Early in the morning on November 20th, when Fourteen Gege saw Xiang Xiaoqiang, she suddenly turned away everyone, pulled him into a small conference room, and said to him solemnly:
"Reliable information from Beijing, the Qing army has arrived in Taiyuan."
Xiang Xiaoqiang still didn't understand what it meant.
"What...who has arrived in Taiyuan?"
Without saying a word, Shi Shigege walked to the map stand on the wall, picked up the stick and pointed at a location too far away in central Shanxi, and tapped:
"Here, five Eight Banners divisions are leading the way, followed by fifteen Han military divisions. They are already stationed in the mountains and forests in the northeast and northwest of Taiyuan. They are only a few kilometers away from Taiyuan City."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, and smiled a little guilty:
"Honey, don't be ridiculous."
Fourteen Gege didn't answer, but just stared at him coldly, with an expression that didn't look like he was joking at all.
Xiang Xiaoqiang stared at the fourteen grid for a few seconds and immediately woke up.
His heart was beating so fast that he was almost breathless. He took out a cigarette with some trembling, held it in his mouth, and stared at the map.
Fourteen Gege calmly stretched out a lighter and lit it for him.
Xiang Xiaoqiang slowly sat in the chair, took a puff of cigarette, touched his forehead and asked:
"When did it happen? Where did the news come from? Is it reliable?"
Fourteenth Princess also pulled up a chair, sat opposite him, and said:
"It should be reliable, it's Guadexin's line. You know, although Guadexin is not a military general, he is also a military minister and can often enter the headquarters to see the emperor. Intelligence shows that Guadexin met the emperor for other matters.
, the emperor was talking to two other generals in front of the map, and he was waiting nearby. From what he heard, it seemed that this army had been ambushing in the north of Taiyuan for some days. "
Xiang Xiaoqiang took a triangle and measured it twice on the map, then counted a few times with his fingers and said:
"Impossible! Where did they enter Shanxi from? The mountain roads from Shijiazhuang into Shanxi are all in the hands of the Taihang Mountain Column... However, even if they go around from the north and take Datong... then this road is within the range of our reconnaissance aircraft.
There is no reason for him to sneak to Taiyuan right under our noses!"
Fourteen Gege also pondered and said:
"Well, the intelligence didn't say that in detail. It's probably good enough for Guadexin to listen to a few words. It's impossible to hear the cause and effect. Unless... Guadexin is playing tricks on us."
Xiang Xiaoqiang took a long drag on his cigarette, puffed out the smoke and said:
"No, Gua Dexin doesn't dare to play tricks on us... If he dares to play tricks on us, he must have the consciousness to successfully escape to a foreign country with his whole family and live under high security for the rest of his life."
Fourteen Gege nodded and said:
"In this case, then we have to accept the fact that 20 Qing divisions appeared in the north of Taiyuan... Xiaoqiang, is there nothing wrong with the aviation force?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately grabbed a telephone next to him and ordered the call to be connected to Li Guoliang. Soon, he had a phone call with Li Guoliang in front of Shi Shigege.
"No," Xiang Xiaoqiang hung up the phone and said solemnly to the Fourteenth Princess, "Li Guoliang pledges with all his heart that he has been conducting non-stop reconnaissance flights over the 300 kilometers north of the front these days, including northern Shanxi. No abnormalities have been found."
Then, he lowered his head and murmured in disbelief:
"That is to say...these twenty divisions...three to four hundred thousand people...so much heavy equipment...were hiding day and night, relying on the dense mountains and forests of Shanxi, and managed to escape our aerial reconnaissance.
When we get to the north of Taiyuan... once the negotiation table can no longer delay, we can occupy Taiyuan as soon as possible, hold the Taiyuan Mountain Pass, and confront us, making it difficult for us to attack the northern part of Shanxi..."
He suddenly raised his head and asked in disbelief:
"But with such a long distance and such a large force, how did they keep it a secret? Why didn't the people along the way discover it?"
Fourteen Gege pondered:
"Two reasons. First, this unit is composed of elite soldiers and strong generals, and the proportion of the Eight Banners Division is very high. Although there are only five Eight Banners Divisions in terms of number of divisions, the Eight Banners Division has a relatively large establishment, with each division having two
There are about 10,000 people, while the Han military divisions only have about 12,000. Moreover, the Han military divisions among them must be the best ones drawn from them.
Part two. Second, what if people see it along the way? We only have intelligence agents in big cities and important transportation hubs. Generally speaking, the countryside is a blind spot. In the north, there is a regional blockade. There is no road.
Leave the local area. Even if people somewhere see it, the news will not spread."
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it and nodded. He put his hand on the phone, hesitated for a moment, then picked up the receiver and put Li Guoliang through again.
"Commander Li, it's me. I have a mission for you, Army Aviation. You must arrange it yourself and keep it secret... Send two reconnaissance planes to the north of Shanxi for reconnaissance. They will conduct careful reconnaissance along the highway from Taiyuan to Datong and fly lower.
, slow down, check the road traces, check the land between the road and the nearby mountains and forests, see if there are any signs of large troops and heavy equipment passing by... Yes, yes, I doubt it, it is very possible... Without further ado, as soon as possible
The arrangement... must be kept secret! Well, thank you for your hard work."
Then he hung up the phone and the two of them sat staring at each other.
…
After a morning of ulterior negotiations, during the lunch break, after dinner, I went to Xiang Xiaoqiang with a stomachache and quietly gave him Li Guoliang's aerial reconnaissance report.
Li Guoliang selected two squadrons of ace pilots to be transferred to Linfen Airport, and then took off from Linfen Airport. They were divided into four waves, and eight planes took turns to conduct reconnaissance on the highway from Taiyuan to Datong. He specially selected an old-fashioned open-cockpit biplane, because
This can control the speed very slowly. These are all ace pilots. Not only are they capable of controlling the speed of the aircraft almost at the critical point of stall, but they are also able to "fly at zero altitude", which is an altitude of about ten meters. The altimeter shows
is "0".
The pilot drove the plane not much faster than a car, and the belly of the plane was almost touching the treetops. The machine gunner in the back seat leaned out and took pictures about ten meters below.
In the previous routine reconnaissance flights, the reconnaissance planes flew high in the sky to see if there were any enemy troop movements below. They never pounced down to look for these clues. But this time today, there was no need to go back to develop the photos.
, the pilot himself discovered countless "clues" on the spot.
The poor-quality asphalt road is covered with tire marks from heavy artillery, tire marks from large vehicles, tank tracks, and even very narrow marks similar to the wheels of a 37 small gun.
And along the way, whenever the road is close to the mountain forest, the land under the road is covered with various deeper ruts and indentations. Near the edge of the mountain forest, you can occasionally find a lot of garbage and batches of feces.
All these things were completely invisible to normal aerial reconnaissance in the past.
After Xiang Xiaoqiang read the report and then looked at the thick stack of large photos, he saw with his own eyes these countless "clues".
"Good job," he patted his shoulder, which hurt his stomach, and then ordered, "Call Hu Jiong to come and prepare a car for me. I'm going to the fortress."
Then he looked at his watch and said:
"The lunch break is less than an hour away, so it's too late. I'll tell you later that I'm not feeling well and I'm going to see a doctor, so we'll postpone the negotiations in the afternoon."
…
In a conference room at the headquarters, a circle of top generals sat around the table, listening to Xiang Xiaoqiang's report in horror and watching Xiang Xiaoqiang gesticulating with a pole in front of the map.
Xiang Xiaoqiang pointed at the map, frothing at the mouth, and then ordered the lights to be turned off, and used a slide projector to show the photos to all the adults, so that everyone could see with their own eyes what was on the ground in northern Shanxi.
When showing the slide show, he did not forget to give Li Guoliang a share of the credit. After all, it was Lu Hang who took the photos himself.
After looking at dozens of photos, he ordered Xiaoqiang to turn on the lights. The generals immediately started a heated discussion.
Some people advocated questioning the Qing side at the negotiation table, and at the same time publishing these photos to the press to take advantage of the Qing Dynasty politically. Some people advocated ignoring that and mobilizing a bomber formation to launch a surprise attack on the mountains and forests north of Taiyuan where Qing troops might be hiding.
A carpet bombing was carried out, which was called "it doesn't matter if they have dates or not, just hit one first." Then, they launched the Shanxi Ming Army to attack Taiyuan, trying to capture Taiyuan in one fell swoop and open the passage into northern Shanxi.
Preliminary opinions have been formed. One group advocates playing the political card, and the other advocates playing the military card. Those who advocate playing the political card mean to use this incident as an opportunity to discredit the Beiqing internationally and strive to push forward the United States' arms purchase steps.
But those who advocate playing the military card think it is a pity to play such a good opportunity just for the sake of playing the political card. Things in the United States may not change much because of this incident.
Li Guoliang had the firmest opinion. He asked the General Staff to approve his plan to plan a fire attack, dispatching two to three hundred bombers at a time, loaded with incendiary bombs, to set fire to all the mountains and forests around the north of Taiyuan. Now in November, Shanxi
The weather is so dry that a single spark can ignite a forest fire. Hiding twenty divisions of elite Qing troops in the woods is no different from hiding in a pile of firewood. Even if they cannot burn them all to death, even a third of them will be burned to death.
One also made a lot of money.
However, the generals of the "political faction" also pointed out that this is too cruel and has too great a moral loss. The Geneva Convention explicitly prohibits the use of incendiary weapons. It can be used as an auxiliary in daily life. Now, tens of thousands of people will be burned alive at once.
Public criticism
Besides, the weather is dry now, the wind is blowing from the northwest in Shanxi, and Taiyuan is surrounded by mountains, with the Taihang Mountains to the east and the Luliang Mountains to the west, so the fires cannot be controlled at all. If this causes a catastrophe, then we will
became a sinner.
It was still the old rules, the generals were arguing, Zhang Zhaoxian, Tang Yunsheng, and Xiang Xiaoqiang did not participate, they just listened.
But Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart has been pulled away by the "military faction". Especially Li Guoliang's "Fire Attack Plan" is simply too evil and too hateful. It has touched Xiang Xiaoqiang's heart at once. If it weren't for the "political faction"
"He almost agreed with the proposed factor of forest fires.
Xiang Xiaoqiang pricked his ears and listened carefully to every speech on the negotiation table, trying to capture the evidence that could support the "Fire Attack Plan". He also widened his eyes and stared at the map, trying to learn from the mountainous environment around Taiyuan.
Find the basis to refute the "fire theory".
At the same time, a voice in his heart kept shouting: