Chapter 436 Spring Awakening (End)

Stalin raised his eyebrows and immediately glanced over. Voroshilov quickly reported on the situation of grain production, focusing on describing the horror of famine. After listening, these Bolshevik leaders fell into silence one by one.

They all experienced the great famine era of 1932-1933. In that year, due to the rapid development of agricultural collectivization, Ukrainian farmers passively resisted by reducing the sowing area. As a result, the Soviet Union's grain output suddenly dropped from more than 90 million tons. to less than 60 million tons. In order to exchange for the funds and machinery needed to develop industrialization, foreign grain exports maintained or even exceeded the previous year. This eventually led to more than 8 million people starving to death across the Soviet Union, and more than 5 million in Ukraine alone. people.

The current situation is more troublesome than before. The entire Ukrainian granary has been lost, and grain production has dropped to only half of what it was during the Great Famine. Although the number of people who need to be supplied is smaller than ten years ago, the per capita grain production is much lower than during the famine. All Everyone is calculating the consequences - this means that there will be large-scale starvation during the lean period before autumn. Although Voroshilov did not give figures, they can calculate: If grain production does not increase on a large scale, at least it will 10-15 million people starved to death.

Now the average daily caloric intake per person in the Soviet Union is only 600-700 calories (in Germany it is 2500). This is a very low number. If it continues, it is almost equivalent to starving to death (Author's note: In modern times, the intensity of exercise in modern people is so small. Under normal circumstances, normal men generally need to eat 2000-2400 calories a day, and normal women need 1800-1900. They consume about 1000 calories just lying down and doing nothing for a day). In the state of intense war, Soviet workers’ daily working hours have long been Over 14 hours, this little food would not help at all.

The army consumes more food. At this time, the German army maintained the rations for soldiers between 2,800 and 3,800 calories (low standard when there are no combat missions, and high standards when there are combat missions. A day like Hubei's) A person who eats 5 meals will consume more than 5,000 calories), while the rations for grassroots officers and soldiers of the Red Army after 1942 did not exceed 2,000 calories.

"What do you think should be done?"

Voroshilov hesitated, not knowing how to answer. Although he was also a marshal and had a military academy named after him, he was only qualified to be a military commander when it came to commanding a war. Ni is also better than him - at least the latter can command an army. After a while, he hesitated and added: "I think we should push forward the Steppe Front Army and the Central Asian Front Army, and fight a large-scale decisive battle with the Germans in the Caucasus, and then..."

When Timoshenko heard this, he became anxious: "You can't do this! These two front armies are not ready at all. Forcibly pressing them up will only bring defeat to the Germans. We..." Originally, he wanted to continue to say something else. , but when he saw Stalin’s stern look directed at him, he was so frightened that he retracted the second half of the sentence.

The rest of the people looked at each other, looking at each other, not knowing what to say: Theoretically speaking, both Timoshenko and Voroshilov were right, the difference lies in their different perspectives and standpoints on the problem. , we cannot express our stance easily at this time, who knows what Comrade Stalin himself thinks.

In the end, the military point of view prevailed, because Stalin himself was not optimistic that the Red Army could stop the aggressive German army in the Caucasus plain. He finally gritted his teeth and issued an order: "Let Comrade Tyulenev hold on to Grozny for 10 days in order to dismantle oil production, As for the oil refining facilities and equipment, as well as other industrial equipment and materials, all that can be transported away will be transported away, and all those that cannot be transported away will be blown up, and nothing can be left to the Germans!"

"As for our food and material supplies, you are responsible for talking to the Americans and making sure to explain the situation clearly to them." He calmed down, turned to Molotov and emphasized, "Please tell President Roosevelt that the situation in the Soviet Union is in danger. , If the United States does not increase its assistance, I will be forced to make peace with the Germans - no matter how harsh and humiliating the conditions are!"

Molotov nodded to show that he understood: Comrade Stalin did not really want to negotiate for peace, but wanted to use peace negotiations to force the Americans.

"The situation is very serious now. Let's discuss it again and see if there are other ways to solve the problem."

Kuznetsov pondered for a while and then said: "I haven't thought of any good solutions for the military issue for the time being, but for the food issue, I suddenly thought of a few opinions for your reference."

Hearing that Kuznetsov, who had always been in charge of the navy, actually had high opinions on the food issue, everyone couldn't help but become curious. They all sat upright and listened attentively.

"First point, we have large areas of wasteland near the Ural Mountains New Industrial Zone. Once these lands are reclaimed, we will have good harvests. I have met several comrades from the Chinese fraternal parties. They said that last year, China's anti-Japanese base areas suffered The Japanese army faced an unprecedented blockade and also faced a food crisis, but they relied on land reclamation to tide over the difficulties. I think this can be learned and learned from. "The first half of Kuznetsov's sentence was okay, but the next half made everyone hesitate. "In order to encourage enthusiasm for reclamation, I would like to ask Comrade Stalin to issue an order: Land reclaimed and cultivated by family units will be temporarily allocated to private management. The land will not be recovered or handed over for 5-7 years or even more. Spring plowing will begin soon. Yes, if we move faster, there is still hope to reclaim some land.”

Everyone gasped - even though it was called land reclamation, this was a standard method of allocating land to households. Not to mention the era of the Great Purge, it had never been done this way even during the New Economic Policy period, when politics was the most relaxed. Everyone turned their attention to Stalin. As long as the latter showed the slightest dissent, they would immediately denounce Kuznetsov's "wishful thinking" - this is not to add insult to injury, it is to help with a small scold, and it is entirely for his own good, otherwise After word spreads, Kuznetsov will have to shed his skin even if he doesn't die.

Stalin's face turned red and white, and his expression changed for a long time. He seemed to be making a difficult decision, but in the end he made his attitude clear: "I think it's okay, as long as someone in the family works in the army, government, or factory, besides completing normal work They can go to reclaim wasteland. The relevant land management relationship will remain unchanged for 8 years, and the state will not collect taxes. However, all the remaining food except the rations must be sold to the state. After 8 years, we will discuss the disposal of this land. "

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Voroshilov immediately followed up: "These new lands can continue to follow the path of collectivization in the future." Seeing Stalin showing a rare smile, Voroshilov couldn't help but feel sorry for himself. "Wit" applauds!

"Second point, we can find ways to import some food - besides the United States, we actually have other channels."

"What is it?" Everyone became curious.

"We can collect grain and livestock from Mongolia, purchase grain from Xinjiang and other places through Chinese comrades, transport grain from India through Afghanistan, and even buy grain from Japan."

As for Mongolia's "expropriation" method, everyone knows very well - this is not "expropriation" in the ordinary sense, this requires the dispatch of machine gun grain requisition teams! As for purchasing grain from China, some people suggested that the Chinese Bolshevik Party would probably not refuse, but it would be troublesome to go through the territory of Sheng Shicai, the "King of Xinjiang".

Budyonni smiled ferociously and said: "What's the trouble? I'll take care of it! Please ask Comrade Stalin to give me a cavalry corps, oh, it's better to give me a tank brigade. No need for T-34, just light tanks. Xinjiang's food I'll bring it to you."

Stalin nodded noncommittally, and Molotov became a little anxious: "This will damage the relationship with the Chinese government."

"You mean the Chiang regime?" Stalin shook his head and said, "Whatever they think, I just want food! Comrade Budyonny, are you sure you can complete the mission?"

"certainly."

"I'll give you 1 cavalry corps and 2 tank brigades. How much food do you plan to get?"

"100,000 tons...200,000 tons! No, at least 300,000 tons!"

"Well, get ready and set out tomorrow to mobilize troops from the Central Asian Military Region!" Stalin said majestically but decisively, "You go find Sheng Shicai - he is a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and this is what the party has entrusted to him. It’s an honorable mission. If he cooperates, he can become a member of the Central Committee. If he doesn’t cooperate..."

"Tank will educate him to cooperate!"

"As for the third item." Stalin turned his attention to Molotov again. "The British still owe us the supplies they promised us in the past six months. Anyway, the Indian Ocean shipping is interrupted and we can't transport them out. Let them transport them to us through Afghanistan." Come on, the quantity can’t be too small…”

Molotov smiled bitterly and agreed: Comrade Stalin's temper is not a good thing!

Everyone agreed or understood the first few points, but when faced with the last one, Stalin himself frowned: "Can Japan sell us food?"

"The grain production in Manchuria controlled by Japan is quite abundant. It should not be a problem for us to purchase 300,000-500,000 tons. Moreover, with the Soviet-Japanese Non-Aggression Treaty, there are channels for diplomatic communication. The key is what we can give Japan ”

"Yeah, what can we bring out?" Everyone is in trouble. The Soviet Union itself is short of machines, equipment, and arms. It is impossible to give them to Japan. It could have provided a batch of oil in exchange. Now the Red Army itself is short of oil. This The road is dead.

"Don't communicate directly with the Japanese Kwantung Army through Tokyo, and send a batch of antiques, furs and furniture to their senior officials. We still have a lot of these. In addition..." Stalin thought for a while, "I approve the use of some gold and jewelry."

"There is a problem. A group of Manchurian anti-Japanese guerrillas have come to us. The Kwantung Army has been negotiating with us. If..."

"How many people are there?"

"A few hundred, probably, they are currently being trained by the Far East Military Region's subordinates..."

"Due to our lack of food, troop mobilization and patrols are greatly restricted. At some point, even if the Japanese soldiers cross the border to do some cleanup, we may not be able to control it, right?"

Everyone was shocked. This was probably one of the conditions in exchange for Japan agreeing to sell grain...