In the long tunnel of the Purple Mountain Fortress, only the sound of striding footsteps could be heard echoing. The footsteps came from far to near, and as the Imperial Guards stood at attention and raised their guns in salute, they walked towards Xiaoqiang menacingly. Followed by the Army
Marshal Tang Yunsheng, Chief of the General Staff, General Feng Lingcai, Commander of the Right Army Group, and Lieutenant General Fang Dongcheng, Commander of the Ninth Army Group.
This was a request to see Zhu Yourong, and several generals consciously or unconsciously focused on Xiang Xiaoqiang.
In Zhu Yourong's living room, Xiang Xiaoqiang almost "roared" about what the Yangzhou Qing army had done, leaving several senior generals nearby with lingering fears. If Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang hadn't been close to being lovers, Xiang Xiaoqiang's
This kind of attitude can only be considered as forcing a palace in any monarchy.
But Zhu Yourong just lowered his eyes and listened quietly, glancing at several other veterans from time to time, without interrupting Xiang Xiaoqiang.
After Xiang Xiaoqiang finished speaking, he took a breath, turned to Tang Yunsheng and said:
"Tang Gong, the student has already told His Majesty what happened. Tang Gong, please tell me what to do? How can we fight this battle?"
Tang Yunsheng marveled in his heart: Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't tell this. I only knew that he had a good relationship with His Majesty before, but I didn't expect it to be like this... His Majesty was not angry when Xiang Xiaoqiang spoke like this, and looked downcast... This
Their attitude is not that of a monarch and a minister, they are clearly a couple. It seems that the two of them have already cooked the rice, and it will be a matter of time for Xiaoqiang to become the prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Tang Yunsheng nodded, then turned to Zhu Yourong and said sadly:
"Your Majesty, what Xiang Xiaoqiang said is absolutely true. During the last battle of Pukou, the Qing army held civilians hostage, and this time they held civilians hostage again. Now it is clear that the Qing army has determined that our Ming Dynasty King is a benevolent and righteous army.
, came here to liberate the people, not to massacre them. They would not see a large number of casualties among the people, so they repeatedly used
This rogue trick made our army hamstrung and helpless... Your Majesty, although this will greatly benefit us politically, the success or failure of the Northern Expedition is, after all, made up of military battles. If the Qing army fought every battle
If you do this, I can guarantee that my Ming Dynasty’s Northern Expedition will suffer a disastrous defeat.”
Xiang Xiaoqiang said again:
"Your Majesty, the Qing army is forcing us to choose a multiple-choice question: option a, we will kill the Qing army and the people together. Option b, we will abandon our aircraft, artillery and tanks, and go up with bayonets to compete with the Qing army in numbers. Choose a, we
We have lost all our hearts, and by choosing b we have lost all our weapon advantages. Your Majesty
Our troops and population are far less than those of the Northern Qing Dynasty. The reason why we dare to make the decision to go to the Northern Expedition is because of our superiority in popular support and weapons. As long as we lose one of them, we have no chance of winning. Now the Qing captives have to force us to choose one. Anyway, no matter what we choose
Either way, we lose."
Tang Yunsheng continued:
"Your Majesty, now that we have been led by the Qing army as soon as the war started, how will we fight future wars? Your Majesty, if we still want to win the war, we have to make a decision now!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang took it again:
"Speaking of which, why did Nahai, the Qing chief of Yangzhou, dare to kill our envoy? Why was he so willing to defend Yangzhou despite our favorable conditions? Was he really loyal to his Qing master? Only a ghost would believe it! He was just determined.
Knowing that the Qing army would hold people hostage like this everywhere, it was predicted that our Ming army would definitely be in a dilemma and lose the war soon after it started. At that time, he, a perseverant man, would be a successful minister!
Then, several people looked at Zhu Yourong.
Zhu Yourong seemed to have a premonition of what kind of requests they would make.
She looked up at a few people and wanted to speak, but she didn't know how. After a long while, she finally asked:
"Then...what do you have to say, dear friends?"
Then, several veterans looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang looked around at everyone and said to Zhu Yourong without hesitation:
"Your Majesty, I and all the military generals would like to ask your Majesty for a decree. Please approve the military to issue an order on the battlefield. It is also a statement to the Qing army: From the time the order is issued, if any Qing army
If the army continues to hold civilians hostage as human shields, our army will execute all the officers of this Qing army. From lieutenants to generals, everyone will be executed."
Zhu Yourong's heart sank and he shuddered. Sure enough, his premonition came true. They really made such a request.
Seeing Zhu Yourong's troubled expression, Tang Yunsheng and Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at each other, and then said:
"Your Majesty, otherwise there is no way to deter the Qing army. After they taste the sweetness, they will kidnap civilians again and again and turn defeat into victory again and again. Your Majesty, this trend of the Qing army must be stopped, otherwise, this battle will end
There is really no way to fight. Whether our Northern Expedition will succeed or fail now depends on whether we can stop this wind in time."
Zhu Yourong lowered his head and murmured:
"No... no... we can't do this... How about this? After the battle, we can send the captured Qing army officers to a military court and identify those who are responsible through court trials?... Such indiscriminate
If they are all executed, too many people will die unjustly. After all, it is only the commander who decides to coerce the people, and the officers below are just executing orders."
Xiang Xiaoqiang and several generals looked at each other, speechless for a while.
This Zhu Yourong looks so much like Tang Monk!
...All I can think about is what to do if I hit a child. Even if I can't hit a child, it's still wrong to hit flowers and plants... I just need to sing "Only You".
"Your Majesty," he said patiently, "you said that the captured Qing army officers should be sent to a military court for screening. Okay, I have no objection. But you have to think of a way first: How to capture those officers in the first place? How?
To capture those Qing army officers from civilians without using planes or heavy artillery?... Your Majesty, although our position is civil war, in the
In the eyes of the international community, two countries are at war, with one side actually using its own civilians as human shields, while the other side is actually being blocked... Yes, this image is very just and politically rewarding, but
At the same time, he is also very stupid. Mr. Tang is right, political scores will ultimately be reflected in military battles.
"The current situation is that a group of wolves are attacking our sheep. Instead of quickly shooting to kill the wolves, we are hesitant: Will the wolf hurt? The wolves also attack the sheep because they are extremely hungry.
Right? Those wolves are just driven by instinct, and their quality is not bad.
Ah... Should we try using a tranquilizer gun first? If we don't have a tranquilizer gun, try to hit the wolf's paws without killing it... Your Majesty, by the time these conditions are met, all the sheep will be dead.
And those wolves will continue to pounce on us!
"Your Majesty, emergency measures should be used in emergency times. What you said is right. Many people will die unjustly. But this kind of thing spreads very quickly. After one or two times, all the Qing troops will understand that even if their command
The official went crazy and ordered the army to kidnap civilians, but he was determined not to do it. What would they do? What would they do?
We decided to either collectively refuse to carry out the order, mutiny and kill the commanders and surrender, or flee privately. Either way, it will be of great benefit to us. In a short time, all the Qing generals will regard coercing civilians as a lunatic.
No one will touch it anymore. After all, we won’t actually kill many people.”
Zhu Yourong lowered his head and said nothing, gently turning the tea cup and staring at the reflection inside.
Tang Yunsheng saw that Zhu Yourong was hesitating and struck while the iron was hot:
"Your Majesty, the Qing captives have committed war crimes by coercing civilians as human shields. Soldiers are not unlimited in executing orders. Once the orders of the superiors may lead to war crimes, subordinates have no obligation to execute them. Once they obey this
Such an order, that subordinate
They have also committed war crimes and will be tried as well. The Qing army used civilians as human shields, which is no different in nature from a massacre. The countermeasures we have formulated to deal with this situation are not wrong at all, both domestically and internationally.
No one can say anything."
Xiang Xiaoqiang continued:
"Your Majesty, now we only need this order to immediately put an end to the Qing army's despicable tactics and regain the combat advantage. The victory of the Northern Expedition is just around the corner. By then, 400 million people will be saved by us. And if we
Now I am holding on to the word "benevolence and righteousness" just like Song Xianggong did back then.
, if we limit humanity, we will end up... There is no need for "final", we will lose the war right now. What we worry about next is how to hold on to the Yangtze River defense line. By the way, if the Qing Dynasty forces install weapons on the warships,
If the Manchu people drive in front, will we have to let the Qing captives come over?"
Zhu Yourong bit her lip, raised her eyes, and cast a reproachful glance at Xiaoqiang.
Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that he had gone too far, so he said "cough" twice and closed his mouth. He also glanced at Zhu Yourong, with a hint of apology in his eyes.
Zhu Yourong pondered for a while, sighed, and asked:
"What's Mr. Ming's attitude?"
Tang Yunsheng said immediately:
"Back to Your Majesty, this is the attitude of Chief of General Staff Zhang Zhaoxian. The Chief of General Staff cannot leave the command of the overall situation for a while, so he entrusted ministers to come and give advice to Your Majesty."
Zhu Yourong stood up gently, walked a few steps, gritted his teeth, and finally said:
"My beloved ministers are right, so let's do it this way. Draw up a decree."
…
At 10 o'clock in the evening on October 4, an order that Ming Dynasty officials called the "Commons Rescue Order" was issued. At the front of the two war zones on the left and right, in rows of field tents, among the soldiers snoring like thunder, a
Among the helmets and bayonets of the patrolmen with a cold light on their heads, the radio broadcasted the bloody "Order to Save Civilians" one after another.
All night long, the pontoon bridge troops on the Yangtze River worked all night long, and the entire river was brightly lit. As the long night passed little by little, pontoon bridges appeared one after another on the 400-kilometer-long river.
By the early morning of October 5, there were already 22 pontoon bridges on the Yangtze River in the right theater. Of course, this was still far from the total goal of 80 pontoon bridges, but it had exceeded the expected speed. If we continue at this rate, there will be more
In one week, hundreds of pontoons will appear on the river, basically meeting the capacity of the right offensive.
At six o'clock in the morning, three armored divisions and three mechanized divisions of the People's Guard roared and dispersed across the Yangtze River from 10 pontoon bridges. At the same time, a large number of vehicles, heavy artillery, and heavy logistics equipment from the Army's motorized infantry division also came from another 12
A floating bridge continues towards the north shore.
After gathering on the north bank, the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Mechanized Divisions moved northward non-stop. The 3rd Armored Division stayed behind and drove close to the outskirts of Yangzhou to assist the 7th Army in the siege of Yangzhou.
The torrent of steel roared and slowly surrounded Yangzhou City.
Zhang Haitao, commander of the Third Armored Division, personally stood in the tank turret, with his upper body exposed, and looked at the city with a telescope from a distance.
Then, gritting his teeth, he slowly said three words full of Nanjing flavor:
"Ri-you-mom..."
On top of the city, there were densely packed crowds of ordinary people. Behind the ordinary people, the heads and bayonets of Qing soldiers wearing steel helmets loomed faintly.
In the middle of the battlements, a heavy machine gun was set up every other section, and in the middle of each heavy machine gun, several anti-tank guns were placed.
Under the city and outside the moat, a few ordinary people were bent over, as if they were digging something. If you look carefully with a telescope, it turns out that they are laying mines. They are old men, women, and children, and they cannot run fast, so the Qing army
They let them out of the city and asked them to lay mines on their behalf. In fact, even if they were adult men, they basically couldn't run away with machine guns mounted on the city top. Among them were a few Qing army engineers, monitoring
They laid the mines the right way.
The old men were squatting on the ground, digging the soil with shovels, while the women and children next to them were holding the land mines and crying. After the old men dug a hole, they carefully handed the land mines over, and the old men also dug the mines carefully, slowly.
Slowly lower the pit, set it according to the requirements of the engineers, and then cover it with soil.
Suddenly, a column of black smoke rose into the sky, and two civilians nearby were blown away. After a while, the muffled sound reached the Ming army's position.
Zhang Haitang still held the telescope tightly, gritted his teeth again, and said:
"Ri-you-mom..."
The Qing army in the city began to drive the common people to lay mines outside the city at night. Up to now, a mine belt more than ten meters wide has been buried outside the moat. The Ming army has already counted, and a total of 22 mines exploded during the laying process. According to
If one bomb kills two civilians, now more than 40 civilians have been killed in this way.
Now, it can be said that the senior officials of the Qing army in the city have resorted to any means and have no conscience in order to protect their future and wealth.
But therefore, they also personally sentenced themselves to death.
The portable printing machine of the People's Guard Political Work Team has been printing new leaflets continuously since receiving the order at night. So far, the 3rd Armored Division alone has printed more than 20,000 leaflets. There is only one content - the order to save civilians.
On the tractor-type printing truck, the political work team was still printing non-stop. After printing out a bundle, they sent it to the artillerymen, who put them into propaganda bombs and fired them into the city with mortars. Now in the streets and alleys of Yangzhou City,
"Orders to save civilians" are already everywhere on the streets.
Those Qing soldiers were running around, dragging sandbags and carrying ammunition, desperately strengthening the city defense, sweating profusely, stepping on these propaganda papers... but they were extremely frightened. Especially the officers, they were now
It is already a desperate move and there is no way out. Even if you kill the officials and rebel now, or leave the city and surrender, it will not work. Participate by yourself, and let the
Rong's men sacked Yangzhou, resulting in the death of countless people, and the Ming army still didn't know about it. Even if they surrender now, the Ming army will not pursue the matter of hijacking the people, but can the Ming army let them go for such an unreasonable thing as the sack of Yangzhou? The Ming army will
It is a complete and prosperous Yangzhou, instead of the ravaged ruins it is now!
They had one idea in mind - as long as the Ming army refused to harm the people, the city of Yangzhou could be defended, and they could hold on to their heads and keep their wealthy and prosperous future.
The people whose families had been ruined were leaning on the street, sitting or lying down, looking coldly at the Qing troops running up and down the street. There were one or two leaflets beside them, and everyone read them. Yesterday, these people saw
Looking at the dilapidated home, looking at the ravaged
The wife and daughter, who were still crying and desperate to die, are now calm. They held the "Order to Save Civilians" in their hands, with dried tears on their faces, and just stared at the frightened Qing troops.
Not saying anything, just waiting for that moment.
…
"Okay!" Zhang Haitao looked at the watch on the tank and shouted into the headset, "One hour is up! There is no white flag hanging on the city! Act as planned!"
At this time, it was eight o'clock in the morning. A tank battalion of the People's Guard, 45 Lightning-3 heavy tanks, rumbled to a distance of 400 meters from the city wall, lined up in an arc.
Following a command, the 47mm/42-caliber long-barreled cannon barrels on the 45 tanks slowly lowered, pointing straight at the same point on the city wall.
At this time, the heavy machine gun on the top of the city opened fire with a "click, click, click" sound, and the bullets hit the front armor and top armor of the tank. Between the dense machine gun sounds, there were even louder ones.
The sound of anti-tank guns and 12mm and 14mm caliber armor-piercing bullets also kept hitting the tank armor.
But neither the 12mm nor the 14mm can penetrate the frontal armor of the Lightning-3. Not only that, even if there are larger-caliber anti-tank guns in the city, it will be difficult to penetrate these 45 tanks.
Throughout the morning, the repair company of this division of the People's Guard and the other two repair companies of the Army Motorized Rifle Division, a total of three repair companies, have carried out simple modifications on these 45 tanks. They put the remaining spare armor plates, and
Spare tracks, spare gun baffles, etc.
West, all were hung on the front and top surfaces of these 45 tanks. Of course they were very rough and not welded, and some were simply tied on top with iron chains. On top of these armors, many small sandbags were hung.
The tank was made extremely bloated, like a small bunker.
The bulletproof effect has increased by 2-3 times, at the expense of a full doubling of mobility. But now, these tanks are either required for field combat or used as siege equipment. No matter how slow they are, it doesn't matter.
In the 45 dark tanks, the gunner's command rang out one after another:
"Armor-piercing bullets - good!!!"
"Armor-piercing bullets - good!!!"
"Armor-piercing bullets - good!!!"
…
Then, the commanders held their periscopes and listened to the "dinging" of gunfire and bullets in their ears, and calmly ordered:
Zhang Haitao held up the telescope, concentrated on it, and slowly commanded into the headset:
"Okay...pay attention to the muzzle...lower the muzzle...get ready...fire!!!"
The commanders of the 45 tanks also immediately shouted "release". In an instant, 45 tank guns sprayed out fireworks from right to left. A large cloud of white smoke exploded on the Yangzhou city wall 400 meters away, and 45 solid armor-piercing projectiles exploded.
They hit the same place on the city wall one after another.
Since it was a solid armor-piercing projectile, it did not explode. However, when the smoke and dust dispersed, the first salvo had already dug a large pit with a diameter of more than three meters in the city wall. There were no wall bricks left on the surface, and the rammed earth inside was also destroyed.
About a third of it was penetrated.
What was rare was that none of the people standing at the top of the city suffered any casualties, but they were all stunned.
Before the Qing soldiers on top of the city could react, the second round of volleys broke out again. There was another cloud of white smoke, and the hole in the city wall became bigger and deeper. The bricks on both sides of the city wall collapsed "clattering".
It fell, and the rammed earth in the big hole collapsed in large chunks. Dust filled the air.
When the dust dispersed, there was no one left on this section of the city. The Qing troops on the city couldn't believe that the Ming army really knew how to fire artillery, and they didn't care about the common people, so they fled first. Later, the common people also fled completely.
A third salvo was fired, this time with high-explosive shells.
After a series of superimposed loud noises, the city wall was filled with smoke. When the fireworks dissipated, this section of the city wall had completely collapsed, leaving a gap of about five meters.
…
Zhang Haitao held up the telescope, squinted his eyes, and slowly ordered: