Chapter 281 Iron Armor War

As a close subordinate of Li Jishen, Ye Mingtao's subordinates controlled the forces of the two divisions, and were well equipped and had complete military pay. Ye Mingtao himself started from a small amount and was considered a military merit. He also paid attention to actual combat in military training and was talked about by incompetent people.

When it comes to military talents, he is not outstanding, but he is cautious and calm, and his combat methods are mostly stable. It is most suitable to defend key areas.

Chen Jitang's approach obviously aroused Li Jishen's dissatisfaction, so after transferring him, he replaced Ye Mingtao, the most obedient among his subordinates.

Chen Bing 20,000 and Chenzhou's northern suburbs were the defenders of Hengyang, and belonged to the second-tier defensive force, with Chenzhou as a buffer, and it was also a relatively quiet place here.

In addition, Hengyang itself is a big city with a very prosperous population and commerce, and the troops' supplies and gray income are also quite abundant, allowing soldiers to maintain a relatively strong fighting will.

But in the past few days, Ye Mingtao was in a bad mood. The fall of Chenzhou caused him to bear huge military pressure. Because of his defeat, several colleagues had been demoted or captured, and their ends were miserable.

The strength of the enemy in front of him made him worried. Tanks, armored vehicles, aircraft, countless large-caliber infantry field artillery, these things that he didn't even dare to imagine in his dreams appeared in the enemy's camp. How could he feel at ease?

Standing on the high bluestone city tower, holding the second-hand optical telescope rewarded by Li Jishen, he looked at the horizon in the distance. From time to time, he also discussed the army's defense with the adjutant beside him.

He is not a person who is afraid of death. Although his talent is not very outstanding, his calm and calm attitude is also an officer who fights all kinds of battles. He has his own majesty. His calm command has indeed greatly soothed the mood of the soldiers below.

The soldiers who returned from the front line were all imprisoned. Except for a few officers who had friendship with Li Jishen, they were all gathered in the military camp outside the city. The name was protection, but in fact it was imprisonment, and these people could not disrupt the morale of the army.

The fear after defeat will unconsciously exaggerate the enemy's combat capabilities and cause this uneasiness to spread rapidly within the army. Ye Mingtao also rolls in the military all year round, and has a personal experience of this kind of thing.

His loyalty to Li Jishen was also a major reason why he could continue to persevere here. In fact, as early as when he was defeated and left Guangdong, Li Jishen's prestige in the army was no longer as good as before.

When people's hearts are dispersed, it will be difficult to lead the team. That's the reason.

If you win, of course someone will be willing to follow you, but if you fail, you will basically fall and scatter. This is even more true when fighting for the world. After the decisive military loss, few leaders can turn the defeat around.

Losing Guangdong Province, Li Jishen is equivalent to only going to the foundation of all rise, without a stable base, and fighting for dominance in the world is just an unattainable dream.

On the battlefield in Chenzhou, the smoke of gunpowder has not yet dissipated.

But the sound of cannons had fallen silent, and the battlefield was in chaos. The bodies of the dead soldiers on the ground and the wreckage of the field cannons that fell on the side were all witnesses of the one-sided battle.

The sunny day on the city was everywhere, and the red flags were torn down, replaced by the raised Canglong flag. It is unknown whether the winner of this battle was the armed force represented by the Chinese army, and the defeated party was Li Jishen's troops, which belonged to the combat sequence of the ** Army.

Although the battle has stopped, there is still smoke of gunpowder floating on the battlefield, and the choking smell of gunpowder permeates the battlefield. The entire battlefield is quiet and occasionally one or two moans of the dying person sound, adding to the strange atmosphere on the battlefield.

"Da da da...da da da..."

Suddenly, the roar of the machine gun started to make the dead battlefield noisy for a moment, but soon, the gunshots fell silent again, and the surroundings became dead silent again.

In this strange dead silence, Wang An raised his head and looked at the railway roadbed not far away. He saw that the strange-looking train was still parked there. The short and thick chimney of the locomotive was spraying black smoke, like a dormant beast. The bottom of the thick steel armor also spewed out some white steam from time to time, with a strange "hissing" sound, as if the beast was polishing its claws, and seemed to pounce on it at any time to choose people and eat them.

The flutes of the two provinces were constantly conveying towards the distance.

The train suddenly rang its whistle. When it was frightened by the whistle, Wang An hurriedly buried his head again, crawling in the pile of corpses without moving, lying behind the wreckage of the tilted field cannon. Relying on this obstacle, Wang An had been pretending to be dead here for half an hour.

He was a squad leader of the Third Division of the ** Army. He was from Cangwu, Guangxi, so he was considered a fellow villager of Li Zhenxu, the garrison general of Chenzhou. In this era, the friendship between fellow villagers was still very important, otherwise Ye Mingtao would not have been promoted to a trusted guard just by his good skills.

Li Zhenxu himself was also a fellow villager of Li Jishen. Considering that he had taken office in another place and needed a reliable guard, he specially sent people back to Cangwu to recruit the guards. This was the official grain he ate at that time. This "An" name was also changed by Li Zhenxu's army. Originally, their Guangxi soldiers planned to follow General Ye to fight Qiufeng to Chenzhou.

** The army's Northern Expedition was progressing smoothly, and Wang An also gained benefits and became an officer. Therefore, he transformed himself into a squad leader. Although he was a little less official, his monthly military salary was higher than that of a soldier, and he could command a soldier. He, Squad Leader Zhang Wang, had indeed been in glory for some time.

However, the scenery was short-lived after all. As the confrontation between the north and the south escalated, Li Jishen's troops transferred a large number of south dynasties. Wang An followed the Third Division from Changsha to Hengyang. After replenishing weapons and ammunition, he took the train to Chenzhou, as an ordinary cannon fodder in the first defense line, walking in front of other troops.

It was not until this time that Wang An came back to the taste. It turned out that the imperial grain was not so easy to eat, and it was a life-long struggle.

Due to the initial military judgment error, the third division where Wang An was located was just here to make a fortune under the command of the division commander Li Zhenxu. Chen Jitang's example had long been spread in the team. He had been guarding this place for several years and had accumulated more wealth than Li Jishen. How can he not attract jealousy?

Therefore, the whole army felt good about stationing in Chenzhou, and Wang An was no exception. Like other officers and soldiers, they all believed that this defense change was easy, and everyone even began to plan how to make a fortune here.

However, their excitement did not last long. First, the division headquarters stationed by Yizhang County was attacked by a long-distance small commando of the Chinese army, and their morale was affected. Then, they were attacked by the Chinese army in the battle to defend Chenzhou.

Dozens of tanks were front-drive, armored personnel carriers and infantry followed, and the bombing of the planes above their heads did not stop. Cooperating with the continuous thunder of field artillery, the Chenzhou defense line was almost like purgatory, with the breath of death and destruction everywhere.

After fighting for several days, the ** Army failed to defend any key position. The entire Third Division was defeated and became depressed. Everyone was talking strangely. Although Wang An didn't say much stranger, his thoughts of making money in Wuhan were clear. Now, his only thought was how to leave Chenzhou alive.

Of course, the more important problem is that if Wang An cannot leave the killing field in front of him alive, it is impossible for Wang An to leave Chenzhou alive.

The key is those weird iron trucks with iron wheels. Wang An didn't recognize the tracks and thought that the train was driving on the flat ground. He could still fire shells and trench positions with heavy machine guns could not stop such steel monsters.

Wang An once faced the crushing of such a tank. If he hadn't been crawling among the dead, he would have probably died in the battle that day.

If these iron cars refused to leave here, Wang An would have to continue to lie here and pretend to be dead. But the problem is that this is still the forefront of the firefight between the two sides of the war. Whether it is the Chinese army launching an attack or the ** army's fronts launching a counterattack, the open area on the edge of the railway roadbed is a killing field where bullets fly across the sky.

The Chinese army seemed to attach great importance to the railway supply line and invested a lot of troops. No news came from the front line, and those who survived by chance were busy escaping from death, just like Wang An.

Loyalty and dedication are all illusory fairy tales at such times.

The shells fired by the tanks kept blooming and exploding on this open ground. Even if you stay here for one more minute, you would be in danger of losing your life. Wang An understood this truth very well.

Wang An had limited knowledge and had no idea how to call the iron chariot in front of him. The iron armor covered with all his body looked very heavy, and all the heavy machine guns of the ** Army could not do anything to it. In this way, it might be more appropriate to call it a "iron chariot".

Many middle and lower-level officers are not very clear about the concept of tanks. Although the ** Army itself actually has armored troops, they seem to be refrigerated by the leaders and intend to be a trick to keep them in the bottom of the box.

In the industrial age, this is simply a joke. It is hard to fight poorly and stingy to soldiers is a disaster.

Even due to the terrain, there were few armored troops in the battle sequence of the Chinese army starting from northern Guangdong. But in the eyes of the soldiers of the ** Army, this tactic of holding tanks in front is really a luxury.

In fact, when these tanks with steel armor and smoothbore guns on the vehicle, as well as armored vehicles equipped with machine guns and even Green machine guns, suddenly appeared in front of the ** soldiers who were launching the attack, some generals who had been to the military academy shouted "tanks".

However, the scene was extremely chaotic at that time. Wang An was not sure whether this title was called out by the officers who had been abroad. He only knew that when these iron cars rushed towards each other, everyone was stunned. The soldiers who were still alive in his class almost thought of escaping and escaping from this battlefield full of strange atmosphere.

Wang An failed to stop his men because he was also stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, the iron carts had expanded their positions and directly broke through the defense line.

It occupied a high slope with a good view, and was condescending, and used machine guns and cannons to open fire on the still confused officers and soldiers.

Wang An could no longer remember the specific situation at that time. He could only vaguely remember his illusion at that time. In his opinion, what was roaring in front of him was not machine guns and cannons, but the monsters running out of the deep mountains and forests howled.

With every howl, a group of people will fall from their team. With every cannon sound, fragments of people's limbs will fly into the sky, spinning and landing in front of others, or even on their heads.

At that time, the Third Army Division was entering the attack position and preparing to attack a mountain highland on the side of the railway. They were not prepared for defense at all, because the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division were placed in the south. According to common sense, if the Chinese army wanted to attack the Third Division, they must first break through the defense line between the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division.

However, the officers and soldiers of the Third Division did not expect that the Chinese army would send an infantry division equipped with tanks and armored assault vehicles. With the ability of armored vehicles to attack the defense lines of the Fourth and Seventh Divisions, they rushed to the nose of the Third Division along the intact railway.

Relying on the heavy iron armor and powerful firepower, they slaughtered the Third Division completely exposed to it. However, the ** Army had no power to fight back. Apart from escaping from the battlefield, the cannon fodders had no choice.

Ironically, it was the railway line. The headquarters repeatedly warned the troops that the railway must be intact. Because the government is unwilling to spend money to repair it, so if you don’t have money, you can only use the way of living without money.

On one hand, the long-planned Chinese Army mixed-equipped infantry division attacked, and on the other hand, the three divisions of the ** Army that had just entered the attack position and had not yet been fully assembled, even if the number of people was completely above the other side.

But in terms of combat effectiveness, the gap between the two is too big.

As soon as the two sides contacted, the morale of the Third Division collapsed, especially when the soldiers found that no weapon in their hands could deal with the armored train, everyone chose to escape from the battlefield.

The Chinese infantry divisions following closely behind the armored forces were rushing towards this place, and these brave soldiers of the ** army must strategically transfer to the rear before the enemy attacked here.

The one who escaped unhappily became a corpse. Wang An originally planned to escape from the battlefield with the others, but he sprained his foot after running a few steps. Fortunately, he became wise in a hurry and hurriedly rolled into the pile of corpses, pretending to be dead.

So far, he had been lying beside this blown field artillery for half an hour. During this period, the Third Division tried to organize an effective attack, and the artillery crazily poured shells into the roadbed and the train, but the shells shot over could not distinguish between enemies and friends.

Those shells cannot deal with iron armored vehicles, but they are still more than enough to deal with their own infantry. Many Beiyang soldiers did not die under the guns and cannons of the Chinese army, but died at the hands of their own artillery. The soldiers of the non-dead ** Army may have to thank these tanks, because it was the cannons on the vehicles that suppressed the ** Army's artillery units and forced them to retreat soon.

Under the assault operations of tank troops, the rear was no longer safe, and even the artillery station was located, became the target of attack.

The battle between the two sides stopped like this, and it took only twenty minutes. During this period, the Chinese army actually sent more than fifty bombers to throw bombs on the chaotic ** army positions, which further destroyed the morale of the other party.

Wang Anfu was very lucky. He didn't even break his skin during the artillery and bombing, but his ankle was sprained, which made him unable to take advantage of the chaos to escape from the battlefield. He just kept lying here, waiting for the tanks to leave.

But what surprised Wang An was that after the tanks drove here, they stopped here, and had no intention of retreating to the south at all, nor did they pursue the escaped ** army troops.

The other party did not seem to have planned to use the roundabout encirclement mode to cut off their retreat, and a large number of defeated soldiers successfully fled to the direction of Hengyang. There was the base of the second defense line, and there were two divisions of troops, which was considered strong.

Wang An lay in the pile of corpses and thought, listening with his ears on his face, and could only hear the sound of gunfire from far south. The battle there has been fierce since just now. Even though the Third Division had collapsed, the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division still stood firm on their positions and fought fiercely with the Chinese army.

As for who wins and who loses, Wang An doesn't know, and he no longer cares.

However, when the Third Division was fighting with the armored vehicles just now, Wang An seemed to see a large Chinese army carrying the Canglong Banner on the other side of the railway being mobilized, as if they were to attack the Third Division. However, when they found that the Third Division had collapsed, they did not attack the Third Division, but turned around to the south and went to the positions of the Fourth Division and the Seventh Division.

Just as Wang An was still thinking about it, the armored troops began a new round of attacks.

The friction of the machine parts and the roar of the internal combustion engine were intertwined. Although the sound was not loud, Wang An heard it, the sound was like the roar of a beast after waking up, which made him frightened, and his legs couldn't help but tremble.

He buried his head tightly in the pile of corpses, and did not dare to breathe even when he was breathing, nor did he dare to look up. He could only rely on his ears to determine whether the terrifying killing gods had been far away.

Thankfully, the monsters finally walked away this time, but they still did not mean to retreat to the south. Instead, they continued to head north and drove along the railway north. The speed was getting faster and faster, and the tracks crushed the soil and gravel, rumbling.

He raised his head and saw that the armored force had walked two miles away. Wang An sighed and moved his feet. Although the sprained place was still a little painful, it seemed that it did not hinder his walking.

So, Wang An stood up from the pile of corpses, walked a few steps, saw a rifle on the ground, so he picked it up and used it as a crutch in his hand. Some Chinese soldiers had just come down from the local convoy, but they looked down on the rifles all over the ground, and instead brought the machine guns left by the Third Division on the battlefield to the military truck that followed.

"Maybe, the Chinese army has already fired with those Beiyang machine guns?"

Hearing the sound of machine gun shooting from the north, Wang An turned his head and took a look. It was also the direction of the Third Division's retreat. Further north, it was the position of the Ninth Division. Wang An forced himself not to think about how the Ninth Division would show its combat effectiveness in front of the iron car.

"Walk a few miles south and then go west. If you can't go back to Hengyang, just make a fuss on this land. Being a mountain king is better than being a cannon fodder."

Looking up at the sun in the sky, Wang An sighed, picked up a few more good guns from the ground, carried them on his back, and limped to the south with a rifle. Along the way, he met several soldiers who pretended to be dead like him, so everyone quickly formed a small team and followed Wang An to the south.

In the dazzling sunshine, Wang An turned around, looked at the battlefield full of shame, and couldn't help but howl twice.

This iron-clad war really made all the officers and soldiers dumbfounded...

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