The Xuzhou "Wolf's Cave" headquarters is officially called the Northern Command of the Ming Army, but in fact it is the new headquarters of the People's Guard Mobile Team. It is mainly commanded by the People's Guard. The reason why the headquarters was established here
A new headquarters is to fight this last battle with the People's Guard as the main force.
Because everyone now knows that the most elite troops of the Qing army have basically not been moved. They are all entrenched in the northern part of Zhili, that is, in the Beijing, Tianjin, and Tang Dynasty areas, waiting for the final defense battle. Therefore, Zhang Zhao first planned
We also took out the most elite troops of the Ming army and had a final battle with the elites of the Qing army.
Now, the Ming army north of the Yellow River, except for the Marine Corps in the Liaodong Peninsula, are all People's Guards in the pass. Currently, only the First Division east of Tangshan is engaged in combat, and the Second Division is still disembarking in Qinhuangdao to assemble.
But now, the floating water on the Yellow River
More than a dozen bridges had been built, and the First and Second Divisions in the north also prevented the elite Eight Banners of the Qing army from looking south. The Han troops stationed in the south of Zhili were half-hearted and ready to surrender on a large scale at any time. So the Ming army
The time is ripe to cross the Yellow River on a large scale and march north to Zhili.
On the 11th, the two armies fought fiercely for a day on both sides of the Luan River. As the Ming army gradually controlled the air superiority on the battlefield, the last bit of the Qing army's air force was gradually being depleted. And the Ming army was becoming more and more convenient.
Put in more dive bombers, come
To deal with the Qing army on the west bank. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon on the 11th, the Ming army had basically gained control of the air on the battlefield. At this time, after consulting Xiang Xiaoqiang, Li Guoliang decisively detached two brigades from the newly formed 10th Bomb Aviation Regiment.
fighting.
The 10th Bombardment Aviation Regiment is a dive bombing group, and they are all composed of newly entered "Condor" - that is, Stuka bombers. This new dive bomber has less bomb load than the Osprey, but its performance is much better than that of the Osprey.
, especially the maneuverability during dive is excellent, and the accuracy of bomb delivery is far higher than that of the Osprey. Moreover, the Osprey requires three crew members, while the Vulture only needs two, which saves more pilots.
Among the new aviation units newly formed by the Ming Army, in addition to a Vulture bomber aviation regiment, there is also a top-secret "X" fighter group. This fighter group has a total of 40 aircraft, all of which are BF109 fighter jets named "Goshawk".
This is the first mass production of this kind of fighter after Ming Dynasty introduced it. There are currently less than a hundred of them. Most of them are in this brigade.
Li Guoliang originally wanted to use this "x" brigade. According to his idea, now is the last battle against the Qing Dynasty. We spent so much money to introduce new weapons, and it took so long to test, fly, and modify them.
, wouldn’t it be such a loss if the war ended before it was used?
But Xiang Xiaoqiang had another idea. He never thought that there would be peace after the Qing Dynasty was destroyed. On the contrary, after going through the "Southern Campaign" in the first stage of the Northern Expedition, Xiang Xiaoqiang realized that the behemoth of the Northern Qing Dynasty was not scary at all. From then on,
After that, although the Beiqing was still the "current enemy" in his mind, it was no longer the "number one enemy".
Xiang Xiaoqiang dissuaded Li Guoliang and suggested that the "Goshawk" fighter jets should be covered up again and not be exposed so early. After all, there is not much left in the Qing Army's air force, and the Kingfisher fighter jets are more than enough to deal with it.
The high command also believes that what Xiang Xiaoqiang said makes sense. They also believe that the Kingfisher is currently sufficient. The important thing is that there are only some remnants of the Qing Air Force. Whether new aircraft are used or not will have little impact on the course of the war. So
No matter who the next imaginary enemy is, new weapons should be exposed as soon as possible
It is better to expose it later. - As for the Condor dive bomber, there is no way, it must be used in large quantities to support land combat. Moreover, the current Osprey is designed as a carrier-based aircraft, and the Ming Dynasty does not have one specifically designed for ground attack.
Designed dive bomber. The Condor was the first of its kind.
As a result, the testing and production of the Ming Empire's "Goshawk" fighter jets continued to be kept secret.
At dusk on the 11th, two "Condor" dive bomber groups appeared over the Luanhe battlefield and launched a "surgical" attack on the Qing army's positions. Although it soon became dark and there was only time for one round of bombing, but
The effect is comparable to the two rounds of Osprey in ordinary times. Now, both the Qing and Ming armies on both sides of the Luan River believe that if another round of bombing is launched at dawn, the defense on the west bank will collapse, and the Ming army will successfully cross the Luan River.
…
On the evening of the 11th, Xiang Xiaoqiang sat with Li Gensheng and Zhao Cunnian in the Xuzhou headquarters to discuss the next direction of march.
After arriving at the "Wolf's Lair" in Xuzhou, Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly felt that he had more power. In Nanjing, there were many big shots above his head, and it was difficult for him to make a complete decision. Even if he had any good suggestions, he had to follow them first
The two old men discussed. Now,
He is the biggest in the entire headquarters, and he has the final say inside and outside. Especially now that there is only the People's Guard north of the Yellow River, and he is the leader of the People's Guard. This feeling is really great, as if he controls the entire north.
It's the same in my own hands.
Facing the large map of the Beijing-Tianjin battlefield, the three people fell into an argument again. Regarding the next goal, the three people had no objections and all advocated the capture of Tangshan. However, there were obvious differences in the actions after capturing Tangshan.
Li Gensheng and Zhao Cunnian agreed. They both believed that after capturing Tangshan, the troops should turn south and capture Tianjin. Xiang Xiaoqiang advocated that after capturing Tangshan, they should directly send their troops to continue westward, attack Beijing directly, and seize the heart of the Qing Empire.
"Sir," Li Gensheng said sincerely, "although my subordinates and Zisi's method is a little slower to destroy the Qing Dynasty, it is more reliable. Tangshan is 150 kilometers away from Beijing, but only more than 90 kilometers away from Tianjin. Moreover, the distance between Tangshan and Beijing is
During the period, there were 300,000 elite troops of the Eight Banners stationed, but between Tangshan and Tianjin, there were less than 100,000. Let’s fight first
If we go to Beijing alone, we will not only have to face the 300,000 Eight Banners Army on the front, but also have to worry about the 100,000 Eight Banner Army on the left in the direction of Tianjin. Moreover, if we go straight to Beijing, we will inevitably encounter desperate resistance along the way. And although Tianjin is far away
Beijing is close, but it is not the capital. If we capture Tianjin, the intensity of the resistance we will encounter will be much weaker and the price we will pay will be much smaller.
"After capturing Tianjin, we can advance westward, bypass Beijing to the south, capture Baoding, and cut off Zhili. In this way, the central and southern parts of Zhili will be isolated from Beijing, even if we do not occupy it for a while
, but Beijing can no longer control these places. The defenders in these places can surrender without any scruples, and the 400,000 Eight Banners Army entrenched in the Beijing-Tianjin area can hardly
The hometowns of some officers and soldiers are either outside the customs or in various places under Zhili. This means that the hometowns of most of the officers and soldiers of the Beijing-Tianjin Corps are already under our control. Then, even the last elites of the Northern Qing Dynasty will have no scruples about surrendering.
.At least if we unite the whole township, the success rate will be much higher. Sir, in this way, the huge casualties we are worried about in the Battle of Beijing will probably be avoided."
Zhao Cunnian also looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang eagerly and nodded repeatedly, indicating that he meant the same.
Xiang Xiaoqiang pondered, but kept shaking his head.
"grown ups!"
"No," Xiang Xiaoqiang said calmly, "Such a simple thing has been complicated by you. We will go west to Beijing."
"grown ups!"
"Now that we have complete control of the air, we can bomb wherever we want. So what if the Beijing-Tianjin Corps still has 400,000 soldiers? We can make them lie on the ground, unable to move even an inch, and let us eat them bite by bite."
"Sir! Air superiority is good, but it cannot replace everything!"
"Think about it, after Tangshan is captured, the regiment-level airport in Tangshan can also be used. With so many large airports in our hands, we can just launch a massive bombing with thousands of planes. Let's conduct a 'decapitation operation' and directly
It is not impossible for the airborne troops to enter Beijing and kill Guangwu."
Li Gensheng and Zhao Cunnian looked at each other and shook their heads slowly. They didn't know what was going on. Why did the always sensible adults seem to be mentally disturbed now.
"Okay!" Xiang Xiaoqiang stood up, clapped his hands and said, "It's getting late, it's time for you two to rest. You have to get up early tomorrow. There's still a battle to wait for. Let's go fight it."
Li Gensheng said anxiously:
"Sir, the next direction of march is very important and must be decided early!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"Why are you panicking? We have to attack Tangshan first tomorrow. I don't know how many days it will take to conquer Tangshan. Can't we make a decision in a few days? Okay, let's go to bed!"
The two looked at each other, shook their heads, sighed and went out.
…
Half an hour later, Xiang Xiaoqiang and Hu Jiong alone sneaked to Li Gensheng's residence.
Seeing the Commander arriving in person, Li Gensheng's guards panicked and quickly reported. Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately stopped him:
"Hey, no, no... I'll go in quietly and just say a word to him. Don't make any noise."
Li Gensheng's guards did not dare to disobey the order, so they allowed Xiang Xiaoqiang and Hu Jiong to enter.
Li Gensheng was sitting on the sofa in his bedroom reading a newspaper. When he heard a knock on the door, he just said "come in" without even raising his head.
But he immediately felt something was wrong. Why didn't the people outside shout "report" first?
Li Gensheng suddenly found Xiang Xiaoqiang standing in front of him. He was startled and stood up immediately:
"Sir? Sir, what are you doing..."
"Shh..." Xiang Xiaoqiang turned around and asked Hu Jiong to stay outside, then smiled and said, "Gensheng, it's best if you're not asleep yet. Sit down and let me tell you something."
Li Gensheng sat on the sofa suspiciously, and Xiang Xiaoqiang sat on the other sofa.
"Gensheng," Xiang Xiaoqiang said with a smile, "do you know why I didn't listen to your advice just now?"
Li Gensheng was muttering about this prisoner when he raised his eyebrows:
"Isn't it because..."
"Because you are stubborn?" Xiang Xiaoqiang laughed, "Haha, of course not!"
"Then my lord, this is..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang put away his smile and said:
"Because Zhao Cunnian was there just now, I said that on purpose."