Li is located in Baikalsk, at the southern end of Lake Baikal, where the northern front of the Chinese army and the terminus of the Northern Front railway are located.

At this time, the commander of the Front, Marshal Wang Zhi, and all the staff officers were sitting around a long dining table, which was empty, no one spoke, could not even hear people's breathing, and the air was condensed with a dying silence.

Before dawn, a few kerosene lamps hung high in the sky quietly shone a dim yellow light from behind the glass cover.

Opposite the marshal, under the shrine where the icon was once housed, hung a battle map two or three meters square, and several large and small blood-red arrows were pushed sideways from side to side, and the last one was closed from all sides, enclosing the blue trapezoidal marker marked "Irkutsk" on the western shore of Lake Baikal.

There was some noise outside the window, a bit like the sound of horses' hooves, and a staff officer opened the curtains, and the faint sky appeared at the end of the street, and nearby, with the help of burning torches, the sentinels were changing the guard.

The faint sound of ticking telegraph keys could be heard next door, and from time to time there was a short ringing of the telephone.

Wang Zhi took out his pocket watch and glanced at it, and nodded to the chief of staff on the side, General Xiang Lan.

There was a knock on the door, and Xiang Lan answered the word "Come in".

"Commander Zhao of the 3rd Regiment requested a call with the marshal."

"Take it in."

After Xiang Lan finished speaking, he lifted the telephone microphone from the small square table beside him and handed it to Wang Zhi with both hands.

"Hey, Zhao Minhe? Here we go? How's it going, is it still going well? Well, good, good...... Yes, yes, find a way to convince the enemy. That's right, we must not expose our intentions, and we must catch them off guard! Well, well, I know the way, the 4th Regiment Corps acted on time, the heavy artillery of the 1st Army was given to them, and the aviation support was temporarily prioritized over there, well, well. To convince the enemy...... You have to grasp the time well, after the 4th Regiment Army starts to move, you must be punctual, yes, you must move quickly, you must be fierce, you must open a good road for the armored troops, how are the Zhouqiao troops prepared? Well, good, good......"

Put down the phone. Wang Zhi breathed a sigh of relief, took off his military hat and put it on the table. He smiled at the staff officers and said: "Thank you for your hard work, the 3rd Regiment has moved, and then I need you to take turns on duty, everyone must eat well, rest well, and stay in the best condition at all times, now eat breakfast first." ”

The tension in the room seemed to melt in an instant, and the staff officers began to gossip in twos and threes, clapping hands to Lan and calling the orderlies, and ordering breakfast. Wang Zhi stood up, slowly walked to the map, and twisted his chin to look at it.

This operation, codenamed "Go to the Sick", was officially approved at the Imperial Council of the Base Camp a month ago, in fact. The "Sickness" operation was only one part of the summer offensive of the entire empire against Russia, and it was also planned to launch at the same time as the "Banchao" operation of the main force of the Northwest Front from the Balkhash side to the Novosibirsk Raider, the 10th Army from the Central Asian side to the Persian "Xianzhi" operation, and the 18th Army from the Tangnu Ulianghai side to the "Blue Jade" operation of the Kra~k Raider.

Compared to other operations mentioned above. In the first phase alone, 22 infantry divisions, 10 armored brigades, and 13 cavalry brigades were planned, and the aviation units attached to them consisted of 35 flying squadrons and 12 floating [.:) men, and technical weapons including about 1,200 armored fighting vehicles, 6 armored trains, 400 aircraft, and 24 airships. This does not include eleven infantry divisions and six cavalry brigades of the rear garrisons of the Front and subsequent reserves.

The purpose of the operation was also the most ambitious: to quickly break through the defense line of the Russian army on the Irkut River, encircle and annihilate the main forces of the East Siberian Front, uproot the Irkutsk fortress, and then march to Krasnorsk, join the division of the 18th Army advancing north along the Yenisei River, and then continue to advance westward. Coordinate the capture of the Novosibirsk fortress in order to achieve the strategic goal of pacifying Siberia within the year of the base camp.

The latest intelligence shows that most of the remaining seven infantry divisions and three cavalry divisions of the Russian army in front of the East Siberian Front suffered serious losses in the battle of Ulan-Ude at the beginning of the year.

However, taking advantage of the gap between our army and the lack of time to attack, the enemy built a fairly strong fortified defense line along the Irkut River with the Sayan Mountains in the west and Lake Baikal in the east.

The fortress is surrounded by water on three sides, the Angara River flows from the southwest of the fortress from south to north in Lake Baikal, and the river is hundreds of meters wide in summer. The Irkut River, which originates in the East Sayan Mountains, flows from west to east a few kilometers northwest of the fortress, and the water surface is more than 100 meters wide in summer, and there are basically no shoals to wade in the river near the fortress. The Ushakovka River, which originates in the Primorsky Mountains on the western bank of Baikal, flows through the north of the fortress and flows from east to west into the Angara River. More than ten kilometers to the east of the city is Binhu Mountain, on the other side of the mountain is the wide and deep Baikal Lake, the shore of the lake is many cliffs, it is not easy to land.

Unlike Ulan-Ude, the Trans-Siberian Railway does not pass directly through the Irkutsk fortress, but crosses the Irkut River from the north, with a station on the south bank of the Irkut River and a station on the west bank of the Angara River, forming an undefended new city on the west bank around it, however, the entire new city of the city, including the Irkut railway bridge, is under the fire of the fortress on the east bank of the Angara River.

In other words, whether the Chinese army wants to use the waterway to Novosibirsk or railway transportation, it must first pull out the big nail of Irkutsk.

It was not feasible to approach the fortress from the front of the battle line along the railway line, and it was simply suicidal to cross the wide Angara River in front of the reinforced concrete fortress batteries, while the enemy could use the railway to quickly transfer reserves and flank the besieging forces from the direction of the Irkut River, and the defenders of the fortress could be replenished through the Angara River.

The Irkut River must be broken through! Further. And from the north side of the fortress to cross Ann

, then crossed the Ushakovka River from the far east of the fortress to Lake Baikal, thus cutting off the fortress from the rear, surrounding it, and finally attacking from the east of the fortress, where there was no river barrier. At the same time, in order to facilitate follow-up operations, it is also necessary to divide and annihilate the Russian field units in the central and western parts of the defense line as much as possible, so as to prevent them from supporting the fortresses or retreating to establish a new defense line.

Breaking through the Irkut River is not a problem, and follow-up actions are quickly launched. Denying the enemy a chance to regroup their defenses is key.

Of course, it is necessary to choose the weak point of the river defense to force it over, build a solid bridgehead, and then throw into it the armored force that has proved its value through the battle of Ulan-Ude, and carry out a lightning assault of two or three hundred kilometers, outflank them, cut them off, surround them, and crush them!

The enemy's weak point was in the western section of the defensive line, near the Sayan Ridge. The river is shallow. There were even a few shoals that infantry could wade through, mostly surrounded by gentle grassy slopes and flat wheat fields interspersed with small pine-leaf forests. Suitable for cavalry and vehicle activities. Due to the long length of the defense line and the shortage of troops, the focus of the Russian army's defense was on the western section of the defense line of more than 40 kilometers in the eastern section. It was in this section that Zhao Minhe's 3rd Regiment fired the first shot of the "disease" operation, and yes, the task of the 3rd Regiment was to force the Irkut River from the western section of the front and build a bridge for the 1st Panzer Army behind it. However, the 3rd Army's actions just now were nothing more than a false shot: only a small number of troops were used, and not a single tank was used to support them. Artillery and aviation support was limited, and the assault forces lost momentum after capturing one or two bridgeheads, and the units involved were full of new recruits, with high morale but little experience. When it comes to fighting, it is often scrambling...... That's right, it's all for the enemy to see! It's all for ...... Make the enemy believe that we want them to believe in the earth.

In the afternoon of the same day, Irkutsk. Command of the Russian Eastern Siberian Front.

The commander, Admiral Baleyev, stomped heavily on the thick oak floor with a big belly, and the chief of staff, Major General Tokarev, who wore small glasses, stood by the telephone and did not say a word.

Pareyev took two big steps forward, turned mechanically, took two more steps, turned around, and while repeating this action, he said in fragments: "What is this called, what is this called?" We have nothing left but to wait here to die? God, how long will this fortress last? Earlier than Ulan-Ude, or late? The reinforcements are all dead...... Nakasidze, liar, your armor is pig-raised, I should have drowned you in Lake Baikal long ago...... Phew, waste my tea and honey. ”

"Suzu—"

The phone rang, and Tokarev nervously grabbed the phone.

—

"This is the front headquarters, speak."

"What? River bend? Zone 2? No? of the 1st Army? How to make it clear! Junctions? Broken through? Got tanks? ”

Bareyev frowned, stopped, and snatched the phone.

"I'm the commander, you say it again!"

"What? Do you see clearly? Hey, hey, are you louder? Is it a tank? And airplanes? How much? Be louder! Hey, hey, hey! Why don't you speak? Feed? ”

Baleyev slowly put down the phone, thought for a while, turned his head and instructed Tokarev: "Ask someone to check the line, in addition, send a team of planes to the bend of the river to have a look, and also, call Commander Gartning to meet me." ”

After speaking, he shook the handle of the phone and lifted the intercom: "Give me the 2nd Army Antonov." ”

After a while, Tokarev returned from delivering the order, and Paleyev had already put down the phone.

"The situation is clear, it seems that the previous battle on the side of Kryon was a smokescreen set by the enemy, in order to divert our attention from the real direction of attack...... River Bend! The direction of the enemy's main attack is in the bend of the river, in the middle of the battle line, and the crossing point of the river was specially chosen in the 1st and 2nd armies to take advantage of our loopholes, hum! They want to break through in the center, cut us in two, and then, and then what? The same means as in winter warfare, first break through in the center, and then cut us off and encircle, and break through each one! You can't be wrong, Antonov said, everything is coming, oversized shells, large swarms of planes, fleets of airships, yes, and tanks, new tanks, all big guys! How's that, in the past, wherever the enemy's main attack was located, there would definitely be big tanks, but now there are big tanks in the river bay, or new tanks that have never been seen before, this already says it all! ”

Tokarev immediately squeezed out a flattering smile: "This shows that your previous judgment was completely correct, leaving the reserves in your hands instead of rushing to Klyon, it is precisely in response to the real attack of the enemy, the enemy is cunning, but they can't fool you." ”

"Yes, you can't fool me, now I want the reserve to attack the river bend at night, outflank it from the root of the breach, knock out the bridgehead, and then destroy the enemy who has broken through!"

"Reserves...... Do you want to put it all in? "Tokarev was a little hesitant.

Bareyev touched his stomach and muttered for a while before he made up his mind: "Leave the 4th Division behind, and the rest will all attack, so that," he came to the map, picked up chalk and drew a few arrows casually, "the 8th from the front, the 9th Division from the left, the cavalry from the right, and so ordered." ”

In the western part of the battle line, in a dense coniferous forest south of Kreon, hundreds of mechanical monsters covered with fresh foliage lay like grains of rice.

This was the assembly area of the 1st Panzer Corps of the Chinese Army, and at this time 300 armored fighting vehicles and 700 automobile tractors had gathered.

The forest is surrounded by sentry posts, vehicles and personnel can only enter and exit, and there is always a small group of fighters patrolling back and forth in the sky. There was no cooking smoke in the woods, no military horns and military songs, and the green tents set up by the vehicles were also covered with thick blades of grass camouflage, and there were hardly any rut marks in the clearing, and there were very few people walking, not like an army, or rather, a barracks should be.

In the corner of the forest, next to a turretless tracked vehicle with a freshly painted and tall, open-top body, leaned on a middle-aged man with a gorgeous Tang knife and a broad face and square forehead, and the grass green Wehrmacht summer general's uniform wore a brand-new gold four-star general rank on both shoulders.

On the opposite side, a young general with a delicate face and an elegant temperament was sighing with his arms crossed.

"Commander, it's a pity."

The general known as the commander is none other than "Thousand Heads Chop" Xu Soul, the commander of the 1st Armored Army.