While Lin Youde was flirting with his sister-in-law, Iron Ji, who also got today's battle report, was camping in Minsk and was furious.

"Forty-six divisions were invested, a one-day storm, more than 70,000 casualties, but no breakthrough was made?" Iron Ji took her high heels and banged on the table, "Did you grow up in ****?" The enemy has a frontal of at most twenty-five divisions! In terms of troops, we are twice as large as the enemy! And also focused on a couple of major breaking points! We have also invested in the absolutely superior battle queen troops, but now we have not made a breakthrough? ”

"Your Excellency," the commander of the Belarusian Front, Mikhail? Grigoryevich? Lieutenant General Yefremov cautiously said, "It was not completely fruitless, we succeeded in forcing the Polish troops on both flanks of the German position to retreat, and for a time we also controlled an area about 10 kilometers embedded in the German-controlled area on the German front, but the follow-up speed of our follow-up troops was too slow, and the counterattack of the German army was effective." ”

"I want a breakthrough! If forty-six divisions can't make a breakthrough, I can't think of any reason to keep your useless head! ”

"Your Excellency," Yefremov was not intimidated by the naked threat of the Iron Lady, and he continued to state his position, "judging from the state of the battlefield, the combat effectiveness of the German regular forces is higher than that of our army, and in addition they have built quite good fortifications and occupy an advantageous position, our army must devote more troops if it wants to break through the German line with strict and backward weapons and equipment. Even if you can't commit more troops, I hope you can double the artillery firepower of our army. ”

"You're going to get more troops." Natalia said before Iron Ji could speak, "It's just spring when the snow melts, and the artillery unit has to advance in the mud, I'm afraid I won't be able to increase the number of artillery pieces for you anytime soon." If the Poles hadn't blown up as many railways as they retreated, maybe you would have gotten the artillery you wanted sooner, but for now, I can only continue to provide you with follow-up infantry units. ”

"I also need air support, we have been under the aerial reconnaissance of the Germans, the enemy's air force has caused us very large losses, tomorrow's combat operation, I hope that the flying battle Ji team will not join the offensive and will be responsible for battlefield air defense."

"Then you have to ask the Poles' flying warriors if they are happy." Natalia paused, "However, today our Flying Warriors have a relatively good exchange ratio, and the Poles will probably not leave the skies above their ground forces lightly until the German Flying Warrior troops enter the battle." ”

"Natalia." Iron Ji finally frowned and said, "I'm angry. ”

"Okay, please continue to be angry at the commander who didn't complete the mission."

Iron Ji stared at Natalia for a few seconds, sighed, bent down to put on her high heels, and straightened up again with a completely different expression on her face than it had just been.

"To be honest, I didn't expect you to make much of a breakthrough on the first day," her gaze swept over the faces of the generals of the Belorussian Front in turn, "My war plan was to completely destroy the Germans with numerical superiority, and I have six million troops on the entire Western Front, and many more are being armed. Eighty thousand casualties are not trivial at all. Mikhail? Grigorievich, how many of the troops that are attacking today are still moving? ”

"The three divisions are completely dispersed, the eleven divisions must be retreated and regrouped, and most of the remaining divisions are intact and can continue to attack, Your Excellency."

"All of them are put into it, and the troops who arrived at the front line tonight are all put into it, and those who still have the energy to fight at night will be put into the night battle. Tomorrow early in the morning the attack will start again, regardless of whether there is artillery fire ready or not, rush forward and open fire on the Germans, that's it. Of course, the roundabout operation of the positions of the Polish army in Tongguò must also continue. The 1st Ukrainian Front is about to capture Lublin, and their advance is now in Poławi, just over a hundred kilometers from Warsaw. If you can get to Warsaw in advance, you will be the first general to be awarded and promoted in this war, and if you can't, I will promote General Gilponos of the 1st Ukrainian Front, and then hand over your army to Marshal Timoshenko, and you will go to the Siberian labor camp, understand? ”

"Yes, Your Excellency." Yefremov nodded with a stern expression.

Iron Ji stared into his eyes and emphasized again: "Regardless of casualties, we now have a steady stream of arms coming along the Siberian Railway, a large number of troops are being formed, I can replenish the front line with 600,000 people every month, you know, 600,000." So you can rest assured and boldly send the troops up. ”

At this time, Budyonny, who had not spoken, said: "Shouldn't we give more training to our soldiers so that they can master more combat skills?" ”

"There's no need for that. Do you have any instructors who can teach them the skills to fight the Germans today? No, no, the current German army is a new type of army, the British have already been defeated by them, and so are the French. And in Turkey, we also lost. Iron Ji's words made the faces of the Russian generals present not look particularly good, after all, they are all soldiers and have self-esteem, but Iron Ji continued nonchalantly, "If we want to learn how to defeat them, we must learn on the battlefield and use blood as tuition." Not only the soldiers had to learn the combat methods of dealing with the German army, but the generals also had to learn the tactics of dealing with the German army, and it was useless to just look at Lin Youde's military writings. ”

The Russian generals looked at each other.

To be honest, the Iron Ji at this moment and the Iron Ji in the furious state just now are fundamentally like two people.

Steel can be a cold, hard solid state, or a fiery liquid state, both forms of steel are embodied in this little tyrant, which is why she is called Iron Queen.

Iron Ji glanced at Natalia, who immediately took out her pocket watch to confirm the time.

"It's getting late, let's go back to your headquarters. Tomorrow - no, today Buddha Xiao, you still have a lot of things to do. As soon as Natalia's eviction order was over, the Russian generals stood up in unison, bowed to the Iron Queen, and then turned around and left.

With only Iron Ji and Natalia left in the room, she asked Natalia softly, "In the future, what will historians say about the order I just given?" ”

"They'll say you're a tyrant, an authoritarian dictator."

"That's right." Iron Ji grinned, "That's what they say about Catherine the Great now. But no one can deny that Catherine the Great is a hero of Russia. ”

"Yes, no one can deny it." Natalia responded heartily.

Iron Ji stood up, her hands behind her back, and stared at the door of the chamber. She was silent for a few moments before she said, "You didn't expect my last words, did you?" ”

"yes, I didn't expect that."

"Actually, after my defeat in Turkey, I was seriously reflecting on this. But at that time, I wanted to rid the country of those moths, and I needed the support of the army, especially those generals who had made their fortunes in the last war, and who were not themselves from great aristocratic backgrounds. That's why I've kept such a large cavalry unit until now, and I've had my soldiers use the reliable and accurate Mosin Nagant. If I had become a dictator sooner, I would have been able to equip my troops with automatic weapons in batches, completely eliminate Mosin Nagant, and completely eliminate the useless cavalry units. ”

Iron Ji shook his head: "Of course, that does not guarantee that our troops will have the same combat efficiency as the German army, and we are too far behind the modern German army run by Lin Youde himself in many places." But at least it will not be like now, concentrating forces and fighting for a whole day, but even the German defense line cannot be shaken. Did you see the battle report? We concentrated five divisions to assault the positions of the German Genghis Khan division, but were taken back before nightfall. This gap is no longer something that weapons can create. ”

"This is actually normal, these divisions that have no numbers and only names are all descendants of Lin Youde's troops, similar to our guards." Natalia said to Iron Ji in a soft tone, "Fighting with five divisions of ordinary Cossack and Guards units, I think will produce similar results." ”

Iron Ji glanced at Natalia and then grinned, "That's right, you have a point. ”

**

Seryosha leaned on the wheels of the carriage and looked at the bonfire in front of him.

Not far from him was the medical station, where the wails of the wounded had faded, and the ones who had been howling when they had just withdrawn in the evening were probably either dead or—or dying.

Seryosha turned his head to look at Mishka and saw that the poor mouth was also the face of a dying man—though he was as uninjured as himself. Gregory was stirring the soup in the jar on the campfire, and the taste of the food was the only thing that could make Seryosha feel better at the moment.

Today, Seryosha's unit naturally participated in the attack, and as a result, they learned fiercely the ferocious firepower of the Germans. For a time, they occupied the core of the village, but they were unable to take the church that the Germans were holding.

In order to take the church, Seryosha rode to the headquarters and asked for a cannon to prepare to shoot at the church at zero distance, who knew that the artillerymen had just entered the village with the horses pulling the cannons, and the lookout post found that the German tanks were approaching, so the artillerymen dragged the guns to the edge of the village and fired at the tanks, but they didn't use it.

Then the troops, who had been fighting for a day, could not withstand the counterattack of the Germans and retreated.

After such a day, there was nothing to be done about demoralization, but after retreating, Seryosha and the others found that the field ambulance had advanced to their starting position - the military doctors were full of thoughts that today Seryosha would spend the night in the enemy's position, and this would become the rear......

The wailing of wounded in the field post was simply a poison of morale, and now Seryosha began to suspect that the war could not be fought.

At this moment, Mishka suddenly raised her head.

"What's wrong?" As soon as Seryosha asked, he heard a voice that stimulated Mishka.

That's singing.

Many of the Cossack war songs are heavy and pathetic, and when you sing them, you can imagine the tragedy of the Cossacks dying in battle, but this one is different.

Seryosha stood up, walked slowly to the rutted dirt road, and looked along the road in the direction from which the song had come.

He saw a group of soldiers marching in this direction with a neat pace as if they were inspecting.

Their rifles were all brightly lit with bayonets, and the forest of spears swayed regularly with a neat pace, reflecting the light of the campfire.

The procession quickly marched in front of Seryosha.

The soldiers in the queue wore the traditional black fur hats of the Cossacks, and under the hats there was a moustache almost out of a mold, and hidden under the beard was an expression of fortitude.

No one glanced at Seryosha on the side of the road, they all looked firmly ahead, their chins held high, their chests held high, and their neat steps seemed to be drums and loud songs.

The sound of horses' hooves was heard, and a group of officers on thoroughbred Don hippos walked along the procession, each of them wearing a black cloak, a shining gilded saber hanging from his waist, and a double-headed eagle carved hilt that shook up and down with the movement of the horse.

Seryosha carefully looked at the flag carried by the riders carrying the flag at the back of the officer corps.

On the banner, which was almost a man high, the tsar's double-headed eagle was staring at Seryosha with a sharp gaze.

By this time almost all the Cossacks had risen to their feet, and someone shouted: "the Hans!" ”

"Avenge the dead Cossacks!"

"Long live the Don!"

"For Russia!"

The chaotic cries of the Cossacks did not interfere with the loud military songs, and the 4th Guards Infantry Division of Tsarist Russia marched with firm steps towards the battlefield where a day of fierce fighting had been fought today.