Based on the information collected by Niam, Yang Jing also knew that after Kolchak occupied Omsk, he built a large number of defense facilities relying on the Irtysh River to the west of the city. He not only built a large number of military fortresses on the east bank of the river and deployed heavy artillery bases, but also deployed many inland gunboats on the Irtysh River to patrol the upstream and downstream of the Irtysh River to prevent the Red Army from breaking through the Irtysh River defense line from the upstream and downstream.
That is to say, when Kolchak occupied Omsk, he had a large number of inland gunboats in his hands. Most of these gunboats had a displacement of about 300 to 600 tons, but with a little modification, they could be converted into transport ships. Kolchak was very likely to use these modified gunboats to transport the gold.
However, according to Yang Jing's careful analysis and the situation at the time, Kolchak would most likely 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 northwest and finally meets the Tobol River in Tobolsk, less than 200 kilometers from Tyumen. In short, if Kolchak wanted to transport the gold downstream, he would have to pass through Tobolsk, and it only takes seven or eight hours to travel from Tyumen along the Tobol River to Tobolsk!
At that time, the commander of the Bolshevik Party's vanguard troops in Chelyabinsk who was responsible for fighting against Kolchak was Marshal Blucher, who later became one of the first five famous marshals of the Soviet Union.
Blucher was serving as political commissar of the Red Guards in Chelyabinsk at the time.
The situation at that time was like this. The Red Army occupied Chelyabinsk and faced Kolchak's White Army in the east. Blucher led the Red Guards to liberate Orenburg in early 1918, which put great pressure on Kolchak.
But in May of that year, the Czech Legion rebelled, which led to a period of deterioration in Chelyabinsk. At that time, some people even proposed to disband the Red Army stationed in Chelyabinsk, and everyone fled for their lives. At this time, Kolchak also led his army to attack Chelyabinsk, and the situation was extremely dangerous.
But under the leadership of Blucher, the Red Guards quickly quelled the rebellion of the Czech Legion. At the same time, in order to be able to join up with the main force of the Red Army, Blucher sent the Red Guards to infiltrate the Tyumen area, harassing the White Army from the rear, and finally persisted until they joined up with the main force of the Red Army and drove Kolchak's White Army back to Omsk.
In other words, before the flood season of the Irtysh River in 1918, the situation was actually very favorable for Kolchak.
At that time, Kolchak had 1.2 million White Army soldiers and a huge amount of gold and jewelry smuggled from Petrograd. Although Nicholas II was executed in July, according to the situation at the time, the White Army was fully capable of occupying the vast area east of the Urals.
So at that time, Kolchak would not have decided to escape when he was in an advantageous position.
In other words, from June 1918 to September 1919, Kolchak held the strategic idea of holding on to Omsk and looking for opportunities to counterattack western Russia.
If it were Yang Jing, he would think so too. No one would think about escaping when they are in an advantageous position, let alone someone like Kolchak who is loyal to the Tsar.
I have money, people, and guns, and the situation is favorable to me, why should I run east? Even if I run, I have to run west and attack!
Under such circumstances, it was impossible for Kolchak to transport the gold in his hands.
However, as the Red Army occupied strategic locations such as Chelyabinsk and Tyumen, and launched a large-scale offensive against Omsk in September 1919, Kolchak's situation instantly changed from favorable to unfavorable.
So in this situation, Kolchak began to think about how to escape and how to find a place to hide the gold that he could not take away.
But in this situation, the Red Army had already appeared in Tobolsk, downstream of the Irtysh River, and it was impossible for Kolchak to transport the gold downstream by ship under such circumstances.
Therefore, if you want to transport the gold away, you can only transport it upstream along the Irtysh River.
Moreover, in September, the Irtysh River was still navigable for ships of more than 300 tons. These transport ships converted from gunboats were fully capable of transporting the gold to a place upstream of the Irtysh River and hiding it!
Moreover, transporting this batch of gold to the upper reaches would be beyond the expectations of most people. At the same time, the upper reaches of the Irtysh River are surrounded by mountains, which is the best place to hide gold.
No wonder several of the documents collected by Niam mentioned that in September 1919, someone in Pavlodar saw a White Army river gunboat going up the river from Omsk...
There are also documents that vaguely mention that Kolchak may have transported a batch of valuables to the mountainous area on the Sino-Russian border before withdrawing from Omsk...
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