Mengxi pointed to the map and said: "Since the Soviet army attacked Zhalainor two months ago, the commander believes that the Soviet army is likely to launch an attack on Manchuria and Zhalainor at the same time, intending to divide the Northeast Army in Manchuria, Zhainuoer, and Hailar, and then annihilate them one by one. Therefore, according to the commander's suggestion, we formulated a second set of battle plans. ”

"The specific plan is: the tasks of the first group remain unchanged; When the second group encircled and attacked the Soviet army in Manchuria, it wanted to block the attack on Manchuria in Dawuli and Zhalanuoer with part of its troops, with the intention of relieving the Soviet army of its besieged troops; After the third group arrived at Zhainuoer, it immediately encircled and annihilated the troops in the Zhainuoer area with a unit of the Northeast Army stationed in Zhainuoer, and the main force should quickly cross Zhainuoer and enter Manchuria, and join the second group to destroy the Soviet army attacking Manchuria. ”

"The main point of these two plans is that the first group will wait until the second group has surrounded the Soviet troops in Manchuria and then launch an attack on the Soviet troops in the Great Uri area, at which time they will have very few defensive forces in the rear and will not be able to complete the task of holding on. In addition, these two plans also have a common weakness, that is, the Northeast Army defending Manchuria and Zhalainor must withstand the attack of the Soviet army and hold out for more than two days, otherwise our troops will not be able to reach the predetermined position. ”

"The Soviet offensive was supported by aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery, and in the words of the commander, 'it was a three-dimensional offensive'. Not to mention such a battle, not to mention the Northeast Army, even our Fourth Route Army has not experienced it, and it is very difficult to defend for two days. In order to ensure that the Northeast Army in Manchuria and Zhainuoer could withstand the Soviet attack for two days, the defensive forces there still needed to be strengthened. We sent a telegram to Hu Yukun, who was stationed in Hailar, asking him to send more troops to Manchuria and Zhainuoer, but Hu Yukun refused to send more troops to Manchuria and Zhainuoer on the pretext that Hailar's defense forces were empty. We promised to move closer to Hailar with one division and one regiment, and in case the Soviets made a detour to attack Hailar, we could come to the rescue in time. Or simply send our troops and disguise themselves as the Northeast Army to reinforce Manchuria and Zalainuoer. However, Hu Yukun resolutely disagreed, saying that with the strength of Manchuria and Zhainuoer, it was completely possible to block the attack of the Soviet army, and it was superfluous to increase the number of troops. Before the meeting, the commander had already called Zhang Xueliang and asked him to solve the problem. ”

Zhang Yafei pouted and said: "I think this Hu Yukun just doesn't want us to interfere in the war on the Western Front, he thinks that he can stop the Soviet army with his troops of more than 20,000 people." I think let's let him try it first, and when they can't beat the Soviets and come to us, we'll send troops. As long as the First Group dismantles the command structure of the Soviet army and occupies the Great Uri, we will block the Soviet forces in Manchuria in our territory, and it will not be difficult to destroy most of them. ”

Seeing that Song Zhewu was silent, Li Wentian said to Zhang Yafei: "Division Commander Zhang, don't be angry, the commander does not want to destroy most of the Soviet troops on the Western Front, but to completely annihilate them, and only by completely annihilating the Soviet Army on the Western Front can the goal of deterring the Soviet Army be achieved, otherwise it will be a stalemate battle." ”

As he was talking, the confidential staff officer came in and handed Li Wentian a telegram. After reading it, Li Wentian handed it to Song Zhewu and said: "Zhang Xueliang was very decisive this time, and he called and said, 'Hu Yukun has been removed from the post of commander of the Second Army of the Russian Defense Army, and Wan Fulin has taken over, but Wan Fulin wants to sit in Harbin and has no time to be separated, so please transfer the commander to Hailar to take over the command.'" At the same time, Zhang Xueliang said: "All units on the Western Front have once again been strictly ordered to absolutely obey the orders of the commander, otherwise military law will be involved." In my opinion, Zhang Xueliang is handing over the Northeast Army on the Western Front to you, the commander. ”

Song Zhewu, who had not spoken, breathed a sigh of relief, whether Manchuria and Zha Lai Nuoer could hold on was the key to whether he could completely annihilate the Soviet army on the Western Front in one fell swoop this time, otherwise once the war was stalemate, it would be difficult for him to easily withdraw to Laiyuan. In the past few days, he has been worried about this self-righteous Hu Yukun.

He remembered that in real history, after the defeat of the Western Front, although Chiang Kai-shek later awarded Zhang Xueliang, Wang Shuchang, commander of the First Army of the Eastern Front to defend Russia, and Hu Yukun with the Blue Sky and White Medal, Zhang Xueliang never let Hu Yukun lead troops since then. It seems that Hu Yukun also made Zhang Xueliang very angry this time, and there probably won't be a good life for him in the future.

You must know that although the Eastern Front is not yet defeated, at least Zhang Xueliang has understood that his Northeast Army is not the opponent of the Soviet Army. If there was no Fourth Route Army on the Western Front, Zhang Xueliang probably would not have the idea of defeating the Soviet Army. At this time, Hu Yukun didn't know the general situation, and he Song Zhewu didn't cooperate well, Zhang Xueliang didn't remove him from his post, so it was strange that Song Zhewu took the telegram and glanced at it, nodded and said: "Hu Yukun, a person like Hu Yukun who is a vegetarian should have been removed a long time ago, so it's okay, I think Yafei will lead the command organ of the first division and a regiment of troops, all of which will be redressed into the Northeast Army, stationed in Hailar, and select powerful troops to reinforce Manchuria and Zhalanuoer." However, the reinforcements should not be too many, and if there were too many Soviet troops, they might concentrate their forces to storm Manchuria, so that their troops would still be too concentrated, and it would be difficult for us to completely annihilate the Soviet troops on the Western Front. In my opinion, Manchuria and Zalainuoer each reinforced one battalion, so that the troops did not increase much, and the Soviet army would not care too much. ”

Zhang Yafei said: "Commander, are the rest of the troops of the 1st Division also moving closer to the direction of Hailar?" Once the battle began, the troops of the 1st Division could quickly rush to the battlefield. ”

Song Zhewu shook his head and said: "Not yet, the reason why we are sheltering and waiting here more than 600 miles away from Hailar is to keep it secret. Soviet spies will pay attention to the cities along the railway, and once we get too close to Hailar, it is easy to leak the news, in which case it will be impossible for us to completely annihilate the Soviet army on the Western Front. ”

Song Zhewu looked at Xu Fang and asked, "Senior Commander Xu, what is your opinion on your mission?" ”

Xu Fang stood up and said: "Report to the commander, I have no opinion, I promise to annihilate the Soviet army in the Dauri area on time as planned." ”

Song Zhewu raised his hand and motioned for Xu Fang to sit down, and said to Xu Fang and Li Wentian: "The Soviet planes pose a great threat to us, and after Xu Fang's first group arrives in the Dauri area, it will first destroy the Soviet airfield. However, before the airfield is destroyed, you will have to rely on those heavy Hachikaith heavy machine guns to empty the air, and the losses of the troops will be very large, so you must be fully prepared for this. ”

"Can we send a small force to attack their airfield and blow up their planes?" Zhao Fengwu asked.

"No, if we blow up their airfield in advance, the Soviets are likely to delay the attack, and the longer the delay, the better prepared the Soviets will be, and the more likely we will leak our whereabouts. The dozen or so reconnaissance units we sent have now been on the border line for more than 10 days, and now we can basically know some time in advance about the movement of Soviet troops, and if it drags on for a long time, our advantage will be lost. So the airfields of the Soviet army could be destroyed only after the start of the war. Our troops had to withstand two days of indiscriminate bombardment by Soviet aircraft. Song Zhewu said helplessly.

"Commander, I have a good suggestion." Mike looked at Song Zhewu and said.

"What advice?" Song Zhewu thought that Mike was going to give his air force a mission, and said with a smile: "When Division Commander Xu takes off the Soviet airfield, your cluster can be dispatched, and when the time comes, you will ruthlessly clean up the ground forces of the Soviet army, and also give the soldiers a bad breath." ”

Mike said, "Why don't we consider using my plane to bomb their airfield as soon as the war starts?" ”

"Bombing Soviet airfields with planes? This is absolutely not good, our DH-10 is a bomber, and before it arrives at the airport, it will be discovered by the Soviet patrol planes on duty, and the DH-10 will not talk about bombing the Soviet airfield, but it is very problematic whether it can fly back safely. Without waiting for others to speak, Gao Zhihang was the first to object.

Except for Gao Zhihang, the people in the tent are all laymen in the use of aircraft, even Song Zhewu only has an impression of the over-the-horizon attack in later generations, and Song Zhewu has no experience in this kind of air combat now, but he also agrees with Gao Zhihang's opinion. Not only is there no radar, but there is also no communication equipment for pilots to talk to the ground at any time, and it is almost suicide to bomb the other side's airfield with bombers that are not escorted by fighters.

However, the thought of fighter jets made Song Zhewu's eyes light up, and he asked Gao Zhihang: "Ziheng, doesn't Hailar have five fighters?" Can they escort Mike's bombing? ”

Gao Zhihang smiled bitterly and said, "Commander, don't count on those five planes." These planes are very old and can only deal with ground forces, and it will be very problematic to let them escort, not to mention protecting our bombers, even to protect themselves. ”

The dialogue between Song Zhewu and Gao Zhihang, Mike's translator translated it for him in time, and Mike shook his hand again and again and said: "No, no, I'm not crazy, I won't risk my beloved 'eagle'." I mean I'm going to fly over their airfield before dawn before dawn and blow up all their planes on the ground. ”

"But it's nearly 400 kilometers from here to Dauri, the DH-10 has to fly for more than two hours, it's sparsely populated, and there will be no clear reference on the ground before dawn, how do you ensure that your plane can fly over Dauri before dawn on time? If you get lost, you'll be in trouble."

Mike shook his head and said, "I can't guarantee it without a ground reference. However, if someone had given me directions on the way to the airport, such as lighting some bonfires, I would have made it to Dauri on time. ”

Mike's words make sense, it's like there is a string of street lights on the ground up to the Great Uri area, and Mike just needs to keep the plane flying in the direction indicated by the "street lights".

"But it's okay to light a bonfire south of Manchuria, but what about a bonfire across the border?" Gao Zhihang is still a little worried.

Song Zhewu looked at the map and said, "This is easy to do." We don't have to go through the trouble of lighting a campfire all the way, and if I light a mountain for you in Dauri, how far can you see it? ”

"If the fire is big enough, I can see it when I fly five thousand meters in the air here."

(To be continued)