Republic of China: German-equipped divisions massacred as warlords guarded the nation's borders

Chapter 21 Armored Train Leads the Way! Who dares to touch the Chen Family Army?

[Unlimited Pay-to-Win System]

Host: Chen Zijun

Identity: Commander-in-Chief of the Shanghai Garrison, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Anhui

Current funds: £2,334,716 (+£1 per second)

Unlocked technologies:

陆军：毛瑟98k步枪、MG34通用机枪、克虏伯75mm步兵炮、105mm榴弹炮、MP18冲锋鎗

Navy: German UBIII-class submarine blueprints

Military industry: Sulfonamide mass production technology (99% complete), steel smelting technology

Medical: Field first aid tent, basic military medic training equipment kit

Logistics: Military Compressed Rations Production Line

Finance: Physical GBP Exchange Channel

Available for purchase (updated in real time):

BP-42 Heavy Armored Train (Early Custom Version): £18/train (Newly Unlocked)

MP18 submachine gun: £120 each (newly unlocked)

The complete set of equipment for the Krupp arms factory: £800 million

Chen Zijun stared at the newly unlocked text and slowly tapped his fingers on the table.

BP-42 heavy armored train.

The vehicle consists of three armored sections, each equipped with a 75mm cannon and four MG34 machine guns. The hull is covered with 30mm of homogeneous armor steel plates. It is powered by a steam locomotive. The total weight exceeds 300 tons.

£180,000.

He didn't even blink before placing the order.

Three hours ago.

A telegram was sent from Dangtu County, Anhui Province to the Shanghai Garrison Command.

The telegram contained only thirty characters:

"The advance team of sixteen men from the Chen family army has been detained by our troops. They must deliver 500,000 silver dollars within twelve hours. Otherwise, their heads will be hung on the city wall. — Ma Qiu"

Shen Li's hands were trembling when he handed the telegram to Chen Zijun.

It wasn't fear. It was anger.

"Young Marshal, what is this horse-fur coat?"

"The local warlord of Dangtu County used to be a regimental commander for the military governor of Anhui. After the Zhili-Fengtian War, no one cared about him, so he became a mountain king on his own."

After reading the telegram, Chen Zijun gently placed the note on the table. "A regiment of soldiers can't even muster enough artillery."

"Then he still dares to detain our people?"

"Because he felt we were too far away to help him."

Chen Zijun stood up, walked to the military map on the wall, and pointed westward from Shanghai. "It takes two days to travel from Shanghai to Ma'anshan by road. It's impossible to make it in time."

Shen Li remained silent for a moment.

"But what about the railway?"

Chen Zijun glanced at him, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"How long do you think it would take for an armored train to travel from Shanghai, along the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, and then the Wuhu Railway, to Ma'anshan?"

Shen Li was stunned.

"It will take at least six hours."

Chen Zijun returned to the table and clicked the confirmation button on the system panel.

"Assemble He Shu's 1st Assault Battalion, stationed in Lishui, and fully equip it with MP18 submachine guns. Proceed immediately to Dangtu. At the same time, draw a fully-equipped German-armed battalion from the 2nd Tax Police Regiment, which has already completed its training, and depart in half an hour."

It was exactly 2 PM.

On the No. 3 military platform of Shanghai North Railway Station, a steel behemoth that no one had ever seen before lay on the tracks.

Three dark green armored carriages were linked one after the other. Each carriage had a rotating turret extending from its top, with the gun barrel pointing straight to the sky. The sides of the carriages were covered with firing ports and machine gun shields. The steam locomotive at the front was completely encased in a single piece of armored steel plate, with only a narrow observation window visible.

Seven hundred fully armed soldiers boarded the train in four neat columns.

Each of them was holding a state-of-the-art Mauser 98K rifle.

Shen Li stood beside the locomotive, looking at the steel monster, and took a deep breath.

"Young Marshal, I'm sometimes really curious about where you got all this equipment..."

Chen Zijun walked up behind him, patted the train's armored shell, and made a dull metallic sound.

"You only need to know one thing."

"What?"

"No one can touch my Chen family army. If they do, they'll know what the consequences are."

The ship's horn sounded.

The armored train slowly started, rolled over the rails with a heavy roar, and sped westward.

Six hours later.

The outskirts of Dangtu County.

Ma Qiu was sitting in his dilapidated regimental headquarters, drinking.

He has detained sixteen members of Chen's army for almost two days. Apart from a strongly worded telegram sent by He Maofeng, the other side has made no further moves.

He felt he was sure to win.

From Shanghai to Ma'anshan? Ha, they can't possibly fly over there.

"Commander!"

A messenger rushed in, sweating profusely. "Something's on the railway...on the railway!"

"What is it?"

The messenger's face turned ashen.

"A...a steel train! It has cannons on it!"

Ma Qiu's wine bowl slammed to the ground with a "thud".

When he rushed out the door, he could already hear the rumble of the train tracks.

In the distance, a long, dark green steel train was hurtling along the railway line. The turrets on the train were slowly rotating, their muzzles aimed at the wooden sentry towers he had set up on both sides of the railway.

"Fire! Give it to me—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

boom!

The first 75mm cannon on the armored train fired.

The shell hit the nearest watchtower directly. The entire wooden building shattered and disintegrated in the explosion, with pieces of wood and brick flying everywhere like a rainstorm.

Then came the second cannon, and then the third cannon.

All three watchtowers were destroyed within ten seconds.

The soldiers of Ma Qiu fled in all directions like madmen. They opened fire on the armored train with their Hanyang rifles and old-fashioned pistols. The bullets hit the 30mm armor plates and bounced off without leaving a mark.

The armored train screeched to a halt two kilometers from Dangtu County.

The iron doors on both sides of the carriage opened simultaneously.

Seven hundred German-trained infantrymen, each carrying a Mauser 98K rifle, surged out of the train like a tidal wave.

They didn't shout any battle cries.

There were only short, dense "tap-tap-tap" sounds, like a downpour hitting a tin roof.

Ma Qiu's regiment had less than a thousand men, most of whom were conscripted on short notice and carried old guns from twenty years ago.

Faced with a barrage of fire from 700 state-of-the-art rifles, each squad with a submachine gun, and each platoon with two light machine guns, they didn't even have a chance to retaliate.

twenty minutes.

The entire Maqiu Regiment's positions outside Dangtu County were completely wiped out.

Shen Li personally led his men into the dilapidated warehouse where the advance team was being held.

All sixteen people were present.

Several people were injured, but none were in life-threatening condition.

"The young marshal sent me to take you home."

Shen Li untied the leading engineer from the rope and patted him on the shoulder.

The engineer's eyes welled up with tears.

The sound of cannons still echoed sporadically outside the city. That was Chen's army mopping up the remnants of soldiers who had fled into the mountains.

Ma Qiu himself was captured alive.

When he was bound hand and foot and brought before Shen Li, he was so frightened that he wet his pants.

"Sir...Sir, spare my life! I didn't know you were Marshal Chen's men! I really didn't know!"

Shen Li looked down at him, her face expressionless.

"The young marshal said two words."

"Wh...what?"

"Execute him."

into the night.

The armored train was parked at the railway marshalling yard in Ma'anshan, and the searchlights illuminated the surroundings as if it were daytime.

As Shen Li was counting the spoils of war and setting up defenses, a communications soldier rushed over.

"Chief of Staff Shen! An urgent telegram from Shanghai! Forwarded by Miss Mo!"

Shen Li took the telegram and his expression changed drastically upon reading it.

The telegram contained only one line:

"Su Guiying's secret report: Ma'anshan is a trap. Two cavalry brigades of the Fengtian clique have detoured south from Bengbu and are heading towards your position to encircle you. — Mo Huixin."

Shen Li suddenly raised his head and looked up at the dark night sky to the north.

Bengbu.

That was the most forward assembly point of the Fengtian clique's southward army.

The journey from Bengbu to Ma'anshan takes only two days by forced march.

In other words, they are now right in the middle of the enemy's jaws.