Shang Zhen had a dream, in which he saw his mother.
In his dream, his mother looked at him and said, "Live well. You will be an orphan from now on. Think about finding a wife for yourself!"
Shang Zhen then remembered his mother's warm embrace when he was a child.
Subconsciously, he wondered if this was his mother saying goodbye to him.
So he cried, and after crying he woke up.
It was already early October and the nights had grown cooler. He subconsciously felt that his hands were empty, so he reached out and touched his rifle, which gave him a sense of security.
Shang Zhen didn't know what the enemy and we were doing in the dark, and whether he would go to the battlefield tomorrow. He kept thinking about it and couldn't fall asleep for a while.
At this time, Jinzhou City was already pitch black.
Jinzhou is a name, but in fact its administrative level is just a county, and it is also called Jin County.
Of course, Jinzhou City has city walls. At this moment, the walls are towering, like a giant beast under the starry sky.
Zhang Xuecheng's puppet army was launching an attack on Jinzhou City. Since it was already night, there was not a single light to be seen in Jinzhou City.
But at this moment, the sound of horse hooves, not hurried but dull and chaotic, was heard from the edge of Jinzhou City.
After a while, horses appeared on both sides of the railway one after another. The horses walked very slowly, and the sound of iron rubbing and dragging could be heard from behind.
The herd of horses was dragging a huge monster that was about twenty to thirty meters long and four to five meters high.
But it was an armored train!
Jinzhou is the throat connecting North China and Northeast China, and an important node of the Beining Railway. Of course, there is a railway there.
The Northeast Army, which was once able to compete with the National Government's Central Army, was wealthy and powerful, and it also had armored trains.
The so-called armored train can be understood as an armored vehicle that can travel on the railway. It is used to patrol the railway and protect the safety of the railway.
That armored train is not only equipped with heavy machine guns, but also with cannons.
No matter how small the caliber of a cannon is, it is still a cannon, and its power cannot be compared with that of a heavy machine gun.
No one made any light in the darkness, but there were whispers of people, and there were quite a few of them.
The horses struggled forward, breathing heavily. It was unknown how many horses the Northeast Army used to pull such a huge machine as the armored train.
"What a pity for these war horses." Someone sighed in the darkness. He was an officer of the Northeast Army Cavalry Brigade.
Cavalrymen regard their war horses as their companions, who will charge into battle with them.
What war horses need is speed rather than load. Using war horses to tow armored trains is undoubtedly a harm to the horses.
However, due to the situation, in order to maintain secrecy, the Northeast Army in the city did not use the mules and horses from the people.
"It would be nice to have an old cow." Hearing the officer sigh, the adjutant next to him also sighed.
But it was useless to say all this. They had already thought out a plan to kill the enemy. They could not requisition mules and horses from the people, let alone oxen.
In the darkness, under the starry sky, the warhorse that could have galloped on the battlefield dragged the huge monster forward and finally left Jinzhou City.
But after moving forward about a mile, although the horse was trying hard to move forward, the armored train behind it had stopped moving.
It turned out that this was a gentle slope. No one knew how heavy the armored train was, and the horses certainly couldn't pull it.
A command was whispered in the darkness: "Use people to pull, use people to push! We must push the armored vehicle to the woods!"
Amidst the bustling noise, the darkness was filled with the muffled groans of many people exerting themselves.
But after many people reached out their hands, the armored vehicle stopped again after traveling a certain distance, and they still couldn't tow it.
The officers discussed it, and after a while, someone came out of the crowd and ran towards the north of Jinzhou City. Ahead was the defense zone of Zhang Lianjie's camp.
Half an hour later, in a forest, Zhang Lianjie gave the order: "Call each other, don't make any noise, and get up and move!"
The soldiers were startled awake, and some of them were scolded by their officers after just asking in a low voice what the action was.
"Waiter," Li Fushun called in a low voice.
Li Fushun fulfilled his duty as an older brother without any hesitation.
The last time Shang Zhen broke out from Beidaying, he was left at the back. If Shang Zhen hadn't stabbed two Japanese soldiers with his bayonet, he might not have been able to escape back.
Although Li Fushun knew that he could not protect Shang Zhen forever, he would never forget the instructions his mother gave him the last time he returned home.
"I'm here, third brother." To Li Fushun's surprise, Shang Zhen's voice whispered in his ear.
Li Fushun finally felt relieved. A moment later, Zhang Lianjie's battalion set off under the starlight above their heads. They were heading towards the railway line outside Jinzhou City.
Amidst the mixed sounds of running, Ma Erhuzi muttered, "Why are you waking someone up in the middle of the night?"
"I didn't fall asleep because of my internal energy. I heard that they were going to pull some armored vehicle." Shang Zhen, who was running with Ma Erhuzi, said in a low voice.
Although they spoke in low voices, a scolding voice came from the front: "Shut up!" It was the voice of Wang Laomao.
Finally, when Zhang Lianjie's battalion arrived at the armored train that was unable to move forward, everyone joined in towing it again.
This time the armored train moved.
An hour later, the armored train finally stopped on a section of road with trees on both sides.
By this time, there was a gasp in the darkness, the sound coming from both horses and humans.
People were not allowed to talk because they were very close to Zhang Xuecheng's puppet army in the front.
The horses didn't neigh either, simply because all of them had their mouths tied with cloth strips or ropes before leaving the city.
Although they were very tired, the Northeast Army soldiers in the darkness were excited.
Armored trains are powered by coal and steam. They can move on their own, but they have to be pulled by horses. Why? Anyone with a reasonable mind can guess why.
At this time, the officers were already discussing the next course of action in a low voice.
Someone in the darkness said, "Captain Zhang, since your team is closest to the enemy, then the task of attracting Zhang Xuecheng to attack is left to you!"
Although the words were spoken very politely, they were actually orders, so Zhang Lianjie responded with a respectful "yes".