Although the Chinese were close at hand, the Soviet tanks, which had been rushing to the front to give the Soviet troops courage, did not dare to advance any further.

It is undoubtedly a very crazy move to drive the tank to the complex terrain on the mountain in the dark, and if you are not careful in the dark, the tank will overturn and fall deep into the mountain.

At this point, six Soviet tanks had no choice but to stop at the foot of the hill and start shelling the top of the hill with their 37mm tank guns.

It's just that the tank guns have a straight trajectory and pose almost no threat to the enemy on the top of the mountain, and the only meaning is to tell the enemy on the mountain that we are coming.

And the Soviet infantrymen were not so lucky, and under the loud shouts of the officers, they felt the darkness and carefully began to climb up the mountain.

The losses caused by the shelling of the Soviet camp tonight will not be small, and there is no point in fighting the Soviet infantry at night. Although the mountain division was very experienced in night fighting, Shi Zebo still accepted it when he saw it and ordered a retreat.

By the time the Soviets rushed up the mountain, there was not a single Chinese on the mountain, except for the empty shell boxes everywhere.

The frustrated Soviets could only set up machine guns and fire frantically, venting their anger at the surrounding dark mountains and dense woods.

Wang Demin did not follow common sense this time, he did not withdraw with his troops to the west or south, but led his troops to the north overnight, and by dawn they were resting in the dense forest 30 kilometers north of the ambush area.

After a busy night's work, the warriors quickly fell asleep after a hurried meal of dry food.

It was only then that a large number of Soviet planes roared over the woods where they were and rushed to the battlefield in the river valley, where they first circled over the valley to the south and then began to search at low altitudes in both directions to the west and south.

The Soviet camp, which had been heavily attacked, was now in shambles, littered with burning carts and trucks still smoking, as well as the corpses of Soviet soldiers and their horses. The Soviet medics were busy sweating in the midst of the large groups of wounded soldiers.

The losses of personnel and materials caused by this night attack to the Soviet army were enormous.

In this night attack, the Soviets lost a total of six tanks, 14 trucks and 85 carts were blown up or burned, more than 50 horses were killed, more than one-third of the baggage transported was damaged, and more than 400 people were killed or wounded.

The only thing to be thankful for the Soviet troops was that the ammunition they had unloaded in advance was miraculously not patronized by the dense shells, otherwise the casualties and material losses would have been even more serious.

Despite the heavy casualties, the mission of this trip must be completed. After dawn, the Soviet escort unit left a company to protect the wounded soldiers, and the rest of the troops stubbornly escorted the convoy to the south, and the evening of the same day and the Soviet army to meet the receiving troops, after unloading the supplies, the Soviet army, which was beaten to the point of losing almost a whole battalion, returned to Mulun with a large number of wounded soldiers.

In this night attack, which cost the Soviets heavy losses, the attackers suffered almost no casualties, and only one of the fighters of the regimental reconnaissance company broke their feet in the retreat.

Such a battle not only satisfied Wang Demin very much, but also greatly boosted the morale of the whole regiment, and the slightest fear of the Soviet army had long since disappeared.

The commander of the second battalion even suggested that he should simply cover up on the spot and wait for the return of the Soviet escort unit, and then have another ambush battle to completely annihilate the Soviet regiment.

Shi Zebo was even bolder, he suggested that he simply do nothing, sneak to the vicinity of Mulun, and when the Soviet army transported supplies to the front line again, take advantage of the empty strength of Mulun to attack Mulun at night, and eliminate Mulun, the general military station of the Soviet army, in one fell swoop, so that the Soviet army's western front troops completely lost their logistical supplies.

In that case, the Soviet army on the Western Front probably had only one way to go, and that was to return to Mulun by the same route.

Shi Zebo's bold suggestion made Wang Demin very moved, thinking that it was a very good idea, and immediately sent a telegram to the brigade headquarters for instructions.

To his surprise, the telegram sent to the brigade headquarters was not replied to for a long time.

It wasn't until the afternoon that Wang Demin received a call back from the brigade headquarters that made him inexplicable. In addition to praising them in the telegram, the brigade commander also agreed to their request to sneak into the Mulun area to take shelter and stand by. It's just that Wang Demin was strictly ordered not to take the initiative to engage in any more battles, let alone attack Mulun, and asked him to allow the Soviet army to deliver supplies to the front line, and without orders, he was not allowed to organize any intervention or stop the action.

It was only at noon on the day of the night attack that Song Zhewu received this battle report forwarded by Li Wentian.

The order Wang Demin received was actually given by Song Zhewu, because the purpose of delaying the Soviet army on the Western Front had been achieved, and if the advance of the Soviet army on the Western Front was stopped, the troops on the eastern and even central routes would suffer greater casualties.

In the list of meritorious personnel reported by Li Wentian and Li Ruifang, Song Zhewu was pleasantly surprised to find the name Shi Zebo.

For the name Shi Zebo, I still have an impression in the memory of Song Zhewu's previous life.

Shi Zebo, whose name is Enshu, is a native of Hebei Province, and graduated from the 8th Infantry Department of Baoding Army Military Academy. In 1936, he served as the commander of the 412th Regiment of the Reading Brigade of the Jinsui Army, and after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was promoted to the commander of the 201st Brigade of the 19th Army in May 38, the commander of the 37th Division of the 19th Army in January 1940, and the commander of the 19th Army in September 1943.

What impressed Song Zhewu the most was that Shi Zebo was still the company commander Shi Zebo and his company were surrounded by a regiment of the Feng army at Baiyang Bridge in Dacheng County in the Second Zhifeng War. In three or six years, in Shanxi, there were two defeats of the Red Army that crossed the river. One of them defeated Liu Zhidan, the commander of the Red 28th Army, who graduated from the fourth phase of Huangpu and won nine battles and nine victories in the battle against Yang Hucheng's 17th Route Army.

Shi Zebo, a native of other provinces, can be appreciated by Yan Xishan, who has a strong xenophobic mentality, in a short period of time, and it is absolutely impossible to do it without outstanding military ability, Song Zhewu is very happy that he has found another talent.

Although this night attack, and even the last time the transport troops of the Soviet army were completely annihilated, they could only be regarded as a small victory, and in terms of the number of enemies destroyed, it could even be said to be insignificant on the battlefield in Northern Mongolia. However, this still made Song Zhewu feel very happy, not only because he successfully held back the pace of the Soviet army on the Western Front, but also because this victory came in time.

Although the battle reports from Northern Mongolia are reported every day through the "Northern Morning Post" on how the Fourth Route Army bravely resisted the Soviet invasion and how it held its position in the face of the Soviet army's wanton and indiscriminate bombardment, the constant changes in the locations of the battle between the eastern and western fronts and the Soviet army show that the fact that the Soviet army is constantly advancing cannot be completely concealed. Some people have already begun to express this concern in the newspapers.

In particular, the main force of the Soviet army in the center has approached Kulen, and the most severe offensive and defensive battle is about to begin, and there will not be a decent victory before the annihilation of the Soviet troops on the Western Front as planned, which will have a certain adverse impact on the morale of the people.

If this victory is played up at this time, it will be a good opportunity to boost morale and people's morale.

Moreover, recently, some domestic media led by the "Declaration" have begun to accuse Chiang Kai-shek of blindly adhering to the policy of "first securing the interior before attacking the outside world," holding that Chiang Kai-shek was indifferent to the war in Northern Mongolia and that the major matter of the imperial state was in the hands of Song Zhewu alone.

In particular, the Guangzhou political axe headed by Wang Jingwei also began to talk about this matter.

Wang Jingwei said in a speech, "Chiang Kai-shek allowed foreign enemies to invade and ignored the loss of the country, so that the war in Northern Mongolia was entirely dependent on Song Zhewu's one-man resistance, and Northern Mongolia was in danger. In particular, he blindly practiced talent reading within the party and attacked revolutionary comrades who adhered to the truth and upheld the last wishes of the former prime minister, and were unfit to continue to be the leaders of the national political axe. 'Demand that Chiang Kai-shek resign and go into the opposition.

It turned out that as early as February this year, Chiang Kai-shek and Hu Hanmin, president of the Legislative Council, had a dispute over the law, and Chiang Kai-shek, in a fit of rage, deceived Hu Hanmin, a veteran of the Kuomintang and president of the Legislative Council, into going to the General Headquarters in the name of a banquet and deliberation, forced Hu to resign from the post of president of the Legislative Council, and then escorted Hu Hanmin to the Tangshan Hot Spring Villa on the outskirts of Nanjing under house arrest.

The detention of Hu Hanmin caused an uproar in the Kuomintang government and the opposition.

As early as March, Wang Ching-wei issued an "Important Declaration on the Imprisonment of Hu Hanmin" in Hong Kong, reprimanding Chiang Kai-shek for "serving wine and entertaining guests on the one hand, and drawing guns to arrest people on the other, and using the chairman of the Nationalist Political Axe to kidnap tickets out of bandits, which is no worse than that of the dog official of the Qingshuang Sword." At the end of April, four members of the Kuomintang Central Committee, Gu Yingfen, Lin Sen, Deng Zeru, and Xiao Focheng, issued a telegram entitled "Proposal for the Impeachment of Chiang Chung-cheng," accusing Chiang Kai-shek of excluding dissidents and creating talents, and demanding that Chiang be removed from his post and investigated. In May, dozens of people, including Chen Jitang, Li Zongren, Bai Chongxi, Zhang Fakui, and Tang Shengzhi, the generals of the two Guangxi provinces, jointly issued a telegram supporting the impeachment case of the "Four Supervision Commissions" and demanding the release of Hu Hanmin and the resignation of Chiang Kai-shek.

On 27 May, Chen Jitang, Li Zongren, and others, powerful local factions in Guangzhou, followed the example of Sun Yat-sen's extraordinary congress convened in Guangzhou that year, and set up an "extraordinary meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang." Under the banner of "overthrowing scholars" and "protecting the party and saving the country," it was proposed that all members of the first, second, and third Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang (except for those who were in favor of opposing Chiang) should naturally become members of the extraordinary meeting. Chen Jitang, Li Zongren and others invited Wang Jingwei in Hong Kong to be the leader, and under the auspices of Wang Jingwei, the Guangzhou National Political Axe was established.

Wang Jingwei was the first chairman of the National Political Axe, Chen Jitang was appointed Minister of the Military Department, and Li Zongren was appointed to join the Army. Denying the legal surname of the Nanjing National Political Axe.

On 2 June, the second meeting of the Guangzhou National Political Axe Extraordinary Conference was held, at which it was decided to set up a military committee with Chen Jitang, Li Zongren, and Tang Shengzhi as its standing committee members. At the same time, the troops were reorganized, and Chen Jitang's 8th Route Army was renamed the L Group Army, with Chen as the commander-in-chief, under the jurisdiction of the L, 2nd, and 3rd armies, with Yu Hanmou, Xiang Hanping, and Li Jingyang as commanders. On this basis, Chen Jitang also seized the opportunity to expand the army, adding 1 instructor, 2 reading divisions, 5 reading brigades, 8 reading regiments, artillery regiments, chariot battalions, and other units, greatly enhancing his military strength.

Li Zongren's Gui army was renamed the 2nd Group Army, with Li as the commander-in-chief and Bai Chongxi as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, with 3 armies under its jurisdiction, with Zhang Fakui, Yang Tenghui, and Li Pinxian as commanders. The Gui department also took the opportunity to expand its strength and purchased a large number of ordnance and equipment units from abroad.

At the same time, the Guangzhou Nationalist Axe also expanded the navy and air force, with Chen Ce as the commander-in-chief of the navy and Zhang Huichang as the commander-in-chief of the air force. In order to liaise with other armed forces to participate in the anti-Chiang campaign, they sent personnel to contact local forces and the 19th Route Army in Jiangxi to do joint anti-Chiang work. Xu Chongzhi and Tang Shengzhi also proposed to incorporate the old ministry and lead troops against Chiang.

Chiang Kai-shek was very embarrassed under domestic and foreign difficulties.

(To be continued)