Yang Shuoming seemed to be very satisfied with Zhang Yating's performance, he nodded, turned around and came to the table, took a cup of fragrant tea that had just been made by Xi Xue, and handed it to Zhang Yating.

Zhang Yating took the teacup, showed a grateful smile, gently opened the lid of the teacup, and the faint fragrance of tea floated out, she closed her eyes, inhaled the fragrance of tea, and took a sip.

"I don't know what your life was like, but I hope you can live happily ever after." Yang Shuoming noticed her movements and said lightly, "Of course, the premise is that you yourself also want to live a happy life and the cooperation between us is smooth." ”

"Russia is not my homeland, and I don't want to return to Russia." Zhang Yating said, opened her eyes, and at this time she found that his eyes flashed with a faint red.

"What do you need me to do now?" Although Zhang Yating was frightened, she still met his gaze and asked.

"I think you know." Yang Shuoming stared into her eyes and said.

In a basement in Beijing, a bearded Russian listens attentively to the movement outside, while quickly typing a letter on a typewriter.

“…… I have to admit with regret that the cause we are carrying out in China is in danger of total failure, China has suffered a major setback, in recent times, a large number of outstanding party members and cadres have been arrested and killed by the Chinese government authorities, more people have hesitated to retreat, due to the mistakes caused by the eagerness of the comrades in China to work, ignoring the selection of party members and cadres, a large number of people who are not firm and have ulterior motives have entered the party organization, so that there are traitors in our ranks, These people have caused great harm to our cause...... The working class in China has not yet been fully formed into a social force, so the comrades of the Executive Committee of the China Bureau believe that it is necessary for the Chinese Party to consider going underground in struggle. ”

"As long as the Chinese Party can objectively implement the correct policy, the Chinese Party will certainly be able to play a dominant role in all movements on the Chinese national front. However, the Chinese Party must not merge with other parties, nor can it roll up its original banner in these movements. ”

"The main members of the Executive Committee of the Chinese Party have been arrested, and I believe that the work of the Chinese Party at this stage must go underground, and that the Party members should disperse their activities as much as possible, and we need to preserve our organization, and we must strive to recruit genuine class-conscious elements from the workers' organizations and from the left wing of the Chinese civil parties, gradually expand our organization, and strictly enforce our discipline in order to build a solid foundation for a strong mass Party organization."

"The Chinese government has now begun to reorganize, the military strength of this government has been significantly strengthened, and in the near future, there will be a large number of squadrons returning to China from Europe, and then going to Mongolia and entering Siberia after rest, the total number of squadrons is expected to reach 150,000, the Japanese government is also continuing to increase its troops, the situation in the Far Eastern Republic has reached a very dangerous moment, I have discussed with the comrades of the Executive Committee of the China Bureau, and I believe that we should now consider making relevant contacts with the Japanese side……”

Soon, the letter was finished, and the bearded Russian, who didn't even have time to check for grammatical errors, scribbled his name in the lower right corner of the letter: "A?FA? HJ? E "i.e. Adolf Abramovich Joffe, Adolf? Abramovich? Yue Fei, then hurriedly sealed the envelope, knocked on the door, the door opened a crack, and he passed the letter through the crack in the door.

"Send the letter out at once," he said, with some anxiety.

Russia, Far East, Vladivostok.

Vladivostok is located on the Pacific coast at the southern tip of the Muravyov-Amur Peninsula, near the Sea of Japan. The northern part of the city is highland, and the east, south and west are bordered by the Gulf of Ussuri, the Great Peter Bay and the Amur Bay. The city and port area are located on the shores of the Golden Horn at the tip of the Amur Peninsula. The Golden Horn extends from southwest to northeast into the interior and is about 7,000 metres long. The inlet bay is about 2,000 meters wide and 20 to 30 meters deep, and the inner bay is less than 1,000 meters wide and 10 to 20 meters deep. The southern side of the Golden Horn is separated by the East Bosphorus Strait, and there is Russky Island as a natural barrier. The bay is surrounded by low mountains and hills, and the situation is dangerous. Due to the 100 to 110 days of ice in Vladivostok in winter, from early December to mid-to-late March of the following year, it is only navigable by icebreakers.

As an important Russian military base in the Far East, the city, known as "Control of the East", was once one of the strongest coastal fortresses on the Pacific coast.

In 1877, the Russians began planning to build fortifications at this important port in the Far East, and a year later, the first coastal defenses were completed. This was followed by the reinforcement of coastal artillery positions, and the construction of the first permanent fortifications on the littoral sea in the 90s of the 19th century. In 1899 the Russians designed a systematic scheme of land fortifications, on the basis of which they were based. The Russians spared no effort in constructing several main fortresses of the fortress from 1900: forts 1, 2, and 3, multi-sided forts 4 and 5, and three spectacle ramparts, connected by moats protected by breastwork. In addition, the construction of the "Russian Fortress" and the No. 4 fortress in the Russian Mountains and on the Sapenny Peninsula are quite similar to the Arthur Fortress built at the same time. ,

Due to the strong fortification of Vladivostok, during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, the initially completed fortress of Vladivostok played a significant role, and until the end of the war, the Japanese army was unable to occupy Vladivostok.

From 1910 to 1916, in order to strengthen the defense of Vladivostok, the Russians built fortresses No. 1 to 7 and several fortresses on the southern shore of the Suifen River basin from Ussuriysk to the Amur Bay, and forts No. 9 to 12 on the southern and eastern shores of Russky Island, as well as a large number of coastal batteries, anti-landing covered passages and a series of infrastructure. The new fortress absorbed all the achievements of military engineering and technology of the time, and built many well-set bunkers and underground passages.

But in 1918, the Japanese realized their dream of occupying Vladivostok without blood.

On April 4, 1918, three Japanese merchants were "robbed and killed by Russian soldiers" in Vladivostok, and 5,000 Japanese army soldiers who had been prepared immediately landed in Vladivostok under the cover of the navy. The actions of the Japanese annoyed Britain and the United States, and the British government instructed the British cruiser Suffolk to land in the harbor, and the American cruiser Brooklyn to send sailors to defend the American consulate. The Russian government protested to the Japanese government and demanded that the Japanese troops withdraw immediately, but the Japanese ignored it and continued to increase their troops, and soon occupied the entire port of Vladivostok.

Britain and the United States were alarmed and worried about the actions of the Japanese, and under the combined pressure of Britain and the United States, the Japanese were forced to agree to the proposal of the Entente powers, namely Britain, the United States, France, Japan, and China, to jointly send troops. Subsequently, the Japanese government issued a declaration of dispatch of troops, stipulating that the Japanese army stationed in Vladivostok was 7,000 troops, 7,000 American troops, 7,000 Chinese troops, and 7,000 British and French troops, and that Japan would have the supreme command of the joint expeditionary force. However, immediately after landing in Vladivostok, the Japanese army took the opportunity to collude with the local White Russian armed forces and penetrated deep into the interior of Siberia, successively occupied Russia's Primorsky Oblast, Amur Oblast, and Transbaikal Oblast, and organized a pro-Japanese regime there, in an attempt to shield their rule over Manchuria and Korea and monopolize the market and economic resources of Siberia. The North Manchurian region, which was originally controlled by Russia, was also seized by the Japanese "Manchurian Garrison Army". On August 13, 1918, the Japanese army occupied Manchuria, on September 6, Chita, on September 9, Nikolaevsk Temple Street, on September 18, and on September 18, the Japanese army in Siberia, which was already icy and snowy, had reached 92,000 troops, more than 12 times the number of troops originally planned.

The impunity of the Japanese not only made the United States and Britain shine, but also angered China. The U.S. Government and the British Government separately lodged strong protests against the Japanese Government, and calls for the recovery of the homeland and the abolition of the unequal treaties in China became louder and louder. The subsequent cabinet of Hara Kei immediately expressed its willingness to withdraw troops from Siberia.

Hara's cabinet intended to reduce the number of Japanese troops in Siberia, but as a result, it was strongly opposed by the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters. In the autumn of 1919, the government of Admiral Kolchak, the "supreme ruler of all Russia," collapsed, and his troops fled to the east, and the Soviet Russian Red Army pursued them. On March 21, 1920, 2,000 Russian Red Army troops entered Nikolaevsk and clashed with two Japanese battalions stationed there. At the request of the General Staff Headquarters, the Japanese army then occupied the northern part of Sakhalin Island "to ensure the safety of the Japanese nationals." By this time, the Japanese garrison in the Far East had reached 120,000 men.

In the face of the aggressive Japanese army, the Americans' endurance finally reached the limit, and the U.S. government was determined to support China's efforts against the Japanese, and with the support of the U.S. side, the Chinese government was determined to send troops to Siberia to confront the Japanese army. At this time, the war in Europe had ended, and the Chinese expeditionary forces and laborers in Europe had begun to board ships in large numbers to return home, and the Chinese government's intention was obvious that it was to use these troops who had been trained in the European battlefield to recover the lands occupied by Russia and Japan. It's just that the "nine? The 28 Massacre disrupted the Chinese government's military deployment.

But now, with the "Nine? 28. With the revelation of the truth and the rapid change of guard by the Chinese government, the Japanese became more and more aware of the danger, so at the request of the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, the Japanese Government passed a resolution to increase the number of troops in Siberia again. ,

"Look at the battlecruisers of the China Navy"

Standing on the fortress directly north of Vladivostok, you can look down from the fortress platform at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, and you can look down on the Golden Horn, the most important port in Vladivostok. Several Japanese officers were standing on the fort batteries looking down on the panoramic view of the Golden Horn, whose continental shelf resembled a crooked horn, and on the shore were undulating hills and mountains, covered with lush greenery, and patches of green clinging to the edge of the sea. And the water inside the horns was filled with ships and warships of various sizes. The sparse clusters of buildings and the scattered spired wooden houses on the shores of the bay form the outline of this bay hill town. It is about 4.5 kilometers away from the Golden Horn berth area, 8.5 kilometers away from the entrance of the Golden Horn, standing on the fortress fort and looking down at the Golden Horn, the scenery in the harbor is unobstructed.

It's just that in the harbor, the huge red, yellow, and blue three-color "human" flag fluttering high on the mast of the huge battleship is particularly dazzling compared with the Japanese plaster flag that can be seen everywhere on the shore and in the harbor.

"That's a battleship with 16-inch guns, and there are only twelve 10-inch shore defense guns on this fortress," if the people of China were going to attack, we would probably be very difficult to resist. ”

"Not necessarily, the coastal defense guns that the Russians have left us will not be able to catch up with this warship in terms of power and range, but they are capable of threatening any target within 15 nautical miles. As long as we control the fortresses, then the warships in the Golden Horn are the targets under our guns. Hearing the somewhat deflated words of his colleague, Ishihara sneered and put down the telescope in his hand.

"Over the past few years, the Russians have dismantled and transported more than half of the artillery here in order to strengthen the defense in the European direction, otherwise these fortresses under our control will really become a nightmare for the Chinese people."

"That's right." Listening to Ishihara's words, several Japanese officers became excited again.

"The Shina people relied on the warships that the Americans had built for them, and without the help of the Americans, they would be nothing," said a Japanese officer indignantly.

"American hum"

Looking at the American Stars and Stripes and the Chinese five-color flag fluttering on the port docks, I thought of the intimate performance between the Chinese and the Americans at the banquet held yesterday at the Pacific Naval Command of the Entente in Vladivostok. Ishihara Wan'er, who was standing next to the cannon, was angry in his heart,

It was the secret cooperation between the Chinese and the Americans that changed all his previous plans.

Now, the Japanese government has to hope that it will be able to negotiate the initiative.

What made Ishihara even more angry was that with the help of the Americans, the Chinese had built a huge army and navy, and under the cover of the Chinese navy, the Chinese army returning from Europe soon came to Vladivostok and from here controlled many parts of Siberia. The Japanese army, which had an advantage, quickly became inferior, and all this, for all reasons, was because of the Americans.

If it weren't for the Americans. The so-called "main forces" of the Chinese simply have no way to snatch the fruits from the Japanese army. Even if they could grab it, the invincible Japanese army would still be able to fight back. However, because of the emergence of the Americans, the Japanese could only watch the Chinese, whom they had always looked down on, take over one city after another. The order from the homeland was to restrain itself and wait for the imperial government to mediate diplomatically with the Americans and the Chinese

With regard to Japan's "dual diplomacy," not only the Americans are fed up, but the Japanese themselves are also fed up.

At this time, on the battlecruiser "Glorious" anchored in the Golden Horn, Lan Jianshu, commander of the Chinese Far East Fleet, stood on the bridge and looked at the Russian batteries on the shore with Japanese plaster flags, and his face became extremely gloomy.

"All the important facilities of the city are under the control of the Japanese army." Vice Admiral Lin Yingqi said, "These batteries are said to have White Russians operating artillery for the Japanese army. ”

"That is, they have not yet mastered the essentials of using these Russian artillery." Lan Jianshu put down the binoculars and said with a sneer.

"If we really fight, we can still be sure to take this city." Lin Yingqi looked at Lan Jianshu and said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Of course, you have to cooperate with the army." ”

"Ma Liang, I'm afraid that he may not have the courage to do so, it's almost the same if he changes Xiao Xu or Xiao Yang." Lan Jianshu shook his head and said.

Ma Liang, whom Lan Jianshu is talking about, is the commander of the 22nd Division of the Chinese Central Army and one of Duan Qirui's favorite generals. Although Duan Qirui trusts him, his skills are actually not good, and in his bones, he is actually the same as Zhang Jingyao, and he belongs to the master who adds chaos to Duan Qirui.

In order to strengthen Anhui's own military strength, Duan Qirui used borrowed Japanese money to form a central army, and this time the Feng army sent to Vladivostok and Zhang Zuolin to Siberia to seize the local area, there was a part of this army.

"It's different now, and if he wants to keep his position, he'd better behave." Lin Yingqi said with a smile, "The current border supervision office is no longer Lao Duan, but our Xiao Yang." ”

Hearing Lin Ying use the word "our little Yang" to describe Yang Shuoming, Lan Jianshu couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Xiao Yang, this person, has always focused on seizing the first opportunity, and this time he just sent this giant ship here, not just to show the treasure to the Japanese and the Russian red-haired son." Lin Yingqi said with a smile, "If you don't do something, we're sorry for the belongings he bought for our navy." ”。