The military conference convened by Stalin lasted just over an hour before it ended, and the newly established high command immediately began to operate, issuing one order after another to all relevant units of the Soviet army.

This high command, headed by Stalin, that is to say, Stalin directly commanded the army, which was equivalent to depriving Kurygin of the authority of the commander-in-chief of the Outer Mongolia campaign, and a not too big encirclement war pushed Tang Qiuli and Stalin to the battlefield of direct confrontation.

Of course, Comrade Stalin, who was in charge of everything, could not do everything himself, and the huge Soviet Union had more to worry about, so Marshal Petroshilov, chief of the General Staff, was appointed assistant to the commander-in-chief, directly under Comrade Stalin's orders, responsible for handling the daily situation on the battlefield and conveying the commander-in-chief's orders to the troops.

Marshal Petroshilov did not lose anything, the most lost was Beria, who was full of hope to officially take over the General Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, but the result was that the bamboo basket was empty, the high command was established, and he was excluded, and even Molotov, who had nothing to do with the army, also entered the high command, does this indicate a dangerous signal, which means that he has moved away from the center of power in the Soviet Union and was deliberately marginalized by Stalin?

The more he thought about it, the more frightened Beria became, and then he lost the trust of Comrade Stalin, Beria knew how miserable his fate was, in the name of the rebellion, under the banner of a pure revolutionary ranks, how many veterans in the party and the army died at their own hands, once they lost power, their subordinates and family members would not be able to kill themselves, and when the time came, it would be difficult to die. No, you can't let that happen anyway.

Beria deliberately rubbed to the end, and seeing that no one noticed him, he turned around and slipped into the door where Stalin had just walked, but he didn't see that Molotov, the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union, saw this qiē in his eyes, and a cold look flashed in his eyes.

At around 9 a.m. on September 28, the northern battlefield of Kulen in Outer Mongolia. The independent division encircled more than 200,000 troops of the Transcaucasian Military District of the Soviet Union from three sides in a narrow area of only a few hundred kilometers in the area from Hagengol to Baiyinchagan.

After the troops stopped the offensive, as ordered by the division command. On the perimeter of the encirclement, fortifications were built. Take a siege posture. Just use non-stop artillery fire to bombard the temporary positions of the Soviet army, and every burst of shells will take the lives of Soviet soldiers to a greater or lesser extent, and the strength of the Soviet army is gradually being consumed.

This is the result that Tang Qiuli wants to see the most. It only takes two days to change the contrast of forces on the battlefield, and the resistance and casualties of the troops in the final general offensive. It would be much smaller, and Tang Qiuli also hoped that Kulygin would lead the troops to surrender, and it would be much more useful to capture the troops of the Soviet army in one military district than to destroy them all.

In the headquarters, Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe and Deputy Chief of Staff Wang Jun had an argument about why the Soviet Army did not break through.

Tang Qiuli listened with interest for a while, and said to the two with a smile: "There is no need to argue, the reason why the Soviet army did not dare to break through is because Kurekin's thinking has entered a blind spot. ”

"But in Kulykin's view, this is a great conspiracy, he is afraid that I will set up an ambush on the south bank of the Sesagog River, when the time comes, there will be pursuers, there will be interceptions in front, and the Soviet soldiers who only want to retreat and flee for their lives are afraid that they will be defeated with one blow, rather than taking risks, it is better to stick to and wait for reinforcements, more than 200,000 people, Kurygin believes that Stalin will not fail to rescue, hold on until the reinforcements arrive, maybe there will be a counterattack, and the tide of the war may be reversed!"

Zhao Yuhe and Wang Jun fell into deep thought, and at this time, a captain's combat staff officer came in, "Report to the division commander, I have received information from the reconnaissance unit that has penetrated deep into the Baikal area, and the Soviet troops left in the rear base are assembling in Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude, and it seems that they have the intention of going south." ”

"The intelligence also said that the remaining troops of the Soviet army have a strength of about 23,000 people in a division, all of which are logistics and baggage troops, and their combat effectiveness is very weak, with only a few heavy weapons, and at present, the reconnaissance unit is under close surveillance!"

"Oh?" Tang Qiuli was quite surprised and couldn't understand what role it could play when only a second-rate infantry division lacked heavy weapons and came to the rescue of Kurekin's troops? If this is the case, the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army is probably hungry and has no available soldiers.

Tang Qiuli didn't believe that the Supreme Command of the Soviet Army would make such a low-level stupid move, it must have another intention, he said to Zhao Yuhe: "Yuhe, order Yang Ketian, after arriving at the south bank of the Sejingge River, send a brigade of troops, cross the river, and deploy defenses on the north bank, Zeng Shiqiang's Third Cavalry Brigade and Bagena's Sixth Cavalry Brigade will be transferred to Yang Ketian's command, so that Yang Ketian's troops are enough to find an opportunity to annihilate this Soviet army." ”

"At the same time, inform Liu Chun and Tong Batu of the situation, remind the cavalry troops, keep in touch with the reconnaissance troops at any time, bypass this Soviet army, and do not expose the intention of long-distance attack, Liu Chun and Tong Batu have luck, Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude have become two empty cities, and the battle of the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Brigade is easy to fight!" Speaking of this, he was the first to laugh, and he didn't pay attention to the fact that a division of Soviet troops was about to go south.

Zhao Yuhe and Wang Jun also laughed, they were worried that the two cavalry brigades, rushing to Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude, was a tough battle, and the appearance of unexpected situations made it redundant.

As soon as Zhao Yuhe left, Colonel Chen Feng, director of the Division of Communications, followed him in and said, "Division Commander, Deputy Division Commander Liu is in an emergency!" ”

"Urgent telegram" Tang Qiuli drew a question mark in his mind, according to the position that the Dongzhi troops have reached now, there is still more than a day away from the border line, it is impossible to encounter the Soviet army, what urgent matter does Liu Tiehan have?

Could it be that the four infantry corps of the Soviet Army, which reinforced the battlefield in Outer Mongolia, have a new situation? "Read!" He said succinctly.

"Division, I am the reconnaissance unit in the east, and we have gone deep into the territory of the Soviet Union to reconnoiter and learn that the Soviet reinforcements suddenly changed the direction of their march at about 8 o'clock this morning and entered the eastern part of Outer Mongolia in the Svobodny area of the Soviet Union.

"The specific deployment is as follows, the troops immediately stop advancing, in the eastern part of Outer Mongolia in the area of the Ulezi River, preset positions, build fortifications, use three brigades as a frontal blockade, configure three brigades on the left and right flanks, and mix a brigade with a brigade and He Zhuguo's cavalry, wait for the Soviet army to pass, block its rear road, form a situation of encirclement on all sides, and strive to completely annihilate the Soviet army in this department, the campaign will be launched at one o'clock in the morning of September 29, whether the above deployment is safe, please give instructions to the division commander!"

After Chen Feng read the telegram, the command headquarters became unusually quiet, this is another sudden situation, four Soviet infantry corps, nearly 150,000 people, suddenly changed the direction of the march, what prompted the Soviet army to do this? The sudden change in the enemy's situation will affect the entire Outer Mongolian campaign.

A series of question marks flashed in everyone's minds, Tang Qiuli walked quickly to the map, looked at it for a long time, picked up a pencil, started from Nalal Tu, and ended with Cullen, drawing a straight line, and then, dropping the pencil, with a disdainful smile on the corner of his mouth.

Stalin had calculated well, and the reinforcements of the Far Eastern Front, which were originally scheduled to join the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District on the north bank of the Seig River, and then go south to attack Kulen The plan fell through, and Kulygin's troops were again dumplings made by themselves.

Stalin knew very well that it was not easy for reinforcements to rush to the battlefields of Hagengaul and Baiyinchagan to relieve the siege, and it was necessary to break the resistance of the troops of the independent division first, two days? Three days? Or for a longer time, they will be able to get closer to Kulykin, and they can't afford to drag it out, and the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District can't afford to wait.

Therefore, ordering the troops of the Far Eastern Front to temporarily change direction, go straight to Kulen, and come up with a move of "encircling Wei to save Zhao," this move is very insidious and vicious, attacking it will be saved, and the independent division troops that encircle Kurejin's troops will not have much advantage in strength, and once Tang Qiu leaves the division and returns to Kulen to help, it will inevitably disrupt the established deployment.

If the battlefield situation is favorable, it is not impossible to combine the forces of the two divisions to counter-encircle the main corps of the independent division fighting in Outer Mongolia.

Tang Qiuli had insight into Stalin's intentions, and also appreciated his ability to grasp the battlefield situation and judgment, but Stalin wanted a Soviet version of "encircling Wei to save Zhao," but forgot about it, and there was also the contemporary military master Mao Weiren's "encirclement point reinforcement," Liu Tiehan's ten mechanized brigades were prepared for Soviet reinforcements.

Tang Qiuli said to Chen Feng: "Director Chen, call back to Deputy Division Commander Liu of the East Finger, and completely agree with the campaign deployment of the East Finger, and it is extremely necessary to completely annihilate or severely damage the Soviet army in this department, so as to ensure that the campaign of completely annihilating the troops of the Soviet Transcaucasian Military Region can be carried out calmly, because they belong to two independent battlefields, and the specific battle plan is determined by the East Commander himself, and there is no need to report to the division headquarters." ”

"In addition, is it necessary for the Northern Flying Group, to send fighter groups, to master air supremacy? Is it necessary for Feng Jiwu's Niangziguan garrison corps to send part of its troops to the north to assist in the battle in order to have an absolute advantage in troops? In addition, Brother Tie Han, as the deputy division commander, could order the garrison troops of the Outer Mongolian Frontier Army in the eastern region to participate in this campaign. ”

Chen Feng repeated the contents of the telegram and left in a hurry.

Looking at the dazzling red line on the map, Wang Jun said in surprise: "Division commander, are you judging that the purpose of the reinforcements of the Soviet Far Eastern Front to change the direction of the march is to attack Kulen?" ”

(To be continued)(To be continued......