Zhang Yating thought about it, and truthfully reported to Dzerzhinsky what she knew about Yang Shuoming himself.

“…… Although he often appears as a soldier, he is actually a very gentle, humble, polite, and low-key intellectual, and his biggest impression is that he is always plain and calm, and he is considered an elusive person, but he is not lacking in a surname or even assertiveness. His eyes always give a sense of confidence, as if nothing can take him down......"

Zhang Yating said as she observed Dzerzhinsky's reaction. Dzerzhinsky sat in his chair, listening intently to Zhang Yating's narration, with a focused look on his face, he nodded slightly from time to time, and occasionally he would ask one or two questions of his own when she paused, and these questions were just right and did not affect Zhang Yating's narrative and train of thought.

“…… This man must have come from a wealthy family, he had his own luxurious residences in Jiangxi and Yanjingjing, he liked beautiful and rich women, and his formal wives now had two-oh, no, it should be three, one was the daughter of a wealthy merchant class in Jiangxi, and I heard that he had just married the daughter of a local tribal leader or a prominent person in Turkestan......"

"That is to say, this person is actually very greedy for material comforts." Dzerzhinsky nodded when he heard Zhang Yating say this, "This is very similar to some people who have infiltrated our revolutionary ranks. As he said this, his sunken eyes suddenly flashed with a cold light.

Dzerzhinsky came from a small aristocratic family, his figure was tall and slender, his face was clear and thin, he had a goatee, wore nose-pinched glasses at work, and he usually spoke politely to people, a standard image of an aristocratic intellectual. Only his eyes could reveal his identity, and he was once described as "those deep-set eyes that shone with the cold light of fanatical faith." He never blinked, as if his eyelids were paralyzed. "In the eyes of many, Dzerzhinsky was the perfect Bolshevik. He was never greedy for material comforts, and was willing to share the weal and woe with the toiling masses. Intellectual leaders such as Lenin never lacked money to spend when they were in exile (not to mention a large amount of funding from the "German Peacock" Wilhelm II), and many Bolsheviks who grew up in the country from workers and peasants began to pursue the quality of life soon after the victory of the revolution, but Dzerzhinsky was different from them, unlike other Bolshevik leaders, he only had an office, no home, he only worked and lived in the office for many years, he never watched a play, nor did he watch movies, for him, You only need three things to live: bread, water, and work.

"Most Chinese officials live in luxury and corruption, which is why China has never been able to become truly powerful, and a lot of wealth has been wasted in this way." Dzerzhinsky said as if to himself, "Maybe this man is not as terrible as I thought before." ”

"Compared to General Wu Peifu, this General Yang seems to be a little worse, although he has performed well in the two wars against himself." Dzerzhinsky went on to comment, "General Wu Peifu is a soldier with ancient Chinese traditions and honors, but this General Yang is clearly not, and he shows a strong utilitarian surname in many ways. ”

"Although General Wu Peifu was a traditional soldier, he was very radical in his thinking, and he supported Chinese workers and students on more than one occasion when they went on strike and demonstrated." Zhang Yating said, "But this General Yang Shuoming is not like this.

"You're right, Comrade Christina." Dzerzhinsky nodded, "After the Chinese comrades launched their revolutionary activities, General Wu Peifu expressed sympathy for the working people on many occasions, but he always suspected that our friendship with China was for territorial purposes. But this General Yang Shuoming obviously does not have the thinking and temperament of a revolutionary. ”

"Do you think he trusts you? Comrade Christina? Dzerzhinsky asked.

"I don't think he's going to trust anyone." Zhang Yating replied, "He believes me now just to use me and use me against the revolutionary students in China." ”

"You said it very well, Comrade Christina." Dzerzhinsky seemed pleased with her answer, saying, "You have now gained his trust, which is very important, we need you to be there for him, it is very helpful for our work, and although it would be very dangerous to work around such a person, I hope you will persevere." ”

"I will, Comrade Dzerzhinsky." Zhang Yating said.

At this moment, an old orderly walked in, he brought Dzerzhinsky's lunch, Zhang Yating looked at this simple and somewhat shabby food, and couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

Little did she know that today's lunch was more hearty than ever.

Felix at this time? Edmundovich looked at the veteran with a scrutinizing gaze - a meal he had served in the ordinary cafeteria where all the staff of the Suppression Committee had eaten, apparently he had given Felix a meal? Edmundovich brought something tastier and better - and asked, "Do you know that the rest of the people are eating this today?" ”

"Yes, yes, everybody, Comrade Dzerzhinsky." The old man hurriedly replied, and Zhang Yating felt that he was trying his best to hide his weakness.

"Get some rest! Comrade Christina. Dzerzhinsky stood up and stretched out his hand to Zhang Yating, "Looking forward to your better results!" ”

"Thank you! Comrade Dzerzhinsky. Zhang Yating got up and shook Dzerzhinsky's hand, and then left Dzerzhinsky's office under the guidance of the staff.

After watching Zhang Yating's figure disappear at the door, Dzerzhinsky began his lunch, but his gaze unconsciously fell on the map on the wall.

Now, his eyes were full of worry, and he was not as optimistic as he had just shown in front of his subordinates.

Until now, the very existence of the young Soviet regime has been under threat. After the victory of the October Revolution, the only areas that the Bolsheviks really had control over were Petrograd, Moscow, and the 500-kilometre area adjacent to it (mainly east and slightly south of Moscow). The rest of Russia is in a state of complete chaos. Whatever the high-sounding reasons, in the eyes of the political axes of the world, the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly, which had been elected by the Ming Cook, made it impossible for the Bolsheviks to prove that they were the legitimate political axes of Russia. At the end of the war, their problems were further complicated by the draconian peace agreements proposed by Germany, and Lenin saw that Soviet Russia had no choice but to sign a contract with the Germans. "If you are not prepared to crawl in the sludge, you are not real revolutionaries, but just talkers." Lenin's words were addressed to the Bolshevik leaders, including Dzerzhinsky, who had doubts about the correctness of the resolution. According to the Peace of Brest-Litovsk (which was later abrogated after the victory of the Entente [***] on the Western Front), the Bolsheviks were required to cede the western regions of Russia. And the Siberian region was followed by a rebellion of the Czechoslovak Legion, organized by the Russian army. This armed rebellion kicked off a civil war that lasted for several years. In the name of the calamity, there were seventeen anti-Bolshevik political axes on the territory of the Tsarist Empire in the past. Soviet power, recognized only by the German invaders (who themselves later became defeated powers), has become an outcast of the whole world. Many diplomats of the Entente came into contact with the enemies of the Bolsheviks, while Britain, France, the United States, China, and other countries intervened directly militarily in Russia.

From the outset, Dzerzhinsky believed that the civil war was part of the "general conspiracy" of the Entente's armed intervention in the revolution, and Lenin also said: "What we are confronted with is a well-planned, organized, and systematic military and financial conspiracy by all representatives of British and French imperialism against the Soviet Republic." Thus, until now, the "Cheka" has regarded all intrigues and actions against the nascent Soviet system as the embodiment of the "common conspiracy" of the class enemy at home and the "imperialist forces abroad". The Bolshevik regime became increasingly untenable. The Bolsheviks were able to hold out thanks to the genius of Trotsky, who commanded the Red Army, but it was more the internal strife within the enemy that helped them. If the split offensive of Kolchak, Denikin and Yudenich had been an organized and unified action against Petrograd and Moscow, it was quite possible that the counter-revolutionary side had won. But as a result, the White Army fought on their own, and they all suffered defeat. At the same time, the Red Army acted as the representative of the interests of the Russian people as a whole, and not of a few, and fought against the White generals who were aiming to restore reactionary rule and old privileges.

The chaos of the civil war gave the West the opportunity to stifle the October Revolution, but Dzerzhinsky knew that they had not taken advantage of the moment. The operations against the Soviet system, devised and carried out by Western diplomats and spies sent to Russia, were poorly prepared and therefore did not pose much of a threat to the Bolsheviks. Moreover, in many cases, it appears that the anti-insurgency committee intended to make these operations appear to be on a grand scale, so that the success of the anti-insurgency staff in exposing them would win a huge propaganda victory. Even after the armistice with Germany, the Western political axes did less than half of what they could, although they had to focus more on the overthrow of the Bolshevik regime. And the anti-Bolshevik forces in Russia could no longer pose a real threat to the Bolshevik regime, although they had not yet been completely eliminated. Lenin and Dzerzhinsky signed an order for the mass execution of the death penalty against the "enemies of Soviet power", and at a meeting with the representatives of the local anti-insurrectionary committees, Lenin told them that the death penalty was the most useful "necessary measure" in the future struggle against "counter-revolutionary words and deeds". The Polish invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing six-month Russo-Polish war set off a new wave of brutal repression by the Suppression Committee against both real and imaginary conspirators. "It was precisely because of the resolute struggle of the Suppression Committee that the attempts of the Polish White Bandits and their Entente instigators behind the scenes to undermine the security of the Red Army through espionage, sabotage, and banditry were ruined." Dzerzhinsky took this opportunity to lay the groundwork for the total control of Soviet society by the Suppression Committee; "Counter-revolutionary activities are spreading everywhere and manifesting themselves in various forms in all spheres of our lives, and it can be seen from this that there is no area in which the Anti-Counter-Terrorism Committee should not be involved."

After the end of the First World War, the situation was very unfavorable for the Soviet power, because as long as the Entente concentrated their forces and landed in the Gulf of Finland, they could fight all the way to Moscow and end the history of Soviet power. Fortunately, however, the scale of anti-war sentiment that emerged after the war left Western countries no longer able to muster enough forces to intervene.

But what Lenin and the members of the Council of People's Commissars did not expect was that the greatest threat came from the East.

The Bolsheviks believed that the entire capitalist world of the East and the West had risen up against them, and therefore they had decided to export the revolution to the East and create chaos in China, and that the espionage infiltration of China by the Anti-Terrorist Committee was clearly much more successful than against the West. The anti-rebel operatives proudly said that it was they who played a decisive role in the defence of the young Soviet state, in the struggle against the intrigues of the capitalist countries of the West and their secret services, and in the revolutionary revolutions in the capitalist countries of the East. Lenin spoke highly of the work of the anti-operatives, calling them "a powerful weapon in the struggle against attempts to overthrow Soviet power from enemies much stronger than we are." Lenin said: "Gentlemen of capitalists in Russia and abroad! We know that you are unlikely to like this organization. And it's really impossible. When you strangle us, when you besiege us, when you instigate internal intrigues, when you do not hesitate to commit any crime to disrupt our peaceful labor, it is better able to deal with your intrigues, against your sabotage, than anyone else. ”

Although the actions taken against China were not as large as Lenin and the Council of People's Commissars had believed, the Committee for the Suppression of Counter-Terrorism did achieve a series of victories. The most effective weapon of the Anti-Terrorist Committee was to send spies "Mole" and "Annihilator" into these two countries to carry out operations, following the model created by the "Secret Agent Bureau" in the Tsarist era. In the beginning, everything went well, China was in turmoil because of various domestic problems, and there was no time to take care of the actions of Soviet Russia, and at the same time China had to watch out for the invasion of the Soviet Russia, which gave Soviet Russia a great opportunity to control the East. The Bolsheviks seized this precious opportunity to "advance" eastward across the mountains and across the plains, not only resuming their infiltration into Outer Mongolia and the Tangnu-Ulianghai, but also establishing the "Far Eastern Republic". Although Ben continued to increase his troops in Siberia and Manchuria with the connivance of the Entente, it eventually led to war with China.

The leaders of the Soviet power were most gratified and pleased by the outbreak of the Sino-Chinese war.

But what Lenin and Dzerzhinsky did not expect was that the result of the war was counterproductive, China and Yueben, a pair of sworn enemies, after a fierce battle, would suddenly cease the war and turn enemies into friends to attack Soviet Russia, and the Soviet power suddenly found that it had become a giant with blood loss, and in the face of the joint attack of the two great eastern powers, it had no power to resist at all.

Although the present Soviet Russia, which was relieved of the territorial losses caused by the Treaty of Brest due to the defeat of Germany, Dzerzhinsky knew that the present situation in the East could not be expected to be the same. China and Ben are now very powerful countries, completely different from Germany, which was at the peak of victory but had broken its muscles.

Although the current Chinese political axe is not a powerful political axe, it has the backing of the United States. And the support of the United States for China is achieved through that Chinese general.

The situation about Yang Shuoming that Zhang Yating provided him just now gave him a further understanding of this mysterious Chinese.

Serzhinsky opened a special file, he picked it up and looked at it, and the young and handsome face on the photo above seemed to be revealing a grim smile on the corner of his mouth.

Although it was a small black and white photo, Serzhinsky felt that the eyes looking at him had a different cold atmosphere.

Dzerzhinsky had hoped that the young Chinese general would be attracted to the idea of communitarianism and become a member of the Bolsheviks, just like those simple-minded Chinese youths, but from Zhang Yating's description of him, he already felt that this possibility was very small.

If what Zhang Yating said is true, this person must have completely thrown himself into the arms of the American consortium by now.

First there was Wu Peifu, and then then there was Yang Shuoming, both of whom seemed to have a strong interest in maintaining China's sovereignty and territory, unlike the old warlords who were interested in profit.

The other warlords, on the other hand, have nothing to do with communitarianism at all.

Perhaps, Yue Fei was right, and it was time to consider finding and cultivating real agents among the Chinese proletariat.

Dzerzhinsky put down the secret file in his hand and looked back at the map on the wall, his accustomed surname was from the West, and his eyes were first fixed on Germany.

After the defeat of Tukhachevsky and Budyonny, who had a "big beard and a small brain", the export of revolution to the West had become practically impossible. Lenin and the members of the Council of People's Commissars had hoped for a red Poland and then a red Germany.

(To be continued)