The generals were at loggerheads, so Xiang Xiaoqiang quietly suggested to Zhang Zhaoxian that since this matter involved the issue of whether to terminate negotiations and restart the war, it was no longer a purely military issue. I'm afraid the cabinet should be notified and a joint military and political meeting should be held.
Zhang Zhao nodded first and thought so. The military really couldn't handle this matter on its own.
So the military reported it to Zhu Yourong, and then Zhu Yourong told Shen Rongxuan about the incident. Shen Rongxuan then selected several necessary ministers to enter the headquarters and participate in the meeting.
Therefore, the meeting in the morning became a joint military and political meeting, and Shen Rongxuan and several ministers also attended. Once it became a joint military and political meeting, as usual, Zhu Yourong also attended.
...Then, Xiang Xiaoqiang's goal of meeting Zhu Yourong can be considered achieved.
Zhu Yourong was still as usual, wearing a small dress, a cashmere shawl, and a lightweight diamond tiara, and was sitting at the head with an air of dignity.
Her Majesty the Queen attended the meeting, and the discussion on the conference table suddenly became much more intense. Under Her Majesty's gaze, every minister or general spoke enthusiastically, intentionally or unintentionally showing off their eloquence and talent, and trying to outdo others... …
However, there is only one exception. That is Xiang Xiaoqiang.
Among this group of impetuous and superficial civil servants and generals, Xiang Xiaoqiang seemed so deep and calm.
Xiang Xiaoqiang... He seldom speaks, but whenever he speaks in simple words, he always gets to the point and says a lot in one sentence that others cannot say... What is this feeling?
Oh, yes, it is sharp...
However, every time when talking to Xiang Xiaoqiang, Zhu Yourong was either looking at the map or staring in front of him, always avoiding the fiery and sharp gaze from the other side... That was Xiang Xiaoqiang's gaze.
Xiang Xiaoqiang has become the most influential person in the military, besides Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng.
After listening to the speeches of several important military and political officials, he said concisely:
"In general, I support using this as an opportunity to attack. But the purpose is not to kill tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands more Qing troops, but to conduct a second blitzkrieg. The Qing army only has this in Shanxi If we can defeat this force and disperse it as quickly as possible, we can open up the throat of Taiyuan to the north and occupy the entire Shanxi. My lords, please remember that the purpose of my advocating a solution by force is not to The purpose of annihilating tens of thousands more Qing troops is to penetrate Taiyuan, the key to the center of Shanxi, and capture the entire Shanxi in one fell swoop. This should be our strategic determination. My Lords, my words are over."
After saying that, he bowed slightly to both sides, glanced sharply around, and finally landed on Zhu Yourong's face. Zhu Yourong was "hot" at once, and he quickly lowered his gaze as if nothing had happened, and then looked at the map again.
After Xiang Xiaoqiang made his position clear like this, many military factions, whether it was the military or the cabinet, suddenly felt a lot more emboldened and spoke more actively. Some of the swing factions and wallflowers in the past also suddenly found support and immediately took over the military faction. Here it comes.
As a result, there are not many people left who advocate political settlement.
Shen Rongxuan listened to so many people's speeches, and after comprehensive consideration, he also felt that this situation was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for military operations, but for political operations, it was only an ordinary opportunity at best. That is, He said that as the chief minister, he also felt that it would be a waste to use this opportunity for remediation activities. If the Qing army's "Shanxi Corps" could really be defeated by lightning and occupy the entire Shanxi in one fell swoop, then the result would be a political card. No matter how hard you fight, you can't get it.
Now, the conference table gradually became quiet, and everyone focused their attention on Shen Rongxuan. Among the most important figures, only Shen Rongxuan has not expressed his position. In theory, the first and assistant ministers are the entire Ming Empire except the emperor. Besides, the person with the highest status.
Shen Rongxuan pondered for a moment, nodded, and said slowly:
"The current situation seems to be a rare opportunity to occupy Shanxi at a low cost. I think there is no reason for us to waste it."
After saying that, he also raised his head and looked around at everyone.
Okay, that's the final word.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Xiaoqiang spoke again:
"Everyone...should we take this opportunity to integrate the left and right forces to launch a comprehensive military operation, not only to capture Shanxi, but also to capture Shandong in one fell swoop, and send the Qing regime to the underworld?"
…
On the surface, the Ming Dynasty's military is still calm, and the negotiations at Wuwang Villa are still half-dead. However, the headquarters and the entire Ming Dynasty's military machine have quietly and quickly started to move. Another wave of large-scale blitzkrieg is brewing.
During this period, both the Ming and Qing Dynasties were accumulating strength, but the entire state machine and social mechanism of the Southern Ming was obviously superior and much more efficient, far from being comparable to the sickly behemoth of the Northern Qing.
During this period of more than a month, Guangwu succeeded in recruiting nearly one million new troops. Nanming's army did not increase at all. Counting the early casualties, the number of troops was slightly reduced. However, Nanming was mainly cultivating "internal strength". ——Of course, the number of tanks and aircraft has increased by several hundred each, and the number of cars has increased by nearly 4,000. More importantly, the number of logistics capabilities has increased.
Although it has not yet received tens of thousands of military vehicles from the United States, after more than a month of truce, the combat troops of the Ming Army have been greatly renovated, the logistics capabilities have been greatly improved, and various transportation departments and line construction have been greatly improved. It is well organized and there are sufficient supplies in various warehouses, fuel depots, military depots and supply points along the way.
According to Xiang Xiaoqiang's view, the right wing does not have the problem of "too long front and difficult logistics". Because the right front line is currently in the Huaihe River Basin, only about 200 kilometers away from Nanjing. What the right wing needs to consider is how to accumulate strength. An explosive and powerful attack was launched to penetrate, divide, encircle, and annihilate the Qing army's huge Central Plains Corps in one fell swoop, just like the first stage of the Jianghuai Campaign.
The real problem of "the front is too long and the logistics is difficult" is the left route. If the left route starts from Xiangfan, it will go through the twists and turns of the front to reach the forefront of the Ming army in Shanxi, which is now more than a thousand kilometers. The last of them There is no railway for more than 200 kilometers, and all transportation is dependent on automobiles.
However, Xiang Xiaoqiang believes: First, the distance of more than 200 kilometers is not too long, so relying entirely on roads is not a big problem. Second, Shanxi now only has these 20 divisions, which is a Qing army of 280,000-300,000. As long as If these Qing troops are defeated at once, then there will no longer be the main force of the Qing army in front of Shanxi. The Ming army can march straight in without having to consider the cost of fighting along the way. In this way, if fighting is not considered and only marching is considered, then each division The supplies that need to be consumed every day will be greatly reduced, freeing up a large amount of transportation capacity from transporting ammunition to transport fuel.
As for how to defeat the Shanxi Corps of the Qing Army, Xiang Xiaoqiang also expressed his opinion.
Now these Qing troops are hidden in the dense mountains and forests in the north of Taiyuan. With nearly 300,000 people, if they really plan to rely on Taiyuan to guard this narrow mountain pass between Taihang Mountain and Luliang Mountain, then their main force will definitely be deployed away from Taiyuan.
The city is at most half a day's journey away. Its farthest troops cannot be placed in a place too far away for more than a day's journey. Because it is a mountainous edge environment, heavy equipment moves more slowly, so the actual distance is even smaller.
Then this density is quite large. After rough calculation, the average number is more than 15,000-20,000 people per square kilometer. Counting various artillery, vehicles, heavy equipment, materials, and personnel, the density is even greater. It can be said that whether it is bombs,
Whether it's artillery shells or incendiary bombs, every falling one will cause a huge amount of damage.
Now we face two practical difficulties.
First, using incendiary bombs may cause large-scale forest fires, and the outcome will be difficult to control.
Second, it is easy to fall into moral passivity. Incendiary weapons are too cruel. In the Geneva Convention, their use is prohibited together with dum bombs, poison gas, etc. Although in real wars, armies inevitably use some incendiary weapons, such as flames, in battles.
Injectors, etc., but after all, the use regulations
The model is very small, and it is mainly used for clearing bunker fortifications and the like, so it is difficult to replace. The Hague Tribunal of the League of Nations has never seriously dealt with these "little troubles". However, this time, if tens of thousands of people are burned to death with the help of incendiary bombs,
Man, no one knows what consequences that will bring internationally.
"Let's talk about the first one first," Xiang Xiaoqiang stood in front of the big map and pointed at the vicinity of Taiyuan with a pole. "This one is a topographic map of central Shanxi. This one is an enlarged aerial photo of the vicinity of Taiyuan.
The main thing is to ask everyone to take a look at the distribution of vegetation. Please see that the two large mountain ranges in Shanxi, Taihang and Luliang, mainly run north-south and are almost parallel to each other.
.But in the north and south of Shanxi, the tightness of their union is different... It's like dancing tango. We say that a man and a woman dancing tango always keep a cold distance from above, but are passionate and fiery below.
The four legs are tightly intertwined, almost touching each other... But these two mountains are just the opposite. The lower parts are kept apart, but the upper parts are almost touching..."
The conference room burst into laughter. Xiang Xiaoqiang also smiled and glanced at Zhu Yourong secretly, finding that she was still expressionless, but blushing and avoiding his gaze.
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and continued:
"...The upper part, that is, the northern part is almost close to each other, and the lower half, that is, the southern part is kept apart... Then in the middle of them, which is the position of the waist, this most critical position, a city was built, that is Taiyuan
.You see, north of Taiyuan, the two mountain systems are closely integrated, leaving almost only a narrow corridor in the middle... To the south of Taiyuan, there is a much looser plain, which can be said to be a flat river...
"Then here's what I want to say. First, this season is late autumn, or early winter, and the only wind blowing all day long is from the north, and the wind blows from north to south, not the other way around. Second, the southern part of Taiyuan is a plain, and there is neither
There are no mountains and no forests. The fire will stop naturally when it reaches the northern suburbs of Taiyuan. Please take a look at this aerial picture to see the distribution of vegetation near Taiyuan."
Everyone craned their necks to look and whispered. He gestured to Xiaoqiang. The conference room went dark, and a young female officer used a slide projector to project the photo onto a large map. Now everyone could see it clearly.
"My lord," a general said, "this matter is no joke. Although according to common sense, the wind will only blow from the north at this time, what if the wind does not blow on the day of the operation, or the south wind blows? This point
We should take that into consideration.”
Someone retorted:
"In the middle of winter, there is no wind at most, so how can there be a southerly wind?"
The general snorted and said:
"That's not necessarily true. How did Cao Cao lose the Battle of Chibi? It was because of the south wind in the winter."
The officer from before smiled and said:
"Please, that's what a novelist says, okay? If you want to talk about it, just talk about official history."
Xiang Xiaoqiang interrupted with a smile:
"What this gentleman is talking about is the official history. Although "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is quite fictional, the Battle of Chibi and the south wind inexplicably blowing in the winter are recorded in the official history "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". We have to believe this. Haha, but, here
The Shanxi meteorological data for the coming week has just been sent. The chief meteorologist of the Army Aviation concluded that the north wind will not stop in the coming week, and will become stronger and stronger... This possibility accounts for 70%... Therefore, we do not have to
Too worried about wildfires.”
Someone asked again:
"Okay, even if we don't have to worry about wildfires, what about the moral issues? The use of incendiary weapons on such a large scale is unjustifiable anyway. Our early efforts in the United States are likely to fail."
He nodded to Xiaoqiang and said with a smile:
"This question... please answer it, Commander Li of Army Aviation."
Li Guoliang couldn't wait any longer, so he jumped in front of the map and said:
"Why, do you think that in this season when the sky is dry and the vegetation is dry, only burning weapons will cause huge fires in the mountains?"
There was silence in the conference room, and then the discussion started in a "coaxing" manner. Everyone reacted. Yes, is it true that only incendiary bombs can ignite mountain fires? In this dry weather, it is like dry firewood in Shanxi
In the mountains and forests, an ordinary bomb can cause a mountain fire!
Xiang Xiaoqiang took it over with a smile and said:
"...So, we don't have to deliberately arrange a 'fire attack', we just need to 'bomb normally' in areas where enemy troops may be ambushed. Let alone bombs now, even if a grenade explodes, or even a bullet hits a pile of hay at close range
It could set the entire mountain on fire... Haha, even if the investigation team of the International Tribunal in The Hague came to conduct on-site investigations around Taiyuan,
Only the remains of ordinary bombs could be found, and absolutely no remains of incendiary bombs, nor any remnants of incendiary weapons such as napalm, thermite, and magnesium powder. This attack, in the eyes of the whole world, will be
It was just an ordinary military attack... It caused a forest fire. I'm sorry, it's unfortunate, but it was an accident and not what we expected."