Pareyev moved his whip: "Look here, another division of the 4th Army, the 8th Siberian Division, is stationed in Setunkinsk, but the commander of the 4th Army, the same bucktooth Berenovsky, said that the position of the 8th Division was easily detoured by the enemy, and asked to retreat to Baikalsk - a place exactly 160 versts away!" ”

One verst is equal to 1.06 kilometers, and 160 versts is almost 170 kilometers.

"How did you respond to him?" Nakasidze recognized the Berenovsky, who had been involved in a fight on the platform of the Ulan-Ude railway station during the Russo-Asian War.

Parayev shook his beard: "What else, of course, I scolded him and asked him to hold the Selenginsk position, and then I immediately ordered the 3rd Army to get on the train and go there, and the 2nd Army, which had been assembled in Irkutsk, and the 14th Siberian Division, which had just been urgently transferred from Novosibirsk, were also ready to go." Look at these two red arrows: I will also transfer the 2nd Army to Selenginsk, and the 14th Siberian Division will cross the frozen Lake Baikal by skiing and sledding, surprisingly plunging into the rear of the enemy and stabbing the yellow monkey's red ass with a bayonet! At the same time, the 6th Army on the Chita side will quickly move west along the railway line to join up with the relief forces under the city of Ulan-Ude—"

"The commander intends to use Ulan-Ude as a bait to attract the enemy who has broken through from the Selenga valley around the fortress, and with a swift and powerful coordinated action, in turn to encircle the enemy army! While annihilating the enemy army, he also rescued the trapped troops, killing two birds with one stone, which is really an extraordinary clever plan. Chief of Staff Tokarev, who wore round glasses with a pinched nose, added with a smile.

Nakasidze rubbed his proud horn with his finger and nodded appreciatively: "A battle full of Cossack spirit!" So, what is the task given to me? ”

Pareev raised his hands: "Beat the enemy's armored forces to scrap metal!" These days we have suffered from those little toys, let our soldiers see hope, let the enemy also take a good look, we also have strong armored forces in Russia! ”

Nakasidze craned his neck proudly: "Of course, that's what we're here for - you should have been informed, I brought 3 experimental tank companies and 8 armored car companies, a total of 36 tanks and 240 armored vehicles, and 1 fully equipped armored train, these troops are ready for you to deploy." But please note that we will only be here until the end of the month, and by March we will have to rush back to the Eastern European front to beat the smug Germans. ”

"There is enough time, we will be able to complete the campaign by the end of the month, and wipe out two or three divisions of the Yellow Monkeys around Ulan-Ude, after which several of our corps will retreat in an orderly manner to the fortified line with the Irkutsk fortress as the core, and strive to hold out here until the end of the war in 1915." Bareyev is also full of confidence.

Tokarev was a little worried: "It is said that one of the enemy's armored corps has more than 160 tanks and armored vehicles, and according to the information gathered so far, there are at least four armored corps in the enemy army in front of them, and it is estimated that the total number of tanks and armored vehicles is between 600 and 700, and the number of armored troops brought by His Excellency the Governor is probably ......."

Nakasidze patted the fur hat in his hand: "There is no more, all the working vehicles and fully trained crews are concentrated here—you know, the base camp was originally resolutely opposed to the use of valuable armored troops here, and to be honest, I was not in favor of this at first." ”

Barreyev blinked suspiciously: "Then ......"

"It's the Emperor's intention, and it is rumored that the Emperor was instigated by the Empress, and the Empress—do you know that Gregory Efimowitz Rasputin?"

"The debaucher?"

"It's a messenger sent by Satan, he charmed all the women of Petersburg, but that's not the most important thing, I don't know what magic he used, alleviated the bleeding of His Royal Highness the Prince, and the queen has never been able to leave him again. I heard that the fellow often performed heretical séances in the palace, and the queen obeyed him, and our emperor—how pathetic it was—was obedient to the German woman. ”

Tokarev looked skeptical and sad: "Is this true? In other words, the decision to send your armored forces to support us was actually the result of the monk sent by the devil? ”

Nakasidze sighed helplessly: "How I wish what I heard was just a rumor, but even Grand Duke Mikhail, who is closest to the emperor, said so, I really can't help but believe it." Having said that, in addition to the emperor's intentions, the reports you submitted earlier about the enemy's armored forces also played a big role. ”

"yes, that's not a wasted effort." Tokarev said happily - apparently the reports were written by him.

According to the reports of the front-line troops since the beginning of the war, the commander's personal account, the interrogation records of the prisoners of war, and several tanks and armored vehicles that were finally captured, Tokarev sorted out several reports overnight on the performance of the enemy's armored weapons and the formation of armored forces.

According to the report, no less than 7 types of tank armored vehicles have been used by the enemy forces in the Siberian theater of operations since the beginning of the war, of which at least 4 are tanks, and 3 types of armored vehicles are identified.

The two most common types of tanks are called "Jehu" and "Fitiyi", meaning "agile fox" and "swift thunder". The former weighs about 4 tons and has a single machine gun turret with 1 or 2 air-cooled machine guns; The latter weighed 8-9 tons, had a single-man turret, housed a small-caliber gun and a machine gun.

There was also a toy-like pocket tank, weighing only about 2 tons, without a turret, and a machine gun mounted directly on one side of the body, but very fast, and was called "Liesen", which means "hound".

The latter tank is much larger because there are no captured objects, and it is impossible to estimate the weight, but it is obviously equipped with a larger caliber artillery, which the Chinese call "Zedian", which means "driving lightning", this tank does not appear often, and when it does, it often means that this place has become a concentrated breakthrough point for enemy forces.

The first three tanks had armor thickness of about 7 to 15 mm, and the latter, although unmeasurable, looked like it was supposed to be stronger.

As for the armored vehicles, there are two types of armored vehicles armed with 1-2 machine guns, one with small-caliber guns, and one of the armored vehicles with machine guns is equipped with sleds that extend out of the front and rear, which makes it very convenient to travel in the snow.

An armored corps is organized into 3-4 armored brigades, brigades, brigades, companies, and platoons, and each armored brigade has 2 armored battalions, 1 truck-borne motorized infantry battalion, 1 truck-mounted artillery battalion, 1 truck-mounted artillery battalion, 1 truck-mounted baggage company, 1 mobile reconnaissance platoon, and 1 mobile engineer platoon. Each armoured battalion has 2 to 3 companies of 10 tanks or armoured vehicles, plus armoured vehicles from the battalion headquarters, brigade headquarters and mobile reconnaissance platoons, for a brigade of about 60 to 70 tanks and armoured vehicles, 150 to 170 other motor vehicles, and 8 to 12 artillery pieces.

"After reading your report, I think that the tanks of our army should be far superior to those of enemy tanks! Although our army does not have armored combat units synthesized by various arms, and the number of tanks and armored vehicles is also below the enemy's army, with the advantage of tank performance, it is enough to offset all these unfavorable factors, and all the poor little toys of the enemy army will be sent back to the state of parts, and help other arms to win the most victorious victory! Nakasidze raised his fist and shouted, his face imperative.

"Are our tanks really that powerful? I've heard that there are seven or eight types of imported domestic ones, and all of them are above the enemy's performance? Tokarev was a little unconvinced.

Nakasidze smiled and put his fur hat back on: "Don't you believe it? When you decide on the unloading location, please come and see for yourself, as long as you see our proudest 'Mendeleev', you will definitely believe what I just said! Time is pressing, and it is better to determine it now, Your Excellency, Commander, give orders on how to use my troops. ”

Paleyev looked at Tokarev, looked back at the map on the wall, and nodded: "In this way, I would like you to send a part of the armored vehicle unit suitable for snow operations to accompany the 14th Siberian Division across Lake Baikal to carry out the key mission of penetrating into the enemy's rear." ”

Nacasidzer thought about it for a moment, and readily agreed: "There are two companies equipped with 'Austin-Keglais' half-track armored vehicles that can satisfy your request, and in fact, these armored vehicles can also be attached to the back of a long line of infantry-carrying sleds like towing train wagons, which is a good way to save horsepower." ”

"Then it is so decided - as for the rest of the troops, please use them to support the offensive of the 2nd and 3rd Siberian armies. Please look here, it is planned that in 5 days the two armies will launch an offensive at the same time, with a powerful pincer offensive, coordinated with the roundabout actions of the 14th Siberian Division and the 6th Siberian Army, with a total of 3 corps and one division of the strong heavy group, to complete the encirclement of the enemy around Ulan-Ude. The 8th Siberian Division, as the right flank of the 2nd Army, was to cut across to the south of Ulan-Ude to prevent the enemy follow-up troops from arriving for reinforcements from the Selenga Valley. That's it for all deployments. After Baleyev introduced it in one breath, he suddenly put down the whip with ease.

"Understood, the rest of the troops will be driven directly to Sejinginsk to unload, is that what it means?"

"That's right, then I will personally come to Selenginsk to direct the attack." Barreyev looked proud.

Nakasidze stretched out his hand again: "Then, Your Excellency the Commander, my dear friend, we will see you in Selenginsk." ”