After a while, Xu Rui and the others arrived at the place where Machida Ryuji and others had stopped before dividing their troops. By this time, the Japs had naturally disappeared, and only the king was left circling in circles.
Although the king has a far better sense of smell than humans and can effectively distinguish the smell of the little devils, it cannot tell how many devils are in which direction, so it is confused, heading north, south, and again.
Heading west, I don’t know which direction to follow next.
Xu Rui got off his horse and comforted the king first. Then when he looked around, he found that the horse hoof prints left on the snow were going in four directions. In addition to the direction he came from, he also went to the northeast, northwest, Zhangjiakou and Baotou.
direction, obviously, the Japanese realized that someone was following them, so they took the lead and split up.
This time, Xu Rui and the four of them were stumped. Should they be pursued separately?
"Fuck you!" Di Gua cursed bitterly, "Dogs are pretty cunning!"
Wang Bin also said: "Captain, what should we do now? Do we still want to continue chasing?"
"Of course!" Zou Chao couldn't help but feel anxious because he didn't find Yelena. He said without thinking, "When did our Langya suffer such a big loss? Even if we chase to the end of the world, we still have to catch up with these little bastards."
Japs, and drive them all to death, otherwise we still have the nerve to call ourselves Wolf Fangs?"
Wang Bin said: "Old Zou, I can understand your mood, but..."
"There is no but!" Zou Chao interrupted, "We must chase, we must chase!"
"We can't chase anymore!" Xu Rui shook his head and said, "We have been separated from the caravan for too long, and we must rush back as soon as possible. No matter what, the most important thing is to ensure that the remaining tea leaves are safely transported to Kulun!"
Xu Rui is right. Part of this batch of tea leaves has been burned. The remaining tea leaves must not cause trouble again. Otherwise, the Soviet government will really have no room for maneuver. What's more, the little devil is at this time.
The sudden division of troops was probably because they wanted to turn around and attack the caravan again. In this case, they would still have a chance to take revenge.
After a slight pause, Xu Rui added: "Go back with me and join the caravan."
Although Zou Chao was unwilling, he could only obey the order and followed Xu Rui back unhappyly.
However, what Zou Chao didn't expect was that when they returned to Black Valley and joined the caravan, they unexpectedly met Yelena who was staying with the caravan. It turned out that Yelena had a quarrel with Shaskih last night.
One, and then broke away from the Soviet convoy on the pretext of returning to Kulun early, but then secretly turned back after leaving.
The reunion with Yelena made Zou Chao overjoyed.
But Xu Rui's mood was not at all relaxed.
…
Ten days later, the caravan finally arrived safely in Cullen.
At this time, Zhukov was already waiting in Cullen.
After the Black Valley Incident, Xu Rui immediately informed the Soviet Army of the news that the Red Flag Camp of the Soviet Army suffered a dust explosion and the entire army was destroyed. More than 20 trucks of tea and bricks accompanying it were burned together. After Zhukov received the telegram, he immediately
He set off south, and now he has been waiting in Cullen for many days.
What Xu Rui was most worried about finally happened.
As soon as they met, Zhukov said angrily: "Colonel Xu, this is the absolutely safe grassland transportation channel that you repeatedly promised me? The entire caravan was protected by the Red Flag Battalion, and it suffered such losses. If it were not for our Soviet Red Flag
With the protection of the battalion, the result can be imagined. Can such a passage be called safe?"
Zhukov actually didn't care about the destruction of the Red Flag Battalion. It was just a battalion, so what's the big deal?
Even if the Red Flag Camp is a meritorious camp that emerged from the October Revolution, so what? Can it still be rebuilt?
What Zhukov really cares about is the safety of this transportation channel, because after the completion of the Baotou Industrial Zone, the Soviet army will have to transport fuel to Irkutsk through this transportation channel. If this channel is not safe, it may be attacked at any time.
Then the construction of the Baotou Industrial Zone will be meaningless, and the combat plan submitted by Zhukov to the headquarters will become a joke. This is something Zhukov cannot tolerate in any case. He does not want to become a joke to the Soviet army!
Therefore, one can imagine Zhukov's inner anger at this moment.
Xu Rui said patiently: "General, this is just an accident!"
After that, Xu Rui told the truth about the dust explosion that happened in Black Valley.
When he sent the telegram before, due to space limitations, Xu Rui did not give details, so Zhukov did not believe it.
After listening to Xu Rui's explanation, Zhukov said doubtfully: "Are you saying that a dust explosion really occurred in the Black Valley?"
"Yes, this is just a dust explosion." Xu Rui said, "It is absolutely impossible for the Japanese army alone to cause us such heavy losses. Therefore, the safety of this grassland transportation channel is still guaranteed."
"Okay, I believe you." Zhukov shrugged and said, "But the final outcome of this matter is no longer up to me, because with the destruction of such a meritorious battalion as the Red Flag Camp, I can only put this matter aside.
Report it to the headquarters, and I will help you upload the actual information, but I am afraid we can only pray as to how the headquarters will decide."
Xu Rui was speechless. How could such a trivial matter be brought to Stalin's attention?
…
Moscow, Supreme Command of the Soviet Red Army.
The female secretary quickly walked into Stalin's office and reported in a low voice: "Comrade Stalin and Comrade Timoshenko are here."
"Okay." Stalin, who was reviewing documents, raised his head when he heard the sound and said to the female secretary, "Please invite him in quickly."
The female secretary turned around and exited the office. After a while, a tall Soviet general strode in. Four general stars were shining brightly on his epaulettes. The person who came was none other than Voroshilov and Budyonny.
Timoshenko, a highly decorated and highly respected senior commander in the Soviet Red Army.
As soon as he entered, Timoshenko stood at attention and saluted: "Comrade Stalin!"
Nowadays, Stalin has completely established the highest authority within the Soviet Red Army. Even a meritorious marshal like Budyonny who came out of the October Revolution must salute Stalin respectfully. Of course, most Soviet soldiers
The senior army generals also sincerely supported Stalin.
"Comrade Timoshenko, please wait a moment, I will be there soon." Stalin signaled Timoshenko to wait for a moment, and then continued to lower his head to review the documents in his hand, but soon he finished reviewing the documents, then stood up and walked around the desk.
He came over, shook hands with Timoshenko vigorously, and said, "Thank you for your hard work along the way."
Timoshenko said: "It is an honor for me to be able to share the worries of the supreme leader."
Stalin smiled and said: "Comrade Timoshenko, you should already understand the situation, right?"
"Yes." Timoshenko nodded and said, "I heard on the way to Moscow that the winter offensive against Finland is not going well and the casualties of the troops are quite high."
"The casualties are not small?" Stalin said, "No, the casualties are heavy!"
After a pause, Stalin continued: "More than half of the more than 400,000 people in the four armies that have been engaged in the offensive have been killed or injured, and almost all the artillery, tanks and other technical equipment have been lost!" After a pause, Stalin continued, "Melie.
Comrade Meretskov’s command is absolutely useless and his thinking is extremely slack, so the high command decided that you should replace Comrade Meretskov as the commander of the Northwestern Front and have full authority to direct the war against Finland.”
Timoshenko said: "I will definitely not disappoint the expectations of the supreme leader of the Soviet Union."
Stalin snorted lightly and then said: "Comrade Timoshenko, the winter offensive against Finland was frustrated. Although Comrade Meretskov's command was hard to ignore, the Supreme Command also underestimated the enemy. The preparations for the war were
It’s not done enough, so if you have any difficulties, you can raise them.”
"There is no difficulty." Timoshenko paused here and then said, "If possible, I hope that the Supreme Command can transfer Comrade Zhukov from the Far East battlefield to the Northwest Front Army as chief of staff! If the war against Finland can be
With Comrade Zhukov's help, I think the chance of victory will be higher."
"I'm afraid this won't work." Stalin rejected Timoshenko's request without hesitation, because the Far East battlefield is no less important than the northwest battlefield, because even if the northwest battlefield is lost, it will not threaten the security of the Soviet Union.
But if the Far East battlefield is lost, it may really threaten the Soviet Union's national security.
Therefore, Stalin would never transfer Zhukov back to the northwest battlefield.
However, when talking about Zhukov, Stalin thought of another person.
At that moment, Stalin said: "Comrade Timoshenko, there is still such a person. Before the start of the winter offensive, he accurately predicted that the Soviet army would suffer heavy losses. Even the specific reasons for the Soviet army's defeat were roughly the same. If you
If necessary, we can find a way to transfer him to the Northwest Front Army and serve as the director of the staff department."
Timoshenko said in surprise: "There is such a powerful person, why not just let him serve as chief of staff?"
"Because his qualifications are too junior and his military rank is too low." Stalin paused here and said, "More importantly, he is not a Soviet citizen but a Chinese, so he is not suitable to be the chief of staff."
"What, a Chinese?" Timoshenko became more and more surprised, "But will he be willing to come?"
"I'm afraid it's not up to him." Stalin chuckled and said, "Because now he wants something from us, the Soviet Union. If he dares not to come, we will immediately stop cooperating with them." After a slight pause, he added, "
Of course, I was just joking. In fact, he is a member of the Communist Party of China, so he will definitely come."
Timoshenko nodded and said: "I very much hope to cooperate with young talents from China."
"Then it's settled." Stalin immediately rang the bell to call his secretary in, then drafted a telegram and asked her to send it to the Far East Front and Yan'an at the same time, requesting that Xu Rui be temporarily seconded to the Northwest Front as director of staff.
