Early in the morning of the 20th, the 13th Infantry Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Wehrmacht finally arrived in the desert under the sun. Everyone was a little apprehensive in their hearts, and the brigade commander Yu Wensong said: "Everyone throw away the unnecessary, bring weapons, bullets, tents, water bottles, and food bags with me into the desert." Brothers, live together, die together. ”

The words of Yu Wensong, commander of the 13th Infantry Brigade, gave the soldiers the courage to persevere, and now it is too late to go elsewhere, so they can only continue to move forward, so this 4,000-strong team with no logistics, no auxiliary arms, and only combat arms embarked on the road into the desert. The yellow sand that obscured the sky and the sun blew so that they could not open their eyes, and walking in the desert was not only slow but also very physically demanding, especially the sun above them, which made them even more unbearable. Everyone drank the water cautiously, and more people just took it in their mouths and did not dare to swallow it. The experienced and experienced got two kettles, one for water and the other for urine, and told others that when everyone ran out of water, the urine could be filtered and drunk without thirst.

This squadron silently walked through the Kizilkum Desert in Central Asia, however, they went in the wrong direction again.

Due to the rebellion of the Sakhalin regiment last night, the Soviets were unable to launch an offensive during the day on May 18, and when it was close to the early hours of the evening, Blyukhel suddenly learned that reconnaissance had detected a group of troops of unknown nationality approaching him. Blyukhel immediately sent his troops to intercept the attack, and after more than an hour of fighting in the northern desert, the two sides realized that it was actually their own men.

It turned out that more than 4,000 people from the remaining 24th Division of the Simbirsk Iron Army, who had lost their way, miraculously ran back by mistake, which was amazing. They did not take a wrong step, and they did not delay for a moment. There was no hindrance, and after evacuating overnight in a sandstorm, Melnikov led his men to walk in the desert for a full twenty-six hours and miraculously escaped.

Of the 18,000 remaining troops, Melnikov brought back only more than 3,000 men, and the commander of the Abelessky division led about 5,000 men to break through to the north, and nearly 10,000 were either killed in battle or disappeared in the desert due to sandstorms while fleeing, and these people could never return.

In fact, after the war, poison gas bombs alone killed nearly 3,000 Soviet soldiers - the bodies of which were found. There are many more who are buried by the sandstorm's sandstorms. In order to shirk responsibility, the Soviet army insisted after the war that the poison gas bombs of the Chinese in this ambush war caused 9,000 Soviet troops to be killed, which is exactly the total number of Soviet attack troops in the middle of the Central Asian cluster, including killed, missing, and captured.

In the early morning of the 19th, the Soviet troops were busy dealing with internal problems and celebrating the safe return of Melnikov's troops, while they were also preparing for a new offensive against the squadron.

On the morning of May 19th. After breakfast, Blyukhel held another meeting to reassess the squadron. Yesterday, before going to bed, he thought about it and realized that every step he took seemed to be expected by the enemy, and that he was in a trap.

"There are inner ghosts, there are spies, agents of the Chinese." Blyukhel thought in a cold sweat. "But who is the inner ghost? Who can fully know their military plans? He thought about a lot of people, but no one around him seemed to be able to do it - he didn't speculate about the political struggle in the Kremlin, and the problem was precisely in the Kremlin.

Regarding the situation before and after the rebellion of the Sakhalin Corps, the 2nd commissar Postshev first made a careful and careful report to the 1st commissar Melnikov. And let the witnesses tell the whole story, hoping that Melnikov will support his decision to purge the Sakhalin regiments. Melnikov suffered a fracture in his right hand. He listened carefully to the report wrapped in bandages and pondered. He neither agreed nor objected to Bosshev's handling of the matter.

But the chief of staff, Sollinsky, once again objected, arguing that only those who took the lead should be dealt with, and Bosshev loudly rebuked Ali, who he forcefully declared that if all counter-revolutionaries were not purged, they would really be taken off their hind legs. Sollinsky did not choose to back down this time, the war had reached such a point that he could no longer make stupid decisions lightly, and he stood up and argued loudly with Postshev.

Sollinsky believed that the Sakhalin regiments were not revolutionary troops, and could not regulate them at the behest of the revolutionary ranks, they were just White Guards who were forced to take up arms, and perhaps in their hearts, only wanted to return to the rear and be a common man. Postshev pointed to Sollinsky's nose and asked, Do you think that the White Guards are innocent, how did you join the revolution, and you are still not a qualified Bolshevik?

Listening to the quarrel, in fact, Blyukhel was full of contradictions in his heart, and it was precisely because of Posteshev's support for himself that his plan to first Central Asia and then East Asia was implemented, and it can be said that Posteshev was his nobleman. And Sollinsky is his own brain, and he is right, it is true that the White Guards can no longer be provoked. It's just that how to balance these two people, he didn't speak because he didn't think about how to deal with the current tricky situation.

However, the first commissar Melnikov saw through that an overly radical approach would certainly not work in the event of an engagement, and the fighters of the Sakhalin regiment were really unwilling to fight any further, so it was better to let them withdraw.

While the headquarters was deliberating, suddenly the herald took a telegram and said: "Report, a mysterious unit of the enemy has attacked the towns of Juzares and Leozek, our rear bases. ”

"Chinese? How many of them are there? ”

"Tens of thousands of cavalry, according to the soldiers who fled back reported that they were wearing Chinese uniforms, many of them Central Asian, this is a multi-ethnic cavalry force."

Blyukhel and Sollinsky immediately looked through the information, and Sollinsky exclaimed: "It's the 16th Cavalry Division of the Chinese, shouldn't they be stationed in Tashkent?" They're coming so fast. ”

"This 16th Cavalry Division...... Is it not a force made up of those Turks? Melnikov suddenly asked slyly.

"Yes, there are still a lot of Kalmyks." Staff Officer Kolinyakov said.

Melnikov smiled and said, "Can we buy them?" ”

"It's difficult." Sollinsky smiled bitterly, "Their people are all in China, and if they are next to them, their people's lives will be in danger." ”

Melnikov asked: "How many Tatars and Central Asians are among them?" ”

"It should be forty percent, and their division commander Makranti is a Tatar." The staff officer continued.

"That's going to do it." Melnikov laughed.

"My comrade commissar, what do you have a good idea?" Blyukhel asked.

"Maybe it's not a good idea, but it's definitely useful," Melnikov said. ”

"Tell me."

"Sending people to spread rumors to this cavalry unit that the Chinese are secretly executing Caucasians and Central Asians in the rear, as the only unit in the squadron composed of nearly half Caucasians and Central Asians, will make their soldiers doubt the faith of their own army." As a result, this army will be in civil strife, and even cannibalism, and we will carefully study the specific way to disclose the news. Melnikov's eyes showed coldness and playfulness, and to deal with the Chinese, you can't just rely on force, and you should use your brains under the premise that force has no effect.

In Beijing, the command center of the National Defense Force was brightly lit, Wang Maoru took off his hat and put it on the table, he looked in the mirror and asked: "Brother Baili, do you think I am starting to lose my hair?" ”

"You didn't lose your hair, but I noticed that you suddenly grew several gray hairs in the past month." Jiang Fangzhen said lightly.

Wang Maoru sighed, "Yes, white hair, I'm old." ”

"You're not old, you know what you are now?"

"What is it?"

Jiang Fangzhen said with a smile: "Forty-one flowers, you are not yet forty years old, and you are still waiting to be released." ”

"You Jiang Baili, you can tell jokes." Wang Maoru patted his thigh and said with a smile, He Rufei walked over with a book of materials, and said respectfully: "Report to Xiushuai, the preparations of the army in various places are being carried out in an orderly manner. An organizational plan for the transfer of officers in the army has been arranged, and this is a detailed plan. It involves the transfer of nearly 300 senior officers. In addition, the officers of the Xuanwu Legion, the Blue Dragon Legion, the Gouchen Legion and the Nine Infant Legion expressed their willingness to go to the Western Regions to fight in the Western Regions through the Propaganda Division, and they all issued letters asking for war blood. ”

"What are they asking for?" Wang Maoru waved his hand and said with a smile, he felt that it was a bit of a fuss, "This is a local conflict, we are not ready for a full-scale war with the Soviet Russian Empire, and Soviet Russia is not ready for a full-scale war, and in the end, the two sides will definitely not be able to fight a national war." However, their desire to invite war is still good, and the soldiers should have this kind of fighting spirit, and you sue the Ministry of Defense to praise their attitude of inviting war, and also let them be ready at all times, once the Soviet Russian government has any wrongdoing, we will prepare next. ”

"Yes." He Rufei said expressionlessly.

Wang Maoru instructed again: "Xiangyun (He Ru Feizi Xiangyun), the resettlement work after this battle is extremely important, and the resettlement of wounded soldiers, the resettlement of retired soldiers, and the pension of dead soldiers will cost our army a huge amount of capital. In particular, the resettlement of wounded soldiers is not only a matter of money, but also involves follow-up treatment and the arrangement of civil servants. Your task is extremely heavy, and I hope you can take it on. ”

He Rufei said with a smile: "Please rest assured, Xiushuai's subordinates will definitely not disappoint Xiushuai." ”

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