On April 18, the division headquarters military train departed from Beijing, headed north along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, passed through Juyongguan, Badaling, and Zhangjiakou, and then headed west along the Beijing-Baotou Railway. Along the way, it passed Ulanqab, Hohhot, and Baotou.
, there are prairie on both sides of the railway, stretching as far as the eye can see.
In Inner Mongolia in the 1930s, there were still more grasslands than deserts. In the spring of April, the grasslands were also in bloom. The calf-high pastures were scattered with wild flowers of various colors. From time to time, I saw a piece of white sheep.
They were crowded together, and looked like lumps of cheese from a distance. Behind the sheep, a Mongolian shepherd rode a bay-red horse, holding a whip, and looked at the galloping military columns from a distance.
These days, this railway has suddenly become busy. Trains loaded with artillery, tanks, armored vehicles, oil tanks, and large boxes are running westward frequently, almost one after another. This is unprecedented in the past few decades.
See. Now, the first column starts with "
The military train carrying people's contents finally appeared. There were colorful ribbons floating on both sides of the carriage, with farewell words written on them. There were a few childlike faces crowded in every window, looking out of the window with novel eyes.
The majestic scene of the northern land that I have never seen before...
The military columns at the division headquarters are advancing rapidly at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. However, this is only a one-way railway, and there are many military columns that need to go back and forth, so they have to always stop at a certain station and wait for the military columns behind to pass, or wait.
The troops in front came over.
When temporarily stopping at some small grassland stations, Xiang Xiaoqiang and his wife, the officers and soldiers of the division, always took the opportunity to get off the car to briefly stretch their legs. Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shi Gege were better off, their carriages were very spacious.
There are tables, chairs, sofas, and beds in the living room.
The living room and bedroom are bedrooms, just like a long and slender hotel room. But the conditions for the soldiers are not so good. Although this long-distance troop carrier is a sleeper compartment and everyone has a bed, after all, the space is small and it is not possible to lie down.
He just sits there and lacks activities.
Now, whenever there is a short stop, the soldiers get out and laugh and play under the car. At the same time, they also feel the magnificence of the Mongolian prairie. These southern soldiers have never experienced this feeling of vastness and sky.
Pass.
Although Xiang Xiaoqiang is from the north, he has never seen the prairie. Now, holding his arms with Shige Gege, he was mingling with the officers and soldiers while enjoying the spring scenery beyond the Great Wall that he had never seen before.
Mongolia is windy and sandy in spring. But now there is no wind, and the sky is as blue as if it has been washed by water. Xiang Xiaoqiang has never seen such a blue sky. The sky in later generations cannot be felt to be blue, at most it is a gray-white color. And he has just arrived
In this era, I also lamented that the sky was really blue. However, the sky in the mainland was not as blue as the sky outside the Great Wall now.
A few touches of white clouds, as if they were lightly touched by a paintbrush, were inadvertently left in the distant sky. They were motionless and very lazy. Under the sky, there was an endless prairie. Apart from the joking of the soldiers,
, there was no sound in the distance.
The only things related to humans that can be seen are the rows of small houses at the station behind him and the railway extending into the distance.
…
There was a long cry in the distance, and a military column came over from behind.
This military column was very long and did not stop. It kept speeding towards me with the whistle blowing. The whistle changed its tone with a "Woo--". In an instant, the front of the car disappeared in front of the strong wind. Only black sections were left in front of me.
The truck carriage roared by with a "bang, bang, bang, bang" and a strong wind.
Each section of these container trucks is tightly locked and sealed. It should be ammunition.
On the top of every two carriages, a Ming Army soldier sat, wearing a helmet, goggles, a mask, a scarf, leather gloves, a fur coat, and a submachine gun on his chest, guarding the carriage below his buttocks.
The soldiers on the side of the railway shouted and cheered to their comrades who were whizzing past on the roof of the train. The escort soldiers on the roof of the train also waved to the people below.
After a while, the container truck passed by, followed by flatbed trucks. The goods on the flatbed trucks made everyone’s eyes brighten:
tank!
On each flatbed truck, two tanks are fixed with steel cables. Just like before, every two flatbed trucks have an escort soldier sitting on the tank. Wearing goggles, carrying a submachine gun, and a scarf fluttering in the wind,
It looks really cool from below.
The officers and soldiers on the station are all from the Tank Regiment of the 1st Armored Division, which means they are all tank soldiers. Throughout the war, they lived with tanks almost every day, which is no longer new. But now, somehow, when they see
The tanks on the train speeding towards the west became excited and cheered together. Everyone thought of themselves on the prairie of northern Xinjiang, driving their beloved tanks across the rebel Qing Dynasty, and the blood in their chests almost boiled.
It took a while for the military train to finish passing. Everyone thought they could get on the train and leave, but the station did not give a signal to start. After a while, another military train came from behind and drove past with a bang.
The difference was that this time there was no troop escort sitting on top of the carriage. But the officers and soldiers were all happy when they saw the markings on the carriage.
The logo of the Nanyang Fruit Company is painted on the carriage, and there are also words written on it: papaya, grapefruit, pineapple, citrus...all are southern and subtropical fruits.
Nanyang Fruit Company is the largest fruit company in Ming Dynasty. It mainly deals in tropical fruits and sells tropical fruits produced in Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan, and Nanyang to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Sichuan and other inland areas. Now, this company has won the bid and got the
The military has a big order. It now ships large quantities of tropical fruits from Guangdong and Fujian to Tianjin by sea, and then the army transports them directly to northern Xinjiang by train for consumption by counter-insurgency troops.
The Ming army was all from the south and was not adapted to the dry climate. During the Northern Expedition, I don’t know how many soldiers had nosebleeds. That is why they later began to purchase apples on a large scale in the north, ensuring that each soldier had at least two apples a day to avoid nosebleeds.
The situation has improved a bit.
The place we are going to now is Northern Xinjiang, which is much drier than North China. Although the northern and southern Xinjiang are also rich in melons and fruits, the season is not right now. Apples and grapes are not ready until autumn, and cantaloupes are not ready until summer. Therefore, tropical fruits are specially shipped from the south.
Fruits. Tropical fruits are available all year round, and fruits such as papaya, grapefruit, and citrus are also suitable for long-term storage, and they are not afraid of damage during long-distance transportation. Although the transportation cost is high, fortunately, the number of troops dispatched is small, just one division, and it is completely
Guaranteed.
Watching a whole train of tropical fruits pass by on the northern prairie, the morale of the soldiers became higher and higher. Everyone knew that the country really took itself seriously. Such a country was worthy of bloodshed and sacrifice for her.
…
The military column continued to advance on the Hetao Plain, and then turned south at Bayanzhuoer, always traveling along the Yellow River. Two days later, on the morning of April 20, the military column entered Lanzhou Station.
Lanzhou is where you get off the train. This is the end point of the more than 1,500-kilometer railway journey of the Western Expedition Team. The next 2,000 kilometers to Altay are all highways. Although the most western part of the railway
The first stop is Xining, which is more than 200 kilometers away, but then we are on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Now if we want to go west to Northern Xinjiang, the most convenient way is to get off at Lanzhou.
The troops regrouped in Lanzhou, formed a team, and waited for the various columns to arrive one after another, unloaded the soldiers, equipment, and supplies, and reorganized into a complete armored division. This took a whole day.
Although Xiang Xiaoqiang and Shi Shigege were too busy to visit Lanzhou, Xiang Xiaoqiang finally seized the opportunity and tasted an authentic "Lanzhou Ramen" meal at noon.
But when he asked someone to take him to eat the legendary "Lanzhou Shaobing" in the evening, the local official looked blank and said, "Sir, we do have Shaobing here, but it's no different from the ones in the mainland. It's nothing."
It’s a specialty. But how can Xiang Xiaoqiang take a rest? After finally arriving in Lanzhou, how can he not eat Lanzhou sesame cakes?
He still asked someone to take him and Shi Shigege to have a meal of mutton steamed buns. But the steamed buns were not "Zhuang steamed buns", but sesame seed cakes. - Anyway, he did not miss the famous "Lanzhou sesame cakes".
.
On the morning of April 21, the mighty march set off and embarked on the long "Silk Road".
The days that followed were not so comfortable.
The dust on the road covered the sky, and everything was yellow. An endless line of tanks, armored vehicles, trucks, artillery, officer cars, and motorcycles, dozens of kilometers in and out, slowly squirming in the yellow sand and dust. The dust floated like
The curtain almost connected the earth and the sky into one body, and the marching ranks were like ants, looking extremely small.
The soldiers in the military card all put down the canvas to block the dust. But the soldiers who were exposed-those sitting in open armored vehicles and riding sidecars and motorcycles all wore the badges of the expedition to the west.
Comes with: goggles, dust mask.
Fourteen Gege stayed in the comfortable command car. Xiang Xiaoqiang himself was wearing goggles, a dust mask, and a cape. He stood in the open-top officer car with his hands on his hips and drove majestically past the marching column.
Accepting the cheers of the soldiers, he also kept waving to show that he shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and wanted to eat with everyone.
Every soldier wore goggles and a mask, and Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't help but feel as if he was commanding the German North African Army in World War II, fighting fiercely with the enemy in the yellow sand.
…
In addition to enduring dust, wind and sand, and bumps, what is even more unbearable is the increasingly frequent breakdown of vehicles and tanks.
The spring in the northwest is extremely dry. Moreover, the grasslands and vegetation along the Gansu road are far less lush than those in the Hetao Plain. There is always a lot of sand and dust accumulated in vehicle parts and oil cylinders. Moreover, the wear and tear caused by long-distance driving
Mechanical failures also occurred frequently, and the repair company was completely overwhelmed.
Just after passing Yongchang and before reaching Zhangye, there were suddenly more broken down tanks on both sides of the road. Cars were better, followed by half-track armored vehicles, and full-track tanks and armored vehicles had the highest failure rate.
The "Lightning" series tanks of the Ming Army were originally designed to adapt to the humid and muddy environment in the south of the Yangtze River. Now this dry, sandy and dusty environment is simply acclimatized. Moreover, even in the Unification War, the length of the armored forces
Troops were also transported over long distances by train. Although the Left Army Group did not have trains in Shanxi, it was a stop-and-go operation and had never traveled such a long distance in one go.
Now, all the problems have been exposed.
"What the fuck," Xiang Xiaoqiang was sitting in the officer's car, looking at the broken down tanks one after another on the roadside, and cursed fiercely, "When we reach northern Xinjiang like this, we still can't tell who will destroy whom!"