The night in the Far East is deeper, the sound of gunfire on the front line, frozen monotonous and continuous, for more than a month, this never-ending gunfire has become a part of General Zhukov's daily life, just against the dark red background of the night sky against the background of artillery fire, Zhukov took a few guards, walked out of the tent, I don't know why, tonight, in his heart, regret and uneasiness, alternately, stirring his mind uneasy.

General Zhukov, who commanded more than 1 million soldiers, after the evacuation plan had begun to be implemented, seemed to have no problem at all, and he needed to clear his mind and sort out the complicated and chaotic feelings in his heart.

Lieutenant General Godayav, chief of staff of the Front, saw the commander's somewhat lonely back, and a trace of worry flashed in his heart, and then ordered several staff officers who were not on duty, "You several, bring weapons and follow behind Comrade Commander, on the one hand, you play the role of protecting the safety of Comrade Commander, on the other hand, Comrade Commander may have new orders issued at any time, you must obey orders at any time!" ”

Chief of Staff Godayav knows very well the habits of his boss, and many of the surprisingly successful commanders are inspired by him when he is walking, and out of the corner of Zhukov's eyes, he saw several staff officers behind the guards, and shook his head with a noncommittal smile.

Zhukov's regret, only he himself, can understand the bitterness in his heart, leaving at least three group army units to cope with the indomitable counterattack of the Kwantung Army, the strength of nearly 400,000 troops, has accounted for almost a quarter of the total strength of the Far Eastern Front, moreover, after the withdrawal of the main force of the front army, whether all these units can be returned to the formation, the prospect is worrying. I don't even know the bottom of my heart.

However, one thing is certain: the remaining troops are already at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength, and the Japanese Kwantung Army, which has suffered heavy losses, will never let go of the remaining three group army units, and what they will face is the frantic attack of the Japanese Kwantung Army.

Zhukov sighed, "At the beginning." For General Vasilevsky, after the withdrawal of the main forces, he left the north and south separated by hundreds of kilometers, and could not take care of the two army group units from the end to the end, in the Outer Mongolia region. There are also quite a few criticisms that it is an irresponsible practice for the troops. It is clear that there will be two army group troops. Send it to Tang Qiuli's mouth! He thought to himself.

Now it seems that in the face of the original situation, the main force of Tang Qiuli's independent division, which was assembled in the southern region of Outer Mongolia, would pounce at any time, and General Vasilevsky was also forced to do so. Otherwise, the main force of the Outer Mongolian Front Army will be entangled in the Outer Mongolia region by Tang Qiuli's troops. In a short period of time, he could not get out at all, and he understood the helpless pain of General Vasilevsky at that time.

Now, isn't he also facing this unavoidable choice, putting a point of no return in front of hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the three group armies, and not being able to bring all the Far Eastern Front back to the Far Eastern battlefield, which is in dire need of troops, is a great regret for Zhukov, especially when these troops are about to face the end of being besieged by the Japanese Kwantung Army and annihilated.

And Zhukov's inner uneasiness is not supported by any intelligence and information, just an intuition, he is a professional soldier who has been fighting on the battlefield of life and death for a long time, and his instinctive intuition for danger is that he is an excellent commander, and he is alert to the layer of smoke and clouds that pervade the battle situation.

Zhukov always felt that a pair of invisible hands were slowly pinching his troops on the land of the Far East, and this invisible hand did not show a clear attitude on the line from Chita to Irkutsk, intercepting and killing the independent divisions of the Trans-Khingan Front and the Baikal Front, but from the incomprehension of the abnormal expression of the Japanese.

Yes, Zhukov did not understand the Japanese approach, the Kwantung Army units were already scarred and almost had no strength to fight again, and had the opportunity to withdraw to Manchuria, according to common sense, how should they quickly get out of the battlefield and regain their vitality, instead of being like now, like kraft candy, entangled and entangled.

With the current strength of the Far Eastern Front, it is not difficult to completely annihilate the Japanese Kwantung Army, but time, time does not allow, Comrade Stalin will not tolerate himself doing this, therefore, the tireless entanglement of the Kwantung Army made Zhukov very distressed and deeply puzzled.

On the other hand, the Far Eastern Campaign has been going on for more than a month since the beginning of the campaign, during which only one unit of the Japanese Kwantung Army has been fighting with the Far Eastern Front, Zhukov does not think that the Japanese do not have enough reserve troops to reinforce the Kwantung Army, and the Japanese emperor will not sit idly by and watch the Kwantung Army be eaten by himself, so the question arises, why has no Japanese reinforcements been found until now?

This is the most puzzling point of Zhukov, to put it bluntly, it is also the source of his uneasiness, the cold wind blowing from the Sea of Okhotsk, with a salty and bitter chill, swept over his skin, and could not help but make him shiver, wrapped his military coat tightly, the light in his eyes suddenly flashed, and he began to call over a staff officer, and said: "You, Comrade Major, immediately inform Comrade Kirponos, head of the Intelligence Department of the Front, to come here to see me!" ”

After a while, Major General Kirponos, the head of the Intelligence Department of the Front Army, who was in good health, hurriedly ran over, saluted, and asked: "Comrade commander, do you have any important task to bring me here urgently?" ”

Major General Zhukov smiled silently and said: "There is no urgent task, but, Comrade Kirponos, I have given you an important task, the Intelligence Department of the Front Army, to send all the reconnaissance units to carry out indiscriminate reconnaissance in all the main directions leading to the battlefield, with the Far Eastern battlefield as the center and radiating a radius of 300 kilometers, focusing on both sides of the Burea Mountains and the Kukan Mountains, do you understand what I mean?" ”

Major General Kirponos was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "Comrade Commander, what are you worried about?" How long do you need the Intelligence Department to provide you with this information? "The radius of radiation is 300 kilometers, which is an area of thousands of kilometers, and the reconnaissance units under the Intelligence Department of the Front Army are dispatched in a nest, and they cannot be covered at all in less than ten days.

Zhukov knew that his subordinates had misinterpreted what he meant, and patiently explained: "Comrade Kirponos, you don't understand what I mean, the reconnaissance unit of the Ministry of Intelligence should establish a cordon with a radius of 300 kilometers, mainly to serve as a warning in advance, and I can only give you five days in the mountains." ”

Major General Kirponos now understood, "Comrade commander, I will immediately deploy the reconnaissance unit and set off, if I find an abnormal situation, I will report it to the front army headquarters as soon as possible, I only need three days, and I will follow your order to establish a cordon on the periphery of the troops!" He said with some ease.

After doing this, Zhukov's heart seemed to be somewhat comforted, "A warning line with a radius of 300 kilometers is enough time to set aside for yourself to prepare for emergencies!" He thought to himself, looked at his watch, and it was almost three o'clock in the morning of April 30, "Go back to the headquarters!" He commanded the guards and strode into the tent.

In the temporary headquarters of the independent division in the small town of Delun in southern Outer Mongolia, Major General Zhao Yuhe, chief of staff, was reading a telegram, which was sent by Lieutenant General Liu Tiehan, deputy division commander and commander of the East Command Unit, "Division Commander, our troops in the Far East have completely intercepted the vanguard of the Soviet Army's Trans-Khinganling Front and the Baikal Front on the line from Chita to Irkutsk, and 19 hours have passed. Is it still going according to plan? ”

Tang Qiuli, rubbing the short stubble on his chin, thought about it and said: "For more than ten hours, the main force of the Soviet army has not launched an attack, this is indeed unreasonable, what is the reason why the Soviet army, which is eager to return to the European battlefield, hesitates?" He seemed to be talking to himself, and seemed to be asking Zhao Yuhe.

Zhao Yuhe shook his head, he also finished speculating on the abnormal actions of the Soviet army, according to common sense, the Soviet army was eager to race against time, and stayed for more than ten hours on the line from Guò Chita to Irkutsk, which was abnormal, absolutely abnormal, but the reason for the abnormality, he had no way to judge!

Tang Qiuli frowned and thought for a while, then suddenly smiled with relief, who Zhao Yuhe said: "Yuhe, call back to Deputy Division Commander Liu, Brother Tie Han, don't pay attention to the abnormal behavior of the Soviet army, our troops in the Far East can continue to proceed according to the original plan, in addition, this is also an opportunity, the troops can send a large number of engineers, on all roads, a large number of mines, and destroy bridges and roads at the same time, in short, at the minimum cost to me, to achieve the goal of preventing the Soviet army from retreating!" ”

Liu Tiehan, who received Tang Qiuli's callback, slapped his thigh, and in front of Major General Yang Ketian, the chief of staff of the East Finger, he couldn't stop regretting, "Oh, Ketian, you look at my head, why didn't you think of this trick, mines, mines are a good thing, anyway, let Lao Maozi go unhappily!" ”

Yang Ketian asked: "Deputy division commander, did you immediately order the troops to immediately and vigorously carry out mine planting operations?" ”

Liu Tiehan glared at Yang Ketian and said: "What are you waiting for, immediately convey the order, add a point, all the troops in the Far East must bury all the mines carried by your department on the road that the Soviet army must pass, do not leave behind, if the number of mines in that unit is insufficient, I can order the logistics department, quickly transfer, in short, according to the order of the division commander, from Chita to Irkutsk, the line from Chita to Irkutsk, to form a mine belt with a thickness of not less than 20 kilometers!" ”

Under the order of Lieutenant General Liu Tiehan, deputy division commander, the troops of the independent division in the Far East buried hundreds of thousands of mines in the ground almost overnight.

It was also on this night that Prince Zairen, who was in Khabarovsk in the Far East, received a telegram.

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