The adjutant came in and informed General Vostretsov that 'all the people for the meeting had arrived'.

General Vostrezov then collected his thoughts, waved his hand to signal the adjutant to go out first, he himself walked to the dressing mirror behind the door, habitually arranged the straight, without a trace of wrinkled general uniform in the mirror, carefully put together a few strands of black hair on his forehead, and looked around him back and forth, left and right, and after not finding anything wrong, he took a deep breath, tried to calm down some irritability, and then opened the door and strode towards the conference room.

When General Vostretsov walked into the conference room, Belinsky, the political commissar of the Baikal cluster, was still sitting in his chair and did not move, and everyone else got up to greet him.

General Vostretsov walked up to his seat and glanced at the officers attending the meeting. The meeting was attended by the commander of the 21st Infantry Division, Kunizov, the commander of the 35th Infantry Division, Boryukin, the commander of the 36th Infantry Division, Niyazov, the commander of the Heavy Artillery Division, Calgary, the commander of the 26th Air Group, Lermonov, the commander of the 5th Cavalry Brigade of the Reading, Galchev, the commander of the tank regiment, Nietzsche, the commander of the Reading-Briyat-Mongolian Cavalry Division, and the intelligence staff officer of the General Staff of the Far Eastern Special Army, Chuikov.

These people were all commanders of units attached to the Transbaikal group, and they were all his subordinates, among which the 35th and 36th infantry divisions were originally his old units of the Transbaikal Military District, and the commanders of these two divisions had been with him for many years, and he could be said to be very familiar with these people. However, there is one exception, and that is Chuikov.

Chuikov was subordinate to the General Staff of the Special Army Group in the Far East, and although he was now in his Transbaikal cluster on the Western Front, he was not under his jurisdiction, but was directly responsible to the commander of the Special Army Group in the Far East, Blyucher, on the Far Eastern Front, in Khabarovsk. Although he had only been in contact with this Chuikov for a few months, Chuikov's military talent surprised General Vostretsov. He believes that this fifth-class graduate of the Frunze Military Academy should definitely not be a diplomat or intelligence officer, and even went to China to work as a military adviser for two years, and such a talent should stay in the army, and his future is absolutely limitless.

General Vostrezov motioned for everyone to sit down, looked at the watch on his wrist and said solemnly: "Comrades, today is 10:14 a.m. on November 14, we have just finished arranging the battle plan on the 12th, and the troops will arrive at the designated positions at 0:00 on the 16th, and then launch a general attack on the [***] valve. However, I regret to inform you that due to some unexpected incidents, the original battle plan needs to be changed. ”

Chuikov stood up in the midst of everyone's discreet gazes, opened the folder, and began to report the situation.

"According to reliable information, a warlord unit numbered as the Fourth Route Army stationed in Hebei Province, China, with about 100,000 men, had already left for the northeast around the beginning of September, and their march destination was Manchuria."

"100,000 people! Why is such important information known now? You have been derelict in your duties, Comrade Chuikov. Belinsky said in a cold tone.

"Comrade Political Commissar, our Far Eastern Special Army only has intelligence resources in northeast China, and the intelligence resources in the Chinese mainland provinces belong to the General Staff of the Red Army, and only the General Staff can obtain such information." Chuikov said without humility or arrogance.

General Vostretsov frowned imperceptibly and calmly said to Chuikov: "Comrade Chuikov, this is beyond your duty, this responsibility is not yours, please continue." ”

"According to the information we have received, this unit did not enter the northeast by train through Shanhaiguan, but unexpectedly chose to rush here from Inner Mongolia on foot, and according to the itinerary, they should have arrived in Manchuria by the end of this month." ”

Chuikov's words relieved the officers present. However, Belinsky's cold voice rang out at an inopportune time. "Comrade Gongpot, if they marched from Inner Mongolia, it has been more than two months now, and you have not even received any news, and your Choibalshan will be responsible for this."

The flat face of Kampot, the commander of the Buriyat-Mongol Cavalry Division, turned red, and he wanted to argue, but his status made him secretly swallow his saliva in the end.

At the signal of General Vostrezov, Chuikov continued: "I returned to China from China on July 13 after the severance of diplomatic relations between China and the Soviet Union, so I know a little about this unit. This army is a warlord force that was formed in 26 years, but the speed of its rise is very fast, especially in the past year, it has shown strong combat effectiveness, he has forced the landing of the main force of the Gui warlords in the warlord melee in China, the 19th Army, and has also defeated Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army troops several times. Both the Gui and Northwest armies had defeated the Northeast Army, and they were all very warlike troops in China, especially Feng Yuxiang's Northwest Army, which was particularly brave and good at fighting, so it can be seen that the combat effectiveness of this army was extraordinary, at least stronger than the Northeast Army in front of us. ”

The combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army is well understood by everyone here, after all, it has been fighting for more than two months, and the news from the Eastern Front makes them feel that the Northeast Army is vulnerable. Therefore, the statement that Chuikov's Fourth Route Army was stronger in combat effectiveness than the Northeast Army did not attract their attention.

"There is another piece of intelligence that must be brought to our attention, that is, three days ago, there was a multi-brigade Northeast Army unit, numbering about 8,000 people, drove into Hailar, and from the number, they were the 27th Brigade of the Northeast Army stationed in Rehe. Yesterday they sent two regiments of troops north, and it has been ascertained that one of them has been stationed in Manchuria, and the other regiment is estimated to have stayed in Zhalainur, which is now being verified. ”

Chuikov hesitated for a moment and said: "For this army, we must attach great importance to it, I personally think that they are most likely not the troops of the Northeast Army, but the troops of the Fourth Route Army." ”

Chuikov's words immediately caused an uproar, and the commander of the 36th Division, Niyazov, said in surprise: "Didn't you say that the Fourth Route Army would not arrive in Manchuria until the end of the month? Do you have proof that they are the Fourth Route Army? ”

Niyazov's doubts were also what others thought, although they were dismissive of the combat effectiveness of the Northeast Army, which had degenerated to the point that it was necessary to organize White Russia in the Northeast to confront the Soviet Army. Judging from the battles they have fought for, these former white bandit armies are much stronger than the Northeast Army. However, this Fourth Route Army is 100,000 men after all! If they don't, they may suffer a lot.

Chuikov shook his head and said, "This is just my personal inference, and it has not been supported by any evidence at the moment." ”

Belinsky was very dissatisfied and said harshly: "Comrade Chuikov, intelligence work is our eyes and ears, and it should be based on real facts, and not on some presumptuous inferences. Your job is to provide us with truthful information, and it doesn't take your guesswork. ”

General Vostretsov ignored Belinsky, but looked at Chuikov seriously and asked: "Comrade Chuikov, then please tell me how you made this inference?" ”

Chuikov looked at General Vostretsov gratefully and said: "General, please forgive me for not reporting this inference to you in time, because I also just thought of it before the meeting. ”

Cui Kefu pondered the words and said: "I think that if it was Zhang Xueliang's troops in Rehe, he would definitely take the train to Shenyang." Even if the section from Shenyang to Changchun was said to be denied passage by the South Manchurian Railway under his control, Zhang Xueliang would be able to mobilize enough vehicles with only one brigade of troops, whether by car or horse-drawn carriage, and it would be easy for them to do so as long as they arrived in Changchun. Although some Chinese comrades organized a strike of railway workers on the 'Middle East Road', their results were not very good, and the 'Middle East Road' was not completely paralyzed, but its transportation capacity was greatly reduced, but there was no problem in transporting troops of the size of a brigade, but the time was probably longer than usual. If they take this road, the time to reach Manchuria will definitely be much faster than walking through the Inner Mongolian grasslands on foot. ”

"If Zhang Xueliang's troops in Rehe were transferred eastward to Manchuria, he would definitely transport troops like this. And as long as they take this road, we will definitely get information, not to mention that we will be notified by ourselves, even our intelligence officers in the northeast will also detect it. I have just been in contact with the General Staff of the Special Army Group for the Far East in Khabarovsk, and we now have intelligence resources in the north-east under their control. And they don't have any information about the eastward transfer of this brigade, and I have asked them to ask the General Staff of the Red Army in Moscow to verify whether the 27th Brigade of the Northeast Army stationed in Rehe is still in its original station. ”

"Since this force is most likely not the Northeast Army stationed in Rehe, then what kind of force is it?"

Seeing that everyone was listening carefully to his words, Chuikov said with certainty: "Combined with the previous intelligence, there can only be one possibility, that is, this army is not the Northeast Army, it is a unit of the Fourth Route Army. However, I don't think that the large force of the Fourth Route Army has arrived, it should only be his vanguard. With thousands of kilometers of travel, they could never have reached Hailar so quickly with only two legs. ”

General Vostrezov walked to the map, stared at Hailar and the surrounding area, and thought silently.

For a long time, General Vostrezov turned around, looked at Chuikov and asked: "Comrade Chuikov, if it is the vanguard of the Fourth Route Army, then why are they disguised as the Northeast Army?" What are their intentions in doing so? Could this be a conspiracy against us? ”

General Vostretsov's words surprised everyone, indeed, if this army is really the Fourth Route Army, then they can hide their identities, there must be a problem, and even as General Vostrezov said, there is a conspiracy against the Soviet army, and it may even be a big conspiracy.

(To be continued)