Chapter 369
On the boundless snowfield, a very abrupt small town stood quietly on the outskirts of a dry bush belt.
The town is well-equipped with facilities. There are more than a dozen vehicles parked on the street. There are trucks, jeeps, and two semi-new cars. In the center of the town, there is a brand new three-story building made of concrete. At the entrance, there are two thick iron doors. The iron doors are not locked, but sealed. There is a yellow sticker with a black skull on it, which is very eye-catching.
On the electric poles along the streets of the town, the loudspeakers on all sides were still broadcasting news about Comrade Stalin's birthday. Apart from that, there were no other sounds in the whole town. Looking down from the air, there were no other living things except two cows wandering on the streets.
About two kilometers southeast of the town is a small temporary airport. Several old fighter jets are parked on the single runway, and on both sides of the runway, there are some tanks, armored vehicles and artillery abandoned there. On a tall iron pole, the fan blades for testing wind speed are still spinning non-stop.
Not far from the temporary airport, almost within the naked eye, a towering tower stood up to the sky. The tower seemed to be at least 30 to 40 meters high, and on top of it, a suspicious oval ball was hanging. The red signal light on the top of the tower flashed frequently, and as the signal light flashed, a piercing alarm sounded non-stop near the tower.
At 11:05 a.m., the shrill alarm sounded abruptly, and then a somewhat mechanical male voice appeared, counting down from sixty, one second at a time. When the countdown reached zero, the time of the entire snowfield seemed to have frozen, and a dazzling white light suddenly flashed on the top of the giant tower. In a very short period of time, a black hole seemed to appear with the sudden appearance of the light ball as the center. Nearly three kilometers away, the dry bushes around the uninhabited town fell in the direction of the light ball as if blown by the wind.
Then, in just a few seconds, a raging wave of fire rolled in, sweeping away everything in its path, whether it was airplanes or cars, buildings or trees. The knee-deep snow didn't even have a chance to melt, and was directly vaporized and disappeared.
The course of history was rewritten at this moment, and the second country in human society to master nuclear weapons emerged.
Yuri did not see the shocking mushroom cloud, nor did he see the oncoming shock wave, because at the moment of the nuclear explosion, he and many representatives from Moscow were hiding in an underground bunker built of granite, 37 meters deep.
At first, Yuri thought that he was the least courageous person in the entire observation group, but the facts proved that none of the people who came were brave enough.
After the nuclear test was successful, the entire observation group, including Zhdanov, listened to the report in the underground bunker. The measured data were also sorted out by relevant personnel and sent down. If the communication in the underground bunker was not poor, it is estimated that Comrade Zhdanov would have reported the good news to Comrade Stalin in the bunker.
At 11:30 a.m., the Soviet News Agency, the so-called TASS, announced to the world in five languages: The Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon was successfully tested in Area 21, and the Soviet Union had its own means and conditions for nuclear strikes.
Strictly speaking, although the Soviet Union successfully tested its first nuclear bomb, it did not have the means and conditions to launch a nuclear strike, at least it did not have the conditions to launch a nuclear strike against the U.S. mainland. After all, there were no long-range missiles in the true sense at that time, let alone intercontinental missiles. As for air strikes, it was somewhat unrealistic for the Soviet Union.
However, even so, this news still shocked the whole world. As the President of the United States, Truman sent a congratulatory message to Moscow 24 hours after the TASS news was released. As for the British, they did not make any statement from beginning to end.
Influenced by this news, the communist movement around the world reached a new climax. The guerrilla struggle organized by the Greek Communist Party completely eliminated the interference of the British. The establishment of the US-Spanish Joint General Staff, which was originally planned to be established in February, had to be postponed. Washington needed to see Moscow's true attitude on this matter.
In France, Maurice Thorez, General Secretary of the French Communist Party who had just been appointed Deputy Prime Minister, quickly decided to visit Moscow and paid a five-day state visit to Moscow in the second week after the successful Soviet nuclear test.
Taking advantage of this good news that excited the whole country, Comrade Stalin personally proposed the initiative to formally convene an interim meeting of representatives of the Central Committee of the CPSU in Moscow. Although this was not a plenary session, it was the first meeting of the Central Committee since the outbreak of the war and therefore attracted much attention.
The day after Yuri returned to Moscow, he received a notice from the Central Committee. Afterwards, Comrade Stalin talked to him and formally accepted his application to resign from the post of Vice Chairman of the Disarmament Working Committee. However, he also asked him to stand his last shift and complete the reorganization of the Disarmament Working Committee.
…
Moscow is still extremely cold after the Russian New Year, with temperatures dropping to more than 30 degrees below zero. It seems as if even the ground is about to freeze and crack. When you step on it with leather boots, it makes a suspicious rattling sound.
Wrapped in a thick woolen coat, Yuri came out of his villa and saw three or four people in white coats walking towards the gate of his yard.
This morning, Angelia felt a little uncomfortable, saying that she was not energetic, and felt very tired and didn't want to move. Yuri contacted the doctor, but he didn't expect that these guys came quite quickly.
Yuri now has doctors designated by himself and his family. These doctors are all affiliated with the Kremlin Security Service. Needless to say, the doctors are of high level and have strong professional capabilities. Therefore, he does not need to go out to find a doctor by himself - even if he wants to go out to find a doctor by himself, he is not allowed because the health status of him and his family is also a state secret.
After a brief chat with several doctors who had rushed over, Yuri got into his car. He was now on his way to the Kremlin to attend a meeting. According to the itinerary, he had to attend a total of four meetings today , namely: the plenary session of the Central Committee's extraordinary meeting, a meeting of the members of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, and two meetings of the members of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers.
The extraordinary meeting of the Central Committee lasts for nine days. During this period, not every meeting is a plenary session. In addition to the plenary session, there are also some small-scale meetings divided by department, which is closely related to the positions of the participants.
As a member of the Central Committee, Yuri must attend the plenary session, needless to say. In addition to being a member of the Central Committee, he is also an alternate secretary of the Central Secretariat, a position that has been confirmed, although there has been no formal election.
In addition, after resigning from the positions of Minister of Equipment and Vice Chairman of the Disarmament Working Committee, he was appointed Chairman of the Supreme Soviet House of Nationalities. In this capacity, he entered the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and became a member of the Presidium. Therefore, he also had to attend the meetings of the Presidium members of the Supreme Soviet.
So, what about the meeting of the members of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers?
The so-called Council of Ministers was actually the former People's Committee. After the organization was reorganized last year, it became the current Council of Ministers. This department is equivalent to the State Council in China and is an institution that supports the Soviet Union's government affairs.
Yuri's position in the Supreme Soviet was actually quite nominal. After all, it was a policy-making department and was not responsible for actual work. To put it bluntly, it was similar to the National People's Congress in China.
As Stalin's "favorite", Yuri has demonstrated his ability in practical work in the past few years, so Stalin would definitely not let him do empty work all day. Especially since the Palace of Soviets had not been completed and the "Seven Sisters" project had been established, Stalin was not confident in leaving these things to others, so at his suggestion, Yuri took on another position - a member of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers, mainly responsible for supervising the work of the three ministries: the Ministry of Construction, Road Construction and Public Works and Manufacturing, the Ministry of Building Materials Industry, and the Ministry of Construction.
Among the three ministries, the Ministry of Construction, Road Construction and Public Works and Manufacturing is the largest and has the most complicated work. It not only involves engineering construction, but also involves some engineering machinery manufacturing. The Ministry of Building Materials Industry is relatively simpler, mainly responsible for the planning of building materials production. As for the Ministry of Construction, it is similar to the Ministry of Construction and Public Housing in Russia in later generations, mainly responsible for urban planning and architectural design.
The so-called
The change of position will bring a lot of changes. For example, Yuri now has not only an assistant like Kryuchkov, but also a secretarial team, that is, a secretariat that serves him alone. This nine-member secretariat is headed by Kryuchkov, and his eight secretaries are responsible for the work of the Central Secretariat, the Supreme Soviet, the Council of Ministers, etc. There should have been two life secretaries, mainly to help Yuri deal with some trivial matters in life, but the energetic comrade Kryuchkov took on this role himself.
