"For Russia, this is only a border conflict on a very limited scale, and I even fear that by the time I arrive in the Far East, the war may be over...... Of course, even if it is to win this war, there is not much honor for the soldiers, after all, for Russia, the Qing State is simply a barbaric and backward country, as you can imagine...... Victory is just around the corner! ”

February 7, 1901, Kurobatkin

"Chaos!"

After a long journey of more than ten days, Kurobatkin came to the Irkutsk railway station on the Tsar's special train, and almost at the moment when the special train entered this Italian-style station, he saw the citizens in the station who were frantically trying to squeeze on the train to escape the city, and the first impression Kurobatkin felt was chaos!

The whole of Irkutsk became unusually chaotic as the Chinese approached. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

As early as the arrival of the special train in Yekaterinaburg, Kurobatkin learned from the railway station that the Chinese had launched a tentative offensive in the Trans-Baikal region, albeit on a small scale, but it is conceivable that the war had begun in the Trans-Baikal area.

"Your Excellency, our intelligence shows that Chinese in addition to the transfer of 15 brigades to the Trans-Baikal border area, in the Amur region, the strength of the Chinese troops withdrawn from the Primorsky region has exceeded 13 brigades and 100,000 people, and they are reinforcing the Trans-Baikal region, and it can be expected that Chinese will soon launch an offensive......

Sergei? Mikhailovich, the infantry general, who was also the governor of the Amur and Primordial regions, had a tragedy for him...... Of course. It's also a comedy.

When war broke out. He was reporting to the Tsar in St. Petersburg. In his debriefing, he also mentioned his concerns about the northeast, and after the outbreak of war, he vowed to repel the Chinese attack within a week, but by the time his train arrived in Irkutsk, Amur and Primorsky had already fallen, and it was for this reason that he was not held accountable. Upon its arrival in Zabaikal, it was ordered to form the 3rd Provisional Army with the withdrawn troops of the Amur, as well as the reserve forces.

In the last twenty days. He has been organizing defenses in Trans-Baikal to fend off the attacks of the Chinese.

"There is no doubt about this, now that the Chinese have pulled away from the Primorye, they will naturally attack Trans-Baikal!"

Kurobatkin looked at Mikhailovich and said.

"Can you tell me some updates!"

As the commander of the Russian army, Kurobatkin urgently needs to know the current situation on the battlefield, especially the current one.

"Aren't the Chinese yet on the offensive yet? Why is there so much chaos here? ”

This is exactly what Kurobatkin is puzzled about - now the Chinese are clearly hundreds of versts away from here, but why are so many people trying to flee the city at the train station, is it possible that the Chinese have completely crossed the border?

"General!"

Mikhailovich said with an ugly face.

"The Chinese did not attack from the land, but they attacked from the sky!"

Yes, the Chinese did not completely cross the border to attack. But that doesn't mean they don't pose a threat to the city, at least in front of Chinese aircraft and boats. There is no longer a distinction between the front and the rear.

"Since the first Chinese airship appeared in the sky over Irkutsk three days ago, the city has plunged into unprecedented madness. Everyone was frightened by the news from Vladivostok, and people were afraid that the Chinese airships would drop bombs on their heads, so they frantically used all means of transport to leave the city, and even some Buryat infantry in the reserve forces had already deserted. No one wants to die in vain, after all, for them, airships are irresistible. ”

Facing Kurobatkin from St. Petersburg, Mikhailovich wiped the sweat from his forehead, his expression looked a little nervous, but more helplessly, he helplessly explained that the refugees who had fled from Primorsky and Amur in the past few days brought all kinds of indistinguishable news, among all kinds of news, the most frightening was the airship. In the mouths of the refugees, the reason why Vladivostok fell was entirely because the fortress was blown into ruins by airplanes, and the Chinese airships were mostly able to block the sun, and the bombs carried on the airships weighed several tons, and so on, and so on, and so on, and the nerves of the people of Irkutsk became fragile in the face of these palpitating news.

And when those silver-gray Chinese airships appeared in the sky over Irkutsk, when people listened to the roar in the air and looked at the airship the size of a battleship, those citizens who were already extremely fragile were immediately knocked down by the fear in their hearts, and people began to find ways to leave the city.

"Airship!"

It's the damn airship again!

After hearing the name of the airship from Mikhailovich's mouth, Kurobatkin could not help but frown.

Almost as soon as they arrived in Tukaterinburg, the "Chinese airship" was like a magic spell that always sounded in Kurobatkin's ears, and it seemed that every Russian was talking about the Chinese airship.

Rumors such as the "Hell Army" carried on the airship and the "Satanic Egg" that can destroy everything are spreading in people's mouths, perhaps to shirk responsibility, and even together with the officials, they are consciously or unconsciously saying that it was the Chinese airship that helped them win. The Chinese had more airships than swarms and helped them defeat the great Russian army with countless bombs.

It seems that according to them, the Russian army will fail because the Chinese airships are so terrifying, too powerful, like battleships in the air.

How do you fight against the warships? What's more, those battleships are still in the air!

"General Sergey!"

Standing up, Kurobatkin said in a firm and unquestioning tone.

"The fear of airships must be dispelled at the first time. Airship. I saw it when I was in Europe. Indeed, Chinese can indeed press bombs inside the airship......"

God knows how those damned Chinese guys came up with this solution, Kurobatkin thought silently in his heart, he even had the idea of skidding the heads of the Chinese to see how their brains were structured, who would have thought that bombs could be dropped with airships?

"Fear! In the midst of war, fear will spread, my friend. What we have to see is that if we allow this fear to spread, then the blow to the soldiers will be devastating, and now the citizens are fleeing the city in panic, and if this fear is allowed to spread, then who will flee here in panic next time? It will be our soldiers! ”

Kurobatkin said, staring at Mikhailovich.

"Your Excellency, of course I understand!"

After a pause, Mikhailovich said helplessly.

"But we have to be transparent in front of these damn Chinese airships, all our deployments. They can see every one of our troops moving......"

This is exactly what Mikhailovich fears, although he does not know what the airship can do. But at least he believed that in the presence of the airship, there would be no more secrets.

"What's the point? My friend! ”

Kurobatkin asked rhetorically, and continued.

What is the point of them seeing all this? Did they go bomb our city? Bombed our army? ”

After a series of rhetorical questions, Kurobatkin said in an affirmative tone.

"As far as I know now, the power of Chinese's airship is extremely limited, my friend, they may be able to drop bombs by air, but the accuracy of bombs is very limited, and our Tsar Majesty also has an airship ......"

Yes, there are airships in Russia, but for Russia, those airships are the toys of the tsar and other nobles, and in the hands of the Chinese, those airships are powerful combat weapons.

"The airship looks big, but in fact its power is very limited, it just looks like a battleship, in fact, it is a very fragile toy, the hydrogen it uses is easy to burn, and because of this, for safety, the airship will stay far in the air to avoid being attacked, and at this time, its weapon, that is, the bomb, ......"

Kurobatkin shrugged his shoulders.

"When dropped from the air, it is completely God's will, according to our tests, in the field, airships are almost useless, because soldiers can completely avoid those bombs, which is why the Chinese did not bomb us with airships!"

"Really?"

The commander-in-chief's explanation surprised Mikhailovich. For the past few days, whenever he heard a sound from the air, he would run to the basement in fright, and even at night, he would often be awakened by nightmares, all caused by the airships. Now recall, it seems that this is really the case, the Chinese airships are really like decorations, if they really worked, why did they not bomb the troops on the ground?

If that's the case, then the nightmare could be over soon.

"Your Excellency, in order to avoid the bombardment of the Chinese, I have ordered the Third Army to build strong fortifications along the border. And the forest there will also provide us with some cover, and we believe that we can completely stop the footsteps of those Chinese Yankees, and as long as there is enough ammunition and supplies, we can turn this place into a meat grinder for the Chinese, and eventually they will collapse in the face of huge casualties. ”

As the chief of staff of the army of the Russian Empire, Kurobatkin naturally heard what he meant from Mikhailovich's words, and the other party was not expressing determination to him, but actually euphemistically expressing difficulties to him.

"What, the logistical problem hasn't been solved yet?"

In the war in the Far East, the most difficult problem was the logistical problem, the last war against Japan was solved by overseas orders and sea transportation, but now, after the loss of the coastal and tens of thousands of tons of supplies stored there, in the Trans-Baikal region, a pair of socks for the soldiers had to be transported from Europe.

The Trans-Siberian Railway was the only transportation line for military supplies, but the problem was ...... The Trans-Siberian Railway has not yet been built, and even on the way here, Kurobatkin has passed through three railway bridges that have not yet been built, but that is not the most influential, and now those railway bridges, with the efforts of the engineers, have built three temporary wooden road bridges, and it is the railway around Lake Baikal that really affects the front line.

"Yes, Your Excellency, I suppose the question is for the Kalbega? Stanislav? Ippolitochvi, who is an engineer of the Circum-Baikal Railway......"

Mihajlovic very sensibly kicked the problem to Kerbega.

"Your Excellency, you see ......"

Walking to the map, Kerbega, dressed in a suit, pointed to the route around Lake Baikal on the map.

"At present, the railway from Irkutsk to Chita has not yet completed the construction of the most basic roadbed, and it can even be said that the project is completely ...... out of sight because of the flight of a large number of laborers from the Orychy Governorate."

Without waiting for the commander-in-chief in front of him to ask when the completion would be completed, Kerberga gave his answer.

"Japanese workers?"

Kurobatkin looked at Kerbega in amazement and asked, he even habitually called the Viceroyalty of Nikolai Japan.

"Yes, Your Excellency, the Trans-Siberian Railway was built so quickly thanks to tens of thousands of laborers hired from the Viceroyalty of Nicholas, but after the outbreak of the war, many of them fled, and they thought ......"

Looking at the commander-in-chief, Kerbega shook his head helplessly.

"China fought with Russia to liberate Japan, so they ......"

"They are betraying Russia! It's a bunch of damn traitors! ”

Kurobatkin shouted loudly, and at the same time turned his gaze to Mikhailovich.

"Sergey, why didn't they stop their traitorous behavior? Don't you know how important this railway was to the war? ”

"Your Excellency, I ......"

Without waiting for Mikhailovich to explain, Kurobatkin looked at Kerbega and said.

"Is there anything that can be done now? I need you to get the railroad to the front in the next fifteen days, tell me, is there any solution? ”

Halfway through, Kurobatkin received a telegram from the Tsar, the content of the telegram was very simple, the Tsar told him that Russia needs a victory, and this victory needs to be won by Kurobatkin, as the former Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army, Kurobatkin knows very well that to win this victory, it is not just about transporting 300,000 troops to the Trans-Baikal region, but more importantly, transportation! It's logistics! Otherwise, what awaits him will inevitably be failure.

"There's another way, but it's ......"

Before Kerberga could finish speaking, Kurobatkin interrupted him.

"I don't care what you do, anyway, I need to get the railroad connected in fifteen days! It's for victory! For the victory of Russia! (To be continued.) )