bullyxtreme Chapter 248: Northwest Sima Army Escapes West, Final Step
Chapter 248: Northwest Sima Army Escapes West, Final Step
Hangu Pass was the first barrier to Chang'an, and the Si Ma army also deployed heavy troops here and built multiple lines of defense according to the guidance of the Tsarist Russian instructors.
Positions, barbed wire, mines, etc. are still the old defensive tactics from World War I.
However, due to the natural terrain of Hangu Pass, the positions on these high ground are extremely dangerous.
But after seeing their deployment, Liao Jie sneered.
What era is it now? Still using these old tactics from the First World War.
No matter how strong your position is, can it withstand planes and artillery?
This time, the Fuxing Army's train artillery regiment attacked again.
All 12 K5E 308mm railway guns were transferred by Liao Jie.
Although this thing is a bit outdated, it doesn't mean it is not useful.
It can still play a big role in the hands of the Renaissance Army.
After the order to start the war was issued, 12 K5E railway guns let out a deafening roar.
Dozens of large-caliber artillery shells whizzed towards the Hangu Pass heights.
As the shells landed, the mountains collapsed and the earth shook in an instant.
Countless dirt and gravel shot up into the sky along with flames.
"shooting!"
“Boom…Boom…Boom…”
Hundreds of self-propelled artillery, towed artillery, and self-propelled rocket launchers began to fire in unison.
Dense shells shot into the sky, streaked across the air, made sharp whistling sounds, and landed accurately on several high grounds with the force of a tidal wave.
The artillery shells that rained down on them caught the Si Ma defenders off guard, and a large number of soldiers were killed or injured before they could hide in the bunkers.
They had never seen such a large-scale artillery bombardment, nor had they seen the power of 308mm caliber cannons.
After these rounds of attacks, the soldiers on the front line were directly defeated.
Fear filled their hearts.
Some people simply dropped their weapons and ran back, not even caring that they were still under bombardment.
Under the bombardment of 12 railway guns, a high ground was destroyed beyond recognition in less than half an hour.
A regiment deployed there was almost wiped out.
"Boom boom boom..."
A number of WZ-1 double-blade attack helicopters and Hind general-purpose helicopters appeared on the high ground.
When the Double-Edge attack helicopter discovered the surviving target on the high ground, it shot at him with rockets and machine guns without hesitation.
Under the cover of armed helicopters, the Hind general-purpose helicopter dropped off soldiers one by one.
Hundreds of Renaissance Army soldiers rushed into the position, and the sound of AK-47 gunfire began to ring out continuously.
In less than ten minutes, the high ground was cleared.
This is also the new tactic of the Renaissance Army.
Use artillery to bombard the high ground fiercely in a short period of time, effectively destroying the enemy's manpower.
Then the helicopters of the Army Aviation Brigade were used to transport the soldiers to the high ground as quickly as possible for airdrop operations and quickly occupy the high ground.
Although it would be a bit of a waste of ammunition to attack them one by one.
But it has to be said that this tactic is indeed the most effective for the current situation.
This tactic was also formulated by Liao Jie, the column commander.
It is an upgrade based on his Liao Jie ammunition capacity.
A gap was opened on the front line of Hangu Pass in just one hour.
The Tsarist Russian instructors on the front line of Hangu Pass were also at a loss at this time.
Especially when they saw the large-caliber shells falling from the K5E railway gun, they were all shocked.
They knew very well that these were shells fired from the railway gun.
Under the fire of such large-caliber railway guns, and in such large numbers, the defense line they built looked like a joke.
No matter how many soldiers are deployed, they are not enough to withstand the bombing of these train guns.
When a shell falls, at least a dozen people, and at most a hundred people, may be killed directly.
This is the power of large-caliber railway guns.
In less than a day, the Hangu Pass defense line that the four horses had placed high hopes on collapsed, with the loss of more than 30,000 troops.
And another piece of bad news reached the command center in Chang'an.
The tens of thousands of cavalry led by Sima Xian were attacked by a large-scale air raid by the Fuxing Army during their march.
The cavalry units suffered heavy losses and were all dispersed. Only a few cavalrymen escaped back to Shuofang City, the capital of Ningzhou.
When Sima Kui, who was in charge of Shuofang, heard the news, he fainted.
That's why the news was delivered to the command center in Chang'an a little late.
This news was like a bolt from the blue, leaving all four of them stunned.
In one day, the main cavalry force suffered heavy losses, Hangu Pass was lost, and tens of thousands of soldiers were lost. How could they continue to fight?
It was not until this time that those who thought that the Southern Alliance would not go to war realized how terrifying the Renaissance Army was.
After digesting this news, Sima Fang and Sima Bin began to consider backing out.
The Fuxing Army is definitely unstoppable, and there is a blood feud between them and the Han people, so the Fuxing Army will definitely not let them go.
So they had no intention of surrendering.
Running away is probably the only option at the moment.
That night, Sima Fang and Sima Bin each took a troop and fled without saying a word.
Sima Qing was left alone in Qin Province, feeling disheveled.
Qin Province is his territory, what should he do?
Not to mention him, even the Russian Lieutenant General who served as the special envoy had packed up and prepared to flee.
If you don't run away now, the Fuxing Army will come to kill you tomorrow and you won't be able to escape even if you want to.
The two horses ran away, and the Tsarist Russians also ran away, but Sima Qing was not going to run away.
So he's gone too.
Early the next morning, the Fuxing Army launched a fierce attack on the Tongguan defense line.
In less than an hour, the defenders on the Tongguan defense line were defeated or surrendered.
The Third Army of the Fuxing Army arrived at the gates of Chang'an in the afternoon.
The success of the war was beyond Liao Jie's expectations. Later he found out that all the four horses in Qin Province except Sima Qing had run away.
Sima Qing was prepared to defend Chang'an to the death.
But when the heavy artillery shells fell, the solid city walls did not become their solid line of defense.
After blasting a hole in the city wall, the Fusion Army rushed into the city under the cover of tanks.
Instead, a fierce battle broke out in the city.
As family-based warlords, the core troops of the Four Mas were almost all members of the Sima family. Even if you were not from the Sima family, you had to change your surname to Sima.
So although the combat effectiveness of their core troops is not very good, they have strong cohesion and a strong fighting will.
Faced with the offensive of the Renaissance Army, they launched a fearless counterattack.
However, it was still a case of a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Sima Qing and his troops were crushed to pieces under the tracks of the Fuxing Army's tanks.
In the early hours of the morning, Chang'an announced its recovery!
The 17th Armored Division of the Fourth Army, which marched day and night, finally arrived in Shuofang City.
This important northwestern city, known as the Jiangnan of the Great Wall, opened its doors to the Fuxing Army.
Although Sima Kui was very reluctant, his life was more important.
They gathered more than 10,000 surviving cavalrymen and headed directly along the road beside the Long River towards Gaolan City, the capital of Longgan Province.
Gaolan was Sima Bin's territory and an extremely important town in the northwest. Its strategic position was second only to Chang'an, the first city in the northwest.
This can be seen from the terrain.
Gaolan is located along the Yellow River to the north of Shuofang in Ningzhou, to the east of Chang'an in Qin Province, and to the west of Xiping City, the capital of Haixi Province. It is the transportation hub of the four northwestern provinces.
It is impossible to let the four Ma families give up the four northwestern provinces easily.
Sima Bin directly contacted Sima Fang and Sima Kui, and except for Sima Qing who had already died, they all gathered in Gaolan City.
The three brothers joined forces and had a total of more than 100,000 people.
After fighting for several days, they only had this many troops left.
If you can't win, just run along the highway towards the border province.
The Third, Fourth and Seventh Armies successfully joined forces in Gaolan City, but that was several days later.
The terrain of the northwestern plateau is complex and changeable, which also caused some trouble for the march of large-scale heavily armored groups, so the further west they went, the slower the troops advanced.
When the three armies of the Fuxing Army gathered together, the three brothers immediately started to get scared.
Because they found that they no longer had any advantage in terms of military strength, it was a bit wishful thinking to rely on a small Gaolan City to defend Longgan.
After fighting for a day, San Ma fled with the remaining 30,000 cavalrymen.
This time they no longer had any intention of continuing to stop the Fuxing Army. They had been scared.
Prepare to go to the border province and join up with the Tsarist Russians there.
Because now in the border provinces, the Tsarist Russian troops are also secretly gathering.
At present, the Tsarist Russia in the border province has assembled an entire army of more than 100,000 troops.
Faced with this situation, the Renaissance Army did not notice it.
The Tsarist Russia chose to march at night and rest in seclusion during the day to guard against the reconnaissance planes of the Restoration Army's air force.
The Tsarist Russia had not expected that the four northwestern armies would be defeated so quickly. They had thought that they could still hold out for another month or so, buying some time for their troops to assemble.
In this way, they can launch attacks from two directions. The mechanized army from the border province will suddenly rush out and will definitely catch the Fuxing Army off guard.
But plans never change as fast as they should.
The four horses were defeated so quickly that they had to launch an attack early.
The four horses fled to the border provinces and directly handed over the two provinces of Longgan and Haixi to the Fuxing Army.
Although they were all very unwilling to lose the territory they had run for so many years.
But under the attack of the Renaissance Army, they had to run.
In just ten days, the Fuxing Army defeated the Sima Army in the Northwest and successfully recovered the four northwestern provinces of Qin, Ningzhou, Longgan, and Haixi.
Now only the two border provinces of Bianjiang and Wusi have not been recovered.
Among them, Wusi Province is the most difficult to recover.
The difficulty mainly lies in transportation.
There is no decent road leading to Us Province. Most of the roads are rugged paths, and there are no roads at all in some places.
Poor transportation means that supplies are difficult.
These are just two points. Another crucial point is altitude sickness.
Therefore, how to recover Wusi Province is also an issue that Jiang Hua needs to consider carefully.
As long as he recovered the two provinces of Wusi and Biansheng, it would mean that he would actually achieve the unification of the ancient country.