The sun never sets.

"The Tsar's officers cannot be trusted, and neither can the officers of the Provisional Government!"

The Bolsheviks launched an armed uprising in July, but it failed. After the uprising failed, the Provisional Government liquidated the Bolsheviks. When the Bolsheviks returned and captured St. Petersburg, they also killed many people in the Provisional Government. There was a deep hatred between the two sides. Many officers of the Provisional Government resented the Soviet government and might cause trouble at any time.

As for the Tsar's officers, most of them went to Grand Duke Nicholas or Empress Olga. Many of the officers and cadets who stayed in Petrograd died in the turmoil. The remaining people were frightened by the killing and are now very honest. But now that Olga I has recovered Moscow, it is hard to say which side those people will turn to.

Therefore, most of the Bolshevik comrades present at the meeting disagreed with retaining the officers of the Tsar and the Provisional Government. "Shoot all those people!" Russians like to go to extremes when doing things. When they are good, they are good from the bottom of their hearts, but when they are bad, it really makes people want to grind them into ashes.

Russians are really reliable when they are reliable. For example, when the Chernobyl nuclear power plant leaked, the Soviet generals and officers knew that they would be found by radiation, but they still took the lead without hesitation.

But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russians really became unreliable. The so-called great emperor Putin has been slapped in the face by Europe and the United States countless times, but he still wants to join the European and American world, and even wants to join NATO. The great emperor Putin has been slapped by Europe and the United States again and again, but he still remains infatuated. If NATO had not expanded eastward to Ukraine, the great emperor Putin would probably continue to give his face to Europe and the United States.

The Crimea incident actually had little to do with Putin. Someone else prepared the food and delivered it to the table, and Putin only admitted it afterwards. After being warned by Europe and the United States, Putin did not dare to eat the food when it was delivered to his mouth. Moreover, the emperor issued a series of edicts, ordering the generals on the front line to withdraw their troops. Later, he simply removed the generals from their posts, ordered them to return to Moscow, and then placed them under house arrest.

In other words, the times have progressed and the people of Enluo don't read much, otherwise, there would probably be things like "Fengbo Pavilion" and "False accusations".

The extremes of the Russians are somewhat similar to those of the Japanese, but they are not exactly the same. The extremes of the Russians are direct and violent, while the extremes of the Japanese are hidden and brutal. In an island country with many mountains and little land and frequent earthquakes, only brutal personalities can be cultivated. No matter how kind and submissive the Japanese appear on the surface, they are brutal in their bones.

Trotsky was very dissatisfied with his comrades’ proposal to shoot the old officers. “We are short of officers. If we don’t keep those old officers, the combat effectiveness of the army cannot be guaranteed!”

"We can train our own officers!"

“Yes, the working class is the most powerful!”

"It takes time to train our own officers, and we don't have that much time! The White Army will attack us soon!"

Chapter 632: Becoming Stronger

Trotsky had a high prestige among the Bolsheviks, but he could not convince everyone. He had to stand with Lenin to convince other comrades. This is why Trotsky and Lenin had many differences and contradictions, but he was still Lenin's closest comrade.

Lenin needed Trotsky, and Trotsky needed Lenin even more, so they were the closest comrades. Most of the comrades in the party had suffered persecution from the Tsarist authorities, and they continued to persevere in the revolution. Everyone was very opinionated, or stubborn.

If you want to gain the support of your comrades in the party, you can't force them, you have to convince them with reason. Trotsky was also good at reasoning, but he was still not as good as Comrade Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

When most leaders in the party disagreed with retaining the old officers, Trotsky could only seek help from Lenin. "Ilyich, you know that there are many old officers who are willing to revolutionize. Our goal is to liberate everyone, including the old officers. As long as they can sincerely support the revolution, why can't we accept them?"

Lenin nodded, "I agree with Comrade Trotsky... Listen to me! Our revolution is at the most critical moment. As long as we can defeat the Chinese invaders, the revolution will be smooth sailing!"

"Some people may ask, can we defeat the invaders with just hundreds of thousands of untrained Red Guards? If hundreds of thousands of troops are militia and Red Guards, then we may not be able to win. But if we reorganize the Red Guards and militia into the Red Army, then we can win!"

"The Chinese have planes, cannons and tanks. We also have planes and cannons, but we don't have tanks. Tanks are very powerful, but there are ways to deal with them.

. Britain, France and Germany all had tanks, and more tanks than the Chinese. Did they win the World War? No! "

Britain, France and Germany all have a lot of tanks, but it is not necessarily the case that they have more tanks than China, unless the number of tanks of the three countries is added together, then they do have more tanks than China.

This is just the quantity. In terms of quality, the "Panzer II" is much stronger than the tanks on the Western Front.

However, Lenin was trying to encourage his comrades, so he was not so strict in what he said. He himself did not care whether what he said was right or not. Comrade Lenin had flexible means and moral values.

"It is people who decide the outcome of a war!"

Mikhail Vasilievich Frunze asked: "Comrade Lenin, do you also think we can defeat the Chinese invaders?"

"How can this be?"

"Comrade Vladimir, you must be careful about your words and actions!"

Zinoviev frowned. "As members of the Bolshevik Party, we cannot speak without thinking. As a key member of the Party, your words and deeds will have a great impact on the Party and the people."

"Comrade Zinoviev, I am not speaking nonsense."

Lenin said confidently: "Our army has three major advantages, and the enemy has three major disadvantages. As long as we play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, it will not be difficult to defeat the enemy!"

When this was said, even Joseph Vissarionovich, who was smoking his pipe quietly beside him, could not help but show a surprised expression. He had been in Vladivostok for many years and had been to China, where he saw the Chinese industrial zone in Taiyuan. He had also studied the battle process between the National People's Army and the Russian Army, and was very interested in the reasons why the People's Army seized power in China and became stronger from weak.

But what Joseph was most interested in was the political program of the People's Party. When he had nothing to do in Vladivostok, he read all the articles such as "Selected Works of Lin Yongchang", "Selected Works of Lin Yongchang", "Lin Yongchang's Thoughts", "Lin Yongchang's Doctrine", etc. He particularly liked the articles such as "On Contradiction", "On Seeking Truth from Facts" and "Analysis of the Current Situation of Various Classes in China".

These articles broadened Joseph's horizons, enriched his thoughts, and made his work in Vladivostok much smoother. However, after returning to Petrograd, that is, St. Petersburg, the ideas he learned from the East became the reason for his attack.

The "worker-peasant alliance" is good, but it is wrong to think that the "land revolution" is the most important thing. The workers are the vanguard of the revolution. In Russia, we cannot implement the strategy of surrounding the cities with the countryside. Instead, we must first seize the big cities and develop revolutionary forces in Petrograd and Moscow. This is the most correct approach.

As long as the revolution in St. Petersburg and Moscow succeeds, there will be no problem in other places. On the contrary, as long as St. Petersburg and Moscow fail, the revolution will definitely fail.

Comrade Lenin severely criticized his small peasant mentality, believing that Joseph had been corrupted by backward ideas during his years in the Far East.

Joseph Vissarionovich was also imprisoned several times. His pursuit of revolution was unquestionable, and his respect for Comrade Lenin was also unquestionable. But he witnessed China's great success in national construction and military construction. Seeing is believing. How could it be false if he saw it with his own eyes?

But on the other side was Comrade Lenin, which made Joseph Vissarionovich somewhat shaken. Perhaps it was really as Comrade Lenin said, that China could not be used as a model for the victory of the revolution?

Now Comrade Lenin said that the Red Army had three major advantages and the enemy had three major disadvantages. Joseph wanted to hear what Comrade Lenin had to say.

"Comrade Lenin, please tell us where our advantages are!"

Most of the comrades had great confidence in Comrade Lenin, even Kamenev and Zinoviev, who often sang a different tune.

Comrade Lenin, who had become balder and stronger in the past ten years, smiled and said, "Our first advantage is St. Petersburg. With St. Petersburg, we can have a steady supply of troops and weapons. Moreover, St. Petersburg is far away from China. The Chinese troops and weapons and ammunition have to be transported from the far east. With such a long distance, the Chinese have to use a large number of troops to protect the railways and roads along the way, and can only exert one tenth of their strength at most. This is the first disadvantage of the Chinese."

"Our second advantage is the weather. It has already started snowing in St. Petersburg, and the same is true in Moscow. We have all adapted to the cold weather in Russia, so even if it snows it will not have much impact on us. But what about the Chinese? Are they ready to welcome the Russian winter?"

"The third, last, and most important advantage is that we have the support of the broad proletariat. The Chinese are invaders, and invaders are unpopular. All Russians will stand up against them. As long as we gather these opposing forces together, we can teach the Chinese reactionary army a lesson they will never forget!"

Chapter 633 Bonds

Did Comrade Lenin really believe that the Red Army could defeat the Chinese invaders? Looking at his confident look, he was very sure. But considering Comrade Lenin's past deeds, it seems that this is not the case. You know, although Comrade Lenin was a staunch revolutionary, his methods of doing things were quite flexible.

Kamenev and Zinoviev did not agree with Lenin's words and still seemed worried. When the armed uprising was launched ten years ago, Lenin - then still called Ulyanov

——They were so confident that they seemed to be able to sweep the Tsar and his lackeys into the garbage dump of history with just a wave of their hands. As for the result, we all know it. Three months ago, Lenin was also confident, but the Bolsheviks were driven to Finland.

If it weren't for his comrades risking their lives to rescue him, Comrade Lenin would have been arrested and thrown into prison by the minions of the Provisional Government.

Because they were so close, they could see more clearly. Not only Kamenev and Zinoviev, but also Joseph and other comrades did not blindly worship Lenin. The one who had the most confidence in Lenin was probably Frunze.

Lenin saw the expressions of his comrades, but he did not care. He had faced worse situations. Now they had taken a big step on the road to victory and pushed the revolution to a new climax. No matter how the situation developed next, it would not be worse than ten years ago.

He smiled and said to everyone: "Even if we can't retake Moscow, with the great city of Petrograd, we can at least hold on until the beginning of next spring. This is almost the same as the Paris Commune. By that time, the situation may change again."

"Changes? You mean the Germans?"

Lenin smiled and said: "Maybe it's the Germans, maybe it's some other reason, we have to believe in the revolutionary army."

Seeing that everyone was still somewhat skeptical, Comrade Lenin released his final trick, "If we really can't hold on, we can retreat to Finland!"

Oh, so that’s how it is!

Finland is right next to Petrograd and has been in a semi-independent state since the February Revolution. When the world is in chaos, heroes will take advantage of the situation. Now Russia is in chaos, and places like Finland, Ukraine and Poland are full of outstanding people with horns on their heads.

Frunze frowned, wanting to rebuke such capitulationist remarks, but since it was Comrade Lenin who said it... "Should we send people to Finland to do some preparatory work first?"

Finland is now in a semi-independent state, with nationalists controlling most of the country. They pay little attention to the Provisional Government or the Soviet Government, but are busy fighting for territory and power. There is a Provisional Government and a Soviet Government in St. Petersburg, and there are Red and White Armies in Finland.

The atmosphere between the Red and White sides was becoming increasingly tense, but it was not time to start a war yet, because winter was coming. Even the Finns were reluctant to fight in the middle of winter.

According to the judgment of Lenin, Trotsky and others, fighting will definitely break out in Finland after the beginning of next spring. The Red Army and the White Army are equally strong. The Red Army has a revolutionary mass base and more soldiers, while the White Army has connections with the Germans and can buy arms from Germany. It may even be able to directly attract a few German troops.

If no troops were sent to support the Soviet regime in Finland, the Finnish Red Army would probably not be a match for the Finnish White Army.

But Lenin disagreed with sending people to aid Finland. "Petrograd is the most important, followed by Moscow. Only when these two big cities are liberated can the revolution achieve final victory."

The Bolsheviks had their own plans, and the People's Army had its own plans. After taking Moscow, Lin Yongchang did not continue to attack St. Petersburg, but used Moscow as the center, using the railway to maneuver and clear out the surrounding defeated soldiers, bandits and hostile armed forces.

On the Eastern Front, Archduke Nicholas retreated again and again, and he had to clean up the railway line and send some supplies to the front. It didn't matter if there were fewer weapons and ammunition, as long as the soldiers were not hungry, or at least not so hungry that they had to run away.

As for the Bolsheviks entrenched in St. Petersburg, Lin Yongchang still wanted to negotiate first. It would be best if the Bolsheviks could be incorporated into the Russian People's Party. This goal was probably a bit difficult. Secondly, it was to buy time to stabilize the situation around Moscow. In addition, it would take time to mobilize troops.

Russia was too vast, and one million troops were not enough. At least one million more were needed to suppress all opposition. Trains were transporting the People's Army from the East day and night, and the speed of recruiting troops from Russia was also much faster. Previously, 20,000 new soldiers were recruited every month, but now the number of troops recruited per month has reached 60,000.

Olga I announced a nationwide land reform, and all Russians could get dozens of acres of land for free. Due to Russia's special national conditions, some changes were made in the process of land reform to adapt to Russia's national conditions. For example, most of the land in the villages belonged to the village collective, which was consistent with Stolypin's reform, and the Russians quickly accepted it.

In fact, China also has the practice of returning land to village collectives. The land is nominally nationalized, but in actual operations, different adjustments are made according to different situations.

The power of land reform was so great that Russian peasants flocked to join the army and were more enthusiastic than ever before. In many cases, before the People's Army arrived, the peasants spontaneously formed militias, seized local power, and then welcomed the king's army.

The violent land revolution was accompanied by inevitable killings. Peasants killed noble landlords, and noble armed forces killed peasants. Sometimes the Bolsheviks joined in, and the various forces killed people indiscriminately.

If it weren't for the fact that the weather was too cold and not suitable for large-scale military deployment, I'm afraid many places would have been burned to the ground. The People's Army was not ready to attack St. Petersburg yet, but

They could not watch the local areas fall into chaos, nor could they let the Bolsheviks control the vast rural areas. They could only continue to send troops to places like Novgorod and Kirich.

This required more troops, so the number of troops further expanded, and military expenditures continued to rise, to the point where the people's government could no longer bear it. Wang Qi sent three consecutive telegrams to Moscow, each of which conveyed the same message: the finances were about to be overwhelmed.

The long expedition and transportation over thousands of miles consumed ten times more resources than fighting on the Chinese border. This was because the Russian Empire built the Trans-Siberian Railway. Without this railway, the People's Army would have no way of getting to Moscow.

Regarding the problem of insufficient military funds, Lin Yongchang quickly gave an idea, "Issue another round of war bonds!"

Chapter 634: Secret Agreement

Borrowing money to fight wars happened a lot in Europe. In the hundreds of years of war, kings and leaders of various groups played this game. Borrow money to fight a war, and use the spoils to pay back the debt if you win. What if you lose? Hey, that's right, why would you care so much if you lose?

Borrowing money, repaying money, robbing, and fighting, in this cycle, the earliest banking industry developed on the European continent. A group of armed groups calling themselves the Knights Templar were said to be the first to open a bank. Those guys had both military power and money, and the banking industry developed rapidly. After a period of time, the Knights Templar became the richest group on the European continent, and even the King of France owed them a large sum of money.

Then, the King of France joined other debtors to destroy the Knights Templar. This story tells us that the one who owes money is the boss. Therefore, after China issued the first loan to the Allied Powers, it stopped paying money.

Britain and France were extremely angry about this. Well, not really. With the $100 billion loan from the United States, Britain and France were no longer short of military funds. Soldiers on the front lines and civilians in Britain and France were still starving, but this was a world war, so they could starve. Anyway, the ruling class, like Churchill, would not starve.

When the people across the country and the soldiers on the front line were starving, Churchill was still plump and white, and even became fatter, which made people really envy him.

The Allies wanted to continue to obtain loans from China, but failed. They also wanted to pay in US dollars, but were rejected. The Chinese government only accepted hard currency and RMB. This made Britain and France very dissatisfied. When Olga I ascended the throne in Vladivostok and China's million-strong army poured into Russia, dissatisfaction turned into shock and fear.

Just one look at the map shows what will happen after Russia and China unite. Most of the world island is dyed bright red. Even if the Allies defeat the Central Powers, they will face an unprecedentedly large empire.

China has a population of nearly 500 million. Russia lost a large number of people in the war, but it still has 120 million. China and Russia together have 620 million people and occupy a land area of more than 30 million square kilometers. If Japan and ASEAN's night attack group: ⑥94⑨, ③6①3⑤ that group of countries are included, the British Empire can no longer claim to be the world hegemon.

After hearing the news that the People's Army was entering Russia along the Trans-Siberian Railway, the gentlemen in Downing Street were first shocked, then terrified, and then wanted to contain it, or ideally break up the Sino-Russian alliance.

Maintaining the balance of power on the continent is an instinct ingrained in British politicians and statesmen. What maritime powers fear most is the emergence of a continental hegemon. As long as they control the continent, they will inevitably move towards the ocean, which will cause the British Empire to lose its maritime hegemony and the throne of world hegemony.

In order to maintain its naval hegemony, Britain allied with the Netherlands to deal with Spain, allied with France to deal with the Netherlands, allied with Germany to deal with France, allied with France to deal with Russia, and now it has allied with France and Russia to deal with Germany. No matter which country wants to become the overlord on land, Britain will regard it as its sworn enemy.

In the past, Britain's "Continental Balance" policy was implemented perfectly. But this time, before the challenger Germany was suppressed, a new challenge emerged.

Faced with this situation, what should Britain do?

China and Russia are both continental powers with large populations and vast territories. Let alone a union, as long as they get close to each other, they will be a nightmare for other powers. After Olga I ascended the throne, she claimed that she was willing to withdraw from the world war, which made Britain and France furious. The British and French coalition forces fought to the death on the Western Front, and both countries were exhausted. If Russia had not launched several attacks on the Eastern Front, the British and French coalition forces would have been defeated long ago.

If Russia withdrew from the war, the war between the Allies and the Central Powers would still be fought. The $100 billion brought by the Americans was good, but the combat effectiveness of the US military was very poor. In the battle of the Isonzo area in August, the US and Italian troops were almost annihilated by the German-Austrian coalition forces.

In this battle, the combined number of Italian and American troops exceeded 80, with casualties and more than prisoners. The Italian army was poorly equipped, while the American army had no combat experience. The common point between the two was low morale. They were defeated by the German-Austrian coalition's aircraft, tanks, artillery, and poison gas bombs, and lost all the land they had finally occupied.

Because of this defeat, Britain and France realized the value and irreplaceability of Russia. The dollar is good, but the U.S. military can only fight when the wind is favorable. The U.S. military cannot support such brutal wars as the Verdun meat grinder and the Battle of Paris.

in order to

Let Russia continue to fight. Britain and France sent a lot of aid to the provisional government, including a large amount of arms and food, but those materials are still piled up in the northern ports and cannot be transported to the front. France only needs Russia to continue to contain the Allied forces on the Eastern Front. Britain wants more. They hope that the provisional government can overthrow the Tsarist government of Olga I. A huge and weak Russia is what Britain needs.

But the Provisional Government failed to overthrow the Olga Tsarist Government, but was overthrown by the Bolshevik Government. This is really weird, those Bolsheviks were beaten to a pulp by the Provisional Government just two months ago, how come they suddenly made a comeback?

The Provisional Government collapsed, and the supplies sent to Russia by the Allies fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks. To the Allies, the Bolsheviks were more hateful than the Tsarist government of Olga.

What Olga I wanted was a ceasefire without ceding territory or paying reparations, but the Bolsheviks were prepared to cede Poland, Ukraine and other places to Germany in order to achieve a ceasefire, and to pay Germany a large amount of reparations, as well as food, iron ore, oil and other supplies.

Britain and France had many spies active in Germany. Due to the long-term nature of the war, there were some powerful people in Germany who had many connections with the Allied Powers and turned a blind eye to espionage activities. As a result, British spies obtained evidence of secret collusion between the German government and the Bolsheviks, as well as the entire content of the so-called peace treaty.

The treaty consists of 14 articles, 5 annexes and 7 supplementary treaties. The main contents are:

① The contracting parties declared a ceasefire.

② The Russian army will be fully demobilized, and before the signing of the general peace treaty, Russian warships will return to Russian ports or be immediately disarmed.

③ Russia gave up its jurisdiction and sovereignty over Poland, Lithuania, Courland, Livonia and Estland.

④ Pending the conclusion of a general peace treaty and the complete demobilization of the Russian troops, Germany will continue to occupy the areas occupied by German troops to the east of the above-mentioned areas on the eve of the signing of the peace treaty.

⑤ The Russian army immediately withdrew from the Ardahan, Kars and Batumi regions (the region was actually annexed by Türkiye).

⑥ Russia recognized the independence of Ukraine and Finland, immediately withdrew its troops from Finland, Ukraine and the Aland Islands, guaranteed to sign a peace treaty with Ukraine immediately and recognized the peace treaties between Ukraine and Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Turkey.

⑦ Russia paid Germany 60 billion marks in war reparations.

⑧Germany promised not to interfere in the internal affairs of the Soviet Union and not to attack Russia from Finland.

This harsh treaty would not only cause Russia to lose 323 million square kilometers of land and nearly 90 million residents, but also 73% of the country's coal production, 54% of iron ore, 33% of industry and % of railways would be located in the occupied areas.

Chapter 635: Dazzling Brilliance

After the secret treaty between the German government and the Bolsheviks was announced, it immediately caused an uproar and the whole world was dissatisfied. Russian nationalists shouted: "The Soviets are shameless traitors", and the White Russians loyal to the Tsar claimed to eliminate all Bolsheviks. Britain, France and other countries that were originally in the Allied camp regarded their former comrades as enemies. Even many people within the Bolsheviks expressed opposition to the treaty.

But Comrade Lenin soon made a statement that the Bolsheviks had not signed a secret treaty with the German government, and that everything was a conspiracy of the shameless Tsarist government of Olga.

Well, Comrade Lenin was right. Although he had thought about negotiating with the German government, the secret contacts had never been smooth. The Germans had lost too much in the war, and they were starving to death. However, they had what could be called the strongest army in the world. This was like a desperate and hungry bandit who had a lot on his mind.