At eight o'clock in the morning on the 6th, the Qing army in the south of Taierzhuang launched a counterattack, trying to use the long range advantage of its rifle unit to regain the places lost at night when the visibility was good during the day.
Under the cover of dozens of heavy tanks, thousands of Qing troops advanced from south to north throughout Taierzhuang. However, complex terrain is always more beneficial to the defenders, and urban warfare is no exception. The Qing troops were defeated in the early morning
After compressing to the south, the Ming army did not intend to lose the position in their hands. The self-propelled mortars and self-propelled cannons of the Fourth and Fifth Armored Divisions of the People's Guard subsequently moved in, following closely behind the infantry.
On the morning of the 6th, because a large proportion of self-propelled artillery was invested, the Ming army's position defense deployment was much faster than the Qing army imagined. The Qing army thought that it would start "sawing" again like yesterday, and rushed with heavy tanks.
I pushed it back. I didn't expect the Ming army's artillery to come up so quickly today.
The original plan was to mop up the Ming infantry and at most deal with the Lightning 3 tanks, which only had 47mm guns. Now they were suddenly hit head-on by the 57mm self-propelled artillery, and were frequently attacked by the Ming troops in the buildings on both sides. The Qing army was defeated in a short time.
More than ten tanks were lost. The remaining tanks retreated under the cover of infantry.
…
Just as the battle in Taierzhuang was in full swing, a special train was driven south from Nanjing. Zheng Yucong, the monarch of Leping, took more than a dozen maids and servants and more than a hundred People's Guard guards south to Guangzhou. There, they would board the ready-to-go "
"Hengbo" ocean-going yacht, heading to Europe.
At the same time, in Japan on the other side of the ocean in the east, a secret negotiation was taking place in Tokyo.
In a comfortable small living room, sunlight pours in from the tall floor-to-ceiling windows. The flames in the fireplace are beating warmly. There are several sofas in the center of the room, and a map of East Asia on the wall.
The three important ministers of Hirota Hongyi's cabinet and a military veteran are having secret discussions.
They are: Koki Hirota, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Empire of Japan, Juichi Terauchi, Minister of War, Osamu Nagano, Minister of Navy, and Prince Kanin Miyazaishihito, Chief of Staff of the Military Command.
The oldest, most senior, and most noble of the four people is Prince Zaihi. Prince Zaihi is the great-uncle of the current Emperor Hirohito, and is in charge of the Army for His Majesty the Emperor. He is so senior that few people in the entire Japanese military can.
Than. The old man studied in France in 1882 to study the military.
He served as a second lieutenant in the Army in 1887 and performed well in both the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. He is 71 years old this year. He is dressed in a gorgeous marshal's military uniform, with a ribbon slung across his body, and an upturned "cloth" under his nose.
Jonny style" big beard, thick eyebrows and big eyes, majestic.
But now it is the world of young people. The old man has become more sophisticated as he gets older. Now he serves as the Chief of Staff of the Military Command Department with the rank of marshal. As the leader of a group of stupid young "staff officers", he has become more and more profound. The depth of the city,
It's simply unfathomable.
He leaned on the sofa with his hands on his knees. He had the posture of a royal prince, but his eyes were slightly closed, and his two upturned beards moved slightly, as if he was resting his mind, and was tossing by the "young people" in front of him.
In fact, the two ears are like radar, keenly picking up every word.
Hirota Koki was the only civil servant among the four. He was in his fifties, dressed in a well-dressed suit, and paced slowly in front of the map on the wall, while humming gently:
"...After considering many factors, I think the opinion of His Royal Highness the Chief of Staff is a safe path. Regarding the current situation of the Qing Dynasty...and the possibility of its revival, I think you all think the same as me. About the Qing Dynasty's current situation...and the possibility of its revival. Regarding
On this point, we have reached a unified opinion...
...The territory, resources, population, etc. of the Qing Dynasty far exceed those of the Ming Dynasty. However, in the past hundred years, it has not carried out real political reforms like our empire and the Ming Dynasty. And in the foreseeable future.
The rulers of will still refuse to carry out reforms that touch the political level...
"Those who help themselves will be helped by God. Whether it is a person or a country, if you do not have the determination to change yourself, even God cannot help it, let alone Japan. Since the twentieth century, our country has invested too much in this behemoth.
So much enthusiasm is now about to evaporate. Now the Qing Dynasty has relied on massacring the families of surrendered officers and soldiers to maintain the morale of the front line. According to
According to yesterday's intelligence, more than 10,000 people were executed in Zhili Province alone. The number of family members of soldiers sent to labor camps should be more than five times this number. According to common sense, the morale of the Qing army collapsed on the battlefield in the Central Plains.
, a large-scale mutiny is about to happen at any time... At this critical moment, our empire, as the earliest awakened country in Asia, has the responsibility to take action in time, at least in Manchuria and Mongolia..."
Having said this, he walked quickly to the map, raised his arm, drew a large circle in Northeast China, tapped twice, and said firmly:
"At least in Manchuria and Mongolia, we should carry out some positive actions to obtain a space for the development of the empire to display our ambitions. At the same time, as the leader of the Asian nation, we, Japan, should be the agents of Britain and the United States in Northeast Asia, in the dark Qing Dynasty,
Between the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, a pure space for Asians should be reserved. In the future, Japan will start from here and embark on a path to expel the Westerners and liberate Asia. For this reason, it is wise to decisively abandon the Qing Dynasty and temporarily unite with the Ming Dynasty.
choice.”
The three people on the sofa looked at him without any major reaction. Prince Zai Ren still squinted his eyes slightly, and the big beard on his lips trembled slightly. He thought to himself that Guangtian had probably been a diplomat for too long and had contracted the disease.
Occupational disease, now even talking behind closed doors is so beautiful.
Army Minister Touichi Terauchi smiled with satisfaction and nodded slightly. The Prime Minister's impassioned speech was quite in line with his expansionist thoughts.
Navy Minister Nagano Shushen looked at the others and said calmly:
"Just now, Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, said that we have reached a unified opinion... I am very willing to reach a unified opinion with Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, but now, I still want to talk about my personal views."
Hirota Hongyi walked back to the sofa, sat down, picked up the teacup, and said with a smile:
"You're welcome, please speak freely."
Nagano cultivated himself and came to the map, pointed at the East China Sea and a large area of the Yellow Sea, and said loudly:
"Our empire is a sea-power country. The Ming Dynasty is also a sea-power country. Our empire's combined fleet and the Ming Dynasty's fleet are the two most powerful fleets in Asia. Of course, strictly speaking, we are stronger than the Ming Dynasty's navy.
Some. But it's just a little stronger, and it doesn't form an overwhelming advantage. I think,
If we compare East Asia and Oceania, that is, the Western Pacific Rim, to Europe, then there is no doubt that the Qing Dynasty is Russia, the Ming Dynasty is Germany or France, and we Japan is the United Kingdom. No matter in terms of territory, land area, or land mass
In terms of naval strength, there is no more appropriate metaphor than this.
"As we all know, a very important factor why the British Empire has maintained its glory for more than 300 years is that it has always adopted the national policy of "unity the weak, suppressing the strong, and balancing power in Europe." During the Napoleonic period, France was the dominant power, and it came forward to unite Europe.
Countries opposed France. Afterwards, Russia became stronger as the leader of the anti-French alliance, and Britain
France then supported France to fight against Russia. After Russia, France became stronger again, and Britain supported Prussia against France. Later, at the end of the 19th century, Britain united France and Russia, the two old enemies, to form the Allied Powers to jointly fight against Germany. To this day, Britain has successfully maintained its
The world's largest colonial territory and the world's largest naval fleet.
"Please note that the conflict between Britain and Russia and France at that time was no smaller than before. In Asia, conflicts between Britain and Russia caused by expansion continued. In Africa, the competition between Britain and France for this continent was even more intense. But the reason why Britain
Determined to unite with Russia and France to fight against Germany, the most important thing
The important reason is that Germany is working hard to expand its navy. This directly touches the bottom line of Britain. At that time, Germany not only had the strongest army, but also had the strongest navy in the world. This was something that Britain could not tolerate. Because of this threat
To the British homeland security.
"In Asia, our situation is that of Britain. For a long time, we have believed that Japan has the strongest navy in Asia, and the Qing Dynasty has the strongest army. The Ming Dynasty has the second strongest army and navy at the same time. According to this line of thinking,
After the Qing Dynasty's navy was wiped out in the Japanese-Qing War, we have always been on the side of the Qing Dynasty.
, to contain the Ming Dynasty, which had the second strongest navy. But today's war broke this view. The Qing Dynasty's army proved to be vulnerable, and the title of the strongest army in Asia was transferred to the Ming Dynasty. In this way, the Ming Dynasty
An extremely dangerous situation emerged: the Ming Dynasty not only had the strongest army, but also almost the strongest navy.
"The reason why I call it an 'extremely dangerous situation' is just to illustrate that the current situation of the empire is almost the same as that of Britain at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The empire's national strength is obviously not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty.
army……"
He glanced at Juichi Terauchi, who was sitting upright, and found that the Minister of War was staring at him fiercely. Nagano Shushen smiled slightly and continued:
"As for the imperial army, I believe that there is no army in the world as good as the Imperial Japanese Army. But it must be objectively stated that we have the best samurai in the world, but these samurai are not equipped with enough aircraft.
, tanks, self-propelled artillery, and cars are armed. And these things are extremely important in the wars of the twentieth century..."
Temple Shouichi sneered:
"Your Excellency, Lord Admiralty, if you only talk about naval battles, I have nothing to say. But even in land battles in the new era, people play the decisive role, not one or two beautiful machines. I would like to remind you that the Imperial Army has the most powerful
A powerful spiritual weapon is the 'Yamato Soul'. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were weak and afraid of death. They lived a privileged life since childhood and seriously lacked the awareness to endure hardships and stand hard work. Slightly higher casualties were unbearable. What they lacked was spirit. This is obvious.
The biggest weakness of the Chinese military.”
Nagano Shushen smiled slightly, nodded, and did not argue with him, but continued:
"... In view of this, our empire is faced with two choices: First, it is willing to recognize the Ming Dynasty as the leader of Asia and bow to its feet. This is lucky. As an ambitious sea power country, the Ming Dynasty
The thought is also 'to open up thousands of miles of waves and spread the country's prestige in all directions.'
And our Japanese island chain is like a barrier, blocking the way of the Ming Dynasty to the Pacific Ocean. 'Every man is not guilty, but he is guilty of carrying a jade'. Our country's strategic location is bound to become our country's 'original sin' and become the use of the Ming Dynasty.
The motive behind gunboats opening the gates of the Empire and transporting its armies to land on the islands...
“Second, it is to rise up and spare no effort to support the Qing Dynasty to resist the Ming Dynasty on land, drag the Ming Dynasty into the quagmire of a long war, and drain its financial resources and manpower...At sea, once the time is right, use its fleet to
Annihilate them. In this way, the empire's leadership position in Asia can be ensured for a long time."