Chapter 359
The current director of the Soviet Army's General Political Department is General Shikin, General Joseph Vasilyevich Shikin. He took over this position not long ago, and earlier he served as the Military Commissar of the Far Eastern Front.
Yuri could roughly guess one thing, that is, Arseni would be assigned to the border guard system, and the most unstable place, so Hikin's problem should be involved here.
Of course, Yuri had not had much dealings with Shikin, nor did they have any grudges against each other, so the arrangement for Arseniy was not aimed at him, but at Meretskov, because the two did not get along well during their time in the Far East.
Yuri heard some rumors that the reason why Shigin stayed in the Far East for less than four months was because Meretskov twice submitted reports requesting his transfer. After weighing the pros and cons, Moscow finally transferred Shigin back to Moscow in order to ensure the commander of the front's dominance over the combat command of the troops.
How should I describe Higin? It must be admitted that he is a political worker with positions and principles. The conflict between him and Meretskov mainly lies in the problem of lax discipline in the army. As the commander, Meretskov needed the morale of the soldiers during the war against Japan, while Higin demanded the rectification of military discipline. The two could not reach an agreement, and in the end one of them had to leave.
Yuri was not interested in getting involved in the conflict between the two, but he also did not want to see his former guard suffer, so he did not directly call Hikin, who he was not very familiar with, to avoid any misunderstanding on the other side. Instead, he chose to call Bulganin and entrust the matter to him.
Bulganin and Higgin had a special relationship. They had worked together for a long time. Moreover, Higgin's immediate superior was Bulganin. Through Bulganin's mouth, Higgin could also be told that Arseni was Yuri's former guard after all, and was considered his direct descendant. In this regard, he had nothing to do with Meretskov.
Of course, Yuri chose to assign Arseni to the Moscow Military District because he had his own plans. Although he didn't know much about Soviet history in his previous life, he still had some knowledge of some major events. He knew very well that in the next few years, as Stalin's health deteriorated until his death, there would be a series of shocks in the power core of Moscow. At a critical moment, if he had someone who held actual military power in the Moscow Military District, he would be able to guarantee his own safety to a great extent, and even change the direction of the entire situation at a critical moment.
After making a phone call to Bulganin, Yuri explained his thoughts clearly. Things like this were really not a big deal for Bulganin, and in his opinion, it was normal for Yuri to plan the future for his former guard. So, he did not hesitate and agreed directly on the phone.
In terms of rank, Yuri is still a little short of Bulganin, but as a marshal, there is a basis for equal dialogue between the two. In addition, Bulganin has a close relationship with Khrushchev, which are the reasons why Bulganin readily agreed.
After hanging up the phone, Yuri glanced at Arseni who was sitting opposite him and said with a smile: "Don't worry about taking up the post. If everything goes well, the new appointment notice may be issued soon. I still hope you can stay in Moscow. If you can be transferred to the Moscow Military District, remember to take the time to solve your personal problems. Only when you have a family can you work with peace of mind."
Arseny scratched his head, chuckled, and didn't respond. To him, the purpose of visiting the old leader today had been achieved. It could even be said that the result far exceeded his expectations. Even though he had said before that he wanted to be transferred back to Moscow, that was just an idea. He knew that it would be very difficult to realize it.
After resolving the transfer issue, Yuri asked about the situation in the Far East.
Although Arseniy was not very good at commanding operations, he was good at making friends. People with many friends often have a wide range of sources of information, so he knew a lot about all aspects of the Far East.
According to Arseni, before he came back, the Soviet troops that had entered Northeast China were gradually withdrawing, and he said that such convoys had caused great dissatisfaction among grassroots officers and soldiers.
Yuri also knew about these situations. He knew that according to the secret agreement in the Yalta Agreement, after the Soviet army launched the war against Japan and liberated Northeast China, Dalian Port would be internationalized and the Soviet Union would enjoy privileges in Dalian Port; Lushun Port would be used as a military port for the Soviet army; the Chinese Eastern Railway and the South Manchuria Railway would be jointly operated by China and the Soviet Union. At the same time, the industrial and mining enterprises established by Japan in Northeast China, together with industrial equipment, were also spoils of war for the Soviet army.
The Chinese representatives were not aware of this part. In other words, China's interests in the Northeast were divided up. Therefore, during the period when the Soviet army occupied the Northeast, almost all power plants, coal mines, and iron mines were demolished by the Soviet army, and the entire Northeast industry suffered a heavy blow.
This incident caused a huge uproar in China and directly triggered large-scale demonstrations. Coupled with the opposition from both parties in China and the diplomatic pressure from the United States and Britain, the Soviet army made the decision to withdraw from Northeast China four months ago. Naturally, the secret clauses in the Yalta Agreement were out of the question.
Based on his patriotic feelings in his previous life, Yuri was actually powerless in many things, so he certainly welcomed this result.
In addition to this incident, according to Arseni, the situation in mainland Japan was not very good either. Although the Soviet and American spheres of influence in mainland Japan had been divided, small-scale frictions occurred from time to time in the border areas of both sides. Although this friction did not develop to the point of accidental shooting, physical conflicts still existed. Most importantly, the Americans occasionally dropped leaflets and sent broadcasts into the Soviet sphere of influence to attract Japanese citizens in the Soviet-occupied zone to migrate to the American-occupied zone.
We have to admit that the economic strength of the Americans is indeed unmatched by that of the Soviet Union today. Within a few months, they delivered a large amount of aid materials to the US military-occupied areas in Japan. Up to now, although not everyone in the US-occupied areas can have enough food, at least people rarely starve to death.
In comparison, the situation in the Soviet-occupied zone was not so good. Due to two consecutive years of reduced agricultural production in Ukraine, the Soviet Union now has some difficulties in its own food supply. At the same time, it has to send a large amount of aid to those Eastern European countries. Therefore, the aid that can be sent to Japan is pitifully small. Therefore, in the Soviet-occupied zone, basic food and clothing problems could not be solved, and people starving to death were commonplace.
In addition, the establishment of political power in the Soviet-occupied zone is not going smoothly at present.
After the negotiations with the US military ended, with the support of the Soviet army, a left-wing government with Tokuda Kyūichi as general secretary was established in the Soviet-occupied zone of Japan. However, this regime was obviously unwilling to hold power in the Soviet-occupied zone. They wanted to unify all of Japan and establish a country ruled by left-wing parties throughout Japan.
At the end of April, under the guidance of the Japanese Communist Party, a group of people who were angry about the insufficient distribution of food rushed into the imperial kitchen of the Tokyo Imperial Palace and grabbed a large amount of food that ordinary people would never see on the table. Then, on May Day, dozens of cities in the US-occupied areas of Japan broke out in large-scale demonstrations with more than 2.5 million participants. The demonstrators held banners and sent letters to the US military headquarters, demanding the complete eradication of feudal dictatorship and the establishment of a people's government based on the true will of the people.
The aftermath of this demonstration has not yet completely dissipated. Just last month, when the final round of elections for the House of Representatives was held in the American-occupied area, the Japanese Communist Party launched a campaign of astonishing scale in the American-occupied area.
Nearly seventy workers' and peasants' groups and more than fifty cultural groups directly led by the Japanese Communist Party held a large-scale demonstration in Tokyo with the participation of nearly 100,000 people.
The National Railway Union opened several free trains to transport people who supported the left-wing movement from all over the country to Tokyo, and the Transport Union started more than 50 trucks in Tokyo to transport these people to the Imperial Diet. The large-scale demonstrations started from Hibiya Park and marched all the way to the Prime Minister's residence, and attacked the Prime Minister's residence. If the US military had not dispatched a large number of military police, the Prime Minister's residence would probably have been lost.
The demonstration lasted for nearly three days in Tokyo. During this period, Emperor Hirohito came out again to relax his "Gyokuon", but his loudspeaker was smashed by the demonstrators. Not only that, the demonstrators also called Emperor Hirohito a "worm" and demanded that he commit suicide to apologize - the emperor's authority was no longer there.
Because of these chaos, the US Supreme Commander MacArthur personally met with Timoshenko and accused the Soviet Union of instigating riots by a minority of people in the US-occupied areas, saying that the Soviet army was supporting mob politics, and demanded that the Soviet side strictly restrain the excessive behavior of the Japanese Communist Party.
Although Arseni believed that the United States was very rude and was slandering the Soviet government out of thin air, Yuri was very clear that behind these actions of the Japanese Communist Party, there was indeed support from Moscow, and Comrade Molotov's figure was always lurking behind these riots.
Today, the signs of confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union have become increasingly obvious. After the failure of his attempts to maintain friendly relations with the United States and Britain, Comrade Stalin no longer has any illusions. Therefore, whether in Europe or in East Asia, he is happy to create trouble for the Americans.
In order to implement this intention, a lot of people have been dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the past period of time, and they are all those who support Soviet-American friendship.
