The Queen's Special Train turned west from Xuzhou and visited the ancient capital, famous mountains and rivers. On April 30, it stopped in Kaifeng for two days, and on May 2, it stopped in Luoyang for two days. On May 4, the train stopped in Lingbao County in western Henan
Station, this stop was at Xiang Xiaoqiang's request. Xiang Xiaoqiang took Zhu Yourong and a group of people off the train and took a bus to the nearby Hangu Pass for sightseeing and the Hangu Pass fortification complex. Xiang Xiaoqiang was not like Zhu Yourong.
"Cultural man", his concept of tourism in cultural ancient capitals is "visiting temples during the day and sleeping at night". He doesn't know what to see. But he has a strong interest in military zones such as Hangu Pass. At that time, the Ming army attacked Luoyang
He also participated in the command of Hangu Pass, but he was in the rear and never had the opportunity to go to the site to see how awesome the permanent fortifications built by the Qing army were.
Xiang Xiaoqiang took Zhu Yourong and a group of Guard officers to visit the Hangu Pass fortification complex, then drove back to the train and continued westward. After not driving far, they stopped at Tongguan Station. Xiang Xiaoqiang took a group of people to visit Tongguan again.
The fortification group... Of course, Tongguan is not as interesting as Hangu Pass. The group looked at it for half a day, then got back on the train and continued westward, entering Guanzhong.
Next is Zhu Yourong's favorite program - visiting Xi'an. Zhu Yourong spent three days visiting this ancient capital of thirteen dynasties before reluctantly letting the train continue its westward journey. The train passed through the Guanzhong Basin and departed from Xiaoguan in the northwest.
After leaving "Guanzhong", we entered Gansu westward and entered Lanzhou on May 9.
Lanzhou is the location of the general headquarters of the Ming Army's Western Front Battlefield, and is also the designated destination for the "honeymoon trip" of the Queen and the Prince. Before the Ming Army's general offensive, Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang were stationed in Lanzhou. After that, it will depend on the smooth progress of the Ming Army.
or not, decide whether to continue westward.
The Western Front Commander of the People's Guard turned out to be Zhao Cunnian. Now that Zhao Cunnian has been arrested as a Japanese spy, Xiang Xiaoqiang and the Queen were greeted by the new commander.
When Xiang Xiaoqiang and Zhu Yourong arrived in Lanzhou, Lanzhou was already looking like a logistics base. There were warehouses requisitioned or rented by the army everywhere. Thousands of tons of war materials were piled up. Military vehicles drove through the streets from time to time.
Military police patrolled the streets and alleys. The arrival of the Queen and Xiang Xiaoqiang really boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers on the entire Western Front. A large number of reporters also swarmed in, chasing Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness the Prince.
The question most asked by reporters is, of course, that the Queen and the Prince chose Gansu for their honeymoon. Does this mean that the Ming army is about to launch a major offensive on the Western Front? Both Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang either laughed and refused to answer, or downplayed it.
He said that he was only here for his honeymoon and had nothing to do with military operations.
Relevant reports were immediately obtained by the Soviet intelligence agencies. In Moscow, faced with the specious and understatement answers of the Empress of the Ming Dynasty and the Commander of the People's Guard, Stalin was even more suspicious. He smoked a pipe and paced back and forth all night.
.Finally, after thinking about it, I feel that they are setting up a scam, but it will never be that simple. The more they say this, the more it means they are creating a fog, and the more likely the main direction of attack is on the eastern front.
However, Stalin neither dared to transfer Central Asian troops to Siberia nor did he dare to transfer Siberian troops to Central Asia. The more suspicious he became, the more uncertain he became.
At the same time, the Ming army began to use a code name to refer to the upcoming military operation, called "July Storm". Whether it was Nanjing or Lanzhou, the Ming army was using this code name. The word "July Storm" appeared frequently in
In the Ming army's internal documents, telegrams, and letters. Soon, this code name was obtained by the Soviet intelligence department.
As a result, the intelligence officers in Moscow and Stalin strengthened their judgment, because July is very unsuitable for launching attacks in Central Asia. In the northern and southern Xinjiang areas, apart from winter, summer is the harshest season.
The temperature difference between day and night is huge. The scorching sun during the day is like running fire, which can fry an egg on the steel plate of a tank. If a person stands on the Gobi Desert for a few hours without drinking water, he will become a dehydrated specimen. At night, it becomes like an ice cellar again.
It's bone-chilling cold. It's definitely unwise to launch a large-scale attack in this season.
In Siberia on the eastern front, the situation is the opposite. In Siberia in summer, the climate is warm and pleasant. You only need to wear single clothes, and you can easily camp at night without even needing a tent. The demand for clothing and fuel has been reduced a lot, so it is most suitable for
The troops advance lightly. Another great advantage is that the days become very long and the nights become very short. The time available for combat advancement is very long in a day, which is very suitable for launching large-scale military operations.
The only disadvantage is that Siberia is muddy in the summer and is not suitable for armored corps or mechanical corps to advance. But this is a double-edged sword. The Ming army cannot use armored corps, and the Soviet army obviously cannot use it. Both sides can only use air force.
The artillery and artillery cover the infantry and advance each other. However, the results of the infantry confrontation have been revealed on the Siberian battlefield in the previous stage. The Soviet infantry is obviously no match for the Ming army's infantry. As for the air force, the advantage has now been transferred to the Ming army.
On that side, the Soviet army only had artillery, which was still not inferior to the Ming army.
In addition to military considerations, there are also political factors. After all, the Ming Dynasty spent so much effort to support the Belarusian regime, not just for fun. The main battlefield is in Siberia, and the Belarusian regime can obviously play a greater role.
After such analysis, Stalin became more convinced that the Ming army's main attack direction was Siberia.
Stalin expressed his opinion, so naturally the following people had no choice but to follow his voice. Even if there were people who had contrary opinions to him, they wisely kept their mouths shut and did not dare to speak. It is already considered very important to keep one's mouth shut and not speak.
A person with principles and courage. More people originally thought that the main battlefield would be in Central Asia, but seeing that Stalin had already said so, they immediately fell to Stalin's side and insisted that the main battlefield would be in Siberia. After so many years
Those who survived the brutal intra-party struggles and purges of all sizes understood the true meaning of being wise and protecting oneself.
As a result, the huge Red Army command system in Moscow began to operate. Troops were once again transferred from several military districts in Europe and transported eastward along the Trans-Siberian Railway to reinforce the Post-Baikal Border Defense Area. Although the Central Asian Border Defense Military District was not mobilized, troops
, but they have not been strengthened one by one. Many of the troops who were scarred, exhausted, and seriously dissatisfied with the long-term tug-of-war and encirclement and suppression of guerrillas have not been replaced or rehabilitated, nor have they been replenished. Not only that.
, what Moscow conveyed to the Central Asian Border Defense Military Region was only a routine "strengthening alert" order, and there was no more detailed or stricter order. The Soviet troops stationed in the northern and southern Xinjiang were just as businesslike as before.
On the ground, the "spirit of the document" was conveyed to the troops below in a very bureaucratic manner, and nothing else was done.