Inside the train station.

"Major, your orders?" Captain Makanov is still trying to get orders from the major, but in reality it makes no sense to do so...... Three minutes had passed since he had learned that his side was under an organized attack, but the Major had not issued even a single order.

Based on the sound of artillery, Kharidonovich believed that his enemy must have heavy artillery, and it was impossible for the Russian army below the division to have large-caliber heavy artillery, that is, he faced an enemy with more than a division, and perhaps even a corps...... He shuddered at the thought of facing an enemy of at least 8,000 to most of them, reinforced with heavy artillery.

So he didn't think about fighting back or holding on at all, and after thinking about it for a while, after a fierce battle between heaven and man, Haridonovic finally made a decision.

He shouted hoarsely, "Retreat! Start the train, let's run away! ”

Major Haridonovich's soldiers were filled with anger, anguish and fear. They are teetering on the brink of death, with people being hit by shrapnel or shock waves every minute, and casualties mounting. But at this moment, they could do nothing, their enemy remained outside the maximum effective range of their rifles, and could not hurt a single fine hair of the opponent.

A second lieutenant officer screamed frantically: "Hide, hurry up and hide!" ”

"Start the train now! The Major ordered us to withdraw our legs immediately! Captain Makanov screamed. As soon as he finished speaking, a shell exploded nearby, and the shockwave lifted off his military cap.

The three trains that stopped at the railway station were the only hope that Major Harridonovich's troops had to escape for their lives. If they were able to start the train, they would probably have retreated unharmed, as they had last been besieged by Voroshilov, and their legs could not outrun the wheels.

Unfortunately, however, this hope is fast turning to despair. Two mortar shells hit a train, turning it into a pile of smoking scrap metal and destroying a section of railroad tracks. The soldiers, who had narrowly escaped, jumped out of the burning carriage in a swarm - and soon two more shells landed on the carriage, blowing a group of poor insects that had no time to escape to pieces.

The stokers on the other two trains were trying to light the boilers. I tried my best to get the steam engine running. The protection of the carriage is almost zero. If it can't be moved quickly, then it's just a slightly larger coffin. In a few minutes, they would suffer the same fate as their companions, torn to pieces by the whistling cannonballs.

However, it was impossible to get the steam engine running in a short period of time. The time it takes to ignite the boiler alone is enough to make them die a hundred times a thousand times.

The situation is extremely dangerous. The shells were falling and getting closer and closer to their targets, and everyone on the train was gripped in fear by their hearts.

"Quick, get us out of here." The captain of the train shouted, urging the stoker at the front of the train, and that was all. They can make their voices heard in the midst of the explosions.

But his urging was useless, and if a boiler needed an hour to provide enough steam, it had to be an hour, and no one could speed it up.

"Sir, we're working on it, but ......"

A loud explosion interrupted the shouting of the stokers, and then they heard an even more violent explosion. All the people in the carriage looked up the window and saw that another train had turned into a huge ball of fire that was burning and smoking. The ground around it was littered with countless torn shards.

Obviously. It was hit by a shell, and the explosion also detonated the munitions on board the train. The violent explosion wiped out everything that was alive on the train, even around it, and the shock wave blew away a few poor worms, shattering all the glass on their train.

No one could survive such an explosion, realizing that the same tragedy would happen to them, and in the hearts of the stokers, the responsibility quickly gave way to survival, and the post was abandoned.

"Abandon the car! Abandon the car! At the same time, the conductor made the same decision and jumped out of the door first, and then the soldiers jumped in with him, and then, well, there was no more......

Not long after Haridonovich's retreat order was given, under the constant bombardment of 120-mm mortars, his troops completely lost the will to resist, and without waiting for the major to give a new order, the soldiers directly raised the white flag and chose to surrender.

Grigory. The only thing Ivanovich was dissatisfied with the performance of his soldiers was that they were too motivated to destroy two valuable trains, and the remaining one was also implicated in the shelling, and the front of the train was unfortunately injured.

"Can it be fixed?" Grigory. Ivanovich asked anxiously.

The chubby Luga party secretary pouted, "As long as we find usable parts from the other two trains that were destroyed, there will be no problems." ”

For this answer Grigory. Ivanovich was not satisfied, and he asked impatiently: "What if there are no spare parts available?" ”

"Then it can't be fixed!" The party secretary took a sip of Major Haridonovich's treasure and replied nonchalantly.

Well, for a while, the 1st Machine Gun Regiment will not be able to move on, and this opportunity will allow us to temporarily turn our attention from Luga back to Petrograd, where the battle against Kornilov has also reached its climax. A series of bad news continued to stimulate the already sensitive nerves of the Supreme Commander.

The army attacking the palace of Tavricher was repulsed, and the troops stationed in the fortress of Peter and Paul were suddenly besieged, and the barbarian division directly turned its guns...... Of course, these are nothing, and the most unacceptable thing for Kornilov is that his old buddy and close comrade-in-arms Kremov committed suicide in despair!

Yes, a few hours earlier, Kronstadt Kremov, who had been in charge of the assault, had been bleeding from his head before the fortress, and under great pressure, he chose to commit suicide by swallowing a gun. For Kremov's "cowardice", Kornilov erupted into a thunderous rage.

A glorious Russian general...... How shameful it is to cowardly choose to commit suicide to end his life...... If you are a real man, you should aim your gun at the enemy even at the last moment, and not hastily end your life with your own bullets!

This not only greatly damaged the morale of the army, but also made the British and French countries think that he Kornilov was exhausted, which greatly damaged his reputation and even his future. If even Britain and France had abandoned him, if they had chosen another agent among a thousand Russian generals. Then he Kornilov will soon be finished!

Kornilov had big dreams. He thinks that he has a great future, he doesn't want to end his political life in such a columbic and incompetent way, he wants to break the boat, he wants to survive in death! And Kremov's sudden suicide could quite well ruin all this.

"Kremov, you cowardly dog bastard!" Kornilov roared in anger.

"Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief," Denikin cautiously interjected, "what we need to do now is to neutralize the effects. ”

After Denikin's reminder. The furious Supreme Commander realized that he had lost his temper, and that he should not have shouted in public at some dead bastard, which would become gossip among the soldiers and have many negative effects.

Kornilov calmed himself down, "Anton. He gestured to his deputy. Go to Kremov's house and express my sincerest condolences to his wife and son...... Tell them that Kremov is a real warrior. Everything he did for Russia will not be forgotten...... In addition, he was posthumously awarded the rank of Army General! ”

It seems that you don't have the right to posthumously give military ranks, right? Denikin thought he had misheard: "Raffl? ”

"Do as I say, Anton." Kornilov accentuated his tone, "Kremov fought tenaciously like a true warrior, and this is the honor he deserves." ”

Kremov deserves the honor of death, that's fine, but the problem is that you don't have the power! Denikin would like to remind his old friend that you are not yet the supreme ruler of Russia, so it is inappropriate!

But looking at his old friend's blood-red eyes, Denikin retracted the words that came to his lips. Maybe the old friend is looking to boost morale. and to show to the outside world that he is the one who controls the fate of Russia.

"Yes, Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief." He turned and walked to the office door. Several guards were called in and Kornilov's order was conveyed.

At this time, Kornilov was the only one left in the room. He began to think about a few things. After he had calmed down, Kornilov suddenly realized that his situation was quite bad, and that Kerensky, although he had expressed a certain inclination for peace talks, put forward conditions that were completely unacceptable. How could he give up everything he had won so hard, and how could he hand over Russia to Kerensky, a hypocritical politician.

Kornilov didn't want to give up just like that, if he gave up like this, then what was the difference between him and Kremov, and even in the eyes of outsiders he was not as good as Kremov, at least that bastard washed away the shame with his life, and he chose to live in secret.

Kornilov told himself that he had to stay the course, that miracles always came at the last moment. Of course, passively waiting for a miracle to come is not his style. He knew that he had to be more proactive and more resolute to turn the situation around, even if the forces in his hands were stretched, even if it was very risky, he had to do it!

Where you fall, you have to get up, this is the style of Kornilov, don't you Kremov not be able to take Kronstadt? Then I'll take Kronstadt and show it to the whole world! I want to prove to the whole world that I, Kornilov, am the savior of Russia!

For Kornilov, since it was decided to take a desperate gamble, it was now only the last question, which force should be sent to capture Kronstadt, the army inside the city was only enough to protect itself, and the troops outside the city, God knows how much was left without water.

Kornilov sighed, he began to feel that he had indeed been a little impatient to carry out the coup d'état on the 27th, and if he had waited two more days, when the troops near Riga had completely withdrawn before carrying out the operation, he would definitely not have been so passive.

Kornilov asked his adjutant: "Where are Gramovich's troops now?" ”

"Still stranded in the Pskov area......"

Before the assistant finished speaking, Kornilov became angry again, and he roared angrily: "This bastard, yesterday I let him move quickly, how come today, he is still spinning around Pskov!" Does he want to disobey? ”

The adjutant cautiously explained: "Lieutenant General Gramovich telegraphed that the Bolsheviks had put great pressure on him, that they were constantly sabotaging the railway lines, attacking his troops, and paying the price of blood for every step forward. ”

"The price of blood?" Kornilov snorted coldly, "I don't care what the price is. I just want them to rush to Petrograd immediately. There are no conditions to speak of! Immediately send him another strongly-worded telegram in my name, and tell him that if I don't see his troops tomorrow morning, then he's done the end of his command!" ”

The adjutant walked out of the hall with a quick gesture to deliver orders, while Kornilov refocused his attention on Kronstadt, on the map. He made a comparison, calculating how many troops would be needed to capture the naval fortress.

"Lovell." At some point, Denikin was already standing behind Kornilov.

Kornilov turned to look at his assistant, "What's the matter, old man?" Then he remembered the order he had given to Denikin a few minutes earlier, "Thing. Did you do everything I told you to? ”

"It has been done, in accordance with your orders, the whole country has been electrified, and Kremov has been posthumously awarded the rank of general."

"Good." Kornilov waved his hand, "You can leave, I want to be alone for a while, old friend." ”

But Denikin remained where he was: "My old friend," he asked, "you are preparing to continue the attack on Kronstadt?" ”

"Of course! I, of course, will send troops to occupy it. "Kornilov had no attempts to hide himself from Denikin." I had to fulfill the mission that Kremov did not complete. ”

"May I make a comment? My old friend? Denikin then asked, cautiously. Also hesitant.

"Of course, you can say whatever you want!"

Denikin took a deep breath, then straightened his chest and said, "Maybe we should abandon any idea of capturing Kronstadt for the time being. ”

"For what?" Kornilov was strange and somewhat unhappy. He reminded loudly: "Anton, I want you to understand where we are now. ”

"I know our situation very well, my old friend." Denikin sighed deeply, and explained: "It's just that I don't think Kronstadt is worth wasting our already precious forces. We should concentrate our forces and solve the Petrograd problem first, as long as Petrograd is taken, then neither Kerensky nor the Bolsheviks can stop us......"

Kornilov thought about it for a moment, and there was some truth in Denikin's words, but only a little bit of it. The Kronstadt sailors have always behaved very aggressively, in a sense, they are more determined than the other hundreds of thousands of troops in Petrograd, they are die-hard supporters of the rebels, and if left unchecked, these damned sailors will soon take up arms and kill the city of Petrograd, and it is not impossible to even drive the warships of the Baltic Fleet directly into Petrograd.

At that time, there were hundreds of thousands of "rebels" on the ground, and the sea would be supported by a heavy artillery fleet, and the thought of this terrible scene made Kornilov shudder. At this time, he thought that the only way to avoid this dilemma was to take the initiative and stick the radical sailors of Kronstadt firmly to the base, so that they could not form a joint force with the "rebels" on the ground, although it would be more ideal if they could take the naval fortress directly.

Denikin was very unimpressed by the terrible scene imagined by Kornilov, which he thought was entirely the imagination of his old friend who was too nervous, and he was completely scared of himself. Without the command of an officer, how could those illiterate sailors drive warships and carry out artillery bombardment? And now, there is no evidence that the officers of the Baltic Fleet were on the side of Kerensky and the Bolsheviks.

Denikin asked, "My old friend, do you have any evidence to prove your inference?" ”

"No, but it's very likely." Kornilov replied with some nervousness, "You should also see how crazy those damn sailors are, they just want to destroy Russia!" ”

"My old friend, you must be calm!" Denikin struggled to persuade, "The more critical moments like this, the more we have to be calm." We cannot frighten ourselves, we cannot disperse our precious forces in directions that are not important at all just because of the slightest possibility! If we do, we are self-destructive! ”

The problem was that Denikin's pleas did not change Kornilov's mind, and the already somewhat deranged commander-in-chief was completely absorbed in his own thoughts, and like Don Quixote, he insisted on attacking the windmill that he considered a giant.

This decision disappointed Denikin, and he could almost conclude that although the battle had not yet reached the most conclusive result, there was no doubt that it would definitely be his old friend who would lose. In order to protect himself and avoid the burning of jade, Denikin immediately proposed to Kornilov that he personally command the troops attacking Kronstadt.

This suggestion was quickly approved by Kornilov, who spoke highly of his old friend's "deep understanding of righteousness" and madness, and he was completely unaware that Denikin's real plan was to use this to jump out of the land of right and wrong in Petrograd, and then accumulate some strength for his own comeback...... (To be continued.) )