Song Biao stayed in Shenyang for three days, and Brigadier General Madenidov arranged a time slot for him to meet with Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin, which was still scheduled after 8 p.m.

That night, Song Biao prepared very carefully, putting on a set of winter military dresses specially sent by Major Turgenier for senior Tsarist Russian officers, lined with very soft leather, and navy blue tweed fabric on the outside, without military rank, military boots were black boots with spurs, and the saber was a high-level Chashik saber with a cumbersome brass handle, and the dark green scabbard was framed with a layer of fine brass patterns.

Accompanied by Major Turgenier, he walked all the way to the headquarters of the Russian Far Eastern Army, which was extremely busy even at night, with frequent exchanges of staff officers at all levels.

Song Biao entered the operational staff room, raised his eyes and saw a tall, about fifty-year-old Russian general continuing to discuss things in a low voice with several staff officers, Brigadier General Madenidov was also listening, seeing Song Biao and Major Turgenier arrive, Brigadier General cautiously whispered a few words to the Russian general.

The Russian general immediately turned his face and glanced at Song Biao and Major Turgenier from a distance, and then made a gesture with several staff officers around him, signaling them to leave first, and only Brigadier General Madenidov stayed to accompany him.

In a high position, he is not angry and self-assured.

It's like Alexey. Nikolaevich. The person of the infantry general Kuropatkin, the commander-in-chief of Kuropatkin looked a solemn and solemn person, wearing a more high-standard dark blue army general's uniform, a golden cross tied in the center of the neckline, a high nose bridge, a tall figure, a ruddy complexion, mottled and gray brown hair, a thick beard and short beard, and his eyes were drooping, as if he was always thinking.

He did not wear too many decorations and medals, nor did he wear a saber, but he still looked majestic, and the role of this high-class military uniform on his body was great.

During the entire period of the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian [***] outfit was a whole level higher than the Yue Army in terms of aesthetic appearance and vision, and the gap was very large, in fact, the military uniform of the Yue Army has always been quite ugly, and it is uglier from generation to generation, and the M1886 and M1900 military uniforms of the Yue Army are still alive, and the M1904 military uniform is a watershed, and since then it has embarked on the extremely ugly side, that is, the kind of Yue Army style that the Chinese are familiar with.

In addition, the generals of the army are generally short, the most typical is Dashanyan, who is very short and fat, and then put on a military uniform, the upper body is basically twice the length of the lower body, plus the pair of high military boots, no matter how you look at it, it is awkward.

When Song Biao approached with Major Turgenier, Brigadier General Madenidov introduced him to General Kuropatkin, confirming that the young man of Asian descent in front of him wearing the uniform of a senior general of Tsarist Russia was Song Biao, and Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin's solemn and calm expression also showed a slight trace of curiosity.

Now that he saw the supreme commander of the friendly army, Song Biao stepped forward and gave a very serious military salute, and at this moment, he had mixed feelings in his heart.

This military salute has an extraordinary special meaning for him, this action is so familiar, and these words are so unfamiliar, he wants to find his own division, looking around, but he finds the Far East Army of the Tsarist Russian Empire a century ago.

Tangled!

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin solemnly replied with a standard military salute, and the two soldiers made a brief exchange in their own special language and with the eyes of their soldiers at this moment.

Immediately, Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin invited Song Biao to sit at the conference table covered with operational maps and various information books, and said: "Both Madenidov and Mishuchenko have described you to me several times, especially His Excellency General Mishuchenko, who has great respect for you, and has reported in detail on your outstanding performance, and commented that you have extremely high tactical literacy and strategic decision-making ability. It's an amazing thing, especially considering your origins, I'm even a little hard to believe! ”

Song Biao replied: "I have a relative who has been an officer in the Qing army for a long time and has taught me some simple truths, and I have always liked to read Chinese military classics. There are a lot of military treatises in ancient China, and I have read 20 kinds of them alone, among which the most classic ones are "Liutao" and "The Art of War." On this basis, I have also observed some regular training of the Japanese army and the Russian army, and I have had the privilege of having had many exchanges and studies with the grassroots officers of the two armies. At General Mishuchenko's side, I used Sun Tzu's principles to observe the battle situation, adjusted my regular military operations with the Russian army's training and defense principles, and at the same time had some ideas of my own, nothing more. ”

After a pause, he added: "Of course, I thought that among the military books I had read, Commander Suvorov's The Science of Victory and Russian Infantry General Yomini's Introduction to the Art of War were more important to me. ”

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin nodded slightly, but also thought deeply, and waited for a moment before continuing: "Your Russian is very standard, very good, very good. There have always been many people in the empire who disagree with Commander Suvorov's theory of victory, but I believe that this is a military treatise with a world surname, and everyone can learn valuable knowledge from it. ”

Song Biao replied: "Thank you for the compliment, I like the works of Dostoevsky and Turgenev, and I read them often, especially Crime and Punishment, and I read them four times. ”

"Oh!"

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin was amazed and exclaimed: "I don't have time to read the works of that gentleman, I prefer Turgenev's Father and Son, and when I was young, I tried to write novels, but unfortunately I was never appreciated. I don't think the editors even had the heart to look at it, so it's okay that I was forced to go to the Pavlov Military Academy because of the early death of my writing career. ”

Song Biao laughed and said, "This is the arrangement of fate." ”

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin also laughed, he had a special impression of Song Biao in front of him, he knew that his time was limited, and Song Biao was able to read "Crime and Punishment" four times, and his knowledge of Russian was obviously very good, and if he really wanted to continue the discussion on this topic, it might only expose that he, a Russian, did not know his own nation as well as a foreigner.

Thinking of this possible surname, he couldn't help but laugh out loud with pride for the motherland's artistic achievements, and said to Song Biao: "I think one of my best adventures in this war is probably to meet such an interesting Manchurian as you, which is very interesting." We are soldiers, we speak with military merits, your military wisdom and command skills no longer need to be questioned, all your contributions to His Majesty the Tsar can prove all this, I think, we should formally present to His Majesty the Tsar in the name of the Far Eastern Army Command to commend you, before I officially send a telegram, I still need to confirm one thing, that is, are you willing to join the empire and become a military general of Your Majesty? ”

Song Biao replied without hesitation: "Once I become Russian, I am afraid that it will not be conducive to me continuing to lead my own troops!" ”

"That's right...... I'm afraid that's really the case! ”

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin nodded in agreement, and said: "Then let's do it, in the name of the commander of the Far Eastern Army and the former Minister of War, I formally propose to Your Majesty to aid the construction of the Manchurian Infantry Division, and nominally grant you the rank of senior general, so as to facilitate your normal communication in our army and the unified command of our army." I will give you about three to four months to devote yourself to the preparation and training of this Manchurian infantry division, the total strength of which can reach 20,000 to 30,000 men, and the equipment for the preparation of this division will be uniformly allocated by the Empire, and the subsequent salaries and long-term expenses will be for you to prepare for on your own, and we will provide some necessary help, and we will pay a part of it quarterly, and the specific amount and amount will be discussed between you and Brigadier General Madenidov alone. What do you think of my proposal? ”

Song Biao replied calmly: "Of course, this is a very good thing, I can't ask for it." However, I think I can practice as I play. In my opinion, it is still too early for the Russian army to fight a full-scale decisive battle with the Chinese army, and the main task at present is to continue to base itself on the defense and delay the decisive battle on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also necessary to increase efforts to ensure logistics. At present, the Russian army has three main supply lines, namely the China Eastern Railway line from Harbin to Shenyang City, the line from Mudanjiang to Fushun, and the Hunjiang line from Huichun to Tonghua. I hope that the commander-in-chief will order me to clear the Hunjiang line, as long as I have two infantry regiments and a cavalry brigade to protect all the security of this line. If there are enough cavalry, I can even contract this section of the transportation route from Fushun to Huinan County, not to mention that the army can't strike deeply, that is, the local bandits from all walks of life, whoever dares to get along with me, I will ask whoever gets out of the area I am responsible for. ”

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin was greatly surprised, and laughed: "This is simply great, I have been emphasizing the safety of the transport lines recently, but there are always problems, if you can take care of the security of the two transport lines, all your military pay expenses can be paid by the Far Eastern Army." This matter must be done as soon as possible, and we will now transfer an infantry regiment to replace you, and put you in full charge of this matter. ”

Song Biao was the real surprise, and he immediately promised: "Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, please rest assured, to deal with the bandits on these two lines, we Kwantung people have to take action ourselves, even if they hide deeply, I have a way to raze their lair." I needed four infantry regiments, a cavalry brigade, a logistics wing, one each of the garrison, artillery, and engineer battalions, as well as a Russian training regiment of about 100 men. On this basis, I can not only ensure the security of the two transportation lines, but also send some troops to participate in the operation if there is an urgent need to transfer troops. ”

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin asked cautiously: "How much can the total number of people be maintained?" ”

Song Biao said: "My four infantry regiments themselves are set up according to the establishment of the comprehensive detachment, each regiment has three infantry battalions, equipped with a garrison company, an artillery company, an engineer company, a transport company and a reconnaissance company, in fact, four and a half battalions are organized into a regiment, each regiment is about 2,250 people, and the total strength is about 23,000 people. Although the scale of the establishment is relatively large, I can basically cover the entire Tonghua, threaten the right flank of the Chinese army, and even send part of the troops deep behind the enemy lines to cause sabotage. ”

Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin carefully assessed it in his heart, and felt that it was still relatively cost-effective, but the scale of this troop allocation was too large, not to mention that it could not be trained in three months, even if it was difficult for a year.

After a little contemplation, he and Song Biao said: "I support and agree with your idea very much, so let's do it, you can form three infantry regiments yourself as soon as possible, and I will also transfer an infantry regiment with rich combat experience and Cossack cavalry brigade to work together, so that you can organize a certain combat capability in the fastest time." You can build a cavalry battalion and then slowly increase it until your cavalry brigade is fully established, and then the command will draw back the Cossack cavalry brigade, and you will be responsible for the security of the two transport lines. ”

Song Biao agreed and said, "There is no problem!" ”