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The sound of chanting kicks off a new day in Riyadh, and devout believers rush to the mosque from all over to pray and chant. The men start their day's work, and the women look out through the cracks in the windows with veils on their faces. It is an ancient people who follow the most traditional religion and way of life, and camels and horses are still the main means of transport, but the occasional truck brings a touch of modernity.

Pedestrians began to increase on the streets and alleys, and bargaining began one after another. The local Arabs, numerous European and American tourists and merchants, soldiers of the Guards with guns on their backs, and the occasional Chinese face.

This is already the 7th day of arrival in Riyadh.

In the past 7 days, members of the Saudi family, including Ben Aziz, have continued to visit and accompany them, either to participate in the good news brought by Bai Chongxi in Chapter 624 to view the mosque or to review the guards, and also take the time to experience the fun of flying, but Ibn Saud only delayed hearing from him after the meeting the next day, but received the British envoy many times.

Bei Zuyi and others were a little anxious, secretly wondering if Ibn Saud did not want to cooperate, or that the leakage of the loan plan was known to the British, so they frequently put pressure on the Saudi family. Only Yang Qiu is very patient, in addition to eating, drinking, and having fun every day, he just asks about the domestic situation.

The situation in Afghanistan, which is of greatest concern, has also undergone subtle changes. After two weeks of fierce fighting, the Soviet army under the command of Yegorov occupied Herat, which was defended by the LinkedIn army, and more than 6,000 British troops retreated to Kandahar, which meant that Yegorov began to encircle Kabul in depth without being able to quickly open the situation on the front.

Of course, Long Yun will not rest on his laurels. While holding the Hindu Kush defensive line, the tactics of interspersed attacks by small forces began to be adopted. Frequent surprise attacks on the Soviets, and a brilliant detour was completed the day after the fall of Herat! Take the mountain camp of Fei Wenhua's mountain camp as an arrow. A total of 3 battalions, led by 2,000 local Afghan guerrillas, suddenly drilled out of the mountains on a small road, not only occupying Kunduz north of Kabul 200 Chapter 624 The good news brought by Bai Chongxi in one fell swoop, but also wiped out the two Soviet regiments and the Afghan rebels stationed in this strategic town, captured 2,000 prisoners alone, and captured dozens of trucks and hundreds of tons of weapons and ammunition that were ready to be transferred from Dushanbe.

This accident took Yegorov by surprise. The occupation of Kunduz means that the most important Termez corridor on the northern front of Kabul is likely to be cut off! This supply line is already fragile, and if it is lost, it will directly lead to the encirclement of more than 10,000 Soviet troops attacking Kabul! He did not dare to delay, and immediately ordered a temporary halt to the attack on the Hindu Kush Mountains to recapture Kunduz with all his might. The battle is extremely fierce! Fei Wenhua led three battalions to rely on the superior air force and sacrificed more than 300 people to block the counterattack of the four regiments of the Soviet army for three consecutive days and three nights. Pierced this nail!

The fierce fighting finally woke Moscow to the realization that the front-line troops were seriously lacking in firepower, especially if they did not have air superiority, and could not deal with the small forces of the Wehrmacht, so they began to draw heavy equipment and more troops from Europe to support. At the same time, although the capture of Herat cut off the road for the Wehrmacht to go south to Iran, Yegorov had no choice but to march towards Kandahar and try to attack the rear of Kabul in a detour. But Kandahar is no ordinary place, it is the western gateway of India!

Like China and Britain, Moscow wants to keep the scale of the war in Afghanistan. So there are different opinions on whether to attack Kandahar or not. At this moment, in the face of the Soviet army that was strengthening the offensive, the Nanjing General Staff immediately took action, and Song Ziqing not only ordered the transfer of 54 albatross transport planes originally stationed in the northeast to the northwest to support, but also transferred the fifth armored brigade to the north, and at the same time ordered the first airborne regiment in China to take a train to Tajikistan to stand by at any time. At the same time, Wu Peifu, commander of the Northwest Theater Command, immediately dispatched five brigades, including one armored brigade, from Zaisangpo, Balkhhash, and Xinjiang, and mobilized 347 aircraft and 226 tanks and armored vehicles of various types to conduct a military exercise codenamed "Northwest Wind 1927" in the East Kazakh steppe. Although the exercise was not announced to the public. However, the GPU, which was closely monitoring the Eastern Front, soon learned of the large-scale movement of the Wehrmacht in the Northwest Theater. Hundreds of planes and tanks made Moscow very nervous. Because the new Trans-Siberian Railway has not yet been completed, the current Eastern Front is a broken wall with leaks everywhere, completely unable to stop the sudden attack of the Wehrmacht. Almost immediately, the troops that were supposed to be sent to Afghanistan were transferred to Kazakhstan, which made Long Yun's pressure much less.

At the turbulent moment in Central Asia, Bai Chongxi also walked into the hotel where Yang Qiu was staying in Riyadh, but as soon as he walked up to the second floor, he saw Liu Mingzhao and Lei Meng standing in front of the windowsill holding binoculars and pointing, and asked, "What are you looking at?" ”

"Jiansheng, long time no see." Bai Chongxi, like Liu Mingzhao, now belongs to the new generation of middle-level officers of the National Defense Force, and most of them have been sent to various countries around the world to serve as military attachés in order to train these officers in the absence of war in China. Due to religious and living habits, after Xiao Jinyun left his post, he took over the position of military attache in Turkey, and this stay was several years.

Although Yang Qiu's visit to Najd seemed to be a simple diplomatic visit, a lot of work was done by both the military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Bai Chongxi was also ordered to secretly go to Persia to meet Reza Khan.

Everyone is an old acquaintance, and after a few words of greeting, Bai Chongxi remembered what they had just done, and asked, "By the way, what did you see just now?" ”

"See for yourself." Liu Mingzhao asked Lei Meng to give him the binoculars. Following his fingers, Bai Chongxi found that on the opposite side of the street corner, several white people were haggling with Arab vendors. At first, he didn't think it was weird, but whether it was a white man or an Arab peddler, his eyes were always looking here from time to time, and the simple little business was not finished for a long time.

With this discovery, I looked around even more differently, and I always felt that there were eyes everywhere. "Anglo-French spies?" It's not strange that they will be watched, it's strange that there are so many people! Even he was a little frightened. After all, this is not a country, Yang Qiu has only one reinforcement company by his side, and now it is a sensitive moment for Central Asia and Persia, in case something happens, it will be a big basket.

Liu Mingzhao nodded: "I have followed all the way from the shore, and there have been more and more in the past few days." ”

Lei Meng was the most anxious, and he simply rolled up his sleeves and shouted, "Simply, I'll let people go and catch a few of them, and they will talk about it." ”

"Nonsense!" Before the two could speak, Yang Qiu's voice floated in from outside. Liu Mingzhao almost subconsciously closed the curtains to prevent peeping eyes.

This small act made Yang Qiu very satisfied, and Bai Chongxi hurriedly saluted: "Report, Bai Chongxi is here to report." ”

After Yang Qiu returned the salute, he glared at Lei Meng first: "This is Najd, even if you catch it, what can you do?" Giving us a real mouth to drive us away. After reprimanding, he turned his head and asked, "Is the matter done?" ”

Bai Chongxi is no longer a young revolutionary who came out of Guangxi. Two years of military academy, internship in the General Staff Department, three years of National Defense University, one year of German short-term training, and finally a military attache stationed abroad, his thinking and perspective are becoming more and more mature, so it is very clear why Yang Qiu asked him to contact Persia at this time. Immediately took out the letter from the pocket of his underwear: "This is a private message from King Reza Khan of Persia who asked me to pass it on to you. ”

After giving the letter to Yang Qiu, he continued: "For the first few days, Reza Khan was lukewarm to me, and it was not until he learned that the Soviets had occupied Herat that he became much more enthusiastic. He also said that he hoped that you would go to Persia after the end of the Najd visit, and that he would also like to buy some weapons and equipment from us, and that it would be better to send officers to help him train the army. Before leaving, he learned that I was a religious believer, and gave me a book made of gold. ”

The Golden Book of ...... Lei Meng's eyes widened, and he stared blankly at the golden Quran that Bai Chongxi took out of his bag, and almost wanted to reach out and touch it. Even Liu Mingzhao joked with a smile: "I knew that there were golden scriptures, and I should have believed in religion." ”

"Put it away, it's your own relationship, and your interests will be useful in the future." Yang Qiu didn't care about this kind of thing, and asked him after putting it away, "According to you, should I go once?" ”

Although Bai Chongxi got a big gift, he didn't want Yang Qiu to poke this hornet's nest now, shook his head and said, "I don't think I can go now." When you come to Najd, the British are already very dissatisfied, and their eyeliner is everywhere outside, and if you go to Persia again, I am afraid it will only add fuel to the fire. ”

Liu Mingzhao also agreed: "I agree with Jiansheng. Judging from Reza Khan's expulsion of Cossack officers, he didn't like the Soviet Union and the British, and now that Herat is occupied by the Soviet army, he can only get closer to us, it doesn't matter if he goes or not, anyway, the grasshopper in Persia will not be able to run away for the time being! Besides, I think that after we feint defeat and withdraw from Kandahar three months later, the Soviet army will let the puppet army go south to Kandahar even if it does not do it himself, but he is unable to control the Muslim League and Persia, and he cannot cut off the channel for us to intervene, and he will only fall deeper and deeper into vain and consume national strength, and will make the Muslim League and Reza Khan fall even more to us. ”

"What about arms exports and officers?" Yang Qiu continued to ask.

"Weapons still have to be sold. But the Persian Gulf can't go, and Britain is very strict, so it can only go through Afghanistan and India's Muslim League-controlled areas, so that the heavy equipment is basically useless. But that's fine, selling too many good things will make Reza Khan ambitious. He must also know that we can't do anything with Britain at the moment, and I guess we just want to take the opportunity to hold this line. Officers can choose a few from among the retired soldiers to go secretly, and should not get too involved. ”

Their analysis makes the situation clear: Persia, while important, is not yet a challenge before there are clear signs of recession in Britain, and that a step-by-step approach will remain the general approach for the next few years. Although the two were not very supportive of sending officers, the letter brought by Bai Chongxi was still very happy. A passage from Kashgar to Tajikistan and to Persia through Afghanistan and the Muslim League-controlled areas has emerged, and what we need to do now is to take advantage of the opportunity of dragging off the Soviet Union to continuously strengthen the operation of this strategic channel, which is still immature!

"Minister, Prince Ben Aziz is here, and he invites you to a dinner party at Masmak Castle." Yan Yuqiu knocked on the door and brought the long-awaited good news. Yang Qiu, who came back to his senses, took a deep breath and strode out with the three of them.

After waiting for so long, the old fox of Ibn Saud finally couldn't help it...... rs！！！