Vladivostok, the residence of the Empress of the Russian Empire.
Imperial Empress Catherine III, three years have passed since the establishment of the orthodox government of the Russian Empire. The girl back then has become a beautiful and charming empress in the blink of an eye. Now she is in the most colorful years of a woman's life, but Looking carefully, there is deep fatigue and anxiety hidden deep in Catherine III's gorgeous face.
When she was young, as a princess, Anastasia lived a carefree life under the wings of her parents. In her young mind, everything in the world was beautiful, just like what was described in fairy tales, and she even dreamed of growing up. Later, she welcomed a handsome Prince Charming to become her husband, and they lived happily ever after.
But the cruel reality made her quickly understand that fairy tales are just fairy tales, and the world is not as beautiful as she imagined, but full of conspiracy, violence, blood and intrigue Only then did she realize that when she was with her parents, why the Tsar and the Empress, whose parents were the highest power holders in the Russian Empire, sometimes showed helpless and anxious expressions behind their supreme glory, even before the revolution broke out. At that time, the little princess who left Russia to visit China even saw depression and despair in the eyes of her parents.
Now, she finally understands, because now the princess has become the queen, sitting in the seat where her father once sat. In fact, her weak shoulders must bear the heavier responsibility of her father - reviving Russia! Restore the Romanov dynasty!
Over the past few years, she has worked hard to do all this. The endless government affairs and the ever-changing situation have made her almost physically and mentally exhausted, but the actual results are not great. Except for a moment of peace with the support of the Chinese government, the goal of regaining lost ground and completing revitalization still seems to be far away. Many times. The queen even wanted to abandon all this and become an ordinary person anonymously. Maybe this is the life she wants.
"Your Majesty!"
During the imperial meeting, Navy Minister Kolchak, who was sitting at the bottom, saw that the queen had not spoken for a long time, and was even in a daze. He couldn't help coughing and reminded softly.
Return from thoughts to reality. Catherine III's eyes swept over the people in front of her one by one. These people were all important ministers of her cabinet, including Navy Minister Kolchak, Army Minister Denikin, and Interior Minister Victor (Zhang Zongchang). , Minister of Industry Kerensky and Minister of Foreign Affairs Kosovitch¡.
"The war on the Siberian defense line is not optimistic. Everyone has read Baron Wrangel's report. The Soviet puppet government appointed Frunze as the supreme commander of the front line. This is a very difficult opponent to deal with. Judging from the current situation, everyone Is there any good way?"
"Your Majesty, the main problem facing the front line is the lack of troops. The Ministry of War is currently stepping up the reorganization of troops. As long as it lasts one or two months, when the cold winter comes, the enemy's attack will inevitably come to a standstill. So I think the current difficulties It¡¯s temporary. Although Baron Wrangel is facing great pressure, with a solid defense prepared, holding on shouldn¡¯t be too much of a problem.¡±
It was Minister of War Denikin who spoke. Since arriving in Vladivostok, the general who was appointed Minister of War three years ago has finally officially taken office. Because the army is mainly fighting today. As Minister of War, although he has not yet fully grasped the real power, he must be the first to stand up.
"Your Majesty, Admiral, what do you think?" The Queen turned her attention to the Minister of the Navy, Kolchak, noncommittally. Before Denikin was unable to perform his duties, some tasks in the War Department were shared by Kolchak until now. Kolchak still has a lot of power in the War Department.
Kolchak thought for a while and said: "I agree with Mr. Denikin. According to reports from the front, Baron Wrangel has received assistance from the Chinese Army, although our total strength is insufficient. But regardless of It still has certain advantages in terms of training and equipment, not to mention that the Siberian defense line is impregnable, and it is definitely not easy for Frunze to break through the defense line just by relying on the human sea tactics."
"Where are you guys?"
The Queen then asked the rest of the people. Most of the people present basically agreed with the two generals. They felt that the situation on the front line was not at its worst. Baron Wrangel should be able to hold the defense line before next spring. By that time, the army's reorganization work will be basically completed. When the support troops arrive, the situation on the front line will inevitably be eased.
Catherine III, who was slightly disappointed in her heart, sighed. Compared with the Soviet Union, the orthodox government of the Russian Empire was far inferior to the other party in terms of manpower and material resources. Even her generals were not really useful, except for a few. Except for a few people, most of the nobles are simply not worthy of reuse.
"Today, I received a telegram from the Chinese General Staff."
"Chinese? Send a telegram to the womanEmperor? "
Hearing Catherine III suddenly mention this matter, everyone present looked at each other, secretly wondering what the telegram said. It seems that today's impromptu meeting should be related to this telegram from the Chinese, otherwise the Queen would also I wouldn't go out of my way to bring it up so early in the meeting.
"Before I tell you the contents of the telegram, I would like to ask you a question." Catherine III did not take out the telegram immediately. Instead, she raised another question, which was to judge the situation on the Siberian front. Catherine III briefly stated the situation on both sides of the front line, focusing especially on the tactical characteristics of Frunze's movement, and his plan to use this tactic to train soldiers and achieve the purpose of rapid reorganization.
"Everyone, Frunze is definitely not a simple person. According to his current battle plan, by next spring, the so-called Red Army of the Soviet puppet government will be fully restored to its strength, and even to some extent stronger than before. With more than a hundred Our National Defense Force alone cannot fight against an opponent with tens of thousands of troops. Even if the Chinese government sends troops to fight, it will probably face huge losses. What's more, compared with Western countries, they have huge human resources and can completely ignore the loss of troops. , but can we do it?¡±
"Your Majesty, what do you mean?" Baron Kosovitz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, stood up and asked. Just as Catherine III said, the Far East is sparsely populated, and there is a huge gap between them and the Soviet government in terms of manpower. What are you sitting here? Almost all of them had experienced the European War. Didn't Tsarist Russia use this move to block the invincible German elite? In the absence of elite troops that can confront the opponent in a balanced manner, using countless human lives to pile up and exchanging quantitative changes for qualitative changes is a bit clumsy, but the actual effect is not bad.
"Victor, tell me" Catherine III directly called Zhang Zongchang's name. Zhang Zongchang, who had not spoken since the meeting, stood up and first slightly greeted Catherine III He bowed and then started talking.
"The Chinese General Staff recommends that we immediately stop the reorganization of surrendering troops"
Zhang Zongchang had just spoken his first words, and everyone was in an uproar, especially Denikin, who couldn't sit still. He immediately stood up and asked the reason for doing so. You must know that these surrenders are all from the original Red Army! What if something goes wrong if you don't follow the procedures? Now, in order to prepare for these hundreds of thousands of troops, the Russian Imperial Government Army has reduced the reinforcements on the front line, just to worry about something happening.
"Don't be impatient, please be patient and listen to what I say slowly." Zhang Zongchang made a downward gesture with his hands, cleared his throat and shouted. After everyone sat back down one after another, he continued.
It took about ten minutes for Zhang Zongchang to explain in detail the contents of the telegram sent by the Chinese General Staff, and analyzed the actual explanation, and finally came to the conclusion that the Chinese suggestions were advisable. It is also the best way to solve the current problem.
"I have a question!" Kerensky frowned and asked: "General, your statement sounds feasible in theory, but who can guarantee that these troops will not mutiny or defect again after they are brought to the front?"
"Of course no one can guarantee this" Zhang Zongchang replied. Seeing that Kerensky's expression changed and he was about to reprimand him, he asked first: "Mr. Minister, can you guarantee that they will definitely mutiny or defect again? Well? Obviously not possible, right? You must know that the bloody methods of the Soviet Union have been known to the outside world, especially the former commanders and soldiers of the Red Army. The Bolsheviks are not as easy to talk to as us, and their only way to deal with traitors is to purge them. , that is, killing! Not only killing the other party, but also their relatives and even friends are on the list of purges. Therefore, once they surrender to us, these people will become the targets of Soviet suppression. In this case, they defect and then What's the benefit? Is it to escape and be shot?"
"Perhaps what you say makes sense, but General, you have to know that Frunze's tactics are based on fanatical Bolshevism. Without the support of the New Year, will these surrendering troops still have combat effectiveness?" Kolchak said He added something aside.
Zhang Zongchang smiled and said: "Of course, without spiritual support, these Red Army troops are scum. But your Excellency, General, don't forget that the plan does not require all these troops to be brought up, but to be used one after another. Besides, in addition to the fanatical Bolshevism, we have given Apart from them, we can still provide other things.¡±
"Oh, what can we provide?" Kolchak asked with interest.
Zhang Zongchang blinked and gave examples with a smile: "Money, liquor, womenand of course bloody methodssuch as a supervising team composed of machine guns, etc.! We can use the former to anesthetize them, and thenThe soldiers come to drive them to work for their lives. As long as they can survive the wash of the battlefield, then the soldiers who remain are loyal to us and will be reborn in the flames of war! "(To be continued)