Regarding the contemptuous words of Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe, Tang Qiuli smiled, and then said: "The Japanese not only want to, but are also doing, and it is precisely because Stalin has thoroughly understood the careful thinking of the Japanese that he dared to make a dangerous move and transfer troops from the battlefield of Outer Xing'anling. ”

Tang Qiuli was about to continue, and Wang Jun, chief of staff of the Outer Mongolian Frontier Army, came in and said: "Division commander, I just received information from the reconnaissance unit that the Soviet army crossed the Sejingge River at about 7 o'clock this morning, but unexpectedly, a large-scale explosion suddenly occurred in the position abandoned by our army, which killed and wounded the Soviet troops occupying the position, but the specific casualty figure is unknown!" The cause of the explosion is unknown. ”

"Position explosion?" Tang Qiuli repeated suspiciously, it must have been planted with a large amount of explosives in advance, usually, the troops who like to do this are only Chutian's special operations detachment, but he did not send the special operations detachment into the Sejingge River Theater to carry out similar tasks, oh, by the way, it must be Liu Hongzhang's handwriting, Tang Qiuli suddenly realized, and then laughed dumbly, and secretly thought in his heart: "Liu Hongzhang is insidious enough!" ”

Tang Qiuli laughed and said: "Don't bother with it, it's Liu Hongzhang's handiwork, by the way, Chief of Staff Wang, does the Soviet army have any further action?" ”

Wang Jun replied: "Division commander, as you judged, the commander of the Soviet army, Kulykin, was very cautious, after crossing the Sejingge River, his main force stood by, and only sent three divisions of the Fifth Army, plus a tank brigade, to continue southward, according to the speed of the mechanized march of the Soviet forward troops, at about five o'clock this afternoon, you can reach the front line of Checherleg!" ”

After a pause, Wang Junjian said, "Division commander." Do we send small forces to harass along the way? The Soviets were convinced that our blocking troops, because of heavy casualties, were forced to abandon the defense line of the Setuge River! ”

Tang Qiuli looked at Wang Jun approvingly, and said: "This construction is very good, let Yang Ketian command the troops in the east, send a regiment of troops, and use the company as a unit to attack and harass the Soviet army without interruption." However, to avoid the front, you can take the method of flanking and not seeking to destroy the enemy, do you want to make a show! ”

Since the Fifth Army left the main forces. After marching south alone, General Kulygin's nerves tightened. A heart is uneasy. Maintaining uninterrupted contact with the commander of the Fifth Army, Major General Kuryakov, before the Fifth Army set off, General Kurygin personally rushed to the military headquarters to give a face-to-face lecture.

General Kurygin said to Major General Kuryakov: "Comrade Kuryakov, the Fifth Army has an important task on its shoulders. To be the vanguard of the main forces of the military district, you need to keep in mind that if you are attacked by the troops of the independent division, you will immediately stop advancing. Hold on to your position, and if on the way to the south you are not blocked by any of the troops of the Separate Division, when the Fifth Army arrives in the area north of Checherleg, you must keep it in mind and wait for my order, and forbid any action until there is an order. ”

General Kurykin is not very relieved about Kuryakov, compared with the indecisive commander of the Third Army, Major General Sergeyev, this guy's style of commanding operations is too brave, sometimes, his mind is simpler, he does not understand the cunning of the Chinese, so he must be told by ear and face and repeatedly admonished, otherwise, this guy who smells the smell of gunsmoke, his head is congested, no matter what traps are not trapped, blindly rush!

With tens of thousands of troops of the Fifth Army, sophisticated equipment, and fierce fighting style, the opponent will not be able to show some real effort, and only by using such troops can we test the sudden withdrawal of the troops of the independent division from the defense line of the Sejingge River, what is the real intention, this is a touchstone, whether the Chinese have a conspiracy, we will know at a try, although the cost is greater, but it is much better than more than 300,000 troops, all of whom fell into the trap of the Chinese.

When the General Staff learned the news that the Transcaucasian Military District troops had made a breakthrough, they sent a congratulatory telegram full of enthusiastic praise, but what General Kulygin paid the most attention to was a sentence in the telegram: "Comrade Stalin was pleased to hear the news that the troops of the Transcaucasian Military District had made a major breakthrough, and especially at the meeting of the Political Bureau, he informed all the members and alternate members of the Political Bureau, and greatly praised it, encouraging you to take advantage of the victory and pursue it and capture Kulen in one fell swoop!" ”

The sky is pitiful, after six or seven days of fighting, countless noses and faces are swollen, and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers have been exchanged for a praise from the leader, which is worth it, General Kurygin has mixed feelings in his heart, and he has mixed feelings, but his original nervous heart is hot!

The Fifth Army, which was fully mechanized, was in a hurry, with the roar of tanks, the smoke and dust of trucks and artillery wagons, and a torrent of steel, which was violently slaughtered in the direction of Kulen, and for several hours in a row, all the reports were unimpeded, and no news of any independent division was seen.

General Kurygin's heart became uneasy, the closer he got to Checherleg, the more his heart raised his throat, it was not normal, the troops of the independent division on the front line of the Sejingge River were not defeated, they could not form an army, they only cared about fleeing for their lives, how could they not deploy blocking troops along the way, even if it was a constant attack, this is a matter of common sense, the quieter it is, the more it shows that there is a problem!

It was not until about two o'clock in the afternoon of 27 September that Commander Kuryakov reported: "The troops were attacked and harassed by small units of the Independent Division, and the enemy troops continued to attack on both sides of our army's marching route, and laid mines on the roads along the way, and the speed of the Fifth Army's advance was affected. ”

According to the report made before the pilot was shot down, when the reconnaissance plane entered the airspace more than 400 kilometers north of Kulen, it was intercepted by a large number of fighters of the independent division's air force.

That is to say, the reconnaissance information obtained by the air force reconnaissance aircraft unit at the cost of losing dozens of reconnaissance planes is equivalent to a pile of waste paper, which has no effect on judging the battlefield situation on its own, and the battle to recover Outer Mongolia has been fought for six or seven days, and General Kurygin does not believe that Tang Qiuli will not mobilize reinforcements from the country, and the current position of the reinforcements of the independent division is the key!

In order to find out this, it was only possible to obtain accurate information by conducting aerial reconnaissance in the area south of Kulen, in the area of Seinsanda, and General Kurygin gave an order to Lieutenant General Jonasov, deputy commander of the Air Force of the Don Military District.

Unexpectedly, what I got turned out to be a simple refusal, "Comrade commander, our reconnaissance aircraft unit, the loss of Yan zhòng, the fighters of the independent division aviation, blocked the airspace in that area, the facts have proven this, I can't let my pilots, but make senseless sacrifices, each of them is a precious asset of the Soviet Air Force, neither you nor myself have the right to make such a decision!" These are the exact words of Lieutenant General Jonasov.

General Kurygin was almost mad, how to talk about this? As if he was joking with the pilot's life, if Jonasov was his direct subordinate, for his disobedience to military orders, General Kurygin would have let the Cheka's agents arrest him a long time ago, but unfortunately, he was here to help in the war, belonging to two different command systems, and he had no right to deal with it.

Such a lawsuit, even if it hits the General Staff, it will be a matter of its own reasoning and entanglement, and the Air Force General Command will definitely come forward to protect its own system, and the General Staff will also fight fifty boards each, there is no way, General Kurygin has no choice but to give up this idea.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the commander of the Fifth Army, Major General Kuryakov, sent a telegram again: "Comrade commander, on the front line of Checherleg, our army was strongly blocked by the main force of the Outer Mongolian Frontier Army of the Independent Division, and the battle was very fierce. ”

General Kurygin sent a telegram very directly, "Comrade Kuryakov, what basis do you have for judging that the troops of the independent division blocking you are the Outer Mongolian border guards?" "Yes, on what basis did you Kuryakov conclude that it was the second-line troops of the independent division that blocked you, there is a basis in general, right? Besides, since it was Tang Qiuli's second-rate troops, how could it block the three attacks of a mechanized army plus a tank brigade?

The reply from Commander Kuryakov was also very simple, "Comrade commander, the troops of my independent division that are blocking me do not have heavy weapons, not even large-caliber artillery for suppressing my attacking troops, what appears on the battlefield are just some mortars!" But they built complete fortifications, relying on such fortifications, they stopped the advance of the troops! ”

After reading the telegram, General Kurygin relaxed all over his body, all the doubts were cleared, and the face of the battlefield became clear, this is right, on the battlefield of the Sejingge River, I took in tens of thousands of soldiers, and the independent division troops on the defensive, the casualties will not be small, retreat to the second-line position, and establish a new blocking line, which is also a normal move, they are reinforcing the Outer Mongolia battlefield for Tang Qiuli's main army, buying time.

General Kuregin strung all the situations together and came to a conclusion that speed, the key to conquering Kulen is speed, and it is necessary to take Kulen before Tang Qiuli arrives with the main army.

General Kurygin put aside a misgiving, did not hesitate, and said to the chief of staff of the military district, Lieutenant General Zirnenko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, convey my order, the main forces of the military district, immediately go south as fast as possible!" ”

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