The herald, who hurried back, reported to Niyazov, the commander of the Soviet vanguard regiment, who was standing on the edge of the forest with a telescope to observe the situation.

"The Chinese outposts have been completely destroyed by our artillery fire, and no Chinese have been found in the outposts or positions, not even a single corpse."

Without waiting for Niyazov to speak, Alyosha, the political commissar of the regiment on the side, twisted his strong body and laughed "haha" without any scruples.

Alyosha laughed for a long time before pointing contemptuously to the south and saying: "What's so strange about this, our heroic Soviet Red Army hundreds of thousands of soldiers are pressing the border, and those timid Chinese have long been frightened and run away." ”

Alyosha glanced at Niyazov and said disdainfully: "I said a long time ago, there is no need for us to be so nervous, the Chinese warlords are the same, they do not have the support of the people, and their army will not have any combat effectiveness at all." In front of them, as long as we demonstrate the great combat effectiveness of our Red Army, they will be invincible. ”

Regarding Blyukher's attempt to transfer the central [***] team in Northern Mongolia to the west, as well as the deployment of the three-way offensive, the vast majority of Soviet generals, including Alyosha, believed that Blyukhel was making a big fuss. Some generals even privately believed that this was because of the defeat in Manchuria and the fear of the Chinese [***] team.

Niyazov was one of the pro-Blyukher's minority, and Alyosha was clearly sneering at him.

Regarding Alyosha's unreasonable and contemptuous enemy, Niyazov couldn't help frowning slightly.

Niyazov participated in the last Battle of Manchuria, and he was also the only Soviet officer who basically led the troops to break through in formation.

Blyukher's military prowess was admired by Niyazov, who, after retaining his position, had wanted to promote Niyazov to division commander, but the promotion report was rejected by Moscow on the grounds that "there are no heroes in a failed campaign that humiliates the entire Red Army." ”

In fact, Niyazov knew that this was only a superficial reason, and there was another fundamental reason why he could not be promoted on the table because he was Jewish. Although the current Soviet Union is not as anti-Jewish as it was in Tsarist Russia, deep down in the hearts of Russians, Jews are still very excluded.

Moreover, there is another reason for deciding on his surname, which is that his parents and wives died in the war to quell the rebellion in the Soviet Union last year. The Ministry of Internal Affairs claimed that his family had been killed by the rebellious kulaks. However, according to a private letter to him from a fellow countryman who served in the Kip Military District, he was shot dead by the Ministry of Internal Affairs because his father had helped an old friend who had participated in the riots.

However, no matter what Niyazov thinks in his heart, on the surface he absolutely does not dare to express any dissatisfaction, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will not be unguarded against a person like him who may have "malicious intentions" towards the political axe. He vaguely felt that this Alyosha beside him was ordered to monitor his every move.

For this political commissar who came from a worker's background and had almost no combat experience, Niyazov looked down on him from the bottom of his heart, but he could not offend him, and he could not afford to offend such a person.

Niyazov said patiently: "The squadron opposite us is definitely different from the warlord army in the northeast, this unit has a strong will to fight and is well-trained, and they will never run away without a fight." This can be seen from the last time they traveled thousands of miles to Manchuria to fight in order to defend their homeland. They are retreating purposefully, and perhaps he is waiting for us somewhere ahead. I think we're going to have a tough battle in Cullen. ”

Alyosha's face suddenly became serious, and he looked at Niyazov with a strange gaze.

Alyosha looked at Niyazov and said word by word: "First of all, no matter which of the forces of the [***] lord, they are all lackeys of imperialism, and they will be defeated by our heroic Red Army; Secondly, I would like to remind you that this is not Manchuria, this is the Mongolian People's Republic, this is not the territory of China. ”

"I would also like to emphasize once again that we have come to drive out these Chinese oppressors who have enslaved the Mongolian people, that our war is just, and that we will definitely go to an unprecedented victory."

Alyosha's words made Niyazov's heart sink suddenly, he knew that he had said the wrong thing, and he wanted to explain, but for a while he didn't know how to say it. At this awkward moment, a communications staff officer on horseback came running from behind and jumped off his horse in front of Niyazov.

"Comrade regiment commander, the division commander asked why not move forward? Do the Chinese have resistance? ”

Niyazov, who was relieved, said to the communications staff officer: "Please report to the division commander that our regiment has occupied the Chinese outpost and will immediately continue to advance to attack in depth." ”

Soon, the vanguard of the Soviet army gathered its ranks, and under the guidance of twelve tanks, the vanguard of the Soviet army got on a truck and rumbled all the way to the south.

Niyazov also turned and walked to the truck he was in, and the moment he turned around, a look of extreme disgust appeared on Niyazov's face. However, this expression lasted less than a second before it quickly disappeared without a trace.

Niyazov's vanguard regiment had just entered the territory of North Mongolia about five kilometers south, and suddenly from behind the foot of the hill to which the vanguard battalion had just turned, there were more than a dozen loud and dull explosions, and a dozen huge sticks of smoke and dust rose from the foot of the mountain, which looked extremely uncomfortable.

This sudden explosion, although the main force of his regiment was more than 1,000 meters away, immediately caused chaos. The vehicles braked suddenly, and the soldiers sought shelter nearby.

Niyazov let go of his grip on the door handle, poked his head out of the open window, and shouted at the Soviet troops, who were scrambling to jump out of the car and jumping out of the car in a mess: "Don't panic, this is not shelling, this is a mine exploding." ”

Looking ahead, in the midst of the chaotic convoy and Soviet soldiers, a herald stumbled towards him with a panicked face.

Niyazov shook his head helplessly, jumped out of the car, and gathered his uniform to wait for the herald.

"The vanguard battalion encountered mines planted by the Chinese, and the casualties were heavy. Two tanks and three trucks were lost, more than a hundred people were killed or wounded. ”

"What? More than a hundred casualties from a dozen mines? ”

Landmines are a common weapon, and stepping on them was a common occurrence in World War I. But such casualties could not be believed by Niyazov in any way.

(To be continued)