Kareni was assigned by the party to go to the lower reaches of the Don to fight for the Chinese Workers' Corps.

The Chinese Workers Corps was recruiting a large number of Russian interpreters, and with guò's organizational help, he was soon sent to the 9th Division of the Chinese Workers Corps in the Donets region, and after receiving a letter of introduction from Kiev, he took a military train all the way to Luhansk. Then they rented a horse-drawn carriage and rushed to the camp of the Chinese Workers' Corps on the outskirts.

The headquarters of the 9th Division of the Chinese Workers' Regiment was located in the compound of a farmstead, and one of their officers who had gone to the station to pick up Kareni took them into the compound. The division commander, Xiao Wanshan, was a small man, wearing a gray Russian-style military uniform with no rank, and was standing outside the door of the room and giving instructions to a staff officer.

When he saw Kareni and his party enter the compound, he couldn't help but ask, "What are these people doing?" ”

"Chief, this is a newly recruited translator." The officer replied.

"Oh my God, I look like a scholar and I wear glasses. Can you fight? Xiao Wanshan looked at Kareni and said.

"It should be okay." Kareni said, "I'll shoot." ”

"Oh, Chinese is good, where did you learn it?" Xiao Wanshan said.

"My father was Jewish, an engineer on the Dongqing Railway, and I grew up in Harbin." Kareni said.

"Ah, it should be half a Chinese, well, you stay at the division headquarters, and the rest are assigned to the brigades." Xiao Wanshan said to the officer, "Send these people over quickly, there are always problems with our contact with the Russians." ”

"What should I do?" Kareni asked.

"Follow me now and live with my adjutant." Xiao Wanshan said, "Look at your literary crepe, what kind of school did you go to?" ”

"I'm at the Moscow Engineering Institute, and I'm studying for a PhD in engineering." Kareni said.

"It turns out that you really have ink in your stomach, and you are a great intellectual in China." Xiao Wanshan smiled, and then called the adjutant over and asked him to arrange Kareni's food and accommodation.

The total number of corps formed by Chinese laborers in Ukraine and the Don region exceeded 350,000, and for a time it became the object of competition among various Russian forces. For now, however, they are following orders from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv. Thanks to the support of the Chinese Workers' Corps and the material aid of the Austrians, Nazarov and Kornilov's Don junta finally gained a foothold, but the two did not cooperate closely, with Nazarov controlling the Donetsk region and Kornilov controlling the lower Don region, centered on Rostov-on-Don.

The two did their own thing, and did not put the troops together for joint command.

Since Belarus and Ukraine were occupied by German and Austrian troops, Moscow only tried to support the local Socialist Workers' Party to seize power behind the scenes, but did not dare to openly send Red Guards, so although there were occasional incidents of armed Soviet seizures of power in these two places, they were all wiped out under the suppression of German and Austrian forces.

Overall, Ukraine and Belarus were relatively stable, and although there were still partisan groups active, they were getting smaller and smaller, and with the support of the Germans and Austrians, the Ukrainian puppet government gradually stabilized the situation.

Kareni settled down and lived in the large courtyard of the division headquarters, which was supposed to be a landlord's manor, and because he was afraid of the Red Guards, he took his family to hide in the city when the revolution came. The sun shone hotly in the yard, and outside the yard a wooden circle was formed, in which dozens of horses were raised, and a few ponies were sucking the mare's milk vigorously.

"Where did these horses come from?" Kareni asked the adjutant surnamed Zhang.

"Oh, some were captured, but most of them were knocked out by the Austrians and given to us." Adjutant Zhang said.

"Austrians? It's strange why they gave away their horses, they don't need cavalry? Kareni asked again.

"That...... Their cavalry units were replaced by cars and tanks, and I mean, you know, iron-hulled tortoises. War horses were of little use, so they were given to us. It's a lot of fodder. Adjutant Zhang said, "Did you see that red mare?" Yes, it's the one who is followed by a little black horse, I heard that it is a purebred Croatian military horse, look, how beautiful she looks. ”

"A good horse indeed, with long limbs and a strong one." Kareni also complimented, in fact, he could not tell the difference between good and bad horses.

"Not everyone can be equipped with war horses, only the guards of officers or commanders can be assigned war horses, and each division has a cavalry regiment, and each regiment has about less than 1,300 military horses. In addition, there are horses and pack horses equipped with baggage troops, as well as mules and horses. Adjutant Zhang immediately became angry and gestured to Kareni.

"So I'm also qualified for a warhorse?" Kareni said.

"You are the translator, there should be, it depends on the arrangement of the logistics director." Adjutant Zhang said, "You have to hurry up and apply, the troops are about to be deployed." ”

"Open up? Where are we going? Kareni asked.

"Go to Tsaritsyn, Kornilov is ready to attack Tsaritsyn, we need support on the flanks." Adjutant Zhang said: "I really don't understand why we are fighting for the Russians. ”

Kareni did not speak, and it was not known whether his superiors had received any information about the situation, but his main task now was to win over the Chinese Workers' Corps to the side of the Soviets, or at least to remain neutral.

On the third day, after receiving the telegram from above, the 9th Division of the Chinese Workers' Corps was ordered to move. They were joined by the 7th Division. The division headquarters immediately set out from Luhansk and marched to the eastern side of the Donets River. The division headquarters, together with the baggage convoys, lined up along the road to Milerovo and marched eastward amid a commotion and the sound of carriages and horses.

The road is surrounded by endless fields, hot summer winds blow the yellow-ripening rye fields, and in the distance the rolling Donets Ridge, lush green, the river quietly winds southeast along the flat, wide valley, disappearing into a vast expanse of dense birch woodland.

Kornilov's Volunteer Corps was marching upstream along the banks of the Don River to engage in fierce battles with the Red Guards on the Zimryansk line, while the Chinese Corps marched with Nazarov's Don Corps, protecting Kornilov's flank from the Red Guards.

According to the agreement between Nazarov and Kornilov, the territory occupied by their troops was under their own management, and Nazarov's actions were not so much to cooperate with Kornilov's offensive as to take advantage of the opportunity to occupy more territory.

The railway line from Luhansk to Mirerovo looms in the shadows of the trees, and the railway has been damaged. Nazarov's Don Corps and the Chinese Corps had to stop and go in order to repair the railroad so that it could barely be reopened.

The headquarters of the 9th Division of the Chinese Army was stationed again at a small station called Malenik, which was piled up with military supplies brought from Mariupol, and a group of troops in gray uniforms and speaking foreign dialects controlled the station. Xiao Wanshan ordered the quartermaster to take Kareni, an interpreter, to the station for negotiations, and after a period of communication, Kareni figured out that this was a "volunteer army" from Poland.

However, they did not participate in the war, but were responsible for escorting the military supplies provided by the Austrians, and then handing them over to the Chinese Workers' Corps.

I1153