"Nicholas II is an absolute idiot!" Van der Ping took a sip of hot tea, "He insisted on going to Mogilev's base camp, and he didn't believe that anything would happen to Petersburg. ”

"What is he doing in Mogilev? Military parade? Zhang Xiaoding was stunned, "The riots in Petersburg are getting worse day by day, is this emperor really turning a blind eye?" ”

"Presumably a military issue. The British Prime Minister has changed, the French Commander-in-Chief has changed, the Western Front is planning an operation of unprecedented proportions, and our esteemed Tsar has always spared no effort to fulfill his obligations as allies. ”

"What are we going to do?" Zhang Xiaoding was a little frustrated.

"I can only wait for the opportunity. Your work continues, pay attention to that Kerensky, which is repeatedly explained by the family. After Fan Deping finished explaining to Zhang Xiaoding, he turned to Li Sancai, "By the way, Sancai, the situation in Petersburg probably the two of them introduced to you, what are the latest instructions at home?" ”

"The situation is generally clear, assuming what you know is the truth." Li Sancai said slowly, "I met the president when I left Beijing, and the president concluded that there would be a revolution in Petersburg, and that this revolution would end the Romanov dynasty. The president said that Nicholas II must be in our hands, no matter what method is used. ”

"Impossible!" Fan Deping unbuttoned the discipline button of his military uniform, "To be honest, I don't believe that those people will succeed at all!" I told Artemiev about our concerns, which were actually the concerns of the commander, and he didn't think they were so strict. It's just a few shouts from unemployed workers, and as the supply problem improves, everything will return to normal. He now has a headache about how to transfer the hundreds of thousands of troops in Petersburg to the front. ”

"If the president says something happens, it will happen. Don't forget. He has never been wrong in judging big events. Li Sancai accentuated his tone.

"I'm not doubting the Commander's judgment. It is true that there are anti-government forces in Russian politics, but what can be achieved by relying on a few parties in the Duma? Moreover, the Duma was forced to adjourn, and I think this is the only right thing for the Tsar to do. Even if the meeting is not adjourned, what can a group of lawmakers who crouch in the conference room shout to overthrow the government and end the war? They don't even have a battalion in their hands! Moreover, the troops that remained in Petersburg were all reserve battalions of regiments on the front, which was simply a plate of scattered sand! ”

The concentration of so many troops in Petersburg puzzled Van der Ping. He learned from General Artemiev that the Petersburg garrison was basically composed of reserve battalions of the Guards Regiment that were fighting at the front, and the composition was made up of wounded soldiers who remained in the rear and newly recruited peasants. In the eyes of Lieutenant General Van der Ping and his aides, it was a loose and undisciplined army. There is no combat effectiveness. General Artemiev once said. They were afraid to go to the front to fight and were reluctant to leave the warm barracks. How to transfer these veteran soldiers to enrich the withered team on the western front has become a problem that the Russian military top brass is deeply troubled by. General Artemiev's return to Petersburg was to consult with the Petersburg Military District on this matter, although the Chinese allies were not informed of the details. But Van der Ping can be sure. Artemiev was in trouble.

There was silence in the room. Several of you here are people who are well versed in the current situation in Russia. The task they received seemed to them to be incomparable.

"I think it's going to be like this first. Sancai, are you going to the liaison office with me? According to the instructions of the family, you will be under my direct command in Petersburg, you must know this. ”

"I know it perfectly."

"Oh well. Come with me. I've got something good over there that you've never eaten, and it's really delicious. Fan Deping smiled and stood up.

"Hehe, it seems that I'm going to touch the light of Brother Sancai." Thinking of the taste of Black Sea caviar, Zhang Xiaoding couldn't wait.

"What are you making a fuss about? Lao Maozi gave me that little bit, and when I heard that Sancai was coming, I specially left it for him. ”

"You can have some drinks. There's always foie gras, right? ”

"Lao Maozi's wine is not the right way. By the way, did you bring any good wine? ”

"Nope."

"You, you have to know that when dealing with the Russians, as long as you give him a box of our second pot heads, there is nothing that can't be done." Fan Deping walked to the door and took off his military coat hanging on the hanger, "Let's go, call your people, they will live in the liaison office, there is no problem with safety." It's also close to the Hermitage. ”

Ambassador Lu sent several soldiers downstairs, and he was at odds with them, so he basically did not go to the liaison office. He was not accustomed to Van de Ping's style, and in his eyes, most of the important generals of the Wehrmacht had a common character, cunning, vulgar, arrogant, and strict and lacking in cultural background, and it was these people that the president relied on. Lieutenant General Fan Deping, who served as mayor of Shanghai for several years, can be regarded as a typical example of their team. After coming to Petersburg, this person spent all day drinking with the generals of the Petersburg garrison, attending salons held by nobles, listening to operas, and even visiting high-class brothels. He had advised Lieutenant General Fan to pay attention to the impact, but Fan Deping scoffed and simply ignored it. Therefore, Lieutenant General Fan would never invite him to the liaison office. Because of the president's instructions, he must be informed of the work as the ambassador to Russia, otherwise he would not even inform him about his visit to the Winter Palace to meet the Russian emperor.

Lu Zhengxiang is concerned about the work carried out by the liaison office led by Fan Deping. The exact plan was not entirely clear to him. But the overall goal is clear. Domestically, it is judged that Russia will face a round of great turmoil, which is severe enough to lead to the fall of the Romanov dynasty! This will seriously affect the military deployment of the expeditionary force in Russia, and then affect China's fundamental interests. Therefore, the military took the lead in the Petersburg plan, sent Lieutenant General Fan Deping, deputy chief of the general staff and chief of the general staff of the expeditionary force, to be the supreme person in charge of the plan, and set up a covering organ -- the liaison office of the Chinese expeditionary force in Petersburg. The liaison office was well received by the Russians, who also needed such a liaison organization, and since the Ye Yanbing incident, the Russians urgently needed to coordinate the pace of the expeditionary force and straighten out the command system. Now the main force of the expeditionary force has taken over a large part of the defense line south of Warsaw, and its role is becoming increasingly important. There must be no more mistakes in the Polish campaign last December. The Russians could no longer do without the nine armies commanded by General Wang Mingyuan, but fortunately, after General Wang took over the expeditionary force, the cooperation with the Russian side was pleasant. The view of the Russians obtained from the diplomatic side is that General Wang is a person who cares about the overall situation, which is much better than General Ye, who does not care about the overall situation.

Lu Zhengxiang does not believe in domestic judgment. He is not a member of the Mengshan military system, he belongs to the "new generation of diplomacy". The "new generation" is compared with Wu Tingfang and Tang Shaoyi, headed by Vice Foreign Minister Gu Weijun, Shi Zhaoji, Wang Zhengting, Wang Chonghui, etc., and of course, Lu Zhengxiang, has formed a cutting-edge diplomatic star, most of whom are proficient in one or two foreign languages. All of them have the experience of studying in Europe and the United States. Received the respect of President Long Qian, more and more dominant in foreign affairs, and more and more important in foreign affairs, he was called the "new generation" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Because he is fluent in Russian and is well versed in Russian affairs. Lu Zhengxiang was sent to Russia as ambassador to Russia before the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. Worked in Russia for almost three years. Ask yourself that you know no worse than anyone else about the situation in Russia. Although more than two years of war took a huge toll on Russia. But in Lu Zhengxiang's view, Russia has not reached the point of exhaustion. In terms of comprehensive strength, it is definitely stronger than his motherland. How could a revolution in the crisis of the imperial system take place? How can there be enormous and far-reaching upheaval? So much so that he wanted to meddle in the most core affairs of Russia and protect the Russian emperor in the hands of the expeditionary force?

Russia's situation at the beginning of 1917 seemed to show little hope. Brusilov's summer victory was followed by the defeat of Romania, and then the Chinese arrived, and the Chinese simply defeated the German-Austrian army in Romania and saved the small mountain country that had been devastated as soon as it joined the Entente. Romania's victory brought not only hope, but also trouble. Strategic differences between the Chinese and Russian armies began to emerge, and the Chinese were unwilling to fulfill the agreement to accept the command of the Russians and refused to launch an attack on Bulgaria from Romania. Brusilov replaced the Chinese expeditionary force and launched a very unsuccessful attack, losing tens of thousands of men before being driven back to the left bank of the Danube by Debaotu.

Brusilov's attack on Bulgaria weakened the Southwestern Front and created more favorable conditions for Ludendorff and Hoffmann to carry out their plans for the Polish campaign. The Polish crisis arose, and the sluggishness of the Chinese Expeditionary Force led to heavy losses on the Southwestern Front and the Western Front, as well as the disgraceful resignation of General Ye Yanbing, the de facto commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Although the Chinese actively saved their mistakes in the later period and objectively ensured the integrity of the southern flank of the Western Front, the losses in the Polish campaign were still unbearable for Russia, and the battle line generally withdrew 200~250 kilometers eastward, which aggravated the atmosphere of defeat in Russia.

After the arrival of the real winter, the Russian army received time to recuperate. Calmly analyzing the situation of the war, Russia is not hopeless. Austria-Hungary was no longer a threat, Germany seemed exhausted, and Russia was aided by a fresh army that proved to be sufficient on its own, as well as food and other military supplies from China (some of the Allied military supplies were shipped from China). The generals who were eager to win the war believed that as long as the Entente continued to increase their assistance to Russia in terms of weapons and the Chinese in terms of food, Russia could achieve the final victory. At the beginning of 1917, Nivel succeeded Xia Fei and proposed a new plan for the situation on the Western Front, to which the Russians immediately responded, completely ignoring their own weakness.

But Lu Zhengxiang admitted that the crisis in Russia's upper echelons had intensified. Most of the leaders at the top, including the royals, did not believe that the war could be won. The price that Russia paid in two and a half years of the war was too great! In the case of grain, for example, Russia has been a net exporter of grain, but now there is a serious food crisis and it is a great irony to have to ask for the help of its once weak neighbor in the south. A large number of young men were drafted into the army and slaughtered like "grey cattle", cities and villages became lifeless, fields were barren, and all supplies were scarce

At the annual meeting of the Duma on November 1, 1916, the chairman of the Duma, Rodencko, accepted the petition of the Federation of Local Self-Government and the Federation of Cities to form a government that would be in harmony with the people and able to lead the country to victory. After the Duma majority's statement was read, opposition leaders Milyukov and Shulgin made speeches, in which Milyukov strongly condemned the current government's betrayal of national interests and declared that we had lost confidence in the ability of this regime to lead us to victory, because all our attempts to correct and improve it had been unsuccessful. The gap between us and this regime is widening and becoming insurmountable, and we have no other task today than to fight for the fall of the current Government. For the millions of lives that have been sacrificed, for the rivers of blood that have flowed, for the responsibility of the people we have sent here, we will fight to the end until the Government is responsible.

What does it mean that Milyukov's speech openly calling for the overthrow of the current government was met with enthusiastic applause? What strata does the Duma represent? Representatives of large landowners, large factory owners, and politically influential intellectuals were the mainstream of the Russian Duma. They had already abandoned His Majesty the Emperor and made an open break with the Tsar. Lu Zhengxiang reported to China on this matter, thinking that now in addition to the army, the forces relied on by the Russian emperor are drastically decreasing, and a crisis is occurring, but it is not enough to conclude that the imperial system will be ended, right?

Lu Zhengxiang has studied modern Russian history. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for 300 years. During these chaotic three centuries, the tsarist crown was worn alternately on the heads of genius and mediocrity. The frighteningly powerful female tsar was followed by the cowardly male tsar. Members of the royal family killed each other, sexual relations were chaotic, and even the subjects wondered if the emperor really had royal blood. By 1916, the Romanov dynasty had been smoothly passed down for five generations, and today Tsar Nicholas II was a good man who was far more virtuous than his family's ancestors. However, he was a rather weak man, with extremely poor personal abilities, which was a misfortune for this huge country that was mired in the blood of the European war. His father was Alexander III, a man of great strength who could bend iron rods with his bare hands and even knead silver into balls with his hands. Alexander III was a dictator and rejected any reforms that could weaken the power of the Romanov dynasty, and he used all kinds of totalitarian means to suppress dissidents, even forbidding the word "constitutional" in the newspapers.

His successor, Nicholas II, was the polar opposite of him. But the initiation teacher they received from the government was the same person, this person was Konstantin. Pobedonostsev, a well-known conservative. The teacher told Nikolai that the most wrong of all the principles of government was to allow the people to have autonomy. Nikolai believed. In 1894, his father, Alexander III, who had always been physically strong, was suddenly diagnosed with nephritis and died shortly after. Nikolai inherited the throne without the slightest preparation, "What should I do?" Nikolai cried, "I didn't want to be a tsar, I don't know how to rule." I don't even know how to speak to the ministers. ”

Nicholas II was undoubtedly a weak man. But he was deeply embraced by the subjects of the empire, especially the lower classes. Moreover, his actions in the Great War were unanimously appreciated by the leaders of the Entente. There is a great risk that China will meddle in Russia's affairs, and there will be a big mess if it is not done! Although Lu Zhengxiang acknowledged the basic judgment that a weak, civil strife Russia was a good thing for China, it was a diplomatic taboo to rush into the core affairs of other countries, and besides, this country was no ordinary country, and it had caused the whole of Europe to tremble. (To be continued......)

PS: I went to see a relative in the countryside on Sunday, and I walked for two days, so I beg your pardon.