"Your Excellency the Governor, the assault on East China ** has been very good, His Majesty the Tsar is very satisfied, and at the same time it has been of great help to our negotiations with East China**, and I would like to express my sincere thanks to His Excellency the Governor. ”

"Ah, there, it is my greatest honor to be able to share the worries of His Majesty the Tsar, and this negotiation will depend more on the wisdom of the Cabinet Ministers, but I am very happy to be able to do a little help! ”

Linnevich raised his wine glass, touched it lightly, then lowered his neck, drank a glass of red wine, and said: "I haven't drunk such delicious red wine for almost a month, and I really want to thank His Excellency the Cabinet Minister for sending us so many supplies this time." ”

Witte just took a sip of red wine and said, "Your Excellency the Governor is too polite, I just came with this train, these supplies are the grace of His Majesty the Tsar to the front-line soldiers." ”

Linevich hurriedly said, "Yes, yes!" and raised his glass again, and said, "Thank you for the kindness of Your Majesty the Tsar." ”

The members of the Russian negotiating group of Witte and his party set off by train from St. Petersburg, and after a two-week journey, they finally arrived at Chita, although they traveled by train all the way, but after arriving at Chita, they were still tired, so Witte decided to rest in Chita for a few days, and just happened to send a batch of supplies to the Russian troops stationed in Chita with his train.

At this time, the Russian Far East Governor-General Linevich was in a good mood, because the previous St. Petersburg ordered Linevich to attack, but he was refused to send troops, but Linnevich also understood that he had to do something to calm the pressure at home. So in consultation with the Japanese intelligence officers in Chita, it was decided to let the bandits and pro-Russian forces in Mongolia attack the northeast region.

Although the Japanese army was driven out of the Far East by the KPA, and most of the intelligence networks and garrisons in the Far East were destroyed by the KPA, the Japanese Huajing had been operating in the Far East for many years, so some intelligence outlets were still preserved. After Britain and France decided to enter the war, Japan and Russia also joined forces in the Far East, so Japan set up an intelligence point in Chita for communication between the two sides.

At the beginning, Japan adopted the strategy of supporting the bandits, allowing the bandits to constantly harass the northeast region and make the rule of East China unstable. However, East China ** is not the Qing court, the control of society is very tight, Japanese intelligence officers can only be careful activities, a little big move, there is a possibility of being exposed, at the same time East China ** also increased the intensity of the crackdown on bandits, and also incorporated a part of the local forces in the northeast, such as Zhang Zuolin, Feng Linge, Ma Longtan and others, using them to deal with bandits. This trick really worked, and it annihilated many bandit forces in one fell swoop.

Seeing that this was not the way to continue, Japan decided to mobilize some bandits to move to Mongolia after consulting with Russia, so that the pro-Russian forces in Mongolia could be temporarily resettled, preserve their strength, and wait for the opportune time. In addition, both Japan and Russia sent a small number of military personnel to conduct integrated training for the bandits, and when necessary, to cooperate with the bandits in combat. At the same time, under the mediation of Japan, some of the Manchu magnates of the Chun court also joined in, supporting these bandits by contributing funds and purchasing arms and weapons, and even promised that as long as they made great contributions, they would dredge up the Qing court to recruit them and make them knights.

In this way, Japan and Russia did integrate several bandit forces, and it happened that Linevich was also forced by the country at this time, so he decided to let the bandits attack to see if they could achieve some results and deal with the country.

As a result, the bandit armies from all walks of life did not achieve any results, only Du Li's three troops who attacked Jinzhou fought well, not only defeated the garrison army of East China, but also conquered 3 county seats, and once let the army guarding Jinzhou retreat to the city, not daring to fight.

So Linnevich hurriedly reported this result to St. Petersburg, of course, the results were also boasted, and the reported results were three battles with the People's Army, all of which were victorious, killing more than 2,000 People's Army, conquering 5 county towns, etc., and now it has made the entire Northeast region of East China panic.

Tsar Nicholas II immediately announced to the nation that the Russian army had won a major victory in the Far East, held a grand banquet in the Winter Palace, and at the same time sent a telegram of commendation to Linnevich and no mention of his previous refusal to fight.

Linnevich was naturally happy, and at this time, Vitte and his negotiators arrived in Chita and brought a train of supplies, so Linnevich also warmly entertained Vitte and his party.

While the two were talking happily, a guard came in, handed Witte a piece of paper, and said, "Your Excellency, St. Petersburg Telegraph." ”

Witte put down his knife and fork, stretched out his hand to take the telegram, opened it, and when he opened it, his face changed drastically, and it became quite difficult to look, and Linevich, who was opposite him, said: "Your Excellency, what is the matter, it seems to be very difficult?"

Witt smiled bitterly, handed the telegram to Linnevich, and said, "Look for yourself! Your Excellency the Governor, this is also your share, and the order I want to give you will come soon." ”

Linnevich took the paper and read it, and his face couldn't help but change a little, the original content of the telegram was: St. Petersburg demanded that Vitte not pay compensation or cede land in this negotiation, and considered putting forward a request to East China to recover Vladivostok, Amur City, Boli and other territories, and at the same time, St. Petersburg would order Linnevich to launch another surprise attack on the northeast region to help Witte's negotiations.

It turned out that Linnevich's good news made Nicholas II rejoice, and began to have unrealistic illusions, he was already angry about the fact that before this negotiation, he was forced to accept the reparations for the cession of land to East China, Bi Jing This hurt the dignity of Russia too much, thinking that Russia has suffered such humiliation since Ivan the Terrible, but the situation is forced to endure it. But now that Russia has won such a big victory, the entire Far East is shaken, and if you want to come to East China, you will know that it is powerful, so there is no need for Russia to accept such humiliating conditions.

The Russian ministers were all good at observing words and feelings, and they quickly figured out the Tsar's thoughts, so they made suggestions to the Tsar, asking for refusal to pay compensation to East China in this negotiation, and even demanded the recovery of Vladivostok and other places, plus Witte was not in St. Petersburg at this time, and could not advise the Tsar, so the Tsar decided a major change in this negotiation in this way.

After reading the content of the telegram, Linnevich couldn't help but feel laughing, in order to reduce the pressure, he deliberately exaggerated the results, but he didn't expect to make the tsar overly inflated. Just then, an officer came in and handed Linnevich a telegram as well, saying: "Your Excellency the Governor, a call from St. Petersburg. ”

Linnevich took the telegram and looked at it, and sure enough, St. Petersburg asked him to launch another surprise attack to cooperate with Werther's negotiations. Linnevich also smiled bitterly, he knew very well that this surprise attack was just a small victory in the Jinzhou area, and the People's Army had already prepared, and it was almost impossible to replicate the victory, so he said to Witte: "Your Excellency, do you want to send a telegram to St. Petersburg to explain the situation here?"

Witte shook his head and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, the Tsar's order is not to be disobeyed, and it is useless to send a telegram to St. Petersburg, so carry it out." Anyway, we are not responsible for the consequences. ”

To be honest, Witte knows the Tsar's character very well, Nicholas II's intelligence is a mediocre person, but he wants to be like Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great's great achievements, if it is against the European powers, Nicholas II can still accept defeat relatively usually, but now he is facing the Asians that Nicholas II looks down on the most, the yellow-skinned monkey, Nicholas II will naturally not be convinced, the more failures he has, the more he can't accept failure, and he always wants to turn the tables in the end, and the result is more failures. It's like a gambler who has already lost a red eye, not thinking about stopping the loss, but betting his last bit of gambling on it, trying to make a desperate bet, and finally succeeding in turning the book, but the result is a loss. Therefore, even if he was in St. Petersburg, he could not persuade the tsar, let alone send a telegram back.

Linnevich's victory is just a fluke, and it is impossible to have any impact on East China, thinking that this lucky victory can force East China to back down, it is too naïve, but unfortunately Nicholas II will not understand this truth.

Moreover, in this way, this negotiation is doomed to the inevitable result of failure, but of course East China will not just give up, they will certainly launch a more fierce and powerful offensive and occupy more land in the Far East of Russia, until the Tsar is willing to accept the fact of defeat, but how much land does Russia need to lose before the Tsar can realize the reality? But these lands should not be lost in the first place. And when the negotiations are carried out again, the conditions put forward by East China will only be more harsh and more severe.

Later, when Russian historians commented on this period of history, almost without exception, they would strongly criticize Nicholas II's poor performance during this period, believing that Nicholas II's ignorance and arrogance, as well as unjustified arrogance and racial superiority, caused Russia to repeatedly lose opportunities, and caused the Russian Yuan to suffer more undeserved losses, and as a result, Russia's vitality was greatly damaged, and it did not recover until the First World War, which also led to Russia's poor performance in the First World War, and did not show the demeanor of a European power at all。

But although he has recognized the facts, Witte is powerless to change, so he can only bite the bullet and finish the negotiation process, anyway, Witte has no hope for the outcome of the negotiation, and everything is left to God.