In the darkness on the eve of the early morning of the 5th, between "Longshan" and "Fengling" about 30 kilometers southeast of Fangcheng County, the entire small ravine was filled with the sound of tank engines. Under the moonlight, long lines of tanks and armored vehicles were seen.
Reflecting the metal cold
The light was crowded on the path between the two mountains. On the mountain ridges on both sides, the commanding heights were already covered with Ming army mortar firing points and machine gun positions. These firepower points overlooked the valley between the two mountains, providing a
Armored troops escorted the troops.
The names of these two mountains are very nice, Longshan and Fengling. They are both part of the Fangcheng barrier and are the end of the Dabie Mountains extending here. The majestic Dabie Mountains, with an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, have shrunk into a mountain by here.
It is a small mountain ridge with an altitude of several hundred meters and a radius of only a few kilometers. To the northwest of Fangcheng, is the end of another large mountain range - the Qinling Mountains. The Qinling Mountains have also shrunk into small mountains here.
These hills are not connected together. There are gaps between them ranging from hundreds of meters to several kilometers. Some are small mountain roads, some are large valleys, and some have villages in the middle. There are several natural areas in the wider places.
Reservoirs. Compared with their parent mountain ranges: Qinling Mountains and Dabie Mountains, they can only be regarded as small hills. But even for such small hills, the height and area of each of these small hills are larger than the Nanjing Purple Mountain. They are arranged continuously to form a long
A barrier blocking the advance of the large corps.
It is not difficult for a person to climb over them with light equipment on two legs, but it is very difficult to continuously transport a large amount of logistic baggage, wheeled towed artillery and other heavy equipment. The only way for a large corps to pass through is from the Qinling Mountains
The only smooth road between the Dabie Mountains and the Dabie Mountains is the Fangcheng Corridor. The Fangcheng Corridor is a large flat valley more than 20 kilometers wide and more than 30 kilometers long. It is also the only one within hundreds of kilometers that can accommodate a large army group to pass through easily.
place.
But now, in the face of human determination, these natural difficulties seem to have bowed their heads.
Rommel seemed to be planning to start establishing his reputation as the "Mountain Fox" here. He took all the tanks and armored vehicles of the 4th People's Guard Division through the small valley between Yongshan and Fengling. The 4th People's Guard Division
The division is an armored division.
The combat force was mainly tanks. Rommel abandoned all wheeled vehicles and took only a tank regiment (about 100 tanks) and an armored infantry regiment (124 armored vehicles) along the mountain path.
Fangcheng took a roundabout way.
In the valleys where only the moonlight shines, the super off-road capabilities of the Ming army's tanks played a big role. The guiding ideology of Nanming's consistent design of tanks and armored vehicles is to adapt to the rapid travel in the muddy conditions of the hills and paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River. Lightweight
The characteristics of the body, high horsepower, and wide tracks brought this feature to the extreme. It was precisely after seeing the advantages of the Ming army's tanks that Rommel dared to take the initiative to ask for help and make an unexpected detour through the mountains.
The Qing army's main defense forces were placed on the Fangcheng Corridor. Intricate permanent trenches and artillery positions were built on this flat corridor that was 20 kilometers wide and 30 kilometers long, and on the hills on both sides.
A fort was set up, with the muzzles pointed at the mountain corridor. Even if the Ming army's aircraft could destroy the artillery positions on the corridor, the artillery on the mountains on both sides could still work. Although there were not many artillery on the mountains, they were difficult to blow up.
Taking a circuitous route through the mountains on the side of such a defensive position is a gamble. But Xiang Xiaoqiang dared to make this bet, in addition to having confidence in the Ming army's tank traffic ability, it was also because the Qing army did not lay minefields. After all,
This place is more than 150 kilometers away from the border of Ming and Qing Dynasties. Who
Would they lay landmines in their "own backyard" 150 kilometers away from the border? The Southern Ming Dynasty, which was strategically defensive, did not, and the Northern Qing Dynasty, which was strategically offensive, would not have it. Being able to advance to the "hinterland" of the enemy's country 150 kilometers away in two days is something that cannot be achieved by anyone nowadays.
It seems unimaginable to the military community.
If landmines are buried in this intricate mountainous terrain, the armored divisions will not be able to survive even if they are killed. The defenders can surrender because of their low will to fight, or they can collapse at the first touch because they have not seen the armored clusters, but the "morale" of the mines will never be
So high, it will never retreat or surrender.
The mountain path chosen by the Fourth Division of the People's Guard was the weakest point defended by the Qing army. Yierjueluo Huizhang shrank all his troops to the Fangcheng Corridor. The troops that originally defended various valleys were
Now they are basically hiding in the cement trenches on the corridor of Fangcheng. Of course, this way the Ming army
The small reconnaissance force penetrated easily. However, the Qing army was not afraid of the small force. What they feared most was that the large Ming army broke through the Fangcheng Corridor and drove straight into the Henan plain. Now between the hills on both sides, the Qing army only left
After leaving the camp, company-level security troops were stationed in villages on the mountain plains.
However, neither Army Commander Huizhang nor the Qing Army platoon leaders and squad leaders below would have ever imagined that an armored force composed of more than two hundred tanks and armored vehicles could actually cross mountains and ridges without reaching a village or a store.
Come over in the small valley.
In the moonlit night, the armored troops of the Ming Army drove very slowly, very carefully, but also very concealed. In the early morning, they passed a village, Lilianzhuang. The reconnaissance battalion quickly surrounded the village with submachine guns, and then rushed in. A short battle
In the battle, a guard company of the Qing army was annihilated. Immediately afterwards, a large tank force of the Ming army lined up in a long queue and passed through the village openly.
The villagers were awakened by gunshots. After the panic, they found that there were constant rumbling sounds outside, and their beds and window sills were shaking. The villagers bravely put on their clothes and went out to take a look. They were shocked to see the moonlight on the dirt road at the entrance of the village.
Down that endless torrent of steel.
The Ming soldiers in the village whispered to comfort the villagers:
"Don't yell, don't be afraid, your village has been restored."
"What...what does recovery mean?"
"From now on, this is the place of Ming Dynasty."
"..."
A huge sense of happiness quickly enveloped the hearts of every villager. The whole village was boiling. Although the lights were under blackout in accordance with the requirements of the Ming army, there were excited villagers gathered together in clothes everywhere inside and outside the village.
, and many people’s first reaction is: pack their clothes and bedding, and run to the south at dawn!
…
In the morning, it was dawn. The leading troops of the 4th Armored Division had passed through the valley and arrived at the relatively vast mountainous plains. The number of villages in this generation began to increase, and the chance of being discovered by the Qing army was much greater. They left the dirt road
and fields, avoiding villages, and specifically selecting woods and shrubs on gentle slopes of mountains.
Cong Xingjin. This place is still about 20 kilometers away from the Fangcheng Corridor in the northwest, but there are basically no mountains blocking it. Except for some low hills and woods, there is nothing. The entire division will be able to appear in Fangcheng after an hour of galloping.
Its back posed a fatal threat to the Qing army's ground artillery positions.
At 11 o'clock at noon, Rommel ordered the entire division to stop advancing. More than two hundred tanks and armored vehicles turned off their engines and lurked among the dense woods and hilly shrubs. Now they were waiting for the outcome of the negotiations in Fangcheng.
…
Inside the Fangcheng County Headquarters, the negotiators of the Ming Army were arguing with Huizhang. Now the representatives of the Ming Army also saw that Huizhang did not want to surrender for the sake of the honor of the soldier, but just wanted to use airs and rip off more money. Huizhang took it.
It was certain that the Ming army was unwilling to attack the Fangcheng Corridor, and it was also certain that the Ming army had to advance quickly and could not afford to waste time. Therefore, he kept calm and worked little by little with the Ming army negotiators, asking for higher and higher prices.
Now, he has made a price, asking for two million Ming Yang, and every officer below who surrenders with him will receive the corresponding price of the Ming army's "surrender bonus".
Two million Mingyang is four times higher than the bonus price. It is not that the Mingjun can't afford 2 million Mingyang, but it cannot tolerate a Qing general who is ready to surrender to raise the price like this. Once this precedent is set, every Qing general in the future will
They all have a mentality of waiting for the price. They should have surrendered, but they may not have surrendered because they were not given money or the money given was small.
At 11:30 p.m., Huizhang was about to invite the Ming army negotiators to have lunch in order to show that he was calm and relaxed. At this time, another Ming army representative was brought in. They had just been sent.
"Sir Hui," the newly arrived Ming army officer said directly without saying a word after meeting, "It is now eleven forty, and we have been talking to you all morning. Now we will give you one last chance. If
If you are willing to surrender, the entire army must disarm before twelve o'clock. There is no battle between us yet. If you surrender, you can still enjoy a series of benefits.
In ten minutes, we will persuade your army to surrender for the last time. But I remind you that we are only here to persuade you to surrender. If our surrender troops receive even one shell, it will be considered as your resistance, and we will
We will start a comprehensive, three-dimensional air and ground attack, we will annihilate all your troops, and then advance into the Henan Plain in the afternoon."
Huizhang was confused. He frowned and said slowly:
"What do you mean...the surrender force? Aren't you trying to persuade me to surrender now? Aren't you the only ones who persuade me to surrender? Who else is there?"
Another Ming army officer also put away his polite attitude all morning, straightened his face and sneered:
"It's not a few of us. It's another force to persuade us to surrender. It's not here at the headquarters, but in another place. Let me warn you again, our troops are here to persuade us to surrender. They won't fire first. It's best to warn you.
Don't let your subordinates fire first... If our surrender troops take one artillery shell, they will immediately turn into offensive troops... Whether your troops can withstand it at that time is another matter. Mr. Hui,
He will also change from a rebellious general worth hundreds of thousands of yuan to an ordinary prisoner and a prisoner."
Huizhang stared at them suspiciously, feeling more and more ominous... What tricks were they playing?
At this time, the phone on the table rang sharply.
Huizhang glanced at several Ming army officers and grabbed the microphone with some hesitation.
"I am a military commander...what? What did you say? Ah?!...Are you crazy? Say it again!"
There was a frightened voice on the phone:
"Military Seat, Military Seat... it's real, really real! There are Ming Army tanks all over the mountains and plains, there are... hundreds of them... no, no, thousands of them! At least two thousand! Ming Army tanks.
The Armored Division... no, the Armored Corps bypassed the Dabie Mountains and came back in a detour! Our back road is blocked by others!"
Huizhang roared:
"Nonsense! Calm down, don't have a fever! How is that possible? The Dabie Mountains are hundreds of kilometers long. If the Ming army comes from the east, they will first have to cross the Yangtze River and then fight all the way! It won't take a year and a half to reach here!
Look carefully before you speak!"
"It's true, Army Seat! They are all over the mountains and plains!...Ah, there are more and more tanks now...those bushes, it turns out they are all tanks! We didn't even see them before! Now they are starting to take off the camouflage and remove all the leaves from the trees.
Taken down! There are more and more tanks!”
Huizhang's face slowly turned pale, he raised his eyes and glanced at several Ming army officers in horror, then covered the microphone and asked in a low voice:
"What are those tanks doing? Are they attacking you?"
"No, that's not the case... Hey, it's strange, those tanks are parked there with white flags hanging on them, as if they are surrendering to us..."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
"No... it's not surrender... ah, there are a few cars driving over, and the captain on them is waving a white flag... ah, they are shouting with loudspeakers... they are... they are persuading us to surrender... they are restricting us
Surrender within ten minutes. If you don't surrender by 12 o'clock, we will drive over here.
We bulldoze...the army seat, what should we do? Shall we fire the cannon?...The army seat, we can't win! We only have a hundred or dozens of cannons, and they have thousands of tanks over there!...Ming
The army has said that surrendering now will bring you all the benefits, but once the war starts there will be nothing..."
The sound in Huizhang's eardrum receiver buzzed loudly, and there was only a buzzing sound left in his head.
"Sir Hui," a Ming army officer said with a smile, "has our capitulation force arrived? Haha, not many, two armored divisions, less than 500 tanks, more than 300 self-propelled artillery, and more than 400 armored vehicles
That's all. They are here to persuade us to surrender. They have no ill intentions. You should think carefully before firing. If you fire, they will all become combat troops."
Huizhang shook his body and managed to say:
"You... how did they get there?"
"It was driven by crawlers."
"..."
Huizhang gritted his teeth and said fiercely:
"Nonsense! There aren't that many at all! I don't believe you drove through so many! 500 tanks, 300 self-propelled artillery, and 400 armored vehicles. It's impossible for such a large force to sneak past! I think you can only pass by a hundred or ten at most.
Small force of tanks!”
The Ming army officer smiled and said:
"Then do you want to give it a try? You just need to give the order to fire, and then see how many guns fire back, and you will know."
Huizhang's face turned even paler, he murmured something, and slowly sat down.
He stared nervously at the alarm clock on the table, watching the minute hand on it inch closer to 12 o'clock.
When there were five minutes left, he couldn't hold on anymore, raised his head and asked in a hoarse voice:
"If I surrender now, what other conditions can I get? I don't want two million, just give me one million."
"No," the Ming army officer shook his head decisively, "We can't set a precedent for you. It's only half a million, not a cent more."
"Eight...eight hundred thousand, okay?"
"Ahem, there are still three minutes left."
Huizhang buried his face between his hands, took a few quick breaths, then grabbed the phone receiver and said weakly:
"Don't fire artillery... Send the order down, the whole army should not resist, come out of the fortifications, and pile up the weapons... Don't conflict with the Ming army... Follow all the arrangements of the Ming army... It's over."
…
At 12:00 noon on October 5, the Qing army's city defenders surrendered. The Ming army's left army group did not waste a single shot, and the large army rumbled through the Fangcheng Corridor and entered the vast Henan Plain.
On the wide and flat square city corridor, there are rolling hills on both sides. The Qing army's forts that can be seen faintly among the hills and trees are also hung with white flags. The Ming army's tanks, armored vehicles, cars, and artillery batteries are all hung up.
The stream flows endlessly, advancing from the Xiangfan Basin into the Central Plains.
On both sides of the endless marching column, there are equally endless surrendering Qing troops. They are marching in the back and forth direction. But compared with their brothers in Nanyang, Yangzhou, Gaoyou and other places, they are much luckier. They do not fight.
During the surrender, they did not experience repeated bombings, shellings, or the wounded with short legs, broken arms, and crutches carrying stretchers. These Qing soldiers had sound limbs, and according to the promise, they could directly become new citizens of the Ming Dynasty without entering prisoner-of-war camps.
.
The important thing is that when the war enters a difficult juncture in the future, these newly added young and middle-aged people who have received military training will become good candidates for the Ming Dynasty's recruitment, making up for the Ming Dynasty's shortage of soldiers. They will willingly fight for the Ming army.
To liberate their hometown.
…
Right War Zone, Baoying County, Qing Army Baoying Airport.
Like other troops on the eastern front, there is chaos and panic, and they are busy retreating. Various news is circulating in the troops, explaining where the army has arrived, which troops have been wiped out, and which troops have been encircled...
The morale of the military was seriously unstable. Some people even exaggeratedly said that the Ming army had already reached Shandong and was encircled to the seaside. All the Qing troops in Jiangsu were made dumplings.
Although Dongtai Airport in the southeast has not been directly occupied, it has definitely been encircled. The Baoying garrison generals here are determined not to follow in the footsteps of Dongtai and withdraw before the Ming army encircles them. The main force of the Qing army in the south is
To the west of the two lakes, in Anhui, the top priority now is to abandon Baoying, go across the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal between Hongze Lake and Gaoyou Lake, and command the main force of Anhui to ensure that it is not eaten.
Now at Baoying Airport, the aviation commander is directing the final preparations before evacuation. After two major bombings, there are few intact aircraft left at Baoying Airport. Now they are lined up on the airport, using the only two planes without craters.
Take off from the runway and fly to Xuzhou Airport. Facing the absolutely superior air power of the Ming Army, the entire Beiqing Air Force conserved its strength in panic and evacuated the aircraft to the hinterland airport on the back.
"Quick! Hurry up! Those broken planes are doused with gasoline!"
The regimental commander stood beside the runway, instructing the ground crew below to pour gasoline on the damaged and temporarily unrepairable aircraft, and then set them on fire. In the airport office building, boxes of documents were thrown out of the windows and piled up.
A fire was set on the lawn. The fire of documents and the blazing flames of the plane made the entire Baoying Airport soar with fireworks, as if it had just been bombed.
Suddenly, a communications soldier wearing headphones ran out of an office building in the distance. He yelled:
"They're coming——Sir, they're coming——Take off quickly!!! Take off quickly————!!!"
Before the people at the airport could react, several small black dots appeared in the sky, screaming and rushing down in the blink of an eye. Several bullets and smoke exploded on the runway, followed by several bombs dropped, and the dozen or so aircraft
The plane preparing to take off suddenly burst into flames.
There was an explosion at the airport immediately. Everyone covered their heads and ran away, falling to the ground lifelessly.
After a while, the Ming army plane flew away.
At this time, those who had not yet had time to get up felt something strange on the ground beneath them. It seemed to be shaking slightly.
Some people put their ears on it and heard the sound of the engine...