Chapter 331
Yuri also knew the person behind Suslov. His name was Semyon Denisovich Ignatiev, and he was currently the first secretary of the Bashkir Oblast.
Compared with the previous few, Ignatiev was the least outstanding. The reason why he was able to enter the sight of Comrade Stalin was really thanks to Comrade Andreyev's efforts to promote him. Yes, this person is Andreyev's die-hard supporter. He has been working with Andreyev since 1935.
Comrade Stalin needed to maintain a balance in the Presidium of the Central Committee, so he was happy to see Comrade Andreyev, who had little presence, promote more people.
Among the ten people, Yuri only knew these few, and the rest were all strangers. There were countless outstanding cadres in the Soviet Union, which had an area of tens of millions of square kilometers. Comrade Stalin was in charge of the promotion and appointment of cadres. It was very likely that he could see some remote corners, but Yuri did not have this ability. Therefore, it was not surprising that a few people he did not know suddenly appeared.
Near ten o'clock, in the misty drizzle, the hearse carrying the body of Comrade Sherbakov slowly entered Moscow's Red Square in coordination with a guide vehicle. In front of the guide vehicle, there was a team escorting wreaths and a cavalry of honor.
Even standing where Yuri was, he could hear the train whistle coming from the direction of the train station.
Stalin did not attend today's funeral in person. The death of Comrade Sherbakov made the leader very sad. He felt unwell, so the doctor advised him to rest more, so he was unable to attend this important funeral event.
Of course, all of the above are just propaganda fabricated. The reason why Comrade Stalin did not attend the funeral was that he had more important things to do. Just this morning, the US Ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman asked to meet with Comrade Stalin. He brought a piece of news to Comrade Stalin: "The world anti-fascist fighter, the most precious friend of the Soviet people", the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died of cerebral congestion early this morning.
This news came as a surprise to the whole world. Roosevelt had been the president of the United States for four consecutive terms. Because of the long-term dealings, a certain degree of mutual trust had been established between Washington and Moscow, as well as between Stalin and Roosevelt. Although there have been constant conflicts between the two countries in recent times, and both sides have been shooting arrows at each other, overall, the order between the East and the West is still being steadily built, and there is no danger of a large-scale conflict.
When Harriman met Comrade Stalin, far away in the Western Hemisphere, Washington, Roosevelt's deputy, Vice President Truman, had completed the swearing-in process for the presidency and officially became the 33rd President of the United States.
The sudden change of the US presidential candidate may very likely mean a series of changes in US foreign policy, especially in its policy issues regarding dealing with the Soviet Union. Comrade Stalin had no choice but to pay more attention to this. He needed to establish direct contact with Truman as soon as possible and understand this person's attitude towards the Soviet issue as soon as possible.
Most importantly, at this time in East Asia, the US military had begun to attack Honshu. After obtaining the air bases in Shikoku, they had launched almost non-stop bombing on Tokyo for more than two months. The place had been reduced to ruins, but the Japanese did not seem to have any intention of surrendering to them.
Compared with Americans who have experienced the Pearl Harbor incident and the entire Pacific War, the Japanese are now more inclined to surrender to the Soviets. This is consistent with the Germans' thinking. Of course, this is also normal thinking of seeking benefits and avoiding harm.
In recent times, Comrade Meretskov, who was commanding operations in the Far East, has received a large number of surrendered troops from Japan. He even received a "request" from the commander of the Aomori theater of defense of Japan's homeland, inviting the Soviet army to land in Aomori, and the Japanese troops stationed on the coast will surrender to the Soviet army at the agreed time.
Even though the Japanese said they were going to do something like "one hundred million deaths in glory", in reality, there were only a few people who were truly able to face death with equanimity, especially when death was no longer a threat but was becoming a reality.
However, Moscow, constrained by its agreement with Washington, had no intention of continuing to advance towards Japan's Honshu, and even though Meretskov repeatedly submitted suggestions to the General Staff, he was unable to reverse this position.
The funeral was presided over by the highly trusted Comrade Zhdanov on behalf of Comrade Stalin. On the viewing platform at Lenin's Mausoleum, he read out Comrade Sherbakov's eulogy and expressed his gratitude to the representatives of various countries who attended the funeral.
From Yuri's position, he could see the viewing platform on Lenin's mausoleum. He found that all the members of the Central Committee Presidium, including Malenkov, Beria and Khrushchev, were standing on the viewing platform. Looking at these people gathered around the tall Zhdanov, Yuri couldn't help but think gloomily, if Zhdanov hadn't died too early, I'm afraid that Comrade Stalin's successor would never be competed for by others?
In that case, would the future of the entire Soviet Union change? Would the capital of the Soviet Union be moved to Leningrad? Would this Red Empire have a chance to avoid the fate of disintegration? And so on and so forth.
Although he was reluctant to classify himself as a member of the Leningrad faction, Yuri had to admit that the current Leningrad officials were indeed more positive and professional than the Moscow bureaucracy. Look at Voznesensky, then look at Popkov, oh, yes, even the legendary Comrade Averki Borisovich Aristov was an official of the Leningrad faction.
Zhdanov may have a lot of problems, but he is very good at employing people. The people gathered around him seem to be experts in economics and production, rather than idealistic bureaucrats who only engage in political struggles.
The funeral process continued, and the hearse finally arrived at the outskirts of the cemetery. The purple coffin decorated with flowers looked very luxurious. However, no matter how luxurious it was, it was estimated that no one would be willing to enjoy it.
The coffin was carried by soldiers of the Internal Guard from the hearse and then transferred to a simply decorated frame.
There were five pairs of lifting poles extending from all sides of the frame. Eight soldiers of the Internal Guard were responsible for carrying the coffin underneath the frame. They were the real main force in carrying the coffin, while Yuri and his men just symbolically stretched out their hands to hold the lifting poles, pretending to be carrying the coffin.
After Comrade Sherbakov's coffin was carried into the cemetery, there were naturally special soldiers to take over the subsequent work. Only at this time did the guards or secretaries of the crowd rush over and hold umbrellas for their leader.
While filling the graves, Voznesensky came up to Yuri and said, "The Ministry of Geology and Industry and the Design Institute have come up with a drilling plan that they believe is mature and feasible. They are ready to set a time to officially start drilling operations."
Yuri turned his head to look at the energetic guy, nodded and said, "The time can be determined by them. Now, some of the necessary concrete equipment has arrived, so there will be no problem supporting the initial construction."
In fact, the Soviet Union's technology in drilling operations was very advanced, which had a lot to do . In the time and space of Yuri's previous life, the Soviet Union's technical capabilities in this regard always ranked ahead of the United States, and it could even be said to be in a leading position in the world.
Although Yuri in his previous life didn't care much about Soviet history, he knew about the existence of the Kola Superdeep Borehole. It was another competition between the Soviet Union and the United States during the US-Soviet rivalry, in addition to the space race. In the end, the Soviet Union won the competition by drilling at a depth of 12,000 meters. So the Americans made up a supernatural news story, saying that when the Kola Superdeep Borehole drilled to a depth of 10,000 meters underground, screams from hell were heard. They turned this achievement into a supernatural topic, and said that the Soviet Union was forced to close the project because of this.
In fact, this project continued until 2006. It was the third scientific project that the Soviet scientific community was proud of after the space station and deep-sea exploration.
Like Yuri, Voznesensky was also very concerned about the construction project of the Palace of Soviets. As an economist, he believed that giant construction projects like the Palace of Soviets would promote the recovery and development of the Soviet Union's post-war economy.
In addition, Voznesensky did not trust Western countries. He believed that there could be no long-term honeymoon period between the Soviet Union and Western countries led by the United States. Therefore, from now on, the issue of Western countries' economic blockade of the Soviet Union had to be considered. After all, those Western countries had already done such a thing.
In the field of economics in the Soviet Union today, there is not only the idea of large-scale industrialization, but also many different ideas of economic construction. For example, Voznesensky is one of them. He does not think that the focus of the Soviet Union's economic construction should be on the construction of heavy industry at the current stage, but believes that more attention should be paid to the supplement of production and living materials. It's just that his ideas are not mainstream.
"I heard that the work in Ukraine is not going very smoothly?" Voznesensky asked again. He was talking about the research and development work of lifting equipment by the four major factories in Ukraine.
Yuri nodded and said, "I plan to go over there in the next two days."
