Episode 46: The defense line was broken?

"I ask you, if Zhu Yourong...even that little girl dares to stay in Nanjing, why can't I go to Pukou? Well, my dear friends, give me a reason."

In the hall of the Military Affairs Office in Beijing, several military ministers and generals stood underground, staring at the broken porcelain pieces all over the ground, sweating profusely.

Emperor Guangwu sat on a drum stool, crossing his legs, turning his toes, putting the hem of the jacket on his legs, gently shaking the folding fan, and his face was filled with harmony.

But the more he did this, the colder the ministers in front of him were sweating.

"Boom!"

Guangwu stepped on a broken porcelain piece in half with one kick.

After a thump, a military minister knelt down. Then the others hesitated for a while, and they all knelt down.

Emperor Guangwu looked at the ministers who were kneeling all over the ground and laughed to the sky. He knelt down, but he had been deposed for many years since the late emperor's dynasty, but recently his ministers have been kneeling more and more and more and more unscrupulously.

...More than a dozen divisions arrived on the other side, but they couldn't get in and suffered heavy losses... The elite troops they loved, the Eight Banners Sixth Division was wiped out, and thousands of prisoners were dragged onto the streets... The division chief staff officer was also brought to court, sentenced in front of so many foreign journalists, and finally hanged...

If these slaves were to use half of their ability to do things for me, the Qing Dynasty would not be like this!

"Bang", a drop of sweat dripped on the square brick in front of Army Minister Burcha Limin. The old man in a marshal's uniform trembled his lips, hesitated for a while, and said with courage:

"Emperor, the Southern Ming Zhu Yourong dared to stay in Nanjing because of the solidity of the Zijin Mountain Fortress. In fact, under the fire of the Qing Dynasty, I dared not step out of the fortress... Moreover, the underground tunnels are well connected. When the pseudo-Emperor Zhu Yourong moved in, he was thinking about how to escape... How can Zhu Yourong's yellow-haired girl be as brave as my emperor? The emperor is wise and powerful, and it is really not worth comparing with that girl..."

Burcha Limin was both an army minister and a military minister. The Qing Dynasty's Military Affairs Office was nominally a temporary agency, so the Military Affairs Office was also a cabinet minister. However, the Military Affairs Office was actually founded by Yongzheng and has been continuing to this day. The Military Affairs Office was actually the emperor's personal assistant. The real Qing cabinet was completely decorated.

Guangwu stood up and sneered:

"I said that I will go to the Zhu Family Palace in Nanjing to celebrate the 30th New Year. This year's New Year's Eve is the 23rd, and today it's the 22nd. It's time to leave today. Limin, do you mean that I can't enter the Zhu Family Palace tomorrow, so I don't have to go today? Hum?"

Li Min was sweating profusely and didn't dare to reply, but just threw herself on the ground and kowtowed. Several other ministers even lay on the ground and no longer dared to say a word.

Guangwu threw down the fan and clapped his hands, took off the sword from the wall, pulled out a piece and looked at the cold light, and smiled:

"I have also said that with such an advantageous force and such good weather, if you can't defeat Nanjing, someone should be punished..."

He squirted back with a "slap" and shouted:

“…Is it just a joke?!”

...

At dusk on the 22nd, twelve fighter jets escorted three Junker-52s hovering over the Bengbu military airport and landed one after another.

Half an hour later, a long convoy was driven out of the airport. In front of the armored vehicles were driving the road, behind the military cards carrying guards, in the middle was eight-two black sedan, and behind was a long military vehicle convoy...

The convoy did not stop and drove directly to Bengbu Railway Station. Such a grand convoy ceremony had never been seen in Bengbu. When passing through the city, the road was filled with guards, which attracted people to watch and speculate.

When it was almost dark, several armored trains from the Pukou Tracking Lot arrived. After completing the assembly in the Bengbu Tracking Lot, a long whistle sounded, and the long army slowly drove out with heavy breaths, heading south along the Jinpu Line and heading straight to Pukou.

There are several luxurious armored trains in the middle of the army, and two 47mm cannons point to both sides of the railway...

"Your Majesty," a general bowed his waist, took the soup cup from the palace maid, and held it to Guangwu's hand in a pleasing manner, and smiled, "It doesn't matter if there is a little fog in front of you. We'll drive very quickly on this train, and we'll arrive in Pukou tomorrow morning."

Guangwu drank the ginseng soup in the cup and said lightly:

"Yonggui, it doesn't matter if you arrive tomorrow morning. It's nothing here. It's you. You can fight the Yangtze River for me in broad daylight. You are my beloved general and will be the commander of the Eighth Army to attack Nanjing. If you don't make a good fight, you won't be good."

The commander of the 6th Army, Fu Cha-Yonggui, knelt on the ground with a "thump" and expressed his determination:

"Emperor, I will be promoted and valued by the emperor. This kind of kindness is hard to repay! I will vow to lead my army across the Yangtze River tomorrow, take down Nanjing in one fell swoop, and hold a good Forbidden City to the emperor with both hands! Otherwise, I will die in the battlefield and serve the emperor with death!"

Guangwu put down the soup cup, wiped his mouth with a hot towel, kicked his shoulder, and said with a smile:

"Okay, get up!"

...

January 23, 1936, on the morning of New Year's Eve.

On both sides of the railway from Pukou Railway Station to Pukou Wharf, there were thunderous joys and waves higher and higher.

A long army line slowly marched on the rails. Several armored trains were transferred to the front. At the front was a flatbed truck with sandbags and two 40mm anti-aircraft guns pointed towards the sky.

Emperor Guangwu was dressed in military uniform, wearing a steel helmet, a sword tied with his waist, and a snow-white gloves were held on the sandbag, and a cigarette in his mouth. He raised his right arm from time to time to wave to the thousands of Qing soldiers on both sides.

Every time he raises his arm to recruit, he will trigger a fanatical cheer.

Behind the groom police in a tight realm, the wounded soldiers with gauze wrapped around their faces and legs were climbing and supporting each other, raising their crutches to wave wildly into the air, and their blood-stained mouths made a frenzy of cheers. Even the wounded soldiers lying on the stretcher supported themselves, and tears spread across their burning faces.

When all the Qing soldiers saw the emperor personally expedition, they threw away the feeling of failure and depressedness for several days. Everyone shouted madly, leaving only the fanaticism of winning and the desire to avenge revenge.

"Ka!" The train arrived at Pukou Wharf and stopped.

The cheers came from all sides like a sea of ​​joy. Emperor Guangwu smiled several times and raised his hands, but it was useless. In the end, his high morale completely infected himself.

He climbed onto the pile of sandbags, holding a cigarette in one hand and a megaphone in the other, and said only one sentence:

"Brothers, I am here, I will take you to war!!!"

The cheers boiled ten times, and every Qing soldier had red eyes, jumped his feet, and tears filled his eyes.

...

Amid the cheers, several gendarmes came with a man tied up into rice dumplings. The man was wearing the uniform of the general, and his hat was gone, and his epaulette and collar seal were torn off.

Guangwu smiled with the loudspeaker:

"The brothers all know this person. He is the commander of the Eighth Army. Guo Luoluo Fengdong! His Eighth Army mainly attacked Nanjing, with twice the number of troops than the Nanjing defenders and ten times more artillery fire! There were also heavy fogs for several consecutive days! What was the result? He took you to throw away your armor, causing you to lose so many brothers, and be beaten back like cowards!"

Roaring from all sides:

"Kill him! Kill him!..."

The military police on both sides untied the ropes, and Guo Luoluo suddenly collapsed at Guangwu's feet, his face as if he was earthy and shouted:

"emperor!"

Guangwu stretched out his hand and held a sword next to him. Guangwu held the sword and lowered his head and smiled:

"I have said that if you can't conquer Nanjing with such superior forces and such foggy weather, someone will be punished. Fengdong, I remember, you were there at that time, right?"

"The emperor...the slave is present..."

"Very good," Guangwu nodded, "Your Eighth Army is responsible for Nanjing, and your troops and firepower are far superior to the Ming army. Now that you lose your armor and lose your troops, you will lose your generals. Who do you think the person who is traumatized should be? Hum?"

"Emperor..." Guo Luoluo looked dissatisfied and kowtowed like pounding garlic, "Good you..."

Emperor Guangwu raised his eyebrows and said angrily:

"The war situation is so bad that you don't commit suicide. Who do you want to commit suicide? Well? Let the commander of the army group? Let the commander of the army below? Hum? Let these brothers slap themselves for you?"

The roars around him became even louder, and he was going to be executed.

Guangwu pulled out his sword and was still in front of Guo Luoluo. The guards on both sides were shocked and hurriedly blocked in front of him, shouting:

"Your Majesty, no!"

The guard officer turned his eyes, and the military police on both sides understood. He rushed over and grabbed Guo Luoluo, pressed it to the open space under the flatbed cart, picked up the sword, waved it suddenly, and three feet of blood spurted out, and Guo Luoluo's head was raised high.

The cheers were thundering everywhere, and the Qing soldiers seemed to have avenged a great revenge, and the cheers were shaking the sky.

Emperor Guangwu stared at the bloody head, his eyes shot out murderous intent, licked his lips, and gritted his teeth and shouted at the megaphone:

"Capture Nanjing and let your brothers live for ten days!...I only need the Forbidden City, and the entire Nanjing outside is yours!!!"

This promise almost caused Pukou Wharf to explode. All the Qing soldiers roared like beasts. Hundreds of thousands of Qing soldiers in Pukou have become beast soldiers.

...

Eight in the morning.

At this time, the fog on the Yangtze River was already very faint, and the visibility reached several hundred meters. The width of the river in the Nanjing section was only about kilometers, which means that you could clearly see the other shore by boat. The situation that was white more than ten meters away from the previous two days will never be seen again.

The two sides of the Yangtze River were shaking. All the artillery on both sides were pouring shells on each other's shores. The northern part of Nanjing and southern Pukou had been completely swallowed up by gunpowder and dust.

Since the early morning of January 20, the Qing army once again relied on its military strength to attack the entire Nanjing section. From Qixia to Zimuzhou to the north, there were assault boats on the river surface of more than 30 kilometers, and the steamer was densely packed and slowly pressing towards the south bank.

In the observation fortress of the river embankment outside Dinghuai Gate, Major General Sun Baoguo, commander of the defense line in Nanjing, held a gunshot glass, looked at the river from his narrow observation mouth, murmured:

"The Qing barbarians fought hard this time..."

A shell fell nearby, and the fort trembled, and a lot of dust fell from the low cement roof.

Sun Baoguo squatted, stood up again, held his hat and said in a gunsmith:

"Their ship is approaching... It's almost to the shore... Damn, why are the artillery fire still going on?... They are really crazy, the infantry ship is approaching so close, and the firepower is still going on... Okay, order the whole line-"

The adjutant shouted with the phone:

"The command line--"

"The rapid-fire cannons are in place!"

The adjutant was stunned for a moment, then shouted with the phone:

"The rapid-fire cannons are in place!"

Hundreds of small-caliber machine guns have been pushed out of the bunker by the artillery soldiers and entered the open-air gun mount. The gun team quickly removed the wheels, fixed the gun on the cement gun mount, and quickly shook the handle. Hundreds of 20mm, 37mm, and 30mm machine guns were lowered at the same time, the gun barrels of the second, three, and four were aimed at the distant river surface.

At this time, the entire Nanjing section of defense line was still shaking and explosions. Occasionally, a machine gun was blown into a fireball and lifted into the sky. Broken parts and bloody limbs fell down. The artillery soldiers wore steel helmets and squatted down desperately. No one fled, all of them were desperately carrying shells, calculating the shooting of the world. From time to time, one or two artillery soldiers were hit by shrapnel and fell down.

Within a few minutes, more than 300 casualties had been killed and almost no artillery crew was full.
To be continued...