In the third year of Yifu in the Ming Dynasty, at 3:30 in the morning on June 1, 1936, at the Purple Mountain Fortress, Nanjing Red Army Headquarters.
Generally speaking, older people always have very little sleep time. Tang Yunsheng, chief of the army general staff and commander of the Red Army during the "Fortress Exercise", was already awake at this time. He couldn't sleep anymore, so he simply put on his clothes and got up, came to the war room, and pulled
Turn on the desk lamp and study the exercise map again.
Because there was an exercise today, he didn't even return to his official residence yesterday. He stayed in the headquarters and studied the battle plan over and over again until midnight. He woke up early this morning.
When the orderly on duty saw the Marshal getting up, he quickly made him a pot of light tea according to his habit, brought it to the map table, and then quietly retreated.
Tang Yunsheng looked at the schedule at hand again.
At 7:20, together with Marshal Zhang Zhaoxian and a group of senior Red Army generals, we drove to the Forbidden City to meet His Majesty.
7:35, accompany His Majesty to have breakfast.
At 8:00, he will accompany His Majesty back to the Red Army Headquarters of Purple Mountain Fortress. In the central command hall of the fortress, His Majesty will announce the official start of the "Fortress Exercise".
At 8:30, he accompanied His Majesty to review the Red Army's anti-aircraft artillery units around Nanjing.
…
To a certain extent, an exercise that will determine the national policy of the Ming Empire in the next few years will begin in a few hours.
Tang Yunsheng, a veteran who has studied military art for half his life, couldn't help but be excited and even a little nervous at this moment. The last time he was so nervous was during the Battle of Nanjing. In order not to make a wrong step for the future of the Ming Empire, in order to truly test what he preached to Xiaoqiang.
Tang Yunsheng made up his mind and decided to show no mercy in this exercise. He wanted to put the most powerful pressure on the Blue Army, so that the Blue Army could not breathe.
After all, it was six divisions versus two divisions. Moreover, how could I, as a marshal, not lose to that German lieutenant colonel?
Tang Yunsheng took out the red team's battle plan again and browsed through it for the last time. This battle plan was very thick, with more than 500 pages, including each unit, each link, the sequence...from the aerial reconnaissance to the ground reconnaissance after the exercise began.
, small-scale fire test, radio listening; to every artillery position, the allocation of every tank, the rigorous calculation of every bunker and firepower point, the installation of every barbed wire; to every division, regiment,
Logistics and transportation of battalions, companies and platoons, ammunition supplies, transportation route arrangements, use of mules and horses...
Also, at what point should a combat unit be withdrawn and replaced by another combat unit? The replacement of the battle-damaged commander...
Almost every detail and every step has been considered and can be said to be perfect and meticulous. The entire plan is as precise as clockwork. This is the result of Tang Yunsheng himself and the entire staff team of the red side who stayed up late and worked hard for several days. Tang Yunsheng believed that this plan
The level of the combat plan is quite high. After the exercise, it can be used as a classic lesson plan and included in the reference books of the Army University.
...Even if Marshal Pétain was given only a few days to prepare for the World War, the battle plan he could compile was no more than that...
…
Tang Yunsheng lowered his head and studied the map one last time.
The confrontation line between the red and blue sides stretches from the Yangtze River in the north to Huzhou in the south, and is about 100 kilometers long from north to south. However, because there is Taihu Lake in the middle, the land "border" is only less than 50 kilometers.
The entire border is divided into several sections: the northernmost part is land, about 40 kilometers long; further south is the water border, about 15 kilometers long; between the lakes is the land border, about 20 kilometers long; to the south is
The vast Taihu Lake, this water boundary is 50 kilometers long. Further south of Taihu Lake is Huzhou, which is only about ten kilometers away from the mountains of Zhejiang. Once you reach the mountains of Zhejiang, it is the boundary of the exercise.
The Blue Army is most likely to break through from the 40-kilometer section. Therefore, Tang Yunsheng deployed the Red Army's most elite Second Red Division and Third Red Division here.
Although this 10-kilometer section from the southern end of Taihu Lake to the mountainous area of Zhejiang is not long, it is far away from the defense line in the north and it is not easy to support each other. Therefore, a whole division, the Fifth Red Division, was also deployed here.
This is the first line of defense.
The second line of defense, the strategic reserve, is deployed between the Maoshan Mountains and the Yangtze River, and is served by the remaining two divisions - the Red 1st Division and the Red 6th Division. The Maoshan Mountains are a north-south mountain range, about 50 meters from south to south.
Kilometers long, it is a natural barrier for the Red Army's mechanized troops. Further south from Maoshan, there are three connected large lakes, Shijiu Lake, Gucheng Lake, and Nanhu, stretching 60 kilometers from north to south, all the way to the mountainous areas of Zhejiang. It can be said that this
This area is an insurmountable obstacle to the mechanized and motorized troops of the Blue Army. The Blue Army would rather confront the Red Army head-on from the north than seek trouble by going from the south.
In view of the Blue Army's heavy reliance on roads, Tang Yunsheng placed the defensive focus of the two lines of defense near the highway. The distance between the forward defense line and the reserve team is less than 20 kilometers, which is a day and night journey. With the help of the developed areas north of Maoshan
With the road network, a forced march of 12-15 hours can form reinforcements for the front line.
As long as the first line of defense can hold out for 15 hours, the blue side will face twice the pressure. In this way, in the complete defense line of trenches, barbed wire, machine gun bunkers, and artillery positions, there is also a high-density division of almost ten kilometers.
In front of the defense line, the Blue Army will definitely be firmly blocked and suffer heavy losses.
After all, they only have two divisions and cannot withstand heavy casualties.
…
At this time, a staff officer knocked on the door and came in. Tang Yunsheng turned around and frowned:
"Why don't you sleep? Don't get up too just because I get up. How are you going to practice tomorrow like this?"
The staff officer was startled and said:
"Sir, it's... Colonel Huang Shuliang, the commander of the Sixth Red Division, called to ask what time the drill will start tomorrow."
"What tomorrow!" Tang Yunsheng glanced at the clock on the wall and said angrily, "It's already today!"
"Yes...yes, sir," the staff officer shrank in fear, "Sir Huang did ask what time it will start today."
Tang Yunsheng frowned:
"Why, is there anyone on the front line who doesn't know?"
"Sir, Commander Huang said, there are still many people on the front line who don't know. Commander Huang said, the exercise plan in everyone's hands now only lists what time we will enter the position, what time we will start reconnaissance, etc., but what time will the exercise start?
From the beginning, there is no clear explanation yet.”
Tang Yunsheng suppressed his anger and said:
"His Majesty announced the drill on the radio several days ago, didn't they hear it?"
"I heard it, but... Your Majesty, His Majesty's imperial edict only said that the exercise will start on June 1st, and it did not say what time it was... Therefore, Commander Huang asked, can it be understood that as soon as midnight passes, entering today,
The drill will begin."
Tang Yunsheng slapped the table and said angrily:
"What are you asking! It's almost four o'clock now, has the drill started?...Alright, His Majesty will announce the start of the drill at eight o'clock sharp, do you understand? Go tell him!"
The staff officer stood at attention and ran away quickly.
…
Tang Yunsheng was very unhappy, so he sat down and took a slow sip of tea.
He calmed down and thought about it, and found that it was really a problem. His Majesty's official edict really didn't mention the specific points. But fortunately, the palace sent His Majesty's schedule yesterday, which showed that His Majesty would arrive at the fortress to take command at eight o'clock.
The hall announced the start of the exercise. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t know what time it was.
Tang Yunsheng glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already four o'clock in the morning. It was no longer pitch black outside the window, but had some dark blue color.
He pulled out a piece of paper and signed an order: After six o'clock, the exact time for the start of the exercise should be sent to all units on the red and blue sides.
After Tang Yunsheng signed, he tore it off with a snap, then rang the bell on the table to call the staff in.
Who knew that after ringing the bell for a long time, the staff officer just now was nowhere to be seen.
He was impatient and pressed a few more times.
After a few seconds, the orderly came in:
"grown ups……"
Tang Yunsheng saw it was an orderly and frowned:
"I'm calling the staff officer, what are you doing here?"
The orderly said nervously:
"My lord, there was an emergency call just now, and the staff officer went to answer it. My lord, what are your orders?"
Tang Yunsheng waved his hand:
"Okay, you go down first and ask him to come over after he answers the phone."
…
Between the Yangtze River and the lake, on the boundary between the red and blue armies, is the defense line of the Second Red Division.
Here barbed wire, trenches, machine gun positions and bunkers are closely arranged and well-proportioned. But because it is a drill, temporary bunkers built with sandbag wooden boards are used instead of permanent bunkers. During the drill, their "anti-attack value" is adjusted to
It's just as strong as the Forever Bunker.
Behind the pitch-black position, anti-tank guns pointed eastward. On the other side of the battle line, there might be the Blue Army staring covetously.
It's just that behind these gun positions, in the trenches, and in the bunkers, there are either no soldiers, or a small number of soldiers are sleeping. More soldiers are sleeping in field tents behind the trenches. It's just because there are not enough tents that some unlucky people are sleeping.
Sleeping in trenches.
All officers and soldiers of the Red Army have received orders to sleep well tonight, refresh themselves, and prepare for tomorrow's drill.
But now, an unusual sound interrupted the dreams of some soldiers.
A "buzzing" sound came faintly from the distance.
Gradually, it got louder and louder.
…
"Well……"
In a tent full of sleep, a soldier rubbed his eyes, turned over, muttered vaguely, and fell asleep again.
There was thunderous snoring in the tent, but the "buzzing" sound outside became louder and louder, and it became a roar, completely covering up the snoring in the tent.
Another soldier sat up with a groan, hung his head for a long time, scratched his head, got out of his sleeping bag, and staggered out to urinate.
After walking out of the tent, he seemed to suddenly hear a huge roar filling the sky.
He was a little dazed and looked up at the sky. The sky was still dark, with only a few stars and nothing else to be seen.
But nearby, many soldiers had emerged from various tents. Like him, they were all sleepy-eyed, looking at the sky and each other inexplicably.
"what happened?"
"who knows."
"Qinglu air raid?"
"Nonsense, how could Qinglu air raids come from the east?"
"This isn't a drill, is it?"
"Tch, what time is it now? Drill!"
"Has the exercise started? It's already June 1st."
"I heard it doesn't start until eight o'clock."
"Eight o'clock? Who did you listen to?"
"Just...listen to who said it..."
…
More and more soldiers were woken up and came out of their tents, looking up at the sky.
Don't tell me, if you have good eyesight, you can really see some dark shadows passing under the stars.
After a while, the roar gradually became quieter and finally disappeared to the west. Only a group of two-foot-long monks and confused soldiers were left beside the trench.
As to whether this is part of the exercise, many junior officers present also have completely opposite opinions. Some insist that this is an exercise and the red planes have already passed; some say that the exercise will not start until eight o'clock, and these aircraft may be land-based aircraft.
The normal deployment of aviation. Others are convinced that this is a large-scale invasion by the Qing Dynasty...
However, they agreed to report it to their superiors immediately.
The order soldier ran towards the battalion headquarters. After a while, another order soldier ran back from a distance and received an order from the regiment headquarters: The matter of the plane has been reported to the superior. Now everyone is ordered to continue sleeping and recuperate.
, prepare for the drill tomorrow.
The soldiers murmured and went back to their tents, forcing themselves to fall asleep again.