These people in Harbin were originally the elite of Tsarist Russia, and many of them were good at several foreign languages, and most of them spoke Chinese fluently because of their life experience. Therefore, the selection of teachers gave priority to the White Russians, Jews and Poles in Harbin. Of course, taking into account certain factors, the recruitment of teachers is mainly middle-aged and above women.

After research, taking into account the urgent needs of the current base area, the Northeast Bureau first set up departments of French, German, English, and Russian, with a focus on the English and Russian departments. As the Anti-Japanese Federation prepared to exchange a group of German prisoners of war for its own use, the school's majors had to be adjusted, and the number of German students had to be expanded.

Due to the large number of Belarusians in Harbin, coupled with the loss of domestic property, many Belarusians are in a difficult situation. So the recruitment of teachers went smoothly, and within a week most of the teachers were in place. Coupled with some college students who graduated from church schools transferred from Kannai, this foreign Chinese language school is now basically ready.

Now the teachers and students are all in place. According to the requirements of the Northeast Bureau, classes will officially start soon. In addition to the foreign Chinese colleges, which have already begun to be established, there are also financial colleges that train financial personnel. If all these White Russians were to be sent back to the Soviet Union now, the two schools would have to stop altogether. This situation is difficult for Yang Zhen to accept.

As for the results of these White Russians after returning to China, in Yang Zhen's opinion, the probability of the second possibility mentioned by Li Yanping is almost 100 percent. A few years ago, in order to solve the harassment of the border by Belarus, the Soviets tried their best to mobilize a group of Belarusian Russians who had already obtained Soviet passports in Harbin to return to China. After these people returned home, the policy of the Soviet side changed overnight.

More than 10,000 White Russians who had returned to the Soviet Union at that time were either executed or sent to work in various labor camps in Siberia or on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. With this not-too-distant experience, I am afraid that if they are not forcibly handed over, these White Russians will not lightly agree to return to China. But if it is forcibly handed over, will there be some unexpected trouble on the part of the Americans?

In fact, what Yang Zhen didn't know was that in later generations, the Soviets seized the Northeast, especially Harbin. In addition to the dismantling of industrial equipment in northeastern China and the disarming of the Kwantung Army, another important event was the capture and execution of staunch anti-Soviet elements in White Russia.

After the Soviet army entered the northeast, a large number of White Russians in northeastern China were executed in Dalian and Harbin. All the White Russians who served the Japanese and served as the puppet Manchurian military police, military police, and military police, as well as officers of a certain rank in the former Tsarist Russian army, mainly officers above the rank of major, were almost killed by the Soviets.

After the Soviets occupied Harbin and Dalian, the second thing they did was to take these people by truck in batches at night to several mass graves on the outskirts of Harbin, execute them, and then burn them all on the spot. Contrary to the current demands of the Soviets, most of the young people born after their exile to China have returned to China without any punishment.

Compared with what happened to these White Russians in later generations, the Soviets now propose to transfer the White Russians in Harbin, whether these people will be as Li Yanping said, but they are more merciful. At least the Soviets, who are in dire need of soldiers now, will not send them to Siberia to carry stones, or simply let them disappear without a trace. On the battlefield, there is still a chance for these White Russians to survive. If you don't go to the battlefield, I'm afraid these people will really die.

However, for Yang Zhen at the moment, he doesn't care much about what kind of fate the White Russians in the base area will face if they return to the Soviet Union. It's not that he is too cruel, it's just that Yang Zhen himself doesn't have a good impression of these White Russians who have endangered China for nearly a hundred years.

Moreover, just as Li Yanping said, a considerable number of these White Russians who remain in the base areas are a hidden danger. Whatever the background behind them, they are a latent threat to the Anti-United Nations. Sending them back to the Soviet Union was also a relief for the base areas.

In the view of Yang Zhen, who was not at ease with the Soviets, it was true that these White Russians could be used by the Japanese to infiltrate the Soviet Union. But the Soviets were not the same. Li Yanping has just said that the shadow of the Soviet KGB and the GRU has been found in the background of these White Russias.

Among these White Russians, of course, there were those who acted as thugs for the Japanese, but there were probably not a few spies of the Soviet KGB and GRU who needed to grasp the whereabouts of those anti-Soviet staunch elements and the Japanese military intelligence in Northeast China. And if the Soviets want to infiltrate the base areas, these White Russians will be the best, and instead of waiting for a big problem to arise and then solve it, it is better to take advantage of the Soviets' initiative to bring it up and hand them all over to the Soviet side. However, the transfer of all these White Russian brains will not be conducive to the development of the base areas in the next few years. It can even be said that in some ways, the harm outweighs the good.

These people are meant to be repatriated, but they cannot be generalized. Those who have mastered the base areas are currently in urgent need of foreign language talents, and they must keep as many as they can. As for the rest, apart from the Jews, who could not be handed over to the Soviet side, those who were proficient in foreign languages and finances could not be handed over to them, at least for the time being.

After thinking about it, Yang Zhen said: "I think we can partially accept this condition of the Soviets, and we can hand over all the young and middle-aged people under the age of 40 and over the age of 16 in the base area to the Soviet side." A one-to-one exchange with them for engineering and technical support personnel and equipment maintenance personnel among the German prisoners of war. In this way, it is also possible to strengthen our quid pro quo. ”

"However, those who have mastered multiple foreign languages and are in urgent need of finances, including their families, cannot be transferred for the time being. And the Jews and White Russia, which had already intermarried with the Chinese, could not be handed over to the Soviets. As for the Poles and other messes of state-owned, stateless people don't matter. We can hand it all over to them if they need it. ”

"And the Orthodox clergy, with the exception of a few who remained, were all transferred to the Soviet side. But this matter, let's not talk about it in a hurry. It can be used as an additional negotiating condition when the second thing is resolved. The immediate priority is to solve the problem of the American supplies in Vladivostok. Cotton and fuel, in particular, have become almost the most urgent problems for us to solve. ”

Hearing Yang Zhen talk about the cotton problem in the materials, Li Yanping suddenly remembered something: "Old Yang, the Northeast Bureau received a telegram from the central government asking for help a week ago. Although there is still some time before winter in North China, the North China departments that have lost their base areas in central Hebei are now short of supplies. The materials needed to make winter clothes this year have not yet been solved. ”

"Most of the original reserves were destroyed by the repeated sweeps of the Japanese army. Moreover, while the Japanese army repeatedly swept away, it also imposed an extremely tight blockade on all base areas behind enemy lines in North China. Not only food and medicine, but also cotton, cotton cloth, and kerosene were not allowed to enter the mountains. ”

"In the case of the original underground relationship being either destroyed by the Japanese puppet army, or losing contact due to the change of shape. At present, in all the base areas in North China, except for Shandong, which is close to the main cotton-producing areas and slightly better, the cotton and cotton cloth currently raised in the other major base areas of Jinchaji, Taihang, Taiyue, and Jinsui are far from satisfying their needs. ”

At the same time, although the large-scale production movement in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area has been launched, due to time reasons, although part of the predicament has been solved, it has not yet been able to completely alleviate the predicament in northern Shaanxi. Although some of the food problems have been temporarily solved, other materials such as oil and cloth are still in short supply. ”

"The Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area, which originally did not produce cotton, began to grow cotton. However, it is limited to the number of plantings and the yield per mu that is too low. Although the total amount of cotton produced by itself this year has reached 1 million catties, this is only the harvest of lint. This amount is not enough to meet the needs for the time being. The Nationalist Government's strict blockade of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo Border Region made it impossible to obtain some supplies from the outside world to make up the difference. ”

"The central government called yesterday and asked if we could help solve the problem of 500,000 catties of net cotton, some kerosene, and cotton cloth to solve the urgent needs of northern Shaanxi and northern China. If possible, can you help solve a batch of hard currencies such as gold and silver dollars? If that doesn't work, the Japanese yen will do. ”

Li Yanping's words made Yang Zhen's brows furrow slightly. In terms of money, it's not too much of an issue. Although it is quite difficult to build a base area in North Manchuria, which is currently under a large number of industrial constructions, it is still possible to solve some of the urgently needed gold in North Manchuria, which is a major gold producing area in China.

However, cotton, a cash crop that is not produced in North Manchuria, is now in short supply. The problem of cotton is not only related to the production of cloth. There are also hundreds of thousands of troops, and the question of whether they can safely survive the winter. It is more related to the survival of the common people in North Manchurian and the stability of the people's hearts. Now North Manchuria is not only hundreds of thousands of troops, but also tens of thousands of ordinary people.

500,000 catties of net cotton is actually not a big amount, and if you want to, it's not that you can't get it. However, if these 500,000 catties of net cotton are taken out, the Anti-Japanese Federation itself will not be able to meet the needs of the troops and the people. And the original plan will be completely disrupted.

If it is re-imported, it is difficult to say whether it will be able to arrive before winter at the current efficiency. The follow-up 10,000 tons of cotton ordered by the Anti-Union in the United States, according to the purchase plan and transportation plan, can be delivered in November at the earliest. Now adjust the plan, let's not talk about whether it can be acquired in a short period of time. Even if it is acquired, negotiations with the Soviet Union in terms of transportation are also a problem.

At present, the batch of cotton imported by the Anti-Japanese Federation is only 1,000 tons. And this 1,000 tons of cotton is not only a raw material for making zuò winter clothes, but also a considerable part of it is spun into cotton cloth. It is impossible to make cotton jackets by cotton alone. In particular, the climate of Northeast China makes the cotton needed to make zuò cotton clothes twice as much as that of northern Shaanxi and northern China.

However, if the central government puts forward this request at this time, I am afraid that it will be really difficult to sustain the Guannai. Opening this mouth to the Anti-Japanese Federation is probably also at the extreme point of difficulty. The winters in North China and Northern Shaanxi are not as cold as in Northeast China, but there are no winter clothes, what does it mean? But it's clear to all.

Although it will not directly cause the troops to lose their combat effectiveness like the Northeast, it can also greatly weaken the combat capability of the troops. Thin clothes can't withstand the cold wind of Taihang Mountain. There is a shortage of food in the stomach, and if you can't put on winter clothes anymore, I'm afraid that a considerable part of the troops will collapse.

A unit that is frozen half to death can be described as a world of difference in combat effectiveness compared to a well-fed and warm-clothed unit. You don't have to fight a battle, the outcome is already clear. It is true that the will to fight of the 18th Group Army is extremely tenacious, but no matter how tenacious the will is, it cannot resist the power of nature.