Some people may say that it was Xu Shuzheng's blind cat who touched the mouse to death. But what does that matter? At least he judged correctly, and it also played an extremely crucial role in the early warning of the entire defense line.

The 31st Division is responsible for guarding the line from Chita to Onohoi, and the division commander Wu Peifu is in another time and space, and the relationship between Xu Shuzheng and Xu Shuzheng is more complicated.

In the second plane, the relationship between the two is reversed. As early as 1894, when Wu Peifu was a student soldier in the Dengzhou Navy Battalion, he was mistakenly absorbed by Yang Hao, and stood out in the subsequent selection of the whole army, entered the training class and military academy as an officer, and embarked on a completely different path of rise.

Compared with Xu Shuzheng, who was born in a serious eight-year class, Wu Peifu was promoted earlier and faster. However, this person is quite steady, and he doesn't intend to go up like a rocket like other old camp brothers, but because his skills are not in place, he can't get up or down.

Wu Peifu started from a small soldier, squads, platoons, companies, battalions, and regiments, and promoted step by step without pulling at the first level, and every step was too much to make people jump out of the way. In terms of performance evaluation, it is even more among the best.

In the end, he finally rose to the rank of commander of the 3rd Division of the 31st Army, and he was only one step away from becoming the head of a party.

Wu Peifu is not in a hurry, he knows very well in his heart that under the overall situation of the world that China is facing today, the road to rise is long and rugged, and there is such a bad neighbor around it, and this battle will be fought again and again. Step by step, engrave your name on the historical monument, that is called living up to this life.

When Xu Shuzheng arrived. Wu Peifu immediately transferred his resume and evaluation to learn more. I'm done. After inquiring about the old superiors and old relationships in the army, I probably got a basic judgment.

Seeing me again, after two months of running-in, Wu Peifu understood that this kid is not a good stubble.

Have the ability, have the background, have a high spirit, and have a smart brain. Bold. Recently, I went to Europe with the special envoy of the Great Leader, and I was deeply influenced and taught, this is to be used as a posture for the backbone of the Young Zhuang faction!

With such a future star stuffed under his hands, I really don't know if it's good or bad.

However, Wu Peifu is also a person with ideas, he can not only tolerate people, but also dare to use people. boldly sent Xu Shuzheng to the forefront of the enemy, and let him toss. It's a quick knife, so it's better to rush directly to the front, and use it to cut the enemy, than to stab yourself in your pocket.

It turns out. His decision was wise and correct.

After reading the report of the 311 regiment. Wu Peifu sighed with relief: "This unlucky day has finally come to an end." Xiao Xu is good, he really gives the big guy a long face. ”

Needless to say, everyone who knows naturally understands what it means, and don't ask if you don't know.

Subsequently, the 31st Division reported the situation to the Third Army sitting in Chita, and at the same time scattered all the means that had been prepared for a long time.

On the Onohoi front, Xu Shuzheng mobilized the whole regiment into combat readiness overnight, and at the same time sent a number of reconnaissance forces to grope around the entire defense area to search for suspicious enemy traces.

In the early morning of the next day, several reconnaissance planes took off one after another from the front-line airfield set up in Chita to conduct a carpet search along the airspace of the long strip of defense zone from the Yablonov Mountains all the way to Lake Baikal.

Soon after, a new array of battlefield intelligence was displayed on the desk of the Third Army's General Staff, and in enlarged photographs, a railroad stretched out like a super centipede on the snow-capped and frozen Lake Baikal was crawling on the ice.

"Okay, Lao Maozi secretly pounced on the railway again, obviously trying to make a small move behind our backs. This time, I'm afraid it's not that simple. Their goal should not only be a Ulan-Ude war zone, or even just a Chita, this is to fully blossom! ”

The commander of the Third Army is Feng Guozhang, a former Huai Army general and Nie Shicheng's confidant.

As a veteran officer who joined the revolutionary army system relatively early, Feng Guozhang's promotion speed was also not fast, but it was only second to the group of young guys who followed the head of the country to the sky. In terms of joining halfway or being reorganized by the New Army that year, he joined the revolutionary army from the Qing army sequence anyway, and his status is actually quite not low.

In the current military system of the new China, the actual post of commander of the group army has not yet been established. The reason why there are posts of commanders of the Frontier Construction Corps and Frontier Military Regions is that they take into account both military and political affairs, and focus on the work of pioneering construction. Whether it is a corps or a military region, so far very few people have issued orders on their own.

Even in the face of the seemingly huge Tsarist Russian Army, the command of the entire war was either directly entrusted to the head of the army, or from the Ministry of Defense and the order of the Great Führer.

Therefore, in fact, the real power held by the army commander is the largest and heaviest in the army system.

Feng Guozhang was in the first phase of the Eight Classics Martial Arts Academy, and was entrusted by Nie Shicheng to take care of the old brothers of Huaijun, and he has been conscientious for more than ten years, and he does not dare to slack off. In the new Chinese Army, it is not greedy for merit or rash to advance, and it occupies a stable position.

Since entering Chita Prefecture, Feng Guozhang has meticulously carried out the orders issued by the General Staff Headquarters, and has made the friendly trade cooperation between the Chinese and Russian armies impressive. The soldiers on the Chinese side familiarized themselves with the battlefield step by step in an orderly manner and conducted various tactical drills, and finally got a look after more than half a year.

On the side of the Russian army, a large group of intelligence officers sent by the General Staff Department were used as the backbone, and a large group of daring Shanxi businessmen were recruited as helpers to carry out strange trade activities on a large scale, turning them into fishermen, loggers, medicine pickers, and hunters.

After half a year, while stepping up preparations and working hard for food and clothing, the good things that were finally exchanged for good things had to be supplied to the officers and men above for enjoyment, and it was good that they could barely pick up some scum at home.

In this comparison, it is clear which is stronger and which is weak.

Commander-in-Chief Linevich did not know how serious the problem was, but he could not change it, so he could only try to fill the hole.

After the order to fight in St. Petersburg was issued, he racked his brains to find a way, and finally simply let it go.

He ordered the place of exchange of abnormal trade between China and Russia. Completely concentrated on the side of the Kyakhta pier. Draw the only passage from the Russian military defense zone. While martial law is placed on the whole surrounding area. Anyone with a Chinese face is not allowed to be left behind or driven away. Even the Mongols in the Russian army are all sent to the rear and are not allowed to enter the war zone.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Russian army is preparing to make trouble, but it is impossible to judge what it will be like for a while.

Linievich was also forced to be anxious, and he was very desperate. He ordered a division stationed in Ulan-Ude to go out in circles. It seems that it is necessary to cut off the communication between the 31st Division and the Chita Third Army, and then cooperate with the frontal troops to fight an encirclement battle.

But his real purpose is to use this completely infiltrated force by the Chinese as a bait pawn to attract frontal enemies. Behind his back, he secretly re-paved the railroad on the Baikal ice, and suddenly smuggled the army of Irkutsk over and directly increased his troops to Tonkhoi!

Ten years ago, when the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began, the Russians ran into trouble with the detour of the southern Baikal section. From Slyudyanka to Baikal station, there are many difficult and mountainous areas. Most of the entire section of the railway is drilled in caves. During construction, an average of 0.5 meters per day was advanced, and one wagon of explosives was consumed per kilometer!

Such a slow construction. Faced with a severe military confrontation in the Far East, the Russians had to buy two icebreakers "Baikal" and "Angar" from Britain and transport them to the shores of Lake Baikal to assemble them for transportation.

In the coldest winter, when even icebreakers could not be used, the Russians ingeniously laid rails directly on the ice and crossed Lake Baikal, greatly shortening the journey.

And all these sections of railroad sleepers, even after the opening of the railway, the Russians have not discarded them, and they are all piled up in warehouses by the lake. Even at the height of the Russian army in the Far East and the rampant Chinese merchants, they did not steal these things and sell them as scrap iron and wood - of course, the Chinese merchants did not look down on this garbage.

Linievich's trick was to start with the idea of the ice railway.

When winter came, universities flew up, the lake froze hard, and the battle order for St. Petersburg was issued, Linievich thought about it and could only take a risk.

After the expulsion of all suspicious persons, after the whole of Irkuts and the Lake District were put under martial law, a large number of skilled railway workers secretly transferred from the rear worked frantically day and night. The more the snow fell, the more energetic they became, because at this time, China's most likely air reconnaissance force could not take off.

No matter how much the Northern Frontier Corps took precautions, the news of the use of aircraft in the operation against the Amur Military District still leaked out. Despite not a single decent photo, in the vague information passed on by the people, the military of the great powers judged that the Chinese used the aircraft as reconnaissance aircraft and may even have participated in the battle.

This is not surprising news. When the Wright brothers flew into the sky with a Chinese-made gasoline engine and toured Europe in search of business opportunities, it was determined that this thing would replace the hot air balloon as the good guy for battlefield reconnaissance. Subsequently, research on the aircraft was carried out in secret, and even before long, attempts were made to take off from the battleship.

As a good hand at hot air balloon reconnaissance, China has boldly explored new combat technologies and the use of equipment, which has become well-known to all countries. This time, it was the first to use an airplane in actual combat, which was not an accident, but it also proved that the wooden thing with wings was very useful.

Naturally, Linievich also knew the news, and he did not dare to slack off day and night.

The recent heavy snowfall made him see a great opportunity, and he immediately ordered the railroad tracks to be laid, which can be regarded as brave and decisive.

What appeared in the photo taken by the reconnaissance plane was the railroad lying on the ice like a long line, and Tanhoi also found traces of the movement of the army. It is obvious that the Russians are not just attacking Chita with their troops in person, they also have a good chance of going south to Kyakhta and attacking Mongolia!

"It's more likely to go south!"

After a short period of thought, Feng Guozhang made a bold judgment. Subsequently, the two sides reached a preliminary consensus with the Mongolian side.

The reason for this judgment is actually not too complicated. If the Russians wanted to regain Chita, they had to not only kill the 31st Division blocking the gate, but also cross the Great Khingan Mountain (Yablonov Mountain). It is absolutely not easy to fight in this icy and snowy area across a 20-kilometer-wide mountain range.

And even if they can cross the mountains and launch an attack, the line from Manchuria to Chita will be fought by the heavy troops of the Northern Xinjiang Construction Corps, and once the supply line of the Russians is extended, it will really be self-defeating. Once the southern Mongolian corps suddenly went north to intercept and kill, their back road would be cut off, and they would inevitably be completely finished.

Comparatively speaking, southbound is safer. As long as the 31st Division can be killed and the Daxingan Pass can be held to the death, it will be possible to concentrate strong forces and move south in one fell swoop, and there will be no worries about the future.

The most important thing is that in this way, the flames of war can be burned into China, and the Russians can take advantage of the situation to launch the Mongolian strategy plan that the Russians have been planning for a long time, not only to split China, but also to achieve the great strategic concept of "Yellow Russia"!

This is the case from the information gathered by the Overseas Intelligence Division, as well as the world's analysis of Nicholas II and the nobles of St. Petersburg. How could His Majesty the Tsar, who was so overjoyed, be satisfied with recovering the lost territories in the Far East? He has to give Yang Hao, the head of state, a little color, to save face!

"It seems that in any case, the Russians will always pull out the nail of the 31st Division in order to achieve their combat goals. The active and passive choice of the battle situation depends on whether or not the division can fight this battle well. Wu Ziyu should not disappoint. ”

Feng Guozhang tapped the map and made a decision. Operational instructions were then transmitted.

Wu Peifu put down the phone with a calm expression, and a fire broke out in his always calm and restrained eyes! He has been waiting for many years and looking forward to it for a long time, and today, he is finally going to fight a big battle that can go down in history with a dignified soldier and under the attack of a powerful enemy!

As a soldier, haven't you been looking forward to this moment all your life?

After pondering for a moment, Wu Peifu called Xu Shuzheng: "You Zheng, you are at the forefront, I don't give you specific tactical instructions, you decide how to play for yourself." I have only one request, not an inch of defense must be lost! Can it be done? ”

Xu Shuzheng had no emotion in his words, and replied firmly: "Guarantee to complete the task." ”

Buckled the phone, the corners of Xu Shuzheng's mouth showed a slight smugness, and a hot current in his chest surged.

This time, he wants to use the facts to tell everyone that the era that belongs to me Xu is coming! (To be continued.) )