"Commander, a call from the headquarters of the army group."

At the headquarters of the Left Assault Group, located on the banks of the Selenga River between Ulan-Ude and Selenginsk, in a lumberjack's hut, a burly, broad-faced, square-fronted lieutenant general pressed his saber in his hand, nodded slightly to the adjutant who came to report, and spat out a word like gravel: "Read." ”

"After investigation, the enemy in front of you is considerable, and with an unknown number of armored troops to support, it is about to launch a full-scale attack to rescue the enemy in Ulan-Ude and Chita. For the sake of the overall situation, your troops will carry out active defense, be mobile and flexible, and fight and retreat, and wait for an opportunity to counterattack after wearing down their sharpness and finding out their reality and reality. Remember, you must reserve a strong reserve for a counter-offensive. ”

"I know it."

The lieutenant general groaned slightly, and pulled out the saber with a "swish", it turned out that this knife was not a standard Western saber, but a popular Tang-style horizontal knife among the current officers, this ancient weapon that was popular in East Asia during the Tang Dynasty had long been lost, but the Japanese sword developed on its basis has been passed down in the Dongying Islands for thousands of years. Since the First Sino-Japanese War, in view of the fact that the Western saber has become more and more reduced to "a woman's hairpin-like ornament", officers who enjoy the privilege of saber have spent their own money to buy practical war swords made by famous craftsmen. After the Asian-Russian War, this trend became more and more intense, at the beginning it was popular from the lancet of the cavalry knife of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and then the Japanese knife with more "taste" was favored by senior officers, in view of the flood of Japanese swords, the craftsmen with a heart collected ancient methods in every possible way, and finally cast a unique and sharp and durable Tang-like horizontal knife, which was first appreciated by Emperor Taizuwu, and was used by the officers of the Yulin Regiment in the palace, and since then it has been out of control, and then it has become a fashion in the army.

Suddenly there was a burst of indulgent laughter outside the door: "A famous knife is worthy of a hero, and a knife worthy of 'Thousand Head Chopping', it must be very precious, I have seen it, I have seen it." ”

The commander of the Left Assault Group, Lieutenant General Xu Soul put his knife into the sheath with a "poof", and smiled slightly: "Who did I say, Commander Zheng, which gust of wind blew you here today?" ”

The person who came was Lieutenant General Zheng Hong, the commander of the 2nd Praetorian Army who was currently responsible for besieging the enemy of Ulan-Ude, who was the commander of the 11th Infantry Division of the Third Field Army in Vladivostok during the Asian-Russian War, and Zhao Minhe, the current commander of the 4th Army, who was then the chief of staff of the Third Field Army, was attacked by the enemy in the Battle of Shuangchengzi and slashed the enemy cavalry for more than ten times - the two became brothers with different surnames, and then led the army to fight fiercely in Shuangchengzi and stormed Vladivostok. However, his organizational and command skills were appreciated by the high-level. He is not only the ninth dan of the Great China Kendo Association, but also the vice president of the "Great East Asia Ancient Sword Appreciation Association", and it is said that there are no less than 300 famous swords in his private collection.

Lieutenant General Zheng Hong, who is not moved by fashion, naturally still has his favorite Japanese knife hanging on his waist, and the scabbard is wrapped with a fox skin knife bag, which shows the owner's love for knives.

Xu Soul smiled and invited him to sit down, and was about to put away his Tang knife, but was pulled by Zheng Hong: "Don't worry, brother, can you let me take a look?" ”

Xu Soul knew his hobby, turned his wrist, held the knife with both hands, but did not forget to put a poisonous needle on his mouth: "It doesn't matter if you look at it, don't eat it with an itch, it's a trivial matter if the knife is gone, Brother Tai's body is damaged, and the younger brother can't afford to be responsible." ”

Zheng Hong said with a smile: "If I can eat this knife, I have nothing to do when I am old, and I can also be a street performer, earn some shouting, and earn some copper plates, which is not bad - this knife is really good, although it is not an antique, and it is not completely built according to the ancient method, but it has been made more practical improvements, and it is really used to cut off the head, I am afraid it is better than this Japanese knife on my waist." ”

"By the time I'm going to use it to cut off my head, I'll probably have to cut off my own head." Xu Soul replied meaningfully.

Indeed, time has passed, and in the First Sino-Japanese War 20 years ago, Xu Soul, who was just a second lieutenant platoon commander, fought the front line, and in the battle of Seoul, he took the enemy's head like chopping melons and vegetables, and won the name of "a thousand heads beheaded" - it seems to be a matter of course.

In the Asian-Russian War ten years ago, after Xu Soul flew like a rocket to colonel and brigade commander, he shouldered the heavy responsibility of commanding thousands of officers and soldiers.

Now, as the commander of 3 armored corps, 1 cavalry corps and 1 Praetorian Infantry Corps, with nearly 100,000 officers and soldiers, thousands of artillery pieces, and hundreds of ironclad chariots under his command, when he has to draw his sword to resist the enemy, I am afraid that the dismal end of the dead army is not far away.

"Brother Mingde, I made a special trip to my headquarters, it won't be just to see my broken knife."

Xu Soul hurriedly turned to the topic.

Zheng Hong smiled and handed the knife back: "Okay, okay, look at your heartache, return you." ”

"Sit down and talk, there's nothing to entertain you here, warm up with a glass of hot wine." As he spoke, Xu Soul had already picked up a kettle covered with soot from the crackling wood stove, picked out two small white porcelain cups from the wooden pier full of documents, poured them full, and handed them to Zheng Hong.

"I like this." Zheng Hong took a sip of hot wine, smacked her lips, wrapped her coat tightly and sat down in front of the fire—the seat was a knee-high little Maza.

"Tell me, what do you want me to do?" Xu Soul took off his gloves and held the wine glass into the palm of his hand.

"I need armored troops."

"How much?"

"Three armored brigades."

"Impossible." Xu Soul swallowed the whole glass of wine cleanly.

Zheng Hong sighed and drank it all.

"Do you know the truth? Now I am using two divisions to surround three divisions, and once Mao Zi realizes that we are bluffing and concentrating our forces to break through by one point, he will not be able to stop it at all. ”

"Aren't the follow-up troops coming over?"

"The 2nd Army to the south will not arrive until three days later."

"Behind you, isn't there still a 5th Army on Onohoi's side?"

"That's the general reserve, and it's the 3rd Army, and they don't bother to pay attention to us at all."

Xu Soul lazily let out an "oh" and poured Zheng Hong a second glass of wine.

"Then you should ask our Commander Zhao and ask him to think of a way."

"I asked, he asked me to ask you first." Zheng Hong looked innocent.

Xu Soul shook his head with a wry smile, poured himself half a glass of wine, and swallowed it.

"I'll tell you the truth, there are no less than three armies opposite me, there are heavy artillery, there are chariots, especially chariots! Two days ago, the 1st Army reported to me that in the battle with the enemy's armored forces, an unknown giant tank was discovered, and the main cannons of all types of our army could not destroy it! Before figuring out the situation with the opposing armoured forces, especially such giant tanks, I need to keep sufficient reserves for every eventuality. Brother Mingde, I think you can only figure it out by yourself. ”