The further south you go, the less favorable the weather conditions become, with dense clouds in the sky, seriously affecting the actions of the Tang Air Force.
However, the rain did stop. Although there were still dark clouds in many places, it was just overcast but no rain.
The battle group of the Tang Kingdom attacked all the way to the southwest, and even approached Wangchun City, a city in the southwest of the Great China Empire.
Wangchun City has a pleasant climate, hence its name. The city is not large in size, but it has a population of 300,000, and there are many power plants and train stations.
The reason why it is so advanced is that this kind of infrastructure is actually contracted by builders from the Tang Dynasty. After all, this is the hub city for Dahua Railway Construction.
To the south of Wangchun City is the rear area of the Dahua Empire's troops attacking Xicong. Passing Tengyun City and heading south is Nanfengkou. The Dahua Empire's troops attacking Xicong attacked eastward from the Nanfengkou Railway.
Therefore, if the Dahua Empire wants to stop the Tang army's attack, it is best to defend Wangchun City, and secondly, it must also stabilize its position in Tengyun City.
In short, if Nanfengkou is lost, everything will be over. So Han Zhiyuan rushed to Wangchun City in person, hoping to block the Tang army's attack here.
The target of the Tang Army's offensive was also Wangchun City. By capturing this place, the Tang Army's flanks would be covered and they could continue to move south without having to worry about the Dahua Army launching a large-scale counterattack from the western flank.
This is a strategic stronghold and a focus that both sides must compete for.
The troops invested by the Tang Army were three temporarily formed battle groups. The strength of these three battle groups was only a few thousand.
The troops assembled by the Dahua Empire in Wangchun City were not many, with only more than 10,000 people barely mobilized from nearby areas. The Tang army had an advantage in terms of tanks, artillery and other weapons, and the Dahua Empire had an advantage in terms of military strength.
On the fifth day after the Dahua border defense line was breached by the Tang army, the Tang army rushed to Wangchun City, which greatly exceeded the expectations of the Dahua army.
Han Zhiyuan thought that the Tang Army would attack Wangchun City in two days at the earliest, but in fact the Tang Army arrived at the outskirts of Wangchun City that day and directly launched an attack on Wangchun City.
An infantry battalion easily broke through the outer defense line of the Dahua army under the cover of armored vehicles and assault guns and tanks. The combat effectiveness of the two sides was completely different.
The battle-hardened grenadiers of the Tang Army were extremely powerful in street fighting. They were armed with assault rifles, and their combat effectiveness was not comparable to that of the Dahua army armed with commission rifles.
What's more, most of the Dahua troops temporarily assembled in Wangchun City are new recruits with almost zero combat experience, and there is no way to hold their positions.
The Tang army launched only one charge and broke into Wangchun City. They blew open the city's ancient walls and rushed into the urban area to start street fighting.
The Dahua army that lost its command quickly collapsed, and many people even surrendered directly and handed over their weapons.
"What's going on in the east side of the city?" In the city lord's palace, a worried Han Zhiyuan was walking back and forth in his temporary headquarters, extremely upset.
The gunfire in the city became more and more intense, and Han Zhiyuan's personal security commander even advised Han Zhiyuan to leave here immediately.
However, Han Zhiyuan did not leave. He was a famous warrior in the Dahua Empire. When it came to bravery, he believed that he could not lose to anyone.
At this time, he would never be able to abandon the city and escape. In fact, all he could think about was how to defend this place and block the attacking Tang army.
As long as he stabilizes his position here, the shortcomings of the attacking Tang army's long front will be highlighted and eventually become a weakness, forcing them to retreat and give up the captured land.
This is the best result for the Great China Empire and for him personally, and it is also the "hope" that he must work hard to strive for.
Now he has 10,000 troops in his hands, backed by a large city. Counting the panicked and collapsed civilians, there are hundreds of thousands of people here! It will take time for the Tang Army to control this city. He does not believe that the Tang Army has the courage to do so.
They rushed into the city and fought with him in street fights.
"There is no news from the east of the city, and the telephone line has not been laid yet." Han Zhiyuan's command staff rushed to Wangchun City yesterday, and all preparations have not been done. They don't know this city better than Tang Jun. So.
an officer
He answered Han Zhiyuan's question with some embarrassment, his voice getting weaker and weaker.
"Hurry up and pick it up for me! I want to ask where the people from the 3rd City Defense Regiment are and whether they are still in their original defensive positions!" Han Zhiyuan became more and more angry as he spoke, and finally scolded in a cold voice: "Go and confirm it yourself! Pick up
Good phone line! If we don’t talk, you don’t have to come back!”
The officer immediately saluted and said: "Yes! General! I'll look for it right away! If you can't find it, I won't come back!"
As soon as the officer left the hall of the city lord's palace, the cannonballs falling nearby made the ground tremble.
It was a 150 mm caliber artillery piece of the Tang Army shelling the city. The impact point of the artillery shell was only about a hundred meters away from the city lord's palace.
The terrible explosion frightened everyone involuntarily and shrank their necks, and then the chandelier in the hall of the city lord's palace squeaked and swayed due to the vibration.
Ash fell from the roof from time to time and hit the blueprints spread on the table, making a continuous splashing sound.
On the dusty map, the offensive posture of the Tang Army was marked - judging from the position on this map, the Tang Army should still be a hundred kilometers away.
But in fact, the Tang army was already attacking the city, not only with a large number of armored vehicles and tanks, but also with 150 mm caliber heavy artillery!
Of course Han Zhiyuan knew that the Tang Army had a self-propelled artillery called the Wild Bee, which was based on a tank chassis. Its off-road capability was close to that of the No. 4 tank, and it could accompany the tank in the attack.
So he envied the commanders of the Tang Army very much, because the commanders of the Tang Army could try some tactics that he had never dared to think of in the past.
"Report! General!" A messenger with a bandage on his head ran into the hall. Regardless of the blood on his body, he knelt on the ground and cried: "General! The 2nd regiment is over! The 2nd regiment is over!"
The area defended by the 2nd Regiment is the most dangerous northeast side of Wangchun City, which is the main attack direction of the Tang Army going south.
In order to enable this regiment to withstand the offensive pressure of the Tang Army, Han Zhiyuan reinforced the 2nd Regiment with more than 1,000 elite soldiers he brought.
But what he didn't expect was that in the end, it was the 2nd regiment that had problems first, and the defense line garrisoned by more than 2,000 people would be over.
"What are you calling for? Who are you calling for?" Han Zhiyuan scolded him coldly, and then immediately asked, "Speak to me! What happened to the 2nd regiment?"
The soldier who came to deliver the news sobbed and quickly told what happened: The Tang Army indeed invested its main elite force in the east. Under the cover of tanks, the defensive positions outside the 2nd Regiment were lost one after another.
The leader of the 2nd Recycling Regiment had not yet realized the seriousness of the problem. He was thinking that after resisting for a while, he could order the troops to withdraw near the city wall and organize the troops there to continue fighting.
But before he could actually order the troops to retreat, the entire army was defeated by the Tang army's intensive artillery fire and terrifying tanks.
A battalion of more than 500 people stationed on the position seemed to have only managed to return less than 20 of them. The Tang army followed the fleeing Dahua army and rushed directly to the city wall. Then the combat engineers immediately deployed bombs and blew up the building.
It has a thick city wall that has been built for more than three hundred years.
Then the Tang Army swarmed in, and the 2nd Regiment retreated steadily. Knowing that they had lost their position and the situation was not good, the commander of the 2nd Regiment shot himself. Then the remaining 2nd Regiment troops collapsed.
The person who came to deliver the letter was the one who begged the leader of the 2nd Regiment to come back and deliver the letter before he died. During the time he came to the City Lord's Mansion, the 2nd Regiment...had ceased to exist.
The 3rd group contacted to make up for it, but the 2nd group seemed to be completely hopeless. Now Han Zhiyuan suddenly felt that the situation was not good.
The combat troops he brought were only about 2,000 at most, including guards. The remaining 8,000 were city defense troops, as well as second-line garrisons mobilized from nearby areas.
If these troops are stabilized, they can still fight against the wind, but if the wind goes against them, the speed at which these troops collapse will be basically the same as the speed at which the enemy attacks.
"The situation is not good! Let people pack their things! Retreat to the west of the city!" Although the courage is still there, Han Zhiyuan does not want to die here meaninglessly, so he plans to continue to retreat south with his elite troops.
retreat.
The worst case scenario is to go to Tengyun and continue to hold on, so that you can keep the green mountains without worrying about having no firewood, right? He comforted himself in his mind, and then began to arrange for people to sort out the documents, and then burn them all as firewood.
After hearing Han Zhiyuan's instructions, the officers on the left and right immediately began to get busy. Some of them organized documents, and some began to stuff telegrams and newspapers into the trash can.
After a while, someone lit a match and threw it into the iron trash can. The paper was not completely burned, and the choking gray smoke that came out immediately irritated everyone's noses.
Things were still burning here, and Han Zhiyuan heard gunshots not far away. He was startled, and then quickly walked out of the room, walked through the corridor, and saw his guard captain.
"What happened? Where is the shooting going on?" Han Zhiyuan saw the guard captain carrying a pistol and asked immediately.
The guard captain turned pale and replied: "General! Something bad has happened. A Tang Army tank is at the corner of the street! My people are preventing the Tang Army around the tank from approaching here!"
"What?" After hearing the news, Han Zhiyuan's voice suddenly became much louder. He subconsciously held down the pistol at his waist and ordered: "Hold on! Cover the retreat of the command headquarters!"
Before he finished speaking, the courtyard wall was knocked down by a No. 4 tank. The tank was so majestic, rolling its not-so-wide tracks, twisting its huge body, and appeared in front of everyone.
before.
"Ah!" A female secretary in the headquarters screamed, and the civilian officers in the yard suddenly ran like wolves and scurried away with their heads in their hands.