The Ming army always led the battle with the mechanized troops of the People's Guard. But today it was the opposite. Instead, the infantry ran to the front. Seeing that Taiyuan City could not pass through for a while, they asked the infantry to get off the car and walk, from both sides of Taiyuan City.
Go around the city on the mountain road and get to the north of the city first
Attack the remnants of the Qing army. Some light tanks with good off-road capabilities and fully tracked armored vehicles also climbed over the mountain roads on both sides of the city. Most of the bulky self-propelled artillery, towed artillery, wheeled military vehicles, etc., were still coming from the area.
We passed through the jubilant Taiyuan City.
As soon as the Ming army infantry bypassed Taiyuan City, they immediately climbed onto the light tanks and armored vehicles and launched an attack like wolves and tigers.
The mountains on the east and west sides have become "flaming mountains". Thick smoke mixed with plant ash was blown head-on by the north wind. The soldiers of the Ming army were so smoked that they could not open their eyes. But even so, they could not stop them from fighting for victory.
The "arrogant arrogance" of the attackers. Soon, large groups of people were burned half to death and smoked to death.
The half-dead Qing army appeared in front of them. They were all supporting each other and walking half-dead to the north. As soon as they saw the Ming army coming, those who could run abandoned their companions and ran away immediately. Those who were injured, and those
Those who were choked and could no longer run lay down on the ground and surrendered.
Reporters accompanying the Ming Army in Shanxi were given priority to sit on light tanks and armored vehicles. They were the first to rush to the north with the first wave of Ming Army. They climbed on the sides of the tanks and armored vehicles, holding up the cameras and video cameras in their hands, and kept talking.
Take pictures of the clear scenery all over the mountains and plains
At first, only small groups of Qing troops were seen. Later, as they advanced north, they encountered several times more Qing troops every kilometer. They either ran away in confusion, or couldn't run and just sat on the ground and surrendered. By the hour
On the left and right, tens of thousands of Qing soldiers have been captured.
Members of the People's Guard's political team, keeping their mission in mind, took reporters, especially foreign reporters, to interrogate the prisoners on the spot next to the tank. Under the filming of the hand-cranked camera, the prisoners were all
Which unit he belonged to, what orders he received, how he sneaked to Shanxi, how he lurked day and night, how he hid in the woods, how he prepared to occupy Taiyuan City... they were all told.
The political team members were extremely happy, and the reporters accompanying the army were even more ecstatic. Yesterday, Beijing was still righteously "refuting the rumors," but today it has captured tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of living evidence. This big mouth is in big trouble.
The face of the Qing court was so beaten that it was hard to beat.
The Ming army sent more manpower and worked hard to improve order in Taiyuan City. Several wide streets were soon opened for the army to pass quickly. The excited citizens were also asked to step aside to see if they could go any further.
The team was squeezed hard. Now the mechanized troops passed several times faster. By almost noon, a People's Guard mechanized division and three Army motorized infantry divisions, which were the vanguard, basically all their heavy equipment had passed through.
Taiyuan City.
The vanguard troops continued to advance northward without stopping, leaving an army infantry division behind to search for prisoners in the mountains and forests north of Taiyuan City. By the time lunch was served, about 150,000 to 180,000 Qing prisoners had been gathered.
Sit in some open areas and wait for processing.
According to the prisoners' confessions, the entire Shanxi Corps has five Eight Banners divisions and 15 Han military divisions, with a total strength of about 280,000 to 300,000. That means that one-third to half of the Qing army is still scattered.
.A considerable number of these scattered Qing troops must have been bombed to death, burned to death on the mountain, and did not come down. Some of them were still stragglers, either escaping north or wandering nearby.
It can now be said that the Shanxi Corps of the Qing Army - five Eight Banners Divisions and fifteen elite Han Military Divisions - have all been wiped out. The vast gate to northern Shanxi has been opened, and there is no Qing Army soldier in front, leaving the Ming Army alone.
occupied.
…
After passing Taiyuan, there are more mountains and fewer plains. According to the original plan of the Ming Army Headquarters, after passing Taiyuan, they should move all the way north, capture Dai County as quickly as possible, pass Yanmen Pass, then capture Datong, and then head northeast
Pounce on Zhangjiakou, capture the Zhangjiakou tank base of the Northern Qing Dynasty, and at the same time threaten Beijing from the north.
——Of course, none of the old men in the headquarters, including Xiang Xiaoqiang, expects to be able to invade Beijing directly from Zhangjiakou. It would be good to be able to reach Xuanhua. The Beijing-Tianjin defense circle in the North Qing Dynasty is heavily armed with elite troops gathered in Xishan, Yanshan,
Badaling is full of lofty mountains and densely populated with forts and forts, so it is not that easy to fight. In addition, there are no railways along the way, so even if there is no resistance at all,
If they don't meet, they just march. The Ming army will be at the end of its war effort when it reaches Zhangjiakou. However, the Qing soldiers of the Beijing-Tianjin generation fought on the inside and waited for work. However, the left group of the Ming army can advance to Zhangjiakou - even if it only advances to Datong, it will be
The entire Beijing-Tianjin Corps, as well as the Northern Corps, can be firmly tied to the north, and it is impossible to go south to participate in the Central Plains War.
This was the original relatively optimistic plan. But now the offensive of the right army group has been seriously hindered, and can even be said to be "setback". By noon, it has only advanced 4-5 kilometers to the north on average. Moreover, although the casualties are still in the Ming army
It's within the tolerable range, but it's quite big.
Li Gensheng and the others were left to worry about the specific operations, while Xiang Xiaoqiang only studied strategic issues with a few old men.
Xiang Xiaoqiang spent the whole morning pondering the giant map in the hall. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that he should stop the left army group from advancing north, turn east, and capture Shijiazhuang first.
"As long as Shijiazhuang is captured," Xiang Xiaoqiang was in a small conference room, knocking on a map and talking to the two old men Zhang and Tang, "then south of Shijiazhuang and north of the Yellow River, half of Zhili will be equal to
We have won them all. Look, Beiqing has two large north-south railways in the North China Plain, one is the Jinpu Railway in the east, and the other is the Beijing-Southern Railway in the west, next to Shanxi.
"Shijiazhuang is an important hub on the Beijing-South Line. If we capture Shijiazhuang, a series of places south of Shijiazhuang: Xingtai, Handan, Anyang, and Xinxiang will all lose their railway supplies immediately. Plus there are not many soldiers. That's not the end of it."
No
We surrendered in battle. Now that we have captured a large piece of the southwest corner of Zhili, we can then move eastward, attack Shandong from the north of the Yellow River, and stab the Central Plains Corps of the Qing Army in the back. In this way, the Central Plains Corps will be defeated in a pincer attack from the north and the south.
Determined.
"Even if the rear of the Central Plains Corps is tightly defended, we can't hit the Yellow River southward for a while. Then we blow up the Jinan Yellow River Bridge, which is equivalent to locking up the Central Plains Corps in Shandong. The Central Plains Corps has become a lone army. Not only will it have no intention to fight again
We can resist stubbornly, and we can advance freely north of the Yellow River without taking into account the Central Plains Corps behind us. The battle situation in Shandong and Xuzhou is left to the right army group to slowly deal with it.
"Also, Shijiazhuang is still a railway hub in North China. If we capture Shijiazhuang, we will capture the Beijing-South Line south of Shijiazhuang. If we capture the Beijing-South Line south of Shijiazhuang, we will have a direct line from Nanyang to Shijiazhuang.
Our left army group has the railway. We can load the logistics supplies onto the train in Nanyang, then go straight north to Shijiazhuang, and then move west from Shijiazhuang along the Shilu Railway into Shanxi.
"This means that in the future we will have a railway supply line in Shanxi. We no longer have to go around Sanmenxia and Hangu Pass seven times and eight times like now. We have to cross the Yellow River floating bridge north, and then use cars to go from the big ravine to the
Beiyun... As long as we have this railway in hand, we can blow up the Jinan Bridge and lock the Central Plains Corps in Shandong... Then we can concentrate on attacking Beijing in a big way."
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang was frothing at the mouth and beaming with joy as he spoke. The two old men, Zhang Zhaoxian and Tang Yunsheng, looked at each other and then at the map. They didn't say anything, they were all thinking about it.
When Xiang Xiaoqiang had finished speaking and looked at the two of them hopefully, Tang Yunsheng shook his head and said:
"Yes, your idea is very bold and sounds very attractive. But... have you ever thought about the fact that everything you said has to have a premise: the Qing Dynasty's Beijing-Tianjin Corps and the Northern Corps are standing still.
They will not go south to reinforce Shijiazhuang. But if they want to prevent the Qing captives from reinvading
If the troops move south for reinforcements, then our left army group must first capture the entire Shanxi, advance to Datong and Zhangjiakou, and appear behind Beijing. - In that case, the Qing captives would rather leave the Central Plains Corps alone than dare to let heavy troops
Leaving the Beijing-Tianjin defense circle."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, then looked at the map, and suddenly realized that one of the important purposes of the Left Army Group in occupying the entire Shanxi Province was to threaten the Beijing-Tianjin defense circle and contain the Qing Army's Beijing-Tianjin Corps, so that the Right Army Group could occupy the entire Shanxi province.
Let's go to the decisive battle. Now...it seems a bit sacrificial.
Tang Yunsheng continued:
"Look at the map. The terrain of Shanxi was originally easy to defend and difficult to attack. But now Shanxi is very empty and there are not many Qing troops. This is a good opportunity given to us. The Qing army relied on two legs to reinforce Shanxi and it was too late. We sat in the car
On wheels, we can capture the entire Shanxi in three or four days. And after we occupy it, it will be difficult for the Qing army to recapture it. Is there any better opportunity than this? Shanxi's terrain and geographical location make it possible to advance and retreat.
, can threaten the North China Plain anytime and anywhere.
"As long as we occupy Shanxi, then the Beijing-South Line, Shijiazhuang, and the North China Plain will all be ours sooner or later. But if we rush to attack Shijiazhuang first, we leave time for the Qing army to occupy northern Shanxi.
, then in the future North China
It's hard to say what the battlefield will look like... Maybe, even if we later capture Shandong, Zhili, or even Beijing, the Qing captives will still be in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia will be separated from each other, and we will never win.
Don’t drop it.”
Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded repeatedly when he heard this. He thought it made sense. Jiang was still hot. But he always felt that it would be a pity to let go of such a good opportunity. If he didn't take Shijiazhuang quickly now and attack the Central Plains Corps from behind, he would wait until Beijing
After the Tianjin Corps' reinforcements moved south along the Beijing-South Line, and the Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, and Handan lines were all filled with the Eight Banners Division, it would be more difficult for the Left Army Group, which was already weak in strength and had tight transportation, to threaten the North China Plain from Shanxi.
.
Even if the Qing reinforcements on the Jingnan Line in the west and the Central Plains Corps on the Jinpu Line in the east are linked together and use the North China railway network to support each other, then the already difficult battle in the south will be even more difficult.
Especially the Beijing-Southern Railway. Whether this major trunk line is in your hands or not, its impact on the strategic battle situation will be very different.
If the Jingnan Line is not in hand and the left army group relies only on road transportation, then even if it captures the entire Shanxi Province and advances to Datong or Zhangjiakou, it will be at the end of the war and can only be seen there.
However, if the Beijing-South Line is in hand and the left army group can obtain full-length straight-line railway transportation, then it will not be a "final moment". A direct attack on Beijing from Shijiazhuang, and then cooperate with the Bohai Sea landing, would be "awful".