossible for every place to be as strong as Nanjing. Or it should be said that the Nanjing section is the strongest of the entire eastern section of the defensive line, and the rest of the defense is weaker than here.

Sure enough, when Commander Cao called out the defense map of the eastern section of the defense line, Xiang Xiaoqiang saw at a glance that this short section of Nanjing was densely packed with permanent fortifications, and the rest of the sections, only close to a few cities, the permanent fortifications were denser, and on the long defense line between these cities, it was much more "refreshing", only the traffic tunnels connecting the fortifications, and the fortifications equipped with heavy artillery were far away, and there were only some small-scale machine gun forts distributed in between. It can be seen that the defense is largely dependent on mines and mines.

Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head secretly, the defense line of the Nanjing section and the defense sections of other cities were roughly equivalent to the level of the Maginot Line, but in the field between them, there were very few all-steel lifting turrets that could be completely hidden underground, and they were basically cement fortifications protruding from the ground with cannons inside. Although the reinforced concrete is thick, it ...... After all, the ground is exposed.

It's barely the level of Siegfried's line.

Moreover, the permanent defense line is this, and there is a lack of in-depth defense line. The Ming army seems to have put all the bets on it.

Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a strong sense of foreboding.

Perhaps he had experience from the post-World War II period, and he always had a deep distrust of such a thing as a permanent defensive line. This kind of thing has already proven to be obsolete in World War II. Throughout the forties, there was not a single permanent line of defense that could hold back the enemy. It doesn't matter if it's Central or Axis.

Of course, it is now the thirties, and the quality of the Qing army is certainly not comparable to that of the German and American troops in World War II. But is the average strength of Nanming's Yangtze River defense line comparable to that of Maginot and Siegfried?

Xiang Xiaoqiang thought for a while, and his confidence in coexisting with Nanjing was greatly weakened. That tempting thought came to mind again. And that's—

Run!

Bring 500,000 Mingyang, bring the two beauties of Qiuqiu and Xiuxiu, and run away! It doesn't matter if you go to the United States or Switzerland, it doesn't matter if you don't recognize the two wives there, hide for a while, and then see the situation when the war is over here. Anyway, if you have money in your hands, with a prophet of history, you can make a lot of war money and become a huge rich. Around those Yankee tycoons, which one is not a beautiful woman. Xiuxiu, I can't treat her badly.

But now he is the commander of the People's Guard, he has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and he is a soldier, and he is not working in a company, and he can leave if he resigns. Gotta figure it out, figure it out......

Just when he was YY, he heard a voice:

"What do you think of this question?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang woke up and saw that the officers in the room were all looking at him, and the commander of the defense line looked at him very "kindly" and smiled.

"Sorry, I didn't hear clearly, can you revisit the problem?"

A sentence was spoken, and many people snickered.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's eyes kept looking at the map when he was distracted just now, and the corners of his mouth smiled from time to time. Although the old admiral had been speaking, he had seen all his expressions. The old general understood Xiang Xiaoqiang's expression as "disdainful eyes" and "sarcastic smile", how depressed he was to be. He knew that Xiang Xiaoqiang was a person who was deeply trusted by His Majesty, so he specially did not call Xiang Xiaoqiang "Commander Xiang", but called him "Colonel" with dignity, highlighting the level of his military rank. Although the People's Guard Corps was created in a hurry, the number of people is very small, and there are special characteristics, but after all, there are very few colonels as commanders. The old general is reminding everyone that this young man is just an upstart who relied on His Majesty's trust and relied on a coup d'état to rise to power.

Hearing that Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't even listen to his speech, Cao Mingqin became even more nameless, threw the indicator stick in his hand on the table, and said in a deep voice:

"To the Colonel!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang remembered that he was a colonel, and he was a general, three levels behind.

He stood up, took his hat, and said:

"Yes!"

Cao Mingqin said coldly:

"Now that the war situation outside is changing, and hundreds of casualties are decided every minute, you came to this meeting, and you didn't even bother to listen to the general's speech, and the general asked you, do you rely on Your Majesty's trust, or rely on your position as commander of the People's Guard?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang was extremely depressed in his chest, but he didn't say a word. He reluctantly said:

"I'm sorry, sir, not next time. …… What's your problem? ”

Cao Mingqin repeated impatiently:

"The general is discussing with you that in the mutual artillery bombardment just now, our army only relied on the fixed artillery in the fortifications to return fire, and the artillery density was too poor, only 10-15 guns per kilometer, but the Qing army deployed at least 150 guns per kilometer, and our army was obviously at a firepower disadvantage. Whether to urgently mobilize artillery in the rear to reinforce the defensive line. Does Commander Xiang have a high opinion? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, rear artillery? It won't be ......

He asked:

"Is the so-called rear artillery drawn from the strategic reserves in the rear?"

"That's nature, otherwise where else?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang's "can't" had already reached his lips and he swallowed it raw. No, he is a newcomer, he has no foundation, although he has won the trust of the empress, but here are all military bigwigs, and he symbolically asks himself, and he has no intention of listening to his own opinion at all. If you say it, you will only say it in vain.

"This kind of big thing, the commanders can decide," Xiang Xiao said toughly, "how can the last general interject." Besides, artillery is not the last general's strength. ”

Unexpectedly, this sentence angered Cao Mingqin. The old general's fiery temper came up:

"What do you mean, 'It's enough for the governors to decide on this kind of big thing', do you mean by this, is it that you will be an arbitrary and domineering person, and you can't tolerate others to speak? And artillery is not your strength, so where do you say you are strong? The generals who came to this house for a meeting today, everyone is responsible for the life and death of the Ming Dynasty, only you will be a man? If everyone is like you, just open your mouth and shirk it, let's just let the prisoners come over! ”

Cao Mingqin had a straight and fiery temper, he didn't think about Xiang Xiaoqiang in his eyes, and he was ready to make things difficult for him casually. As a result, Xiang Xiaoqiang asked rhetorically, "Is the artillery drawn from the strategic reserve in the rear?" he thought it was very important and asked the point. Cao Mingqin himself was hesitant on this. The strategic reserve is easily untouchable, and that is what saves lives at critical moments.

He just felt that Xiang Xiaoqiang was a little capable, and wanted to hear what the young man had to say, so this kid said, "It's okay for the chiefs to decide on this kind of big thing", which made the old general angry. Oh, you are so slippery at a young age, when the country is at stake, you are here to protect yourself, so what is the use of the country raising you?

Cao Mingqin's words also trained Xiang Xiaoqiang's anger, and said to Xiaoqiangxin, do you think I don't want to say it? How do I know what the rules are here, you old men and uncles, the water is very deep, I just came here and don't know anything, how do I know whether to jump or not.

But he thought about it, now that the Ming Dynasty has indeed reached a life-and-death juncture, he is worried that it is nothing more than the position of the commander of the People's Guard, and once the Ming Dynasty breaks the country, there will be nothing left. Besides, anyway, I want to run away now, why are I worried about my seat? They simply opened their mouths and said casually, and their tone was a little more rushed, offending these people again, they have the ability to get themselves from the position of commander of the People's Guard, it is the best, if they can't get it down, they must have a lot of opinions to send to Shen Rongxuan and Zhu Yourong, and they resigned from their positions, and they were refreshed, and they ran away with money and beauties in the name of righteousness, and they might be buried in the Ming Dynasty if they stayed here.

Xiang Xiaoqiang clicked his lips and said:

"Since the chief has said this, then the general will say it. Excuse me, what is the purpose of bringing artillery units here? ”

"Ridiculous, of course to make up for our firepower disadvantage!"

"And what is the purpose of making up for our firepower inferiority?"

Quite a few people laughed, and many looked at their watches dissatisfied. Cao Ming blew his beard angrily and glared, slapped the table and said:

"Xiang Xiaoqiang, what do you want to say?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang said unrelentingly:

"Please answer! Please answer all of you as well! Objective! What is the purpose? ”

Slowly calmed down, and the generals looked at each other, pondering this "purpose". yes, what is the purpose of compensating for the disadvantage in firepower? It seems to be ...... Think about it.

Xiang Xiaoqiang said:

"How much can we transfer the artillery of the reserves? How many artillery divisions were transferred? It's impossible, because the defense line is very long, only for Nanjing, and at most a few heavy artillery regiments can be drawn, that is, the appearance of a hundred or so heavy artillery. However, in the 20-kilometer-long Nanjing section, the Qing army has 150 gates per kilometer, which is just a drop in the bucket, and it is still a firepower disadvantage. Since it is not possible to form an overwhelming advantage, or is that sentence, what about the purpose?

"In order to prepare our firepower, you want to attack the river? Apparently not. Or is it that the artillery in the fortifications of the defensive line is now insufficient, and the Qing troops are almost allowed to attack it? Not really, right? So far, the artillery in our defensive fortifications is performing very well. Although it was less than that of the Qing army, it was more than enough to defend the Yangtze River.

"To destroy the artillery of the Qing army? Judging from the map, the artillery positions of the Qing army were arranged behind the mountains of Tangquan Town and Yongning Town, and if we wanted to make up the firing range, we had to place the heavy artillery bare on the riverside. They can easily hit us, but we have a hard time hitting them. Even if we can hit them, our new artillery has no protection from concrete fortifications, and is directly exposed to ten times the artillery fire of the Qing army, which can not play a role in suppression, and is in danger of annihilation, so it is better to let them play a role in the hands of the reserves.

"Therefore, according to the general, it is not cost-effective to attack the enemy with my shortness and strength. As far as I know, the cement fortifications of our Yangtze River defense line have a roof thickness of more than 1.5 meters, and some of the main fortifications are more than 3 meters thick. The Nanjing section along the river is dominated by all-steel lifting turrets, which are retracted into the ground when the Qing army is shelled, and raised up to fire when the Qing army charges, which is even more difficult to destroy. The only thing that threatens our fortifications at the moment is the train cannon.

"And the train cannon can only fire two rounds per hour, the rate of fire is slow, and it only dares to hide dozens of kilometers away and fire at us with the advantage of range. It got too close, and once we found out the location and sent planes to attack, it didn't even have time to hide the warning. Therefore, before the Qing army seized air supremacy on both sides of the Yangtze River, it did not dare to get too close to the train artillery. So the threat is quite limited.

"So, what the last general means, since we have spent so much money not on artillery, but on reinforced concrete, let this reinforced concrete do its job now. Well, a little bit of ignorance, I don't know what you guys think. ”

There was silence in the conference room. All the generals stared at Xiang Xiaoqiang. Slowly, a few people rolled in their throats, looking at Commander Cao, wanting to say something. Finally, a major general spoke:

"Lord Cao, the last general thinks the same way. Instead of attacking the enemy's strength with my shortcomings, it is better to attack the enemy's shortcomings with my strengths. ”

Then, another person rushed to say:

"Yes, Lord Cao, that's what the last general has always thought."

"That's it, the last general has long been this opinion, and as soon as he said it, he was vetoed by that person......

"It seems that the last general and Brother Xiang have seen the same thing......"

Cao Mingqin's originally angry red face gradually calmed down, glanced at Xiao Qiang, and said in a rough voice:

"That's right! This is long overdue! Young people don't be so twilight, how to think and say! Now that Daming is at a critical juncture, everyone should not think so much as usual. Let's talk about it, how about the opinion of the commander? ”

A chorus of approval.

Cao Mingqin waved his hand and said:

"Then it was decided, not to draw artillery from the reserves. Okay, let's take a look at ......."

Then, the old man inadvertently looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang with a little more appreciation in his eyes.

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang scratched the back of his head, knowing that he had miscalculated. I originally wanted these bigwigs to help me get rid of the commander, but I didn't expect it to backfire. Alas, it's a pity that I don't want to be a lobbyist with this mouth.

In fact, this question is very simple, it is a matter of purpose. What are the artillery forces for? Just say it. These generals have fallen into a fixed mindset, thinking that the opponent's artillery fire is strong and our artillery fire is weak, then they must overshadow the opponent, and they must draw from the reserves. What the reserve team is for, it is life-saving, and it cannot be moved until it is absolutely necessary.

At this time, a female officer came in, bent over to Xiaoqiang's ear and whispered:

"Commander Xiang, if you have your number, please come with me."

Xiang Xiaoqiang said goodbye and followed the female officer to the phone room.

"Hello?"

There was a gentle breath from the microphone, and after a moment, a woman's voice hesitated:

"Hello?"

"I'm Xiang Xiaoqiang, who is it?"

“…… It's me. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang "sighed" in his heart, he was too impressed by the voice on the phone.

She? How did she know the phone number here?

Xiang Xiaoqiang stabilized his emotions and asked softly:

"What's wrong?"

The voice sobbed and whispered:

“…… Someone is going to kill me. ”