Chapter 41: Treat Prisoners of War with Kindness

  After World War I, the Australian army still lived in the glory of the invincible, and Major General Nelson, who had been defeated by a regiment with an entire division, still believed that as long as they held the railway and received heavy firepower support, they could turn defeat into victory. Even when scouts reported that dozens of strange vehicles without long gun barrels similar to tanks appeared in front of the enemy's position at dawn, he only asked: Have the natives become so luxurious that they have started using cars?

  To know that Australia didn't produce its first car until 1940, even a lieutenant general like Nelson couldn't afford to buy a private car! But not having eaten pork doesn't mean you haven't seen pigs running around. Similarly, although most Australians hadn't taken a plane by the time Qantas was founded in 1920, everyone knew what an airplane was as they flew overhead.

  Just like now, the rumbling sound above their heads made many Australian soldiers crawl out of their tents and lie on the ground with their heads up. The plane was flying very high and fast, looking just like a small toy, getting smaller and smaller until it was hard to see with the naked eye.

  Many people still have lingering regrets, with a total of four planes flying together in the front and back, which is not easy to see in Australia.

  "They're back, they're back!" The soldiers who had just crawled into the tent hastily crawled out again. Indeed, those small toy-like planes flew back, seemingly flying even lower and becoming bigger. "Huh? What's dropping down?" Those with sharp eyes already saw that from the belly of the plane dropped a string of many small black dots, accompanied by an ear-piercing whistling sound, rapidly falling down.

  "Run! It's a bomb!" The Second Division wasn't made up of country bumpkins, after all - they came from Sydney, the largest city in Australia. The Australian soldiers who had been watching the commotion on the ground suddenly panicked, with some covering their heads and crawling on the ground; others relying on their long legs to run away; and still others thinking themselves clever by diving into the tents. But this was originally a part of the vast Victoria Desert, where there were no places to hide, and even if there were rocks or trees, would they be any use against a 250-kilogram aerial bomb? The most useful thing to do was probably to sincerely pray that the bomb wouldn't land nearby.

  But for the H-5's aiming standard of being able to drop bombs within a 50-meter range at an altitude of 3,000 meters, such a large Australian army camp could be bombed with eyes closed. Four H-5s, forty-eight 250-kilogram aerial bombs accurately fell into the Second Army's camp, and many Australian soldiers without any air defense awareness were staring blankly as the bombs landed beside them. The sharp whistling of the aerial bombs, the intense explosion after landing, the shouts and screams of the soldiers mixed together; smoke, flames, and despair, the second division's large military camp was like a hellish scene. Major General Nelson was very lucky, there were no aerial bombs near the commander's tent, but the guards around him were all trembling with fear, and the four planes hovering high above their heads seemed to be calling out for the lives of the Australian soldiers.

  Nelson was powerless to control the terrified soldiers, who lay on the ground, wailing and praying, and would rather be shot than get up.

  The enraged lieutenant colonel continued to kick and curse, the bullets in his left revolver had been fired into the sky, but to no avail.

  "Damn it, you bunch of cowards, you've disgraced the Royal Army. It was just a few bombs and you're reduced to being as useless as the natives?"

  Indeed, Nelson's anger was not unreasonable. Although the scene of 48 shells bombing was frightening, and the screaming from hell could make people's souls fly away, the actual casualties were not exaggerated, and the injuries of hundreds of people were not unbearable for this army of nearly 10,000 people. However, humans are always more afraid of unknown disasters, and this kind of aerial bombing also made the Australian army, which had never fought before, completely collapse.

  However, Zhong Yi was still considerate of them. This extremely fearful time was quite unbearable. The very humane Red Alert troops would not let them suffer too much. Twenty-something minutes later, fifty wheeled infantry fighting vehicles followed the eight 59-style tanks that appeared outside the Australian army camp. We Chinese emphasize soldier against soldier, general against general. The 59-style specifically targeted those Mark II cruisers, while the infantry fighting vehicles had to deal with the infantry. If the Australian army camp after the aerial bombing was a hellish scene, then the current situation was absolutely a harvest of death, harvesting fear and despair. The intense machine gun fire made the vast majority of Australian soldiers far away from fear and despair, restoring complete calmness.

  "God bless you!" The holographic screen couldn't see the battlefield that had already exceeded the division's control range, but when receiving reports of Jiang Yunzhi's tank attack, Zhong Yi still muttered a sentence like a god stick, "Is such slaughter too inhumane?"

  When the 102nd National Guard infantry battalion arrived at the Australian army camp on foot, the tank squadron had already been sweeping the battlefield. The result of the eight Type 59 tanks was 23:0. The 23 "little peas" only consumed 23 armor-piercing shells and two high-explosive shells from the Type 59s. The extra two were fired by Jiang Yunzhi's command vehicle group, who was busy commanding and didn't fire many shots. After all the "little peas" had been knocked out, Jiang Yunzhi fired two more shots, one of which hit the largest tent in the camp, killing seventeen people including General Nelson. The 37mm tank guns fired by the "little peas" only left a few black marks on the front armor of the Type 59s. The hit tank soldiers were furious and cursed: This is not making trouble for nothing, we'll have to clean up thoroughly when we get back.

  After more than half an hour of slaughter, the surviving Australian soldiers were all concentrated in a small depression outside the barracks, surrounded by circles of seats. The machine gunners on several armored vehicles around them stared tightly at them, with their fingers on the triggers ready to fire at any time.

  Jiang Yunzhi opened the tank's turret hatch, jumped up, took off his helmet and swung his long legs leisurely. He casually pulled out the intercom from the turret hatch, switched to the base channel, "Commander, the Australian army has been dealt with, one of our infantry fighting vehicles overturned into a ditch, two crew members were injured, the rest are unharmed. We're cleaning up the battlefield, the 102nd regiment has arrived, estimated over a thousand prisoners. Report complete."

  "Did you crash yourself?" Zhong Yibai rolled his eyes, this is too ridiculous. Does the soldier driving have a license? Even if there's a shortage of drivers, they can't drive without a license! We didn't get killed by the enemy, but we crashed ourselves. By the way, over a thousand prisoners were captured, so... few? "Yun Zhi, are you sure there are over a thousand prisoners?"

  "Oh, commander, it's a bit too much, but these little brats didn't even resist, they listened like the military dogs back at our base, brothers really couldn't bring themselves to do it!"

  "What the...! Jiang Yunzhi, a troop of 10,000 people, and you've managed to leave only 1,000 prisoners? This is massacre of prisoners of war, this is a crime against humanity! Do you know how many people are in Australia? You've killed them all, where will we find labor?"

  "Ah……Cloud Zhi understands, treat the captives well." For the first time hearing the commander's anger, Jiang Cloud Zhi also got a bit angry, "Hey, who is that? Stop kicking, the commander said to treat the captives well! Hey, I'm talking to you, be gentle! What are you pushing for? Don't hurt the captives!"

  ……