Episode 66 What I See from the Outpost

Zhu Yourong also felt that it was time to visit her new allies, but she was quite worried about the winter in Russia, but Xiang Xiaoqiang pleaded with her, saying that now the three Central Asian countries have just been **, and the situation in Russia has just stabilized, so it is the best time to visit for the first time. If you wait for the beginning of spring, you will get it in a few months. Besides, now that the visit is in the heavy snow, it is even more sincere.

Zhu Yourong also felt that it made sense when he heard him say this. Besides, Zhu Yourong has stayed in Nanjing for a long time and hasn't gone out, and she is indeed very bored. After Xiang Xiaoqiang was so pluded, her heart also itched, and the two made a decision at the moment, and set off after New Year's Day, first visiting Russia, and then visiting the three Central Asian countries.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made preparations, contacts, communication, and arrangements, and the three countries, including Russia and Kazakhstan, were also overjoyed and expressed their eagerness to the arrival of Her Majesty the Empress and Her Royal Highness the Prince. Russia said it would never let the bitter cold become an obstacle to the friendship between the two countries, although it was reassuring that arrangements would be made locally.

Several countries have been preparing for more than ten days. The old year of 1939 is over, and the new year of 1940 has arrived.

On January 5, 1940, several large planes of the Empress's delegation took off from Nanjing Airport, first landed at Kulen Airport in Outer Mongolia, and the next day flew to Novosibirsk, the capital of the Republic of the Russian Federation.

After getting off the plane, Zhu Yourong and Xiang Xiaoqiang received a grand welcome. Prime Minister Kerensky led all the government dignitaries, and Commander-in-Chief Denikin led all the senior generals to personally line up beside the runway to greet them. After the greetings, Denikin invited the empress and prince to review the guard of honor, and the military band played the national anthems of the two countries.

Because the local temperature was cold, minus 28 degrees Celsius that day, it was all arranged in a grand and brief manner, and the group boarded the convoy without letting the empress and prince stay in the open air for long.

The limousine turned out to be as warm as spring. Xiang Xiaoqiang was already frozen to the point that his nose was woody, and Zhu Yourong was even more frozen, and his delicate cheeks hurt as if they had been cut by a knife. Suddenly surrounded by warmth, both of them felt extremely comfortable. At this time, there was no car air conditioning, which was painstakingly installed by the Russian side in the car heater, specially designed electric stove wire, which surrounded the interior walls and roof of the car in the log and velvet.

The convoy marched slowly in the city of Novosibirsk, with Russian convoys riding motorcycles in front and behind, and the Ming flag and Russian flags hung everywhere on the buildings on both sides of the street. The people of Novosibirsk spontaneously welcomed the mew. There are no flowers in this season, so many people use confetti instead of flowers and throw them at the convoy from both sides of the road. Of course, there were also quite a few Russians who looked very angry, huddled in the welcoming crowd, and shouted curses.

The Russian interpreter in the front seat was a little nervous at this time, and turned back to explain that these people were either supporters of the Soviet regime or nationalists.

Zhu Yourong smiled, and then looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang. Both of them understand that the "supporters of the Soviet regime" are easy to understand, and as for the "nationalists", I am afraid that it is because of the large tracts of land that the Ming Dynasty carved away from Russia. The main one is the large area south of the Trans-Khingan Mountains and east of Lake Baikal. Although it was taken away from China by Russia in the past, and it should be returned in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty, it is easy for the people of the Ming Dynasty to see it this way, and it is difficult to ask the Russian people to see it this way.

Xiang Xiaoqiang noticed that the current Russian flag is exactly the same as the Russian flag of later generations, which is a white, blue, and red tricolor flag. In fact, these three colors are called "pan-Slavic colors" and were designed by Peter himself during the reign of Peter the Great in the 17th century. It's just that in the Tsarist period, there was a double-headed eagle pattern in the upper left corner of the tricolor, and now the double-headed eagle is removed.

After lunch, the afternoon is followed by a visit to the city of Novosibirsk, followed by a dinner party. Xiang Xiaoqiang tasted caviar from the Caspian Sea for the first time. It seems that there is no mouth, but I feel cold and fishy, and I almost vomit after a bite, but I endure it so that I don't show a disgusting expression. Xiang Xiaoqiang only ate one spoonful, and resolutely did not eat the second spoonful. And Zhu Yourong was very on the stage, tasted three or five spoonfuls elegantly, and couldn't see that she liked to eat, nor could she see that she didn't like to eat, but she could only see that she was noble and decent.

Based on this, Xiang Xiaoqiang obeyed this girl.

In the evening, the ballet "Swan Lake" was arranged in the Bolshoi Theater for the Empress and the Prince, accompanied by Prime Minister Kerensky. After that, the delegation stayed at the Ming Embassy to rest. The next day, the two sides held talks at the Prime Minister's Office and signed a series of agreements on economic cooperation, military cooperation, and cultural exchanges.

After two days in Novosibirsk, the division got on a train and continued west along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and two days later arrived in Chelyabinsk. The Empress and the Prince made a short stay in Chelyabinsk, visited the military base here, met with the officers and soldiers of the Ming Army's advisory group, and then took the train again and traveled in a straight line to the north, 200 kilometers to Yekaterinburg.

Yekaterinburg is a historic city in Russia, named after Empress Catherine. Zhu Yourong was so obsessed with the city that he visited the beautiful palaces, castles, churches, and the Grand Theatre for several days, and the best opera and ballet troupes in Russia came to perform for the Empress and the Prince. Zhu Yourong likes ballet very much, and this time he came to Russia to have the opportunity to see the highest level of Russian ballet, and he was fascinated by it. But Xiang Xiaoqiang next to him felt very bored, but he had to accompany her to watch it, so he should cultivate his sentiment and improve his "quality".

He also understands Zhu Yourong very well, he knows that Zhu Yourong is very fond of the country of Russia, and has been fascinated by Russian music, dance, literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, and so on since he was a child. But she grew up in Russia, which was the Soviet era, and it was impossible to go there. Now I finally have a chance. In Zhu Yourong's mind, the most beautiful city in Russia is St. Petersburg, that is, Leningrad. But St. Petersburg, west of the Ural Mountains and now under Nazi rule, was not visited. And the most beautiful city east of the Ural Mountains that best represents the traditional charm of Russia is Yekaterinburg. This is also the reason why Zhu Yourong specifically asked for a detour to visit Yekaterinburg.

After a five-day stay in Yekaterinburg, Zhu Yourong reluctantly bid farewell to the historic city, boarded a train and headed south back to Chelyabinsk, and then continued west along the main line of the Trans-Siberian Railway for the last leg of the Russian phase of the trip - to the Ural outpost, to visit the fortifications and condolences to the soldiers.

Yekaterinburg, like Chelyabinsk, is at the foot of the Ural Mountains and is the westernmost point of the Russian republic. The Ural Mountains are the dividing line between Europe and Asia, and it is also the dividing line between Germany and Russia now, and its military significance is extremely significant. Now along the long mountain range, fortifications are being built on both sides. On the Russian side, because of its close proximity to the two important cities of Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk, and the place where the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through, the fortifications of this section were the most preferred. Several outposts and batteries have now been completed, and Russian soldiers and Ming army advisers have been stationed.

The train gradually climbed up the hill along the railway, and the mountains on both sides became steeper and harder. Finally, the train stopped on a section of railway in the mountains, and there was no further way ahead. Further west, there is the German-controlled area.

The group disembarked from the train, changed to a car, and drove up a rugged winding road until they reached the highest peak, inside a concrete fortification.

Entering this kind of military fortification, the protagonist has obviously become Xiang Xiaoqiang. As both a man and a soldier, he was a natural center of support among the generals. The commander of the Russian outpost and the general adviser of the Ming army accompanied Xiang Xiaoqiang to explain and demonstrate, while Zhu Yourong was another kind of "division of labor", fully exerting his affinity, talking cordially with the officers and soldiers of the Ming army's advisers, asking for warmth, and moving these officers and soldiers who were far away from the motherland and stationed in a difficult place in a foreign land to tears.

Xiang Xiaoqiang stood in front of the observation window, his eyes on the huge outpost-type telescope, enjoying the vast scenery of the Ural Mountains. This peak is the highest peak within a radius of several tens of kilometers, and the view is extremely wide. Vast expanses of snow, forests, gentle slopes, cliffs below...... Panoramic view.

Suddenly, he found something of interest.

Xiang Xiaoqiang held the telescope and adjusted the focus slightly, wanting to see clearly.

More than a thousand meters away, below the slope of the mountain, there were several black spots moving on the snow. As the focus was aligned, the black dots became clear—it was a few wolves. And the wolves were shaving the snow, lying there eating as they plowed, as if they had caught some prey.

Xiang Xiaoqiang continued to watch, and slowly, his brows furrowed.

- He saw a boot peeking out of the snow.