Another focus, of course, is in Russia. Denikin's unit, which was helped by the Chinese, had been massing in Kharkiv since early March and began to march north. On March 13, Denikin's troops defeated the Red Army and captured the important town of Kursk. The offensive continues in the direction of Moscow. And the commander-in-chief of the Red Army, Trotsky, mobilized more troops in the direction of Orel and personally arrived at the front to boost morale and prepare for a counteroffensive to recapture Kursk.

Trotsky and the Central Committee of the Cloth Party suddenly appeared near Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) with the help of the Chinese, and Moscow was threatened from the southeast. The reason why the Chinese helped the Eastern Army is because the main railway line from Omsk to Ukraine is completely under the control of the Chinese, and in order to ensure the operation of its expeditionary force in Ukraine, China even mobilized about 200 locomotives and a large number of wagons from China, which have just rolled off the line from the Harbin Locomotive and Rolling Stock Factory aided by the United States, and are specially customized for the Russian campaign to adapt to the severe cold of Russia. Military supplies from China to Ukraine pass day and night on this extremely busy railway line, which is maintained and defended by three railway divisions along the long railway line. The troops of the UPC Union would not have been able to suddenly appear near Ulyanovsk from Omsk if it were not for the help of the Chinese.

The information obtained by the Central Committee of the St. Petersburg Party also said that among the enemy forces in Ulyanovsk were units of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, which was judged to be the 3rd Army, which had newly come to Ukraine.

Are the Chinese going to intervene in the Russian Civil War? The leaders of the party panicked. After Ulyanov convened a meeting to study the latest situation. Thinking that Kazan was Moscow's eastern gateway and could not afford to be missed, Trotsky, who had gone to Orel, ordered him to immediately go to Kazan to command the war situation, and sent Molotov to Beijing on a detour, hoping to persuade China not to participate in the Russian civil war.

Kiev, headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, March 24.

Lieutenant Colonel Chen Hao, who followed Wang Mingyuan back to Kiev, was summoned by Wang Mingyuan. He had just had his teeth fitted in the Expeditionary Force's General Compound.

"Report to the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Chen Hao has been ordered to come."

"I decided to send you to work in the 9th Army, and yesterday an unfortunate incident happened, a regimental commander of the 27th Division died due to a rollover." Wang Mingyuan sat behind his desk and looked at Chen Hao. "I know you like to lead troops. Then go down and lead the troops. ”

"Thank you, Commander, for your cultivation. However, isn't the 9th Army sure that it is going to return home? ”

The headquarters of the expeditionary force has already determined the return of the 7th and 9th armies. After the war with the Germans was almost over, in order to relieve the pressure on logistics, and to allow the two troops that had been fighting in Russia for almost two years to rest. Wang Mingyuan decided to transfer him back to China. Beijing has agreed.

"That's right." Wang Mingyuan nodded.

"Can I not take this order?"

"Ye Yanbing mentioned you in his letter to me. He was glad to learn that you had returned safely. You have done a great job in the expeditionary force, you have completed your mission, and it is time to return home to reunite with your family. The country needs a soldier like you. After returning to China, the 9th Army is still subordinate to the Northern Military Region, and the station is Liaoning ......" Wang Mingyuan stood up, came to the window, and stared at the scenery outside the window, spring has come, but Kiev is basically not green, "Before you return to China, I decided to promote your rank again, you were already a lieutenant colonel before you went abroad, and your cousin should be promoted this time, not to be taken care of." ”

Chen Hao was excited, the promotion to colonel was what he had been longing for for a long time, his promotion from major to lieutenant colonel was already exceptional, and he squatted in the prisoner of war camp in Russia for more than half a year, and it was difficult to say that it was not the care of his predecessors to be promoted to colonel by virtue of being a messenger twice, he stammered, "Commander, I ask to stay in Russia, in addition, I have not been examined in the prisoner of war camp, so I am not suitable for promotion......"

"In times of peace, unlike in times of war, the promotion of officers should not be done in a step-by-step manner. In addition, the establishment rank of regimental commander is colonel. Prisoner of war camps are not a problem, I already know some of the situation. Lieutenant Colonel Zhongshi is willing to vouch for you. Don't talk about this, you can report to the 9th Army. ”

"Commander, I have received letters from my mother and wife, who are very happy about my return to the army and encourage me to serve well and be loyal to my country. I personally ask to go to the 3rd Army, to be a battalion commander, a company commander. I hope that the commander will be fulfilled. ”

Wang Mingyuan stared at Chen Hao, "Okay, since you ask for this, then go ahead." General Wu Nian hopes to support him with a group of officers with actual combat experience, led by Kong Dongyuan, you go to him to report, I will write you a note. Wang Mingyuan returned to his seat and wrote a letter of introduction on the note, "Take it." ”

"Thank you, Commander." Chen Hao was overjoyed.

Wang Mingyuan waved his hand, signaling that he could go.

When he reported to the expeditionary force two years ago, the first person to receive him was General Kong Dongyuan, Chen Hao felt that he had turned in a circle, and he had the feeling of returning to the original point.

"Colonel? Congratulations! Come on, take a set of colonel badges for Colonel Chen Hao. Kong Dongyuan himself has just been promoted from brigadier general to major general. The rank of the military dress is marked by the epaulettes, and the training uniform is in the collar badge, and in Russia, up to the commander-in-chief, no one wears a military uniform, which is basically a training uniform.

"The commander is really good to you, come, sit." Major General Kong Dongyuan enthusiastically pressed Chen Hao on the sofa, "I know that you have been arranged to be the commander of the 9th Army, man, the position of commander of the 9th Army is not easy to get, you will regret it." ”

"I don't regret it."

"It's too late to regret it now! We'll leave at 7:39 tonight," Kong Dongyuan looked at his watch, "You still have 3 hours of free time." Go to Kyiv and don't necessarily have the chance to come back in the future. ”

"I want to know ...... my mission"

"Brother," Kong Dongyuan changed his title, "I don't know what to do, but don't think about it when you become the head of the regiment, it is estimated that there is no vacancy." Haha, you'll know it when you get there. ”

The orderly took the colonel's collar badge, and Kong Dongyuan personally put it on for Chen Hao, "Do a good job, and you will be a general if you go further!" ”

Chen Hao walked out of Kong Dongyuan's office and said goodbye to several familiar officers in the headquarters. remembered that Sun Juan had made an appointment to invite him to dinner tonight, so he borrowed a car from the guard battalion and ran to the main courtyard to say goodbye to Sun Juan, no matter what, there was no way to eat Sun Juan's invitation.

"Really? That's not a coincidence. Sun Juan was a little sorry after congratulating Chen Hao on his promotion to colonel, "Actually, it's nothing, I just want to talk to you, talk about the villagers of Chenjiaya, I haven't been back to Chenjiaya since the founding of the People's Republic of China......"

Sun Juan's ex-husband was a villager from Chenjiaya, and the two ended their marriage before the founding of the People's Republic of China, both because they had no children. Also because of others. Of course, personality incompatibility is also one of them. Chen Hao actually forgot about Chen Jiaya's homeland, and he followed his mother to Yizhou and later Jinan at a very young age. basically followed in the footsteps of Chen Chao. Of course, it is also the footsteps of the Mengshan army.

"Aunt Sun. I'm about to forget about my hometown. ”

"How's that going to work? Remember to me that there are your roots. Maybe people are old and always thinking about the past. In my dreams, I always go back to Chenjiaya and Zhengjiazhuang. You won't understand how happy we were to follow Commander Long to fight the country...... The folks in the base area are really nice, I met the commander before I went abroad, and he said the same......"

Only the elders of the army use a specific title for the president, Chen Hao understands.

"How's the teeth? Still used to it? ”

"At least eat a lot faster." Chen Hao grinned.

"Natalia just said that you should check it again in two days, and you can fix the inappropriate places. By the way, she is very grateful to you, would you like to meet her? ”

"See what she does? Thank her for me. She is a brave girl, not only became a member of the National Defense Force, but also became a Chinese daughter-in-law...... "Probably thinking of something funny, a smile appeared on Chen Hao's face.

"Ah, it's time for me to go back. Looks like you're a lot more relaxed here. ”

"The lightly injured ones have all been discharged from the hospital, and most of the seriously injured have returned to China, of course it is easy. Oh, you have to be careful, guns don't have eyes. ”

"Don't worry. Goodbye, Aunt Sun, take care. ”

Sun Juan kept sending Chen Hao to the gate of the hospital, and watched Chen Hao's military vehicle disappear at the end of the deserted streets of Kyiv.

That night, Chen Hao and more than 40 officers from various units of the expeditionary force, led by Major General Kong Dongyuan, left Kiev by train and headed for Samara, where the headquarters of the 3rd Army was located. This train is a military train to transport the 7th Army back to China, Chen Hao noticed those giggling and excited soldiers on the platform, and of course the soldiers were happy to be able to return to their relatives. There was only one ticket car on this train, which was specially attached to them, and of course the soldiers rode in stuffy tank cars, and those flatbed cars were loaded with the heavy weapons of the 7th Army.

At dawn, the train stopped in Samara, and Chen Hao and his entourage got into two military vehicles with canvas roofs and left the station. I was already familiar with my peers last night, the highest rank of this officer corps is a major general, the lowest is a captain, from all units of the expeditionary force, and the professions are also varied, artillery, aviation, engineers, logistics, and of course, infantry officers. In addition to Major General Kong, who led the team, there were only two acquaintances in the officer corps, Colonel Zhong Shi, deputy director of the intelligence department of the headquarters, and Captain Yankisheng of the 2nd Independent Engineer Regiment, the fiancé of Natalia, a Ukrainian female nurse.

"Oh, I heard that this time it was the 4th Army that took the lead, and I can't say that Kazan has been defeated now." Major battalion commander Ding Xiaoping from the 5th Army said.

"Didn't you say we wouldn't intervene?" Another lieutenant colonel staff officer from the 7th Army, Xu Kaiming, answered.

"What is intervention? Besides, we can't just stand on the sidelines, can we? The Patriot League is the object of our support. It was Luo Shuiqing, an engineer major of the 1st Army, who spoke.

"It would be nice to take Moscow, I would love to see the palace of the Russians, which is said to be more beautiful than the imperial palace in Beijing. When I first traveled from Shaanxi to the Northeast, I had the privilege of visiting the Imperial Palace, which was really eye-opening. The lieutenant colonel combat staff officer from the military headquarters of the 7th Army said, "I can't imagine that our Wehrmacht can also show off its might in Russia!" Hey, hey, hey. ”

"It is said that many of the treasures in Lao Maozi's palace were robbed of us, and in the year when the Eight-Nation Alliance Army captured Beijing, Lao Maozi did a lot of bad things." Major Ding Xiaoping said.

"I don't know if it's true," Lieutenant Colonel Xu Kaiming lowered his voice, as if he was afraid of being heard by Major General Kong Dongyuan, who was sitting in the cab, "I have heard that many of the ideas propagated by the Bolsheviks are good, such as confiscating the landlords' land and distributing it to the poor, such as nationalizing the capitalists' factories...... Otherwise, they would not have formed an army to come out in a few days. What do you think? I mean, what do you think of the Cloth Party and their army? ”

"Lao Xu, I don't know where your news came from, do you mean we shouldn't fight them?" Major Luo Shuiqing asked.

"I saw the mimeographed Pravda, translated for me to read. It was a letter from the Central Committee of the Party to Chinese that China and Russia were both countries that had been oppressed by imperialism for a long time and should not be enemies, but should be best friends...... "Lieutenant Colonel Xu Kaiming explained.

"What is imperialism? I think Lao Maozi is imperialism. They didn't do a lot of things to bully us! Isn't the political lesson very clear? Director Bai of the Political Department said, don't believe the propaganda of the Cloth Party, they are now embattled, the former allies have become enemies in the blink of an eye, and the Russian army has split into two camps that will never die...... Of course they want us to be neutral. Major Ding Xiaoping disagreed with Xu Kaiming's attitude.

"Why didn't Lieutenant Colonel Chen speak? You've come down from headquarters, and you're more well-informed than a few of us, so do you really want to help the Russian emperor restore? ”

"I don't know." Chen Hao, who had been listening but didn't say anything, smiled slightly, "I said that everyone should care less about politics, we soldiers are a knife, and we will stab whoever our superiors let us do, right?" ”

That's a good point. But didn't the president teach us to care about national affairs? We can't fight in a fool's mind, can we? Xu Kaiming said in a low voice.

The car stopped, the officers' conversation ended, everyone packed up and jumped out of the car, and they had arrived at their destination, Samara, where the headquarters of the 3rd Army of the Expeditionary Force was stationed.

The officer corps was lined up in the headquarters compound, and Major General Zhang Qingyi, chief of staff of the 3rd Group Army, gave a simple welcome speech and arranged for them to eat and rest. An hour and a half later, the officer corps reassembled, and Major General Kong Dongyuan announced everyone's "distribution" plan, and Chen Hao, Ding Xiaoping, and Yang Jisheng were assigned to the intelligence department of the group army and became colleagues. After lunch, Chen Hao, Ding Xiaoping, and Yan Jisheng, who were discussing the battle situation, were taken to a conference room by an unfamiliar major, and only Major General Kong Dongyuan was present, and after waiting for a few minutes, Lieutenant General Wu Nian, commander of the 3rd Group Army, walked in.

Seeing clearly the two dazzling gold stars on the collar badge of the visitor, Chen Hao and the others stood up and saluted on the spot.

"Take a break." Lieutenant General Wu Nian returned the salute, "On behalf of the 3rd Group Army, I welcome you, and after reading the introduction, you are all the best officers and the most reliable. Now you swear that you will keep absolutely secret the mission you are about to receive, and you will never tell your superiors or your wives and children, and you will never reveal a word to unrelated people until you declassify them! ”

"We take an oath!"

"Good." General Wu Nian nodded with satisfaction, "Now the situation is like this, the defenders in the direction of Kazan suddenly moved south to Simbirsk, and there was a fierce encounter with the 4th Army advancing north, the 4th Army was excellent, defeated the Red Army troops, and captured more than 10,000 people, and now the 4th Army has arrived under the city of Kazan, according to the battle report from the front, Kazan will not be able to go down in a few days. You immediately set off and follow General Kong Dongyuan to Kazan to carry out the mission, what to do and how to do it, follow General Kong's orders. ”

"Yes!"

"Very good, I'm also going to the front line to supervise the battle, you should be ready to go immediately, and wait for the departure order at any time. Remember your vows and go. Lieutenant General Wu Nian, who was wearing glasses, waved his hand and ended the summons. (To be continued......)