In the spring of 1918, a group of workers from China lived in the Akyev forest area on the east side of the Ural Mountains, about forty miles west of Nizhny Tagul. Due to the impact of the European War, there was a shortage of strong labor everywhere in Russia, and mines
, factories, railways, docks and even farms. Today, more than a million Chinese workers are distributed in Chinese labor camps across Russia. Akyev Forest Farm is one of them. There are several rows of work sheds built with logs in the forest farm camp area.
The two-story Datong bunkhouse was built with birch boards and was filled with workers recruited from northern China. One hundred seventy to eighty people could be squeezed into this row of wooden sheds, and there were nearly a thousand Chinese workers in the entire camp.
Since spring has just begun, the entire forest area is also in a state of depression. There is still unmelted snow under several large piles of logs like hills. There are several rows of barracks made of logs, and inside there is a long row of birch boards nailed together.
There are two large pavilions on the upper and lower floors, and the long furnace is filled with white charcoal ash.
Next to the meadow in the middle of the forest clearing, the forest farm owner called out a few foremen and said: "Revolutions are happening everywhere. Look, those damn Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, adding four to a large piece of land.
Sixteen million people were ceded to the Germans, and there was also a war indemnity of three billion gold rubles. No one wants the wood that was cut down, so there is no work for everyone!" After that, he climbed on his horse and ran away without a trace.
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Lu Jinshan raised his head and looked at Liu Jingming and Shi Changyou, "I guess a big trouble is coming. Everyone, please keep an eye on it these days. I'll go to the group leader for instructions."
An armful of thick white birch branches with towering leaves, a carriage driving out of the forest area, horse hooves stepping on the newly sprouted golden grass leaves, Lu Jinshan and a few people rushed to Perm.
In November 1917, the Bolsheviks led by Trotsky launched a riot in Petrograd, overthrew the Russian Provisional Government led by Brunsky, and established the Soviet power. However, the situation in Russia did not go as Lin Shuo expected.
Violent social unrest arose. In fact, in the process of seizing power, the Socialist Revolutionaries, Socialist Workers' Party and Constitutionalists all sided with the Soviets, and Soviet regimes headed by the Socialist Party and the Socialist Workers' Party were quickly established in various places.
However, in the January parliamentary election, although the Bolsheviks won the elections in Petrograd and Moscow, in most areas, farmers voted for the Socialist Revolutionaries. The Bolsheviks dominated the national elections under their leadership.
, only won less than a quarter of the seats in the National Constituent Assembly. The National Committee led by Umyanov refused to hand over power and ordered the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by force and returned all power to the Soviets.
It triggered violent turmoil in the domestic situation. In March 1918, the Soviet regime signed the humiliating Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany and announced Russia's withdrawal from the European War. This move further angered various anti-Bolshevik forces in the country, and they united
, launched riots in various places to subvert the Soviet power by force.
The whole of Russia fell into a bloody and chaotic civil war.
A large number of Chinese workers preparing to evacuate the country are stranded along the line from the Volga River to Lake Baikal.
One division of the Chinese participating troops was blocked in Chelyabinsk. In July 1917, after the Republican government declared war on Germany, it reached an agreement with Russia to send troops to participate in the war, and dispatched two divisions of the Northwest Army to form a "participating army".
Russian battlefield. After the Russians withdrew from the war, this participating army protected the hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers on the front line and retreated. When the Chinese who were preparing to return to the country arrived in Chelyabinsk, they were catching up with the Red Guards in this area.
A fierce battle began with Dutov's National Army.
In Magroil, a small town west of Chelyabinsk, Zheng Yijing, the former commander of the Third Northwest Frontier Division, was staring at the map in the carriage, recalling in his mind the plan that Lin Shuo had explained before he went on the expedition. In fact, Lin Shuo
Convinced the Military Commission to send three divisions of "participating troops" to Russia. Zhang Weicheng's Shanxi First Division stopped when it arrived in Irkutsk. Jiang Shaowu's Chahar Second Division was dispersed in order to control and lead the Chinese workers.
Sent to various labor camps in Russia.
First, these Chinese workers must be organized and armed, and receive corresponding military training, and then...the leaders have not explained what to do before.
On the banks of the Kama River, Chen Yuanhou was leading a few people to plow the land for the Russians. They were now day laborers hired by the big landowners. Black soil surged up like waves on both sides of the shiny plowshares. Chen Yuanhou was smoking a cigarette in his mouth.
His poor farm work made a group of subordinates laugh at him.
"Mongolians don't farm?" Zhang Huasheng sat next to him and wiped the sweat from his body with a towel."
"Plant, but they always scatter oat seeds on the sunny slopes and forget about it. According to Soleng's father, the autumn harvest is not bad. The Mongolians use horse hooves to plow the fields." Chen Yuanhou said with a smile.
"It's such a good place, like this piece of Russian land. If the hungry people work in ditches for a year, their harvest is less than half of what it is here." Zhang Huasheng said, he is from Mizhi, northern Shaanxi, and came from the barren northern Shaanxi Plateau.
The man who came out looked at the fat and oily black soil and felt greedy in his heart.
The sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded, "Where is Len?" the rider on the horse asked Karelina who was milking the cows.
Chen Yuanhou got up from the ground, "What do you want from me?"
The rider jumped off the horse and handed a letter into his hand. Chen Yuanhou took out the letter and his face gradually became serious.
"What happened?" The girl couldn't understand Chinese and relied on her intuition that something bad had happened.
"I'm leaving, Kashka!" Chen Yuanhou tore up the letter after reading it, and the flying pieces of paper were like snowflakes.
"Call me Katusha. The troops are in a panic now. Where are you going?" The girl took two steps forward and grabbed Chen Yuanhou's hand.
"Yekaterinburg, you stay at home and I will come to you as soon as the chaos is over." Chen Yuanhou kissed the girl's forehead, and then hurriedly called for his men to gather at the predetermined assembly point.
Beside a mountain road about thirty kilometers east of Izhevsk, several Russian officers were waiting beside four carriages loaded with hay, smoking cigarettes and waiting anxiously for something.
"They are coming!" There was a sound of horse hooves on the grassland, and one of the officers holding a telescope said. A few gray dots riding fast horses appeared on the green horizon, and soon they were approaching, but they were several Chinese people.
The Russian threw the cigarette butt on the ground and flicked it with his foot.
Several horses ran up to them, and the Chinese jumped off the horses. Zhang Huasheng gave the first officer a Russian hug: "Hello, Major Ilyakov, we are late. You know it is not safe on the road now."
born……"
"Okay, 1,500 rifles and 100,000 rounds of ammunition are on the carriage. Please ask someone to check it." The Russians were obviously worried about the nightmare and wanted to complete the transaction as soon as possible.
Zhang Huasheng motioned to his men to check the carriage. Several Chinese lifted up the hay on the carriage, revealing bundles of rifles. It was obvious that these weapons had not been used.
"They are all high-quality Mosin Nagants produced by the Izhevsk Arsenal. The war is over, and those damn Red Guards will be coming soon." Ilyakov said while taking a cowhide money bag from Zhang Huasheng.
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"The total is 48,000 US dollars. Please click on it." Zhang Huasheng said.
The Russian opened his pocket and revealed colorful banknotes. After a rough guess, he tied the knot and tied it to the saddle of a horse tied next to the carriage.
"Zhang, do you need artillery? The M1913 105mm howitzer made by the Americans was shipped from the Far East in September last year. The revolution broke out before it was sent to the front line. In a secret munitions building near Nevkamsk
There are cannons and heavy machine guns in the warehouse. The soldiers guarding the arsenal almost all fled after the November Revolution. However, the Soviets have sent people to take over the warehouse, and we don’t want these weapons to fall into the hands of the Red Guards.
"
"Howitzer?" Zhang Huasheng said. He was a little surprised. The Chinese workers had been secretly buying weapons and ammunition from the Russians in order to protect themselves, but this was the first time they had encountered such a thing as a cannon. These Russian officials were extremely hostile to the Soviets in power.
regime, it seems they are telling the truth.
"With three hundred thousand dollars or sixty thousand pounds, we will lead the guards in the arsenal to kill the newly arrived Soviet representatives. You only need to occupy it and remove the weapons inside," Ilyakov said.
, "We only need one-fifth of the value of these weapons. Now is the time. If the Red Guards or General Tolev's National Army arrive in a few days, there will be nothing we can do."
Zhang Huasheng believed that what these Russians said was true, but he could not decide on such a large deal and told the Russians that he could only pay after getting the weapons.
Then quickly sent someone to report the situation to the division headquarters in Perm.
After Jiang Shaowu received the information, he immediately sent his chief of staff Feng Jiajun to personally lead people to Nevkamsk. The Chinese occupied a large arms warehouse built in the mountainous forest here. More than 120 artillery pieces and 260 heavy machine guns were found inside.
and more than 20,000 rifles and a large amount of ammunition and military supplies.
The liaison officers were passing notes with orders along the railway. The Chinese workers, led by the soldiers scattered among them, rushed to the designated location to assemble. Under the seemingly calm surface, there was a turbulent undercurrent.
Chen Yuanhou brought more than 3,700 people to Lower Tagul, and the Chinese laborers were reorganized. The northwest military officers and soldiers mixed in the Chinese labor camp were promoted to one level, the brigade commander became division commander, the regiment commander was promoted to brigade commander, and the soldiers became squad leaders, which are weapons
It wasn't enough. Most of the people had bayonets, sabers or even large domestic blades in their hands.
"Your boy is working as a shopkeeper in the city and is very comfortable. Why are we working hard in the fields like slaves to the Russians?" Chen Yuanhou held an oatmeal stalk in his mouth and stopped in front of his classmate Wang Gui from the Northwest Military Academy.
, there are not enough people in the other team, and I want to poach some from him.
"Hey, who told you that Mongolians like you don't know how to do business and can only feed horses." Wang Gui was laughing. Most of the classmates who came out of the same period at the Northwest Military Academy were admitted to the Chinese Workers' Camp. He was one of the few
A few lucky ones were selected and sent to Chinese firms stationed in Russia.
"Then don't poach people from me! Damn it, aren't there enough people to think of us now?"
"Don't mention it, your regiment is overstaffed, isn't it? I'm going to tell the regiment leader that you are interested in his position as brigade commander. After all, we are all classmates, so we have to help our brothers no matter what. It's not just you, I also have to
Asking for people from Lu Jinshan and Zhang Huasheng." Wang Gui shamelessly poached 500 people from Chen Yuanhou.
Under the organization of the Chinese participating armies stranded in Russia, more than 150,000 Chinese workers were mobilized. These workers were forced to put on Russian military uniforms and began to receive preliminary military training in the gathered camps.
He became the target of competition among various forces in Russia.