On September 12, 1905, under the supervision of British and American observers, the last Chinese soldier boarded the train leaving Chita, and after 15 months, the Russian army re-entered the blood-soaked city, where 110,000 officers and soldiers on both sides had shed blood, 38,000 of whom had left the world forever.

The Russian commander in charge of taking over Chita was a silver-haired, pot-bellied veteran general - Lieutenant General Kauribals, former commander of the 4th Army of the Far Eastern Army, and now commander of the newly created Transbaikal Military District, riding a millet mare with a neatly trimmed mane, one hand on his waist, and watching the train carrying Chinese personnel slowly depart from the station with mixed feelings.

The Chinese are gone, the once prominent Chita Fortress is gone, the huge fortress batteries are all gone, not an inch of the wide trench around the fortress has not been filled, the hundreds of artillery pieces that once equipped the fortress are naturally gone, the Chinese have left nothing, and the empty streets of the city are nothing but rubble or rubble - every piece of wood has been burned by the Chinese as fuel.

"At least they left us with a station to keep out the wind." Lieutenant General Kauribas shrugged self-deprecatingly.

"As long as this land is still in our hands, in ten years, we can build a fortress complex ten times more powerful than this." Kauribas's chief of staff, Major General Samsonov, trembled with hatred, his slightly upturned black beard trembling slightly with humiliating anger.

"Next time, we will be able to hold on for ten years and make the other side pay a hundredfold."

Kauribas shook his old head noncommittally: "I hope so, my chief of staff, but the most important thing now is to find a house that will shelter from the wind, do you want us to live in the train station?" ”

"They destroyed everything, and we will rebuild everything. Your Excellency, apart from the tents—as you have just said—the only house here that can keep out the wind is the station in front of us, and I think we will be here for a while...... And so they are. Samsonov pointed with his horsewhip at the British, Americans, French, and Germans who were tied up in a heap not far away.

"They are our friends and deserve to live with us in the best places we can do." Cauribus said.

"Yes, friend, very good friend, not only do we have to serve them the best champagne and caviar, but we also have to offer half of Siberia the right to mine and exploit the forests in both hands - our good friend, noble guest, wonderful." Samsonov could not hide his Russian resentment.

"But my old cavalry, without these friends, we would not be able to hold even the remaining half of Siberia, our holy empire is almost on the edge of the cliff, and I will curse them for our dear Tsar Majesty - damn them, damned Chinese, damned revolutionary!"

As he spoke, an airplane with a golden coil dragon painted on its wings flew low above the two men's heads.

"That damn toy." Cauribus looked at the sky with hatred, yes, he had a grudge against the plane, and this big buzzing fly almost killed him more than once.

"A very interesting but dangerous machine, and the Minister of War said we needed it, so he built a factory in Petersburg, and half of the first planes that were produced fell apart after five or six flights, and they were called widow-builders. Believe me, as long as there are cavalry, there is nothing impossible! Samsonov proudly puffed up his chest, which was wrapped under the cavalry uniform.

At this time, several gentlemen-looking foreigners, French engineers hired by the Tsarist government to rebuild the Chita Fortress at a high salary, and a series of modern fortresses on the Franco-German border were designed by them.

Kauribas greeted him with a smile: "My friends, I can only grieve you first, and before the new house is built, please allow me to invite you to live with me in this helpless station." ”

Engineer Jean•Barzherom shrugged his shoulders and said: "It's okay, things will always get better, there will be big spacious and bright houses, there will be roasted foie gras and champs, but we had better start the mapping work immediately, you know, from Irkutsk here here will be built the most powerful fortress group in the world, His Majesty the Tsar hopes to complete it in ten years, we can't take five years to design." ”

"My friends, I believe in your abilities and enthusiasm, and before we start our respective work, I think we'd better have a drink together, vodka can energize us!" Kauribus is full of enthusiasm and confidence – even if he has suffered defeat in front of the Chinese, he is a lovely old man who wants to make the impossible possible.

The Russians returned to Chita with their companions, and soon they would return to the west bank of the Erguna and Orekma rivers, and to the northern foothills of the Stanov Mountains (Trans-Khingan Mountains), not by their own strength, but mainly by the gifts of their friends, even if their own friends had other plans.

"Next time, we will defeat these brutes together with Britain and the United States, and see who else is willing to stand up for you!"

The train was running on the rushed military railway from Chita to Manchuria, and Liang Tianhe, commander of the Northeast Military Region of the Chinese Empire, looked out the window at the familiar scenery - the place where countless subordinates had fought bloody battles - and said indignantly.

With a thin face, yellowed teeth, and a habit of subconsciously pinching his stubble chin when he was impatient or quiet—perhaps he liked to listen to the rustle of rubbing his beard.

The army general, who had just celebrated his 36th birthday three days ago, is not just leaving Chita today, the train will take him all the way back to Beijing, and the order will be delivered an hour before he boards the train – hand-delivered by his successor, Admiral Zhang Yiye.

At this time, Zhang Yiye sat beside him, the youngest army general in the empire was one year younger than Liang Tianhe, at the beginning of the Asian-Russian War, Liang and Zhang were the commander and chief of staff of the Janissary Field Army, commanding the most powerful field army in the empire to destroy the Hailan Pao Fortress, before the end of the war, the two were respectively the commander and chief of staff of the 2nd Army, with 300,000 troops under their command, and played a leading role in the Battle of Four Rivers, which completely incapacitated the Russian army.

When the old partners get together, they always have to have a good talk, but today coincides with the Chita handover ceremony, Liang Tianhe is angry, and it is inevitable that he will neglect Zhang Yiye.

Seeing Liang Tianhe's unhappy face, Zhang Yiye handed over a Jinhard door - he knew the old smoker's hobby well.

"Yo, three gold-edged ones, good things, how many more?" Liang Tianhe changed his face as soon as he saw the good smoke.

Zhang Yiye smiled bitterly and took out five or six more and handed them over: "You still have to get used to it......"

After spitting out a few perfect smoke rings, Liang Tianhe suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly ordered the orderly soldiers to prepare wine and food.

"I'm sorry, I'm thinking about Lao Maozi, why did I forget to give my brother you the wind, I'm ashamed."

Zhang Yiye said with a smile: "Since they are brothers, what are you polite about." ”

Liang Tianhe clapped his hands: "Sure enough, it's a good brother, let's not get drunk today!" ”

Zhang Yiye spread his hands helplessly: "I'm afraid that I will be so drunk that I will miss the car and return to Beijing with you in a daze, so how can I keep up with the boss?" ”

Liang Tianhe slapped his chest loudly: "When the time comes, I'll help you explain, brother, you can let go and drink......"

After three rounds of drinking, Liang Tianhe suddenly sighed, and Zhang Yiye was puzzled: "Old Liang, what is there to sigh, isn't it good to transfer back to the capital?" Your dissatisfied, little wives are looking forward to you. ”

"Brother, you don't know what to do, I've been in a panic lately." After saying that, there was another sigh.

"Hanging?" Zhang Yiye put N question marks on his forehead.

Liang Tianhe looked left and right, waved his hand to signal Zhang Yiye to come over, and whispered in his ear: "Don't you think Lao Zhong died strangely?" ”

Zhang Yiye was taken aback: "It's not good to talk nonsense." ”

"The accident of falling off the airship suddenly and decently is incredible. That railing keeps going on and on and on, why did the old clock break when it touched it? Is it just a coincidence that walking on a dangerous upper deck without a safety rope and the attendant on the upper deck who is right next to him but just can't help? A discerning person should be suspicious and find a way to get to the bottom of it. ”

Zhang Yiye deliberately avoided Liang Tianhe's suspicious gaze, as if he wanted to divert this sensitive topic: "Old Liang, this matter has already been concluded internally, and you don't know the way, do you suspect that it has something to do with the boss?" ”

Liang Tianhe shook his head again and again like a rattle: "The boss will never attack Lao Zhong, isn't that his own arm?" ”

Zhang Yiye frowned: "You mean, your own people other than the boss ......"

"I heard that Wen Yi's gang has always had a lot of trouble with the old clock......

"No way, those guys' hands can't reach out to the army, and the military power is in the hands of us legitimate soldiers."

Liang Tianhe squinted slightly: "In this way, there are few suspects left." ”

Zhang Yiye's eyes widened in horror, indeed, after excluding civilian officials, there were only a handful of military elders who were capable of doing this at that time, and such speculation was enough to make people cold to absolute zero just thinking about it.

"Let's stop talking about this topic for now." Zhang Yiye is not a believer in the ostrich policy, and his intuition tells him that Zhong Xiahuo's affairs are as corrosive as aqua regia, and he can escape as far as he can, and be careful that the bones are dissolved cleanly in it!

Liang Tianhe was not so alert, and still said casually: "Listen to your tone, is there really a problem?" Could it be that you have inside information? ”

"I think it's better not to delve into this kind of thing, it's not something we can afford to study, leave it to the high-level elders to solve it, just think about it, it's not good to talk about it everywhere. Believe in the emperor, just as he believes in us, 15 months ago he handed over 300,000 troops to you and me, and 10 months ago, he handed over 40% of the country's standing army to you, what reason do we have not to believe in his wisdom and ability? ”

Liang Tianhe smiled and raised his glass: "Do you want to make a toast to the emperor's trust in us?" ”

"Cheers, let's change the subject."

"Looks like you're prepared?" Liang Tianhe deliberately squinted his eyes to look at people.

"The successor is just a normal consultation with the predecessor, what, not happy?"

"How can you, aren't you hurting me? What questions, say, brother, I know everything, and I have no end to it. ”