Chapter 21: Under the City of Kangding

  Under the influence of the great victory of the counter-ambush at Pianguo Liangzi, the rebel army suffered heavy casualties and fled in disarray through small paths to Kangding City, attempting to take advantage of the terrain to resist the advancing pacification army.

  Three days later, Yang Xing followed Yin Changheng to arrive under the city of Kangding. He gazed at it with binoculars for a long time. Although Kangding City was not large, it was built on a mountain and had a very dangerous terrain.

  Since the Yuan Dynasty, Long River West Fish Tongning Prefecture has been in charge of Tibet. For hundreds of years, Kangding Prefecture has been a must-pass place for Sichuan people to enter Tibet, with very developed commerce and also a place that military strategists must contend for.

  Kangding Prefecture was originally a stronghold established by the Han people to prevent rebellions in Tibet, but after several generations of expansion, the city wall reached over 6 meters high and was extremely difficult to capture.

  Sun Chaojun's Sichuan Army's 3rd Division attacked the city for two days, and the soldiers relied on rifles and several large cannons, with very limited effect. ?? Patriotic warlord 21

  Upon hearing the Model Battalion's artillery company displaying its prowess at Pian Gou Liang Zi, under its advantageous support, it surprisingly defeated the 8,000-strong Zang army in an ambush. Immediately afterwards, it reported to Commander-in-Chief Yin Changheng and requested that the artillery company participate in the battle to break through Kangding City walls and advance on Lhasa.

  Then followed Yin Changheng, the Grand Governor, to the city wall of Kangding, where a solemn atmosphere floated over the entire prefecture. On the city wall, thousands of Tibetans wore Tibetan knives, with an aura of killing energy, making Yang Xing sigh that this was the ancient wall of Kangding Love Song.

  Kangding Love Song is a love song that was passed down in Sichuan during the 1920s and 1930s, with a very beautiful atmosphere. The lyrics roughly translate to:

  On the mountain where horses are running, a cloud is floating by

  The tip of the tongue is bright and shining, Kangding's city is bright and shining

  The moon is curved, and the city of Kangding is flowing gently.

  Li Jia's elder sister is a talented and excellent person.

  Zhang Jia's big brother took a liking to Liu Liu

  The moon is curved, looking at her who is so charming and lovely.

  At first glance, it's a good talent indeed.

  Secondly, looking up at the slippery place, it will be considered as a slippery home.

  The moon is curved and will become a slippery home.

  The charming ladies of the world, let me love them freely

  Smooth-talking men of the world, no matter how smooth your words are

  The moon is curved and curved, you can beg for it as much as you want.

  Yang Xing had sung this Kangding love song since he was a child, sometimes facing beautiful girls, Yang Xing had also used the Kangding love song to express his joy, but now it's so solemn here, seeing this, can't help but hate those rebels who destroyed this paradise on earth.

  Yang Xing was seen to be deep in thought, and Sun Zhaolong asked him: "Zhen Dong, the Tibetan bows and arrows are very powerful, and there are five large cannons on the city wall. When our army attacks, not only will the enemy's cannons fire fiercely, but also those Tibetans hiding behind the city walls will shoot arrows at our charging troops, making it difficult to attack the city. Everyone praises you as a rare tiger general, I wonder if the camp commander has any good strategy to capture Kangding City and eliminate the rebels' arrogance."

  Yang Xing asked: "Sun Shilong, I don't know how many big guns your division has? What's the range?"

  After inquiring, it was learned that the three divisions had only more than a dozen small cannons. Due to the long distance and rugged roads of the expedition to Tibet, more than ten large cannons were left behind in Chengdu. ?? Nationalist warlord 21

  After a moment of contemplation, Yang Xing said: "Commander Sun, what do you think? Can we temporarily concentrate all artillery in my artillery company for unified command to deliver a crushing blow to the rebel army?"

  Sun Zhaoluan's face turned difficult, and he didn't speak. Yang Xing smiled and said: "Master Sun, are you afraid that I will deceive you and the artillery? It's just temporary to put them under my command. Once the battle of Kangding is over, they will be returned to you immediately. I plan to place the three captured Tibetan cannons on Ge Dashan, establish an artillery position, use it to suppress the Tibetan cannons on the city wall, and then use more than 20 small steel cannons placed under the city wall to provide firepower support for the attacking troops. Under my saturated firepower attack, the Tibetan firepower will surely be completely suppressed. At that time, I only need to choose brave warriors to climb up the city wall with cannon fire support, open the gate, and Kangding Ancient City will definitely be broken."

  "With the support of more than 20 small cannons, this is also too terrifying. It's worth noting that although Kangding City Wall is a large city in Tibet, its area and population are far from comparable to those of a county town in my hometown." Sun Zhaoluan smiled and said

  Yang Xing laughed and said, "Your Excellency, the Tibetans are cunning. They think that there is internal strife in our country and that the British are backing them up, so they dare to plot a split. Therefore, we should launch a strong attack and use fierce artillery fire to eliminate the rebels' will to resist, thereby achieving lasting stability."

  Sun Zhaoluan thought of the casualties they had suffered in the battle two days ago, gritted his teeth and agreed immediately.

  When the battle plan was submitted to the command center, General Yin waved his big pen and approved it immediately.

  That night, Yang Xing let the deputy commander of the artillery company, Liu Ergou, select a team of crack gunners to form an enhanced artillery platoon. He personally climbed up to Ge Dashi Mountain and established an artillery position.

  At dawn, after simple adjustments of artillery parameters, several rounds were fired in succession, pounding the rebel army's designated artillery positions.

  At the same time, the artillery positions under the city wall also fired at the Tibetan artillery positions and their surroundings according to plan.

  After several rounds of shelling, through the telescope, Yang Xing saw bursts of flames on the rebel artillery platform, and suddenly there were bursts of explosions at the opponent's artillery platform. Without using a telescope, one could clearly see that the entire enemy artillery platform was emitting soaring flames, and the intense explosion sounds made people involuntarily cover their ears.

  One hand covering his ears and the other looking up, he saw the Tibetans around the artillery platform fleeing in terror, watching as the entire city wall collapsed.

  The fourth child beside him asked: "Battalion Commander, I didn't expect our artillery firepower to be so fierce that it actually blasted a hole in the enemy's city wall."

  Yang Xing shook his head and said: "It's not that our artillery fire is fierce, but the Tibetans are unlucky. We hit their ammunition depot and caused an explosion."

  Immediately, a flag signal was sent to the artillery position of Ge Dashi, ordering it to bombard the city gate fiercely. The artillery under the city wall, except for a part that fired freely to suppress the enemy's firepower, also fell on the south city gate.

  After several days of fierce siege, the walls of Kangding had already been loosened. Under the intense attack of more than 20 cannons, not only were the rebels on the wall killed, but also many parts of the wall collapsed. Some timid ones even ignored the shouts of the supervisors and fled from the wall to the city of Kangding, which was in a state of turmoil.

  Seeing the powerful use of artillery, General Sun Zhaorong, standing on the artillery position, was quite satisfied. With a wave of his hand, he let a regiment of soldiers, under the cover of artillery fire, take ladders and enter the city.

  The rebels on the city wall were either injured by artillery fire or intimidated by intense bombardment, and although some of them saw the Sichuan army swarming up and climbing up the ladders, they still wanted to resist stubbornly. As soon as they stood up, they were either hit by shrapnel from the artillery fire or stabbed through by the bayonets of the Sichuan army that had climbed onto the city wall, and with the theory that the Dalai Lama was reincarnated as a person, they entered the 18th level of hell.

  In less than an hour, the three armies occupied the city wall, opened the gate and welcomed the main force into the city.

  But after entering the city wall, the rebels also showed their bravery to the fullest, regardless of the fact that the city gate had been breached. The rebels and the Sichuan army engaged in a fierce battle.

  Due to the narrow roads in Kangding City, which were not conducive to large-scale military operations, the 3rd Division launched several rounds of attacks, forcing the rebels to retreat hundreds of meters, but still failed to fully control the battlefield situation.

  Yang Xing listened carefully to the report of the officer in front, suddenly his eyes lit up, and he immediately led the model battalion with a small cannon, climbing up the city wall.

  At this time, Kangding City was already ablaze with flames rising everywhere, the sound of killing shook the sky, and both sides were trapped in a fierce battle within the city walls. ?? Nationalist warlord 21

  Yang Xing ordered the small cannons to be set up and then found a place where the rebels were densely packed. After adjusting the angle, he fired several rounds in a row, causing the rebels to fall over each other.

  After half an hour of bombardment, the morale of the rebels was dealt a crushing blow and they were no longer as rampant as at first.

  The three infantry regiment commanders around him had already been eager to try, and they repeatedly asked for battle, hoping to get a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy.

  Yang Xing kept holding the telescope and gesturing. To be sure, the artillery had a very broad field of vision, and the battlefield situation was already fully in view.

  Yang Xing pointed ahead and said: Everyone, look at the rebel army coming out of which big courtyard. Look at this courtyard, it's about an acre in size, very likely to be the location of the rebel command center. Let's follow me together, bringing 5 small steel cannons, passing through these two alleys. You see, there are very few enemy soldiers in these two alleys. In 10 minutes, we can insert ourselves beside this earthen courtyard. At that time, use artillery to blast open the courtyard wall, and everyone can advance in a line, break into the courtyard, and capture Da Zhan Sang Dong alive.

  Everyone listened and felt overjoyed.

  Immediately, a reinforced company led the way in front, Yang Xing led the main force to follow up, continuously eliminating the rebel army hiding in the dark, and it took 15 minutes for the model camp to arrive at Tuitianzi.

  At this time, the rebel army also detected that an elite unit was bypassing obstacles and attacking its command center. On the one hand, it contracted its forces to prepare for a siege of this isolated army, while on the other hand, the enemy in the earthen building relied on their position to shoot at the brothers of the Model Regiment.

  Three brothers fell one after another, Yang Xing was very annoyed. Seeing the small steel cannon set up, it fired three rounds, but the effect was not good.

  Yang Xing fired a big shot, personally operating it, and three consecutive cannons accurately hit the gate of the earthen house. Amidst everyone's cheers, the earth wall by the gate suddenly collapsed.

  Seizing the opportunity, Yang Xing waved his hand and led 2 platoons of soldiers in a swift charge towards the main gate.

  At this time, the rebels also sensed danger and, regardless of the danger of being directly exposed to the Sichuan army's artillery fire, they picked up their guns and rushed towards the gate.

  Both sides were mixed together at the gate, and for a time it was hard to distinguish between them.