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At the "border" between China and Russia in the Far East, there was a large temporary campsite. This was a simple camp built using the terrain. It was so simple that there were only bonfires, and everyone slept on the ground. Although the Russians defended the camp with live ammunition, the Chinese soldiers didn't care. The Russians didn't have many weapons in their hands, and ammunition was even less sufficient for threatening large-scale battles. So the Chinese soldiers looked cheerful, holding loudspeakers, shouting to the Russian crowd in fluent or not-so-fluent Russian. The Russians looked coldly one by one, watching the "recruiting" Chinese soldiers with numb expressions.

Those shouting were all wearing Chinese military uniforms. Some were Chinese, and some were Russians with high noses and deep eyes. Their fluent Russian was enough to prove this. The Russians still following Kolchak even recognized that some of them were Russians who chose to defect to the People's Party in the border area between Russia and Western Mongolia a few months ago.

"This is the last chance. After the weather gets cold, the Sino-Russian border will be blocked. At that time, there will be no chance to enter China for refuge." Not only public recruitment, but some Russians in plain clothes began lobbying within Kolchak's team.

This Russian team, which had fled thousands of miles from the Ural Mountains to the Far East, now had less than 500,000 people left. Centered on the gold train escorted by Kolchak, this team fled all the way from west to east. The Red Army had no intention of letting Kolchak go. Trotsky's troops were pursuing desperately behind Kolchak. If it weren't because Trotsky's troops also had to take into account the border issue with China, Kolchak would probably have been wiped out long ago.

Dropping out, fleeing, the number of people in Kolchak's troops became fewer and fewer. Especially at the junction entering China's Outer Mongolia, the Chinese army defended China's border line on one hand, and sold some supplies to Kolchak's side on the other, while also recruiting engineers and technical personnel from Kolchak's team.

At least more than 100,000 Russians chose to leave the team and follow the Chinese. Most of those who left brought their families, and there were also some nobles with weak wills. Those who did not choose to leave continued to move forward with difficulty, relying on gold to buy food and daily necessities from China.

Arriving at Irkutsk near Lake Baikal, Kolchak's troops refused to continue advancing. Firstly, the Chinese army had blocked the railway from here to the east. They told Kolchak that the land ahead was already Chinese territory. Although the number of Chinese troops was not very large, Kolchak's troops, who had fled thousands of kilometers, no longer had the will to fight.

After negotiating with the Chinese army commander Hua Xiongmao, Kolchak paid the price of 100 tons of gold and obtained China's approval for passage. Not only providing approval, the Chinese even thoughtfully provided train transportation services to Kolchak's team. Those still loyal to Kolchak continued to move east with Kolchak, but some people firmly chose to stay in Irkutsk. According to the records left by the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, these Russians cried but refused to take another step east. Led by the bishop and others in the team, they cried and prayed in churches or other places all day long. They would rather waste time like this, would rather be caught and shot by the pursuing Russian Red Army, than take another step forward.

The Central Military Commission ordered the 9th Group Army in Outer Mongolia not to participate in Russia's internal problems. Hua Xiongmao certainly knew how cruel class struggle was. However, compassion is common to all men. Except for never letting go of guys who owed blood debts to the people, the People's Party's killing was all on the battlefield, not engaging in massacres against this bunch of guys who had completely lost their will to fight.

Hua Xiongmao immediately ordered the troops to retreat. The order of the Central Military Commission allowing no resistance was certainly one reason, but having been in the central government for so long, Hua Xiongmao sniffed something very disturbing from the order. Before retreating, a small number of Russians secretly handed their children to the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, asking them to take the children away to China. Hua Xiongmao agreed on his own initiative.

Not long after, facts proved that the order of the Central Military Commission was by no means groundless worry. The cavalry of the Red Army pursuit troops drove many Russians to the new Sino-Russian border and shot the fleeing ones on the spot near the new border. Survivors who fled to China recounted the merciless slaughter of Russian counter-revolutionaries by the Russian Red Army in Irkutsk.

Saying Lake Baikal turned red, saying corpses piled up like mountains. Hua Xiongmao didn't believe this bullshit. The south bank of Lake Baikal was under Chinese control, and the lake water was still blue, with no sign of turning red at all. The Russian Red Army did arrest these people, and the Russian Red Army also purchased a lot of grain from the Chinese side. Judging from the total amount of grain, it should include the basic rations for the captured personnel on the Russian side. It was proper to shoot some counter-revolutionaries with huge crimes, but Hua Xiongmao absolutely did not believe that the Russian Red Army could shoot all two or three hundred thousand people.

From Irkutsk to the west coast of the Pacific, the Russians crossed the two control areas of Hua Xiongmao's Outer Mongolia Military Region and the New Northeast Military Region. When Hua Xiongmao met Mu Husan, the commander of the Northern Command of the New Northeast Military Region, to hand over work, the two reached a common conclusion about the fact that the People's Party did not seize Kolchak's gold at all, "The Central Committee is really far-sighted."

Mu Husan said calmly: "This batch of gold is like a magnet, condensing Kolchak's subordinates into a group. To protect the safety of this batch of gold, they will definitely choose to leave our territory. We have absolutely no need to covet things that didn't belong to us originally."

Hua Xiongmao had heard of Mu Husan's great name long ago. It is hard for young comrades to avoid being eager for quick success and instant benefits. Being completely unmoved by immediate interests like Mu Husan was actually a rare thing. Hua Xiongmao replied: "Saying not greedy is a lie, but being able to get rid of trouble is the best thing. Kolchak's gold happens to attract fire from other countries for us. The new frontier is so big; thank God if nothing happens."

At the end of August 1921, after Kolchak's troops arrived in the Far East, sure enough, as Hua Xiongmao and Mu Husan expected, they purchased a part of grain and other daily necessities again, and then continued north. judging by the posture, they wanted to run to the north of the new Sino-Russian border as soon as possible.

The People's Party conducted the last "recruitment" among these people, but few chose to join the People's Party. People who could run all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Western Pacific had had multiple opportunities to break away. Having arrived at the Western Pacific, how could they choose to defect to the Chinese army flying the hammer and sickle flag?

"Commander, the Russians have accelerated their retreat north." The political commissar greatly appreciated Mu Husan's judgment. Before implementing "solicitation" to Kolchak's subordinates, the Party Committee strongly suspected that a large number of Russians would defect to China. However, the Russians not only didn't defect to the Chinese but left quickly instead, which saved everyone trouble.

Mu Husan didn't want to be complacent at all. Before meeting Hua Xiongmao, Mu Husan was very worried that the most senior soldier of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army would ask Mu Husan to get as much as possible from Kolchak. However, an old revolutionary is an old revolutionary. After taking what should be taken, Hua Xiongmao's reasonable and restrained attitude indeed made Mu Husan completely relieved. What Hua Xiongmao considered first was stabilizing the border of the Republic, not the benefits and achievements that bit of gold could bring.

Compared with inside the pass (Guandong), the Northeast was already deadly cold. After entering September, the area responsible by the Northern Command of the New Northeast Military Region showed a trend of significant cooling earlier than the traditional Northeast region. While the "Autumn Tiger" (Indian summer) in September was raging inside the pass, the northern region of the Republic had to start comprehensive preparations for winter equipment to survive the half-year-long winter. Although not intending to explain for the Manchu Qing, Mu Husan somewhat understood why the Manchu Qing gave up these areas so easily. To maintain a military presence in such a place required strong national power. If not for the hundreds of thousands of railway soldiers in the Northeast who did not engage in grain production at all but specialized in building railways, Mu Husan absolutely did not believe that he could maintain the existence of tens of thousands of troops on such a long border line in the dead of winter.

In such an area, maintaining the "existence" of tens of thousands of troops capable of engaging in war in winter was itself a terrible job.

According to intelligence, Kolchak's destination was the area in the easternmost part of Russia from the Lena River to the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Russians with rich winter experience should have only two choices: either quickly establish a winter camp here, or enter other countries from these areas. No matter what they chose, in the winter when traffic was almost cut off, the Chinese New Northeast Command had to tighten its nerves and guard against any variables that might appear.

Compared with these troubles, Mu Husan felt that gold was not worth mentioning at all.

The attitude of the two northern military region commanders made the Military Commission feel very relieved. The Central Military Commission couldn't say directly that if the two commanders were full of plans to make contributions and establish careers, executing orders overtly while violating them covertly, and secretly targeting Kolchak's gold, the Central Military Commission could only dismiss them and investigate.

The recent situation in Asia was very subtle. Except for the Republic and areas maintaining close trade relations with the Republic, other countries and regions fell into economic crisis. When imperialist countries encountered such problems, they always transferred domestic contradictions to foreign countries. China must absolutely not become the target of public criticism at this time.

The US side had repeatedly proposed to China whether it was willing to participate in the dismantling of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance with the United States. This matter triggered considerable controversy within the People's Party. Chen Ke was trying hard to unify opinions within the party through this matter and make an overall adjustment to future strategic planning. If they touched Kolchak's gold, which the United States, Britain, Japan, and Soviet Russia all paid attention to, the People's Party would immediately encounter opposition from all surrounding countries.

Chen Ke looked grim at the Standing Committee meeting of the Politburo, and what he said was indeed greatly beyond the comrades' expectations, "I personally think maintaining the status quo has its practical significance. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance certainly has a restrictive effect on China, but the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is now on the defensive, and this alliance itself faces great challenges from the United States. Our China is also developing rapidly. Within a few years, this alliance will become a noose around the necks of Britain and Japan. It is necessary to allow the existence of this alliance at this stage."

"Die early, reincarnate early! What's wrong with dissolving this alliance now and replacing it with a future Sino-US alliance?" You Gou was a relatively radical one. Facing the direct threat of the Japanese fleet to important coastal cities, what You Gou wanted to solve most first was the Japanese navy problem.

"Those who die first have it easy; those who die later have it hard! So we have to let the Anglo-Japanese Alliance die later, and not let them die first." Chen Ke said.

"Why absolutely cannot trust the United States?" Shang Yuan asked. The United States did not really work for China's interests at the Paris Peace Conference, and Shang Yuan was also quite dissatisfied with Americans. However, the cooperative relationship between China and the United States indeed shared a lot of pressure for China. Chen Ke expressed a firm sense of distrust towards the United States in his attitude, which Shang Yuan had to ask clearly.

"Cannot trust the United States because of the principle of consistency among the powers." Zhang Yu took over the conversation, "Once the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is broken up, a brand-new system of consistency among the powers must be established in the Pacific region. Where exactly is the biggest conflict between Americans and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance? I think everyone should understand."

"The biggest contradiction in the Pacific now is the navy issue." Chen Tianhua also began to express his support for Chen Ke, "Our navy can't even defend itself, let alone participate in the new Pacific system. Rather than breaking up the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, it is better to let the Anglo-Japanese Alliance continue to exist. We must fully utilize the contradictions among imperialist countries."

You Gou didn't expect that no one in the Standing Committee of the Politburo supported her stance. This result surprised You Gou very much. She couldn't help asking: "The United States does not have the ability to threaten our territory. Even with consistency among the powers, we should be able to withstand the pressure."

Chen Ke explained: "The status quo already conforms to our greatest interests. What benefit does changing the current situation rashly bring to us? The purpose of the powers reaching a new system is to regulate future order, and their consistency will inevitably target China. At that time, China loses the cooperative relationship with the United States and loses the de facto trade system with Britain. This is equivalent to losing interests both inside and outside. What benefit does this have for us?"

"The realistic situation is that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance is indeed threatening us, and we and Japan may not necessarily avoid a showdown in a short time. At that time, we will unilaterally bear the blows of Japan and Britain, and Americans may not necessarily refrain from hitting us when we are down." You Gou was not without her own considerations.

Chen Ke agreed very much with You Gou's attitude towards the United States. He laughed: "Since we don't trust Americans, why not keep the Anglo-Japanese Alliance that Americans are trying hard to break up? The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is not only our shackles but also shackles against the United States. We don't need to risk the United States becoming our adversary. Some troublesome things must also be tolerated temporarily."

Since this issue had obtained the consent of the vast majority of Standing Committee members, and You Gou did not oppose it extremely, tolerating the continued existence of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance became the diplomatic direction in the near future.

Chen Ke discussed the issue of the unfriendly neighbor in the north again, "News from Europe says Tukhachevsky was defeated under the city of Warsaw. Russia's effort to attack Western Europe failed. If no special changes occur, the Russian situation has been determined. Before long, Russia will circle its territory with the current border line."

"What impact does this have on us? Will Russia go back on its word?" Shang Yuan was very heartbroken about the huge amount of funds invested in the north. If investment continued, it would be too regrettable.

"Beaten like that, what guts does Russia have to open another front in the East?" Zhang Yu was very sharp, "Will Britain and France refocus their energy on a global scale?"

"Yes. We have to be prepared for Britain's re-layout on a global scale." Chen Ke expressed agreement with Zhang Yu's answer.