Episode 35 Try Night Fighting

The Ming army took Kaifeng on the morning of the 24th, but in the direction of Luoyang,.

In other words, the unsmooth direction of Luoyang is also expected.

Kaifeng is 50 kilometers east of Zhengzhou, where it is still the Henan Plain, a horse and a flat river, there is no danger to defend, plus the garrison is weak, so it is very suitable for the rapid advance of the Ming army's armored clusters. But a few kilometers west of Zhengzhou, it enters the mountains. Luoyang, 100 kilometers west of Zhengzhou, is surrounded by mountains. Like Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, it is bordered by the Yellow River to the north, but there are mountains to the east and south, which are the branches of the Qinling Mountains. It is surrounded by Song Mountain to the east, Funiu Mountain to the south, Bears Ears Mountain to the southwest, and there is no dangerous terrain in the west. All the way up to Hanya Pass.

Surrounded by mountains on three sides, there is a Luoyang Plain in the middle. And what the Ming army wants to enter is this Luoyang Plain.

It is not unreasonable for Luoyang to be the east gate of Hangu Pass and the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties. Like Chang'an, it was chosen as the capital by the thirteen dynasties because of its majestic momentum in the world. Although Luoyang is not like Chang'an, staying in the place of Guanzhong is equivalent to staying in the safe, but after the rulers of the past dynasties have possessed Guanzhong, if they are born to rule the world and the world is peaceful, then most of them will be the capital of Luoyang. Because Luoyang also has a fairly good strategic topography, and secondly, it is closer to the political and economic center of the Central Plains. If once there is a change in the world, the Central Plains has become a battlefield, and Luoyang is threatened and cannot be defended, then you can move into the pass at any time, hold the Hangu Pass, sit and watch the general trend of the world, and attack and retreat can be defended.

Now the Zhengzhou Corps of the Qing Army is in such a situation. With Kaifeng lost, Luoyang threatened, and Zhengzhou in jeopardy, Chen Wangwu now spends all his energy on a safe westward retreat.

Chen Wangwu saw the loss of Kaifeng at noon on the 24th, and after knowing the situation he was facing, he had the idea of going west to Hangu, and then he quickly made up his mind to "coerce Hangu to order Nanming". In the afternoon, he was busy with this matter.

He first called and ordered the commander of Luoyang to lead his three divisions to guard several important places in Luoyang, and to resist desperately. Chen Wangwu promised on the phone that no matter who loses or wins the war, he will ensure that he will be prosperous and prosperous for the rest of his life.

Then, Chen Wangwu immediately sent sappers and drove a truck to the Yellow River Bridge to prepare for the bombing.

At present, the most ferocious attack of the Ming army is still in the direction of Luoyang in the west, and Zhengzhou has not been directly attacked. This also provided convenience for Chen Wangwu's relatively smooth westward retreat. Otherwise, when the heavens bombarded the earth and stormed, he would not be able to withdraw the Zhengzhou army to the west in a structured way.

……

Luoyang is more difficult to fight than Kaifeng, which is what the Ming army command has long been ideologically prepared for. But from early morning to night, they were still trapped in the mountains for more than ten hours, and it was so difficult to advance inch by inch, which they did not expect.

It seems that suddenly, the morale of the Qing army in Luoyang has risen, and they are desperately resisting.

Not only were a few old men in the command department surprised, but Xiang Xiaoqiang was also very surprised.

He stared at the big map and said gloomily:

"If even Luoyang is so difficult to fight, Hanguguan will not be able to fight. …… We originally thought that the Zhengzhou army was all from Shaanxi, and we had no worries about surrendering. It's good now, the whole child will defend the country! …… What went wrong? ”

Xiuxiu next to him didn't speak, but also stared at the big map, thinking with Xiang Xiaoqiang.

Xiang Xiaoqiang is right. If Luoyang is so difficult to enter, then Guanzhong will not be able to fight.

Although the Luoyang Plain is also surrounded by the Yellow River in the north and mountains, there are at least three roads that can be entered.

A road in the northeast is a narrow road between Songshan Mountain and the Yellow River, which is the famous Tiger Pass. From the Tiger Prison Pass to the west, through Gongxian County (later Gongyi City), into the Luoyang Plain.

A road due east is a valley between Songshan Mountain, from Xinmi to the west to Dengfeng, and then into the Luoyang Plain. The road is also narrower.

The Ming army now chose the southernmost road: a narrow plain between Songshan and Funiu Mountain, about 60-70 kilometers long and 20-30 kilometers wide, and Ruzhou was in the middle of this plain. From south to north, it is possible to enter the Luoyang Plain through this long and narrow plain – or the Great Valley.

This road is considered the best of the three. It is the widest, and the bottom of the valley is so flat that it can be called a "narrow plain". The other two roads can only be called "valleys".

On the other hand, in the west of Hangu Pass, although the mountains on both sides of "Hangu" are much lower than those here in Zhengzhou, the key is in the word "narrow", known as "the car does not divide the track, the horse does not saddle", "a mud pill and the east seals Hangu", which means that a mud pill can seal the Hangu Pass.

Luoyang is surrounded by mountains, but after all, there is a lot of room for maneuver and "road selection". Whether it's a big road or a mountain road, the attacker can always find another way, and the defender has too many directions to defend. There is only one road in Hangu Pass, the Yellow River in the north and the Qinling Mountains in the south, and the two major natural hazards are parallel here, with a gap of less than 20 kilometers. In this gap of less than 20 kilometers, there are two small ridges in the southwest-northeast direction running side by side, which almost completely closes the gap of less than 20 kilometers, and there is only a valley 15 kilometers long, 10 meters wide, and 50-70 meters deep in the middle, which is as deep as a letter pipe, and is called "Han Valley".

The Qinqi Railway (Xi'an-Weihai) and the Baoluo Highway (Baoji-Luoyang) pass through this valley in parallel, which is the only throat from Guanzhong to the Central Plains, and there is no room for detours at all.

……

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the almost stalemate offensive in the south of Luoyang, and then looked at the more perverted Hangu Pass in the west, and suddenly had a feeling of "I can't live this day".

"The main force of the Zhengzhou Corps is in the Zhengzhou area," Xiang Xiaoqiang said irritably, "We originally wanted to take Kaifeng and Luoyang on both sides first, and encircle Zhengzhou, just to block the main force of the Zhengzhou Corps in Zhengzhou and prevent them from escaping west into Hangu Pass." Now it seems that Luoyang has become a hard bone, which is more difficult to gnaw than Zhengzhou itself! …… Xiuxiu, which is the leader of the Luoyang Army? ”

"It is Lieutenant General Bai Jia, the commander of the 16th Army, which belongs to the 13th Group Army of the Qing Army, with five divisions, distributed into: three divisions in Luoyang and two divisions in Hanguguan. My lord, Bai Jia is a full man. ”

"Manchurian? What about the full people. ”

"My lord," Xiuxiu frowned and said slowly, "He is a full general, but now he is below Chen Wangwu, a Han general...... This year, the Manchu and Han generals in the Qing army were very divided, and only the Manchu generals commanded the Han generals, and no Han general could command the Manchu generals. Now Bai Jia is fighting so hard under the command of Chen Wangwu, which is likely to show that ...... The Zhengzhou Corps did not intend to withdraw north to the Yellow River, but to withdraw west to Hangu Pass. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at her and said slowly:

"You...... Sure? ”

Xiuxiu bit her lip, frowned again, and shook her head:

"Not sure."

"Come here!"

Xiang Xiaoqiang pulled Xiuxiu and hurried over to the chief of the general staff.

……

In front of Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng, she told Xiaoqiang and Xiuxiu what she thought.

However, several high-ranking members of the General Headquarters, including Xiang Xiaoqiang, did not quite understand the purpose of the Zhengzhou Corps' westward withdrawal from Guanzhong. In particular, the Yellow River Bridge will not be retreated northward, but will desperately hold the "Luoyang Corridor", so far west into Guanzhong.

"If the Zhengzhou Corps wants to withdraw west to Guanzhong," Tang Yunsheng picked up an indicator stick and pointed on the sand table, "It's easy for them to go in and difficult to get out." Shaanxi and Shanxi do not have longitudinal railways to the north. They had to walk nearly 500 kilometers on the Loess Plateau on two legs, and then cross the Yellow River east at Suide and Liulin, and only then could they have a train in Luliang City on the other side.

"In the whole of Shanxi, only the Lücang Railway (Lüliang - Cangzhou) can be connected to the outside and the North China railway network to the east. It took nearly two months to make such a long journey. In the last two months, this army has become a 'fringe army'. That is, no matter what happens in the eastern theater, this army will not work. ”

Li Guoliang, commander of the Army Airlines, interjected:

"Originally, our analysis was inclined to favor that the Zhengzhou Corps would go north directly from the Yellow River Bridge. The Jingnan Railway is one of the two major north-south trunk lines of the North China Railway Network, and they can be transferred to other theaters at any time as needed. As for guarding Hangu Pass, it is simply not necessary to use so many troops. Whether or not that place in Hangu Pass can be held is not a question of the number of troops. If you really plan to hold on, the fortress troops at Hangu Pass are enough now. If the Hangu Pass Fortress troops can't hold it and we break through into the pass, then the entire Zhengzhou Army will be completely annihilated by us. ”

Next to him, Fang Dongcheng, commander of the left army group, said gloomily:

Commander Lee...... Ben would not have been as optimistic as you. If the entire Zhengzhou Army retreats to Hangu Pass, then it will be much more difficult for us to break through the pass. If we fight hard, we will increase a lot of casualties, and even if we persuade them to surrender, we will only persuade a division commander or army commander, but now we will be faced with persuading a group army commander...... This kind of appetite of high-ranking officials, it is definitely a bottomless pit. People want troops and troops, and we have to kneel down and beg him. ”

Li Guoliang is the commander of the army aviation, and he is not very good at land warfare, so he rashly interjected a sentence, and was lukewarmly pushed back. He stumbled and looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang.

Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head and sighed secretly. Li Guoliang is naturally his confidant, but Fang Dongcheng also has a good relationship with him. Fang Dongcheng, commander of the left army group, and Feng Lingcai, commander of the right army group, were both one of the commanders of the five group armies who followed him to besiege Pukou at the beginning. Now that they have all been promoted, these two have been reused as commanders of army groups.

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

The second half of Commander Li's words is inappropriate, but the first half is correct. If the Zhengzhou Corps did not cross the Yellow River in the north and enter the Hangu Valley in the west, it was indeed very unreasonable in terms of grand strategy. In fact, although Commander Li's second half of his remarks were too optimistic, they were not without a little truth. The Qing army will not 'freeze' a force of more than a dozen divisions just for the so-called 'strengthening of the defense of Hangu Pass.'" This is an exaggeration. But...... Whether they want to cross the Yellow River north or go west to Hangu, there is a way for us to know right away. ”

Several people looked at him.

Xiang Xiaoqiang also picked up an indicator stick, pointed to the sand table and said:

"To the south of Zhengzhou, there are still three mechanized divisions that have not been put into battle. Now, taking advantage of the fact that the sky is dusk and not yet dark, we will go north and attack Zhengzhou directly. We originally thought that Zhengzhou was the main force and Luoyang should be easier to fight, but now it seems that Luoyang is even more difficult to fight. In this way, we simply attacked Zhengzhou directly. Zhengzhou is a plain, which is convenient for mechanized troops to advance.

"If the main force of the Zhengzhou Corps is really ready to retreat westward, then once we attack from the south now, they will be eager to flee westward, and we only need to fight a pursuit and annihilation battle. Of course, then we may lose the Yellow River Bridge. If they didn't plan to cross the river, they would have blown up the bridge. On the contrary, if they plan to retreat north, or hold on to Luoyang, Zhengzhou, our offensive resistance will be greater. But there's a bonus, they probably won't blow up the bridge at the last minute. We might get a complete bridge over the Yellow River and head north into Shanxi. ”

Tang Yunsheng stared at Xiang Xiaoqiang and asked:

"Go straight north to Shanxi? What about Guanzhong and Shaanxi? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang says:

"I can only leave it alone for the time being. In this case, we can only take Shanxi first and join our Taihang Mountain column. Of course, if we are lucky enough to grab one or two Yellow River pontoon bridges in their entirety, we can also go west to Shaanxi and then south to Guanzhong. It's a big circle. Tossed a little, but avoided the brutal bloody battle of Hangu Pass. ”

Zhang Zhao stared at the sand table first, pondered for a moment, and said:

"The idea of standing up is desirable. …… Does anyone have any additional comments? Let's talk about it. But hurry up, it's getting dark. We're going to attack Zhengzhou without air cover. ”

Tang Yunsheng also stared at the sand table for a while, and said:

"To the west of Hangu Pass is Tongguan, but Tongguan is close to the Yellow River embankment, since the era of hot weapons, the Northern Qing Dynasty has taken into account the safety of the Yellow River embankment, and it is no longer fortified in Tongguan, and the Qing army has moved the defense of Hangu Pass to the east again...... Tongguan is close to the Yellow River, there is a wind crossing, there is a permanent pontoon bridge here, it is the closest to Hangu Pass. If we succeed in attacking Zhengzhou and take the Yellow River Bridge, we can cross the Yellow River to the north, and then we don't need to attack Shanxi first, we can first attack the Fenglingdu pontoon bridge to the west. If we take the pontoon, we can go directly to Guanzhong. After occupying Guanzhong, because there was a pontoon bridge in his hand, it was not too late to turn around and go east to Shanxi. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately said:

"Tang Gong's plan is better, and the students are in favor of it."

Fang Dongcheng, commander of the West Road Army Group, said:

"Ladies and gentlemen, when we attack Zhengzhou, we should not relax our attack on Luoyang. The last general meant that Zhengzhou was a plain, so the five mechanized divisions of the People's Guard Corps of Xiang Daren would be the main attack, and Commander Li's army aviation would take advantage of the fact that it was not dark to vigorously cooperate. On the plains, our army has an all-round advantage, so the best time to attack is during the day, with a good line of sight, and the advantages can be brought into play.

"As for the Luoyang side, because the offensive route is a long and narrow valley, flanked by rolling mountains...... In this environment, they have a good line of sight during the day, and their machine guns and artillery can play to their advantage. Especially when the enemy intends to seriously resist, it can be said that the advantage is on the enemy's side. Well, the evening belongs to us, and the advantage comes back to our side. The last general suggested persisting in the offensive overnight and trying to enter Luoyang with a night battle. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately said:

"Ming Gong, Tang Gong, Master Fang's suggestion, the students agree. An attack on Zhengzhou is not a substitute for an attack on Luoyang. Between Zhengzhou and Luoyang is not a plain, but a mountainous area, which is a tiger prison. Even if we take Zhengzhou, if the Luoyang defenders insist on resisting, we will still not be able to enter the Luoyang Plain. Therefore, Lord Fang is right, he should fight at night and strive to capture Luoyang tonight. ”

The high-level leaders of the general headquarters have a unified opinion, and now no matter what, they must take advantage of the fact that it is not yet dark to launch a round of fierce offensive against Zhengzhou, and strive to enter Zhengzhou City in one go and seize the Yellow River Bridge intact.