On the night of 17 March, in the city of Minusinsk, the chief of staff of the Outer Mongolia Campaign Command of the Independent Division, Zhao Yuhe, was reporting to the division commander Tang Qiuli on the results of the ambush in the Tangnu Mountains.

"The division commander, the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth brigades, on the east side of the Tangnu Mountain Range, ambushed in Chagan Naoer, Bayanleg, Hujiertu, and Buzhidu Usu, all ended in victory, according to the battle reports from the brigades, it is estimated that more than 50,000 Soviet troops were annihilated and wounded in an hour's battle. Zhao Yuhe said with a few telegrams.

Tang Qiuli seemed to have expected this result a long time ago, and he didn't mean to be surprised at all, and asked lightly: "The results of the battle are not bad, occupying favorable terrain, and it is a sudden ambush battle, the battle is reasonable, the casualties of our troops?" ”

Zhao Yuhe became excited and said: "Division commander, the casualty figures reported by each brigade are amazingly low, the four brigades have a total of three hundred and eighty-five casualties, of which only thirty-seven were killed, on average, less than ten soldiers were killed on each battlefield, nearly two hundred to one casualty ratio, we hit that Vasilevsky in the Tangnu Mountains, at least we have to spit blood!" ”

Tang Qiuli also smiled and said: "Don't forget, the Soviet army has more than a million people, more than 50,000 casualties, for the Soviet army, it is only a little scratching the surface, Ulan Guben will fight another battle, and strive to annihilate one or two armies of the Soviet army in a formation, that Vasilevsky, will feel the pain, by the way Yuhe, is there any other situation?" ”

Zhao Yuhe's face showed a narrow smile and replied, "Yes, division commander." Brigade Commander Xiao Jinshan of the Ninth Brigade has sent you a telegram with an opinion! ”

"Oh?" Tang Qiuli's eyes widened with some interest, and said: "Yuhe, I guess, that Xiao Jinshan must be very dissatisfied with my order to only allow the Ninth Brigade to fight for an hour, he occupies a favorable terrain, and he is fighting an ambush battle. It's not enjoyable, I feel uncomfortable! If he followed his style of play, he would have swallowed the vanguard of which Soviet army in one gulp, right? ”

Zhao Yuhe sighed and shook his head, and said with emotion: "Commander." You really touched Brigadier Xiao's heart, indeed. He was in the telegram. That's what he said, and he also said that the division commander was afraid of the enemy and avoided the battle, and delayed the fighters! ”

"Hahaha-! Tang Qiuli laughed out loud and said, "What a big hat, call Xiao Jinshan back." This time, your unit carried out the orders of the division, and was resolute and resolute, which is worthy of praise. I accept the big hat, and I have to complain and digest it myself, but I am in Ulan Guben, and I will give you the opportunity to fight a big battle and a tough battle! ”

"Yuhe, order the four brigade units that withdrew to Ulan Guben to form the Ulan Guben Campaign Headquarters, with Xiao Jinshan, commander of the 9th Brigade, as the commander-in-chief, Fang Yuanshan, commander of the 10th Brigade, Ren Zhaoquan, commander of the 11th Brigade, and Chen Han, commander of the 12th Brigade, as the deputy commander-in-chief of the campaign, the purpose of the campaign, to annihilate one or most of the vanguard of the Soviet Army near Ulanguben, and the campaign from beginning to end is twenty-four hours,"

"At that time, regardless of the outcome of the campaign, the troops must withdraw from the battle and withdraw to the Kulen direction, and the Ulanguben campaign headquarters should report the campaign plan to the division before 9 a.m. on 18 March, and after approval, it can be implemented."

After Zhao Yuhe recorded the order, handed it to a staff officer, and then asked: "Division commander, do you judge that the vanguard of the Soviet army will definitely rush to the area of Ulan Guben after March 19?" ”

Tang Qiuli nodded and said: "Vasilevsky has suffered a big loss, and he will definitely have a wrong judgment, thinking that our main force is on the front line of the Tangnu Mountains, and we have suddenly retreated, with more than one million heavy troops in hand, they will inevitably be eager to find us for a decisive battle, and there is no need for the vanguard to advance quickly, on the front line of Ulan Guben, entangled us, how can his main force have time to arrive and encircle us!" ”

"According to the calculation of the route, there are no blocking troops in the middle, and with the current marching speed of the Soviet army, coupled with the troops who are eager to catch up with us, it will definitely be possible to reach the Ulan Guben area in no more than two days."

Zhao Yuhe still didn't believe it, and asked: "Division commander, could it be that Vasilevsky will not judge us, and did not withdraw to Ulan Guben, but to the south, to the Kobdo region, where Xinjiang, which is close to our country, can advance and retreat freely." ”

Tang Qiuli smiled and said: "Vasilevsky and his subordinates are not so stupid, the Kobdo area, with many rivers and lakes, is all over the swamps, since it is the main force, the strength must not be less, and there are a large number of heavy equipment, retreat in that direction, the Soviet army will block the north, no need to fight, those swamps, can kill us, don't you go to a dead end?" ”

Zhao Yuhe smiled embarrassedly, "Teacher, it's me who is lying in vain!" He said with some shame.

Tang Qiuli waved his hand disapprovingly, and said: "I can't talk about it, are you the chief of staff, and you have the responsibility to put forward their respective possibilities on the battlefield, but, Yuhe, you have estimated the military talent and command ability of the Soviet generals too low!" Therefore, there must be a big battle to be fought in Ulanguben, and after this battle, the Soviet army no longer dared to use the troops of one or two armies, and advanced alone, which can be regarded as delaying the speed of the Soviet army's advance towards Kulen. ”

"Vasilevsky and I, both need this battle, the difference is that he wants to entangle our so-called main forces, I want to eat his vanguard, that's all, the first battle on the southern front is over, next, it's time for us to meet the battle of the five Soviet armies in Minusinsk, this battle is also a fight and run, but there are no good terrain conditions like the Donnu Mountains, which can be used, so you can only touch it!"

In accordance with the order of the division commander Tang Qiuli, three lines of defense were built in the northwest direction of the city, each line of defense was placed, and the remaining two brigades were used as mobile forces for the campaign to reinforce the direction at any time.

According to the campaign plan, the troops on each line of defense were only allowed to fight for one day, and no matter whether the line was stable or not, they had to withdraw to the next line of defense, that is to say, Tang Qiuli was only ready to fight with more than 500,000 Soviet troops in Minusinsk for three days, and after severely defeating the spirit of the Soviet army, all the troops left the battlefield on the night of the 19th and moved to the direction of Kulen.

Or Tang Qiuli's words, the command ability of the Soviet generals cannot be ignored, 550,000 Soviet troops, attacking Minusinsk, three days, not an inch of advance, this exposes the real position of the main force of the independent division, the illusion caused by the Tangnu Mountains, will soon be recognized, next, with the command characteristics of Vasilevsky, he would rather give up the attack on Kulen, but also command the main force of the Outer Mongolian Front to go north from the direction of Ulanguben.

If the Soviet Baikal Front also took the opportunity to move south, more than 200,000 troops directly under the corps fell into the large triangular encirclement of the Soviet army headquarters, just as Zhao Yu analyzed, so three days was the limit of the Minusinsk campaign, and when the Soviet army's large encirclement was not formed, it quickly jumped out and continued to deal with the Soviet army in the central region of Outer Mongolia.

As for the city defense war, he didn't think about it at all, outside the western border of Outer Mongolia, an important military town of the Soviet Union, sooner or later it would return to his hands, if the city was beaten to pieces because of a goal that had to be abandoned, and when it was rebuilt in the future, it would be a huge expense, Tang Qiuli wouldn't be so painful, of course he wouldn't do such a stupid thing, so he put the battlefield on the periphery of the city.

At about 7 o'clock in the morning of 18 March, Xiao Jinshan, commander of the Ninth Brigade of the Corps directly under the Corps, on behalf of the Ulan Guben Campaign Headquarters, submitted the battle plan.

It's just that Xiao Jinshan's appetite is too big, and the campaign plan he made is to use the strength of four brigades to eat all the vanguard units of the Soviet army in the vicinity of Ulanguben, the reason is that after an ambush battle in the Tangnu Mountains, the vanguard of the Soviet army was heavily damaged, and the loss of soldiers and equipment should be about one-third, and the so-called four armies, the rest, but only two and a half armies, are still tired divisions, and with the existing strength of the Ulanguben campaign headquarters, they can completely eat.

Tang Qiuli picked up the pen without hesitation, changed the battle plan of annihilating the four armies of the Soviet army to the annihilation of about one army, and strictly stipulated the policy of the campaign, "Your specific campaign plan is very safe and feasible, but the campaign goal is too large, you should use two brigades of troops to encircle and annihilate one of the Soviet troops, and the other two brigades to block the reinforcements of the other three Soviet troops, otherwise, within 24 hours, you will not be able to end the battle, and your troops will not be able to quickly leave the battlefield, remember, if you have too much appetite, you will die of people!" ”

After revising the battle plan, Tang Qiuli thought about it, picked up a blank telegram manuscript paper, and wrote: "Xiao Jinshan, don't always think about fighting a big battle, the Battle of Ulan Guben belongs to a quick battle, don't forget, behind the vanguard of the Soviet Army, is the main force of the Outer Mongolian Front with more than 1 million troops, it only takes three days to rush to the Ulan Guben battlefield, leaving you a day to evacuate, it is already very tense, so, ending the battle in 24 hours is the bottom line that cannot be broken!" ”

Putting down the pen, Tang Qiuli couldn't help but shake his head, and said to himself: "As soon as this telegram is sent, Xiao Jinshan will definitely be very dissatisfied again, full of whining words, complaining about himself, he dare not eat meat!" ”

Tang Qiuli sorted out the telegram manuscript paper and shouted: "Communication staff officer! ”

As soon as the words fell, the door opened, but it was not the communications staff officer who came in, but the chief of staff Zhao Yuhe with a dignified face.

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