Greenwich Time, October 3, 1918, morning.

London, Whitehall.

The narrow conference room was crowded with people, including not only British officials led by Prime Minister Lloyd George, but also representatives from France, the United States and other countries in London. Oh, by the way, Iliwatsky, the new Russian Provisional Government ambassador to London, also came to the conference hall of the British Foreign Ministry.

The reason they came here was that the weak Chinese army that had just happened to attack the colony of Tsarist Russia on Chinese territory, which had already lost its country! As a result, the two countries that were also members of the Allies were on the brink of war!

First of all, of course, Russian Ambassador Iliwatsky spoke for the Chinese people's aggressive behavior. Uh, these hateful yellow-skinned monkeys invaded the Russian Republic on their own territory... Given the alliance relationship between Russia and Britain, France, and the United States, the Russian ambassador strongly demanded that the above-mentioned three countries act together with Russia, and put the strongest protests and the greatest pressure on the Chinese government!

Just protest and pressure?

When officials or diplomats from Britain, the United States, France and other countries here heard the Russian request, they couldn't help but start to wonder if there was something wrong with their hearing. When will the dignified Russia treat other people's military attacks with protest? Haven't they always followed the principle of fighting before talking? What's more, what's going on this time are just those Chinese who only know how to smoke big cigarettes and have a pigtail like a pigtail behind the man's head!

You know, in the past few decades, the Russian Empire once seized more than one million, or perhaps more than two million square kilometers of land from the Chinese. If it weren't for the intervention of the Japanese, they would have swallowed the entire Northeast China in one bite, right?

By the way, Japan! Why didn’t the Japanese ambassador to the UK attend today’s meeting? Russia is no longer able to do so now, and Japan is probably the dominant ruler of the entire Northeast Asia!

While listening to the Russian ambassador accusing the Chinese atrocities, what the British and American judges in this room thought of was Japan, another country of yellow people! What role did they play in this "Harbin incident"? The Beijing government of China seems to be hosting a group of pro-Japanese factions? Without Japan's support, how dare they infringe on Russia's special rights and interests in China? Moreover, this time the Russian ambassador just proposed to protest and put pressure on China. He did not mention the war, so it was probably because of Japan's attitude?

As soon as Iliwattsky's speech ended, British Prime Minister Lloyd George stood up. His eyes swept over the empty seat left for the Japanese ambassador, frowned, and said, "Gentlemen, those Chinese people obviously want to take advantage of the difficult situation of our Russian friends to seize some benefits! This kind of behavior is something that we, the great powers, cannot tolerate, even if those interests belong to China!"

"Prime Minister, do you mean that China cannot get back what originally belonged to them?" The American ambassador seemed to be a little confused about Lloyd George's words. The United States of this era was still a country that had just entered the world's top powers, and he still didn't know much about the rules of the game where some great powers rule the world.

Lloyd George smiled and nodded at the Americans, and said with a smile: "Dear Ambassador, the Chinese can certainly get back what originally belonged to them, but they should not use force. Instead, they must solve the problem through negotiation and negotiation, and use civilized people's methods! Even if it is for a hundred years to talk about it."

The American shrugged: "But the Chinese are obviously not very law-abiding now... It was the customs and Xiamen Concession before, and now it is Harbin again. How are we civilized countries preparing to teach these unruly barbarians a lesson? Start a war to punish the barbarians who have taken back their property?"

Lloyd George has no favoritism against the Americans, especially after President Wilson began to shout "just peace". He nodded stiffly to the American ambassador and said lightly: "The Chinese must pay the price for their reckless actions, which is necessary! As for whether to punish them by war, it depends on the attitude of our Russian friends, because the Chinese are now infringing on their interests... I think it is not realistic to ask you, the United States to send troops to safeguard Russia's interests in China now?"

Speaking of this, hesitant expression appeared in his eyes: "In addition, the rising revolutionary sentiment in China is also something that we, the great powers, must consider! I wonder if everyone here has noticed the recent rise of the National Government in southern China? Compared with their Beijing government, this government seems to be the common enemy of civilized countries with interests in China! If we rashly use force against the Beijing government now, it is very likely that the collapse of this fragile Chinese legitimate government will be replaced by this National Government that has obvious hostility to a civilized country!"

When hearing Prime Minister Lloyd George's speech that seemed a little embarrassed, no one of the diplomats and British officials here understood that the British Empire actually supported China's Beijing government! But there is now a sharp new regime in South China. Compared with the twilight Beijing government in South China, although the new regime in South China has a small territory, it has shown potential that is enough to threaten the central government of Beijing, and this regime is still very unfriendly to the great powers, especially the United Kingdom.

In the UK's view, the status of the Beijing government must be maintained, and the rise of the Southern National Government must be curbed. However, the policy adopted by the UK during this period is the opposite of the purpose they pursue. For the National Government that dared to challenge the interests of Britain in China, the UK adopted a strategy of compromise and concession. However, the British continued to oppress the Beiyang government that obeyed Britain and pleased the British!

What the British Empire's China policy now shows is a practice of bullying the weak and fearing the strong... It seems that this is also the embodiment of the British Empire's increasingly weak national strength in its foreign policy? And this time, the Beiyang government, which swallowed its anger, became unexpectedly tough and used force to capture the Russian concession in Harbin! Faced with the two tough Chinese governments in the north and south, Britain was really at a loss, not to mention that there was a group of invisible and intangible red terrorists causing trouble.

The one who could not become tougher like the British Empire was this time Russia. The Russian civil war was at its peak at the height of heat, and the offensive of the "volunteer army" commanded by Denikin was already at a deadlock. However, the 400,000 Belarusian army advancing westward from Siberia was unable to launch a truly powerful attack on the Red Army due to lack of ammunition and supplies.

In addition, the situation in Belarus is somewhat similar to that in China's Beiyang government. Although Kolchak is named the co-lord of Belarus, there are not many Belarusian generals who truly obey his orders! Now Belarus has also seen warlords dominate their own... After all, Kolchak is just a former admiral. He is not a Russian Tsar.

So after the "Harbin Incident", Kolchak's provisional government rejected the suggestion of mobilizing troops to attack Northeast China by fleeing to Vladivostok, and instead instructed the provisional government to seek diplomatic resolution of the crisis. If the Chinese could force the Chinese to spit out the fat meat they had in their mouths through pressure and negotiation, Russia would be satisfied. If it really doesn't work, Russia is willing to return the leased land to protect the property rights of the Central and Eastern Railway... Of course, this is the final bottom line, and Iliwattsky has not revealed anything to the British.

The former Tsarist Russian Foreign Minister is still planning to fight for the greatest rights and interests of his destructive empire! Ambassador Iliwattsky stood up and bowed slightly to the British Prime Minister: "His Excellency Prime Minister, the Russian Republic now needs the friendship of the British Empire. We hope that the British Empire can put pressure on China to the greatest extent!"

Prime Minister Lloyd George frowned slightly: "Mr. Ambassador, can you remind me how much pressure is?"

Iliwattsky said to Lloyd George in a heavy tone: "The Russian Republic hopes to fire China from the Allies!"

......

Manzhouli, Office of the Central East Railway Administration.

With a bang, Halvat smashed an Italian-made glass cup. It seemed that he was still not satisfied, and he threw out a French coffee cup. The ground was covered with porcelain scraps and glass fragments. The Central East Road Protection Army and a number of staff officers and officials from the Central East Railway Administration stood aside with dejected expression, not daring to let out a moment.

The telegram from the Provisional Government of Ufa came, and immediately made Horvat jump up. Kolchak is so weak! How can such a coward be the supreme leader of the Russian Empire? Even a country like China is bullying the Russian Empire now. He doesn't dare to start a war, and he actually wants to solve the problem with diplomatic means. If diplomatic means can solve such a problem, then what if this European war has been fought for so many years and died tens of millions of people?

He angrily threw things. Russia's concession in Harbin and the special interests in North Manchuria were all fought for by Horvat for more than ten years from the Chinese! These things are not only my hard work, but also my position in the future Russian government! If there is no Middle East Road, no Harbin leased land, no road protection army, the future of his royalist old noble in the future Russian government will be dark!

The more I thought about it, the more annoyed Horvat became, and all the years were intertwined. He finally roared and jumped up: "You can't just let this happen! For the sake of Russia's ease, we must fight back! Pass my order and assemble the protection army! Let's fight back!"

Several staff members of the army guarded the army agreed, turning around and going to give orders, gathering among the few road guards who had already retreated to Russia. The chief of staff Liviev, who had protected Horvat all the way to Manzhouli, did not move, but came to Horvat and whispered: "My commander... I have too few troops to defeat the Chinese!"

"If you can't beat it, you have to fight! The Russian warriors would rather die in battle than live in humiliation!" Horvat's anger suddenly spread to the Chief of Staff who persuaded him to escape from Harbin.

However, the chief of staff was still very calm. He did not plan to follow the commander-in-chief in China to die. His eyes turned around and thought of a way: "Your Excellency, don't forget that this is General Semenov's territory! With your support, he recruited the army from China's North Manchuria to capture Chita and became the commander-in-chief of the "Foreign Baikal Provisional Government"! If you have to fight back to Harbin, you might as well borrow troops from General Semenov!"

Horvat calmed down a little, and a guy with a beard and a fur hat appeared in his mind. This guy seemed to be Semenov. He was originally a small person and could not be compared with his great nobles. It seemed that at some point last year, Semenov was deported to China for opposing the Soviet government, and he also gave him a sum of money and some weapons to help him recruit four battalions of troops. Unexpectedly, he was allowed to seize the opportunity of the Czechoslovak army to rebel and seize Chita. Now he is still the commander-in-chief. However, he, the commander-in-chief, has not been recognized by Ufa, and is almost a bandit warlord who has separatist! I'm afraid it's not appropriate to ask him for help?

But he figured it out in a blink of an eye. The situation in Russia is similar to that in China. It is also a chaotic world where a gun is the king of grass heads! So what if Ufa does not admit Semenov? He can only watch him dominate the king in Chita? Even if the Japanese interfering army stationed in Chita, wouldn’t he still want to win over this lawless bandit?

This gun is the root of the troubled times! Didn’t I drive out of Harbin by China because I didn’t have many guns? This time I borrowed Xie Miaonov’s troops and fought back. When I returned to Harbin, I must try my best to expand the army. I have the payment for the Middle East Road and the tax revenue from Harbin. Are I still afraid that I can’t pull out a team?

Thinking of this, Horvat had a suggestion in his heart and focused his attention: "Liviev, you are right, let's go to Semenov for help! I will go to Chita in person and leave Manzhouli to you to guard! At most one week, I can bring Semenov's reinforcements. During this period, you must guard Manzhouli!"

After saying that, he walked out with great strides, and the soldiers were like putting out fires. He didn't want to delay a minute.

......

As an important chess piece deployed by Chang Ruiqing in the Northeast, the Red Brigade Northeast Revolutionary Army, which created the "Central and East Road Robbery", was also intensively carrying out their plans - recruitment!

A small village called Lujiawozhang near Wangqing County has been stationed in a team under the banner of a revolutionary army since early August. It probably occupied the bandits in Wangqing County? However, the discipline of these bandits is obviously better than that of the bandits in Wangqing County. They do not disturb the people, but only occupied the houses of the large Lu family. The houses are surrounded by bandits with live ammunition, and villagers are not allowed to approach. Perhaps some important figures live inside, right?

In addition, when it was dark, the dogs in the village often barked fiercely and urgently, and there was no stop. The villagers all knew that there was a stranger entering the village while the night was falling.

That night, the dogs also barked wildly. Under the night, a carriage rumbled into the village and stopped at the door of the Lu family's house. The patrolling bandits immediately surrounded him and saw the drivers driving the car, all of them stood at the right moment. It turned out that the driver was the head of the Red Brigade in the Northeast!

Hu rolled up the cloth curtain behind him and said respectfully to the person inside: "General Ziyu, we are here!"

The man sitting in the carriage turned out to be Wu Peifu, a national hero who commanded the army to capture the Russian Concession in Harbin and recovered the Central and Eastern Railways! Now he has been granted the title of Governor of Heilongjiang Province and Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East Road Guarding Army by the Beiyang government. This time, he went deep into the tiger's den to negotiate with the head of the Red Brigade's Northeast Revolutionary Army under the name of the Commander of the Middle East Road Guarding Army.

Wu Peifu jumped out of the carriage, looked around, and saw that the gate of the yard had been pushed open, with lanterns and torches hanging inside, and was full of foreigners. Whether sitting or standing, they all looked haggard. When they saw Wu Peifu in uniform walking in, they all spontaneously approaching. A few Chinese-speaking people asked loudly: "General Wu, General Wu, when will we be free again?"

Wu Peifu's serious and rigid face was rarely seen on his smile. He nodded frequently at a group of foreigners and replied in stiff English: "It's soon, it's soon, you will be free soon."

After saying these words, he strode into the main hall under the guidance of Hu Rolling Cloud. Several dim oil lamps were lit in the main hall, and several men and women were sitting scattered. The leaders were Guo Songling and Ma Ma Zhao. The two were discussing something in a low voice. When they saw Wu Peifu and Hu Rolling Cloud coming in, they immediately stopped discussing, stood up and greeted them.

Wu Peifu obviously was not in the mood to have sex with them. After a few greetings, he went straight to the topic: "General Guo, Zhao Dazhu, we have already agreed to your request... The Central and Eastern Railway and the Russian Concession in Harbin have been taken back. I have also asked for the division you requested for. I will also get the organization under my road guards. Wang Qing, Mudanjiang, Suifenhe and other places will also station you. Now it's time for you to fulfill your promise, release the hostages, and accept the adaptation?" (To be continued...)!~!
Chapter completed!