Far from being the capital of the bustling oil kingdom of the future, Kuwait City in the twenties was just a small port city on the banks of Kuwait Bay. Although Kuwait Bay is a rare natural harbour, Kuwait City has not prospered as a result. Because there is nothing to export here, the people in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula are very poor, they have no spending power at all, and there is no import. So the capital of the Emirate of Kuwait looks like a small county town in a poor region of western China. It was just a yellow-colored rammed-earth wall enclosing a large number of dilapidated houses, and the streets of the city were unusually narrow, and the pungent smell of horses and camels was permeating.

A green sedan honked its horn as it drove through the only car-friendly street in Kuwait City, and Arab businessmen who were selling and selling on the side of the road scattered in all directions, and the sedan abruptly stopped in front of a heavily guarded Western-style building in the north of the city, and jumped out of the car a young officer in a khaki short-sleeved military uniform, who was Chang Ruiqing's brother-in-law, Zhao Zongyang, who wiped his sweat and hurried into the building.

"Senior Commander Zhao, you are back, Chief of Staff Sun has already looked for you a few times." When he entered the western-style building, he was greeted by an equally young staff officer who shouted at the young officer.

Zhao Zongyang didn't bother to take care of this young staff officer named Sun Yuanliang, so he hurriedly walked past him, went up to the second floor before he reined in his steps slightly, tidied up his military uniform, and then walked into the war room.

"Zong Yang, you can count it on. Did you encounter something on the road that delayed you? "The one who spoke was Major General Sun Zhen, chief of staff of the expeditionary force, who was one year older than Chang Ruiqing and graduated from the first phase of the Baoding Infantry Department. is considered the big brother of the Baoding department, but the time to join Chang Ruiqing is a little late, so the official luck is also a little worse, and he was promoted to lieutenant general after graduating from the Army University not long ago.

"Don't mention it, those Arabs do things at a slow pace, and they have to pray from time to time. Dealing with them can be a real thing. Zhao Zongyang went to buy horses from several Arab tribes near Kuwait City, when oil on the Arabian Peninsula had not yet been discovered, and Arabian horses were the only specialty here. Therefore, Zhao Zongyang's cavalry division did not bring war horses when they came. All horses are intended to be sourced locally. He wiped his sweat again and grinned: "Fortunately, I bought the horse in the end, and the Arabian horse of Yishui is much better looking than our original Mongolian horse." ”

"That's good. That's good. Sun Zhen sighed: "In the past few days, the British have been urging us to send troops. The commanders have already used all the reasons for shirking, but it will not be delayed for a few days, and your cavalry division must be prepared as much as possible, and you must seize the time to familiarize yourself with the temperament and living habits of the Arabian horses. I've heard that the Arabian Marco is delicate. ”

Zhao Zongyang agreed, took out a report on the procurement of military horses and handed it to Sun Zhen, then saluted and turned to leave. Sun Zhen handed the report to a staff officer in charge of logistics, walked into the commander-in-chief's office next to the war room, and smiled at Wang Junhao, who was looking at the map with his arms crossed: "Brother introspective." The matter of the military horse has been settled, and we have one less reason. ”

"Brother Decao. We came to the Persian Gulf to fight, and it was a matter of time before we sent troops, and delaying it for a few days was just a matter of making more preparations. Wang Junhao looked at Persia on the map, his eyebrows tightened. This battle in Persia is not easy to fight, just look at the map, Persia is vast and mountainous, and it is an easy to defend and difficult to attack terrain.

"I don't think this battle will be easy to fight, and it would be good to be able to prepare for a few more days." Sun Zhen's view of the war situation is also not optimistic, although the scale of the Three Kingdoms Alliance's troops this time is 230,000, which seems to be a lot, but it is really not enough to put it on such a large territory as Persia. To add insult to injury, the economic and political centers of Persia are not located near the Persian Gulf, but in Isfahan and Tehran in central Persia. If you want to overthrow Reza. Under the rule of Khan, the coalition forces had to penetrate deep into Persian territory to occupy Tehran, and even if they wanted to divide Persia in two, they would have to capture at least Isfahan in central Persia.

Gu Mosan called back from Basra to say that the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Field Marshal Hamilton, advocated dividing Persia in two and seizing Isfahan as the capital of the Qajar dynasty. However, the commander-in-chief of the Italian expeditionary force, General Badoglio, went to Tehran in one fell swoop and overthrew Reza. Khan, swallow the whole of Persia in one gulp. Brother Decao, whose proposition do you think we should support? ”

"It's not easy." Sun Zhen walked to the edge of the map, picked up the whip and knocked on the two mountains above, and said with a wry smile: "Even if you aim at Isfahan, you must fight the Zagros Mountains and the Kukhrud Mountains, if it is only the Persian army, it will be easy to do, but now that the Soviet volunteers are participating, Lao Maozi's combat effectiveness is not weak!" He paused for a moment and said in an accentuated tone: "And Trotsky cannot afford to lose, and will definitely do his best to win." ”

"You're right, the Soviet Union is now under attack on all sides, and if you don't fight, there is no way out, it's a dog jumping off the wall in a hurry." Sun Zhen said this, and his voice gradually lowered. "The British were forced by the Soviet Union, and if it weren't for their support of the Indian revolution with Guò Persia, the British would not have fought this war. But what's going on with us? What do you want to come all the way to the Persian Gulf? ”

"What do you mean?" Wang Junhao suddenly turned his head and glared at Sun Zhen, and said coldly: "This is the decision of the chairman, the chairman must have his reasons, we just copy it." ”

Sun Zhen smiled bitterly and nodded, having nothing to say. He knows very well that his future is on Chang Ruiqing, as long as Chairman Chang Da says a word, let alone the lieutenant general and chief of staff, even this military uniform can be taken off.

"Brother introspection, I think we should support Italy's General Badoglio." Sun Zhen thought for a while. "Whether you can hit Isfahan or Tehran in the end is not a matter of the order of the coalition command, you will not know until you start fighting. We can't afford to offend the Italians for this, and the whole country is ready to turn Persia into a colony. As for the aim of the British, it was only to cut off the Soviet Union's support for the Indian revolution, and as long as they could accomplish this task, it did not matter where they fought. ”

Wang Junhao thought about it and felt that it made sense. He called back the Allied Command in Baghdad and supported the Italians in their support, but the British Field Marshal Hamilton did not insist any longer. Plans began to be drawn up with the goal of capturing Tehran and occupying all of Persia.

The Chinese Expeditionary Force stationed in Kuwait was soon ordered to advance to the Polish-Iranian border. At the same time that Wang Junhao commanded Tang Shengzhi's 11th Army (reinforced by an infantry division) and Jiang Chunlin's 2nd Cavalry Corps to enter Kut and Amara on the Polish-Iranian border. Reza. Khan, also under the persuasion of Soviet adviser Borodin, issued a general mobilization order, announcing in a high-profile manner the expansion of the Persian Army from twenty to forty divisions! It also called on the various tribal forces and religious organizations to unite against the infidels who invaded Persia.

But what really worried the top brass of the coalition was the volunteer army sent by the Soviet Union. The general situation of this force has been inquired about by British intelligence. Long before the Allied forces entered the Persian Gulf, the Soviet People's Volunteers under the command of Tukhachevsky marched into Persia.

For this expedition, Trotsky spent a lot of money. Not only was the whole army well-equipped and well supplied, but despite the protests of the commander-in-chief of the North-Western Front, Ubolevich, the 1st Tank Army of the Red Army was assigned to the Volunteer Army. A large number of trucks and horse-drawn wagons were requisitioned from Transcaucasia and Ukraine, and the mobile combat and logistical support capabilities of the volunteer army were raised by a level, and they could almost be called motorized troops. In addition to the 1st Tank Army, British intelligence also discovered the numbers of the 1st Cavalry Corps, the 14th Infantry Corps, and the 16th Infantry Corps. The total strength is estimated at 100,000.

But what surprised the top of the coalition forces was this. This well-armed Soviet volunteer army stopped near the Persian capital Tehran, and Tukhachevsky only sent the 1st Cavalry Army to cooperate with the Persian army to sweep the northern part of Persia and disobey Reza. The main forces of the Khan's tribal forces were stationed in the cities of Savi and Qom, south of Heilan, and did not move.

……

"What the hell is Trotsky paying attention to? The 100,000-strong army is placed near Tehran, is it trying to divide Persia equally with us? In the headquarters of the coalition forces in Basra, Field Marshal Hamilton poured three glasses of wine with his own hands, gave one to the visiting Badogrio and Wang Junhao, and he himself took a quilt and sat on a chair.

"Trotsky's purpose is clear. He used the tactics of the Russians against Napoleon back then, playing to lure the enemy deeper. If we want to put the battlefield north of Isfahan, we must maintain a logistics line of several hundred kilometers, and we also need to occupy dozens of large and small cities in southwestern Persia, and the forces that can be used for the first line are quite limited, and then they can easily defeat us. Wang Junhao replied calmly in English.

"But as long as we take Isfahan, we can support the restoration of the Qajar dynasty, and many Persians will take refuge in our side at that time." Italy's World War I hero, General Badoglio, disagreed.

"Your Excellency, why do the Persians welcome us? We are both invaders and pagans, and the Persians will certainly unite in Reza. The Khans were against us, regardless of whether they originally supported Reza or not. Sweat. Wang Junhao said lightly while shaking the red liquid in the wine glass.

Now the more than 200,000 troops of the Triple Alliance have been laid out on the Persian-Iraqi border, and the Italian army is deployed in the middle and lower reaches of the Shatt al-Arab to confront a small number of Persian troops. The squadron was deployed on the Polish-Iranian border from Amara to Kut, a little northwest, facing the precarious Zagros Mountains, but they were confronted by fewer Persian troops, and they were still some tribal forces with little combat effectiveness. Obviously, Reza. Khan and Tukhachevsky had no intention of keeping the enemy out of the country.

"Then what should we do according to General Wang's wishes?" Field Marshal Hamilton asked.

Wang Junhao pretended to think about it for a while, in fact, he didn't know much about the situation in Persia, and he couldn't think of any good way at all, but Chang Ruiqing, who was far away in Nanjing, sent him a telegram to support him.

"I have heard that there are many Balochs in Persia and India, who live in the mountains on the border between Persia and India, and who seem to have been seeking independence and are now rising against the British, and if Britain can grant them independent status, and support the union of the Persian Balochistan province and the Balochistan region of India into a united Balochistan state, Trotsky's passage to support the Indian rebellion will be cut off."

"The Baloch had limited military strength and could not resist Reza. Khan's army. Hamilton said.

"We can land in Balochistan through Guò Bandar Abbas and put the battlefield in Balochistan. The terrain there is complicated and the transportation is difficult, as long as the local Baloch people support us. We're in for a wink. ”

"The Balochs are very conservative Muslims and will not support us infidel armies."

Hamilton shook his head. In fact, Wang Junhao's proposal was already secretly implemented by the British, but it was only an alternative, and if the war of the Triple Alliance to invade Persia did not go well, the British would support Balochistan independence to cut off the Soviet Union's support for the Indian revolution.

Bardolligo immediately chimed in: "Your Excellency the Marshal is right, we should attack Persia at once. Occupy the oil-rich region of Hochistan first, and then, depending on the situation, decide whether to go north to Isfahan or support the independence of the Baluchis. ”

Wang Junhao smiled helplessly. "Since His Excellency General Badoligo also means this, then I have nothing to say." Then he asked Hamilton with a solemn face: "Your Excellency, Marshal, please give an order, our squadron is ready for battle." Persia can be invaded at any time. ”

Hamilton nodded. But Wang Junhao didn't finish speaking, he continued: "However, according to intelligence, the Soviet volunteers deployed south of Tehran have a strong mobile combat capability, and we must beware of them suddenly moving south, so I suggest that we should not disperse the main force of the coalition army, but concentrate the main force of the coalition army in one direction, rather than dividing the troops into two routes." ”

Badolrigo took a sip of wine. He said indifferently: "General Wang, you are too cautious and careful. The Soviet volunteers were still far away in Tehran, hundreds of kilometers from the region of Hochistan, and the roads in Persia were quite bad. ”

Wang Junhao frowned, and just wanted to argue with Badoligo, Hamilton interjected with a smile: "Mr. Badoligo's words are right, the traffic situation in Persia is quite bad, there is only one railway from Tehran south to the Hochistan region, as long as the squadron passes through the south of Ilam Province in time and inserts it into Andy Meshk in the north of Hochistan Province, this railway can be cut off, and the passage of the Soviet Volunteers to the south can be blocked, and the entire Hochistan Province will be in our pocket." ”

Wang Junhao couldn't help but smile bitterly, the British and Italians clearly wore a pair of pants, putting the Chinese in front to block the Soviet volunteers who might go south, and they ate meat in the rich Hokistan region, but have these two foreign devils ever heard of persimmons to pick up soft and pinch?

"Well, since His Excellency the Marshal thinks so too, then we just have to obey the order." Wang Junhao tilted his neck and drank the wine in the glass, got up and said to Hamilton: "The Chinese Expeditionary Force Headquarters still has military affairs for me to take care of, so I will leave first." ”

Hamilton knew that Wang Junhao was unhappy, so he stood up and sent Wang Junhao out of his headquarters very politely.

Just when Wang Junhao was holding back his anger and returning to the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which had already moved to Amara, Tukhachevsky in Tehran was drafting a report to the Revolutionary Military Council, and Trotsky was also very concerned about the war in the Persian Gulf, and asked the Volunteer Army Command to send back reports every day, and this task naturally fell on Tukhachevsky, the commander of the Volunteer Army.

“…… Comrade Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, the Persian army's preparedness for war is still unsatisfactory, and although it has relatively sophisticated equipment, it is extremely lacking in training and excellent officers, and at present it is no longer necessary to blindly expand the size of the army, but to strengthen training and officer training, and to open a military school in Tehran taught by Soviet instructors to train Persian officers......"

"Bang bang." There was a knock on the door, but Tukhachevsky did not look up: "Please come in." Pushing the door in, it was Borodin, who was now also the chairman of the Military Committee of the Soviet People's Volunteers, who had a telegram in his hand and said to Tukhachevsky: "Comrade Tukhachevsky, there is information coming from Basra. ”

Hearing Borodin's voice, Tukhachevsky hurriedly got up and attracted him, although he was a close confidant of Trotsky, but after all, the other party was the nominal supreme commander of the Volunteer Army.

"Comrade Borodin, what's the good news?" Seeing Borodin's happy face, Tukhachevsky hurriedly asked.

"The fact that we have obtained the enemy's general battle plan is the credit of our comrades lurking in the headquarters of the Italian invading army." Borodin laughed. The Italian GCD is also a major party in the GC International, which has a strong influence in Italy, and has always adhered to the anti-fascist position.

"Tell me how the enemy is deployed?" Tukhachevsky suppressed the ecstasy in his heart and hurriedly asked.

"The coalition forces will start attacking in a week, the 230,000 troops will be divided into three parts, and the Chinese will take the north road to attack Ilam Province and then outflank Andy Meshk to block our passage to the south. The Italians attacked the province of Hochistan and seized the oil-producing regions of Persia. The 30,000 troops of the British remained to look after the house and did not move for the time being. ”

"Great!" When Tukhachevsky heard this, he couldn't help but applaud. He shouted: "The opportunity has come, the opportunity to defeat the enemy has come!" (To be continued.) )