Black Flag Army

Chapter 157 White Guards Detour

Kolchak, who had a shaved head and no beard and looked handsome, sighed: "If we give up attacking Irkutsk and go around from the north, what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of Orthodox refugees following us? The north is colder than the south, the roads are rugged and very desolate, and many of them will freeze to death on the way."

Molewand said: "Commander-in-chief! Those nobles, priests, and nuns should have given up long ago. The reason we have suffered a series of defeats recently is because we were dragged down by them and moved slowly. The Bu party army took the lead everywhere and defeated us with ambushes."

Ivanka said, "Isn't this a bad idea? We were short of military funds at the beginning, and they donated a large sum of money to us as military funds. If they abandon us now, we will be branded as ungrateful."

Chief of the General Staff Yekhdov said: "If we want to accomplish great things, we can't talk about humanity and righteousness. These women, children, the elderly and the weak will trap us to death. Only by getting rid of these burdens can we quickly pass through Krasnoyarsk in the north to the Amur Territory and receive assistance from the United States and Japan."

Kolchak asked for other people's opinions, and more than a dozen army commanders and chiefs of staff said that the march must be accelerated and not be slowed down by refugees.

Alyosha, the commander of the First Army, said: "Commander-in-Chief, this is a time of war, not peace. We are an army, not a charity. Let those Orthodox Christians pray to God!"

Kolchak looked at the map carefully and said, "How about this! Compared to other places, Krasnoyarsk is relatively wealthy. After we capture Krasnoyarsk from the Bolsheviks, we can leave the refugees there to live, and then travel light and head straight to the Amur Territory."

Chief of the General Staff Yekhdov said: "But the Amur Krai is now in the hands of the Black Flag Army. If we cannot capture Irkutsk, we may not be able to recapture the Amur Krai."

Kolchak said: "Alexander was defeated in the Amur Krai. On the one hand, it was due to command errors, and on the other hand, there were too few troops. We have hundreds of thousands of troops, and we have military support from the United States, Britain, and Japan at sea. We will definitely be able to recover the Amur Krai. Irkutsk cannot be taken because it is too close to the black bandit's lair, Beitang City. They can send reinforcements at any time. The hundreds of thousands of troops of the Bolshevik Party are watching from behind. We are like a thorn in the back. We can't attack with all our strength and can only give up. It's different in the Amur Krai. We can fight with all our strength!"

Everyone agreed with what Kolchak said, and Kolchak announced that they would set out tomorrow, still with Mollevan's army as the vanguard, and march north to Krasnoyarsk.

After the meeting, Kolchak kept Alyosha, the commander of the First Army, and said, "Your First Army is the most elite unit in the entire army. You have a heavy responsibility to protect the golden convoy. You can only walk in the middle of the army. You can't rush forward, nor can you fall behind. Do you understand?"

Alyosha said he understood. Returning to his tent, he said to his wife Anna, "Pack your things! We have to leave this damn place tomorrow."

Anna said, "It's snowing outside. Are you still going tomorrow?"

Alyosha said, "We have to go even if it snows. We can't stay here any longer. The Chinese are too stubborn in their resistance. Their fighting capacity is no worse than that of the Bolsheviks! We have to go to Krasnoyarsk in the north. The enemy there can't be as strong as the Chinese here."

As night fell and the lights came on, Anna carefully placed the fragrant black bread, steaming beef stew with potatoes and strong vodka on the dining table. After Alyosha finished his dinner with satisfaction, he picked up Anna and walked straight to the bedroom.

Anna was originally a pure and kind nun in the Orthodox Church, but fate played a cruel joke on her. Due to her natural beauty, she was young and beautiful, but unfortunately she was spotted by the devilish Alyosha and was tyrannically occupied by him. In desperation, Anna could only endure the humiliation and become Alyosha's wife. Alyosha is now over 40 years old, and his thick beard makes him look even older, while Anna has just celebrated her 20th birthday.

Anna, filled with resentment, decided to take revenge on Alyosha. So she secretly found a handsome and handsome scout in the army and developed an underground lover relationship with him. When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Anna got up quietly, put on her clothes, and then gently opened the door of the account office and ran towards her lover's residence. Although there were two sentinels outside the door, they were both asleep leaning against the wall.

However, the innocent Anna did not realize that there was a huge conspiracy hidden in this. It turned out that the seemingly charming lover Yakov was actually a mysterious Black Flag Army intelligence officer! Although he was a citizen of Tsarist Russia, Yakov had a close relationship with Liu Zhendong's girlfriend Katyusha - he was Katyusha's biological brother!

In this intricate emotional entanglement and thrilling spy battle, everyone is involuntarily involved.

In a remote bomb shelter, after a few intimate moments, Anna said to Yakov, "The army will set out tomorrow, did you know?"

Yakov laughed and said, "I'm just a scout. How could I know such an important thing? Aren't we going to attack Irkutsk? Where is the army heading?"

Anna said, "I heard from Alyosha that Kolchak was frightened by the Black Flag Army and is planning to abandon Irkutsk and head north to Krasnoyarsk tomorrow."

Yakov said: "This is good news! If the battle continues, I wonder how many more people will be sent in. Will the First Army serve as the vanguard or the rearguard?"

Anna said: "They are neither the vanguard nor the rearguard. They are walking in the middle of the army."

Yakov asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Isn't their First Army the most elite and combat-capable unit in the entire army? Then why did they choose to march in the middle? Wouldn't this be a huge waste of military resources?"

Anna put her mouth close to Yakov's ear and said in a low voice: "In fact, one of the important reasons why they arranged the marching route in this way is to ensure the safety of the golden convoy. And this mysterious and crucial golden convoy is entrusted to the First Army to be responsible for the entire escort. This matter is highly confidential information, you must not reveal a word to anyone else!"

Hearing this, Yakov looked panicked and quickly responded: "Don't worry, I will keep it a secret! I didn't expect that the huge amount of 600 tons of gold was hidden in the army led by Alyosha!"

Anna frowned and said, "Where are the remaining 600 tons of gold? I heard Alyosha say that we have already used up dozens of tons of gold to pay for the weapons and ammunition of the British. It seems to me that there are only more than 500 tons left in the warehouse now."

While handing a box of steaming beef with potatoes to Yakov, Anna took his kettle and filled it with strong vodka, then said to him gently: "It's too cold when you are on duty at night. You have to drink more to warm your body, and don't catch a cold." After that, she gently patted Yakov's shoulder to show her concern.

After Anna left, Yakov immediately reported the matter to the head of the intelligence team. After being reported through layers of authorities, it soon reached Commander-in-Chief Di Xiong. At this time, the Second Army and the Third Army had also arrived in Suwu City. Di Xiong immediately convened a meeting of the three army deputy commanders and above overnight.

Di Xiong said: "Kolchak's White Guards are leaving. They are going to Krasnoyarsk, which is the territory of the Burundi Party. The Burundi Fulongzhi army following the White Guards will definitely not agree and will definitely attack them. We could have sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight, but 600 tons of gold is too important to us. The resettlement costs of the large number of refugees in Beihai Province and the huge post-war reconstruction costs in Beiling Province are all relying on it, so we must participate in this battle. Leng Hanbing's special forces are ready, and the special forces group led by Liu Zhendong must also participate. Once the Burundi Army and the White Guards fight fiercely, the transport opportunity will quickly airdrop you to the First Army of the White Guards. Remember that the flag of the First Army is the Eagle Head Flag! We must take the gold at all costs!" After the meeting, Leng Hanbing began to select special forces, and Liu Zhendong also selected a group of smart and capable special forces. At the same time, Di Xiong ordered the Second Army and the Third Army to send a division of troops to quietly follow the White Guards and wait for the opportunity to attack.

The next morning, the White Guards set off, and the Orthodox refugees followed behind. Along the way, under Kolchak's orders, the army commanders such as Molewyn and Alyosha kept urging the soldiers to speed up. When they arrived at a valley, the army of the Bolshevik Furunzhi suddenly appeared, occupying the advantageous terrain on the top of the mountain and blocking their way.

Kolchak ordered an attack, heavy artillery bombardment, infantry charge, some White Guards fell on the way, others rushed to the top of the hill, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat! Behind the White Guards, the Bu party generals Dukhachev and Bujon led their troops to attack the White Guards' rear guard, and the Ivanka army, who was responsible for the rear, fought desperately to buy time for the front army. Many refugees were killed and injured by stray bullets from both sides.

The two sides were engaged in a fierce battle. At this time, dozens of bombers and transport planes appeared in the sky. Under the cover of the bombers, Leng Hanbing led the special forces and Liu Zhendong's special forces regiment to descend from the sky and quickly attacked the gold convoy. The White Guards were caught off guard and fell into chaos. The special forces and the special forces regiment successfully controlled the gold convoy. They then drove away or shot the White Guard drivers on the carriages, turned the carriages loaded with boxes of gold around and drove them back. Alyosha reacted and hurriedly commanded the White Guards of the First Army to counterattack and try to take the gold back. As the two armies fought in a melee, both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Black Flag Army had too few people and suffered losses. Many special forces and special forces soldiers were killed. Even the head of the special forces regiment, Shi Zhu, died heroically in the hand-to-hand combat. The support troops of the Second Army and the Third Army arrived urgently and repelled the counterattack of the White Guards. Under the cover of the two divisions of the Black Flag Army, the special forces and the special forces regiment finally transported more than 500 tons of gold away.

Most of Kolchak's troops were fighting the Bolshevik army and had no time to help Alyosha's First Army. Seeing the gold being robbed, Kolchak was furious. When Alyosha reported to Kolchak, the angry Kolchak pulled out his pistol and the gun went off. Alyosha screamed and fell to the ground and died.

"A bunch of rubbish!" Kolchak cursed. He knew the situation was hopeless, so he fled to Siberia with his remaining troops. The Black Flag Army returned victoriously with gold. This batch of gold solved the urgent needs of Beihai Province and Beiling Province, and also provided financial support for the development and growth of the Black Flag Army. However, after counting the number, it was found that there were only 530 tons of gold, all of which were large gold bars weighing one kilogram each. Liu Zhendong recalled that at that time, the horses of several carriages were killed by stray bullets, and the gold on those carriages had to be abandoned. It was a pity, otherwise they could have brought back a few more tons of gold.

On the evening of February 1, 1919, snowflakes were falling. In Beitang City, in a very inconspicuous Zhaoji Tavern in the south of the city, a group of guests walked into the tavern, led by a man and a woman, both wearing bamboo hats.

The tavern hall was deserted, with only a middle-aged drinker in a tattered cotton coat drinking and reciting poetry.

The middle-aged drunkard chanted, "I have a golden cup, but who has wine? The wind blows the willows over the White Cloud River. I sing wildly and drink till the last drop of a thousand cups, and I'll be drunk until next September 9th. Life is but two ounces of wine, one ounce is helplessness and one ounce is sorrow. They are all guests of the underworld, so why bother about worry and sorrow?"

The gloomy man said to the beautiful woman beside him: "I don't understand! Chief of Staff Lan has always been very knowledgeable. Do you know who wrote this poem? What does this poem mean?"

Chief of Staff Lan smiled and said, "This was written by Xin Qiji, a famous poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. Xin Qiji was originally a famous general who fought against the Jin Dynasty. He was a warrior, but he had ambitions that could not be fulfilled and could not fight. The Southern Song Dynasty court forced such a general to become a poet. In the end, he died of illness in grief and anger. The meaning of this poem is that he had no way to serve his country, so he had to drink to drown his sorrows. This drinker must also be a person who felt that his talent was not appreciated."

The middle-aged drinker clasped his fists towards Chief of Staff Lan and said, "I am Deng Haoxiong from Guangdong, nice to meet you, Mr. Lan!"

Lan Jinping smiled and said, "You actually recognized me, but I didn't recognize you. I'm so ashamed!"

The two guards behind her quickly stood in front of her, and one of them said, "This person's identity is unknown, Lan Juzi, be careful!"

Deng Haoxiong said: "I often see Lan Juzi's photos in the Justice Daily, so it's not surprising that he recognizes you. As for me, I'm just a nobody, so it's normal that Lan Juzi doesn't recognize me!"

The guard was still looking at him warily, his hand in his arms, holding the handle of his gun.

Deng Haoxiong added: "With Nankou Killer God here, do you have to be so nervous? If I were really an assassin, I would have been killed by Li Killer God before I could make a move."

Li Fei, who had a gloomy face, smiled and said, "It turns out that Mr. Deng even knows me! It seems that he has been in Beitang City for a long time?"