The more he talked about seeing Yang Zhen, the more excited he became. Kovalev hurriedly said: "Comrade Yang Zhen, I can explain this. You are in a hurry to get those machines, and as you know, the situation in the Far East is not Moscow, nor is it an industrial zone like Ukraine or Leningrad. There are no factories that produce these things. ”

"If we wait for Moscow to bring in new production machines from other places, it will take at least half a year. Moreover, it will take at least a few months for the new equipment to be installed, commissioned, and fully formed production capacity. We can drag it out, but you can't. ”

"It was precisely in order to solve your difficulties in the shortest possible time that Comrade Stalin personally ordered the transfer to you of all the equipment of the Far Eastern Military District Repair Institute concerning the machines and equipment developed by you. In order to meet your needs, we have even demolished several small arsenals directly under the military region. ”

"I can assure you that the equipment is a bit old, but it's in good condition. Once installed, it's ready to use. And the weapons you designated, all of which are in active service from the Far Eastern Military District and the Red Banner Pacific Fleet. ”

"You must know that these machine guns have only just begun to be equipped in the Soviet Red Army, and the number of the Far Eastern Military District, which is a second-line military district, simply does not meet the establishment requirements set by the General Staff. The Far Eastern Military District was nothing more than a second-tier military district in the great Soviet Red Army, and its importance could not be compared with that of the military districts on the western border. Even the Volga Military District and the Central Asian Military District are not even comparable to these small military districts. ”

"You must know that compared with those military regions with old qualifications, after the Zhang Gufeng incident last year, in order to strengthen the defense of the Far East, the Far Eastern Military Region, which was reorganized from the Red Banner Far East Special Group Army, is only a little brother. Coupled with the traffic, almost all the new equipment was the last to be installed. ”

"And in order to ensure that the anti-aircraft weapons and sniper rifles assigned by you are handed over to you on time, the entire Far Eastern Military District has almost exhausted all the Deshka anti-aircraft machine guns that have just been equipped. Some were even unloaded from the ships of the Red Banner Pacific Fleet, as well as from shore fortifications. ”

Speaking of this, Kovalev stared at Yang Zhen for a long time with a pair of gray eyes before saying: "Comrade Yang Zhen, General Abanasek cherishes the friendship between the Far Eastern Military Region and the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. As a qualified soldier, as a commander of a military district with the rank of general, he will not commit such perfidious villains. ”

"The reason for the appearance of shoddy weapons and equipment is not our reason. Originally, according to the opinion of Comrade General, it was planned to transfer a number of foreign weapons in relatively good condition and relatively sufficient ammunition from among the weapons in the reserves of the Far Eastern Military Region and hand them over to the Chinese comrades free of charge. ”

"But as soon as this matter was implemented, the NKVD suddenly intervened. We didn't do those weapons things, and I can assure you and all the Chinese comrades about that. However, I only know so much about Comrade Yang Zhen, and I can only say so much. The rest of the matter, and the rest of the gold, you don't have to ask any more. ”

Hearing what Lieutenant Colonel Kovalev said that General Abanasek has always cherished the so-called traditional friendship between the Far Eastern Military Region and the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, Yang Zhen couldn't help but curse in his heart: "Cherish a fart, it's just taking advantage of each other." If it weren't for the Normenhan incident, if it weren't for the fact that the European war was already on the verge of breaking out, if it weren't for Lao Tzu's rapid rise and laid down such a big world. Are you still looking at us? Depend on. ”

"The Anti-Japanese Federation has asked for help many times before, why don't you ever reach out? Even a small amount of materials were obtained by the cadres and fighters of the Anti-Japanese Federation with blood and lives. The people of the Anti-United Nations said that they would detain it, and they would arrest it when they said it. From the commander-in-chief and army commanders to ordinary cadres and soldiers, there are no losses on the battlefield, how many losses are in your hands? ”

However, when he heard that the NKVD of the Soviet Union, which now made all the Soviets tremble, intervene in this matter, Yang Zhen's brows furrowed. Yang Zhen knows very well what this NKVD does. And the reason why they intervened in this matter, Yang Zhen could imagine it with his eyes closed.

Except for the NKVD who has the power to kill the entire Soviet Union, he is afraid that he will have an accident when he sees his fortune, and he has no intention of keeping himself in their hands. In addition to the shoddy quality and the main accident of the gold, there should be no lack of warning about the repeated demand for the establishment of direct contact with the central government.

Later, after the Anti-Japanese Federation withdrew to the Soviet Union for recuperation, several high-ranking generals still tried to find the central government because they were unwilling to hand over the radio station in their hands and disappeared inexplicably. The Far Eastern Military District wants to use itself, but this NKVD wants to control itself.

Could it be that Stalin signaled? Without Stalin's consent, the head of the secret service, who was his thug, did not have such courage. But from the fact that they had already allowed the Central Delegation to come to the Far East, it did not look like an instruction from Stalin. After thinking about it for a long time, Yang Zhen didn't think about what this NKVD wanted to do? Is it really as simple as seeing money?

Seeing that Yang Zhen was silent, thinking that he agreed with his words, Kovalev breathed a sigh of relief. For these Chinese comrades, as the commander of the military district directly facing the heavy army group of the Kwantung Army on the front line, General Abanashek attached great importance to it.

As the head of the Far Eastern Military District, which was connected to the interior of the Soviet Union by the Trans-Siberian Railway, which could almost be said to be alone, General Abanashek was well aware of his weakness in the event of a large-scale war between Japan and the Soviet Union. The fragility of the supply lines made the Far Eastern Military District extremely passive after the outbreak of war. It would even be cut off from the interior of the Soviet Union at the first time.

Therefore, in the opinion of General Abanašek, if there is a strong resistance force in his opponent's territory, the opponent will not be able to do his best in the war that may break out one day in the future. The burden on the Far Eastern Military District will be much smaller, and the threats will be much smaller.

Moreover, with a strong resistance force in the rear, it was simply impossible for the Japanese army to attack the Soviet Union at the risk of fighting on two fronts. In other words, as long as Yang Zhen's troops became stronger and stronger, the danger of a full-scale war between Japan and the Soviet Union would be smaller. Both General Abanashek and the political commissar of the military district Ivanov saw this very clearly.

That is why Senior General Abanashek repeatedly asked Moscow to give these Chinese comrades some help. At least in his opinion, it is much better to support these Chinese comrades who are very strong in combat than to aid their government forces that have been defeated many times. The containment of the Japanese army's northward movement was also much greater.

General Abanašek had always stubbornly believed that whether or not the Chinese army was still resisting, which had now retreated to western China, it was too far from the great Soviets. It was of little use to contain the heavy army group of the Kwantung Army stationed in Manchuria under his nose. And the Anti-Japanese Union, which is still resisting in Manchuria, will be its biggest helper.

At least it will provide intelligence support, of course, it would be better if these anti-Japanese alliances could quickly grow and firmly contain the Japanese army in Manchuria. That's why after he took office, he changed the cold attitude of his predecessor against the United Nations and provided some support as much as possible.

Moreover, after Yang Zhen's rapid rise, he called Stalin three times, hoping to provide him with help with equipment. In order to help it become strong quickly. At an early date, it can form a fatal threat to the Kwantung Army.

Of course, this is only his own point of view, after all, as the commander of the border military district, no one wants to face a well-equipped heavy army group with hundreds of thousands of people and extremely combat effectiveness. In particular, these are Japanese like mad dogs in his opinion.

After being transferred to the Far Eastern Military District, General Abanashek devoted himself to the study of the Japanese. He became a rare Japanese expert among Soviet generals. A mad nation like gamblers, an army that will bite fiercely regardless of it as long as you make up your mind, like a mad dog. This is the evaluation of General Abanasek's assessment of the Japanese nation and the Japanese army.

As a high-ranking general of the Soviet Army, General Abanashek absolutely did not want the end of the Russo-Japanese War to repeat itself on himself. Especially when he was the commander of the Far Eastern Military District who directly confronted these mad dogs.

Therefore, although he was very dissatisfied with the NKVD's intervention in this matter, he also took those spies who were helpless, and rarely sent his own personal representative to explain to the other party.

After seeing Yang Zhen listen to his explanation, Kovalev's face slowly eased, knowing that he accepted his explanation, his heart completely relaxed: "Comrade Yang Zhen, in order to make some compensation for your losses, General Abanashek has decided to provide you with 10,000 tons of food, in addition to providing you with a batch of other materials that you urgently need. Of course, these grains or supplies require you to pay some ore or gold and other things, so that the comrades can give an account to Moscow. ”

"There are also 1,000 Mosin Nagant rifles in the standard of the Soviet Red Army, 50 DP light machine guns, 10 Maxim heavy machine guns, and 1 million rounds of ammunition. There were also a hundred Tokarev pistols. I can assure you that these weapons are all the latest from the factory. ”

"We've seen your submachine guns, and General Abanashek thinks that these automatic weapons are simple in structure and can be mass-produced, which is very suitable for your current situation. It's just that the Japanese-style eight-millimeter pistol cartridge used is a little less powerful. If you switch to our Tokarev pistol cartridges, it will be even more powerful. ”

"In order to enhance the power of this weapon, the general specially transferred a production line of Tokarev's pistol ammunition from the military factory of the Far Eastern Military District in Vladivostok to you free of charge."

"Comrade Yang Zhen, these are already the most that Comrade General can do, and they are also the limit of what he can do without consulting Moscow. Comrade General, let me convey to you a word: As long as he is still the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, the Far Eastern Military District will be the most reliable ally of the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. ”

"In your future struggle against Japan, he will provide as much assistance as possible. He hoped that the friendship between him and the Far Eastern Military Region and the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Union initiated by you would be maintained and developed. He himself is looking forward to meeting you in person. ”

"However, Comrade General hopes that these Red Army-standard weapons that we provide will not be directly used on the battlefield against the Japanese army, and it is better to keep them for reserve use. After all, although a conflict broke out between us and Japan in the Normenkhand region, the Soviet Union and Japan have not yet entered a state of direct war. There are some things that we still have to think about for the diplomatic side, and we can't go too far. ”

It cannot but be said that these Soviets, who have also been operating in the Northeast for a long time, have no worse sense of smell than the Japanese, and they are now very clear who is the real leader of the Second Route Army of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. These words were not said to the commander-in-chief who was still negotiating in the Soviet Union, but was personally spoken by Lieutenant Colonel Kovalev, who was the personal representative of Senior General Abanašek, to Yang Zhen.

Regarding the importance of General Abanasek, Yang Zhen, who understood the general's intentions, pondered for a while and said, "In this way, we don't want those standard weapons of yours." General Abanashek takes us so seriously, and we can't trouble him too much. We don't want those rifles, and if we can, we can replace them all with Tokarev pistols. ”

"Our demand for high-performance combat pistols is much stronger than having a large number of captured Japanese equipment, at least to meet the needs of the rifle machine guns that we are currently equipped with. Comrade Kovalev, you should know that the pistols that the Japanese army was equipped with were so bad that after our capture, no one wanted to use them. ”

Regarding Yang Zhen's request to replace the pistol with a rifle machine gun, Kovalev said without thinking: "I can call the shots about this." However, the pistols of the Far Eastern Military District did not have such a large number and could not provide much at once. In this way, we will hand over to you a thousand Tokarev pistols, and I guarantee that all of them are of the latest TT33 type. ”

"As for ammunition, we will do our best to help you in the formation of your production line. However, the qiē mark and number on the gun will be destroyed before it is handed over. ”

Speaking of this, Kovalev said to Yang Zhen: "Comrade Yang Zhen, we have tried our best to meet your needs. Still, I'd like to be able to see your troops with my own eyes. This is also a commission from General Abanashek, who wants me to review your army on his behalf. ”

"Isn't there a saying in your country that hearing is false, and seeing is believing? I want to see for myself this powerful army, which has repeatedly defeated powerful opponents in battle. ”

After hearing what he said, Yang Zhen, who knew that he and the general Abanashek behind him, was not worried about whether his troops were as they were said in the intelligence in their hands, nodded and said, "There is no problem with this. But for the sake of secrecy, let's not do any military parades, and I can show you around our training. Not directly, though. ”

After that, Yang Zhen smiled and said, "It's the kind that peeps with a telescope." Comrade Kovalev, you should know that the nose of the Japanese intelligence services is still very sensitive. In order not to cause any unnecessary trouble to the Soviet comrades, I think we should do it quietly. ”