Night, Baikalsk, the forward command of the Northern Front of the Chinese Army.

On the map of the theater of operations, which covers half of the wall, a striking red circle and two sharp red arrows are all that Marshal Wang Zhi, the commander of the current front army, should be concerned about.

The red circle corresponds to the Irkutsk fortress, and the First Army that surrounded the fortress began its general offensive yesterday, and 36 hours have passed, and General Zhao Feixue, who temporarily took over the command of the siege operation from General Xiao Lieri before the general offensive was launched, only made three phone calls, and each time only reported that "the operation is proceeding according to the plan."

Wang Zhi did not intend to urge Zhao Feixue, although he knew that Zhao Feixue was known for his caution in combat and his emphasis on the lives of officers and soldiers.

As for the two red arrows, they all point to Krasnoyarsk, an important place on the Yenisei River that protects Western Siberia.

The 18th Army, consisting of Mongol cavalry infantry and cavalry units from south to north, was still flowing down the Yenisei River, but the lightly armed army, which consisted of only four light infantry divisions and two cavalry brigades, lacked heavy artillery and ammunition, and after conquering the heavily fortified Abakan, it was blocked by the Anash area, 180 kilometers south of Kecheng, and could not advance north alone.

A "Kewu Group," which runs from east to west and is mainly composed of combat units drawn from the First Panzer Army, set out from Taishet, an important town on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and advanced 160 kilometers in 24 hours in a row, approaching Kansk, a key gateway less than 180 kilometers away from Croatia. "The Kewu Group must join forces with the 18th Army as soon as possible."

Chief of Staff Xiang Lan reminded Wang Zhi.

"I know it."

Wang Zhi responded perfunctorily, and his mind was obviously wandering elsewhere.

"Still thinking about the capital?"

Sensitive to the blue in a word.

Wang Zhi snorted and smiled, noncommittal, his mood was something that an "outsider" like Xiang Lan could understand.

Liu Bailiang and his party were planted, to be honest, Wang Zhi was still a little sad at first.

But...... In the final analysis, it's still self-inflicted. When I was still in the capital earlier, I saw and heard about it. I have long felt it. These people are too arrogant.

The first emperor has already had a legacy, the successor of the military department is Yang Zhengjin, and the successor of the civilian government is Zhang Zhigao, you Liu Bailiang want to honestly follow the meaning of the two bigwigs, how can you do it so easily?

Sooner or later, something will happen to the faction and create an independent kingdom, and either the east wind will overwhelm the west wind, or the west wind will overwhelm the east wind......

Then again. This time, Her Majesty, who has always been low-key, has done a beautiful job, and one has to wonder how many shady transactions are hidden behind this......

Wang Zhi didn't want to go into the trouble of delving into it, he only confirmed one thing, he was upright, innocent, and had nothing to worry about. Mark 1

"Generate electricity for Xu Soul."

Wang straightened up and approached the map, probably because the electric light was not bright enough, and he also had a kerosene lamp in his hand. "First. The Kewu group must carry forward the spirit of continuous combat and reach the outskirts of Kecheng before 8 p.m. on August 4. ”

"Second, the KVU group should search and advance to the Anash side with a small reconnaissance detachment, seeking to join the 18th Army."

"Third, we will not hesitate to concentrate all the motor vehicles available to the group army in order to maintain the supply of the Kewu group."

Glancing back at Xiang Lan, who was lying on the table and listening to Suosuo's record, Wang Zhi put down the kerosene lamp and raised his hand. The next command is like a story:

"To generate electricity for the tsunami day, the 18th Army should search and advance to the Kansk side with a forceful force, seeking to meet with a group of assembled divisions."

"Send a telegram to Zhao Feixue, and before 3 o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow, the commander will go to the front line of Yicheng to watch the battle in person."

Xiang Lan smiled evilly while recording: "It is worthy of being the commander." You don't hit someone in the face. ”

Wang Zhi smiled bitterly and shook his head: "It's wronged." I'm recognized as a good person, and I don't beat or scold. I don't know how many calves he spoiled. I'm just here in a panic, I want to go ahead to see the scenery, as for what he thinks of Commander Zhao, I can't care, I can't care. ”

Irkutsk.

Fortress Command basement.

The dim light flickered and flickered, and the pale face of the commander, General Balreev, looked like a ghost.

After 36 hours of continuous shelling, the floor and table top were covered with a thick layer of cement ash, and the personnel of the headquarters hiding in this reinforced concrete shelter could not sleep for 36 hours.

Half an hour ago, the heart-wrenching artillery fire came to an abrupt end, and Bareyev began to receive reports from the front line that he had lost contact with front-line combat units for two hours in a row.

The telephone lines that connected the 15 combat units directly from this basement were all ineffective within six hours of the overwhelming shelling begins, and for the next six hours, Paleyev sent all the telephone and herald soldiers of the headquarters, but failed to repair the telephones or bring back a single message—in fact, not a single one has returned.

In the past half hour, the successive reports have only sent everyone in this room deeper and deeper into the dark and bottomless sea of despair.

The fortress surrounded by water on three sides, only the north side of the city is a flat river, there is no danger to defend, it is the key point of the fortress defense, there are many permanent fortresses of reinforced concrete structure, and it can be supported by more than a dozen armored rotating turrets on the high ground batteries in the city. After the fall of Ulan-Ude, Barreyev ordered to make every effort to strengthen the fort defenses, laying barbed wire, deer barricades and mine arrays in front of the original fortress line, digging infantry trenches, communication trenches and anti-tank trenches around the fortress, urgently constructing artillery and machine gun bunkers for civil engineering structures, and even cutting down and burning trees within 3 kilometers outside the fortress line to clear the firing range.

After the Arkut line was broken through and most of the main forces of the East Siberian Front were annihilated, Bareyev mobilized the citizens who had not had time to retreat in the front and built a large number of buildings in the streets behind the fortress line, in an attempt to turn every house into a small fortress and the streets into communication trenches extending in all directions......

Since the Chinese army had absolute air supremacy, Bareyev also ordered the implementation of anti-aircraft camouflage on important fortifications, such as erecting rags and fishing nets above the targets to form ground air defense curtains, or simply painting camouflage paint on the exterior of the fortifications.

More than 20,000 remnants retreated into the fortress. Baleyev was also reorganized into more than 150 company-level units. It was divided into five garrison squadrons and a fortress artillery corps. In addition, 30 companies of about 5,000 volunteers were recruited on the spot as auxiliaries.

According to the statistics of the early July, the fortified area can last for nine months, and in terms of ammunition, an average of 600 rounds of ammunition can be allocated for each rifle, 6,000 rounds of ammunition for each machine gun, and about 500 rounds of shells for each artillery, and the reserve level is much lower than that of the Ulan-Ude fortress before it was besieged.

Even so, with well-designed and well-constructed fortifications. Although Bareyev was nervous, he always had a glimmer of illusion: even if he was attacked, as long as he could inflict heavy casualties on the other side in the first few days, he might be able to make the other side retreat, and it would take time to adjust the deployment, and by the time of the next general attack, Brusilov's reinforcements should be almost there......

However, just 36 hours into the game, Valeev already saw the end.

Between the strongest fortresses and the most powerful siege artillery. Apparently the winner has been decided.

The headquarters of the fortress artillery corps reported that eleven of the sixteen armored rotating turrets of the highland batteries in the city had been rendered useless, and that the silos had been damaged by the blow, and that the remaining five turrets could only be sent by manpower. In addition, three of the four heavy mortar positions and four of the six heavy field artillery positions were completely destroyed, and the remaining positions were no longer functional. Most of the telephone contacts between the artillery headquarters and the units directly under it were cut off, and because the other side had released a large amount of poison gas, the repair work was progressing slowly, and the field artillery units that did not have special anti-poison bunkers suffered great losses. Half of the artillery batteries were left unmanned.

The headquarters of the garrison in the north of the city reported: "Four of the six permanent forts and nine of the fifteen permanent bunkers in the garrison have been cut off for 12 hours, and most of the fortifications are visually presumed to have been destroyed by enemy artillery...... The poison gas shells fired by the enemy caused a deadly panic, and the infantry holding the trenches retreated in whole companies, and the reserves sent to reinforce the front line also turned around halfway through, and even ...... The Overseers, led by high-ranking officers, also shamefully abdicated their duties. Drop the machine gun and run around......"

The headquarters of the garrison area in the west of the city reported: "...... Morale is extremely low. Part of the company was on the verge of hysterical rioting...... Soldiers resist and even kill officers, compared to the enemy. They hate us even more......"

The headquarters of the Seongnam garrison team reported: "...... The commander disappeared after 5 p.m. yesterday and it was reported that while on his way to inspect Fort V, he suddenly climbed out of cover and ran towards the minefield despite the guards...... Colleagues in the command unanimously refuted this statement, and the current command of the district team is represented by the chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitenev. ”

Chengdong garrison team ...... Central Garrison Team ......

Through these reports, both verbally and in writing, Parayev tried to picture in his mind the horrors on the ground: the smashed and smoking armored turrets, the steel cannons shattered to parts, the soldiers foaming at the mouth and convulsing all over the body smoked by poisonous gas, the crumbling concrete fortifications, the crumbling companies, the soldiers and even the senior officers in the frenzy......

In any case, Bareyev would never have climbed the short flight of stairs connecting the bunker to the exit from the ground and went to see it with his own eyes.

How can a commander who makes the highest decision take a risk so easily?

"Tokarev."

He called to the chief of staff beside him.

"Do you remember that letter? Mihrul wrote about the land. ”

Tokarev's thick glasses flickered with the light.

"Remember, it was a letter of persuasion."

Baleyev laboriously licked his chapped lips: "I tore it at that time? ”

"You were drunk at the time and said you were going to wipe your butt, of course, I put it away for you later while you weren't paying attention."

Barreev's eyes lit up: "Yes."

"With all due respect, have you thought about it?"

After a long silence, Paleyev slapped himself in the face.

Loud and crisp.

"Damn! It's me who makes the decision for what to do! ”