Irkutsk.

"What's going on? Your 15th division collapsed? Collapsed so quickly? No, for the sake of His Majesty's face, resist! Reinforcements? Yes, there will be, but first you have to persevere, persevere, and persevere! ”

Pareyev threw down the phone, his beard shaking upwards as he paced back and forth with his hands behind his back until Chief of Staff Tokarev pushed the door in.

"Just in time, Andrei-Hotonov said that his division was going to collapse, and that the enemy was attacking his defense area with five or six divisions at the same time, supported by thousands of artillery pieces and thousands of aircraft, well, and some tanks, dozens of tanks of various types. What do you think? ”

Tokarev frowned: "Apparently he exaggerated the facts, maybe only two divisions were fighting him, there were not so many artillery and aircraft, as for tanks, maybe there were, maybe there weren't, and even if there were, there wouldn't be many, the enemy's main forces were in the bend, and we shouldn't doubt this - I saw those new tanks with my own eyes!" Hordes of new tanks! ”

Bareyev folded his arms and tried to stop his beard from shaking.

"But we can't do without the cover of the 15th Division, if the 15th really collapses, the main forces of our army that are fighting on the bend of the river will expose their flanks. Hotonov's big mouth may have really exaggerated the enemy's situation, but if he said that his division was going to fall, then the situation should be critical, and we must reinforce him and stabilize our flanks. ”

"We have only one 4-Corps Division left, in Archan, 15 kilometers away from the 40 defense zone." Tokarev said.

"Let them go, and ......," Barreev glared at the ceiling, "draw a few companies from the garrison of the fortress to form a special detachment and drive to Archan's second-line positions to organize defense, if the 4th Division will not be in trouble." and 15 shall be defeated, and let them gather the remnants and retreat to Archand, and hold out a little longer—until we have finished the battle of the bend. ”

At the same time, at the headquarters of the Northern Front of the Chinese Army in Baikalsk, Marshal Wang Zhi was slowly and seemingly unconcerned about a Western-style candlelight dinner with his staff officers.

So far, everything has been going according to plan: Chu Qing's Fourth Army's well-eyed attack on the river bend has successfully attracted most of the Russian army's reserves, and Zhao Minhe's Third Army, after shaking a shot with the old, weak, sick, and weak, took advantage of the Russian army's attention to focus on the river bend, and suddenly attacked the weak point of the enemy position with the elite main force, judging from a series of battle reports sent by Zhao Minhe that day. The tasks of the three episodes have been basically completed, and the next thing is to wait for the pontoon bridge to be completed, and then it will be up to Xu Soul's First Armored Army to play.

"Those hundred iron leopards can scare them." Chief of Staff provoked the topic to Lan.

Wang Zhi cut the steak quite gentlemanly, smiled and shook his head: "For this, Xu Soul has complained to me a lot, and it is really luxurious to use the latest and most expensive equipment as bait." ”

"Let's take it as a combat test, although the first actual combat was used in this regard...... However, the four episodes in the past two days have been very hard, and the bait troops are surrounded by the enemy's main force on three sides, and there is only a pontoon bridge to support it. Today, aviation support has been used in three episodes again, and the casualties are getting bigger and bigger. Commander Chu also began to feel heartache......"

Wang picked up a small piece of beef and put it in his mouth along with a small piece of blanched carrot.

"He can't withdraw, not only can't he withdraw, but he also has to continue to reinforce the north bank, and he has to try to counterattack, so that the enemy's main force can't move away and can't move, so that Xu Soul's armored army will not have so many obstacles, rush faster, and wrap more accurately...... That's right. How prepared are the Lake Movement Teams? ”

Xiang Lan took out his pocket watch and glanced at it: "The 106th Division should be on the ship now, the escort team was waiting at the mouth of the river last night, and it is estimated that the transport team can arrive at the mouth of the river in the middle of the night and converge and reorganize." If nothing else, the vanguard should have landed on the West Bank early tomorrow morning. ”

Wang Zhi swallowed the whole chewed food and held up the wine glass: "En." The enemies of the Lake District are all right? Is there any remnant of water combat power? ”

"The previous combined air-water sweep has destroyed most of the enemy ships, and even if there are any left, it is not enough to break through the alert of the convoy, and we are operating at night, so it is not easy to be intercepted by the enemy."

"Well, you should pay attention to avoid collisions when sailing at night, the ships are all transported and assembled by train, and they are very precious, and they must not be lost in vain." Wang Zhi instructed carefully like a housekeeper.

"Yes - the people who operate the ship and lead the ship are all familiar hands specially invited from the navy, and there should be no problem."

"There must be no problems," Wang Zhi emphasized, "The Beilu Movement is going to pick up the Armored Group Army of Xu Soul from the east of the fortress, and it is estimated that when Xu Soul's troops rush there, there will not be much fuel and ammunition left, and they will have to rely on the Beilu Movement to help on the spot." ”

Xiang Lan nodded and said: "Please rest assured, the first task of the Beilu Task Force after it goes ashore is to establish a simple dock and a field warehouse, hoard a large amount of materials through water transportation, and be ready to feed the armored army that has been attacking for a long time at any time." ”

"It's not okay to be trapped on the shore, and the Don't Move Force must also work hard to move westward, every 1 kilometer they advance westward, the armored army can attack 1 kilometer less eastward, and the iron pincers can be closed faster."

"The enemy there is weak, but the terrain is complicated, after landing you have to climb over steep lakes and mountains, there is only a three-level dirt road for marching to Irkutsk, and you have to pass through several dangerous valleys and gorges in between, although it is not to the extent that you can not open it for a long time, if the enemy has a considerable will to fight, relying on the terrain to resist steadily, it must be able to hold our special force for a while." Xiang Lan did not shy away from the unfavorable conditions on his side, in fact, the reason why the Russian army did not deploy heavy troops on the shore of the lake is largely because the lakeshore has its special geographical advantages, which seems to be able to offset the lack of troops.

"It is precisely because of the complex terrain that it is even more necessary for the Beilu Movement to pacify, we can't let Xu Soul rush the mountain with a chariot, right? The kind of valley gorge you mentioned is a taboo place for armored troops, but it is where the light infantry with a small formation of pack horses comes in, so I chose the 106th Division to be a special brigade, and people are specialized in fighting in the mountains and jungles. ”

"Yes...... I also hope that the 106th Division can overcome difficulties and carry forward its military might......"

"You can't just expect, you have to kick them in the ass – of course, just leave that to me."

With that, Wang Zhi put down his knife and fork, tore off the napkin around his neck, wiped his mouth, and ordered the orderly to get his cigar box.

"It's been a great day."

"Smack!"

An unfortunate discordantly uninteresting mosquito became the soul of a cheerful marshal.