At this time, Altay City was just a small city with a short history. It was in the first year of Guangxu that the Qing government built a lamasery here, Chenghua Temple, and there were no permanent residents here until now. It has only been a few decades. But this place
To the north is the Altai Mountains, which are rich in gold and were one of the great sources of wealth for the former Qing Dynasty. Altay is famous for its Altai Mountains.
It got its name, and "Altai" means "gold" in Turkic and Mongolian. Therefore, the city of Altay developed rapidly and became the administrative and economic center of the entire Altay region in a few decades. At that time, Erden Mu
When Tu started his business, he always stayed in this area and refused to let go. Now he has "established his capital" here because of this.
At around eight o'clock in the morning on May 13, the roar of engines rang out over the city of Altay, and a whole fleet of dive bombers circled over the small town. The herdsmen below were so frightened that they drove their sheep away. There was also a panic in the city.
There was chaos in the market. No one had ever seen such a horrific scene. Everyone was busy running for their lives and getting into any building. Soon, there was no one left in the open air areas of the city.
All that was left was a mess.
Flyers printed in various languages were flying over Altay City like snowflakes.
At the same time, the Ming Army's motorized troops suddenly appeared on the horizon south of Altay City, and swept over at extremely fast speeds. Hundreds of cars rolled over the grassland, like a sandstorm.
In front of the Ming army, there were groups of defeated cavalry. They abandoned their helmets and armor, beat their frothing horses with all their strength, and tried hard to escape the "click-click" machine guns behind them. These remnants were Erden.
Mutu stayed to see the reserve troops in his hometown, and encountered the Ming army while patrolling more than ten kilometers away. He met many people along the way, and also passed a large cavalry station. There were thousands of people on the other side, but they were dispersed by the Ming army.
.
Xiang Xiaoqiang could have ordered his troops to chase and annihilate the remaining enemies on the spot, but this place was already very close to Altay City. He was worried that he would delay his advance into Altay City, put the enemy in the city on guard, or let Erdenmutu get wind of it.
It was not worth it to escape. Therefore, he ordered the army to let go of the remaining enemies, not to entangle them, and to go straight to the city of Altay.
…
Hundreds of military vehicles surrounded the city of Altay like a storm. At this time, the city gates were tightly closed, and not a single defender on the city wall dared to show his head. They all grabbed their rifles and huddled under the battlements, looking at the planes roaring and circling in the sky, shivering.
On top of the city, the "national flag" of the "Ili Empire" is still flying. It is a green flag, with a golden peak below, symbolizing the gold-rich Altai Mountains, and a white crescent moon above, representing this
The country believes in Islam. On top of the Golden Mountain, two Arabian scimitars are crossed, symbolizing the determination to defend the homeland without fear of powerful enemies.
Xiang Xiaoqiang sat in the car, looked at it from a distance with a telescope, and found that the "national flag" design was pretty good-looking. No matter from the color matching or composition, it was the same. Even if it got to the National League or the Olympic Games
, all available.
Obviously, this was not designed by those bandits and rubes. The person who designed it must be someone who has seen the world and drank foreign ink. Eighty percent of it was a "comrade" in Moscow.
A 75mm self-propelled artillery drove to a place 200 meters away from the city gate, slowly lowered its muzzle, and aimed it at the city gate.
"Sir," Gao Dayi turned his head and asked, "Shout first or attack directly?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated and said:
"Wait a moment, wait until several city gates are blocked with cannons, and then shout. But don't shout too much, just shout once. Don't look like you are begging them to open the city gates."
"As you command!"
Gao Dayi said, picking up the phone and ordering to go down.
After a while, there was a report on the radio that the four city gates were pointed with cannons and were waiting to be fired.
Gao Dayi ordered:
"Shout according to the original text. Just shout once in Chinese and Kazakh. Give them five minutes."
…
A loudspeaker in the distance began to shout. The first one was in Chinese. It was very brief. It mainly ordered the defenders to open the city gate and surrender, to ensure their safety, to ensure that they enjoyed the treatment of prisoners of war stipulated in international conventions, and to ensure the safety of all residents in the city.
The safety of life and property, ensuring that no one commits any crime after entering the city, ensuring their freedom of belief, etc.
I finished reciting it in Chinese quickly, and then recited it again in Kazakh. Finally, I looked at Xiaoqiang's pocket watch and started timing.
A minute passed.
Two minutes passed.
At the third minute, suddenly a faint trace of white smoke floated from the top of the city in the distance. Then, a man was thrown down from above and fell to the city gate, dead.
The surrounding Ming soldiers immediately looked through binoculars and found that it was a man in military uniform, a soldier of the other side, with half of his head ripped off and covered in blood.
It seemed that the trace of white smoke just now was caused by someone firing a shot and killing him. As for what happened, no one could guess.
Xiang Xiaoqiang hoped in his heart that this was a "pre-battle uprising" by the other side's soldiers. They killed the commander and were about to open the city gate. But after waiting and waiting, there was still no movement and no sign of wanting to open the city gate.
Until the last second of the five minutes passed, Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at Gao Dayi and nodded.
Gao Dayi ordered over the radio:
"Fire!"
Four cannon shots of varying intensity were heard from a distance. Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that the city gate facing him had exploded, and black smoke and fireballs were being rolled up. Several enemies on the top of the city were
The soldier was killed, half hanging on the top of the city.
The same black smoke rose in the four directions in the distance. The four city gates were blasted open.
Just when Gao Dayi gave the order to rush in, a white flag stretched out from the top of the city, and then rows of rifles were thrown down from the top of the city.
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked through the telescope and smiled:
"I thought I was going to be a hero to the end. Why did I have to wait for five minutes if I wanted to surrender? I could have surrendered earlier, and it would have saved lives. Alas. Send an order. The reconnaissance battalion will first send a company in to control a few city gates. Make sure there is no ambush for large troops.
Go in again.”
…
But it turned out that this precaution was unnecessary. The reconnaissance company quickly took control of the four city gates, escorted hundreds of defenders out of the city, and then quickly searched the city and found nothing fishy.
.
At this time, thousands of the main force of the Ming army entered the city.
Xiang Xiaoqiang's biggest concern was naturally the arrest of Erdenmutu. Like other officers and soldiers, he abandoned his car and ran on the empty streets with his gun in hand. With his guide leading the way, he went straight to Erdenmutu.
The "Royal Palace".
The buildings in the city are all very low, usually mud houses, and the better ones are two-story stone houses, all of which are a mixture of Chinese and Islamic styles. The doors and windows on both sides of the street are closed, and there are only some scattered fruits on the ground.
Broken eggs, trampled basket frames, donkey dung, horse dung and sheep dung, as well as chickens and ducks that were clucking and flying around... It can be imagined that the local people were extremely frightened.
A large group of Ming soldiers were running on the street, and the messy sound of big leather boots echoed in the street. Finally, a relatively gorgeous building appeared in front of them.
This is the "Ili Imperial Palace".
Xiang Xiaoqiang waved his hand, and hundreds of Ming soldiers rushed in with submachine guns. Xiang Xiaoqiang didn't know if there would be fierce resistance inside, so he was cautious and guarded the outside with the division headquarters and did not go in.
…
Half an hour passed.
Xiang Xiaoqiang and the officers of the division were getting more and more irritated and uneasy. The "Imperial Palace" was only so big. At best, it was as big as a house of a wealthy family in the mainland. It was not really a palace. How could you search a person?
Is it all that difficult?
At this time, the radio rang again:
"Sir, sir, there is news about Erden Mutu."
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Gao Dayi looked at each other, and their hearts sank: Not good. It's not about arresting people directly, but "there is news". This is probably an ominous sign.
Gao Dayi picked up the microphone:
"how?"
"Master Commander, we interrogated the guard captain of Erden Mutu here. He confessed and said that a few dozen minutes ago, a car came from the Soviet Embassy and took them to the Soviet Embassy."
Several people around looked at each other, dumbfounded.
The Soviet Embassy... The Soviet Embassy in the Ili Empire... forgot about this. As soon as the "Ili Empire" was established here, the Soviet Union recognized it and sent envoys to each other...