The Mongolian steppe is now a scene of late autumn. Looking out of the train window, the golden grass spreads all over the ground and stretches to the horizon. The north wind blows, the whole sea of grass shows a burst of undulating waves, herds of cattle and sheep loom in this golden wave, the white yurts in the distance are scattered like reefs in the boundless sea of grass, and the smoke rises high, floating on the clear blue sky without a single white cloud.

If there were no troops equipped with the most advanced weapons of this era, this would probably be the most beautiful grassland scenery in the mouth of ancient poets, right? However, any Chinese who knows a little bit of history knows that the Mongolian steppe has never been a peaceful place, it is the home of the rise of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turkic and Mongolian steppe peoples who rely on barbaric killing, their iron hooves have trampled the mountains and rivers of the Han family countless times, their scimitars and bows do not know how many innocent Han ancestors have been killed, only the most powerful dynasty in its heyday can conquer this grassland, and only conquer this grassland, Only then can the land of the Central Plains enjoy long-term peace and tranquility.

But this time, the enemies of the Central Plains are no longer the people in control of the Mobei grasslands, and these barbarian peoples who only know how to kill and plunder and do nothing to produce have long been eliminated by the industrial era. This time, it is the Soviet Empire, which is also armed with modern weapons, that will compete with the Great China Federation for the dominance of the northern steppes!

The train did not stop at Kulen, the capital of the Mongolian province, but traveled east along the Krulun River branch of the Kuzhang Railway, and finally dragged a long black smoke. Panting for breath, he drove into the lower reaches of the Krulun River, near the county seat of Anmeng in Heilongjiang Province. This small county town, like most counties in Mongolian province, was created in 1920 after the "Sino-Soviet land exchange". Built with direct investment from the central government, the county seat is actually a military city, because there are almost no peaceful residents in the city, and the people living here are soldiers and their families. A huge military base is located right next to the county town of Ammon, built on a wasteland on the south bank of the Krulun River.

The platform of Ammon County Railway Station is a tense and busy atmosphere. Smoke from incoming trains covered most of the platform. Shirtless Mongolian soldiers and IDF soldiers were busy unloading their trucks. The scale of this railway station is also surprisingly large, and it is not at all what a county railway station should be, with more than a dozen railroad tracks lying side by side on the grassland. On both sides are unloading platforms and rows of warehouses covered with khaki camouflage cloth. Around the warehouse, there were also 20mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns with their muzzles held high. Farther away, on the city wall of Anmeng County, there were also 88mm heavy anti-aircraft guns. It was used against Soviet TB3 heavy bombers. After China and the Soviet Union declared war on July 3, this kind of heavy bomber, with a bomb load of only 2 tons, a maximum range of only 2,000 kilometers, and a maximum speed of only 200 kilometers, often used the cover of night to "patronize" the Sino-Soviet bases on the Sino-Soviet border. The county town of Ammon has also been bombed several times. But the supposedly powerful Chinese Air Force actually has nothing to do with them, and the Chinese Air Force now has neither radars nor twin-engine heavy fighters. Therefore, there was no ability to fight at night, and anti-aircraft guns could only be used against Soviet bombers attacking at night.

However, the bomb load and bombing accuracy of the TB3 heavy bomber were also a tragedy, and a lieutenant colonel of the Air Force who came to the train station to greet the new commander of the Fourth Air Force Division, Lieutenant General Tian Yuchen, told him: "Lao Maozi's bomber will come back to Ammon every other day, and every time dozens of bombs are thrown to disturb people's dreams, not to mention how annoying it is." ”

"The next day?" Tian Yuchen frowned, he was not worried about the bombing of TB3, after all, the army garrison was not a big city, and there were no dense building complexes that could make aerial bombs with no accurate head exert their power. Such bombing was nothing more than a harassing nature, but Soviet bombers were able to visit every other day. It doesn't seem unusual. "How did they find this place at night?"

"There are spies! It was the Mongols in the steppes who lit bonfires to point the way to Soviet planes! "The lieutenant colonel of the Air Force gritted his teeth and looked like he was going to eat people." They are all remnants of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, and the 8 years of suffering of the Republic of China have not been enough, and now they are bewitched by Lao Maozi, and they have begun to dream of Mongolia again. ”

"I see." Tian Yuchen nodded, and without comment, he followed the lieutenant colonel of the Air Force towards the headquarters of the 7th Army in Anmeng County. Along the way, you can see all kinds of materials being loaded into trucks, horse-drawn carts, donkey carts or human-powered carts to various warehouses and open-air storage sites. The entire county has almost become a warehouse, and Tian Yuchen knows that this will be the base camp of the 7th Group Army of the Army. Two armored corps, two infantry corps, and an air force division, nearly 200,000 troops, 760 tanks, assault artillery, more than 600 aircraft, more than 1,200 artillery pieces of various kinds, and 2 or 3,000 vehicles of various kinds will be replenished by the logistics base here in the coming months.

"Report! Tian Yuchen, commander of the Fourth Division of the Air Force, came to report! ”

The headquarters of the 7th Group Army was not far from the station, and when Tian Yuchen arrived, General Li Zongren, commander of the 7th Group Army, had just finished a military meeting.

"Needless to say, they're all the same." Li Zongren raised his hand and interrupted Tian Yuchen, who was about to introduce himself, because he had been an adjutant general by Chang Ruiqing's side for several years, there was no senior general in the military who did not know this adjutant of Tian University. "Are the Air Fourth Divisions ready? Are the new 120 HE111s in place? Will all pilots be able to master this new bomber? ”

"Report to Degong, the four aviation regiments, three reconnaissance aircraft groups, and four anti-aircraft artillery groups belonging to the Fourth Air Division have all arrived at the designated front-line airfields, including the 120 German-made HE111 medium bombers of the newly equipped troops, all the planes are ready for duty, just waiting for the order of the Degong."

"Is there any information on the deployment of the Soviet Air Force?"

"I already know a little, and when I left Beijing, I received a summary of the situation of the Air Force Command."

"Very well, are there preliminary plans for air cover and air strikes?"

"There already is, here."

Tian Yuchen placed a thick battle plan on the table. With a smug expression on his face, this plan was formulated by him when he was also the chief of staff of the First Air Force, and this operation was the first real air-ground coordinated operation in the history of the Wehrmacht. It was also the first time that the Wehrmacht Air Force played an important role! Moreover, he firmly believes that in future wars, the position of the air force will become more and more important, and finally become a decisive force that can win or lose the war.

Li Zongren didn't pay attention to the expression of the Air Force lieutenant general in front of him, but just took the plan and read it carefully before handing it back, frowning slightly and saying, "Is the Air Force really that powerful?" Zhenghui, I remember that your 4th Air Division only had 240 Attack 2 and 120 HE111...... Can such a little plane make Lao Maozi's military dispatch and logistics line during the day semi-paralyzed? And also. How did the Air Force plan to deal with the Russian bombers who came to Ammon to drop bombs twice in three days? Hailar, Sun Wu, Kulun, and Boli were all bombed, so was there nothing they could do? ”

Tian Yuchen frowned, it seems that an army general like Li Zongren still doesn't believe in the power of the Air Force. Even in the past few years of military exercises, the Air Force has played a huge role. However, as long as there is no real actual combat effect to prove it, it will still be difficult for the Air Force to gain universal recognition. Fortunately, the prime minister has always been a staunch supporter of the Air Force, otherwise the current Chinese Air Force would never have been on such a scale. Come to think of it. The corners of Tian Yuchen's mouth slowly hooked. When this battle is over, you should know that this world war will be decided in the air!

……

At the same time that the commander of the Chinese 7th Army, Li Zongren, was busy with offensive deployment. The General Headquarters of the Central Asian Front of the Soviet Red Army in the Karaganda concentration camp in Kazakhstan was a bustling and busy scene. Frunze, commander of the Central Asian Front, who had just arrived from Moscow, stood in front of the map platform, holding his arms and talking loudly about the military situation with the staff members around him.

"Yes, I mean to dismantle the tank corps into tank brigades and integrate them into infantry armies, which is also the instruction of the People's Commissariat of Labor and Defense and the General Staff of the Red Army...... The lessons of the Great Battle of the Middle East tell us that the tactics of pooling tanks to form a tank army are outdated, and that the practice of forming powerful tank groups is rather foolish due to the increased anti-tank fire of the enemy's infantry. The latest tactic is to turn tanks into cover infantry assaults, relying on the powerful infantry and artillery of the Red Army to defeat the enemy! ”

"Go and sue Comrade Sù Konev. The order to split the tank cluster does not have any room for bargaining and must be completed by the end of September! Don't look for any more excuses, this is an order and it must be carried out resolutely! ”

"By the way, has Comrade Budyonny arrived?" After Frunze finished arranging the matter of splitting the tank army, he remembered Budyonny, who had been serving as the commander of the cavalry group army of the Central Asian Front for many years, because the red cavalry would play a decisive role in this operation, so Budyonny, the number one cavalry commander in the Red Army, had another place to use.

"Report to Comrade Commander, Comrade Budyonny has arrived." The staff officer next to him replied.

"Great, let him come in quickly." Frunze was very happy, he was still quite confident in a cavalry general like Budyonny, in this era when the cavalry was declining day by day, and the cavalry generals had switched to playing tanks, probably only this person had the ability to command large-scale cavalry group operations.

As soon as Frunze's words fell, Malinovsky, chief of staff of the Central Asian Front, walked in with Budyonny, who had a big mustache. Obviously, Budyonny has not had a good time these years, his eyes are a little gray, and he has a very unnatural smile on his face. When he walked in front of Frunze, he stood up and saluted respectfully, and said: "Comrade commander, the acting commander of the 10th Cavalry Army, Budyonny, has been ordered to report for duty. ”

Frunze and Budyonny had always had a good relationship, and he wanted to go up and hug his old friend, but he couldn't resist the thought of the daunting "Stalinist Dzerzhinskyist" hat. During this period, in order to create a stable internal environment for the world revolution, the political atmosphere in the Soviet Union became severe again, and many of Stalin's and Dzerzhinsky's old friends went to concentration camps. Of course, this kind of political purge did not affect the Red Army, Trotsky was the father of the Red Army, and there were many "Stalinists" in the Red Army, and he did not look good on the face. However, many figures in the Soviet army who had anything to do with Stalin are now holding their tails and being honest.

Frunze nodded lightly at Budyonny, invited him to the map table, and said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Malinovsky, tell me about the latest situation." ”

"Yes." Malinovsky immediately walked to the map table: "Since the end of August, there have been many small-scale military clashes on the Sino-Soviet border, and on the Far East and Baikal front, mainly the Chinese side has taken the initiative, and their air force has often crossed the border to bomb our communication lines and airfields, which shows that the Chinese are about to launch an offensive in the Far East and Baikal!"

On the Central Asian side, China's Northwest Front was very quiet, not only did not conduct cross-border military operations, but also shrank its forces back from the border areas. According to the accurate information available to the present, they have withdrawn the 15th Army, which was previously stationed on the southeast shore of Lake Balkhash, to Tardikurgan (Chinese name: Gongqingcheng) in the southeast of the Sareyyesik Atyrau Desert, transferred the 46th Army, which was originally stationed northwest of Lake Sasokor, to Almaty, and transferred the 2nd Armored Cavalry Corps, originally stationed in Dihua, to Yining. At present, there are five armies, namely, the 13th, 15th, 16th, and 2nd Armored Cavalry Corps, the 6th Cavalry Corps, and the 7th Cavalry Corps, and there may be two or three armies whose numbers have not been ascertained.

In addition, around the Zaisan Lake on the border between Northern Xinjiang Province and China, we have also found the numbers of the 11th, 12th, and 14th armies of the Chinese Army, which are also showing signs of shrinking in the direction of Tacheng and Karamay. There is also information that the Chinese are forming a large number of northwestern militias into 20 to 25 reserve armies, and plan to equip them with more heavy weaponry.

What is certain now is that the Chinese will adopt a strategy of shrinking defense and mobile defense in northern Xinjiang and outer Xinjiang provinces, and may form a separate mobile group of the 2nd Armored Cavalry Corps, the 6th Cavalry Corps, and the 7th Cavalry Corps to fight a decisive battle with their imaginary tank clusters, just like the Kuwait campaign in July, but this time we will not give them any more chances. ”