As soon as Song Zhewu said this, Xiao Guodong was not good at dissuading him, thought for a while and said: "According to Wenge, the biggest difficulty for us to fight the Soviet army is to deal with the planes and tanks of the Soviet army. To deal with Soviet planes, I think we should bring with us all the 100 French-made flat-height dual-purpose 13.2mm Hatch Chase heavy machine guns that we just bought, which should be effective against low-altitude aircraft; and against tanks, we need to have anti-aircraft guns, and I have seen German-made 37mm-18-year anti-aircraft guns from Sun Chuanfang, which once destroyed tanks of the Northeast Army. It's just that we only have two guns in the teaching corps now, and they still captured the Gui system in Hankou, and I don't know if the Northeast Army has this kind of artillery. ”

Song Zhewu nodded and said: "On the grassland, the biggest threat to us is the Soviet aircraft, the French-made 13.2mm Hatch Chase heavy machine gun is too cumbersome, and it is very inconvenient to shoot in the air, but we don't have a special anti-aircraft machine gun now, so we have to use it." Although the caliber of the 37mm 18-year battle defense gun is not large, it is no problem to deal with tanks with only about 10 mm armor, the Central Army has tanks, and the Northeast Army will not be without battle defense guns. These two weapons have to be asked for by Zhang Xueliang, the quantity, of course, the more the better. In addition, rifles, machine guns, and mortars also asked him to provide more. ”

Song Zhewu thought for a while and said, "As for the reason for asking him to provide these weapons, let's just say that it will be used to supplement the battle damage." If we take Outer Mongolia, we need to send troops to garrison, and now the garrison on the grassland is best cavalry, and we also have to expand the team, and there is still a gap in weapons, so we will arm ourselves with the weapons given by Zhang Xueliang. Ammunition needs to be in large quantities, and if this battle is over, there is still a surplus, which is just right to replenish our stockpile. And military rations, horse feed, gasoline, ......"

Listening to the names of the materials reported by Song Zhewu and the strings of huge numbers, Xiao Guodong, Tao Rong and others were dumbfounded.

After Song Zhewu finished speaking, Tao Rong put down the pen in his hand and said hesitantly: "Commander, we want so many weapons, ammunition and materials, can Zhang Xueliang give them to us?" Is he what he wants to give us, can he take it for a while? ”

Looking at the expressions of several people, Song Zhewu couldn't help laughing "haha" and said, "What? You feel sorry for Zhang Xueliang. Zhang Xueliang's arsenal in Shenyang has an astonishing output, which is the largest arsenal in China today, and it is not a problem to provide these weapons and ammunition at all. In addition, I heard that Zhang Xueliang's Northeast Army had bought more than 20 FT-17 light tanks from France, which were the most advanced tanks in the world before the end of World War I. ”

"As for other materials, we see a huge amount, but Zhang Xueliang basically doesn't care very much, the Northeast is very rich, if Zhang Xueliang is forced to be in a hurry, if he wants to take out a billion 800 million oceans at once, he can also take it out, it's just a pity!" Song Zhewu sighed and stopped.

Several people knew that the word "pity" in Song Zhewu's words had a special meaning, but their understanding was different from that of Song Zhewu, and they all thought that Song Zhewu was saying that Zhang Xueliang did not make good use of the manpower, material and financial resources in the Northeast, so that the Northeast Army could not read the strength to resist the Soviet Army. Even so, everyone's mood is a little heavy.

After a pause, Tao Rong broke the silence and said: "The troops and materials sent out are all eyebrows, should the opening time and marching route be determined, so that Zhang Xueliang can prepare early." Even if you don't count the cavalry of Commander Wei, the first division of Commander Zhang has nearly 40,000 people, plus weapons and equipment, just these troops and materials, preparing the train will be enough for Zhang Xueliang to be busy for a while. ”

Song Zhewu understood that Tao Rong wanted Zhang Yafei's division to take the South Manchurian Railway to Changchun via Shanhaiguan, and then go north to Manchuria by the Middle East Railway.

Song Zhewu shook his hand and said, "We don't take the train. ”

"Don't take the train? Could it be that we walked, it was five or six thousand miles away! Song Zhewu's words startled several people.

Song Zhewu pointed to the map and said: "If we take the train, we will inevitably pass through the South Manchurian Railway, which is now controlled by Yue himself, and if they don't let us pass, it will be delayed if we want to go north." Even if I let us pass, Changchun will be the Middle East Road after Changchun, where Soviet Russia has been operating for many years, and information on our whereabouts and the number of troops to be prepared will inevitably be obtained by the Soviet army, and by the time we reach Manchuria, the Soviet army will have been prepared long ago, and the sudden effect will not be achieved. Therefore, the 1st Division of Yafei had to pass through Zhangjiakou and enter the Horqin grassland, set up a general military station in the Left Banner of Bahrain, and then pass through the Xing'an League, bypassing Qiqihar and heading straight to Hailar. The equipment and materials that Zhang Xueliang gave us did not have to be transported to Laiyuan, so he was allowed to transport them to Bahrain Zuoqi and handed them over to us. In order to speed up the march, in addition to leaving a certain number of vehicles for our Xinghua Company, we brought the rest of the more than 400 trucks, and in the section from Laiyuan to Bahrain Left Banner, these cars were basically empty, so they transported troops back and forth, and after arriving at Bahrain Left Banner, these cars had to carry the materials that Zhang Xueliang gave us, and the remaining 2,000 miles had to go. It's late August, and we've got a month and a half to get there, and I guess as long as we get to Hailar by the end of October. ”

Song Zhewu slid his finger on the map and said viciously: "The cavalry army is divided into two routes: north and east, and the troops going north are composed of Wei Guanghui with his real 30,000 cavalry troops, and they will first stand by in the area of Xilingrad League, Sunit Left Banner, and Sunit Right Banner. When we reached the vicinity of Hailar, we crossed the Gobi Desert in the area of Eringdabu Sannaoer (present-day Erenhot) into Outer Mongolia and went straight to Kulen, and since they did not want to be unified, they went to talk to Choibalsan and his Mongol cavalry with their sabers. ”

The remaining more than 70,000 cavalry infantry were organized into two divisions, and in order to cover people's eyes, the number was temporarily supplemented by the first division and the second division, and the division commanders were Xu Fang and Zhao Fengwu. Their troops were highly mobile, so their troops moved on the left and right flanks of the 1st Division, with Han Kwang's cavalry brigade in front of them. As for the departure time, of course, the sooner the better, but we still have to wait for Zhang Xueliang's news to see if he agrees to our request. ”

Song Zhewu's plan was feasible for several people, and Tao Rong added: "Our march in the Inner Mongolia grassland is easy to keep secret, but if Zhang Xueliang sends us ammunition and materials, it will be difficult to say, and he must be reminded to pay attention to secrecy." ”

Xiao Guodong thought for a while and reminded Song Zhewu: "Wen Ge, do you still have to say hello to Nanjing about the rescue of the Northeast?" ”

Song Zhewu nodded and said: "Of course, we have to say hello, otherwise it is not a good thing to give Chairman Chiang the impression that we are disobedient to orders, not only to greet Chiang Kai-shek, but also to let Zhang Xueliang say hello to Yan Xishan." I think so, I will tell Ge Guangting our request in a while, and ask him to rush back to Beidaihe to find Zhang Xueliang as soon as possible. In the afternoon, we held a meeting of officers at and above the division level to study in detail the various tasks to be deployed for the expedition. As soon as there was a reply from Zhang Xueliang's side, we immediately called Chiang Kai-shek, and I think he would agree to our rescue of the Northeast. ”

At the military meeting in the afternoon, except for Wei Guanghui, who had already returned to the cavalry corps, all the officers of the Fourth Route Army at or above the brigade level in Laiyuan attended the meeting. Since Song Zhewu was going to personally lead the army to go out, then he had to make arrangements for the remaining troops of the Fourth Route Army, and Song Zhewu announced that he would personally lead the expeditionary army composed of Zhang Yafei's First Division, the Cavalry Army, and Han Guang's cavalry brigade to support the Northeast Army in the war against the Soviet Union.

Although Song Zhewu did not mention the recovery of Outer Mongolia due to secrecy reasons, the mere battle against the Soviet Union was enough to make these generals extremely excited. Among these generals, except for the 19th Army and the Northwest Army of the original Gui Department, the other division and brigade officers are all young people trained by Song Zhewu and Xiao Guodong and others, and the oldest of these people is only twenty-five or sixteen years old.

The Fourth Route Army has never lost a battle since its founding, especially in the past year, it has won successive battles, not only occupying Hankou and defeating the absolute main force of the Gui system, but also winning many battles with the Northwest Army, which is known as the most warlike in China. Such a record has made the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Route Army at all levels play an invincible momentum, and they are now psychologically not afraid of any opponent. This made Song Zhewu both happy and a little worried.

The happiest people in the conference room were the generals headed by Zhang Yafei who had a mission to go on an expedition, especially the generals of the first division who were full of pride and excitement. Every time there was a major battle or combat mission, Song Zhewu's first thought was their first division, which was enough to show that their first division was the absolute main force of the Fourth Route Army.

Of course, among these people, the happiest is Zhang Yafei, the commander of the first division. In addition to the fact that he thought that Song Zhewu was absolutely satisfied with the combat effectiveness of his first division, he could also feel Song Zhewu's absolute trust in him militarily, and even had some other feelings, which made Zhang Yafei ecstatic in his heart, but he didn't dare to show half a point on his face. If you get carried away at this time, you will immediately be killed by the jealous eyes of many generals who have no tasks.

There is another thing that makes Zhang Yafei very happy, that is, his first division has produced two division commanders at a time, although Zhao Fengwu has only been in their first division for more than two months, but no matter what, he is the one who went out of the first division. Since then, he has obviously overwhelmed Gao Zongbao, Zhang Tao, Liang Fang, and Li Sichi among division-level officers.

(To be continued)