The Chief of Staff of the Transcaucasian Military District of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Zirnenko, was full of helplessness in his heart, and he did not want to see the defeat of the entire campaign because of the discord between the generals and commanders, and that would not do him any good.

However, one is undoubtedly the No. 1 commander of the military region, and the other is the supreme commander of the air force of the military region, and it is very difficult for him to be caught in the middle, and the only thing he can do is to use as tactful and polite wording as possible when sending telegrams, abandon the hard-line attitude of the comrade commander, and solicit the opinions of the commander of the military region's air force, General Konev, in an inquiring tone.

Not bad, Admiral Konev quickly called back, not only happily agreed, but also came up with his own opinions in accordance with the combat plan of Comrade Commander Kulygin, and at the same time dispatched three fighter divisions to escort two bomber divisions.

He hurriedly came to Commander Kulygin's tent and reported on the attitude of the commander of the Air Force of the Military District, Konev, and the measures taken by the Air Force. ”

On the night of 20 September, the north bank of the Sejingge River was not calm at night, and more than 200,000 Soviet troops were making meticulous preparations for the attack launched at 5 a.m. tomorrow.

On a distance of about 2.5 kilometers from the south bank of the Sesagoge River to the rocky mountains in the rear, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers of the Outer Mongolian border guards were wielding shovels and pickaxes under the cover of night. According to the requirements of Commander Sun Zhenbang, the width of the communication trenches was two and a half meters, and the depth reached more than two meters.

In order to encounter the Soviet artillery bombardment and bombardment, the soldiers can quickly hide, which is to deal with the superior artillery fire of the Soviet army. The old and effective method, Sun Zhenbang's idea, was that even the artillery fire of the Soviet army blocked the road from the front to the rear and opened the guò communication trenches. It is also possible to quickly mobilize troops, transport supplies and ammunition, and evacuate the wounded. Can you stop the Soviet army for six days. It's just a few traffic trenches.

However, adding up to a distance of more than ten kilometers is a huge amount of earthwork, therefore, after nightfall, except in the forward position. Leaving a small number of troops to monitor the movements of the Soviet troops, the rest of the troops were engaged in this project. Even Sun Zhenbang, who is the commander, is no exception, at this moment, he is wearing a shirt, the "whirring" of the sapper pickaxe, a staff officer ran over, lay in his ear, and whispered: "Commander, I have received a report from the forward troops that the Soviet troops on the other side have abnormal behavior!" ”

Sun Zhenbang stopped his movements suddenly, wiped his sweat, did not alarm the others, took two guards, hurriedly returned to the shelter where the headquarters was located, and walked on the road, he muttered in his heart, "Could it be that the Soviet army is preparing to attack, no, it has been stopped for most of the day, and Lao Maozi has no reason to attack at night?" Besides, there is no gunfire coming from me, and if we find out that the troops are intent on digging a communication trench, then we should also bombard it with artillery fire to sabotage my move? ”

Entering the shelter department, Sun Zhenbang lay on the lookout, raised the binoculars, and observed the movement of the Soviet position opposite, he saw that in the desert night, a string of not very dense lights, from far to near, and then, there was the sound of truck engines, the noise of Soviet soldiers, and, in the distance, there were lights flashing from time to time, one after another.

Sun Zhenbang threw down the binoculars and muttered, "Damn, it's the Soviet reinforcements that have arrived, and there are quite a few of them!" At least five or six divisions of troops, staff officers! Staff officer! Immediately report this situation to the division commander, the second echelon of the Soviet army, arrived at the front line of the Sejingge River, and the preliminary estimate is that the strength is five to six divisions! ”

Tang Qiuli, who received the telegram, couldn't help frowning, he ordered Sun Zhenbang's troops to give up elastic defense and stick to the blocking line of the Sejingge River, which was based on the existing Soviet troops, and now, the follow-up troops of the Soviet army have come up, and the strength of the troops has reached five or six divisions, which means that Sun Zhenbang, who originally resisted the four mechanized divisions of the Soviet army, is now blocking ten infantry divisions of the Soviet army, about 160,000 people, and the strength of the Soviet army is more than three times that of Sun Zhenbang.

Tang Qiuli hesitated a little, he wanted to change the order again, order Sun Zhenbang's troops, or implement the tactics of flexible defense, but the military order changed three times in two days, and the order was changed every day, which was a taboo for the commander, and it would also make the commanders on the front line at a loss, if they did not change the order, in the face of the Soviet army with more than three times their own strength, could Sun Zhenbang withstand it?

If Tang Qiuli knew that the follow-up troops of the Soviet Army were not five or six divisions, but nine infantry divisions, he would not hesitate to change the order, and he would order the first and second brigades of the directly subordinate corps that were rushing to the battlefield of the Sejingge River to build a blocking line on the spot to meet Sun Zhenbang's troops.

However, the follow-up troops of the Soviet army came at night, and the intelligence could not fall into Tang Qiuli's hands so quickly, which prompted him to give up the idea of changing the order, and ordered Wang Jun, chief of staff of the border guards, to call Sun Zhenbang back, "Pay close attention to the movements of the Soviet army, Liu Cuigang's aviation will provide air fire support for your department, and immediately establish an effective ground-air communication network," After the end of the Outer Mongolia campaign, whenever Tang Qiuli recalled it, he couldn't help but sweat.

After processing Sun Zhenbang's telegram and looking at his watch, it was already more than ten o'clock in the night of September 20th, Tang Qiuli couldn't help but sigh, feeling that his head was a little swollen, locked in this temporary headquarters for more than ten hours, and was about to go out to breathe, when a report came from outside the door, "Report to the division commander, I received an urgent telegram from the Third Cavalry Brigade Zeng Shiqiang!" ”

"Zeng Shiqiang of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade? Didn't he cross the north bank of the Sesagoge River? What will be the emergency? Could it be that other units of the Soviet Army have been discovered, and at a critical moment, don't make any extraneous branches! Tang Qiuli was stunned for a moment, and his heart was a little apprehensive, "Come in!" He shouted.

A captain staff officer came in and handed Tang Qiuli a telegram, and he hurriedly took it, "Division commander, after our Third Cavalry Brigade entered the area on the north bank of the Sezhige River, the original plan was to go deep into the rear of the Soviet army, bypass the frontal troops of the Soviet army, and attack the transport convoy and logistics supply line of the Soviet army. ”

"Since the target was discovered, I sent a cavalry reconnaissance team to track and reconnoiter the direction of the Soviet army's march, and found that the direction of the march of this Soviet army was the western region of Outer Mongolia, and all the officers and soldiers of the Third Cavalry Brigade unanimously asked for battle, tailgating, harassing, and exhausting, until the final annihilation of the Soviet army of the two divisions.

Regardless of Zeng Shiqiang's request for war, first of all, the actions of the Soviet army in these two divisions made Tang Qiuli puzzled, the current main battlefield, on the front line of the Sejingge River, the two lonely Soviet infantry divisions, not in the main battlefield, ran to the west of Outer Mongolia, what are they going to do?

Tang Qiuli immediately found Uzhgentala on the map, and when he saw the terrain conditions on the map, he was even more puzzled, and many thoughts and judgments flashed in his mind one by one.

Could it be that he wants to bypass Sun Zhenbang's frontal defense line, surround his troops in a roundabout way, or take Kulen directly, this is also wrong, the roundabout outflanking should be carried out on both flanks at the same time, besides, both sides have gathered additional troops, two infantry divisions, at best, more than 20,000 and less than 30,000 troops, what can be a big effect, moreover, Wuzhigentala to Kulen, there are local garrisons of the Outer Mongolian border guards along the way.

Consumed all the way, to the vicinity of Kulen, how many troops can be left of the two divisions of the Soviet army, and do they still have the ability to attack Kulen, and Uzhgentala is far away from the Seluge River, this section of the river, the water is turbulent, the river bank is towering, and it is the most unsuitable for crossing, isn't the Soviet army asking for trouble, if it does not detour back to Sun Zhenbang's rear, and does not cross the Seggarge River, what will the Soviet commander do?

Is there a bigger attempt that you can't judge? Tang Qiuli shook his head while denying the possibilities, he was very puzzled, the two Soviet infantry divisions that suddenly appeared might change the entire battle situation.

At this time, Wang Jun, chief of staff of the Outer Mongolian Frontier Army, came back after sending a telegram, Tang Qiuli handed Zeng Shiqiang's telegram to Wang Jun, and said: "Chief of Staff Wang, look at it, this is a telegram from the Third Cavalry Brigade, in the area of Uzhgentala, two Soviet infantry divisions were found, I can't judge their intentions!" It is a very troublesome thing not to know what the Soviet commander is going to do! ”

Wang Jun took the telegram, he also frowned, there were words in his mouth, shaking his head for a while, nodding for a while, seeing that Tang Qiuli was inexplicable, but he waited patiently, Wang Jun, the head snake resident in Outer Mongolia, maybe, will see something famous!

Suddenly, Wang Jun's eyes lit up, he walked quickly to the map of Outer Mongolia, picked up a pencil, drew a zigzag line, starting from Wuzhigentala, and extended to the western region of Outer Mongolia, and when he arrived at Kobdo, it stopped abruptly, and then around this line, circles were drawn from time to time, all of which were some key towns, Tang Qiuli also seemed to understand, but he still wanted to hear Wang Jun's opinion.

Putting down the pencil, Wang Jun said excitedly: "Division commander, the intention of the two divisions of Soviet troops to sneak here, I have preliminarily judged that the Soviet commanders are insidious enough, and their target is Kobdo, an important town in western Outer Mongolia!" ”

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