The commander of the 8th Army is Lieutenant General Beiwei, with an elegant and delicate appearance, a shorter and more introverted figure than Xiao Bin, and his joy and anger are not obvious, and he is the "general" under the command of General Qian Lan, the commander of the Fifth Army.

The people of the second set ran away, and the people of the fifth set stayed and waited for death -- this argument is no less lethal than the heavy artillery bombardment of the enemy, and in front of the conclusive facts, it is by no means easy for the officers and men of the five sets who stayed behind to take the initiative to clear this idea from their minds.

Du Beiwei only said one sentence.

"If you want to die, Commander Xiao and I will accompany everyone to die, but we are not here to send death, we are here to kill the enemy."

With his supreme prestige in the Qian Lan system, making such a statement that he regarded death as if he was at home but was full of confidence was enough to temporarily appease many of his subordinates.

Xiao Bin knew that without Du Beiwei, his military orders could not be sent out of the headquarters, which also made him wonder about Liang Tianhe's arrangement - why didn't he directly let Du Beiwei command this advancing force?

However, now is not the time to question the decision of the boss, the 300,000 Russian troops around are gathering more and more tightly, and they may launch a fierce attack at any time, can their own dangerous division, which is at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, hanging alone outside the main front and has no danger to defend, really be able to complete that seemingly cruel and ruthless task?

At the moment, he politely welcomed the northern latitude of the capital, ordered the orderly soldiers to pour tea and entertain him, and the northern latitude of the capital was not formal, he took a sip of tea first, twisted a peanut and chewed it, but he was silent.

Xiao Bin had to take the initiative to ask: "Brother Chengyuan came to me, there must be something important, brother is not talented, dare to ask what advice do you have?" ”

Du Beiwei's eyes were aimed at the floor, and he replied lukewarmly: "Don't dare to advise." It's just that there are doubts in my chest, and I can't sleep, and I hope that Commander Xiao will solve his doubts. ”

Xiao Bin arched his hand and said: "Brother Chengyuan, please speak, brother, I must know everything, and I will say everything." ”

Du Beiwei took out a handkerchief from his pocket - the handkerchief was snow-white and traceless, almost spotless - and carefully wiped the fingers of the peanut twist just now, and when he was done, he folded it back and put it back in place, and then asked calmly: "What is the purpose of Commander Liang to make this extraordinary arrangement?" How long will Ah Cheng have to be defended? The advancing troops were tens of thousands of generals. Is there a way out? ”

It's time.

If you want others to die with you, you have to come up with a good reason, and it is not enough to shout twice for the sake of the overall situation, it is far from enough.

Passive execution full of resentment under coercion is far less stimulating than being active and enterprising called by the inner mission.

If you don't untie the knot of the north latitude first, you can't really untie the knot of the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers who were forced to stay in the lonely city.

"First of all, I believe that this is not the true intention of the Commander, who has always acted cautiously and prudently, and loves his soldiers like a son, and will never make such a dangerous move. The only explanation. It is that the base camp has already planned and forced it to be executed. The commander had no choice but to do so. ”

"Secondly, from the perspective of the base camp, such an arrangement is indeed based on the overall situation. Using our advancing troops as a bait and an obstacle, we will suck the enemy's main force into the Alyeysk area, and then attack with all our strength after the arrival of reinforcements from the interior, in order to annihilate the enemy's main force and destroy the Russian army's strategic reserves. Although the risk is extremely high, once it is successful, it will certainly be possible to subdue Russia in advance and open up the lines of communication with Germany, and the countries of our alliance will be more likely to be before the United States makes a large-scale invasion of the European continent. Drove the Anglo-French forces into the sea and established the European victory, so far, the United States is unable to support it. The most reluctant victory must belong to the Empire! ”

Xiao Bin spoke happily, but Du Beiwei was speechless and unmoved. Apparently he hadn't heard the substance yet.

Xiao Bin knew this well, and suddenly accentuated his tone at this point: "Why do the troops in the second outfit want to withdraw?" Is it the partiality of the commander, to protect his descendant with Commander Lu, and by the way, to weaken Commander Qian's power? I assure you by personality that the commander is by no means that kind of person! Moreover, the army is not a private subordinate of the army, and there are the chief ministers, the emperor, and the members of the National Assembly, and the supervision of the press and public opinion. The victory or defeat of the war is related to the reputation of the commander, how can the commander risk his own history? ”

Seeing that Du Beiwei nodded slightly in agreement, Xiao Bin took advantage of the situation and opened the five fingers of his right hand: "Five days, the fifth day after the detachment broke through, that is, on August 7th, the second assembly will come back to save us." ”

Du Beiwei eyebrows: "So fast? However, as far as I know, reinforcements from the mainland will not be deployed until mid-August. ”

"The place of the decisive battle is not here." Xiao Bin smiled slightly, got up and asked Du Beiwei to look at the battle map on the opposite wall.

"At that time, we will follow the second outfit set and pretend to be defeated and retreat to Lubzosk, where we will wait for reinforcements and prepare to make dumplings."

At this point, Du Beiwei suddenly clapped his hands: "I see...... The detachment of the first detachment was prominent, giving the other side the impression that our army had failed to break through the encirclement, and indulging its arrogance to induce it to attack the city with all its might, so as to achieve the merit of completely annihilating several divisions and brigades. On the part of our army, the second outfit was able to gather all its strength, with its powerful mobile assault ability, guerrilla warfare outside the encirclement, and wait for the enemy to exhaust his sharp energy in the siege before turning back to relieve the siege, and then feigning defeat and retreating, leading the king into the urn. This comes and goes, and then comes and goes, and the time is consumed little by little, and when the new army arrives, while the enemy soldiers are tired, they just drum it up, isn't it? ”

Xiao Bin stroked his palms and smiled:

Du Beiwei didn't have a smile on his face, but the corners of his mouth wrinkled a trace of resentment: "In this case, why didn't you tell everyone before, did you have to put on a posture of survival with the city to find scolding?" ”

Xiao Bin nodded, put away his smile, took out the cigarette case and handed it to Du Beiwei, Du Beiwei shook his head and refused, Xiao Bin lit one by himself, and paced back and forth in the house with a cigarette.

"Yes, why don't I want to make it clear at that time, so that everyone is relaxed and hopeful, and I don't have to use Brigade Commander Zhang to make an example of the monkey and offend the dignified prime minister?"

"But if I say so, once the situation changes, and the second set can't arrive on time to break the siege, what will everyone think? Even if the plan changes, if we really have to stick to it until mid-August, what will everyone think? ”

—

"Brother Chengyuan, I will explain it to you, I really take on this responsibility with the heart of death, even if I really want to guard it for half a month, I have no complaints, and I am willing to live and die with this city!"

Du Beiwei heard a shock from the corner of his eyes, stared at it, and slowly raised his right hand to his forehead: "I understand, frankly speaking, I have been fighting horses all my life, and I have never had the idea of dying, and today's situation is willing to live and die with Commander Xiao!" ”

……

One hundred and fifty kilometers to the northeast, in Barnaul, the commander of the Russian Ural Front, General Brusilov, was staring at the huge sand table in front of him with his arms folded.

Aleysk, the humble railway town in the middle of the Barabin steppes, has set up a feast like never before, waiting for him, the great savior of the Empire, to feast on it.

Two infantry divisions, five cavalry brigades, plus two armored brigades, 60,000 or 70,000 troops, tens of thousands of mules and horses, tens of thousands of rifles, countless light and heavy machine guns, artillery, mortars, grenadiers, tanks, armored vehicles, automobiles...... It's almost drooling to think about it, how can the Chinese equip their army so well!

Now, these people, horses, and equipment are in the midst of a strong encirclement of 300,000 troops under his Brusilov command, what a huge and beloved pie! Delicious and juicy, the portion is enough, and the oil and water are sufficient.

However, this is just the beginning, and according to the only reliable information that was not accurate half a month ago, the main group of the Northwest Front of the Chinese Army marching to Semipalatinsk through Ayaguz had about six to seven infantry divisions, eight cavalry brigades, and six armored brigades, with a total strength of about 200,000.

In Brusilov's opinion, he preferred to believe that the enemy had already mobilized the reserves of the Front to the Irtysh River, so that two or three more reserve divisions should be added to the combat strength of the main army, with a total strength of more than 250,000 troops.

There was no reason to waste precious time in this flat town, and the base camp sent telegrams three times a day to inquire about the progress of the war, and His Majesty the Tsar reminded him again and again: The Germans are back, the Turks are coming, when will you get rid of the Chinese?

"I only have 450,000 people, but there are more than 1 million and constantly receiving reinforcements on the other side, Your Majesty, I am just a mortal, I can only do my best......"

Brusilov tried several times to send the above telegram back to the base camp, but when he wrote the telegram and called the adjutant, he was still defeated by the remnants of reason, and had to talk about him left and right, crumpling the telegram behind his back and throwing it into the wastebasket.

The great savior of the empire, how could he have such a timid thought! Win, win! In addition to victory, it is death! Brusilov, you already have no choice!

Picked up the red wine in the corner of the sand table, took a sip of half a sip, and snapped his fingers back:

"Captain Vasilye, write it down."

"The command of the Front ordered that the 51st and 54th armies and the units of the 21st Independent Army, which are now assembled in the vicinity of the enemy's heavy forces in the Alyeysk area, will be under the unified command of Lieutenant General Hovrin from now on, and the enemy forces in the encirclement will be completely annihilated by 4 August and the ...... of Alyeysk will be liberated."