Episode 18 Entering the water network zone!

On October 5th, day d+1, the Ming army's capture of Yangzhou shocked the Qing army, coupled with the launch of two levels of ruthless moves, they all had obvious effects. First of all, no matter how the Qing army retreated in front of them,

They no longer dared to hold civilians hostage. Even if a small number of Qing troops retreated into the town, they could not enter the village.

When resisting, the first thing they did was to quickly drive out the local residents and clear the battlefield. Even some villagers who were homesick were unwilling to leave, so the Qing army threatened to set fire to their houses. Secondly, the Qing army surrendered much more frequently.

Although currently there are mainly some small structures, mainly battalions, companies, and platoons.

In this case, the Ming army had no scruples and could fight freely, giving full play to its combat advantages. After taking Yangzhou on the right, they secured the bridge connecting Yangzhou and Jiangdu on the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. According to the planned battle plan,

The Sixth Mechanized Division of the People's Guard, leading the Eighth Light Army, composed of seven light-armored motorized infantry divisions, crossed the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal to the east bank and entered the water network area of ​​southern Jiangsu.

The targets of the Eighth Light Army are Baoying and Dongtai. These are the two most eastern regiment-level airports of the Qing Army. They are also the two largest airports in the east.

Regiment-level airports can generally be called "strategic-level" airports. This is because ordinary military airports only have one brigade stationed there, while regiment-level airports have one aviation group stationed there.

The organization of the Air Force, taking the fighter force as an example, the smallest organization is the "formation", which is divided into two aircraft formations (one lead aircraft and one wingman) and four aircraft formations (two two aircraft formations). Above that are the "squadrons"

, generally composed of three to four formations, with 12-16 aircraft. Next up is the "group", consisting of three to four squadrons, usually with thirty or forty aircraft. Generally, a group has an independent airport.

.

Further up, there is the aviation regiment. The aviation regiment is composed of three to four brigades, with a total of more than 100 aircraft. The aviation regiment is the largest tactical unit. Further up, there are the aviation division, aviation army, and the largest

Air force unit: Air force. The air force is roughly equivalent to the "military district" of the army. However, based on the strength of the air forces of various countries in the 1930s, they have not yet reached such a large unit. Such a large air force unit was not used until the 1940s during World War II.

can be achieved.

There are 13 such group-level airports in the entire Beiqing. Among them, there are 6 "first-line airports" closest to Nanming: Dongtai Airport, Baoying Airport, Sihong Airport, Fengyang Airport, Hefei Airport, and Lu'an Airport. These 6

The airport was also bombed twice during the Ming and Qing War at the beginning of the year and in the early morning of D-Day.

There are five "second-tier airports" far away from the border: Xuzhou Airport, Xuchang Airport, Zhengzhou Airport, Hanzhong Airport, and Xianyang Airport.

There are two further "third-line airports": Tangshan Airport and Dongying Airport. These two airports mainly defend the Beijing-Tianjin defense circle. Although they are very far from the border between the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they are very close to the coastline, and the Ming army has aircraft carriers.

.So just like the airport above, it failed to escape the Ming army’s early morning bombing on D-Day.

Now an important goal of the Ming Army's Right Army Group is to seize the six regiment-level airports on the front line. With these six large airports, the Ming Army's air supremacy can be extended to the hinterland of the Northern Qing Dynasty.

…

The water network area in southern Jiangsu did not hold back the Ming army's motorized troops as the Qing army hoped. The Ming army's long-term high-load training in the Jiangnan water network area, high morale, and determination to fight all the way to Beijing,

It has played a huge role. Although this is also a water network area in southern Jiangsu, it is already in the north of the Yangtze River and is not as dense as the one in the south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, most of these "water networks" are small river ditches a few feet wide, and the Zhouqiao engineers can easily

Make it passable.

On a river more than five meters wide, there will be stone bridges at every other section of the river. And more than half of the stone bridges - as long as they are made of stone rather than wood - can support a 6.5-ton Lightning-1 light tank, and

The 7-ton blast 36 armored vehicle. Those lighter trucks are not to mention.

"Civil war is about beating the hearts of the people." This sentence is now vividly reflected in the march of the Eighth Light Army. The appearance of the Ming army made the people along the way ecstatic and rushed to lead them. Every time they came to a river, the local people

There will be many villagers around

There, they all told the Ming army: The river will become narrower wherever it goes, and you can drive directly across it. There will be a bridge on which side you go, and the bridge on which side is a stone bridge, and the bridge on which side is a wooden bridge.

Bridges, which bridges were blown up when the Qing army retreated, and which ones were not blown up yet...

In addition to the local people, Ming army aircraft constantly patrolled the air, acting as "clairvoyants" for ground troops and constantly feeding back traffic conditions ahead.

…

On the vast right battlefield, south of Shandong, the battlefield is divided into two halves by Gaoyou Lake and Hongze Lake. To the east of the two lakes is Jiangsu, and to the west of the two lakes is Anhui.

Most of the Qing army's forces were mainly concentrated in the area west of the Two Lakes, that is, along the Anhui and Jinpu railways. To the west of the Two Lakes, in the central and southern parts of Jiangsu, due to the dense water network and the plains, there were no strategic locations and no railways.

, there is nothing along the coast that can be used as a port, so the Qing army does not have many garrison troops. Therefore, once the Ming army can overcome the troubles caused by the water network, the advance speed will not be slow at all.

Even in such a water network area, the Eighth Light Army's average marching speed on October 5 actually reached 10 kilometers per hour. As a sharp-edged force, the Sixth Division of the People's Guard occupied the right to use the Huaitai Highway.

.By taking this road from Huai'an to Taixing, we completely avoided the trouble of water network obstruction. We traveled at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour and reached Gaoyou County at noon.

Gaoyou County is backed by Gaoyou Lake and is on the edge of Huaitai Highway. To the east of the highway is the military camp of the Qing army. Because Huaitai Highway (Huaian to Taizhou), Yanjing Highway (Yancheng to Jingjiang), Haitong Highway [Haizhou (Haizhou)]

Later Lianyungang) to Tongzhou], is

There are three high-quality north-south highways in the entire water network area of ​​southern Jiangsu. With these three roads, mechanized troops can move quickly. And Gaoyou is a choke point guarding the Huaitai Highway. A Qing army and a Han military division have been stationed here for a long time:

48th Division.

This division has been visited repeatedly by dive bombers since early yesterday morning. Although there are not many planes arriving at one time, they are valuable in that they are uninterrupted. As of noon today, it has been subjected to more than thirty hours of terrorist bombing, and has basically been destroyed.

It exploded into shapeless pieces.

At around eleven o'clock at noon, the bombing from the sky gradually stopped. On the Huaitai Highway outside the city, light tanks appeared in the distance. The Sixth Division of the People's Guard arrived.

At this time, wounded soldiers of the Qing army were sitting everywhere on the side of the road. They had short legs and broken arms. They were sitting or lying down in a large area. They hung white sheets on the trees to serve as white flags. When tanks and armored vehicles came from

As we were driving through the highway, countless remnants of the Qing army came up from both sides and blocked the road ahead. They held up white sheets and asked for surrender and medical treatment. The Ming army tanks had to fire in the air repeatedly to drive them off the highway.

, allowing the large troops to continue to pass.

The commander of the reconnaissance battalion was sitting in an officer's car, with an armored vehicle behind it, rumbling over. He stood on the car and asked the wounded Qing soldiers below:

"Hey, how many of you are there in total? Where are the others? Are there any troops in the city?"

The wounded soldiers of the Qing army below immediately shouted:

"Sir..."

"We..."

"he……"

"For us..."

"Poor, pitiful..."

"We want..."

"Run away..."

"exist……"

The commander of the reconnaissance battalion became angry. He raised his submachine gun and pointed it at the sky. The surrounding area immediately fell silent.

"Damn it, only one person can say it! You, say it!"

One of the selected Qing soldiers was sitting on the ground, his face covered in blood and his head wrapped in gauze. He looked at the muzzle of the waving submachine gun and said timidly:

"Sir...sir, we broke up a long time ago. The division commander took the brothers and ran north in the morning. Most of the brothers were unwilling to follow and wanted to stay and wait for the barbarians... Oh no, no, wait for Master Wang, wait.

Master Wang...we all want to join the Ming Dynasty."

The battalion commander nodded and asked again:

"How many people are left? Where are they?"

"Sir, there are at least six or seven thousand of us left behind, but they are all scattered, and no one can find them. Look, here, there, and a large area over there, all the people sitting there are me.

Brothers... there are also ones in Liuzhuang across the highway, Guanzhuang in the south, and there are also ones over the Xu Bridge..."

The reconnaissance battalion commander was very satisfied, nodded and said with a smile:

"Very good! You did the right thing... Hey, what's going on in the city? Why is there still smoke?"

The Qing soldier immediately said:

"Sir, that's none of our business... Our division headquarters evacuated before you came in the morning... Then chaos broke out in Gaoyou City. The common people rose up to make trouble, and the county government and the police were all

People from the bureau, tax bureau, and other yamen were all surrounded, saying that they wanted to calculate the general ledger, pull out those officials, crush their bones and spread their ashes... No,

The county government building was burned down, and the homes of those officials, as well as the officials’ second concubines, third concubines, fourth, fifth and sixth concubines... their houses were also smashed and burned... all over the streets.

Dead people! None of the brothers dared to stay in the city, they all sat by the road... The brothers didn't dare to throw their guns, not to defend themselves against Master Wang, but to defend themselves!"

When the battalion commander heard this, he immediately knew that in Gaoyou City, like Nanyang City, people were liquidating the government. He did not bother to send someone to report to the division headquarters, and directly took out a roll of the Ming Dynasty flag from the car, unfolded it, and waved.

He called the squad leader next to him and said:

"Take your brothers and follow these Qing soldiers into the city. Go to the top of the city, pull down the Manchu and Qing flags, put our flags on them, and then shout "Gaoyou is liberated" and come back quickly. Our division

We still have to move forward. Don't worry about things in the city. The army division behind is in charge. Go quickly! I'm watching from here."

"yes!"

…

A squad of Ming soldiers, holding the Ming flag, marched straight into Gaoyou County, surrounded by thousands of Qing soldiers on both sides.

They didn't go to the city, they just climbed up the city gate tower, pulled down the dirty Northern Qing Triangle Dragon Flag, and then hoisted the Ming Dynasty flag up.

The squad leader stood on the tower, waved his hand down coolly, and shouted loudly:

“I declare—Gaoyou—is restored————!!!”

Suddenly, the cheers below almost turned the sky upside down. The firecracker shops in the city had long been robbed, and now the city and outside were drowned in the explosion of firecrackers.

The commander of the reconnaissance battalion was on the side of the road. Through his telescope, he saw the Manchu and Qing national flags lowered and the Ming Dynasty national flags raised on the city in the distance. He grinned.

"Write it down," he looked at his watch, turned to the communications soldier next to him and smiled, "at 11:45 noon, the Third Platoon, Second Platoon, Third Company, Third Company, Reconnaissance Battalion, Sixth Division, People's Guard, with a strength of 10 men,
To be continued...