Portartur. 1940. Boris Trofimov
the sleeve of a shoe, Orlovets said. – Stop the horse. Prepare a revolver.
“Chinese” began to bypass the wagon loaded with dry Gaolian.
– Hello my friend! What, did not know?
“My butunda, my own fanza, go,” said the visitor in a shaky voice.
– Drop pretend. Yes, it’s me.Remember, the ancestors talked about?
“Yes, captain,” as if reborn, the “Chinese” nodded with a smile and grabbed the orlovtsa by the arm.
– Come with us. You treasure for the authorities.
– Goodbye, please. I can not. I’m in a hurry to go home. Wife is worried. The time is now alarming.
– Nothing. Not for long. To the big captain we will go. He will pay you a lot of money. You will ride a foraging with us.
– Yes, I can not! – with anger exclaimed “Chinese”, but the soldiers, not listening, put him on the gig. “The Chinese” immediately calmed down and smiled and said: “Let’s go.” Very nice to see the Russian captain.
The Fox, Orlovets thought.
At Shimenza Podkovin, Orlovets and their unwilling companion saw the shooters surrounded by a crowd of women, children and the elderly. The soldiers led the Chinese with their hands tied back. Orlovets recognized the host fanza.
– Brothers, what’s the matter?
– Spy caught. He lived and lived among Russians in Nangualine; and when the Japanese came close, he leaned on their side with the whole family. Now the court was, and now we are shooting.
– Wait! – gasping, said orlovets. – Where is the officer? Who is your senior?
Elder and Orlovets moved aside.
“The real spy is sitting on our gig.” Tie his hands, so that the convict with his eyes did not meet. Wait a minute here, and I’ll run down the officers.
Ten minutes later, Konevyazov returned with the commander of the hunting team.
“It was me, your excellency, who seduced me to go.” And another came as a translator. Then right away I didn’t get lost, but then he fell into our hands at just the right moment.
Orlovets, stammering, told about the first meeting with the pale-faced “Chinese” who speak Russian fluently.
– You said so: the roof of the ancestors is the sky? Well done, – praised the staff captain. – But another time, look, do not let go of reasoning.
The commander of the hunting team, having examined the Chinese translator, said:
– A rare figure… Senior, come here!
The crowd of villagers grew. Day sloped in the evening. The cries of women and the crying of children were heard.
– Under the reinforced escort take to the headquarters of the Chinese, caught gunners. Tell me there that he speaks Russian well and that my report about him will be in an hour. And that convict to keep under protection until tomorrow, until the new order.
Chapter eleven
one
On the second of May evening, Podkovin realized that preparations were being made for the first skirmish with the Japanese on the Liaodong Peninsula. After the trip with the general, he was very excited. The second battery is located at the bottom of Mount Samson, but the third battery and the battery of Second Lieutenant Sadykov, composed of piston guns and moving on the bulls – “bull battery”, as its soldiers called, moved closer to the enemy.
Early in the morning of the third of May, Fock, driving around the locations of the units, met with General Nadein.
“The Japanese are being cheeky, Your Excellency,” said Fock, “and they should be taught a lesson.” Move by day and open.
– We have a weak position center…
– Do you think they will go along the Bitszyvock road? Oh, this is the height of self-confidence.
“So far we have not resisted them, and even when landing in a storm,” Nadein said, pursing his lips.
Fock turned away and looked at Samson’s bare top.
– Lieutenant! He shouted. – Write. Lieutenant Colonel Prince Machebeli. Immediately come out of the bivouac with the three battalions of the 13th Regiment and the batteries attached to them and follow, without stopping, along the Bitsevos road to the Tunzalizon bridge.
Meanwhile, the Japanese are more and more deployed. Before them was one goal – Mount Samson, from which one can see so well around. Their numerous spies extremely accurately informed about each step of the Russian troops. They knew all the weak points of our position.
In 1894, when disembarking, the Japanese army did not encounter opposition from the Chinese. The same thing happened in 1904. The Russians in the eyes of the Japanese soldiers were not smarter and not braver.
General Fock has not yet had a definite plan. What to do on this day and the next – he did not know. He was disturbed by Kuropatkin’s telegrams. Of all the messages, she realized that she should not wait for help.
– But this is wild! Where are we going far away? – Fock polled himself a thousand times. “There are so few, so few soldiers, that the landing will be further south of the isthmus.”
At ten o’clock in the morning on the heights about which the general was a few days ago, battalions of Japanese soldiers appeared. Gunfire and salvos of one company drove them into the hollows.
Having received a report on the movement of the enemy in an open area, Fock exclaimed:
– This is undoubtedly a demonstration. General Oku is teasing me to crawl onto the shore somewhere near Suantsaygou. Mischievous! It’s not easy to fool me. I will be able to properly arrange and these little strength. Quantum is not bare…
Hearing a gunfight on the right flank, Fock, in a hurry, ordered that the first battalion of the 13th regiment stopped at Nanguin station and did not move to the north.
The adjutant wrote the order and filed it for signature. A written sheet of paper annoyed Fock, he winced and waved his hand:
– Is it really impossible without these formalities? How they interfere with me in responsible moments. In a field setting, catch orders on the fly, and then accurately and quickly transfer them to the destination.
– Yes, sir, Your Excellency.
After repeating the order twice, the orderly galloped off.
The fight flared up. It took about an hour. From the village of Hondyaden, the enemy’s heavy chains moved again, and behind them, just a few miles away, four columns from our position, a thick column of two regiments appeared, with mountain guns on packs.
– Where is our field artillery? – the commander of the sixth company of the fifth regiment, Captain Gomzyakov, was perplexed. – When I, General Fok ordered that they should come here. After all, this is a brilliant order. See which chain.
“There has certainly been some kind of confusion,” said Lieutenant Pushkov, “Our old man has become unrecognizable in recent days.” He has a big drawback – to give oral orders, not written. We stand at a certain tip. You see, nobody still knows what we will do around Kinzhou. So today.