In Siberia, the Russian army created a new command of the "Post-Ural Front".

A tall, slender infantry general with a slender mustache and another cavalry lieutenant general with a broad face and a sheep's horn beard walked side by side into the conference hall on the second floor of the headquarters, where seven or eight generals who had been waiting for a long time stood up and saluted at the same time, and one of the old lieutenant generals with a gray beard took the lead in shouting: "Salute to Commander Brusilov - he will lead us to drive the yellow monkey back to his hometown!" ”

"Salute to Commander Brusilov! Drive the yellow monkeys back to their hometown! ”

The tall and lanky admiral, none other than the famous Brusilov, saluted gracefully, and then pressed his hands down in the air: "Sit down, we are running out of time." ”

After everyone was seated, Brusilov turned to the cavalry lieutenant general wearing a Cossack fur hat next to him - Mikhail Ilyich Nakasi, the former chief of the Imperial Armored Forces: + The chief of staff gave the latest update on the battle. ”

"Yes."

Nakasidze took off his fur hat, strode over to the map rack, raised his whip and pointed.

"From Baikal to Turkestan, more than a million squadrons are attacking us at the same time, and it is clear that this is exactly what they have been planning for a long time."

"On the Baikal side in the east, Pareev's Eastern Siberian Front was once again attacked by the enemy's superior forces, and the enemy used a sizable armored mobile corps to outflank the main forces of the front from the flanks and rear, in an attempt to fight a more ambitious Ulan-Ude battle and wipe out the entire Eastern Siberian Front around Irkutsk."

"As for Turkestan to the west, following the fall of the capital Tashkent, the enemy is constantly approaching Persia and the Caspian side with a composite corps of army group size, intending to cut off our Caspian Persian external communication lines. The Turkestan Front, which had already suffered heavy losses and had not been replenished for a long time, was simply powerless to resist. ”

"In the direction of our place, that is, on the side of the steppe governorate, a large number of Chinese troops, including armored mobile regiments, are rapidly advancing northward, and yesterday, Ayaguz, which is the outpost of the intended counteroffensive, was lost, and a group of trains carrying the materials needed for the counteroffensive was captured, and it is believed that the enemy will make full use of these trains to improve the efficiency of their supply and transshipment, so that they can reach the second-line stronghold on the Irtysh River - Semipalatinsk earlier."

"The base camp, having fully understood the above situation, issued the following order to the army: first, the main forces should choose an ambush between Semipalatinsk and Barnaul. When the enemy's rapid assault force was out of touch with the follow-up main force, it made a decisive attack and encircled and annihilated the enemy's assault force with a well-organized and coordinated attack. ”

"Second, after annihilating the enemy's rapid assault force, the main forces quickly regrouped and threw themselves into a counteroffensive with all their might, capturing the enemy's transportation hub Akdouka and cutting off the enemy's Turkestan group's lines of communication before the enemy Turkestan group and domestic reserves arrived. At that time, it will cooperate with the reorganized Turkish Sta Front to encircle the enemy army. Recover all of Turkestan and keep the Caspian-Persian line of communication. ”

"Third. The first part of the front army marched eastward and broke through with the East Siberian front. Immediately after the successful breakthrough of the East Siberian Front, a scorched earth policy was fully implemented east of Krasnoyarsk, holding back the enemy as much as possible. Krasnoyarsk should hold out as much as possible until Turkestan is recaptured or the main forces of the Front return to freedom of maneuver. ”

Hearing this, Brusilov nodded to Nakasidze: "Let's get here first, what do you think, let's talk about it." ”

"If you don't have an opinion, whatever the commander says, we will do." Balakovov, a white-bearded veteran and commander of the 54th Army, who had just taken the lead in shouting slogans, once again spoke first.

The commander of the 53rd Army, who was in the prime of life, was a little worried: "The main group on the Akdouka side has two armies. One of them was the tank army, which had four or five hundred tanks, and although we had three infantry armies plus two independent armies, there were very few tanks and aircraft. Artillery also lacks ammunition, how to eat the enemy? Not to mention anything else, just that bunch of tanks can't take it. ”

The outspoken commander of the 51st Army, Hovlin, also came to help: "Yes. Tanks are a big problem, and the war over the past six months has proven that bayonets, sabers, machine guns, artillery, and even our own tanks are no match for Chinese tanks. Together? Destroy? Who's in the encirclement? Who annihilates whom? ”

The corners of Brusilov's mouth furrowed, and he hugged his hands to his chest: "Is there anything else to say?" ”

"In any case, the orders of the base camp must be carried out." Balakovov said hard-mouthed.

Hovrin sneered slightly mockingly: "How to execute? Sabre chop tank? Flesh fights steel? ”

"His Majesty the Tsar said that aircraft, tanks, artillery, and ammunition will be given priority to our own front army, and as long as we are confident that we can recover Turkestan, keep the Persian line of communication, and then reverse the overall situation of the Chinese front, we will meet any requirements of our territory to the greatest extent." Nakasidze cheered.

"The technical and technical weapons units that have been assigned to this army are: one tank brigade and one armored automobile brigade organized with reference to the enemy's tank units, with a total of seventy tanks, two hundred and ten armored vehicles, and four armored trains. Ten squadrons of 150 aircraft of various types, trained by British and French instructors. Anti-tank guns converted from naval small-caliber rapid-fire guns and cavalry guns, four guns were organized into a company, for a total of 25 companies. The anti-aircraft guns provided by Britain and France were also organized into a company with four guns, for a total of 12 companies. The heavy artillery brigade directly under the base camp and the six most modern large-caliber heavy artillery batteries in the empire were also given to us. The ammunition and fuel reserves of the above units are based on three combat divisions. ”

After listening to Nakasidze's addition, Brusilov looked around at the generals: "Are there any other questions?" ”

"The most rearly powerful land of the empire is here." Nakasidze added meaningfully.

"Even if you double the blood capital, it may not be ......," Khoflin muttered in a low voice, and was pulled by Panlyotev in the next seat, and turned into silence with interest.

"Commander, do it! We listen to you! You can't live up to the high hopes of His Majesty the Tsar! Balakovov shook his white beard with great excitement, as if his beloved Tsar had kissed his wrinkled old face a minute earlier.

"We have two tasks, one is to recover Turkestan, and the other is to rescue the Eastern Siberian Front, judging by the wording of the order, the former is the main one, and the latter is a secondary one. I would venture to ask, then, if the situation changes and we have to use more troops to accomplish the main task, can we not hesitate to give up the secondary task to ensure the achievement of the main task? Panlyotsev put it mildly to pick a thorn.

Nakasidze and Brusilov looked at each other, blinked, and responded word by word: "Priority is given to Turkestan." On the East Siberian side, do what you can. ”