Stalin was thinking not only of the land of Outer Mongolia, but also of the land of Inner Mongolia and Northeast China, and he was even so excited by his seductive idea that his greedy desires could not be suppressed.

All the participants in the meeting held their breath and looked at Comrade Stalin, whose faces were flushed with pathology and his eyes were misty and flashing, and the expressions on everyone's faces were different.

The scheming Soviet People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov was well aware of Comrade Stalin's temperament, and only those present had the qualifications and ability to bring the leader who had fallen into illusion back into the real world.

After all, Outer Mongolia was established independently with the support of the Soviet Union, but once it entered the Chinese mainland in the south, the nature of the war changed completely, Molotov himself was not a lover of pacifism, and he had a desire not inferior to Stalin to expand the territory of the Soviet Union, but as a scheming politician and diplomat, he knew which was more important.

"Comrade Stalin, comrades of the Trans-Khinganling Front, are still waiting for your instructions!" Molotov's voice was not high, and his voice was gentle and just right, but it broke the frozen atmosphere in the conference room.

Stalin woke up from his fantasy and smiled with a disguised smile, he imagined the situation too good, if there were no Germans, the factor that threatened the Soviet Union, the four million Soviet Red Army, it would not be a problem to continue to move south, not now, let's return to the theme of the conference!

Stalin lit his pipe and continued: "Comrade Vasilevsky. I hope you will end the Third Outer Mongolian War by occupying Kulen and driving the forces of the hated Chinese out of Outer Mongolia! ”

General Vasilevsky, who was as bloated as a bucket, replied with confidence: "Comrade Stalin, the Outer Mongolian Front will use such a victory to announce the end of the war in Outer Mongolia!" ”

Stalin nodded with satisfaction, turned his gaze to General Kirganin, commander and member of the political council of the Outer Khing'an Mountains, and said very simply: "I don't have too many instructions on the actions of the Outer Khing'an Ridge Front. Comrade Kirganin, with regard to the operations of the Japanese Kwantung Army, listen more to Comrade Zhukov's opinions, after all, Comrade Zhukov has been fighting with the Japanese Kwantung Army for more than two years. Familiar with the Japanese better than you! ”

"I only emphasize one point, you fought jointly with Comrade Zhukov against the Japanese Kwantung Army. Mainly Comrade Zhukov. The task of the Outer Khinganling Front and the Far Eastern Front is to cleanly and completely destroy the Japanese Kwantung Army in the Far East, and if necessary, to enter the territory of Manchukuo to fight! Of course, specific tactical issues. You can discuss it with Comrade Zhukov, and there is one point, the so-called Manchukuo is just a geographical term. It's not a boundary! ”

As soon as everyone heard it, they understood that Comrade Stalin's thorn in the eye and thorn in the flesh was the independent division of which Chinese Tang Qiuli, as for the Japanese Kwantung Army, it was just a secondary target, piggyback and annihilation, moreover, Zhukov and Kirganin's troops could enter the territory of Manchukuo to fight, Comrade Stalin, really want to get involved in Manchukuo?

Tang Qiuli in Kulun, Outer Mongolia, after receiving a secret telegram from the German side, was somewhat confident in his heart.

He believed that Hitler would not fool himself, and it was very difficult to fight a hard-fought battle with more than 4 million Soviet troops in Outer Mongolia, even if he wiped out all the corps directly under him, he could not fight without the Soviet army, but it was not too difficult to adopt various tactics and maneuver for more than a month.

At the end of February, Tang Qiuli held a military meeting attended by officers at and above the regimental level of all brigades and regiments directly under the Corps at the Kulen headquarters to make campaign arrangements.

At this time, the newly formed Outer Mongolia Field Corps had all been withdrawn to the Pingjin area in North China, and in the Outer Mongolia region, there were only more than 260,000 troops directly under the Corps.

At the military meeting, Tang Qiuli determined the guiding ideology of the campaign of mobile defense and not frontal blockade, and concentrated the 12 mechanized infantry brigades, four heavy artillery brigades, eight rocket artillery regiments, two air defense brigades, four tank brigades, and two cavalry brigades attached to the corps in the direction of Minusinsk and put on a posture of confronting the Soviet army head-on.

The military meeting lasted all day, and after the meeting was dismissed, Tang Qiuli deliberately left Zhao Yuhe, chief of staff, and Yu Deshui, director of the intelligence department. Shen Jun, director of the Investigation Division, is three.

In the huge conference room, it seemed a little empty, Tang Qiuli was holding a cigarette, standing motionless in front of the large military map of Outer Mongolia, Zhao Yuhe and the other three people knew that the division commander must have an important task to explain, otherwise, he would not leave himself alone.

After more than ten minutes, Tang Qiuli slowly turned around, his face was not as relaxed as he had at the military meeting just now, he looked at the three people and said, "Leaving the three of you behind is a very difficult and important task that you need to complete!" ”

Zhao Yuhe, Yu Deshui and Shen Jun, Huo Ran got up and said loudly: "Division Commander, if there is any task, you can give an order!" ”

Tang Qiuli smiled, waved his hand, and asked the three of them to sit down, as if he had made a very difficult decision, and said in a somewhat hoarse voice: "A battle with four million Soviet troops, it is inevitable, the enemy is outnumbered, and the actual problem in front of us is that the primary offensive target of the Soviet army must be Kulen, and when the war begins, the Soviet army will inevitably seize it at any cost, and the occupation of Kulen is, in a sense, equivalent to occupying Outer Mongolia, so Kulen will be lost!" ”

Tang Qiuli's words shook the three of them, and Zhao Yuhe said with some excitement: "Division commander, from the eastern foot of the Ural Mountains to Kulen, there is a distance of nearly 800 kilometers, and the road conditions are very bad, especially not suitable for mechanized troops to advance, during this period, there are still a lot of dangerous terrain that can be used, we can adopt the tactics of blocking and retarding the Soviet army's offensive speed, and drag the Soviet army for a month to a month and a half, it is not a problem, why give up Kulen?" ”

Tang Qiuli waved his hand, stopped Zhao Yuhe's words, and said: "This issue, don't discuss it anymore, instead of investing a lot of troops, fighting repeatedly with the Soviet army in various important cities and the periphery of Kulun, and after paying a heavy price, we will eventually lose Kulen, why don't we give up now, since Stalin wants it, then give it to him!" Don't care about the gains and losses of one city and one place! ”

Having said that, but Tang Qiuli's heart was also in sharp pain, the Outer Mongolia region was in his own hands, although he did not invest too much money in large-scale construction, but it was not the same as before, more than four million Soviet troops pressed the border, and all the previous hard work would inevitably suffer a devastating destruction, and the soldiers would be in danger, and after the war ended, they would have to start all over again.

If he could avoid a battle with four million Soviet troops, Tang Qiuli would definitely not be able to ask for it, and he continued: "Yuhe, the task of the three of you is to organize a large number of people to move all important towns, especially the residents, institutions, schools, factories, and mining enterprises of Kulun, to the interior within half a month, including the population of pastoral areas. ”

"Everything that can be taken away, I want to take away everything that can be taken away, I want to clear the field for Stalin in Outer Mongolia, this is a huge project, I want to make it clear to the residents who need to relocate, no more than three months, they will return to their homes, all the losses and relocation costs are the responsibility of our Outer Mongolia Military and Political Committee, for those residents and herdsmen who are unwilling to relocate, if necessary, compulsory measures can be taken!"

"In the name of the Outer Mongolian Military and Political Commission, a circular was issued to the military and political organs in various places, and the garrison units of the Outer Mongolian Border Guards were responsible for the security work of the operation."

Zhao Yuhe, Yu Deshui and Shen Jun were dumbfounded when they heard this, the population of the entire Outer Mongolia region is going to move to the interior for a while, and the division commander is going to make Outer Mongolia empty!

After the meeting, Zhao Yuhe, Yu Deshui, Shen Jun and three people, immediately put into the intense migration work, in the cold wind, snow-white Outer Mongolia region, a long queue of people and all kinds of vehicles, along the snow-covered roads, have gone south, people took away everything that can be taken away, livestock, grain, pasture, with sufficient funds and careful preparation, the migration road, is not difficult.

By the end of March, all the urban residents in the entire Outer Mongolia region had been relocated, leaving empty hot and towns in the snowy grasslands of Outer Mongolia.

At night, Kulen looks lonely and desolate because there are no residents, the howling north wind travels through the empty streets and alleys, rolling up piles of snow, and the whole city is as silent as a wilderness, only a few places, and the lights are still on, which is the troop station left in Kulun by the direct corps.

In front of the gate of the headquarters of the Outer Mongolian Frontier Army, there were five or six cars parked, and the soldiers of the division headquarters guard brigade stood in the cold night breeze with guns, and in a room in the depths of the courtyard, the mutton oil lamps were swaying with a dim light, and in the air, in addition to the smell of the mutton fat lamps, there was also a strong sense of sadness.

Tang Qiuli carefully put on a coat for Mei Xue, and put on a cotton military hat for his wife, Mei Xue's beautiful big eyes, reddish, obviously just cried, motionless, like a puppet, let her husband be busy.

Tang Qiuli picked up the armed belt, pulled out a beautiful little pistol from the holster, took off the magazine, fired the empty gun, and the firing pin made a crisp "click" sound, and then, loaded the magazine, nodded with satisfaction, and tied the armed belt around Mei Xue's slender waist, as if to break the atmosphere, and said with a smile: "Well, it's well maintained, soldier, it should be like this!" ”

Mei Xue suddenly plunged into her husband's arms and shouted with a crying voice: "Qiuli, can I not leave?" ”

(To be continued)(To be continued......