Through this information, Xia Xinsheng and the command headquarters judged that the best time to attack Lanzhou had come. In order not to delay the fighters, the www.biquge.info quickly convened the commanders of the divisions to hold an operational meeting. The main cadres of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Divisions of the Cavalry Corps, as well as the armored cavalry division and the 23rd Division of the 8th Army Corps, were gathered together.

After briefing the enemy on the situation of the enemy, Xia Xinsheng directly took out the combat plan that the command had already deduced countless times, and after Chen Geng, chief of the general staff, explained in detail, he issued an operational order. Xia Xinsheng personally led the armored cavalry division, the seventh cavalry division of Men Bingyue, and the reconnaissance brigade from the south of Lanzhou City, using the strong mobility and impact of the armored cavalry division to directly bypass Lanzhou City and plunge directly into the iron bridge of the Yellow River. After controlling the iron bridge of the Yellow River, it broke through the city from the west of the city.

The Yellow River Iron Bridge later had a familiar name, called Zhongshan Bridge. The predecessor of Zhongshan Bridge began in the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, and Feng Sheng, the Duke of Song Dynasty, built a pontoon bridge in the west of Lanzhou City; In the ninth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Wei Guogong Deng moved the pontoon bridge to ten miles west of the city, called "Zhenyuan Bridge". In the 18th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, Lanzhou Wei commanded Yang Lian to move the pontoon bridge to its current position, and there are still three cast iron bridge pillars weighing 10 tons and 5.8 meters long.

In the 33rd year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government in Lanzhou Daopeng Yingjia and Gansu Governor Shengyun's sponsorship, mobilized the treasury of more than 300,000 taels of silver, by the German merchant Tailai foreign company Kayos to build, the American Man Baoben, the German De Luo as technical guidance, built the first iron bridge of the Yellow River with a length of more than 230 meters and a width of seven and a half meters, originally named "Lanzhou Yellow River Iron Bridge", in 1942 changed to "Zhongshan Bridge". In 1954, the Lanzhou Municipal People's Government renovated and strengthened the iron bridge, and added five curved steel arch beams, making the iron bridge appear strong and durable, and the momentum was majestic. It has the reputation of "the first bridge of the Yellow River in the world".

If you want to successfully rescue the Western Expeditionary Army, controlling this "first bridge of the Yellow River in the world" has become the top priority of this operation. The Red Army has always tried its best to avoid siege operations due to equipment and firepower, and there are few generals with rich experience in attacking large cities in the entire sequence. This time, we have to do it against a big provincial capital, and we have to control an iron bridge with such a big target. At the same time, the troops will have to expose their flanks to the enemy's fire for a long time, and they must fully exert the powerful mobility of the troops in order to minimize casualties and ensure the success of one blow.

Chen Geng commanded the 4th, 5th and 23rd Cavalry Divisions to launch siege operations from the east of Lanzhou City. Once the city is breached, Xu Shiyou's 5th Division will break through to the northwest as a backup plan in the event of a setback in the attack of the armored cavalry division.

The troops of the Eighth Army Corps were still three to five days away from the headquarters, and Zeng Zhongsheng and Luo Ronghuan commanded the whole army in the center, and the Third Cavalry Division served as the reserve of the whole army. In addition, once the 21st and 22nd Divisions arrive, they will be commanded and used according to the actual situation on the battlefield.

Of course, there is another reason why Xia Xinsheng personally went out to tell everyone at the meeting, that is, the role that the action team will play in this operation. The action team of more than 100 people has dispersed to the north bank of the Yellow River under the personal leadership of Liu Mengzi. The Yellow River Iron Bridge will be controlled before the attack begins, and the possible damage to the Yellow River Iron Bridge by the Ma Jiajun will be prevented.

This matter needs to be kept strictly confidential, so that as few personnel as possible can know the information of the task force, so that it can play a greater role in future operations. Second, Xia Xinsheng is the person who knows the action team best and knows how to work with the action team. Others may have such capabilities, but after all, it is different from the mainstream combat mode, and it is still unknown whether there is one, or who has it. In this way, Xia Xinsheng only needs to personally serve as the nanny of this special combat method.

As for the detailed operational deployment, out of the need for secrecy, it will not be issued until the last moment. After the meeting, the troops marched forward again, and in one night advanced twenty miles outside the city of Lanzhou. After the horses were replenished with pre-station feed, the troops were finally mobilized, and after an emergency two-hour recuperation to regain physical fitness. Open again.

Xia Xinsheng put down the work of the command headquarters and went down to the armored cavalry division to personally supervise the soldiers to fill the cars with gasoline and conduct a final check on the state of the cars. Riding a horse, he ran to each regiment and explained to the commander one by one the precautions in this raid and the expected response to the special situation. Over and over again, he stressed to the commander the importance of speed and the coordination of armored vehicles and cavalry when they were advancing.

According to the information transmitted back by the scouts, the troops in Lanzhou City are quite sufficient, there are actually two cavalry brigades and no less than three infantry brigades, and some militia groups with nearly 20,000 people guarding Lanzhou City. The fortifications were not built strongly, and it may be that the superior geographical conditions of Lanzhou City, which was originally surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing water, made Ma Jiajun's army slacken. Along the way, Ma Jiajun only relied on the terrain to build simple fortifications on the road and stationed some garrison troops.

It's just that the whereabouts of the troops have long been inevitably detected by Ma Jiajun, and the troops are no longer tied. The armored car withdrew its horses, started its engines, and galloped past the vanguard with the roar of the motors. When encountering the enemy's defensive position, they directly discharged the formation to cover the cavalry for a fierce charge, and the slightly stronger fortifications were bombarded with flying thunder. The huge flying thunder shells passed, and even if the opponent's bunker was not completely destroyed, the soldiers inside lost their combat effectiveness. The combination of armored vehicles and cavalry became an artifact for Allah to punish them in front of the Ma army, who did not have enough firepower. Of course, maybe it's a magic weapon in the hands of some devil.

The armored car, which was originally the most dragging the troops back, revealed its hideous side once it was unloaded and gasoline. Threw the large army off more than three miles and took the lead outside Lanzhou City. Xia Xinsheng, who boarded the car, held a telescope and observed for a while, and at the sound of an order, the motor roared, and the signal flag of the signal corps pointed straight to the west of the city. A procession of nearly 10,000 people galloped along the way outside the city, boarding the mortar on the carriage, and as soon as the car stepped on the brakes, it immediately fired shells at the position of the Ma Jiajun under the guidance of the observer.

The general defending the city did not know where it was, and although he did not understand what this strange team was trying to do, he sent a cavalry brigade to gallop towards the armored cavalry division, based on the principle that the more the enemy wanted to do it, the more he had to spend his life to stop it. Not long after, a large force appeared behind the armored cavalry division to outflank it. The armored cavalry division was intercepted in front, pursued in the rear, and there were many fortifications beside it to attack this side. Seeing that Xia Xinsheng's baby bumps are about to be made dumplings. (To be continued.) )