The changes brought about by the weather are most noticeably felt in the airboat detachments cruising in the air. The faces of Li Ming, Hao Changfeng and the others all became solemn, and Ding Weiguo walked over and said in a deep voice: "Commander, I have ordered all the airboat detachments to return. Now the weather is changing more obviously, and it is expected that the wind will be stronger tonight, and there may be rain in the next few days, and the airship may not be able to lift off to carry out the mission. ”

Li Ming nodded, and then said with a wry smile: "It seems that the battle situation has changed, and the next battle is not easy to fight!" ”

Lin Hua sighed and said: "Without the airship detachment, we will not have an aerial reconnaissance force, and then we will not be able to grasp the situation on the grassland in real time." We fought this battle so smoothly mainly by relying on the aerial reconnaissance of the airboat detachment. We always have a grasp of the enemy's movements, and we can easily mobilize our troops to encircle the enemy according to the information transmitted back by the airship.

If we can't grasp the enemy's movements, the steppe is so large, it is impossible to determine the specific location of the Mongols, the battlefield shape is constantly changing, and we can't organize tens of thousands of main cavalry to encircle the enemy as before. Moreover, without the communication relay of the airship, the communication links between the various units will also be greatly reduced. ”

Hao Changfeng next to him thought for a while and said, "Don't we have drones?" There are also two caravans and two helicopters, so it's okay to cope with it for a few days for the time being. ”

Ding Weiguo shook his head and said: "The cruise time of the quadcopter drone is only a little more than an hour, and the search radius is only a few kilometers. The two Cessna 208 aircraft, in rainy and windy weather, have relatively high requirements for the airport, and in such weather, the front line simply cannot meet their take-off and landing conditions. Our battlefield has been pushed to the Chao Oo League and the middle and upper reaches of the Xilamulun River, if two Cessna 208 aircraft take off from the airfield of the Quang Ninh garrison area. The time to cruise over the combat zone was just over three hours, and two planes were simply not enough to meet the aerial reconnaissance mission in such a vast area.

The cruising time of the two helicopters is even shorter, even if we set up a helicopter base at the forward base of the first column, the cruising time of the two helicopters will only be more than two hours. Let's not forget, there is a high probability that rainy weather will occur these days, and the ability to conduct aerial reconnaissance will also be reduced. And the plane in the case of a long flight. Necessary maintenance is also indispensable. The reconnaissance capabilities of the aircraft are of the tactical level, and the airships are of the strategic level, which is completely incomparable. ”

After listening to Ding Weiguo's words, Li Ming said to Lin Hua: "Where is Song Tao now?" ”

"Song Tao and the special combat team are repairing at the Zhenyibao advance base of the third column, and I will immediately inform them to come back and let them go to the Quang Ninh garrison area."

Li Ming nodded, then turned his head to Ding Weiguo: "Old Ding, after Song Tao arrives at the Guangning garrison area, you immediately arrange two Cessna 208 planes." Airdrop them to the Chaowu Dameng and the middle and upper reaches of the Xilamulun River. In addition, your Air Force Department will do its utmost to reconnoiter this area at any cost in the past two days. ”

After he finished speaking, he said to Hao Changfeng: "Changfeng, you immediately send a report to all the troops on the front line, and ask them to send out all the reconnaissance divisions, and try to grasp the battlefield situation through the ground reconnaissance forces." In the next few days, our fighting will be extremely difficult, and the offensive of all units must be steady, and no unit should be greedy for merit. To the Inner Khalkha five. As well as the three divisions of Alu Korqin, Weng Niute, and Keshiketeng near the Zhaowuda League, they should be mainly defeated. Try not to attack the main forces of their westward migration. ”

Hao Changfeng shook his head and said with a wry smile: "It's really cheap for these guys, if they escape into the Chahar Department of the Xilin Gol Grassland, it will be beyond our plan." Hum...... People can escape, but the cattle, sheep and horses have to be left behind by Lao Tzu. ”

Li Ming nodded with a smile, and then said loudly: "Don't be gloomy." If God doesn't help, we can't help it. This situation was also taken into account when the Military Commission drew up its plan before. Don't feel unwilling, the company has basically cleared the vast area south of the Daxing'an Mountains and east of Yanshan Mountain. We have basically achieved our strategic objectives. As long as we digest this region in the next two years, we will move westward and sweep away the desert and northern Mongolia. ”

Over the next two days, the weather took a turn for the worse, with a cold snap from Siberia blowing strong winds in the steppes, sleet and sleet coming with it, and the temperature dropped significantly. This cold air invasion is due to the influence of the Siberian cold snap, and the temperature drops by about 8°C to 10°C.

The cavalry units of the Far East and West Corps trudged through the steppe with great difficulty in the face of the violent northwest winds and the cold sleet. The sleet in spring is very annoying, the snowflakes that fall from the sky are mixed with the rain, making it impossible to open your eyes, and the snowflakes melt when they land, and the grassland becomes extremely muddy.

In the face of such bad weather, the marching speed of the units of the Western Army Corps slowed down markedly, and the units slowly advanced to the west in strict accordance with the orders of the corps headquarters.

The slowdown in the march of the Far East and West also bought time for the Nekharkha Five, and the herdsmen of all the tribes joined the westward migration, and the steppe was full of tribal herdsmen who braved the wind and snow.

They drove cattle, sheep, horses and wooden wheeled carriages on the muddy grassland to the Xilin Gol grassland in the west. In the face of the aggressive offensive in the Far East, the five Inner Khalkha tribes also temporarily put aside their hostility, jointly elected the leaders of each department, and stabilized the situation of the five departments.

The Fifth Inner Khalkha Department also actively contacted the three divisions of Alu Korqin, Weng Niute, and Keshiketeng, and took advantage of the slowdown of the Far East offensive to form a steppe coalition army of nearly 100,000, which also included almost all the young and strong men of each department, and even many children and young women joined the coalition army.

But they don't have the courage to fight with the Far East now, they already know the news that the four tribes of Nen Korqin, the Naiman tribe, the Eastern Tumut tribe, and the Karaqin tribe have been wiped out by the Far East one after another, and in the face of such a fierce Far East, moving west is the only way for them to survive.

Moreover, the leaders of the various departments have already made up their minds to give up cattle and sheep, old and weak women and children, and once the main cavalry in the Far East catches up, they will not hesitate to abandon a qiē and flee to the Xilin Gol grassland with all the young and strong.

As long as the tribe still has young warriors, war horses and scimitars, there will be cattle, sheep and women, and there will be large pastures.

This cold snap from Siberia also affected the Xilin Gol steppe in the northwest. But there was a force of Chahar cavalry, rolling overwhelmingly in the direction of the Zhaowuda League and the Xilamulun River. (To be continued......)

PS: Thanks to Ali for the tip.