Hearing his wife's crying voice, Tang Qiuli's body stiffened, and then he gently stroked Mei Xue's hair draped over her round shoulders and hugged her tighter.

"Xue, you are not going alone, according to the decision of the military meeting, all non-combatants and logistics agencies will be temporarily withdrawn to the mainland, you see, even Yu Deshui's intelligence department, Shen Jun's investigation office have been withdrawn, originally, you should have followed the evacuation team of several agencies yesterday, but as a result, you lost your temper and shed tears, so you stayed for one more day, and I had to let Shanhu arrange a detachment of the guard brigade to escort you, hehe-! I have to go in the end! Tang Qiuli said with a chuckle, his tone containing a hint of doting.

Mei Xue raised her tearful face, and her eyes were full of worry, "Qiuli, this time, is it really so dangerous?" I've been following you for a few years, and I've never seen it, the big war is imminent, and you start to evacuate people, so I'm even more worried, you're alone in Outer Mongolia! Could it be that such a dangerous moment has been reached? She asked eagerly.

Tang Qiuli patted his wife's back, and said indifferently: "The danger can't be talked about, it's just a normal countermeasure, there is no huge and complicated non-combat organ dragging, the troops are more flexible, okay, snow, the guard brigade is waiting for you outside, don't let the soldiers blow the cold wind outside, let's go, I'll send you to the car!" When you get to Erenhot, send me a telegram. ”

The night became more and more gloomy, the cold wind was howling, and the hard snow particles were flying with the wind, hitting people's faces, and it hurt hotly, Tang Qiu left his eyes to see Mei Xue get into the car, and through the car window, he gently stroked his wife's delicate face, and then. With a wave of his hand, he shouted in a low voice: "Drive!" ”

A few cars, the bright lights, like jumping lightsabers, pierced the dark night sky, and gradually disappeared into the desert in the distance, Tang Qiuli stood for a long time, until the light in the distance completely disappeared.

Sent away non-combat units and rear organs, and sent away his wife. Tang Qiuli could travel lightly, turned around and jumped into the armored command vehicle, and ordered loudly: "Immediately go, destination, Minusinsk!" ”

"Let Lao Tzu use the direct corps. These more than 200,000 elite soldiers and strong generals have a good time with Stalin! "Sitting on a bumpy armored command vehicle. He thought viciously.

Early March 1942. As a result of various efforts, more than 2 million Soviet troops were assembled in various assembly areas west of the Ural Mountains, and Senior General Vasilevsky, commander and member of the Political Committee of the Soviet Outer Mongolian Front, arrived in Yekaterinburg on the morning of 7 March by special plane. The headquarters of the Front was also formed.

On the evening of his arrival in Yekaterinburg, General Vasilevsky convened the first operational meeting with the participation of commanders of the divisional front and above. For him, this time he went to the post with full confidence and the belief that he would win.

The military and political officers are shoulder-to-shoulder, the commander and the political committee members are all one person, holding 1.6 million heavy troops, in the Outer Mongolian front army, it can be said that no one challenges their authority, of course, the senior general is also among the senior commanders of the Soviet Red Army, a battle-hardened general, naturally has his own command style.

Therefore, at the operational meeting, General Vasilevsky expressed his extreme arbitrariness, "Comrades, this time the General Staff appointed me as the commander of the front army to direct the troops to carry out the combat mission against the Chinese Tang Qiuli troops, and before leaving, at the meeting of the Political Affairs Bureau, Comrade Stalin had already determined the operational policy for the troops of the independent division. ”

The hundreds of Soviet generals below, including the commanders of the group armies and the commanders of the corps and divisions, were all stunned, "What? And that's where the campaign deployment begins? Isn't that too impatient? The pre-war meeting was not even held, the various units had just arrived at the assembly area, and they were almost blind to the local situation; moreover, the various group armies within the Outer Mongolian Front Army, which came from different military regions and front armies, were not familiar with each other, and basically, the commanders of the various group armies did not even know their names among themselves. ”

"In the original troops, each had different fighting styles and combat methods, and getting acquainted with each other was an indispensable process. A series of question marks hovered in the minds of these Soviet generals.

However, people opened their mouths and moved out of Comrade Stalin, yes, let's listen with our ears, anyway, more than a million troops, how to fight makes sense.

General Vasilevsky continued: "In the Outer Mongolia region, the time for the attack of Tang Qiuli's independent division is set at 6 o'clock in the morning of March 10, and the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth armies of the front, with a total strength of 550,000 men, will be the vanguard force, divided into five routes, crossing the Ural Mountains, and launching the attack first, and the vanguard must occupy Minusinsk before 6 a.m. on March 12. ”

"Remind the commanders of the five group armies that the time left for you is only 48 hours, which means that in two days and two nights, to take Minusinsk, according to the reconnaissance report of the air force, the main forces of the independent division are concentrated on the front line of Minusinsk, ready to block our army, and the air force will dispatch 1,500 fighters and 800 bombers to cooperate with the attack of the vanguard."

"The rest of the group army, the second echelon, under my personal command, bypassed the Minusinsk battlefield, entered the western region of Outer Mongolia through the Tangnushan Mountains, and then quickly captured Ulan Guben, Uriya Sutai, Checherleg, and Hadasan, and directly took Kulen, and it is expected that around March 20, a general offensive will be launched against Kulen, and strive to use three days to take Kulen and thus end the Outer Mongolia campaign.

No opinion, the hell, the five army groups worked together to attack the main force of the independent division on the front line of Minusinsk, this is no problem, the intelligence provided by the intelligence agencies shows that the so-called main force of the independent division is just a corps, more than 200,000 people, and if you send more than twice as many troops, you will definitely be able to take Minusinsk and annihilate or severely damage the troops of the independent division, and there is no suspense in the result, but the time limit is too harsh, right?

From the current assembly place of the troops to Minusinsk, even if there is no war, the time spent on the march alone will be more than 30 hours, and there will be more than 10 hours left, and it will be possible to destroy or severely damage more than 200,000 troops of the independent division in one fell swoop?

Even if more than 200,000 chickens are killed, it will take quite a long time, not to mention, it is an elite division that defeated the Soviet army twice and buried more than one million Red Army soldiers in the steppe of Outer Mongolia, and an independent division unit that is brave and good at fighting.

In addition, through the Ural Mountains and into the east, there are only two roads to go, and more than 500,000 troops are counting on two roads that are barely called highways, and there is no time for more than three days, so many troops, it is impossible to pass at all, unless, a group army sets off first, so in this way, in terms of the comparison of forces, it is at a disadvantage, and if it is not done well, it will be hit hard by Tang Qiuli.

A senior commander of the army group, feeling that he was an old qualified and it was necessary to remind Commander Vasilevsky, stood up and said: "Comrade commander of the front army, I have no opinion on your deployment of the campaign, but we have to deploy troops according to the actual situation, and the biggest difficulty in front of us is not the Chinese army in Minusinsk, but the road traffic situation!" ”

Then, the commander of the group army, whose temples were already pale, carefully explained the situation in the Ural Mountains, General Vasilevsky, with cold eyes, looked at this commander of the group army who relied on the old and betrayed the old, this person is familiar with himself, during the domestic revolutionary war, he was also his top boss, he served as the regiment commander, he is the division commander, but the difference in personal experience and career has caused the difference in identity today.

When the old man finished nagging, General Vasilevsky said in a calm tone: "Thank you for the reminder, comrades must think that I gave some unrealistic orders regardless of the actual situation, then you are wrong, before convening this operational meeting, I have ordered the engineering units of the front army to use three days to open up five more roads in the Ural Mountains, which are enough to ensure that all the troops can pass through the Ural Mountains in the shortest possible time, comrades, do you have any different opinions?" ”

Who still has an opinion, who dares to have an opinion? Although Comrade Commander's tone was calm, the murderous aura in his eyes repeatedly leaked out, and besides, everyone had already thought of a countermeasure, and if they put forward their opinions, they would be uncomfortable!

On March 8, outside the western border of Outer Mongolia, in Minusinsk, a major military town in the territory of the former Soviet Union, Tang Qiuli was in a Russian-style building, and with his hands behind his back, he looked out at the snow-covered, empty streets, and the plan to clear the wilderness, which did not include the city, but because the clouds of the recent war had gathered over the city, the residents of the city had almost fled, of course, most of them fled to the territory of the Soviet Union.

In this regard, Tang Qiuli adopted an attitude of not advocating, not stopping, and letting himself go, or rather, it was intentional, and the residents who fled to the territory of the Soviet Union would inadvertently convey the news that more than 200,000 troops of the independent division were concentrated in Minusinsk to the ears of the Soviet commanders, so that they would believe that they would put on a posture of never giving up Outer Mongolia and would fight to the death with the Soviet troops crossing the Ural Mountains around the city.

In a sense, this is a ploy to confuse the Soviet army, since last night, most of the troops directly under the corps have secretly withdrawn from the city, and the troops remaining in the city are only Liu Hongzhang's first brigade and Ouyang Yishan's second brigade, plus the guard brigade of the mountain tigers, less than 40,000 troops.

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