On August 2, 1914, at the General Headquarters of the Ural Defense Line of the Imperial Chinese Army in Yebao City, an important border town between the Chinese Empire and Russia, Ni Fan, as the commander-in-chief of the Ural Defense Line, received the news that the coalition forces of European countries had weakened the attack on the Ural Defense Line, and immediately called the commanders of the five field armies of the Ural Defense Line. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

With the increase in the number of regular army units of the Imperial Chinese Army, the original highest military level establishment was somewhat inappropriate, so the Ministry of Defense of the Imperial Chinese Army set up a larger establishment of group armies for the army, and each group army could have several main forces under its jurisdiction.

Originally, the 10 Guards of the Imperial Chinese Army were only merged into 3 Guards Army, and the commanders of the 3 Guards Army were Chen Ergou, Zhang Daxiong and Ni Fan, the three of them were the earliest 3 commanders of the Guards, and they were all Lin Daxin's confidants, and Ni Fan was currently the commander of the Third Guards Army.

The Third Guards Army is under the jurisdiction of the 8th Guards Army, the 9th Guards Army and the 10th Guards Army, this time the Third Guards Army was ordered to enter the Ural defense line, and the Ministry of Defense also transferred 1 Guards Army from each of the other 2 Guards Army, which was strengthened into the 3rd Guards Army, so that Ni Fan now has 5 Guards under his direct command, in addition to the 3 armies of the 3rd Guards Army, there are also the 4th Guards Army and the 7th Guards Army.

The 25 field armies of the Imperial Chinese Army were divided into 8 field armies, except for the 1st Field Army, which had 4 field armies, the remaining 7 field armies were under the jurisdiction of 3 field armies, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 5th field armies were all deployed in the Ural defense line.

The commanders of the eight field group armies were Wang Hongjun, Zhang Limin, Deng Zichao, Hu Desheng, Wang Peng, Duan Qirui, Zhang Zuolin, and Li Yuandong.

At present, in accordance with Lin Daxin's order, the Ministry of Defense of the Chinese Empire has begun to organize 10 new guards and 15 new field armies, and the establishment of various group armies of the Imperial Chinese Army will be changed in the future.

Ni Fan said to the five commanders of the field army in the general headquarters of the Ural defense line: "According to the reports of various positions on the front line, starting today, the offensive intensity of the coalition forces of European countries in the Yunmeng City section, Yebao City section and Daning City section of our Ural Defense Line has suddenly weakened, what do you think about this?" ”

Zhang Limin, commander of the Second Field Army, immediately said: "After these days of offensives, according to conservative estimates, the casualties of the coalition forces of European countries must be more than 2.5 million, and the casualties of our troops combined are only less than 160,000, and the fortifications in the Yunmeng City area, Yebao City area and Daning City area have not been damaged too much, those Europeans are not stupid, they know that such an attack has no effect, they must be plotting other methods. Moreover, attacking our Ural defense line is a plan that European countries have carefully prepared for a long time, and I think that the coalition forces of European countries will definitely not give up their continued offensive against the Ural defense line. ”

Deng Zichao, commander of the Third Field Army, nodded and said: "I also think that the coalition forces of European countries are planning a new offensive plan, like their previous group charge at any cost, in addition to giving greater losses to the coalition forces of European countries, it does not have much effect on our defense line at all, and the casualties of the coalition forces of European countries in just ten days are more than 2.5 million is a good proof, and now European countries are likely to mobilize more fighters to regain air supremacy in the Ural Mountains. After all, a large part of the reason why the coalition forces of European countries paid such heavy losses in the previous offensive was because our Royal Air Force firmly controlled the air supremacy of the entire battlefield. ”

Hu Desheng, commander of the Fourth Field Army, said with a smile: "It will not be so easy for the air forces of those European countries to regain air supremacy on the battlefield, and the Royal Air Force has to add many new fighters every day in various field airfields in Ural Province. Regaining air supremacy is an impossible task for the air forces of European countries. ”

Wang Peng, commander of the Fifth Field Army, touched the stubble on his chin and said: "You can't be too careless, you have to tell the Royal Air Force to pay attention, after all, the industrial strength of many European countries is there, and with their industrial strength, they can provide a large number of new fighters to the European coalition forces west of the Ural Mountains in a short period of time. After all, the performance of the fighters of the two sides has not yet differed to the point where zero losses can be achieved. ”

Duan Qirui, commander of the Sixth Field Army, said indifferently at this time: "No matter what offensive means the coalition forces of European countries adopt later, we only need to respond to all changes with the same and resolutely hold the Ural defense line, as long as we hold until the new 10 Guards Army and 15 field armies are formed, it is time for us to launch a comprehensive counteroffensive against the European coalition forces, and now our main task is to weaken the strength of the armies of European countries as much as possible by relying on the solid Ural defense line." ”

Ni Fan then thought for a moment and said: "According to the current situation, it is difficult for the coalition forces of European countries to pose any threat to the Yunmeng City section, Yebao City section and Daning City section of our Ural Defense Line, even if European countries send a large number of new fighters to join the competition over the Ural Mountains, the Royal Air Force also has the strength to ensure the air supremacy of our Ural Defense Line for a long time in the future, what I am worried about now is whether the coalition forces of European countries will attack the fortifications in other parts of the Ural Defense Line, Although the fortifications in those areas were very dangerous and not suitable for a ground offensive, the coalition forces of the European countries that were pressing were probably not able to take care of so much. ”

Zhang Limin, commander of the Second Field Group Army, said: "Be careful, at present, the rest of the Ural defense line is being defended by the garrison of Ural Province, and I think that one field army can be transferred from our group army to strengthen the fortifications in other areas, so as to prevent the situation that Lao Ni said." ”

Although the Yunmeng City section, Yebao City and Daning City section of the Ural Defense Line of the Chinese Empire add up to a long time, it is still impossible for the 5 guards and 15 field armies of the Royal Army of the Chinese Empire to be put into the fortifications of the above three sections at once, so a considerable number of reserves are reserved in the rear, and the 3 field armies under the jurisdiction of the Second Field Army are all currently used as reserves.

Ni Fan nodded and said: "I also have such considerations, then according to Lao Zhang's opinion, the 6th Field Army will be sent to the fortifications in other sections of the Ural defense line first, and the guard force in these sections will be strengthened, and because of the new formation of 10 guards and 15 field armies, the Ministry of Defense has transferred a large number of officers from the main forces, including the main forces of our Ural defense line, and many officers have been transferred to the newly formed troops, including many senior officers, in this matter, Troops at all levels must unconditionally support and not delay the future of the officers below, after all, when going to the newly formed troops, the officers who are transferred will basically be promoted to one level or even more, so on this issue, it is absolutely not allowed to make any obstacles. ”

The commanders of the other five field armies nodded their heads one after another, and all said that the group armies would unconditionally support the formation of the new main force, but in fact, at this point, few people would block the promotion of their subordinates.

Ni Fan then said in a deep voice: "There is one more thing, the various group armies must be prepared, maybe we will give up holding the Ural defense line and retreat to the line of the Tobol River." ”

"What? Abandonment of the Ural Line? What's going on? ”

"It is impossible for the coalition forces of European countries to break through our Ural defenses, so why give up?"

"The Ural defense line was built at the cost of astronomical sums of money from our Chinese Empire, how can it be abandoned?"

Ni Fan's words suddenly surprised the other five commanders of the field group army, just now everyone has been studying how to defend the Ural defense line, how can the group armies be ready to abandon the Ural defense line in an instant?

Ni Fan said with a smile: "This is the latest battle plan formulated by the Ministry of National Defense, and it has been approved by the emperor. ”

Hearing that the emperor's consent had been obtained, the other five commanders of the field army immediately stopped talking, and all looked at Ni Fan, waiting for his explanation.

Ni Fan then said: "The emperor and the Ministry of Defense believe that our Ural defense line is too strong, and now the coalition forces of the European war countries have consumed at least 2.5 million casualties, and there is no substantial damage to the Ural defense line, so how many lives does the coalition army of the European war countries need to fill in this Ural defense line to break through, I believe that the European countries will eventually settle the account, and when the European countries react, they are likely to give up the attack on our Ural defense line and turn to defense, You must know that the fortifications in Russia are not given in vain, otherwise the Ministry of Defense would not have been able to formulate the tactics of relying on the Ural defense line to consume the enemy's vital forces at the beginning of the war, once those fortifications in Russia have enough defensive troops, the price that our Royal Army of the Chinese Empire wants to break through those fortifications in Russia will definitely make us feel distressed for a long, long time. ”

After a pause, Ni Fan continued: "So the emperor and the Ministry of Defense decided to abandon the Ural defense line at the right time, lure the enemy deep, and then use the advantages of armored forces in the territory of Ural Province to carry out a large-scale war of annihilation, of course, the time to retreat must be appropriate, at least after our new 10 guards and 15 field armies are formed, otherwise with these 6 armies of our Ural defense line, if we want to annihilate several times the enemy, it is still a little weak in terms of strength." ”

Hu Desheng, commander of the Fourth Field Army, frowned and said: "But if you give up the Ural defense line, won't the Ural defense line be occupied by the European coalition forces?" When we counterattack, won't we be confronted with the Ural defense line that we have built ourselves? The solidity of the Ural defense line has been proven by the lives of millions of European coalition officers and soldiers. ”

Ni Fan said without hesitation: "Blow it up!" When our troops withdraw from the Ural Line, all fortifications will be blown up with explosives to prevent them from being used by the coalition forces of European countries, so that in the future counteroffensive, the Ural Line will not cause much trouble to our Royal Army. ”

Wang Peng, commander of the Fifth Field Army, said with a distressed face: "Is it too blind to blow it up?" You must know that the entire Ural defense line, our Chinese Empire, has spent a lot of money, and it would be a pity to blow it up like this! ”

Duan Qirui, commander of the Sixth Field Army, waved his hand and said, "What a pity! You must know that after the end of this war, the border between our Chinese Empire and Russia will definitely not still be in the Ural Mountains, maybe the whole of Russia will disappear in this war, everyone must believe in the emperor's appetite! ”

"Hehehe-" Duan Qirui's words made the commanders of the other group armies laugh out loud, "yes, after this war, it is not certain that Russia will still exist or not, but the Ural defense line will definitely not have such a big effect, according to the emperor's temper, Russia will definitely not bypass the Russians if it does not cede millions of square kilometers of land." Hu Desheng, commander of the Fourth Field Army, said with a smile on his face.

Deng Zichao, commander of the Third Field Army, continued: "This battle plan of the emperor and the Ministry of Defense is very good, once we abandon the Ural defense line, the European countries will be ecstatic, and they will definitely put a large number of troops into the Ural Province of our Chinese Empire to continue the attack, and the Ural Province is basically a plain area, which can fully exert the maximum combat capability of the armored forces of our Royal Army, but when we abandon the Ural defense line, we must do enough surface work, To make the coalition forces of Europe think that we are untenable, do not let them realize that we are deliberately abandoning the entire Ural defense line. ”

Ni Fan nodded with a smile and said: "What Lao Deng said makes sense, but giving up the Ural defense line is still a matter for the future, the next task of our group armies is to firmly hold the entire Ural defense line, and now the supplementary troops of the front line troops have entered the position, and the troops guarding the fortifications have returned to full strength, and our reserves have not been used so far, and our next core task is still to use the Ural defense line to eliminate as many European army units as possible." ”

At the same time as the main force of the new 25 armies, a few days ago it had just sent 300,000 additional troops to the Ural defense line, some of which were veterans drawn from the garrison army to make up for the losses of the troops on the front line, and in the more than ten days of defensive operations, several group armies of the Ural defense line added up to less than 160,000 casualties. (To be continued.) )