afterglow

Chapter 679: Battle of Brisbane; Second Round of Suns
It’s late spring, but the Hexi Corridor is still chilly and bleak, and the two slender railway tracks seem to lead to the end of the west.

The armored patrol vehicle is a wheeled armored vehicle with a dual walking device. It can run on rails and on land. The Ming army often used it to patrol and protect the rear railway lines.

A Type 37 armored patrol vehicle drove past quickly, and soon another train roared after it.

Out of the need for low-key confidentiality, the emperor's special train did not undertake this mission. Zhu Lingjing and his party took an ordinary military train with a special living carriage added.

At this time, she was playing chess with Su Yiyi. Looking at the few lonely chess pieces left, she couldn't help but smile and said, "Your chess skills have improved a lot."

The latter replied respectfully: "Your Majesty was careless."

Zhou Changfeng was sitting at a table not far away, dealing with some official documents forwarded by the Ministry of War.

He muttered, "See, large-scale airborne attacks are still as useless as ever."

Not long after the bloody Battle of Bundaberg ended, the Ming army replaced its newly reinforced troops and continued to advance. The US-Australian coalition forces, which suffered heavy losses, had to retreat.

The gates of Brisbane, one of the three largest cities in eastern Australia, were wide open. Marshal Mac believed that his side, which had suffered heavy casualties, was unable to defend and should abandon the city to avoid losing more manpower in vain.

However, the Australians refused to obey, and some radical Australian generals even ridiculed him for abandoning Manila, which made him very angry.

In the end, both sides made concessions, and the Australian Army left behind the relatively complete 10th Infantry Division, the 11th Field Artillery Brigade (Regiment), the 7th Infantry Brigade (Regiment), the 14th Light Cavalry Regiment (Battalion), and some militia units. The total number of regular troops and militia was about 2.32.

Urban street fighting is undoubtedly very difficult to fight, especially in Brisbane, a large city with a large number of brick, stone and reinforced concrete buildings. Many of these buildings have been converted by the Australian army into solid support points, forming mutually supporting firepower points.

This was also the first time that the Ming army attacked a large city with heavy military defense. Before that, Darwin, Cairns, and Townsville could only be considered towns. Although Kolkata, which was captured by the Indus Corps, was also a large city, the British Indian Army abandoned it.

Australian troops defending Brisbane deployed a large number of barbed wire and mines, placed buses filled with rubble across the streets as obstacles, and built many anti-tank cones using cement left over from military warehouses.

After quickly taking control of the outer positions in the northern suburbs, the Ming army entered the city of Brisbane and immediately encountered fierce resistance.

Bullets seemed to be shooting out of every window of those buildings, and the firepower coming from all directions was so intense that the vanguard troops could hardly move forward. Some people even described it as being like there were 10,000 bunkers blocking the way ahead.

Anti-tank cones and various roadblocks greatly hindered the movement of Ming army tanks. Some Australian soldiers discovered the trick to attacking tanks - putting on asbestos fire blankets and using bazookas, so that they could fire normally in a narrow room without worrying about being burned by the flames.

The Ming army used flamethrowers, flamethrower tanks, and flamethrower armored vehicles to sweep every building and every street of the enemy, and the consumption of grenades was four times that of a field battle.

The most intense battle broke out at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia building. About 1100 Australian soldiers and militiamen desperately defended this key stronghold and the surrounding streets. The Ming army dispatched Type Yuan (Z) heavy bombers to drop more than a dozen 2500 kg giant bombs. The violent explosion even damaged the optical instruments of the Ming army artillery observation post a block away.

The Ming army used two reinforced battalions and more than a dozen tanks to surround the city from three sides. After a day and night of fierce fighting, they finally wiped out the stubborn enemies. One third of the Federal Bank building collapsed into ruins.

After half a month of hard fighting, the Ming army completely occupied Brisbane in February. Most of the city was severely damaged, and every building was in ruins without exception.

During the street fighting phase, the Ming army suffered a total of 1.1 casualties, of which 2406 were killed or missing; the total casualties of the Australian defenders were similar to those of the Ming army, but about 6000 were killed.

Before the war, the US-Australian coalition forces had been loudly publicizing that they had successfully contained the enemy's offensive after the arduous Battle of Bundaberg, so they did not evacuate civilians until the critical moment when they hastily ordered the evacuation of the people.

However, the main force of the US-Australian coalition was also retreating south at this time, and the road and rail transport capacity was insufficient to carry so many people in a short period of time, so many civilians remained in the war zone until the Ming army arrived at the city.

Due to the lack of food and water, the invasion of war and disease, and the frequent activities of resistance organizations and militias, the Ming army was extremely strict in screening local civilians.

A series of collateral damage resulted in approximately 40 casualties among the 23 stranded civilians, with more than 7 deaths.

At the end of the Battle of Brisbane, the remaining Australian troops began to retreat southward, first joining up with the Australian troops stationed in the small town of Gold Coast, and then continuing to retreat southward.

The Ming army command realized that the effect of reducing the manpower through a war of attrition was not obvious enough, because the Australian battlefield was too small, with a scale of at most hundreds of thousands of people, and a short-term tug-of-war would generally only result in tens of thousands of casualties.

Therefore, the Grand Marshal's Office instructed the Australian Corps to try to carry out one or two annihilation battles to annihilate the enemy troops in an organized manner.

After research, Ding Yiping decided to implement a landing in the rear of the US-Australian coalition forces (in the area south of the Gold Coast), supplemented by tactical airborne operations, to ensure that the enemy's retreat route to the south was cut off. The code name of the operation was: Shenlao.

The landing force was the 4th Marine Brigade and the 102nd Independent Tank Battalion, the airborne force was the 2nd Parachute Regiment, and the naval unit participating in the combat was the 190th Fleet A.

The scene of the airborne operation was indeed spectacular. The blue sky and white clouds were filled with dense white parachutes, blocking out the sun. However, the actual effect was shocking. The 2nd Parachute Regiment collided with the vanguard of the Australian Army retreating south before it could complete the assembly.

The Australian troops, eager to escape, fought desperately and broke through several hastily built positions of the Ming army paratroopers. The Ming army paratroopers, fighting on their own, were caught in a bitter battle and suffered heavy losses, with many officers either killed or injured.

Fortunately, the landing troops arrived in time, and the 190th Fleet of Type A also provided support with naval gunfire, so the cork blocking the retreat route was not washed away. However, the 2nd Parachute Regiment paid a huge price with more than half of its troops lost.

In this battle, except for a small number of remnants who fled westward across the Great Divide, the Australian 10th Infantry Division, 5th Infantry Division, 7th Infantry Brigade (Regiment), and 11th Field Artillery Brigade (Regiment) were completely wiped out.

In fact, the US Army's 1st Red Division was just in the south, only two days and nights away, but Douglas MacArthur did not agree to let the 1st Red Division go north to relieve the siege.

Many Australian generals accused him of being narrow-minded and resentful of previous taunts about the Manila incident, which further deteriorated relations between the two sides.

Zhou Changfeng has long advocated avoiding large-scale airborne operations. Battalion and company-level tactical airborne operations are the most appropriate. Division-level airborne operations mean that scheduling is extremely difficult, and a large number of paratroopers will take several times longer to assemble and reorganize after landing, making them sluggish and fragile.

However, it was obvious that the Ming Air Force did not believe this, so the paratrooper unit was beaten badly again.

"If a unit is damaged, it can be restored as long as it is replenished, but if it is annihilated, it must be reorganized from scratch. In this battle, many enemy units were annihilated, and the battle was good."

Zhu Lingjing raised her eyes and looked at Zhou Changfeng with a relaxed tone.

The latter nodded and said, "That's right. There are only a dozen Australian division-level units in total. They can't withstand this."

"How long will it take? Where are we now?"

"We'll probably just pass the Gansu border, and it'll be tomorrow."

The train was running on the Lanyi Line from Lanzhou to Yilibali, but its destination was obviously not there.

To the northeast of the Taramu Basin there is an unbranched river called the Peacock River, which eventually flows into a small lake called Loulan Lake.

That small lake is the destination.

the next morning.

The train slowed down and drove onto a new branch track that had been built two years ago, then headed south along a railway that was not marked on ordinary maps into an extremely desolate place.

Finally, a simple and heavily guarded railway station came into view.

There were infantrymen and military police armed with live ammunition everywhere. Heavy machine guns were mounted on tall four-legged steel-framed sentry towers. Two Type 40 wheeled reconnaissance vehicles with desert paint drove by, raising a large cloud of dust.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard is the only unit that retains the classical organizational name, namely small flags and general flags. There are a total of twelve general flags. On this trip, only two general flags with about a hundred guards were accompanying them.

Similar to the British Royal Guard, the Jinyiwei wore traditional Feiyu uniforms when on duty in the Forbidden City, but now when they go out for guard duty, they naturally change into standard military uniforms, no different from the Imperial Guards.

The Chairman of the Special Crop Research and Development Committee, Air Force Brigadier General Fa Cailiang, took two steps forward, leaned forward and touched his chest to salute, saying: "Your Majesty, all matters have been taken care of, please review."

"Is all the test explosion work ready?" Zhu Lingjing asked while gazing at the endless desert in the distance.

"Your Majesty, we are just waiting for your instructions and will start the final preparations immediately."

"How long will it take?" "Six hours. The test is best done at dawn, when the contrast is higher and it will be easier to record with photography, observation and analysis."

"Then it will be scheduled for tomorrow morning."

"According to the order."

His Majesty the Emperor's personal vehicle - the large sedan was loaded on a flatbed car of the military train and was unloaded after entering the station.

The reactor factory of the Jinwu Project was code-named "Red Sand Castle", and now the test base is called "Moshuixie".

The convoy that Zhu Lingjing was on slowly drove into Moshuixie a few kilometers away. There were large areas of simple wooden houses and tents, with only a few reinforced concrete buildings, where thousands of scientific researchers and soldiers were stationed.

Knowing that His Majesty would be visiting in person, the engineering corps worked overnight a few days ago to build a large wooden house, installed a bathtub and toilet, and built a surrounding wall.

Zhou Changfeng did not have such treatment, but he did not mind living in a tent like everyone else. After all, he had become accustomed to it over the years.

It was obvious that Zhu Lingjing was in a very good mood. After settling down, she changed into a military uniform - a gray-green summer uniform, which made her look heroic and capable.

"Someone, prepare the car and look around."

By the afternoon, she insisted on checking out the surrounding situation.

"It's quite rare to see Your Majesty wearing a military uniform. I've only seen it a few times." Zhou Changfeng said in surprise.

Zhu Lingjing, smiling, did not comment, but pointed at the SUV next to her and said, "You drive."

So, the group drove into the desolate desert.

An iron tower has been erected at the test center. What’s interesting is that the test tower used in the Ming nuclear program is not a steel frame tower, but three steel columns tilted together, a bit like the tripod mast of a battleship.

Various test objects were placed in order from the center of the explosion to the outside, including tanks, armored vehicles, wooden houses, reinforced concrete buildings, bunkers, and many trenches were dug.

Now, several trucks loaded with living creatures are parked nearby. Soldiers and military doctors are moving the tied-up chickens, dogs, monkeys, and pigs off the trucks and placing them in the preset test objects, while others are exposed in open areas.

Outside the estimated maximum killing radius, four smoke rocket launchers were arranged in sequence to launch into the air and pull out several smoke columns before the explosion.

Then, everyone saw the daunting object at the assembly station - painted with red anti-rust paint and round in shape.

As a plutonium bomb, it was quite round; as a primitive early nuclear device, it was quite bulky, weighing more than 9,000 kilograms.

Zhu Lingjing put her hand on its shell and examined it carefully. Then she looked at Zhou Changfeng who was a few steps away and said with a smile, "It turns out that it has only had a code name until now. Let's give it a name. Zhou Kexing, does it look like Taishang Laojun's alchemy furnace? Let's call it Bagua Furnace."

"Cough cough cough——" Zhou Changfeng, who was drinking water from a kettle, couldn't help but laugh and choked so much that he kept coughing.

"Uh... the name your majesty gave is vivid and descriptive." After saying that, he couldn't help but walk forward and touch it.

After completing the inspection, the group left.

The temperature difference between day and night in the northwest is large, and it feels quite cold when the sun sets.

Zhu Lingjing raised her hand to cover her nose and sneezed, looking at the beautiful sunset in the west, she sighed: "It really is 'the smoke rises straight in the desert, the sun sets over the long river'."

After returning to our accommodation, we had a simple dinner and then waited with great excitement.

The tripod iron tower was undergoing a hoisting operation, and six steel cables had lifted up Laozi's alchemy furnace and secured it.

Even the calmest and most composed people had no desire to sleep that night.

At midnight, Zhou Changfeng, who was completely sleepless, strolled around the camp and gradually became hungry.

He simply went to the kitchen to get a few white flour buns and three taels of pork, and asked someone to bring a bag of broken coal, and found a place downwind to start barbecue.

Not long after, just when he was about to enjoy himself, Zhu Lingjing, wrapped in a blanket, suddenly appeared.

"You are at ease," she said.

"It's so rare. I've wanted to have a picnic and barbecue before, but after fighting for so many years and being busy when I return home, I haven't had a chance."

Zhu Lingjing remained silent, and finally said calmly: "It's well grilled."

"Your Majesty, would you like to eat together?" Zhou Changfeng said with a smile.

Despite a hint of disgust, she ate it in the end.

Time passed slowly as we chatted. The waning moon gradually came to the western sky, the bright stars dimmed a little, and a hint of paleness appeared in the eastern sky.

Because it is located in the East Sixth District, the sun rises later here.

Yingtian time, March 3nd, 2:7, countdown is quarter of an hour.

Three bombers carrying sampling equipment were launched from the nearest air force base and flew towards here.

Everyone was on high alert. After the detonator of the Bagua furnace was installed, the last few people sped away in an off-road vehicle.

Thousands of pairs of welding goggles were distributed, one pair for each person.

Twenty-one high-speed cameras at different distances and directions have been inspected and are ready to be activated at any time.

The chemical defense troops put on full sets of chemical protective suits and gas masks and lay down with their backs to the tower.

At the main observation post more than 50 kilometers away from the tripod tower, Zhou Changfeng, Zhu Lingjing, Fa Cailiang, Zhao Zhansheng, and Qian Yuankai all put on protective goggles, waiting for the moment to come.

One minute countdown, all cameras started.

Thirty seconds left on the countdown, the detonator safety is unlocked.

With fifteen seconds left on the countdown, four smoke rockets ignited and took off at the same time, leaving behind four straight white smoke columns that went straight into the sky.

At this moment, Zhou Changfeng felt as if his heart had stopped. He was neither nervous nor excited.

A cold female voice read out the countdown, "... Four, three, two, one, detonate."

The next second seemed as long as a minute, and just in time, a corner of the sun emerged from the eastern horizon.

Suddenly, a dazzling white light burst out in the distant desert!
Then, the sky turned scarlet. The blue-black dawn sky was filled with enchanting blood-red, and the scene looked like the end of the world.

Looking at the direction of the explosion center, a huge mushroom-shaped explosion cloud mixed with flames suddenly appeared, and the four white smoke columns rising straight into the sky were also distorted.

[The smoke column for auxiliary measurement and research outside the explosion range, as shown in the figure:]

(End of this chapter)