Zhang Zuolin choked on his own affairs at the combat meeting, and Cai Ye did not tell Yang Chao in the telegram that he was not a person who made small reports. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In fact, if he sued Zhang Zuolin, Zhang Zuolin would still be eager to do it, he just wanted to make a name for himself through Cai Yi, hiding in Mongolia for a few years, although the power is in his hands like a soil emperor, but in the end he is just a soil emperor, he can't get on the stage, Zhang Zuolin's ambitions don't stop there.

Of course, another reason why he dared to apply for a power forward was because he felt that the war could not be fought for a while.

In fact, he was right, at least Yang Chao did not plan to attack immediately, but made a good deployment, and then informed the Russians.

Yang Chao immediately said that Li Yuanhong would invite the Russian Tsar or Prime Minister Stolypin to make a state visit to China in the name of the president, so as to deepen the friendly and good-neighborly relations between the allies, as for the Russians to choose the tsar or Stolypin, one is the ruler of Russia, and the other is a powerful minister, and both of them can represent Russia at this time.

Yang Chao told Li Yuanhong that friendship with the Western powers would be beneficial to China's international image and the image of the newly established government of the Republic of China.

Li Yuanhong could not refuse this demand, because what is beneficial to the Government of the Republic of China is beneficial to him as president.

At the same time as Li Yuanhong's invitation telegram, Yang Chao, in the name of the Ministry of National Defense, invited Russian officers to come to China to discuss joint military operations, telling the Russians that the Chinese Defense Forces had been deployed in Manchuria and that they could cooperate with the Russian army in capturing Chita with just one order.

After receiving the telegram, the Russians immediately replied in a high-profile manner, saying that they would immediately send high-level officials to China for a state visit to China, and at the same time they would send senior military officers to discuss joint operations.

Under normal circumstances, the Chinese National Defense Forces should first attack the territory belonging to China in the Heilongjiang area, but they actually want to attack Chita, which belongs to Russian territory, and the Russians will definitely not think about what they want to do.

To put it bluntly, although they declared war on Japan, except for the operation of the navy, the Russians did not send a single soldier to the East, to put it bluntly, they just wanted to occupy a pit and declare war on Japan, so that they could get the opportunity to recover the land in the future.

The Russians are not crazy enough to fight on four fronts, in the case of millions of troops fighting with Germany and Austria, they also divided their forces to attack Japan, Europe and Asia, the Russians are clearly divided, compared to getting an outlet to the sea in the Pacific, the Russians hope to get a passage in the Mediterranean.

Therefore, their minds are very careful, they declare war first, let the Chinese fight with Japan in the Heilongjiang area first, if the Chinese win, they urgently transfer troops back to recover the territory north of the Outer Xing'an Ridge easily, if China loses, they continue to wait and see.

In fact, with the intention of letting China consume Japanese troops first, the Russians, who have always been known for their rudeness, actually played with their hearts, which is really difficult for them.

It's just playing with the heart eye, their level is too far behind, Yang Chao didn't want to fight Heilongjiang, and put on a posture of wanting to make the first move in Chita. Let the Russians be shocked whether the Chinese want to be treacherous, whether they want to plot the Baikal area, if this area is occupied by the Chinese, other tundra further north not to mention the value, the key is that there is no foothold can only be abandoned to where, it is equivalent to loss.

After all, in the name of helping the Russians, it is not easy for Russia to refuse, but it is easy to help the territory and it is difficult to hand it over.

So they immediately took active action and sent a military commander to Beijing to discuss.

This person is also an old acquaintance of Yang Chao, Kornilov, whom he met during the Russo-Japanese War, when Kornilov was only a brigade-level chief of staff, and after the war, he served as a military attache in China for a period of time, and later served in Siberia as the commander of the 9th Siberian Division.

But it has not been very famous, really famous is last year, he was ordered to block the German army, after the retreat of the large army, the army he led honestly combat effectiveness is still good, under his leadership has the title of the Iron Army, known for its tenacious defense, probably in the Russo-Japanese War and later the Northeast War learned the essence of trench defensive warfare.

It was a pity that he was outnumbered, his army was crippled, and he himself was defeated and captured.

It is not famous that he was captured, it is famous that he escaped.

After entering the prisoner of war camp, Kornilov tried to escape, after the first two failures, the third time he was transferred to the prisoner of war hospital by drinking a lot of water to cause his heart to beat faster, disguised as a heart attack, where he stole an Austrian military uniform and escaped, and with the help of shepherds, swam the Danube to Romania, and then returned to Russia.

His deeds immediately caused a sensation in Russia, and for a time he was rendered as a Russian hero, and the tsar also valued him very much, and immediately promoted him to the commander of the 25th Army.

This time, because there was another accident in the East, the tsar sent Kornilov to discuss, because Kornilov was the most suitable candidate, he had served in Siberia for a long time, and he could speak Chinese as a military attaché in China, and I heard that he had some personal relations with Chinese Defense Minister Yang Chao, and there was no more suitable than him.

Kornilov came earlier than the Tsar and Stolypin, and the two had not yet decided who would come to China and whether they would come to China or not.

"Lord Yang, our army thinks that there is no need for cooperation. The Chinese Defense Forces only need to launch an attack from the Heilongjiang River Valley, and our army will attack from the Baikal direction, flanking from both sides, and it will not be a problem to crush the Japanese army. ”

Kornilov directly asked to meet Yang Chao to express the combat intentions of the Russian army.

Yang Chao shook his head: "The Russian army's attack from the direction of Chita will not play the role of a flanking attack. ”

Yang Chao did not give the Russians any face, and directly pointed out that they wanted to be opportunistic.

"If your two armies attack from Chita. Japanese troops stationed in Boli, Hailanpao and even Haisenwei will also be mobilized. Traveling thousands of miles, when they rush to Chita, it will not be difficult for us to destroy them. ”

Kornilov was silent, in fact, he answered this question very well, for example, the Russian army has the ability to capture Chita alone, attract Japanese reinforcements, and let the Chinese Defense Forces take the opportunity to attack the Japanese defense of Haisenwei and other places, which is the best coordination.

But Kornilov can't say anything, because he knows that the Russian army does not intend to really come to Chita, at least in the short term, it has no intention of transferring troops to the east.

The reason why they were impatient to choose Japan was because the Russians saw that Yang Chao's airship had begun to blockade the Japanese railways, and Japan's domestic transportation was basically paralyzed, and they had suffered this kind of loss, when Yang Chao destroyed a large number of Russian railways and bridges, Russia felt that the country's operation had almost collapsed, and they believed that Japan also felt the same way, and it was likely to surrender to China at any time.

Therefore, they must dare to declare war on the Japanese before Japan surrenders, so that they can join the negotiations and have a chance to return to their homeland. Speaking of which, this declaration of war is just a diplomatic act, and it does not mean that it really wants to fight.

It's just that the Russians ignore the difference between Japan and Russia, Russia's vast territory basically depends on the railway, and once the railway is broken, the transportation is basically paralyzed, and Moscow has no supplies from the outside world, so such a giant city cannot function; But Japan is different, it is an island country with a long and narrow land area and many ports. The railroad is blocked, and they still have shipping. There was Britain to help Japan transport, and Yang Chao couldn't kill Japan for a while.

Another difference is that Russia's industrial areas are inland except for St. Petersburg, and the railway traffic is cut off, which basically means that the factories cannot get raw materials, while most of the industrial cities in Japan are on the coast, and there is no supply by ship, and now the British are transferring shiploads of raw materials from the United States to Japan, and the supply to these factories is still running quite well.

So the Russians are suspected of miscalculation.

"You have a point. My country will think about it. Before replying to you, though, I hope you don't go on the offensive. The Chinese and Russian militaries should still fight in concert instead of fighting unilaterally. ”

In the absence of Russian troops, Kornilov has no reason to stop Yang Chao from attacking Chita, where is it not good to say that it is now Japanese territory.

Kornilov could only try to ask Yang Chao to ensure that it was not possible to take the lead in launching an attack without the consent of the Russian army.

"Absolutely. But you can make a quick decision. A month, a month I can wait for you to discuss, and a month later I will attack immediately. ”

Yang Chao didn't give the Russians too much time, and he also wanted to see the great cause of the war on the fourth front of the fighting nation, and he didn't know if it would cause them to collapse in advance.

The Russians moved quickly, not to determine the military action, but to determine that the Tsar, together with the crown prince and other members, would come to China for a visit.

After research, the Russians still believed that Stolypin could not leave the country at the moment, but that the tsar could leave for a while.

To be honest, Russia now feels much stronger than in the past, and there is no such inferior situation as they showed in the East, so far, the Russians have mobilized 10 million troops, and although they have sacrificed more than 3 million, they still have more than 6 million troops, which is still the largest in the world.

Moreover, the Russian army fought very tenaciously, whether it was against the German army or the Austro-Hungarian army, it did not fall behind, of course, the losses were more than the armies of these two countries, but it never made the offensive of these two countries have any decisive victory, and even the Austro-Hungarian army always suffered defeat when it met the Russian army.

The Russians were able to mobilize such a huge army, which was also unexpected by Yang Chao, and the reason for the hard thinking can only be attributed to the fact that Stolypin did not die, so the reform was more thorough, and the privatization of rural land in Russia was completed, and millions of kulak farms replaced the former commune villages, and a large number of peasants were liberated under the condition of improved labor efficiency.

These peasants, who lost their land, were the best free soldiers. (To be continued.) )