The Eighth Regiment of the Soviet Cavalry was stationed outside the city of Yining, all the artillery pieces were removed and entered the predetermined position, and hundreds of fighters of the Air Force also took off and landed frequently, and the officers and men all wore dark green M15 steel helmets and carried Mosinagan rifles, and entered a state of combat readiness amid the roaring sound of tanks, ready to kill Dihua in the south at any time.

Compared with the sabre-rattling troops outside the city, the atmosphere of war in Yining City is too good. There are few pedestrians on the streets, and even a few shops are open, and everyone knows that when the cannon goes off, no matter which side wins, it is always the people who suffer the most.

However, Sheng Shicai and Vasilyev, the head of the Soviet military advisers, did not feel this way, and they were thinking about how to solve the current dilemma.

After the 8th Regiment of the Soviet Cavalry secretly entered the country, it was stationed in Yining, and the headquarters was naturally located in Yining. Commander Vasilyev was very fond of this city south of the Yangtze River, although it was already early winter, but it was not as frightening cold as in Ukraine, the sky had not yet snowed, and the warm sun shone on people.

Vasilyev took off his bulky boots and stepped on the teak floor with a big belly, holding a bowl of beetroot soup in his hand, tasting it from time to time and making a sound of praise.

Sheng Shicai, who was sitting on the sidelines, was impatient, he had been upset for the past few days, and the Soviets had promised to send troops to help, and sent the well-equipped Eighth Cavalry Regiment to secretly enter the country. Originally, they wanted to drag the Soviets into this troubled water, but at the moment of the great enemy, the attitude of the Soviets became vague, and it was obvious that they did not want to have a direct conflict with Nanjing.

But in this case, just relying on the tens of thousands of remnants under his hands, he is not Lin Zuoda's opponent at all.

Sheng Shicai was very anxious, and now he could only count on the big fat man of Ukraine in front of him, although he didn't like this person who looked like a pig at all.

"General Vasilyev, the intelligence sent ten minutes ago, Lin Zuoda's vanguard is only a few hundred miles away from us, and now if we don't take the initiative to attack, I'm afraid that in less than three days, our current room will become Lin Zuoda's headquarters." Sheng Shicai could no longer sit still, he paced back and forth and said to Vasilyev.

But Vasilyev didn't think so, he took a sip of beetroot soup, and then smiled contemptuously: "General Sheng Shicai, you are our friend." You can rest assured, we will not indulge Nanjing's army to fight Yining, not only Yining, but also Dihua and Hami, and the whole of Xinjiang will be yours. ”

Vasilyev's words did not bring any excitement to Sheng Shicai, the big war was imminent, and there was not even a rough battle plan, so what to fight with the well-trained and well-equipped Wehrmacht Fifth Army?

"Whatever you want, but I want to remind you that the Wehrmacht is in the limelight now, and Yining and they will definitely take it down, and if they miss the best combat opportunity, the consequences will be unimaginable." Sheng Shicai's tone also became flat, and he had roughly figured out the thoughts of the Soviet authorities.

Vasilyev smiled: "Comrade General, you send your team first." Just consume them, and we will solve the rest, the battle plan that your staff comrades gave me before was too unsuccessful, we don't cooperate with you, we will fight ours! Rest assured, not only Yining, but the whole of Xinjiang will be yours! ”

Vasilyev said confidently, and while he spoke, he was still eating by himself. Such an arrogant attitude really makes people feel bad.

Thinking of this, Sheng Shicai was angry, but angry is angry, he is a person who is familiar with the laws of politics after all, and it is his goal to maximize his interests by using his strength, what is Vasilyev's arrogance?

"Then there will be work!" Sheng Shicai said a sentence without being salty and walked out.

After Sheng Shi walked out of the door, Nikolai, the chief of staff standing on the side, walked up to Vasilyev and shook his head uncontrollably.

Vasilyev put the beetroot soup in his hand on the table and asked with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, are you questioning my military deployment?" ”

Nikolai had raised objections to Vasilyev's military deployment in his heart, but it was rejected in the vote of the Military Council, and now that Comrade Vasilyev had said so, he did not shy away from saying: "Comrade Commander, I mean that the enemy army is a well-armed army, and they are now less than two hundred miles away from us, but our army is only in a defensive posture. I mean, the best way to fight right now should be to be proactive. ”

Nikolai bluntly put forward his opinion, he and Vasilyev have worked together for a short time, although they do not know very well, but he knows that as a high-ranking military commander of the party, he does not understand why Vasily made such a low-level mistake.

"Hahaha!" Vasilyev burst out laughing.

This smile made Nikolai's heart furious, what did it mean?

Seeing Nikolai's constipation-like expression, Vasilyev patted him on the shoulder and said: "Well, my comrade chief of staff, in fact, I have no intention of taking the initiative to attack the Wehrmacht at all. ”

Nikolai was even more puzzled, in fact, when Vasilyev was stationed in Yinin a few days ago, the comrades in Moscow clearly told him the bottom line of the operation.

Similarly, as a person who often wanders in political struggles, he also knows very well in his heart that the symbolic significance of this army sent by the Soviets is greater than the practical significance, and the Soviet troops disguised as the "naturalized army" can participate in the battle against Ma Zhongying, but the Eighth Regiment must not participate in the battle, at least not take the initiative.

But Nikolai doesn't know about this, these are very high-level secrets, and a chief of staff like Nikolai must not know about it, otherwise he, the chief of staff, will not work hard.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I would like to ask you, what did the party send us to Xinjiang for?" Vasilyevran asked with interest.

Nikolai did not understand why Vasilyev asked such a question, he frowned and said: "Naturally, for our safety here." The geographical location of Xinjiang is very important, the British, the Japanese, and of course the Chinese, if they take full control of Xinjiang, there will be a threat to our country, which is inevitable. ”

Vasilyev picked up his pipe and lit it, took a sip, and touched his Prussian beard from time to time: "Sheng Shicai is a very smart person, and he is also a person who can control. He knows exactly what he wants, and he knows what we want. In Xinjiang, if we help him expel the Nanking government, other warlords, and Hui people, he will help him get what he deserves, and these are the most important things, but a head-on war conflict with the Nanjing government is the lowest way. ”

Nikolai seemed a little puzzled, and he continued to ask: "Then why are we still here?" ”

Vasilyev touched his mustache again and said: "If we are not here, the Chinese army will fight here, they will drive Sheng Shicai away or simply kill it, and then Yining, and even the whole of Xinjiang, will become a direct area of the Nanjing government, and it will be difficult for us to gain a foothold here." ”

"So, Moscow gave us the bottom line is to hold Yining, if Yining can't hold it, then we will completely lose Xinjiang, do you understand?"

Having said that, Nikolai must have understood that in many cases war is the last and lowest means, and that the most important thing is to surrender without a fight.

However, Nikolai still did not understand a little, and he continued to ask: "Comrade commander, what if the army of Nanking wants to attack us? ”

"That's why I asked you to deploy the battle now, if they really dare to shoot at Hongjun, then destroy them!" Vasilyev said with a smile and confidence.

Vasilyev and the Moscow authorities behind him determined that the Soviet government's dispatch of an 8th Cavalry Regiment had demonstrated their intransigence, which would cause the Nanjing side to wake up accordingly.

It is precisely in view of this that they will not have a real war with the other side, and when the Nanjing government will send people to contact the Soviet side, after some tug-of-war negotiations, they will reach some tacit agreement with the Nanjing government, that is, to retain Yining as the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, which will be governed by Sheng Shicai, and will still nominally belong to the Nanjing government, which is actually the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union.

This is the biggest concession made by the Soviet side, and it is also their bottom line. They believed that Nanjing would reach a tacit understanding with them, and their army would stop outside Yining, and in order to achieve this goal, they did not hesitate to send troops across the border to enter Yining.

However, this time the Soviet authorities had miscalculated the situation. By the time they made a deterrent deployment, the main force of the Fifth Army led by Lin Zuoda had already spread out around the entire line of Yining. More than 10,000 motorized troops quietly entered the combat position, and they had surrounded the Soviet Union from all sides, but Vasilyev and his elite 8th Cavalry Regiment did not know about it.

They didn't know it, and neither did the party elites in Moscow, thousands of miles away, who thought that they could deter the Nanking government by this means, but this time they were wrong.

Because they did not know Huang Ke at all, let alone the beliefs and political demands of the Wehrmacht, Huang Ke hoped to declare to the people of China through the two wars against Japan and the Soviet Union that this government was no longer a cowardly and incompetent government that had nothing to do with them!

Dawn was quiet, Lin Zuo raised his binoculars and looked at Yining City through the autumn mist, he had already sent messengers to send letters to the city, if they didn't reply before dark, then he would use artillery fire to capture the city.