Episode 88 Pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger
The decision to fight was made, and the headquarters quickly began to formulate a battle plan. The military operation was planned to be launched a week later, codenamed "Lu You". Because Lu You has a famous saying: "The king's army will be in the Central Plains on the day of the Central Plains. Don't forget to tell Nai Weng during family sacrifices."
"This is the implicit meaning of "Northern Ding Zhongyuan".
Launching an attack under such circumstances is equivalent to launching another battle in the war. The troops are in place, the logistics system, etc. are also sound. They only need to wait for an order and operate at high speed. The time required
Much shorter than starting a war from scratch.
After the day of November 20 was decided, Xiang Xiaoqiang began preparations to "deliberately end the negotiations" at the negotiating table in the afternoon.
First of all, the Ming army delegation pretended to be anxious, saying that they had been scolded by Her Majesty the Queen, saying that Her Majesty the Queen could no longer endure such endless negotiations, and that the Ming Dynasty could make another big step forward, as long as the Beiqing agreed.
If the two items of "open press and freedom of movement" are implemented, then the Ming Dynasty will no longer make any more land demands.
In other words, the Ming Dynasty did not want the Shandong Peninsula, the Liaodong Peninsula, and northern Shanxi, as long as the Beiqing accepted these two conditions.
Xiang Xiaoqiang repeatedly emphasized: This is the bottom line of Ming Dynasty.
Nan Ming's attitude was something Yong Gui never expected. Not only Yong Gui, but also Guang Wu from Beijing couldn't understand why Nan Ming was so committed to these two things and was so sure that he would rather give up so much for them.
What about the real benefits?
After thinking about it, both Guangwu and the high-ranking officials of the Northern Qing Dynasty still believed that Nan Ming was just trying to maintain a high profile, win international support, and push the Qing Dynasty into a corner. But if the Qing Dynasty accepted it, it would be a declaration.
The countdown to the demise of the Manchu Qing regime.
However, after thinking about it, I can't think of one thing: Nanming forced the Qing Dynasty into a corner, what benefit did it have to itself? Isn't this the standard "harming others but not benefiting oneself"?
…
At the same time that Xiang Xiaoqiang proposed a new attitude at the negotiating table, the Ming government also held a press conference to inform the press of this new attitude: Ming Dynasty does not want the Qing court's land or the Qing court's compensation, but only the Qing court's compensation.
Just promise to treat the people under your rule well and let the people of Beiqing enjoy what the people of Ming Dynasty enjoyed. This is the only requirement.
This gesture is not a low one. "Kind people" all over the world read the newspapers and were moved by the Ming Dynasty.
But having said that, this is not entirely a high-profile gesture by Nan Ming. It is also a last chance for Beiqing before attacking. According to Zhu Yourong, if Beiqing accepts these two items before attacking, then the attack will be cancelled.
Of course, when Her Majesty the Queen said these words, no one raised any objection. The civil servants and generals present all understood that the Northern Qing Dynasty would never accept these two clauses, so they were happy to comply with Her Majesty the Queen.
In the next week, at the negotiation table, apart from the two items of "news and migration" that had to be argued about every day, the only focus was the Shanxi issue.
It's strange that Nanming is not willing to talk to Beiqing about Shandong or Liaodong, but he is only willing to talk about Shanxi with Beiqing. Especially, once Yonggui talks about the Shanxi issue, Xiang Xiaoqiang will acquiesce that he will talk about "news, migration"
Put aside the core issues and discuss the Shanxi issue with him.
Therefore, in newspapers outside every day, apart from the deadlocked "news and migration" items, the most attractive content of the negotiations is the Shanxi issue. People all over the world who care about the Ming and Qing wars are also concerned about the negotiations on the Shanxi issue.
Xiang Xiaoqiang deliberately mentioned the "simultaneous cease-fire of troops by both sides" at the negotiation table every day. Yonggui followed his instructions and emphasized that both sides had achieved a "simultaneous cease-fire of troops" in Shanxi. He also emphasized that there was a "vacuum" in northern Shanxi.
"Zone", there are only Ming troops in the south of Shanxi, but no Qing troops in the north. How unfair...
Therefore, this message appeared repeatedly in newspapers every day. Objectively, everyone saw it: The Beiqing repeatedly swore that Shanxi would not have our Qing army, and how much I kept my promise.
By November 26, all the secret preparations for the second blitz, also known as "Operation Land Tour", were in place. Everything was ready, and all that was needed was the east wind.
…
During the negotiation on the afternoon of the 26th, Xiang Xiaoqiang was called out midway. It took a while before he returned to the negotiating table.
After he came back, without saying a word, he slapped the table and shouted sternly:
"Lord Yong! Are you planning to sneak attack us?"
Yonggui was stunned, his heart thumped, and he forced a smile and said:
"My lord...where do we start talking about this?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang took out a piece of "intelligence" and pretended to confirm it himself. With an expression of anger, nervousness and fear, he shook the paper and shouted:
"We have just received information that your Qing army has reached Taiyuan, and is only fifty kilometers away from our army!"
Yonggui's face turned a little pale.
However, he still forced himself to calm down and said with a smile:
"Sir Xiang, where did you get this so-called information?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang said loudly:
"Don't worry about this! Taiyuan intelligence! Our intelligence officer in Taiyuan sent it to us!"
Yonggui smiled and said:
"Sir, may I ask if your intelligence agents have received training? As far as I know, in addition to the police, there are only two battalions of military police in Taiyuan City. Does the 'Qing Army' your intelligence agent refers to?
Those two battalions of military police?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned for a moment, a little speechless, with a look of embarrassment on his face. After a moment, he shouted again:
"Then...then...even if it's not in Taiyuan City, it must be ambushing near Taiyuan!"
Yong Gui finally breathed a sigh of relief at this time. He knew that Ming Fang did not have any exact information. He probably made a so-called "intelligence" based on some rumors in Taiyuan City and used it to defraud him.
Myself. Fortunately, I am quick-witted and don't panic when things change, otherwise my secret would have been exposed.
Yonggui was no longer afraid of his shouting. He smiled and reasoned with him pleasantly:
"My Lord Xiang... do you believe this so-called 'intelligence'? I'm afraid that one of yours is not an 'intelligence agent', but an 'informant' bought from ordinary people in Taiyuan, right?"
"You don't care who the person is, just tell me if this is the case."
Yonggui smiled and said:
"Sir Xiang, do you think so? Your planes are in the sky for reconnaissance every day. We have soldiers on the ground. Can you not see them?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought for a moment and said:
"Then, you can mobilize troops at night."
Yonggui chuckled and said:
"Sir Xiang, our closest corps to Taiyuan is in Beijing and Tianjin. Well, even if we secretly transfer troops to Taiyuan, we can't transfer less, right? It's definitely impossible to have hundreds of thousands of people, at least a few divisions, more than a dozen
Are you a teacher? It’s hundreds of kilometers from Beijing to Taiyuan. It’s impossible to walk there in one night, right? What about during the day?
?Then a large force of more than a dozen divisions, even if it marches in multiple directions, will have to march dozens of kilometers. Will your plane not be visible in the sky during the day?...I want to tell you, sir, these are the most basic logical questions.
, you, and your adults, must think over your head before blaming us, right?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang squinted his eyes and looked at him suspiciously. Yonggui smiled calmly, looking like he could withstand the test.
After looking at it for a long time, Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at the information in his hand doubtfully, then slowly sat down and lit a cigarette.
Yonggui didn't say anything, just looked at him with a smile, waiting for him to speak first.
After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang snorted and said slowly:
"Then, this afternoon, our government is going to announce this to reporters, saying that we have obtained intelligence. Your Qing army has betrayed its trust and has secretly sneaked into Shanxi and is advancing south. Our army will be attacked at any time..."
He looked up at the clock and said in frustration:
"I'm afraid I'm already holding a press conference right now."
Yonggui looked at him with sympathy and slowly shrugged, expressing his helplessness.
Then Yonggui stood up and said:
"Your Majesty, in view of this, I'm afraid I can no longer negotiate here. Please allow me to go back to my residence now, send a report to Beijing, and tell the emperor what you are doing... There is no way, you lack sincerity now,
First of all, we fabricate facts and slander others, then we must also announce the truth to the outside world, meet your challenge, and defend our innocence in front of the world."
Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated, hesitated, and nodded in frustration.
…
At 17:30 in the afternoon, the Nanming Army Ministry actually held a press conference and announced to the media that the Qing army was rapidly marching southward from Shanxi. According to intelligence, the leading troops had already arrived in Taiyuan and were still moving south. It was estimated that within a day,
Will come into contact with the Ming Army's reconnaissance troops.
At the same time, Yonggui was in his room, frantically sending secret telegrams to Beijing to report Xiang Xiaoqiang's reaction to Guangwu. At the same time, he informed Guangwu that the Nanming Army Department was holding a press conference and asked the emperor to listen to the radio as soon as possible.
Yonggui estimated in the message that although the information Nanming received was not accurate, it was quite close to the facts. This shows that Nanming's intelligence agents in Taiyuan may have captured some rumors that "there are a large number of troops in the mountains outside the city."
Sent back to Nanjing, Nanjing was extremely nervous and overreacted.
Maybe they believed it to be true without verifying it. Or they tried to verify it, but the "information barrier" built by the Qing army on the north side of Taiyuan was so effective that Nanming's intelligence agents could not go to the mountains outside the city to verify it in person. In this case
, the Nanming intelligence agent became more and more sure of his judgment.
In fact, after the 20 divisions of the Qing Army arrived in the north of Taiyuan, the city immediately sent military police to set up a blockade outside the city and no one was allowed to go up the mountain. There are various rumors in Taiyuan City. One of the main rumors is that
, that is, a large number of troops were ambushed in the mountains outside the city, preparing to attack the Ming army.
From this point of view, Yonggui's guess is also reasonable. Except for one wrong guess, that is, the "intelligence agent" of Nanming is not an ordinary person lurking in Taiyuan City, but Gua, the military minister of the Qing Dynasty.
Dexin.
…
So, just an hour after Nan Ming's press conference ended, at 7 o'clock in the evening, the Qing government in Beijing also held a press conference, inviting resident journalists from various embassies to come and refute Nan Ming's "deliberate
"Slander". Qing court
The spokesman stated sternly that the Qing Dynasty did not have any garrison of brigade or above in Shanxi. Except for a small number of garrison troops and military police in various places, there was no single soldier. Nanming's rumor-mongering was malicious and had ulterior motives.
of.
Nanjing.
Xiang Xiaoqiang lay in his easy chair, listening with great interest to the shortwave broadcast from Beijing, and listening to the Qing government spokesperson's righteous refutation of the rumors, and he rubbed his hands in excitement.
"Okay, okay," he said to himself with a smile, "Guangwu, Guangwu, what I want is your words... If you don't say these words, we will be embarrassed to attack your Shanxi Corps! You
Now that we have said that, we have nothing to say.
Haha...haha, this time I will let you knock out your front teeth and swallow it... This time I will teach you a lesson. Find out what you encounter in the future. Admit it when you need to admit it. Don't rush to refute rumors as soon as they come up...
Refuting rumors can even kill you... Hahaha."
He finished laughing and shouted:
"Xiuxiu! Hu Jiong! Come on! Change clothes! Prepare the car! I am going to the headquarters! I am going to command the war! Hahahaha!"
…
Throughout the night of November 26, the atmosphere of the night before D-Day reappeared in the Purple Mountain Fortress. Various departments were busy communicating and making arrangements. Phones were ringing one after another, officers were running around with documents under their arms, and the Central Broadcasting Center broadcast everyone
After a while, the news was broadcast on the left and right sides, the positioning status of each unit, and the preparation status of each Army Aviation flying group...
Xiang Xiaoqiang is also so busy that he wants to be busy. Making phone calls, signing orders, reading telegrams... However, what is different from the bustle on the eve of D-Day is that after nearly two months of war command training, he is now only "busy", and
No more "chaos".
In fact, this is also a major change in the entire fortress. After more than two months of running in, I feel less "rushed" and more "easy" when I move from top to bottom.
Very early in the evening, Xiang Xiaoqiang went to his room to sleep because he had to get up early tomorrow to personally command the People's Guard's dawn offensive.
…
At 3:40 in the morning on November 27, three groups, a total of 180 Swan twin-engine horizontal bombers, were ready for launch on the lawns of the three airports in Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and Linfen. The last batch of bombs were being pulled under the belly of the aircraft on a car.
, hoisted into the bomb bay. Groups of bomber crew members watched the commander's combat demonstration in the hangar.
Two groups, with a total of 80 Kingfisher fighter jets, have been dispersedly parked at several battlefield airports in the Shanxi occupied area, and are also making final preparations.
The construction of these battlefield airports was stepped up during the negotiations. The Ming army did not waste a day. Now these small airports are far away from the enemy territory and are specially used for fighter jets. Fighters have a short range and can maximize their power by taking off from here.
, providing protection for bombers taking off from the rear.
Now, Nanming's entire war machine is ready to go, just waiting for an order to be given.