Wang Zhi stretched out his hand and clicked on the map: "To the east of Chita, in the past two or three days, the 1st and 2nd armies have hardly encountered organized resistance, and the progress has been extremely smooth. As for the rabbit cubs in the Ulan-Ude encirclement, they have jumped so hard in the past few days that the 2nd Praetorian Guard Army has been a little unbearable. What do you think about the general situation as of yesterday? ”

Zhao Feixue took a step forward: "I see that the enemy on the Chita side is about to escape." ”

Wang Zhi nodded meaningfully, took off the long woolen scarf around his neck, handed it to the adjutant behind him, and gestured to the generals: "If it's me, I should run away - sit, sit." ”

After the crowd sat down, Wang Zhicai leaned on the paper-strewn desk next to the map and continued: "The key is where will they flee from? ”

Zhao Feixue didn't think about it, and blurted out: "Drive along the railway to Ulan-Ude." ”

"Why don't you go any other way?"

"First, heavy snow covers the mountains, and taking the path in the Yablonov Mountains will inevitably discard a large number of heavy weapons and baggage, and may also lead to large-scale non-combat attrition, and even if the troops are freed, they will lose their combat effectiveness for a long time. Second, the speed of transporting troops by the railway line was fast, the supply was guaranteed, and it could carry heavy artillery, and it could quickly return to Chita when the battle situation was unfavorable. Thirdly, only by joining hands with the heavy army group in Selenginsk in the shortest possible time to break the siege of Ulan-Ude can the enemy of Chita be able to fundamentally extricate himself from the predicament and completely crush our attempts on the winter offensive. ”

Wang Zhi rubbed his hands in satisfaction by the fire that the adjutant had just lit: "Very good, then what are you going to do?" Don't count on the 1st and 2nd armies, they lack motor vehicles and cavalry, and they will spend time building railways - you can only solve the problem with the existing forces. ”

Zhao Feixue got up and walked to the map, and compared a section of the railway line southeast of Ulan-Ude: "I think it is possible to solve the problem between Petrovsk and Shilok." ”

"Go on."

"According to the report received this morning, the forward of the 4th Cavalry Army of Lieutenant General Xing Xiaoqiang has already entered Petrovsk, and behind the 4th Army, the main force of the 3rd Cavalry Army, the 1st Cavalry Army and the main force of the 7th Infantry Army have been lined up along the railway line. I intend to organize these forces into a group, under the unified command of Xing Xiaoqiang, to set up an ambush position between Petrovsk and Shilok further east, and send a small force of cavalry to lure the enemy from Chita over, and try to annihilate them in one fell swoop. ”

"The code name of the cluster is 'tongs', the tongs of the tongs, like walnuts, are broken twice and eaten." Wang Zhi put his fingers together, as if the walnut that had been compressed by tens of thousands of Russian soldiers had been annihilated in his hands.

"But—is that enough? The other party said that there is also an army, and heavy artillery is indispensable, can you swallow it in one bite? "Wang Zhi doesn't plan to stop here.

"I believe in Xing Xiaoqiang's ability, and I also believe in the strength of the 4th Army, the other units in the cluster have performed very well in previous operations, and more importantly, the several trains captured by the 4th Army in Onohoi can provide timely and reliable support for the cluster, and the troops will not lose their fighters due to supply problems——"

"A profound lesson from the last war...... Continental warfare, railways and trains are everything. Wang Zhi muttered in his heart, looked back at the adjutant who was taking notes, and then turned to Zhao Feixue: "Onohoi's 5th Army, don't move for the time being, you can leave there today and control this general reserve." Not a single soldier is allowed to move without my orders! ”

"Yes!"

Wang Zhi waved his hand to signal Zhao Feixue to return to his seat, glanced at Zhao Minhe, who was sitting in a precarious position, and said with a slightly aggressive sarcasm in his tone: "How about the 4th Group Army?" Do you figure out the situation? ”

Zhao Minhe got up with a "sigh": "Report to the commander, the enemy army is engaged in a large-scale offensive operation aimed at breaking the encirclement of Ulan-Ude, if the operation is successful, it will not only relieve the vitality of more than two armies on the side of Ulan-Ude and Chita, but also may severely damage or even annihilate our besieging troops, and fundamentally improve its defensive posture......"

"Say something useful."

"Yes, it has been determined that the enemy forces that have been attacking us in Selenginsk for several days consist of roughly four or five infantry divisions and a number of cavalry units, equipped with a considerable number of armored vehicles and heavy artillery, and have an extremely strong will to fight. In addition, on the flanks of our supply lines, roughly west of Tarbagatai and west of Gusino Ozersk, there were a considerable number of lightly armed enemy units operating ......"

Gusinoozelsk is located only 30 km from Novoselenginsk, an important stronghold on the supply line of the 4th Army, and if enemy troops are detected in this vicinity......

"So, the enemy is not far from my front finger." Wang Zhi smiled slightly, "Go on." ”

"In view of the group army command's grasp of the overall situation, it was decided to implement a strategy of preemptive strikes on the Selenginsk front, and Xu Soul's left assault group first retreated to Ulan-Ude while fighting, and while holding on to key points, it neutralized the enemy's offensive with active and powerful local counterattacks, and after exhausting the opponent's strength and will to a certain extent, it then concentrated its armored forces to attack the weak points on the enemy's front, penetrated the enemy's line, and attacked Selenginsk, and cooperated with friendly forces to defeat or annihilate the enemy's attacking forces."

Wang Zhi crossed his arms and said: "Xu Soul's strength lies in interspersed and sudden advances, quick battles, and it will be difficult for him to defend his position." ”

"From what I know about him, as long as the ultimate purpose is to attack, he won't mind holding on to the position for a few days, not to mention that he still has half of the Empire's armored mobile forces in his hands, and the initiative to counterattack is in his hands-"

"Very well, I also believe him, then the Selenginsk side will be handed over to him. And what about the Ulan-Ude side? Do you think that one Praetorian 2nd Army alone can lock 3 divisions of the enemy in an encirclement? ”

Speaking of this, Wang Zhi frowned and raised his voice: "I believe in Xu Soul and his armored group, but I can't tolerate the advance speed of the 1st and 2nd armies, have all the officers and soldiers of these two armies degenerated into turtles?" ”

The two army commanders present immediately blushed and lowered their heads in unison.

Wang Zhi didn't look at the two of them, and stared at Zhao Minhe: "I don't have time to help you supervise your subordinates, your position is not here, immediately drive the 2nd Army to Ulan-Ude, and the 1st Army will give me a good supply line - we don't have time, we have to calm down the Hudong region before the Baikal region enters the blizzard period, do you know what I mean?" ”

"Yes!"

All the generals stood up together and answered in unison.

"Now go downstairs and start eating."