Chapter 395
"People who are always suspicious will see ghosts," Khrushchev said gloomily as he raised his hand and scratched the small mole on his face with his index finger in the Volga sedan that was moving at a constant speed. "When you see too many ghosts, you will go crazy. Of course, this sentence can also be said that if you always think that someone is your enemy, then he will become your enemy sooner or later."
Yuri sat next to him, holding a cigarette between his fingers. He looked at the driver in front and said, "Comrade Stalin's will is very clear. He is ready to make some changes to the country's leadership system. Whether it is the idea of younger cadres or the expansion of the size of the presidium, it shows that he has recognized some of the current problems and decided to carry out targeted reforms."
"There is no problem with change. Believe me, no one will directly oppose change," Khrushchev said, waving his right hand . "The key question is what you want to change, who you want to change, and how this so-called change will unfold."
He coughed dryly, cleared his throat, and continued: "Who is Comrade Stalin going to target for change now? As he said, there needs to be a movement like the one in 1936. Who are the stubborn conservatives standing in the way? Comrade Stalin believes that the power held by the so-called stubborn conservatives is given by him, so when he needs these guys to withdraw, they should withdraw. But what is the truth? No one will voluntarily withdraw, and no one will think that the power in their hands is given by anyone. They will only think that they have worked hard for it, even their entire lives. Now, someone wants to take everything from them for no reason. This is unfair."
Yuri didn't know what to say. In fact, he could hear a contradictory mentality from Khrushchev's words. On the one hand, he obviously supported Comrade Stalin's ideas, but on the other hand, he was also worried about losing his power. This kind of contradiction and injustice is a torture for anyone, not to mention that the current situation is very dangerous, and it is very dangerous for everyone.
"I will return to Kiev tomorrow," Khrushchev said after a moment of silence in the carriage. "There are still many work arrangements to be handled there. As for Moscow, who will care about it?"
Yuri thought for a moment and said, "I'll arrange a plane to take you there."
Khrushchev nodded and closed his eyes tiredly.
Outside the car window was the Moscow city street just before dawn. Because it was too early, there were almost no pedestrians. Everything seemed so quiet, but behind this quietness, there were all kinds of anxiety and restlessness hidden.
At the gate of the villa area, Yuri watched Khrushchev's car go away and finally disappear from sight. He waved his hand, signaling his driver to drive away, and then turned and walked towards the entrance of the villa area.
The two guards at the entrance saluted him respectfully as usual, and there was always respect in their eyes when they looked at him. But now Yuri was accustomed to returning the salute by waving, instead of saluting like in the past.
Walking along the path in the villa area, Yuri was heading towards his residence, but he was thinking about Khrushchev who had just come to send him back.
There is no doubt that Comrade Khrushchev, a veteran who has been in politics for half his life and has experienced countless political struggles, has already noticed something unusual in Moscow. He should also know that someone is trying to make trouble. What's more, perhaps those who are preparing to make trouble have already contacted him.
But Khrushchev's attitude was cautious. To put it bluntly, he was timid and his stance was wavering. He was unwilling to make a clear stand before the situation became clear. If the situation was relatively calm, a man like him would never reach the top. But Yuri's memory told him that in his previous life, this guy really reached the top. Of course, this was the most direct reason why he chose to get closer to this guy.
Walking back to his villa, even though there were specially arranged service staff in the villa, Yuri still felt a little deserted since the child and Angelica left.
"Comrade Marshal, General Arseniy came yesterday," Yuri said as the waiter brought him a cup of coffee and an invitation as he sat on the sofa in the living room. "Also, Colonel Yuri has sent you an invitation to watch the large-scale song and dance performance of 'Forward, Guards'."
"I understand," Yuri nodded, reached out to take the invitation, and put it aside.
Colonel Yuri refers to Colonel Yuri Alexandrovich Alexandrovich, who took over the Moscow Alexander Red Banner Song and Dance Troupe after his father's death. In fact, this guy is more sociable than his father. Whenever the song and dance troupe has a large-scale performance, he will send such invitations everywhere.
Of course, the so-called "sending them everywhere" is just an exaggeration. In fact, he would only give them to people in high positions and with great power like Yuri. As for other people, he probably doesn't have the time to care about them.
Hearing that Arseny had come yesterday, Yuri took the phone on the coffee table and was about to call his home, but the phone rang first.
He picked up the phone, put the receiver to his ear, and said in a deep voice: "Hello, this is Yuri Arkishipovich."
"Hello, hello, sorry to bother you," a woman's voice came from the phone. Judging from the voice, she should be very young. "Comrade Marshal Yuri Arkhipovich, I am Aksyusha... "
Yuri frowned. He didn't know whether the woman was panicked or scared. Not only did she stutter, but she didn't even know how to say her own name. Akshusha, this was obviously a nickname.
"Oh, no, I mean, I'm Ksenia," the woman on the phone obviously realized her mistake, and she quickly changed the subject and said, "Ksenia Yakovlevna Ernestova."
"Oh, then, Ms. Ksenia, what is the matter with you calling me?" Yuri interrupted the other party's stuttering statement and asked impatiently, "Also, how did you get through this call?"
The telephone in the villa is not accessible to anyone. Nowadays, telephones are not program-controlled, but manually transferred. The operator will not allow any inexplicable person to call such a place.
Just imagine, an ordinary worker in a coal mine wants to make a phone call and then says "Please connect me to the Kremlin". Will the operators transfer the call to him?
"I, I'm the operator at Station 27," a woman's anxious voice came over the phone, "I, I... Comrade Marshal, please help Arseni. He said that if he is taken away, only you can help him."
Yuri's hand holding the receiver trembled, and he subconsciously asked in a hurry: "What's wrong with Arseni? What happened? Who are you? Why did he ask you to call me?"
He asked a lot of questions, but there was no response from the phone. Instead, there was a busy tone.
Yuri quickly hung up the phone, then picked it up again and continued dialing.
The call was connected quickly, but the voice this time was obviously not that of the woman just now, and the number reported by the operator did not belong to station 27.
Yuri was so angry that he wanted to throw the phone receiver down, but he quickly calmed down, put the receiver to his ear, and said, "Connect me to the Political Department of the Moscow Military District."
Yuri realized that it was not the time to lose his temper yet. He had to make sure whether Arseni was in trouble and what happened if so. Only by figuring out all this could he determine what to do next.
The call to the Political Department of the Moscow Military Region was quickly connected. Yuri stated his identity and asked directly what happened to Arseny.
Since being transferred to the Moscow Military District after the war, Arseny has been living a comfortable life with the help of Yuri. Now, he is the deputy commander of the 13th Guards Army under the Moscow Military District. Comrade Stalin previously said that he would transfer the 206th Motorized Rifle Division, which belongs to this army.
When Yuri asked, the Moscow Military District Political Department replied that they didn't know what happened, but they only knew that yesterday afternoon, people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs came and confiscated everything in General Arseni's office. Yuri asked them if they had shown the search warrant provided by the General Political Department or the Central Supervisory Committee since they were from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The answer was - no, but considering the current situation, they didn't dare to stop them.
After ending the call with the Political Department of the Moscow Military District, Yuri made another call, this time to the General Political Department, asking them whether they had issued the approval materials for the arrest of Arseni. The other party waited for a while before giving a reply, saying that they had not, but this morning, half an hour ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs submitted an application for the investigation of Arseni.
Yuri did not ask about the specific content of the application on the phone, as that was not in accordance with the procedure. As the chairman of the Central Supervisory Committee, he had the right to know the content, but he could not ask on the phone. Instead, he had to go through a series of procedures and obtain information from the General Political Department.
Considering that Arseny was taken away by the Ministry of Internal Affairs yesterday afternoon, no one knows what happened to him tonight. Therefore, for Yuri, if he wants to keep his former position as the captain of the guard, which is also the most powerful trump card he has arranged in the Moscow Military District in the past two years, he must take action as soon as possible to get the man out.
