Yang Jing remembered that when he was in junior high school learning geography, there was a geography test in which a comprehensive question was asked like this.

"Excuse me, how many inland provinces are there in our country? Which province is farthest from the ocean? Then, can I take a boat to the sea from this province? If not, please explain why. If yes, please briefly describe the boat route."

Yang Jing remembered very clearly that he had answered the first few questions of this comprehensive test correctly, but the last question left Yang Jing confused.

At that time, China had a total of thirty-four provincial-level administrative regions, including twenty-three provinces, five autonomous regions, four municipalities directly under the central government, and two special administrative regions.

Among these 34 provincial-level administrative regions, except Guangxi Province, Guangdong Province, Qiongdao Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Region, Min Province, Zhejiang Province, Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, Shandong Province, Hebei Province, Tianjin and Liaoning Province, the other provincial-level administrative regions are all inland provinces.

But among these inland provinces, Xinjiang is the one that is the farthest from the ocean. Xinjiang is not only the largest provincial administrative region in China, but also the inland province farthest from the ocean. If all the provinces in China are piled up, none of them can be farther from the ocean than Xinjiang.

So can we go out to sea by boat in Xinjiang?

This question confused Yang Jin at the time.

If you talk about other inland provinces, including the Tibetan areas with the highest altitudes, you can take a boat directly to the sea. The Jinsha River, Lancang River, Nu River and Yalong River can all reach the sea directly by boat.

Other inland provinces, which have the Pearl River, Yangtze River, Yellow River and Heilongjiang River systems, can also go out to sea by boat.

But the only thing is Xinjiang. How can this province go out to the sea by boat?

It seems that the rivers in the Xinjiang region are seasonal inland rivers, right? How can an inland river have an outlet to the sea?

Therefore, Yang Jing answered very straightforwardly, "No!"

As a result, the teacher naturally judged this question as wrong.

Quite a few students failed on this question, and only a few in the class answered it correctly.

There was no other reason, because at that time, most of the students, including Yang Jing, only remembered that there were inland rivers such as the Ili River and the Tarim River in Xinjiang. In addition, due to the unique topography of Xinjiang Province, they all forgot that there was actually a river in Xinjiang that could directly lead to the sea.

Moreover, the sea that this river leads to is not the Indian Ocean in the south, nor the Pacific Ocean in the east, but the Arctic Ocean in the north.

This river is the Irtysh River!

The Irtysh River originates from the Altai Mountains on the border between China and Mongolia, flows through China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia, merges with the Ob River in Khanty-Mansiysk, Tyumen Oblast, Russia, and finally flows into the Kra Sea in the Arctic Ocean. It is the only international river in China that flows into the Arctic Ocean system.

Therefore, starting from Xinjiang, you can take a boat north along the Irtysh River and eventually reach the Arctic Ocean.

Some people may say, isn't this nonsense? If the river originates in Xinjiang, can we take a boat to the sea? Then one of the sources of the Indus River, the Chipchap River, also originates in the Pamir Plateau in Xinjiang, but there are not many fish in that river, let alone boats?

Origin and being able to sail are two different things, okay?

That is true. Generally speaking, the source of a river is not navigable, such as the source of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, but the Irtysh River is navigable in Xinjiang.

Although the Irtysh River originates from the Altai Mountains, the source area is indeed not navigable. However, after flowing through northern Xinjiang for hundreds of kilometers, it becomes navigable before flowing out of the country.

Because after the Irtysh River flows downstream for hundreds of kilometers from its source, it merges with another tributary, the Burqin River, in the small town of Burqin. The river section downstream of Burqin instantly becomes much wider. The widest part of the river can even exceed 300 meters, and the average width is more than 100 meters. Therefore, it is completely navigable from Burqin downwards.

As early as the 27th year of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty, that is, in 1901, the Qing government at that time established a wharf at Burqin on the Irtysh River in Xinjiang to conduct regular shipping with Russia. The route departs from Burqin Port on the Irtysh River, passes through the main stream of the Irtysh River, Lake Zaisan, the West Siberian Plain, and eventually even reaches the Arctic Ocean.

The river section below Burqin is even navigable for ships of 300 tons!

And going down from Burqin, the Irtysh River will reach Omsk after passing through Lake Zaysan, Oskemen, Semii and Pavlodar!

If Kolchak secretly transferred the 1,100 tons of gold to another place and hid it, the most likely means of transportation would be ships!

It is possible to take a boat from Omsk, either going north along the river or upstream.

Although it was necessary to wait until the flood season in July every year to sail upstream from Omsk for a 300-ton ship, Kolchak had already designated Omsk as the seat of the White Army's "government" as early as June 1918, and did not abandon this place until November 1919.

During this year and a half, the Irtysh River had two flood seasons, which was enough for Kolchak to make any decision.

In this one and a half years, Kolchak could have transported the gold to any place. But the only thing that is certain is that, whether it is downstream or upstream, the gold must have been hidden not far from the Irtysh River. Otherwise, it would be impossible to move so much gold to a place too far from the river.

But which direction should Kolchak choose? North downstream or south upstream?

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