Chapter 54 New China (5)

The rebel artillery fire stopped, and the rebels in the sky rushed towards the gaps that were blown up by artillery fire. Zhang Yaoming asked all artillery to intercept and shoot continuously, but there were too many rebels. As soon as the artillery fire broke out a gap in the formation of the rebels, it was immediately filled by the rebels following behind. From the surface, it seemed that the artillery fire had not stopped the attacking rebels at all. After the interception of the artillery fire, the rebels faced the ruthless strafing of hundreds of Maxim heavy machine guns. Maxim and machine guns set off one after another like lawn mowers, but even so, there was still no way to stop a large number of rebels from approaching all gaps. The rebels rushed to the gap like locusts and rushed into the city desperately.

The people are the people. No matter how brave they are, they are still afraid when facing such an attack. All the people throw away the tools and equipment at hand, run away with their feet, and run back home. This may be their most common idea.

Grenades, dense grenades, and dense cluster grenades hit the gap, and the explosion overturned groups of rebels and people, but the rebels had rushed to the city wall in large numbers. They used muskets, bows and rifles purchased from Russia to shoot desperately at the soldiers on the city wall. The city wall was full of temporary recruits, and all regular troops were placed in front of each gap by Zhang Yaoming, forming a square formation, and shooting intensively with rifles, blocking the rebels trying to rush into the city outside the city.

The new soldiers and Ma family disciples on the city were all red-eyed. Although people were constantly killed and injured by the firepower under the city, they still used grenades to block the rebels' attacks with grenades. Seeing the soldiers falling down on the city, Zhang Yaoming kept asking the artillery to shoot and shoot again, and to shoot at the fastest speed. The howitzers of the heavy artillery battalion are now almost firing at a zero-degree angle. The barrels of the mortars have been red. They poured warm water on them and continued firing.

The defenders were unable to stop the rebels outside the city, because the artillery had already shot all the shells, but the rebels still rushed into the city regardless of everything. Zhang Yaoming and Afanti were forced to give up the city wall and began to order the retreat to the city, and organize defensive positions on the second temporary defense line.

But the order to retreat was still a bit late. More than 2,000 new recruits and Ma family members failed to retreat. They were trapped in hand-to-hand combat with the rebels. The fierce Ma family members danced their sabers and chopped down one rebel after another. At the same time, they were also shot dead by the rebels' rifles and bows. When the last Ma family member on the city wall wielded the sabers and chopped down one rebel again, six scimitars stabbed into his body. The Ma family members roared unwillingly and pulled the last grenade on their body.

Fires and constant fires spread in Urumqi. After the rebels entered the city, they fought with the defenders and set fires everywhere. The simple second line of defense did not stop the rebels from attacking for a long time, and soon the second line of defense was washed away. At this time, the battle had already begun from morning to noon. Afanti and Zhang Yaoming led the remaining three thousand soldiers to start fighting street battles with the rebels.

The three giants of the rebels are finally satisfied now. Although it seems that the losses are huge, the conditions for letting the brothers robbed for three days after the city are broken, the soldiers have a reason to work hard. Although the battle continues and the resistance in the city has not stopped, they have begun to celebrate the victory. Some of the rebels entering the city have even started to rob. Fortunately, Afanti and the others are prepared, and most of the women and children have been evacuated, while Afanti and Zhang Yaoming

There were not many people around him, and the fierce street fighting lasted for nearly three hours. Now the troops have been divided into several pieces. Afanti and Zhang Yaoming led more than 1,000 people in the middle of the city. With the houses in the final resistance, in a small area west of the city, the new army commander Li Ziyun, led more than 300 soldiers to continue fighting in more than a dozen houses. The eight hundred artillery brothers in the east of the city did not give up. They picked up rifles and grenades and stood firmly on a street.

The rebels were always going forward with difficulty. They never expected such tenacious resistance. They had to advance one room after another. The battle was fierce and cruel. The gunshots of resistance in the city became thinner and thinner, and Urumqi was about to fall.

There were only 300 people around Afanti and Zhang Yaoming, and the gunshots in the west of the city stopped, and the gunshots in the east of the city continued to weaken again. A fatal problem arose again, and the defenders had no bullets.

"Afanti, you are not a soldier. You are about to retreat. You still have time." Zhang Yaoming found smoke on his face and asked him to leave.

"What? I'm not a soldier, but this doesn't affect my fight. Look, I still have this." Afanti said, waving the grenade in his hand. There was no time to discuss it anymore, so Zhang Yaoming shouted loudly: "Guard." Zhang Yaoming's two guards appeared beside him: "Take Mr. Afanti out of the battlefield is your last task." Afanti had to argue, and the two guards had already set up Afanti and dragged Afanti out of the battlefield.

A brief calm appeared on the battlefield, but Zhang Yaoming knew that this was the beginning of a larger-scale battle. The daytime in Xinjiang was long, and it was already four o'clock in the afternoon, and the sun had no sign of setting. Zhang Yaoming took out his pocket watch and looked at the time. The pointer was pointing at four o'clock.

Looking at the brothers around him, Zhang Yaoming took out a pack of cigarettes. This was something he had never been willing to smoke. This was the last pack of cigarettes he bought in Beijing before coming to Xinjiang. He distributed the cigarettes to his brothers who could smoke. Zhang Yaoming also lit one. In the smoke, Zhang Yaoming saw one scene after another in front of Zhang Yaoming. He left Prussia at the age of sixteen and returned to China after graduation with excellent grades in the Imperial Military Academy in Prussia.

He served as an instructor in the military academy at the age of ten, and was entrusted with important tasks at the age of twenty-three. He came to Xinjiang to serve as the supervisor of the government army. Everything in the past was so beautiful that Zhang Yaoming still can't forget that when a peasant child was taken in by Yang Yi, he had the first full meal he had. He still remembered the figure of Yang Yi waving his hand when he left the motherland when he left the motherland, and also remembered the pride on his classmates' faces when he heard the Chinese army defeating the coalition forces in Prussia.

"The rebels are coming again." The soldier in charge of the alert shouted, interrupting Zhang Yaoming's memory.

"Brothers, take the bayonet, the glorious moment has come. Let us use practical actions to repay the leaders' expectations for us." For Zhang Yaoming and the new army soldiers, the position of Yang Yi in their minds is extremely noble. For young people like Zhang Yaoming who return to China who study abroad, they can contribute everything to Yang Yi, even if it is a battle but the last moment of their lives.

Young and fearless faces were covered with traces of gunpowder. They smiled and decided to face death in a calm way. The last moment was coming, but no one showed fear. With the cold light on the bayonet, the final battle was about to begin.

The rebels were getting closer and closer. The soldiers hiding behind the ruins held their breath, waiting for the rebels to approach and launch a final charge. Finally, they could see the rebels clearly, thirty meters, twenty meters, and ten meters, and the distance was constantly getting closer. The air solidified at this short moment, and the battlefield was quiet only the footsteps of the rebel soldiers as they advanced.

"Boom boom boom." Just as Zhang Yaoming and the last three hundred warriors around him decided to stand up suddenly and rush towards the nearly 1,000 attacking rebels, the sound of a real cannon broke the suffocating tranquility.

With his familiarity with various artillery, Zhang Yaoming immediately concluded that this was the sound of the 82mm heavy mortar. This unique artillery of the Chinese army told Zhang Yaoming that reinforcements were coming, and the reinforcements that were waiting for finally arrived at the last moment.

"Brothers, our reinforcements have arrived." Zhang Yaoming Gao Han shouted, throwing the last grenade, which was the last moment he planned to leave for himself. After receiving the news of reinforcements, the warriors immediately rose up and used grenades to entertain these attacking rebels.

The rebels retreated and after a day of hard battle, although the rebels occupied 80% of the city, they were already at the end of their strength. The one-day battle caused the rebels to suffer nearly 40,000 casualties. Although they still had more than 100,000 troops, it was difficult for them to organize effective resistance in the face of the Chinese army that suddenly broke out.

Zuo Zongtang finally appeared on the battlefield at the critical moment of the battle. With the help of Mr. Ma, 30,000 Chinese troops suddenly appeared on the back of the rebels.

The roar of more than 300 mortars immediately razed the rebel command to the ground. The three giants who were still drinking the celebration wine were immediately blown over by two. Abayiha, who was lucky enough to escape, immediately knew that something was wrong. Despite the shrapnel and raging on his thighs, he endured the pain and climbed onto the war horse and immediately fled with his trusted guard.

The rebels in the city immediately forgot the robbery and attack when they heard the sound of mortars that had been making them nightmares these days, and they immediately forgot to rob and attack, and fled from Urumqi. However, what awaited them was intensive shooting again and again, and shining sabers. The old man of the Ma family also took out his last possession. Twenty thousand cavalry cooperated with Zuo Zongtang to launch the most fierce attack on the rebels. The leaderless rebels immediately fell into chaos. They chose their own way to escape. The robbery that was still excited just now turned into a big escape, and the stolen things have now become a burden to escape.

All the things that can be thrown away are not required to run away, but only to run away by their companions. Running quickly and looking back, they find that their companions have become the ghosts under the opponent. Running, running desperately, and running at this dusk, escape has become the main theme of more than 100,000 rebels. Forty thousand infantry and cavalry were chasing fled enemies. After repelling the last attack of the rebels, the warriors in the city no longer had the strength to chase them. They sat on the ground and kept gasping. Everyone's eyes were filled with tears, looking at each other's companions who had survived the disaster. They all knew that in the years to come, they would never be able to forget each other, and they could not forget these names, Zhao Youlin, Wu Yuncai, Qian Qi, Zhang......

"Brothers, go and welcome our reinforcements." Zhang Yaoming shouted, calling the brothers to get up.

Walking along the ruins and walls slowly towards the place where the gunfire is most intense, suddenly a group of people wearing tattered new military uniforms appeared in front of them.

"Director Zhang, is it you? Are you still alive?" The person on the opposite side shouted first, looking at the smoke on his face, listening to the familiar voice, Zhang Yaoming didn't remember who this was? The person who came suddenly remembered what to write, quickly wiped his face with his tattered sleeves, and then shouted again: "Why, you don't know me anymore? I'm from the 20th period of the temporary strengthening class. You taught us a class, I'm Liu Ping."

Only then did Zhang Yaoming recognize the other party. The person who came was a platoon leader of the heavy artillery battalion, and Liu Ping, a student of Zhang Yaoming.

"Are you alive too? That's great, where is your battalion commander?" Zhang Yaoming rushed over excitedly.

"All artillery brothers are here, more than 1,300 heroes." Liu Ping said as his nose sore, he turned around and pointed to the dozen brothers behind him. Zhang Yaoming counted seventeen people, and one of them lay on a stretcher, exactly seventeen people.

The long-lost tears appeared on the faces of these warriors. Death and pain did not make them cry. The joy of reunion made them cry like a spring. The tears washed away the smoke of gunpowder on their faces and revealed their sincere blessings to each other.

"I suggest that everyone should not rest now, go around and see if there are any brothers still alive." Zhang Yaoming's call and soon received everyone's response. "Okay, just do it." The already exhausted warriors took another step and began to look for a little hope in the ruins.

The Battle of Urumqi ended with the collapse of the rebels on its entire line. The defenders fought stubbornly for a full twenty-three days with 6,000 new troops, 7,000 children of the Ma family, and 5,000 temporary recruits as defensive forces, winning time for Zuo Zongtang to wipe out the main force of the rebels. During the 23-day defense, the defenders fought bloody battles, killing and wounding up to 80,000 rebels, forcing the rebels to increase their troops three times.

As the sound of artillery went away, the battlefield became quieter. The number of rebels was too large. Zuo Zongtang shot machine guns and was chased by cavalry, but more than 10,000 rebels escaped. The main escape direction of the rebels was in the Kashgar area. Zuo Zongtang didn't bother to meet the defenders and immediately led 30,000 cavalry to chase them towards Yili, determined not to give the rebels any chance to breathe.

The 10,000 soldiers left behind, arrived at the support of the troops a few days later, began to continuously recover the places near Urumqi. Five days later, Zuo Zongtang chased Kashgar, and Abayiha was hit hard by Zuo Zongtang before he had gained a stable foothold. On the way to flee to Russia, his head was cut off by his confidants, which became a gift for credit. At this point, the rebellion in Xinjiang was basically quelled. After receiving the news, the leaders fled to Russia one after another, and the Chinese government forces fully restored their control over Xinjiang. The rebellion in Xinjiang, which lasted nearly half a year, was completely quelled.

(Hehe, some friends ask me to keep updating 5,000 words every day. Today is already on the 7th, but I have only updated 2w3. The task is arduous, so let me have another chapter to serve as breakfast for everyone.)
Chapter completed!