Chapter 276
As they were talking, the two had already walked to the square in front of the armory. Yuri looked ahead and saw the exit of the Kremlin, so he said casually, "I just received a notice from Petrkovsky, asking me to go to the Ministry of Heavy Industry to attend a meeting at one o'clock in the afternoon. It seems to be about the dismantling of equipment from German industrial and mining enterprises."
Khrushchev frowned, raised his left arm, scratched his shiny forehead with his little finger, and said, "Why didn't you give me the report you submitted to the People's Commissariat of Defense some time ago, the one about the search for German experts?"
There was obvious dissatisfaction in his words, but the more dissatisfied he was, the more at ease Yuri felt. This dissatisfaction showed that the other party did not take the matter to heart. Otherwise, a cunning man like Khrushchev would only hide this dissatisfaction in his heart and would never show it in person.
He was thinking about how to answer, but Khrushchev did not wait for his answer, but continued directly: "Your report fell into the hands of Malenkov. This guy has been in charge of the construction of the aviation industry in the past few years, so he is very interested in your report. Notifying you to attend the meeting today should be related to this report."
Yuri nodded suddenly.
"However, I have to remind you," Khrushchev continued, "You rarely go back to Moscow, so you are relatively isolated from the news. At present, the work of the 'Special Committee' is not limited to Germany, but also includes Hungary, Finland and Romania. There are four members in the Special Committee. Malenkov is responsible for German issues, Voroshilov is responsible for Hungary, Zhdanov is responsible for Finland, and Vyshinsky is responsible for Romania."
Vyshinsky refers to Andrei Yanuarevich Vyshinsky, the Soviet Attorney General, a man with blood on his hands no less than Beria and even Yezhov, who played a key role in the Great Purge. He was called the "Red Jurist" of the Soviet Union, and it was his statement that "criminal law is a tool of class struggle, and confession is the king of evidence" that provided the legal basis for the torture in the Great Purge.
"Now, the struggle between Malenkov and Zhdanov has become clear," Khrushchev said with a frown, "and there is also a struggle between the two in the work of the Special Committee."
"Oh?" Yuri asked in confusion. He couldn't think of anything to fight for in such a job.
"You know, during those years in Leningrad, Zhdanov basically treated it as his own farm," Khrushchev said with a sneer. "The entire Leningrad region, including Karelia, was filled with cadres arranged by him from top to bottom, such as Kuznetsov, Voznesensky, and Popkov. They all regarded him as their leader."
At this moment, a team of Internal Guard soldiers walked by. Khrushchev stopped talking and waited until the patrol passed by before continuing: " Zhdanov has always been unruly. Relying on his relationship with Comrade Stalin, he never takes anyone seriously, let alone the young Malenkov. This guy even mocked Malenkov's obesity to his face and nicknamed him 'Aunt Maleniya'. Yes, he dared to call Malenkov that in front of Comrade Stalin."
Yuri was speechless.
Malenkov is indeed very young. He was born in 1902, younger than any of the current members of the Standing Committee of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union. He is even ten to twenty years younger. But no matter how young he is, he is still an important national leader. It is ok to give him a nickname, and call him to his face. How can Malenkov step down?
However, Zhdanov was a man who was really capable of doing this. His son, Yuri Andreyevich Zhdanov, married Stalin's Svetlana, and was a real relative of Comrade Stalin by marriage. With only this relationship, plus the prestige he had accumulated during the Battle of Leningrad, Malenkov really had no way to deal with him.
As a member of the Presidium Standing Committee, Malenkov did have too many shortcomings. He had never taken on any independent work, and he liked to listen to his wife on many things. The nickname "Aunt Malenia" was not only a satire of his fat body, but also of the fact that he obeyed his wife's words.
"Initially, Zhdanov proposed the demolition of industrial and mining enterprises in the German-occupied areas," Khrushchev said. "His opinion was that Leningrad Oblast suffered great losses during the war, and the original industrial base was almost destroyed. Therefore, Zhdanov hoped to demolish factories from the German-occupied areas to make up for the losses suffered by Leningrad Oblast during the war. But Malenkov proposed the establishment of a 'special committee', advocating that the demolished enterprises be mainly relocated in Moscow or the area east of the Urals, and this was recognized by Comrade Stalin. The conflict between the two also came from this."
Yuri nodded. In his opinion, this kind of thing didn't seem to have much to do with him, so he just listened to it as a topic of conversation.
"Don't get too involved in the affairs of the 'Special Committee'. If Malenkov wants to consult you, you can answer him in detail, but remember, you should answer whatever he asks, and don't say anything more if he doesn't ask." Khrushchev finally reminded.
"I see," Yuri replied with a hasty nod.
Yuri is now very clear about his position, which is to follow in Khrushchev's footsteps. As for Beria, I believe that with his current identity and status, he will not use those past events as a threat and cause trouble for him.
In fact, to sum up Khrushchev's many suggestions today, the main point is only one: keep a low profile, hide yourself as much as possible, and don't let others notice you. As long as Comrade Stalin is alive, many things will be unclear. He likes to watch the people below fight each other, and then he will be the referee, but Yuri doesn't want to participate in this game, which will make him die without a burial place.
At this time, the two men had already walked out of the Kremlin tower. Khrushchev stopped, looked back at the car following behind, and his driver immediately drove over.
"If," Khrushchev turned around hesitantly as he was about to get in the car when the driver opened the door, as if he had made a decision, he said, "if you refuse the post of commander of the German group, and Comrade Stalin asks you what you want to do, you can ask to preside over the work of disarmament."
"Ah?!" Yuri was shocked.
"I'm just making a suggestion," Khrushchev frowned and said, "You still need to make a decision on this matter. Think about it carefully."
After saying that, he got straight into the car.
Yuri's mood had not yet calmed down after watching Khrushchev's car drive away.
disarmament?!
Now, at least from Yuri's personal point of view, Comrade Stalin should not have the idea of disarmament. After all, the war against Japan has not yet begun. Isn't it a bit early to talk about disarmament now?
As the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and Chief of Operations of the Soviet Army, Yuri certainly knew how huge the current Soviet Army system was. To be honest, after the elimination of German fascism, there was really no need to keep these tens of millions of troops. Moreover, from the perspective of national construction and restoration, disarmament was also something that had to be done.
But the problem is that disarmament is bound to affect the interests of too many people, and these people are basically military personnel. As a military general, Yuri himself is really not suitable to be the first to raise this issue. He will be regarded as a traitor by the military and offend too many people.
The car drove up, Arseni got out and opened the door for Yuri.
Taking a deep breath, Yuri withdrew his gaze, hesitated for a moment, then turned around and got into the car.
At this time, he was in a very uneasy mood. He had to admit that Khrushchev's proposal really made Yuri feel genuinely embarrassed.
Of course, he also understood what Khrushchev meant. The reason why the old man was so hesitant was probably because he was not sure about this matter. Fundamentally speaking, in a situation like Yuri's, the best way to continue to gain the trust of Comrade Stalin after the war was to raise the issue of disarmament and then do it in a down-to-earth and patient manner.
Offending many people is definitely not a good thing for others, but in the eyes of Comrade Stalin, the more people a person offends, the better person he is and the more trustworthy he is. Look at the people who gathered around him, which one of them is not like this?
Moreover , disarmament is not something that can be accomplished in a day or two. It is not something that can be done by simply deciding to disband a certain unit. It requires a lot of work, dealing with many parties, and coordination. It involves many aspects of the problem and involves the interests of all parties.
In a nutshell, disarmament is a complex task that connects the military on one end and local governments on the other. If Yuri can get the opportunity to take charge of this task, he will receive tremendous training over the years. At the same time, he will be able to establish certain connections with the local governments of the various republics and even the states, which will be a valuable qualification.
Most importantly, on the surface, this work does not involve power struggles and is low-key enough, but in fact, it is a very powerful job because its main work links are concentrated in the local area, away from the quagmire of the struggle in Moscow.
Yuri was a little hesitant, really hesitant. He had never been so hesitant since his rebirth. He felt that he really needed to think about it carefully.
