A train rumbled across the thousands of miles of wasteland, clanging and squeezing, and the whimper of the whistle resounded through the sky.

In the simple and rough carriage, a middle-aged man in an overcoat is looking out the window with great interest. The earth was a desolate silvery white, with barely any trees in sight, save for clusters of low ferns struggling to survive beside the jagged rocks. On the high mountains in the distance, the snow does not melt all year round; Occasionally, the train whistle is excited, the snow waves and white waves rumble and fly from the high place of the mountain peak, looking at it from afar, it is like thousands of silver dragons roaring and dancing, sweeping and falling, the scene is extremely spectacular.

A few minutes away, a young man dressed in sackcloth sat like a stake, motionless; The blue pupils looked out the window in a daze, and his face was full of sadness and mourning that could not be concealed. He slowly pulled a beautiful pocket watch out of his pocket and opened the lid box with a thud; A group photo of a middle-aged couple with kind faces and four young girls is clearly visible, which makes the young man's heart feel like a knife, and the pain is like a cut.

"Your Highness, you must not take out this pocket watch again!" The middle-aged man who caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of his eye was shocked, and hurriedly put the things in the young man's hand back into his pocket. He looked at the passengers sitting sporadically in the carriage with some trepidation, and continued to lower his voice: "We are still in the area under the jurisdiction of the Bolsheviks, and their every move may be watched and monitored. This pocket watch is too ornate to arouse strange looks and suspicions; If our identities are discovered by the Red Demons, your life will be at risk! ”

The young man lowered his head when he heard this, and the sense of loss on his handsome and delicate face was even stronger. The man in the prime of life carefully stared at the shiny face of the person in front of him. The brow couldn't help but furrow and furrow; He pondered for a moment. He then poured some water on the surface of his muddy boots. Begin to rub and wash violently; After a while, the middle-aged man smeared these filths around the other party's facial features in a disorderly manner under the young man's suspicious gaze.

"That's fine." The middle-aged man muttered, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes. After his reverse makeup, the young man's originally radiant face was greatly dusted; Although its facial features are still beautiful, the overall appearance is no longer as striking and stunning as usual. He reached out and grabbed the young man's arm that was subconsciously about to touch his cheek, and then whispered, "Your Highness, in the next few days. Please don't wash the dirt off your face. We must avoid any possible trouble so that we can escort you safely to a safe enough area. ”

"Who are you, and where are you going to take me?" After a long silence, the thin boy finally asked in a low voice. The middle-aged man shook his head slightly and said, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, I can't tell you this information yet." You just need to understand that we will not have any ill intentions towards you, otherwise, we will not be willing to take risks. Saved you from the guns of those red demons. Now we are on a train to Arkhangelsk in the north, and the journey will take a day and a half; After waiting there. There will be a merchant ship to pick us up. During this time, I will always keep you by my side. ”

Towering peaks, snowy fields. Amid the rumbling of the steam engines, nearly thirty wagons mixed with wagons and carriages headed north between the valleys and the hills and plains: since the Russians had surrendered a large number of locomotives to Germany in the Treaty of Brest, only one locomotive could now be used to carry the wagon. Feeling that this was no more than 30 kilometers per hour, the middle-aged man couldn't help frowning; Such a speed will definitely delay your schedule significantly, but I hope there will be no trouble along the way!

As the train travels north, the temperature in the air drops significantly; Fortunately, the men in the prime of life were well prepared for this operation, and the low temperatures that the northern cold zone still maintained in the summer did not hinder them. The sunset is dark, and the moon is in the middle of the sky. In this desolate and bleak strange place, Alexei, a young man who had suffered a great change in his life, was terrified and couldn't sleep for a long time, while the middle-aged man was still meticulously watching the key person in front of him, and he never had the slightest slackness or relaxation. The occasional passenger movement in the carriage would tense his nerves: although he had preemptively boarded the evacuated train before the Bolsheviks could react, the other party would eventually find out about the accident that had happened to the Tsar's family. And this train to Arkhangelsk, during the summer when the port was in normal operation, has always been responsible for transporting goods to the heart of Russia; At present, only one carriage away from them are nearly 20 Soviet soldiers in charge of the escort!

The fears of the prime man soon became a reality. Shortly before noon, a squad of armed soldiers burst into another compartment and demanded that everyone be checked. He grabbed Alexei, whose face had changed suddenly, carefully inspected his face, and then pulled him inside by the window: the Bolsheviks reacted faster than he had imagined, and the evaporation of the dozen or so firing officers had already made Moscow feel anxious!

With few passengers in the carriage, Soviet soldiers with rifles on their backs quickly approached the men in the prime of life; The sharp bayonet was more than a foot long and glowed bright white in the glow of the polar sun. The man in the prime of life noticed that the interrogation skills of these soldiers were quite poor, and their attitudes were mostly based on routine official duties, which immediately made his mind settle. It seems that the living mouth they left behind had a considerable smoke effect, and the Bolsheviks must have focused their search on the route to the south and east, to which they paid very little attention.

"I'm Sergei, a farmer from Katoriv, and this is my nephew Burka, and we're going to the northern ports to join relatives." The middle-aged man instantly showed an honest and honest smile, and handed a sheet of identity paper soaked in the smell of sweat to the soldiers who came to inquire. For the fighters in the Falcon organization, acting skills have long been an indispensable attribute in their daily lives; And arbitrarily changing their speaking accent is also a hard capital that they have lurked peacefully in the era of tsarist rule!

Looking at the identity card in his hand, which was not a problem, the Soviet soldiers who came to interrogate him suddenly lost any suspicions. According to a telegram from Moscow, the White bandits who had appeared in Yaroslavl had snatched the documents of a Cheka officer, which they most likely used as a pass for unimpeded passage; For this reason, they are all ready to offend the real Cheka. Now it seems that the person in front of him is not the white bandit army. After several follow-ups, the other party replied that the reason was sufficient; The thick dialect of the Ural region also did not match the Volga accent mentioned in the telegram. No matter from which point of view, the other side is precisely the farmer who chose to go to the north to join relatives and friends in order to avoid the possibility of civil war.

"Is this your nephew, he's pretty good-looking. Why didn't he speak? The soldier looked at Alexei, who was sitting by the window with his head bowed, with great interest, and said with a slight sense of confusion in his lightness. The middle-aged man turned his head to look at Alexei, and then said with a smile: "Burka is timid by nature, maybe the mighty rifle on your back Comrade Soldier makes him feel a little scared." ”

The soldier was bored with himself, so he smiled and returned the certificate to the middle-aged man, and then walked towards the other man in the carriage. The middle-aged man smiled and watched the other party walk away, but he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart: Fortunately, he took precautions yesterday and dealt with the face of the small oil bottle next to him. If not, I don't know how to pass the test today, after all, the characteristics of a ten-year-old boy next to him are too obvious!

For the rest of the year, the Soviet soldiers did not come to inspect the carriage again. And Alexei, who had experienced this turmoil, also became cautious and quiet, and did not do anything unusual that worried the middle-aged man. For the two of them in prison, every minute of the train seems so long. In the agony of waiting for each other without a word, Alexei's mood also quietly changed: he had no choice but to follow the stranger next to him all the way.

The sky is blue, and the east is bright. Alexei, who was in a daze, was pushed awake from his tired sleep, only to see that the bloodshot eyes of the middle-aged man were already full of excitement. He rubbed his eyes and turned his head to look out the window. On the desolate tundra plains, a dense patch of buildings rises from the ground; In a few moments, a red sun jumped out of the eastern horizon, and its brilliant sunlight reflected the buildings in all their glory.

The flow of people is bustling, and the whistle is blaring. The middle-aged man who walked out of the platform did not waste any more time, and immediately hired a carriage to carry himself and Alexei to the dock. Arkhangelsk in mid-August is at its busiest time of the year, with merchant ships coming here almost every day for loading and unloading; The middle-aged man glanced at it, and soon spotted the target ship among the ships in the harbor. It is a large merchant ship of more than 5,000 tons, and harbor booms and porters are piling up a large amount of high-quality timber on its deck: on the mast of the rear bridge, a red, white and black iron cross flag is hunting in the morning breeze.

"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Russian Empire, I am honored to introduce myself again." Walking into the cabin of the merchant ship, the middle-aged man saluted Alexei respectfully, "Our Fabian, a member of the Falcon Organization, with the rank of major in the Imperial German Army." Over the next week, you'll be on board this merchant ship under our full control to the final destination of the trip, the Kiel military port of the German Empire. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly pass support of book friends nt012, Chuanliu Huagui, and sdkfz182, and the tips of Temple Gaoyi and zhouyu1976~~~