(If you want to hear more of your voices and receive more of your opinions, search for the WeChat public account "qdread" now and follow it to give more support to "Rise 1892"!) )

On December 10, 1898, at the border of Outer Mongolia and the opposite city of Haktu, Russia built a series of military camps in two cities and the place in between, and more than a million Russian troops gathered here, waiting for a new round of attack on the Dingbei Army.

In a small building in a European-style building in the city of Hacktu, the commander of the Russian Siberian Theater of Operations, Kuropatkin, and the chief of staff and deputy commander of the Siberian Theater of Operations, Oleg Lev, who had just arrived in the city of Hacktu, were having dinner together.

The two of them quickly finished a simple dinner, and the commander Kuropatkin wiped his mouth with a napkin and said: "Oleglev, my old friend, I can only briefly invite you to eat here, and when we capture the city of Shenyang in the northeast next year, I will definitely treat you to an authentic Russian meal!" ”

Deputy Commander Oleg also wiped his mouth with a napkin, frowned and said: "Your Excellency, it's good to be able to eat something like this in this place. This time I am going to form the Second Siberian Front Army and expedition to the Far East of the empire, how many troops can I allocate to the Second Siberian Front? To tell you the truth, I really don't want to be the commander of this Second Siberian Front, and now that it is winter, if we send troops to the Far East now, we will not only have to fight against the Dingbei Army, but also against the bitter cold, and the distance is long, and the difficulties that the Siberian Second Front Army will have to face will be very great. ”

Since the bloody battle of the city of Ussuri has been hoarding troops in the vicinity of the city of buying and selling and the city of Haktu, waiting for batches of new Russian regiments and reinforcements from Europe, especially the French Navy and the Russian Navy have been beaten back for decades in the naval battle of the Gulf of Ussuri for decades, and the Russian Tsar Nicholas II pinned his hopes on the army, and even accelerated the speed of transporting troops, materials and ammunition to the Siberian theater, so that the current strength of the entire Siberian theater has reached 58 corps, More than 1.8 million troops were gathered in the vicinity of Maicheng and Haktu alone, with the rest deployed in the area west of the Lena River and in several important Russian towns near Outer Mongolia.

After Kuropatkin heard Oleg say a lot of difficulties, the expression on his face did not change, and he said in a calm tone: "Originally, I was not going to form the Second Siberian Front for an expedition to the Far East of the Empire this year, my plan is to spend this winter, and when the spring flowers bloom next year, all the 2 million troops that the empire is ready to mobilize will be expanded and come to our Siberian theater, at that time I will reorganize the First Siberian Front Army and the newly built Second Siberian Front, Make the strength of each front army reach more than one million, and then two front armies will launch an attack on the city of Darkhan in Outer Mongolia, and an expedition to the far east of the empire will relieve the siege of Vladivostok. ”

After a pause, Kuropatkin continued: "But the situation of the war has changed too quickly, after the defeat of our navy and the French navy in the Gulf of Ussuri, His Majesty the Tsar has recently sent me two telegrams in a row, asking me to form a large army to relieve the siege of Vladivostok, the Governor of the Far East, Alekseev, said in a telegram to His Majesty the Tsar, although the Dingbei Army and the Northeast Navy are helpless against Vladivostok, but the grain reserves in Vladivostok can only last until June next year, and we must run out of food in Vladivostok, Defeat the Dingbei Army in the entire Far East and relieve the siege of Vladivostok, if we wait for next spring to start forming the Second Siberian Front, I am afraid that it will be a little too late. ”

Oleg Lev's brows furrowed even more tightly when he heard Commander Kuropatkin say it, although there is still more than half a year before June next year, but more than three months in this half year are the coldest winters, and the Second Siberian Front Army that is about to be formed will face a very difficult operational environment.

And from the city of buying and selling and the city of Haktu, there are more than 2,000 kilometers to the Far East, of which from Ulan-Ude, to the only way near the Far East Svobod inner city, there are nearly 1,400 kilometers of the Trans-Siberian Railway that has been opened to trains, and nearly 400 kilometers of roads, you need to walk to reach the inner city of Svabod, that is, from the city of Haktu to Ulan-Ude to take the train also has to walk more than 200 kilometers.

Even with this nearly 1,400 kilometers of railway, there were not many trains that could transport troops, and it would take a lot of time for the Siberian Second Front to be formed to reach the city of Svobod.

At present, the Dingbei Army in the inner city of Svobod has been heavily gathered, so the strength of the Second Siberian Front cannot be less, so that the troops are gathered in the inner city of Svobod, and the time required may be more. Even the 2nd Siberian Front captured the inner city of Svobod, which is still more than 1,500 kilometers away from Vladivostok, of which only nearly 1,000 kilometers already have railways, and hundreds of kilometers need to be walked.

The nearly 1,000-kilometer railway in the Far East may have been damaged by the Dingbei Army, or the Dingbei Army blew up the locomotive, and the Russian Siberian Second Front may have to walk more than 1,500 kilometers to capture the inner city of Svobod.

It is equivalent to walking 3,500 kilometers from the city of Maimai and Haktu to relieve the siege of Vladivostok, so that the problem of supply has also become very important, if the Second Siberian Front attacking the Far East lacks supplies, not only will it not relieve Vladivostok, but the entire front will be in danger.

Taking into account all factors, this expedition to the Russian Far East will be a very difficult battle, so Oleg Lev is not willing to serve as the commander of the Second Siberian Front at all, but looking at the current situation, he can't hide from the title of commander.

Commander Kuropatkin also knew the difficulties that the Second Siberian Front would face, and he could only allocate as much as possible to Oleg in terms of troops, materials and ammunition.

So Kuropatkin told Oleg about the distribution of forces of the Siberian Second Front, which had been prepared for a long time, "I am ready to allocate 25 infantry corps to the Siberian Second Front, including 10 heavy artillery divisions, and 1 tank and armored division equipped with 100 heavy steam tanks and 200 armored vehicles, with a strength of 780,000 troops, all of which are already in the vicinity of the cities of Mai and Mai and Haktu, Oleg Lev, Tsar Xià himself said in a telegram, The desire to form a force to attack the Far East, with you as the commander, is something that His Majesty the Tsar believes you are capable of. ”

When Oleg heard that even His Majesty the Tsar had brought it up, what else could he say, but when he heard that the number of troops allocated to the Second Siberian Front reached 780,000, as well as 10 heavy artillery divisions and 1 tank armored division, his frowning brows suddenly loosened a little, and he nodded reluctantly and said: "Since I have such a strong force, I will definitely overcome the difficulties of the severe cold, and before June next year, I will destroy the entire Dingbei Army in the Far East and relieve the siege of Vladivostok, but the supply of the entire Siberian Second Front Army, Your Excellency, Commander, you must make sure! ”

Kuropatkin nodded and said, "As long as your Second Siberian Front holds the supply line, I promise you that there will be no shortage of supplies!" ”

Kuropatkin finally ordered Oleg to fight for the formation of the Second Siberian Front to set off, and after Oleg Lev nodded in agreement, he left the temporary command of the commander Kuropatkin.

Soon after, Ivanov, the commander of the Russian 6th Army and the former commander of the 1st Siberian Front, hurried to the temporary headquarters of the commander Kuropatkin.

"Your Excellency Commander, what is your task for asking your subordinates to come over?" Ivanov immediately said when he saw the commander Kuropatkin.

Commander Kuropatkin said: "Ivanov, at present, millions of square kilometers of Russian Empire's land east of the Lena River have been occupied by the Dingbei Army, and I have sent five corps to several important towns west of the Lena River to prevent the Dingbei Army from continuing its offensive on the imperial lands west of the Lena River." ”

Ivanov asked puzzled: "Your Excellency, Commander, what do you mean?" ”

Commander Kuropatkin continued: "Ivanov, I am ready to send you and your corps, plus the other four corps here, to the west of the Lena River to lead the Russian army there and form the Third Siberian Front, with 10 corps, including 4 heavy artillery divisions, with nearly 310,000 troops. The Third Siberian Front was to not only stop the Dingbei Army's offensive west of the Lena River, but also to prepare for a counteroffensive on the imperial lands east of the Lena River next spring. ”

After hearing this, Ivanov immediately nodded and said: "Your Excellency Commander, your subordinates are willing to serve the empire as the commander of the Third Siberian Front. ”

Commander Kuropatkin nodded and said: "Very good, Ivanov, after the victory in this war, your rank of lieutenant general will be promoted to another level!" ”

Lieutenant General is promoted to the next level, isn't that a general! Ivanov was overjoyed and said: "Thank you, Your Excellency, Commander, for your promotion, your subordinates will definitely recover millions of square kilometers of imperial land east of the Lena River next spring!" ”

The Russian army originally had more than 1 million troops, which were distributed to the Siberian Second Front Army 780,000 people, and to the Siberian Third Front Army 5 corps of 150,000 people, so that there were only more than 300,000 troops left in the city of Maicheng and Haktu, and the theater commander Kuropatkin used the remaining 300,000 people to reorganize the Siberian First Front, which was concurrently held by him personally.

The main task of the First Siberian Front Army is to attack the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City, but the commander of the Russian army of more than 300,000 people, Kuropatkin, also knows that he will not be able to capture Darkhan City, which is heavily armed by the Dingbei Army, but he does not care, he will not rush to attack the Dingbei Army in Darkhan City, and will not launch an offensive until next spring.

(My novel "Rise of 1892" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be 100 lucky draw gifts for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! )R1152