On the afternoon of February 9, the First Armored Division of the People's Guard broke through Shanhaiguan and invaded Qinhuangdao. After a night of fierce fighting, on the morning of the 10th, the Ming army took control of the entire urban area and port area of Qinhuangdao. Qinhuangdao Port was immediately put into use, with a large number of troop transport ships and
The cargo ship docked, and a flood of troops and equipment entered the pass directly from here.
Since then, Port Arthur, which has been overwhelmed, finally got rid of its status as a "cargo port" and returned to its status as a traditional military port. By the standards of a military port, Port Arthur is certainly a very good military port - an ideal strategic location.
A closed harbor that is easy to defend, with Laotieshan and Dongjiguanshan on the left and right to build on
Battery Fortress. It is ideal to station a fleet in Lushun Port, but if a large amount of goods are to be handled continuously, a large-scale open civilian port like Qinhuangdao is still needed. Lushun Harbor is very small, and the throughput is also very small. And the troops come from Lushun
To get ashore, we have to go around the entire Liaodong Peninsula and the North Bohai Sea, which is not close at all.
Now that Qinhuangdao is in his hands, he is putting a dagger on the neck of the Qing court in Beijing.
On the 7th, when the Ming army had just entered Shanhaiguan, Guangwu issued an order to destroy the Qinhuangdao port. Some cranes and other equipment on the pier were first blown to the ground. But these are just superficial. To really destroy the
, the ship will be sunk in the port. But Qinhuangdao Port is different from Lushun Port. Lushun Port is closed
It is closed, like a bottle, with a small exit. Just sinking a ship at the exit is enough to block the entire harbor. However, Qinhuangdao Port is a large arc-shaped open bay, and there is no such thing as an "entrance".
All the Qing army in Hong Kong could do was to sink the ship on the ship berth at the dock, making it difficult for the ship to dock on the slipway.
However, the Qinhuangdao Port area is too large. There are only a dozen cement piers extending into the sea, and ships can dock on both sides of each. To block all these berths, a large fleet is needed. However, Qinhuangdao Port does not have such berths.
There were many ships, and the ocean was in the hands of the Ming army. It was difficult for the Northern Qing Dynasty to mobilize ships between several ports.
Thanks to the shape of Qinhuangdao Harbor, when the Ming army captured it, most of the slipway berths could be used. The cranes and equipment that were blown down were quickly repaired by engineers.
…
On the morning of February 10, the tank units of the Ming and Qing armies encountered each other in Funing County, 15 kilometers southwest of Qinhuangdao. The Qing army's newly formed "First Armored Brigade of the Qing Army" and the Ming Army's People's Guard's First Armored Division
The tank regiment collided head-on, and the second large-scale tank battle in the Unification War broke out.
Since this area is not very deep into the land, there is a Jieshi Mountain to the west of Funing County. There is only a radius of 20 to 30 kilometers between the mountain and the sea. A total of more than 400 tanks from both sides were squeezed into the small battlefield, and there were steel and steel tanks everywhere.
The collision of fire.
The number of tanks owned by the Qing Army's First Armored Brigade is only half of that of the People's Guard's First Armored Division. But they are all medium and heavy tanks, with stronger firepower and armor than the Ming Army's Lightning Tanks. But with the tanks from the last Xuzhou battlefield
With the experience of the war, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are more confident this time. They know that a good armored force is not built overnight. It does not mean that the force is powerful by driving powerful tanks.
The battle lasted until about three o'clock in the afternoon. Within a few hundred square kilometers, burning broken tanks could be seen everywhere, and as usual, there were more Balutu tanks and Kubu tanks. The First Armored Brigade of the Qing Army originally had a hundred tanks
The tanks on the left and right, now beaten down to twenty-seven, each bypassed Jieshi Mountain from the north and south and retreated to the west. The tank regiment of the People's Guard's First Armored Division only lost thirty-one tanks.
More importantly, since the Ming army won the battle and the post-war area was under control, most of the thirty-one destroyed tanks could be towed back for repair. Only a few were completely damaged and could not be repaired.
.And the Qing army lost the battlefield, even if some tanks were only slightly injured, or even just the walking part failed, then the entire tank had to be abandoned. The Ming army repaired it, and after simple modifications, it can be used by itself.
At this time, the leading troops of the Ming Army are still 80 kilometers away from Tangshan, 190 kilometers away from Tianjin, and 230 kilometers away from Beijing. Now, in front of them is the entire Beijing-Tianjin Corps. The Beijing-Tianjin Corps now has 5
1 Imperial Guard Division, 14 Full Eight Banner Divisions, with a strength of 450,000. This is the last elite of the Qing army. It is now heavily deployed in the Beijing, Tianjin and Tang Dynasties, and is watching with eager eyes.
…
Just as the First Division of the People's Guard entered Qinhuangdao on the evening of the 9th, a long military train left Nanjing Station and roared north. This train carried the entire People's Guard Mobile Team Headquarters. It passed by the headquarters.
According to the plan, the Ming army would establish a forward headquarters in North China to command the Beijing campaign nearby. After careful consideration and Xiang Xiaoqiang's strong recommendation, the northern headquarters was built in Xuzhou.
As a traditional military town, and as the center of the Central Plains Corps of the Qing Army for a long time, Xuzhou has a ready-made set of headquarters facilities, including all kinds of maps, sand tables, and fortifications. Except for those that need to be brought from Nanjing,
There are really not many people and things. This is one of the reasons why we were able to move there so quickly after we made the decision.
A few days ago, several trains carried various equipment, materials, etc. to Xuzhou. This train mainly transported personnel from the People's Guard Mobile Team Headquarters. In addition to Xiang Xiaoqiang and his adjutant, guards, etc. on the train
The troops are mainly the team from the Mobile Force Headquarters, Li Gensheng and his people. As for other departments of the People's Guard - the security forces and the like, they still remain in Nanjing.
This time it is still the same old rule: when Xiang Xiaoqiang goes out, Shi Shi Ge Ge stays in Nanjing to look after the scene for him. The difference is that in the past, Xiu Xiu had to stay to look after Shi Shi Ge Ge, but now Xiang Xiaoqiang does not even have to show Xiu Xiu.
Keep it and take it with you. Now the relationship between Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege is just one step away from being a couple, and they can already fully trust each other.
The dining car was filled with a sumptuous dinner. Xiang Xiaoqiang and his two adjutants and wives hosted a banquet in honor of the generals of the mobile team under his command. Xiang Xiaoqiang was in a very good mood this time, and was about to "return home in glory" and command the powerful forces in his hometown.
The army liberated the country.
If nothing unexpected happens, this Battle of Beijing will be the last battle against the Qing Dynasty. Before this spring, the whole country will see the sunshine through the dark clouds, and its long-cherished wish of the Northern Expedition will be successfully realized. Whether it is personal future or national future.
, everything is bright...
Thinking of this, Xiang Xiaoqiang was in an extremely good mood. Before he arrived at his hometown, he was already in the car "doing the good work of a landlord".
Qiu Qiu and Xiu Xiu were obviously in a very good mood. Needless to say, Qiu Qiu, and even Xiu Xiu, who had always been calm, kept smiling all the way, and they were full of happiness from the inside out. It was just like the last time I brought Xiaoqiang to Xiaoqiang.
I was just as happy when I returned to my parents’ home.
Most of the people on this bus were crossing the Yangtze River to the north for the first time in their lives. Although Qiuqiu and Xiuxiu were kidnapped by the Fourteenth Princess and sent to the north once last time, they were basically pretended that time.
In the stuffy car, I was frightened and frightened, and couldn't care less about seeing or feeling anything. This time
Big difference. Our own army is still the conqueror, or liberator, of the north, and my husband is the commander-in-chief of this army. I can revisit my hometown as both the commander's wife and an officer.
, feel the mountains, rivers, plants and trees along the way.
…
The next day, on the morning of the 10th, the military column slowly drove into Xuzhou Railway Station. Two groups of People's Guard soldiers and a dozen officers stood upright on the platform, looking nervously at the door of the commander's luxury box.
With a "bang" sound, the door opened and the iron ladder was lowered. Hu Jiong and Wu Yanbin jumped off one after another, guarding the two sides one on the left and the other on the right. After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang appeared at the door of the train wrapped in a general's coat. There was a "wow" on the platform.
"The ground fell and everyone stood at attention. A dozen officers said in unison:
"I've met the Commander!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and waved his hand and said with a smile:
"Thank you for your hard work."
Then he jumped out of the carriage. Behind him, Li Gensheng, Qiu Qiu, Xiu Xiu and others got off the car one after another.
Xiang Xiaoqiang took a deep breath of the dry, cold air from the north and exhaled for a long time. He smiled and said:
"Finally I can breathe such comfortable air again... When I came to Xuzhou at the end of 1935, I still felt like I couldn't breathe everywhere. But now, it's different. Even the air is free."
The officers on the platform all laughed in amusement, nodded in agreement and praised each other, saying that this kind of free air was hard-won, and what a price they paid for it!
Qiuqiu and Xiuxiu behind them looked at each other and smiled, unable to hide the excitement on their faces. For these two Jiangnan girls, the dry and cold air in North China in winter is still a very "exciting" experience. They are also the first
For the first time, I personally experienced the feeling of "the little north wind cuts like a knife" described in the book.
"Thank you for your hard work, everyone," Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled at everyone, "Let's go into the city. I'll treat everyone to breakfast first, and then we'll go to the Wolf's Den."
A group of officers looked at each other in confusion:
"Wolf's Lair?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"Haha, this is the name I chose for the Northern Command. We will be like wolves here, commanding operations with great ferocity until we tear the Manchu Qing regime into pieces."
A group of officers laughed. A major with the highest rank waved his hand: