Tang Qiuli ordered the troops of the independent division in the Far East, and the tactics adopted by them caused great trouble to the Soviet troops of the two fronts who returned to Zhukov's aid, and they had to guard against the independent division troops behind them, and at the same time, they had to break through the Japanese army's resistance in the shortest possible time and rush to the Far East battlefield.

Faced with this situation, General Kirganin, commander of the Soviet Outer Khinganling Front, and General Gregariv, commander of the Baikal Front, were also at a loss for anything, and they did not dare to divide their forces into two and attack the Japanese troops and the independent division at the same time.

After reading the telegram, Stalin was also helpless, he had already set the tone for negotiations with Tang Qiuli, he must not have any kind of conflict with the troops of the independent division, the Japanese alone were enough to give him a headache, at this time, it was undoubtedly unwise to provoke a strong enemy, and Molotov, who was in charge of negotiations with Tang Qiuli, did not fly to Kulen according to the original plan.

The only reason is that the negotiator sent by the Chinese side is not Tang Qiuli himself, which is undoubtedly a bad signal in the eyes of Molotov, who is proficient in this way, and has nothing to do with whether the status is equal or not, and whether or not to give himself face.

Molotov's interpretation is that Tang Qiuli did not want to negotiate with the Soviet Union, perhaps the cunning Chinese believed that at this time, whether it was the Far Eastern battlefield or the Outer Mongolia battlefield, it was beneficial to Tang Qiuli, and the Japanese army attacked the Far Eastern Front, and the troops who returned were blocked hundreds of kilometers away from the battlefield. Vasilevsky's Outer Mongolian Front was still struggling to approach the Ural Mountains and the Tangnu Mountains.

However, the troops of the independent division were in hot pursuit, and Vasilevsky had to take out a considerable part of his forces to cope with the pursuit of the troops of the independent division, and in front of the Outer Mongolian Front were the elite troops of the independent division of more than 20 divisions. Don't think about crossing the Ural Mountains and the Donnu Mountains, can Moscow afford to wait? Did the Germans give time to the USSR?

Therefore, to buy Stalin's question, Molotov replied like this: "Comrade Stalin, from among the negotiators sent by Tang Qiuli. It can be seen that this Chinese has no interest in negotiations. At this time. We strongly demand negotiations, we will be in a more passive position, the Chinese have a saying that 'catching up is not a sale!' This means that if we are too strong, we will be taken by the opponent! ”

Stalin agreed, and Molotov continued: "The Chinese definitely think." He will get more from the battlefield than at the negotiating table, unless we give it. Exceeding his expectations, the point is, we don't want to go the extra mile! ”

"Then wait and see!" Stalin and Molotov agreed that sometimes, the right opportunity for negotiation is also a way to seize the initiative, for example, to return to the two units of the Far Eastern Front, break the encirclement of the Japanese as quickly as possible, and then return to the European direction together.

Although such a strategy was set, whether it was Stalin or Molotov, they were like sitting on pins and needles, and it was difficult to sleep and eat, the German offensive on the battlefield was as fierce as ever, and after the troops of the Moscow Military District went up, although the pressure brought by the German army was greatly relieved, but how long it could last, Stalin had no bottom in his heart, and Marshal Petroshilov, chief of the General Staff, had no bottom in his heart.

The huge casualties of the Soviet army in the front line to resist the German offensive quickly consumed the war potential of the Soviet Union, and the Soviet-German front line was a huge black hole that devoured life, and thousands of Soviet youth, after a short period of training, took up arms and went to the battlefield, and then became one of the countless corpses.

The four elite front units in the east became Stalin's only reliance and card, and he hoped that if a miracle occurred, the Soviet Union would be able to withstand the German attack on the capital Moscow, without ceding more than a million square kilometers of land to the Chinese Tang Qiuli.

On 25 May, after a short period of adjustment and deployment, the Japanese troops on the Far Eastern Battlefield launched a fierce attack on the second-line positions of the Soviet Far Eastern Front from six directions, and the Soviet Far Eastern Front relied on the fortifications to carry out stubborn resistance, and more than 2 million soldiers on both sides were killed in the darkness, corpses all over the field, and rivers of blood flowed in the Far Eastern Battlefield, and on 27 May, the second line of defense of the Soviet Army was broken through by the Japanese in many places.

Immediately, the commander of the Soviet Far Eastern Front, General Zhukov, took out all the forces in his hands, carried out a desperate counterattack, and recovered most of the positions, but the Japanese army firmly occupied several major breakthroughs with superior forces, and the Soviet army was no longer able to keep the Japanese army out of the defensive line.

At the same time that the Far Eastern battlefield was full of flesh and blood, the troops of the Soviet Outer Khingan Mountains Front and the Baikal Front launched a ferocious attack on the Japanese army's blocking line, and the fierce fighting was no less than that of the Far Eastern battlefield, because the superiority in strength was not large, and the Soviet army failed to break through the Japanese army's blocking line after several days of attacking.

In the back, there are hundreds of thousands of independent divisions, hanging in the shadows, if they want to launch an attack, in five or six hours, they can exchange fire with the Soviet rearguard troops, followed by a tiger, whether it is the commander of the Trans-Khingan Ridge Front, General Kirganin, or the commander of the Baikal Front, General Gregariv, they dare not put all their forces into the attack on the Japanese army.

Stalin was extremely annoyed by the fact that he had been unable to break through the Japanese army's resistance for a long time, and Zhukov's urgent telegram added fuel to the fire, and Stalin was so anxious that in addition to strictly ordering General Kilganin, commander of the Khinganling Front, and General Gregariv, commander of the Baikal Front, to break through the Japanese resistance within three days at any cost, and at the same time, he severely criticized the slow action of the Baikal Front, and the commander of the Front, General Gregariv, was warned and punished once by the party.

By 29 May, the miracle that Stalin had hoped for did not appear, and the offensive of the Trans-Khingan Front and the Baikal Front failed to break through the Japanese resistance, but the troops of the Far Eastern Front were forced to abandon the second line of defense, and the troops shrank to the last line of defense, and the battlefield maneuver space was almost compressed by the Japanese army, and the Far Eastern Front really came to a desperate situation.

On the evening of May 29, the spring breath filled the streets of Moscow, but the people on the street, for the spring in Moscow, it seems that there is no joy in the past, the clouds of war are gradually shrouded in the sky, the spring wind in Moscow, are with a thick smell of gunsmoke, the Germans have hit not far from Moscow, perhaps, tomorrow morning wake up, the Germans have appeared under the city of Moscow, who is still in the mood, enjoy the spring on both sides of the street.

A sedan drove out of the west gate of the Kremlin, through the streets of Moscow, in the direction of the airport in the west of the city, and an hour later, a plane, facing the sunset in Moscow, rushed into the twilight night sky, and soon disappeared into the southeast sky.

Since he sent a telegram back to the Soviet Embassy in China, Tang Qiuli, together with Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe, has devoted a whole day to studying and formulating the basic strategy and bottom line for negotiations with the Soviet Union. ”

Tang Qiuli replied: "Yuhe, negotiation is an art, but also a skill, you come forward first, touch the Soviets' hole cards, I will also observe on the side, in addition, there is another point, that is, to tell the Soviets, we are not interested in what negotiations, dispensable things, this is a strategy." ”

"That Molotov, but a veteran diplomat, very experienced in negotiations, I have dealt with him a few times, old fritters, good at bargaining, at the beginning, I first dried him, squeezed out the water in his words, no hurry, anyway, we are not in a hurry, Yuhe, you can also be regarded as a exercise!"

After listening to the division commander's high-minded remarks, Zhao Yuhe was excited, waiting for that Molotov to come to Kulun, but after waiting for two days, there was no figure, and the Soviet Embassy in China had no explanation.

Zhao Yuhe came to Tang Qiuli's office and asked, "Division commander, what's the matter with that Soviet, is he coming or not, give me a happy word?" ”

Tang Qiuli laughed and said: "Yuhe, this is also one of the strategies of negotiation, Molotov is telling us that the Soviet Union is not in a hurry to negotiate, so we have broken off the idea of slaughtering a knife, in fact, Stalin is so anxious that he is about to get into the house, just pretend to be calm!" ”

Zhao Yuhe suddenly realized and said: "Yes, yes - division commander, on the Far East battlefield, the defensive circle of the Soviet Far East Front was broken through by the Japanese army one after another, and the rescue troops were blocked hundreds of kilometers away from the battlefield. ”

Tang Qiuli said with a smile, "Yuhe, in no more than two days, that Molotov will definitely come to the door!" The rumbling of cannons is more convincing than any language, Yuhe, in this negotiation, you have the advantage of the home field, plus the assistance of the Japanese, I think, probably without my appearance, you can cook that Molotov! ”

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