"You're off topic. Today I want to talk about the issue of succession. ”

After a brief period of surprise, Liu Yun decided not to comment on Wen Yi's suggestion for the time being.

"You think about it, I'm not on a whim, it's about the foundation of the country's future......"

"I'll think about it, because it's so high, it's important to be cautious. As for the question of succession, I think so, before the realization of the system of veterans and important ministers, for the time being, the full power of government affairs will be entrusted to Zhang Zhigao, and military affairs will be entrusted to Yang Zhengjin, and the two of us will guide us as advisers to the prime minister, and naturally become the first batch of veterans. ”

That's what I mean. More specifically, in terms of personnel, it is planned to bring Zeng Jize back as foreign minister, and remove the burden of Zhang Zhigao's concurrent position, Yang Zhengjin can serve as acting defense minister on your behalf, and Hu Ke will replace Yang Zhengjin as chief of the general staff. ”

"That's it."

After saying this, Liu Yun suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness that penetrated deep into the bone marrow, as if the essence of death hidden under the smell of disinfectant was being peeled off, squeezed, and boiled layer by layer. He knew that this had nothing to do with Wen Yi, and he thought that Wen Yi must also be surrounded by this sense of collapse of the rapid failure of his body, and the apocalyptic consistency of the two people from birth to death was nakedly ravaged in this bright and dazzling ward, and he couldn't help but feel a different kind of immoral pleasure.

He thought that from now on, with the physical bodies of the two people as the stage, a scene of the five decays of heaven and man with the theme of abandonment will be staged alive, and the key to the problem is that there is no need for the audience, let alone applause...... It was the only play that was not performed for others.

May 26, Beijing, Zhongnanhai Annex, Base Camp Conference Room.

Liu Yun was not present, Wen Yi was not present, and the base camp was still operating as usual, for the time being.

At this time, General Hu Ke, the former chief of operations of the General Staff, was reporting the military situation to the Guangxing Emperor, who had long since recovered his health, for the first time in his capacity as chief of the General Staff—at least in terms of etiquette, no one had forgotten that this was a constitutional monarchy with Ai Xinjue Luo as the emperor.

“…… Four telegrams from the front were received this morning. The first was issued by the Western Front Command, reporting that Admiral Zhong Xiahuo had been reinstated as commander of the Front Army and requesting that 20 additional aircraft squadrons and several airship squadrons be allocated to prepare for a counterattack against the Russian army. As of 6 o'clock in the morning, the situation on the battlefield was as follows: Lu Kaiping's Sixth Army in the southern section of the front had suffered heavy losses, and several enemy divisions had penetrated between this army and the Mongolian Front Army on the southern flank, creating a huge gap of more than 20 kilometers deep and more than 30 kilometers wide. Li Xuedong's Fourth Army in the north was still in good condition, and its main positions remained immovable for many days. Further north, the Fifth Army of Zhao Minhe was continuously attacked by the enemy's superior forces, and a gap of more than 10 kilometers was opened in the defensive line, which cut off the contact between the army and the front of the Fourth Army on the southern flank, and the flanks of the two armies were exposed to the enemy. To the north of the Fifth Army was Xiao Lizhi's Second Army, which organized many effective counterattacks, and the enemy was temporarily unable to shake the army's defensive line. Commander Zhong Xiahuo's planned countermeasures were as follows: to support the weakest Sixth Army with one part of the Praetorian Guard, and at the same time to use the main force of the Praetorian Guard to attack the enemy in front of the Fifth Army in two ways, strive to annihilate several enemy divisions, and threaten the enemy's core base Ulan-Ude, and at the same time order the Fourth and Second Army to attack and defend, counterattack on all fronts, and drive the enemy back to the other side of the Uda River and the Selenga River, so as to ensure the normal progress of the Chita Raid ......"

The emperor's gaze swayed between Prime Minister Zhang Zhigao and Acting Prime Minister Yang Zhengjin, although he was a little worried about the fact that Liu Wen and the others had retreated into the background together, but Zhang and Yang were not unblemished, they were still among the important ministers, and their trust in them was not much weaker than that of their predecessors.

"What do you think?" Zhang Zhigao, who presided over the meeting in the name of the base camp, did not want the emperor to wait for a long time, and did not want to waste his precious time.

Yang Zhengjin replied succinctly in his usual sleepy insect-like tone: "Commander Zhong's countermeasures are feasible and should be implemented quickly and decisively. However, the plan for the 'swarm' of Vladivostok was imminent, and most of the floating troops had already been sent to the Eastern Front, telling him that the request for additional floating troops could not be satisfied, and that at most three squadrons of aircraft and one squadron of airships could be transferred from the teaching troops. In addition, he was told that within the next month, one additional standing infantry division, four reserve infantry divisions and two reserve cavalry brigades would be transferred to the Western Front, and until then, the front army was required to maintain the front at all costs and switch to a powerful attack on the enemy forces on the Baikal side as soon as the Chita fortress was captured. ”

No one objected, and the senior staff officers behind Hook began to write instructions on Yang Zhengjin's instructions.

Huknian's second telegram came from the headquarters of the Mongol Front, and was the good news of the recapture of Kobdo by the Second Cavalry Army of Sutad Lengtai.

Since the beginning of the war, the Mongolian Front under the command of Lieutenant General Xiang Lan, Prince of Mongolia, has been in a situation of lack of food and ammunition due to the long supply lines and the lack of support from railway transportation. Since mid-April, the Russian army has invaded the western part of Outer Mongolia on a large scale, and by the end of April, it has successively captured the important towns of Kobdo and Uriya Sutai in western Mongolia. At the beginning of May, the main forces of the Mongolian Front were organized into the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Corps, of which the 1st Cavalry Corps was under the jurisdiction of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 6th Mongolian Cavalry Brigades, and the 3rd Independent Cavalry Artillery Group, with a total of 28,500 men according to the establishment. The 2nd Cavalry Corps was under the jurisdiction of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th Mongolian Cavalry Brigades, and the 2nd Independent Cavalry Artillery Group, with a total of 22,000 men, under the command of Major General Sutad Lengtai, who was responsible for recovering Mengxi.

On May 7, the Sutad Lengtai Department set out from Checherleg in the central part of Outer Mongolia, and rushed westward in three ways, gathering the border guards and militia groups defeated from Mengxi along the way, and rode horses on the steppe for more than 400 kilometers in three days, and the main force encountered the Russian outpost on May 11, and the Mongolian cavalry swarmed up, and after a white-knuckle melee, dozens of Cossack cavalry were captured. On May 13, the strength of the army swelled to 30,000 but only equipped with five or seven cavalry artillery Sutadelentai troops attacked Uriya Sutai at the head of the attack on Uriya Sutai, so with a small number of troops to monitor the city, one intercepted the enemy's supply line, the main force took advantage of the night to attack 450 kilometers away Kobdo, two days later with the enemy who tried to reinforce Uriya Sutai, the Soviet army attacked the Russian army on three sides with lightning speed, the Russian army could not support it, and dropped a number of seven or six field guns and a large number of ammunition to withdraw into the Kobdo fortress. The main force quickly rushed back to Uriya Sutai, and launched a general attack on Uriya Sutai on May 19, the enemy was demoralized, abandoned the fortress and fled northward, only to be wiped out by the Mongolian cavalry brigade familiar with the local terrain, killing more than 3,000 enemies and capturing more than 4,700 prisoners. On May 25, the Soviet Union arrived at the city of Kobdo with more than 10 captured 76 field guns and 152 heavy howitzers.

The news of the victory was naturally encouraging, and the emperor's face was also happy, and he ordered him to present pen and paper and write a telegram of commendation in person. Since Nurhachi conquered the Mongols, Manchu and Mongolian relations have been very close, except for the Manchus, only the Mongols have been crowned princes, and there are marriages between nobles from time to time, and the famous Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang of the former Qing Dynasty is a Mongol, and it is reasonable for the emperor to pay special attention to the victories of his distant Mongolian relatives.

The third telegram came from the Northwest Front, saying that yesterday the First Army Corps of the Ili side took the initiative to attack and defeated the Russian army under the Ili fortress, killing more than 1,000 enemies and taking many prisoners. On the Kashgar side, the Second Army Corps met with the Russian army the day before yesterday in the battle of Urukchati, the battle was unfavorable, with more than 3,000 casualties.

Yang Zhengjin's opinion was: "Your Majesty, the theater where the Northwest Front Army is located is relatively close to the hinterland of Russia, the local area is barren, and it is far away from the rich areas in China, and the Landi Railway has not been completed for a long time, so it is very difficult to supply and reinforce, and for the time being, we can only rely on the limited manpower and materials in the theater to carry out delayed operations. ”

Emperor Guangxing nodded and said, "What Aiqing said is extremely true, and it is accurate. ”

After thanking the emperor, Yang Zhengjin turned to Hu Ke again: "In addition, before telegraphing Zhang Yao, reinforcements can arrive in Xinjiang in the near month, and he is asked to act cheaply, be calm and not be impatient, and only defend the territory for the time being." ”

On the same day, the historian in the palace recorded the emperor's exclamation to his attendant military attaché: Seeing Yang Bingxiang raise his eyes and assert that there is a martial and powerful style.

The fourth telegram came from the Eastern Front, and although the content was expected by Yang Zhengjin and Hook, it still made them feel slightly unhappy.

Since 15 May, the first general attack of Admiral Liu Bailiang's Eastern Front on the second line of defense of Vladivostok Fortress has officially begun, and the battle has been extremely fierce, but our army's progress has been slow, and until the 25th, it has not been able to seize a safe heavy artillery placement point to bombard the enemy ships in the harbor, and the heavy artillery ammunition reserved for this campaign has been exhausted, due to the huge casualties, the morale of the troops is getting lower and lower, and the company and even the team disobey orders from time to time.

"The 'swarm' plan must be launched as soon as possible."

Regarding this Eastern Front war report, Yang Zhengjin only has this opinion.

On the same day, the Vladivostok Aviation Front was formally organized under the command of Major General Guo Zhifei, former commander of the Western Front Aviation Floating Cluster, and its headquarters was stationed in Artem, which is only 30 kilometers north of Vladivostok. Under the jurisdiction of the Front:

The First Air Group, consisting of 6 squadrons of reconnaissance aircraft and 6 squadrons of bombers.

The 2nd Air Group consists of 5 squadrons of reconnaissance aircraft, 6 squadrons of bombers, and 2 squadrons of liaison aircraft.

The 1st Floating Group, consisting of 9 squadrons of attack airships. Equipped with strong clouds and purple clouds large attack airships.

The 2nd Floating Group, consisting of 6 squadrons of attack airships and 6 squadrons of reconnaissance airships. Equipped with Qingyun light attack airship and Pingyun reconnaissance airship.

A total of 2 liaison squadrons, 11 reconnaissance squadrons, 12 bomber squadrons, 15 attack airship squadrons and 6 reconnaissance airship squadrons.

Equipment: 121 reconnaissance aircraft of various types, 22 liaison aircraft, 120 light bombers, 11 Qiangyun heavy attack airships, 22 Ziyun medium attack airships, 24 Qingyun light attack airships and 24 Pingyun reconnaissance/school shooting airships. A total of 263 aircraft and 81 airships accounted for 71 per cent and 92 per cent of the weapons available to the various floating units at that time, respectively.

The task of the Front was to cooperate with the army and navy in the appropriate weather conditions between the end of May and the beginning of June to carry out the "swarm" operation.

More than 1,000 kilometers away from Beijing, around Artyom, a swarm of bees is gently rubbing their wings, waiting for the flowers to extract nectar.