Episode 49: The Sword Unshelf

The beach in front of him was filled with the bodies of Qing soldiers. The river water pushed blood foam and poured onto the mud and sand beach. The mud and sand beach had been soaked in a layer of red.

There were charred corpses everywhere and charred barbed wire. The dying Qing soldiers in the crater were struggling and groaning.

There was no artillery fire on both sides and two or three kilometers. There were still several machine guns firing, but it was no longer a threat. The artillery fire in Pukou also stopped. The boiling beach just now was almost silent.

The assault boats on the surrounding river were squeezing towards this gap. The Qing soldiers arrived at the river beach intact and jumped off the boat intact. There were more and more people on the beach, and they rushed in almost unimpededly.

Occasionally, a few mines exploded, but they no longer cared. Compared to the killing field just now, the door is now open.

...

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

Every Qing soldier's mind was filled with the desire for revenge and the desire of beasts. The emperor's words echoed in the minds of every Qing soldier.

They just thought that they could enter Nanjing immediately. After entering Nanjing, they could do whatever they wanted within ten days...

There are endless cheers on the entire beach:

"Capture Nanjing, be happy for ten days!...Capture Nanjing, be happy for ten days!..."

The huge steamer also came one after another and began to unload the heavy equipment. The soldiers were pulling their horses hard and dragging anti-tank guns in the beach.

The sound of loudspeakers echoed everywhere on the beach:

"The 423rd Regiment of the 32nd Division gathered..."

"The groups restored their establishment..."

"The Artillery Regiment of the 56th Division came to collect the shells..."

...

On the Pukou Wharf, Emperor Guangwu stood straight outside the trench, holding a telescope, suppressing the trembling in his chest, and whispered:

"Okay...brothers are very motivated..."

The radio caller was placed aside, and the soldiers on the scene kept shouting "Catch Nanjing and have fun for ten days". The generals around him listened to the wild shouts and looked at the emperor with a little embarrassed look on their faces.

"Emperor," Fu Cha Yonggui, who had just become the commander of the Eighth Army, said with a smile, "Brothers have entered Nanjing, should you still have to restrain yourself..."

Guangwu still held the telescope and said expressionlessly:

"No need. This is what I promised to my brothers."

"…The Emperor's Holy Spirit."

Yonggui will not say anything about retreating.

Another major general adviser said with courage:

"Your Majesty... We have a seat in the League of Nations, which seems to be unfavorable..."

Guangwu took down the telescope and turned his face to stare at him.

The major general's staff officer pale, he let out a "slight" sound, lowered his head and sweated coldly. Yonggui quickly scolded:

"The emperor is talking about gold and jade, what are you talking about again..."

Guangwu sneered:

"The League of Nations? Geneva? Haha! Do you know what is in front of us?... That is half of the south of the Yangtze River! Half of China! That is the cause that the ancestors of the Qing Dynasty have not completed in three hundred years!... Compared with this, what is the League of Nations? What is Geneva?"

He pointed his arm:

"On the other side of the Yangtze River is a land of millions of square kilometers! It is the richest place in the country! Once you get it, our Qing Dynasty will have a coastline that is several times longer and hundreds of good harbors! A shipbuilding industry that is more than ten times thicker! From Guangdong to the south, you can go straight to the Southern Ocean! The world's number one non-ferrous metal mineral deposit! What is the most ferrous metal mine in the world? What is the basis for building armor and armor-piercing bombs? It depends on tungsten! How much tungsten is there in the South Ming Dynasty? Eighty percent on the earth!

"...Do you understand? Once the Southern Ming Dynasty is taken down and China is unified, we can compete with the Soviet Union on land and challenge Japan on sea! We are the number one power in the Eastern Hemisphere!... Compared with all this, what is the League of Nations? Ah? What is Geneva? Ah?"

Several generals were stunned and seemed to be infected. They shouted at the same time:

"The emperor is wise!"

...

The No. 6 ammunition depot in Dinghuaimen exploded, the power system was completely destroyed, and the river embankment was shattered. The underground fortifications that were more than 1,000 meters long were completely flooded, and the defense line gap was as long as three kilometers.

There was no electricity within three kilometers. The cannons could not be recharged, the armored turret could not be lifted, the fortifications could not be ventilated or illuminated. It was filled with gunpowder smoke and carbon dioxide after the burning of gunpowder, and it was pitch black.

In many underground tunnels, there are still slogans excerpted from the Queen's speech on the cement walls:

“Our fortifications are intact and still strong!”

"Our soldiers are waiting for the battle, looking forward to paying back the blood debt from the Qing barbarians! Our machine guns are ready to be fired, waiting to harvest the heads of the Qing barbarians again!"

But there was no one running away, and only the debris was thrown all over the ground.

Qing soldiers appeared behind many fortifications. They carried flamethrowers and grenades, and took down one fortification after another without much trouble.

Now the defenders on both sides of the gap are also rumoring that "the line of defense has been broken, the line of defense has been broken". People are panicked and no one has the heart to resist. Although there is no water here and there is no power outage, a large number of panic has begun. Many soldiers in the machine gun fort have dropped their guns and run back.

The Nanjing defense line, which is more than 30 kilometers, is facing an overall collapse.

These troops on the defense line are "fortress divisions" specially trained by the Nanming for a long time, which are different from field troops. They are mainly trained as soldiers who fight with strong fortifications. Each of them is an excellent gunner, observer, machine gunner, and can be replaced by each other. Even a service soldier or a communications soldier can transform into a qualified machine gunner and continue to shoot after the main machine gun shooter is killed. But they all know very well that once they face close contact, they are by no means the opponent of the enemy field soldiers.

The escape began to spread to both sides from the three-kilometer gap in Dinghuai Gate, and soon the gap expanded to five kilometers and six kilometers...

The riverside building area is only a few hundred meters away from the Nanjing city wall. Now a large number of guards are being chased by the Qing soldiers, desperately climbing over the collapsed city wall and running into the city. They are running slowly and are caught up by the Qing soldiers, and they are directly stabbed to the ground with a bayonet.

Behind the river, one fortress after another was planted with the yellow-bottomed blue dragon flag of the Qing Dynasty...

The Ming army was in chaos, and the Qing army was in chaos. The chaotic Qing army chased the chaotic Ming army and kept chasing the Nanjing city walls and entering the urban area of ​​Dinghuai Gate.

Originally, the Qinhuai River, as a moat, surrounded the Nanjing city wall, but now the city wall has collapsed, and the narrow Qinhuai River is filled with ruins of bricks. Whether it is the Ming army defeated or the Qing army defeated, it will be over after a few jumps.

Scattered defenders resisted with machine guns with their walls, but they were soon submerged in the explosion of Qing mortars.

When they entered the city of Nanjing, the Qing soldiers scattered and no longer pursued the Ming army's guards. The legendary "Huahua Jinling" was finally revealed to them. Each Qing soldiers screamed in excitement and searched for their own targets privately:

Stores, houses, women...

Unfortunately, the east side of Nanjing city was already ruined due to the bombardment for several days. They could not find what they wanted. With the commander following up, the scattered Qing soldiers began to regain their system and advance to the city along Gupinggang Street and Shuizogang Street.

Suddenly, the Qing soldiers in the front discovered that behind the ruins in the distance, the Ming army, who had just escaped in a panic, was now red with their eyes and shouting and fighting back.

"Machine gun preparation!... Shoot!"

The Qing soldiers scattered and they all lay down and opened fire. A heavy machine gun was dragged up, and the machine gun team was in place and began to strafuse "da da da da".

The defeated Ming army in front of him howled and rushed straight towards him with a bayonet. There was no way to tell that he was still running away just now.

After the Qing army set off two rounds of rifles, they stood up and shouted and rushed forward, and began to fight hand-to-hand. Soon, these Ming army fortress soldiers fell under the bayonet, and half of them fled in a panic.

A Qing army company commander took off his helmet, touched his scalp, laughed, and waved:

"go ahead!"

But he immediately saw in surprise that the Ming army, who had escaped back, rushed back frantically from behind the ruins for the second time, shouting sadly and angryly, and pounced on them with gritted teeth.

"Huh?" The Qing army commander quickly put on his helmet, unable to believe his eyes, "What's wrong with them? Why are they all crazy?"

He squinted his eyes and stared at the pile of ruins ahead. This was probably a collapsed two-story building, which just sealed the street.

Amid the shouts and explosions around, he faintly identified a harsh sound, intermittently, just behind the pile of ruins. It seemed that there was a loudspeaker sound.

Could it be that the Nanming military police team is here?...No, on the defense line just now, didn’t the Nanming military police also escape? Now it has already entered the city. The most bitter battle has passed. Now it should be the time for the Nanming General to collapse.

The harsh sound was getting closer and closer, and the top of the head began to whistle "swoosh".

Bullets! That's the sound of machine guns!

The Qing army company commander was shocked: The sound of machine guns should be "da da da da", why is this so ugly, like sawing wood?

As the "sound of sawing wood" gets closer and closer, and it becomes more and more deafening, some kind of engine sound is heard. There is also the "squeaking" sound of bricks and tiles being crushed.

The remaining Ming soldiers in front of them were wiped out again. The Qing soldiers around them were holding guns, gasping for breath, staring at the pile of rubble more than ten meters away, and then looking at each other, all having an ominous premonition.

The strange machine gun sound on the opposite side stopped, and the engine and loudspeaker sound became clear:

"...We are the Imperial People's Guard... Order the defense line defenders to stop retreating and return to the defense line immediately... Order you must not take a step back, otherwise you will be killed... We are the Imperial People's Guard... Order you..."

Immediately afterwards, with a "boom", a piece of dust collapsed from the top of the ruins, and dust flew. A tank roared and climbed up the top of the ruins, stopped there, and was descending from a high point, two machine guns spitting out flames. On the front armor, on the bright yellow logo of the People's Guard, was a dazzling black sword.

The Qing army lay down in an instant.

On the top of the turret, a commander in a black uniform held the walkie-talkie and directed loudly, then the turret turned, and the 47mm barrel was lowered and he slowly aimed.

With a loud bang, the gun barrel spit out fireworks. The Qing army company commander and two Qing soldiers who were unable to escape were covered and fell to the ground.

The tank suddenly spewed out blue smoke and pounced down from the top of the ruins. The machine gun rushed forward with a strait. Then a shout came from behind the ruins. Hundreds of intercepted defense guards followed the tanks, holding guns and advancing towards the lost defense line.
Chapter completed!