"Ivan, are you really going to sign up for the mercenaries recruited by overseas Chinese?"

"Yes. ”

"Do you really believe the words of overseas Chinese, join the mercenaries, and at the end of the war, you can be free?"

"No, I'm not entirely convinced of their promises. ”

"Then why do you still want to join the mercenary, are you not afraid of dying on the battlefield when it is so difficult?"

"I just don't want to be a coolie for the People's Army, so I can survive, and only on the battlefield can I show my value, at least I have worked hard to get free, if I still have to die in the end, I also hope to die on the battlefield, not on the mine or construction site. ”

"Damn the overseas Chinese, they are simply a bunch of uncivilized savages, and they are still treated well in the Japanese prisoner of war camps, I really envy those who were sent to Japan, they must have lived well in Japan, much better than us. ”

"I don't think so, now that Japan has been defeated by the People's Army, there must be a lot of pressure at home, so the people who were sent to Japan may not be in much better condition than us now. ”

"You're right. ”

"Andrey, what are you going to do? Don't you want to fight for freedom on your own?"

"I ...... Haven't figured it out yet. But Ivan, I heard that Britain and France have sent troops to help Russia, and it may not be long before we are free, and we don't need to take risks. ”

"No, Britain and France will only fight for their own interests, and even if they send troops, they will not help Russia, so we cannot hope for freedom on Britain and France, we must rely on ourselves, and only the freedom that we have worked hard to win is the most reliable. How's it going, Andrey, let's sign up together and fight hard for our freedom. ”

"This ...... Let me think about it again. ”

After being captured in the Battle of Shenyang, Ivanov met his fellow countryman, the second lieutenant of the Russian army, Andrei Belintsov, who had been captured in the Battle of Mukden, in the prisoner of war camp. Most of the Russian prisoners of war captured by the Japanese army were sent to Japan for imprisonment, and only more than 10,000 remained in the northeast region. And the KPA sent troops to the war, and after the capture of Arthur, he became a prisoner of the KPA again, and later met his fellow countryman Ivanov.

During the Russo-Japanese War, Japan treated Russian prisoners of war quite preferentially, and the prisoner of war camps provided Russian prisoners of war with quite rich food, including some European food, almost every day meat, as well as alcohol, coffee drinks, and did not need Russian prisoners of war to work, and there was a certain amount of free space. It even aroused the dissatisfaction of many Japanese soldiers, because the prisoners were treated better than the soldiers. This was mainly due to the fact that at this time, Japan had just squeezed into the ranks of the great powers, and still had a little reverence for Europe, and desperately wanted to pretend that it had become a civilized person, so it offered the Russian prisoners as uncles.

But after the People's Army took over, the situation changed, the food in the prisoner of war camp was much monotonous, the staple food was bread in addition to rice, meat had to be eaten once every few days, and the portion was less than that in the Japanese prisoner of war camp, and there was no need to think about wine and coffee, and they had to work every day, although it was not coolie work, but it was not easy, and if they could not complete the task, the diet would be halved.

Ivanov had just been captured and had never entered a Japanese prisoner of war camp, so he did not compare, and he admitted it, while Belintsov, the prisoners who came from the Japanese prisoner of war camp, did not do it, they did not fight with the People's Army, and they did not know the strength of the People's Army, and they were used to being a master in the Japanese prisoner of war camp, so they naturally would not be satisfied, so they deliberately made trouble in the prisoner of war camp, some people smashed pots and bowls while eating, some people did not contribute when working, and some people even attacked the guards. However, the KPA was not polite, and shot to death five prisoners who attacked the guards in public, and punished other prisoners who dared to make trouble, such as confinement, whipping, and food reduction.

At this time, the East China government also made a formal decision to make full use of the captive labor force and recruit mercenaries from the Russian prisoners to participate in the battle into the Japanese mainland. After all, it is indeed a huge expense for the East China government to keep these more than 600,000 prisoners, so we must make full use of these prisoners and let them create value for the East China government. The officials of the East China government are pragmatic and self-interested, and they don't care what Europeans think of themselves. Moreover, the experience of the old time and space has been enough to tell them that how Europeans view China is not based on what China has done, but according to their own needs, if Europe needs China's support or needs to have good relations with China, then China is civilized, open, and progressive; on the contrary, if it competes with China or even becomes an enemy, China is barbaric, closed, authoritarian, and dictatorial.

At present, only about 100,000 of the Japanese and Russian prisoners captured by the People's Army were transported back to Shandong for imprisonment, and all of them were Japanese prisoners, mainly captured by the People's Army in the early stage of the war, most of them were Japanese logistics personnel, and the other Japanese and Russian prisoners were imprisoned in the northeast region. The prisoners of war in the northeast region are basically divided into three parts: Lushun held 230,000 prisoners, including 170,000 Japanese troops and logistics personnel, basically after the Battle of the Yalu River and the landing of Zhennanpu, and the Russian army captured 60,000 in the early battles with the Russian army; in Vladivostok, about 70,000 Russian prisoners were imprisoned, all of whom were captured in a series of battles after the People's Army landed in Vladivostok; and about 260,000 Russian troops were also imprisoned in Shenyang, which were captured in the Shenyang Campaign.

The East China Government decided to send all the remaining Japanese prisoners to Harbin, where they would be engaged in the logistics of the People's Army, because Harbin was relatively close to Russia, and the People's Army was at war with Russia, and if Russian prisoners were used, it would be easy to cause large-scale defections, and the Japanese prisoners would not have to worry about this, first of all, it would be impossible to flee back to Japan; and it would be unrealistic to flee to the side of the Russian army, not to mention that the language barrier was a huge obstacle, that is, the hatred between the two sides was an unsolvable problem, although Japan and Russia had already cooperated at the government level to join hands against the East China GovernmentHowever, the contradictions between the armies of the two countries are not so easy to be eliminated, and the two sides have fought dozens of times in the prisoner of war camps, and there are no less than 10 lives, so you can imagine what will happen if the Japanese flee to the side of the Russian army. After the end of the war, these captives remained in the area and worked on the development of Heilongjiang Province.

The 70,000 Japanese prisoners left in Shandong were basically peasants, mainly engaged in agricultural work; due to the war, the East China government recruited a large number of young and middle-aged agricultural people to enlist in the army or engage in logistical work, which had a great impact on agricultural production.

The Russian prisoners in Vladivostok remained the same, firstly, because Vladivostok also needed labor, and secondly, the distance in Vladivostok was too long, and the cost of transporting these captives back to Shandong was too great. The rest of the Russian prisoners are also left in the northeast, at present, in addition to the handling work at each railway station, the main thing is to build roads, because this is the lowest cost of the job at present, the road surface can not be done for the time being, only the roadbed, the base layer is done well, the raw materials used are nothing more than sand and mud blocks and a small amount of cement, and then the construction of the road surface will be carried out after the end of the war, anyway, the road construction does not need these prisoners. After the war is over, they will be assigned to other jobs.

In the past, in the prisoner of war camp, although the prisoners had to work, most of the work was not completely useless, such as digging rocks and digging soil, but the actual effect was really not great, mainly to prevent the prisoners from being idle. Although the captives do not take jobs, they must also find ways to improve the work efficiency of the captives and mobilize their enthusiasm for work, so the East China government implements a work division system among the captives, and according to the workload of each person who is late every day, they get a certain amount of work, and the work can be exchanged for some extra food, such as separate vegetables, or dried bottles, chocolate, coffee, sugar, wine, cigarettes, etc., or daily necessities, such as clothes, shoes, soap, etc. Toothpaste, etc., can also be redeemed for a day's rest, free to move around in the designated area, and even physical problems, of course, this is expensive.

The other is to recruit mercenaries from among the Russian prisoners to participate in the landing in Japan. Of course, the treatment of mercenaries is better than that of prisoners, and the East China government promises that the Russian prisoners who join the mercenaries will be free after the end of the war, and the East China government will also pay for their return to Russia; and meritorious service on the battlefield, complete the task, can also get work, which can be used to exchange for food and goods, and after the end of the war, the excess wages can also be exchanged for money; in addition, the goods looted on the battlefield in Japan can be owned by the mercenaries themselves, and can also be exchanged for work.

The last article caused some controversy during the discussion, because the goal of this landing in Japan was to destroy and loot, and if the looted items could be owned by the mercenaries themselves, then wouldn't the East China government have nothing? Food also includes population, and it is useless to rob it, so there is no need to worry about it at all, on the contrary, in this way, it can arouse the enthusiasm of mercenaries, and it is more important to give them some benefits if they do the work of licking blood at the tip of a knife.

After the announcement of the recruitment of mercenaries was issued, it actually aroused the interest of quite a lot of Russian soldiers, and although the people who signed up were not eager, they were really not a few, and it was somewhat unexpected by the East China government; first, the Russians were brave and belligerent in nature, and were not afraid of war, and they were generally unwilling to let go of the opportunity to fight; second, there were many soldiers or low-level officers from small aristocratic backgrounds in the Russian army, and they also had a strong sense of honor; by being mercenaries and gaining freedom on the battlefield, they could not only wash away the shame of defeat, but also increase their own honor; anyway, they were not fighting against Russia, and they did not have any psychological robe to fight Japan。

Ivanov was in this mentality, so he signed up for mercenaries, and Belintsov, at the instigation of Ivanov, also decided to sign up and use his military exploits to fight for his own chance to be free.