A red signal bomb soared into the sky, and then the sound of small steel cannons rang out from behind, left, and right. After a moment, flares flashed all over the sky in front of them, spraying dazzling white light and slowly descending. The vast dark grassland
On the scene, one by one the lights lit up. In the aperture, the scenes of people shouting and horses neighing were also revealed one by one.
The cavalrymen pulled on their reins in panic, waved their sabers, screamed, and became a mess. At the same time, more flares continued to shoot into the sky, and the long cavalry team behind them also numbered thousands.
The people and the land were exposed to strong light. Immediately, shouts of coordinates were heard one after another on the radio. Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that these people were asking for food, so he immediately lay down in front of the observation window of the bunker and watched with interest through the telescope.
A few seconds later, there was a muffled sound behind the head, and then the air above his head screamed. Immediately afterwards, a strong flash of light erupted in front, and at the same time, the loud noise began to violently shake the eardrums. As more and more shells fell to the ground
, exploded, and the orange bright light kept flashing into the observation window of the bunker. The bunker kept vibrating. Xiang Xiaoqiang's ears could hear nothing except the continuous loud noise.
The illumination from the sky continued to fall, and the illuminated area below was simply boiling. Countless howitzers, mortars, and infantry artillery shells exploded densely, just like a volcanic crater. In short, it was red.
A piece of it, with yellow explosion flashes and black smoke flashing continuously, and the rest was all red. It was hard to tell which was blood and which was fire.
Through the flash of the explosion, you can see some black things flying in the air, but you can't see clearly what they are. It may be clods of soil, it may be grass roots and shrubs, but it is more likely to be the limbs of a person or a horse.
A few minutes later, the shelling area began to extend eastward, bombarding the enemy troops who had fled to the east of the highway. At the same time, within a few hundred meters of the west side of the highway, countless tongues of fire spurted out, and the explosions were added to the harsh screams of machine guns.
.
"ah--!!!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang hid in the bunker, his eardrums were shocked to the point of being unbearable. But he was enjoying watching it. He covered his ears with his hands and shouted loudly. But in the bursts of flashes, all he could see was his mouth wide open,
Not a single shout was heard at all.
…
The shelling didn't stop until even the small bunker was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke and started to choke.
Xiang Xiaoqiang's ears had just recovered a little bit of hearing when he heard Gao Dayi yelling fiercely next to him:
"All - move forward!"
Immediately afterwards, the sound of cars starting was heard all over the mountains and plains, and cars drove past from both sides. Gao Dayi also said:
"My lord, please stay here, my subordinates have to go outside to give orders!"
"Don't pay," Xiang Xiaoqiang couldn't stay in the bunker any longer and said immediately, "I'll go out too!"
Gao Dayi was stunned and immediately waved his hand and said:
"No, no, it's too dangerous outside... Sir, you are the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and His Majesty's imperial envoy. Nothing can happen to you..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang became angry and cursed:
"What do you mean, this commander is just a tourist, right? I'm here just for fun, right?"
"Sir...what are you fighting for?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang pointed outward and said:
"Look at what was blown up outside. How many of the enemy soldiers are still alive? Just now I was hiding in the hole. Now it's time to clean up the mess. Why are you letting me hide in the hole?"
"But sir..." Gao Dayi said nervously, "No one can say for sure what will happen on the battlefield... If you have any shortcomings, Princess Liaoyang..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was angry and funny, and cursed:
"What's wrong, are you afraid she'll eat you alive?"
Gao Dayi stared, hesitated, and nodded vigorously.
Xiang Xiaoqiang was just about to say to reassure him, but he also felt that if something happened to him, Fourteen Princesses would really eat him alive.
He couldn't say anything for a moment, and he really didn't want to stay in this small bunker anymore, so he simply glared and shouted:
"If you're worried about me, commander, then protect me! Okay, first, I won't rush to the front, second, I won't raise the general's flag, and third, if the situation goes bad, I will turn around and retreat first. Is that okay? Okay,
Get out!"
Gao Dayi swallowed and had no choice but to follow behind and chase him out.
…
Outside, there is a spectacular scene.
Flares filled the sky, falling one after another like meteor showers, and then rising into the sky. On the vast prairie, countless pairs of car lights swayed, the light beams were densely packed, and the tongues of fire appeared and disappeared from time to time... Accompanied by the overwhelming sound of the engine, all this
The combined light is like the steel slag that has just been poured out of the steel-making furnace, mercilessly drowning it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang was sitting in the cab of a military vehicle. On top of the steel plate above his head was a Woodpecker machine gun. A machine gunner behind him held the machine gun, but never fired. He just stared around vigilantly in case any enemy troops were approaching.
This car, a military vehicle, bumped and ran wildly on the grassland. Together with the surrounding cars, it used car lights and flares to
, and the firelight dodged the craters on the ground. The machine guns on the surrounding military vehicles fired from time to time, and the tracer bullets stretched out straight, and there was always an enemy soldier falling to the ground at the end. Some horses that were not killed were covered in blood and were running like crazy.
While running, some of the horses had a broken leg, hobbled miserably, and soon fell to the ground.
Puddles of residual fire are burning on the grass, but most of them are scorched black and white smoke is rising. This is spring, the grass on the grassland is full of moisture, and the sea of fire is not easy to form. If it is autumn, then such a bombardment will
It has already become a prairie fire.
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked out of the glass window and saw numerous craters on the charred "grassland". Dead people and dead horses were scattered everywhere. Burnt tires, small cannon parts, machine gun water bottles, and baffles were also scattered.
There are people everywhere. There are still some people who are not dead, some holding their intestines, some holding half of their thighs, lying on the ground rolling and wailing.
Okay. He leaned back and leaned on the backrest, thinking: This battle is almost won.
…
Groups of military vehicles were scattered on the prairie, shooting flares while rushing from southwest to northeast. The sound of machine guns on the front, rear, and left could be heard endlessly. The further away, the fewer bodies on the ground, and the more enemies were fleeing in front. The machine guns on Ming military vehicles also fired.
The attacks became more and more frequent, and the enemy troops fleeing in front fell one by one like wheat.
Xiang Xiaoqiang noticed that there were many enemy soldiers who escaped alive, but almost none escaped on horseback. He estimated that because horses had larger targets and would not lie down like people, almost none survived intact. This shows that the shelling just now
Very successful. At least half of the enemy troops were
They were annihilated in the first round of shelling. After the shelling, the remaining enemy troops no longer had any organized resistance. Even if they were battle-experienced gangsters, they had only one thought at this time: to escape for their lives. Especially
The more veteran you are, the more you know what is the wisest thing to do at this time:
——It is nothing more than a way of escape and surrender.
At first, no one wanted to be a prisoner, they all wanted to escape with their lives, leaving the green mountains without fear of running out of firewood, so that they could work alone in the future, traveling north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and live happily.
They had been bandits before, fought against the Soviet Red Army, and fought against the private armed forces of local ethnic princes, but they had never experienced such a violent bombardment. In their traditional concept of "cavalry warfare", they could only fight if they could.
Fight, run away if you can't fight, and make full use of the mobility of the cavalry. But now, this kind of situation where people are bombarded so hard that not a single horse is left, and they can only escape on two legs, I have never encountered this situation.
Been there.
Many cavalrymen ran with the car on two legs for a while. Seeing their companions falling into a pool of blood, they all understood that they couldn't escape today no matter what. Let alone bullets, even if they were hit by cars,
You can't run away either!
More and more enemy cavalry collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily and foaming at the mouth. They supported themselves with one hand and still raised the other hand with difficulty, meaning they surrendered and spared their lives.
At this time, the Ming army divided into two groups. Half of the military vehicles turned to the north to block the remaining enemy soldiers from escaping back to Altay City. The other group stayed near the battlefield to continue clearing resistance and capturing prisoners.
The Ming army of more than 4,000 people, about the strength of two regiments, quickly devoured Erdenmutu's 20,000 cavalrymen, including their skins and bones.
This is just an automobile unit, and tanks and aircraft have not yet been dispatched.
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Gao Dayi's division headquarters stayed in place, clearing the battlefield and searching for prisoners. At this time, most of the cars slowed down, and soldiers jumped out of the trunk, carrying submachine guns and light machine guns.
, walking around the car, capturing prisoners, and at the same time searching for the remaining soldiers hiding in the grass.
Flares were flying all over the sky, and each soldier also held a strong flashlight, searching in the grass like a rabbit. The loudspeaker on the car shouted in local Chinese, Kazakh, Uyghur, and Mongolian.
He ordered the remnant soldiers who were hiding to put down their weapons and raise their arms.
Hands came out to ensure their safety. At the same time, the Ming army soldiers held light machine guns and fired half a shuttle when they saw the tall grass and suspicious places. There were also some soldiers carrying flamethrowers on their backs.
He used the weapon to spray flames twice on the tall grass area where he had shouted but no one came out.
Most of the time, there is indeed no one, and only the whole grass is burning. But sometimes a burning man will jump out, with his whole body burning with fire, howling miserably, waving his arms and staggering. At this time, the surrounding people are surrounded by fire.
The soldiers would raise their guns and shoot them one after another, killing them.
Looking at all these cruel situations, Xiang Xiaoqiang is still very calm. He has been on the battlefield many times and has seen many cruel scenes. Although he rarely visits the front line in person later, he has often experienced fierce battles.
I have walked through various places, and it is not uncommon to find all kinds of mutilated limbs, broken arms, brains, intestines, and burnt corpses. Now I basically have "no code in my heart."
At this moment, he wanted to jump out of the car, grab a submachine gun, and personally participate in the "rabbit trip" in the grass. But he knew that this was unrealistic. Gao Dayi would not let him go down even if he died. Xiang Xiaoqiang himself also knew that,
Although the battle is over, now is the most dangerous time
.I don’t know where a remnant enemy soldier might be hiding in a piece of grass, and he would shoot coldly at his general. Then he would die unjustly. On the contrary, as long as he sits quietly in the cab, no one can see him.
You can fully see the end of the battle without being in any danger.
Xiang Xiaoqiang is not ashamed. He has experienced times that are a hundred times more dangerous than this, whether in Beiqing or Nanyang. Even Gao Dayi has never experienced that kind of danger. But at that time, he had no choice but to take risks.
It's valuable. Taking risks now is purely to satisfy your own desire for excitement. Great righteousness is not easy, so don't make things difficult for him.
Xiang Xiaoqiang has been sitting quietly in the cab, happily watching from beginning to end until dawn.
…
It was after six o'clock, the sky had just turned white, and the grassland was no longer pitch black, but covered with a layer of light blue.
The roar of engines rang out in the sky, and groups of three-plane bombing formations passed by. The Ming soldiers on the ground waved their helmets and jumped to their feet, cheering.
Now everyone breathed a sigh of relief - if the enemy's remnant soldiers really ran out, they would not be able to escape at all now. In grass of this height, one can hide in it at night, but during the day, then
It’s impossible to hide people anymore. Even if you look at it from the sky, you will see it clearly.
"Sir," Gao Dayi looked at his watch and asked Xiang Xiaoqiang for instructions, "should we continue a thorough search, or should we rush north and enter Altay City later?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang pinched his chin and hesitated for a moment.
This annihilation battle went so smoothly, which was indeed a bit unexpected. They originally thought they could only disperse the enemy, and then "hunt" in large circles on the grassland, and then cooperate with the aircraft to carry out a wider annihilation battle at dawn.
It's good now. The enemy troops were smashed in one fell swoop. It seems like not many of them escaped.
From a purely military point of view, we should rush north to Altay City as soon as possible before the news of the enemy's ambush has spread back.
However, I don’t know if the 20,000 enemy troops were led by Erden Mutu himself. After preliminary interrogation of some prisoners, they all said that they did not know that "His Majesty the Emperor" accompanied the army to march in person. But what if there is indeed Erden in the enemy army?
Mutu, then even if you spend a whole day, no, a week searching here, it is worth it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang thought about it again, looked at his watch, and made a final decision:
"Okay! Search for another half an hour. After half an hour we will march north to Altay City and directly reach Erdenmutu's lair! Even if an enemy army slips through the net, no matter how fast the horse is, it will not be possible within an hour.
Hurry back to Altay City!...What, I'm hungry, do you have food? Let's have a leg of lamb first!"
…
There is no lamb leg, but there is boiled lamb.
At this time, the sky was getting brighter and brighter, and the surrounding several hundred meters had been swept repeatedly. Only then did Gao Dayi feel relieved and let Xiang Xiaoqiang jump out of the car.
The cook ran over and quickly propped up a small folding table, with a copper hot pot placed on it. He filled it with a shovelful of charcoal that had been burning red for some time, and then filled it with spring water brought from the foot of Tianshan Mountain.
After a while, the hot pot started sizzling.
With a smile on his face, Xiang Xiaoqiang asked his subordinates from the division to sit down. While watching the officers and soldiers on all sides "walking around with rabbits", he dipped the seasonings into the mutton and cooked it.
These officers were all from the south and had never eaten mutton-boiled meat. Besides, in their view, it was something Tatars ate, and they always looked down upon it.
"Do you know?" Xiang Xiaoqiang said with a smile, "It is said that this thing was invented by Genghis Khan's cook. When Genghis Khan led his troops to fight, he was like me during the march. He suddenly wanted to eat leg of lamb, but stewing leg of lamb required a lot of effort.
How long, it was too late. So his chef had an idea, cut the mutton into very thin slices, cooked it in boiling water, and ate it with condiments. So, the famous dish of mutton was cooked
It was passed down.”
When Xiang Xiaoqiang said this and compared himself to the Mongolian "Genghis Khan", several Ming officers looked at each other, feeling unspeakably uncomfortable.
Xiang Xiaoqiang saw everyone's reaction and laughed:
"Oh... the Tatars can eat such delicious food, why can't we? If we are still under the tyranny of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and you put down your chopsticks and refuse to eat, then I can only say something to everyone's integrity."
I admire you. But now, we are already the victors, regardless of whether the Mongolian Tatars or
The Tatars of the Manchu Qing Dynasty have been destroyed by us so long ago that we don’t even recognize them. We victors enjoy their good things, haha, it can only be so appropriate! Hey, let me tell you, if little Japan comes to mess with us in the future
, we have to go to Japan to taste the 'Nemesis Sheng', hahaha!"
Everyone looked at each other, dumbfounded, but no matter what, they were all immersed in the delicious taste of mutton.