1904 year. On January 24, it was the eighth day of the first month of the thirtieth year of Guangxu.

After eating Laba rice, I will do it for the year! For the Chinese, this day means the beginning of the year, and the Chinese festival is not a surprise for the Russians.

The night, the wind and the snow brought extreme cold to the outside of the pass, and the fertile meadows in spring and summer were now covered with knee-thick snow. In front of an ice field reflecting the moon, a wooden rampart stretches along a circle of trenches of several versts. In front of the trenches was a layer of barbed wire. The trenches were icy frozen ground. The log of the wooden tower guard post was covered with a layer of snow and ice, and the snow shimmered silver in the moonlight.

This is a surveillance barricade only a few versts away from the railway, since half a year ago, after the anti-Russian volunteers appeared on this land, they are like a group of ghosts outside the gate, attacking the patrols and small strongholds of the Russian army, destroying the railway, and now the anti-Russian volunteers control a large area across the Russian-controlled area and the Manchurian-Mongolian controlled area to the mountainous area around Yanshan.

The Russian army, which has more than 100,000 troops, is a little powerless against this "bandit army" that may appear to be in any area with weak control at any time, and small forces may be eaten by them, and it is often inconvenient for large armed forces to move, and the troops are often brought into the mountains to circle around, drag them down and suffer heavy losses.

Even Admiral Alekseev, the Tsar's uncle, who was in charge of the affairs of the Far East, was a complete fool who could be stupid enough to assign a general to every battalion, and he could not help but consider the threat of the Ben, and without further orders from St. Petersburg, he could only choose to "hold on".

In the face of this situation, the Russian army's last countermeasure was to abandon remote towns and towns, garrison troops along the railways in large and medium-sized cities, communicate with them by telephone and telegraph, and use the railways to mobilize troops. And the stronghold, one every hundred and ten versts, was precisely the proof that this control was not as good as the other, and the orange lights shone out from the civil houses everywhere behind the trenches. A tall and sturdy officer stood for a while at the door of a mud house where the officers lived, and after shaking the ice and snow off his body, he took off his gloves, unbuttoned his military coat, shook off the snowflakes on his collar, and wiped his boots on the rotten hay, and then pushed open the door and bent down into the earthen house.

The yellow light of the small kerosene lamp shone on the faces of the visitors. An officer in an open cotton coat rose from the bed, stroked his messy hair with one hand, and yawned.

"It's snowing?"

"Down there," replied the guest, and then took off his clothes and hung his coat and cap on the nails by the door.

"It's warm here. There are many people, and there is a lot of gas. ”

Rubbing his hands together and bending down, Vulshilopov crouched down next to the small stove.

"When do you think this damn story will end?"

"I'm afraid only God knows."

Lemanov got out of bed, walked to the table, took out a tea brick, cut off a few pieces with a dagger, put them in two cups, went to the stove and poured two cups of tea, and gave Volshilopov a teacup.

"Let's warm up!"

"What do you think Petersburg will order?"

Taking a sip of tea, Volshilopov asked.

"I think it's possible to be shot!"

Holding a warm teacup in his hand, Lemanov said in a very affirmative tone.

"Let's play a game of chess."

Volshilopov wiped the droplets of water from the snow on his eyebrows with his hands and did not look up.

Lemanov took the chessboard and said as he cleaned up the pieces.

"Actually, compared to those bandits, Petersburg is more worried about himself, from 01 to now, he has been frequently active in Manchuria, and the bandits in Manchuria, I'm talking about those bandits, at least half of them have contacted him, and he has provided them with weapons and silver dollars, and he has done this......"

"That must be an attempt to fight us!"

Volshilopov's eyes were fixed on the chessboard, and then he sneered.

"These damn yellow monkeys, do they think the Russian Empire is a Qing state? Do they think that we are powerless to deal with those bandits, so they want to take advantage of the fire to rob them! ”

"You know, it's not!"

Lemanov took a move and said softly.

"Since July 28 last year, we have started the last round of diplomatic talks with him on the issue of Manchuria and South Korea, but Minister Ben has not been able to talk to Ramsin in St. Petersburg. Since October, it has been restarted in Tokyo, although the negotiations have been kept secret and not reported in the newspapers, but you also know that the little sparrow still thinks that he is really a strong country, they defeated the Qing State ten years ago, but Russia is not a Qing country, and it is impossible for us to accept the blackmail of the Qing Dynasty! ”

After a few meals, Lemanov spoke sarcastically at the mention of the book, and almost as he spoke, he looked down on the Asians in his bones.

"Even if this war does break out, it will be a small-scale war that must be won!"

After being eaten a few pieces in succession, Volshilopov angrily puffed out his mouth, popped out a small ball of smoke with his tongue, and threw away the cigarette butt.

"Seriously, I really admire the courage of the people themselves, they dared to challenge the Russian Empire, I really don't know if they are crazy or stupid, maybe their Meiji Emperor is really crazy, yesterday I saw a cartoon in the newspaper, the cartoon showed the Russian giant swallowing the little man in one bite, the whole world knows that we will definitely be able to defeat the person easily, I really don't understand why I dare to ......"

"They're crazy, and our general is also crazy!"

Lemanov sat there rolling up his cigarette, staring at the military uniform hanging from the hanger, which was a major general's military gown.

"If he wasn't crazy, how could I, a general, be sent to this damn place, originally, I should have been in Mukden, Lushun or Harbin, like this time, maybe I was lying on the bed of a certain lady, and I was entangled with her to the death!"

"You watch your own **......"

Volshilopov said mockingly.

"Maybe it'll be full of cauliflower in the winter!"

Listening to the words of this little major, Lemanov did not feel angry, but slapped his boot on the shaft and laughed happily.

"In that case, I will definitely return to St. Petersburg and find ...... You know, I don't like that ......."

Before he could finish his sentence, there was a knock at the door.

"Sir!"

The soldier gave a military salute with a tap on the heel of his boot as he reported, and then he pulled a telegram from his packet.

"A telegram from the Mukden Command!"

Taking the telegram, Lemanov smiled, then turned to look at Vlshilopov.

"Look...... I guessed right, St. Petersburg needs to use these few people to show the attitude of Russia to the book! ”

The telegram was handed to Volshilopov, who took it and looked at it, and the content of the telegram was very simple.

"Execute the Spy!"

There was no trial by a military tribunal, no investigation, very simple direct executions.

In the early morning the snow had ceased all night, and the open field was silent, except for the whistle of the wind, and a bird brought a little snow down from the branches when it flew away from the tree. The snow fluttered down like white powder, and in front of the trees stood two Orientals dressed as northeasterners with messy hair and beards, their faces bearing a touch of generosity.

Within a few meters of the two men stood ten Russian soldiers in tweed-headed lamb hats standing side by side with their guns in their hands, while Lemanov stood to the side, where Vlshilopov read out an order.

“…… Yokota Province 3 and Chong Sadasuke 2 said that they wanted to destroy the facilities of the South Manchurian Railway of the Russian Empire and infiltrated Manchuria, and should have been sentenced to hanging according to the army's criminal law, but this time, because of the tolerance and mercy of His Majesty the Tsar, the sentence was specially changed to shooting! ”

Rolling up the "verdict" in his hand, according to the verdict of the telegram of the provisional military court, Volshilopov walked to the tree, followed by a Chinese in a dogskin hat, and looked at the two Yuben spies, two Yuben spies captured by the patrol three days ago, who tried to blow up the water filling station.

"Is there anything else you have to say?"

After the Chinese in the dogskin hat translated Volshilopov into Chinese, Yokota looked ahead and said.

"I still have some rubles in my pocket, and I hope to donate them to your Red Cross."

After learning about this request from the translator, Volshilopov couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and glanced at this person himself.

"I thank you on behalf of my people!"

The Russian major's thanks only made Yokota smile with a smile.

"I'm sure you'll need it soon!"

Volshilopov ignored Yokota's ridicule and just continued to ask.

"Do you have any more requests?"

"I want to have a drink before I die!"

Volshilopov nodded, and a Russian soldier walked up to Oki Sadasuke with a wine bottle.

"Vodka!"

Taking the wine, he took a big sip of Sadasuke, the heat of the liquor in his throat only made him almost cough out, and after drinking he looked at Vlshilopov.

"Please let me give you a piece of advice to the Luguo, Manchuria and Korea are Asian! It should not be ruled by you in vain, we say that no matter how much blood we shed, we will drive you Lu people out of Manchuria! If you want to survive, go back to Lucia! ”

The interpreter who was standing on his waist gestured to translate his words, and one of the soldiers cursed "damn yellow monkey" and was about to rush forward, but was stopped by Volshilopov's outstretched hand.

"We, like you, are all soldiers loyal to His Majesty the Emperor!"

With their hands stretched out, two Russian soldiers walked up to them with two strips of black cloth, and when they were about to blindfold them, they shook their heads and refused.

"Aim at their hearts, so that they don't suffer, so that they can also show the demeanor of the Russian army!"

As Volshilopov lectured the soldiers, Yokota and Oki Sadasuke glanced at each other and nodded at each other.

"Raise your gun, aim!"

"Long live the Great Empire!"

When Yokota and Oki Sadasuke shouted, gunshots rang out, and the two fell heavily on the snow, and Lemanov glanced at the two people who had been executed, and sneered at the corners of his lips.

"Stupid monkey!"

Zhangwu County, this Guangxu 28 years to build a county is located in the wicker side of the Zhangwu Taimen of the small city, when the city was built with a little helplessness, although Zhangwu contains the commendation of martial arts, but everyone knows that the reason why the county is set up here is actually to prevent the Russian army from invading the Horqin Sandy Land in the north is a helpless move.

The city wall of Zhangwu County was built at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the rammed earth city wall was covered with barren grass, the snow hanging on the barren grass covered the earthen wall with white, on the dilapidated city gate tower, a red flag fluttered with the wind, four months ago, facing the "banditry" soldiers into Zhangwu County ordered to abandon the city and flee, this county located outside the Russian-controlled area, naturally because of its relatively safe geographical location, became the headquarters of the "anti-Russian base" controlled by the volunteers.

More than a dozen sets of carriages under the escort of the coachman, towards the gate of Zhangwu County, riding on the horse Shoutian Liyuan Shaozuo from time to time to look at this small city, on the way to the road he has encountered many times the cavalry of the volunteers, this bandit in the mouth of the Russians, in his opinion, may be the best army of the Qing State.

"Mr. Wu!"

Shoutian Liyuan stepped off the reins of the horse, let the horse slow down, and when the horse Qi behind him came to his side, he laughed and shouted, for this gentle and obedient, unscrupulous Wu Peifu, when he first set off from the capital, he didn't care, but after encountering the volunteer patrol several times, he saw that the response was to this Wu Peifu, just like Zhou Shaoqi, who was also silent.

"Mr. Tian!"

Pulling down the rope, Wu Peifu nodded politely.

"About to enter the city, from this way, what do you think about this anti-Russian army!"

"Peifu thinks that the Volunteers can barely be considered elite!"

Wu Peifu replied softly, before leaving, everyone had received an order, that is, to find out the truth of the volunteers, this order was issued by the imperial court on one side, and the strict order of the commander on the other hand.

While Wu Peifu and Shoutian were talking in front, Zhou Shaoqi was carefully looking at the occasional encounter with volunteers on the way into the city, most of whom wore Western-style military uniforms and shaved their heads, according to the report, this was to help bandage their head wounds on the battlefield.

To a certain extent, although this trip has other missions, but for that Lin Yanren, Zhou Shaoqi admires it from the bottom of his heart, and he may be the only one in the Great Qing Kingdom who dares to fight with foreigners, and he can still win.

"Mr. Wu is surprised that the resistance to the Russian army may have a certain combat effectiveness, but the reason why the Russians have not ...... it"

Only halfway through the words, Shoutian Liyuan and the people on the horse were attracted by the scene in an open field not far from the roadside, perhaps a row of recruits being trained, at this time they were holding their hands and feet on the ground, and the military cao who trained them was carrying a military stick, two sticks from left to right.

The sound of batons hitting the buttocks echoed in the open space on the side of the road, but the most surprising thing was that after the recruits were beaten, as soon as the soldiers left the next person, the newly punished recruits were running to the back of the line, waiting for the next round of canes.

During the whole process, each of them suffered at least a dozen military sticks, but they didn't hear a miserable howl, only the snapping sound of the buttocks hitting each other, and the muffled snort of gritted teeth, the scene in front of them only saw the stunned eyes of these people, especially Wu Peifu, Zhou Shaoqi and other officers sent by the Beiyang Inspectorate, of course they understand that the maintenance of military discipline lies in the "strictness of military discipline" and "the flogging of military sticks", but like in front of them, the punished person just gritted his teeth and snorted when he was punished, but it was difficult for the Beiyang Army to see.

"Stand upright!"

Jun Cao roared, and the recruits immediately stood up in fear, and Jun Cao put down his three-foot-long military stick and paced back and forth in front of them.

"If one person is wrong, the whole class will be punished!"

The roar of Jun Cao fell into the ears of these people on the side of the road word for word, and this roar made even Shoutian Liyuan and other officers tremble, saying that the punishment of groups in the army is often decided according to the mood of Jun Cao or the officer.

"Yes, sir!"

"You bitches!"

The sergeant's scolding made Wu Peifu frown.

Then, with the sergeant's scolding, they finally understood the reason why these people were tortured, but only because during combat training, the two failed to do their best because they were brothers, and the temporary soft-heartedness was exchanged for the punishment of the whole class.

"Ji is too harsh!"

Wu Peifu said something rarely.

And Shoutian Liyuan is looking at this group of volunteers who "open a small stove", his eyes flashed with a strange look, as the meaning of military punishment for this officer, he can be said to be very clear, military punishment can bring combat effectiveness, only when the army's military punishment is recorded in the bones, they will die on the battlefield and do not retreat.

"Yes! Indeed it is! ”

Hirakawa Kichitaro paid a peace, he also enjoyed similar treatment when he was an intern in the army, but the important surname of military punishment was something he was unwilling to share with these Qing people.

"You remember, this is to keep you alive, if you don't take off a layer of skin, drop a few pounds of flesh, and wait for the battlefield, you will not take off your skin, and the one who beats you will not be a military stick, but a bullet that will kill you!"

"Guys, let's go! It's Zhangwu County in front, and after we give them these weapons, maybe we have a chance to visit their barracks, right? ”

Lightly clamping the horse's belly, Shoutian Liyuan said, if he said that when he came, he just gave these thousand rifles and ammunition to this volunteer army on the order of the legation, then now he has a strong curiosity about this volunteer army, and a considerable army can be seen from military discipline, and the reason why this army can survive against the Russian army with severe punishment is probably not just by "wandering in the cracks".

When Shoutian and his party were still hundreds of meters away from the city gate, Wu Peifu quietly slowed down, and only after being side by side with Zhou Shaoqi did he lower his voice and asked.

"Gongjie, why do you think we can get here?"

After encountering the Volunteer Cavalry for the first time, Wu Peifu had such a question in his heart, he didn't believe that he didn't suspect their identity when he met the Cavalry, but why could he easily let them into the heart of the Volunteers.

"They let us in, didn't they?"

(To be continued)