This is a three-bay blue brick house, the corridor outside is semi-closed, the room is very warm, obviously the ondol has been burned, the Russians do not have the habit of ondol, it does not mean that they do not know how to enjoy.

The main hall is particularly large, there are more than a dozen young Russian officers working here, and others come in and out from time to time to do business, and the interior has long been newly decorated, and the characteristics of the Kwantung folk houses are not visible at all from the interior, and even the icons of the Orthodox Church are hung on the walls.

In the back room on the north side, on the Kanto characteristic large warm kang, three Russian [***] officers who should be of high rank are talking, all wearing more elaborate high-end military uniforms, drinking tea in a very delicate ceramic teateacup, and a bottle of foreign wine such as Volga on the silver tea tray, as well as a Russian-style brown high-necked teapot.

Age-wise, the fifty-year-old Cossack officer sitting on the innermost side of the ondol seemed to be more senior, wearing an exaggerated black felt cloak that covered his entire body, and like almost all Cossack cavalrymen, his fur cap was always tilted to one side regardless of gravity and the shape of the cap.

A middle-aged officer sat on the other side of the ondol, wearing a thick, extremely upturned mustache like Major Tuvaniel, wearing the most typical intricately decorated kaftan tweed robes, with the saber of St. Anne, representing extreme bravery, and a silver dagger that looked very much like an ancestral heirloom with splendid ornamentation and several yellow-green gemstones.

This was also a typical Cossack hereditary aristocratic officer, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, or major.

The third senior officer was different, wearing the navy blue uniform of a senior staff officer of the Russian Far East Army, similar to Major Tuvanier, with a black red collar on his coat, but his rank epaulettes were pale gold with red thread, which meant that he should be a brigadier general or something.

Comparing the military rank and characteristic military uniform, Song Biao knew at a short glance that the Cossack veteran general in his fifties, wearing a black felt fur cloak with a white beard, was General Mishuchenko.

Major Tuvaniel stepped forward to salute the three senior generals and introduced Song Biao to them: "Your Excellency General Mishuchenko, Your Excellency Brigadier General Madenidov, Your Excellency Lieutenant Colonel Sheyeniski, this Mr. Song is a bandit leader from the Huichun region of Manchuria, he has about a thousand troops, and he once defeated a squadron of the Yue Army in the Hunjiang region, captured a large number of firearms including American-made shotguns, and also killed the Chief of Staff of the Manchurian Army, which has always given us a headache. He wanted to continue to fight with our army, and he claimed that he had some very important military information. ”

After listening to Major Tuvaniel's report, he temporarily interrupted the discussion with Lieutenant Colonel Seyeniski and Brigadier General Madenidov, and looked at Song Biao intently for a moment, and then instructed Major Tuvaniel: "Let that Manchurian gentleman come and talk!" ”

After all, Major Tu Vaniere accepted the money, and did not forget to say two good words: "This Mr. Song can also speak Russian very fluently, which is indeed rare among the bandit troops in Manchuria, even if you don't need me to translate, Your Excellency the General can ask him at will." ”

"Oh?"

Brigadier General Madenidov seemed to be more interested, and he also looked at Song Biao carefully, as if he was thinking about something.

It was only at this time that Song Biao took a few steps forward, clasped his fists and saluted with the three senior generals in a very Kanto style, and introduced himself in Russian: "I am Song Biao, and I am currently the leader of the Kwantung Hui Chun Ma Gang, and many of our Ma Gang are Qing soldiers who were defeated during the Sino-Japanese War. In order to take revenge, all the brothers of our horse gang traveled day and night together, ambushed several bandits and a squadron of soldiers who helped him in the Hunjiang area, and accidentally seized a large number of materials that might have belonged to the Russian army. It was also for revenge that we killed a lot of people during this time, including one of them. We have now formed a deep enmity with the Yue army, and they organized a lot of bandits to hunt us down, so I took my brothers to Fushun via Liuhe County, wanting to defect to your army and kill the Yue army together. ”

Hearing this very standard Russian, General Mishuchenko obviously raised a very special interest, there are not many foreigners who can speak Russian, and it is even rarer for an Asian to speak so fluently, this feeling is like a Chinese meeting a Russian who can speak Chinese.

Kiss or not, listen to the accent.

General Mishuchenko sat up straight with great interest, and asked Major Tuvanier to move a square stool for Song Biao, although his expression was still so arrogant, he was also very polite to ask Song Biao to sit down first, and then asked with some doubts: "Did you really kill a squadron of soldiers?" ”

Without waiting for Song Biao to answer, Brigadier General Madenidov suddenly interjected and asked, "If you really defeat a squadron of Yue troops, you must have a lot of feelings, right?" ”

It is already a fact that the combat effectiveness of the army is very clear to the Russian army, not to mention a squadron, even a small team of the army cannot be defeated by the bandit troops, this is the consensus of several senior Russian generals here.

In the face of the obvious questioning looks of General Mishuchenko and Brigadier General Madenidorff, Song Biao calmly replied confidently and almost blandly: "We killed a squadron of the Japanese army, because we are a horse gang, we have been walking all over the northeast all the year round, and we are very familiar with the terrain. In addition, half of our brothers have served as soldiers in the Huai Army, and have been trained by British instructors, and their combat ability is certainly not comparable to that of ordinary bandits. The Chinese have an old saying called 'know oneself and know one's opponent, and win a hundred battles', as long as you are familiar with yourself and your opponent, you can always maintain victory. We are familiar with ourselves, the terrain, and the army, so it is naturally not difficult to kill them. ”

General Mishuchenko seemed to agree, and he also seemed to have a very special affection for Song Biao, a young Asian who could speak Russian fluently, and agreed: "In this way, you are indeed a very powerful local militia force. You have more than 1,000 troops, which is still relatively rare, and according to the telegram issued by the headquarters of the commander of our Far East Army, as long as you Manchurians are willing to surrender to our army, our army has always been very favorable. Considering that you have a lot of people and enough firearms, can you tell us what kind of other support you need, whether it's money or other supplies? ”

Song Biao thought for a moment and replied: "With all due respect, Your Excellency General Mishuchenko, we are fighting locally, if you can provide enough firearms and supplies, I can recruit a few thousand people on the spot and organize an infantry regiment to follow your army to fight together, we have a large number of shotguns, and our men are also well-trained, which means that we are fully capable of helping you defend the trenches." We now have a very deep enmity with the Yue army, and killing the Yue army together is the condition we really want, and in this regard, we are completely different from other bandits in the northeast, we not only have enough training, but also have a more resolute will to fight. ”

When he said this, his words and demeanor naturally revealed a calm and quiet confidence, and several Russian generals present were carefully observing him, feeling quite wonderful, and they could vaguely feel his specialness.

General Mishuchenko smiled happily: "Very good, but this makes me feel a little difficult, because our troops are about to be transferred from here to the front recently, and in the absence of understanding, it seems that there is still a certain risk if I take you to the battlefield to take charge of some work." ”

After saying this, he and Brigadier Madenidorff continued: "Perhaps this should be more of your responsibility, right?" I think that you should consider accepting their request for combat on behalf of the Far Eastern Army Command, which is obviously a good thing, if I hold off with the Yue army in the Heigoutai area, we may need a lot of organized Manchurians to work for us, and it is very important to build fortifications and maintain logistics and transportation, and even to resist the small attacks of the Yue army and bandits, in this respect, we have suffered a lot in the Liaozhong region, where our men are always inexplicably attacked by those Manchurians who are very well camouflaged! ”

Brigadier General Madenidov thought for a moment and said to Song Biao, who was sitting opposite him: "Your situation seems to be quite special, so what help do you want our army to provide you with so that you can better fight against the army?" ”

Song Biao replied: "I need a more formal formation, preferably the size of an infantry regiment, and your army should provide armament and ammunition according to the standards of other Russian troops, including more formal military uniforms." On this basis, we can follow the main forces of the Russian army to do some necessary work, we can be responsible for building fortifications, assisting the main forces in defending positions, acting as second-line reserve troops, and organizing local people to engage in transportation and other work. If the war continues for a long time, we can gradually increase the size of the infantry regiment and take on more work, even with 30,000 or 40,000 men. After the end of the war, I hope that your army will be able to transfer to me some of the ordnance that does not have to be brought back to China, and I will continue to cooperate very well after the war to protect Russian interests in the Northeast. ”

Brigadier General Madenidov finally realized that Song Biao was a very clever "Russophile", and replied very intelligently: "There is no doubt that you are the smartest of all the Manchurians I know, and you speak Russian very beautifully, there is no doubt that your Russian is simply much more precise than that of our Excellency General Mishuchenko, and there is not a single word that I would be confused by in pronunciation." ”

Listening to this, General Mishuchenko laughed a little self-deprecatingly, his kind of Russian, with its strong Cossack and northern Ukrainian characteristics, was probably notoriously inauthentic, and was well known among the Russian army, and he seemed to be proud of it.

Brigadier Madenidov said to Song Biao: "As for these requests you have made, I can basically agree to you on behalf of the Far Eastern Army Command, I have heard that Hanada Shaozuo of the General Staff of the Manchurian Army is trying to organize a Manchurian rebel army, and I think we can at least set up a Manchurian infantry regiment between the specifications of the reserve force and the transport force." However, I still have a lot of questions, and areas that I need to think about further, and before we formalize these things, I'm curious to know what you mean by military intelligence? ”

Song Biao replied simply: "The Hanada Shaozuo you are talking about, maybe it is the one I killed, his name is Hanada Nakanosuke, I don't know if it is the one you know." ”

Brigadier General Madenidov praised: "Yes, it may be that person, if you are telling the truth, then you have really helped us a lot." ”

Song Biao said: "I knocked out a lot of information from that Shao Zuo's mouth, and I heard him say that you are planning to launch a powerful offensive against the Yue army stationed on the front line in Shenyang?" ”

Brigadier General Madenidorff nodded cautiously and said, "So to speak! ”

Song Biao said: "Then I suggest that you better be cautious." It came to pass that when we first caught Hanada Nakanosuke, he tried to persuade us to join his Manchurian rebels, and offered very good terms, but he did not know that our hatred for Yue himself had continued from more than ten years ago, and I lied that I could consider his conditions, and had a very in-depth conversation with him, and talked about many problems. As far as I know, in order to deal with the Russian cavalry, especially the large Cossack cavalry, the Chinese army purchased a large number of Hatch Chase heavy machine guns from the French, and arranged them on some key positions at a very high density. Hanada even promised that he would give us more machine guns in the future. According to my suspicion, there should be a new view in the Manchurian Army staff that the use of cavalry charges in the front is unreasonable under the premise that both sides are equipped with a large number of heavy machine guns, but that the cavalry should be used on a large scale in the rear of the enemy army to destroy the enemy's rear and supplies. Regarding these two points, I think it is better for the Russian army to be fully prepared. ”

Brigadier General Madenidorff pondered for a long time in silence, then took out a pack of imported British cigarettes from his pocket and lit one.

After waiting for a long time, Brigadier General Madnidorff gradually believed Song Biao's words, and Song Biao replied: "These two pieces of your intelligence are very important, and may change the course of this war, I believe that you not only have a special talent for intelligence work, but also a Manchurian with real modern wisdom, and have a deeper understanding of war than ordinary Kwantung bandits, which is really very rare." I think that General Mishuchenko and I need exactly what people like you are needed. ”

Song Biao said: "Thank you for your compliment, the information I have collected is only one-sided, and there is no more accurate document to prove it, I think your army should pay close attention to guarding against these two changes on the one hand, and on the other hand, it must also verify this information." If the other side buys heavy machine guns on a large scale, your army must also deal with it. I hate it as much as you do, but there's only so much I can do to provide you with some of the news. ”

General Mishuchenko had been listening, and only then did he remind Brigadier General Madenidov: "The General Staff had better verify this information as soon as possible, our cavalry is ready, but if the army really deploys a large number of crazy and depraved weapons like Makqin and Hatchkais, we will have to adjust our tactics, and the men of the Cossacks are not trains made of pig iron." ”

Brigadier General Madenidov nodded more and more cautiously in agreement, and then continued to say to Song Biao: "You must be a very smart Manchurian, who hates this and likes to cooperate with us Russians, and we are the same, so let's talk about your requirements in detail first!" Considering that General Mishuchenko is in need of a large number of men for logistics and fortifications, as well as for the transfer of camps, I personally hope that you will first recruit 3,000 to 4,000 fighters and 2,000 laborers to assist General Mishuchenko in his work. The pay must be very good, we can pay you according to the price of the Russian army's military pay and Russian labor, as for how much you send out, it is completely your personal business, you only need to be able to complete the work. ”

Song Biao replied again: "I still have the same original proposal, I ask for a more formal establishment and equipment, the General Staff of the Far East Army should include us in the formal supply and combat plan, and at the same time consider that we are engaged in horse caravan transportation work all year round, and we also want to get a pass to enter and exit Shenyang and Fushun and other places, so that some of us can continue to engage in the traditional work of the caravan." I don't know when the cavalry regiment was officially transferred from the local area, if there are a few days, we will recruit some suitable people on the spot to form a logistics and fortification team, if the time is too late, I can lead the team to follow the cavalry regiment first, and leave some people in Shenyang, Fushun and other places to recruit follow-up manpower. If this war will continue for a long time, even more than a year, and for a period of time, I will set up recruit training camps in Mukdenfu and Huichun and other places to concentrate on a month-long training of recruits and quickly replenish the combat personnel and engineer corps. ”

Brigadier General Madenidov quietly raised his eyes, even a little suspicious of his ears, he could hardly believe that a Manchurian of Asian origin could have such a long-term preparation and planning.

He thought about it for a while, and couldn't help but ask Song Biao: "Where did you receive military training before, such a standard Russian language can't be learned in a place like the Far East, so have you studied in Russia?" ”

Song Biao replied without hesitation: "It's a pity that I have not been able to study in Russia, I studied in a church school run by a Russian priest for a few years, and I studied some military works of the Russian army by myself. Vasilyevich. Generalissimo Suvorov's "The Science of Winning", and in addition to that, I also learned some military training techniques from the British instructors from within the Huichun Horse Gang. ”

Brigadier General Madenidov couldn't help but glance at General Mishuchenko, and asked with a slight suspicion: "It's amazing, isn't it?" Your Excellency My General? ”

General Mishuchenko was very comfortable with Song Biao's explanation, and said: "There is no doubt that he is a very special Manchurian youth, and this is the first good thing I have encountered during this time. At least for me, his plan was good and fit my needs. ”

Since General Mishuchenko insisted on using Song Biao and others to solve his own labor shortage problem, Brigadier General Madenidov no longer pursued it in detail, and said to Song Biao: "Very good, then let's do this, at least you have a very good plan, and I think we must be able to deal with each other very well." ”

After saying this, he stood up again and added to General Mishuchenko: "Then so be it, Your Excellency, I have made the necessary explanations of the command and the specific battle plan, if there is any objection, you must go to the Second Army to report and then re-discuss it with General Kirbas, and listen to General Kirbas's full authority!" ”

General Mishuchenko also stood up, shook hands with Brigadier General Madnidorff and said: "Okay, I have understood, please convey my respect to His Excellency Commander-in-Chief Kuropatkin, I promise in the tradition and honor of the Cossack cavalry that I will annihilate the enemy army and fulfill all the tasks of the General Headquarters." ”

Brigadier General Madenidov bowed his head slightly with a resolute expression, saluted General Mishuchenko, and then turned around and proposed to Song Biao: "Then let me take a formal look at your troops, if everything is okay, I think you will soon have to report to General Mishuchenko again." ”

Hearing this, General Mishuchenko also shook hands with Song Biao with great anticipation and said goodbye.

Although he was a high-ranking Cossack general, the more troops the better, and if Song Biao could have a thousand infantry to cooperate with him in the battle, and then recruit thousands of locals to do dirty work such as building fortifications, it would obviously be a good thing.

However, everything will not come true until Brigadier General Madneydorf confirms it, what if Song Biao just told a big lie and cheated a large amount of supplies from the Russian army?