3
The second battery marched on a February frosty night. Arriving from the city at the station Nerchinsk, the gunners immediately loaded the guns onto the platforms, and the sledders introduced the horses into the wagons. The soldiers were trained to work quickly, but they waited for a very long time. The single-track Great Siberian Route was not able to fulfill all the demands made on it by wartime circumstances.
People housed in the frozen greenhouse. Thick steam clubs enveloped every artilleryman; the walls of the cars were covered with hoarfrost. It was ordered not to heat the furnaces until the morning.
Sleep on this night subsided without undressing. In the carriages, they drove by the platoon: from the first day of the march, the old and young soldiers were mixed. The battery was the gunners and rideable life from 1899 to 1904.
Most of all boasted of his seniority sled Semenov. He rode in the same carriage with Podkovin and was arrogant towards the young soldiers.
Hey, recruit, bring boiling water! could be heard from Semenov. Most of all he attacked Konevyazovs orlovtsa, who was with him on the lower tents of the carriage. Semenov kept his head and combed his beard in the same way as Mehmandarov. On the calves, he rolled up a lot of rags so that the tops of his boots seemed as thick as that of the commander. Yearlings scribbled Semenov, saluted him in front. In fact, the figure and straightening of the gunner and the colonel were very similar to each other, but Mehmandarov was black-haired, and Semenov was blond.
Wash the tank! shouted Semenov Podkovin once.
When it is my turn, I will wash it, and today is yours.
Semenov turned purple. He did not expect such resistance. A scientist, a clerk you are still young to disobey.
I do not intend to carry out someones whims.
On, go and wash you, shouted Semenov angrily at the orlovts, learn to live with your elders.
Konevyazov and Podkovin met their eyes.
Today I will not go. Im busy. See, Ill fix my uniform, he answered. Enough Doing a favor, and you have one conceit.
Ill show you arrogance! shouted Semenov.
Than to shout, lets go to Feldwebel right now, said Podkovin. During the war, we are all equal. Everyone is responsible for their work.
Remembering the reprimand received by Osipov for Podkovin, Semenov became quiet, but his eyes remained evil.
The soldiers of the second battery almost did not see Manchuria. Their train followed more at night, while in the daytime it stood for long hours at minor stations and deaf journeys. This was done on purpose away from the wine shops where vodka was sold for sixteen kopecks per bottle.
In Harbin, a military train was inspected by an inspector. The gunners were dressed in new uniforms, forced to tie the underbelly. There was a thaw. Podkovin tried to go to the city, look for the Willows, but the inspection review prevented him.
Chapter seven
one
The train stopped early in the morning at the small station Nanguin. As soon as the doors of the cars were opened, the gunners heard the command;
Get up! Get ready for unloading!.. Arrived at the theater of operations.
The last words of the team spurred the soldiers. They rose as one. Everyone tried to look out of the car. All saw only the stone building of the station. On the platform stood one railroad attendant. It was quiet. Cool air burst into the cars. The sun illuminated the tops of the nearby mountains. Their gray, bare slopes struck the Siberians with their lifelessness: no forest, not even a bush. Desert terrain stretched around.
Podkovin, having heard the name of the station, said:
From here, about two hours to Port Arthur and three quarters of an hour to the city of Far. Nangualine junction station.
And all he knows! growled Semenov.
How can I, uncle Semenov, not know if I was here last year?
The Gunners approached Podkovin to listen to his story about these places.
What kind of theater is this war?! disappointedly handed orlovets. We are again at home, in our land. Kwantung, I heard, was rented by us from the Chinese for ninety-nine years.
2
During February, the Japanese squadron stayed close to Port Arthur, trying to paralyze the exits of our large ships from the harbor. Russian pursued failures. The mine transport Yenisei and the handsome cruiser Boyar died. Both ran into their mines and submerged ships. Heroically fought the destroyer Steregushchy one against four Japanese destroyers and two cruisers. In an unequal battle, the Russian sailors put up courageous resistance. The destroyer Imposing, surrounded by Japanese cruisers, had to be thrown onto the stones.
Portartur depressed and waited for the Japanese landing near the fortress. Ground troops were transferred from one coast of the peninsula to the other. At the station Nanguin was duty train loaded with infantry and artillery.
During these days there have been some regrouping in parts of the troops. The first and second batteries of the Trans-Baikal Artillery Division were included in the fourth artillery East Siberian Brigade. The commander of the second battery was the colonel Laperov, who had arrived in the Far East, and Mehmandarov assumed command of the seventh artillery battalion.
Chapter eight
one
The second battery is located on the outskirts of the semi-neglected village of Nanguin. The well-to-do villagers left the north from the very first days of the war, having left their homes. The gunners are located in the empty fanzah. Daytime, from sunrise to sunset, was held in intensive study with guns and on trips to the surrounding fields and hills. For a short period, the entrances to all promontories and coves located near Nangualin station were studied.
The Kwantung Peninsula is filled with short mountain chains of considerable height. Their slopes are steep and cut by valleys of mountain streams and streams. A close examination of the Kvantun relief can be established that the main mountain spurs on it stretch not along but across, forming several natural barriers. The Tafashinsky heights should be considered the first barrier, and the largest group of mountains, connected to the Perebali range, which starts from the village of Longvantan on the Korean Gulf beret, stretches northward through Mount Huinsan and further through a series of heights to Mount Yupilasa, ending with a chain of hills at Hecy Bay. In front of the gates to Arthur there is also a barrier called the Wolf Mountains, separated from the Perevali range by the valley of the River Tahe and the plain that reaches the Ten Ships Bay. Significant heights in the last barrier are Xiaogushan and Fenhoanshan.
The slopes of the Kwangtung Mountains are treeless and stony, and the peaks often protrude toward the sky with separate rocks and stone teeth, forming natural walls similar to cock combs.
During the drought period, the Kvantuna river becomes very small, but in rainy time they turn into violently flowing streams. Most of the Kwantung roads pass through their valleys, and sometimes the riverbeds.
2
The declaration of war disturbed the inhabitants of the Far, but the alarm did not last long. Soon fresh troops began to arrive on Kvantun. The Japanese have become silent after the first speeches.
Since nothing significant has been done at the very beginning, there is nothing to be afraid of. Reinforcements will come from the north, push the enemy aside, and life will go on as before, said Modest Vladimirovich to his wife and daughter.
Valya never stopped making music. She often went to the beach and looked away for a long time. Dark silhouettes of enemy warships with black clouds of smoke did not frighten her.
Back in Harbin, just before she left, she received a letter from Irkutsk from her friend Zoya Remneva. She told her that Tikhon had been taken and assigned to the second field battery of the Trans-Baikal Artillery Division.
Where is he now, this Trans-Baikal division? Maybe on Kvantun? asked herself Valya.
Walking through the streets, she looked into the faces of young soldiers. She learned from kanta on her caps to distinguish artillerymen from infantrymen.
Once the arrows told her that not far from the city, at the pumping station, there was a field battery of the fourth rifle artillery brigade. After that, Valya began to go on the road to the pumping station.
At the end of March and at the beginning of April, it was the second battery that Valya so often asked about. Podkovin walked with Orlovtsev Konevyazov twice to the Far. Walking along the street past the building of the Russian-Chinese Bank, Tikhon once heard a familiar motive. In the next wing, the same melody that Valya played to him on the piano was performed on the piano.
Where is she now? Does Tikhon remember? Maybe become an important lady? But, although as a joke, she was going to marry me
The game stopped, and Podkovin went to the bazaar to look for the orlovtsa, who bought tobacco and cigarettes on behalf of his comrades.
3
In the evenings, Lykov often sat with the Inovs. Valya avoided him. Being alone with Serafim Prokopievna, he talked to her for a long time in the hope that Valya would seem to him.Inova met Lykova affably. He gave her a bunch of military news, expressed favorable assumptions and, thus, extremely pleased Seraphim Prokopyevna. Two times mothers managed to call her daughter into the living room and make her play the piano.
Valya noticed a big change in Lykov. He leaned over, walked with his head down, stopped drinking vodka and smoking.
On the fifth day of the war, Lykov transferred to the state gratuitously the remnants of building materials worth fifty thousand rubles. His father telegraphically approved the act, but demanded that he rather leave home. Showing the telegram to Seraphim Prokopievna, Lykov said:
I can not decide to leave here.
We are going back to Harbin in April. The movement of goods has stopped, and the entire composition of the banks branch has nothing to do here.
Talk with Valery failed. Lykov grieved.
How short-sighted I am! The judge boy was right. Dad will approve the choice.
Alexander Petrovich wrote Valais a letter. Week waited for an answer. Sent the second.
You do not believe that I love you madly, he wrote. Time of my reasoning is over. I dropped the calculations. You made me turn round. I will do everything you order.
Valya answered:
No sacrifice is needed for me. How do you not understand that you need to marry after a year or two and, moreover, a girl who would not know you yesterday I have a feeling of disgust for you You smell like a foreigner Maybe its cruel, but you are not a boy, but everyone a recognized smart businessman I dont need anything. But homeland needs you. Go to the headquarters and take on the share of concerns for the construction of fortifications in dangerous places. Work and live among the soldiers.
four
In the courtyard occupied by the servants of the seventh cannon, the big fanza was cleared, and the Chinese family lived in a small one. The host and the teenage chinchone each morning went to the field. There were three Chinese women: an old woman and two young women, one of them pregnant. At the threshold of the fanza, three small girls played all day.
Konevyazov memorized a few words of Russian-Chinese jargon, and at each meeting he tried to encourage the owner of the court, who went to hang his head. Orlovets decided to prove to his master that he must definitely leave Nangual.
You what, the kind person, you sit here, but you dont leave somewhere far away from war? You have a horse, you have a cart, and so go.
The Chinese looked at the orlovtsov and shrugged.
Captain Shango My booty.
Apparently, the master assumed that the soldier wanted to get some thing from him. Konevyazov thought about himself:
Why did the Chinese stay here? Why didnt you go north with the others? The Japanese landed, the path is cut. Is it a pity that he should leave his native village? A pregnant wife is about to be resolved How can he explain?
One evening he called the host to the arba. You have to go, you have to go soon.
The Chinese again wondered. An old woman came out into the yard. The girls ran to the orlovtsu, they have become accustomed to it.
What, again, wanted sugar? I will give sugar, dam, the gunner laughed and put the children in the arba. Turning to the fanzi host, he said:
Grandmother sit, madame sit, and then lets go. Konevyazov harnessed himself in a cart and drove her a few steps to the gate.
The girls laughed and waved their hands, but the Chinese did not understand anything. The seriousness with which the orlovets spoke, worried him. He looked around in bewilderment and, crouching down in the middle of the courtyard, lit a pipe.
Tunda? asked orlovets.
Butunda, the Chinese replied, and his face showed annoyance.
On the next day, the gunner remained pragmatic. Women often came out of the fanza and looked at the familiar Russian soldier who walked around the yard with an important look, guarding sacks of barley and hay bales. Around noon, the host approached the Orlovs, took his hand and led him to the corner of the fanza. A Chinese with a pale face came out to meet them; having examined the artilleryman, the stranger bowed and said in Russian:
Hello. I came here at the request of the owner. You ask him for something, but he does not know what it is. Tell me, and I will tell him.
Ege, what a suave, thought Orlovets.
I do not ask for anything and the Russian soldier does not need anything. Why did he stay in the village and not leave, like other peasants?
The stranger spoke with the host fanza, replied:
He has a family secret.
When he tells a secret, then I will give him advice.
The Chinese held a long meeting.
The question concerns his wife. She has to give birth in a month. He has no son. We, the Chinese, cannot have a son. The oracle said: if his wife resolves under the roof of his ancestors, then they will have a son. So he waits.