Although Zhukov was stupid about Steln's stupid performance in this battle, he still agreed with Sztern's analysis, especially the third reason, I didn't understand why Chen Feng's department handed over all the Soviet Volunteer Air Force to China to the command of the Chiang regime at the most critical juncture, and now he knows that what volunteer pilots have too many casualties, this is all an excuse, the real reason is that Chen Feng's department has a fighter with performance far exceeding that of the I-16 fighter, and people are worried that the Soviet pilots will know this secret, from this point of view, Šteln's statement that Chen Feng's department had premeditated it is also completely valid.

Zhukov was silent for a while, and then said: "Šteln's analysis is very reasonable, first of all, we should really find the reason from ourselves. Throughout the history of wars in the world, there is no such thing as a victorious general, and even Napoleon, who swept across Europe, had the shame of defeat at Waterloo. In the same way, the victorious army did not exist, and the invincible Cossack cavalry was sometimes besieged by the workers and peasants. The only ones who can really stand at the pinnacle of the world are those iron-blooded teams who are not arrogant or discouraged when they win, and it is not terrible to fail, but what is terrible is not to learn from failures, and then repeat the mistakes of the past again and again. ”

"Comrades, of course, this defeat was a shameless sneak attack by the Chinese, but the most important reason is still in ourselves, how many troops do the Chinese have? Hundreds of thousands of people, what about the great Soviet Union? Millions of troops, even the total strength of the Far Eastern Front is four or five hundred thousand, plus the more than 100,000 troops of the Mongolian Republic, at least we are not much less than the Chinese in terms of troops. Speaking of weapons and equipment and the subsequent level of supply, the Chinese are far inferior to us. According to reliable information, the army fighting against us was no more than a militia regiment three years ago, with a total strength of no more than 1,000 people, and their food and supplies were not allocated by the government, but were raised by themselves. Weapons and equipment are not produced by themselves, but are all dependent on foreign purchases and battlefield captures. Two years ago, in the battle sequence of this army, there were weapons and equipment produced by the Chinese themselves, captured Japanese weapons, and weapons and equipment from other countries purchased abroad. It can be said that it is completely a universal brand corps. But now they can beat us head-on. Or even total annihilation, which shows that they are developing, they are progressing, and we don't know anything about it. They also arrogantly believe that the greatest enemy of the Far East is only Japan. Look down on the Chinese at all. That's why it was a fiasco at this time. ”

"Comrade Zhukov, then what should we do now?" Štelndao.

"Now that we know why we failed, the rest will be easy. The Chinese have only one chance to sneak attack. They played well, but we won't give them any more opportunities like this in the next few days. First of all, we must figure out the movements of the Chinese, judge their intentions, and if the Chinese are just trying to teach the great Soviet Union a lesson, then we can fight and take diplomatic means to solve this matter. If the Chinese are trying to completely destroy the Red Army in the Far East, or if there are other attempts, then we will face an extremely difficult test. Zhukov said.

Shiteln frowned and said: "I think diplomatic means may not be able to solve this matter, after all, the Chinese did not stop at the shallow taste this time, but completely surrounded and annihilated Khacherov's department, which shows that the Chinese are ready for war!" ”

"Šteln, you just saw the surface of the matter, this time the Chinese seem to have no intention of leaving any way back for themselves, but before the war broke out, Chen Feng did not reject peace talks, and was even willing to personally hold talks with me, but because the front line suddenly reported that the pilot of the two countries was shot down, the peace talks were forced to run aground, plus later our army went deep into the periphery of the second company, and the soldiers had already entered the defense area of Chen Feng's department, and the misunderstanding became bigger and bigger, so there was yesterday's tragedy. But in essence, Chen Feng was not necessarily willing to go to war with the Soviet Union. Zhukov replied.

"If you don't want to go to war with us, then why do you want to encircle and annihilate Khacherov's department?"

"Steern, war is a continuation of politics, and in order to gain the initiative in peace talks, Chen Feng's war with the Soviet Union is inevitable, unless Comrade Stalin is willing to make major concessions in peace talks. But this is obviously impossible, Comrade Stalin has a strong personality and never succumbs to anyone's threats, let alone bows to the weak. But now it is different, after this battle, Chen Feng has proved to the world that he and his army are not weak, and he is qualified to talk to the Soviet Union directly. ”

Many people understand what Zhukov means, but they still don't know what Zhukov is going to do next. Šteln continued: "Could it be that the next thing we do is to monitor the movements of the Chinese?" And then wait for negotiations? ”

Zhukov smiled and said: "Again, the war is a continuation of politics, and the Chinese launched this war in order to gain the initiative in negotiations, and their purpose has been achieved." But in order to prove whether they really have the strength to negotiate face-to-face with the Soviet Union, and at the same time to gain the initiative in negotiations, we still have to fight, and whoever wins the war will be able to gain the initiative in the war! ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, they were really unwilling to fail like this, and the most important thing was that the defeat was unclear.

"Now I announce the next action, in view of the great strength of the Chinese, so we must concentrate a strong force into the territory of the Republic of Mongolia, so I order: From now on, the first special group will be formed, and the first special group of the Red Banner Army, the 35th mechanized army, the ninth army of the air force, the 10th mechanized army, the 14th army, the 32nd tank division, the 36th division, the 58th division, and the 2nd, 4th, 9th, 13th, and 18th artillery brigades will be transferred to the first special group. What are the opinions of the comrades on the transfer of troops? Zhukov said loudly.

At that time, the First Political Commissar and Chief of Staff of the Far Eastern Front, I. Lieutenant General P. Apanashchenko got up and said: "Comrade Zhukov, is it a bit of a fuss to transfer 2 army groups and an air group army at once, in addition to 2 mechanized corps and 3 tank divisions and 5 artillery brigades?" ”

"Apanashchenko, we still don't know how many troops Chen Feng's troops have stationed on the Sino-Mongolian border, but with my understanding of Chen Feng, he is a very resolute person, and his character is very strong, since he has decided to go to war with the Soviet Union, then the number of border troops will definitely not be less than 100,000, this is the most conservative estimate, it is absolutely necessary for us to mobilize so many troops for the sake of insurance."

After saying this, Zhukov continued: "This is only the first stage of troop transfers, and after these troops are in place, we will also apply to Moscow to transfer the newly formed 10th Army of the Air Force to the Far East to use our newly equipped new fighters against the Chinese's new fighters." ”

"Shiteln, when will these troops I asked for be in place?" Zhukov asked quickly.

Shitern thought for a moment and replied: "The First Red Banner Army is stationed in the territory of the Republic of Mongolia and can enter Kulen at any time. The mechanized 35th Army is still in Boli and will take at least four days to arrive, and several other units will need a few days to move, and it will take at least a week to wait for all the troops to be in place. ”

Zhukov said: "A week is a bit long, I will give you 5 days, within 5 days I want all these troops to gather in Kulen, if there are still troops in 5 days can not arrive, you personally go and explain to Comrade Stalin!" ”

"Yes, mission guaranteed!" Šteln said loudly.

"Very well, I am also the commander-in-chief of the first special cluster, the deputy commander-in-chief is Shteln, the chief of staff is Apanashchenko, and the intelligence officer is Yemenov. The deputy commander-in-chief is responsible for troop mobilization, the intelligence officer is responsible for intelligence gathering, and the chief of staff and I are responsible for formulating specific operations. ”

"Got it!!"

"Adjournment!"

I have to admire Zhukov, he did not immediately mobilize troops to launch a new attack on Chen Feng's department, but planned and then moved, so many troops lost before seemed to have nothing to do with him, extremely calm, which made Chen Feng, who was ready to attack the Soviet Red Army head-on, extremely depressed.

On 3 June, intelligence officers lurking in Outer Mongolia reported the latest movements of the Soviet-Mongolian coalition forces, and although the atmosphere in Outer Mongolia was somewhat tense, the reaction from the ruling stratum to the ordinary people was relatively calm and there was not much panic. And from the 3rd, troops have been stationed in Kulen, including the Mongolian Defense Forces and the Soviet Army, and in general the strength of the Soviet Army is more than the Mongolian Army!

Chen Feng judged that the Soviet-Mongolian coalition army had only now entered the stage of dispatching new troops, and it would take at least three to five days, which was a good opportunity for the eighth theater, so Chen Feng ordered the troops to immediately replenish ammunition by car, and then go north along the railway line, and he wanted to attack Kulun directly.

After all, although the entire area of Outer Mongolia is 1.5 million square kilometers, its total population is only more than 1 million, and the residence is very scattered, even its capital Kulun is only a permanent population of more than 100,000 people, which is not as good as a medium-sized county town in Saibei Province, and it is not conducive to defense if it is defeated, but because the border line is greatly extended, and at the same time it borders the Soviet Union, resulting in the Eighth Theater having to invest a large number of troops to deal with the Soviet Union, which has a great conflict with Chen Feng's next plan.

Although there was little practical benefit to taking Kulen, Chen Feng was clear about the political implications, which showed that the Chinese never recognized the so-called Mongolian Republic, let alone the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Treaty regarding the disposition of China's Outer Mongolia, Northeast China, and North China.

Secondly, the capture of Kulen will deter the separatists after all, and make them realize that their plot will not succeed so easily. Of course, the shock of the capture of Kulen to the Soviet Union can also be imagined, as long as the capture of Kulen and the defeat of the nearby Soviet army, then there is no need to continue the war between the Eighth Theater and the Soviet Union, and the rest of the matter will be resolved at the negotiating table. (To be continued......)