Krasnov's army also arrived and, together with Raurov's White Guards, launched an offensive on Tsaritsyn from three sides.

Tsaritsyn is an important inland port in the lower reaches of the Volga River and the largest railway hub in southeastern Russia, and since important materials such as grain, meat products, and cotton from Central Asia are basically transported here through the ports of the Guò Caspian Sea, and then transported to northern Russia by rail, Moscow will not give up here lightly in any case. More than 50,000 Red Guards, more than 30,000 of whom were revolutionary Cossack soldiers, were mobilized by the All-Russian Soviet Committee, and their fighting strength was not comparable to that of the Workers' Red Guards, who had little military training.

By order of the All-Russian Soviet Committee in Moscow, the South Russian Workers' and Peasants' and Soldiers' Soviets, composed of the three local Soviets of Tsaritsyn, Saratov and Voronezh, were headed by Zhuyashvili as chairman of the military-political committee, and Voroshilov as commander-in-chief of the newly formed 8th Red Guard Army.

The Soviet regime in South Russia issued an order to hold Tsaritsyn and not to retreat even a step, and at the same time ordered that all men between the ages of 15 and 56 in the Don region be recruited into the army, and that anyone who refused to join the army would be directly executed as counter-revolutionaries, and that the Red Guards transferred from the north would also be transferred to the southern line through the Guò railway to reinforce the Tsaritsyn defenses.

At this time, Trotsky's Red Guards had a total rear strength of less than 500,000 men, but they had no advantage in terms of strength against the Finnish rebel Yudenich, the Nazarovton Army in the Donets region, Kornilov's Rostov Volunteer Corps, Orenburg's Dutov Group, and Denikin's Transcaucasian Corps.

The Austrians sent all the artillery they did not need to Russia, and the Chinese Workers and the White Guards had a total of more than 1,200 cannons, several times more than the Red Guards guarding Tsaritsyn. A fierce tug-of-war ensued around Tsaritsyn, and the city was reduced to ruins by the Russians themselves.

The battle lasted for a week, the White Army broke through the ruined city from the north and southwest, and the Red Guards had retreated to the Volga, still resisting stubbornly with the support of the river flotilla. Most of the Red Army in the city has been wiped out, but there are still a small number of Red Guards who are resisting stubbornly.

The entire city had been destroyed by artillery fire, and there were barely intact buildings in sight, and there were ruins everywhere, and the broken trees on both sides of the streets were still smoking. In the bloody dusk, which shrouded in a tragic atmosphere, the corpses discarded in the streets and among the rubble lay on the ground. The pungent, disgusting smell of rotting corpses wafted in the wind.

The Chinese army followed the White Guards and advanced into the city, searching for the remnants of the enemy in the ruins, and the sound of guns and cannons had shifted to the area of the riverbank, and occasionally cold guns would be fired from some of the ruins, which would immediately cause a burst of gunfire.

On 5 August, Jiang Zuobin, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Chinese Workers' Corps, accompanied by Chief of Staff Jiang Fangzhen, took a river steamer along the Don River and arrived at Pichuzhenskaya. Song Huanzhang, commander of the 7th Division of the Chinese Workers' Corps, greeted them on the dock with some officers and a team of guards. On the wide river, several river gunboats "gifted" to the Don Army by the Austrians patrolled back and forth, and Nazarov's Don Corps crossed the Don at the pier and flocked to Tsaritsyn.

Escorted by the guards, the senior commanders of the Chinese Workers' Regiment got into cars and entered the front-line headquarters in the town. After a few hours, a high-level meeting attended by officers of the brigade commander and above of the Chinese Workers' Corps began. At present, there are 7 divisions of the Chinese Workers' Corps in Ukraine, about 330,000 people. Together, there were more than 70 of these senior officers, and a large conference room was packed.

Chief of Staff Jiang Fangzhen, who was presiding over the meeting, said directly at the beginning of the meeting: "Many people are now more concerned about when we will be able to go home." Now the German-Austrian alliance has basically reached an armistice agreement with Britain and the United States, and we have also reached an agreement with Austria-Hungary before, and after the war in Europe is over, the German and Austrian sides will send ships to send us back to China in batches and keep the existing equipment. It is expected that by November, when the Suez Canal is reopened, we will be able to return to the country in batches. The Government and the War Department have pledged that the Chinese Workers Corps will be integrated into the Government Army as a whole, and that you will be able to retain your current positions. ”

This is good news, there was a sudden noise at the bottom, these senior officers of the Chinese Workers Corps were only officers who had just graduated from Lu University in China, and they were at most battalion-level officers before, and even some were graduates of the Baoding Army School, and they were at most company commanders in China, and now they have jumped several levels in a row. It would be a great advantage for the War Department and the General Staff Headquarters to retain their current strengths, and for many they would have effectively attained the status of equal status with the provincial overseers and the generals of the General's Palace.

"Well, it's not time for everyone to be happy." Jiang Zuobin knocked on the table, interrupting the noise of the officers below, and the following gradually quieted down, and he continued: "Our purpose now is to continue the war against the Red Russians, to force them to sign a peace treaty with us, and return the territory invaded by the Imperial Russian era against our country. ”

"Reclaim the territory? With what is the boundary? Wang Ruqin said suddenly.

"Based on the boundary line established by the Treaty of Nebuchu, we do not recognize any unequal treaties signed by the Manchu government in modern times." Jiang Zuobin said.

"But will the Russians agree?" Su Bingwen said, "With Lao Maozi's personality, he refuses to spit out what he eats in his mouth. ”

"So we fought them until they wanted to." Jiang Fangzhen said, "Didn't the Red Russian side issue a so-called 'China Declaration' recently? ”

"That's right, we should help the Red Russians!" Huang Yisheng said, "The Red Russians claim that they have given up the imperial Russian era and achieved unequal benefits in China. ”

"But they didn't say that they would give up the territory of China that they invaded." Jiang Fangzhen said, "This is a very critical place. ”

"Who are we negotiating with, Red Russia or White Russia?" Song Huanzhang said.

"Red Russia, these Belarus can't become a climate, and the German and Austrian sides just want to support Belarus to form a local government. Moreover, judging from the current situation, the Don Army and the Volunteer Army have their own agendas, and they are unwilling to join forces, and without the support of us and Germany, they will not be able to defeat the Red Army at all. Jiang Zuobin said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent personnel to start negotiations with Red Russia, and if Red Russia promises to give up the Far East and Siberia, we will begin to withdraw our troops!" ”

"What about Outer Mongolia?" Yin Fuchen, who was born in Yijun, said.

"Mongolia was originally our territory, but the autonomy was abolished, and there was no need for the Russians to interfere." Jiang Fangzhen said, "Recently, Vice Minister Xu of the War Department wants to come over on behalf of General Duan, and everyone must be careful when they speak!" ”

Recently, the domestic political situation has also been unstable, Sun Wen with the support of the southwestern warlords set up a "government to protect the law" in Guangzhou, and Xu Shuzheng also had a quarrel with Sun Hongyi, the minister of the interior of the presidential office. Duan Qirui sent Xiao Xu to visit Europe, on the one hand, to ease the contradictions with the presidential palace, and on the other hand, to collect military power for him.

Xiao Xu is coming.

Indeed, some people rejoice and some people are sad.

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