Grand Duke Nikolai never thought that the War Ministry would deceive him on this issue, and, of course, he also knew, Minister of War Alexey? Nikolaevich? Kuropatkin definitely did not have the courage to do this, behind this, there must be the shadow of Tsar Nicholas II. The reason he could naturally guess was that although Irkutsk was besieged, it also dragged down hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops. If he leads his troops to stop resisting, these hundreds of thousands of squadrons will join the battle of Omsk, and the Russian army will have no chance of winning, and maybe even the whole of Siberia will be lost.

Although Grand Duke Nicholas understood Tsar Nicholas II's approach very well, it was difficult for him to accept it from a personal point of view. Because, he was the uncle of Tsar Nicholas II, and now, Nicholas II actually treated him as an outcast, which made him feel very uncomfortable. Irkutsk was already isolated, and the Grand Duke Nikolai knew very well what the consequences would be if he continued to resist. Therefore, he was even more angry at being deceived.

"Your Excellency, what should we do now? The Navy has been defeated, Russia has already lost, and there is only one way to die if it holds Irkutsk! The Governor of Eastern Siberia, Anuchin, asked with some excitement. Obviously, he did not want to be loyal to Russia, especially with his own life.

"What else can we do now? The Chinese have already surrounded Irkutsk, and in the east, north and west, there are large armies of the Chinese, who have built a strong defensive line, and without artillery, even if we all fight out all the 400,000 people in Irkutsk, we will not be able to break through the Chinese defensive line. In the south. It's the Angara River. The bridge over the river has been completely blown up. Patrol boats of the Chinese. Patrolling the river day and night. In this case, we simply can't break through! Grand Duke Nikolai said with a cold face. Although, according to the information received, the squadron besieging Irkutsk had only two army groups and one cavalry corps, and there were only more than 300,000 people. But Grand Duke Nicholas was confident that no one would be able to break out of the Chinese encirclement if he ordered a breakthrough.

"So what should we do? You can't stay here and die, can you? Your Excellency, can you give it a try? See if you can break through? "The Governor of Eastern Siberia, Anuchin, is still a little unwilling. Of course. In his heart, there is another way, and that is to surrender. Now that there are 400,000 Russian troops in Irkutsk, it is completely possible to use these 400,000 Russian troops as bargaining chips to negotiate with the Chinese. I think we will be able to get a good deal. It's just that he didn't know what Grand Duke Nikolai thought, so he didn't dare to express this idea.

"Your Excellency the Governor, I have my own measure of what to do!" Grand Duke Nikolai said coldly.

At this point, the governor of Eastern Siberia, Anuchin, had no choice but to say nothing more and turned away. But. He was thinking about how he could escape this. He knows. The last resort is to surrender to the Chinese. But Grand Duke Nikolai did not express his position, and he had no choice. However, he believed that if the defenders of Irkutsk knew that the navy had been defeated, their confidence in defending Irkutsk would not have been so strong. When the time comes, it is possible to take the opportunity to persuade Grand Duke Nicholas to surrender.

Afterwards, Grand Duke Nikolai again contacted the Russian War Ministry and asked why the War Department had deceived him. The War Department, which was dismantled, had no choice but to excuse the fact that this was an order of Tsar Nicholas II. And with the fate of Tsar Nicholas II, he forced Grand Duke Nicholas to lead his army to hold on to Irkutsk, drag the squadron, and create conditions for the Russian ** team to win the Battle of Omsk.

"Shit! The current Russian ** team, still wanting to win against the Chinese in Omsk, is simply delusional! Grand Duke Nikolai tore the telegram in his hand to shreds. However, the tsar's orders, which he had to obey, put him in a dilemma.

At 8 o'clock in the morning of June 23, the artillery of the squadron ** once again launched a fierce shelling of Irkutsk. The scale of the shelling was much larger than before, making the defenders of Irkutsk nervous, for fear that the Chinese would attack Irkutsk.

However, after the shelling, the Chinese army did not start the offensive, which made them breathe a sigh of relief.

At ten o'clock in the morning, several airships appeared over Irkutsk. The observation balloons of the Russian army have long been completely destroyed, and the sky of Irkutsk has long become the territory of the Chinese Air Force.

Many Russian soldiers poked their heads out of the fortifications and looked at the airships in the sky, not knowing what these airships were going to do. Moments later, a large amount of paper flew out of the basket beneath the airship. Soon, the sky was full of scraps of paper, fluttering like snow.

"Hey! What do these Chinese want to do? "Many Russian soldiers are full of questions.

After the pieces of paper fell to the ground, some brave Russian soldiers picked up the pieces of paper. The piece of paper was no bigger than a palm, and a few sentences were written on it in Russian. These pieces of paper, the Chinese side has long been ready. It's just that the Navy has not won before, so it has not been able to come in handy. Now that the Navy has won, these pieces of paper have become a weapon to demoralize the Russian army.

"Ivan, what is written on it?" A bearded veteran in his thirties asked. Most of the soldiers of the Russian army are peasants, and the literacy rate is very low.

It reads: On June 22, the Chinese Navy completely annihilated the combined fleet of Britain, France and Russia in the South China Sea. The Russian defenders of Irkutsk immediately laid down their arms and surrendered, and the Chinese side will guarantee the safety of the surrendered soldiers! A little soldier read.

"Oh God! Has the Navy failed? How is this possible? ”

"Didn't the commander say that the Combined Fleet is the most powerful fleet ever built? Said that they would definitely be able to defeat the Chinese Navy. But how could this happen? ”

"The Navy has failed, so what should we do? Is there any point in us sticking to Irkutsk? No, I'm going home, my mom and beautiful Elena are waiting for me to go back! A Russian soldier cried.

Soon, the news of the defeat of the Navy will be known to the entire Russian army in Irkutsk. When Grand Duke Nikolai learned of the news, he scolded the squadron for being too despicable, and at the same time, ordered the collection of these pieces of paper. In addition, it is strictly forbidden to spread rumors and cause trouble. He assured the soldiers that this was a conspiracy of the Chinese and that the navy had not failed. However, many Russian soldiers have preconceived notions that Grand Duke Nikolai is lying to them. The morale of the defenders of Irkutsk suddenly plummeted. This made Grand Duke Nikolai very angry, but there was no way to crack it.

At about the same time, the Governor of Eastern Siberia, Anucchin, was also contacting the Russian generals in Irkutsk. Russia has lost this war, there is no need for them to be buried for Russia! They want to live. These generals are not as easy to deceive as those ordinary soldiers. Soon they launched their own relations and established the news that the Russian Navy had been defeated. Suddenly, these Russian generals also became panicked. They had agreed to hold on to Irkutsk because they believed the navy would be victorious. And now, there is no victory in sight.

In the evening of the same day, Grand Duke Nicholas convened an emergency military meeting. At the meeting, Grand Duke Nicholas asked the generals to restrain their troops and guard the defensive line to avoid being taken advantage of by the Chinese. It's just that before he finished speaking, something happened.

"Your Excellency, I wonder if the navy is really defeated?" A middle-aged general stood up and asked.

"Yes! Your Excellency, is the Navy defeated? Please tell us the truth? The other generals also asked one after another.

Looking at the dozens of generals below, all of them stared at Grand Duke Nicholas tightly. Everyone actually already knows the truth, but they just don't want to be blinded any longer.

"What are you doing here? Want to disobey the order? Grand Duke Nikolai asked with a dark face.

"Your Excellency, if the navy is defeated, then there is no hope of victory for Russia in this war. There is no need for Irkutsk to continue to hold on! We can't watch hundreds of thousands of soldiers die like this! The lives of the soldiers are even more important! "The Governor of Eastern Siberia, Anuchin, stepped forward. Through secret contacts, he has received the support of many generals.

"Yes, Your Excellency, Governor Anuchin is right. Since we are doomed, then we can't let our people die! ”

Seeing everyone's appearance, Grand Duke Nicholas's heart was gloomy. Even the generals are like this, not to mention the ordinary soldiers below. It is clear that Irkutsk can no longer hold on. If the squadron launched a large-scale attack at this time, it would not be possible to expect these generals and soldiers who had lost their fighting spirit to resist the attack of the Chinese.

"Okay, so what do you think we should do now?" Grand Duke Nicholas finally compromised. He knew that if he continued to be tough, he might lead to even more severe consequences, such as mutiny!

"Your Excellency, we should take advantage of this opportunity to start negotiations with the Chinese. Fight for the interests of us generals and ordinary soldiers as much as possible! If the Chinese can introduce our conditions, we can surrender to them! Said the Governor of Eastern Siberia, Anuchin.

Other generals supported the views of the Eastern Siberian governor Anuchin.

"Oh well! That being the case, I agree! Your Excellency Anuchin, go negotiate with the Chinese! If the Chinese can guarantee the safety of our lives and property, the defenders of Irkutsk, can surrender to them! Grand Duke Nikolai finally said! (To be continued.) )

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