Chapter 252: Battle of Xi'an 8
As the saying goes, if you walk too much at night, you'll always encounter ghosts. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the temperature was getting lower and lower. Zhao Xiaofei briefly inspected the camp and went back to sleep. In Zhao Xiaofei's eyes, there was nothing wrong with the entire camp.
But Zhao Xiaofei had forgotten that this was the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Little Ice Age. He'd lived in thermal underwear, down jackets, and a simple heater in his house for the past few years. He certainly didn't feel the cold, but the cold snap arrived before he even noticed.
The Kenan Army had not yet received its new winter clothing, and the soldiers were shivering with cold. Many soldiers simply huddled together for warmth.
Wan Shan and Zhou Shuai were both former soldiers, and they were accustomed to waking up at night to check on the barracks. The increasingly cold weather made them wary. They noticed the soldiers were still wearing thin cotton coats, and a glance at the thermometer revealed it was now -20 degrees Celsius, and the temperature was still dropping.
This reminded both of them of the severe cold weather they encountered when the German and French armies invaded the Soviet Union and Russia. The German and French armies had not made adequate preparations for the winter, believing they could quickly defeat the Russian army. As a result, the German tanks became immobile, and many German soldiers were shivering from the cold, struggling to even fire their weapons.
Zhou Shuai said to Wanshan, "I'll go find the boss! Go get the tank battalion to start all the vehicles, and don't put out the fire!"
"Okay!" Wanshan agreed and went to make arrangements.
Zhou Shuai hurried to his tent. The guards at the door had been told not to stop Zhou Shuai and Wanshan Fang Xinyu if they came looking for him. So Zhou Shuai woke Zhao Xiaofei up from his bed as soon as he entered.
Zhao Xiaofei rubbed his eyes and asked dissatisfiedly: "Brother Zhou! I just fell asleep! What's the matter?"
"Don't sleep! Something big has happened!" said Zhou Shuai.
"What's the matter? Is it so urgent?" Zhao Xiaofei asked, stretching.
"The cold wave outside is very strong, the temperature has dropped to more than 20 degrees below zero!" said Zhou Shuai.
"No way! What month is it now? Can our soldiers still fight?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
Zhou Shuai said anxiously, "Boss! Now it's not a question of whether we can fight or not, but how to withdraw our troops!"
"Isn't it just a cold wave? Is it that serious?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"Of course it's serious. Have you forgotten how the German army failed on the Soviet battlefield?" After Zhou Shuai finished speaking, Zhao Xiaofei immediately understood.
Those copycat tanks of their own might break down. Judging from the performance of their own troops today, not only is their cavalry far inferior to the Jianlu cavalry, but the coordination between the various arms is a mess.
Expecting to line up and shoot the Jiannu, don't joke. Before they got the Maxim machine gun, cavalry was always the nemesis of infantry. And they were facing the Jianlu cavalry, which was even more powerful than that of Genghis Khan's time.
Seeing Zhao Xiaofei looking bewildered, Zhou Shuai said, "Boss! You have to make a decision now! When will we withdraw our troops?"
"Withdraw? We've fought this far, and you say withdraw? No! We can't! If I withdraw, those Donglin villains will immediately organize an army to force me to abdicate. Jiangnan will be shattered. All of China will be plunged into chaos with no end in sight!" Zhao Xiaofei said this. He said this because history had been altered. Li Zicheng and the Jianlu had been greatly weakened, and their chances of conquering the Central Plains were futile. However, if no one could defeat the other, a situation like the Three Kingdoms or the Southern Song Dynasty would likely result, and that was not what Zhao Xiaofei wanted.
Zhou Shuai was also thinking about the question Zhao Xiaofei asked. Zhao Xiaofei continued, "By now, Huang Degong and Gao Jie have probably already joined the Donglin Party. If we fail and return empty-handed, they will pounce on us like hungry wolves and bite us! They are watching to see if we can win!"
General Zhou said, "But if we continue fighting like this, there won't be much left of our 200,000-plus troops! When they see your strength has been greatly reduced, they'll attack again! How many troops will you have left to fight them? To resist foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country. Preserving our strength is paramount! Withdraw our troops first and fight back to Nanjing!"
Zhao Xiaofei was still hesitant, so Zhou Shuai said, "Boss, retreat! We'll have plenty of opportunities in the future! It's not too late to go back and summarize your experience before fighting again!"
"Both sides of them are infected with the virus now, both humans and horses, and it will break out soon. Their strength will drop rapidly by then! Tomorrow! Just tomorrow, we will try to drive away the Jianlu in the morning and take down Xi'an City in one fell swoop in the afternoon!" Zhao Xiaofei and Zhou Shuai said.
"Boss! That's impossible! We can't do it in one day!" Zhou Shuai said.
"Our hot air balloons haven't been deployed yet! Let all the hot air balloons take off tomorrow! Divide the troops into two groups, one to bomb the Jianlu camp, and the other to attack Xi'an city!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
Zhou Shuai said anxiously, "The wind is blowing from the northwest, and we're in the southeast! We can't fly over the hot air balloon once it's launched. We'll just be blown back!"
Zhao Xiaofei was still hesitant, still hoping for a lucky break, "What if the wind stops tomorrow, or a southeast wind blows?"
"You've read too much Romance of the Three Kingdoms! Who do you think you are? Zhuge Liang?" Zhou Shuai didn't give Zhao Xiaofei any face at all and shouted at him.
Inside the Jianlu camp, the Jianlu officers, represented by Vice-Governor Huishan, and the Han army, represented by Kong Youde, reached an agreement to withdraw immediately the next day. They intended to take the bodies of Duoduo and Ajige back to Beijing. Huishan requested that Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi cover their retreat, and Kong Youde and his men reluctantly agreed.
At night, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi sat together and ate roasted whole lamb.
Geng Zhongming asked, "Everyone, calculate how many troops we have left? How many soldiers are sick and unable to go into battle? By the time we return to the capital, we might not even be as good as a battalion commander!"
Kong Youde said, "What do you mean?"
Geng Zhongming said: "I think the Jianlu are doomed. Why don't we think about our retreat?"
Shang Kexi said, "What do you think we can do? Where should we go? Back to the Ming Dynasty?"
"There are two ways to go. First, we learn from Wu Sangui. Didn't he go to northern Shanxi? We occupy southern Shanxi! We will have our own troops and become independent!" Geng Zhongming said.
Kong Youde sneered and said, "Don't you forget who we are? In the eyes of the Ming people, we are traitors! Who would support us?"
"Does Wu Sangui have anyone supporting him?" Geng Zhongming said.
"Do we have that strength? Occupying southern Shanxi is no problem, and recruiting soldiers is easy! But where do we get the food and supplies?" Shang Kexi said.
Kong Youde laughed coldly and said, "What else can we do? We can just rob them! There are still some wealthy families in Jinzhong and southern Shanxi that Li Zicheng hasn't dealt with yet. There are also the Shanxi merchants who are colluding with the Jianlu. They are all meat in our mouths, right? Prince Huaishun!"
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