Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

Fearing that Chen Fei's troops would conquer Zhenjiang, the Qing court hurriedly ordered Liu Kunyi to replenish troops in Zhenjiang. Liu Kunyi immediately complained to the Qing court: "There are men, but no guns!"It turned out that the military industry of the Qing court was weak, and only the Hanyang Arsenal in Hubei could produce guns and ammunition. However, one arsenal was far from enough for the troops of the Qing court, and more weapons and ammunition came from foreign aid.

In the early days of the war, when Lin Yuan led the troops to fight against the Qing court in North China, Britain, Japan and other countries provided the Qing court with rifles and ammunition that were eliminated by their own countries. At this time, countries around the world saw Lin Yuan’s automatic rifle. The power of the army began to be completely replaced with automatic rifles, so various countries had a large number of guns and ammunition for the Qing court.

Most of these guns and ammunition were transported into China from the Yangtze River, but after Lin Yuan occupied Shanghai, foreign weapons could only enter China through Zhejiang, Fuzhou and Guangzhou, and the transportation in these places was not very convenient, even though Lin Yuan built However, under the secret control of Lin Yuan, the railway workers went on strike several times. Mountains of weapons and ammunition were stored on the wharf, and no one transported them to the Yangtze River.

Therefore, the Qing court was short on weapons and ammunition. Now when Liu Kun mentioned that there was no gun, Emperor Guangxu began to scratch his head. After the disastrous defeat of various battles a while ago, Emperor Guangxu also understood: To deal with Lin Yuan, it is useless to rely on crowd tactics. arms!In order to consolidate the Zhenjiang defense line, Emperor Guangxu dispatched 200 rifles and [-] million rounds of ammunition that Zhang Zhidong planned to expand his troops to Zhenjiang.

Although Zhang Zhidong was not happy, there was nothing he could do. After all, it was the emperor's order, and he dared not disobey it, so he transferred the guns and ammunition of his subordinates to Zhenjiang, which had a very negative impact on his future operations.

The Qing court had no ammunition, but Lin Yuan’s troops were worried about too much ammunition. The arsenals in Northeast China and North China produced a large amount of ammunition, and the people in North China who had benefited from the land reform helped to transport ammunition. Unwilling to carry ammunition back to the camp and shoot out all the bullets.

Under such completely different preparations, the two sides entered the offensive and defensive operations of the Huaihe defense line.Since the first army and the second army were far apart and could not respond to each other, Lin Yuan did not order the two troops to attack at the same time, but let them control the attack time.After the preparations were completed, the First Army attacked first. At one o'clock in the morning on November [-], the three brigades of the Third Division surrounded Fancheng in the north of Xiangyang in three directions.

Fancheng and Xiangyang face each other across the Han River, and they are close to each other. The geographical location of these two places is extremely important. Take the current north-south confrontation between Lin Yuan and the Qing court as an example. If Lin Yuan wins Xiangyang and Fancheng, he can follow the Han River Next, go straight to the three towns of Wuhan. The three towns of Wuhan are located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. More than ten rivers including the Han River flow into the Yangtze River here.

Therefore, Xiangyang is an important barrier covering the Yangtze River. Once the Qing court lost Xiangyang, it was equivalent to removing the bones protecting the heart!Xiangyang is not only extremely important to Nanjing, it is also the gateway to Hubei and Hunan. Once Xiangyang is lost, the gateway to Hubei and Hunan will be opened, and Lin Yuan's troops can attack the two lakes area with confidence.In the Qing Dynasty, there was a saying that "the two lakes are cooked and the world is full", which means that Hunan and Hubei are important food production areas for the Qing court. If these places are occupied by Lin Yuan, the foundation of the Qing court will be destroyed in half.

Xiangyang's geographical location determines that it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. There have been many wars in history. For example, the well-known Guan Yunchang flooded the Seventh Army took place here; there were also confrontations and wars in Xiangyang between the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty.Of course Zhang Zhidong understood the importance of Xiangyang, so he personally led [-] elite soldiers to guard it.

Zhang Zhidong knew that it was impossible to defend Fancheng under Lin Yuan's strong offensive force, so he gave up Fancheng and defended Xiangyang in the south of the Han River with all his strength. He also blew up three bridges on the Han River in order to block Lin Yuan's troops with the Han River .The beginning of November was the time when the flow of the Han River was the largest, so the river was 2000 meters wide, and the bridging vehicles of Lin Yuan's troops could not build such a long bridge anyway.

The Third Division captured Fancheng without any effort, and then began to prepare to cross the river. There are three ways to cross the river. One is to build a bridge, which is no longer possible; the other is to use tanks to float across, but the river flows very fast. , the tank cannot maintain stability in fast-flowing water, and it is very likely to overturn, so there is only one choice: find a boat to cross the river.

The division commander Ou Zhenhai then personally ordered: each unit sent special personnel to search for boats along the river bank, but after a day passed, each unit found nothing. There are no ships."

Just as Ou Zhenhai was about to ask Lin Yuan to transfer the ship, he saw the battalion commander of the reconnaissance battalion suddenly come over and said, "Report to the commander, we have found some information from fellow villagers during the reconnaissance, and we must report it to you."

Ou Zhenhai said, "What's the situation? Tell me quickly."

The reconnaissance battalion commander said: "When we were looking for a boat, we met a fellow villager. As soon as the fellow villager heard that we were going to cross the river, he said to us in a panic: No matter what, the river cannot be crossed, even if there is a boat! "

Ou Zhenhai asked in surprise: "No boat can cross the river? What's the point?"

The commander of the reconnaissance battalion said: "The old man explained to us that the enemy army put a lot of steel spikes on the bottom of the river to prevent us from crossing the river. If we use a boat to cross the river, the boat will definitely hit the steel spikes."

Ou Zhenhai said, "Steel thorns? What are steel thorns? Tell me in detail."

The commander of the reconnaissance battalion said: "As soon as we heard the words of our fellow villagers, we dived into the river for reconnaissance, and soon found that from the center of the river to the river bank near us, there were many pillars standing under the water. The outside of these pillars was painted. We couldn’t see the material, so we knocked and listened to the sound, and felt that these pillars were all made of steel. The pillars were about one meter above the water surface, and the tops were pointed. If the boat hit them, the hull would definitely be severely damaged!”

Ou Zhenhai asked: "Can you confirm the exact location of these pillars? After determining the location, can the boat go around them?"

The reconnaissance battalion commander said: "I'm afraid it will be difficult. First, there is no reference object on the river, so it is not easy to mark the location of the steel thorns. The other is that the steel thorns are very dense, and it may not be possible to get around."

Ou Zhenhai thought for a while and said, "Then blow up these steel thorns, are you sure about your reconnaissance battalion?"

The reconnaissance battalion commander shook his head helplessly, and said: "Master, we cannot carry out underwater blasting. You also know that underwater blasting requires sealed explosives, and underwater blasting is much more powerful than land blasting. The person who installed the explosives It takes more time to escape to safety, so we also need to add a timed detonation device to the bomb, which is impossible for us."

Ou Zhenhai suddenly thought: "During the Northeast War, the First Division once blew up the enemy's bridge underwater. Let Lin Shuai coordinate and send the underwater blasting experts."