At 6:00 in the evening on the 24th, taking advantage of the last rays of the setting sun, the Ming Army aviation bombers violently bombed the main force of the 13th Group Army of the Qing Army outside Zhengzhou. At the same time, three mechanized divisions and six motorized infantry divisions of the People's Guard followed.
A fierce attack was launched on Zhengzhou from the east and south directions.
The visibility at dusk was very limited, and the damage caused by the air raid to the Qing army's positions was also very limited. At 6:30, the bombing had to be carried out with the help of flares. Since there were many villages near Zhengzhou, the Ming army's ground force was unable to carry out the bombing due to poor visibility.
Airlines dare not use "hail bombs" for carpet bombing. Once a village is accidentally damaged, the effect will be equivalent to massacre of the village.
At 6:50, after only two rounds of dive bombing, it was completely dark and the Ming army entered a night battle.
The high command was right. Fighting at night on the plains was very detrimental to the Ming army. There was only starlight in the field, which could be said to be pitch black. If the mechanized corps of the Ming army wanted to attack quickly, they had to turn on their lights. And once they turned on their lights, they were in the dark.
A very unfavorable situation. The Qing army's anti-tank guns and anti-tank guns could easily fire on it, but with just the flash of fire, it was difficult for the Ming army to determine the enemy's position and effectively fight back.
Chen Wangwu is now writing a blank check to the following, promising:
Regardless of the artillery crew or the anti-tank gun crew, for every Ming Army tank or armored vehicle destroyed, each person will be rewarded with ten taels of gold; for every Ming Army self-propelled artillery destroyed, each person will be rewarded with ten taels of gold; for every Ming Army vehicle destroyed, each person will be rewarded with ten taels of gold.
One tael of gold; officers and soldiers who kill one Ming army member will be rewarded with ten pieces of gold; after the Thirteenth Army retreats to Guanzhong, all brothers in the army, regardless of officers and soldiers, will be rewarded with an additional one tael of gold.
In addition, there is the most important reward: officers at all levels who can control their troops, finally become an organized area, and successfully evacuate into Guanzhong according to orders will be doubled according to the price of Nanming's "Uprising Bonus Order"
Receive reward.
All the above rewards will be cashed out after retreating to Guanzhong.
…
Not only the Northern Qing Dynasty, but also the Southern Ming Dynasty could not afford such a super generous bounty. However, the officers and soldiers in the Qing Army's Thirteenth Group Army, also known as the Zhengzhou Corps, believed that the bounty could be fulfilled this time.
The reward was officially issued by the Commander-in-Chief in the form of a military order. No one dared to refuse such a thing, as the whole army would mutiny. Then there were many in the army.
Rumor has it that Commander Chen has emptied all the banks and money houses in Zhengzhou and Luoyang. The gold bricks, silver coins, jewelry, and foreign exchange in the underground vaults have all been transported into Guanzhong first, and there is a lot of money. Commander Chen wants to be the king of Guanzhong.
All the brothers who support him in Guanzhong have the merit of following the dragon and will be indispensable for glory and wealth in the future. A few taels of gold per person is just a trivial matter.
The best ideal of those Qing soldiers was to surrender to Nanming and become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, but now their minds are entangled. What are the "constitutional monarchy", "civil society", "ruling the country according to law", "checks and balances of power" and "open media" in the Ming Dynasty?
"Wait a minute, it's still very illusory to these soldiers," follow
"It doesn't matter to us common people." For these Qing soldiers, being a Ming citizen meant three things: first, being able to have enough food and afford meat; second, not being bullied by officials,
Keep your back straight and be a good person; thirdly, it is easier to marry a beautiful wife than in the Qing Dynasty. Other than these three things, they cannot understand.
Just when many Qing soldiers were confused - whether to follow Commander Chen into Guanzhong to get the few taels of gold, or to surrender to Nanming and get Ming's "green card" -, at the same time, another rumor quickly spread, that is,
Mr. Chen did not want to be the King of Guanzhong himself, but he controlled Hangu Pass and forced Nanming to make him the King of Guanzhong. The brothers who were granted the title of King of Guanzhong by Nanming were naturally from Nanming.
Now the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty stopped worrying and felt that they had the best of both worlds. Everyone understands this truth. If you want someone to offer you a high price to lure you down, you must first beat them until they are helpless. It is best to beat them until they are full of teeth. Otherwise
Why do people pay high prices?...Of course, for Qing soldiers, before becoming Ming people, they must first earn
A family with 1280 taels of gold is naturally the best choice. They are very vague about the income level in Nanming, but gold is very valuable in the Qing Dynasty. If you buy land with 350 taels of gold in northern Shaanxi, you can become a big landlord.
Now that I call myself a "yuanwai", I can buy land in the Guanzhong Plain and become a small landowner, and I can call myself a "master".
Throughout the afternoon, especially in the evening, the Qing army resisted more and more fiercely, with a strong momentum of defending the homeland and spilling blood on the battlefield. Among the Qing army, weapons such as artillery, anti-tank guns, and machine guns were the most powerful.
It is easy to be discarded. Because the firepower advantage lies with the Ming army and the Qing army.
Once these firearms are fired, they are easily suppressed and the operator is easily killed. But now they have become a hot commodity. After all, if you shoot one shot with a rifle, the hit will cost only ten oceans per shot. But if you hit it with an artillery,
If so, one shot is worth ten ounces of gold, and you won’t have to struggle for the rest of your life.
Machine guns are also good things. It takes a long time to kill a Ming army with a rifle, and it must be based on good marksmanship. But one shot of the machine gun can often knock down three or five. Another shot will cost hundreds of dollars.
Got it.
The most important thing is the last reward: the officer who can finally evacuate his troops into Guanzhong will receive a reward doubled according to the price of the Ming Army's "Uprising Bonus Order". This is so powerful, it completely destroys the Ming Dynasty.
Military "Uprising Bonus Order"
The effect of this is completely offset. At least it ensures that the officers below will not take their brothers to join the Ming Army for money. On the contrary, they will strictly control their troops, fight hard, and finally withdraw completely in order to get double the bounty.
Enter Guanzhong.
…
On the day of the 24th, the Ming army fought in an extremely depressing manner, especially from the afternoon to the evening. Both in the direction of Luoyang and Zhengzhou, they encountered fierce resistance. Since the war began, the Qing army had never resisted so fiercely.
.In the direction of Zhengzhou, after all, the firepower advantage lies with the Ming army.
On one side, although the resistance was fierce, the advance was fast. But on the Luoyang side, the battle in the valley was even more difficult. The Ming army had to use smoke bombs, incendiary bombs, and 210mm self-propelled mortars to clear the way before they could reach you.
Zhouzhou, there is still half of the valley leading to Luoyang.
Since the beginning of the war, the Ming army has never fought such a tough battle. If the fight continues like this, it is unlikely that they will be able to break into Luoyang tomorrow morning.
In the Nanjing headquarters, the top brass of the Ming army were in a state of panic.
"Sir," a stomachache carefully handed Xiang Xiaoqiang an intercepted telegram, "In the telegram just intercepted, Emperor Guangwu of the Puppet Qing Dynasty sent a telegram to commend Chen Wangwu, the acting commander of the Zhengzhou Army Corps, and officially promoted Chen Wangwu to the commander of the Thirteenth Group Army.
, promoted to general, given yellow horse
They raised the yellow flag, made the first class viscount, and rewarded 500,000 pieces of silver. At the same time, they encouraged the Zhengzhou Corps to continue their efforts, and called on the entire Qing army to learn from them, fight bravely, display the power of the Qing army, and defeat the Ming army as soon as possible...
Fight across the Yangtze River and unify... unify all of China."
Xiang Xiaoqiang took it over, glanced at it twice, threw it on the table irritably, and winked at Xiu Xiu to take it to Zhang for them to take a photo of first.
After Xiu Xiu came back, he angrily said to Xiu Xiu:
"Look, even the emperor has telegraphed and commended us for fighting this battle! You can see what we have done to them! ... Promote to general! Become commander! Yellow mantle! Raise the flag! First class viscount! 500,000 oceans
!”
He lowered his voice and laughed at himself:
"I have made so many great contributions, and I have only been granted the title of earl in total. This guy only fought for half a day and was granted the title of first-class viscount. He is only half a rank behind me. Hum! Guangwu
That guy is so generous! I'm afraid that because of his generosity, there will be more and more tough battles like this on the Northern Expedition."
Xiuxiu also sighed softly:
"Guangwu is setting a benchmark and stimulating the enthusiasm of the generals below to resist. This is very useful... He is also a talent."
Xiang Xiaoqiang sneered:
"Of course he is a talent! It's a pity that he is the only talent in the entire Beiqing, and the others below are all pigs. Not to mention talent, even if he is a genius, it is useless."
Xiuxiu frowned and said:
"Sir, there must be a reason why the Zhengzhou Legion is suddenly so good at fighting... So, what is the reason?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked into her eyes, and the two looked at each other. Suddenly, Xiang Xiaoqiang woke up, snapped his fingers, and immediately ordered:
"Xiuxiu, put me through the phone number of the People's Guard headquarters on the left."
Xiuxiu went to do it immediately. After a moment, she took the microphone and said to Xiaoqiang:
"grown ups."
Xiang Xiaoqiang grabbed the microphone:
"Hey, who is that?... Gao Dayi? Very good!... Dayi, how many prisoners of the Qing army have been captured so far in the war? Well, very good, have you ever interrogated why they are so good at fighting?... No
?Immediately bring a few for interrogation! Let me tell you, it is abnormal for a unit with such high morale to suddenly appear in the Qing and Han armies! ... Absolutely abnormal! This is obviously a level that can only be achieved by the Eight Banners Division
!...I need answers!...Okay, do it."
Half an hour later, at eight o'clock in the evening, the call from the front came.
Xiang Xiaoqiang held the phone and listened in shock to Chen Wangwu's "bounty order" and the rumors circulating among the Qing army that Chen Wangwu was going to be the "King of Guanzhong".
His breathing became faster and faster, and his eyes grew wider and wider.
"Dayi...ask these Qing soldiers, do they all have little brains?"
"grown ups?"
"Ask them, how much does it cost to destroy a tank and how much does it cost to kill a Ming army? How do you calculate it later? Just what they say? You ask them, and they say they killed one.
There are hundreds of Ming troops, can he provide evidence? Can their officials recognize it?"
Gao Dayi put down the phone and asked the prisoner questions on the other end of the phone.
After a while, Gao Dayi picked up the phone and replied:
"Sir, these soldiers have said that the superiors will definitely not dare to rely on you. If you do, they will mutiny."
Xiang Xiaoqiang said patiently:
"I didn't ask them whether they mutinied. I asked them, have they thought about how to record the results of the war? If everyone said that they killed a hundred Ming soldiers, could Chen Wangwu really give everyone 1,000 yuan? One person.
One thousand oceans is five or six taels of gold. Can Chen Wangwu afford it to hundreds of thousands of people? Have those soldiers thought about this?"
Gao Dayi asked the prisoner a few more questions, picked up the phone and replied with a smile:
"Sir, they probably don't understand the relationship here. They keep saying that the commander is afraid of defaulting on his debt, and the commander is also afraid of mutiny. Sir, I think these prisoners haven't even gone to school, and they probably don't have the ability to think logically."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was also happy and said:
"You ask them again, do their commanders usually deduct their military pay? If so, do they mutiny?"
Gao Dayi asked a few more questions, and then answered with a smile:
"Sir, they all said they were cheating, but none of them ever mutinied."
"Ha! Dayi, you are right! They have no logical thinking ability. This kind of pig can only be caught in large numbers in Beiqing. I finally understand why Beiqing's high-tech industries are failing, such as the aircraft industry. Because that requires IQ
of."
Gao Dayi tried to ask:
"Sir, would you like the political team to print the leaflets, write down the relationship clearly, and then distribute them overnight?"
"No..." Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll think about it again. If it says this on the flyer, I'm afraid it won't be of much use. At least the officers have a fixed bounty, which is determined by their rank...
I’ll discuss it with someone.”
He hung up the phone and immediately announced the explosive news to the headquarters.
…
In the headquarters, the generals were astonished as if they had received a bomb. They did not expect that the Qing army could offer such a rich and generous reward. This is true to the saying - there must be a brave man under a heavy reward.
.
For a time, there was a lot of discussion in the hall.
"With such a reward, how much does Chen Wangwu have to pay? Can he cash it in?"
"Didn't he empty out all the banks in Luoyang and Zhengzhou?"
"Even if it is, it won't be enough. Beiqing's gold reserves are no better than ours. Neither city has a few tons of gold."
"Yes, he offers such a large reward. In the end, even the officers and soldiers, even if each person is equal to 2 taels of gold. Even if there are 100,000 people, how much will it cost?"
"...Ten tons."
"Ten tons of gold, that's more than 16 million Ming Yang. If he really holds Hangu Pass and asks our Ming Dynasty for a price, the asking price will definitely not be less than 20 million! He only wants more than a thousand