Sending off the generals who participated in the meeting, Tang Qiuli stepped out of the headquarters, the clear air, at this time, the steppe of Outer Mongolia has been shrouded in a thin twilight, and the burning clouds on the horizon have covered all the buildings covered with thick white snow in Kulun City, and they are inlaid with a layer of crimson edges, and the blood is as dazzling as blood.

The north wind howled, blowing up the sand and dust, mixed with snow particles, hitting the face, scorching pain, the northwest sky, layers of dark black clouds, black pressure surging from the sky, gradually swallowing the fire clouds, turning the northwest sky, into a gloomy piece, "Another heavy snow, is coming!" However, this snow is beneficial to us, the bigger the better," Tang Qiuli said with emotion.

"Yuhe, do you think that I am based on the battle plan of not fighting, is it a risk, to be precise, is it a very dangerous gamble?" Tang Qiuli suddenly asked Zhao Yuhe, the chief of staff who was silently following behind him.

Zhao Yuhe smiled and replied: "Division commander, if you analyze from the build-up of the Soviet army and the development trend of the future battlefield in Outer Mongolia, your battle plan is indeed a risk, and it is on the basis that you pin your hopes on Stalin and will not really do anything to us, but this possibility is very small, or even impossible, so you are making a gamble with no chance of winning!" ”

"Oh?" Tang Qiuli turned his head in surprise, looked at Zhao Yuhe, who had a calm face, and forced him to ask: "Yuhe, since you have such an idea, why don't you bring it up at today's military meeting?" As my Chief of Staff, you have the right to build! ”

Zhao Yuhe smiled, showed a mouthful of white teeth, and replied: "Master, you may not believe it when you say it, I haven't been with you for too long, but. I have never seen you fight a battle that you are not sure of, in the Hukang Valley in northern Burma, and in the East Indies, and you have an amazing ability to predict the pace of the war, and you have been proven right countless times. ”

"So, the reason why I don't object is simple. Based on my belief and confidence in you, I have no reason to doubt that this time it is related to whether the independent division can gain a foothold in Outer Mongolia and whether it can complete the strategic plan of the division commander to attack the Japanese Kwantung Army in the east in the next step. Perhaps, this confidence is blind. But I don't doubt my own judgment. ”

Tang Qiuli laughed. said: "Yuhe, you have also learned to pat on the back!" You're right this time, though! ”

Zhao Yuhe smiled gently, and he heard a strong confidence from the teacher's laughter.

Tang Qiuli's gaze redirected. As the dark clouds approached the sky, he thought to himself: "At this moment, what are my old rivals and old friends thinking?" What are you doing? ”

USSR. Moscow, the Kremlin, the office of the Supreme Leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin, all the members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the heavyweight generals of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, and the relevant generals of the General Headquarters of the Soviet Air Force, all looked intently at the leader, smoking a pipe on the red stall, seemingly pacing carelessly.

Stalin stopped and asked, in his usual unhurried tone: "Comrade Petroshilov, with regard to the transfer of troops to the East, how is the current progress, how many troops have reached the staging area west of the Urals?" Can the first offensive be launched in Outer Mongolia before the end of March 1942? ”

Marshal Petroshilov, Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, stood up and replied: "Comrade Stalin, the weather, the problem of weather is the only factor affecting the concentration of troops, this winter, heavy snowfall in the Ural Mountains for several days, the thickness of snow on the flat ground has reached more than one meter, all roads leading from the European direction to the four main concentration areas of Kirov, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Chelyabinsk, and more than 30 other assembly areas have been covered by heavy snow, and the assembly of troops is extremely difficult. ”

"Personnel can march on foot, but the transportation of heavy equipment and supplies becomes difficult, and before the end of March this year, the first round of offensive launched by the troops of the independent division in the Outer Mongolia region is not small, Comrade Stalin, you also know that the impact of bad weather conditions on the movement of mechanized troops is enormous."

Stalin frowned imperceptibly and said: "Petroshilov, I didn't ask you about the difficulties, and you don't need to emphasize the difficulties, that's a matter for the General Staff, I just need to know, how many troops do we have, which have already been assembled and deployed in the region west of the Urals?" ”

Marshal Petroshilov's heart was a little nervous, feeling the leader's displeasure, he poured bitter water on himself, it seemed that it was not the right time, and hurriedly said: "Comrade Stalin, the two armies of the First Ukrainian Front, one army of the Belarusian Front, and two armies of the Southwestern Front have reached the assembly area west of the Ural Mountains, and the total strength of the five armies is about 450,000 people, but a large number of tanks and artillery and other heavy equipment are lagging behind due to the weather, It is expected that the assembly area will not reach until around mid-February. ”

"Not enough, far from enough, to launch the first round of offensive against that Chinese Tang Qiuli and the troops entrenched in the Outer Mongolia region, I need at least 1.5 million troops, no less than 3,000 tanks, and at least 5,000 heavy artillery pieces, otherwise, we will not be able to achieve the campaign goal of gathering and annihilating the Chinese in World War I.

"I am very strange, Comrade Petroshilov, the order to assemble the troops was given in November last year, and what did your General Staff do in three months?" Stalin's voice was a little angry.

According to Stalin's plan, the attack on the troops of the independent division in Outer Mongolia must be launched before the end of March, although according to the intelligence of various quarters, it is impossible for the Germans to completely defeat the Anglo-American coalition forces on the battlefield of the British Isles before June this year.

In case, if that madman Hitler planned to start a war on both sides, with a small number of troops, continue to suppress the Anglo-American coalition forces, and with most of the troops, turn to attack the Soviet Union, the prospects for the Soviet Union are absolutely not good, and nearly half of the troops in the European direction have been transferred to the east, and no one dares to guarantee whether the remaining forces can withstand the fierce attack of the Germans.

The thinking of a madman is unpredictable, and Hitler, who swept across the European continent, is completely capable, so what Stalin wants is a quick victory, and the fastest possible solution to the independent division of Tang Qiuli in Outer Mongolia is also the biggest threat to the eastern border of the Soviet Union, and the greed of the Chinese Cheng Dù will surpass himself, just look at his recent series of military operations, the territory of the eastern part of the Soviet Union, frequent shots, can also prove this.

Summing up the reasons for the defeat of the first two wars in Outer Mongolia, Stalin came to the conclusion that "the forces used were not enough, and an absolute superiority in forces was not formed, and both the previous Far Eastern Military District and the Transcaucasian Military District made similar mistakes, and the troops of the independent divisions that slightly surpassed Tang Qiuli were not enough, and they must be overwhelmingly superior." ”

"That cunning and sinister Chinese, don't you like to use stratagem, don't you like to use the old scumbag of the Chinese tactics of war, well, I will use 1.5 million troops in the first round of attack, you Tang Qiu can fight ambushes and encircle points to help, I am afraid that you do not have such a great appetite, and at the moment of absolute superiority of forces, no stratagems and conspiracies will be of use."

"Even if my first round of attacking troops fell into your trap, the second round of attacking troops is still 1.5 million, Tang Qiuli will take what to fight my reinforcements, in the end, if I don't give up my hands to the Outer Mongolia region, it will be a face-to-face decisive battle, my third round of attacking troops, there are still more than one million troops, when the time comes, the Chinese will not have time to run, there is only one way to be encircled and annihilated in the Outer Mongolia region, this is probably the realm of the Chinese saying 'one force to ten meetings'!"

Therefore, Stalin urgently needed to assemble at least about 3 million troops west of the Ural Mountains by the end of March, because after clearing the black hand of the Chinese Tang Qiuli that had reached out to the Outer Mongolian region, there were still more than 1.5 million Kwantung Army troops facing off against Zhukov's Far Eastern Front on the Outer Khingan Ridge line, which was also a target that had to be solved.

Since Stalin had risked the emptiness of troops in the European direction and mobilized more than 4 million troops to gather in the east, Stalin would never have only targeted Tang Qiuli's independent division, and the Japanese Kwantung Army also occupied a large area of Soviet territory south of the Trans-Khingan Mountains and Vladivostok, the only outlet of the Soviet Union in the Pacific Ocean, within the scope of the need to defeat or completely annihilate it, and the Japanese had to pay a price for this.

In Stalin's view, both the Chinese Tang Qiuli and the Japanese Kwantung Army were evil wolves coveting the eastern territory of the Soviet Union, and they had to take a bite when they had the opportunity.

Only by fighting the Chinese and the Japanese, not daring to have any idea about the eastern territories of the USSR, Stalin could devote all his military strength and energy to solving the threat from the Germans in the direction of Europe.

Therefore, time was absolutely important and urgent for Stalin, and according to his plan, the Third Outer Mongolian War, the Second Battle against the Japanese Kwantung Army, must be ended by May of this year, and moreover, it must end with a complete victory.

If we count the more than 1.8 million troops of Zhukov's Far Eastern Front, the Soviet Union's concentration of troops in the eastern territories will reach an unprecedented nearly 6 million troops, accounting for about three-fifths of the entire Soviet army, and Stalin himself felt that it was impossible to win the war against the Chinese and the Japanese.

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