Yang Jing remembers that when he was in junior high school geography, he once had a geography exam, and a comprehensive question was like this."
Excuse me, how many inland provinces are there in our country?
Which province is furthest from the ocean?
So, is it possible to go to sea by boat from this province?
No, please explain why.Yes, please give us a brief description of the boat route. ”Yang Jing remembered very well that he had answered the first few questions of this comprehensive question correctly, but the last question made Yang Jing confused.At that time, there were 34 provincial-level administrative regions in China, including 23 provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities directly under the central government, and two special administrative regions.Among the 34 provincial-level administrative regions, except for Gui Province, Guangdong Province, Qiongdao Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region, Min Province, Zhejiang Province, Huhai Province, Jiangsu Province, Lu Province, Hebei Province, Tianjin Province and Liao Province, the other provincial-level administrative regions are all inland provinces.But among these inland provinces, there is no one farther from the sea than the frontier.Xinjiang is not only the largest provincial-level administrative region in China, but also the farthest inland province from the sea.Counting all the provinces in China, none of them can be farther from the ocean than the frontier.So is it possible to go to sea by boat in Xinjiang?
This question confused Yang Jin at that time.You have to say that other inland provinces, including the Tibetan areas with the highest altitude, can reach the sea directly by boat, and the Jinsha River, Lancang River, Nu River, and Yajiang River can reach the sea directly by boat.Other inland provinces, including the Pearl River, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Heilongjiang River, can also go to sea by boat.But only in the region, how can this province go to sea by boat?
It seems that the rivers in the territory are all seasonal endorhes, right?
How is it possible for an inland river to have an outlet to the sea?
Therefore, Yang Jing happily answered an answer: "No!"
”As a result, this question was naturally judged to be wrong by the teacher.And there are not a few students who have fallen on this question, and only a few people in the class have answered this question correctly.Without him, because most of the classmates, including Yang Jing at that time, only remembered that there were inland rivers such as the Ili River and the Tarim River in Xinjiang, coupled with the unique topography and landform of Xinjiang Province, they all forgot that there was actually a river in Xinjiang that could directly lead to the sea.And the sea to which the river leads is not the Indian Ocean in the south, nor the Pacific Ocean in the east, but the Arctic Ocean in the far north.This river is the Irtysh!
The Irtysh River, which originates in the Altai Mountains on the border of China and Mongolia, flows through the four countries of China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan, joins the Ob River in the city of Khantymansiysk in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, and finally flows into the Kra Sea of the Arctic Ocean, which is the only international river in China that flows into the Arctic Ocean water system.Therefore, starting from the territory and taking a boat along the Irtysh River all the way north, you can eventually reach the Arctic Ocean.Some people may say, isn't this?
The river originates in the territory, so you can go to sea by boat?
The Chipchap River, one of the sources of the Indus River, also originates in the Pamir Plateau in the Xinjiang region, but there are not many fish in that river, not to mention boats?
Origins and boats are two different things, okay?
That's true.The headwaters of rivers are usually not navigable, such as the headwaters of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, but the Irtysh River is indeed navigable in Xinjiang.Because although the Irtysh River originates in the Altai Mountains, the source area is indeed unnavigable, but the Irtysh River is navigable after flowing for hundreds of kilometers in the northern Xinjiang and before it is about to flow out of the country.Because when the Irtysh River flows down for hundreds of kilometers from the source, after the small town of Burqin joins another tributary, the Burqin River, the section of the river down Burqin is instantly much wider, and the widest part of the river can even exceed 300 meters, and the average width is more than 100 meters, so it is completely navigable from Burqin downward.As early as the 27th year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, that is, in 1901 AD, the Qing government at that time set up a wharf in Burzin on the Irtysh River in Xinjiang to carry out regular navigation with Russia.The route runs from the port of Burzin on the Irtysh River, through the main stream of the Irtysh River, Lake Zaisan, the West Siberian Plain, and finally even all the way to the Arctic Ocean.The section of the river down from Burzin can even be navigated by ships of 300 tons!
And down Burzin, the Irtysh River will reach Omsk after passing through Lake Zaisan, Oskemen, Semiy, Paplodar!
If Kolchak had secretly transferred the 1,100 tons of gold to some other place and hid it, the most likely means of transport would have been ships!
Taking a boat from Omsk, whether you go north along the river or up the river, is no problem.Although it was necessary to wait until the wet season in July every year to travel a ship of 300 tons upstream from Omsk, Kolchak made Omsk the seat of the White Army as early as June 1918 and did not abandon it until November 1919.In the course of a year and a half, the Irtysh River had two periods of high water, enough for Kolchak to make any decision.In the course of a year and a half, it is possible that Kolchak will transport this gold wherever it goes.But the only thing that is certain is that whether it is down the river or upstream, this gold must be hidden not far from the course of the Irtysh River, otherwise, it is impossible to move so much gold too far from the river.It's just that which direction should Kolchak choose?
Is it the north downstream or the south upstream?
According to the information collected by Niam, Yang Jing can also know that after Kolchak occupied Omsk, he relied on the Irtysh River to the west of the city to make a large number of defensive facilities, and he not only built a large number of military fortresses on the east bank of the river and arranged heavy artillery bases, but also arranged a lot of inland gunboats on the Irtysh River to patrol the upper and lower reaches of the Irtysh River to prevent the Red Army from breaking through the defense line of the Irtysh River from the upper and lower reaches.That is, at the time of Kolchak's occupation of Omsk, Kolchak had in his hands a significant number of river gunboats.Most of these gunboats were ships with a displacement of about 300 to 600 tons, but with a little modification, they could be converted into transport ships.It is highly likely that Kolchak will use these converted gunboats to transport that gold.It's just that according to Yang Jing's careful analysis, combined with the situation at that time, it is very likely that Kolchak will not be transported downstream, but upstream.The main reason for this conclusion is the direction of the Irtysh River and the situation at that time.First, after passing through Omsk, the Irtysh River flows eastward, then turns a bend and goes straight to the northwest, eventually joining the Tobol River in Tobolsk, less than 200 kilometers from Tyumen.In short, if Kolchak wanted to transport this batch of gold downstream, it would have to pass through Tobolsk, and from Tyumen along the Tobol River to Tobolsk it would be only seven or eight hours away!
At that time, the Bolshevik Party was in charge of the vanguard of the Bolshevik in Chelyabinsk against Kolchak, and the commander was Marshal Blyukher, one of the first five marshals of the Soviet Union.Blyukherr was at that time in Chelyabinsk as a commissar of the Red Guards.The situation at that time was like this.The Red Army occupied Chelyabinsk, facing Kolchak's White Army to the east, and Blyuk's Red Guards liberated Orenburg in early 1918, which formed a huge oppression on Kolchak.However, in May of that year, the Czech Legion mutinied, which led to the erosion of the situation in Chelyabinsk.At that time, there was even a proposal to disband the Red Army stationed in Chelyabinsk, and everyone fled for their lives.At this time, Kolchak also led the army to attack Chelyabinsk, and the situation was extremely dangerous.However, under the leadership of Blyukher, the Red Guards quickly quelled the rebellion of the Czech Legion, and at the same time, in order to be able to join the main force of the Red Army, Blyukher sent the Red Guards to intersperse with the Tyumen generation, and carried out harassment tactics against the White Army from the rear of the White Army, and finally held out until it joined the main force of the Red Army, and beat Kolchak's White Army back to Omsk.That is, before the arrival of the flood season on the Irtysh in 1918, the situation was actually very favorable for Kolchak.At that time, Kolchak had 1.2 million White troops, as well as a huge amount of gold and jewelry smuggled from Petrograd, and although Nicholas II was executed in July, the White Army was more than capable of occupying a vast area east of the Urals.So at that time, Kolchak should not have made the decision to flee in a situation where he had an advantageous situation.In other words, from June 1918 to September 1919, Kolchak held on to the strategic idea of holding Omsk and looking for an opportunity to counterattack western Russia.If it were Yang Jing, he would think the same way.No one would have thought about how to flee when they were in an advantageous position, let alone a figure like Kolchak, who was a diehard loyalist to the Tsar.I have money, people and guns, and the situation is still in my favor, so why should I run east?
Even if I run, I'll have to run west and attack!
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Kolchak to transport the gold in his hands.However, with the occupation of strategic points such as Chelyabinsk and Tyumen by the Red Army, and the start of a large-scale offensive on Omsk in September 1919, Kolchak's situation instantly changed from favorable to unfavorable.That's why in this case, Kolchak began to think about how to escape, how to find a place to hide the gold that could not be taken away.But in this situation, the Red Army had already appeared in Tobolsk on the lower Irtysh, and it was impossible for Kolchak to transport gold downstream by ship under such circumstances.So, if you want to transport the gold away, you have to transport it upstream along the Irtysh River.And in September, the Irtysh River will be able to sail ships of more than 300 tons, and these gunboat-converted transport ships are fully capable of transporting this gold to somewhere in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River and hide it!
And transporting this batch of gold upstream will also surprise most people.At the same time, in the upper reaches of the Irtysh River, surrounded by mountains, it is the best place to hide gold.It is no wonder that several of the materials collected by Nyam mentioned that in September 1919, in Paplodar, there were people who saw the White army river gunboats going up the river from Omsk, and there are also vague references to the possibility that Kolchak could have transported a batch of valuable goods to the mountains on the Sino-Russian border before withdrawing from Omsk