The river beach in front of them was filled with the corpses of Qing soldiers. The river water pushed up the blood foam and rushed up to the mud beach. The mud beach had been soaked with a layer of red.
There were charred corpses and charred barbed wire everywhere. The dying Qing soldiers in the craters were struggling and groaning.
There was no artillery fire for two or three kilometers to the left and right. There were still a few machine guns firing, but they no longer posed a threat. The artillery fire at Pukou also stopped, and the river beach that was boiling just now was almost silent now.
All the assault boats on the surrounding river were squeezing towards this gap. The Qing soldiers arrived at the river beach intact and jumped off the boat intact. There were more and more people on the river beach, and they were almost unimpeded.
Li Chong.
Occasionally, a few mines exploded, but they no longer cared about it. Compared to the killing field just now, the door was now wide open.
…
"Capture Nanjing and let the brothers be happy for ten days!... I only want the Forbidden City, and the entire Nanjing outside is yours!"
Every Qing soldier's mind was filled with the desire for revenge and animal desire. The emperor's words echoed in every Qing soldier's mind at this moment.
They only think that they can enter Nanjing immediately. After entering Nanjing, they can do whatever they want within ten days...
The entire river beach was filled with overwhelming cheers:
"Capture Nanjing and live happily for ten days!... Capture Nanjing and live happily for ten days!..."
Huge steamers also came closer one after another and began to unload heavy equipment. The soldiers whipped their horses hard and dragged the anti-tank guns with difficulty on the beach.
The sound of loudspeakers echoed everywhere on the river beach:
"The 423rd Regiment of the 32nd Division gathers at the headquarters..."
"Each regiment resumed its organizational structure..."
"The 56th Division Artillery Regiment came to collect the artillery shells..."
…
On Pukou Pier, Emperor Guangwu stood straight outside the trench, holding a telescope, suppressing the trembling in his chest, and said softly:
"Good... the morale of the brothers is high..."
A radio pager was placed aside, and the shouts of "Capture Nanjing, live happily for ten days" from the soldiers on the scene were constantly heard. The generals around listened to the wild shouts and looked at the emperor with a little embarrassment on their faces.
"Your Majesty," Fucha Yonggui, who had just become the commander of the Eighth Army, said with a smile, "when the brothers enter Nanjing, do you want to restrain them..."
Guangwu still held the telescope and said expressionlessly:
"No need. This is what I promised to my brothers."
"...The Emperor's Holy Ming."
Yonggui stepped back and said nothing.
Another major general's staff officer boldly said:
"Your Majesty... we have a seat in the League of Nations, this seems not conducive to..."
Guangwu took off the telescope and turned to stare at him.
The major general's staff member turned pale, let out a cry, lowered his head and broke out in cold sweat. Yonggui quickly reprimanded:
"Your Majesty, what nonsense are you talking about again..."
Guangwu sneered:
"League of Nations? Geneva? Haha! Do you know what is before us?... That's half of the south of the Yangtze River! Half of China! That's the unfinished business of the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty for three hundred years!... With this
What is the League of Nations in comparison? What is Geneva?”
He pointed at his arm:
"There are millions of square kilometers of land on the other side of the Yangtze River! It is the richest place in the country! Once we get it, our Qing Dynasty will have a coastline several times longer and hundreds of good harbors! It is more than ten times richer.
Shipbuilding industry! From Guangdong to the south, you can go straight to the South Ocean! The world's largest non-ferrous metal mineral deposits! What do you rely on to make armor and armor-piercing bombs? Tungsten! How much tungsten is there in Nanming? Eighty percent of it on the earth!
"...Do you understand? Once we capture Nanming and unify China, we can compete with the Soviet Union on land and challenge Japan on the sea! We will be the most powerful country in the Eastern Hemisphere!...Compared with all this, what is the League of Nations? Ah!
"What is Geneva?"
Several generals listened blankly and seemed to be infected. They shouted at the same time:
"The Emperor's Holy Ming!"
…
There was a big explosion at the No. 6 ammunition depot in Dinghuaimen. The power system was completely destroyed, and the river embankment was shattered. The underground fortifications over a thousand meters long were completely flooded, and the gap in the defense line was three kilometers long.
There was completely no power within three kilometers. The cannons could not be loaded, the armored turrets could not be raised, lowered, or rotated. There was no ventilation or lighting in the fortifications. It was filled with smoke and carbon dioxide after burning gunpowder, and it was pitch black.
In many underground tunnels, slogans taken from the Queen's speech are still painted on the cement walls:
"Our fortifications are intact and still strong!"
"Our soldiers are on the alert, looking forward to repaying the blood debt from the Qing captives! Our machine guns are loaded and ready to go, waiting to harvest the heads of the Qing captives again!"
But there was no one left, only debris scattered all over the floor.
Clearance soldiers appeared behind many fortifications. Carrying flamethrowers and grenades, they took down one fortification after another without much trouble.
Now the defenders on both sides of the gap are also spreading the news that "the defense line is broken, the defense line is broken." People are panicked, and no one has the intention to resist. Even though there is no water and no power outage here, they have begun to panic in large numbers, and many machine guns
The soldiers in the fort dropped their guns and ran back.
The more than 30 kilometers of Nanjing defense line faced total collapse.
The troops on these defense lines are all "fortress divisions" specially trained by Nanming for a long time. They are different from field troops. They are mainly trained as soldiers who fight with strong fortifications. Everyone is an excellent gunner, observer, and machine gunner.
, and can be replaced with each other. Even an orderly or communications soldier can turn into a qualified machine gunner and continue shooting after the main machine gun shooter is killed. But they all know in their hearts that once they face a close encounter, they are by no means the enemy in the field.
Soldier's opponent.
The rout started from the three-kilometer gap in Dinghuai Gate and spread to both sides, and soon the gap expanded to five kilometers, six kilometers...
The riverside fortification area is only a few hundred meters away from the Nanjing City Wall. Now a large number of defenders are being chased by the Qing soldiers. They desperately climb over the collapsed city wall and run into the city. If they run slowly, they are caught up by the Qing soldiers, who directly stab them with bayonets.
Stabbed to death on the ground.
Behind the river, one fortress after another is decorated with the yellow and blue dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty...
The Ming army was in chaos, and the Qing army was also in chaos. The chaotic Qing army pursued the chaotic Ming army all the way into the Nanjing city wall and into the urban area around Dinghuai Gate.
Originally, the Qinhuai River was used as a moat to surround the city wall of Nanjing, but now the city wall has collapsed, and the narrow Qinhuai River is filled with ruins of city bricks. Whether it is the collapse of the Ming army or the collapse of the Qing army, it can be crossed in two jumps.
.
There were sporadic defenders relying on the ruins of the city wall and holding machine guns to resist, but they were soon drowned in the explosion of Qing mortars.
Entering the urban area of Nanjing, the Qing soldiers dispersed and no longer pursued the Ming army defenders. The legendary "Flower Jinling" finally appeared in front of them. Every Qing soldier screamed with excitement and searched privately.
own goals:
Shops, mansions, women...
Unfortunately, the east side of Nanjing city was already in ruins due to continuous bombardment. They could not find what they wanted, and with the commander following up, the scattered Qing soldiers began to reorganize their troops and resume their formation along the Gupinggang.
Street and Shuizuogang Street, advancing towards the city.
Suddenly, the Qing soldiers at the front discovered that behind the ruins in the distance, the Ming army that had just fled in embarrassment was now fighting back with red eyes and shouting.
"Machine gun ready!...Fire!"
The Qing troops dispersed and lay down one after another to fire. A heavy machine gun was dragged forward, and the machine gun crew got into position and began firing "click-click-click".
The defeated Ming army in front of them was howling and charging towards them with bayonets in hand. It was impossible to tell that they were still running away just now.
After firing two rounds of rifles, the Qing army stood up, shouted, rushed forward, and began to fight hand to hand. Soon, these Ming army fortress soldiers fell under their bayonets one after another, and the remaining half fled in embarrassment.
A Qing army company commander took off his helmet, touched his scalp, laughed, waved and said:
"go ahead!"
But he was immediately surprised to see that the Ming army who had fled back rushed back madly from behind the ruins for the second time, shouting in grief and indignation, and rushing towards them with gnashing teeth.
"Eh?" The Qing Army company commander quickly put on his helmet and couldn't believe his eyes, "What's wrong with them? Why are they all acting crazy?"
He squinted his eyes and stared at the pile of rubble in front of him. This was probably a collapsed two-story building, which just blocked the street.
Among the shouts of death and explosions all around, he could faintly distinguish a harsh sound, intermittent, just behind the rubble. There seemed to be the sound of a loudspeaker.
Could it be that Nanming's gendarmerie is here?...No way. Didn't the Nanming gendarmerie also flee on the defensive line just now? Now that they have entered the city, it stands to reason that the most painful battle is over. Now it should be the time when Nanming's general collapse
.
The harsh sound got closer and closer, and the top of the head began to whistle.
Bullets! That's machine gunfire!
The Qing company commander was startled: The sound of the machine gun should be "click-click-click". Why is it so unpleasant, like sawing wood?
As the "sound of sawing wood" got closer and closer, and became more and more deafening, the sound of some kind of engine was heard. There was also the "squeaking" sound of bricks being crushed.
The remnants of the Ming army in front of them were wiped out again. The surrounding Qing soldiers were holding cloth guns and breathing heavily. They all stared at the rubble pile more than ten meters away and looked at each other, all with an ominous premonition.
The strange sound of machine guns on the opposite side stopped, and the sound of engines and loudspeakers became clear:
"...We are the Imperial People's Guard...order the defense line defenders to stop retreating and return to the defense line immediately...Order you not to take a step back, otherwise you will be shot to death...We are the Imperial People's Guard...order you..."
Immediately afterwards, there was a "bang", and a piece of the top of the ruins collapsed, with dust flying. A tank roared and climbed to the top of the ruins, parked there, and stood condescendingly, with two machine guns spitting flames. On the front armor, the People's Guard was bright yellow.
On the logo is a dazzling black sword.
Below, the Qing army instantly lay down a pile of corpses.
On the top of the turret, a commander in black uniform held a walkie-talkie and shouted instructions. Then the turret rotated, the 47mm barrel was lowered, and he slowly aimed.
There was a loud noise, and fireworks were spit out from the gun barrel. The Qing company commander and two Qing soldiers, who were unable to escape, covered their heads and fell to the ground.
The tank suddenly spewed out green smoke, jumped down from the top of the ruins, and charged forward with machine gun fire. Then shouts rang out from behind the ruins, and hundreds of intercepted defense line guards followed on both sides of the tank, holding guns and firing at the discarded tanks.