the world is at stake

A few kilometers away, there are also a group of workers repairing the roadbed under the wind and snow and iodine-tungsten lamps to ensure the rapid progress of the project.

The construction site supervisor learned that the chief engineer of the project had arrived, and laughed and led Zhan Tianyou into the headquarters of the temporary station—a compound surrounded by two-story simple buildings.There are searchlights and machine gun posts on the roof.

The heating is drawn from the boiler room in the courtyard, and the thick fur coat can be taken off when entering the house.When Zhan Tianyou entered the room, he asked, "How is the progress of the project?"

The construction site supervisor patted his chest, "I promise to open to traffic in the first half of next year, a gift to the motherland."

This "guarantee" aroused joyful laughter from everyone, and despite the cold winter months, they were full of energy.

As a pioneer of China's railway industry, Zhan Tianyou has been in poor health.Original History By 1919, he would die of exhaustion, abdominal attacks, and heart failure.

Now... how could such a hardworking national treasure master die at the age of 58?

This is looking down on 'Holy Light'.Whether it is Dr. Fuhrman, a master surgeon, or Zhou Qingfeng, the king of artillery, there is a way.

The central government originally wanted Zhan Tianyou to be the Minister of Railways.But after working for less than a year, he didn't want to stay in the imperial capital's office, and went to continue to build the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway instead.

In the past, due to poor technical conditions and backward equipment, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway used a lot of route planning as a last resort.With the shield machine that is good at digging holes and tunnels, and the bridge-building and rail-laying vehicles, the "last resort" plan can be overthrown and restarted.

Zhan Tianyou spent one year rebuilding the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, and two years to complete the extension of the Beijing-Baotou Railway from the Imperial Capital to Baotou.After repairing the "Jingbao", he started to go north from Zhangjiakou again, preparing to build the railway to Ulaanbaatar.

In the north of Zhangjiakou, the land is vast and sparsely populated, which is a great benefit for the construction of the railway.

In the past, manual track laying was used, and 150 workers were used every day (excluding the workload of transporting sleepers and building roadbed), and generally only about 1 km of track could be laid.

After using professional track laying equipment, only [-] labors are needed per day, and the average track laying is three kilometers, and the fastest is five kilometers, which greatly saves manpower and material resources.

The railway lines in China are growing at a speed visible to the naked eye, and about [-] kilometers of railways need to be built every year.Every time a road is built, the economy and national defense can be extended by a large amount.

What is currently holding China's road construction speed back is too little steel production. 1000 million tons is not enough at all, [-] million tons, [-] billion tons can be consumed.

"Don't worry, this year we have opened a few more iron and coal mines, built more than a dozen ore dressing plants and hundreds of kilometers of mining railways, and there are also many dedicated docks along the coast.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held a meeting last week to set up a special project to tackle the [-] cubic converter and the oxygen top blowing method.

I don't know steelmaking, but it is reported that technological improvements can reduce coal consumption by 50.00%, increase production capacity by 20.00% to [-]%, and reduce costs.

In addition, Japan's steel plants will be used by me. Next year, the country's steel production will increase by at least 50.00%, and strive to break through 2000 million tons in the year after. "

Hearing such news on the construction site is always exciting.Today's builders are all hard-working, and the salary of civil engineering can attract many outstanding talents to work hard.

Zhan Tianyou came with the train transporting building materials and stayed at Saiyinshanda temporary station for one night. The next day, he would take a track-laying car to the northernmost track-laying site to see it.

It's just that the chief engineer still has to go north, and the site supervisor and others are hesitant.

"Is there any difficulty?"

"The main reason is that the road construction team encountered some Mongolian horse bandits from time to time."

"Are there many?"

"Not many, usually a dozen or so people come to attack, grab some food and clothes for the winter and run away. The Bailai is a large group of bandits, which is extremely rare. The army knows that they will send planes and armored vehicles to chase them, and they will not stop until they are wiped out."

Before '1960', the population of Outer Mongolia was less than one million.It is not yet 1920, and with the productivity and medical capabilities of the grassland nomads, life is harder than that of the farmers in the interior.

The central government can meet a large number of poor people when building roads in the country, and it is inevitable to encounter bandits everywhere.The governance of banditry is mainly based on economics and politics, supplemented by military strikes.

The bandits everywhere are not as powerful as described in the "later generations" street stall literature, and they cannot withstand the government's multi-pronged attack.As for the Mongolian steppe, the situation is no exception.

The road repair team is dispatched with hundreds of thousands of people, driving with guns, and planes for investigation.Seeing such a large team, the herdsmen on the grassland were very enthusiastic and good at singing and dancing.

As long as they are given a job and have food and drink, the road construction team can absorb a large number of herdsmen to settle down.Three or four thousand herdsmen settled here at Saiyinshanda's temporary construction site, exchanging cattle and sheep fur for food, cloth, ironware, tea, etc.

Every winter, herdsmen have to endure the "white disaster" caused by heavy snow, and a large number of livestock and people will freeze to death.In order to avoid the 'white disaster', the central government recruited herdsmen to spend the winter collectively, and purchased their cattle, sheep and livestock to provide relief.

But there are always some people who don't want to live a good life, so they like to gallop on horseback and plunder around.Especially the Mongolian princes whose power and status were seriously threatened.They live a poor life in Ulaanbaatar, dreaming of profuse sweating.

"What should I do?"

"What else can I do? Kill them."

Chapter 38 Russia must act first

A lake appeared on the endless Mongolian grassland.

The terrain on the shore of the lake is undulating, and the snow is vast; the lake is frozen and boundless, quiet and blue.There are countless bubbles underwater, and occasionally swimming fish are trapped in it, as if time is frozen by the severe cold.

A tent was set up by the lake, and an iron pot framed the mouth of the tent. Cow dung was burning underneath.Beside the iron pot lay an ax, a splintered shotgun, and several rounds of red casing ammunition.

Two corpses wearing leather coats and hats fell beside the iron pot and hit the suitcases piled up with daily necessities.There was also a corpse pressed in the tent, the back was split open, and both died not long ago.

Not far from the corpse was a string of messy horseshoes, and a red Chinese national flag was torn apart, thrown in the mud and snow, and trampled on.

Of the three bodies, the outer two were shot dead.The man in the tent was attacked in a hurry, and just as he took out his weapon, he was cornered by the enemy, hacked with a saber, and unfortunately died.

Under the cold current of Siberia, the deceased did not shed much blood, and the wound was quickly frozen.Even the corpse quickly lost temperature and became hard.

The assailant didn't take any items away, just simply killed, and immediately fled away without hesitation after succeeding.The whole process seemed extremely calm, without unnecessary actions, extremely fierce and cold.

This is what they saw when the armored reconnaissance company of the 72nd Division of the Wehrmacht found the tent.

Jiang Yiwu, the major of the Armored Battalion who personally led the team, gnashed his teeth and cursed: "This is the third field survey team to be attacked. We don't even know who did it."

A few years ago, Jiang served as the infantry company commander of the [-]st Division in Liaodong, and the battle with the Japanese army in Anshan was a mess.If it weren't for the poor military equipment of the enemy at that time, the team he led would have to be wiped out.

After leaving the battlefield alive, Jiang entered the Nanchang Luyuan for a year, and then went to Shijiazhuang Luyuan for half a year to study, and then served in several newly formed infantry divisions, carrying out bandit suppression and border expansion tasks.

The vast Mongolian grassland is the best mechanized battlefield, and the land frozen by wind and snow is also suitable for wheeled or tracked chariots.The light armored battalion commanded by Jiang Yiwu was responsible for mopping up the wandering bandits north of Sai Yinshanda.

It is said that they are bandits, but in fact they are more of the followers of the Mongolian king and a small group of regular Russian troops who sneaked in.Many of them are Cossack cavalry from the Caucasus.

These beasts have a tough temperament, come and go like the wind, are familiar with the terrain, and have a popular base.They don't necessarily have to ride horses, they will also drive armored trucks and launch surprise attacks with machine guns.

Russia has carried out expeditions from Moscow to the east since the early eighteenth century, establishing Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Vladivostok and other cities along the way.

The Republic of Tatar, the Republic of Tuva, the Republic of Buryatia, and the indigenous puppet regimes were also established.Since Tsarist Russia did not encounter any strong resistance during its pioneering process, it wanted to establish Yellow Russia after arriving in the Far East.

Since the arrival of the "Holy Light" and the control of the three eastern provinces, the struggle between China and Russia has never stopped.Tsarist Russia began to like to hire Mongolian bandits to harass Heilongjiang and other places, and was quickly eliminated by the National Defense Forces, and then the Cossacks were transferred to start the struggle against Mongolia.

In the past few years, China has relied on its growing national power to push its actual control border west to north-on the map, China has more than 1000 square kilometers of land, but many places are not in its own hands.

Two years earlier, the prince of Outer Mongolia dared to send troops to the south to loot near Zhangjiakou.With the construction of the railway, the light armored units of the Wehrmacht were responsible for laying the front stand for the engineering team building the road, driving the opponent north.

The infantry, cavalry, aircraft, and armored forces of both sides have already fought repeatedly.More than a dozen divisions of the National Defense Forces were pulled over to fight rounds, feeling the threat from the harsh environment and cunning opponents.

"Battalion Commander, the enemy came from the ice of 'Haizi'. It may be a horse-drawn sledge." A Mongolian soldier studied the horseshoe prints left on the ground and pointed to the opposite side of the snowy lake.

A few days ago, the cold current went south, and heavy snow fell all over Mongolia.It was cold and windy, and the plane could not take off.Several field survey teams failed to return to defense in time and became the targets of the enemy.

The lightly armed troops of the National Defense Forces were ordered to rescue the lone exploration team, but the wheeled armored vehicles slipped from time to time on the snow and ice, and the maneuvering speed was not as fast as the opponent's horse-drawn sledge.

When it snowed heavily, the horseshoe marks on the ground would be covered in a short time. Jiang Yiwu, who was half a step too slow, couldn't chase after him.He ordered people to carry the remains of the victims onto the off-road vehicle, and after simply packing up the campsite, he spread out the map in hand.

"In such a snowy day, even if the sledge can run, the horses can't run long distances. The enemy didn't pack anything, so there must be no shortage of supplies. There must be a secret camp for the horses to feed and keep warm, and it won't be too far away. "

Jiang Yiwu glanced at the compass placed on the map, connected the killing points of the three field exploration teams, and drew a rough location on the map, "Communications, let the three platoon leaders come to me."

Outside the field of vision blocked by the heavy snow, only a dozen kilometers away from Jiang Yiwu, two horse-drawn sledges and four or five cavalrymen were marching against the snowflakes and cold wind.

These elites wear loose blue breeches and fur cloaks, and carry extra ammunition pouches and shoulder straps.They used to have shaved heads under heavy fur hats, bushy beards and traditional black 'Cherkessk' military overcoats.

Under the protection of leather hats and sheepskin scarves were seven or eight dark faces cut by wind and frost. They came from the Caucasus Cossacks of the [-]st Volga Cavalry Regiment of Nicholas II's Tsarist Guard.

Under the guidance of the earth king guide, the Cossack team arrived at a low hill of grassland facing south and leeward.Several yurts are hidden in it, covered by hills and snow, and cannot be seen if they are not close to [-] meters.

As the team approached, the snowdrifts near the low hill loosened, and several sentries with guns appeared.They took off their gloves, pinched their fingers and whistled.

Two or three people came out from the direction of the yurt, and the leaders wore dirty fur robes and hats, shouting loudly: "Captain Kadyrov, is the operation going well?"

"Very well, we killed another three-person exploration team."

The Cossack who led the team dismounted, threw the reins to the nearby Mongolian groom, and said: "Remember to feed more beans, and the water in the manger must be warm. If my horse is too weak to run, I will cut yours off." head."

The groom took the reins and bowed his head obediently, expressing that he understood.The Mongolian leader next to him glanced at the tall Don horse and said with a smile: "This horse must have been frozen."

Captain Kadyrov walked into the largest yurt, put down the rifle on his back, took kumiss, cheese and beef from the maid, and led his entourage to eat and drink.

Sitting on the Maza, the Mongolian leader asked in a low voice in Russian: "The princes of Ulan Bator have sent another telegram, asking when we can launch a counterattack? Your Excellency, are we..."

Captain Kadyrov was holding the bowl, raised his head slightly when he heard the words, stared fiercely and shouted: "Tell you princes, we are here to help under the order of the Tsar, not to die.

In this weather, being able to harass the Chinese is the greatest victory, don't think about anything else.As for the counter-offensive, you can think of a way on your own, but we can't do it either. "

The Mongolian leader is shorter than the Cossack, and sitting on the horse is even lower.

He was slightly angry, and said displeasedly: "It was you Russians who asked us to expel Han merchants, and you encouraged us to fight against the central government and massacre more than [-] Han Chinese in Tangnu Wulianghai.

Now that the railway has been repaired, do you want to leave? "

A few Cossacks were already half full and sneered.Captain Kadyrov snorted even more disdainfully: "You Mongols are only a few hundred thousand, and you are still scattered all over the grassland.

Your princes are no more than tribal chiefs who live with cattle, sheep and cattle.Ulaanbaatar is just a settlement with a lot of yurts, not a city at all.

Mongolia can neither make guns nor cannons. Everything depends on our charity, and even the fate is not up to the weak. What qualifications do they have to ask the tsar?Cossacks only admire the strong, but have no time to answer the wailing of the Mongols. "

Facing the mocking gray eyes of the Cossack cavalry, the Mongolian leader was speechless.The glory of Genghis Khan was reduced to ashes 500 years ago, and the Mongols were barely scraping by between being beaten and expelled.

The Mongolian leader was indignant, and wanted to scold the Cossacks for nothing, but they were just lackeys driven by the Tsar.But he was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would be whipped a few times, and even a few sabers would strike him head-on.

After eating and drinking enough, Captain Kadyrov left the two men on guard and led the other team members back to their yurts.The telegraph operator in the team handed over a message, "It was forwarded by Chakhtu, asking us to find out how many divisions China has deployed in the direction of Mongolia?"

The telegram came from the General Staff of the Tsarist Russian Armed Forces, and it was an expression of Chief of Staff Alexeyev's concern about the situation in the Far East—many generals in the Russian military were discussing how to deal with the challenge from China.

Emperor Puteri could not completely control the entire high-level of Tsarist Russia.

For example, Nicholas II's cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army with the same name, immediately launched a war to ensure Russia's security in the Far East.

The reason why the Russian military is eager to go to war is precisely because Emperor Pu's "Holy Alliance" has strengthened the Russian military's strength several times in recent years.

The 'gray cattle' have more machine guns and artillery, and ammunition and morale are high.They still have enough cans and rifles, which is much better than during the Crimean War.

Russian Army Minister General Sukhomlinov is very confident in his own air force, armored vehicles and armored trains, and is very satisfied with the reformed railway system.He believes that the Russian army can send 30 million troops to the frontier to fight in just 200 days of mobilization.

Emperor Pu was very speechless to such wild words.He wanted to persuade the military not to act rashly, and used many examples from the Sino-Japanese War.But even a tactical genius like Cavalry General Brusilov is unwilling to admit that the Chinese Army has the strength to compete with him.

To put it simply, the Russians were very unconvinced about their failure in the Russo-Japanese War.The revived and even stronger Russian army hopes to rebuild its beliefs by defeating China.

The sense of superiority over the yellow race once again spread in the hearts of the Slavs.Grand Duke Nicholas said unabashedly that the yellow race is an excellent farmer, cook, lumberjack, and businessman, but he cannot be an excellent soldier.

"We have enough machine guns and artillery, and planes to cover the skies, that we won't be defeated by stupid 'pig jump' tactics again. God is on Russia's side."

Chapter 39

Southerners in China see the wind and snow in the north, and they are surprised to describe it as "heavy snow with goose feathers", which is light and has no strength, as if the snow all over the world should be like this.

But when the cold current from Siberia went south, the wind and snow on the Mongolian plateau was like a heavy fist, whizzing and hitting the face, and it would freeze people 'with no expression' in a while.

Jiang Yiwu was sitting in the wheeled armored vehicle, and the wind and snow were knocking on the outside of the vehicle, like a frantic drunk knocking on the door.The swishing air came in through the gaps in the car body, and the blowing hurt people's bones.

All members of the armored reconnaissance company wear lambskin winter combat uniforms.The heads, palms, and feet are all wearing fur boots, but most of the southern soldiers still have muscle tremors from time to time.

As a native of Hunan, Jiang Yiwu never thought that there would be such a terrible natural phenomenon as "white disaster" in the north more than 2000 kilometers away, let alone fighting in such an environment.

The tires of the armored vehicle were hung with anti-skid chains, and they staggered forward in the vast grassland.On the bridge is a black leather notebook, which was picked up from the corpse of the attacked field survey team.

If these relics are not confidential, they will generally be returned to the family members of the deceased.The person who wrote the notes was a prospector who graduated from Zhengzhou Institute of Technology.

Yazi, who is in his early twenties, is in the prime of his life. He was the first group of children who went to school seven years ago with student loans and state subsidies.He used his clever mind to get out of the impoverished valley, and with the hope of the whole village, he contributed to the construction of the motherland.

Jiang Yiwu flipped through his notebook, unable to bear to read more.He was also born as a commoner, and he was sent to a private school on Father's Day. He also relied on his own brains and resilience to grow from an ignorant revolutionary youth to the backbone of the people's army.

The young man who was killed should have had the same life path. The country has paved all the follow-up roads, waiting for him to grow up and take on big responsibilities-prospector, survey leader, road engineer, project chief engineer.

The notebook records young people's life insights, family chores, inner hopes and good wishes, which are true and simple.But it all stopped a few hours ago...

The saber of the Cossack cavalry split the young man's back, and under the body were scattered roads, geography, water sources, climate and other exploration data—during the hasty attack, two veterans in the team organized defense, and the young man wanted to save himself month's results.

"The Cossacks of the dog day will only pick on small teams that are alone, and have the ability to pick on Lao Tzu's armored battalion." Jiang Yiwu gritted his teeth and scolded bitterly, feeling a pain in his heart.

The 72nd Division of the National Defense Forces is a second-class light motorized infantry division with a total of more than 1 people. It is not equipped with heavy equipment such as tracked combat vehicles.

Motorized troops are equipped with wheeled vehicles.It is cheap, highly maneuverable, easy to maintain, and has low logistical requirements.

Although the 72nd Division is only a second-class division, the quality of its soldiers is good and its firepower responds quickly, so its combat effectiveness will only be stronger than that of the "six major divisions" back then.

On the contrary, the mechanized troops rely heavily on railway lines for mobility because of their heavy equipment, so they are not suitable for subordinates to fight low-intensity battles on the Mongolian grasslands.

As the railway continued to penetrate into the grassland, the battle between the wheeled troops and the Mongolian princes and Russian cavalry became more intense.Jiang Yiwu's armored battalion has been stationed at the frontier of Saiyinshanda for more than half a year, and has fought against the opponent more than a dozen times.

Backed by railway support, the National Defense Force's logistics is far stronger than that of its opponents, and it can support larger troops and longer-distance military operations.

Mongolian herdsmen live by water and grass, and almost all of them are illiterate. They have always adhered to whoever is stronger than others, and they do not have a strong ethnic concept.

After the National Defense Forces appeared, they didn't mention any nonsense such as religious beliefs and ethnic groups, so they called them "local people" and changed their names.

The living Buddha of Mongolia who is currently fighting for independence is called Jebtsundan Bahutuktu, the so-called prime minister of the cabinet is called Badmadorji, and the head of the financial office is called Rob Sambaldan... Who can remember such a long name?

So in the propaganda, the living Buddha became Batu, the leader of the feudal slave owners, the prime minister of the other party was called the Russian lackey Bade, and the finance minister became the vampire Badain, a usurer.