Russia's new infantry division has reached about 20,000 people, while the first corps has three infantry divisions, one heavy artillery division equipped with 30 152-mm howitzers and 40 127-mm field guns, one tank armored brigade with 30 steam tanks and 50 armored vehicles, and one Cossack cavalry brigade with 3,000 people, plus a guard regiment of the military headquarters, with a total strength of more than 70,000 people.

Originally, the Russians were going to allocate 1 tank and armored division to the newly formed corps, but the Russians could not make so many steam tanks and armored vehicles in a short period of time, so they turned the tank armored division into a tank armored brigade, but that's it, the tanks and armored vehicles of the 3rd Army were still not all in place, and the tank armored brigade only had 10 steam tanks and 20 armored vehicles.

Moreover, the Russians are still preparing to form a group army above the corps, below the front army, and one more level of units, so as to facilitate the command of the large corps operations.

Antonovich, commander of the Russian 3rd Army, heard that the commander Kuropatkin asked him to reorganize the Siberian Second Front, garrison the area east of Lake Gard, prevent the attack of the Dingbei Army, and prepare for the second expedition to the Far East in the future, nodded and said: "There is no problem, Your Excellency Commander, my 3rd Army will definitely be able to hold the area east of Lake Gard and cooperate with the other two fronts in the theater of operations." ”

Commander Kuropatkin pointed to the map and continued: "Antonovich, at present we have the strength of 2 corps in Ulan-Ude, and we also have 2 corps in Chita City, and the original Second Front Army has 2 armies east of Chita City to the line of Tegeda City, and these 6 corps are all under your command of the New Siberian Second Front. As for the 650,000 troops near the cities of Haktu and Mai, I will not allocate to your second front army for the first time, and I will soon launch an attack on the city of Darkhan, and these 650,000 troops need to be thrown into the battlefield of Darhan. ”

Antonovich looked at the map and said: "There is no problem, my 3rd Army has 70,000 troops, plus 6 other armies of 180,000 people, and the new Siberian Second Front has 250,000 troops, and there is no problem at all in defending the area east of Lake Gard, but the expedition to the Far East may be a little insufficient." ”

Then Antonovich sighed and continued: "Even if the troops are enough, it is impossible for us to reach Vladivostok within 3 months and relieve the siege of His Excellency Alekseev, the Governor-General of the Far East in Vladivostok!" ”

Kuropatkin also shook his head helplessly, not to mention anything else, the Svobold Inner City built by the Dingbei Army was like a roadblock, blocking the way to Vladivostok, and Kuropatkin did not dare to send troops to attack the Svobold Inner City, where 720,000 Russian troops had just been buried.

In the Kremlin in St. Petersburg, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia said gloomily to the Minister of Finance Witte, the Minister of the Navy, the Grand Duke of the Navy, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Gorrosky: "The Minister of War of the Reich Kuropatkin has sent a telegram confirming the news of the crushing defeat of the Second Siberian Front in the inner city of Svobod, the 720,000 troops of the Reich were surrounded and annihilated by the Dingbei Army under Lin Daxin, and the Deputy Commander of the Theater Oleg and more than 300,000 people surrendered to the Dingbei Army. After the defeat of the Empire in the navy, it suffered another crushing defeat. ”

The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army, Gorrosky, had a good personal relationship with Oleglev, so he said: "Your Majesty the Tsar, Oleg chose to surrender to the Dingbei Army, but there was no way, the Dingbei Army used tricks, so that the Siberian Second Front Army fell into a situation of running out of ammunition and food, and there was no choice but to surrender, that is, if you want to fight to the end, it is impossible to do it without food and ammunition." ”

Tsar Nicholas II waved his hand and said: "Now is not the time to hold accountable, and I don't mean to blame Oleglev, after all, the Second Siberian Front has lost more than 50 percent, and it has fallen into a desperate situation of running out of ammunition and food, and it is understandable to choose to surrender." Now the question is what do we do next? What to do with our Vladivostok? What to do with those warships of our Navy that survived in the port of Vladivostok? ”

The three important Russian ministers heard the Tsar ask three in a row what to do, looked at each other, and it was Gorrosky who replied: "Your Majesty the Tsar, Kuropatkin sent a telegram to the War Department saying that the Siberian Theater will also launch an attack on the east of the Lena River according to the original plan, the First Front will launch an attack on the city of Darkhan in Outer Mongolia, and the commander of the 3rd Army, Antonovich, will lead his troops to the area east of Lake Gard, where the Second Siberian Front will be reorganized!" ”

Tsar Nicholas II nodded or continued to ask: "What about Vladivostok?" What to do with those warships in the port? ”

Gorrosky said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty the Tsar, even now let the Siberian theater send another army to the Far East to rescue Vladivostok, it is too late, it is already April, and before Vladivostok runs out of food, our army has no hope of reaching Vladivostok at all." ”

The Minister of the Navy, Grand Duke Vicky, then said helplessly: "If the army can't relieve Vladivostok, the warships in the port of Vladivostok will not be able to withdraw from the sea at all, and if Vladivostok can't hold it in the end, these warships can only fall into the hands of Lin Daxin!" ”

Tsar Nicholas II asked without giving up: "Is there no way?" ”

The three Russian ministers shook their heads involuntarily.

Tsar Nicholas II said: "Now that France and Britain have signed an entente against Germany and Lin Daxin, they have become allies, and we have also signed an alliance with France, can we pull France and Britain into this war, if Britain and France participate in the war, then Lin Daxin's Dingbei Army and Northeast Navy are strong, and they will be completely wiped out by our three countries." ”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte shook his head and said: "The alliance signed between France and our Russia is only against Germany, and does not include dealing with Lin Daxin. ”

Tsar Nicholas II frowned and said: "We Russia can also join the Entente and sign a joint entente against Germany and Lin Daxin. ”

Witte spread his hands and said helplessly: "The British said that it is okay for us Russia to join the Entente, but it must be after the end of this war with Lin Daxin, and the French also mean this." ”

Britain and France are not stupid, now pull the Russians into the Entente, that is not equivalent to Britain and France directly provoking Lin Daxin, that is absolutely nothing to look for, that is not immediately to go to war with Lin Daxin, if Lin Daxin's power is small, Britain and France do not care whether to go to war or not, the problem is that Lin Daxin's power is not small, and it is very strong.

Tsar Nicholas II covered his head with his hands and said: "Then Vladivostok just gave up?" It's terrible! ”

Gorrosky hesitated for a moment and said: "Your Majesty the Tsar, now you can only send a telegram to Alekseev, the governor of the Far East, and let the army in Vladivostok choose to break out by itself, otherwise if you wait for a while, the troops in Vladivostok may not even have food to break through." ”

Tsar Nicholas II thought for a moment, and finally said helplessly: "Okay! Gorrosky, in a moment you send a telegram to Alekseev, ordering him to lead the troops in Vladivostok to break through to the Siberian region, and before the breakthrough, sink all the warships in the port of Vladivostok, and no longer let the warships that the empire has worked so hard to build fall into the hands of Lin Daxin. ”

The Admiralty Grand Duke opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't say anything, he could only sigh helplessly, if the warships in the port of Vladivostok chose to sink themselves, none of the all-steel battleships and large fast armored cruisers built by Russia at great expense would survive. But even if it does not sink itself, the Russian Navy will not own any of the surviving warships in the port of Vladivostok, and those surviving warships will definitely fall into the hands of the Northeast Navy under Lin Daxin.

And all countries in the world have reached a consensus that it is impossible to get back what fell into the hands of Lin Daxin, unless they are willing to pay several times the value of these things, it is possible to redeem them from Lin Daxin.

Tsar Nicholas II again asked the Chief of the General Staff of the Army, Gorrosky: "How is the situation with our army expansion?" ”

Gorrosky paused for a moment and replied: "Your Majesty the Tsar, the first phase of the wartime mobilization and expansion of 2 million troops has been completed, and most of them have been sent to the Siberian theater of operations. However, the plan you ordered to mobilize and expand the army by 1 million troops in the second phase of wartime has not yet been concretely implemented. ”

When Tsar Nicholas II heard this, his voice suddenly became gloomy, his eyes stood up and he asked: "Why not implement it yet?" ”

At this time, the Minister of Finance next to him, Witte, said: "Your Majesty the Tsar, the War Department has not implemented the second phase of the wartime mobilization and expansion of the army by 1 million, because our empire's finances have been unable to come up with rubles, and now the pensions of the fallen officers and soldiers of the Imperial Navy have not been distributed, and this time the army has lost 720,000 at once, of which more than half of them have been killed, and the pensions of these army officers and soldiers have not been settled, where is the money to carry out the plan to expand the army by 1 million, unless it is ......"

Nicholas II's eyes were set up in an instant, in order to build the main warship for the Russian Navy, he had repeatedly taken out a huge amount of money from his tsar's private treasury, that is, the tsar's treasury had mountains of gold and silver, and it was not enough to toss so much, although the words of Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte were not finished, but the meaning was obvious, if Russia wanted to continue to expand its army, the tsar could only continue to pay from his own private treasury. R1152