At the Nanjing Headquarters, Li Gensheng was the first to see the telegram requesting instructions from the 5th Armored Division. He originally thought, what is there to ask for instructions on? There was already an order, and all Qing army officers who took civilians hostage, including lieutenants and above, were executed. He originally thought
With a stroke of a pen, I ordered the front line to act according to the law. After thinking about it again, I felt something was wrong.
Why are you asking for instructions from the front? ...By the way, this is the first time that the Qing army has coerced civilians after the Northern Qing Dynasty promulgated the "Incrimination Order". This is a new special situation. The commander of the fifth division is Tian Zhanyuan. He probably considered that,
How this matter is handled will set a precedent for the future, so please be cautious.
Li Gensheng looked at the details described in the telegram and couldn't make up his mind for a moment. To say that these Qing troops were really cornered. On one side was the "Order to Save Civilians" from the Ming Army, and on the other side was the "Order of Implication" from the Qing Army.
If it were me, I really wouldn't think so
What's the third way? Li Gensheng couldn't make up his mind and wanted to report the matter to Xiaoqiang. But it was late at night and Xiang Xiaoqiang was sleeping, so Li Gensheng asked the front line to take custody of the four lieutenants first and wait for instructions to report to Xiaoqiang in the morning.
Make a decision after Xiaoqiang.
…
This tank battle in the village was the most serious resistance the 5th Armored Division encountered during its entire night advance. For more than two hours after that, no major resistance was encountered.
It was a little after five o'clock in the morning, when it was still dark, and the soldiers of the 5th Armored Division's reconnaissance battalion smelled the salty smell coming towards their faces. The farmland on both sides gradually became scarce, and was replaced by large tracts of deserted beaches.
The car lights shined through and all we could see were weeds and bushes.
Everything indicates that we are almost reaching the coastline.
After marching for another ten minutes, the soil under the feet of the front-line reconnaissance infantry began to loosen up. When they stepped on their boots, the sandy texture became noticeably stronger. When they shined a light on it, they found that it was all gray-white sand.
A soldier picked up a handful, smelled it, and licked a little bit. It tasted bitter and salty.
Have you already reached the beach?
But the car lights were shining far away, and the sea was not visible.
The reconnaissance camp was dispersed into a broad convex surface, and scouts several kilometers away also reported via radio that they were stepping on a large number of salt flats.
According to common sense, even the seaside is not like this. Such large salt flats can only be found near saltwater lakes in arid areas of Central Asia. The climate of the seaside is humid, so it will not be like this.
The division staff were also very surprised. They were all immersed in the command car looking up various maps and information. Suddenly a staff officer said with enlightenment:
"Everyone, this is not a salt flat, this may be a salt drying field! To the south of Haizhou and north of Binhai County, there are salt drying fields along the coast! Our vanguard has already entered the salt drying field. The reconnaissance battalion in front stepped on the foot of the salt field.
It’s not sand, it’s coarse salt!”
After saying this, the entire command vehicle suddenly realized. When the reconnaissance battalion ahead received the news from the radio, they all grabbed a handful of "sand" and put it under the car lights to look at it carefully. It turned out to be coarse salt.
We drove into the salt drying field, which means that we are only a few kilometers away from the coastline. It is only after five o'clock and it is still dark. It can be said that we have completed the task ahead of schedule and have basically made it to the seaside smoothly.
Sure enough, after marching for about half an hour, the front-line reconnaissance troops passed through the salt field area, and their leather boots actually stepped on the beach.
Bathing in the cold sea breeze, breathing in the humid, salty air, and hearing the sound of the waves, everyone in the reconnaissance team was so excited that they could hardly contain themselves.
Although it was still dark, the reflection of the moon on the sea in the distance was still relatively clear. On the dark sea, a silvery wave shone, which was extremely beautiful.
In the darkness in the distance, a little red light can be vaguely seen, flashing one after another. This is the agreed signal. It is the destroyer of the Ming Navy patrolling back and forth in the offshore area of the target coast, lighting the red light as a signal for the armored divisions on the land.
"Lighthouse". Seeing this mark means that the 5th Armored Division has arrived at the correct coast, which is only 25-30 kilometers away from Haeju in the north.
It has arrived at the predetermined position. At this point, the easternmost section of the Qing army's first line of defense - the Qing army east of Suqian has been surrounded. The 5th Armored Division began to gather, redeploy its troops, rearrange and adjust its direction, preparing to launch an attack to the south at dawn.
, annihilate the Qing troops on the first line of defense.
…
At 5:30 in the morning, like most important generals, Xiang Xiaoqiang also got up early. While having breakfast with Li Gensheng, he quickly scanned the telegram, raised his eyelids and asked:
"How many lieutenants are there, four?"
Li Gensheng replied:
"Four. The Qing army originally had two companies, but now there is only one company commander and three platoon commanders left. The others are all dead."
"Then what do you mean, let them go?"
"That's not what I meant," Li Gensheng said, "Sir, since the Fifth Division sent a message to ask for instructions, it means that they also think it is inappropriate to execute them like this. The Qing army's current situation is different from before. They cannot surrender, otherwise the whole family
We will be implicated. Sir, at this time, should we make some changes?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang read the telegram carefully again, pondered for a moment, and said:
"No, those dozens of ordinary people cannot die in vain, nor can they be disabled in vain. Who asked them to hide in the residential area and fight, but they don't let the ordinary people come out. If you don't want to surrender, that's fine. If they are men, everyone can come out and fight. Or
If you want to take advantage of the favorable environment of the building, that's fine, but at least let the civilians withdraw from the battlefield. This will help the civilians to back them up.
No matter how desperate we are, we can't set a precedent. If we don't set this precedent, then at least it will be the Qing army who will be desperate. If this precedent is set, the Qing army will taste the sweetness and start to do this. Then we will be the ones who are desperate... Call us back.
, let them execute the four lieutenants as usual, and send a warning to the entire Qing army as usual."
Li Gensheng took the telegram and hesitated for a moment. He didn't say what he wanted to say. He just said "yes" and returned.
Twenty minutes later, the four Qing army lieutenants were executed by the Gendarmerie of the Fifth Armored Division. The death sentence was then widely circulated via electricity. All Qing army command departments at all levels would receive it.
At six o'clock in the morning, artillery shelling and bombing began at the same time. This narrow encirclement zone 120 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide was once again plunged into tremors and smoke. What was different from the last attack was that this time the frontline
The Qing army has
The transportation to the rear was cut off and the retreat route was cut off. The Ming army executed four Qing army officers for holding civilians hostage. This news has just spread to all the Qing army command departments. Now the Qing army in the encirclement circle has lost
All fighting spirit.
After an hour of firepower preparation, at seven o'clock, the Ming army, with two armored divisions as the backbone and 20 motorized infantry divisions as the coordinated force, advanced from the north and south sides at the same time.
Although the Qing army's positions were very long, they were only 15 kilometers wide on average, which meant there was no depth. By 12 noon, the entire narrow strip was divided into 11 pieces of varying sizes. At this point, this battle of annihilation
It basically counts as a win.
While the Ming army increased its troops and consolidated its positions, it also used aircraft to scatter leaflets in the sky.
This is a new leaflet printed based on the new situation in the new era. The central idea is: We know that the Qing government issued a cruel order that "if one person surrenders, his whole family will be affected." This order not only violates international public law, but also violates basic human ethics.
It can be said to be annihilating humanity. But because of this, you need to surrender on a large scale. Only in this way can the evil man who kidnapped your family
The evil regime will perish faster. The sooner and more of you surrender, the sooner your hometown will be liberated and the safer your family will be. There are hundreds of thousands or millions of you, even if you surrender together, what will happen to you?
The Qing government was not necessarily efficient enough to identify who surrendered and who died before it was destroyed, let alone go all over the country to threaten your family.
Sure enough, after the new batch of leaflets were dropped, the will of the Qing soldiers in the encirclement to break out was significantly weakened, and several encirclements surrendered smoothly.
By around four o'clock in the afternoon, almost all the first-line Qing troops east of Suqian surrendered. In this battle, a total of 12 Qing divisions were annihilated, four of which were Eight Banners divisions. Approximately 160,000 Qing troops were killed or captured.
The remaining people.
Next, the Ming army on the right remained idle all night, busy transferring prisoners, consolidating the left-wing position, preventing the main Qing army from counterattacking in the direction of Xuzhou on the west, repairing damaged roads and bridges, establishing supply depots, and building forward airports... In short
, a series of tasks are in service of the next offensive-continue to attack north, break through the second line of defense of the Central Plains Corps, seize Haizhou (Lianyungang), and obtain a shipping port on the way forward.
The high command, which had been nervous for the past few days, was now half relieved. This battle was less effective than the previous one, but more than the inferior one. Compared with the first phase of the Jianghuai Battle, this kind of attack speed and casualty rate can be regarded as "
It was a hard battle. But compared with the real "hard battle" on the first day of the Central Plains War, this was almost a smooth battle.
In any case, the Central Plains Corps of the Qing Army, which looked like a piece of discus, was finally bitten off a piece in the southeast corner.