When Zhang Wei returned to the Sasebo Air Base, Rear Admiral Zhang Hailong of the Northern Fleet led by Xiao Xuguang, the Grand Governor of the Northern Theater Command, had already arrived and waited, and Zhang Wei had no plan to summon him, and was a little surprised by his arrival. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In the small conference room arranged by the base, Xiao Xuguang said: "Your Majesty, I have an important matter that I must report to you in person. ”

"Say, there are no outsiders here, what's so mysterious?" Zhang Wei asked curiously.

Xiao Xuguang said cautiously: "Your Majesty, without the approval of the General Staff and you, I privately recruited 10,000 Japanese, and were secretly sent to the territory of the Russian Empire as intelligence officers. ”

"Privately recruiting intelligence personnel, and such a large number, without the review of the General Staff, intelligence and other departments, really shouldn't, if all military regions do this, then it's not messy, since you are the first time, don't care about it for the time being, but immediately provide a detailed list, I will file it with Li Civilian after I go back, and complete the formalities."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhang Wei's attitude reassured Xiao Xuguang.

Zhang Wei said again: "Actually, with the strength of the empire, there is no need to send so many intelligence officers to Russia, now they are either the opponents of the empire, or if there is a big war, the losses of the empire will not be too much, their equipment is too backward." “

Xiao Xuguang said: "Your Majesty, the Russian Empire has a large number of troops stationed in the Far Eastern Military District and the Siberian Military District, and has built a large number of permanent fortresses. ”

Since the people have already been sent out, it is useless to blame him now, besides, these people will more or less start to work, so Zhang Wei asked kindly: "You are not from an intelligence major, how do you train these intelligence officers?" How do you control them so that they don't betray them? “

"Your Majesty, the Foreign Economic Survey Division has a branch in Lelang, and there are several professionals to assist in training; As for the control of them, it is still the most traditional method to control their families, as long as the other party does not defect, as long as they can make meritorious contributions, their families will receive the index of immigrating to the Lelang Peninsula, and the personnel selected this time are all people whose physical fitness is slightly inferior to the standard of mercenaries, and they themselves have no chance to join the mercenaries, and their families are very poor, I believe that the probability of a traitor is not large. “

"And what information did you send back?" Zhang Wei asked again, since the professionals of the investigation department participated in the training, and the effect of using their family members to control these intelligence personnel should be good, and Zhang Wei was relieved.

Xiao Xuguang thought about it for a while, picked up important content, and began to report to Zhang Wei: "Your Majesty, the latest information is that after the empire stopped selling grain to Russia, even the army's military rations were in short supply, and the quota was distributed, and the officers were seriously deducted, and the morale was low; In the long run, I feel that the combat effectiveness of the Russian army is worrying, and it is very likely that it will be withdrawn, otherwise these soldiers will be useless; I propose to annihilate these Russian servicemen when there are signs of a Russian retreat, and completely occupy Siberia and the regions to the east. ”

After Xiao Xuguang finished speaking, he looked at Zhang Wei, hoping to get Zhang Wei's approval, Zhang Wei said expressionlessly: "Don't stop, you continue." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the technology of Russian artillery has been supported by France, and now the quality of the reequipped artillery has been greatly improved, especially the 105mm and 155mm howitzers, all of which have been replaced with tubes, and the barrels are imported directly from France, and the range, rate of fire and power have been greatly improved; The Maxim heavy machine gun was also improved; The troops were contracted, and all the important cities along the railway line were entrenched, and the troops in the outlying areas were very empty; Vladivostok's defense map has not been obtained, but the available intelligence shows that there are dense forts and heavy machine-gun fortresses everywhere, and the chances of taking it head-on are slim, unless the empire can withstand large battle losses; In important cities, the Russian army drove all the Chinese away and did not allow them to live in the city, for fear that the Chinese would make a rebellion or leak their information; All intelligence suggests that Russia has shifted to a full-blown defensive posture towards the Empire. ”

Zhang Wei asked again: "What about the strength of the Northern Theater now?" “

Xiao Xuguang said after a little consideration: "Your Majesty, Ezo Province, Xinzhou Province, Taiwan Province, and Lelang Special Region are each stationed 2 armies, and 3 armies are stationed in the governor's direct jurisdiction, and there are 370,000 mercenaries, 6 garrison divisions and 3 cavalry brigades are stationed on the Liaoning Peninsula. “

Zhang Wei said with a smile: "Russia has 600,000 troops with low morale, and your side has 11 armies and more than 700,000 people in the regular army alone, what do you have to worry about?" “

Xiao Xuguang said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, I want to occupy Siberia and the eastern region at the minimum cost, and even to hit the Ural Mountains and occupy the Ural fortress, the battle line is too long, and the Russian Empire can use the railway and send support troops and replenish baggage materials, which is much more convenient than us; I don't dare to dispatch all of these regular armies at present, and it would be nice to be able to dispatch half of them. Moreover, I want to refer to the army reorganization plan of the Qin State, and transfer the cavalry of each army to form 4 cavalry corps, so as to fight the Cossack cavalry, otherwise the infantry of the empire will suffer a great loss, and it will be easy to be raided, and the logistics line will be easily destroyed. “

After understanding the situation, Zhang Wei began to explain to Xiao Xuguang: "The empire does not sell grain to the Russian Empire, but requires them to buy it from Chittagong in Qin, so that if they buy at the same price, their transportation costs will increase a lot, and the transportation cycle will be very long, I believe that their food supplies will arrive after a period of time; The mountain artillery and howitzers of the Russian Empire are improved technology, and the range and rate of fire are far from being the opponents of the Imperial artillery, for heavy machine guns, the mortars equipped by the empire to the platoon level are their nemesis, and your 1000 blockers there will be a nightmare for the Russian soldiers, as for the small fortresses, I will equip you with some infantry guns before the war, and for the large fortresses, you can directly drop incendiary bombs with airships, and no matter how strong the fortress is, it will not be able to withstand the scorching flames. In addition, this year the empire is not ready to start a war against Russia, neither the Qin State nor the South Asian Theater is ready for war, and the empire must first settle South America before it can make a move against the Russian Empire; Let's talk about the reorganization of the cavalry next year, don't cause fear in the Russian army, and when the time comes, I will transfer mercenaries from the Americas to strengthen your strength here. “

"Yes, Your Majesty, when is the time of the attack?"

Zhang Wei thought about it for a while and said: "The big agreement will be this time next year; You make a war plan in advance, and the task I give you is to occupy the area east of Lake Baikal, and then I will send troops to directly seize Irkutsk, cut off the support line of the Russian army, and the retreat line of the eastern army, so that it will be much more convenient for you to fight. “

Xiao Xuguang immediately retorted: "Your Majesty, this season, Russia will soon have heavy snowfall, which is not suitable for large troops, first, the logistics support is very difficult; Second, the attrition in the battle caused by the cold weather was very serious, and the army of the Russian Empire had long adapted to the bitter cold, which was very detrimental to the Empire. ”

"Haha, you're overthinking, it's a local war, it's over soon, you don't have to worry. When you make war plans, you also need a quick solution. ”

Xiao Xuguang said happily: "Yes, Your Majesty! Then the combat mission on our side will be very simple. However, I suggest that it is better to hit the Ural Mountains in one go and occupy the fortresses of the Ural Pass, so that the defense of the empire will be very simple in the future. ”

"It's not something you should think about, and if you can completely occupy the area east of Lake Baikal, it will be your victory."

"Yes, Your Majesty, I promise to complete the mission." Xiao Xuguang assured.

Zhang Wei thought for a moment and then instructed: "Let those intelligence officers spread the news that the empire is about to attack Russia, and let their civilians evacuate as soon as possible." ”

"Your Majesty, will this be tantamount to strengthening Russia's strength?"

"I'm just going to let them go back and strengthen them, and then let them fight the Germans well, if Russia is too weak, there will be no good show. Besides, I don't like those Russian civilians either. ”

Xiao Xuguang smiled and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!" It is believed that those intelligence officers will easily complete this task, and Russian civilians will definitely flee in large numbers. ”

Seeing that Zhang Wei and Xiao Xuguang were almost discussed, Zhang Hailong hurriedly stood up and said, "Your Majesty, do you want to strengthen the strength of the Northern Fleet?" Now there are only some destroyers, not even a single battle cruiser, which cannot deter Japan, nor can it blockade the port of Vladivostok, and if war breaks out, the northern theater of operations will be very passive. ”

"You don't have to worry about this problem, the empire has already considered it, and will gradually equip you with a few Lanfang-class battleships and Lanfang-class battlecruisers before the end of the year to ensure that you have the strength to blockade Vladivostok."

"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty, can you match a Xia-class battleship, I don't want a Shang-class battleship." Zhang Hailong pleaded.

"In that case, don't you scare the Russians into peeing? It is useless to equip you with battleships that are too advanced for the time being. Don't worry, when the time comes, I will send the Central Fleet to support you, not only to blockade Vladivostok, but also to bombard Vladivostok's fortresses, the main guns of the Imperial battleships, which are definitely more powerful than the Russian fortress guns. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhang Hailong was temporarily relieved, with the support of the Central Fleet, it would not be a problem to blockade Vladivostok.

After meeting with some local administrative officials and learning about the local situation, Zhang Wei took a plane back to Beijing.