Zhu Yourong's good mood, immersed in the happiness of her newlyweds, was ruthlessly broken.
She sat gloomily on the sofa in the study, listening to Xiang Xiaoqiang's narration, looking out the window in despair. At her feet lay a book she was reading.
After a long while, Zhu Yourong covered his face and said:
"What...the command headquarters said..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang sat next to her, comforted her softly, and took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears. Zhu Yourong sobbed, took the handkerchief, wiped it twice, and whispered:
"Thanks."
Xiang Xiaoqiang patted her gently and said while thinking:
"Commander Fang has already reported the details of this matter to the headquarters. I estimate that the headquarters is holding an emergency meeting to study it at the moment. As for the final decision, it is probably about military adjustments to the combat plan and accelerating the pace of the attack. This is the commander-in-chief's decision.
It is a ministry matter. Politically speaking, vigorously publicize this matter to further isolate the Soviet Union. It is best to initiate a vote on sanctions against the Soviet Union in the League of Nations and implement an embargo of war materials against the Soviet Union. This will be of great benefit to our war against the Soviet Union.
.Of course this is a matter for the cabinet.”
Zhu Yourong listened and nodded, as if she got some comfort from Xiang Xiaoqiang's words. She sighed, leaned her head on Xiang Xiaoqiang's shoulder, and let Xiang Xiaoqiang pat her and coax her without saying a word.
After a while, Zhu Yourong whispered again:
"Stand it..."
"Um?"
"I want..." Zhu Yourong said as he thought, "I want you to take me and we will go northwest to see those famine places..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was startled, and thought to himself, go further to the northwest? Where can we go further to the northwest? That is Jiuquan, Yumen, and Guazhou. The famine started only after passing Guazhou. The Empress of the Ming Dynasty would not run away with her body of thousands of gold.
To the northwest of Guazhou, right? There's not even a place to stay there, and there's still a war going on.
However, he thought about it again and felt that this might not be a good opportunity. At this moment, it was necessary to attract the attention of the world to that place. And now the newlywed couple is definitely one of the focuses of the world, so it is natural to go
Wherever you go, there will be a large number of reporters from various countries... But as the queen, it is really unrealistic for Zhu Yourong to inspect places that are still considered "battlefields" at this time. To put it bluntly, it is simply adding to the chaos.
Deploy troops specifically to protect her.
Xiang Xiaoqiang immediately suggested to Zhu Yourong that she, the queen, should not go there for the time being and stay in Lanzhou first, while he, the prince, would go on patrol, which would also have a very good effect.
Of course Zhu Yourong was unwilling. She wanted to see the disaster area with her own eyes. Zhu Yourong said:
"Come on, you got it wrong. I don't want any effect. I just want to see the victims with my own eyes."
Xiang Xiaoqiang quickly persuaded her, saying that there is no famine east of Guazhou, and you won’t see anything if you go there. Although part of the west of Guazhou has been occupied, it is still a battlefield, and landmines are still buried here and there.
The air battles above us are clanging, and sporadic battles are happening on the ground... If you go, won't you cause more trouble? As the queen of a country, it is impossible not to deploy a large number of troops to protect you. This will affect military operations and delay the liberation of the people in occupied areas.
time.
After such persuasion, Zhu Yourong finally agreed to stay in Lanzhou temporarily. She asked Xiang Xiaoqiang to inspect and visit the victims on her behalf, and she must work hard with the frontline generals to command the battle, push the front to the west as soon as possible, and clear out the remaining remnants in the rear as soon as possible.
Resist so that she can quickly go west for inspection.
Xiang Xiaoqiang naturally agreed wholeheartedly. In fact, he wished he could rush to Dihua and regain the entire territory of the two frontiers, so that he could take Zhu Yourong to inspect the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains.
…
As Xiang Xiaoqiang expected, the high command immediately ordered the Lanzhou headquarters to speed up the offensive pace and collect as much information about the Soviet-occupied areas ahead as possible along with the offensive. At the same time, Ming's Soviet intelligence agencies also stepped up their operations to collect more information.
Regarding the evidence of this man-made famine. If there is enough evidence to prove that the Soviet Union is carrying out a famine similar to the one in Ukraine in 1931, then the high command will strategically modify the military plan, increase troops on a large scale, and intensify the war.
Intensity.
But the Nanjing cabinet was different from what Xiang Xiaoqiang expected. It did not immediately publicize the matter. Instead, as before, it did what it did and kept silent. Xiang Xiaoqiang also understood immediately. Regarding the Soviet Union, "
"Man-made famine" is still in the speculative stage. The troops at the front have not seen a single person starved to death, so there is no evidence. Now that there is an international commotion, it is easy for Ming Dynasty to fall into passivity. At least, it must wait until the troops at the front are liberated.
Only after more living evidence is exposed in the Soviet-occupied areas can we speak openly.
On May 22, just as the Ming army's northern and southern offensives were approaching an area 100 kilometers southeast of Hami, and another thousand-tank battle began, the People's Guard Commander, Prince Fuming, launched a mighty attack on Xiaoqiang's armored convoy.
They drove out of Lanzhou and headed northwest along the highway. Several military vehicles in the convoy carried more than a dozen war reporters, half of whom were foreign reporters from several well-known newspapers in the world.
The road was very crowded, just like the highways during holidays in later generations. Various vehicles lined up in long lines, driving forward at a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour. Because this road built during the Beiqing Dynasty was not wide and of high quality,
Poor, the traffic capacity is not very high. Most places are gravel roads, and many places are dirt roads, but they are now relatively hard due to countless vehicles running over them. Fortunately, the weather here is dry, and it doesn’t rain a few times a year.
The dirt road will not be very muddy.
The only vehicles that can be given priority on roads now are heavy vehicles, such as flatbed trucks carrying tanks, water and oil tankers, ammunition trucks, grain trucks, and some trucks towing large-caliber heavy artillery. These vehicles are very heavy.
Large, it is difficult to move off the road. Other relatively lightweight vehicles, such as small officer vehicles, light wheeled armored vehicles, ordinary military trucks carrying soldiers, ambulances, cooking trucks, etc., are located on the salt-alkali roads on both sides of the road.
Traveling on sandy ground. Fortunately, the ground is fairly flat and it is not difficult for wheeled vehicles to travel.
Although Xiang Xiaoqiang is a prince, his motorcade can only drive under the road. Large-caliber anti-aircraft guns are erected at regular intervals on both sides of the road, and medium-caliber and small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are also erected between the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns. In addition,
There are also 12mm machine guns, two or four mounted on anti-aircraft gun racks, plus bulletproof baffles. Soldiers wear steel helmets and heavy bulletproof vests, operating guns and monitoring in fortifications surrounded by sandbags.
The sky protects this artery of the Central Asian battlefield.
In the sky, every once in a while, you can hear the roar of aircraft coming from far away. The anti-aircraft gun crews on the roadside nervously turn their gun barrels and move in that direction. However, most of the time, it is the Ming army's fighter jets that are there.
Patrol the sky.
Occasionally, a few Soviet dive bombers would appear, roaring down, strafing, and dropping bombs. The red stars could be clearly seen on the wings. At this time, a large number of guns and artillery on both sides of the road began to roar in unison, and a sky formed.
A large black cloud belt. In a few moments, Ming army fighter jets will appear from the horizon to drive away Soviet bombers.
At this time, the war reporters in the car were the most excited. They jumped down, lay on the ground with hand-crank cameras, and took wonderful shots.
While Xiang Xiaoqiang was in the armored command vehicle, he always continued to read documents and telegrams at this time, turning a deaf ear. But sometimes he would come out to join in the fun, such as opening the door, leaning against the door frame, lighting a cigarette, and calmly
He glanced at the sky where guns were blaring. And every time he came out, several reporters would always pull their cameras away from the battlefield and turn to him.
On the one hand, Xiang Xiaoqiang has been on the battlefield a long time ago. For him, this is just a small scene. On the other hand, he really needs to show an indifferent look in front of these reporters and soldiers. He can still pretend to be cool, and he can