On Sunday, 3,000 miles southwest of Irkutsk, another torrent of armored sand and dust was surging northward......

Eastern end of Lake Balkhash, Akdouka, headquarters of the North-Western Front.

The commander of the front, General Liang Tianhe, held his beloved Hade Gate in his mouth, his gaze mechanically alternating between the map and the door of the telecommunications room, and the royal blue enamel ashtray on the table was already stuffed with cigarette butts.

During the Asian-Russian War, Liang Tianhe served as the commander of the Second Group Army, and after the war, he served as the commander of the Northeast Military Region and the commander of the Chita Military Region. During this period, it actively coordinated with all parties to establish and develop the production and construction corps system, included the minority population in the national conscription system, organized and trained the new army, especially the armored troops, organized and trained technical personnel to participate in the construction of railways, highways and other infrastructure, and used private capital to develop local military-related industries...... All in all, the current Northwest Front Army that crisscrosses Central Asia was created by Liang Tianhe.

The war zone map, which covers almost the entire wall, is marked with arrows and characters of different colors, large and small, and the red characters of the first number are scattered over a depth of 1,500 kilometers between the Karakum Desert in the south and the Ayaguz River in the north.

Looking south, the main force of the 10th Army entered and occupied the famous Central Asian city of Samarkand in 524, and immediately occupied the city of Bukhara in the early 6th, liberating the ancient Central Asian country of Bukhara, which had been forced to accept the "protection" of Russia since 1873, and then occupied Charju on the banks of the Amu Darya River without bloodshed. After a little reorganization in Chalju, the commander of the group army, Admiral Yan Meng, formed a detachment of Khiva and marched down the Amu Darya River in the direction of the Aral Sea. The task was to liberate the Khiva Khanate, another Russian protectorate, and the main forces of the army group marched along the Turkmen Railway through the Karakum Desert to Ashgabat on the Persian border, and possibly westward from Ashgabat to the Caspian coast, with the aim of shocking Persia and threatening the rear of the Russian army in the Caucasus and the British army in India.

To the west, the 10th Army, which was holding the Kizil'o in the middle reaches of the Syr Darya, protected the rear route of the main force of the southbound army; The group, with two divisions of the 24th Army as the backbone, defended both ends of Lake Balkhash and the eastern shore, protecting the rear route of the main group of the front army heading north.

Look north. Since yesterday, the 2nd Panzer Group 5th Army has been deploying along both banks of the Ayaguz River, relying on water transportation and supplies, to launch an assault on the city of Ayaguz, the terminus of the Russian railway, 100 miles away. Behind the more than 200,000 men, more than 70,000 mules and horses, and more than 3,000 motor vehicles of the two armies, 36 railway companies (150 to 200 per company) and tens of thousands of civilian workers of the Northwest Railway General Army were racing against time to lay the urgent military railway and the regular single-track railway between Akdouka and Ayaguz at the same time—the former was based on the operation of the two armies to attack Novosibirsk, and the latter was sufficient to maintain a long-term expeditionary operation with double strength (i.e., 12 armored brigades, 12 infantry divisions, and 14 cavalry brigades).

As an important part of the entire summer offensive against Russia, the 2nd A Group Army, which is equipped with more than 600 armored fighting vehicles after reorganization, plays the role of another "steel tong", echoing the 1st Armored Group Army 3,000 miles away.

Liang Tianhe pressed the butt of the cigarette in his hand into the ashtray that was already full. I picked up the cigarette case and saw that it was empty.

I was about to call the orderlies to get cigarettes. I coughed unexpectedly, and my chest suddenly ached.

"Damn, scare me, is Lao Tzu scared......"

After muttering to himself for a while, he still couldn't help but call the orderly, lifted the lid of the cup and took a few sips of tea, his eyes focused on the telegram in his hand that had been burned with a few scorched holes by cigarette butts.

"Loading 5 entered the city of Ayaguz at noon, and it was reported that the station facilities had not been damaged in time, that many trains and supplies had been captured, and that there was still sporadic resistance inside and outside the city. Details will be reported later. ”

In 30 hours, the armored spearhead advanced 100 miles, the lightning attack captured the enemy's long-established frontier town, and more importantly, the station facilities were intact, plus a number of Russian trains were captured due to the different railway gauges between the two countries. Most of the Empire's trains could not run directly on the Russian railways, and until the existing Russian railways were changed to the standard gauge of the Empire, Russian-made trains that could directly use the Russian railways would undoubtedly be of great value to the armored forces that were rapidly advancing to the ground.

Smoothly. It went so well, so smoothly...... A bit overdone?

Liang Tianhe yawned when he looked up to the sky, revealing a mouthful of jagged yellow teeth—all thanks to his long-term addiction to smoking three or five packs a day.

"Is it too much?"

Squinting his eyes and asking himself, Liang Tianhe saw that the curtain of the telecommunications room had been lifted, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that it was General Yan Canglong, chief of staff of the Front Army, an old qualified artillery expert, who had been rooted in the northwest for longer than Liang Tianhe, and was the chief of staff of the former commander of the Northwest Front Army Zhang Yao during the last Asian-Russian War. In the first year of Chengxian (1911), he was transferred to the deputy commander of the Northwest Military Region, and concurrently faced Russia in the northwest

"Lao Yan, what's the news?" Liang Tianhe still had a lot of respect for the white-sidedness veteran in front of him, who was several years older than him, and he had already pulled a chair while he was talking and beckoned Yan Canglong to sit down.

"Ayaguz solved." Yan Canglong nodded slightly and presented the telegram.

"So fast? The whole city has been pacified? ”

"Well, it's basically settled, and the results are not small."

Liang Tianhe took the telegram and read it out loud as he picked up the important words.

“…… More than 20 locomotives were seized, more than 600 wagons, several piles of coal, ammunition, grain, and soldiers and civilians were packed up on the platform, the equipment of the shunting yard and the station signal coal and water were all intact, and the train driver and station staff were captured a lot—well, this is exactly what I wanted! ”

"The defenders have not been annihilated, but cut off outside the city, and the legs of the Russian soldiers cannot outrun the tracks of our chariots, and they have not had time to return to the city to destroy and transfer. Those trains were supposed to be for evacuation, but they turned out to be gifts to us. Yan Canglong reminded and analyzed.

Liang Tianhe raised his head slightly intoxicated: "This is the power of the armored synthetic corps...... That's what you want! ”

Yan Canglong sat down on the back of the chair and squinted his eyes meaningfully: "It seems that the commander had expected this effect a long time ago, so he insisted on not moving Ayaguz before the general attack was launched, even if it would take more effort to build the railway in the open space at that time?" ”

—

Liang Tianhe glanced at the hill of cigarette butts on the table, swallowed his saliva to hold back his addiction to smoking, and spread his hands and said: "Before the general attack, we had already crossed the border 50 kilometers, and when we connected the Lanza Railway to Almaty, it took a month to 80 kilometers. The more prepared, more labor, and higher degree of mechanization, it shouldn't take that long.

"Until the railway from Akdouka to Ayaguz is connected, we will have to use horse-drawn carriages and trucks to maintain transportation between the two places, and those trains captured by Ayaguz will still be able to conjure up supplies out of thin air?"

"Yes, those trains can't make supplies, but they save supplies, and with them, we have a 100-mile road supply line. It's not a long journey, and the truck can make two or three trips a day. The rest is all about the train. Without those trains, the road supply lines would have been extended indefinitely as the troops advanced, and we would have to use more wagons and trucks to maintain them, and we would have to lose more supplies, three times? Five-fold? Maybe ten times as much - Lao Yan, I think you are asking knowingly. ”

Yan Canglong smiled slightly: "Yes, I asked this to remind the commander, doesn't the enemy understand this truth?" Knowing that logistics is our biggest obstacle, we have to pile up so many trains to the front line in one go, which seems to be deliberately giving us gifts. ”

"You didn't just say it. Those trains came for evacuation and evacuation? ”

"A border town like Ayaguz has been fighting for more than half a year, why did you think of evacuation until now? As for the retreat of the army...... If the task of the defenders is to hold on and wait for reinforcements, they should hold the city and hold the danger. How can we let our army enter the city easily? If the task was to contain and cover, it should have been deployed a long time ago and the whole city should have been burned and blown up. ”

Liang Tianhe nodded slightly. Picked up the cup and ate several sips of tea in a row.

"Actually, I also feel too smooth, a little smooth...... Unnatural. Hasn't there been a response from the base camp yet? ”

"Nope." Yan Canglong replied very simply.

Liang Tianhe sighed, suddenly yawned again, blinked his red eyes, and finally couldn't help but call the orderly.

"Go, get a pack of cigarettes."

The little orderly didn't buy it, and said with a straight chest: "Commander, you have already finished drawing the quota today......"

"Quantitative?"

"Madame said, up to three packs a day......"

"Do you listen to a woman or to your chief?"

"Listen...... Listen to the sir. ”

"Then don't go soon—what's wrong?"

The orderly lowered his head wiltedly, and was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Yan Canglong.

"Commander, let's smoke less, Mrs. Zun is also for your body......"

Liang Tianhe waved his hand disapplausively: "Women, what do you know, then, you also know Lu Dao, I can't live without smoke, don't persuade me - Xiao Liang, what are you still doing in a daze?" Take three packs and give one pack to the chief of staff. ”

Driving away the orderlies, Liang Tianhe stretched his waist, got up and paced a few steps, twisting his neck with a rattle.

"Lao Yan, do you know what I'm worried about."

"We don't have enough reserves, two divisions are too thin." Yan Canglong said it.

"Do you think we have any reserves for the enemy on our side?"

Yan Canglong's eyelids furrowed, and he sneered: "If there is, it can only be at the cost of weakening the front against Germany." ”

"Yes, Germany...... They are the main force against Russia, just like our Northern Front......"

"Commander, our Northwest Front Army is not a place to be raised." When Yan Canglong said this, his expression was extremely cold.

"I know it." Liang Tianhe rubbed his huge and strong fist, "It should come, it will always come, it's my land, give it back to me......"