On January 16, 1915, on the outskirts of Novoselenkinsk, a small town on the left bank of the Selenga River, 360 kilometers north of Kulen and about 120 kilometers from the state border, a light military train running on a rushed improvised railway stopped slowly next to a temporary platform hastily constructed with sleepers.

The so-called improvised railway, which is nothing more than shoveling out the soft snow on the surface, is made of laying sleepers and rails directly on the solid frozen soil, and such a temporary railway is obviously unable to carry heavy standard military trains, nor can it continue to be used after the frozen ground thaws in summer, and its only advantage is that it can be built in a short time, and the grain, ammunition, oil, heavy artillery, and replenishment of troops can be transported in time for the rapidly advancing army......

At present, this light military train is towed by small locomotives used in mines, and there are less than 20 old-fashioned wagons in total, and the total load is not more than 70 or 80 tons -- such a small train of crude and unsightly wagons can make two trips a day and night between the Kyakhta military station, which is full of supplies, and the Novoselenkinsk station, which is crowded with trucks, wagons, and sleighs, which is equivalent to the daily transportation capacity of 60 two-and-a-half-ton trucks, in other words, the supply (except ammunition) for the entire men and horses of one heavy infantry corps for one day.

The small station was built only three days ago, and for three days, on average, there was a train stop every three hours, and because of the lack of manpower and vehicles, the materials unloaded from the trains did not have time to be distributed to the warehouses and could not be immediately transported to the front, so they were piled up in the open air around the platform.

Boxes of ammunition, sacks of grain, barrels of gasoline, layered on top of each other, forming an unsightly square platform, wrapped in waterproof canvas, crisscrossed like a chessboard, and small groups of guards led by wolfdogs patrolled ghostly among them - this is indeed a city of death, and with its support, hundreds of kilometers away, the mighty and majestic iron heroes will brew the sweet wine called victory from the blood and corpses of the enemy.

On the other hand, if there was no city, or the improvised railroad that created it, or without the trucks, wagons, and sleds that ran back and forth between the city and the troops on the front line, sooner or later the Iron Heroes would have become an army of scrap metal starving ghosts.

On the other side of the platform, the improvised railway stretches far north, disappearing between the battered city of Novoserenginsk and the snow-covered coniferous forest.

This is exactly what we wanted for a paradise view...... But that's not enough, go further afield, and enjoy the view of hell that really makes sense......

"Commander, it's time to get off."

The adjutant's reminder interrupted Wang Zhi's sensual indulgent thoughts, only to see him with a slight flash of eagle eyes, slowly got up, put on the coat of the feathered general presented by the adjutant, held the imperial saber inlaid with rubies between the handles, and walked off the train with vigor and vigor with a vigorous wolf step that did not match his age, and was greeted by a mechanical "swish" salute of the generals.

Wang Zhi replied with a salute, his eyes swept away, and the two generals in the lead were none other than Zhao Minhe, commander of the 4th Group Army of the Front Army, and Zhao Feixue, commander of the 3rd Group Army of the Northeast Front Army.

In the last Asian-Russian war, he successively served as chief of staff of the Third Army Corps in Vladivostok, chief of staff of the Vladivostok Group Army, and commander of the Fifth Army Corps on the Western Front. "Bold," "proactive," "flexible," "sensitive," and "aware of the overall situation" -- these are exactly the comments that Wang Zhi wrote to Zhao Minhe at the end of the 11 th general officer training course of the Army University.

Zhao Feixue, who is tall and thin, and still has many remnants of the beautiful men of his youth on his face, served as the commander of the 1st Army and the 4th Army in the last war, is now forty-nine years old, optimistic by nature, whenever and wherever he wants, he can always find all kinds of pleasures, his biggest hobbies are sleeping, food, making up jokes, his headquarters is always laughing - but all this does not affect him in the slightest to make a sober and correct judgment when needed, Emperor Taizu Wu of this dynasty once gave him the following comments: " This guy was born commander of a large corps. ”

"Headmaster, it's been a hard work." Zhao Minhe took the lead in extending his hand to the commander.

In fact, these respectful and waiting generals on the platform inevitably wanted to call Wang Zhi "president", and on their way to being promoted to general, Wang Zhi, who had served as president of the Army University for eight years, played an irreplaceable role as a guide and referee. And Wang, who is familiar with a certain period of history in another time and space, has a special taste for enjoying such treatment......

"You've all worked hard—" Wang Zhi subconsciously glanced at the gloomy and gray sky and earth line on the other side of the platform, took a deep breath of cold air to his lungs, took off his gloves, and shook hands with the generals one by one.

"Where's my front finger?"

"In town, City Hall." Zhao Minhe pointed to a red brick building looming among the ruins in the distance.

Ten minutes later, Wang Zhi stepped into his forward command post.

"Map."

Wang Zhi had no interest in the dining table in the center of the main hall, which was covered with white cloth and neatly arranged with Western-style tableware.

Zhao Feixue carefully beat the side drum: "The principal has been tired all the way, it is better to ...... first"

"Find a place to hang up my map."

Zhao Minhe hurriedly rushed to the front to lead the way: "Principal, please ...... over here"

In a room on the second floor, which looked like the office of a municipal officer, a huge combat map more than two people wide and one person high was hastily hung, marked with arrows and numbers, and the situation around Ulan-Ude as of January 15 was clear at a glance:

The Left Assault Group, consisting of three Panzer Corps, the 1st Praetorian Corps, and the Praetorian Cavalry Corps, encountered the enemy under the city of Setunginsk, west of Ulan-Ude, and was confronted by 2 or 3 corps with an unknown number of armored units.

Lieutenant General Xing Biqiang's Right Assault Group was advancing along the railway line from Ulan-Ude to Chita with one of the 4th Army and one of the 3rd Cavalry Army, and the main force of the 7th Infantry Army and the 4th Cavalry Army from the Right Main Force were fighting in coordination with this unit. The other part of the right assault group was making a detour along the valley of the Uda River towards several mountain passes on the western side of the Yablonov Mountains, where the 12th Cavalry Brigade had already advanced to Poperechnoye, 200 kilometres west of Chita, which would only need to go another 100 kilometres to the northeast to completely cut off the retreat of the Chita defenders.

The 7th Infantry Division, which was originally part of the Right Assault Group, and the 10th Infantry Division, which was formerly part of the Right Main Group, were reassigned to the unified command of the 5th Army Headquarters and remained in Onokhoi, located 40 kilometers east of Ulan-Ude, as the general reserve for the campaign.

The Forbidden 2nd Army and the 4th Cavalry Brigade of the Left Main Group have arrived at the city of Ulan-Ude and have taken over the heavy task of encircling the enemy in Ulan-Ude from the Left Assault Group. The group's 2nd Infantry Corps is advancing towards Tarbagatai, 60 km south of Ulan-Ude, while the 1st Infantry Corps has not yet reached Novoselenginsk.